The next extract I draw from his lengthy exposition of the principles of Catholicism with a view to the condemnation of the Three Chapters. In this document he relies mainly on the interpretation of Scripture by Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzen, and Gregory of Nyssa[767]:
"... And when we say that Christ is God, we do not deny him to be man; and when we say that he is man we do not deny him to be God. For should he be only God, how should he suffer, be crucified, and die? For such is alien to God. Wherefore when we say that Christ is composed of both natures, divine and human, we introduce no confusion in the union, but in the two natures we confess Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. When we say that there is a composition, we must allow there to be parts in the whole, and the whole to consist in its parts. The divine nature is not transmuted into the human, nor the human into the divine. Rather is it to be understood that, each nature abiding within its own limits and faculties, a union has been made according to the substance. The union according to the substance signifies that God the Word, that is, one substance of the three substances of the Deity, was not united to a previously formed human body, but created for Himself in the womb of the Holy Virgin from her substance the living flesh, which is human nature."
He then drew up a number of canons against the Three Chapters and heretics generally, to which he appended a diffuse argument to prove the necessity for their being anathematized. These canons are virtually the same as the fourteen adopted by the Fifth Oecumenical Council.[768]
[625] The gist of the Henoticon was that all being devoted adherents of the Nicene Council, they repudiated anything which was in conflict with its decisions, whether promulgated "at Chalcedon or elsewhere"; Evagrius, iii, 14.
[626] Concil. (Labbe, Mansi, 1759, etc.), vii, 1053; Theophanes, an. 5980.
[627] The correspondence between Justin and Justinian and the Holy See of Rome (Baronius, Concil., Migne) has lately been re-edited in Script. Eccles. Lat., Vienna, 1895, xxxv, from the Avellana Collection.
[628] John Ephes. Comm. de Beat. Or. (Laud, etc.), pp. 127, 154.
[629] Concil., viii, 818 et seq. The Collatio consisted of five or six bishops of each side. They were convened by Strategius, Count of the Sacred Largesses, who said they were called together, not under Imperial compulsion, but as in response to a "paternal and priestly exhortation." Afterwards they were met by Justinian, who invited them into Hormisdas, where he addressed them "with Davidian kindness, Mosaic patience, and Apostolic clemency."
[630] Cod. I, i, 6; cf. Facundus Defens, i, 1.
[631] Abrogated by Council of 692, can. 81. At this time (533) J. addressed several letters to the Church and the public laying down the lines of Orthodoxy (Cod. I, i, 5-8).
[632] Marcel. Com., an. 535; Theophanes, an. 6029, etc.
[633] Zachariah Myt., ix, 16, 19; letters passed between Anthimus and the Monophysite leaders, in which he accepted the Henoticon, "enacted to annul the Council of Chalcedon and the impious Tome of Leo" (ibid., 21-26). The latter was the document which decided the rule of faith at Chalcedon. In it Pope Leo I demonstrated the two natures of Jesus from the Gospels. Thus when he performed miracles he called upon his divine nature, but when he felt human passions, hunger, thirst, sorrow, etc., he allowed himself to be influenced by his human nature (Concil., v, 1359; Evagrius, ii, 18). The confession of Eutyches, the father of the Monophysites, was "I acknowledge that our Lord originated from two natures, but after the union I confess only one nature" (ibid., i. 9); cf. Liberatus, Brev., 21.
[634] Zachariah Myt.; Lib. Pontif., Agapetus, etc.
[635] Theophanes, an. 6029.
[636] Liberatus, 21; Lib. Pontif., loc. cit., J. also threatened at first, whereupon the Pope compared him to Diocletian. Victor Ton. (an. 540) says that Agapetus even excommunicated Theodora.
[637] John Ephes. Comm., pp. 157, 247.
[638] Lib. Pontif., Boniface II.
[639] Victor Ton., an. 536; Liberatus, 22.
[640] According to Liberatus Antonina forced him to write the aforesaid letters from Rome; but I cannot help thinking that Theodora extracted something better from him than mere professions before she despatched him to the West with such a powerful instrument in his hands.
