chapters to any extent. All three are really Nestorian. But it was a question whether there was sufficient reason, after about a century, to revive the memories of persons long dead, in order to curse them. The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon had declared the faith quite plainly enough. Why not let Theodore and Theodoret and Ibas alone? So while the East accepted this condemnation, as it accepted all the Emperor did, the West was indignant and saw in this new edict yet another veiled concession to Monophysism. And the Pope wavered helplessly between the two.
In 544 Justinian published his edict condemning the Three Chapters. As usual, all bishops were to sign it. Mennas of Constantinople (536-552) signed, under the express condition that no attack against Chalcedon was meant and that the Pope should sign too. Otherwise his consent was not to count. The other Eastern Patriarchs signed. But all the West (where these condemned persons were no longer remembered, where there was grave suspicion of the Byzantine Government's edicts) refused to accept the condemnation. Justinian was naturally most anxious to obtain the Pope's consent. He implored him to come to Constantinople to examine the matter. Vigilius, after much delay, very unwillingly came in 547. Then begins the unhappy tale of his indecision and repeated change of mind. He was torn between two tendencies. On the one hand, he knew that there was no intrinsic reason why he should not condemn the works of these long-dead Nestorians; Justinian was doing everything possible to force the Pope to do so; all the East saw in this measure the one chance of reconciling the Monophysites, of putting an end to the disastrous turmoil which had troubled the Church already for a hundred years. On the other hand, Vigilius knew that his own Western bishops were fiercely opposed to the condemnation of the Three Chapters, that if he condemned them he would be looked upon as a traitor by his own best friends; no doubt, too, he inherited the traditional Roman suspicion of Byzantine Emperor-made theology. As a further excuse for his want of decision, we must remember that he was being himself badly persecuted to make him accept the condemnation. At first he refused to condemn the chapters. Justinian then began treating him as a
