Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/432

404 Vitalian yielded to popular feeling and rejected John's synodical: similarly his successor, Adeodatus (672-676), rejected that of Constantine; and his name was therefore not inserted in the diptychs of Constantinople. Accordingly the next patriarch, Theodore, sent no synodical, and, supported by Macarius of Antioch, urged Constantine IV to have Vitalian's name expunged from the diptychs. The Emperor, not wishing to perpetuate the schism, refused the request and wrote to Pope Donus (676-678), asking him, as the war prevented a general synod, to send deputies to discuss the disputed points with the two patriarchs. When the letter arrived, Donus was dead; and, as his successor, Agatho (678-681), had no intention of sending deputies to confer with Theodore, no answer came, and the Emperor was persuaded to allow Vitalian's name to be struck off. The original purpose of Monotheletism however, the reconciliation of the Monophysites, had been nullified by the Arab conquests; and, as the pope conceded nothing, Constantine saw that to restore unity he would have to sacrifice the patriarch. Theodore was therefore deposed, and his place taken by George (Nov. or Dec. 679). Agatho then summoned a synod, which met at Rome on 27 Mar. 680, maintained the doctrine of two operations and two wills, condemned Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, Peter, Cyrus, and Theodore of Faran, and sent its decree to the Emperor with a long dogmatic letter from Agatho on the model of the Tome of Leo. Similar decrees were passed by synods at Milan and at Hatfield in England (17 Sept.). The deputies from Rome, who reached Constantinople on 10 Sept., were also accredited as representatives of the pope and the synod at the proposed conference: and, peace having now been made, Constantine requested the patriarchs to summon the bishops under their jurisdiction to a synod, which met in the domed hall (trullus) of the palace in the presence of the Emperor and the chief officers of state (7 Nov.), and, as representatives of the non-existent patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem were somehow procured, called itself oecumenical. The sittings, of which there were eighteen, continued to 16 Sept. 681; and the synod agreed as well with the pope in dogmatic matters as that of Chalcedon. The letter of Menas was pronounced spurious, as were also two letters ascribed to Vigilius. Macarius brought forward patristic passages in support of Monotheletism; but they were declared to prove nothing, and quotations were produced on the other side. George now professed himself in agreement with the letters of the pope and the Roman synod; and at his request Vitalian's name was restored to the diptychs. Macarius on the other hand refused to abandon his Monothelete opinions and was deposed together with his disciple, the archimandrite Stephen, and Theophanes was appointed to succeed him. All the Monothelete leaders mentioned in the Roman decree were then condemned with the addition of Honorius, and their writings ordered to be burnt. An attempt at a compromise made by the presbyter Constantine of Apamea in Syria was