Pope Honorius I

Pope Honorius I, who died on 12 October 638, was born in Campania and served as bishop of Rome from his consecration on 27 October 625 until his death. He is best remembered for his correspondence with Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople regarding the Monoenergism and Monothelite controversies.

Papacy

Honorius endorsed a policy of silence on whether Christ had one or two energies and stated that Jesus did not possess two conflicting wills, reasoning that Christ assumed human nature as it existed before the Fall, not the corrupted version tainted by sin. This stance led to his posthumous anathematization by the Third Council of Constantinople in 681 for following and confirming Monothelite doctrines. Pope Leo II later confirmed this condemnation, charging Honorius with failing to extinguish the heresy.

Honorius actively promoted the Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxons. He sent Saint Birinus to convert the West Saxons and granted the pallium to the archbishops of York and Canterbury.

Early life

He also attempted to persuade the Irish and British churches to adopt the Roman method for calculating Easter. His father, Petronius, held the honorary title of consul, and Honorius was a wealthy aristocrat. Little is known of his life before his election on 27 October 625; he was consecrated just two days after the death of his predecessor Boniface V, a short vacancy historians attribute to the presence of Isaac the Armenian, the imperial exarch of Italy who could confirm the election.

As pope, Honorius modelled his papacy after Gregory I, employing monks rather than secular clergy in the Lateran Palace administration. He supported the deposed Catholic Lombard king Adaloald but also established diplomatic relations with his Arian rival Arioald. He failed to resolve the Schism of the Three Chapters in Venetia and Istria, though he tried to appease the archbishops of Ravenna who resented their subordination to Rome. At the Sixth Council of Toledo, he urged Visigothic bishops to maintain their policies regarding Jews, citing precedents set by Gregory I. Honorius viewed the rise of Islam as closely resembling Arian heresy.

His defenders, including his secretary Abbot John Symponus, Pope John IV, and St. Maximus the Confessor, maintained that his phrase "one will" referred only to Christ's humanity, not his divine nature. The Venerable Bede described him as a holy pastor, a characterization later used by theologians like Robert Bellarmine to argue against charges of heresy. The condemnation was reiterated by Pope Leo II, who stated that Honorius "did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of apostolic tradition, but by profane treachery permitted its purity to be polluted."