簡史 第 25 章

These things accomplished, the pope, having appointed at the emperor's court Pelagius his deacon as apocrisiarius of his Church, while disposing to return to Italy, died at Constantinople. Hearing of his death, the city of Rome chose to ordain Silverius, a subdeacon, son of the former pope Hormisdas. But the Empress, summoning Vigilius, deacon of Agapetus, demanded that he profess to her in secret that, if he should become pope, he would do away with the synod, and would write to Theodosius, Anthimus, and Severus, and by his own letter confirm their faith; promising to give him an order to Belisarius that he be ordained pope, and that seven hundred-weights of gold be given him. Gladly therefore Vigilius accepted her promise, out of love for the episcopate and for gold, and, having made the profession, set out for Rome:

where, arriving, he found Silverius already ordained pope. Moreover at Ravenna he found Belisarius seated in that same city and holding it; and handing over to him the order of the Empress, he promised him two hundred-weights of gold if, Silverius being removed, he himself should be ordained in his place. Belisarius, then, having returned to Rome, summoning Silverius to the palace, leveled a calumny against him, as though he had written to the Goths that they should enter Rome. And it is reported that a certain Marcus, a scholasticus, and a certain Julian, a praetorian, composed forged letters in the name of Silverius, written to the king of the Goths, by which Silverius might be convicted of wishing to betray the Roman city.

Secretly Belisarius and his wife sought to persuade Silverius to fulfill the order of the Empress, namely to do away with the Synod of Chalcedon, and by his own letter to confirm the faith of the heretics. He, soon going out from the palace, spoke with his counselors about what was being done to him; and coming, he betook himself to the basilica of the blessed martyr Sabina, and there he remained: where also Photius, son of the patrician Antonina, was sent to him, and, an oath having been given, invited him to come to the palace. But those who stood by Silverius urged him not to trust the oaths of the Greeks: he nevertheless went out and came to the palace. And on that day indeed he was permitted, on the strength of the oath, to return to the church; and Belisarius again sent word to him to come to the palace;

and he was unwilling to go out from the church, recognizing the snares prepared for him. But afterward, praying and commending his cause to the Lord, he went out and came to the palace: and having entered alone, he was no longer seen by his own people. And on another day Belisarius, having convened the presbyters and deacons and all the clergy, commanded them to choose for themselves another pope; and while they hesitated, and some resisted, by the favor of Belisarius, Vigilius was ordained. But Silverius was sent into exile to a city of the province of Lycia which is called Patara. After his ordination, then, Vigilius was compelled by Belisarius to fulfill his promise, which he had made to the Empress, and to pay him the two hundred-weights of gold that had been promised.

But Vigilius, out of fear of the Romans, and with avarice acting as his patron, was unwilling to fulfill his pledges. But when Silverius came to Patara, the venerable bishop of that city went to the emperor and bore witness to the judgment of God concerning the expulsion of the bishop of so great a see, saying that there are many kings in this world, but there is not one such as that pope is over the Church of the whole world, who had been expelled from his see. The emperor, hearing him, ordered Silverius to be recalled to Rome, and judgment to be made concerning those letters, so that if they were proven to have been written by him, he should remain a bishop in whatever city he should reside; but if they were proven false, he should be restored to his see.

But Pelagius, running in accord with the will of the Empress, wished to render void the emperor's order, lest Silverius should return to Rome; but the emperor's command prevailing, Silverius was brought back to Italy. Terrified at his arrival, Vigilius, lest he be driven from the see, sent word to Belisarius: 'Hand Silverius over to me, otherwise I cannot do what you demand of me.' Thus Silverius was handed over to two defenders of Vigilius and to his servants; and he, brought to the island of Palmaria, under their custody perished of starvation. But Vigilius, through Antonina the wife of Belisarius, fulfilling his profession which he had made to the Empress, wrote a letter of this kind: 'To my lords and brothers, joined in the love of Christ our God and Savior,

to the bishops Theodosius, Anthimus, and Severus, Vigilius the bishop. I know indeed that the assurance of my faith, with God's help, formerly reached your Holiness: but because now my glorious daughter, the patrician Antonina, most Christian, has caused my desires to be fulfilled, that I should transmit a written communication to your Fraternity. Greeting you therefore by the grace whereby we are joined to our God Christ the Savior, I signify that, with God's help, I have both held and do hold that same faith which you hold; knowing that we preach and read among you this: that there be one soul and one heart in God.

