The Holy See and the Wandering of the Nations, from St. Leo I to St. Gregory IAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
History
The Holy See and the Wandering of the Nations, from St. Leo I to St. Gregory I
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600
the Lord cannot be passed over, saying, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build My Church". They added that the course of five hundred years
had exemplified the fact "that the solidity of the Christian religion rests
entire and perfect in the Apostolic See". The rebellion of Acacius in 483
drew forth this confession from his successor, John II., in 519.
The seven successors of St. Leo stood as one man. No variation in their
language or their conduct can be found. Not so the seven successors of
Anatolius at Constantinople. That bishop, who had seen himself foiled by
the vigour and sagacity of St. Leo at the Council of Chalcedon, lived
afterwards on good terms with him, and died in 458, in his lifetime. He was
succeeded by Gennadius, who, during the thirteen years of his episcopate,
was faithful both to the creed which St. Leo had preserved and to the
dignity of the Apostolic See. He was followed by Acacius, who occupied the
see from 471 to 489. There was some quality in Acacius which gained the
favour of princes. He had charmed at once the old emperor Leo I.; but Zeno,
whose influence first made him bishop, afterwards followed all his
teaching. He had also gained a renown for orthodoxy by refusing the
attempt of Basiliscus to make the imperial will a rule of Church doctrine.
It was when his stronger mind had mastered Zeno that he began the desperate
attempt against the doctrine and discipline of the Apostolic See which has
been our chief subject. But when he died in 489, his successor Fravita at
once renounced the position which he had taken up by asking the recognition
of Pope Felix and restoring his name in the diptychs. It is true that in
his conduct he was double-dealing, and, while he sought for the Pope's
recognition, parleyed with the heretical patriarch of Alexandria. But he
died in three months, and was succeeded by Euphemius, who likewise
repudiated the act of Acacius, and earnestly sought reconciliation with the
Pope, while he was unwilling to fulfil the condition of it--that he should
erase the name of Acacius from the diptychs. The six years' episcopate of
Euphemius was one long contest with the treachery and persecution of the
emperor Anastasius, who at last, by help of the resident council, was able
to depose him. He placed Macedonius in his stead, who again sought to be
reconciled with the Pope, but only would not pay the price of renouncing
the person, as he fully renounced the conduct, of Acacius. During fifteen
years, from 496 to 511, as Euphemius had resisted the covert heresy of
Anastasius, so did Macedonius, and, like him, he fell at last before the
enmity of the emperor. Upon the deposition of Macedonius, the emperor
obtained the election of Timotheus, who during seven years was his docile
instrument. When he died in 518, the bishop John was elected, whose great
desire was the restoration of unity, with the maintenance of the faith of
Chalcedon. By side of the seven Popes succeeding St. Leo put the seven
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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