the
will of God the princely fillet, he gave the bishops to understand that
the peace of the Church must be restored. This had already in a great
degree been accomplished." But the pope's opinion must be taken with
regard to the condemnation of Acacius, who was responsible for the
Henotikon, and was the real cause of the severance between the
churches. [Sidenote: Reunion, 519.] The steps towards reunion may be
traced in the correspondence between Hormisdas and Justinian. It was
finally achieved on the 27th of March, 519. The patriarch of
Constantinople declared that he held the Churches of the old and the
new Rome to be one; and with that regard he accepted the four Councils
and condemned the heretics, including Acacius.

The Church of Alexandria did not accept the reunion; and Severus,
patriarch of Antioch, was deposed for his heresy. There was indeed a
considerable party all over the East which remained Monophysite; and
this party it was the first aim of Justinian (527-65), when he became
emperor, to convince or to subdue. He was the {11} nephew of Justin,
and he was already trained in the work of government; but he seemed to
be even more zealous as a theologian than as a lawyer or administrator.
The problem of Monophysitism fascinated him. [Sidenote: The Emperor
Justinian.] From the first, he applied himself seriously to the study
of the question in all its bearings. Night after night, says
Procopius, he would study in his library the writings of the Fathers
and the Holy Scriptures themselves, with some learned monks or prelates
with whom he might discuss the problems which arose from their perusal.
He had all a lawyer's passion for definition, and all a theologian's
delight in truth. And as year by year he mastered the intricate
arguments which had surged round the decisions of the Councils, he came
to consider that a _rapprochement_ was not impossible between the
Orthodox Church and those many Eastern monks and prelates who still
hesitated over a repudiation which might mean heresy or schism. And
from the first it was his aim to unite not by arms but by arguments.
The incessant and wearisome theological discussions which are among the
most prominent features of his reign, are a clearly intended part of a
policy which was to reunite Christendom and consolidate the definition
of the Faith by a thorough investigation of controverted matters.
Justinian first thought out vexed questions for himself, and then