Also known as:
Greek: Anastasios I;
French: Anastase Ier;
Latin: Flavius Anastasius
ANASTASIUS I, Emperor of the East. - Born at Durazzo in 431 to a Manichaean mother, and he was himself a Monophysite. He reigned from 491 to 518. We know little or nothing of him before his election to the throne. On the death of Zeno, the empress widow, Ariadne, married him and had him crowned emperor by the patriarch Euphemius, with the promise to respect the Council of Chalcedon and to plot nothing against the true faith. His domestic policy was inspired by lofty humanitarian sentiments; and numerous were his reforms of a financial character, and the celebrated abolition of the oppressive tax on labor, which goes under the name of "Chrysargyron," increased the prestige of the imperial crown. He undertook great works of defense on the Persian frontier and in the environs of Constantinople. An excellent diplomat, he succeeded in keeping at a distance the nascent Ostrogothic power, allying himself with the Franks and with the Burgundians.
Toward the Church he concealed his preferences for Monophysitism, until an imprudence of the patriarch Euphemius caused an open struggle. Euphemius was exiled to Euchaita and Macedonius succeeded him. Vain were the attempts at a religious peace. On the death of Pope Anastasius II (498), the situation worsened and the emperor contributed powerfully to the triumph of the Monophysite doctrine by exiling Flavian after having had him nominated patriarch of Antioch, and by having the Chalcedonian Council condemned in the Synod of Tyre of 513 (v. H. Gelzer, Josua Stylites, in Byz. Zeitschr., 1 [1892], p. 41 ff.).
In 514 Vitalian, chief of the federate barbarians, dismissed by A., in agreement with the Huns and the Bulgars, rebelled, proclaiming himself the defender of the Council of Chalcedon. The people followed him enthusiastically. Negotiations were set in motion with the Pope, who was to have presided over a general Council at Heraclea; but once the power of Vitalian had waned, A. decided to break definitively with the pontifical legates.
He died on July 1, 518, leaving behind him the seeds of the dismemberment of the empire.
Bibliography7 worksG. Rose, Anastasios I, Halle 1882; A. Gasquet, L'Empire byzantin et la monarchie Iranique, Paris 1888; G. Rose, Die byzantinische Kirchenpol
BIBL.: G. Rose, Anastasios I, Halle 1882; A. Gasquet, L'Empire byzantin et la monarchie Iranique, Paris 1888; G. Rose, Die byzantinische Kirchenpolitik unter Kaiser Anastasios I, Prog. Wolban 1888; V. Chapot, La Frontière de l'Esphrète, Paris 1907, pp. 313 ff.; L. Duchesne, L'Empereur Anastase et sa politique religieuse, in Mél. d'Arch. et d'Hist., 31 (1913), pp. 305-36; id., L'Eglise au VIe siècle, Paris 1925, pp. 1-42; A. Fliche-V. Martin, Storia della Chiesa, Italian trans., IV, Turin [1941], nos. 449-57; 464-87.
“Anastasio I, imperatore d'oriente.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, coll. 1152–1153. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/anastasio-i-imperatore-d-oriente.
MLA
“Anastasio I, imperatore d'oriente.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, coll. 1152–1153. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/anastasio-i-imperatore-d-oriente.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_anastasio_i_imperatore_d_orien,
author = {Redazione},
title = {Anastasio I, imperatore d'oriente},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {1152--1153},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/anastasio-i-imperatore-d-oriente}
}
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