Pope Constantine
Encyclopedia
Pope Constantine was pope
from 708 to 715. With the exception of Antipope Constantine, he was the only pope to take such a "quintessentially" Eastern name of an emperor. During this period, the regnal name was also used by emperors and patriarchs.
Selected as one of the last popes of the Byzantine Papacy
, the defining moment of Constantine's pontificate was his 710/711 visit to Constantinople
where he compromised with Justinian II
on the Trullan canons of the Quinisext Council
. Constantine was the last pope to visit Constantinople until Pope Paul VI
did again in 1967.
, and immersed in Eastern rituals and practices. By his upbringing, he would have been "fully at ease in the oriental milieu of the early-eight-century Byzantine court".
Before his selection as pope, he had visited Constantinople
twice. He was one of the Roman legates to the Third Council of Constantinople
there in 680/681. He also delivered a combative letter from Pope Leo II
to Constantine IV
in 682. He met and developed a rapport with Prince Justinian
, the heir apparent
to the Byzantine throne, on both occasions.
, a Syrian, was pope for only twenty days. Constantine became pope in March 708, less than two months later. Constantine was one of the many Greek popes of the Byzantine Papacy
, the period during which Rome was under the rule of the Byzantine Empire
and popes required the approval of the emperor for consecration
as pope.
The defining issue of the papacy at the time of Constatine's election was the Western rejection of the Trullan canons of the Quinisext Council
. Pope John VII
had been sent the canons for approval and instead had sent them back, "without any emendations at all". John VII's predecessor, Pope Sergius I
had declared that he would rather die than subscribe to the council.
In 710, Justinian II
demanded in an iussio that Constantine appear before the emperor in Constantinople. The imperial mandate made it "obvious that the relentless emperor meant to settle once and for all the issue of Rome's acceptance of the Trullan decrees". Unlike his predecessors, Constantine neither delayed nor made excuses to avoid appearing in the imperial city; in fact, he "identified with Byzantium as perhaps no Roman pontiff before him ever had". Prior to Constantine's departure, the emperor had blinded Archbishop Felix of Ravenna
for plotting to overthrow the emperor, an act that had improved the papal-Byzantine rapport. However, Constantine's primary motivation for the trip was to "forestall" a rift between Rome and Constantinople over the Trullan decrees.
Constantine departed on October 5, 710. In Constantinople, Constantine stayed in the Placidia Palace
, which had formerly been occupied by Pope Vigilius
in 547, the representatives of Pope Martin I
(who were prohibited from saying Mass therin), and Pope Agatho
(attending the Third Council of Constantinople
). Eleven of Constantine's thirteen companions who can be identified by name (two bishops, three priests, and all the ranking members of the papal chancellery and household) were also of Eastern extraction. Also accompanying Constantine was the future Pope Gregory II
, then a deacon, and another Latin subdeacon Julian. Constantine specifically chose attendants who were "cut from similar cloth" as he, and likely to be sympathetic to the East.
While stopping in transit in Naples, Constantine crossed paths with Exarch of Ravenna John III Rizocopo
, then on his way to Rome to execute four high-ranking papal officials by cutting their throats. The four (as evidenced by their staying behind) were opposed to Constantine's new policy of rapproachment with Constantinople. Doubtlessly, Constantine himself learned of the exarch's errand before departing for Sicily
, then Gallipoli, and then Otranto
, where the group stayed for winter. In the spring, Constantine crossed the Ionian Sea
, meeting the strategos
of the imperial fleet on the island of Chios
and was received by the Karabisianoi
before proceeding to Constantinople.
Constantine entered Constantinople on a "horse caparisoned with gilded saddle clothes and golden bridles and bearing on its head the kamelaukion, or diadem, which the sovereign alone was authorized to wear and then only on 'a great public festival of the Lord'". Justinian II's son and co-emperor Tiberios (along with Patriarch Kyros, senators, nobles, clerics, and many others) greeted Constantine at the seventh milestone from the city, in the style of an imperial adventus
. Justinian II was in Nicaea at the time and urged the pontiff to meet him in Nicomedia
. The Liber pontificalis
recounts a bizarre scene of the crowned emperor prostrating himself before the pope but a more mutual greeting is probable. That Sunday, Justinian II received communion
from the hands of the pope and issued a vague confirmation of the various privileges of the Roman See.
