A History of Rome to 565 A. D Part 31

*The empress Theodora.* In 523 Justinian married Theodora, a former professional pantomime actress from the purlieus of the Hippodrome, after he had induced his uncle to cancel the law which forbade the marriage of senators and actresses. And when Justinian became emperor in 527, Theodora was crowned with him as Augusta. From that time until her death in 553 she was in a very real sense joint ruler with her husband. Whatever the character of her previous career, her private life as empress was beyond reproach. She was fond of power, jealous of the influence of others with the emperor, and unforgiving towards those who thwarted her purposes; both Belisarius and John of Cappadocia, the powerful praetorian prefect, were driven from the emperor's service by her enmity. On the other hand, she was a woman of dauntless courage, and possessed of remarkable foresight in political affairs.

*The **"**Nika**"** riot, 532 A. D.* The courage of the empress was conspicuously displayed on the occasion of the great riot of the factions of the Hippodrome-the Greens and the Blues-in 532 A. D. These factions had been organized in Constantinople in imitation of the circus factions of Rome, but had acquired a different character and a greater importance in the new capital. The two factions divided between them the entire urban population, and had their regularly appointed leaders, who enjoyed a recognized place in the administrative organization of the city. These parties may be regarded as the last survival of the h.e.l.lenic popular a.s.sembly of the city-state, and owing to the extreme centralization of the administration at Constantinople, they were able to exercise considerable pressure upon the government.

The emperor and the court regularly supported one or other of the parties.

Anastasius had favored the Greens, but Justinian was a partizan of the Blues. The rivalry of the factions was intense, and culminated, in the early years of Justinian's reign, in open warfare, which gave the lower elements the opportunity for the perpetration of crimes of all sorts. The punishment of notorious criminals of both factions in 532 led to their uniting in a revolt which nearly cost the emperor his throne. At first the mob demanded the release of their partizans, and the dismissal of John, the praetorian prefect, whose financial policy was extremely oppressive, of Trebonian, the able but unscrupulous quaestor, and of the prefect of the city. Later, emboldened by their success, they crowned as emperor Hypatius, a nephew of Anastasius. The situation became extremely critical, for, with the exception of the palace, the whole city fell into the hands of the rebels, whose battle cry was "Nika" or "Conquer." Justinian and his councillors had already resolved upon flight, when Theodora, by a spirited speech in which she declared that she would die before abandoning the capital, reanimated their hearts and induced them to alter their decision.

By a judicious use of bribes they induced the Blues to desert the Greens, and the imperial troops exacted a b.l.o.o.d.y vengeance from the rebellious populace. For the future the population of the capital was politically a negligible quant.i.ty.

*The codification of the Roman law.* One of the greatest monuments to the reign of Justinian is the _corpus iuris civilis_, a codification of the Roman law by a commission of expert jurists, headed by Trebonian. The object of this codification was the collection in a convenient form of all the sources of law then in force, and the settlement of controversies in the interpretative juristic literature. The compilation was divided into three parts; the _Code of Justinian_, the _Digest_ or _Pandects_, and the _Inst.i.tutes_. The _Code_ was a collection of all imperial const.i.tutions of general validity; it was first published in 529, but a revised edition was issued in 534. The _Digest_, which was issued in 533, consisted of abstracts from the writings of the most famous Roman jurists systematically arranged so as to present the whole civil law in so far as it was not contained in the _Code_. The _Inst.i.tutes_ was a brief manual designed as a text-book for the use of students of the law. From the time of their promulgation these compilations const.i.tuted the sole law of the empire and alone carried validity in the courts and formed the only material for instruction in the law schools of recognized status-those at Rome, Constantinople and Berytus. Provision was made for the publication of future legislation in a fourth compilation-the _Novels_ or _New Const.i.tutions_.

*St. Sophia.* Justinian's administration was characterized by great building activity. He was zealous in the construction of frontier defences, the rebuilding of ruined cities, the founding of new ones, and the erection of religious edifices. Among the latter the most famous was the great church of the Holy Wisdom (St. Sophia), which took the place of an older building destroyed in the Nika riot. Transformed into a Mohammedan mosque, it remains to the present day as the greatest architectural monument of the eastern Roman empire. The execution of grandiose works of this sort augmented the heavy expenditures necessitated by Justinian's foreign policy, and required the continual wringing of fresh contributions from the already overburdened taxpayers. In raising the revenues needed to meet the demands upon the fiscus, the emperor found the prefect John an invaluable agent.

