they accused [them], but they, when sent to the whole world, uttered nothing of this kind. A Now the word "until," in many places of Scripture, denotes the limit of a fixed time, but does not deny what happens afterwards. It has already been said concerning the Ever-Virgin Theotokos that Joseph did not know her until she brought forth her firstborn son; and one must not think that after this she accepted the union of a man. Therefore, the Lord also promised here that he would be with us "until the consummation," not as one who would be separated after the consummation of the age. For the divine Apostle says that after the general resurrection "we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." He also reminds them of the consummation, in order to draw them more effectively, and that they might not look only at the present, which are grievous, but also at the future goods which are infinite; for he says that the grievous things which you will undergo in the present life will be dissolved, since even this age itself will come to a consummation; but the good things which you will enjoy remain immortal. B Having thus encouraged and roused their minds, he sent them forth with the memory of that day. For that day is desirable to those who live in good deeds, just as it is terrifying to those in sins, as if they were condemned; but let us not only fear and shudder, but also let us change while there is yet time, undergoing a good change, so that we may enjoy eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power with the Father who is without beginning, and with the life-giving Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNO DOMINI DCCXV.
JOANNES CONSTANTINOPOLITANUS PATRIARCHA.
NOTITIA. (MICH. LEQUIEN Oriens Christian. t. I, p. 234.)
John, formerly deacon and chartophylax, succeeded Cyrus; of whom Theophanes [writes] in the year of Philippicus Bardanes: "Moreover, Philippicus," he says, "did not blush to inveigh against the holy and universal sixth synod, striving to overturn the dogmas which it had sanctioned. Those who went along with this opinion of his—John, the bishop of Constantinople, whom he had created after Cyrus, his predecessor, was removed and thrust into the monastery of Chora, [as well as] Germanus of Cyzicus, Andrew of Crete, and others—hurled anathemas at the holy sixth synod." So many men of great name at that time yielded to the impious schemes of this tyrant, because they did not seem to have enough strength to resist him. But with Philippicus deposed and blinded, and in his place having been inaug-
Artemius, also known as Anastasius, John took care to amend what had been performed poorly, writing an epistle in response to Pope Constantine, which Combefisius published in volume III of the *Auctarium Bibliothecae Patrum Graecorum*. In it, he makes an apology for the deed, expresses the grief he felt over the crime, and humbly requests forgiveness and the communion of the Apostolic See. Combefisius prefaced John’s epistle with the peroration of Agatho the deacon, once scribe and notary of the Sixth Synod, regarding those acts committed under Philippicus against this holy council, in which he also mentions John’s written supplication of penance to Pope Constantine. Anastasius, in his *Life of Constantine*, makes mention of this same epistle or supplication of John, stating that he wrote it in reply to him. John’s epistle is said to have been written in the year 715 after Pentecost. He is also reported to have written to Pope Gregory II, who began his pontificate in the month of May of the year 715. Thus, John held his see at least until the middle of that same year, in which Theodosius III reigned as emperor. Since these things are as stated, Baronius incorrectly supposed that this John of ours had been deposed by the emperor Artemius on account of Monothelism; for, having read in Theophanes that these things occurred in the last year of the restored Justinian: "Patriarch Cyrus having been ejected, Philippicus Bardanes promoted a certain John to his place, a partner in his wickedness and heresy." Theophanes wrote this while ignorant of the epistles of John to the Roman pontiffs Constantine and Gregory. Agatho the deacon, in his peroration, said that Philartemius, or Artemius—who, having changed his name, was called Anastasius—was crowned with the imperial diadem by Patriarch John. Theophanes in his *Chronicles* and *Annals*, as also Nicephorus, assign three years of pontificate to John.
THE EPISTLE OF THE MOST HOLY ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, JOHN, TO CONSTANTINE, THE MOST HOLY POPE OF ROME
An apology concerning the events which were stirred up in the times of the tyranny of Bardanes against the holy and ecumenical Sixth Synod.
