A letter from Italian, probably Milanese, clerics to a group of Frankish envoys on their way to Constantinople describes how two African bishops took refuge in the church of *Euphemia (martyr of Chalcedon, S00017) in Chalcedon in 551, when they were pressured by Justinian to condemn the Three Chapters. Written in Latin, probably in Milan, 551/2.
Evidence ID
E05616
Type of Evidence
Documentary texts - Letters
'Letter from the church of Milan to the Frankish envoys'
Cum Afri episcopi, de quibus supra dictum est, in ciuitatem regiam peruenissent, coeperunt eis nunc blandimentis, nunc terroribus extorquere, ut praeberent in capitulorum damnatione consensum. sed cum nullatenus eis extorquere potuissent, concinnata est causa sancto Reparato episcopo Carthaginicnsi <quod ante s>ex annos Areobindam magistrum militum a Guntharit tyranno in Africa fecisset occidi, et sub hoc colore in exilio deportatus est. hoc uidentes alii duo, qui inter ipsos et sanctitate uitae et diuinarum scripturarum scientia sunt ornati, ad sanctam Eufimiam Calchidonam fugierunt et ibi usque hodie sub tanta necessitate iacent, ut cum infirmitate corporis laborantes nec medicum inuenire mereantur, pericula immensa sustineant.
'When the African bishops mentioned above reached the imperial city, they [Justinian's officials] began to press them, now by blandishments and now by threats, to give their assent to the condemnation of the chapters. But when this pressure failed utterly, a charge was concocted against the holy Reparatus bishop of Carthage that six years before he had induced the usurper Guntarith to have the magister militum Areobindus murdered; and on this pretext he was deported into exile. Witnessing this, two others, who were pre-eminent among them for holiness of life and knowledge of the divine scriptures, fled to St Euphemia’s at Chalcedon, and there to this day are lying sick in such straits that they are in real danger, because, despite suffering from bodily infirmity, they cannot find a doctor.'
Text: Schwartz 1940, 20-21.
Translation: Price 2009, 167.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivitySeeking asylum at church/shrine
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
This is one of four related letters by or associated with Pope Vigilius (537-555), preserved as a group in a single manuscript, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Phillipps 1743 (8th c.), a late-Merovingian codex containing papal letters and acts of church councils, originally from the cathedral library at Reims (Schwartz 1940, 26). The letter of excommunication and a badly truncated version of Dum in sanctae Euphemiae are preserved in a few other manuscripts (Schwartz 1940, 27), but the full text of the latter, and the entirety of the other two documents, are unique to this manuscript. Schwartz 1940, 31, suggests that the entire group of documents was brought back from the East by the Frankish embassy whose members are addressed in Letter 4, hence its survival in a Gallic manuscript.The letters date from 551-552, a period when Pope Vigilius, who had been in Constantinople since 547, was under intense pressure from the emperor Justinian to accede to Justinian's condemnation of the so-called 'Three Chapters' (for explanation of this term, see discussion in E08275).
In manuscript order, followed by Schwartz in his edition, the documents are:
1) An encyclical letter from Vigilius, dated 5 February 552, explaining why he had taken refuge in the church of Euphemia at Chalcedon. This is often referred to, from its opening words, as Dum in sanctae Euphemiae ('while in St Euphemia's'). Translated Price 2009, 170-79. See E08275 and E08326.
2) A letter from Vigilius, dated 14 August 551, excommunicating two of Justinian's leading clerical supporters, Menas, patriarch of Constantinople, and Theodore Ascidas, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Translated Price 2009, 161-5.
3) What seems to be a covering letter sent with a copy of the letter of excommunication. This is not dated but internal evidence shows that it dates from February 552. Not translated by Price. See E08329.
4) A letter written by some clerics from the church of Milan to a group of Frankish envoys on their way to Constantinople, informing them about the harassment of Pope Vigilius and other opponents of the condemnation of the Three Chapters. This is also not dated, but can be dated by internal evidence to late 551 or early 552. Translated Price 2009, 165-70. See E05616 and E08318.
