Page "Pope Sergius I" Paragraph 11

Enraged, Emperor Justinian II dispatched his magistrianus, also named Sergius, to Rome to arrest bishop John of Portus, the chief papal legate to the Third Council of Constantinople and Boniface, the papal counselor.

The two high-ranking officials were brought to Constantinople as a warning to the pope.

Eventually, Justinian II ordered Sergius I's arrest and abduction to Constantinople by his notoriously violent bodyguard protospatharios Zacharias.

However, the militia of the exarch of Ravenna and the Duchy of Pentapolis frustrated the attempt.

Zacharias nearly lost his own life in an attempt to arrest Sergius I.

Rather than seizing upon the anti-Byzantine sentiment, Sergius I did his best to quell the uprising.