(COMBEFISIUS, *Auctarium Bibliothecae Patrum Graecorum*, vol. II, p. 211.)
A To the most holy and blessed brother and fellow-minister, Lord Constantine, John, A bishop, greeting in the Lord.
God, who fashioned the marvelous work of the creation visible to the eyes of nature as a specimen of His own divinity and power, demonstrated the proofs of His own glory and wisdom exceptionally in the most noble part of the sensible creation—I mean, in our own frame; wherefore the Prophet also exclaimed, "Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me." This Creator of our nature, in contriving to set the head above the whole body, and having deposited therein the most principal senses, caused all the movement and soundness of the remaining members to arise and be preserved thence; and if any of them happens to suffer injury, or in some other way be ill- B
-A-affected, it does not deem their care a matter of indifference; but, showing the natural compassion even toward the lowest members, it heals what is afflicted through the ministry of the hands and the guidance of the eye, not despising and casting away their cooperation as useless. To these things, most holy one, we are able to compare your apostolic presidency, and, canonically regarding you as the head of the priesthood according to Christ, we reasonably seek through you to receive consolation for the despondency that has befallen our ecclesiastical body from the pestilential and soul-destroying tyrannical power. For certainly you, too, with the attribute of the head, will not overlook us who have fallen ill against our will, nor will you cast us off because of our connaturality. B But rather, commiserating with our wounds (for when one member suffers, it is fitting that all members suffer with it, according to the voice of the Apostle), you will now most justly rejoice with us at our return to health and our restoration to soundness; and especially since the infirmity did not take its structure from the cause of the body, but became the result of an externally forced and unexpected calamity—concerning which we have necessarily sent this letter of information to you, God-honored brothers, as if by it uncovering and showing you the severity of the wound. Wherefore, even until now, we have been prevented from reaching your holiness with the customary synodical address, being held tyrannically captive; for it was not otherwise possible for us to write to you clearly and without confusion, setting forth the dogmas of piety. For he who seized this God-guarded city along with the external power—for I would not truly call it a kingdom—brought upon us the wound in a brigand-like manner, and as it were from an ambush, for reasons known to the governing Providence of all (for C indeed
A it is not for us to search the depths of the divine judgments), casting aside what he proposed as a foundation and pedestal of authority, being violent and unlawful—he even destroyed, before his own entrance, the image of the holy Sixth Synod that had been set up in the vestibules of the imperial palace. Wishing to install in the episcopal throne a man who was not from our ecclesiastical order, but rather one like-minded in his own perverse opinion, though he was forced by the impetus and resistance of our holy clergy, he advanced us—we being expectant of no such thing, not wishing it, and having endured such a thing not without deep pain, hardship, and every manner of lamentation—to the dignity and summit of the episcopate. For who, being utterly inexperienced in sailing the sea, would board a ship and endure crossing the straits (for it is too much to say, to undertake a journey across the great ocean), intending to be the sole person entrusted with the rudders of the vessel, undertaking the navigation both for himself and for those sailing with him? This, as everyone observing our case clearly sees (for we had never practiced the things that are most decorous and fitting for bishops, nor did we possess any distinction in ecclesiastical offices, having been occupied unceasingly only with the ministry of the mysteries), he will not deem it B incredible that our will was unwilling in this matter, presenting as it does the very testimony of our conscience, which the divine Apostle designated as his own ground for boasting, to represent the truth of those things testified by us. This man, therefore, considering the disorder of the Church to be his own world, was in labor and sought to give birth to the basilisk, that offspring of the author of evil, the serpent; so that publicly in the churches, and in the confessions of the bishops, the aforementioned holy Sixth Synod