St. Isidore -- The Sixth Age of the World until 616 A.D.

105. Valentinian ruled with Theodosius for eight years. The Synod of Constantinople, with one hundred fifty holy fathers, at which all heresies were condemned, was convoked by Theodosius. The priest Jerome in Bethlehem was regarded as illustrious throughout the world. Priscillian, being accused by Itacius, was killed with the sword by the tyrant Maximus. At the same time the head of John the Baptist was taken to Constantinople and buried at the seventh milestone (septimo milliario) of the city. And in the same time the temples of the gentiles all over the world were torn down by order of Theodosius, for until then they had remained untouched.

106. Theodosius, with Arcadius and Honorius, ruled for three years. At the same time, John the Anchorite was regarded as noteworthy in the miracles of his virtues. Also, when consulted by Theodosius, he foretold his victory over the tyrant Eugenius.

107. Arcadius and his brother Honorius ruled for thirteen years. In his time, bishop Augustine was regarded as noteworthy in the knowledge of his teaching. Also John of Constantinople and Theophilus of Alexandria were proclaimed to be illustrious bishops. At the same time, Donatus, bishop of Epirus, was regarded as noteworthy in his miracles (virtutes). He killed, by spitting in its eye, an immense dragon, which even with eight yoke of oxen was scarcely able to be dragged to the place where it was to be burned so that it would not corrupt the air as it decomposed. At the same time, the bodies of the holy prophets Habucuc and Micah were found by divine revelation. The Goths plundered Italy. And the Vandals and Alans invaded Gaul.

108. Honorius, with Theodosius the Younger, the son of his brother, ruled for fifteen years. With these two governing, the Goths took Rome and the Vandals, Alans and Suevi seized Spain. In this time Pelagius preached the dogma of his error against the grace of Christ. A council of 214 of bishops was convoked in Carthage for his condemnation. In this time Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, was regarded as noteworthy.

109. Theodosius the younger, son of Arcadius, ruled for twenty-seven years. The Vandals crossed over from Spain into Africa. There they subverted the Catholic faith with Arian impiety. At the same time Nestor, bishop of Constantinople, stirred up the error of his perfidy. The synod of Ephesus, convoked against him, condemned his impious dogma. In this same time, the devil in the guise of Moses appeared to the Jews in Crete and promised to lead them to the promised land over the sea without even getting their feet wet. After many had been killed, those remaining, who survived, were converted immediately to the grace of Christ.

110. Marcian ruled for six years. The beginning of his imperial reign, the Council of Chalcedon was held, where Eutyches along with Dioscorus, the Alexandrian bishop, were condemned. In the sixth year of his imperium, Theodoric, king of the Goths, invaded Spain with a huge army.

111. Leo the older ruled with Leo the younger for sixteen years. Alexandria and Egypt, despising the Synod of Chalcedon and languishing in the error of the heretic Dioscorus, barked with canine madness, filled with an unclean spirit. At the same time appeared the heresy of the Acephali, attacking the Council of Chalcedon. They are called Acephali, that is, "without a head," because the one who first introduced this heresy is not known. Many to the east languish with the disease of this heresy.

112. Zeno ruled for seventeen years. The heresy of the Acephali was defended by him and the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon were abandoned. Zeno sought to kill his son Leo Augustus. But his mother handed over to Zeno someone similar to Leo in appearance and secretly made Leo a cleric. He lived among the clergy until the time of Justinian. At the same time the body of Barnabas the apostle and the gospel of Matthew, written with his own stylus, having revealed themselves, were found.

113. Anastasius ruled for twenty-seven years. Appropriating the error of the Acephali, he condemned to exile the bishops who were defenders of the Synod of Chalcedon and also found fault with, and corrected, the gospels as if they had been composed by idiot evangelists. In his time, Bishop Fulgentius excelled in his knowledge and confession of God. Trasemundus, king of the Vandals, closed Catholic churches in Africa, sent 120 bishops to Sardinia, and raged against Catholics. At the same time in Carthage, Olympus, a certain Arian who blasphemed the holy Trinity in the balineum, was ignited in public by three fiery javelins thrown by angels. Also a certain Arian bishop by the name of Barbas is reported to have spoken against a rule of the faith while baptising ("Barbas baptises you in the name of the Father, through the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit") and immediately the water in the font which had been brought for baptism disappeared. Seeing this, the one who was to be baptised immediately rushed away to the Catholic faith and received the baptism of Christ according to the custom of the evangelic faith.

