Liberatus of Carthage (fl. 6th century) was an archdeacon and the author of an important history of the

Nestorian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...

and

Monophysite Monophysitism ( or ) or monophysism () is a Christological term derived from the Greek (, "alone, solitary") and (, a word that has many meanings but in this context means "nature"). It is defined as "a doctrine that in the person of the inca ...

controversies in the 5th- and 6th-century

Christian Church In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...

Life

In 535 he was sent to Rome, as legate of a great African national synod of two hundred and seventeen bishops, to consult Pope Agapetus I (535-6) about a number of questions ( Harduin, II, 1154; Mansi, VIII, 808). Like most north Africans he was vehemently opposed to

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...

's edict against the "Three Chapters" (544). He was frequently employed by the African bishops as their ambassador in the disputes that arose from that question. "Tired with the fatigue of traveling, and resting the mind a little from temporal cares" (according to the introduction to his book), he used his leisure to compose a summary history of the two great heresies of the preceding century. His object in writing it was avowedly to show how misjudged the emperor's condemnation of the Three Chapters was. The work is called ''Breviarium causae Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum'' ("A Short Account of the Affair of the Nestorians and Eutychians"), most often simply the ''Breviarium'' of Liberatus. The ''Breviarium'' begins with the ordination of

Nestorius Nestorius (; in grc, Νεστόριος; 386 – 451) was the Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to August 431. A Christian theologian, several of his teachings in the fields of Christology and Mariology were seen as contr ...

(428) and ends with the Fifth Ecumenical Council. From the fact that the author mentions Patriarch Theodosius I of Alexandria as being still alive, it is evident that it was written before 567, the year that Theodosius died. On the other hand, Liberatus records the death of Pope Vigilius (June 555). His authorities are the ''Historia tripartita'' of

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' ...

, acts of synods, and letters of contemporary Fathers. In spite of Liberatus's controversial purpose and his indignation against Monophysites and all of those involved in the condemnation of the Three Chapters, his short history is well and fairly written. It forms an important document for the history of these movements.

References

* {{Authority control 6th-century Byzantine historians 6th-century Latin writers 6th-century Christian clergy