might be subjected to anathema, along with all the predecessors of your apostolic and venerable see who had taught the sincere dogma of the truth; and that a formula of faith might be issued by common vote, with discordant voices, and having no affinity with the terms in which the perfect understanding of the mystery of Christ is expressed—I mean, the divine mystery of the nature of humanity assumed by the Word—so that it already seemed imminent, or rather, some were even whispering it through their teeth, that the holy Synod of Chalcedon itself should be abrogated, as if it depended upon the aforementioned holy Sixth Synod, having it as its root and firmament for the doctrinal agreement of both. I omit, indeed, saying how many troubles C he inflicted upon us, as if solicitous for the truth, by which... D
he extorted letters to your fraternal beatitude for the purpose of his own insanity; for these things, that we have used a manner of speaking that was accommodating and of dispensation, so that we might repel persistent and tyrannical force, and force those distorted schemes into some middle ground, not being ignorant that it is not altogether to be rejected to make a distinction in evils, when it is not permitted to attain the good itself clearly in its first order, the power that oversees the counsels of the heart will itself bear witness for us. And also among men, he who dwells here from our most holy see, the beloved apocrisiarius, whom at the very peak of that time, having been satisfied with an oath taken in truth, we have shown our pure affection regarding the orthodox and sincere faith which exists in us. B Scitis quippe etiam vos, experientia docente, sanctissimi, difficile esse, ut ne in ejusmodi...
VARIOUS READINGS. NOTE.
(4) *Ut ne in ejusmodi*. Consider the other negative, so that the sense may stand. It signifies that by his own art and more cunning counsel, he guarded against a greater offense from Bardanes; namely, that a formula of faith was published with a Catholic sense, by which, however, the terms recently defined by the sixth synod were suppressed, of the dual operation and will in Christ, which were harsher and more odious to the aforementioned Bardanes. This is our John's *oikonomia*, for which he makes excuse; and not of his alone, but also of Saint Germanus, then bishop of Cyzicus, and afterwards patriarch of Constantinople, [and] of Andrew of Crete, whom Saint Nicephorus and Theophanes name as the primary co-operators of John in this, and of other bishops almost throughout the East, all of whom one might judge—as Baronius does—to be worthy of condemnation for hard prevarication, and suddenly branded as Monothelites. I, however, would walk a middle path, so that in reality I might not deem those many bishops, in whose minds the seeds of the Monothelite heresy had been deeply implanted, or who were otherwise easily to be brought [to it], to be immune from blame or not guilty of betraying the faith—since it was their part, and that of the entire ecclesiastical order, to deter the tyrant with unanimous constancy from his purpose, or at least to defend the faith recently explained with a glorious confession—[as] those who from an orthodox heart, and altogether taking care lest so grave damage should fall upon the Eastern Church through the malice or cowardice of their colleagues, [namely] the public anathematization of the sixth synod and the holy Fathers, finding or approving this middle way invented by others, C not only did not sin, but even performed a deed worthy of praise; with the greater evil being warded off from the Church, and the lesser being permitted rather than enacted. Nevertheless, Agatho the deacon indicates that many acquiesced to this *oikonomia*, and to a confession of such a kind, issued as if to irritate the sixth holy synod, against whom therefore Bardanes raged; thus, the more generous seed did not fail in the East even at that time, although it remained obscure due to the lack of writers. Because of this zeal and constancy of theirs, our John drew upon himself so much envy through that middle way of his, that he is heard everywhere called a Monothelite, and of the same opinion as Philippicus: although most writers seem to speak from mere conjecture and presumption, not because they follow certain monuments of those times, regarding which matter D writers are thus various. Joan. Zonaras wishes him to have been removed from office on account of heresy, with Germanus being substituted for the same under Artemius, the successor of Bardanes: but how can this be certain, when, on the testimony of Saint Nicephorus and Theophanes, Germanus would have been