Lateran Council of 649 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Lateran Council of 649 was a synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran

Basilica of St. John Lateran

The Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran , commonly known as St. John Lateran's Archbasilica and St. John Lateran's Basilica, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope...

to condemn Monothelitism

Monothelitism

Monothelitism is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus, known as a Christological doctrine, that formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629. Specifically, monothelitism teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will...

, a Christology

Christology

Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...

espoused by many Eastern Christians. The council did not achieve ecumenical status

Ecumenical council

An ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....

in either East or West, but represented the first attempt of a pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

to convene an ecumenical council independent of the Roman emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

.

According to Ekonomou, the irony of the Council was that the denunciation of the theology of Constantinople came from the "collaboration of a Greco-Palestinian pope

Byzantine Papacy

The Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen from the apocrisiarii or the inhabitants of Byzantine Greece, Byzantine Syria, or Byzantine Sicily...

and a Constantinopolitan monk employing a style of theological discourse whose tradition was purely Eastern". Although Pope Martin I

Pope Martin I

Pope Martin I, born near Todi, Umbria in the place now named after him , was pope from 649 to 653, succeeding Pope Theodore I in July 5, 649. The only pope during the Byzantine Papacy whose election was not approved by a iussio from Constantinople, Martin I was abducted by Constans II and died in...

and Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...

were abducted by Constans II and tried in Constantinople for their role in the Council (Martin I being replaced as pope before dying in exile), their position was ultimately endorsed by the Third Council of Constantinople

Third Council of Constantinople

The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and other Christian groups, met in 680/681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical and defined Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills...

in 680.

Planning

Most members of the contemporary Roman clergy would have been too uneducated in theology to "grasp even the fundamental issues presented in the Monothelite controversy" due to centuries of decay in both religious and secular learning in the city. However, Rome had been the beneficiary of a brain drain

Brain drain

Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...

of the Eastern empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

, as Greek monks like Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...

fled from Africa and the Middle East to Rome. Although the position of the council was substantially similar to that espoused by the Council of Chalcedon

Council of Chalcedon

The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...

, "for the first time in well over a century, the church of Rome would be in a position to debate theological issues with Byzantium from position of equality in both intellectual substance and rhetorical form".

The synod has its roots in a series of correspondence between Pope Theodore I

Pope Theodore I

Pope Theodore I , who was pope from November 24, 642, to May 14, 649, is considered a Greek, but was born in Jerusalem. He was made a cardinal deacon, and a full cardinal by Pope John IV....

and Maximus dating to 646, before the latter's arrival in Rome. The momentum for the Council was almost extinguished when Patriarch Pyrrhus of Constantinople in late 646/early 647 denounced Monothelitism before the Roman clergy and laity. However, Pyrrhus changed his mind upon leaving Rome and arriving in Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

, and his successor Paul II of Constantinople was of the same mind.

Emperor Constans II issued the Typos in 648 which prohibited any discussion of the issue of "one will and one energy, or two energies and two wills" in Christ. The Typos was viewed as an unacceptable threat to the legacy of Chalcedon, and thus hardened the determination of Theodore and Maximus to convene a council. Maximus and other monks from his order did all of "planning, preparation, and scripting" of the Council. In contrast, there is little evidence that Pope Theodore did much to prepare for the Council.

Ecumenical status

Maximus and Theodore did not regard the Council as merely a meeting of the Roman church, but rather one "in the nature of a general or ecumenical council". In a letter to a Cypriot priest, Maximus referred to the council as the "sixth synod, which through the divine inspiration of God set forth with all pure piety the doctrines of the holy Fathers".

Never before had the pope—or any prominent Christian leader—challenged the authority of the Roman emperor alone to convene an ecumenical council

Ecumenical council

An ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....

. Even Athanasius, the virulent opponent of Constantius II

Constantius II

Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....

