Pope Saint Sergius I (died September 8, 701) was
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
from 687–701. Selected to end a schism between
Antipope PaschalPaschal was an antipope of the Roman Catholic church during the year of 687. He was opposed to Pope Sergius I and Antipope Theodore ....
and
Antipope TheodoreTheodore was an antipope of the Roman Catholic church during the year of 687. He was opposed to Pope Sergius I and Antipope Paschal....
, Sergius I ended the last disputed
sede vacanteSede vacante is an expression, used in the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, that refers to the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church...
of the
Byzantine PapacyThe Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen from the apocrisiarii or the inhabitants of Byzantine Greece, Syria, or Sicily...
.
His papacy was dominated by his response to the
Quinisext CouncilThe Quinisext Council was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Justinian II. It is often known as the Council in Trullo, because it was held in the same domed hall where the Sixth Ecumenical Council had met...
, whose canons he refused to accept. As a result of the dispute
Justinian IIJustinian II , known as Rinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711...
ordered Sergius I's abduction (as his predecessor
Constans IIConstans II , also called "Constantine the Bearded" , was Byzantine emperor from 641 to 668. He also was the last emperor to become consul in 642, becoming the last Roman consul in history.Constans is a diminutive nickname given to the emperor, who had been baptized Herakleios and reigned...
had done with
Pope Martin IPope Saint Martin I, born near Todi, Umbria in the place now named after him Pian S. Martino, was pope from 649 to 653, succeeding Theodore I in July 649...
), but with the assistance of the exarch of Ravenna, Sergius I was able to avoid trial in Constantinople.
Early life
Sergius I came from an
AntiochAntioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River...
ene
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
n family which had settled at
PalermoPalermo is a historic city in Southern Italy, the capital of the autonomous region Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its rich history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
in
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
. Sergius left Sicily and arrived in Rome during the pontificate of
Pope AdeodatusPope Adeodatus can refer to:*Pope Adeodatus I *Pope Adeodatus II...
. A fellow Sicilian
Pope Leo IIPope Saint Leo II was Pope from August 17, 682 to June 28, 683.-Background and early activity in the Church:He was a Sicilian by birth , and succeeded Agatho. Though elected pope a few days after the death of St. Agatho , he was not consecrated till after the lapse of a year and seven months ....
ordained him cardinal-priest of
Santa SusannaThe Church of Saint Susanna at the baths of Diocletian is a Roman Catholic parish church on the Quirinal hill in Rome, with a titulus associated to its site that dates back to about 280...
on June 27, 683 and he rose through the ranks of the clergy. He remained cardinal-priest of S. Susanna until his selection as pope.
Election
Sergius I owed his election as
Pope CononPope Conon was Pope from October 21, 686 until his death in Rome. Conon was buried in the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Peter....
's successor to skillful intrigues against
Antipope PaschalPaschal was an antipope of the Roman Catholic church during the year of 687. He was opposed to Pope Sergius I and Antipope Theodore ....
and
Antipope TheodoreTheodore was an antipope of the Roman Catholic church during the year of 687. He was opposed to Pope Sergius I and Antipope Paschal....
, the other candidates. The two armed factions entered open combat before Sergius I was chosen by a group of judges, soldiers, clergy, and citizens. Sergius I was brought to the Palatine imperial palace and then the Lateran. The "numerical superiority" of this new faction forced Theodore from the
patriarchium, whereafter he acknowledged Sergius I as pope.
Paschal remained unconvinced, and while pretending to accept Sergius, sent messengers to the exarch of Ravenna John Platyn promising gold in exchange for military support. The exarch arrived, demanded the gold, and looted Old St. Peter's Basilica, but departed after Sergius I's consecration. Paschal was eventually confined to a monastery on charges of witchcraft.
Sergius I was consecrated on December 15, 687, ending the last disputed
sede vacanteSede vacante is an expression, used in the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, that refers to the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church...
of the
Byzantine PapacyThe Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen from the apocrisiarii or the inhabitants of Byzantine Greece, Syria, or Sicily...
.