The negotiations regarding the Trullan canons were conducted by the future Pope Gregory II
. A degree of compromise (the "so-called Compromise of Nicomedia")—which "diplomatically skirted" the actual issue of their acceptance—was reached. While Constantine made concessions regarding the economia, he did not give ground on the vast majority of the Roman grievances. The agreement was more designed to secure East-West political unity than resolve any doctrinal dispute. The fact of Constantine's having been summoned to Constantinople was the real proof that the "imperial writ still ran in Rome". Constantine left the city in October 711.
However, shortly after Constantine's return to Rome
, Justinian was killed by mutinous troops, in November 711.
The new emperor, Philippikos Bardanes was an adherent of Monothelitism
, rejected the arrangements of the Third Council of Constantinople, and demanded Constantine's support of the view that Christ had only one will. In 712, Constantine rejected Philippikos's demand to revive Monothelitism; he further refused to receive an imperial portrait or coins with the emperor's image, and also refused to commemorate the emperor in Mass. As the exarch
(the imperial representative in Italy) attempted to enforce the imperial presence there were clashes, but Constantine was able to calm the situation.
Philippus was overthrown in June 713, and his successor, Anastasius II had exarch Scholasticus
deliver to the Pope a letter affirming his support for the Sixth General Council.
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...
from 708 to 715. With the exception of Antipope Constantine, he was the only pope to take such a "quintessentially" Eastern name of an emperor. During this period, the regnal name was also used by emperors and patriarchs.
Selected as one of the last popes of the Byzantine Papacy
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...
, the defining moment of Constantine's pontificate was his 710/711 visit to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
where he compromised with Justinian II
Justinian II
Justinian II , surnamed the Rhinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine Emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711...
on the Trullan canons of the Quinisext Council
Quinisext Council
The Quinisext Council was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Justinian II. It is often known as the Council in Trullo, because it was held in the same domed hall where the Sixth Ecumenical Council had met...
. Constantine was the last pope to visit Constantinople until Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
did again in 1967.
Early life
Constantine was an Assyrian by birth, fluent in the Greek languageGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, and immersed in Eastern rituals and practices. By his upbringing, he would have been "fully at ease in the oriental milieu of the early-eight-century Byzantine court".
Before his selection as pope, he had visited Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
twice. He was one of the Roman legates to 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...
there in 680/681. He also delivered a combative letter from Pope Leo II
Pope Leo II
-Background and early activity in the Church:He was a Sicilian by birth , and succeeded Agatho. Though elected pope a few days after the death of St. Agatho , he was not consecrated till after the lapse of a year and seven months...
to Constantine IV
Constantine IV
Constantine IV , , sometimes incorrectly called Pogonatos, "the Bearded", by confusion with his father; was Byzantine emperor from 668 to 685...
in 682. He met and developed a rapport with Prince Justinian
Justinian II
Justinian II , surnamed the Rhinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine Emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711...
, the heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
to the Byzantine throne, on both occasions.
Selection as Pope
Constantine's predecessor Pope SisinniusPope Sisinnius
Pope Sisinnius was Pope for about three weeks in 708.A Syrian by birth, Sisinnius's father's name was John. The paucity of donations to the papacy during his reign indicate that he was probably not from the aristocracy.Sisinnius was selected as...
, a Syrian, was pope for only twenty days. Constantine became pope in March 708, less than two months later. Constantine was one of the many Greek popes of the Byzantine Papacy
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...
, the period during which Rome was under the rule of the Byzantine 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...
and popes required the approval of the emperor 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...
as pope.
