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Deposition of Martin
[645–655

was: here a crowd was allowed to surround him. The treasurer after again consulting the Emperor finally ordered him to be deprived of his pontifical head-dress, as not being lawful pope, and delivered to the praefect to be beheaded. He was then stripped naked except for one torn garment and dragged with a chain round his neck over rough stones to a common prison with a sword in front of him, and thence to the praefect's praetorium, where he was chained to the jailer: but in the evening the praefect sent food with an assurance that the sentence would not be executed, and the chains were removed. The sentence had in fact been passed in order to frighten him into submission; and after Paul's death, which shortly followed, unsuccessful attempts were made to extort a statement that Pyrrhus, who had returned to Constantinople after his reconciliation and was seeking restoration, had recanted under compulsion at Rome. Nevertheless Pyrrhus was restored, but died on Whit Sunday following (1 June 654). As all attempts to induce Martin to communicate with the clergy of Constantinople were vain, he was on 15 Mar. removed to the house of a scribe, and thence on 11 Apr. to a ship, in which he was conveyed to Cherson in the Crimea (15 May), where he remained till his death in Sept. 655, complaining bitterly of the lack of food and the neglect of his friends at Rome to send supplies.

Martin had however better reason to complain of the fickleness of the Romans. At the time of his arrest the exarch had ordered the clergy to elect a new pope; and after a year's resistance they yielded, and (10 Aug. 654) Eugenius was consecrated to the papacy. The new pope sent envoys to Constantinople without a letter; and these communicated with the new patriarch, Peter, under a compromise. It had been implied in the Type that the expressions "one will" and "two wills" were both in a sense correct: and, though this doctrine had been condemned by the synod, the envoys acquiesced in it (655). Peter then sent a synodical to the pope in which this principle was stated; but popular clamour compelled Eugenius to reject it.

Maximus had since 645 been living in Rome; and, as he was believed to have been the chief instigator of Martin's resistance, it was thought that, if he could be induced to submit, the cause would be won. Accordingly an imperial commissioner who had been sent to order Eugenius[1] to communicate with Peter tried to persuade Maximus to accept the Type; and on his refusal he was arrested and conveyed to Constantinople, where he was brought before the treasurer and Senate and accused of advising the magister militum of Numidia to disobey the orders of Heraclius to march against the Arabs in Egypt, of encouraging Gregory's rebellion, of disrespect to the Emperor, and of anathematising the Type (655). During part of the proceedings the patriarchs Peter of Constantinople and Macedonius of Antioch, who resided in the capital, were present, and on Whit Sunday (17 May)

  1. "τὸν θεοτίμητον πάππαν" must be Eugenius, since Martin was never recognised.