PASCHAL, ANTIPOPE

Pontificate: 687. Nothing is known of archdeacon Paschal until he attempts to bribe the imperial exarch at Ravenna into confirming his election as successor to Pope Conon (686–7). At this time, since the Roman church was still part of the empire, it was customary for papal elections to be ratified by the emperor's administrator in Ravenna. This exarch, John Platyn, agreed to support Paschal, but the election was contested by the military aristocracy, which put forward the archpriest Theodore (Antipope, 687) as its candidate. Both rivals occupied the Lateran palace between October and December 687. The stalemate was ended after a meeting of city officials, clergy, and leaders of the militia. They elected Sergius I (687–701) as a compromise candidate, and he was forcibly installed in the Lateran. Theodore recognized the new pope (who would eventually be named a saint), but Paschal remained obstinate and complained to the exarch. John Platyn soon appeared in Rome, but seeing the broad support for Sergius, he ratified his election. For his part, Paschal continued to oppose Sergius, attempting to replace him. Soon Paschal was tried and imprisoned in a monastery, where he died in 692.

Bibliography: l. duchesne, ed. Liber Pontificalis (Paris 1886–92; repr. 1955–57) 1.369–72, 377; 3.343. p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum Romanorum (Leipzig 1885–88; repr. Graz 1956) 1.243. j. richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476–752 (London 1979) 206–8, 266, 274. j. n. d. kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 82. g. schwaiger, Lexikon des Mittelalters (Munich 1993) 6.1753.

[p. m. savage]