Macarius of Antioch

Who is Macarius of Antioch?

Macarius of Antioch was Patriarch of Antioch in the 7th century, deposed in 681. His title seems to have been a purely honorary one, for his patriarchate lay under the dominion of the Saracens, and he himself resided at Constantinople. Nothing is known of him before the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which deposed him on account of his monothelitism, after which he disappeared into obscurity in a Roman monastery. Nonetheless, he is noted in ecclesiastical history for causing the anathemisation or condemnation of Pope Honorius I.

In the first session of the council, the Roman legates delivered an address in which they described four successive patriarchs of Constantinople and others as having "disturbed the peace of the world by new and unorthodox expressions", referring to the controversial doctrine of monothelitism. Macarius retorted, "We did not publish new expressions but what we have received from the holy and œcumenical synods and from holy approved fathers". He then went through the names given by the legates, adding to them that of Pope Honorius.

In this and the following session Macarius was unable to find any references to monothelitism in a passage from St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Leo. In the third session, several documents which he claimed emanated from Mennas and Pope Vigilius were found to be forgeries, surreptitiously introduced into the Acts of the Fifth Ecumenical Council. In the fifth and sixth sessions, he and his adherents produced three volumes of patristic testimonies which were sealed up for later examination. In the eighth session, he read his ecthesis, or "profession of faith", in which he appealed to the authority of Honorius on behalf of Monothelitism. In answer to questions put to him by the Emperor, he declared that he would rather be cut to pieces and thrown into the sea than admit the doctrine of Dythelitism, which states that Jesus Christ had two wills, the divine and human. In this same session and the following one his patristic testimonies were found to be hopelessly garbled. He was formally deposed at the close of the ninth session.