St. Felix II has the extraordinary distinction of being not only a pope and
saint himself, but the great-grandfather of another pope and saint, Gregory
the Great. Felix had been married, but his wife had died before he became a
priest. He was a member of an old Roman family of senatorial rank.
No sooner was he elected pope than Felix faced the vexing problem posed by
Emperor Zeno's ill-considered attempt to unify the East by compromise. One
of the evils which result from politicians meddling in church matters is
the tendency to make a deal. And that is just what Zeno did. Alarmed by the
hold that the Monophysites had on Egypt and Syria, Zeno issued his famous
Henoticon (act of union) and ordered all to subscribe to it. This Henoticon
was a creed drawn up by Acacius, the hitherto orthodox patriarch of
Constantinople, and Peter, the Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria. It was
orthodox in what it said, but implicitly it condoned the Monophysite heresy
by omitting the decision of the Council of Chalcedon and the letter of Pope
Leo to Flavian. Like so many compromises it pleased few. The more ardent
Monophysites refused to follow their leader, Peter, and Pope Felix
denounced it. With true spiritual independence, he warned the Emperor not
to interfere in theological matters and "to allow the Catholic Church to
govern itself by its own laws."
Pope Felix sent legates to Constantinople to summon Acacius to Rome, but to
his dismay the Pope discovered that his legates had approved the election
of the Monophysite Peter as patriarch of Alexandria and had communicated
with heretics--in short, had sold him out. Felix held a synod at Rome in
484 at which he excommunicated the untrustworthy legates. He also
excommunicated Acacius, but the patriarch remained stubborn. Thus started
the Acacian schism in which Constantinople was officially separated from
the Roman Church over the Henoticon. Even after Acacius died, the schism
dragged on until the next century.
In the last years of this pontificate Theodoric led his Ostrogoths into
Italy to defeat Odovakar and take over the rule of Italy--all in the name
of Emperor Zeno. Though an Arian, Theodoric treated the Church well. It
was different in Africa, where in the early years of his reign Felix heard
anguished cries for help from the hapless Catholics. Hunneric, the Arian
Vandal, ruthlessly harried the poor African Catholics. Pope Felix got
Emperor Zeno to bring his influence to bear on the fierce Vandal, but this
accomplished little. After Hunneric died, the persecution slackened, and
the Pope then helped to get the Church in Africa on its feet. He followed
the usual papal policy of mildness towards weak brethren who had given
way in the storm.
Pope St. Felix died March 1, 492. He is buried in St. Paul's on the Ostian
Way.
Excerpted from "Popes
Through the Ages" by Joseph Brusher, S.J.
