† Paul the Confessor,
Archbishop of Constantinople (~350)
November 6
Once again the legitimate, Orthodox Patriarch found himself in exile in Rome Black Sea .
There, while he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the house where he was kept prisoner, the Arians strangled him with his own omophorion. His relics were brought back to Constantinople by the Emperor Theodosius the Great.
Paulus I, bishop of Constantinople
Paulus (18) I., 6th bp. of Constantinople, elected a.d. 336 (or 340), died after three exiles and two restorations c. 351, four or five years after the council of Sardica. He was a native of Thessalonica, a presbyter of Constantinople, and secretary to the aged bp. Alexander, his predecessor in the see. No sooner had Alexander breathed his last than the two parties came into open conflict. The orthodox party prevailed; Paulus was elected and consecrated by bishops who happened to be at Constantinople in the Church of Peace, close to what was afterwards the Great Church of St. Sophia.
The
emperor Constantius had been away during these events. On his return he was
angry at not having been consulted. He summoned a synod of Arian bishops,
declared Paulus quite unfit for the bishopric, banished him, and translated
Eusebius from Nicomedia to Constantinople. This is thought to have been in 338.
Eusebius died in 341. Paulus was at once restored by the people to his see. But
the Arians seized the occasion; Theognis of Nicaea, Theodorus of Heraclea, and
other heterodox bishops, consecrated Macedonius in the church of St. Paul; and
again the city became the prey of a civil war. The greatly exasperated emperor
was at Antioch, and ordered Hermogenes, his general of cavalry, to see that
Paulus was again expelled. The people would not hear of violence being done to
their bishop; they rushed upon the house where the general was, set fire to it,
killed him on the spot, tied a rope round his feet, pulled him out from the
burning building, and dragged him in triumph round the city.
Constantius
was not likely to pass over this rebellion against his authority. He rode on
horseback at full speed to Constantinople, determined to make the people suffer
heavily for their revolt. They met him, however, on their knees with tears and
entreaties, and he contented himself with depriving them of half their
allowance of corn, but ordered Paulus to be driven from the city.
Athanasius
was then in exile from Alexandria, Marcellus from Ancyra, and Asclepas from
Gaza; with them Paulus betook himself to Rome and consulted bp. Julius, who
examined their cases severally, found them all staunch to the creed of Nicaea,
admitted them to communion, espoused their cause, and wrote strongly to the
bishops of the East. Athanasius and Paulus recovered their sees; the Eastern
bishops replied to bp. Julius altogether declining to act on his advice.
Constantius
was again at Antioch, and as resolute as ever against the choice of the people
of Constantinople. Philippus, prefect of the East, was there, and was ordered
to once more expel Paulus and to put Macedonius definitely in his place.
Philippus was not ready to incur the risks and fate of Hermogenes; he said
nothing about the imperial order. At a splendid public bath called Zeuxippus,
adjoining a palace by the shore of the Hellespont, he asked the bishop to meet
him, as if to discuss some public business. When he came, Philippus shewed him
the emperor's letter, and ordered him to be quietly taken through the palace to
the waterside, placed on board ship, and carried off to Thessalonica, his
native town. He allowed him to visit Illyricum and the remoter provinces, but
forbade him to set foot again in the East. Paulus was afterwards loaded with
chains and taken to Singara in Mesopotamia, then to Emesa, and finally to Cucusus
in Armenia, where he died. Socr. H.
E. ii.
6, etc.; Soz. H.
E. iii.
3, etc.; Athan. Hist.
Arian. ad Monach. 275;
Mansi, Concil. i.
1275.
[W.M.S.]
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