The Consequences of Chalcedon
From The
Eastern Churches and the Papacy
By the "Eastern Church" we now mean the Orthodox Churches, whose
chief figure is the Patriarch of Constantinople.
But after the Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon, great bodies of
the Oriental Churches, sympathetic with, or maybe, not altogether alive to the
bearings of, the teachings and heresies of Nestorianism and Monophysitism,
broke away from the orthodox Churches--schisms which still at this day endure.
There was shown above (p. 4) the East Syrian Church, the Church of Persia, the
Church of Armenia, Catholic in doctrine and in full communion with the West.
And evidence was given of their teaching on the pre-eminent position of Peter
in the apostolic band and in the Church.
All these separated Eastern Churches, then, spring either from Nestorianism or
from Monophysitism--they are either "Nestorian" or
"Monophysite."
The point now is, that when they pass into heresy and schism, they still, oddly
enough, retain belief in, and afford by their documents many supports and
considerable evidence of, Petrine primacy. The Church of Armenia must, at
first, have accepted the Council of Chalcedon, for ten Armenian bishops were
present at that synod and signed the acts.
As a matter of fact, the Armenians held the Faith of Chalcedon for ninety
years. Why then did the Armenian Church come to reject it? The answer must be
found to a certain extent in the reason already given for the spread of
Nestorianism--that the empire had accepted the opposite and the empire, instead
of helping them against the Persians by whom they were over-run, had failed
them. Their patriarch Joseph, the bishops, and the generals of the army of
Vartan had in their extreme distress appealed to Theodosius for aid against the
Persians, who, they said: "were going to destroy among them the Faith
received from the Prince of bishops who is at Rome." [Tournebize,
_Histoire Politique et Religieuse de l'Armenie, p. 80] Theodosius died soon
after this, but they found his successor Marcian more hopeless still. Thus they
were prejudiced against anything favoured by Marcian and therefore against
Chalcedon, of which he was the great supporter. National feeling was also
always very strong in Armenia, and it had its influence in increasing their
keen desire to be independent.
But there was also the difficulty caused by the paucity of their then language
to represent the theological terms involved in the dispute. The primitive
Armenian Church agreed with the Faith of Chalcedon--a speech of Sahag (Isaac)
at the Synod of Aschtischat (435) shows his Christology perfectly in accord. Nos
confitemur Christum ex duabus naturis unam hypostasim, unam personam, et unam
Christum.
The letter of Leo to Flavian, too, had not been faithfully translated into
Armenian, and interested heretics and schismatics used the opportunity to cause
discord and discontent.
The Emperor Heraclius brought about a temporary re-union of the Armenians with
the Eastern Church.
But in 645 they relapsed. A synod at Tovin denounced Chalcedon. Attempts still
were made at re-union from time to time and Armenian bishops took part in the
Ecumenical Councils of Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680) and
Nicaea II (787).
The Armenians to-day still acknowledge the pope as Patriarch of the West and
the chief of the bishops of the Church--though some of its writers would have
it that the primacy was conferred by the Council of Nicaea and lost by the
"apostasy" of Chalcedon.
Here it is useful to give one or two quotations of what Armenian writers of our
period have to say of Petrine prerogatives.
The Patriarch Sahag (Isaac), who died in the year that Leo the Great became
Pope, wrote in 426, i.e. twenty-five years before the Council of Chalcedon, a
letter in which he says:
"The precept of God commends to us, not a Church built of stones and
wood, but the human race built on a rock by faith in the truth. Wherefore the
true faith is the Church which gathers us together and builds in the unity of
the knowledge of the Son of God, for He Himself the Life-giver, teaches us
saying to Saint Peter: `Thou art Peter and on this Rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against thee.'" (Note his altering
`it' to `thee.') "Now when we hear Peter called a rock, what are we to
understand to be said? That it is like a stone among stones? Far from it, but
it is as man using reason, the head of of the apostolic band; and since he with
immovable faith confessed Christ the Son of the living God, he obtained the
blessing and was called Rock. So, too, those who are built on it are not
inanimate stones, but men sharers in the same faith, since the Holy Scriptures
do not hesitate often and often where there is need to call Our Lord and
Saviour by this name.
