Antimus, Bishop of Tyana

ANTIMO, bishop of TIANA. - A contemporary of St Basil (fourth century), and for some time also his friend, he soon became his antagonist when the province of Cappadocia was divided and Tiana made the capital of the second division. A., maintaining that ecclesiastical jurisdiction should follow the civil district, began to claim metropolitan rights over several of St Basil’s suffragan bishops, and even resorted to coercive measures against those who resisted. The good offices of St Gregory Nazianzen succeeded, for a time, in restoring peace between the two. But they fell out again because of the episcopal consecration of a certain Faustus, bishop of an Armenian church. It appears that a second reconciliation later took place, since St Basil speaks of A. in friendly terms.