114. Justin the older ruled for nine years. A love of the Synod of Chalcedon, he abandoned the heresy of the Acephali. In his time, after Trasemundus, Childeric, born of the captive daughter of the emperor Valentinian, received the kingdom among the Vandals. Though bound by an oath to Trasemundus that he would not show favor to the Catholics in the kingdom, before assuming power he ordered the bishops to be returned from exile and commanded that their own churches be restored to them.

115. Justinian ruled for thirty-nine years. Receiving the heresy of the Acephali, he compelled every bishop in his kingdom to condemn the three chapters of the Council of Chalcedon. In Alexandria, the Theodosian and Gaianan heresies appeared. In Spain the Roman "miles" was invaded by the tyrant Athanagild. The patricius Belisarius triumphed wonderfully over the Persians. From there he was sent by Justinian to Africa and destroyed the people of the Vandals. Also in Italy, Totila, king of the Ostrogoths, was overcome by Narses, the Roman patricius. At the same time, the body of St. Anthony the monk, discovered by divine revelation, was taken to Alexandria and buried in the church of St. John the Baptist.

116. Justin the younger ruled for eleven years. He destroyed those who had spoken out against the Synod of Chalcedon and ordered the effigy of the 150 fathers to be burned by the people in the time of sacrifice. The Armenians first received the faith of Christ at that time. The Gepids were extinguished by the Lombards. At the same time Martin, bishop of Braga in Galicia, was regarded as illustrious in prudence and the teaching of the Catholic faith. The patricius Narses, after he had overcome King Totila of the Goths in Italy in the time of the Augustus Justinian, was frightened by the threats of the empress Sophia, wife of Justin, and so invited the Lombards from Pannonia and introduced them into Italy. At that time Leovigild, king of the Goths, brought back, under the power of his kingdom, certain regions of Spain that were rebelling against him.

117. Tiberius ruled for seven years. The Lombards, expelled by the Romans, entered Italy. The Goths were divided into two by Hermenegild, son of King Leovigild, and they were devastated with mutual slaughter.

118. Maurice ruled for twenty-one years. The Suevi, held by King Leovigild, were subjected by the Goths. The Goths were also converted to the Catholic faith, having been summoned by that most religious prince, Reccared. The Avars, fighting against the Romans, were defeated more by gold than by iron. Thrace was seized by the Huns. At this time, Leander excelled in the teaching of the faith and the sciences for the conversion of the Gothic people in Spain.

119. Phocas ruled for eight years. Made emperor as the result of a military revolt, he killed the emperor Maurice and many of the nobles. In his time the Prasini and the Veneti waged civil war throughout the east and Egypt and prostrated themselves with mutual slaughter. In addition, very grave battles were fought against the republic of the Persians, in which the Romans were forcefully beaten and lost many provinces up to the Euphrates River as well as, they say, Jerusalem.

120. Heraclius has completed five years of his imperial rule. At the beginning, the Slavs took Greece from the Romans; the Persians took Syria, Egypt, and many provinces. Also in Spain, Sisebut, king of the Goths, took certain cities from the same Roman "militia" and converted the Jews subject to his kingdom to the faith of Christ.

121. 5,814 years have passed from the beginning of the world to the present era 654 [616 AD], that is, to the fifth year of the imperium of Heraclius and the fourth of the most glorious prince Sisebut.

122. The time remaining for the world cannot be ascertained by human investigation. Our Lord Jesus Christ forestalled every question about this matter when he said: "It is not for you to know times or the moment which the Father has fixed by his own authority." And elsewhere: "But of that day," he said, "and that hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but the Father only." Each one, then, should think about his own passing, as holy scripture says: "In all works, be mindful of the most recent." When, therefore, any one passes away that moment is the end of his world.

Source: Patrologia Latina 83: 1017-1058

This text was translated by Kenneth B. Wolf and this copy made available here as public domain by his kind permission. The master version is located at Dr. Wolf's own site, here. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely. Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.