...John Mantagouni, patriarch from 482-489, in a solemn discourse, speaks of
referring to the doorkeeper and key-bearer of heaven those who had made
shipwreck of the faith. Like his three predecessors, this patriarch accepted
the faith promulgated and defined at Chalcedon.
To return to the years more immediately succeeding the Council of Chalcedon and
its condemnation of Monophysitism, Pope Leo's labours in the controversy were
by no means finished by his work at Chalcedon. As one studies the history of
these Easterns it is plain that theological questions are often, if not always,
made national questions--the rivalry between Alexandria and Constantinople is
the key to much. It requires little imagination to conceive the hot indignation
and violent hostility that the condemnation and humiliation of the proud
ecclesiastical "Pharaoh" at the hands of Constantinople, meant from
the side of fanatical hordes of ignorant Egyptian monks. The Nestorian and
Eutychian quarrels, in different forms, still continued long to trouble the
East.
Proterius had been chosen by those who accepted Chalcedon to succeed Dioscorus at
Alexandria, and supported by the Emperor Marcian, the orthodox became the
imperial party--the Melkites. [From the Syrian word "Malka" = royal.
They were the "imperialists," holding to the religion of the emperor
and to Chalcedon.]
The death of Marcian (457) was the opportunity for fresh trouble. The
Monophysites chose Timothy Ailurus, who, consecrated by three Monophysite
bishops, became the rival of Proterius. The latter was murdered, and Timothy
was bold enough to ask the new emperor (Leo I) to recognize him as Patriarch of
Alexandria.
The Emperor was inclined to accede to his request, and Anatolius supported him.
But in spite of the letter which they sent out to the bishops asking their
opinion of Timothy and his petition, and suggesting a council, all save one
were against him, and Pope Leo the Great was adamant against opening questions
already answered. "Non ad confligendum cum hostibus fidei, nec ad
certandum contra ullos....tanquam dubia vel infirma sint quae tanta per
Spiritum Sanctum fixit auctoritas." (P.L. liv., 1143, Ep, 162.)
The result of all this was that for the time being Timothy the Cat was sent
into exile--another Timothy (Sakophakiolos) being set up as the Catholic
patriarch.
Meanwhile at Antioch also there was trouble. Peter the Fuller was objecting to
Chalcedon, and got himself made Patriarch of Antioch, sympathised with and
supported by Zeno, son-in-law of the emperor and afterwards emperor himself.
The Fuller it was who became famous as the inventor of the phrase "who was
crucified for us," which he inserted in the Trisagion--a phrase which, but
for its origin, need not have been suspect. He too went into exile.
But the reign of Zeno was interrupted by a rebellion of Basiliscus, who made
himself emperor for a year, and during that time he restored Timothy the Cat
and Peter the Fuller.
Basiliscus went so far as to issue a letter condemning Chalcedon and Leo; and
he frightened more than five hundred bishops into signing it.
The archimandrites of Constantinople appealed to the Pope Simplicius. Their
letter is not extant, but the Pope's replies to them and the Emperor are. Pope
Simplicius counsels the Emperor to imitate his predecessors Marcian and Leo,
and maintain the Council of Chalcedon and the letters of S. Leo. "For
the rule of apostolic doctrine abides always unaltered with the successor of
him to whom the Lord entrusted all the flock and promised His perpetual
assistance to the end of time, against whom He has promised that the gates of
hell shall never prevail, and to the sentence of whom He has declared that what
has been bound on earth cannot be unbound even in heaven itself."
And now comes the Acacian Schism.
Acacius, the founder of a schism that lasted thirty-five years, is to be
remembered as he "qui, le premier, apprit a l'Eglise grecque a vivre
separee de la Chaire de saint Pierre."
