The Forgotten Story of the Last Greek Pope in Rome

Pope Zachary (Zacharias in Greek and Latin) was the last ethnically Greek pope, serving as the head of the Roman Church. Zachary reigned from 741 to 752 AD during a tumultuous period of change and uncertainty in papal history.

Despite the numerous difficulties and challenges that he faced, Zachary managed to emerge as a strong figure, who became renowned for his diplomatic skills and long-lasting accomplishments that solidified the authority of the papacy for the centuries to come.

Pope Zachary led the Roman Church before the great schism which was known as the East-West Schism of 1054. This was the formal and official break of communion between the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. A series of minor and more important theological as well as political disputes between the Greek East and Latin West led to this momentous event of the formal split.

These included many disagreements over the procession of the Holy Spirit (Filioque), the use of leavened or unleavened bread in the Eucharist, as well as the claim of the Pope to hold universal jurisdiction. The mutual excommunications in 1054 by Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople resulted in the official creation of the two largest denominations in Christianity – the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths.

Early Life and Rise to the Papacy

Zachary was born in 679 AD in the region of the predominately Greek-speaking Calabria in southern Italy. He was born to a devoutly Greek family and was very soon drawn into the church from a young age. He served as a deacon in the Roman Church of the area and signed decrees of the Roman synod that took place in 732. This demonstrated clearly his involvement in church affairs from an early age, showing his devotion to Christianity. On December 3 or 5, 741, Zachary was chosen to succeed Pope Gregory III, becoming the latest in a long line of Greek popes that had guided the Roman church during a period that is now known as the Byzantine papacy.

The Byzantine Papacy was actually a rather long period of more than two centuries when the popes in Rome were strongly influenced by the Byzantine Empire. It lasted from 537 to 752 AD and during this time, popes required the official approval of the Byzantine Emperor for their episcopal consecration, or in other words, for them to take office.

Many of the popes during that period were chosen from the apocrisiarii, which was a body of people that were papal representatives to the emperor. The popes that were elected during this time were primarily Greeks from Greece, Syria, or Byzantine Sicily and southern Italy.

This period officially began when Justinian I conquered the Italian peninsula in the famous Gothic War and appointed the next three popes himself, a practice continued by later Byzantine emperors. The Byzantine Papacy played a significant role in the history of Western Christianity. It saw the introduction of many Eastern theological and liturgical influences into the Roman church. However, this period of heavy Greek influence in the Roman Church ended in 752 when Pope Zachary became the last pope to announce his election to a Byzantine ruler or seek their approval.

Diplomatic Relations and Peacemaking

One of the greatest strengths of Pope Zachary was his unique ability to negotiate and maintain peaceful relations with many secular rulers who had conflicting interests. He personally met with the Lombard King Liutprand in an attempt to persuade him to return several important cities and territories that had been seized from the Church back to the Roman Church. Additionally, following the request of the Exarchate of Ravenna, Zachary convinced Liutprand to abandon his planned attack on the city and restore lands he had taken previously.

These astonishing diplomatic efforts made by the Pope extended to the Byzantine Empire as well, showing how well-connected the final Greek Pope was. For example, Zachary corresponded with Emperor Constantine V, advising him to restore the veneration of icons, returning back to the original Orthodox practices of the Christian Church. It is noted that the veneration of the icons had been banned during the iconoclastic controversy that lasted for several with the influential St. Boniface and supporting his efforts to reform the clergy in the bro decades. The pope also maintained very close ties with the Frankish church in the West and with the corresponding region of Western Europe.

Momentous Decision on Frankish Succession

One of the most significant decisions of Pope Zachary came in 751-752. It was then that the Greek Pope supported the deposition of the last Merovingian king, Childeric III. The pope then officially authorized the Frankish church to anoint Pepin the Short as the new king. This marked a historic turning point in European history. This decision that was officialized and effectively allowed by Pope Zachary established the influential Carolingian-papal alliance, which would shape the future of Western Christianity profoundly. This also paved the way for a new, much more active relationship between church and state for centuries to come.

Legacy and Sainthood of the Pope

Pope Zachary is regarded by both the Catholic and the Orthodox Church as an excellent, very capable, and charitable pope who proved himself during a troubled and tough historical era; an era that was marked by conflicts and power struggles across the continent.

Among his major achievements was the fact that he forbade the practice of slave trafficking in Rome and used his very own papal funds to buy and free enslaved individuals, demonstrating his commitment to Christian teachings and human dignity. Zachary also translated the Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great into the Greek language, further connecting the papacy to its Byzantine heritage and the epicenter of the Eastern Roman Empire.

In recognition of his virtuous life and great leadership, Zachary was venerated as a saint in both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, with his feast day celebrated on the 15th of March. His Greek heritage and early life in Byzantine Calabria undoubtedly shaped his personality and his worldview, facts that shaped profoundly his approach to the papacy and the way he led the Roman Church.

Pope Zachary, the last of the so-called Greek popes, left a timeless impact on the institution of the papacy and the course of Western Christianity as a whole. His unmatched leadership and diplomatic skills, Christian saintly character, and crucially momentous decisions regarding the Frankish succession solidified the authority of the Holy See during a period of great upheaval.