Flavian, Saint, Patriarch of Constantinople

FLAVIANO, SANTO, PATRIARCA DI COSTANTINOPOLI

Feast day: 18 February

FLAVIAN, Saint, Patriarch of Constantinople. - A upright and moderate man, he found himself bearing the episcopate in turbulent times (446-49), precisely at the rise of Monophysitism. A Synod (Συνόδος ἐχθρώπων) held under his presidency in Nov. 448 declared Eutyches a heretic and deposed him, of which F. sent a report to Pope St. Leo I.

The latter approved the work of the Synod and replied with the celebrated Epistola ad Flavianum (13 June 449). Theodosius II, influenced by the eunuch Chrysaphius, disapproved of the deposition of Eutyches and convoked a new general Council at Ephesus, giving its presidency to F.'s personal adversary, Dioscorus of Alexandria. At the first session of the "Latrocinium Ephesinum" (8 Aug. 449) Eutyches was declared orthodox, while F. was deposed and so badly maltreated that he died three days later, after having been able to send St. Leo I a warm and urgent appeal. He was rehabilitated by the Fathers of the Council of Chalcedon and numbered among the saints as a martyr.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: Three letters of F. to St. Leo, in PL 54, 723, 743 and A. M. Amelli, S. Leone M. e il primato del Rom. Pontefice in Oriente, Montecassino 1908, pp. 35-39; various letters of St. Leo in PL 54; Mansi, VI, 849-935; Acta SS. Februarii, III, Paris 1865, pp. 72-80; P. Batifol, Le Siège Apostolique, ibid. 1924, p. 490 ff.; E. Caspar, Gesch. des Papillons, I, Tübingen 1920, p. 462 ff.; T. Jalland, The life and times of st. Leo the Great, London 1941, p. 205 ff.

Vincenzo Monachino

@incollection{ec5_flaviano_santo_patriarca_di_co, author = {Monachino, Vincenzo}, title = {Flaviano, santo, patriarca di costantinopoli}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1448}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/flaviano-santo-patriarca-di-costantinopoli} }

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