The key to the troublous situation is to be found in the XXVIIIth Canon of
Chalcedon, though this famous canon was never placed in any Eastern Code of
Canon Law till Photius did so. I may remark en passant,
Acacius, however, was determined to make it the means of fostering his
ambition--though, as we have seen, even the Easterns had, anyhow in appearance,
renounced it. This is the only hypothesis one has by which to account for his
changes and vacillations.
Acacius at first had merited by his zeal the praise of Pope Simplicius, to whom
he had denounced Peter Mongos, suspected both of Eutychianism and of having had
some part in the murder of Proterius. And when Basiliscus issued his daring
encyclical, alone of all the Oriental bishops, Acacius had the courage to
resist him.
The Pope, Simplicius, urges Acacius to influence the Emperor in the Catholic
direction, to join the monks in opposing the Cat, and assures him that there is
no need of a council, the error of Eutyches having already been thoroughly
dealt with. As the result, the Patriarch stirred up the monks against the
usurprer, and Basiliscus fled. Evidently Acacius was at the time a
whole-hearted supporter of the Apostolic See.
But conscious of the influence which he found he possessed in bringing about
the expulsion of Basiliscus and the return of Zeno, Acacius apparently began to
dream ambitious dreams of dominating the East and breaking with the See of
Rome. For Pope Gelasius tells us that many of his predecessor's letters were
ignored and unanswered. And when the two most important sees of the East
happened to be vacant at the same time, it probably occurred to Acacius that
now was his opportunity of uniting under his leadership all who were at
loggerheads with Rome.
Soon after Zeno's restoration Timothy died, but his usurpation was continued by
Peter Mongos. Then, when the Catholic Timothy Sakophakiolos died, the Egyptians
wanted Peter Mongos to succeed him. But a Catholic (John Talaia) was chosen.
Acacius had excommunicated Mongos, but now they became friends and allies, and
each in the other found a suitable auxiliary for his schemes and ambitions.
Zeno, since Egypt and Syria, the two most populous rich and powerful provinces
of the empire, were specially affected by Monophysitism, and with the
Monophysitism was mixed up a good deal of anti-imperialist feeling, embarked on
a policy of compromise and "comprehensiveness"--a policy which would
be continued for many weary years and bring nothing but dissatisfaction in
trying to conciliate the Monophysites. Hence the genesis of the decree
Henoticon, which consisted of:
1. The Niceno-Constantinopolitan symbol.
2. Cyril's XII Anathemas.
3. The decrees of Ephesus.
4. The Condemnations of Nestorius and Eutyches.
Christ is "one not two" and "two natures" is avoided. But
there was nothing said about the Tome of Leo or about Chalcedon except
aversely. "Whoever thinks or has thought otherwise, whether at Chalcedon
or at any other synod, is excommunicate," gives the text of the Henoticon.
The men really responsible for this Henoticon were Acacius and Peter Mongos.
The Emperor judged that this decree, which would be acceptable to the
Monophysites, could also be signed by the orthodox, as, so far as it went
(apart from the clause about Chalcedon), it was patient of a Catholic
interpretation. But of course it really satisfied nobody.
John Talaia was driven from his see of Alexandria and Mongos took his place,
intruded by the Emperor. The ejected patriarch fled, like Athanasius, to Rome
to the Pope, to denounce both Acacius and Peter to him as heretics.
The difficult stage for both Acacius and Zeno arrives now. It is to obtain the
confirmation of the election of Mongos from the Pope.
Simplicius, in spite of a letter from Zeno accusing Talaia of perjury,
hesitated to give the consent of the Apostolic See to Mongos, and Acacius kept
silence when information was sought.
The next pope, Felix II, wanted Acacius to come to Rome to a council, to have
the charges against him investigated. But his legates to Constantinople were
imprisoned and then cajoled, with the result that they communicated with
Acacius and betrayed their mission.
When Felix had heard from John Talaia about all that had happened in the East,
he excommunicated Acacius as the author of the Henoticon, and for being
responsible for the presence of Peter Mongos at Alexandria and for Peter the
Fuller at Antioch. To be in communion with Mongos, an out-and-out Monophysite,
was to cease to be Catholic. And, as Hormisdas later wrote, "To receive
the Tome of Leo and to maintain in the diptychs the name of Acacius are
contradictory things." Felix excommunicated his treacherous legates too,
while Acacius, for his part, removed the name of the pope from his diptychs.
