A saint known for his tact

By Tony Staley
Compass Correspondent

	St. Proclus What: Patriarch of Constantinople When: c. 390-446 or 447 Where: Turkey Feast: Oct. 24

The church could sometimes be a fiery place in its first few centuries. It was not uncommon for one bishop to publicly condemn another, for another bishop to be forced out of his diocese, or for the people of a diocese to refuse to accept the appointment of a bishop.

That was the case in the fifth century in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), where St. Proclus lived.

Proclus was a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople, a great preacher and a Doctor of the Church. But John was opposed by both Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria, who wanted one of his own followers to be Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Emperor Arcadius. Arcadius ordered John into exile, even though John had the support of his people, the pope and other bishops.

Despite his friendship with John, Proclus became secretary to Atticus who had helped Arsacius of Tarsus depose John. Arsacius served briefly as Patriarch (404-405) and was succeeded by Atticus (406-425), who ordained Proclus and even spoke in John's favor after Chrysostom had died.

Following the death of Atticus, there was a move to elect Proclus as his successor. However, Sisinnius I (426-427) was chosen instead. He named Proclus as Archbishop of Cyzicus (a city in Asia Minor), but its people refused to accept him, because they had already chosen their own bishop. There was no attempt to force them to change their minds and Proclus stayed in Constantinople.

After Sisinnius died, it looked like Proclus would be the new patriarch, but Emperor Theodosius II selected Nestorius, a priest, monk and noted preacher.

Within months, Nestorius began a series of homilies against using the term Theotokos (a Greek word meaning God-bearer) as a title for the Blessed Virgin Mary that designated her as the Mother of God. He also began spelling out ideas on the Incarnation which claimed that Jesus was two persons - one human and one divine - and not one person in which both a human and a divine nature are united.

Eusebius (a layman who later became Bishop of Dorylaeum), along with Proclus and another priest, began denouncing Nestorius as a heretic. The Council of Ephesus deposed him in 431. In 435, Theodosius ordered Nestorius' writings burned.

Again it looked like Proclus would be named Patriarch, but this time some influential people argued that church law prohibited someone who had been nominated as the bishop of one city (as Proclus had been in Czyicus) from being transferred to another. So Maximian was appointed instead.

After Maximian died on Holy Thursday in 434, Theodosius, with Pope Celestine's approval, told the area's bishops to place Proclus on the bishop's chair to avoid turmoil. This was done even before Maximian's burial.

Proclus' first act was to conduct the funeral for Maximian. Two years later, the bishops of Armenia asked Proclus to help resolve some questions of doctrine, which he did with his usual tact and insistence on following church teaching. In 438, Proclus brought the body of St. John Chrysostom to Constantinople.