Pope Gelasius I

Gelasius I was Pope (492 - 496). He is known as the third pope of African origin (more exactly from Kabylie) in Catholic history. Gelasius had been closely employed by his predecessor Felix, especially in drafting papal documents, and his election, March 1, 492, was a gesture for continuity: Gelasius inherited Felix's struggles with Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius I and the patriarch of Constantinople and exacerbated them by insisting on the removal of the name of the late Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, from the diptychs, in spite of every ecumenical gesture by the current, otherwise quite orthodox patriarch Euphemius (q.v. for details of the Acacian schism).

Related Topics:
Pope - 492 - 496 - Kabylie - Catholic - March 1 - Eastern Roman Emperor - Anastasius I - Patriarch of Constantinople - Acacius - Diptych - Euphemius - Acacian schism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The split with the emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople was inevitable, from the western point of view, because they had embraced a view of a single, Divine ('Monophysite') nature of Christ, which the papal party viewed as heresy. Gelasius' book De duabus in Christo naturis ('On the dual nature of Christ') delineated the western view.

Related Topics:
Monophysite - Christ - Heresy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~