Some monk dared to pin the document of excommunication to the vestments of
Acacius as he went to Liturgy in S. Sophia, but although Talaia was recognized
by the Roman Council as the lawful Patriarch of Alexandria, he was never able
to take possession of his see, but, spending the rest of his life in Italy,
became the friend and helper of Pope Gelasius I.
At Constantinople the Pope had devoted adherents in the monks, the Akoimetai,
the "sleepless ones," [so-called because of their keeping up by night
as well as day ceaseless round of prayer] eager to maintain communion with the
apostolic see. They fearlessly denounced the action of their bishop and
publicly reproved the conduct of Mongos, who, not content with signing the
Henoticon, had even gone to the length of anathematising Chalcedon.
Felix II still protested his desire for reconciliation of "this
unfortunate" Acacius. But his hopes were not realized. A few years, and
Peter the Fuller, Acacius, Mongos, and Felix II were all dead. But the schism
still went on, though Euphemius, who after Flavita became Patriarch of
Constantinople, desired communion with the Holy See, stipulating however, that
the name of Acacius should not be removed from the diptychs.
The really great pope, Gelasius I, ascended the chair of Peter in 492, and the
affairs of the East claimed a great deal of his attention. Out of forty-three
of his letters which are extant eleven are devoted to these questions.
The chief thesis of the letters is that the rehabilitation of the name of
Acacius is impossible, since this prelate is dead without any sign of
repentance, condemned by a sentence just from every point of view, and all the
excuses alleged by his supporters are ridiculous. And the complaints he makes
against Acacius are that he upset in the East the discipline established by the
Council of Nicea; though a mere suffragan of Heraclea, he exalted himself above
the patriarchal sees of Alexandria and Antioch; arrogating to himself the power
which belongs only to the pope, he took upon himself to settle the question
between two claimants for the second see. When he was summoned to Rome to the
papal council he took no notice of the citation; he encouraged and harboured notorious
heretics, and, worst of all, he corrupted the papal legates in favour of
Mongos, and gave a blow, in the mind of the weak, to the fundamental dogma of
Catholic unity, the indefectibility of the Apostolic See in the purity of
Faith.
All this, whatever one says of it in itself, shows what the relation was in
which Rome claimed to stand towards the East, at the end of the fifth century.
And Gelasius bases his contentions on Scripture and traditions and the most
famous Eastern prelates:
"It is the canons themselves which have willed that the appeals of all
the Church should be referred to this see, but that from its sentence no appeal
could be made. It is the see which the words of Jesus Christ, the traditions of
our Fathers, and the authority of the canons support, in order that it may have
authority to judge all the Church."
Again he writes: "The Universal Church well knows that what has been
bound by whatever pontiff, the See of the Blessed Apostle Peter has the right
of loosing, because to it has been given to judge all the Churches, and no one
has the right of judging what has been once decided."
The Epistles 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 26, 27, all deal with the question of
Acacius. But Ep. 11 is really a letter to Gelasius, a reply from the Bishops of
Dardania. It is a protestation of the fidelity of the Eastern bishops to the
Apostolic See, that they observe in everything the precepts of their fathers
and follow inviolably the rules of the holy canons, and so endeavour to obey
all, with a common faith and an equal devotion to the Apostolic See of the
Roman pontiff exalted and angelic.
Ep. 12 to the Emperor Anastasius furnishes us with one example of many which
occur in the writings of Gelasius--of instances of the Pope's teaching on the
distinction between the spiritual and civil powers, and the supremacy of the
former. "And the charge of pontiffs is the much more heavy, because at
the judgment of God they will have to give account of kings themselves. You
know, most clement Son, that although you preside over the human race by your
dignity, you are nevertheless subject to the ministers of sacred things....if
in that which concerns order and public administration the pontiffs of
religion, recognising that the empire has been entrusted to you by a
disposition from on high, obey your laws, with what assiduity ought you not to
obey those who are set up to dispense the sacred mysteries."