his associate, if there was such a heresy? For which reason they also have him [as] substituted after his death. Cedrenus also makes no mention of this deposition, but only has him created under the same Artemius, who was called Anastasius: under whom he later reports that Germanus was transferred from Cyzicus, with the decree of translation thus conceived: "Divine grace, which always heals the weak and completes what is lacking, transfers Germanus, the most holy prelate of the metropolis of Cyzicus, into the archbishop of this God-protected and royal city." Under the Emperor Artemius. By the vote and trial of the most God-beloved bishops, says the aforementioned Cedrenus, and by their common suffrage, he was transferred to Constantinople, the successor of the same John, in that very same year. What person-respecting is this, which is a cause common to both? Therefore, what *oikonomia* is it, which writers from that age—not the least bit distant [from the events], and in other such matters not of such certain faith that they could not be corrected by more certain monuments—altogether ignored? We bring this forth from those Letters of John, regarding which let there be free judgment for everyone, where in my capacity as interpreter I have said that to him which seemed most congruent to theology and reason. It pleases me here to render Theophanes. Having begun, then, the calculation of the times from the sixth holy synod, he proceeds thus: "From the things published [as] types, until the 4th year of Philippicus, there came to be a frantic synod against the holy oecumenical sixth synod, and Cyrus was expelled in the 6th year of the patriarchate..."A John was made patriarch of Constantinople; Andrew, metropolitan of Crete, and Germanus, metropolitan of Cyzicus, openly subscribed and anathematized, along with all others at that time, the aforementioned holy oecumenical synod against the Monothelites. But after three years, John having died, Germanus was translated from Cyzicus and served as patriarch of Constantinople for fifteen years.
...excepted by any subtle device, we should have—in view of the necessity involving our power—an extremely harsh and greatly exacerbated situation. For even the prophet Nathan applied the rebuke regarding adultery and murder to David in no other way than veiled, although David himself was nonetheless decorated with the gift of prophecy. In this manner, we too, as the great Basil says, have thought it better to yield a little to the character of the man, so that the confession of faith in those matters which have significance, if not in words, at least in meaning and understanding, might be kept inviolate. "For the truth," cries the divine Gregory, "does not consist for us in words, but in things." And again, he defines it as "sufficiently absurd and very shameful to be pedantic about the sound of words." And the apostolic man, Dionysius the Areopagite, declares it irrational and foolish not to attend to the power of the intent, but to the words; and he says that this is not characteristic of those who wish to understand divine things, but of those who seize upon bare sounds and keep them only as far as their ears, letting them remain on the outside without letting them penetrate and insinuate themselves into their soul, and who do not wish to know what this word signifies or how it ought to be clarified by other equivalent and more indicative words. We say these things, B not as wishing to overturn the expressions already synodically prescribed and confessed for so long a time by the whole Church of God; that is to say, to speak in the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, according to the pious mind known to the holy Fathers, of two natural wills and two natural energies; but looking only to the "persuasion" of the tyrant, as the Apostle calls it, and C to [the desire] to turn this [persuasion] to... D [index: entries preserved]
A the contrary with subtle thought, so that alien dogmas might not be openly introduced into the Church, and those things which had been well founded and had remained unshaken regarding the proposed decrees of piety might not be totally overturned; and at the same time, because we esteemed it of great importance that the enemies themselves, as far as concerns understanding and meaning, should confess the doctrine of the aforementioned holy synod. Thus, plainly, to those who know how to examine such things with a sound and unswerving eye of discernment, it is clearly demonstrated that the very machinations and intrigues contrived by the tyrant against the synod have resulted, not in its destruction, but rather in its confirmation.
