Agatho

AGATHO, ag´ɑ-tho: Pope 678-681. He was a Sicilian monk, and in June or July, 678, succeeded Donus after a vacancy in the papacy of two and one-half months. He is especially celebrated for the decisive part which he took in the Monothelite controversy (see Monothelites). He succeeded also in inducing Theodore of Ravenna to acknowledge the dependence of his church on that of Rome. At a synod held in Rome at Easter, 679, he decreed the restoration of Wilfrid, archbishop of York, who had been deposed by Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury. The financial resources of the Roman see appear to have been very limited during his pontificate; for he not only attempted to administer in person the office of arcarius or treasurer of the Roman Church, but he persuaded the emperor to renounce the payment which had been demanded for the confirmation of a pope, though the imperial approbation was still required. Agatho died Jan. 10, 681; the Roman 83 Church honors his memory on that day; the Greek on Feb. 20.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: Literæ, in MPL, lxxxvii.; Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i. 350-358, Paris, 1886; Bower, Popes, i. 469-485; H. H. Milman. History of Latin Christianity; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iii. passim, Eng. transl., v. 139-144; R. C. Mann. Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, I. ii. 24-28.