Pope Zosimus

Zosimus
Birth name	Zosimus
Papacy began	March 18, 417
Papacy ended	December 26 418
Predecessor	Innocent I
Successor	Boniface I
Born	??? ???
Died	December 26 418 ???

Pope Saint Zosimus was pope from March 18, 417 to December 26, 418. Also known as Zozimus, he succeeded Innocent I, and was followed by Boniface I. Although his reign was brief, it was turbulent and left a powerful impact on the papacy.

Zosimus is best known for his role in the Pelagian controversy, in which he at first declared the Pelagian teacher to be Cealestius to be orthodox and later declared him and Pelagius himself to be heretical. Critics of the doctrine of papal infallibility cite this as evidence that this pope erred in his theological judgment.

Zosimus also took a decided part in a protracted dispute in Gaul concerning the jurisdiction of the see of Arles over that of Vienne, giving decisions in favor of Arles, but not succeeding in settling the controversy. He also misstepped in using a supposed canon of the Council of Nicaea to bolster Rome's prerogatives, when in fact no such rule was passed at Nicaea. At his death the Roman clergy were very much divided, resulting in the spectacle of dual elections for his successor as bishop of Rome.

Nevertheless, Zosimus is recognized as a saint in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was buried in the Basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls in Rome.

Consecration and early reign

According to theLiber Pontificalis Zosimus was a Greek and his father's name was Abram. Church historical Adolf Harnack deduced from this name that the family was of Jewish origin, but this evidence is not regarded as conclusive. Nothing more is known of the life of Zosimus before his elevation to the throne of Saint Peter in Rome. By way of background, Zosimus' predecessor Innocent had engaged the Roman church in a major controversy in the East over the ouster of John Chrysostom for as bishop of Constantinople and had also condemned the optimistic theologian Pelagius as a heretic for teaching a doctrine of moral perfectionism and denying Original Sin.

Zosimus' consecration as bishop of Rome took place on March 18, 417. The festival was attended by Patroclus, bishop of Arles, who had been raised to that see in place of a certain Bishop Heros, who had been forcibly removed by the Roman general Constantine. In the year 400, Arles had been replaced Trier as the residence of the chief government official of the civil Diocese of Gaul. Patroclus, who enjoyed the support of the commander Constantine, used this opportunity to procure for himself a position of supremacy over the other bishops of the region. A key part of his strategy involved winning over Zosimus to his cause, apparently by promising to act as the pope's agent in France.

Patroclus gained the confidence of the new pope at once. As early as March 22 he received a papal letter which conferred upon him the rights of a metropolitan bishop over the other major bishoprics of the region. In addition, Patrocolus was made, in effect, the papal vicar for the whole of Gaul. No Gallic cleric was permitted even to journey to Rome without bringing with him a certificate of identity from Patroclus.

The bishops of Vienne, Narbonne, and Marseilles regarded this elevation of the see of Arles as an serious infringement of their rights. They raised their objections in several letters from Zosimus, who responded by demanding obedience and threatening the bishops with excommunication. The dispute, however, was not settled until the pontificate of Pope Leo I.

Confrontation with Pelagianism

Not long after the election of Zosimus, Caelestius, a major proponent of Pelagianism, who had been condemned by the preceding pope, Innocent I, came to Rome to justify himself before the new pope, having been expelled from Constantinople.

In the summer of 417, Zosimus held a council of the Roman clergy in the Basilica of St. Clement before which Caelestius appeared. The propositions drawn up by the deacon Paulinus of Milan, on account of which Caelestius had been condemned at Carthage in 411, were laid before him. Caelestius refused to condemn these propositions, at the same time declaring that he accepted the doctrine expounded in the letters of Pope Innocent on the subject. He also declared his own a confession of faith, which was approved as orthodox. The pope declared that it was not certain that Caelestius had even maintained the doctrine rejected by Innocent and seemed convinced that the basic premises of Pelagianism had been misrepresented by its adversaries.

Augustine of Hippo was the primary intellectual opponent of Pelagius.

Innocent concluded that actions several previous synods of African bishops, not to mention the opinion of Augustine of Hippo, against Pelagianism, were too hasty and too harsh. He wrote at once in this sense to the bishops of the African provinces, and called upon those who had anything to bring against Caelestius to appear at Rome within two months.

