The Sixth Ecumenical Council
The defining work of Agathon's pontificate was the Sixth Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople in 680–681, which addressed the heresy of Monothelitism — the teaching that Christ possessed only a single will.
The council originated in an initiative of Emperor Constantine IV, who wrote proposing a conference to settle the disputes over the nature of Christ. The letter was addressed to Pope Donus, but he had died by the time it arrived, and Agathon seized the opportunity it offered. He ordered councils held throughout the West so that his legates could present the universal tradition of the Western Church.
The council convened on 7 November 680. A doctrinal letter of Agathon was read explaining the traditional belief that in Christ there are two wills, divine and human; Patriarch George of Constantinople and most of the assembled bishops accepted it. The council proclaimed the existence of two wills in Christ, condemned Monothelitism, and named Pope Honorius I among those condemned. When it concluded in September 681 the decrees were sent to Rome, but Agathon had died before they arrived, and his successor received them.
Relations with the Imperial Court
Agathon also undertook negotiations with Emperor Constantine IV concerning the interference of the Byzantine court in papal elections. As part of these dealings the emperor promised to abolish or reduce the tax that the popes had been required to pay on their consecration.
Relics & Shrines
Saint Agathon was buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Miracles & Traditions
Traditional Accounts: On account of the many miracles attributed to him, Agathon was styled Thaumaturge, or Wonderworker; the chronicler Anastasius records that the number of his miracles procured him this title. He is also remembered for his amiable disposition and his charity.
Traditional Accounts: He is said to have been among the longest-lived of the popes. Several sources hold that he was more than a hundred years old at his accession and that he died a centenarian, between the ages of 103 and 104, though these figures rest on the tradition identifying him with a Sicilian monk mentioned in an earlier letter.
Identity and Background
Little is recorded with certainty of Agathon's early life. He is generally said to have been of Greek ancestry, born in Sicily, and to have become a monk at Palermo, by some accounts at the monastery of St. Hermes. According to the Rashidun Caliphate's raids on Sicily from the mid-seventh century, many Sicilian clergy fled to Rome, and Agathon may have been among them.
Before his accession he is said to have served for several years as treasurer of the church of Rome. The tradition that identifies him with a married monk named Agatho mentioned in a letter of Pope Gregory the Dialogist would imply his great age at election, and such identifications remain uncertain.