[641] Victor Ton., an. 536; Liberatus, 22.
[642] Lib. Pontif., Silverius.
[643] Liberatus, 22; Lib. Pontif., Silverius.
[644] Liberatus, 22.
[645] Lib. Pontif., Silverius.
[646] Lib. Pontif., Vigilius. She wanted him to restore Anthimus, but he said he was idiotic when he made such promises, etc.; cf. Victor Ton., and Liberatus, loc. cit.
[647] Concil., ix, pp. 35, 38.
[648] Lib. Pontif., Silverius; Vigilius.
[649] Liberatus, 22; Lib. Pontif., Silverius.
[650] See p. 611.
[651] Concil., viii, 885. The most determined propagandist was the monk Zooras. His life in John Eph., Com., p. 11. "What can I do with a truculent man, who fears no one?" said Justinian, when asked to restrain him.
[652] Concil., viii, 873 et seq.; Nov. xlii.
[653] John Eph., Com., p. 157 et seq. Ephraim, who had been Count of the East, and had been raised to the Patriarchate by a popular vote, was the great persecutor; ibid., pp. 204-207; cf. Evagrius, iv. 6.
[654] When Severus was banished from Antioch and Julian from Halicarnassus, on the accession of Justin, they fled to Alexandria, and there Julian began to inculcate the heresy that the body of Jesus was incorruptible. He was opposed by Severus, and shortly the Alexandrians were divided into two parties, the Corruptibles and Incorruptibles. The latter were in a great majority, and now constituted the Gaianites. Zachariah Myt., ix, 9-13; Liberatus, 19, 20.
[655] Ibid. The soldiers were beaten, but Narses "won by fire where iron could not," that is, he burnt them out.
[656] John Eph., Com., pp. 14, 114 et seq.; Victor Ton., an. 540, etc.
[657] John Eph. Com., pp. 11, 66, 154, etc. It was opposite Blachernae. She also had a refuge for proscribed Monophysites in the island of Chios; ibid. Zooras was at first head of the monastery at Sycae, but he ended his days at Dercos.
[658] Liberatus, 23; Procopius, Anec., 27.
[659] Liberatus, 23; Evagrius, iv, 38.
[660] Liberatus, 23.
[661] The N. L. was founded by sixty rebels against the rule of Saba; Cyril Scythop, St. Saba, 36.
[662] Concil., ix, 487, 395; Cedrenus, i, p. 660 et seq. (c. 544). After this J. wrote a bulky pamphlet against Origen (Jn. Migne, S. G., lxxxvi). Some of the notions of Origen condemned were, that human souls pre-existed as holy spirits; that at the resurrection human bodies will be globular; that the sun, moon, and stars, etc., are animated; that Jesus will be crucified again for devils; that punishment in hell will not be eternal, etc. It is scarcely certain that the council was held.
[663] Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, and Ibas. An open letter of I. spoke of the "blessed Theodore," and said that Cyril, Patr. of Alex., arrived first at the Council of Ephesus (431), and "filled their ears with poison and blinded their eyes." Hence Nestorius was condemned without "judgment or question." This document was read and passed at Chalcedon; Concil., vii, 242; xi, 297; cf. Evagrius, ii, 18.
[664] Liberatus (24) says he was an Acephalus, the only authority.
[665] Facundus, Defens., ii, 3; iv, 4.
[666] Pope Vigilius himself confesses that he did not understand Greek; Concil., ix, 98.
[667] Facundus, Contr. Mocianum; Liberatus, 24, etc.
[668] Lib. Pontif., Vigilius. "If you fail," said she to the officer, "I'll flay you alive." I have no doubt she held this sort of language to her servants; but the Lib. Pontif. is a very poor authority.
[669] Ibid.
[670] Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 15; Marcel. Com., an. 547; Jn. Malala, p. 483. See p. 632.
[671] Jn. Malala, p. 483, Theophanes, an. 6039.
[672] Facundus, Contr. Moc.; extracts in Concil., ix, 181.
[673] Victor Ton., ann. 549, 550. The African bishops excommunicated the Pope.
