Symmachus of Rome

Symmachus of Rome was bishop of Rome from 22 November 498 until his death on 19 July 514. His ministry was overshadowed by a schism lasting several years, but he is also remembered for helping the persecuted and the enslaved.

Election

He was born in Sardinia as a pagan, as the historian Jeffrey Richards notes, and was baptised at Rome, where he became archdeacon under Pope Anastasius II. After Anastasius died, two men were elected on the same day: Symmachus, in the Lateran basilica, and the archpriest Laurentius, by those who wished for closeness to Constantinople. They asked the judgment of the Gothic king Theodoric, who ruled that the see belonged to the one elected first and supported by most, that is, Symmachus. A hostile document, the Laurentian Fragment, claims that Symmachus won the decision by bribes.

The schism

At the synod of 1 March 499 Laurentius received the bishopric of Nuceria, and the synod decreed that anyone seeking votes for the successor of a pope still living should be deposed. In 501 the senator Festus, a supporter of Laurentius, accused Symmachus of several offences, among them keeping Easter on the wrong date, and Symmachus fled Ariminum by night, which was taken as an admission of guilt. The schism went on with riots and forged documents on both sides. The synod at Palma, on 23 October 502, held that it could not judge the successor of Peter and left the matter to God. In 506 Theodoric withdrew his support from Laurentius, and Symmachus remained alone in the see.

Good works

He sent money and clothing to the bishops of Africa and Sardinia exiled by the Arian Vandal kings, and he ransomed captives in northern Italy. He died on 19 July 514 and was buried in the basilica of Saint Peter. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 19 July, also in English-⁠language Orthodox calendars that include Western saints, which describe him as a builder of churches in Rome.