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Emperor.--CONSTANTINE POGONATUS.
Pope.--AGATHO I.
The Sixth Ecumenical Council met on November 7, 680, for its first
session, and ended its meetings, which are said to have been eighteen in
number, on September 16th of the next year. The number of bishops present was
under three hundred and the minutes of the last session have only 174
signatures attached to them.
When the Emperor first summoned the
council he had no intention that it should be ecumenical. From the Sacras it
appears that he had summoned all the Metropolitans and bishops of the
jurisdiction of Constantinople, and had also informed the Archbishop of Antioch
that he might send Metropolitans and bishops. A long time before he had written
to Pope Agatho on the subject.
When the synod assembled however,
it assumed at its first session the title "Ecumenical," and all the
five patriarchs were represented, Alexandria and Jerusalem having sent deputies
although they were at the time in the hands of the infidel.
In this Council the Emperor
presided in person surrounded by high court officials. On his right sat the
Patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch and next to them the representative of
the Patriarch of Alexandria. On the Emperor's left were seated the
representatives of the Pope. In the midst were placed, as usual, the Holy
Gospels. After the eleventh session however the Emperor was no longer able to
be present, but returned and presided at the closing meeting.
The sessions of the council were
held in the domed hall (or possibly chapel) in the imperial palace; which, the
Acts tell us, was called Trullo (en tw sekretw tou qeiou palatiou tm outm
legomenw Troullw).
It may be interesting to remark
that the Sacras sent to the bishops of Rome and Constantinople are addressed,
the one to "The Most holy and Blessed Archbishop of Old Rome and
Ecumenical Pope," and the other to "The Most holy and Blessed
Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch." Some of the titles
given themselves by the signers of the "Prosphoneticus" are
interesting--"George, an humble presbyter of the holy Roman Church, and
holding the place of the most blessed Agatho, ecumenical Pope of the City of
Rome ... ," "John, an humble deacon of the holy Roman Church and
holding the place of the most blessed Agatho, and ecumenical Pope of the City
of Rome
," "George, by the mercy
of God bishop of Constantinople which is New Rome," "Peter a
presbyter and holding the place of the Apostolic See of the great city
Alexandria
," "George, an humble
presbyter of the Holy Resurrection of Christ our God, and holding the place of
Theodore the presbyter, beloved of God, who holds the place of the Apostolic
See of Jerusalem ... ," "John, by the mercy of God bishop of the City
of Thessalonica, and legate of the Apostolic See of Rome," "John, the
unworthy bishop of Portus, legate of the whole Council of the holy Apostolic See
of Rome," "Stephen, by the mercy of God, bishop of Corinth, and
legate of the Apostolic See of Old Rome."
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