[674] Facundus, op. cit. Fulgentius Fer., Epist. 6 (Migne, S. L., lxvii) etc.
[675] Jn. Malala, p. 484; Theophanes, an. 6039.
[676] Chron. Paschal., an. 552 (also Concil., etc.).
[677] Vigilius is thought to have been a very strong man as he is said to have killed a deacon, who taunted him, with a blow of a book; Lib. Pontif.
[678] Epist. Legat. Franc., Concil., ix, 151 (Baronius and Migne, also); Theophanes, an. 6039, etc.
[679] Concil., ix, 50, etc.
[680] Concil., ix, 61 et seq. (also in Col. Avellana). According to Lib. Pontif. he was seized in St. Euphemia and dragged round CP. till evening, with a rope round his neck, by order of Theodora—four years after she was dead!
[681] Concil., ix, 157 et seq.; Evagrius, iv, 38.
[682] Concil., ix, 191 et seq.
[683] Ibid., 61 et seq. (and Col. Avel.).
[684] Concil., ix, 103. Seventeen bishops, Pelagius, and two others signed it.
[685] Ibid., 181.
[686] Ibid., 367.
[687] Ibid., 376. Origen was practically passed over; can. 16.
[688] Victor Ton., an. 553, etc. He was one of them. This chronicler is generally wrong in his dates.
[689] Concil. ix, 457. He paved the way by a letter to the new Patriarch of CP., Eutychius; ibid., 413.
[690] Lib. Pontif.; Marcel. Com., an. 554.
[691] Victor Ton., an. 558; Facundus, Ep. Fid. Cath.
[692] Lib. Pontif., Pelagius; Marcel. Com., an. 554. There was a popular rumour that he had murdered Vigilius.
[693] Epist. 6 (Migne, S. L., lxix, 391).
[694] See his Epistles; Hefele, Hist. Councils, iv, 343, etc., for details of the schism. According to Liberatus (24) Theodore Ascidas gave it as his confidential opinion that he and Pelagius ought to have been burnt alive for the trouble they had brought into the Church over Origen and the Three Chapters.
[695] Two lives of him in John Eph., Com., pp. 160, 206. A modern life by Kleyn, Leyd., 1882.
[696] The particulars in John Eph., Hist. (Smith), p. 250 et seq.
[697] John Eph., Com., pp. 162, 206. In the Semitic, Arethas = Harith-ibn-Gabbala. Duchesne has treated of Christian missions to the south of the Empire at some length; Mis. chrét. au sud de l'emp. rom., 1896.
[698] She died of cancer of the breast, according to Vict. Ton. (an. 549), who regarded the disease as a penalty of her heretical impiety.
[699] Cod., I, iii, 42; Nov. vi, pf., etc.
[700] Cod., I, iii, 42; Nov. vi, 1; cxxiii, 1; cxxxvii, 2.
[701] Cod., I, iv, 26.
[702] Ibid., 25.
[703] Ibid., 22.
[704] Ibid., iii, 46, 49.
[705] Ibid., ii, 23; Nov. cxxxi, 6; v, ix; cf. Procopius, Anec., 28.
[706] Cod., I, iv, 8; Nov. cxxiii, 21.
[707] Cod., I, iii, 52; iv, 27; Nov. cxxiii, 5. He generally supervised their appointment.
[708] Ibid., iii, 7; Nov. cxxiii, 7.
[709] Cod., I, iii, 19; Nov. xxii, 42; v, 6.
[710] Cod., I, iii, 17; iv, 34; Nov. cxxiii, 10.
[711] Cod., I, iii, 42.
[712] Ibid., 45; Nov. xxii, 42, etc.
[713] Nov. xxii, 42.
[714] Cod., I, iii, 45.
[715] Ibid., 42.
[716] Ibid., 9; Nov. vi, 6; cxxiii, 13.
[717] Cod., I, iii, 44; Nov. v; cxxiii; cxxxiii.
[718] Cod., I, ii, 13; Nov. v, 5; cxxiii, 38.
