1,260 years of popery

2. Gregory the Great

Rome: September 9, 590 AD | Gregorius Anicius, now 50 years of age, has been elected the next Pope. His Papal name is not that different from his real name: it's Gregory I, a man pious to the Roman Christian faith. Upon his father's death, he made his family villa a monastery consecrated to Saint Andrew. Gregory has a deep respect for the monastic life—especially the pledge of poverty.

He has three aunts who were nuns. Two were committed and died in their vows. But the youngest ditched religious life and married. About this, Gregorius quoted Jesus: "Many are called, and few chosen."[Matthew 22:14. Gregory, his mother Silvia, and the two pious aunts (Trasilla and Emiliana) are saints in the Roman Catholic Church. Only Gregory and Silvia are saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church.]

Now, Gregorius Anicius does not want to be the Pope. He prefers life in the cloister. But the Roman clerics have issues with Constantinople. The Tiber River had flooded to a ridiculous extent. And "Justinian's plague" had caused casualties throughout Europe. They unanimously settle that Gregorius should become the next Pope. Their reasons? He's brilliant, skilled, and knows how to handle relationships with Constantinople. Why he had gone there once on a mission from the previous Pope.

Gregorius decides to send a letter entreating the Byzantine Emperor—Maurice. He begged him not to confirm the appointment. But the ruler didn't get his letter.

Against his will, Gregory is now Pope.

Among his first acts is writing some letters rejecting any ambition to the "seat of Peter" and praising the pensive life of the monks. "Whoever calls himself Universal Bishop, or desires this title, is, by his pride, the precursor to the Antichrist," he pens down.

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Constantinople | The Patriarch of Constantinople, Eutychius, was in good relations with Emperor Justinian the Great. He even consecrated the Hagia Sophia (a beautiful Orthodox church) when it was opened in 538 AD. But he later got in trouble over issues with Jesus' nature. Justinian accepted the belief that Jesus' body on earth was incorruptible and cannot suffer pain. Eutychius used the Novum Testamentum to refute this belief.

One day (January 22, 565, to be exact), at a church, some civil soldiers burst into the space and arrested him on the orders of Justinian I. He was unfairly tried and sentenced to exile on an island and later a monastery. For 12 years and 5 months, he stayed there.

But years later, the replacement for Eutychius, a certain John Scholasticus, died, and the people called for the return of Eutychius. So on October 577, Emperor Justin II and his adopted son Tiberius made the ex-Patriarch the Patriarch of Constantinople again. What's interesting, as Eutychius returns to Constantinople, he rides on a donkey. The people spread garments over the ground and proclaimed as he entered, "Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!" They hold palm branches in their hands.

That's right: they (and presumably the Patriarch) copied the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, as recorded in the Gospels.[See Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-44; and John 12:12-19.]

Anyways, the next day he received evident honor from Justin II and Tiberius, and he went to the Hagia Sophia and blessed the people in the crowded church. Since everybody wanted to receive communion from his own hands, Eutychius had to distribute it while standing for a long time—six hours, to be exact.

So Eutychius had been the Patriarch of Constantinople since 577. Since Justin II, there had been two additional emperors: Tiberius (who started in 578) and Maurice (who started in 582).