The letter of the church of Milan to the Frankish envoys
This is Letter 4 in Schwartz's edition (Letter 2 in Price's translation, which renumbers the letters in chronological order). The letter has no heading in the manuscript: the title given here is the one used by Price. There is no doubt about its addressees: explicit statements in the letter show that it was addressed to a group of Frankish envoys on a mission to Constantinople (Schwartz 1940, 28, identifies the embassy as one from the Frankish king Theudebald, mentioned by Procopius, Wars 8.24.30), to inform them about the persecution by Justinian and his officials of Pope Vigilius and other western opponents of the condemnation of the Three Chapters who were in Constantinople. The authors of the letter were not in Constantinople themselves, but say (Schwartz 1940, 24; Price 2009, 170) that they received their information from 'trustworthy persons coming from Constantinople' (fidelissimae personae de Constantinopoli uenientes). It is generally assumed that the letter was written by clerics from the church of Milan, on the basis of the concern expressed in it over the long absence in Constantinople of Bishop Datius of Milan and the problems that this caused for the Milanese church, though Claire Sotinel has suggested that it could have been sent by a group of North Italian bishops, after 'a more or less informal council' (Sotinel 2007, 92). The letter has no date, but since it contains a detailed account of how Pope Vigilius sought asylum in the church of St Peter in Constantinople in August 551 (see E08318), but does not mention that he did so again in the church of St Euphemia in Chalcedon that December, it must have been written between the two events, or rather (as pointed out by Price 2009, 165, n. 12) between news of the two events reaching Milan: thus at some point from the autumn of 551 to the spring of 552.
Discussion
During their account of the harassment of Vigilius and other opponents of Justinian's policy, the authors narrate how, when an embassy of African bishops arrived at Constantinople, similar pressure was placed on them, culminating in the arrest and exile of Reparatus, bishop of Carthage, and the flight of two other bishops to the church of Euphemia in Chalcedon. (The fact that this church had been the site of the Council of Chalcedon gave it an obvious resonance in the controversy, though no source states explicitly that this was the reason the bishops sought refuge there.) The letter does not give a date for the flight of the two bishops, but its place in the narrative suggests that it occurred before Pope Vigilius took refuge in the church of St Peter in Constantinople on 14 August 551.The letter does not name the two bishops, but we know from other sources that they were Primasius of Hadrumetum and Verecundus of Iunca. Since both were the authors of biblical and theological works, their identity may be tacitly confirmed by the claim in the letter that the two bishops were distinguished by their 'knowledge of the divine scriptures' (diuinarum scripturarum scientia). According to the account of the incident in the chronicle of Victor of Tunnuna (E08274), Verecundus died at the church, seemingly corroborating the letter's claim that the men were ill and were unable to obtain medical attention (in other key respects, Victor's account differs from the letter – see discussion in E08274). In December 551, Pope Vigilius himself sought asylum in the church of Euphemia. Since no accounts of this event mention the presence of Verecundus or Primasius, it is probable that by then Verecundus had died and Primasius had left the church. Like Vigilius, Primasius eventually gave in and condemned the Three Chapters.
For the account in this letter of Vigilius' attempt to seek asylum in the basilica of St Peter in Constantinople, see E08318.
Bibliography
Edition:Schwartz, E., I, Vigiliusbriefe. II, Zur Kirchenpolitik Justinians (Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Abteilung. Jahrgang 1940, Heft 2; Munich, 1940).
Translation:
Price, R., The Acts of the Council of Constantinople of 553 with related texts on the Three Chapters Controversy (Translated Texts for Historians 51; Liverpool, 2009). All references are to vol. 1 unless otherwise stated.
Further reading:
Sotinel, C., "The Three Chapters and the Transformation of Italy," in: C. Chazelle and C. Cubitt (eds.), The Crisis of the Oikoumene: The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-Century Mediterranean (Turnhout, 2007), 85-120.
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
18/08/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00017 | Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon | Eufimia | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E05616 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05616