[719] Nov. cxxiii, 38; Cod., I, iii, 56.
[720] Ibid., 54; Nov. cxxiii, 43.
[721] Cod., I, ii, 24; Nov. cxx, 6, 7, etc.
[722] Nov. cxx, 1, 10, etc.
[723] Cod., I, ii, 21.
[724] Ibid., 22.
[725] Nov. cxxiii, 20. As Justinian's laws relating to religion are very bulky, I merely give samples to show their general tendency.
[726] A heretic is defined as anyone not being an Orthodox churchman; Cod., I, v, 12, 18.
[727] Cod., I, xi, 10.
[728] Ibid., v, 12.
[729] Ibid.
[730] Ibid., 13, 18, 19; Nov. cv, 3.
[731] Cod., I, v, 21.
[732] Ibid., iii, 56; vi, 3.
[733] Ibid., v, 11, 18, 21, etc.
[734] Nov. cix. By this law heretic wives are deprived of the right to recover their dowry, etc.
[735] Cod., I, v, 12, 16, etc.
[736] Cod., I, v, 12, 16, etc.
[737] Jn. Malala, p. 449; Theophanes, an. 6022; cf. Cod., I, i, 5.
[738] Ibid.
[739] Procopius, Anecd., 11.
[740] Ibid.
[741] Cod., I, v, 17.
[742] Jn. Malala, p. 445; Procopius, Anecd., 11.
[743] Jn. Malala, p. 445; Procopius, Anecd., 11.
[744] Cyril Scythop., St. Saba, 70-72. Saba prophesies that J. will conquer Rome and Africa, which, if the biographer can be relied on, indicates that as early as 530 the idea of recovering the Western Empire was being mooted.
[745] Nov. cxxix.
[746] Jn. Malala, p. 487.
[747] Jn. Malala, p. 487.
[748] Nov. cxliv.
[749] Nov. xxxvii; Procopius, Anecd., 18.
[750] Agnellus, Lib. Pontif., Agnellus, 2; Procopius, Anecd., 11. At Ravenna all the Gothic churches, with their contents, were handed over to the Catholics. Presumably there were very few Arian congregations left in Italy. The Exocionite Arians at CP. (Goths) were always respected; Cod., I, v, 12; Jn. Malala, p. 428.
[751] Cod., I, ix; x.
[752] Nov. cxlvi.
[753] Procopius, De Aedif., vi, 2. It is only fair to note that Justinian, for the most part, only re-enacted or confirmed laws formulated by his predecessors, beginning with Constantine; but he sometimes enforced them more zealously.
[754] John Ephes., Hist. (Smith), pp. 159, 229 et seq.
[755] Procopius, De Aedif., iii, 6. Sittas was the general. Cf. Nov. i, pf.
[756] Procopius, De Aedif., vi, 2.
[757] As an illustration of the way in which Christianity was spread unofficially, through captives carried off by the barbarians, etc., see Zachariah Myt., xii, 7.
[758] See p. 312.
[759] Jn. Malala, p. 427; Theophanes, an. 6020.
[760] An alloy of gold and silver; Instit., ii, 1.
[761] Jn. Malala, p. 431; Theophanes, an. 6020.
[762] Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iv, 3.
[763] John Ephes., Hist. (Com.), p. 249. In 543 he brought a party of grammarians, advocates, ship-masters, and monks from Alexandria, and held séances in which he argued to convert them from the Egyptian Monophysitism; "for," says the historian, "he thought none of the bishops or others equal to him in the art of argument."
[764] Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 32.
[765] See p. 622.
[766] Cedrenus, i, p. 660 et seq.
[767] Chron. Paschal., an. 552.
[768] Three considerable monographs treat of religion in the sixth century: Duchesne, Vigile et Pelage (Rev. d. quest. hist., 1884); Knecht, Die Relig. Polit. Kais. Justin., Würz., 1896; and Hutton, The Church in the Sixth Cent., Lond., 1897. Gasquet's De l'autor. impér. en mat. relig. à Byzance, Paris, 1879, also contains matter germane to the subject.