The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

V. Establishing Mandate Embodied Permanently in Code

1. CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO PAPAL HEADSHIP DECISION

It is essential to understand the precise occasion and circumstance of the imperial letter that at last recognized the bishop of Rome as head of all the churches, East and West. Justinian was about to begin his Vandal wars, and was anxious to settle beforehand the religious disputes of his capital. The Nestorian controversy ⁴⁰ had created considerable disturbance. Justinian, with a personal penchant for theological questions, plunged into the controversy with recourse to persecution to augment his arguments. ⁴¹ PFF1 510.3

By imperial decree the Nestorians were placed under a spiritual ban. In their distress some of the anathematized made appeal to Rome. The emperor then sent two Eastern prelates—Hypatius, bishop of Ephesus, and Demetrius, bishop of Philippi—as envoys to Rome to lay the case before Pope John. In the imperial letter which they bore, Justinian ruled in favor of the primacy, or precedency, of the bishop of Rome, which had been contested by the bishop of Constantinople ever since the removal of the capital to that city. In the fullest and most unequivocal form Justinian recognized, maintained, and established by imperial authority the bishop of Rome as the chief of the whole ecclesiastical body of the empire. ⁴² PFF1 511.1

The imperial letter details the “heresy” of the Nestorian monks, and desires a rescript from Rome to Epiphanius, patriarch of Constantinople, and to the emperor himself, giving papal sanction to the judgment pronounced by the emperor upon the heresy. Justinian expresses his desire to present to his “Holiness” at Rome all matters that concern the church at large. Justinian also states that the patriarch of Constantinople has likewise written the pope as being desirous in all things to follow the apostolic authority of the Roman bishop. PFF1 511.2

And for the purpose of preserving the unity of the apostolic see, Justinian states that he has exerted himself to unite all the priests of the Eastern church and subject them to the bishop of Rome, and that he does not permit anything pertaining to the state of the church to be unknown “to Your Holiness,” “because you are the Head of all the holy churches.” ⁴³ He was, of course, already the actual head in the West. Justinian concludes by declaring the doctrine held by the bishop of Rome to be the standard of the faith and the source of unity to all the Christian world. PFF1 511.3

The emperor’s letter to Pope John must have been written before March 26, 533, for, in a letter of that date ⁴⁴ to Epiphanius, bishop of Constantinople, Justinian speaks of it as having already been written, and repeats his decision to Epiphanius, that all things touching the church shall be referred to the pope of ancient Rome, since he is “head of all the most holy priests of God,” and adds that “by the decision and right judgment of his venerable see [heretics] are held in check.” ⁴⁵ PFF1 512.1

2. ENACTMENT ESTABLISHED IN HEART OF CIVIL CODE

Pope John’s answer to Justinian, which is recorded in the Code ⁴⁶ is our source for the emperor’s letter, for it quotes it entire, repeating the language of the emperor, applauding his homage to the Holy See, acknowledging the title—”head of all churches”—conferred on him by the imperial mandate, and commending Justinian’s reverence for the “See of Rome,” in that he had “subjected all things to its authority.” John refers to Justinian’s having “promulgated an Edict” against heretics, which was “confirmed by our authority.” Thus the transaction was fully understood by both pope and emperor. PFF1 512.2

Justinian’s momentous document to Bishop John 2, of Rome, was not left to the dubious fate of the royal archives. Together with John’s reply, and the imperial letter to Epiphanius, it was put into the Code, and cast into the form of law. Thus it obtained the stamp of public authority as a law of empire. And this designation of the pope as supreme head of the churches was repeated in, various ways in the Civil Code. Its authenticity is sustained by the Preface to the ninth Novella, reading: PFF1 512.3

“Not only has the former Rome been allotted the origin of laws, but also there is no one who doubts that in her is the peak of the highest pontificate.” ⁴⁷ PFF1 513.1

And the 131st Novella states: PFF1 513.2

“Hence, in accordance with the provisions of these Councils, we order that the Most Holy Pope of ancient Rome shall hold the first rank of all the Pontiffs, but the Most Blessed Archbishop of Constantinople, or New Rome, shall occupy the second place after the Holy Apostolic See of ancient Rome, which shall take precedence over all other sees. ⁴⁸ PFF1 513.3

Thus the supremacy of the pope over all Christians received the fullest sanction that could be given by the secular master of the Roman world. From this time, then, is to be dated the secular acknowledgment of the Papacy’s claims to ecclesiastical primacy, which became effective generally in 538, by the freeing of Rome from the Ostrogothic siege. PFF1 513.4

It was thus that Justinian purchased the influence of Rome. Whatever the motive, the deed was done. And it was authentic and unquestionable, sanctioned by the forms of state, and never abrogated—the act of the first potentate of the world. ⁴⁹ Thus the pen that wrote that imperial letter gave legal sanction to another Rome that was to have spiritual dominion for even longer than imperial Rome, and was later to climb to the peak of civil as well as religious domination. ⁵⁰ PFF1 513.5