Soon after this, Zosimus received Pelagius's own confession of faith, together with a new treatise by him concerning the role of free will in salvation, which had been intended for Innocent I but were received after his death. Although Pelagius' writings are lost, his essential argument seems to have been, in opposition to the doctrine of Augustine's doctrine of "irresistible grace", that human beings are free to accept or reject God's gift of salvation. The pope now held a new synod of the Roman clergy, before which both these writings were read. The assembly found nothing objection in Pelagius' views and held his statements to be orthodox. Zosimus again wrote to the African bishops defending Pelagius and reproving his accusers.

Archbishop Aurelius of Carthage quickly called a synod, which sent a letter to Zosimus in which it was asserted that the pope had been deceived by the "heretics." In his answer, Zosimus admitted that he had settled nothing definitely, and declared his desire to continue consulting the African bishops.

A new synodal letter of the African council of May 1, 418 began to persuade the pope that perhaps Pelagius was a heretic after all. Meanwhile the western emperor Honorius had begun to see Pelagianism as a political threat, and outlawed it. These factors were enough for Zosimus, who now recognized the "true" character of the Pelagius' teaching. He now issued his Tractoria, in which Pelagianism and its authors were finally condemned.

Jurisdictional and other issues

Shortly after this Zosimus became involved in a dispute with the African bishops in regard to the right of appeal to the Roman see by clerics who had been condemned by their local bishops. When the priest Apiarius of Sicca had been excommunicated by his bishop on account of his alleged crimes, he appealed directly to the pope, without regard to the regular course of appeal in Africa, which was clearly prescribed in the canons of its councils. However, the pope at once accepted the appeal and sent out his legates to Africa to investigate the matter. Zosimus based his action on a reputed canon of the First Council of Nicaea, an ecumenical council binding on the whole church. Embarrassingly, it was in reality a canon of the more localized Council of Sardica. This mistake resulted from the fact that in the Roman manuscripts, the canons of Sardica followed those of Nicaea immediately, without an independent title. The African manuscripts contained only the canons of Nicaea, so that the canon appealed to by Zosimus was not contained in the African copies of the Nicene canons. Thus a serious disagreement arose over this appeal, which continued after the death of Zosimus.

Other letters of Zosimus which have survived include messages sent to the bishops of the Byzantine province in Africa in regard to a deposed bishop, and to the bishops of Gaul and Spain in respect to the heresy of Priscillianism and the ordination to various grades of the clergy. The Liber Pontificalis attributes to Zosimus a decree on the wearing of the maniple, an embroidered band of silk or similar fabric which hangs from the left arm, by deacons. It credits him with other decrees on the dedication of Easter candles in the country parishes and forbidding clerics to visit taverns.

Zosimus was buried in the sepulchral Church of St. Laurence in Agro Verano.

Legacy

Zosimus lacked the time to get his papacy back on an even keel after several missteps. As a result, the Roman clergy was badly divided at the time of this death, and the Roman church faced the disturbing spectacle of double papal elections. Just after Zosimus's funeral, on December 27, 418, a faction of the Roman clergy consisting principally of deacons entered the Lateran Basilica and chose Archdeacon Eulalius as pope. The higher clergy elected Boniface I as their candidate the next day. Before the matter had been resolved in Boniface's favor, both men had been banished from Rome and imperial troops had to be called in to keep order.

Zosiumus' short reign as pope has become a prime historical example for those who deny the doctrine of papal infallibility. He was forced to change course dramatically in the Pelagian conflict, and he also made the embarrassing mistake of citing the a precedent from the Council of Nicaea in favor local clergy appealing to Rome, when in fact no such thing had been declared by that ecumenical council. While Catholic scholars have spent much ink defending Zosimus as not speaking ex cathedra in these matters, there can be little doubt that his papacy proved that the "rock" upon which Saint Peter's throne sits sometimes wobbles.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• De Rossi, Bulletino di arch. christ., 1881, 91 sqq
• Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de l'église, 111, 228, note
• Harnack Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1904, 1050

Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by: Innocent I	Bishop of Rome 417–418	Succeeded by: Boniface I

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

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