AGELIUS. – Successor, perhaps immediate, of Achesus in the episcopal see of the Novatian schismatic community of Constantinople, which he held for about forty years (345–85). His fidelity to the Nicene faith brought him persecution and exile. For this reason and for the austerity of his life he enjoyed great esteem among his contemporaries. Through Sisinnus, his reader whom he had designated as his successor, he took part in the discussions convoked by Theodosius I to heal the divisions of the Eastern Church, succeeding in having the Novatians recognized as orthodox and in obtaining for them the right to assemble within the city walls.
Bibl.: Socrates, *Hist. eccl.*, II, 38; IV, 9; V, 10, 21; Sozomen, *Hist. eccl.*, VI, 9; Cassiodorus, *Hist. tripartita*, VII, 20; IX, 36.