Paul I

Paul I

Patriarch OF CONSTANTINOPLE, was born in Thessalonica, and flourished in the early part of the 4th century. On the death of patriarch Alexander (A.D. 336), Paul, one of the presbyters of that Church, and comparatively a young man, was chosen to succeed him by the Homoousian, or orthodox party, while the Arians were anxious for the election of the deacon Macedonius, who sought to prevent the election of Paul by some charge of misconduct, which, however, he did not persist in. Both men appear to have been previously marked out for the succession by their respective partisans; and Alexander had, before his death, passed a judgment on their respective characters. The Homoousians had carried their point; but the election was annulled by a council summoned by the emperor, either Constantine the Great or his son Constantius II, and Paul, being ejected, was banished into Pontus (Athanas. Histor. Arianor. ad Monachos, c. 7), and Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, was appointed by the council in his place.

On the death of Eusebius, who died A.D. 342, the orthodox populace of Constantinople restored Paul, who appears to have been previously released from banishment, or to have escaped to Rome, while the bishops of the Arian party elected Macedonius. The emperor, Constantius II, being absent, the contest led to many disturbances, in which a number of people were killed; and an attempt by Hermogenes, magister Militum, to quell the riot and expel Paul, led to the murder of that officer by the mob. The emperor immediately returned to Constantinople and expelled Paul, without, however, as yet confirming the election of Macedonius. Paul hastened back to Rome and sought the support of Julius I, bishop of that city, who, glad to exercise the superiority implied in this appeal to him, sent him back with a letter to the bishops of the Eastern churches, directing that he and some other expelled prelates should be restored to their respective sees, and bitterly accusing those who had deposed him. Paul regained possession of the Church of Constantinople, but the Eastern bishops, in a council at Antioch (A.D. 343), returned a spirited answer to the arrogant pretensions of Julius; and the emperor, who was also at Antioch, wrote to Philippus, prafectus prcetorio, to expel Paul again. Philippus, to avoid a commotion, sent the prelate away privately; but when he attempted to establish Macedonius in possession of the Church, a riot occurred, in which above three thousand lives were lost. Paul'was banished, according to Socrates, to Thessalonica, and then into the Western empire, being forbidden to return into the East.

But the account of Socrates is disputed, and Tillemont's opinion is probably correct, that it was at this time that Paul was loaded with chains and exiled to Singara, in Mesopotamia, and afterwards to Emesa, in Syria, as mentioned by Athanasius (l.c.). If Tillemont is correct, the banishment into the Western empire may probably be referred to the former expulsion of Paul, when he appealed to pope Julius I, or possibly Paul may have been released from banishment and allowed to retire to Rome, which, according to Photius, he did three several times. The cause of Paul and of Athanasius, who was also in banishment, was still supported by the Western Church, and was taken up by the Western emperor Constans, brother of Constantius; and the Council of Sardica (A.D. 347) decreed their restoration. Constantius, however, refused to restore them until compelled by the threats of his brother; upon whose death, shortly after, Paul was again expelled by Constantius, and exiled to Cucusus, in Cappadocia, amid the defiles of the Taurus, where, it is said, he was privately strangled by his keepers (A.D. 351), and buried at Ancyra. It was reported that his keepers, before strangling him, attempted to starve him to death. Great obscurity hangs over his death; and it is not clear whether he died by violence or disease. But he was regarded by his party as a martyr; and when orthodoxy triumphed under the emperor Theodosius the Great, that prince brought his remains in great state to Constantinople, and deposited them in a church which was subsequently called by his name. See, besides Athanasius, Socrates, Hist.  Ecclesiastes 2:6-7;  Ecclesiastes 2:12-13;  Ecclesiastes 2:15-16;  Ecclesiastes 2:20;  Ecclesiastes 2:22-23;  Ecclesiastes 2:26;  Ecclesiastes 2:9; Sozomen, Hist.  Ecclesiastes 3:3-4;  Ecclesiastes 3:7-10;  Ecclesiastes 3:20;  Ecclesiastes 4:2; Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. 1:19; 2:5, 6; Photius, Bibl. Cod. p. 257; Tillemont, Memoires, 7:251, etc.; Neale, Hist. of the East. Ch. 2:35 sq.