Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. = XIV

From: Subject: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. XIV Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:52:28 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_008E_01C74E26.EC6ABB50" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3028 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_008E_01C74E26.EC6ABB50 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-131.htm Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. = XIV

Excursus on the Condemnation of Pope = Honorius.

Excursus = on the=20 Condemnation of Pope Honorius.

To this decree attaches not only the necessary importance and = interest which=20 belongs to any ecumenical decision upon a disputed doctrinal question = with=20 regard to the incarnation of the Son of God, but an altogether = accidental=20 interest, arising from the fact that by this decree a Pope of Rome is = stricken=20 with anathema in the person of Honorius. I need hardly remind the reader = how=20 many interesting and difficult questions in theology such an action on = the part=20 of an Ecumenical Council raises, and how all important, not to say = vital, to=20 such as accept the ruling of the recent Vatican Council, it is that some = explanation of this fact should be arrived at which will be = satisfactory. It=20 would be highly improper for me in these pages to discuss the matter=20 theologically. Volumes on each side have been written on this subject, = and to=20 these I must refer the reader, but in doing so I hope I may be pardoned = if I add=20 a word of counsel-to read both sides. If one's knowledge is derived only = from=20 modern Eastern, Anglican or Protestant writers, such as "Janus and the = Council,"=20 the Pere Gratry's "Letters," or Littledale's controversial books against = Rome,=20 one is apt to be as much one-sided as if he took his information from = Cardinal=20 Baronius, Cardinal Bellarmine, Rohrbacher's History, or from the recent = work on=20 the subject by Pennacchi.²=20 Perhaps the average reader will hardly find a more satisfactory = treatment than=20 that by Bossuet in the Defensio. (Liber VII., cap. xxi, etc.)

It will be sufficient for the purposes of this volume to state that = Roman=20 Catholic Curialist writers are not at one as to how the matter is to be = treated.=20 Pennacchi, in his work referred to above, is of opinion that Honorius's = letters=20 were strictly speaking Papal decrees, set forth auctoritate apostolica, = and=20 therefore irreformable, but he declares, contrary to the opinion of = almost all=20 theologians and to the decree of this Council, that they are orthodox, = and that=20 the Council erred in condemning them; as he expresses it, the decree = rests upon=20 all error in facto dogmatico. To save an Ecumenical Synod from error, he = thinks=20 the synod ceased to be ecumenical before it took this action, and was at = that=20 time only a synod of a number of Orientals! Cardinal Baronius has = another way=20 out of the difficulty. He says that the name of Honorius was forged and = put in=20 the decree by an erasure in the place of the name of Theodore, the = quondam=20 Patriarch, who soon after the Council got himself restored to the = Patriarchal=20 position. Baronius moreover holds that Honorius's letters have been = corrupted,=20 that the Acts of the Council have been corrupted, and, in short, that = everything=20 which declares or proves that Honorius was a heretic or was condemned by = an=20 Ecumenical Council as such, is untrustworthy and false. The = groundlessness, not=20 to say absurdity, of Baronius's view has been often exposed by those of = his own=20 communion, a brief but sufficient summary of the refutation will be = found in=20 Hefele, who while taking a very halting and unsatisfactory position = himself, yet=20 is perfectly clear that Baronius's contention is utterly = indefensible.³=20

Most Roman controversialists of recent years have admitted both the = fact of=20 Pope Honorius's condemnation (which Baronius denies), and the = monothelite (and=20 therefore heretical) character of his epistles, but they are of opinion = that=20 these letters were not his ex cathedra utterances as Doctor Universalis, = but=20 mere expressions of the private opinion of the Pontiff as a theologian. = With=20 this matter we have no concern in this connexion.

I shall therefore say nothing further on this point but shall simply = supply=20 the leading proofs that Honorius was as a matter of fact condemned by = the Sixth=20 Ecumenical Council.

1. His condemnation is found in the Acts in the xiiith Session, near = the=20 beginning.

2. His two letters were ordered to be burned at the same session. =

3. In the xvith Session the bishops exclaimed "Anathema to the = heretic=20 Sergius, to the heretic Cyrus, to the heretic Honorius, etc."

4. In the decree of faith published at the xviijth Session it is = stated that=20 "the originator of all evil ... found a fit tool for his will in ... = Honorius,=20 Pope of Old Rome, etc."

5. The report of the Council to the Emperor says that "Honorius, = formerly=20 bishop of Rome" they had "punished with exclusion and anathema" because = he=20 followed the monothelites.

6. In its letter to Pope Agatho the Council says it "has slain with = anathema=20 Honorius."

7. The imperial decree speaks of the "unholy priests who infected the = Church=20 and falsely governed" and mentions among them "Honorius, the Pope of Old = Rome,=20 the confirmer of heresy who contradicted himself." The Emperor goes on = to=20 anathematize "Honorius who was Pope of Old Rome, who in everything = agreed with=20 them, went with them, and strengthened the heresy."

8. Pope Leo II. confirmed the decrees of the Council and expressly = says that=20 he too anathematized Honorius.⁴=20

9. That Honorius was anathematized by the Sixth Council is mentioned = in the=20 Trullan Canons (No. j.).

10. So too the Seventh Council declares its adhesion to the anathema = in its=20 decree of faith, and in several places in the acts the same is said.

11. Honorius's name was found in the Roman copy of the Acts. This is = evident=20 from Anastasius's life of Leo II. (Vita Leonis II.)

12. The Papal Oath as found in the Liber Diurnus⁵=20 taken by each new Pope from the fifth to the eleventh century, in the = form=20 probably prescribed by Gregory II., "smites with eternal anathema the=20 originators of the new heresy, Sergius, etc., together with Honorius, = because he=20 assisted the base assertion of the heretics."

13. In the lesson for the feast of St. Leo II. in the Roman Breviary = the name=20 of Pope Honorius occurs among those excommunicated by the Sixth Synod. = Upon this=20 we may well hear Bossuet: "They suppress as far as they can, the Liber = Diurnus:=20 they have erased this from the Roman Breviary. Rave they therefore = hidden it?=20 Truth breaks out from all sides, and these things become so much the = more=20 evident, as they are the more studiously put out of sight."⁶=20

With such an array of proof no conservative historian, it would seem, = can=20 question the fact that Honorius, the Pope of Rome, was condemned and=20 anathematized as a heretic by the Sixth Ecumenical Council.

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