While these things were going on at Alexandria, upon the death of Boniface the Roman pope, John surnamed Mercurius received the prelacy of the apostolic see. To him there were sent by the emperor Justinian, Hypatius bishop of Ephesus and Demetrius of Philippi, to consult the apostolic see against the legates of the Acoemetae, Cyrus and Eulogius, who denied that blessed Mary must be confessed truly and properly as the Mother of God, and that one of the Trinity was incarnate and suffered in the flesh. But Pope John, with us stationed there, confirmed by his letter that these things must be confessed, and directed it to the emperor. Certain monks at Rome, departing from his communion, followed the legates of the Acoemetae, and to this day do not accept this confession concerning Christ.
At that time, upon the death of Epiphanius bishop of Constantinople, the Empress Theodora transferred Anthimus to that same see; he had been bishop of the city of Trebizond in the region of Pontus, and secretly did not accept the Council of Chalcedon. Now, upon the death of Timothy bishop of Alexandria, by the zeal and permission of Calotychius the chamberlain, of the party of the Empress Theodora, Theodosius was ordained; and although he had the decree of the clergy, he did not permit a contest with those of the people who wished to oppose him: the monks, whom he did not have on his side, were for Gaianus.
It is indeed the custom at Alexandria that he who succeeds upon a death should keep watch over the body of the deceased, and place his right hand upon his own head, and, after burying him, take with his own hands upon his neck the pallium of blessed Mark, and then lawfully be seated. While Theodosius was attempting this by night, the people and the monasteries learned what had been done in the evening at the episcopal residence, through the zeal of Calotychius and the judges, that is, Aristomachus the commander and Dioscorus the augustal prefect: soon they pursued Theodosius and drove him out, that he might not gather up the funeral of Timothy. And they enthroned Gaianus, who was then archbishop on the side of those who asserted incorruptibility:
and having a fair number of supporters from the clergy, and the landowners of the city, and the guildsmen, and the soldiers, and the nobles, and the whole province, Gaianus remained thus in the episcopate one hundred and three days; after this, driven out by the judges, he withdrew. And after two months Narses the chamberlain, sent by the Empress Theodora, enthroned Theodosius indeed, but sent Gaianus into exile; and he, brought to great Carthage and from there dispatched as it were to Sardinia, what became of him is unknown. Theodosius remained in the see one year and four months, with few in communion with him; for very many were in communion under the name of Gaianus. And the people fought for Gaianus for many days, who, being cut down by the soldiers, lost the greater part of their number:
but the greater number of soldiers also fell. Now Narses was being overcome, not by arms, but by the unity of the city: from the upper stories of the houses the women hurled down upon the soldiers whatever came to hand; but he conquered by fire what he could not by the sword. To this day that city is divided by this schism, so that in it they are called Gaianites and Theodosians, that is, Phantasiasts and Corrupticolae. At last Theodosius departed from the see, unable to bear the seditions and wars that were waged against him by the people: he was sent to Constantinople with honor, because the Empress's writings so commanded; and when he came there, the Empress promised the emperor that perhaps Theodosius could accept the Synod of Chalcedon; but as he persisted and refused;
with his own consent, he was sent into exile outside the royal city at the sixth milestone, near the basilica of Arisphocas, on the road that leads to Stomapontus, and he lives to this day. 'Hypatius of Ephesus.'] Returning from the Roman legation, in the year 533, at Constantinople, by command of the emperor Justinian, he held a conference with the Severians, which is found in volume IV of the more recent edition of the Greek Councils: it contains certain matters concerning the third letter of Cyril to Nestorius, concerning the same author's books against Diodore and Theodore, concerning the works of Dionysius the Areopagite, and concerning Theodoret, which may rightly be called into examination.
'Demetrius of Philippi.'] Baronius calls him 'of Caesarea,' and from him Binius does so too, in the notes to the Roman council celebrated by Pope John concerning those questions; both could be reconciled with Liberatus, who makes him 'of Philippi,' were it not that Baronius makes him a metropolitan: for he was bishop of Caesarea Philippi in Palestine, a city which was subject to the bishop of Tyre; he was not bishop of Philippi in Macedonia, which is a metropolis. 'Against the legates of the Acoemetae.'] There are those who think the Acoemetae were infected with the error of Eutyches by Peter the Fuller, when he—deposed by the emperor Zeno—lay hidden among them, if we believe Nicephorus, until he was restored to his see by the tyrant Basiliscus, book xvi, chapter 12.
But this opinion cannot stand together with Justinian's accusation, as anyone may see: wherefore it is more credible that the Acoemetae, who once strongly resisted Eutyches and at that time the Eutychians, were carried away by the heat of the fight and went over almost into the very opposite party of Nestorius; for when they understood that the principal foundation of the Eutychian heresy was this—that the blessed Virgin is properly God-bearer, and that one of the Trinity is said to be incarnate and crucified;
and since, by a certain wretched credulity of the times, as Facundus relates, they persuaded themselves that there was no middle ground between Eutyches and Nestorius, they indeed confessed what the catholic faith commanded—that two such propositions were true; but they denied that they were true 'properly,' that is, in exactly the same absolute manner in which any single woman is called the parent of her son, or some man is said to have 'suffered' when he was slain. See Facundus, book i, chapter 4. From this they roused against themselves the anger of the emperor Justinian and of Epiphanius bishop of New Rome; but, it must be confessed, at that time the matter was disputed with little learning, or at least with little precision. 'With us stationed there.'] Either these things are false, which I can scarcely believe;
or else Liberatus must have come to Rome on these matters, once while John was alive, and again after the ordination of Agapetus: for the Roman council, from which John replied to Justinian, was held on the eighth day before the Kalends of April in the year 534. The Carthaginian council, however, from which the deacon Liberatus was sent to Rome with two bishops, Caius and Peter, was indeed assembled in the same year, but toward the end of autumn, as we shall later show; yet the legates did not set out from Africa until after the death of John, which occurred in the year 535, on the 26th day of April—though not before word had been brought of the death of John and the ordination of Agapetus;
for the synodical letter inscribed to John was received by Agapetus, who also gave the reply, and at the same time wrote a familiar letter to Reparatus, from which we learn all this. And so it reads: 'By the letters of your Fraternity you have informed us that, after the letter which was to be directed to my predecessor, during the delays of undertaking the voyage which the harshness of the continued winter caused, our ordination was announced to you by the gift of almighty God, and that you congratulated us with fraternal affection, because the dignity of the pontificate has granted me an office—at which we were not surprised, given your sincerity.
Moreover, regarding those matters which our brothers and fellow-bishops Caius and Peter, and also our son the deacon Liberatus, conveyed—as enjoined upon them by your Fraternity to plead by word of mouth before us—we have thought it fitting to give a reply by word of mouth: given on the fifth day before the Ides of September, after the consulship of Paulinus, vir clarissimus.' Liberatus therefore came first to John, to announce the ordination of Reparatus; then to Agapetus, to congratulate him on his elevation, and to transact the business of the African council. 'Theodosius.'] Mention is made, in the Lateran Council under Martin I, of the volume written by Theodosius to the Empress Theodora, from which these things are excerpted:
'It remains that there be one deifying operation from both, since we say that all things befitting God, and the irreproachable sufferings, are of one and the same.' And after some words: 'That there is one operation worthy of God of the composite Christ according to divinity and humanity, the holy and wise Fathers proclaimed.' 'He lives to this day.'] Liberatus therefore wrote under the emperor Justinian: for Theodosius, of whom he speaks, died in the first year of Justin the younger, if we believe Victor of Tunnuna.