ASKIDAS, Theodore. — A monk originally from Palestine. He first appears in history as hegumen of the “New Laura” near Jerusalem at the Constantinopolitan Council of 536. He enjoyed great favor with Empress Theodora and was not only steeped in the errors of Origen but secretly sympathetic to Monophysitism.
Perhaps as early as 537 he managed to have himself appointed metropolitan of Caesarea in Cappadocia, though he more often resided in Constantinople than in his own diocese. Fortunately, Orthodoxy found illustrious defenders in Palestinian monasticism, and the Roman apocrisarius Pelagius so skillfully opposed the Origenist errors that both Emperor Justinian and the Patriarch of Constantinople Menas resolved to condemn them—one by solemn edict, the other in a small council in 543. Forced to subscribe to the edict, Askidas plotted his revenge against the Chalcedonians. In collusion with Theodora, he suggested to the emperor that the best way to reconcile the Monophysites to unity was to condemn as tainted with Nestorianism what came to be called the “Three Chapters.” The emperor fell entirely into the trap laid for him, and as early as 543 he condemned the “Three Chapters.” This act stirred up a storm in the Church, both in the West and the East, which did not subside until the Fifth Ecumenical Council, the Second of Constantinople (552–553). The “Three Chapters” were condemned anew, but Askidas had no cause for rejoicing, for five anathemas, which he too was compelled to subscribe, also struck Origenism, dealing it a blow from which it could not recover.
During the rupture between Justinian and Pope Vigilius, Askidas, as might be expected, sided with the emperor (550–551), an act that earned him condemnation and deposition by the Pope. He submitted in 552, and died in Constantinople in January 558.