Severinus

pope

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History

Severinus (born, Rome [Italy]—died August 2, 640, Rome) was a pope who was forced to wait one and a half years for consecration because he declined to endorse the Byzantine emperor Heraclius’s statement of faith, the Ecthesis, which propounded Monothelitism—i.e., the unorthodox doctrine of a single will in Christ (see Monothelite).

Severinus was chosen about October 15, 638, to succeed Pope Honorius I, and legates went to Constantinople (now Istanbul) for Heraclius’s confirmation of the election, which he withheld pending Severinus’s acceptance of the Ecthesis. The pope refused, and his legates remained at Constantinople to deliberate on his behalf.

Meanwhile, the exarch Isaac of Ravenna, supported by Roman soldiers, occupied the Lateran Palace in Rome and seized the church’s treasure, hoping to force Severinus to conform to imperial demands. Severinus was steadfast, and his legates eventually secured Heraclius’s confirmation. Consecrated on May 28, 640, he promptly declared the orthodoxy of Christ’s two natures and two wills. The condemnation of Monothelitism, carried on by his immediate successors as well, caused strained relations between Rome and Constantinople for several decades.