Honorius I

Life

Honorius I is said to have been born into a noble family in the Italian region of Campania. The year of his birth is uncertain. He became bishop of Rome, that is, pope, in 625 and reigned until his death in 638. During his time Italy was under the influence of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, so his pontificate was closely bound up with the emperor and the church leaders in Constantinople.

Ministry and Accomplishments

During his reign he restored and built a number of churches in the city of Rome. He is also reported to have supported the mission to the Anglo-Saxons in England.

His place in church history rests chiefly on the Monothelite controversy. Monothelitism is the teaching that there is only one will in Christ. The Council of Chalcedon (451) had confessed that Christ possesses two natures, divine and human. Afterward the Eastern Roman Empire sought ways to reconcile with the groups that had rejected this decision, and in the process a compromise emerged holding that Christ has two natures but only one will. When Sergius I, patriarch of Constantinople, wrote to Honorius with a question on this matter, Honorius replied with a letter that appeared to acknowledge "one will" in Christ. This reply was later used as support for Monothelitism.

Posthumous Condemnation

The Third Council of Constantinople, held in 680–681, established as orthodox doctrine Dyothelitism, the teaching that both a divine will and a human will are present in Christ. The council condemned Honorius along with Sergius and others. Pope Leo II later approved the council's decisions and is reported to have faulted Honorius for failing to stop the heresy and allowing it to go unchecked.

Influence on the Korean Church

Honorius had no direct connection with the Korean church. He is, however, often cited as an example in discussions of the history of Christology (the doctrine concerning Christ) and of questions of papal authority.

Assessment

Assessments of Honorius differ according to church tradition.

• Catholic interpreters hold that his letter was not an official doctrinal pronouncement by the pope but a private pastoral letter. It has also been argued that by "one will" he meant a moral unity, in the sense that Christ's human will does not oppose the divine will.
• The Orthodox Church remembers him as a figure condemned by the council.
• Protestants have cited his case as evidence that even a pope can err in doctrine. The case was invoked especially often during the nineteenth-century debates within the Catholic Church over papal infallibility (the doctrine that the pope is free from error when he officially pronounces on matters of faith and morals).