Ill the field of morals, Vigilantius draws still nearer to the evangelical position, particularly upon the ques- tion of the celii)acv of the priestliood, which he con- demned, as he did monasticism, with its voluntary vows of poverty and solitude. He reasoned that it is better to contribute regularly to the relief of the poor than to alienate possessions by a single act, and that to flee from the world is not to conquer it. He was especially outspoken in criticisms of the fanatical monks of the East, whose fantastic eccentricities he had himself ob- served. He furthermore opposed the donations of mon- ey which it was customary to send to Jerusalein — a measure which Jeroine might almost regard as a direct attack upon hiinself. h\ all these arguments, Vigilan- tius evidently holds that there is no distinction of mo- rality into higher and lower classes, but that the de- mands of virtue are eciually binding upon all men. He was not tlie equal of Jovinian (<i. v.) in speculative abil- ity, but merely a clear-headed exponent of the instinct of an earnest piety which lived in his soul. He was pious rather than ])liilosophical; and he was, moreover, not deeply learned in the Scriptures. His work was not of lasting consequence, probably because he lacked the reformatory spirit which alone is competent to re- sist the perverse tendencies of a degenerating age. See Jerome, Ay?/), and De Vi7is Illusfrihus, with the contin- uation of Gennadius (q. v.) ; Paulinus of Nola, Ep. ad Sererum, v, 11 (Aug. Epp. 24, 4); Vogel, De Vigilantio Hceretico Orthodoxo (Erfurt, 1756) , in Walch, Ketzergesck. iii, 673-704. The latter gives, in addition, citations from other and earlier writers. See also Baur, Bie christl. Kirche rom 4. bis zuin 6. Jahrhundert, p. 317 sq. ; and Lindner, JJe Joriniano et Vigilantio, etc. (Lips. 1840); Herzog, Real-Ertcgklop. s. v.
Vigiliae Moitiiorum (literally, watches for the dfod) is a term for watching by turn, with prayers and intercessions, beside the body of a departed Christian after death and before burial.
Vigilius, pope, was bishop of Rome from 540 (536 ?) to 555, and is remarkable from his connection with the controversy of the Three Chapters. He was a native of Rome, and, in the capacity of deacon, accompanied Agapetus (q. v.) to Constantinople in 536, where he em- ployed the opportunity afforded by his introduction to the imperial court for the realization of ambitious plans which neither his theological culture nor his character for intelligence and spirituality justified. The empress Theodora marked him as a suitable instrument for the accomplishment of her ends, and, on the death of Aga- petus, caused him to be informed that the succession might be secured to him for the price of his support to the Monophysite party. This he promised to give. On
VIGILIUS
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his rot urn to Italy, however, he found the see of Rome al- roaiiy oucupiLil by Silverius, the son of bishop Horniis- (las, and he accordingly applied lo Belisarius, tiie com- mander of tlje imperial armies, who was then at Haven- iia, to bring about the fulfilment of the promise made by the empress; and with the intiuence of Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, and, it is charj^ed, of added pecuniary inducements, his object was accomplished. Once in the c-hair, however, he was not very lorward to perform his part of the agreement. He wrote, indeed, to the deposed Monophysite |)atriarchs of the East to declare his sym- pathy witii their views, but he requested tiiat the con- tents of his letter should not be made public, and there- by souglit to deprive the cause of the empress of what- ever aid his iiilluence might afford.
Tiie emperor .histiuian entertained the hope of bring- ing about an agreement between the contending parties in the Cbiirch, and was induced t.(t issue an edict in 551 ooudemning the so-called Three C/mpters (ij. v.), which, it was said, would remove all the Monopbysite objec- tions against the Chak^edonian decrees; but the edict encoinitered serious opposition everywhere. Even Men- iias, the patriarch of Constantinople, was unwilling to subscribe to it; the African Church protested against its enforcement; and Yigilius dared not oppose himself to the tierceness of the storm raised throughout the West by the imperial condemnation of its own peculiar tenets. He was accordingly summoned to Constanti- nople, and reached the court in 547, bearing with him the spoken protests ofevery community he had touched while on the way; but the atmosphere of the court wrougiit a speedy change in his attitude, and he return- ed to his old plan of conciliating the court, but conceal- ing his treachery from the world. He was. however, compelled to take an open stand, and therefore tried to shelter himself behind the authority of a synod whose convocation he advised; and when the Africans, led by Facundus (q. v.\ were found to possess a majority of votes, he practically dissolved the synod by requiring the bishops to submit written opinions within a limited period. It thus became possible to influence them sep- arately and to bring a majority of them into accord with the wishes of the emperor; and their opinion, accom- panied with his own decision (Jii'licatnm), was imme- diately transmitted to the court to prevent any retrac- tion. The orthodox opposition immediately broke out afresh. Facundus of Hermiane was again its leader, but it includeii also persons belonging to the immediate I train of Vigilius, such as the deacons Rusticus and Se- bastian, whom he was thus induced to depose and ex- communicate. In his alarm at the storm his measures had excited, he thought only of averting its shock from liis own person. He managed to recover possession of his Jiidieatiun. He vowed tlie condemnation of the 'J'/iree Chapters, and tliereby induced the emperor to convoke a council, of which he hoped that it would re- lieve him of the burden of responsibility under which he staggered. When the council came together, how- ever, it refused to accede to the desires of the emperor; and when the latter sought to compel its obedience, Vigilius renounced all ecclesiastical connection with the East and took refuge iii flight. He 8ubse(iucntly pub- lished an encyclical ilescribing his troubles, and followed this with the excommunication of Theodore Ascidas, the Monophysite bishop of C;Esarea, who had been a pritne instigator of the emperor's action ; and the em- peror saw liimself constrained to convoke a general council. It met iu 553, and was wholly subservient to the emperor, Vigilius refused to participate in its pro- ceedings, and sent, instead, a judgment, the so-called Constitutiim, protesting against the condemnation of the Three Chapters. The opposition thereupon published all the documents in which Vigilius had previcuisly com- promised himself in order to obtain favor with the em- peror, and ordered the erasure of his name from the J)i/>/i/c/>.i. He was also, it is said, banisheii ; and at any rate made to feel the anger of Justinian in a measure