Pope Silverius

Silverius, pope (536 - 537), was a legitimate son of Pope Hormisdas, born before his father entered the priesthood.

He was consecrated on June 8, 536, having purchased his elevation to the see of St. Peter from the Ostrogothic king Theodahad. Six months afterwards (December 9), he was one of those who admitted the Byzantine general Belisarius into the city. Theodahad's successor, Witiges, gathered together an army and besieged Rome for several months, subjecting the city to privation and starvation.

He opposed the restoration of the patriarch of Constantinople Anthimus, whom Agapetus had deposed, and thus brought upon himself the hatred of empress Theodora, who also desired to see Vigilius made pope. He was deposed accordingly by Belisarius in March 537 on a charge (not improbably well founded) of treasonable correspondence with the Goths, and degraded to the rank of a simple monk. He found his way to Constantinople, and Justinian I, who entertained his complaint, sent him back to Rome, but Vigilius was eventually able to banish his rival to the prison island Pandataria, where the rest of his life was spent in obscurity. The date of his death is unknown.

Incorporating text from the 9th edition (1887) of an unnamed encyclopedia.

Preceded by: Pope Agapetus I

List of popes

Succeeded by: Pope Vigilius