Память святого отца нашего Флавиана Исповедника, патриарха Цареградского

• Epistle of Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople, to Leo, pope of the city of old Rome, about the errors of the wicked Eutyches • List of the (statement of) faith of Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople, written by his own hand and offered to the emperor, at his request • Epistle of Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople, to Leo, Archbishop of the Holy Roman Church Our Holy Father Flavian was first a guardian and presbyter in the holy, great Church of Constantinople 1451; Then, after the repose of His Holiness Patriarch Proclus, he was elevated to the patriarchal throne for his immaculate and godly life. This was during the reign of Theodosius the Younger and his sister Pulcheria. The king had a eunuch named Chrysaphius, full of wickedness and malice; thinking heretically and knowing that Flavian was pious and firmly adhered to the Orthodox faith, Chrysaphius did not like him and in every possible way opposed the installation of the saint to the patriarchate. When, despite his opposition, Saint Flavian was made patriarch, Chrysaphius began to look for some reason to harm the patriarch. And he was very skilled in his crafty deeds, because he enjoyed the favor of the king and had great power. Taking advantage of his influence on the king, Chrysaphius soon found a reason to arouse the latter’s displeasure against the holy patriarch. According to the testimony of the church historian Nicephorus 1452, he taught the king to send to the patriarch to tell him, as a newly installed patriarch, to prepare for the king a gift worthy of his royal rank. Then Holy Flavian, having made bread from pure flour, sent this gift to the king for blessing, truly worthy of the hands of a king. Chrysaphius threw away these loaves, saying that the patriarch should have sent not bread, but gold, as a gift to the king. His Holiness the Patriarch replied through messengers that he did not have such a gift. “I have no gold,” he said, “because I have despised all the treasures of this world.” Will I give you anything from the church treasures? But church silver and gold belong to God and should not be given to anyone except the poor - which should be well known to Chrysaphius himself. However, later, as the historian Evagrius adds 1453, when Chrysaphius began to persistently seek the sending of a precious gift, the patriarch sent him several golden vessels, taking them from the altar; With this gift, the patriarch wanted to shame Chrysaphius and expose his insatiable passion for gold. Chrysaphius became very angry and began to incite the king against the patriarch, telling him that the newly installed patriarch was mocking his power. But this insidious courtier could not cause great harm to the patriarch, since the pious Queen Pulcheria, the sister of Emperor Theodosius, who then ruled the entire kingdom of Greece, patronized the patriarch, protecting this innocent and holy husband. Then Chrysaphius began to plot intrigues against the pious Pulcheria, cunningly arming Queen Eudoxia against her, as this is described at length in the life of Saint Pulcheria. Chrysaphius even achieved that the royal sister was removed from the royal palace and lost her power. It happened in the following way: King Theodosius, on the advice of his wife Evdokia and Chrysaphius, wished that the patriarch would convince his sister to take monastic vows, hoping in this way to remove her from royal power. Therefore, a council was secretly assembled with the king, to which his Holiness the Patriarch was also invited; At the council, the patriarch showed that he would fulfill the king’s wishes, but in his heart he did not approve of it, since he considered it unfair to remove Pulcheria from the administration of the Greek state, who was distinguished by wisdom, prudence, chastity and holiness, replaced the king’s mother when his parents died during his childhood, and, moreover, was a defender of piety and a wise ruler of the state. Respecting and honoring Pulcheria, Saint Flavian secretly informed her of everything that happened at the secret meeting of the king. Then the pious princess Pulcheria, understanding the enmity of the queen and Chrysaphius and seeing her brother’s intention, herself left the administration of the kingdom, also left the royal chambers and the city and surrendered to quiet silence. After that, the crafty Chrysaphius, having waited for a favorable time, began again to plot against the most holy Patriarch Flavian, raising up the king himself against him and saying that he had not kept the royal secret and was on the side of Pulcheria, not the king. For everyone soon learned that the patriarch had informed Pulcheria of the royal intention. Thus, Chrysaphius achieved that the king became very angry with Patriarch Flavian. At that time, Archimandrite Eutyches lived in Constantinople, who became notorious for his blasphemous teaching, since he merged two natures in our Lord Jesus Christ - Divine and human - into one nature. This Eutyches was the spiritual father of Chrysaphios, since he was his successor at holy baptism. Having convened the Local Council of 1454 in Constantinople, His Holiness Patriarch Flavian summoned Eutyches to it so that he would openly declare his confession before everyone. But Eutyches did not want to go to the council, inventing various excuses to justify his reluctance: he claimed that he could not leave his monastery, as if from a grave, because he had made a vow about this, then he said that he was old and very sick. But His Holiness the Patriarch again sent archimandrites, presbyters and deacons to him, lovingly invited him to the council, contributed in every possible way to his repentance, tried to get him to renounce his heretical wisdom before everyone and join the holy Orthodox Church, hoping that others, following his example, would abandon their error and turn to the true faith. Only after repeated calls did Eutyches agree, and then reluctantly, to come to the council. Going to the council, he first