|
Historia ELangobardorum
EIII, 26, Eof EPaulus Diaconus delineating the history
of the Church of Aquileia and schism (division of the Church) referring three
principals in the first years of the pontificate of Sever (586-607), comprises the register of
twelve bishops. Twelve of them were not inclined to schism while five bishops joined
the patriarch. The list is inserted after the description of synod in Maran(590)
when/where the patriarch joined the schismatic bishops although he already renounced the
schism in Ravenna where he arrived constraint by exarchos Smaragd 586-587.
Dilemma derives from the fact that the bishops registered against the schism are
the very same bishops who subscribed the supplicatio to the Emperor Mauricius in 591
as the supporters of schism. The analysis denotes that Paulus Diaconus had a
through perception about the related inclinations and this leads to the conclusion that the
list should be interpreted inversely: twelve bishops who renounced the schism were
schismatic while five of them (the supporters of Sever), remained faithful to the
Church of Rome (the Catholics). This reconstruction of the list is correlated
chronologically and conceptually (mostly) with the period and context after the return of
Sever from Ravenna when he renounced the Church division among three principals
and the time before the synod in Maran when he approved the schism for the second
time (between 587 and second half of 590). The Article presumes the acts of synod as
the indicators of the source of the original list ascribed lately to the History of the
Langobards. In the opinion of the Author, the list considers a particular and until
present days unregistered synod of the Church of Aquileia that took place after the
return of Sever from Ravenna and before the synod in Maran. The purpose of the
synod was (above all) the reconciliation. Sustained by Byzantine
power/authorities
and followed by five bishops, Patriarch Sever might be pointed out as the initiator of
the synod pursuant to end the division according to the purposes and intents of Rome
and Ravenna. The initiative had no success (the patriarch remained in the
minority), and this became the reason why he joined the (schismatic) majority in
Maun. The failure of this initiative and the entire hard line policy of exarchos Smaragd against
the schism and towards the consolidation with Rome, might be correlated with his
withdrawal in the year 587. If (that is) so, the year of the synod that took place in
Grado where Sever returned from Ravenna should be more precisely dated between
587 and 589.
Key words: Paulus Diaconus (HL III,26), schism, Church division among three
principals, synod in Grado 587/89.
|