Acacius, more than once, averred that the popes owed their pre-eminence in the Church
to their being bishops of the capital city of the empire, and now that that
capital was transferred to Constantinople, the first rank should go to its
patriarchs.
Gelasius fitly replied:
"We laughed at the prerogative which is desired to be attributed to
Acacius because he was bishop of the imperial city. Hasn't the emperor resided
for a long time at Ravenna, at Milan, at Sirmium, at Trier, and have the
bishops of these cities exceeded teh limits that antiquity fixed for
them?...The secular power of the empire is one thing; the distribution of
ecclesiastical dignities is another thing. However small a town may be, it does
not diminish the greatness of the prince who resides there; in the same way,
the presence of the emperor does not change the order of the hierarchy."
The Eastern bishops were weary of the schism, and their letter begging for
reunion will show the high claims made by the popes were hardly strange, or
novel, or unacknowledged in the East.
Having referred to the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, they say
they are begging, not for lost sheep or drachma,
"but for the precious salvation, not only of the East, but of three
parts almost of the inhabited world, redeemed, not with corruptible gold or
silver, but with the precious Blood of the Lamb of God, according to the
doctrine of the
Do not disdain to succour us and do not hate us because we are in communion
with our enemies. Among those who only had the care of a small number of souls,
many have separated from their communion, the others in charge of a numerous
flock yielded to the necessity not to abandon, as the hireling, the sheep to
the wolf. It is not for love of life, but only for the salvation of souls that
a great number of priests act thus....We all, both those who appear to
communicate with the adversaries and those who abstain from it, await, after
God, the light of your visitation and of your assistance. Hasten then to aid
the East, whence the Saviour sent you two great suns to lighten all the earth;
render Him what He sent you, illumine it with the light of the true Faith as He
enlightened you with the light of knowledge divine....Just as the Lord said to
Paul concerning Corinth `Speak and keep not silence, for I have a great
multitude in this city,' so He says to You to-day `Hasten and go without dealy
to the help of the East, for it is not a multitude of a hundred and twenty
thousand men as at Nineveh, but a crowd much more numerous which awaits, after
God, its healing from You.'"
In his acknowledgement of the appeal Symmachus urges all abstention of
communion with the partisans of Acacius. Only so could they hope for communion
with the Apostolic See.
It took seven years before the healing could be accomplished.
The Emperor Anastasius was veering more and more in favour of Monophysitism.
The lot of the orthodox was a hard one. When Vitalian the barbarian general
found it good policy to espouse the cause of the Catholics, and brought his
50,000 troops to the very walls of Constantinople (514), Anastasius thought it
wise to modify his treatment of the orthodox and to seek restoration of
communion with Rome. This would be possible on condition that the persecution
ceased, the exiled bishops were restored, and a great council should be called
together at Heraclea to effect the reunion of East and West. It was suggested
that the Pope should be invited to this, but there was no precedent for a pope
being present at a General Council, or leaving Rome to be present at a Council
of the East. Besides, an attempt might be made to reopen the questions solemnly
closed at Chalcedon. It was a delicate situation. Dorotheus, the Metropolitan
of Thessalonica, at the head of forty bishops, sought reunion with Rome. They
protested their attachment to it and their utter detestation of the heresies of
Nestorius and Eutyches.
Hormisdas, now Pope, acknowledged the Emperor's letters, but he was guarded in
his reply. His legates carried to Constantinople letters of Anastasius and
Vitalian, together with his conditions for restoration of communion. These
negotiations came to little. Hormisdas sends once more his messengers to
Anastasius, and they bring his rule of Faith. But Anastasius becomes more
reactionary and recalcitrant.
In the East persecution appears again. But the monks appeal to:
"The Successor of the Prince of the Apostles," "The Head of
all," "The most holy and blessed Patriarch of the whole world."
