FOCAS, BYZANTINE EMPEROR. — Having seized the throne in 602, he was killed in 610. St. Gregory the Great addressed benevolent expressions of homage to him and exhorted him to moderation toward his political adversaries, which he did not heed, thus hastening his own ruin. In 607 Focas gave the Roman Church the title of Head of all Churches. Under the empire of Focas, Boniface IV dedicated (602) the Pantheon of Agrippa to the Madonna and all the saints. In the Roman Forum a column was dedicated to him (608).
Bibl.: F. Görres, Gregor der Gr. und Phokas, in Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft, Theologie, 44 (1901), pp. 592-602; Fliche-Martius-Frutaz, VI, pp. 75-83.