On 4 September 1943, Stalin invited Metropolitan Sergius, Metropolitan Alexius and Metropolitan Nicholas to the Kremlin and proposed to reestablish the Moscow Patriarchate, which had been suspended since 1925, and elect the Patriarch.

In this condemnation were included not only the Ecthesis ( the exposition of faith of the Patriarch Sergius for which the emperor Heraclius had stood sponsor ), but also the typus of Paul, the successor of Sergius, which had the support of the reigning Emperor ( Constans II ).

Throughout 769 and 770, Stephen continued to rely on the support and advice of Christophorus and Sergius who had placed him on the papal throne.

This message from the Lombard king had the desired effect ; Christophorus and Sergius began to suspect their associates, who in turn rapidly abandoned them.

In an attempt to forestall the potential intervention of Charlemagne, Desiderius had Stephen write a letter to the Frankish king wherein he declared that Christophorus and Sergius had been involved in a plot with an envoy of Charlemagne ’ s brother, Carloman, to kill the Pope.

Further, that Stephen had fled to Desiderius for protection, and that eventually Christophorus and Sergius were brought out against their will.

Then on January 24, eight days before Stephen ’ s death, Afiarta dragged the blinded Sergius from his cell in the Lateran and had him strangled.

As a result of the dispute, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian II ordered Sergius I's abduction ( as his predecessor Constans II had done with Pope Martin I ), but with the assistance of the exarch of Ravenna, Sergius I was able to avoid trial in Constantinople.

Sergius I came from an Antiochene Syrian family which had settled at Palermo in Sicily.

In a symbolically important step, Sergius I declared support for the chant " Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us " at the breaking of the Host during Mass, and restored the damaged facade mosaic in St. Peter's atrium that depicted the Worship of the Lamb ; the depiction of Christ as lamb had been prohibited by the Council.

Because Sergius III had reputedly ordered the murder of his two immediate predecessors, Leo V and Christopher and was the only pope to have allegedly fathered an illegitimate son who later became pope ( John XI ), his pontificate has been described as " dismal and disgraceful ".

Sergius accepted, and with the armed backing of Adalbert II, he entered Rome, by which stage Christopher had already been cast into prison by Theophylact.

Confirming his continued support of the anti-Formosus faction, Sergius honoured the murdered Pope Stephen VI ( 896 – 897 ), who had been responsible for the " Cadaver Synod " that had condemned and mutilated the corpse of Pope Formosus, writing a laudatory epitaph on Stephen VI's tombstone.

For centuries it was believed that Sergius then had the much-abused corpse of Formosus exhumed once more, tried, found guilty again, and beheaded, thus in effect conducting a second Cadaver Synod.

However, on the one occasion that Sergius agreed to crown Berengar in around 906, Berengar was prevented from reaching Rome by the forces of Alberic I of Spoleto and Adalbert II of Tuscany, both of whom had been supporters of Sergius, but were unhappy with his decision to support Berengar.

Nevertheless, Berengar ’ s unwillingness to control his vassals also contributed to the papal reluctance ; when Albuinus, the Margrave of Istria began taking papal territory off John, the Archbishop of Ravenna in 907, Sergius had written to Albuinus asking for him to desist.

In terms of internal church affairs, Sergius rebuilt the Lateran Palace, which had been shattered by an earthquake in 896, and then stripped of its treasures by the Antipope Christopher.

In 905 Sergius provided funds to the Church of Silva Candida, which had been devastated by a Saracen raid.

Formosus consecrated Sergius as bishop of Caere ( Cerveteri ) in 893, apparently in order to remove him from Rome.

Sergius ceased to act as bishop of Caere with the death of Formosus in 896, as all of the ordinations conferred by Formosus were declared null and void, although Formosus ’ ordination of Sergius was subsequently reconfirmed by Theodore II.

Now fully installed as pope, Sergius III proceeded to convoke a synod which now annulled all the ordinations of Formosus and demanded all bishops ordained by Formosus be re-ordained.

However, neither Auxilius of Naples nor Eugenius Vulgarius, both of whom were exact contemporaries of Sergius, and both of whom were hostile towards Sergius for his attacks on Formosus, mention this allegation at all.

Further trials of this nature against deceased persons were banned, but Pope Sergius III ( 904 – 911 ) reapproved the decisions against Formosus.

Sergius demanded the re-ordination of the bishops consecrated by Formosus, who in turn had conferred orders on many other clerics, causing great confusion.

The decision of Sergius with respect to Formosus has subsequently been universally disregarded by the Church, since Formosus ' condemnation had little to do with piety and more to do with politics.

However, Pope Sergius III ( 904 – 911 ), who as bishop had taken part in the Cadaver Synod as a co-judge, overturned the rulings of Theodore II and John IX, reaffirming Formosus ' conviction, and had a laudatory epitaph inscribed on the tomb of Stephen ( VI ) VII.

He took the side of Dmitrii Donskoi in his struggle against Tver and Nizhny Novgorod, where he once sent St. Sergius of Radonezh to suspend divine service in churches and monasteries, until the political strife was over.

Sergius apologizes and explains that it is the result of a great shock he once experienced.

Lubitsch encountered the ex-general once more, when the latter appeared in full uniform looking for work as an extra at $ 7. 50 a day, the same rate as Sergius.

That both men were murdered during Sergius ’ pontificate appears probable, although other accounts state that Christopher at least was allowed to retire to a monastery ; however, given where the real power lay, it seems more likely that either Theophylact gave the orders directly, or that he directed Sergius to give the orders.

He was either murdered by Christopher, who was in turn executed by Pope Sergius III ( 904 – 911 ) in 904, or, more likely, was ordered to be strangled during the beginning of Sergius ’ pontificate, either on the orders of Sergius himself, or by the direction of the sacri palatii vestararius, Theophylact, Count of Tusculum.

In addition to the more famous story of Simon Magus found in chapter 8, the Book of Acts () also describes another magus who acted as an advisor of Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul at Paphos on the island of Cyprus.

Nothing more was heard from this invention until Gaius Sergius Orata reinvented it in Ancient Rome around 80 BCE.

This campaign of terror had its effects: by the Summer of 1922, more than 20 hierarchs had recognized the canonical authority of HCA, the most notorious of whom was Metropolitan Sergius ( Stragorodsky ) of Nizhny Novgorod, the future Patriarch.

More importantly, in its efforts to seek moral and financial support from the Eastern Orthodox Church, Joseph Stalin decided to turn to the more popular and traditional Russian Orthodox Church led by Sergius, rather than to its largely unsuccessful rivals.

This charter was a model for Sergius ' numerous followers who founded more than 400 cloisters all over Russia, including the celebrated Solovetsky, Kirilov, and Simonov monasteries.

Varfolomei took monastic vows, taking the name Sergius, and spent more than a year in the forest alone as a hermit.

In 1934, Sergius assumed a more elevated title of " His Beatitude, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna " and in 1936, following a false report of Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy's death in prison ( in fact, he was still alive until his execution in 1937 ), Sergius assumed the position of Patriarchal Locum Tenens.

Shortly before his death, Alexius fruitlessly tried to convince Sergius of Radonezh to become his successor.

Galerius then sent them to Barbalissos in Mesopotamia to be tried by Antiochus, the military commander there and an old friend of Sergius.

Seeking to convince Soviet authorities to stop the campaign of terror and persecution against the Church, Sergius tried to look for ways of peaceful reconciliation with the government.