In 518 Anastasius was succeded by Justin, who, like his nephew the great Justinian,
was a Catholic, and Justin speedily took steps to restore union with Rome. This
was not now so difficult a task, bearing in mind the Eastern mentality were a
sovereign was concerned, and the efforts that had already been made to that
end, e.g. John of Nicopolis (516) in his own name and that of others sent to
Hormisdas begging for restoration of communion and protesting adhesion to the
decrees of Chalcedon.
Pope Hormisdas issued his famous Formula, and all who desired communion with
Rome were required to sign it. No modification or alteration could be
tolerated, and signatures to the libellus were received were received from
2,500 Eastern bishops.
This Formula is of extreme importance, not only because of its explicit
condemnation of the heresies and heresiarchs and of their supporters by name,
but also because of the unequivocal assertion of papal authority to which these
Easterns assented.
It puts the Tome of Leo on the same level as the decisions of ecumenical
councils--Nicea, Ephesus and Chalcedon.
It puts in the most uncompromising terms the prerogatives claimed by the Roman
see--though, as has been shown before, in earlier sections, those claims had
long been made and allowed. It runs:
[Click here to read the full text of The Formula of
Pope St Hormisdas reproduced in full elsewhere on this site.]
This Formulary, then, was dispatched for signature to the East, but it met with
a certain amount of opposition, chiefly, indeed solely, I think, because of its
condemnation of Acacius, who had been very popular at Constantinople, and also
because of the omission of the diptychs of his name and those of his orthodox
successors. The opposition to signing it did not arise from its clear
affirmation of the rights of Rome. No one raised any objection to the powers of
the Apostolic See, which were so plainly set out in it.
Hormisdas had a difficult task, no doubt, but he was endowed with a masterful
disposition. The accession to power and influence of Justin, Vitalian, and
Justinian, all orthodox, would perhaps still more "stiffen" him (if
indeed he needed it), and he did not hesitate later to suggest to the Emperor
that a little physical force might advantageously be used to encourage
signatures. But things did not go quite so smoothly as it was given out. The
obtaining of the signature of John, the Patriarch of Constantinople, affords a
certain interest and subject for discussion as it has of controversy. Hormisdas,
we have seen, would not tolerate any modification of his Formula. John wished
to send instead his own profession of faith, and when this was ruled out he
insisted on adding a preamble:
"Sanctissimas enim Dei ecclesias, id est, superioris vestrae et novellae
istius Romae, unam esse accipio ilam sedem Apostoli Petri et istius augustae
civitatis unam esse definio."
"John--a poor weak man--did accept it under severe imperial pressure,"
writes [Anglican] Bishop Gore, "but in accepting it he prefaced it with a
statement which evacuated it of its Roman meaning. He somehow identified his
own see with the Roman see, so as to admit of the position that he was
accepting nothing as belonging to Hormisdas which he himself did not share.
Moreover, numbers of Eastern bishops were admitted to the communion of Rome
without signing anything except a statement of the orthodox faith."
[Article "Papal Rome and the Orthodox East," _The Christian East_
(June, 1924), p. 69.]
But Bishop Gore is once again echoing the words of [Anglican] Fr Puller, who
asserts "the Patriarch John managed to blunt very considerably the edge of
the Formulary, for by identifying in some curious fashion his own see of new Rome
with the papal see of old Rome, he managed to claim for the Constantinopolitan
see a share in all the special privileges which in the Formulary were assigned
to the Western apostolic chair." [_Primitive Saints and the See of Rome_,
p. 400]
But John could hardly claim a share in "all" the privileges of old
Rome. For example, Constantinople was not a "See of Peter."
When John prefaced to the Formula, "For I hold the most holy Churches of
your elder and our new Rome to be one Church. I define that the see of the
Apostle Peter and this of the imperial city to be one see," he might be
simply expressing the oneness of faith and closeness of union in a striking
manner just as Gregory the Great (in Ep. VII. 40) speaks of the
"oneness" of Antioch, Alexandria and Rome.
