Peter, and which kept him watchfully occupied
with a rule which extended over all the peoples of the earth. At that
moment his greatest anxiety, as it had been that of his predecessor, was
for the city of Alexandria, and for the faith of the whole East. And he
went on to reproach Acacius for not duly informing him of what was passing,
for not defending the Council of Chalcedon, and not using his influence
with the emperor in its defence: "Brother, do not let us despair that the
word of our Saviour will be true; He promised that He would never be
wanting to His Church to the end of the world; that it should never be
overcome by the gates of hell; that all which was bound on earth by
sentence of apostolic doctrine should not be loosed in heaven. Nor let us
think that either the judgment of Peter or the authority of the universal
Church, by whatever dangers it be surrounded, will ever lose the weight of
its force. The more it dreads being weakened by worldly prosperity, the
more, divinely instructed, it grows under adversity. To let the perverse go
on in their way, when you can stop them, is indeed to encourage them. He
who, evidently, ceases to obstruct a wicked deed, does not escape the
suspicion of complicity. If, when you see hostility arising against the
Council of Chalcedon, you do nothing, believe me, I know not how you can
maintain that you belong to the whole Church."

As soon as the two legates arrived at the Dardanelles, they were arrested,
by order of Zeno and Acacius, put in prison, their papers and letters taken
from them. They were menaced with death if they did not accept the
communion of Acacius and of Peter the Stammerer. Then they were seduced
with presents, and deceived with false promises that Acacius would submit
the whole affair to the Pope. They resisted at first, but yielded in the
end, and, passing beyond their commission, gave judgment in favour of Peter
the Stammerer. They had broken all the instructions of the Pope, and
carried back letters from Zeno and Acacius to him, full of extravagant
praises of Peter the Stammerer. His former deposition and condemnation were
entirely put aside. On the other hand, the character of John Talaia was
bitterly impugned. The emperor asserted that he had treated Church matters
with the utmost moderation, and guided himself entirely by the advice of
the patriarch Acacius.

In fact, Acacius was the spiritual superior of the whole eastern empire,
and appeared not t