Pope Honorius I

Pope from 625 to 638 whose letters on Christ’s will were later condemned by the Third Council of Constantinople, making his case central to debates over papal authority and doctrinal error.

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Sergius I of Constantinople: Patriarch of Constantinople from 610 to 638 who promoted a formula intended to reconcile Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian Christians. His correspondence prompted Honorius to address whether Christ’s activity should be described as having one or two operations.
Letter of Honorius to Sergius: A letter in which Honorius advised avoiding talk of one or two operations in Christ and used the phrase “one will.” This is the principal text later councils cited when condemning Honorius.
Pope John IV: Bishop of Rome from 640 to 642 who defended Honorius’s position in a letter to Emperor Constantine III. John interpreted Honorius as rejecting two opposed wills, rather than denying Christ’s human will.
Papal infallibility controversy: Debates over whether Honorius’s condemnation contradicts the Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility. His letters and the council’s judgment became a recurring challenge in arguments about the doctrine’s scope.
Monothelitism: A seventh-century doctrine holding that Christ had one will despite possessing divine and human natures. The controversy gave the language in Honorius’s letters its later doctrinal significance.
Dyothelitism: The doctrine that Christ has two natural wills, divine and human, corresponding to his two natures. The Third Council of Constantinople affirmed this position against the one-will formula associated with Honorius.
Pope Agatho: Bishop of Rome from 678 to 681 whose teaching on Christ’s two wills was presented to the Sixth Ecumenical Council. Agatho’s letter stated the Roman position that the council used to affirm dyothelitism.
First Vatican Council: The 1869–1870 council that defined papal primacy and papal infallibility under specified conditions. Its definition sharpened later scrutiny of whether Honorius had ever spoken with the authority it describes.
Ecthesis: An imperial decree issued by Heraclius in 638 that prescribed belief in one will in Christ. It shows how the reconciliation policy surrounding Honorius became imperial doctrine after his death.
Third Council of Constantinople: The ecumenical council held in 680–681 that defined Christ as having two natural wills and two natural operations. Its decree named Honorius among those condemned for supporting the opposing doctrine.