The defining issue of the papacy at the time of Constatine's election was the Western rejection of the Trullan canons of the Quinisext Council
Quinisext Council
The Quinisext Council was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Justinian II. It is often known as the Council in Trullo, because it was held in the same domed hall where the Sixth Ecumenical Council had met...
. Pope John VII
Pope John VII
Pope John VII was pope from 705 to 707. The successor of John VI, he was of Greek ancestry. He is one of the popes of the Byzantine captivity.-Biography:...
had been sent the canons for approval and instead had sent them back, "without any emendations at all". John VII's predecessor, Pope Sergius I
Pope Sergius I
Pope Saint Sergius I was pope from 687 to 701. Selected to end a schism between Antipope Paschal and Antipope Theodore, Sergius I ended the last disputed sede vacante of the Byzantine Papacy....
had declared that he would rather die than subscribe to the council.
Papal visit to Constantinople
Justinian II
Justinian II , surnamed the Rhinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine Emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711...
demanded in an iussio that Constantine appear before the emperor in Constantinople. The imperial mandate made it "obvious that the relentless emperor meant to settle once and for all the issue of Rome's acceptance of the Trullan decrees". Unlike his predecessors, Constantine neither delayed nor made excuses to avoid appearing in the imperial city; in fact, he "identified with Byzantium as perhaps no Roman pontiff before him ever had". Prior to Constantine's departure, the emperor had blinded Archbishop Felix of Ravenna
Felix of Ravenna
Felix was an archbishop of Ravenna of the eighth century, in office 709 to his death.He was consecrated by Pope Constantine, but soon afterwards asserted his independence from Rome. When Ravenna was captured by the forces of Justinian II, Felix was taken to Constantinople, tried and blinded, and...
for plotting to overthrow the emperor, an act that had improved the papal-Byzantine rapport. However, Constantine's primary motivation for the trip was to "forestall" a rift between Rome and Constantinople over the Trullan decrees.
Constantine departed on October 5, 710. In Constantinople, Constantine stayed in the Placidia Palace
Placidia Palace
The Placidia Palace was the official residence of the papal apocrisiarius , and the intermittent home of the Pope himself when in residence at Constantinople...
, which had formerly been occupied by Pope Vigilius
Pope Vigilius
Pope Vigilius reigned as pope from 537 to 555, is considered the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy.-Early life:He belonged to a aristocratic Roman family; his father Johannes is identified as a consul in the Liber pontificalis, having received that title from the emperor...
in 547, the representatives of 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...
(who were prohibited from saying Mass therin), and Pope Agatho
Pope Agatho
-Background and early life:Little is known of Agatho before his papacy. A letter written by St. Gregory the Great to the abbot of St. Hermes in Palermo mentions an Agatho, a Greek born in Sicily to wealthy parents. He wished to give away his inheritance and join a monastery, and in this letter...
(attending 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...
). Eleven of Constantine's thirteen companions who can be identified by name (two bishops, three priests, and all the ranking members of the papal chancellery and household) were also of Eastern extraction. Also accompanying Constantine was the future Pope Gregory II
Pope Gregory II
Pope Saint Gregory II was pope from May 19, 715 to his death on February 11, 731, succeeding Pope Constantine. Having, it is said, bought off the Lombards for thirty pounds of gold, Charles Martel having refused his call for aid, he used the tranquillity thus obtained for vigorous missionary...
, then a deacon, and another Latin subdeacon Julian. Constantine specifically chose attendants who were "cut from similar cloth" as he, and likely to be sympathetic to the East.
While stopping in transit in Naples, Constantine crossed paths with Exarch of Ravenna John III Rizocopo
John III Rizocopo
John III Rizocopo was an Exarch of Ravenna .Following the restoration of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian II, he sent a military force to savage Ravenna...
, then on his way to Rome to execute four high-ranking papal officials by cutting their throats. The four (as evidenced by their staying behind) were opposed to Constantine's new policy of rapproachment with Constantinople. Doubtlessly, Constantine himself learned of the exarch's errand before departing for Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, then Gallipoli, and then Otranto
Otranto
Otranto is a town and comune in the province of Lecce , in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses.It is located on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. The Strait of Otranto, to which the city gives its name, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and Italy with Albania...
