670-682] Constantine and his Brothers 405 rejected, and those condemned were formally anathematised in spite of the protest of George against the inclusion of his predecessors in the anathema with these Macarius and other living Monotheletes were joined. A statement of faith was then drawn up, and a letter addressed to the pope with a request to confirm the proceedings. Finally an imperial edict was posted up in the vestibule of St Sophia, which forbade anyone under severe penalties to teach one will or operation. Macarius and his followers were banished to Rome, where, with the exception of two who recanted, they were shut up in separate monasteries. The papal envoys, who took back with them the synodal Acts and a letter of the Emperor addressed to the pope-elect, Leo II, dated 31 Dec., reached Rome in June 682; and Leo after his consecration (17 Aug.) confirmed the Acts in a letter to Constantine. After the peace with the Arabs and the defeat by the Bulgarians in 680, which compelled the Emperor to cede the country north of Haemus, his chief attention was given to the succession. The ancient practice had been to divide an emperor's dominions between his sons after his death: and such a division had been projected by Maurice, but prevented by his overthrow. After the Arab conquests the reduced size of the Empire made this practically impossible: and Heraclius therefore arranged that the only two among his sons who had reached years of discretion and were not disqualified by any physical defect should reign jointly, a provision of which we have seen the bad result. Constans went further and gave the imperial title to all his sons while they were children, and therefore at his death left three nominal colleagues on the throne: but, as joint government was impossible, the exercise of the imperial functions fell to the eldest. This state of affairs quickly led to trouble. The Anatolic troops soon after their return from Sicily marched to Chrysopolis and demanded that Heraclius and Tiberius should be given an equal share of power with their elder brother, saying that, as there was a Trinity in heaven, there should be a Trinity on earth (670). Constantine pretended to agree and issued a proclamation that all three should receive equal honour, while he sent Theodore of Colonia to invite the leaders to come into the city and confer with the Senate, but, as soon as they were in his power, had them arrested and hanged; and the troops, deprived of their leaders, retired. Still however the younger brothers bore the imperial title, and their names appeared upon coins and in official documents, so that, when Constantine had sons of his own, the difficulty arose that in case of his death his brother Heraclius, as senior Emperor, would exclude them from the sovereignty. Accordingly, when his elder son, Justinian, had reached the age of 12, he deprived his brothers of their titles and cut off their noses (681).1 Henceforth the younger sons of emperors, though they might bear imperial titles, 1 The last meeting of the synod is dated by the years of all three Emperors, but the edict of confirmation is in Constantine's name only. 406 Accession of Justinian II [683-691 were usually excluded from power and from marriage; and, as the daughters of an emperor who had sons had been excluded from marriage since Theodosius' time, collateral branches, and therefore disputed successions, were avoided; but on the other hand a lasting hereditary succession was made impossible, and the crown lay open to any ambitious man or any nominee of the army a state of affairs which continued till the system was abolished by the Comneni. 1 Having thus cleared the way, Constantine in 685 1 crowned Justinian as Augustus, but avoided his father's mistake of also crowning his other son, Heraclius. It was nearly his last act: at the beginning of September he died of dysentery, and the boy Justinian became sole emperor. Constantine had taken advantage of the anarchy which followed the death of the Caliph Yazid (683) to renew the war; and Melitene was destroyed by the Romans, and the Arabs forced to abandon Germanicea. Hence 'Abd-al-Malik on succeeding his father, Marwan, as Caliph in Syria, was compelled to renew the peace by paying a larger tribute (7 July 685). Nevertheless the new Emperor not only sent an army under the Isaurian Leontius to Armenia and the adjacent countries as far as the Caucasus, which, having seceded from the Arabs, had been invaded by the Chazars (687), but sent another to co-operate with the Mardaites in Syria, and Antioch was occupied (688) for a time. Upon this 'Abd-al-Malik, not even yet being in a position to carry on war, again asked for terms, and a truce was made for ten years on the conditions that he should pay the same tribute as before, that Armenia, Iberia, Arzanene, and Atropatene should be ceded, and the tribute of Cyprus divided, and that Justinian should transfer the Mardaites to his own dominions (689). The Emperor then went to Armenia where he appointed chiefs, took hostages, and received 12,000 Mardaites, whom he settled in different parts of the empire (690). By this step his forces were increased; but