Pope Innocent I
| Innocent I | |
|---|---|
| |
| Birth name | ??? |
| Papacy began | 402 |
| Papacy ended | March 12, 417 |
| Predecessor | Anastasius I |
| Successor | Zosimus |
| Born | ??? ??? |
| Died | March 12 417 ??? |
| Other popes named Innocent | |
Pope Saint Innocent I was pope from 401 to March 12, 417. The Liber Pontificalis gives his father's name as Innocens of Albano, but his contemporary, Saint Jerome indicates that his father was none other than his immediate predecessor, Pope Anastasius I (399-401).
A capable administrator and energetic proponent of Roman primacy, Innocent is remembered most for his role in condemning Pelagianism, his support of deposed patriarch of Constantinople John Chrysostom, and his unsuccessful attempt to negotiate an end to the siege of Rome by the Visigoth leader Alaric. Innocent also restored communications between the sees of Rome and Antioch, bringing an end to the Meletian schism.
Although his feast day was previsouly celebrated July 28, in the Roman calendar it is now marked on March 12.[1] His successor was Zosimus.
Biography
Innocent's date of birth unknown. Saint Jerome indicates he was the son of the previous pope, Anastasius I, being born before the latter's ascension to the throne of Peter. A later biography in the Liber Pontificalis states that he was a native of the city of Albano and that his father was called Innocens, the name which Innocent would take as pope. He grew up among the Roman clergy and in the service of the Roman church, probably holding the office of deacon before his elevation to the papacy. After the death of Anastasius (December 401) he was unanimously elected as bishop of Rome.
Activities in Rome
The church historian Socrates of Constantinople, himself a Novatianist, dubbed him "the first persecutor of the Novatians at Rome," and complains that he seized many Novatianist churches in Rome (Hist. Eccl., VII, ii). Innocent also succeeded in banishing from Rome a teacher called Marcus, an adherent of the heresy of Photinus. During his reign, the Emperor Honorius issued a drastic decree from Rome (February 22, 407) against the Manicheans, the Montanists, and others (Codex Theodosianus, XVI, 5, 40), although it is not known if Innocent approved of it.
Through the generosity of a wealthy matron, Innocent gained the resources to build and richly support a church dedicated to Saints Gervasius and Protasius. This church still stands in Rome under the name of San Vitale, not to be confused with the more famous church of the same name in Ravenna.
The siege and capture of Rome (408-410) by the Visigoths under Alaric occurred during Innocent's pontificate, and the pope was actively, though unsuccessfully, involved in the negotiations placate Alaric. In the first stage of the siege, a truce was arranged so that an embassy of Romans could go to Honorius at Ravenna to influence him to make concessions to Alaric, who had agreed to end the siege if his terms were met. Innocent joined this delegation, but his endeavors to bring about peace failed. When the Visigoths recommenced the siege, the pope and the other envoys were not able to return to the city. A report has been preserved indicating that the situation in Rome was so desperate that Innocent permitted prayers to be offered to pagan deities to end the siege, although few take this as fact. Rome was taken and sacked in 410. Churches were left unharmed by the Visigoths, but the psychological impact of the event on western Christendom was very large, ending the hopeful attitude of the previous century when the state had first come to favor the church. Augustine's gloomy reflections in the City of God resulted from the atmosphere created by the sack of Rome, which no doubt impacted even on theological questions such as the Pelagian controversy, pitting Augustinian pessimism versus Pelagian optimism.
Advocate of Roman primacy
From the beginning of his pontificate, Innocent often acted on the presumption that, as the bishop of Rome, he served as the head of the entire Christian Church, both East and West. In his letter informing Archbishop Anysius of Thessalonica of his election as pope, Innocent reminded Ansysius that certain privileges of his office had been bestowed by previous popes. Specifically, Pope Damasus I had asserted and preserved the rights of the papacy in those parts, and his successor Siricius had bestowed on the archbishop of Thessalonica the privilege of confirming and consecrating the bishops of Eastern Illyria. These prerogatives were renewed by Innocent at the beginning of his reign (Ep. i). A later letter (Ep. xiii, 17 June, 412) entrusted the supreme administration of the dioceses of Eastern Illyria to the archbishop of Thessalonica as representative of the Holy See. The archbishops of Thessalonica thus became firmly established as vicars of the popes.
Innocent likewise established effective papal administrative control in France and Spain. Bishop Victricius of Rouen (Ep. ii) had appealed to the pope to clarify a number of disciplinary matters. The points at issue concerned the consecration of bishops, appointment the clergy, and resolving disputes among clerics. On February 15 404, Innocent decreed that important matters should be sent from the local episcopal tribunal to the Apostolic See at Rome, including ordinations of the clergy, questions of celibacy, the reception of converted Novatianists or Donatists into the church, etc. As a general principle, Innocent held that the discipline of the Roman Church should be the norm for other bishops to follow. Innocent directed a similar order to the Spanish bishops (Ep. iii). Other such letters were sent to Bishop Exuperius of Toulouse (Ep. vi), the bishops of Macedonia (Ep. xvii), Bishop Decentius of Gubbio (Ep. xxv), and Bishop Felix of Nocera (Ep. xxxviii). Innocent also addressed short letters to several other bishops, among them a letter to two British bishops in which he decided that those priests who had begotten children should be dismissed from their offices (Ep. xxxix).
