The army and the populace rose in revolt and the powerful Valentinus deposed and banished Pyrrhus to Exarchate of Africa.
Soon after, Martina and Heraclonas were also deposed and exiled; Constans II, son of Heraclius Constantine, was proclaimed the sole emperor.
While in exile, in 645 he conducted with Maximus the Confessor a public discussion on faith (Disputatio cum Pyrrho), after which he rejected Monothelitism, and visited Rome in 647.
From there he continued to Ravenna and returned to Constantinople, where he again reversed his position and re-embraced Monothelitism.
He was excommunicated by Pope Theodore I as a consequence, but succeeded in becoming again patriarch in early 654, holding the office until his death on 1 June of the same year.