With God's help, I have hastened from my heart to announce to you the joys of my advancement, which is yours, knowing that your Fraternity, which so desired it, would gladly embrace it. It is fitting, therefore, that none should know these things which I write to you; but rather let your wisdom esteem me, before others, as it were suspect, so that I may more easily be able to work out and accomplish these things which I have begun.' And the subscription: 'Pray to God for us, you who are joined to me in love, my brothers in Christ our Lord.' Beneath this letter Vigilius wrote his confession of faith, in which he condemned two natures in Christ; and, dissolving the Tome of Pope Leo, he spoke thus: 'We do not confess Christ to be two natures, but one Son composed of two natures, one Christ, one Lord.

And again: Whoever says that there are two forms in Christ, each one self-existent with communion with the other, and does not confess one person, one essence, let him be anathema. Whoever says that this one indeed worked miracles, but that one succumbed to sufferings, and does not confess that the miracles and the sufferings are of one and the same, which He voluntarily endured in flesh consubstantial with us, let him be anathema. Whoever says that Christ as man was deemed worthy of mercy, and does not say that God the Word Himself was also crucified, that He might have mercy on us, let him be anathema. We therefore anathematize Paul of Samosata, Dioscorus, Theodore, Theodoret, and all who have honored or do honor their decrees.'

And Vigilius, writing these things secretly to the heretics, remained seated. In which was fulfilled that testimony which Solomon speaks in the Proverbs: 'They shall eat the fruits of their own ways, and be filled with their own counsels' (Prov. 1:31). Afflicted by this very heresy, Vigilius—neither crowned, and what end of life he met—it is known to all; but let us return to the cause of the Alexandrians. 'Concerning Silverius and Vigilius.'] He likes to relate this mournful history in a separate chapter, that he may render so much the greater odium against Vigilius, the condemner of the Three Chapters, the more unjust he shows his first ordination to have been. 'Pelagius his deacon.'] He was the apocrisiarius of three pontiffs, of Agapetus, Silverius, and Vigilius; wherefore in the Council of Constantinople in the year

536, under Mennas, he is often called the deacon of the apostolic see, of the Roman Church, just as Theophanes is. Both are likewise there called deacons of Vigilius, but by anticipation, since they were left behind by Vigilius as he hastened to Rome and was certain of obtaining the apostolic see. Pelagius first came to Constantinople, sent as legate by Agapetus to Justinian in the year 535, was sent back to Rome by Justinian in the year 540, again discharged a legation from Totila to Justinian, and returned to Rome to render an account of his legation, whence he again returned to Vigilius stationed at Constantinople; and it is believed that he kept him so long in the opinion of not condemning the Three Chapters, for as long as it was permitted by the peace of the Church;

at length he succeeded Vigilius in the apostolic see in the year 555. 'He died at Constantinople.'] Victor of Tunnuna relates the same; yet there are those who write that he died on the way: or did they perhaps say 'on the way' for 'on the point of departing on his way'? 'Silverius.'] Anastasius writes that he was ordained by the help of Theodatus king of the Goths, or even by force—whence a pretext was afterward added to the calumny, as though he favored the Goths. There are not lacking those who have tried to brand the holy man with the stain of simony, as though he had bought the favor of Theodatus with gold; this, rashly said by Anastasius, certain men have maliciously defended. 'Vigilius.'] He was at that time not only a deacon of Agapetus, but also an apocrisiarius together with Pelagius, and also with Theophanes.

