Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/811

Rh SEVERUS. nodicon, L c). He anathematized Macedonius, the deposed patriarch of Constantinople [Macedo- nius, No. 4.], and his own predecessor at Antioch, Flavianus. But he accepted the Henoticon of Zeno, and declared himself to be in communion with Timotheus and Joannes, or John III., the patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria ; and restored to the diptychs the name of Peter Mon- gus [Petrus, No. 22.], whom he had once anathe- matized. At the same time he received into com- munion Peter the Iberian, his old comrade in the monastery in Palestine, who had retained the more rigid Monophysite views which had marked the early years of Severus himself, and continued out of communion with the more moderate Mono- physites of Alexandria who had received the He- noticon. In fact, from the time of his going to Constantinople, Severus's policy appears to have been to unite all the Monophysites, whether mo- derates or ultras, into one great body, and to resist the orthodox or supporters of the Council of Chal- cedon, by whom his appointment was not recog- nized, and against whom, if the representations of his opponents may be believed, he directed a fierce persecution with atrocious cruelty {Relatio Archi- mandritarum Syriae apud Condi, vol. iv. coll. 1461, 1462 ; Libell. Monachor. l. c. ; Supjdicatio Clericor. Antioch. and Epistola Epiphanii Tyrii, apud Con- cilia., vol. V. col. 157, 194, &c.). He is especially charged, in conjunction with Peter of Apameia, with having engaged a " band of Jewish robbers," and placing them in ambush for a company of three hundred and fifty of the orthodox, who were all slain, and their limbs left unburied and scattered about the road. Many of the bishops of Severus's patriarchate fled from their sees, others were ba- nished, and others apparently were compelled to conceal their real sentiments. Elias I., patriarch of Jerusalem [Elias, No. 1,], was deposed, and the Monophysite party became triumphant in most parts of the East. Their triumph indeed was not complete, nor of long duration. Some bishops of Severus's own patriarchate renounced communion with him : two of them, Cosmas of Epiphaneia, and Severianus of Arethusa, had the audacity to send to him a document declaring him deposed ; and so strongly were they supported by the people of their dioceses, that the emperor, who had sentenced them to banishment for their contumacy, was obliged to leave them in possession of their sees, finding he could not remove them without blood- shed (Evagr. H. E. iii. 34). The patriarch of Jeru- salem who succeeded Elias, prompted by the Ana- chorets Saba [Saba] and Theodosius, adhered to the orthodox faith, which was also supported by the pope and the Roman Church. Still, notwith- standing this opposition, the Monophysites having men of their own party in the patriarchal sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, pos- sessed a decided superiority. But the accession of Justin I., who adhered to the Council of Chalcedon [JusTiNus I.], occasioned their overthrow ; for in the balanced state of parties, and the servility or timidity of the ecclesiastics and people, the pre- dominance of one side or the other depended on the individual filling the imperial throne. While the heretical Anastasius survived, heresy was in the ascendant ; it succumbed to orthodoxy, on the ac- cession of the orthodox Justin. Another circum- stance which, perhaps, conduced to the overthrow of the Monophysites, was the re-action occasioned in SEVERUS. 799 many minds by their abuse of their pre-eminence. Among those who were thus led to return to the orthodox faith was Mamas, abbot of the convent near Gaza, under whom Severus had passed the earlier part of his monastic life. Early in the reign of Justin I. [JusTiNUS I.], that emperor, at the instigation perhaps of Vitalian, commanded that Severus should be deposed and apprehended : according to some accounts he ordered his tongue to be cut out, and he was anathematized in a council held at Constantinople (a. D. 518). Severus, however, eluded the emperor's severity ; and taking ship at Seleuceia, the port of Antioch, fled with Julian bishop of Halicarnassus, to Alexandria (a. d. 518 or 519). Paul was chosen patriarch of Antioch in his room (Evagrius, //. E. iv. 4) : and the change was followed by the secession from the church of the followers of the deposed patriarch, and by the pronouncing, in various ecclesiastical councils, of anathemas upon him (Concilia, vol. iv. col. 1673; Liberat. Breviar. c. 19). Meanwhile Severus re- mained at Alexandria, protected by the patriarch Timotheus : and, as if it was his destiny to be the troubler of the Church, he and his fellow-exile Julian started the controversy on the corruptibility of Christ's human body before the resurrection, Severus affirming, and Julian denying, that it was corruptible ; the patriarch Timotheus rather inclined to the side of Severus. After the death of Justin, and the accession of Justinian I., the prospects of Severus became more favourable ; for although the new emperor himself [Justinia- Nus I.] supported the Council of Chalcedon, his empress Theodora favoured the Monophysite party, and by her influence Severus obtained the em- peror's permission to return to Constantinople (Evagrius, /. c). On his arrival, Severus found that Anthimus, who had just obtained the patriarchate of Constantinople, A. d. 535, was a Monophysite, and he prevailed on him to avow his sentiments. Timotheus of Alexandria was a Monophysite also, and the avowal of that obnoxious heresy by the heads of the church, naturally excited the alarm of the orthodox party. Anthimus and Timotheus were both deposed ; and in the councils of Con- stantinople and Jerusalem (a. d. 536), and in an imperial edict, Severus was again anathematized ; his writings also were ordered to be burned. These decisive measures secured the predominance of the Orthodox : and Evagrius boasts that the church remained from thenceforth united and pure. But this result was obtained by the separation of Monophysites, and the formation of the great Jacobite schismatical churches of Egypt and the East, by whom Severus has been ever regarded as, to his death, legitimate patriarch of Antioch. Some authorities state that Severus was compelled through the interference of Pope Agapetus (a. d. 535, 536) to leave Constantinople and return to Alexandria. The date of his death is uncertain : Joannes, bishop of Tela, his contemporary, in his Liber Directionum (apud Assemani, Bihlioth. Orient. vol. ii. p. 54) places it in the year of the Greeks, i.e. the Seleucidae, 849 = a. d. 538 ; the Chronicon of Gregorius BarHebraeus, or Abulpharagius (apud eundem, p. 321), in the year of the Greeks 850=; A. D. 539 ; and Assemani himself (ibid, note), in A. D. 542. It is said to have taken place at Alex- andria, where he lurked in the disguise of a monk. The Jacobites recognize Sergius as his successor in the patriarchate. (Marcellinus, Chronicon ; Victor