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Rh bidders, whose only anxiety was to gratify their own and the emperor's insatiate avarice. The reign of Justinian was a continued scene of persecution, but, while the decrees of the council of Chalcedon were by him forced on the eastern bishops, the cause of the Eutychians found a powerful advocate in the person of the empress. Theodora had been educated in the faith of the Monophysites, and whilst her husband was assisting the partisans of the Melchite sect with his authority, she supported the opposite party with her money and her influence.

The accession of Justin, who held the orthodox creed of Chalcedon, had been the signal for new disturbances and persecutions. The bishops who had been banished during the late reign were recalled, Severus fled to Egypt, the see of Antioch