The Historicity of Heretics Occupying Episcopal Thrones for Generations

A brief excerpt from the Greek work, “Treatise on the Validity of the Ordination of Clergy Ordained by a Deposed and Schismatic Bishop,” by Archbishop Basil (Asteriou) of Anchialos (later Metropolitan of Smyrna), written in 1874 on account of the so-called “Bulgarian Schism” and at the request of Patriarch Joachim II of Constantinople.

 

 

…Deposition from the episcopal rank was not something unknown to the holy Fathers; indeed, it was quite common. For whenever a bishop was proved guilty either of an offense incompatible with the priesthood or of heresy, he was deposed from the episcopate as unworthy to shepherd the Lord’s people and minister to Him: in the former case, because he had fallen into one of those sins on account of which he would not have been ordained in the first place, and from which he ought also to have safeguarded his flock through his teaching, so as to present it pure before the Lord together with himself; in the latter, because through his false doctrine he distorted the truth of the evangelical doctrines of the faith, of which he had been appointed guardian and teacher.

Whenever, however, the Orthodox bishops lacked the strength to depose and remove from their sees those bishops who had proved to be heretics, because these had the multitude following them or enjoyed imperial protection, such heretics naturally remained in possession of the episcopal sees, exercising episcopal oversight over those who followed their error and heresy and performing priestly functions, as is implied by Canon 5 of the Third Ecumenical Council. Ecclesiastical history abounds in such examples extending continuously over many centuries: for instance, the bishops of the Arians, who still survived even at the time of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (in 680), and those of the Iconoclasts, who occupied even the throne of Constantinople itself.

Nestorius, upon becoming Bishop of Constantinople, said to Emperor Theodosius when preaching for the first time in church: “Give me, O Emperor, the earth cleansed of heretics, and I will give you heaven in return. Help me overthrow the heretics, and I will help you overthrow the Persians.” Basil the Great also relates that the Arian-minded Eustathios, Bishop of Sebasteia, and others with him, though condemned by five hundred bishops, did not relinquish the administration of their churches, “not even deigning,” he says, “to withdraw from the administration of the churches, although so many bishops had agreed upon the sentence of their deposition.” …