[Its relation to Gregory the Great.] His
letters are full of African affairs: his keen attention, his
instructions to Hilarus, the administrator of the Roman Church's
possessions in Italy, his minute knowledge, his wise understanding of
the many difficult problems which beset the Church, are prominent in
his correspondence. It was he who reversed the conception of Justinian
in regard to the Church of North Africa. The emperor had striven for
orthodoxy, without the supremacy of the pope. Gregory was determined
to secure the latter, and the history of North Africa affords an
excellent example of how the papal power grew. It was by continual
intervention, in affairs small as well as great, and by constant
solicitude: it was by the use of prudent {108} and sympathetic agents,
and the firm adherence to a policy of charity, orthodoxy and
discretion, that the great pope enforced his views on the bishops, the
Church, the imperial representatives. While he sternly rebuked all
abuse of the political authority which had fallen into the hands of the
bishops, he tenaciously clung to the right of hearing appeals in cases
between churchmen and public officials which circumstances had placed
in his hands. From a right of control he passed to a right of direct
intervention; and in State as well as Church the administrators felt
the power of his indomitable will. While disorganisation was spreading
in the civil order the Church was growing in concentration and
authority.

[Sidenote: The Monothelite controversy.]

But the Monothelite controversy went far to shatter the power which the
labour of Gregory had built up, and with it the Christianity of
Northern Africa. The orthodox felt less and less bound to emperors who
supported heresy, and the Arab invasion drew near without the people
perceiving the full extent of their danger. Fortunatus, Bishop of
Carthage, declared himself a Monothelite, but in every other province
besides his the Church formally repudiated the heresy. In 646
Fortunatus was deposed and Victor succeeded him; and this is almost the
last recorded incident in the history of the North African Church. As
the Arab invader advanced, refugees from Syria and Egypt poured into
the land, and, since many of them were heretical, added to the
religious diffusions of the country. The abbat Maximus upheld the
banner of orthodoxy against all comers. The victory which he won over
the heresiarch Pyrrhus in 645, followed by