LANCING at the reign of Justinian, emperor of the East, will give us some what of an insight into the state of religion at that time as far as it can be gathered from histories. Justinian is often called Roman emperor; but the West was so over-run by the barbarians, especially the Goths, that he held little more than nominal sway over the West—at times it was really ruled by the Goths.
It will be seen that by wide-spread profession all were regarded as Christians of some sort, except the Jews and a few who still regarded themselves as pagan philosophers. The emperor ruled in the church as well as in the state, and the clergy greatly influenced the acts of the state.
In A.D. 527, Justinian became emperor. He was a moral man, and took much interest in all ecclesiastical questions. He seemed to think that the regulation of such matters was his especial work, for he left the political and military subjects to the management of others. A work of his in Greek, against the Monophysites, has been published by cardinal Angelo Mai.
He was liberal in his gifts for building churches and hospitals, but he has been charged with raising the funds by extortion, bribery, false accusations, and unjust confiscations, altogether regardless of God's being unable to bless such apparent liberality. He spent an enormous sum of money on the re-building of the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, which had been burnt down at the time when Chrysostom was banished, and once after. When the emperor viewed the beautiful building at its dedication (A.D. 544) he thanked God for having permitted him to complete so great a work; but then impiously exclaimed, “O Solomon, I have surpassed thee!" Three years after an earthquake shattered the dome of the church; but Justinian rebuilt it with still increased height and splendor.
To this cathedral were attached, by one of its laws, sixty priests, a hundred deacons, forty deaconesses, ninety subdeacons, a hundred and ten readers, five and twenty singers, and a hundred door-keepers. Alas! how the simplicity of the early worship in the church had become destroyed! It could not be otherwise when it was sought to out-do the outward splendor of the times of Solomon.
Up to this date there were still a few teachers of pagan philosophy at Athens, though they were obliged to pay outward respect to the religion of the state. Justinian ordered the schools to be closed. The philosophers fled to Persia, hoping to find patronage from the king, but were disappointed, and returned to their own land. They lived unmolested to their death, but left no successors. Thus ended pagan philosophy in the midst of Christendom. It had survived some five hundred years after the introduction of Christianity. But it is remarkable how similar the pretended intercourse of these philosophers with higher powers was to the pretended miracles and visions that were then professed in the church!
In the year 529 it was enacted that no pagan or heretic should hold any civil or military office. Such persons were also given three months to decide whether they would abjure their errors, or be banished; or if they remained they were to be deprived of all civil and religious privileges. This produced a great mass of pretended ‘conversions.’ But some would not yield, and with the greatest infatuation preferred suicide. Thus, in Phrygia some Montanists actually shut themselves up in their meeting-houses, set fire to the buildings, and perished in the flames.
Justinian professed to hold with the council of Chalcedon in its principal decision, that there were two natures in Christ; but his wife Theodora was a zealous Monophysite. Through her influence, Severus, who had been expelled from Antioch, was brought to Constantinople, and Anthimus, an enemy of the council of Chalcedon, was made primate of the eastern church.
In the year following (537) the Gothic king compelled Agapetus primate of Rome to visit Constantinople on a political mission, and while there, he put before the emperor the errors of the archbishop, and obtained his deposition on the plea that he had been translated from another see, contrary to the canons. Mennas was then made primate; he called a council, and Anthimus was declared to be a heretic and was excommunicated.
In the meantime Agapetus died at Constantinople, and Vigilius his archdeacon was urged by Theodora to become a candidate for the papacy. The emperor promised his influence and his money if Vigilius would oppose the council of Chalcedon, and communicate with the expelled Anthimus. But before Vigilius reached Rome, Sylverius, a subdeacon, had been elected.
Justinian had made war against the Goths, and had taken Rome. In the next year Rome was besieged by the Goths. Justinian's general, Belisarius, summoned Sylverius into his presence and charged him with treasonable correspondence with the enemy. This he denied, but written evidence was produced which left no defense. He was stripped of his robes, and sent off by sea. Vigilius was elected, and he paid Belisarius two hundred pounds of gold for his interest!