*Justinian's religious policy.* Throughout the whole of his reign Justinian strove with unflagging zeal to secure a united Christian church within the empire. To this end he did not hesitate to make use of the autocratic power which he claimed in religious as well as secular affairs and which was formally admitted by the synod of 536, which declared that "Nothing whatsoever may occur in the church contrary to the wishes and orders of the emperor." His own views Justinian set forth in extensive writings on dogmatic questions. The reconciliation with Rome in 519, so necessary for the recovery of the West, had alienated the Monophysites, who were predominant in Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia, especially among the lower cla.s.ses of society. For the rest of his reign Justinian strove indefatigably to heal this breach, a policy in which he was largely influenced by Theodora, who was personally sympathetic with the Monophysites and saw the danger to the empire in the continued hostility of the eastern peoples. An ec.u.menical council summoned by him at Constantinople in 553 accepted a formula of belief upon which he hoped both orthodox and monophysites could unite. The Pope Vergilius was forced to submit to Justinian's will, but the clergy of Italy and Africa regarded the new doctrine as heretical, and some openly condemned it. Nor was the desired end attained, for the Monophysites still refused to be conciliated. A final edict, issued in 565, went still further in its recognition of the tenets of this sect, but the emperor's death forestalled its enforcement and saved the orthodox clergy from the alternative of submission or persecution.

A far harsher treatment was meted out to the Arians, who were treated as hereticals and punished as criminals. A rebellion of the Samaritans, occasioned by their persecution, was stamped out in blood. A determined effort was made to eradicate the last remains of the old h.e.l.lenic faith which still claimed many adherents of note. In 529 the endowment of Plato's Academy was confiscated and the teaching of philosophy forbidden at Athens. The persecution of heretics and unbelievers was accompanied by a vigorous missionary movement which carried the Christian gospel to the peoples of southern Russia, the Caucasus, Arabia, the Soudan and the oases of the Sahara.

*The **condition** of the empire at the death of Justinian.* Justinian died on 14 November, 565 A. D. He left the empire completely exhausted by the conquest of the western provinces. The national antagonism between Greeks and Romans which was coming more and more clearly to light was not effectively bridged by a formal church union, and a mistaken religious policy had fostered the growth of national ambitions among the native populations of Syria and Egypt and led to further disunion with the empire. Under Justinian the annual consuls.h.i.+p, for a thousand years identified with the life of the Roman state, was abolished (540 A. D.). In the government of the provinces Justinian took the initial steps towards abandoning the principle of the division of civil and military authority, which was so marked a feature of Diocletian's organization, and thus prepared the way for the later form of the _themes_, or military districts, in which the military commanders were at the head of the civil government as well. It was in his reign also that the culture of the silkworm was introduced into the empire by Persian monks, who had lived in China, learned the jealously guarded secrets of this art, and brought some eggs of the silkworm out of the country concealed in hollow canes. The manufacture of silk goods had long been a flouris.h.i.+ng industry in certain cities of the Greek East and was made an imperial monopoly by Justinian.

The introduction of the silkworm rendered this trade to a large degree independent of the importation of raw silk from the Orient.

As Justinian was the last emperor whose native tongue was Latin, so he was the last who maintained that language as the language of government at Constantinople and upheld the traditions of the Roman imperial policy.

CHAPTER XXV

RELIGIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN THE LATE EMPIRE

I. THE END OF PAGANISM

*The paganism of the late empire.* In spite of the tremendous impulse given to the spread of Christianity by Constantine's policy of toleration and by its adoption as the religion of the imperial house, the extinction of paganism was by no means rapid. While the chief pagan religions during the fourth century were the Oriental cults and the Orphic mysteries of Eleusis, which strongly resembled them in character, the wors.h.i.+p of the Graeco-Roman Olympic divinities still attracted numerous followers. But, although paganism persisted in many and divers forms, these, by a process of religious syncretism, had come to find their place in a common theological system. This development had its basis in the common characteristics of the Oriental cults, each of which inculcated the belief in a supreme deity, and received its stimulus through the conscious opposition of all forms of paganism to Christianity, which they had come to recognize as their common, implacable foe. The chief characteristic of later paganism was its tendency to monotheism-a belief in one abstract divinity of whom the various G.o.ds were but so many separate manifestations. The development of a harmonious system of pagan theology was greatly aided by Neoplatonic philosophy, which may be regarded as the ultimate expression of ancient paganism. Neoplatonism was essentially a pantheism, in which all forms of life were regarded as emanations of the divine mind. But Neoplatonism was more than a philosophical system; it was a religion, and, like the Oriental cults, preached a doctrine of salvation for the souls of men. Such was the paganism by which the Christians of the late empire were confronted, and which, because of its many points of resemblance to their own beliefs and practices, they admitted to be a dangerous rival. At the same time, this similarity made the task of conversion less difficult.