, where the group stayed for winter. In the spring, Constantine crossed the Ionian Sea
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...
, meeting the strategos
Strategos
Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...
of the imperial fleet on the island of Chios
Chios
Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
and was received by the Karabisianoi
Karabisianoi
The Karabisianoi , sometimes anglicized as the Carabisians, were the mainstay of the Byzantine navy from the mid-7th century until the early 8th century. The name derives from the Greek karabos or karabis for "ship", and literally means "people of the ships, sea-men"...
before proceeding to Constantinople.
Constantine entered Constantinople on a "horse caparisoned with gilded saddle clothes and golden bridles and bearing on its head the kamelaukion, or diadem, which the sovereign alone was authorized to wear and then only on 'a great public festival of the Lord'". Justinian II's son and co-emperor Tiberios (along with Patriarch Kyros, senators, nobles, clerics, and many others) greeted Constantine at the seventh milestone from the city, in the style of an imperial adventus
Adventus (ceremony)
The adventus was a ceremony in ancient Rome, in which an emperor was formally welcomed into a city either during a progress or after a military campaign, often Rome. The term is also used to refer to artistic depicitions of such ceremonies. Its 'opposite' is the profectio.-External links:*...
. Justinian II was in Nicaea at the time and urged the pontiff to meet him in Nicomedia
Nicomedia
Nicomedia was an ancient city in what is now Turkey, founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and was originally known as Astacus . After being destroyed by Lysimachus, it was rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most...
. The Liber pontificalis
Liber Pontificalis
The Liber Pontificalis is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V , but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and then Pope Pius II...
recounts a bizarre scene of the crowned emperor prostrating himself before the pope but a more mutual greeting is probable. That Sunday, Justinian II received communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
from the hands of the pope and issued a vague confirmation of the various privileges of the Roman See.
The negotiations regarding the Trullan canons were conducted by the future Pope Gregory II
Pope Gregory II
Pope Saint Gregory II was pope from May 19, 715 to his death on February 11, 731, succeeding Pope Constantine. Having, it is said, bought off the Lombards for thirty pounds of gold, Charles Martel having refused his call for aid, he used the tranquillity thus obtained for vigorous missionary...
. A degree of compromise (the "so-called Compromise of Nicomedia")—which "diplomatically skirted" the actual issue of their acceptance—was reached. While Constantine made concessions regarding the economia, he did not give ground on the vast majority of the Roman grievances. The agreement was more designed to secure East-West political unity than resolve any doctrinal dispute. The fact of Constantine's having been summoned to Constantinople was the real proof that the "imperial writ still ran in Rome". Constantine left the city in October 711.
Later imperial disputes
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Justinian was killed by mutinous troops, in November 711.
The new emperor, Philippikos Bardanes was an adherent of 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...
, rejected the arrangements of the Third Council of Constantinople, and demanded Constantine's support of the view that Christ had only one will. In 712, Constantine rejected Philippikos's demand to revive Monothelitism; he further refused to receive an imperial portrait or coins with the emperor's image, and also refused to commemorate the emperor in Mass. As the exarch
Exarch
In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was governor with extended authority of a province at some remove from the capital Constantinople. The prevailing situation frequently involved him in military operations....
(the imperial representative in Italy) attempted to enforce the imperial presence there were clashes, but Constantine was able to calm the situation.
Philippus was overthrown in June 713, and his successor, Anastasius II had exarch Scholasticus
Scholasticus
Scholasticus was an exarch of Ravenna .In 713 he was appointed as exarch, the same year Anastasius became Byzantine Emperor, and overthrew the Monothelite Emperor Philippicus. Scholasticus was charged with giving a letter to Pope Constantine, which described Anastasius' allegiance to orthodoxy,...
deliver to the Pope a letter affirming his support for the Sixth General Council.