Editing Monothelitism (section)

==Controversy over Honorius I==
[[File:Pope Honorius I - Apse mosaic - Sant'Agnese fuori le mura - Rome 2016.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Pope Honorius I]]

A side issue over the statements of Pope Honorius I and his condemnation by the council arose in discussions concerning [[papal infallibility]]. In the view of historians such as [[John Bagnell Bury]], Honorius, with a traditional Latin dislike for [[dialectics]], did not fully comprehend the issues.{{sfn|Bury|1889|p=252}} The question of Monoenergism, as presented by Patriarch Sergius, seemed to Honorius to be a matter of grammar, rather than theology. Though he used the expression "one will", he was no Monothelite, for he placed "one energy" and "two energies" on exactly the same footing. Further, his second letter to Sergius was by and large orthodox.{{sfn|Bury|1889|p=252}} Maximus the Confessor, in his ''Disputation with Pyrrhus'', interprets the statement "one will" as referring to the integrity of Christ's human will, in contrast to the fallen human will, which seeks diverse and contradictory goods.

The [[Third Council of Constantinople]] posthumously anathematised Honorius as a heretic: "And with these we define that there shall be expelled from the holy Church of God and anathematized Honorius who was some time Pope of Old Rome, because of what we found written by him to Sergius, that in all respects he followed his view and confirmed his impious doctrines" (13th session) and "To Honorius, the heretic, anathema!" (16th session).

However, Pope Leo II's letter of confirmation of the Council interprets the council as intending to criticise Honorius not for error of belief but for "imprudent economy of silence".{{sfn|Bury|1889|p=252}} Leo's letter stated: "We anathematize the inventors of the new error, that is, Theodore, Sergius,... and also Honorius, who did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of Apostolic tradition, but by profane treachery permitted its purity to be polluted."{{sfn|Chapman|1913}}