*Causes of the persistence of paganism.* There were several reasons for the persistence of paganism. The Oriental and Orphic cults exercised a powerful hold over their votaries, and made an appeal very similar to that of Christianity. Stoicism, with its high ideal of conduct, remained a strong tradition among the upper cla.s.ses of society; and Neoplatonism had a special attraction for men of intelligence and culture. Roman patriotism, too, fostered loyalty to the G.o.ds under whose aegis Rome had grown great, and until the close of the fourth century the Roman Senate was an indefatigable champion of the ancient faith. But more potent than all these causes was the fact that, apart from some works of a theological character, the whole literature of the day was pagan in origin and in spirit. This was the only material available for instruction in the schools, and formed the basis of the rhetorical studies which const.i.tuted the higher education of the time. Thus, throughout the whole period of their intellectual training, the minds of the young were subjected to pagan influences.

*The persecution of paganism.* Constantine the Great adhered strictly to his policy of religious toleration and, although an active supporter of Christianity, took no measures against the pagan cults except to forbid the private sacrifices and practice of certain types of magical rites. He held the t.i.tle of pontifex maximus and consequently was at the head of the official pagan wors.h.i.+p. With his sons, Constantius and Constans, the Christian persecution of the pagan began. In 341 they prohibited public performance of pagan sacrifices, and they permitted the confiscation of temples and their conversion into Christian places of wors.h.i.+p. With the accession of Julian this persecution came to an end, and there was in the main a return to the policy of religious toleration, although Christians were prohibited from interpreting cla.s.sical literature in the schools. The attempt of Julian to create a universal pagan church proved abortive and his scheme did not survive his death. His successors, Jovian, Valentinian I and Valens, adhered to the policy of Constantine the Great.

Gratian was the first emperor to refuse the t.i.tle of pontifex maximus, and to deprive paganism of its status as an official religion of Rome. In 382 he withdrew the state support of the priesthoods of Rome, and removed from the Senate house the altar and statue of Victory, which Julian had restored after its temporary removal by Constantius. This altar was for many of the senators the symbol of the life of the state itself, and their spokesman Symmachus made an eloquent plea for its restoration. However, owing to the influence of Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, the emperor remained obdurate, and a second appeal to Valentinian II was equally in vain. Although the brief reign of Eugenius produced a pagan revival in Rome, the cause of paganism was lost forever in the imperial city. In the fifth century the Senate of Rome was thoroughly Christian.

Theodosius the Great was even more energetic than his colleague Gratian in the suppression of paganism. In 380 he issued an edict requiring all his subjects to embrace Christianity. In 391 he ordered the destruction of the great temple of Serapis at Alexandria, an event which sounded the death knell of the pagan cause in the East. The following year Theodosius absolutely forbade the practice of heathen wors.h.i.+p under the penalties for treason and sacrilege. Theodosius II continued the vigorous persecution of the heathen. Adherence to pagan beliefs const.i.tuted a crime, and in the Theodosian Code of 438 the laws against pagans find their place among the laws regulating civic life. It was during the reign of Theodosius II, in 415, that the pagan philosopher and mathematician, Hypatia, fell a victim to the fanaticism of the Christian mob of Alexandria.

Still, many persons of prominence continued to be secret devotees of pagan beliefs, and pagan philosophy was openly taught at Athens until the closing of the schools by Justinian. The acceptance of Christianity was more rapid in the cities than in the rural districts. This gave rise to the use of the term pagan (from the Latin _paga.n.u.s_, "rural") to designate non-Christian; a usage which became official about 370. And it was among the rural population that pagan beliefs and practices persisted longest.

However, between the fifth and the ninth centuries paganism practically disappeared within the lands of the empire.

The long a.s.sociation with paganism and the rapid incorporation of large numbers of new converts into the ranks of the church were not without influence upon the character of Christianity itself. The ancient belief in magic contributed largely to the spread of the belief in miracles, and the development of the cult of the saints was stimulated by the pagan conception of inferior divinities, demiG.o.ds, and daemons, while many pagan festivals were Christianized and made festivals of the church.

