o, in which he condemns the
Monothelites, and amongst them Honorius, "who did not adorn this
Apostolical See with the doctrine handed down from the Apostles, but
endeavoured to subvert the undefiled faith by a profane tradition." The
condemnation of the Council runs as follows:--"Having examined the letters
of Sergius of Constantinople to Cyrus, and the answer of Honorius to
Sergius, and having found them to be repugnant to the doctrine of the
Apostles, and to the opinion of all the Fathers, in execrating their
impious dogmas, we judge that their very names ought to be banished from
the Holy Church of God; we declare them to be smitten with anathema; and,
together with them, we judge that Honorius, formerly Pope of ancient Rome,
be anathematized, since we find, in his letter to Sergius, that he follows
in all respects his error, and authorizes his impious doctrine."[147]

It appears, likewise, that as the letter of St. Cyril was read and approved
in the third Council, and that of Pope St. Leo in the fourth, so that of
Pope St. Agathon was read and approved in the sixth, and that of Pope
Adrian the First in the seventh, A.D. 787. But here it may be well to give
Bossuet's summary. "This tradition" (_i.e._ that the supreme authority in
the Church resides in the consent of the Bishops) "we have seen to come
down from the Apostles, and descend to the first eight General Councils;
which eight General Councils are the foundation of the whole Christian
doctrine and discipline, of which the Church venerates the first four, in
St. Gregory's words, no less than the four Gospels. Nor is less reverence
due to the rest, as, guided by the same Spirit, they have a like authority.
Which eight Councils, with a great and unanimous consent, have placed the
final power of giving decisions in nothing else but in the consent of the
Fathers. Of which the six last have legitimately examined the sentence of
the Roman Pontiff even given upon Faith, and that with the approval of the
Apostolic See, the question being put in this form, as we read in the
Acts--'Are these decrees right, or not?'

"But we have seen that the judgment of a General Council never was so
reconsidered, but that all immediately yielded obedience to it. Nor was a
new inquiry ever granted to anyone after that examination, but punishment
threatened. Thus acted Constantine; thus Marcian; thus Coelestine; thus
Leo; thus all the rest, as we have seen in the Acts. The Christian world