POPE GREGORY III, A CONTINUATION OF A BATTLE

Both Popes Gregory II and Gregory III had to confront one of the most important storms in the Church’s history, the Iconoclast Controversy. This controversy began under the reign of Pope Gregory II, when he condemned the Byzantine Emperor, Leo III, for the destruction of all religious images. Gregory II’s successor, Gregory III continued the argument.

A Syrian by birth, the son of John, Gregory was known for his learning and virtue. In 731, he was a priest serving at Saint Crisogomo Church in Rome. The funeral procession of the recently deceased pope, on 11 February, drew the attention of most of Rome, including Father Gregory. Many of the church officials recognized the man and they began to clamor for his being named the next bishop. Gregory was only the third pope in history to be elected by acclamation. In an attempt to be politically correct, Gregory awaited the acceptance of the exarch of Ravenna, the emperor’s governor in Italy, before taking the honored position. He only had to wait a month for his acceptance letter. He was officially enthroned on March 18.

The first thing that happened to the new pope was an attempt to pacify the emperor and get him to end his order to destroy all religious images. First he wrote to the emperor. There was no response. Then, he called a synod. His purpose was to denounce iconoclasts. The Italian bishops who attended also denounced the destruction of the images. This only made the emperor angry and he sent a fleet of ships from Constantinople to kidnap Pope Gregory. It may have very well been the will of God, which caused the ships to be destroyed in a storm while crossing the Adriatic. Those left sent landed on the southernmost part of the Italian peninsula. The emperor’s men took some land in Calabria and Sicily, land which had been papal patrimony lands for hundreds of years. The emperor also rearranged metropolitan jurisdictions so that parts of Italy were now under the patriarch of Constantinople rather than the Bishop of Rome. This does not seem to have been much of a problem for Gregory. It appears that Leo was consolidating his power where he still had some. Rome was now on its own.

However, the iconoclast argument calmed down and Gregory looked to the north for his next challenge. The Lombards were flexing their muscles and looking to gain land again.  Gregory began rebuilding the walls of Rome again in earnest. He had time to beautify several churches in the city. At the same time, Gregory was able to support monasteries, which were dear to him.

This pope was very aware of evangelization, both in Germany and England. He encouraged the Christianization of the German tribes. To that end, he appointed St. Boniface, the future organizer of the Frankish church, to become metropolitan of what is now Germany. He then granted the pallium to Egbert of York, creating two metropolitans in England, one in the north (York) and one in the south (Canterbury).

In the mid-730s, the Lombards became aggressive again, attacking as far south as Spoleto. Gregory was obligated to try to negotiate, with limited success. In 739, the Lombards sacked Ravenna, where the exarch was, and threatened Rome. With limited military, Gregory turned to Charles Martel, the famous Frank warrior, for help. It took a while before Martel sent help, by which time the Lombards had pulled away. Until the next season. And Martel did not help as much as possible in the end. However, this first step began a strong relationship between the Franks and Rome which lasted a millennium.

Although Gregory showed leadership, the constant warring and threats of wars caused him stress. Charles Martel and Emperor Leo died the same year Gregory died, in either November or December 741. His feast day is November 28, 741.