II. THE CHURCH IN THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE

*The emperor and the church.* The religious policy of Constantine the Great had the effect of making Christianity a religion of state and incorporating the Christian church in the state organism. Thereby the clergy gained the support of the imperial authority in spreading the belief of the church and in enforcing its ordinances throughout the empire. Yet this support was won at the price of the recognition of the autocratic power of the emperor over the church as well as in the political sphere. Subsequently, however, this recognition was only accorded to orthodox emperors; that is those who supported the traditional doctrine of the church as sanctioned in its general councils.

Constantine made use of his supremacy over the church to enforce unity within its ranks. However, he did not champion any particular creed but limited his interference to carrying into effect the decisions of the church councils or synods which he summoned to pa.s.s judgment upon questions which threatened the unity of the church and the peace of the state.

These councils were a development from the provincial synods, which had previously met to decide church matters of local importance. Procedure in the councils was modelled upon that of the Roman Senate; the meetings were conducted by imperial legates, their decisions were issued in the form of imperial edicts, and it was to the emperor that appeals from these decrees were made. The first of the great councils was the Synod of Arles, a council of the bishops of the western church, summoned by Constantine in 314 to settle the Donatist schism in the church in Africa. This was followed in 325 by the first universal or ec.u.menical council of the whole Christian church which met at Nicaea to decide upon the orthodoxy of the teachings of Arius of Alexandria.

Constantine's successors followed his example of summoning church councils to settle sectarian controversies, though, unlike him, many of them sought to force upon the church the doctrines of their particular sect. As the general councils accentuated rather than allayed antagonisms, the eastern emperor Zeno subst.i.tuted a referendum of the bishops by provinces. But this precedent was not followed. Justinian was the emperor who a.s.serted most effectively his authority over the church. He issued edicts upon purely theological questions and upon matters of church discipline without reference to church councils, and he received from the populace of Constantinople the salutation of "High Priest and King."(18) The decision of the council of 553 provoked an attack upon the sacerdotal power of the emperor by Facundus, bishop of Hermiana in Africa, who declared that not the emperor but the priests should rule the church. Nevertheless, this opposition had no immediate effect, and Justinian remained the successful embodiment of "Caesaro-papism."

*The growth of the papacy.* The late empire witnessed a rapid extension of the authority of the bishopric of Rome, which had even previously laid claim to the primacy among the episcopal sees. In the West the t.i.tle "pope" (from the Greek _pappas_, "father") became the exclusive prerogative of the bishop of Rome. The papacy was the sole western patriarchate, or bishopric, with jurisdiction over the metropolitan and provincial bishops, and was the sole representative of the western church in its dealings with the bishops of the East. At the council of Serdica (343 A. D.) it was decided that bishops deposed as a result of the Arian controversy might refer their cases to the Pope Julius for final decision, and, in the course of the fifth century, eastern bishops frequently appealed to the decision of the pope on questions of orthodoxy. However, the eastern church never fully admitted the religious jurisdiction of the papacy. The ideal of the papacy became the organization of the church on the model of the empire, with the pope as its religious head.

The claims of the papacy were pushed with vigor by Innocent I (402417 A. D.) and Leo I (440461 A. D.). The latter laid particular stress upon the primacy of Peter among the Apostles and taught that this had descended to his apostolic successors. It was Leo also who induced the western emperor Valentinian III in 455 to order the whole western church to obey the bishop of Rome as the heir to the primacy of Peter. The Pope Gelasius (492496 A. D.) a.s.serted the power of the priests to be superior to the imperial authority, but the establishment of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and the reconquest of the peninsula by the eastern emperor weakened the independence of the Roman bishopric. Justinian was able to compel the popes to submit to his authority in religious matters.

*The patriarchate of Constantinople.* A rival to the papacy developed in the patriarchate of Constantinople, which at the Council of Constantinople in 381 was recognized as taking precedence over the other eastern bishoprics and ranking next to that of Rome, "because Constantinople is New Rome." However, the primacy of the bishop of Constantinople in the eastern church was challenged by the older patriarchates of Ephesus, Antioch and Alexandria, all of which had been apostolic foundations, while the claims of Constantinople to that honor were more than dubious. Between 381 and 451 the bishops of Alexandria successfully disputed the doctrinal authority of the see of Constantinople, but at the council of Chalcedon (451 A. D.) Pulcheria and Marcian rea.s.serted the primacy of the patriarch of the capital. At this time also the bishopric of Jerusalem was recognized as a patriarchate. The patriarch of Constantinople was now placed on an equality with the pope, a recognition against which the Pope Leo protested in vain. However, the patriarchs of Constantinople never acquired the power and independence of the popes. Situated as they were in the shadow of the imperial palace, and owing their ecclesiastical authority to the support of the throne, they rarely ventured to oppose the will of the emperor. Under Justinian the patriarch held the position of a "minister of state in the department of religion."

