YEAR OF OUR LORD 527-566. EMPEROR JUSTINIAN. NOTICE.
(Cave, *Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia litteraria*, p. 329.)
Flavius Justinianus, by birth an Illyrian, the son of Sabbatius and Bigliniza, born at Tauresium—today Achrida in Dardania—in the year 483. He had as his uncle the Emperor Justin, by whom he was educated with the greatest care at the Castle of Bederiana and adopted as a son. Before he was emperor, he took as his wife Theodora, who was by birth a Cypriot, an arrogant woman and one desperately addicted to the Eutychian heresy. In the year 519, he was made Master of the Soldiers by the Emperor Justin and, sent into the East with an army, he conducted affairs well against the Persians. In the year 521, he held the consulship; soon he was made a patrician, then *nobilissimus*; and finally, on the Kalends of April, 527, he was proclaimed Augustus and began to reign with his uncle; upon whose death on the Kalends of August of the same year, he held the empire alone thereafter. A In the year 528, he promulgated an edict by which he decreed that Nestorians and Eutychians, as heretics, should be punished with civil penalties; this was renewed five years later. In the year 541, he himself condemned Origen by edict, and a synod having soon been held under Mennas at Constantinople, he saw to it that he and his followers were struck with anathema. In the year 545, having published a constitution, he condemned the Three Chapters, which the Council of Constantinople also did at the end of the following year. In the year 533, he ordered an ecumenical council to be held at Constantinople, in which he requested and obtained from the Fathers that the Three Chapters be condemned (Evagrius, Bk. IV, ch. 39). B In the year 563, as his physical and mental strength were failing, deceived by certain heretics, he composed an edict in which he taught that the body of Christ was, both before and after the resurrection, free from corruption and natural affections, and he commanded all bishops to subscribe to his opinion. He afflicted most severely the Eastern bishops who objected in favor of the opinion of Anastasius of Antioch; and he removed from their sees and ordered to be sent into exile Anastasius himself and Eutychius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who resolutely resisted. Intent upon delusions of this kind, he was removed from human affairs on the 14th of November in the year 565, full of days, glory, and triumphs. C There were not wanting of old, nor are there wanting today, those who heap entire wagonloads of calumnies and reproaches upon this most sacred prince, who was no less illustrious for his learning, piety, and power than for the glory of his achievements. Yet no one has ever raged against the august shade of Justinianus with a more unjust censure and with a shamelessness far lower than the high station of a prince than Cardinal Baronius, who, straining every nerve of his eloquence, sought to present to us not a man, but a devil, in the emperor. To provide proof, I shall place certain things before the reader's eyes: "He was," he says, "a man entirely illiterate, to such an extent that he had never even learned the alphabet. D A sacrilegious emperor, who stirred up no light persecution, driven by fury, deranged in mind, corrupted by an evil spirit, agitated by Satan, who dissolved all order in the Church, and turned the kingdom of heaven into a dungeon of hell" (*Annal. ad an.* 551, no. 3, 4; 528, no. 20; 553, no. 21). I would be endless if I were to run through everything. It is not my intention, after Guinetus, Giphanus, Trivorius, our countryman Rivius, and others, to act as a defender of this distinguished prince. Regarding the outstanding virtues of Justinianus, I shall bring forward one or two testimonies of the ancients. Concerning his learning and piety, Procopius says this (while he was still favorable toward Justinianus) (*De Bell. Goth.* I; *de ædif. Just.*, Bk. I): that he was accustomed to spend his time reading books on divine matters, and to prolong discussions on the same with bishops and presbyters until late into the night; and that it was his constant custom for many weeks before Easter to macerate his body with vigils and more than ascetic fasts, taking food only once every two days, and abstaining from wine, bread, and other foods.
altogether abstained, contenting himself only with herbs seasoned with salt and vinegar, and with water. But concerning his remarkable zeal for the Catholic faith, let us hear Pope Agapetus, who bears witness from the synod of 125 bishops: "And above all," he says, "Justinian Augustus of pious memory, an emulator of the true apostolic faith, whose rectitude of faith, as much as it pleased God by its sincere confession, so much did it exalt the Christian commonwealth; and his religious memory is judged worthy of veneration by all nations, whose rectitude of faith, diffused through the whole world by his most august edicts, is praised."
Beyond the *Corpus juris civilis* (see the four books of the *Institutions*, the fifty books of the *Pandects* or *Digests*, and the *Code*, to which very much regarding religion has been joined in its ten books), which, using Tribonian and other assistants, he began to compile in 528 and brought to a conclusion in 535; and the *Novellae* issued after 535, of which very many are of an ecclesiastical forum, printed separately in Greek by Haloander (Paris, 1553, 8°), by Schringer (ibid., 1558), and in Greek and Latin (Antwerp, 1575); Justinian wrote very many things pertaining to ecclesiastical matters, of which there exist today: the *Constitution against Anthimus, Severus, Peter, and Zoaras*, made in 536, which, taken from his *Novellae*, is found in Greek and Latin in volume V of the *Councils*, p. 264. The *Epistle to the Fathers of the Fifth General Council*, written in 533: it exists in Latin in volume V of the *Councils*, p. 419. The *Treatise or Edict against Origen and his Errors*, sent to Mennas, Patriarch of Constantinople, in 541: it exists in volume V of the *Councils*, p. 655. The *Epistle to the Council of Constantinople*, held by Mennas in 541 against Origen and his followers: it is found in Greek and Latin in volume V of the *Councils*, p. 679. The *Confession of Right Faith (or Edict against the Three Chapters)*, written in 545: it exists in Greek and Latin in volume V of the *Councils*, p. 684. The *Epistle to the Fathers of the Council of Constantinople*, held in 546 against the Three Chapters: it exists in Greek and Latin in volume V of the *Councils*, p. 724. In the composing of these writings, if Justinian used the counsel and industry of his theologians, this should seem neither new nor strange to anyone, nor should he on that account be said not to have written them by his own hand.
DOGMATIC WORKS. THIRTEEN EPISTLES TO HORMISDAS, JOHN, AGAPETUS, VIGILIUS, PP., AND TO THE FATHERS OF THE FIFTH GENERAL COUNCIL.
(These exist in *Patrologia Latina*, vol. LXIII, col. 430, 450, 475, 476, 485, 496, 507, 508, 510; LXVI, col. 14, 35, 41, 42; LXIX, col. 30, 119.)
JUSTINIAN EMPEROR, BOOK AGAINST ORIGEN.
A ¶ The treatise of the most pious Emperor Justinian, sent to Mennas, the most holy and blessed Archbishop of the fortunate city and Patriarch, against the impious Origen and his nefarious opinions. B
It has always been our study, and still is, that the right and irreprehensible faith of the Christians, and the constitution of the most holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God, remain undisturbed through all...