Never willing to tolerate what he and the Roman church considered as heresy, Innocent moved strongly against Montanism in Africa. A delegation of the Synod of Carthage (404) appealed to him from severer treatment of the Montanists in that territory. After the envoys came to Rome, Innocent obtained from Emperor Honorius a strong decree against the African Montanists, inducing some of them, out of fear of the state, to be reconciled with the Catholic Church.
Defense of John Chrysostom
The pope's energy also found a channel of expression in the Christian East, over the matter of Saint John Chrysostom. As bishop of Constantinople, Chrysostom had been deposed during the so-called Synod of the Oak, presided over by the Alexandrian patriarch Theophilus, allegedly at the behest of the eastern Empress Eudoxia, who had been offended by Chrysostom's preaching. Chrysostom appealed to Innocent for support. Theophilus, meanwhile, had already informed the Innocent of Chrysostom's supposedly lawful deposition. However, the pope did not recognize the sentence of the synod against Chrysostom. He now dared to summon Theophilus, the patriarch of Alexandria, to new synod at Rome. Innocent also sent letters of consolation the exiled Chrysostom, as well as a letter to the clergy and people of Constantinople in which he scolded them severely for their conduct towards their bishop (Chrysostom).
Innocent also announced his intention of calling an ecumenical council, at which the matter would be sifted and decided. Realizing that Rome would be an unacceptable location for those of the East, he suggested Thessalonica as the place of assembly. The pope influenced Emperor Honorius to write three letters to his brother, the eastern Emperor Arcadius, asking him to summon the eastern bishops to meet at Thessalonica, where Patriarch Theophilus must appear. This strategy met with complete failure, however, as Arcadius was favorable to Theophilus, and in any case was not about to allow Rome to act so heavy-handedly in church affairs. The synod never took place.
The pope refused to recognize Chrysostom's successors, Arsacius and Atticus, on the grounds that John was still Constantinople's lawful bishop. Innocent remained in correspondence with the exiled John until his death in 407 (Epp. xi, xii). After Chrysostom's death, Innocent insisted that his name be restored to the diptychs (honor roles) in Constantinople's church. This was finally accomplished, but only after Theophilus was dead (412). The pope also attempted, with varying success, to have Chrysostom's name restored to the diptychs of the churches of several other eastern cities.
Ending the Meletian schism
The Meletian schism dating from the Arian controversy, was finally settled in Innocent's time. This conflict had resulted in a break between Rome an Antioch which had lasted for generations. Reconciliation between the two patriarchal sees was accomplished when, after careful negotiations, Innocent recognized Patriarch Alexander of Antioch in 414, after the latter had succeeded in winning over to his cause the adherents of both the former Bishop Eustathius and the exiled Bishop Paulinus.
For his part, Alexander agreed to restore the name of John Chrysostom to the Antiochene diptychs, and the pope at last entered into communion with the patriarch of Antioch, writing him two letters, one in the name of a Roman synod of 20 Italian bishops, and another in his own name (Epp. xix and xx).
Condemnation of Pelagius
Innocent was also a key player in the Pelagian controversy, which had been brewing since the Synod of Carthage of 411 and first condemned Pelagius' ideas. The saintly British monk was well respected for his asceticism and moral virtue, but he preached an optimistic theology of human nature which denied Original Sin and put him completely at odds with the great, but gloomy, intellect of Saint Augustine.
In 415, the Synod of Jerusalem brought the matter of the orthodoxy of Pelagius before the Holy See. A synod of eastern bishops held at Diospolis (in modern Turkey) in December 415 supported Pelagius and wrote to Innocent on his behalf. Hearing of this, a new synod of African bishops assembled at Carthage in 416 and condemned him. The bishops of Numidia did likewise in the same year. Both of these African synods reported their acts to the pope and asked him to confirm their decisions. Soon after this, five African bishops, among them Saint Augustine, wrote to Innocent regarding their own negative opinion regarding the teachings of Pelagius. In his reply, Innocent went out of his way to praise the African bishops for being mindful of the authority of the See of Rome. He rejected the doctrine of Pelagius and confirmed the decisions of the African synods (Epp. xxvii-xxxiii). The decisions of the Synod of Diospolis was thus rejected by the pope, and Pelagius was now declared to be a heretic.
Pelagius himself, stung by this condemnation in abstentia, now sent his personal confession of faith to Innocent. However Innocent died before the document reached Rome.
Legacy
Innocent was buried in a basilica above the catacomb of Pontianus and was venerated as a saint. The energy and competence which he brought to his office promoted the role of Rome as Christendom's administrative center and bolstered the papacy's claim to be the ultimate the arbiter of orthodoxy as the representative of Saint Peter. On the other hand, Innocent's aggressive interventions left some parties, especially in the east, feeling that Rome was more concerned about promoting its own authority that acting as a healing an unifying influence. Innocent thus typifies both great potential of the papacy as a force for orthodoxy and order, and its tendency to judge harshly the actions of sincere Christians who happened to find themselves involved on the "wrong" side of a controversy.
The church which Innocent dedicated in Rome still stands, known today as the church of San Vitale in Rome. His feast day is celebrated on March 12.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 132; Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
External links
| Roman Catholic Popes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Anastasius I |
Bishop of Rome 401–417 |
Succeeded by: Zosimus |
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