Now this ambitious man had crept into the favor of the Acephalous Empress, hoping by her aid to be able to occupy the apostolic see; indeed it is credible that, the more openly to flatter, he feigned himself more favorable to the Acephali, and especially to Anthimus, and as it were carped at Agapetus's judgment concerning Anthimus as too harsh. 'And by a letter.'] Namely a letter of communion, of the kind afterward reported. 'Seven hundred-weights.'] That is, seven hundred pounds of gold, which, if reduced to the value of French currency, would amount to six hundred thousand French pounds and more. 'Having made a profession.'] The word 'profession' is used in place of 'promise,' either set down by Liberatus, or introduced by the copyists, which I rather think; for 'to profess' in Cicero is 'to promise':

and this promise was made by Vigilius not by word only, but by a written bond given. 'At Ravenna he found Belisarius.'] His memory fails him: he put 'Ravenna' for 'Naples,' which Belisarius had recently taken; for he did not gain possession of Ravenna until three years later. See Procopius, book i of the Gothic War. 'Having returned to Rome.'] At which time Vitiges was pressing the siege of Rome, begun in the year 538, in the month of March. See Procopius, book I of the Gothic War, and Anastasius in the life of Silverius. 'Written to the king of the Goths.'] To Vitiges, who, called to the kingship by the Goths, had slain Theodatus, the supporter of Silverius. There are those who from this refute the calumny of betrayal leveled against Silverius:

for how could Silverius, generous of spirit as he was, have dealt in so great a matter with the executioner of his own friend? But what if he suffered something merely human, when he saw Belisarius—to whom the city had surrendered on the 10th of December—promoting the business of Vigilius who was aspiring to the pontificate? 'Secretly Belisarius.'] See this whole tragedy in Anastasius in the Life of Silverius, and marvel that two women, Theodora the wife of Justinian, and Antonina the wife of Belisarius, were able to disturb the whole Church and to tear apart religion: what will the female mind not dare, when it is deluded by the spirit either of religion or of ambition? 'Who, having entered alone.'] Anastasius makes Vigilius the companion; for the matter, touched upon by Liberatus, he relates more fully thus:

'And so when Silverius and Vigilius alone had entered into the mausoleum, the patrician Antonina was lying on a couch, and Belisarius was sitting at her feet. And when Antonina the patrician had seen him, she said to him: Tell me, lord Silverius the pope, what have we done to you and to the Romans, that you should wish to hand us over into the hands of the Goths? While she was still speaking, John the subdeacon, regionary of the first region, entered, took the pallium from his neck, and led him into the bedchamber, and stripping him, clothed him in monastic garb, and hid him. Then Sixtus the subdeacon, regionary of the sixth region, seeing him already a monk, going outside, announced to the clergy, saying that the lord pope was deposed and had been made a monk—at which all the bolder ones fled.'

Anastasius confounds the two encounters of Silverius with Belisarius into one, and the two matters which Liberatus distinguishes; for he adds: 'Whom Vigilius the archdeacon, receiving as it were into his own custody, also sent into exile to Pontiae, and sustained him with the bread of tribulation and the water of distress'—things which happened long afterward, namely after the return of Silverius from the Patarensian exile. 'He was sent into exile.'] Anastasius is silent about the exile of Silverius to Lyda, but Procopius speaks in these words, book i of the Gothic War, chapter 25: 'Then, a suspicion having arisen that Silverius the pontiff of the city of Rome would defect to the Goths, this man indeed...'

He at once sends him across into Greece, but appointed in his place a certain other man named Vigilius, together with certain others, and these men of senatorial rank. "The venerable bishop."] This man is, at least in my judgment, that Licinius—or Lucianus—who is recorded to have subscribed at the Council of Constantinople under Mennas, two years before this. "In whatsoever city."] That is, that he might live as bishop in some one city, but indeed no longer of Rome, but of that other city. Baronius interprets it otherwise, though I fear not very plausibly, as if forsooth the emperor were ordering that Silverius, if he were proven guilty, should not return to Rome, yet should retain the supreme pontificate, which he would exercise in some other city.