*The temporal power of the clergy.* When Christianity became a religion of state it was inevitable that the Christian clergy should occupy a privileged position. This recognition was accorded them by Constantine the Great when he exempted them from personal services (_munera_) in 313 and taxation in 319 A. D. Those who entered the ranks of the clergy were expected to abandon all worldly pursuits, and an imperial edict of 452 excluded them from all gainful occupations. In addition to their ecclesiastical authority in matters of belief and church discipline, the bishops also acquired considerable power in secular affairs. In the days of persecution the Christians had regularly submitted legal differences among themselves to the arbitration of their bishops, rather than resort to the tribunals of state. Constantine the Great gave legal sanction to this episcopal arbitration in civil cases; Arcadius, however, restricted its use to cases in which the litigants voluntarily submitted to the bishop's judgment. The bishops enjoyed no direct criminal jurisdiction, although since the right of sanctuary was accorded to the churches, they were frequently able to intercede with effect for those who sought asylum with them. In the enforcement of moral and humanitarian legislation the state called for the cooperation of the bishops.

The influential position of the bishops as the religious heads of the munic.i.p.alities led to their being accorded a definite place in the munic.i.p.al administration. In protecting the impoverished taxpayers against the imperial officers they were more effective than the "_defensores plebis_." And in the days of the barbarian invasions, when the representatives of the imperial authority were driven from the provinces, the bishops became the leaders of the Roman population in their contact with the barbarian conquerors.

III. SECTARIAN STRIFE

*Sectarianism.* The history of the church from Constantine to Justinian is largely the history of sectarian strife, which had its origin in doctrinal controversies. While the western church in general abstained from acute theological discussions and adhered strictly to the orthodox or established creed, devoting its energies to the development of church organization, the church of the East, imbued with the Greek philosophic spirit, busied itself with attempts to solve the mysteries of the Christian faith and was a fruitful source of heterodoxy. Strife between the adherents of the various sects was waged with extreme bitterness and frequently culminated in riots and bloodshed. Toleration was unknown and heretics, like pagans, were cla.s.sed as criminals and excluded from communion with the orthodox church. Of the many sects which arose in the fourth and fifth centuries, two were of outstanding importance. These were the Arians and the monophysites.

*Arianism.* Arianism had its rise in an attempt to express with philosophical precision the relation of the three members of the Holy Trinity; G.o.d the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. About 318 A. D., Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, taught that G.o.d was from eternity but that the Son and the Spirit were his creations. Over the teaching of Arius, a controversy arose which threatened the unity of the church. Accordingly, Constantine intervened and summoned the ec.u.menical council of Nicaea to decide upon the orthodoxy of Arius. The council accepted the formula of Athanasius that the Son was of the same substance (_h.o.m.o-ousion_) as the Father, which was the doctrine of the West. Arius was exiled.

The struggle, however, was by no means over, for the Nicene creed found many opponents among the eastern bishops who did not wish to exclude the Arians from the church. The leader of this party was Eusebius of Caesarea.

In 335 they brought about the deposition of Athanasius, who had been bishop of Alexandria since 328. After the death of Constantine, Athanasius was permitted to return to his see, only to be expelled again in 339 by Constantius, who was under the influence of Eusebius. He took refuge in the West, where the Pope Julius gave him his support. At a general council of the church held at Serdica (Sofia) in 343 there was a sharp division between East and West, but the supporters of Athanasius were in the majority, and he and the other orthodox eastern bishops were reinstated in their sees (345 A. D.).

When Constantius became sole ruler of the empire (353 A. D.) the enemies of Athanasius once more gained the upper hand. The emperor forced a general council convoked at Milan in 353 to condemn and depose Athanasius, while the Pope Liberius, who supported him, was exiled to Macedonia. A new council held at Sirmium in 357 tried to secure religious peace by forbidding the use of the word "substance" in defining the relation of the Father and the Son, and sanctioned only the term _h.o.m.oios_ (like). The adherents of this creed were called h.o.m.oeans. Although they were not Arians, their solution was rejected by the conservatives in both East and West. In 359 a double council was held, the western bishops meeting at Ariminum, the eastern at Seleucia. The result was the acceptance of the Sirmian creed, although the western council had to be almost starved before it yielded. Under Julian and Jovian the Arians enjoyed full toleration, and while Valentinian I pursued a similar policy, Valens went further and gave Arianism his support.

