Anastasius II, was the chief cause of the Emperor's acceptance of definite Monophysism and of the deposition of Macedonius II (p. 195). Severus tried to introduce the famous addition to the Trisagion, made by Peter the Fuller (p. 190) at Constantinople. But the population of the capital was still orthodox; it suspected Antiochene formulas. So there was a riot which prevented his plan and showed already that the Government's Monophysite policy was not popular.
At Jerusalem, after the Monophysite Theodosius was expelled, Juvenal was restored (453), and reigned till his death in 458. Then came Anastasius (458-478); Martyrios (478-486), who signed the Henotikon (p. 194); Salustius (486-494); and Elias (494-513). Elias was Catholic and held with Flavian II of Antioch. Severus at Constantinople wanted the Emperor to summon a synod which should finally revoke the decrees of Chalcedon. But Flavian and Elias succeeded in preventing this. The fall of both was now arranged by the Monophysites. Philoxenos of Hierapolis appeared at the capital at intervals (499 and 506), and further fortified his party. The Emperor was completely won by the heretics; so they secured their triumph all over the East. At Constantinople Timothy I, their devoted partisan (p. 195), already reigned; in Egypt John II (p. 219) was also a Monophysite and need not be interfered with. But Antioch and Jerusalem must be purged of their Chalcedonian Patriarchs. So in 512 Philoxenos held a synod, deposed Flavian of Antioch and made Severus Patriarch instead. Then, between them, they drove Elias from Jerusalem and set up John, Bishop of Sebaste, a Monophysite (John III of Jerusalem, 513-524), as his successor. Now all the Christian East, as represented by its Patriarchs, was solidly heretical. Its leader was Severus, now of Antioch. So much was he a recognized chief that "Severian" is the usual name for one group of Monophysites.[1] None of these people now cared to make
- ↑ Severus was not an extreme Monophysite. His attitude is rather that of a compromise on the lines of the Henotikon. But he was a determined opponent of the decrees of Chalcedon, thinking them to be nothing but revived Nestorianism. He was also a forerunner of the later Monotheletes, inasmuch as he (apparently first) invented and defended the expression that in Christ there is one composite Divine-human operation (μία θεανδρικὴ ἐνέργεια). See p. 210.
