We have previously discussed the letters of Pope Gregory the Great. But a less known and yet interesting seventh century source on the history of the Slavs is the following letter from Pope Agatho (Pope from June 26, 678 till his death on January 10, 681). The letter was addressed to the Sixth Ecumenical Council (aka the Third Council of Constantinople) which took place on November 7, 680 (and whose topic was the “Monothelite” heresy).
Agatho – looking good circa 1000
The council was the result of efforts by Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV to restore relations with Rome (the context being that the Byzantines had just survived the Arab siege of Constantinople in 678). The emperor sent a letter to Pope Donus but this one died in the meantime. Agatho who became his successor sent representatives to the council. They also carried a letter from the Pope which was then read to the attending patriarchs.
The letter was first published by Gian (Giovanni) Domenico Mansi (see here if you can’t get enough of Mansi) an Italian theologian in 1765 as part of volume 11 of his Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio.
In the letter Agatho mentions that he is relying on the consensus of synodical assent (based on prior councils held in the West in preparation for the Constatinople council) from bishops and missionaries working among “the Langobards, Slavs, Franks, Gauls, Goths and Britons.”
The Letter
“In the first place, a great number of us are spread over a vast extent of country even to the sea coast, and the length of their journey necessarily took much time. Moreover we were in hopes of being able to join to our humility our fellow-servant and brother bishop, Theodore, the archbishop and philosopher of the island of Great Britain, with others who have been kept there even till today; and to add to these various bishops of this council who have their sees in different parts, that our humble suggestion [i.e., the doctrinal definition contained in the letters] might proceed from a council of wide-spread influence, lest if only a part were cognizant of what was being done, it might escape the notice of a part; and especially because among the peoples, as the Longobards, and the Slavs, as also the Franks, the French, the Goths, and the Britons, there are known to be very many of our fellow-servants who do not cease curiously to enquire on the subject, that they may know what is being done in the cause of the Apostolic faith…”
“Primum quidem, quod numerosa multitudo nostrorum usque ad oceani regiones extenditur, cujus itineris longinquitas in multi temporis cursum protelatur. Sperabamus deinde de Britannia Theodorum consamulum atque coepiscopum nostrum, magnae insulae Britanniae archiepiscopum et philosophum, cum aliis qui ibidem usque hactenus demorantur, exinde ad nostram humilitatem conjungere, atque diversos hujus concilii servilis nostra suggestio fierer, ne si tantum pars, quod agebatur, cognosceret, partem lateret: et maxime, quia in medio gentium, tam Langobardorum, quamque Slavorum, nec non Francorum, Gallorum, et Gothorum, atque Britannorum, plurimi consamulorum nostrorum esse noscuntur…”
Copyright ©2017 jassa.org All Rights Reserved