's Arianism

Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...

had conceded this to the emperor he regarded as a heretic

Heresy

Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

. The papacy also had long regarded ecumenical councils as the prerogative of the emperor; for example, when Pope Julius I

Pope Julius I

Pope Saint Julius I, was pope from February 6, 337 to April 12, 352.He was a native of Rome and was chosen as successor of Mark after the Roman seat had been vacant for four months. He is chiefly known by the part he took in the Arian controversy...

convened a synod to rehabilitate Athanasius (condemned by the First Synod of Tyre

First Synod of Tyre

The First Synod of Tyre or the Council of Tyre was a gathering of bishops called together by Emperor Constantine I for the primary purpose of evaluating charges brought against Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria.-Background:...

), he defended the practice by claiming the synod was not meant to be general or ecumenical. Although the Council planned to send its canons to Constans II for ratification, there was little doubt that this would be viewed as "form without substance". Theodore and Maximus were undoubtedly aware that they were "claiming nothing less than a revolutionary role for the Papacy".

Later popes would de facto repudiate this usurpation by allowing the emperor to convene the Third Council of Constantinople

Third Council of Constantinople

(680). Nevertheless, the Lateran Council of 649 constituted a watershed moment in the history of the primacy of the Roman pontiff

Primacy of the Roman Pontiff

The primacy of the Bishop of Rome is an ecclesiastical doctrine held by some branches of Christianity, most notably the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion. The doctrine concerns the respect and authority that is due to the Bishop of Rome from bishops and their...

. In an attempt to legitimize the council, neither Maximus nor Theodore attempted to innovate further with its methodology.

Death of Theodore

Pope Theodore died on May 14, 649, while preparing for the Council. His death left Maximus without his patron and collaborator of the last three years and the "Papacy vacant at one of the most crucial times in the church's history". The Roman clergy was faced with the impossible dilemma of finding a successor with the intellectual reputation to convene the Council who would not be denied the iussio of the emperor required for consecration

Consecration

Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...

.

Due to the influence of Maximus, on July 5, 649, a deacon from Todi was consecrated as Pope Martin I

Pope Martin I

, the first (and only) pope consecrated without imperial approval during the Byzantine Papacy

Byzantine Papacy

. Although he was the former apocrisiarius

Apocrisiarius

An apocrisiarius, the Latinized form of apokrisiarios , sometimes Anglicized as apocrisiary, was a high diplomatic representative during Late Antiquity and the early medieval period. The corresponding Latin term was responsalis...

to Constantinople and well respected in the East, Martin's election was an indisputable "battle cry against Constantinople". Martin's stature and proficiency in Greek are attested to by Theodore's offer to appoint Martin as his personal representative to an earlier proposed synod in Constantinople.

News of the impending council reached Constantinople as Martin prepared for it during the summer and fall, but the empire was "far too occupied with crises in the East to divert its attention". Far from being spontaneous or extemporaneous, the Council had been meticulously prepared and rehearsed over the previous three years. Despite Martin's nominal role in presiding over the Council, none of its participants were ignorant of the decisive influence of Maximus in bringing it about. According to Ekonomou, the Council was "in form as well as substance, a manifestly Byzantine affair".

Attendance

The Council was attended by 105 bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s, all but one from the western portion of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

. Stephen of Dor, a Palestinian, was the only bishop whose See was not in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, or Africa. Transalpine Europe, Spain, Greece, and Crete—despite lying within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Rome—were not represented. One-fourth of the bishops were (as indicated by their names) likely of Eastern ethnicity or origin and thus probably Greek-speaking.

