The Presbyters Project

99.

The conflict between the followers and opponents of the Council of Chalcedon takes place in Alexandria.

22. defuncto isto Timotheo episcopo oeconomus ille Iohannes, quem clementissimus imperator pro ecclesia et fide scripserat laborare, catholicus a catholicis episcopus ordinatur. qui cum more maiorum ad apostolicam sedem synodica per Isidorum presbyterum et Petrum diaconum scripta misisset, superueniente Uranio subadiuua et contra Iohannem episcopum sacra principis deferente, ab episcopatus illius papa confirmatione suspensus est. et qui isdem sacris de restituendo Petro, quem ipse damnauit, fecerat mentionem, haec pars omnino est abnegata. unde uidetur clementissimus imperator offensus.

(ed. Guenther 1895: 448-449)

99.

The conflict between the followers and opponents of the Council of Chalcedon takes place in Alexandria.

22. After the death of Bishop Timothy [III Salophakiolos], the economus John whom the most clement emperor appointed to toil for the Church and the faith, was ordained as a Catholic bishop by the Catholics. Although, according to the custom of the elders, he sent a letter to the Apostolic See through the Presbyter Isidore and the Deacon Peter, after coming of the officer Uranius with the letter of the emperor [Zeno] against Bishop John, the pope [of Alexandria] was suspended from the episcopacy with the confirmation of the emperor. And as the emperor mentioned in this letter the restitution of Peter [Mongos], whom he had himself condemned, this part [of the letter] was completely ignored. For this reason, the most clement emperor was offended.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

After the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, the see of Alexandria was troubled by the conflict between the Chalcedonians and the anti-Chalcedonians. The Council deposed Bishop Dioscorus I of Alexandria who fiercely supported Eutyches, an ardent promoter of the formula of "one nature" of Christ. After his death in 454 the Alexandrine anti-Chalcedonians elected Timothy II Aelurus as bishop, while the Chalcedonians chose Proterius. Emperor Leo expelled Timothy in 460 and replaced him with a Chalcedonian, Timothy III Salophakiolos. Timothy II came back to Alexandria in 475 and ruled there until his death in 477. The successor of Timothy II was Peter Mongos, who was, nevertheless, expelled by the Emperor Zeno, and Timothy III was installed again. Timothy III regained his position, which he retained till his death in 481. He was succeeded by John Talaia, but as John refused to sign the Henoticon in 482 of the Emperor Zeno, the Emperor reinstalled Peter Mongos to the Alexandrian See. Peter signed the Henoticon and entered the communion with Acacius of Constantinople. John Talaia appealed to Pope Felix III, who defended his rights before Acacius. Acacius, however, did not agree with the Pope and was thus, excommunicated by him along with Peter Mongos in 484. It was the beginning of the so-called Acacian schism that lasted to the year 519 (see Kosinski 2002: 177–202).

Place of event:

Region

East
Rome

City

Alexandria

About the source:

Title: Gesta de nomine Acacii
Origin: Rome
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Gesta de nomine Acacii is a short historiographical work relating to the events of the Acacian schism (484–519). This was long attributed to Pope Gelasius, but Eduard Schwarz proved that it is an anonymous work, first commissioned by Pope Felix III (II) in 489 to inform the senator Andromachus before his embassy to the East in 489. Between 489 and 492/493 the text was revised and extended. Additions appear in two versions of the text - in the non-abridged version (Collectio Avellana 99, 1–3 and 30–31) and in the epitome (Epitome gestorum de nomine Acacii 14, ed. Guenther 1895: 795). Possibly the extended redaction of the text was commissioned by Gelasius in order to provide information for the embassy of Flavius Anicius Probus Faustus Junior Niger in AD 492/493 (see Moreau 2015: 41).

Collectio Avellana is a collection containing 244 letters issued by emperors, imperial magistrates and popes. The earliest item is dated to AD 367, the latest to AD 553. Hence, the compilator worked most probably in the second half of the sixth century. Two hundred documents of the Collectio are not known from any other collection. The editor of the Collectio, Günther noticed that it can be divided into five thematic parts (Günther 1896: 3-96; Steinacker 1902: 14-15; Blaudeau 2013: 4) :

1) Nos. 1–40 are an independent collection making use of the records of the prefecture of the city of Rome concerning two episcopal elections;

2) Nos. 41–50 are derived from the records of the bishopric in Carthage, and consist of the letters of Innocentius I and Zosimus;

3) Nos. 51–55 are the late letters of Leo I not known from any other source, regarding the exile of Bishop Timothy II of Alexandria;

4) Nos. 56–104 are the group of letters from the pontificates of Simplicius, Gelasius, Symmachus, John, Agapet, and Vigilius;

5) Nos. 105–243 are the letters from the records of Hormisdas.

The modern name of the collection is derived from the codex Vaticanus Latinus 4961 copied in the monastery Sancti Crucis in fonte Avellana that was considered the oldest by the brothers Ballerini who edited the Collectio in 1787.

Edition:

O. Guenther ed., Epistolae Imperatorum Pontificum Aliorum Inde ab a. CCCLXVII usque DLIII datae Avellana Quae Dicitur Collectio, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35/1, 35/2, Prague, Vienna, and Leipzig 1895

Bibliography:

P. Blaudeau, "Un point de contact entre collectio Avellana et collectio Thessalonicensis?”, Millennium Yearbook / Millenium Jahrbuch 10 (2013), 1–12.

O. Guenther, Avellana-Studien, Wien 1896.

O. Guenther, "Zu den Gesta de nomine Acacii”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 3 (1894), 146–149.

R. Kosinski, The Emperor Zeno: Religion and Politics, Krakow 2002.

D. Moreau, "Les actes pontificaux comme sources des historiens et des chroniqueurs de l'Antiquité tardive", in: L'historiographie tardo-antique et la transmission des savoirs, ed. P. van Nuffelen, P. Blaudeau, Millenium-Studien 55, Berlin, Boston 2015, 23-54.

H. Steinacker, "Ueber das älteste päpstliche Registerwesen”, Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 23 (1902), 1–49.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

PR731.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR731.

Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy

PR731.

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

PR731.

Relation with - Deacon

PR731.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1581, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1581