The Church Fathers · 14 May 553
The Constitutum
Vigilius · d. 555
What it is
A pope, held in Constantinople and pressed by Justinian to condemn three long-dead theologians, issues a ruling that condemns sixty propositions of Theodore of Mopsuestia while refusing to condemn the men, since they died in the church's peace. The council ignored it and anathematised him instead.
Why it lasted
A pope contradicted by an ecumenical council and then submitting to it six months later, which every later argument about papal authority has had to account for. Its consequence was a schism in northern Italy that lasted a hundred and fifty years.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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