Editing Pope Anastasius II (section)

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Sandro Botticelli - Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) - WGA02859.jpg|thumb|Illustration to [[Dante's Inferno|Dante's ''Inferno'']] with the grave of Anastasius II.]]
At the peak of the tension created by these attempts to improve relations between the East and the West, Anastasius II unexpectedly died.<ref name=Morehead/> For those who opposed his attempts at remedying the schism his death in 498 was seen as divine retribution.<ref name=McBrien /> The factions that had formed during his rule as pope split decisively from one another and each appointed a rival pope. The faction against conciliation was able to name [[Pope Symmachus|Symmachus]] as the pope to follow Anastasius II.  However, the important Roman Senator [[Rufius Postumius Festus]], who had been a major instigator for the conciliation attempts of Anastasius II and may have led to his naming as pope, supported a rival papal claim of [[Antipope Laurentius|Laurentius]].<ref name=McBrien /> The Roman church then had its own schism between different factions which made efforts at reducing the schism between the church in Rome and the church in Constantinople impossible.<ref name="Barker1966">{{cite book|author=John W. Barker|title=Justinian and the Later Roman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiJljEXvwAoC&pg=PA58|access-date=8 March 2013|year=1966|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-03944-8}}</ref>

During the medieval period, Anastasius II was often considered a traitor to the Catholic Church and an apostate. The writer of the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'', supporting the opponents to Anastasius' efforts, argued that Anastasius II's death was divine retribution and that he had broken with the church.<ref name=GratianThompson>{{cite book|author1=Gratian|author2=Augustine Thompson|author3=Katherine Christensen|title=The Treatise on Laws (Decretum DD. 1–20) with the Ordinary Gloss|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdI36eCs36EC&pg=PA111|access-date=8 March 2013|year=1993|publisher=CUA Press|isbn=978-0-8132-0786-5}}</ref> Similarly, the ''[[Decretum Gratiani]]'' writes of the pope that "Anastasius, reproved by God, was smitten by divine command."<ref name="Beckwith2012">{{cite book|author=Christopher I. Beckwith|title=Warriors of the Cloisters: The Central Asian Origins of Science in the Medieval World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qp_rL64_1p0C&pg=PA33|year=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-15531-9}}</ref> This medieval view is described by modern commentators as a "legend",<ref name=GratianThompson /> a "misinterpretation",<ref name=GratianThompson /> a "confused tradition",<ref name="Schadé2006">{{cite book|last=Schadé|first=J.P.|title=Encyclopedia of World Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRkfKdho-5cC&pg=PT54|access-date=8 March 2013|year=2006|publisher=Foreign Media Group|isbn=978-1-60136-000-7}}</ref> and "manifestly unjust."<ref name=McBrien />

[[Dante]] placed Anastasius II in the [[Inferno (Dante)#Sixth Circle (Heresy)|sixth circle of hell]]: "''Anastasio papa guardo, lo qual trasse Fotin de la via dritta''" ("I guard Pope Anastasius, he whom [[Photinus of Thessalonica|Photinus]] drew from the straight path").<ref name=McBrien /> However, modern Dante scholars consider this to be a mistake: the person Dante intended to put at that level was the Byzantine emperor of the time, [[Anastasius I Dicorus|Anastasius I]].<ref name=AlighieriMusa>{{cite book|first1=Dante |last1=Alighieri|others=Translated by Mark Musa|title=Dante's Inferno|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPkqYo-6QwkC&pg=PA92|access-date=8 March 2013|year=1995|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20930-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Hudson-Williams|first=T.|title=Dante and the Classics|journal=Greece & Rome|year=1951|volume=20|issue=58|pages=38–42|quote=Dante is not free from error in his allocation of sinners; he consigned Pope Anastasius II to the burning cauldrons of the Heretics because he mistook him for the emperor of the same name|doi=10.1017/s0017383500011128|s2cid=162510309 }}</ref><ref name="Zimmerman2003">{{cite book|author=Seth Zimmerman|title=The Inferno of Dante Alighieri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O--hbH-2krIC&pg=PA75|access-date=8 March 2013|year=2003|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-1-4697-2448-5}}</ref>

Anastasius II is, with [[Pope Liberius]],<ref>Earliest Pope not yet canonized by the Catholic Church. Liberius is revered as Saint Liberius the Confessor in Eastern Christianity, with a feast day of 27 August.</ref> one of only two of the first 50 popes not to be [[canonization|canonized]].<ref name=McBrien /> However, Liberius is mentioned in the Greek Menology and is recognized as a saint within the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].<ref name=oca>{{cite web|title=St. Liberius the Pope of Rome|url=http://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/08/27/102408-st-liberius-the-pope-of-rome|website=oca.org|publisher=Orthodox Church in America|access-date=14 April 2015}}</ref>