Saint Simplicius
Pope († 483)
Feast -March 2
The city-state of Rome was founded around 753 BC, and through treaties and military strength took control of its neighbors. It evolved from an elective monarchy to a classical republic in 509 BC, then into an autocratic military dictatorship by 27 BC, forming the Roman Empire. At its height in 117 AD, it covered around 1.9 million square miles with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants.
The massive scale of the Roman Empire allowed the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ to reach over 20% of the world’s population. Typically empires collapse within two hundred years, once the founding principles are forgotten and the people become complacent. Instead God allowed the Roman Empire to stand and spread Christianity for over four hundred years. However, the luxuries of Rome made its citizens lax in faith and the accumulated wealth brought the envy of the world. The Empire became ridden with heresy and an invasion target for the plunder hungry, especially the Germanic tribes described as barbarians.
Emperor Constantin the Great, who reigned from 306 AD to 337 AD, reorganized the Roman army to consist of mobile units (comitatenses) and garrison troops (limitanei) to countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. To maintain unity in the empire Constantin convened the Council of Christian bishops in an ancient Greek city of Nicaea in 325. The main purpose of the Council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandria over the nature of Jesus in his relationship to the Father; in particular, whether the Son had been ‘begotten’ by the Father from his own being, and therefore had no beginning, or was created out of nothing, and therefore had a beginning. St. Alexander of Alexandria and St. Athanasius took the first position; the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The Council decided that the teachings of Arius were heretical and dangerous to the salvation of souls.
In 380 CE, emperor Theodosius the Great, a champion of Christian orthodoxy, signed the Edict of Thessalonica and Catholicism became the official religion of the state. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over a unified Roman Empire, prior to the split between east and west in 395 AD. During his reign, growing political and religious divisions limited the empire’s ability to fight its enemies, driving the Romans to hire mercenaries from allied states (foederati) and barbarian tribes in exchange for legal residency and other benefits. This developed into a migration event, with various Germanic tribes settling into the empire. While useful in protecting the empire from external threats, the migrants were loyal to their chieftains first, resulting in frequent rebellions.
In the fifth century a heated controversy arose between the theological schools of Antioch and Alexandria about how divinity and humanity existed in Christ.
Nestorius, the Archbishop of Constantinople from April 428 to August 431, in his teachings indicated a preference for the concept of a loose union of two natures (divine and human) in Christ, over the concept of their full union. Consequently he rejected the title of Mother of God, used for Mary, the mother of Jesus. He was condemned and deposed from his see by the Council of Ephesus in 431, but continued to strenuously defend his heretical views resulting in his excommunication in 451 during the Council of Chalcedon.
During the Council of Ephesus, Eutyches, a presbyter and archimandrite at Constantinople, was noticed for his vehement opposition to the teachings of Nestorius. His condemnation of Nestorianism as heresy led him to an equally extreme although opposite view. Eutyches taught that the human nature of Christ was overcome by the divine, and His human natures had united and blended in such a manner that although Jesus was “same in essence” with the Father, he was not “same in essence” with the man. This idea known as Eutychianism, was rejected at the Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon, which declared that Jesus is one “person” in two “natures” a divine nature and a human nature.
The Council in Chalcedon led to the schism with Oriental Orthodoxy. Patriarch Dioscorus I of Alexandria was deposed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 for insisting that, contrary to the Chalcedonian position, Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one nature. After the death of Dioscorus I in 454, Timothy II Aelurus, a Miaphysite monk at the Eikoston, was elected and consecrated bishop. He was expelled in 460 by a Chalcedonian Patriarch, but in 475 he returned and remained to be Patriarch of Alexandria until his death in in 477. His deacon Peter III of Alexandria, also known as Peter Mongus, succeeded him.
During these difficult times of division and tribulation St. Simplicius was called to lead Catholic Church. He was born near Rome in the city of Tivoli to a Roman citizen by the name of Catinus. Very little is known about his early life, including the year in which he was born. Not much is known of his career before becoming pope either. He gained recognition and respect under Pope St. Leo “the Great” and later Pope St. Hilarius. After the death of St. Hilarius in February 468, St. Simplicius was elected and consecrated Pope within 10 days without controversy.
As pope and Bishop of Rome, St. Simplicius struggled to maintain his authority within the Eastern church. In 471, Peter Gnapheus, a Monophysite, became Patriarch of Antioch. (Monophysitism rejects that Jesus Christ had both a divine and human nature, claiming that Jesus only had divine nature) Gnapheus was originally a monk at the monastery of the Acoemetae in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but was expelled from his monastery on account of his dissolute life and heretical doctrines. Afterwards Gnapheus travelled to Constantinople where he courted persons of influence, through whom he was introduced to the future Emperor Zeno.
