Sergius I did not attend the Quinisext Council of 692, which was attended by 226 or 227 bishops, overwhelmingly from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The participation of Basil of Gortyna in Crete, belonging to the Patriarchate of Rome, has been seen in the East as representing Rome and even as signifying Roman approval, but he was in fact not a papal legate.Wilfried Hartmann, Kenneth Pennington (editors), The History of Byzantine and Eastern Canon Law to 1500 (CUA Press 2012 ), p. 79 Sergius rejected the canons of the council as invalidHartmann (2012), p. 82 and declared that he would "rather die than consent to erroneous novelties".Ekonomou, 2007, p. 222. Though a loyal subject of the Empire, he would not be "its captive in matters of religion". Writers such as Andrew J. Ekonomou have speculated on which canons, in particular, Sergius found objectionable. Ekonomou excludes the anathemising of Pope Honorius I, the declaration of Constantinople as equal in privileges but second in honour to Rome. All popes since Leo the Great had adamantly rejected the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon, which on the basis of political considerations tried to raise the ecclesiastical status of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to equality with that of old Rome.Davis, Leo Donald, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1990) p. 194 Ekonomou mentions rather the approval by the Quinisext Council of all 85 Apostolic Canons, of which Sergius would have supported only the first 50.
Sergius I did not attend the Quinisext Council of 692, which was attended by 226 or 227 bishops, overwhelmingly from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The participation of Basil of Gortyna in Crete, belonging to the Patriarchate of Rome, has been seen in the East as representing Rome and even as signifying Roman approval, but he was in fact not a papal legate.Wilfried Hartmann, Kenneth Pennington (editors), The History of Byzantine and Eastern Canon Law to 1500 (CUA Press 2012 ), p 79 Sergius rejected the canons of the council as invalidHartmann (2012), p. 82 and declared that he would "rather die than consent to erroneous novelties".Ekonomou, 2007, p. 222. Though a loyal subject of the Empire, he would not be "its captive in matters of religion". Writers such as Andrew J. Ekonomou have speculated on which canons, in particular, Sergius found objectionable. Ekonomou excludes the anathemising of Pope Honorius I, the declaration of Constantinople as equal in privileges but second in. honour to Rome. All popes since Leo the Great had adamantly rejected the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon, which on the basis of political considerations tried to raise the ecclesiastical status of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to equality with that of old Rome.Davis, Leo Donald, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1990) p. 194 Ekonomou mentions rather the approval by the Quinisext Council of all 85 Apostolic Canons, of which Sergius would have supported only the first 50.