For to say that Christ, according to both natures, is endowed with the faculty of willing and of acting is B nothing else than to conceive of two natural wills and two natural energies. For according to this sense, the holy synod assembled in the great city of Rome, which is near you, under the venerable memory of Martin, your predecessor as prelate of the Roman Church, explicitly decreed in the definition it published that such expressions are to be understood; so that in us, sinners and most humble as we are, the wisdom of God, which catches the wise in their craftiness, has provided that which Gregory the Theologian sets forth in his funeral oration on the great Basil, where he introduces him as making use of the counsel of the divine David and tempering his own words in judgment; that he withheld the primary utterance regarding the Holy Spirit, but with other words of equivalent power confirmed the pious preaching of the faith; although I suppose no one is ignorant of the difference between the two subjects: I mean, on the one hand, the faith and confession concerning the Godhead Itself, and on the other, the subtle reasonings and thoughts concerning the divine incarnation, just as the same holy Gregory the Theologian says, as much as precise contemplation necessarily requires for the demonstration of the perfection of each nature. For it is clear that C discourses and dogmas pertaining to the divine nature, that is, to the life-giving Trinity, are more fundamental and have greater eminence and excellence.
For in this way we must also interpret what was stated by the same wise Theologian against the Eunomians, in his
Oration on Theology
, where he says thus: "Philosophize for me about the world, about matter, about the soul, about rational natures D both good and bad, about the resurrection,A judgment, retribution, and the sufferings of Christ." For in these matters, it is not useless to succeed, nor dangerous to err. The teacher did not set these things down simply and absolutely, but by a process of counter-comparison, to the things spoken and dogmatized concerning the divine Trinity. B By this same manner of dispensation and situational compromise—believing that the rest of the events proceeded in the same way—O most holy ones, do not let it be decided to bring against us a charge that knows no forgiveness regarding these things; but even if it be suspected that something has been missed by us in terms of precision, by the comparison of those things which proceeded economically from our holy Fathers, let it be absolved of blame and free from all condemnation. For the most wise Cyril also counsels regarding the economy, that Theodore of Mopsuestia should not be explicitly denounced, out of consideration for those who were still weakly disposed in this regard, even though he knew him to be the author and father of the Nestorian heresy. And this is shown by the things written by him concerning this matter to Saint Proclus, who presided over our most holy Church of Constantinople. And that tyrant of the faith mentioned above, having a seared conscience, as the most sacred Paul says, has dared to burn the tomes of the acts of the aforementioned holy sixth synod which were deposited in the palace; thinking, as far as it seemed to him, that by these same flames he would simultaneously abolish the word of truth.
C But we, leaving him to be deceived by his own conceit, and to boast in his own shame as if it were some great achievement, have diligently applied ourselves to preserve the tomes of the acts of the aforementioned holy sixth synod that are deposited with us, in which are also contained the subscriptions of all the bishops who gathered at such a holy synod, together with the imperial confirmation and seal, and the definition issued by it added thereto. Furthermore, in our own times, provision has been made more diligently for the inviolable preservation of the acts of the same synod, inasmuch as a book written in the hand of Paul, of holy memory, who was once prelate of our most holy Church of Constantinople, is preserved among us by the grace of God, who, being a secretary, served in such a synod. D So that from this, God's Church may remain secure for the future, ensuring that no one, by any malicious counsel—of the sort which time is accustomed to innovate in human affairs—should dare to adulterate the constantly recorded acts of the holy sixth synod, as mentioned above, or be able to attribute such things to others in a wicked manner. For the unadulterated and genuine truth will be shown more clearly to all from such a book. For our true president and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, did not long endure to sleep, bearing with patience such things; but rising up, by his own goodness and power, he has even now rebuked the waves, not of the water, but of the lawless enterprise; and he has...