In the meantime, however, the labors of the three great Cappadocians,-Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of n.a.z.ianzus and Gregory of Nyssa-had already done much to reconcile the eastern bishops to the Nicaean confession and, with the accession of Theodosius I, the fate of Arianism was sealed. A council of the eastern church met at Constantinople in 381 and accepted the Nicene creed. The Arian bishops were deposed and a.s.semblies of the heretics forbidden by imperial edicts. Among the subjects of the empire Arianism rapidly died out, although it existed for a century and a half as the faith of several Germanic peoples.

*The monophysite controversy.* While the point at issue in the dogmatic controversies of the fourth century was the relation of G.o.d to the Son and the Holy Spirit, the burning question of the fifth and sixth centuries was the nature of Christ. And, like the former, the latter dispute arose in the East, having its origin in the divergent views of the theological schools of Antioch and Alexandria. The former laid stress upon the two natures in Christ-the divine and the human; the latter emphasized his divinity to the exclusion of his humanity, and hence its adherents received the name of monophysites. The Antiochene position was the orthodox or traditional view of the church, and was held universally in the West, where the duality of Christ was accepted without any attempt to determine the relations.h.i.+p of his divine and human qualities. Beneath the doctrinal controversy lay the rivalry between the patriarchates of Alexandria and Constantinople, and the awakening national antagonism of the native Egyptian and Syrian peoples towards the Greeks. The conflict began in 429 with an attack of Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, upon the teachings of Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople. Cyril, taking the view that the nature of Christ was human made fully divine, justified the use of the word _Theotokos_ (Mother of G.o.d), which was coming to be applied generally to the Virgin Mary. Nestorius criticized its use, and argued in favor of the term Mother of Christ. In the controversy which ensued, Cyril won the support of the bishop of Rome, who desired to weaken the authority of the see of Constantinople, and Nestorius was condemned at the council of Ephesus in 431.

The next phase of the struggle opened in 448, when Dioscorus, the occupant of the Alexandrine see, a.s.sailed Flavian, the patriarch of the capital, for having deposed Eutyches, a monophysite abbot of Constantinople. At the so-called "Robber Council" of Ephesus (449 A. D.) Dioscorus succeeded in having Flavian deprived of his see. But the pope, Leo I. p.r.o.nounced in favor of the doctrine of the duality of Christ, and in 451 the new emperor Marcian called an ec.u.menical council at Chalcedon which definitely rea.s.serted the primacy of the see of Constantinople in the East, approved the use of _Theotokos_, and declared that Christ is of two natures. The attempt to enforce the decisions of this council provoked disturbances in Egypt, Palestine and the more easterly countries. In Palestine it required the use of armed force to suppress a usurping monophysite bishop. In Egypt the enforcement led to a split between the orthodox Greek and the monophysite Coptic churches.

As the opposition to the decree of Chalcedon still disturbed the peace of the church, the emperor Zeno in 482, at the instigation of the patriarchs Acacius of Constantinople and Peter of Alexandria, sought to settle the dispute by exercise of the imperial authority. He issued a letter to the church of Egypt called the _Henoticon_, which, while acknowledging the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, condemned that of Chalcedon, and declared that "Christ is one and not two." This doctrine was at once condemned by the Pope Silva.n.u.s. The rupture with Rome lasted until 519, when a reconciliation was effected at the price of complete submission by the East and the rehabilitation of the council of Chalcedon. This in turn antagonized the monophysites of Syria and Egypt and caused Justinian to embark upon his hopeless task of reestablis.h.i.+ng complete religious unity within the empire by holding the western and winning back the eastern church.

Justinian hoped to reconcile the monophysites by an interpretation of the discussions of the council of Chalcedon which would be acceptable to them.

This led him, in 544, to condemn the so-called Three Chapters, which were the doctrines of the opponents of the monophysites. And although this step implied a condemnation of the council of Chalcedon itself, and was consequently opposed in the West, he forced the fifth ec.u.menical council of Constantinople in 553 to sanction it. However, neither this concession nor the still greater one of the edict of 565 availed to win back the extreme monophysites of Egypt and Syria, where opposition to the religious jurisdiction of Constantinople had taken a national form, and the religious disunion in the East continued until these lands were lost to the empire.

IV. MONASTICISM