He desires to follow Rome in everything since in Rome is "the true and
perfect solidity of the Christian religion." ["Desiring to follow in
everything, as we said, the Apostolic See; and proclaiming all its
constitutions. I hope therefore to enter into communion with you,
representatives of the Apostolic See; it is there that the Christian religion
finds it perfect solidity."]
Personally I find it hard to see how his preamble blunted the edge of the
Formulary. He subscribed to all these "Roman Claims." What more could
the Pope want?
The Formula, indeed, is reproduced textually in the Letter Redditis mihi
Mgr. Battifol's comments on the above remarks of Bishop Gore are very much to
the point. "Bishop Gore accuse Jean d'etre un pauvre homme, `a poor
weak man,' qui a accepte toutes les conditions imposees par le pape Hormisdas
et par l'empereur Justin: ceci rend deja invraisemblable qu'il ait par son
preambule vide la formule de la signification que Rome lui donnait. Mais, en
fait, cette preface n'affecte pas la formule et affirme l'union que Jean
declare vouloir entre son siege et Rome."
As regards the last paragraph of the passage from Dr Gore's article,
"numbers of Eastern bishops were admitted to the communion of Rome without
signing anything except a statement of the orthodox faith," he is again
but following Father Fuller. And the lack of basis for this statement has been
so trenchantly and so completely exposed by Dom. Chapman, that there is nothing
to add. His strictures will be found in the footnotes, and Mgr. Battifol agrees
with Dom. Chapman's words: "Fr Puller's blunder is such a big one that a
public withdrawal would be desirable"...
The Formula of Pope Hormisdas was signed by the great Emperor Justinian, as we
shall later see. And the bishops at the Eighth General Council all subscribed
to it. But as this council is not now acknowledged by the Eastern Churches as
ecumenical, and as our deductions are drawn from the Seven Ecumenical Councils
common to East and West, the weight of the Formula, from an Eastern point of
view, is certainly lessened.
Hormisdas was succeeded by John I, and this pope is to be remembered as the
first pope to visit Constantinople [in 526]. It was not a willing visit
however; it was, in fact, one from which he shrank. The Arian king Theodoric
had incongruously compelled him to undertake the conduct of an embassy to
Constantinople, to obtain from the Emperor Justinian mitigation of his severe
policy,--the stern repression of the Arians in the East. For the Churches of
the heretics had compulsorily been surrendered to the Catholics, and they
themselves had been subjected to the utmost pressure to make them accept the
Catholic Faith.
The enthusiasm and reverence with which Pope John was received in
Constantinople were remarkable: the whole city being moved, and in its
thousands going out to greet with crosses and lights "the vicar of the
blessed Apostle Peter," and by their devotion "to honour the blessed
Apostle Peter."
[Here we will cite J.N.D. Kelly's description of Pope St John I's visit to
Constantinople which further shows it did not claim its see to be "equal
in honour" with Rome:
"Leaving Ravenna early in 526, the embassy reached Constantinople shortly
before Easter (19 Apr.). John was the first pope to leave Italy for the east,
and his mission was a humiliating one. His reception, however, was brilliant:
the whole city came out to the twelfth milestone to greet him, the emperor
[Justin I] prostrated himself before St Peter's vicar, and on Easter Day he was
given a throne in church higher than the patriarch's, celebrated mass according
to the Latin rite, and instead of the patriarch placed the customary Easter
crown on Justin's head." (The Oxford Dictionary of Popes,
....Documents relative to this pontificate are scanty. But it is evident from
the "glory" with which the pontiff was received at Constantinople,
and by the way in which he was treated by Theodoric on his return (he was cast
into prison at Ravenna, where shortly afterwards he died), that the Catholics were
satisfied, not only with his attitude towards the Arians, but also with his
confirmation of the Faith; and that, while doubtless urging the emperor to
clemency and forbearance with them, he had no idea of compromising or modifying
the doctrine of the Church.
For some historical background on some personages of this era, see:
Catholic
Encyclopedia article on Pope St Gelasius I
Catholic
Encyclopedia article on Pope St John I
Catholic
Encyclopedia article on Epiphanius of Constantinople