SYMMACHUS
378
SYMMACHUS
sequently the opposition called its candidate Lauren-
tius again to Rome. He resided in the Lateran
palace, which was in the hands of his adherents, while
Symmachus retained the house of the bishop {epis-
copium) near St. Peter's. The division continued
for four years, during which both parties carried on a
furious quarrel at Rome. Laurentius had his por-
trait added to the series of popes in the Church of
Saint Paul Without the Walls. However, certain
prominent persons exerted their influence in favour of
Symmachus, as Bishop Avitus of Vienne, who, at the
request of the GaUican bishops, addi'essed an urgent
letter to the Senate on behalf of the rightful pope and
for the restoration of unity. Symmachus gradually
won over a number of the adherents of the opposition.
The greatest factor in the healing of the schism was
the interposition of Deacon Dioscurus of Alexandria,
who had come to Rome. He was commissioned by
Symmachus to go to Theodoric, and won the king
over to the side of the rightful pope. Apparently
political motives were involved, as the king wished to
take action against the Laurentian party, which in-
clined to Constantinople. He commanded Senator
Festus, the head of the hostile party, to return all
Roman churches to Symmachus. Laurentius having
lost many adherents among the senators the king's
command was executed without difficulty. The anti-
pope, obliged to leave Rome, retired to a farm belong-
ing to his protector Festus. Only a small party still
held to Laurentius and refused to recognize Symma-
chus as Bishop of Rome; but it was insignificant and
was reconciled later to Hormisdas, the successor of
Symmachus. During the schism a number of polem-
ical writings appeared, as from the party of Laurentius
the treatise "Contra Synodum absolutionis incon-
gruse", to which Deacon Ennodius replied in "Libellus
adversus eos qui contra Synodum scribere prajsump-
serunt" ("Mon.Gerra. Hist.: Auct.ant.", VII,48sq.).
While the author of the life of Symmachus in the com-
pletely preserved text of the "Liber pontificalis" is
very favourable to this pope, the writer of another con-
tinuation of the papal biographies supports the cause of
Laurentius ("Fragment Laurentien", ed. Duchesne in
"Liber pontificalis", 1,44-46). During the dispute the
adherents of Symmachus drew up four apocryphal writ-
ings called the "Symmachian Forgeries"; these were:
"Gesta synodi Sinuessanse de Marcellino"; "Con-
etitutum Silvestri"; "Gesta Liberii"; "Gesta de pur-
gatione Xysti et Polychronii accusatione". These
four works are to be found in Constant, "Epist. rom.
pontif." (Paris, 1721), appendix, 29 sq.; cf. Duchesne,
"Liber pontificalis", I, introduction, CXXXIII sq.:
"Histoire htteraire des apocryphes symmachicns".
The object of these forgeries was to produce alleged
instances from earlier times to support the whole
procedure of the adherents of Symmachus, and, in
particular, the position that the Roman bishop could
not be judged by any court composed of other bish-
ops. Still these forgeries are not the first documents
to maintain this latter tenet.
Symmachus zealously defended the supporters of orthodoxy during the disorders of the Acacian schism. He defends, although without success, the opponents of the " Henotikon " in a letter to Emperor Anastawius I (491-518). At a later date many of the persecuted Ori(mtal bishops adtlrossed themselves to the pope to whom they sent a confession of faith. Shortly after 506 the emperor sent him a letter full of invectives, to which the pope sent a firm answer, maintaining forcibly the rights and liberty of the Chun^h (Thiel, "Epist. rom. pont.", I, 700 sq.) In a letter of 8 October, 512, addressed to the bishops of Illyria, the pope warned the clergy of that province not to hold communion with heretics. Soon after the beginning of his pontificate Symmiichus inliTimscd in the quarrel between the Archbishops of Aries and Vienne as to the boundaries of their respective territorica. He an-
nulled the edict issued by Anastasius H in favour of
the Archbishop of Vienne and later (6 November, 513)
confirmed the metropohtan rights of Archbishop
Ca;sarius of Aries, as these had been fixed by Leo I.
