Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/330

 to the teeming crop of error which threatened to befoul the sources of the faith in Palestine. Justinian listened with avidity, and forthwith began an assiduous study of the works of Origen with a view to the disclosure of noxious passages. As that father had lived before any definite creed of the Christian faith had been specified, and had been deeply imbued with notions derived from Egyptian and Oriental mythology, Justinian was shortly successful in unearthing a mass of glaring heresy from his writings. This material was then systematically drafted into canons, which were embodied in a formal requisition from the Emperor to the Patriarch that Origen should be anathematized in a council of bishops. In the meantime Theodore, anxious to retaliate against Pelagius, and to disturb the convictions of the Orthodox in general, as well as to divert attention from Origen to a greater issue, had devised a skilful attack on the Council of Chalcedon. The action of the Roman legate had created a precedent for reviewing and censuring the opinions of ecclesiastics long since dead; and his adversary perceived that this new method could be applied effectively to damage the authority of the synod in question. Two bishops, who had incurred the charge of Nestorianism, had been expressly approved at Chalcedon; whilst a third, who was infected, had been passed over without animadversion. *