PATRIARCH MENAS OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Like the renowned singer Stromae, whose stage name is an anagram of the word “Maestro,” Patriarch Menas is named after the holy Great Martyr Menas, whose name, according to his mother’s vision, was an anagram of the word “Amen.” Menas served as patriarch for sixteen years, from 536 to 532, a very long time, but he remained what he had been before: a hospital priest, full of prayers, alms, and mercy. Menas is the patriarch of asking for forgiveness.

1 On September 7, the Church celebrates the memory of Saint Menas of Constantinople. It was he, as patriarch, who consecrated the churches of Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Apostles, which Justinian had rebuilt with unprecedented splendor.

2 Menas was the first Patriarch of Constantinople in history to be ordained by the Pope of Rome. He was the holy Pope Agapetus, who was also the first to visit Constantinople. At the time, this was a good sign, as Rome was of apostolic origin and Constantinople was a Constantinian patriarchate, established by the Byzantine emperors. Later, over the centuries, this distinction began to be forgotten, and this forgetfulness led to mutual alienation and excessive ambitions on the part of the two hierarchs. Alexandrian by birth, Menas was a priest before his election and, in modern parlance, head physician at the famous hospital of Saint Samson the Hospitaller.

3 The Church of the Byzantine Empire was undergoing a profound crisis. In 519, the Church of Antioch split into two parts, Orthodox and Monophysite, led by two opposing patriarchs, to whom two parallel hierarchies were subordinate. In 536, almost all of Egypt, led by the “Coptic” Patriarch of Alexandria, also definitively separated. Before the election of Saint Menas, the Church of Constantinople was led by Patriarch Anthimus, who was also sympathetic to heretics, as he denied the dogma of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451) according to which there were two natures in Jesus Christ, divine and human. It was under these circumstances that, on February 2 of the same year, 536, Pope Agapetus arrived in Constantinople. Patriarch Anthimus fled, and Menas was appointed in his place. His Egyptian origin raised hopes for reconciliation between the Churches.

4 The ordination proved prophetic, for Pope Agapetus died shortly thereafter, and Menas, in his place, held an episcopal council that restored order to the troubled affairs of the local Church and restored Chalcedonian orthodoxy.

5 The calm restored by Saint Menas at the very beginning of his patriarchate was short-lived. New conflicts soon broke out, in which Mina, despite his peaceful nature, found himself embroiled. The conflict that erupted in Palestine between the learned monks, the Origenists, who denied the uniqueness of the divinity of Christ the Savior, believing that everyone could “become equal” to Him through asceticism, soon gave way to a controversy over the possibility of condemning hierarchs and theologians who had already died in communion with the Church, in cases of proven suspicion of heresy. This was the so-called “Three Chapters” issue. Subsequently, these two controversies became the subject of discussion at the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553). Like Basil the Great, who spent his entire life preparing for the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople (381) but died a year and a half before its beginning, Patriarch Mina did not live to see the Fifth Council. Had he lived just a year longer, he would undoubtedly have been one of the most influential and experienced Council Fathers. At that time, there were almost no theologians in the Eastern Church itself, and Emperor Justinian is still considered the greatest theologian of this period.

6 The new Pope Vigilius (537-555) pursued an ambiguous ecclesiastical policy. Like his predecessor, he was also in Constantinople, but this time as a prisoner of the emperor. This did not prevent him from repeatedly excommunicating Saint Menas, verbally, suspecting him of “heterodoxy,” but in reality, to blame him for his own failures. Menas forgave everything, sincerely humbled himself, and each time asked to be restored to communion. As if prefiguring the future Pope John Paul II, who asked forgiveness for insults and crimes in the name of the Roman Catholic Church, Menas apologized to Vigilius for the humiliations and torments he had suffered at the hands of the Byzantine autocracy.

7 The people venerated him for his serenity, his mercy towards the sick, and his piety. During his lifetime, two significant miracles were associated with his name. At the Hospital of Saint Samson, Emperor Justinian the Great was cured of bubonic plague. In one of the churches, a Jewish child received communion without being baptized, which resulted in his being thrown into the stove by his own father. He remained unharmed for three days and three nights. By his own admission, when he became unbearably hot, a certain “Beautiful Woman” refreshed the stove fire. For the Orthodox, it was clear that this was Our Lady, patroness of Constantinople.

8 In one of his last works, Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote that he had long tried to reconcile grace and freedom in his theological reflection. “But grace triumphed,” proclaimed the Father of the Church. Saint Mina’s life took on the characteristics of a surprising duality: bureaucratic opposition to all sorts of heresies and schisms, a succession of councils, reconciliations, and excommunications, and the serenity, mercy, and prayer of a hospital priest. Pastoral service prevailed and became the guarantor of his canonization.