The Council at the Oak Deposes John

When Theophilus entered Constantinople, none of the clergy went out to meet him, for his enmity toward the bishop had become public knowledge. But some sailors from Alexandria who happened to be on the shore, both from the grain ships and from other vessels, gathered together and welcomed him with loud shouts of joy. He passed by the church and went straight to the palace, where lodgings had been prepared for him. He soon saw that many people of the city were strongly set against John and ready to bring accusations against him. Laying his plans accordingly, he went to a place called “The Oak,” in the suburbs of Chalcedon. This place now bears the name of Rufinus. He had been a consul, and he built a magnificent palace here and a great church in honor of the apostles Peter and Paul, and for that reason he named it the Apostolium. He also appointed a community of monks to carry out the clerical duties in the church. [a]

When Theophilus and the other bishops met there to deliberate, he judged it best to say nothing more about the works of Origen. He called the monks of Scetis to repentance, promising that past wrongs would be remembered no more and that no harm would be done to them. His supporters zealously backed up his efforts and told the monks that they must ask Theophilus to pardon their conduct. Since all the members of the assembly joined in this demand, the monks were troubled. Believing that they had to do what so many bishops wanted of them, they used the words they were accustomed to use even when they had been wronged, and said, “Spare us.” Theophilus gladly received them back into favor and restored them to communion; and so the question of the injuries done to the monks of Scetis came to an end.

I am convinced that this matter would not have been settled so quickly if Dioscorus and Ammonius had been there with the other monks. But Dioscorus had died some time before and had been buried in the church dedicated to Saint Mocius the martyr. Ammonius, too, had fallen ill at the very time that preparations were being made to call the council. Although he insisted on going to “The Oak,” the journey made his illness much worse. He died soon afterward and was given a splendid burial among the monks of that neighborhood, and there he lies. It is said that Theophilus shed tears when he heard of his death, and declared that, although Ammonius had caused a great deal of trouble, there was not a monk to be found of higher character. It must be admitted, however, that the death of this monk did much to advance Theophilus’s designs.

The members of the council summoned all the clergy of Constantinople to appear before them, and threatened to depose any who did not obey. They summoned John to appear and answer, and likewise Serapion, Tigrius a presbyter, and Paul a reader. John sent word to them, through Demetrius, bishop of Pisinus, and some of the other clergy who were his friends, that he would not avoid an inquiry. He was ready, he said, if the names of his accusers and the charges against him were made known to him, to defend his conduct before a larger council; for he did not choose to be thought insane by accepting his open enemies as his judges. The bishops showed such anger at John’s refusal that some of the clergy he had sent to the council were frightened and did not go back to him. Demetrius, and those who put John’s interests before everything else, left the council and returned to him. The same day a courier and a shorthand writer were sent from the palace to order John to go before the bishops, and to urge the bishops to decide his case without further delay. John was summoned four times, and he appealed to a general council. No other charge could be proved against him except his refusal to obey the council’s summons; and on that ground they deposed him. [d]