Results and Discussion

"In a doctoral dissertation by M. Grazianskij (2009) he set out to
explain his findings on a study of the role of Justinian’s politics mixed with religious objectives.

Grazianskij indicated that by 527 the monophysites may have been persecuted but that Justinian was working on an edict to prevent the persecution of heretics in the church. 

 

The Edict of 531 permitted the return of monks to their monasteries and Theodora worked together to help this come true.They built them a palace in Constantinople or safe haven in 532. (Grazianskij 2009: 57). 

Theodora brought nearly 500 famous clerics around her at that time. Justinian had political plans with the churches in their divided condition, namely to unify all the separate groups, and starting with the appeasement of the monophysites he had to play a balancing act with the pope by indicating in 533 that the decisions of Chalcedon Council, where things must first be consulted with the pope, is unchanged.

 

The monophysites and the orthodox church of the papacy were not in the same camp at this time. A demonstration took place in November 533 in favor of the monophyisites.

The palace of Hormisdas was given to them. Theodora use to visit them, talking to them in long conversations and wonder about their lifestyle and heavenly wisdom. 

They blessed her and advised her in religious questions. Justinian was aware of this. Egypt was the origin of the monophysitic doctrine and it was a zone to flee to until the year 537. 

 

The Syrian area was very harsh towards the monophysites. It is

found by Grazianskij that the Patriarch of Antioch, Ephraem, followed a strict anti-monophysitic politics. 

When the Syriac father Mar came from Alexandria to Constantinople in 536, he apparently spoke very strongly to Justinian and Theodora apparently in rude remarks.

While he was speaking the scribe did not want to record the harsh words. At the end the couple just said “Truly is this man a spiritual philosopher”. 

 

The imperial couple use to offer large sums of money to the Christian clerics when they came to complain to them. Scholars are divided whether Theodora or Justinian was the primary cause of
these benevolent actions towards the severian bishops. 

 

Grazianskij also investigated the role of Theodora and Justinian for the years 532-536 in religious affairs to see if Theodora was the prime cause or whether Justinian played an equal role. 

For this investigation, Grazianskij studied the religious developments until the council of Constantinople in the year 536. 

He started the investigation with the severian bishop discussions with the imperial couple in 532 that resulted in the Edict of Justinian that the Monophysite clerics can return out of their exile. 

In this Edict Justinian spelled out what they are to do for their freedom had a price. Justinian said that Diodor, Theodor,
Theodoret, Ibas, Nestorius and Eutyches should be accepted as condemned and the twelve Anathemas of Cyril should also be accepted. They could continue preaching the one-nature of Christ but they are not allowed to curse those who preach the two-natures of Christ. They should accept the council of Chalcedon only in so far as it condemns Eutyches and Nestorius. They should also retract their condemnations of the Tomo Leo (statements made by pope Leo). 

 

The monophysites rejected the suggestion and said that their authority is Severus who is the only one that could decide for them on these matters.

What Justinian said to the monophysites would become an agenda or template for Justinian to act upon for the next five or more years regarding religion. 

As Grazianskij found, Justinian had a new context with the papacy after 532. Justinian did not want to upset the monophysites, the papacy, the Orthodox parties, or the heretics. His main focus was for unification of the church in an ecumenical spirit.

Justinian’s statements seemed to be the role of a self-appointed “peace-maker” during this time.
His peace-making process was not one that is just haphazardly but acting with a definite and well researched agenda step by step.
 

There is no doubt that during this period between 532-536, Justinian

started an ecclesiastical course in the domain of Christology in Systematic Theology. 

Especially prior and during the Council of Constantinople, Justinian knew the positions of the different parties very well and he developed his own synthesis of the Christology problem yet within
the covers of the mood of ecumenism and thus his methodology was one of eclecticism, a-pick-and-choose between various parties of the theological debate. 

He had his own view of the nature of Christ which was formulated
apparently using the statement of Zeno but simulate it to form his own: unus ex Trinitate passus est carne. This was the hobby statement of Justinian and he was determined that all parties should pay attention to it at the Council of Constantinople. 

 

**The friendly attitude of the imperial couple must have upset the Orthodox positions of the papal see.

**Justinian knew it and was determined to now move to the phase of appeasing the pope. 

 

Since Justinian was highly convinced of his own view he wrote a kind of an Edict and sent it around with his statement of Christology dated to the 15th of March 533. In June of 533, Justinian took up the feather and wrote to the pope Johannes.

His main contention was the ecumenical reconciliation between all religious groups and the pope.  

The role of the papal power as king on Justinian’s chess-board of this theological game was fully understood by him.

 

He is going to follow the protocol and please everyone. 

What Justinian did not realize, is that his prioritizing of the pope as party in the debate, and actually led to his eventual downfall since it was the recognition by the secular Emperor power of the prime authority on church matters of the papacy.

In later years, around 540, this issue of the authority of the pope and the papal see’s power would be painted to Justinian very vividly by the pope in a letter at that time. 

