Flavian was a presbyter and the guardian of the sacred vessels of the great Church of Constantinople and, according to Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, was reputed to lead a saintly life, when he was chosen to succeed Proclus as Archbishop of Constantinople.[2]
Flavian presided at a council of forty bishops at Constantinople on November 8, 448, to resolve a dispute between the metropolitan bishop of Sardis and two bishops of his province. Eusebius, bishop of Dorylaeum, presented an indictment against Eutyches. The speech of Flavian remains, concluding with this appeal to the bishop of Dorylaeum: "Let your reverence condescend to visit him and argue with him about the true faith, and if he shall be found in very truth to err, then he shall be called to our holy assembly, and shall answer for himself." Eventually the synod deposed Eutyches.[3]
Second Council of Ephesus
However, Eutyches protested against this verdict and received the support of Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria, and he fled to Alexandria. The Emperor Theodosius the Younger, already angered by Flavian's refusal to pay him the customary bribe, was persuaded by the eunuch Chrysaphius to convoke another Council to Ephesus. At this council, which assembled on August 8, 449, Eutyches was declared an orthodox teacher and reinstated, while Flavian was anathematized, deposed, and ordered into exile.[3]
Death and Martyrdom
The Martyrdom of Saint Flavian by Shea (1894)
At the previously mentioned Ephesus II at the crux of the council the various leaders opposed to Eutyches' Monophysitism were variously assaulted.[4] In a notable example papal legate and future Pope Hilarius proclaimed "Contradicitur!" and fled with much difficulty. Flavian however refused to bend on any doctrine, and was then beaten, kicked, and trampled over by impudent monks led by a certain Barsumas.[5] Flavian succumbed to his injuries after three days at Epipus in Lydia, and was buried obscurely.[6]
The exact circumstances of Flavian's death, and the extent of Dioscorus' personal responsibility for it, are unclear and remain highly controversial in Eastern-Oriental Orthodox dialogue. At the Council of Chalcedon two years later, eyewitnesses gave several conflicting accounts. One deacon, Ischyrion, accused Dioscorus of ordering his syncelli (personal clerics) to murder people at Ephesus, and even promoting them for the killings. Basil of Seleucia claimed "Armed soldiers burst into the church, and there were arrayed Barsaumas and his monks, parabalani, and a great miscellaneous mob" and that Dioscorus controlled the bishops there using "the threats of the mob". According to Diogenes of Cyzicus, a group of Barsauma's monks beat up Flavian while Barsauma cried "Strike him dead!". Finally, some bishops claimed that Dioscorus' soldiers killed Flavian with clubs and swords. However, Richard Price and Michael Gaddis question the impartiality of these accounts, noting that these bishops had to place all blame for Flavian's death on Dioscorus to exculpate themselves.[7]
Additional, possibly embellished details about Flavian's death only appear in later authors. Prosper of Aquitaine, a contemporary, adds that Flavian was killed by the soldiers taking him to his place of banishment. Liberatus of Carthage states that Flavian suffered blows and died as a result. According to Evagrius Scholasticus, Eusebius of Dorylaeum complained at the council that Flavian had been beaten and kicked by Dioscorus himself.[8]Theophanes the Confessor, writing three centuries after the event, says that Dioscorus personally struck Flavian "both with hands and feet".[9] The detail of Flavian clutching the altar as he was beaten is also a later invention.
Aftermath
Pope Leo I, whose legates had been ignored at the council, protested, first calling the council a "robber synod", and declared its decisions void.
After Theodosius II died in 450, his sister Pulcheria returned to power, marrying the officer Marcian, who became Emperor. The new Imperial couple had Flavian's remains brought to Constantinople[3] in a way that, in the words of a chronicler, more resembled "a triumph .. than a funeral procession". The Council of Chalcedon, called in 451, condemned Eutyches, confirmed Pope Leo's Tome (letter 28)[10] and canonized Flavian as a martyr.
In the Roman Catholic Church St. Flavian is commemorated on February 18, the date assigned to him in the Roman Martyrology. Flavian of Ricina is sometimes identified with him.[11][12]
^Among the documents which touch on the career of Flavian are the reply of Petrus Chrysologus, archbishop of Ravenna, to a circular appeal of Eutyches, and various letters of Theodoret. Pope Leo I wrote Flavian a beautiful letter before hearing that he was dead.