Moreover, he granted Cssarius the privilege of wear-
ing the pallium, the first-known instance of such a
grant by the Holy See to a bishop outside of Italy.
In a letter of 11 June, 514, he appointed Ca-sarius to
represent the interests of the Church both in Gaul
and Spain, to hold synods of the bishops in certain
cases, to give letters of recommendation to clergy who
journeyed to Rome. More important matters were
to be laid before the Holy See. In the cjty of Rome,
according to the "Liber pontificalis", the pope took
severe measures against the Manicha^ans^ ordered
the burning of their books, and exjjelled them from
the city. He erected or restored and adorned various
churches. Thus he built a Church of St. Andrew near
St. Peter's, a BasiUca of St. Agnes on the Ma AureUa,
adorned the Church of St. Peter's, completely rebuilt
the BasiUca of Sts. Sylvester and Martinus, and made
improvements over the Catacomb of the Jordani on
the Via Salaria. He built episcopal houses (episcopia)
to the right and left of the parvis of St. Peter's. These
buildings were evidently connected with t he residence
of the pope for several years near St. Peter's during
the ilisorders of the Laurentian schism. He also
built asyhmis for the poor near the three churches of
St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Laurence that were out-
side the city walls. The pope contributed large sums
for the support of the Catholic bishops of Africa who
were persecuted by the rulers of the Ariau Vandals.
He also aided the inhabitants of the provinces of upper
Italy who suffered so sorely from the invasion of the
barbarians. After his death he was buried at St.
Peter's. Symmachus is venerated in the Roman
Church as a saint.
Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, I, 260-268; J.*ff£. Regeata pont. rom. (2nd ed.), I, 96 sq.; Thiel, Epist. rom. ponlif., 639 sq.; Acta syjiodorum Roma: habit, a. 499, 501, 502 in Moiu Germ. Hist.: Auct. ant., XII, 393 sq.; Gbisar, Gesch. Roms und der P&pste, I, 460 sqq.; Langen, Gesch. der romischen Kirche, II, 219 sqq.; Hefele, Hist, of the Councils of the Church, tr. Cl-vrk, IV (Edinburgh, 1895), 49 aqq., 58-75; Stober, Quellenstudien zum laurentianischen Schisma in Sitzungsber. der Wiener Akademie, CXII (1886), 269 sqq.; Maassen. Gesch. der Quelten des Kirchen- rechtes, I, 411 sqq.; Pfeilschjfter, Theoderich der Grosse in Weltgeschichte in Karakterbildern (Mainz, 1910), 44 sqq.; HaRIV MANN, Gesch, Italiens im Miltelalter, I (Leipzig, 1897), 142 sqq. J. P. KlRSCH.
Symmachus the Ebionite, author of one of the Greek versions of the Old Testament included by Origen in his Hexapla and Tetrapla. Some fragments of this version survive in what remains of the Hexapla. Symmachus also wrote "Commentaries", not extant, apparently to support the heresy of the Ebionites by attacking the Gospel of St. Matthew. "Origen states that he obtained these and other commentaries of Symmachus on the Scriptures from a certain Juliana, who, he says, inherited them from Symmachus him- self (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", VI, xvii). Palladiua (Hist. Laus., Ixiv) found in a manuscript "very ancient and arranged in sticlioi" the following entry made by Origen: "This book I foun<l in the house of Juliana, the virgin in Ca>sarea, when I was hiding there; who said she had received it from Symmachus himself the interpreter of the Jews". The date of Origcn's stay with Juliana was probably 238-41, i. e. during the persecution of Maximin, but this tells us nothing about the date of Symmachus's version of the Scriptures which w:is known to Origen when he wrote (about 228) his eajliest commentaries (see Swete, "Introd. to O. T. in Greek", p. 50). It used commonly to be accepted, on the supposed authority of St. Epiphanius (De mens, et pond., xvi), that Synmiachus flourished in the age of Scverus (103- 211), hut the text of Epiphanius is full of the wildest blunders. The Syriac tran.slator who (as was first pointed out by Lagarde), had a less corrupt text before
