Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 23

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Equally important was her awareness
and insistence that as judge, she was not subject
to judgment. When accused of simony, Pope
Alexander II freely addressed the situation and
stated his innocence but maintained the
essential truth that as the Vicar of Christ, Christ
was his only judge.32 This proviso that the pope
could not be judged by any earthly being was not an obscure footnote of the papacy. It was in
fact well-known, addressed by a synod prior to the reign of the emperor Constantine, quoted
during the early sixth century by Pope Symmachus, and reiterated during the reigns of both
Charlemagne and Otto the Great due to their involvement in Rome. During the era of Gregorian
Reform, Bishop Wazo of Liege also recalled this stipulation after Henry III’s direction of the
synod of Sutri which deposed and elevated popes.33
Whether or not Rome could be judged by anyone other than God, St. Nicholas I in an 865
epistle to Michael the emperor opted to repeat St. Sylvester’s words and stated that “…Neither
by Augustus, nor by all the clergy, nor by religious, nor by the people will the judge be judged,”
and additionally the privileges possessed by the Roman Church could “by no means be
diminished, by no means infringed upon, by no means changed; for the foundation which God
has established, no human effort has the power to destroy and what God has determined, remains
firm and strong.”34 This question of judgment played a hand in the battle that would ensue

32

Carroll, 489.

33

Blumenthal, The Investiture Controversy, 88.

34

Denzinger, 132-33.