The most prominent speaking roles were taken by (in descending order): Pope Martin I

Pope Martin I

, Bishop Maximos of Aquileia, Bishop Deusdedit of Cagliari in Sardinia, Bishop Maurus of Cesena (in lieu of the archbishop of Ravenna), Sergius of Tempsa, Benedict of Ajaccio from Corsica, and Leontios of Naples. With the exception of Leontios, these were also the highest-ranking bishops present. The other ninety-eight bishops were essentially spectators, speaking (allegedly) in unison only five times, present only to bolster the Council's claim to ecumenical status. Most of these were not well-educated enough to understand the complexities of the Monothelite controversy, with many knowing only that Monothelitism diverged from the Council of Chalcedon

Council of Chalcedon

First session

The Council was convoked on October 5, 649 by the Greek cleric Theophylaktos, the principal notary of the Apostolic See, chief of the papal chancery and library, invoking the regnal year of the "august and most pious lord Constantine

Constans II

Constans II , also called Constantine the Bearded , was Byzantine emperor from 641 to 668. He also was the last emperor to become consul in 642, becoming the last Roman consul in history....

". Pope Martin I

Pope Martin I

then read a pre-prepared speech criticizing Monothelitism

Monothelitism

(a view held by the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria), denouncing the Ekthesis and Typos, and claiming for Rome the apostolic authority to weed out heresy

Heresy

. Martin quoted five Greek authors and two texts by Pope Leo I

Pope Leo I

Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...

. The bishops of Aquileia

Aquileia

Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...

and Cagliari

Cagliari

Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...

spoke next, with remarks in much the same fashion, followed by representatives of the archbishop of Ravenna (himself absent).

The entire convocation together assented to the previous remarks and recessed for two days.

Second session

The second session was convened on October 8 by Theophylaktos, who acknowledged the presence of late arrival Stephen of Dor, the papal vicar in Palestine, deputized to depose the Monothelite clergy of Sergius of Joppa. Bishop Stephen had arrived to deliver his own tract against Monothelitism, which was translated from Greek to Latin by papal notary Anastasios. The pope endorsed the speech upon its completion.

A delegation of Greek abbots, priests, and monks (many of whom had been resident in Rome for years) were then admitted to the synod by Theophylaktos to present their own tract denouncing Monothelitism. As the bishop of Aquileia insisted, Theodoros translated these remarks into Latin. The tract was signed by thirty-six monks, among them Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...

. These presence of these Easterners was designed to bolster the claim to ecumenical status of the Council, anticipating that Constantinople would decry it as a regional assembly.

Third session

the third session took place on October 17 and consisted of Pope Martin responding to eleven excerpts of pro-Monothelite arguments by Theodore of Pharan's letter to Sergius of Arsinoe, and the citing of Eastern patristic sources in response. Martin appealed to a text of Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...

to rebut the arguments of Cyrus of Alexandria

Cyrus of Alexandria

Cyrus of Alexandria was a Melchite patriarch of the Egyptian see of Alexandria in the seventh century, one of the authors of Monothelism and last Byzantine prefect of Egypt; died about 641.-Biography:...

and Sergius I of Constantinople

Sergius I of Constantinople

Sergius I was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 610 to 638.In 626 during the absence of Emperor Heraclius on campaign against Sassanid Persia, the Avars laid siege to Constantinople. Along with the magister militum Bonus, he had been named regent and was in charge of the city's defense...

Fourth session

On October 19, the synod referenced the two letters of Gregory Nazianzen and a text by Anastasios Sinaites.

Fifth session

The last session of the council took place on October 31, relying on florilegia from various Greek theologians. An excerpt from the Fifth Ecumenical Council on how to determine appropriate authority of texts was read at the suggestion of Leontios of Naples. Excerpts from fifty-eight texts by twenty-one authors (sixteen Greek and five Latin) were then read. After more texts were read, the Council proclaimed its adherence to the five previous ecumenical councils and condemned all those who disagreed.

Al together 161 texts were quoted to the fifth session, 27 from Maximus's Tomus Spiritualis, with the vast majority originating in the East.

Canons

The council's acts and decrees were disseminated along with a papal encyclical claiming the "faith of the universal church" by virtue of having "exercised the collective power of the episcopate". Of course, as Martin and Maximus were aware, all the previous councils regarded as ecumenical were convened by the emperor, not the pope. This encyclical itself was likely written by Maximus.

