Silverius was a native of Campania, and succeeded Agapitus in the Papacy. His orthodoxy and holiness shone brightest in his onslaughts upon heretics, and he shewed admirable firmness in upholding a sentence by Agapitus. Agapitus had deposed Anthimus from the Patriarchate of Constantinople for defending the heresy of Eutyches; and Silverius would never allow of his restoration, although the Empress Theodora repeatedly asked him to do so. The woman was enraged at him on this account, and ordered Bellisarius to send Silverius into exile. He was accordingly banished to the island of Ponza, whence he is said to have written these words to Bishop Amator: I am fed upon the bread of tribulation and the water of affliction, but nevertheless I have not given up, and I will not give up, doing my duty. But sickness and the hardships of his exile soon broke his strength, and he fell asleep in the Lord upon the 20th day of June. His body was taken to Rome, and laid in the Vatican Basilica and made illustrious by many miracles. He ruled the Church for more than three years, and ordained in the month of December thirteen Priests, five Deacons, and nineteen Bishops for divers Sees.
