Näihin historiallisiin kiistoihin liittyy kyllä niin paljon vauhtia ja vaarallisia tilanteita, ja jopa kansanjoukkojen väliintuloja, että joskus tuntuu täysin mahdottomalta ymmärtää miten paljon kristilliset puheenaiheet ovat hallitsijoita ja kansoja liikuttaneet. Itse kyllä aina epäilen että uskonnolliset teemat ovat olleet toisenlaisen valtapelin nappuloita.
Constans retaliated by having St. Martin kidnapped at Rome, and taken a prisoner to Constantinople. The saint refused to accept the Ecthesis, and after sufferings, many of which he has himself related in a touching document, he died a martyr in the Crimea in March, 655 (see POPE MARTIN I). St. Maximus (662), his disciple the monk Anastasius (also 662), and another Anastasius, a papal envoy (666), died of ill-treatment, martyrs to their orthodoxy and devotion to the Apostolic See.
While St. Martin was being insulted and tortured at Constantinople, the patriarch Paul was dying. “Alas, this will increase the severity of my judgment”, he exclaimed to the emperor, who paid him a visit; and Constans was induced to spare the pope’s life for the moment. At Paul’s death Pyrrhus was restored. His successor Peter sent an ambiguous letter to Pope Eugenius, which made no mention of two operations, thus observing the prescription of the Type. The Roman people raised a riot when it was read in Sta. Maria Maggiore, and would not permit the popeto continue his Mass until he promised to reject the letter. Constans sent a letter to the pope by one Gregory, with a gift to St. Peter. It was rumoured at Constantinople that the pope’s envoys would accept a declaration of “one and two wills” (two because of the natures, one on account of the union). St. Maximus refused to believe the report. In fact Peter wrote to Pope Vitalian (657-672) professing “one and two wills and operations” and adding mutilated quotations from the Fathers; but the explanation was thought unsatisfactory, presumably because it was only an excuse for upholding the Type. In 663 Constans came to Rome, intending to make it his residence, on account of his unpopularity at Constantinople, for besides putting the pope to death and proscribing the orthodox faith, he had murdered his brother Theodosius.