Until recently, the predominant historical view was that the acts and proceedings of the Council were written in Latin and then translated into Greek; Ekonomou's more recent analysis of the texts suggests the opposite to be true. None of the Council's prime movers were native Latin speakers, including Pope Martin and Maximus the Confessor.

The Council's formal pronouncements amounted to 20 canons. Canons X and XI are the ones with specifically take up the subject of Christ's two wills and two energies, based predominately on Maximus's earlier disputation against Pyrrhus while in Carthage.

The Council's canons were promulgated widely in Western Europe, being sent to: bishop Amandus of Maastricht (to arrange for Sigebert III

Sigebert III

Sigebert III was the king of Austrasia from 634 to his death; probably on 1 February 656, or maybe as late as 660. He was the eldest son of Dagobert I....

to convene a Frankish synod), bishop John of Philadelphia, bishop Theodore of Esbas in Arabia, bishop Anthony of Bacatha, archimandrite

Archimandrite

The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...

George of St. Theodosios's monastery, bishop Pantaleon of Dor, bishop Paul of Thessalonica, and the Christian communities of Jerusalem and Antioch.

Aftermath

The Roman public, independent of their distaste for Monothelitism, harbored a "growing resentment toward Byzantine political domination", as expressed by the recent revolt of Mauricius against the Exarch of Ravenna Isaac

Isaac the Armenian

Isaac the Armenian was an Exarch of Ravenna hailing from the Kamsarakan clan. The chronology of the Exarchate in this period is uncertain: either he succeeded Euselnus and served c. 625 - 644; he succeeded Eleutherius, and served 620 - 637....

. Two years later, Theodore I took the "bold and unprecedented act of presuming to depose" Patriarch Paul II of Constantinople, one of the leading proponents of Monothelitism. Neither Theodore nor the Roman public desired political independence from Constantinople, but Theodore calculated that "the time was now particularly propitious to press Rome's position against Constantinople on the Monothelite question with even greater vigor".

Theodore did not believe his own authority ex cathedra

Ex Cathedra

Ex Cathedra is a British choir and early music ensemble based in Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. It performs choral music spanning the 15th to 21st centuries, and regularly commissions new works....

nor his attempted deposition of the Patriarch to be sufficient to defeat Monothelitism; rather he hoped that the strength of the argument of the council itself would win the day.

Trial in Constantinople

Within four years of the closing of the Council, Pope Martin I

Pope Martin I

and Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...

were arrested and brought to Constantinople for trial, for violating the Typoss prohibition on discussing the subject.

During his first trial in June 654 Maximus was asked by sakellarios

Sakellarios

Sakellarios is an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties . The title was used in the Byzantine Empire with varying functions, and remains in use in the Eastern Orthodox Church....

Troilus where he had condemned the Typos, he replied "at the synod of Rome in the Church of the Savior

Basilica of St. John Lateran

". Demosthenes exclaimed in reply that the Roman pontiff had been deposed, Maximus responded that the validity of the argument of the Council did not depend on the legitimacy of the pontiff that convened it.

Martin I was exiled, eventually arriving in Tauric Chersonese in May 655. In an unusual move, a successor to Martin I was elected in 654 while he still lived and his name retained its anathema

Anathema

Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...

, escaping mention by even any of his successors for 75 years. Pope Eugene I

Pope Eugene I

Pope Saint Eugene I or Eugenius I, was pope from 10 August 654, to 1 June 657.He was a native of Rome, born to one Rufinianus. He was elected pope on 10 August 654, ascended in 655, and died on 1 June 657, of natural causes.-Early life:...

normalized relations with Constantinople, and although he avoided pressing the issues of the Christological controversy, he ceremonially refused a letter from the Patriarch of Constantinople.

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