the Mardaites would perhaps have been of more use to him in the Caliph's territories. Justinian had been willing to make peace because he had become involved in a war with the Bulgarians, in which he suffered a defeat (689). During this war however he reduced large numbers of Slavs, whom he settled in the north-west of Asia Minor and organised as a military force under the name of "peculiar people” (λaòs Teplovσios) : this force is said to have amounted to 30,000 men. Having made peace with the Bulgarians and strengthened the offensive power of the Empire by the acquisition of Mardaites and Slavs, he sought an opportunity of breaking the peace with the Arabs. He began by a breach of the spirit of the compact by which the tribute of Cyprus had been divided; for he removed a large proportion of the population to 1 The dating of Justinian's years shews that it was not done earlier: see Byz. Zeitschr. VI. p. 52, n. 4. 2 Deut. xiv. 2, xxvi. 18; Tit. ii. 14. 686-695] Battle of Sebastopolis 407 the Hellespont and other districts in the south and west of Asia Minor (691) and as Justinian I, whose example he seems always to have had in mind, had refounded his native town as Nova Justiniana and given it primatial rights in northern Illyricum, so Justinian II founded the city of Nea Justinianopolis for the Cypriots in the Hellespont, and the synod of 691 recognised the metropolitan of Cyprus, now bishop of this city, as metropolitan of the Hellespont, in prejudice of the rights of Cyzicus, and enacted that he should enjoy the same independence of the patriarch as in Cyprus. Next the Emperor refused to receive the tribute-money in the new Arabic coinage, on which texts from the Koran were imprinted, and in spite of the Caliph's protests announced that he would no longer observe the treaty, and collected forces for an attack. 'Abd-al-Malik, delivered from his rival 'Abdallah,' had no reason to reject the challenge, and sent his brother Mahomet into Roman territory. Meanwhile Justinian with a large army, in which the bulk of the Slavs were included, marched to Sebastopolis, while the Arabs occupied Sebastia. Between these two places the armies met, and the Arabs went into the battle with a copy of the treaty displayed instead of a flag (693). At first victory inclined to the Romans; but, most of the Slavs having been induced by promises to go over, they were routed; and Justinian on reaching the district where the Slavs were settled masacred all whom he could find with their wives and children. The first result of the defeat was the loss of Armenia; and in 694 Mahomet with the Slavs again invaded the Empire and carried off many captives, while an attempt of the Romans to invade Syria from Germanicea led to another disastrous overthrow, which forced them to abandon that city, and in 695 Yahya raided the country S.W. of Melitene. The ex-patriarch Theodore by accepting the new order of things had escaped condemnation at the synod, and after Constantine's death induced the new Emperor to deprive George and restore him to the see (Feb./Mar. 686). As his restoration would be likely to rouse the pope's suspicions, Justinian laid the synodal Acts before the patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch, the pope's responsalis, such bishops as were in the city, the chief civil and military officials, and the heads of the civic factions, obtained their confirmation of them (686), and announced the fact to Pope John V with an assurance of his intention to maintain the authority of the synod (17 Feb. 687). But the mental attitude of East and West differed so much, and through their different surroundings their practices had become so divergent, that concord could not long be maintained. Neither the fifth nor the sixth synod had passed canons; and therefore, though the Arab invasions had in many ways introduced new conditions which needed regulation, 1 See Ch. XI. 2 As John died in Aug. 686, the date of the letter can only be that of the Emperor's official signature. 408 Trullan Council [688-695 there were no canons of general obligation later than those of Chalcedon. Accordingly at the end of 691 a synod was held in the Domed Hall for the purpose of making canons only. This synod, generally known as the Trullan from its place of meeting, or the Quinisext because it completed the task of the fifth and sixth synods, called itself oecumenical : it was attended by the patriarchs Paul of Constantinople (Jan. 688Aug. 694) and George of Antioch, and titular patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem; and, though the papal legates did not formally take part in it, Basil of Gortyna cmed to represent the Roman Church. The assembly drew up a list of existing canons which were to be held binding, regularised the practice that had grown up with regard to the Eastern patriarchates by enacting that a bishop should suffer no detriment because he was prevented by barbarian incursions from going to his see, laid down rules dealing with the monastic life, the receiving of the eucharist, and the taking of orders, and condemned some surviving heathen observances and some practices prevailing in outlying parts of the