Zeno obtained for Peter the position of presbyter at the Church of St. Bassa in Chalcedon. Peter’s beliefs quickly became apparent, resulting with his flight. He followed Zeno, who set out for Antioch as commander of the East. Arriving at Antioch in 463, Peter greatly desired the patriarchal throne. He quickly befriended the populace, with whom he raised suspicions against patriarch Martyrius as a concealed Nestorian (denying Mary the title of Mother of God), thus causing Martyrius’ tumultuous expulsion and his own election to the throne. When established as patriarch, Peter immediately declared himself openly against the Council of Chalcedon.
St. Simplicius appealed to the Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I to take action to restore the Catholic bishop. An imperial decree was issued to exile Peter to the Oasis, but he fled and dwelt at Constantinople.
Emperor Leo I died on the 3rd of February, 474, and shortly thereafter his six year old grandson Leo II died as well. Zeno who had assumed the throne as the son of Leo I, was deposed and Emperor Basiliscus, a Monophysite, took control from January 475 AD to August 476. Emperor Basiliscus issued an edict to the churches of the Eastern Empire, revoking the Council of Chalcedon and recognizing the Second Council of Ephesus, except for the approval of Eutyches whom Basiliscus condemned. He required his edict to be signed by each bishop. Among the signatures he obtained were three of the four Eastern Patriarchs. Peter gladly complied, and in 476 was rewarded by being restored to the see of Antioch. Peter Gnapheus retained the patriarchate till his death in 488.
Acacius, the Patriarch of Constantinople from 472 to 489, labored to restore unity to Eastern Orthodoxy to magnify the authority of his see by extending its influence over Alexandria and Antioch and asserting independence from Rome. Meanwhile in 476 in the Battle of Ravenna, the Roman Army in the West suffered a serious defeat at the hands of Odoacer and his Germanic foederati. Odoacer forced the deposition of emperor Romulus Augustulus and became the first King of Italy. When the patriarchal sees of Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch were occupied by men of ruse, there was not one Catholic king in the entire world to oppose them. Fortunately, Odoacer and his regime, mostly Arian heretics who were opposed to the Catholic Church, recognized the importance of St. Simplicius as a moral asset to their reign. Odoacer made a few changes to the administration in Rome, but left the city firmly in the hands of its bishop.
During his pontificate, Pope St. Simplicius fought heresy, strove to maintain Papal Authority and stood fast against the chaos caused by Germanic barbarian invasions. In response to the Suevi’s conquest of the Iberian province of Lusitania (the Suevi are a Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe River region) and the consequent domination of the Arian church in the region, St. Simplicius appointed Archbishop Zeno of Merida to be his Papal Vicar to Spain. In 478, he held a synod in Rome, which pronounced anathemas against eastern heretical bishops. When in 482 Archbishop Joannes I of Ravenna consecrated Gregory of Modena a bishop without Papal approval, St. Simplicius sent Joannes a sharp rebuke. St. Simplicius also expanded the consecration of bishops to months other than December before Christmas.
He dedicated four major churches of Rome: the Basilica of Santa Bibiana near the ‘palatium Licinianum’, the Basilica of St. Stephen in the Round on the Celian Hill, the church of St. Andrea near St. Maria Maggiore, and a church dedicated to St. Lawrence in the Campo Verano.
After serving as Pope for nearly sixteen years, St. Simplicius in 483 went to receive the reward of his labors. He was buried in Saint Peter’s Basilica on the 2nd of March.
References and Excerpts:
[1] “About: Peter the Fuller.” https://dbpedia.org/page/Peter_the_Fuller (accessed Apr. 04, 2023).
[2] “Ancient Rome,” Wikipedia. Apr. 04, 2023. Accessed: Apr. 04, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancient_Rome&oldid=1148155485
[3] “Saint Simplicius, Pope.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_simplicius.html (accessed Apr. 04, 2023).
[4] “Saint Simplicius.” https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77883064 (accessed Apr. 04, 2023).
[5] “Pope St. Simplicius – PopeHistory.com,” Jan. 28, 2017. https://popehistory.com/popes/pope-st-simplicius/ (accessed Apr. 04, 2023).
[6] “Pope Simplicius,” Wikipedia. Jan. 25, 2023. Accessed: Apr. 04, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Simplicius&oldid=1135601090