Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

ishops and patriarchs 735
Alexandria and even Severus. These events precipitated the setting up of
independent Monophysite churches in Egypt and Syria: Theodosius from
the capital supervised by letter his Egyptian congregations, and in 542
ordained missionary bishops for the Arabian and Syrian provinces. These
were Theodore of Arabia and Jacob Baradaeus (Bar�Addai). The latter,
though chiefly responding to pastoral need in ordaining many hundreds of
priests before his death in 578, also consolidated the divisions by ordaining
Sergius of Pella as patriarch of Antioch in 557/8. The Monophysite churches
(always fissiparous) were now separate from the imperial.
The imperial and patriarchal system was again tested by the controversy
over the Three Chapters. 16 The initial document of 543/5 and the anathemas
pressed upon the bishops in 551 had only Justinian’s authority. The west
was hostile, and the papal apocrisarii withdrew from communion with Menas.
Vigilius of Rome (537–55) was required to attend in Constantinople in 547.
His repeated shifts and contradictions are notorious. Justinian exposed
Vigilius’ prevarications to the council, which expunged his name from their
prayer-diptychs without excommunicating him. Vigilius at the end of 553
gave full assent to the condemnation of the Three Chapters, and was finally
allowed to travel home. He died in 555 before reaching Rome. His successor
Pelagius, who gave Justinian what he wanted in order to gain the
appointment, was to change sides again when he returned to the west. 17
All of this shows how hard it was to unify the Christian body of the
empire. Justinian expected to govern the church in his domain; but he was
frustrated by the religious passions of the easterns and by the inflexibility
of Rome. That see was acknowledged to hold a necessary or primary place
in settling worldwide affairs; but it was tied by its own traditions, theologically
grounded in Peter, and by its western constituency, unable to take the
steps which would enable the emperor to come to terms with the eastern
dissidents. The expedient of a council also failed: it could not satisfy both
pope and emperor, whose assent and enforcement are understood parts of
the process, or engage the theological dissidents of the east. To achieve
church unity more flexible views of tradition and dogma were needed. The
bishops of Rome increasingly became a point of stability, as was recognized
even by unsympathetic overlords. Theoderic II at Ravenna, acting as
a Christian monarch, took pains to settle the Laurentian schism in 498,
hearing the parties and arranging a compromise. Appeal was repeatedly
made to him by Laurence’s supporters, and it was not until 506 that
Symmachus was finally confirmed as bishop and got possession of all the
church buildings in the city. 18
16 See ch. 27 below. 17 Beck in Baus, Beck, Ewig and Vogt (1980) 452–5.
18 Baus in Baus, Beck, Ewig and Vogt (1980) 620–1.
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