MAXIMIANUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE

On May 4, the Church celebrates the memory of Saint Maximian of Constantinople (+434). The saint was Bishop of Constantinople for only less than four years, from October 25 to April 12, 434. But he entered the memory of the Church as one of the unifiers of the flock of Christ after the divisions caused by the deposition of his predecessor Nestorius at the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus (431).

Little is known about the biography of Maximianus. He came from Rome. The holy Bishop of Constantinople Sisinnius (426-427) ruled for only two years but managed to ordain Maximian as a priest.

He was known among the people as a strict ascetic, but at the same time a very merciful man. The funds that he received from his service, he used for the burial of poor Christians, distinguished by zeal for piety.

From the moment the city was founded in 330 until the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon (451), the bishop of Constantinople was a simple bishop, and was formally subordinate to the neighboring metropolitan. However, the capital status of the city gave it colossal weight.

Apparently, it was the fact that Maximianus, in the eyes of those who knew him, was a man not of this world, as well as his rank of presbyter, that contributed to the fact that the council of bishops convened by Emperor Theodosius II the Younger (401-450) elected him to the see.

Other candidates for the vacant Constantinople see were John Chrysostom’s disciple Proclus and Philip, who was a priest in the city of Side. Saint Proclus enjoyed authority among the people, but by that time he was already bishop of the city of Cyzicus, and the canons of the Ancient Church did not allow the transfer of bishops. Later, he nevertheless became Maximianus’ successor, but this required the mutual consent of Rome and other major church sees.

Many letters and epistles of Maximianus have been preserved, to the Roman Pope Celestine (422-432), and Cyril of Alexandria (412-444), and other bishops, in which he, in accordance with ancient church tradition, announced his election, asked for Eucharistic communion, and insisted on the deposition of the Nestorian bishops.

The role of Saint Maximianus in preserving the church unity among the divisions between the Churches of Alexandria and Antioch due to the Nestorian turmoil was very great. It was known that he did not have any administrative abilities. But people loved him for his naïve and genuine righteousness. He was a bishop of a transitional period and did not strive for more.