PAUL, bishop of CONSTANTINOPLE, saint. — He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 7 June; among the Greeks on 6 November. A native of Thessalonica, he entered the clergy of Constantinople and, still young, in 336 succeeded Bishop Alexander.
Soon after, through the intrigues of Eusebius of Caesarea, he was exiled to Pontus by Constantine, from where he returned in 338. When Constantius II ascended the throne, he was again deposed by a synod of Arians and forced into exile; he went to Trier to Constantius and in 341 was at the Synod of Rome, where Pope Julius, recognizing his innocence, sent him back to his see. But he remained there only briefly, for he was exiled once more, in chains, to Mesopotamia. Through the intervention of Constantius he was able to return to Constantinople, but upon the Emperor’s death he was relegated for the fifth time to Cappadocia, where in 350 he was strangled by Arians. Under Theodosius the Great his body was solemnly transferred to Constantinople and buried in the Church of Peace.