TheSymmachian forgeries are a sheaf of forged documents produced in thecuria ofPope Symmachus (498–514) in the beginning of the sixth century, in the same cycle that produced theLiber Pontificalis.[3] In the context of the conflict between partisans of Symmachus andAntipope Laurentius the purpose of theselibelli was to further papal pretensions of the independence of thebishops of Rome from criticisms and judgment of any ecclesiastical tribunal, putting them above law clerical and secular by supplying spurious documents supposedly of an earlier age.
TheCatholic Encyclopedia states: "During the dispute between Pope St. Symmachus and theanti-pope Laurentius, the adherents of Symmachus drew up fourapocryphal writings called the 'Symmachian Forgeries'. [...] The object of these forgeries was to produce alleged instances from earlier times to support the whole procedure of the adherents of Symmachus, and, in particular, the position that the Roman bishop could not be judged by any court composed of otherbishops."[4]
One of its modern editors,Louis Duchesne, divided those documents in two groups: a group produced in the heat of the conflict involving Symmachus, and a later group. Among writings to support Symmachus,Gesta de Xysti purgatione narrated a decision bySixtus III, who cleared his name from defamation and permanently excommunicated the offender;Gesta de Polychronii episcopi Hierosolynitani accusatione concerned a purely apocryphalsimonicalBishop of Jerusalem "Polychronius", who claimed Jerusalem as the first see and his supremacy over other bishops;Gesta Liberii papae concerned mass baptisms carried out byPope Liberius during his exile from the seat of Peter; andSinuessanae synodi gesta de Marcellino recounted the accusation brought againstPope Marcellinus, that in the company of the EmperorDiocletian he had offered incense to the pagan gods, making the point that when Marcellinus eventually confessed to the misdeed it was declared that the pope had condemned himself, since no one had ever judged the pontiff, because the first see will not be judged by anyone.[5]
The most important in this group of forgeries wasSilvestri constitutum, a report of a fictitious synod convoked byPope Sylvester, giving twenty promulgatedcanons, among which was a prohibition of bringing a solitary accusation upon an ecclesiastic of a degree higher than the accuser's: a bishop might only be accused by seventy-two, and a pope could not be accused by anyone.Silvestri constitutum also includes an early reference to thefable that Sylvester had curedConstantine the Great ofleprosy with the waters ofbaptism, incurring the emperor's abject gratitude, which was elaborated and credited to the point that, in greetingPope Stephen II in 753,Pepin the Short dismounted to lead the Pope's horse to his palace on foot, as Constantine would have done.[6]
The second, somewhat later group centers on the figure of Sylvester, who accepts the decree of theFirst Council of Nicaea on thedate of Easter. One of these forgeries reports a fictitious synod convoking 275 bishops in theBaths of Trajan; several canons exalt the position of the cleric.[7]
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Pope St. Symmachus".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