of all went into the royal chambers, trying to find protection and help from the king. Through Chrysaphius, he begged the king to send selected dignitaries and several soldiers with him to the council. The king sent with Eutyches the patrician Florence and other dignitaries along with soldiers. So Eutyches went to the council, as if to some battle, surrounded by soldiers and royal dignitaries. The latter sent word to the fathers of the council: “We ourselves will not come to the council, and we will not allow Eutyches to come, unless you promise us in advance that you will release him from the meeting free.” The fathers gathered for the council made their promise. When Eutyches appeared before the council, his books were first read, filled with heretical dogmas, which he sent to various monasteries and thus persuaded many to his destructive error. Then, after much subterfuge from Eutyches, the fathers of the council forced him to verbally express his confession. Eutyches said: – I confess that our Lord Jesus Christ had two natures before His incarnation, but after His incarnation He became one nature 1455. Then the fathers who were at the council demanded that he curse his heretical wisdom and accept Orthodox dogmas, but he refused this in the face of the entire council, which was attended by thirty-two bishops, twenty-three archimandrites and many presbyters and deacons. Then His Holiness Flavian and all the holy fathers present at the council deposed Eutyches from the priesthood and wrote the following letter: “Eutyches, who was once a presbyter and archimandrite, in his previous writings and in his current oral confession showed that he shares the heresy of Valentinus and Apollinaris 1456; steadily following the error of these heretics, he did not listen to our admonition and, not accepting the true teaching, refused to follow the right dogma. Therefore, weeping and groaning about his final death, we decided in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Whom he blasphemes, to excommunicate him from the priestly rank, leadership of the monastery and our fellowship. Let this be known to everyone who will then talk with him or visit him; let these people know that they will incur punishment and be excommunicated, since they did not deviate from his errors.” This document was signed by Flavian, the bishop of new Rome in 1457, as well as by all other bishops and archimandrites. Having been ejected, Eutyches sought support at the royal court, since the influential Chrysaphius greatly helped him in everything. This crafty eunuch had great rage and anger against the most holy Flavian; He tried in every possible way to dethrone the holy archpastor, for by doing so he wanted to take revenge for Eutyches, and especially to cause trouble for Pulcheria, who respected Saint Flavian. Taking advantage of his influence on the king, which was so great that he could do whatever he wanted, Chrysaphius wrote a letter to the Patriarch of Alexandria Dioscorus 1458, a man capable of all evil, experienced in deceit, distinguished by his wickedness; in his message, Chrysaphius tried to arm Dioscorus against Flavian, entrusting Eutyches to his protection, and promised him great mercy from the king. The letter was written on behalf of the king, in whose name Chrysaphius commanded the Patriarch of Alexandria, so that he, having gathered the like-minded bishops under his control, whom he wanted, would quickly go to Ephesus and draw up an Ecumenical Council there regarding the dogmas of faith, for Flavian introduces some heretical wisdom into the church and confuses the believers. “So,” wrote Chrysaphius, “let Dioscorus consider the whole matter at the council and depose Flavian, and let Eutyches, if he turns out to be innocent, absolve him from the council oath and restore him to his rank.” The same Chrysaphius won over Eutyches and Queen Eudoxia, so that she also helped the heretic against Flavian. Dioscorus, taking with him more than ten like-minded bishops and a certain archimandrite named Barsuma, accompanied by 1000 monks, arrived in Ephesus. Here, by royal command, a council was held in 1459, chaired by Dioscorus, which was attended by 128 bishops who came from different countries; His Holiness Flavian, who was called here for trial, also arrived at this council. The king, or rather Chrysaphius, on behalf of the king, wrote a letter to the committee of 1460 Elpidius and to the other committees who were there with the army, so that they would not allow to the council those bishops who, together with Flavian, condemned Eutyches at the Local Council that was in Constantinople, and signed the letter of his eruption. When that evil council gathered, where Dioscorus presided, Eutyches spoke and presented a confession of faith, written by himself, where he outlined his heretical teaching, skillfully covered with ambiguous expressions. As soon as Eutyches finished reading his confession of faith, discord and noise arose among the participants in the council: some defended Eutyches and argued that he was innocent, since he rightly professed the holy faith, while others stood for Flavian; but the latter were few, for everyone loved darkness more than light and lies more than truth, trying to please the earthly king, and not the heavenly one. For King Theodosius, although he was pious, however, as a man, he sinned through ignorance, not understanding the deceit of Eutyches, Dioscorus and Chrysaphios. And the latter constantly slyly flattered the king, trying to catch his soul in his insidious nets. In his ignorance, the tsar considered heretics to be Orthodox and trustingly listened to lies, accepting them as truth, for his wise sister, blessed Pulcheria, was no longer with him. So, after long disagreements and disputes, the side of the opponents of true Orthodoxy prevailed at the wicked council in Ephesus. The lawless assembly proclaimed the dogma that in Christ there are not two natures, but one, and declared Eutyches innocent and a right believer, whereas he was in fact a heretic; The council unjustly condemned the faithful and pious Patriarch