Council of Constantinople (536)
The Council of Constantinople was a conference of the endemic synod held in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, in May–June 536. It confirmed the deposition of the Patriarch Anthimus I of Constantinople and condemned three prominent anti-Chalcedonians living in Constantinople, causing the Emperor Justinian I to ban all four from the capital. The Council of Jerusalem held in September was convoked to condemn the same four as heretics. The condemned were the deposed Patriarch Severus of Antioch, the deposed Bishop Peter of Apamea and the monk Zoora. Background The council had its roots in the Chalcedonian–Miaphysite controversy that peaked in Constantinople in 535–536 under Patriarch Anthimus I of Constantinople, who was accused of having Miaphysite sympathies. The Chalcedonians launched a campaign for his removal and condemnation. Four concerned monks of Palestine sent a petition to the Emperor Justinian I. A further 96 signed a petition to Pope Agapetus I. Finally, 47 bishops and clerics endoumentes (resident) in Constantinople sent a petition to the pope. Agapetus arrived in Constantinople in February or March 536 on a diplomatic mission for the Ostrogothic king Theodahad. He refused to receive communion with Anthimus ostensibly on the grounds that the latter had