Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria († 458), is considered to have been the most learned exegetical writer of the East.[1] He was deposed by the Robber Synod of Ephesus in 449, and promptly appealed to St. Leo I, the reigning Pope. He says to St. Leo: "If Paul, preacher of truth, and trumpet of the Holy Ghost, turns to the great Peter, in order to get his explanation for the benefit of those who doubted about whether to keep the (old) law at Antioch, how much more do we, humble and weak ones, come to your Apostolic See, that we may receive from you the remedy for the Church's wounds. For you must hold the first place in all things."[2] A Bishop of Patara writes to Justinian (527–565) concerning Pope St. Silverius (536–537) whom he, the Emperor, was persecuting: "There are many sovereigns on earth, but not one who is placed over the Church of the whole world, as is the Pope."[3] But Justinian begins the Byzantine period, of which hereafter (p. 63). It is strange that the schismatical Eastern Church should still use words that express the Roman Primacy. St. Martin occupied the chair of St. Peter from 649–655. In a synod at the Lateran (649) he rejected two decrees (the Ekthesis of Heraclius and the Typos of Constans II), in which the Emperors had drawn up a compromise between the Catholic faith and the Monothelite heresy. In 653 the Emperor[4] sent to seize him, had him dragged first to the Island Naxos, then to Constantinople, where he was condemned for high treason and banished to the Chersonese. Here he died from the effects of the most barbarous ill-treatment, torture, and the want even of bread, on September 16, 655; and he is honoured as a martyr for the faith by East and West. We keep his feast on November 12th, they on April 13th and September 20th, and they sing in his honour this hymn: "By what name shall I call thee, oh Martin! Shall I call thee the glorious ruler of the Orthodox Faith for all? Or the sacred chief of divine dogmas, unstained by error? … Or
- ↑ Theodoret of Cyrus was for a time suspect of Nestorianism, and his writings were condemned by the fifth general council (it was the second of Justinian's Three Chapters), see pp. 82, 83.
- ↑ Ep. 113, ad Leon. M. M.P.G. lxxxiii. 1312, seq.
- ↑ Liberati Breviarium, M.P.L. lxviii. 22.
- ↑ Constans II, 641–668.