stilled the winter of the Church’s storm. He has bestowed upon us great peacefulness in our affairs, by granting us a pious emperor, virtuous in all things, a man truly worthy of the summit of empire, having a zeal for the orthodox faith that corresponds to his rank, and a decency of character, who, in accordance with the meaning of his name, has brought back for us ecclesiastical peace and concord as if risen from the dead. We trust in Him who has granted this to us, that he who acts for the restoration of the state’s affairs also initiates and begins it in a manner fitting his name. A
Therefore, O sacred head, by the most discerning power of the Spirit that is in you, extending the hand of your favorable calling toward us, be diligent to heal, with the gentle touch of reciprocal letters according to the law of the Church—that is, by the sending of synodical letters to one another—the medicine of love, treating what causes us pain and throbs within us. For there is no relief for the soul, nor will sleep come to the eyes, or rest to the temples, or slumber to our eyelids, until we behold the whole Church of God once again preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For since you are disciples and successors of him who heard from the Lord: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers," you are surely bound, you who are honored by God, both to apply with diligence what is needed for strengthening unto correction, and to show more readily the judgment of a compassionate mind. B For the Lord himself exhorts that very chief of the Apostles, from what happened to him, to understand the weakness of the flesh, and not to hold those who, through external violence and insult, have been driven to a fall, as he himself suffered at the time of the saving passion, in such a way that they might not, by being freed from their former state of distress, be able to receive restoration through amendment.
Nor let that escape your sacred memory, that some of those who had condemned the impious Eutyches under the blessed Flavian, at the subsequent synod at Ephesus in the time of Dioscorus, declared C him to be just—he who had been justly condemned—and pronounced the most unjust condemnation against the most blessed Flavian; and yet, at the holy synod at Chalcedon, the formulation of a sound confession was sufficient for these men to completely repel their crime, and they did not require many labors or words for this. For fraternal love knows not how to delay for long its gentleness and mild behavior toward one's neighbor. For these things D were to those gathered in that very place at Chalcedon.
A For the most holy Leo, the light of your apostolic see and indeed of the whole world, wrote to the Fathers gathered at Chalcedon in this manner: “But since there often arise many things that can cause repentance, and the mercy of God surpasses the faults of the offenders, therefore punishment is held in suspension, so that correction may have a place.” B Moreover, writing also to Pulcheria Augusta, of pious memory, in an epistle which begins: “The religious concern of your clemency, which you unceasingly devote to the Catholic faith,” the most principal mind of Leo writes in this way: “For as I have written very frequently from the beginning of this matter, I have wished to preserve moderation between discordant opinions and carnal rivalries, so that nothing should be plucked from nor added to the integrity of the faith, but to those returning to unity and peace, the remedy of pardon should be offered. For then the powers of the devil's works are destroyed, when the hearts of men are recalled to the love of God and neighbor.”
This same thing is found to have been performed long before in divine matters by the meticulous Cyril, in that disputation and conflict of studies which he had with the Eastern bishops. For they, wishing to absolve the pre-condemned Nestorius and struggling to make the sentence passed against him void, presumed to do a thing by no means tolerable; indeed, they bound themselves in the greatest crime, in that they pronounced anathema against the blessed Cyril and his synod. But he also offered a prompt and by no means difficult remedy: he demanded this one thing in place of satisfaction, namely, that they should provide consent to those things which had been synodically decreed and piously defined, and that they should confirm the condemnation of the impious man. In the meantime, full of complete joy, the same God-bearing Father broke forth into these words, which one might think were spoken as if he himself had rather obtained pardon for the things in which he had offended, than had granted it to those who had so offended: C “For let the heavens rejoice,” he says, “and let the earth exult; for the middle wall of the fence has been dissolved, and the way of all dissension has been removed, our Savior Christ bestowing peace upon His Churches.”
Furthermore, you also have, inspired by God, a firm and legitimate defense, by no means to be rejected, by which the offense committed through violence inflicted may be entirely abolished: namely, the pure and clear confession of the right faith. Do not therefore, O blessed ones, be slow and sluggish toward those whom you have [as] companions and whom you hold joined to you in an indivisible spiritual conspiracy and concord; and, paying no heed to those things which were performed by force, do not wish to repel from your love those who have suffered it, nor consider them as enemies, as the divine Apostle says, but comfort them as brothers, showing forth in imitation what is divine. For you will surely consider, O most holy ones, from the history of Aaron, the saint of the Lord, as the divine Spirit Himself, consigned to the sacred pages