Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Flavian of Constantinople
birth_date=
death_date=449 AD
feast_day=February 18
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church


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birth_place=
death_place=Hypaepa, Lydia, Asia Minor
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beatified_date=
beatified_place=
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canonized_date=451 AD
canonized_place=
canonized_by=Council of Chalcedon
attributes=
patronage=
major_shrine=Relics venerated in Italy
suppressed_date=
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Saint Flavian or Phlabianus (died August 11, 449) was Archbishop of Constantinople from 446 to 449. He is venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

Life

St. Flavian was the guardian of the sacred vessels of the great Church of Constantinople and, according to Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos, was reputed to lead a saintly life, when he was chosen to become Archbishop of Constantinople.

During his consecration, Roman Emperor Theodosius II was staying at Chalcedon. His eunuch Chrysaphius attempted to extort a present of gold to the Emperor but as he was unsuccessful, he began to plot against the new Archbishop by supporting the archamandrite Eutyches in his dispute with Flavian.

St. Flavian presided at a council of forty bishops at Constantinople on November 8 448, to resolve a dispute between the metropolitan bishop of Sardis and two bishops of his province. Eusebius, bishop of Dorylaeum, presented his indictment against Eutyches. The speech of Flavian remains, concluding with this appeal to the bishop of Dorylaeum: "Let your reverence condescend to visit him and argue with him about the true faith, and if he shall be found in very truth to err, then he shall be called to our holy assembly, and shall answer for himself." Eventually the synod deposed Eutyches.

However, as Eutyches protested against this verdict and received the support of Dioscorus I of Alexandria, the Emperor convoked another Council to Ephesus. At this council, which assembled on August 8, 449, Eutyches and Dioscuros violently attacked the archbishop. The council reinstated Eutyches and Flavian died shortly afterwards, on August 11, 449, Flavian died at Hypaepa in Lydia, Asia Minor from the injuries he received from this attack and was buried obscurely.

Aftermath

Pope Leo I, whose legates had been ignored at the council, protested, first calling the council a "robber synod", and declared its decisions void.

After Theodosius II died in 450, his sister Pulcheria returned to power, marrying the officer Marcian, who become Emperor. The new Imperial couple had Flavian's remains brought to Constantinople in a way that, in the words of a chronicler, more resembled "a triumph .. than a funeral procession". The Council of Chalcedon, called in 451, condemned Eutyches, confirmed Pope Leo's "Tome" and canonized Flavian as a martyr.

In the Roman Catholic Church St. Flavian is commemorated on February 18, the date assigned to him in the Roman Martyrology. Flavian of Ricina is sometimes identified with him. [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91718] , Retrieved on August 6 2008]

ources

Among the documents which touch on the career of Flavian are the reply of Petrus Chrysologus, archbishop of Ravenna, to a circular appeal of Eutyches, and various letters of Theodoret. Pope Leo I wrote Flavian a beautiful letter before hearing that he was dead.

* Evagrius. ii. 2. etc.
*Facund, Pro Trib. Capit. viii. 5; xii. 5.
*Leo. Mag. Epp. 23, 26, 27, 28, 44.
*Liberatus Diac. Breviar. xi. xii.
* Nicephorus, Constant. xiv. 47.
*Sozomen H. E. ix. 1.
*Theophanes, "Chronology" pp. 84-88.
*WaceBio [http://www.ccel.org/w/wace/biodict/htm/iii.vi.xvii.htm]

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06098c.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: "St. Flavian"]