Page "Third Council of Constantinople" Paragraph 1

The Council settled a set of theological controversies that go back to the sixth century but had intensified under the Emperors Heraclius ( 610 – 641 ) and Constans II ( 641 – 668 ).

Heraclius had set out to much of his Empire from the Persians and had attempted to bridge the controversy with Monophysitism, which was particularly strong in Syria and Egypt, by proposing a moderate theological position that had as good support in the tradition as any other.

The result was first monoenergism, i. e. that Christ, though existing in two natures, had one energy ( divine and human ), the second was monothelitism, i. e. that Christ had one will ( that is, that there was no opposition in Christ between his human and divine volition ).

This doctrine was accepted in most of the Byzantine world, but was opposed at Jerusalem and at Rome and started a controversy that persisted even after the loss of the reconquered provinces and the death of Heraclius.

When Heraclius ' grandson Constans II took the throne, he saw the controversy as threatening the stability of the Empire and attempted to silence discussion, by outlawing speaking either in favour or against the doctrine.

Pope Martin I and the monk Maximus, the foremost opponents of monothelitism ( which they interpreted as denying a human faculty of will to Christ ), held a synod in Rome in 649 that condemned monoenergism and monothelitism.

Subsequently, they supported abortive attempts by usurpers to seize power, out of a belief that only a new and orthodox emperor would win divine protection for the empire against its enemies.

At Constantinople, however, this was regarded as high treason, and Martin and Maximus were accordingly arrested, tried, condemned and sent into exile, where they soon died.

A council at Constantinople in 662, attended by perhaps as many as 400 bishops, condemned both Martin and Maximus ( among others ), leading to schism with Rome and the western churches.