A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

754 A Source Book for Ancient Church History[691]he advanced and came to Castrum Maturianense. Petasius waskilled, his head was cut off and sent to Constantinople, to theprince; nevertheless the Emperor showed no great favor to theRomans.After these things the malice of the Emperor became evident,on account of which he had persecuted the pontiff. For hecompelled all the inhabitants of Constantinople, by force andpersuasion, to displace the images of the Saviour as well as ofHis holy mother, and of all saints, wherever they were, and(what is horrible to tell) to burn them in the fire in the middleof the city, and to whitewash all the painted churches. Becausevery many of the people of the city withstood the commission ofsuch an enormity, they were subjected to punishment; some werebeheaded, others lost a part of their body. For this reason also,because Germanus, the prelate of the church of Constantinople,was unwilling to consent to this, the Emperor deprived him ofhis pontifical position, and appointed in his place the presbyterAnastasius, an accomplice. Anastasius sent to the Pope a synodicalletter, but when that holy man saw that he held the sameerror, he did not regard him as brother and fellow-priest, butwrote him warning letters, commanding him to be put out of hissacerdotal office unless he returned to the Catholic faith. He alsocharged the Emperor, urging wholesome advice, that he shoulddesist from such execrable wickedness, and he warned him byletter. 327(b) John of Damascus, De Fide Orthodoxa, IV, 16. (MSG,94:1168.)John of Damascus (ob. ante 754) was the last of the ChurchFathers of the East. He became the classical representativeof the theology of the Eastern Church, and his system forms327 See introduction to this extract.