NETTARIO, patriarch of COSTANTINOPOLI. - Born at Tarsus, in Cilicia, in the first half of the fourth century; died on 27 September 397 at Constantinople, where he was the eleventh bishop and the first patriarch (381–97).
He was praetor at Constantinople when, during the Second Ecumenical Council (381), he was called to govern that Church, after the death of Melezio and the resignation of Gregorio Nazianzeno. He was still a catechumen; but his choice was acceptable to Teodosio, to the bishops of the Council, and to the people. Immediately after the election, and under his presidency, the Council approved the famous canon III concerning Constantinople’s precedence of honour after Rome. N. always remained faithful to the Catholic faith, but did not prove to be a man of great authority. In 388, during a riot, the Arians attempted to set fire to the episcopal palace. Socrate (Hist. eccl., V, 19) and Sozomeno (Hist. eccl., VII, 16) relate that N., toward the end of his episcopate, abolished public penance and the office of penitentiary, because of a serious scandal that had occurred at Constantinople. In 394 he convened at his see a general Council of the bishops of the East. One of his discourses, on the feast of the martyr Teodoro, is preserved (PG 39, 1821-40). The Byzantine Church venerates him as a saint (27 Sept. and 11 Oct.): he was succeeded in the episcopal see by Giovanni Crisostomo.