MASSIMO, patriarch of ANTIOCH. — Formerly a deacon of the Church of Antioch and zealous for orthodox doctrine, he broke communion with the patriarch Giovanni because the latter showed little energy against the Nestorians, to such an extent that s. Cirillo di Alessandria wrote him two letters exhorting him to moderation.
Through the intervention of the emperor Teodosio II, in 449 he was elected patriarch of Antioch after Domino had been deposed at the “Robber Council” of Ephesus. He was recognized by Pope Leone Magno and took part in the Council of Chalcedon (451), at which he anathematized Dioscoro and also participated in drafting the dogmatic definition. He was deposed by the Monophysites in 455 and died shortly thereafter.
BIBL.: S. Cirillo Alessandrino, Epp. 57-58; PG 77, 320 ff.; Tillemont, XIV, 626, 640, 792; XV, 582, 623, 662 ff., 778; Fliche-Martin-Frutas, IV, pp. 197, 222-25, 283.