Felix III | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Rome | |
| Church | Church of Rome |
| Papacy began | 13 March 483 |
| Papacy ended | 1 March 492 |
| Predecessor | Simplicius |
| Successor | Gelasius I |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Died | 1 March 492 Rome, Kingdom of Odoacer |
| Spouse | name unknown |
| Sainthood | |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Other popes named Felix | |
Pope Felix III (died 1 March 492) was the bishop of Rome from 13 March 483 to his death. His repudiation of the Henotikon is considered the beginning of the Acacian schism. He is commemorated on March 1.
Felix was born into a Roman senatorial family - possibly the son of a priest. He was married and widowed before he was elected as pope. He fathered two children, and through his son Gordianus (a priest) was thought to be great-great-grandfather to Pope Gregory I, and possibly related to Pope Agapetus I. [1] [2]
It was also said that Felix appeared as an apparition to another of his descendants, his great-granddaughter Trasilla (an aunt of Pope Gregory I), and asked her to enter Heaven, and "on the eve of Christmas Trasilla died, seeing Jesus Christ beckoning". [3]
Eutyches was an archimandrite at Constantinople. In his opposition to Nestorianism he seemed to have taken the opposite view to extremes. In an effort to defuse controversy regarding the teachings of Eutyches, in 482 Emperor Zeno, at the suggestion of Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople, had issued an edict known as the Henoticon. The edict was intended as a bond of reconciliation between Catholics and Eutychians, but it caused greater conflicts than ever, and split the Church of the East into three or four parties. [4] The Henotikon endorsed the condemnations of Eutyches and Nestorius made at Chalcedon and explicitly approved the twelve anathemas of Cyril of Alexandria, but in attempting to appease both sides of the dispute, avoided any definitive statement on whether Christ had one or two natures.
Felix's first act was to repudiate the Henoticon. He also addressed a letter of remonstrance to Acacius. The latter proved refractory and sentence of deposition was passed against Acacius.
As Catholics spurned Zeno's edict, the emperor had driven the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria from their sees. Peter the Fuller deposed Martyrius of Antioch and assumed the See of Antioch in 470. Peter Mongus took the See of Alexandria. In his first synod, Felix excommunicated Peter the Fuller. In 484, Felix also excommunicated Peter Mongus, an act that brought about a schism between East and West that was not healed until 519. [4]
In North Africa, conquered by the fervently Arian Vandals, persecution by king Genseric and his son and successor Huneric had driven many Catholic Romans into exile. [5] When Huneric died, the persecutions were eased, and many of those who through fear had been rebaptized as Arians desired to return to the Church. However, the Vandals remained resolutely Arian. The Catholics appealed to Felix, who convened a synod in 487 and sent a letter to the bishops of Africa, expounding the conditions under which the unwilling apostates were to be taken back. [4]
In church history, the term acephali has been applied to several sects that supposedly had no leader. E. Cobham Brewer wrote, in Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, that acephalites, "properly means men without a head." Jean Cooper wrote, in Dictionary of Christianity, that it characterizes "various schismatical Christian bodies". Among them were Nestorians who rejected the Council of Ephesus’ condemnation of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, which deposed Nestorius and declared him a heretic.
The First Council of Constantinople was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople in AD 381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. This second ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, except for the Western Church, confirmed the Nicene Creed, expanding the doctrine thereof to produce the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and dealt with sundry other matters. It met from May to July 381 in the Church of Hagia Irene and was affirmed as ecumenical in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon.
Pope Anastasius II was the bishop of Rome from 24 November 496 to his death. He was an important figure in trying to end the Acacian schism, but his efforts resulted in the Laurentian schism, which followed his death. Anastasius was born in Rome, the son of a priest, and is buried in St. Peter's Basilica.
The 480s decade ran from January 1, 480, to December 31, 489.
Year 484 (CDLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Venantius and Theodoricus. The denomination 484 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Monophysitism or monophysism is a Christological doctrine that states that there was only one nature—the divine—in the person of Jesus Christ, who was the incarnated Word. It is rejected as heretical by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglicanism, Lutheranism and all mainstream Protestant denominations, which hold to the dyophysitism of the 451 Council of Chalcedon- as well by Oriental Orthodoxy, which holds to miaphysitism.
Pope Hormisdas was the bishop of Rome from 20 July 514 to his death. His papacy was dominated by the Acacian schism, started in 484 by Acacius of Constantinople's efforts to placate the Monophysites. His efforts to resolve this schism were successful, and on 28 March 519, the reunion between Constantinople and Rome was ratified in the cathedral of Constantinople before a large crowd.
Saint Meletius was a Christian bishop of Antioch from 360 until his death in 381. He was opposed by a rival bishop named Paulinus and his episcopate was dominated by the schism, usually called the Meletian schism. As a result, he was exiled from Antioch in 361–362, 365–366 and 371–378. One of his last acts was to preside over the First Council of Constantinople in 381.
Acacius of Constantinople served as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 472 to 489. He was practically the first prelate in the East and was renowned for his ambitious participation in the Chalcedonian controversy. His controversial attempts at healing the theological divisions led to the Acacian schism and his being condemned by the Chalcedonian churches. He is revered as a saint in Oriental Orthodoxy.
The Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in Pauline Christianity from its earliest period. This diocese is one of the few for which the names of its bishops from the apostolic beginnings have been preserved. Today five churches use the title of patriarch of Antioch: one Eastern Orthodox ; one Oriental Orthodox ; and three Eastern Catholic.
Euphemius of Constantinople was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (490–496). Theophanes calls him Euthymius. Prior to his appointment, Euphemius was a presbyter of Constantinople, administrator of a hospital for the poor at Neapolis, unsuspected of any Eutychian leanings, and is described as learned and very virtuous.
The Henotikon was a christological document issued by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 482, in an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the differences between the supporters of the Council of Chalcedon and the council's opponents. It was followed by the Acacian schism.
Acacius of Beroea, a Syrian, lived in a monastery near Antioch, and, for his active defense of the Church against Arianism, was made Bishop of Berroea in 378 AD, by Eusebius of Samosata.
Pope Peter III of Alexandria also known as Peter Mongus was the 27th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.
John Talaia was patriarch of Alexandria from 481 until 482. He was consecrated in 481, succeeding Timothy III Salophakiolos.
The Council of Seleucia was an early Christian church synod at Seleucia Isauria.
The Acacian schism, between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, lasted 35 years, from 484 to 519. It resulted from a drift in the leaders of Eastern Christianity toward Miaphysitism and Emperor Zeno's unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the parties with the Henotikon. The events are described in letters in the Collectio Avellana.
Saint Eugenius of Carthage was a Christian saint, unanimously elected Bishop of Carthage in 480 to succeed Deogratias. He was caught up in the disputes of his day between Arianism and mainstream Christianity.
Paul II the Black, also known as Paul of Bēth Ukkāme, was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from c. 551 or 564 to his deposition in 578. He succeeded Sergius of Tella as the spiritual leader of the Syrian non-Chalcedonians, in opposition to the Chalcedonian Imperial Church, and led the nascent Syriac Orthodox Church as it endured division and persecution.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Coleman, Ambrose (1909). "Pope St. Felix III". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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