Here was a most flagrant case of simony, and that too by the pope himself. And his predecessor had been guilty of treason. Such were the men at this age who pretended to hold the sacred office of bishop of Rome, yea, primate of the church universal!
The next act of Justinian was to issue an edict against the doctrines of Origen. Few held with Origen, or cared for his teaching, but the emperor drew up an edict detailing ten heresies drawn from his works. A council was called, and the wishes of the emperor were confirmed. This is a matter now of very little moment, except that it shews how the emperor was the prime mover of that which, if needful, should have been cared for by the church generally.
Justinian still labored to bring about a union with the Monophysite party and those called orthodox. He determined to write a treatise that should convince the former of their error. While he contemplated this, it was artfully suggested to him that his object would be more easily obtained by condemning certain writings approved at Chalcedon, but which the Monophysites disliked, and which they alleged the orthodox ought also to disavow.
Three articles were especially named to be condemned: 1, The writings and person of Theodore of Mopsuestia; 2, The treatise of Theodoret against Cyril; and 3, a letter written by Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to the Persian bishop Maris. These have been called the "Three Chapters," from the words used in the original; but may be more rightly termed three articles of the indictment.
It has been judged that his wife Theodora was really the instigator of this suggestion. If the emperor fell into the snare, he would really be condemning the council of Chalcedon, without openly appearing to do so; and if he could be brought to issue an edict condemning the three articles, he would, for very shame, be compelled to enforce its reception. Unhappily, Justinian fell into the trap laid for him, and thus kindled a needless flame that burnt long and did much damage.
Between A.D. 543 and 545 the edict was published, and sent forth with the demand that the clergy should sign it. A strange thing, indeed, that an emperor should put forth, on his own authority, an article of faith to which all were required to subscribe. The church had fallen even to this in the sixth century.
To all the orthodox the edict was revolting. It really condemned, as we have seen, the council of Chalcedon, which they considered needful to uphold as a proof of their soundness in the faith.
The four eastern patriarchs were first encountered. Mennas of Constantinople signed reluctantly, and with a promise made to him on oath that if the bishop of Rome did not sign he might withdraw his signature. Ephraim of Antioch, Peter of Jerusalem, and Zoilus of Alexandria, signed, under the threat, imagined if not real, of being deposed if they did not. Most in the East followed the example of the patriarchs, some being gained by threats and others by gifts. Many of them had rich dioceses, and were dependent on the state.
In the West and in Africa there was a good deal of opposition to the edict. It caused a sensation at Rome, and Vigilius was summoned to Constantinople. He had been made pope, principally through the influence of the emperor, but he was surrounded by staunch supporters of the council of Chalcedon. His secretary, Stephen, was at Constantinople, and he had separated from Mennas because of his signing the edict. Dacius, archbishop of Milan, had done the same. All were anxious to see how the pope of Rome would act. He was very reluctant to go to the emperor, but when he could no longer put off his departure lie was begged by them at Rome not to sign the edict.
He was under severe threats by Theodora if he did not appear at Constantinople. Indeed, from the first he was under a promise to the empress to carry out her views; and had hitherto played fast and loose, trying to please the empress yet keep in with the orthodox, and be faithful to his convictions, if he really had any. He managed to spend nearly a year on his journey, but arrived at Constantinople in A.D. 547.
He at first refused to sign the condemnation of the Three Chapters. Then he attempted to draw up a compromise, called the Judicatum, namely, to condemn the Three Chapters, but without touching the decisions of the council of Chalcedon. His own clergy compelled him to withdraw his compromise. He asked for a general council.
In A.D. 548 Theodora died, but the emperor had so far committed himself to the line of things he was pursuing, that he would not alter his course. He persecuted those in Africa who refused compliance, and extorted a secret oath from Vigilius to condemn the three articles.
