Finally, the acts of the Sixth
Ecumenical Council in Constantinople contain a bizarre story that can even be
dated precisely: it took place on 26 April 681. (Cf. ACO2 II 2
[Rulfold Riedinger], pp. 672, I. 18-682, I. 8 [FaFo § 582a]) A certain
Polychronius, a monk-priest had been charged with heresy. He believed that
there had only been one will and one operation (G) at work during Christ’s earthly
stay, namely that of God—he was a Monothelete. Believing that, however,
endangered certainty in the full incarnation of God and thus the salvation of
humankind. For in order to save humanity, God had to take on the whole human
being in Christ, including body, heart, sense, and mind, the majority of
theologians at that time believed, and that means that in the earthly Christ
there had to be, in addition to the divine will, a human will together with its
corresponding human mode of operation. Because Polychronius had denied this, he
had been imprisoned. When he was brought into the council chamber and
interrogated, he refused to recent, instead producing a copy of a letter he had
sent to Emperor Constantine IV (r. 668-685), writing down his faith. The acts
of the council only contain an extract from this document which makes it clear
that Polychronius had been stimulated to send his missive to the emperor by a vision:
I saw a crowd of men clad in white and
in their midst a man whose virtue I cannot describe, telling me, ‘He [sc. the
emperor] is preparing a new faith; hurry and speak to the Emperor Constantine:
Do not make or introduce a new faith!’ After I came from Heraclea to
Chrysopolis and stood in the midday heat (for it was around the seventh hour of
the day), I saw a terrifying man clad all in white. He stood before me and said,
‘He who does not confess one will and operation of the God-man is no Christian’;
and I said, ‘The most-wise Emperor Constantine has decreed precisely this, one
will and operation of the God-man.’ And he said, ‘This is very good and
pleasing to God.’
In order to prove the truth of his
heretical convictions he proposed to bring a dead man back to life with the
help of his Monothelete creed as contained in the letter. The council fathers
took him at his word. A corpse was fetched and placed on a silver bier in a public
place outside the palace. Polychronius deposited his written confession on the
dead man and muttered unintelligible words for several hours. When nothing
happened Polychronius had to admit his failure. However, brought back into the
assembly hall he continued to refuse to recant. In the end, he was solemnly condemned
as an impostor and heretic and deposed from his office.
One wonders why the council fathers
took Polychronius so seriously that they were willing to test his claim.
Perhaps, the emperor had been so impressed by Polychronius’ vision contained in
the letter to him that he had asked the council to look into the truth of the
matter. In any case, it is striking that the only extracts from his epistle inserted
into the acts are the passages narrating the vision. At the same time, the ineffectual
attempted resuscitation may have demonstrated to the public at large that Monotheletism
was erroneous. Whatever the background to this story, it may suffice to note here
that Polychronius ascribed magical powers to his faith as outlined in his
written document, and that the council fathers considered this to be a possibility
(at least to a certain extent). (Wolfram Kinzig, A History of Early
Christian Creeds [De Gruyter Textbook; Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 2024], 547-48)