3. LEGAL TRANSACTION COMPLETE AND AUTHORITATIVE

The title of the pope to supremacy over the church was later questioned in the East by the Patriarch of Constantinople, after the death of Justinian, and was in turn reaffirmed by Phocas in 606, as will be noted in chapter 22. But the establishing edict of Justinian was never rescinded. The importance attached to Justinian’s Code in this study does not rest so much upon the great body of civil legislation contained therein as upon the incorporation of purely ecclesiastical edicts and regulations, and as a result the latter was given imperial and political sanction. And as the influence of Justinian’s Code can be traced in the legislation of many European nations, this intertwining of religious and political power by law remained constant practically till the time of the French Revolution, when it was dethroned in Europe and when the Code of Napoleon a few years thereafter made a distinct separation between the ecclesiastical and the secular spheres. PFF1 513.6

The time of Justinian is therefore incontrovertibly the time of the beginning of the era of the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Papacy. The placing of the letter to the pope in civil law, thereby embodying his primacy in that law, was a remarkable—yes, an incontrovertible—way of accrediting the pope, and of making prominent his new power and dignity. PFF1 514.1

It should be stressed that the Justinian transaction has all the requirements of completeness, authority, and publicity. Ecclesiastical dominion was conferred not only over the Western church but also over the Eastern—these two grand divisions theoretically embracing the territory of the old Roman Empire—and it was enforceable as far as Justinian’s authority extended, for it had all the sanction that could be given by the imperial will, all the formality which belonged to imperial law, and all the authority comprehended under imperial supremacy. PFF1 514.2

4. REMOVAL OF GOTHIC IMPEDIMENT IN 538

The beginning of the era of the headship of the Roman bishop over all the churches was not marked by some overmastering event in papal advance, or by an assumption of supreme ecclesiastical control; at that time the pope was hampered by the fact that Arian Ostrogoths were ruling Italy. Rather, it was only by the removal of the impediment of the Ostrogothic control, as their besieging forces were cleared away from Rome, that the Roman pontiff was free to exercise the jurisdiction now legally pro vided for through the imperial Code of Justinian. At that time the reinforcing second army of Justinian broke the Gothic siege of Rome, relieving the beleaguered Belisarius, and leaving thenceforth no power save the Papacy that could be said to hold sway through many centuries from the seven hills of the Eternal City. PFF1 514.3

One year and nine days had been consumed in the siege of Rome by the Goths, ending in March, 538. ⁵¹ Thus the ancient seat of empire was preserved for the Papacy, for although Totila, king of the Goths, had resolved to make of Rome, which “surpassed all other cities,” but “a pasture land for cattle,” Belisarius wrote to dissuade him, and so he refrained from destroying it. ⁵² The war against the Goths continued, for Ravenna did not immediately fall—five or six years passing before the remainder of the Gothic empire collapsed; ⁵³ but the grave of the Ostrogothic monarchy in Italy was dug by the defeat of this siege, ⁵⁴ the remaining resistance collapsing by 554. ⁵⁵ And with the failure of this siege, says Finlay, “commences the history of the Middle Ages.” ⁵⁶ PFF1 515.1

Bishop Silverius of Rome (536-c. 538) had been “elected under the Gothic influence, and while Belisarius was besieged in Rome by the Goths under Witiges (Witigis, or Vitiges), Silverius was accused of favoring the Goths. ⁵⁷ So in 537 Silverius was banished by Belisarius; and the deacon Vigilius, favorite of Theodora, was then elected pope. ⁵⁸ PFF1 515.2

It is not to be concluded that Vigilius came into office wielding more influence than his predecessors. The time when Roman pontiffs were to be temporal princes playing power politics among the rulers of Europe, and demanding allegiance and submission from kings, was far in the future, and even then the Papacy was to have its ups and downs. In 538 the prestige of the popes was at a low ebb under the dominating spirit of Justinian. ⁵⁹ It is likely that Justinian never thought of Vigilius as anything more than the docile head of a “department of religion” in his imperial government, and intended to keep the reins the more firmly in his own hands by subjecting the whole church to the jurisdiction of a court favorite. PFF1 515.3

But the imperial acceptance of the Roman pontiff’s assertions of primacy—already largely conceded in the West—had denied the claims of all rivals, and given him official status Now Vigilius, owing his pontificate to imperial influence, and bolstered by this new legal recognition of the pope’s ecclesiastical supremacy, marked the beginning of a long climb toward political power which culminated in the reigns of such popes as Gregory VII, Innocent III, and Boniface VIII. The temporary nature of Justinian’s union of East and West, and the subsequent decrease in the concern of the Byzantine emperors with Western church affairs, only left the pope with a freer hand to develop that power. The change in the character of the Papacy from Vigilius on, and the final result of that change, have been well described: “From this time on the popes, more and more involved in worldly events, no longer belong solely to the church; they are men of the state, and then rulers of the state.” ⁶⁰ PFF1 516.1

This transaction engendered new energy in Rome As the Papacy began to assume more of a political character, and entered the path which led on toward temporal dominion the voice of the Roman bishop took on a new authority throughout all Christendom. The growth of that irresistible tyranny before which Europe would often bow during the subsequent thousand years, was now begun. By enshrining in the imperial law the long-claimed primacy of the pope, Justinian placed the cornerstone of that towering ecclesiastical structure that was to cast its shadow through succeeding centuries over the whole of Europe, and that was to intercept the guiding light of the Scriptures by its elaborate ceremonies in all their ancient heathen splendor—its ecclesiastical calendar crowded with thinly concealed pagan festivals, its pilgrimages, saint worship, and adoration of the virgin and by its insistence on obedience to Rome, as the supreme duties of life. PFF1 516.2