Maximus the Confessor

The pull of a religious and contemplative life drew many men and women to it from many spheres. Maximus (c.580 - 662), for instance, was a civil servant and aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610 - 641) before deciding to embrace the monastic life. Educated in theology and philosophy—especially the works of commentators on Plato and Aristotle—his many writings influenced later writers like John Scotus Eriugena who were drawn to Neoplatonism.

By the age of 30 he had been promoted to the office of the Protoasekretis, a "first secretary" or head of the imperial notaries. His status and level of education suggests someone of noble birth. He chose, however, to leave what must have been a comfortable and lucrative life to join the monastery in Chrysopolis, across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. Eventually he became its abbot.

There was a major change in his life when the Persians invaded Anatolia. He fled to Carthage where he met Saint Sophronius and was introduced to the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. It was while here that a debate about the human versus divine nature of Jesus became intense. Maximus opposed the idea of Monothelitism. 

Monothelitism ("one will") had come up in the 600s in opposition to dyothelitism ("dual wills"), the doctrine that Jesus had two "wills": a divine aspect and a human aspect. Monothelitism was the opinion that he had one will, a single "energy." Maximus had a public debate in Carthage with a friend, Pyrrhus of Constantinople, who had been deposed as patriarch and supported Monothelitism. Maximus convinced his friend that Monothelitism was erroneous. He wrote a transcript of the debate.

Heraclius liked Monothelitism, but wrote to the pope in Rome to create a synod that would settle the matter. The disagreements over the exact nature—dual or otherwise—of Jesus raged for centuries. The turmoil caused by the debates caused Maximus to leave his monastery. He preached in Alexandria for six years, then Crete where he clashed with a bishop who was a proponent of Nestorianism, which said Jesus had two natures.

A Lateran Council in October 649 in Rome (attended by Maximus) condemned Monothelitism. Emperor Constans II—who tried to stop the controversy by simply declaring Monothelitism as the truth and forbade anyone from discussing it further—ordered Maximus and Pope Martin I arrested in 653. Martin died before he could be brought to Constantinople. Maximus was tried as a heretic in Constantinople in 658 because he refused to accept Monothelitism; he was exiled to North Africa. In 662 he was tried, again, convicted of heresy, and had his tongue cut out and his right hand cut off. Sent to Georgia, he was thrown into prison where he died on 13 August 662. The details of his trials were handed down to us by Anastasius Bibliothecarius. The Sixth Ecumenical Council of 680-81 declared Monothelitism heresy, and Maximus was posthumously exonerated.

If Nestorianism said Jesus had two natures, and Maximus was against Monothelitism which believed Jesus had one nature, why did Maximus argue with a Nestorian? Wouldn't they believe the same thing? Not necessarily. Tomorrow let's see what made Nestorianism also heresy.

Anastasius Bibliothecarius

Anastasius Bibliothecarius was born about 810CE, a nephew of Bishop Arsenius of Orte. At some point in his youth he learned Greek, which made him a valuable scholar and later earned him a prized position as papal archivist.

In his 40s, he was a monk, the abbot of Santa Maria in Trastavere, but was used by the popes for various missions and tasks. He translated many Greek works into Latin, and his style of writing shows up in several documents that were supposedly written by popes. (It is possible that he took their dictation and put his own style into what they wanted to say rather than taking it down verbatim.)

Holy Roman Emperor Louis II sent him to Constantinople to help negotiate a marriage between Louis' daughter Ermengard and Constantine, eldest son of Eastern Emperor Basil I. This was in 869, and the Fourth Council of Constantinople was taking place when they arrived. Anastasius attended the final session and defended the papal demands to have more jurisdiction over Bulgaria and the East. The marriage negotiations failed, or maybe they didn't; historians argue about that.

As the papal legates returned from that Council, the document with all the decisions was stolen from them. A copy of the declarations in Greek was in the possession of Anastasius, however, who was able to deliver his copy to Rome and translate it into Latin. The original Greek version is lost. The Council had deposed patriarch Photios, but Anastasius kept in touch with him.

After Pope Nicholas died and Adrian II became pope, Anastasius was named official papal librarian, hence the epithet Bibliothecarius. Anastasius was implicated in a plot that killed Adrian's wife and daughter, but Adrian's successor, Pope John VIII (872 - 882) confirmed him as librarian and encouraged him to write. The illustration shows an early vellum page with part of Anastasius' history of the Byzantine Church.

(A contemporary, Archbishop Hincmar of Reims, writing a history of the time, claims that Anastasius was the same Anastasius who was briefly an anti-pope at the time of Pope Benedict III (855 - 858). That Anastasius was driven from Rome in 848, excommunicated in 850 by the Roman synod, nd deposed by another synod in 853. It seems unlikely that he would have been welcomed into the papacy a couple decades later.)

In 879, a new librarian appears in papal records, Zacharias of Anagni, so by that time Anastasius had probably died or simply retired.

So what happened to poor Ermengard, daughter of the emperor, who was looking for a husband and did not find one in Constantinople? We'll see what happened to her tomorrow.

Pope Adrian II

Adrian (792 - 872; shown here in a detail from a fresco in the San Clemente basilica in Rome) was a member of a noble Roman family, related to two popes: Stephen IV and Sergius II. He married a woman named Stephania and had a daughter.

Later in life he decided to become a priest. The subject of priests getting married had been quashed by popes centuries earlier, but an already married man joining the priesthood turned out to be something of an allowable loophole. He was known to be a gentle and amiable man, respected by all. After Pope Nicholas I died on 13 November 867, Adrian was chosen to replace him on 14 December, becoming Pope Adrian II (also called Hadrian II).

He did not want the position—perhaps partially out of humility, but also likely because he was 75 years old and it was a demanding job—but was pressured into it as an obligation. He moved into the Lateran Palace with his wife and daughter. Other popes had been married, but none were married at the time they became pope.

Nicholas had been a very forceful leader of the papacy, but Adrian was not as strong-willed. King Lothair II of Lotharingia died in 869 and Adrian was asked to mediate between claimants to the succession which contributed to chaos. Charles the Bald of France ignored the pope. Adrian's legates to Constantinople at the council that condemned Photios failed to bring jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Church under Rome.

Louis II, descendant of Charlemagne and emperor of the Carolingian Empire, distrusted Adrian and kept him "under surveillance" by a trusted advisor, Bishop Arsenius of Orte (Central Italy). Arsenius' nephew was Anastasius Bibliothecarius, the papal archivist. Arsenius' son, Eleutherius, married Adrian and Stephania's daughter, but this seems purely a calculated political move to cause trouble for Adrian.

Why do we think this? Because Eleutherius was already engaged. In 868, Stephania and the daughter were kidnapped, removed from the Lateran, and killed. Eleutherius was condemned to death. Anastasius was accused of being part of his cousin's plot, and excommunicated.

Adrian died on 14 December 872, five years exactly after becoming pope, which I'm sure he wished he had refused more firmly.

But how about this Anastasius, who had a privileged position in the papacy? What was he like, and how did he get to be appointed to manage the papal archives? Let me tell you about his life and career tomorrow.