"But Pelagius, coming to meet him."] From this is seen the conspiracy of Pelagius with Vigilius and the Empress; it is also understood how Pelagius was already at that time managing Vigilius's affairs and discharging the office of apocrisiarius. "To the island of Palmaria."] He put Palmaria for the neighbouring island Pontia, which the Roman Martyrology mentions. "He perished of starvation."] Concerning the martyrdom of Silverius the Martyrology speaks a little differently than Liberatus; for, in order to spare the name of Vigilius, it has this entry on the 20th of June:

"The birthday (heavenly nativity) of St. Silverius, pope and martyr, who, when he had refused to restore the heretical bishop Anthimus—deposed by his predecessor Agapetus—being driven into exile to the island of Pontia by Belisarius at the instigation of the impious Empress Theodora, there, worn out by many hardships for the Catholic faith, perished." "Through Antonina."] Concerning this woman, of all the most impure, the most audacious, and the most cruel, see the Secret History of Procopius. "To the lords, etc."] In the printed editions it is read, "To the lords and to the anointed (christis)"; we have restored the heading from Victor of Tunnuna, who indeed reports the letter inscribed thus: "To the lords and brethren joined in the charity of Christ our God and Saviour, the bishops Theodosius, Anthemius and Severus, Vigilius bishop."

By this inscription the force of the arguments by which Baronius proves the letter to be a forgery is broken; for it was not addressed to Justinian and Theodora, as Baronius believed; likewise vanishes the point drawn from the synod, namely that an anathema was pronounced against the petitions said to have been made by Vigilius to Justinian and Theodora; there vanishes equally the argument taken from the strangeness of the inscription, which is far other than that which is commonly read, corrupted, in Liberatus. "Beneath this letter."] Appended to the letter was a profession of faith, with five anathematisms: of the faith Liberatus reports nothing, except a single passage in which the poison was contained.

The first four anathematisms are twisted against just so many statements of Leo the Great, received by the Council of Chalcedon but wrongly understood; the fifth is read corruptly, for in place of Dioscorus one must restore Nestorius. I said the statements of Leo were wrongly understood, as though by the confession of two natures one person were excluded; wherefore the first four anathematisms seem cunningly composed to deceive the very heretics to whom they were written, so that, while they laboured under prejudice, they might draw into their own opinion what in truth was nevertheless being said in a Catholic sense. But not even on this account can Vigilius be excused—any more than Honorius afterwards—when through an unworthy 'economy' (management) of the apostolic see he did not openly teach the truth.

although he was sitting in the chair of the Teacher of the Church. Note, moreover, that already from these first times there had been a plan to condemn the Three Chapters, and that this had been a compact—namely, that it should be Vigilius (who would do it), if by the power of Theodora he should occupy the apostolic see. Victor of Tunnuna is witness: "After the consulship—not of Basilius, as is read, but of Belisarius—in the second year," that is, in the year 437 [read 537], "by the faction of the Empress Theodora," who "never ceased to be a hidden enemy of the synod of Chalcedon from the time she began to reign, the snares of proscriptions are prepared. Silverius, the Roman bishop, is sent into exile, and in his place Vigilius is ordained, by whom..."

The aforesaid Empress Theodora, before he was ordained, secretly extracted from him by a written bond that, once made pope, in the proscription (banning) of the synod of Chalcedon he should condemn the Three Chapters: that is, the letter of Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to Maris the Persian, which by the judgment of the synod of Chalcedon was approved and judged orthodox and joined to the synodal acts; then Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, who likewise had been praised in the synodal acts at Antioch under John, bishop of that same Church, and at Chalcedon; and the sayings of Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, together with Theodoret himself, who were commended by the voices of the synod of Chalcedon. If these things are true, the condemnation of Origen was not the cause why a plan was made to condemn the Three Chapters, but rather why the condemnation was urged forward.

Yet the trustworthiness of the two schismatics on this point may justly be suspect. "Afflicted, Vigilius."] What he suffered at Constantinople and Chalcedon from the emperor, both he himself relates and the clergy of Italy pitiably bewail in their letters to the legates of the king of the Gauls; but whether he was indeed sent into exile and remained in it for several years, the treaters of ecclesiastical history dispute—and in my judgment they stir up strife about a mere word; for his absence from the City has been called by the name of exile, and not without cause, since it was forced. "What kind of end of life he met."] From this we know that this Breviarium was written after the death of Vigilius, that is, after the year 555, in which year the death of Vigilius occurred.