The controversy of St. Gregory the Great with the patriarchs of Constantinople over the title ‘Ecumenical’

Abstract

The article describes the course and content of the controversy that unfolded at the turn of the VI–VII centuries regarding the title “ecumenical” (οἰκουμενικός in Greek, universalis in Latin) — between, on the one hand, the Roman popes Pelagius II (579–590) and Gregory the Great (590–604) and, on the other hand, the Patriarchs of Constantinople John IV the Faster (582–595) and Cyriacus II (595–606). The source for this study was 17 letters of Pope Gregory to various persons. During the analysis of the epistles, special attention was paid to the arguments of Pope Gregory, which he gives in support of the reasons why the patriarch should renounce the title. A number of researchers note that the source of the pope’s negative attitude to the title was not its real danger for the Church, but the discrepancy in the sense that was put into the concept of “ecumenical” in the East and in the West. Nevertheless, the arguments given by Pope Gregory in support of his position remain an important patristic testimony to the impossibility of universal authority in the Church other than the authority of its Нead, Jesus Christ.