Chapter 2

CÆSAR FELL DOWN.

Great changes in the Roman State following the time of St. Leo, 59

Nature of the succession in the Cæsarean throne, and then in the Byzantine, 61

Personal changes in the Popes and eastern emperors, 62

Gennadius succeeds Anatolius, and Acacius succeeds Gennadius in the see of Constantinople, 64

Acacius resists the Encyclikon of Basiliscus, 65

Letter of Pope Simplicius to the emperor Zeno, 66

Advancement of Acacius by Zeno, 69

Acacius induces Zeno to publish a formulary of doctrine, 70

John Talaia, elected patriarch of Alexandria, appeals for support to Pope Simplicius, 70

Pope Felix sends an embassy to the emperor, 71

His letter to Zeno, 72

His letter to Acacius, 73

His legates arrested, imprisoned, robbed, and seduced, 74

Pope Felix synodically deposes Acacius, 75

Enumerates his misdeeds in the sentence, 76

Synodal decrees in Italy signed by the Pope alone, 78

Letter of Pope Felix to Zeno setting forth the condemnation of Acacius, 79

The condition of the Pope when he thus wrote, 81

How Acacius received the Pope's condemnation, 83

The position which Acacius thereupon took up, 84

The greatness of the bishop of Constantinople identified with the greatness of his city, 84

The humiliations of Rome witnessed by Acacius, 86

How the Pope, under these humiliations, spoke to Acacius and to the emperor, 88

The Pope on the one side, Acacius on the other, represent an absolute contradiction, 89

Eudoxius and Valens matched by Acacius and Zeno, 92

Death of Acacius, and estimate of him by three contemporaries, 93

Fravita, succeeding Acacius, seeks the Pope's recognition, 93

Letters of the emperor and Fravita to the Pope, and his answers, 94

The position taken by Acacius not maintained by Zeno and Fravita, 96

Nor by Euphemius, who succeeds Fravita, 96

Euphemius suspects and resists the new emperor Anastasius, 97

Condition of the Empire and the Church at the accession of Pope Gelasius in 492, 98

The "libellus synodicus" on the emperor Anastasius, 100

With whom the four Popes--Gelasius, Anastasius, Symmachus, and Hormisdas--have to deal, 101

Euphemius, writing to the Pope, acknowledges him to be successor of St. Peter, 103

Gelasius replies to Euphemius, insisting on the repudiation of Acacius, 104

Absolute obedience of the Illyrian bishops professed to the Apostolic See, 105

Gelasius shows that the canons make the First See supreme judge of all, 106

Says that the bishop of Constantinople holds no rank among bishops, 107

Praises bishops who have resisted the wrongdoings of temporal rulers, 108

The Holy See, in virtue of its Principate, confirms every Council, 109

Gelasius in 494 defines to the emperor the domain of the Two Powers, 110

And the subordination of the temporal ruler in spiritual things, 111

The words of Gelasius have become the law of the Church, 113

The emperor Anastasius deposes Euphemius by the Resident Council, 114

Pope Gelasius, in a council of seventy bishops at Rome, sets forth the divine institution of the Primacy, 115

And the order of the three Patriarchal Sees, 115

And three General Councils--the Nicene, Ephesine, and Chalcedonic, 115

Denies to the see of Constantinople any rank beyond that of an ordinary bishop, and omits the Council of 381, 116

Death of Pope Gelasius and character of his pontificate, 118

His own description of the time in which he lived, 118