He mentioned to the pope that those monks in Constantinople are restless and for them the main focus is to make all monks Nestorian as far as Christology is concerned.
Justinian entered the troubled waters between the two groups here and then formulates his own view to the pope that he thinks it is one hypostasis that is the uniting of two natures, a view that is fanning out the orthodox view of the pope as well. It was Justinian’s conclusion from his own principle unus de Trinitate passus EST carne. 

The letter took the form of an Edict and the pope agreed only after some anger about it. In fact, it took one year and ten days for the pope to agree to Justinian and he wrote about it to Justinian on the 25th of March 534. 

--The ingredient for a powerplay between two domains of power was already present in the delay to answer. Then Justinian also sent this
letter to the pope and to the Patriarch Epiphanios in Constantinople and the purpose seemed to be to demonstrate that the pope and the Eastern Church are also in this chess-game for unity between parties.

He supported the views of the previous Patriarch Proklos. In this letter of Justinian one can find the first time the formula that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our God, one of the holy Trinity. 

 

Justinian held out that all four general Councils decisions should
be proclaimed. Justinian is also against the condemnation of heretics. Pope Johannes wrote to the senators a letter.
When the pope agreed to Justinian’s position in 534, Justinian wrote to Severus the head of the heretics or monophysites in Egypt to come for union-meetings about the issues. 

Severus died in 538 and was the main character in these disputes.

After the death of Timotheos of Alexandria, Severus decided in February of 535 to go to Constantinople. 

On the 6th of August 536 Justinian made an Edict that the decisions of the Council of Constantinople have the power of a law.

Shortly after Anthimos became patriarch in Constantinople, Severus met him. Also Theodosius of Alexandria met with them. There is indication that the relationship between Theodora and Anthimos
were sour.

 

An antimo was asked to step down by pope Agapet and this process had the sanctioning by Justinian and Theodora as pope Agapet indicated.

Pope Agapet also condemned Severus, Petros of Apameia and the Syriac Monk Zooras, that was working restlessness in Constantinople. 

In a letter to Justinian, pope Agapitus indicated that “by your
[Justinian] holy interest, by which you wish the Catholic Church to be amplified." At the end of April 536, pope Agapet died. Ten days later the Council of Constantinople took place.

The purpose of the Council was only to give the papacy legitimacy on his decisions. On the 6th of August 536, Justinian pronounced an Edict to order the condemnation of Severus who was revered by many bishops and monks. He told him that he could not come to any big city and that he should pursue a quiet life in a remote area.
 

Justinian developed his own view during the debates and discussions with theologians between 535-536. After Severus died in 538, he was not finished with his work. Grazianskij indicated that Justinian wanted to use the theological arguments of Severus to his own favor. He apparently wanted to get the Severus teams on his side since
they had a very similar view of Christology. Justinian wanted to demonstrate that there is a unity of thought between the monophysites and the Christological position of the Imperial church. There was already a link between the imperial theology of Christology and Severus’ view as the Synod writings of Severus to Theodosios of Alexandria illustrates. 

Justinian wrote to pope Vigilius, probably in 538, about this afterglow of reflections. He still had his ecumenical dream and saw himself as the “Secretary General” of the United Churches, probably

Vigilius did not answer Justinian immediately and according to scholars, his answer is given different dates but it seems more plausible to accept the conclusion of Grazianskij, that the answer and rebuttal to Justinian took place in 540. Pope Vigilius is furious that Justinian wants to set aside the Tome Leo of pope Leo, since this touched upon the authority of the pope as the vicarius filii dei on earth and related to it, the infallibility of the papacy. 

 

Vigilius’ statement to Justinian is a very strong rebuttal of theological enthusiasm of the emperor by a pope.  

Justinian in fact left already the Chiefs of Staff position at the military in 538 since he was more involved in the synods and
seminaries than in the army barracks. 

This is the diffusion of the Roman Empire and the final fall of the Roman Empire. When politics took up theology, power of that entity shifted to the most trained in theology, the papacy.
 

Vigilius asked the emperor to read the decisions of Pope Leo one more time to remove his own doubts. If the emperor would do that, he would see that faithful correct spiritual people cannot be asked to throw away their own points of teaching. Vigilius is not only pleading the case of pope Leo but also those like Theodorus of Cyrus and Theodor of Mopsuestia. 

Despite the Council of Chalcedon he was not condemned, claimed Vigilius. When Vigilius was elected as pope, he was asked to
condemn the Three Chapters since Justinian felt that the monophysites would be upset by the situation and that Justinian will not be able to unify the church as his dream is. 

Vigilius was not satisfied with the letter from Justinian.

Vigilius felt that the revisionist approach to the Council of Chalcedon affected also the authority of the papacy since they have to be critical of the Tome of Leo. 

The main argument was that the revision of the Council of Chalchedon placed the authority of Pope Leo in question and with that also the authority of the
“apostolic chair/seat”."