which included the responses of Vigilius to sixty propositions of Theodore Ascidas, but the tenor of it was summed up in a single sentence: "That it was not lawful to subvert anything constituted by the Holy Council of Chalcedon."[1] The Fifth Oecumenical Council, therefore, was held without the presence of the Pope, although he was for the moment resident at its gates; and the discussion of his hostile Constitutum formed an important part of its transactions. The Emperor quoted passages from his Judicatum,[2] whereby he demonstrated that Vigilius was in contradiction with himself; and ultimately the Council decided that he had associated himself with impiety and voted that his name should be erased from the sacred diptychs. At the same time they asserted that their union with the Apostolical See of Rome remained intact, notwithstanding that they dissociated themselves from the person of the occupying pontiff.[3] Fourteen canons against the Three Chapters were then proposed and ratified,[4] and a further rule of credence was thus established for the Christian Church, which Justinian at once proceeded to enforce with all the resources of his sovereignty. A number of recalcitrant ecclesiastics were deprived and banished, or placed in durance, among the latter being Pelagius.[5] As for Vigilius, since Rome and Italy had now been brought permanently under the dominion of the Emperor by the victories of Narses, he was anxious to return to his see with the Imperial countenance; and within a year after the sitting
