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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Theodore I</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14570a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Reigned from 642 to 649"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="14570a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/t.htm">T</a> > Pope Theodore I</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Pope Theodore I</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>Pope from 642 to 649; the date of his birth is unknown. He was a Greek of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> and the son of a <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, Theodore. His election as <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> was promptly confirmed by the Exarch of <a href="../cathen/12662b.htm">Ravenna</a>, perhaps because he was a Greek, and he was <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> 24 Nov., 642. Engaged throughout all his pontificate in the struggle against <a href="../cathen/10502a.htm">Monothelitism</a>, he at once wrote to the Byzantine Emperor Constans II to inform him that he could not recognize Paul as <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Constantinople, because the deposition of his predecessor (Pyrrhus) had not been canonical. He then urged Constans to withdraw the Ecthesis. He also wrote to Paul and to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> who had <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> him, to impress upon them the importance of securing the legal deposition of Pyrrhus, if the accession of Paul was to be recognized. If Theodore's vigorous action produced no result at Constantinople, it elsewhere excited strong opposition to <a href="../cathen/10502a.htm">Monothelitism</a>. The Bishops of <a href="../cathen/04589a.htm">Cyprus</a>, Palestine, and Africa expressed their loyal submission to his teaching in very striking language. Even the deposed patriarch Pyrrhus recanted his <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> before Theodore (645), but soon relapsed into his old <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">errors</a>, and was <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunicated</a> by the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> (648). Meanwhile, urged by the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> of Africa, Theodore made another effort to reclaim Paul, but only succeeded in drawing from him an express declaration of his <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a> in the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of one Will in our Lord. This brought upon him sentence of <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> and deposition from <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> (649). To this Paul replied by barbarously ill-treating the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> <em>apocrisiarii</em> (or <a href="../cathen/11160a.htm">nuncios</a>) at Constantinople. He also prevailed upon Constans to issue a new <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> known as the Type <em>(Typus)</em>. This document ordered the <em>Ecthesis</em> to be taken down, and enjoined that in future there was to be no more discussion on the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of one or two Wills or Operations. The Type was promptly condemned "by the whole West" in general, and specifically by Theodore's successor (<a href="../cathen/09723c.htm">St. Martin I</a>), but it is not certain whether Theodore lived long enough to <a href="../cathen/01455e.htm">anathematize</a> it. This energetic pontiff, who was good to the poor of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, and a benefactor of its <a href="../cathen/03041a.htm">churches</a>, was buried in St. Peter's, 14 May, 649.</p> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes"><em>Liber Pontificalis,</em> I, 330 sqq., ed. DUCHESNE (Paris, 1886); JAFFÉ, <em>Regesta,</em> I, 228 sqq. (Leipzig, 1888); MAXIMI, <em>Disputatio, vita,</em> etc., in LABBE, <em>Concil.,</em> V, pp.1813 sqq.; or <em>P.L.,</em> CXXIX; or COMBEFIS (2 vols., Paris. 1675); <em>Acts of the Lateran Council under Martin I;</em> MANN, <em>Lives of the Popes in the early Middle Ages,</em> I (London, 1902), 369 sqq.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Mann, H.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Pope Theodore I.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14570a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Mann, Horace.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Pope Theodore I."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 14.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14570a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Marjorie Bravo-Leerabhandh.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-verybottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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