Empire such as Armenia and Africa. If it had done no more, little would have been heard of it; but in the following points it offended the Church of Rome. It accepted all the apostolic canons, whereas the Roman Church received fifty only, and it laid special stress on the sixtyfifth, which forbade the Roman practice of fasting on Saturdays in Lent; following Acts xv. 29, it forbade the eating of flesh that contained blood; it forbade the representation of Christ as a lamb in pictures; above all it gave the patriarch of Constantinople equal rights with the pope, and in regard to the question of clerical celibacy, on which the Eastern and Western customs differed, it not only condemned the practice of compelling men to separate from their wives on taking higher orders, but declared such separation, except under special circumstances, to be unlawful. On the other hand it condemned marriage after ordination to the sub-diaconate and forbade the ordination of men who had been married twice. These regulations were described as a compromise; but in reality they differed little from a confirmation of the Eastern practice, with a prohibition of irregularities. Papal legates were present in Constantinople, and were afterwards induced to sign the Acts; but Pope Sergius disowned them, and, when urged to sign himself, refused. Justinian at last ordered him to be rrested and brought to Constantinople; but the army of Italy supported the pope, and it was only by his intercession that the imperial commissioner escaped with his life (695). At the beginning of his reign Justinian was necessarily in the hands of others; and, as he afterwards devoted his restless energies almost entirely to foreign and ecclesiastical affairs, the civil administration continued to be conducted by ministers who, as is natural in men who know that their power is precarious, had little scruple about the means adopted to extort money. Of these the most obnoxious were the two financeministers, the treasurer, Stephen, a Persian eunuch, who is said to have 687-695] Deposition of Justinian 409 flogged the Emperor's mother, Anastasia, during his absence, and the public logothete (yevikòs doyobéτns), Theodotus, an ex-monk, who used to hang men up over fires for purposes of extortion. Such abuses were promoted by the fact that Justinian, as in other matters, so in the love of building followed the model of his namesake, and for these operations large sums were needed; and his unpopularity was increased by the conduct of Stephen, who, acting as superintendent of the works, had the workmen and their overseers tortured or stoned if they did not satisfy him. Further, on one occasion, in spite of the opposition of the patriarch Callinicus, the Emperor pulled down a church to gain room for building, and so made the clergy of the capital his enemies. Again, whereas in earlier times prisons had generally been used to keep persons in custody for a short time, it now became the practice to detain men for long periods in the praetorium by way of punishment; and, though this may often have been a mitigation, the novelty roused hostility, and the existence of many disaffected persons in one place constituted a danger which brought about the Emperor's fall. Among the prisoners was Leontius, who commanded in Armenia in 687. One night towards the end of 695, after he had been in prison three years, he was suddenly released, named general of Hellas (as this theme is not otherwise known at this time, it was perhaps a temporary commission), supplied with a military train sufficient to fill three cutters, and told to start immediately. Unable to believe in the Emperor's sincerity, he consulted two of his friends, Paul, a monk and astrologer, and Gregory the archimandrite, an ex-military officer, who urged him to strike a blow at once, assuring him of success. Leontius and his small following then went to the praetorium and knocked at the gate, saying that the Emperor was there. The praefect hastily opened the gate and was seized, beaten, and bound hand and foot; and the prisoners, of whom many were soldiers, were released and armed. The whole force then went to the Forum, where Leontius raised the cry, "All Christians to St Sophia!" and sent messengers to do the same all over the city, while a report was spread that Justinian had given orders for a massacre (perhaps of the Blue faction), and that the life of the patriarch was in danger. A great crowd, especially of the Blues, collected in the baptistery of the cathedral, while Leontius with a few followers went to the patriarch and compelled him to come to the baptistery, where he gave his sanction to the rising by the words, "This is the day that the Lord hath made," which the crowd answered by the formula of imprecation, "May the bones of Justinian be dug up!" They then rushed to the circus, to which at daybreak the Emperor, deserted by all, was brought. The people demanded his immediate decapitation; but Leontius was content with cutting off his nose and tongue (not so completely as to prevent him from speaking) and banishing him to Cherson. The multitude then seized Stephen and Theodotus, dragged them by ropes along |