Justinian drew up another edict to the same effect in A.D. 551, calling it a Confession of Faith. Vigilius refused to sign it, though whether it was from conscientious scruples or from fear of the clergy of the West, is not known. Fearing violence, he took shelter in the church of St. Peter. A prætor was sent with a guard to capture him; but he placed himself under the altar and clung to its legs. Regardless of who he was, they attempted to pull him out by his feet, his hair, and even his beard; but he clung so firmly that some part of the altar began to give way, and would have fallen on him had it not been held up by some of the clerks. Very shame caused the officers to desist and let him alone.
He was induced by the promise of a safe-conduct to come forth, but fled again to Chalcedon, and took shelter in the church. At length the emperor, seeing no probability of peace otherwise, consented to call a council, and the pope returned to Constantinople. Vigilius desired it should be held in Sicily or Italy, but the emperor would not consent. After a great deal of contention, the emperor summoned the council to meet at Constantinople. It was called the Fifth General Council.
It met in May, 553. A hundred and sixty-five bishops attended, including all the eastern patriarchs, but only six African bishops. Vigilius did not consider that the western church was at all adequately represented, and he would not attend, though urgently requested to do so by the other patriarchs. Vigilius drew up a paper, with the concurrence of sixteen bishops, endeavouring to make a compromise by condemning the writings which were in question, but without condemning the authors. But the emperor would not receive it. He presented to the council the secret compact he had made with Vigilius, and desired that his name should be erased from the church diptychs (lists of those in communion). The council proceeded without the attendance of the pope.
The council condemned the Three Chapters and pronounced a curse against all who should defend them, or should pretend that they were countenanced by the council of Chalcedon. The persons of Theodoret and Ibas were spared, but Theodore was condemned as well as his writings. The four previous general councils were confirmed; and the edicts of the emperor were approved. As usual, the emperor issued an edict enforcing the decrees of the council.
At the close of the same year, Vigilius, who had now spent some six years at Constantinople, and who did not wish to be a martyr, being condemned by many, and almost a prisoner, wrote a letter of confession to Eutychius, at that time patriarch of Constantinople, confessing that he was wrong. Another letter followed, to the western clergy, to the same import. He was now released by Justinian, and started, for Rome, but died on his journey at Syracuse. If he did not believe Justinian to be wrong, Why stand out so long ? and if he did, why give in at last ? His liberty, thus dearly bought, did him no good: God took him from the scene.
We see from this also that the bishop of Rome, or pope, as he is called, was not at that time held in such fear and respect as was afterwards claimed for one who was called the direct successor of the apostle Peter. He was to a great extent the servant of the emperor when the emperor was in power. What a pitiful sight for Christendom to behold a pope cringing beneath an altar, and attempts being made to drag him forcibly away!
Pelagius succeeded Vigilius, but he was unpopular at Rome, and there was in the West great opposition to the Fifth General Council which Pelagius sought to enforce. Persecution followed. Many bishops were banished and imprisoned in convents, and in north Italy some of the bishops broke communion with Rome rather than receive the decrees of the council.
The whole scheme of the emperor was an entire failure. It in no way gained the Monophysite party back to communion with the so-called orthodox church; and in his latter days he is believed to have fallen into the very error he seemed at first so anxious to correct. He died in A.D. 565.
While all this contention was going on in the church between the emperor and the bishops, what was the condition of the mass of Christians who had been led to look up to the bishops? Alas! we know not. We may fain hope that many a one was enabled to maintain the truth in private, unobserved and unmolested by those who were prominent in the disputes. How good to know that the Good Shepherd careth for the sheep, and often leads them beside the still waters, and refreshes their souls notwithstanding all that is passing around them.
Justinian's successor, Justin II did not trouble himself about ecclesiastical matters: he left the bishops to settle their own disputes.