e See of the Roman Church
done to thee, in which Peter sat, in which Anastasius sitteth now: or of
the Church of Jerusalem, in which James sat, and where now John sitteth:
with which we are joined in Catholic unity, and from which ye in impious
fury have separated."[118]

We now come to the dark and sad history of Pope Vigilius. And here I am
glad that another can speak for me. Bossuet says: "The acts of the Second
Council of Constantinople, the fifth general, under Pope Vigilius and the
Emperor Justinian, will prove that the decrees of the third and fourth
Councils were understood in the same sense by the fifth as we have
understood them. And this Council received the account of them near at
hand, and transmitted it to us."[119]

"The three chapters were the point in question; that is, respecting
Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret's writings against Cyril, and the letter
of Ibas of Edessa to Maris the Persian. The question was whether that
letter had been approved in the Council of Chalcedon. So much was admitted
that it had been read there, and that Ibas, after anathematizing Nestorius,
had been received by the Council. Some contended that his person only was
spared; others that his letter also was approved. Thus inquiry was made at
the fifth Council how writings on the faith were wont to be approved in
former Councils. The acts of the third and fourth Council, those which we
have mentioned above respecting the letter of St. Cyril and of St. Leo,
were set forth. Then the holy Council declared--'It is plain, from what has
been recited, in what manner the holy Councils are wont to approve what is
brought before them. For, great as was the dignity of those holy men who
wrote the letters recited, yet they did not approve their letters simply or
without inquiry, nor without taking cognisance that they were in all things
agreeable to the exposition and doctrine of the holy Fathers, with which
they were compared.' But the acts proved that this course was not pursued
in the case of the letter of Ibas; they inferred, therefore, most justly,
that that letter had not been approved. So, then, it is certain, from the
third and fourth Councils, the fifth so declaring and understanding it,
that letters approved by the Apostolic See, such as was that of Cyril, or
even proceeding from it, as that of Leo, were received by the holy Councils
not simply, nor without inquiry."

Pope Vigilius afterwards, when consenting to this Council, "ac