Papacy (687-701)
On April 10, 689, Sergius I baptised King
Caedwalla of WessexCædwalla was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the British Cadwallon. He was exiled as a youth, and during this time attacked the South Saxons and killed their king, Æthelwealh, in what is now Sussex. Cædwalla was unable to hold the...
in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
. He also ordained Saint Willibrord as bishop of the
FrisiaFrisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight...
ns, and the
Liber PontificalisThe Liber Pontificalis is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V , but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and then Pope Pius II...
states he also ordained Berhtwald as
Archbishop of CanterburyAlso see Leaders of ChristianityThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the see that churches must be in communion with in order to be...
.
Sergius founded the diaconie of S. Maria in Via Lata, on the Corso from the Porta Flaminia to
Capitoline HillThe Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in Italian. The English word capitol derives from Capitoline...
, encompassing a quarter of the city which developed in the eighth century. He also "restored and embellished" the Eastern church of SS. Cosmas and Damian.
Response to the Quinisext Council
Sergius I did not attend the
Quinisext CouncilThe Quinisext Council was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Justinian II. It is often known as the Council in Trullo, because it was held in the same domed hall where the Sixth Ecumenical Council had met...
of 692, but sent legates (including his
apocrisiariusAn apocrisiarius, the latinized form of apokrisiarios , sometimes Anglicized as apocrisiary, was a high diplomatic representative during Late Antiquity and the early medieval period. The corresponding Latin term was responsalis...
and suffragan Basil, the bishop of Gortyna in Crete), who ended up subscribing to the canons as "holding the place of the entire synod of the Holy Roman Church". Sergius I himself rejected certain canons of the Council, although he continued to support political unity with Constantinople. It is unknown exactly which canons Sergius I objected to, but he declared that he would "rather die than consent to erroneous novelties". Sergius I's objections, however, did not extend to the anathemization of his predecessor,
Pope Honorius IPope Honorius I was pope from 625 to 638.Honorius, according to the Liber Pontificalis, came from Campania and was the son of the consul Petronius. He became pope on October 27, 625, two days after the death of his predecessor, Boniface V...
, who at the time was also condemned in Western formulas. The canon which declared Constantinople equal in privileges but second in honor to Rome was also probably not the point of contention as it differed little from the pronouncements of earlier councils.
However, the Quinisext Council did approve all eighty-five of the Apostolic Canons, while Sergius I would only have supported the first fifty. The bulk of the resistance probably stemmed from varying doctrines and practices between east and west; for example, Roman deacons were prohibited from living with their wives after ordination, Roman priests were prohibited from having married twice prior to ordination, and Roman Christians were prohibited from fasting on the Saturdays of
Great LentGreat Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season in the church year in Eastern Christianity, which prepares Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha...
and allowed to consume animal blood. These and other practices differed from the Trullan canons.
In a symbolically important step, Sergius I declared support for the chant "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us" at the breaking of the Host during Mass, and restored the damaged facade mosaic in St. Peter's atrium that depicted the Worship of the Lamb; the depiction of Christ as lamb had been prohibited by the Council. The
Agnus DeiAgnus Dei is a Latin term meaning Lamb of God, and was originally used to refer to Jesus Christ in his role of the perfect sacrificial offering that atones for the sins of humanity in Christian theology, harkening back to ancient Jewish Temple sacrifices...
would have been chanted in both Greek and Latin during this period, in the same manner as the other liturgical changes of Sergius I. Sergius I himself composed a litany in Greek (extant in the Athelstan Psalter to be recited on the feast of all saints.
Enraged, Emperor
Justinian IIJustinian II , known as Rinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711...
dispatched his
magistrianus, also named Sergius, to Rome to arrest bishop John of Portus, the chief papal legate to the
Third Council of ConstantinopleThe Third Council of Constantinople is believed to have been the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It met on November 7, 680 for its first session; it ended its meetings, said to have been...
and Boniface, the papal counselor. The two high ranking officials were brought to Constantinople as a warning to the pope.
Eventually, Justinian II ordered Sergius I's arrest and abduction to Constantinople by his notoriously violent bodyguard
protospathariosPrōtospatharios was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period , awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes.- History :...
Zacharias. However, the militia of the exarch of Ravenna and the Duchy of Pentapolis frustrated the attempt. Zacharias nearly lost his own life in an attempt to arrest Sergius I. Rather than seizing upon the anti-Byzantine sentiment, Sergius I did his best to quell the uprising.