Flavian as a heretic. He was not even allowed to say anything in defense of himself. The Alexandrian Patriarch Dioscorus, who presided at the council, declared him defrocked, deprived of the priesthood, priesthood and all spiritual authority, and a written decree was drawn up about this. Moreover, at this lawless council it was decided to send the holy patriarch to prison. Then Onesiphorus, Bishop of Iconium 1461, stood up and, together with other bishops who were confident in Flavian’s innocence, touched the knees of Dioscorus and began to ask him: – Do not carry out your intentions, most honest father, for Flavian did absolutely nothing that would be worthy of eruption; if you need to punish him, then punish him, but don’t spew him out. Dioscorus, rising from the throne and standing on a dais in front of the throne, said: “Even if they threatened to cut out my tongue, I still wouldn’t change the sentence.” Then Archimandrite Barsum, who was close to Dioscorus, began to exclaim loudly: “Whoever confesses that there are two natures in Christ, let him be cut in half.” When the bishops began to ask Dioscorus not to encroach on Flavian, the chairman asked: And immediately the Comites, with Elpidius at their head and with a large army, entered the church and brought large iron chains prepared for Saint Flavian; The monks of Varsum entered along with the warriors. Then the bishops began to loudly declare: - Varsuma is a robber, he destroyed all of Syria, and brought his monks against us. Varsuma is a robber, anathema to Varsuma! – Kill the heretic Flavian, kill him! In mad daring, the wicked rushed at the saint and began to beat him, some with their fists, some with sticks. Even Dioscorus himself, pouncing on Flavian, threw him to the ground and trampled him underfoot; So they beat him for some time, and then they placed chains on him, who was barely alive. Dioscorus forced the bishops to sign the document on the eruption of Flavian. The supporters of Dioscorus signed it immediately; and those of the bishops who saw the injustice and robbery happening before them did not agree to sign this letter; but then the armed soldiers stationed around it did not let them out of the church; the monks of Varsum shouted furiously and reviled them. And they kept those bishops in the church until night, until they finally signed this document, against their will, being frightened by threats. Thus ended this godless council, known in history as the Council of Robbers. The holy confessor of Christ, Flavian, on the third day, after he had suffered severe beatings, gave up his holy soul into the hands of the Lord, for Whom he innocently suffered, like Abel, and thus, instead of exile, moved to heaven. In his place, Anatoly was elected patriarch in Constantinople in 1462. After some time, the evil deeds and deceit of Chrysaphius were exposed, so that he was dishonorably expelled from the royal chambers and died an inglorious death; Queen Evdokia, his accomplice, frightened by the anger of Theodosius, went to Jerusalem. After this, the king himself convincingly and for a long time asked Saint Pulcheria, his sister, to return to the palace and continue to help him in state affairs; Fulfilling her brother's wish, the saint returned from her solitude. Soon after she took the reins of government into her hands, Saint Pulcheria became concerned with restoring Orthodox teaching, as well as the honor of the defenders of Orthodoxy. She transferred the relics of the holy confessor of Christ Flavian with great honor to Constantinople in 1463. Dioscorus and Eutyches, cursed at the Fourth Ecumenical Council, which took place in Chalcedon in 1464, brought upon themselves eternal death. And the Church of Christ, which the gates of hell could not overcome, flourished, glorifying Christ in two natures, inseparably and inseparably cognizable, praised and exalted with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Here, of course, is the Church of St. Sophia, the Wisdom of God - the cathedral church of the capital, in which the department of the Patriarchs of Constantinople was established. Here, of course, is the monk of the Sophia Monastery in Constantinople - Nikephoros Callistos, who died around 1350, his “Church History” was completed before the death of the Byzantine Emperor Phocas (611). Evagrius Scholasticus, author of church history covering the time from 431 to 594, between 537 and 594. The meaning of Eutyches' words is obviously that at the moment of conception the two natures - Divine and human - each had an independent meaning and were distinct; but that was only one moment; when, at the incarnation of God, the Divinity united with humanity, the latter was absorbed by the former and in Christ there became one nature. Valentine is a heretic who lived in the first half of the 2nd century. He did not recognize the existence of a bodily nature in the Savior and thus did not consider him a complete, perfect man. Apollinaris lived in the 4th century. In contrast to Valentin, he taught that Christ has a body, but Apollinaris thought very uniquely about the union of the Divinity with humanity in Him. Thinking that a perfect man and a perfect Divinity could not unite into one person, Apollinaris taught that Christ had only two parts of the human being - body and soul, while the third part - the spirit - was represented in him by the Divine Logos (Word). Thus, he also did not consider Christ to be a perfect man. Eutyches has points of contact with both Valentinus and Apollinaris. Since, according to his teaching, humanity is absorbed in Christ by the Divinity, then Christ is only God, and not the God-man, His humanity is no longer really existing, but something imaginary; and this comes quite close to the idea of ​​Valentine, who taught that the human body of Christ was not real, but only ghostly. On the other hand, the doctrine of the absorption of humanity by the Divine is very reminiscent of the teaching of Apollinaris that in Christ the highest part of the human being - the spirit - was replaced by the Divine Logos. Constantinople was called New Rome. Patriarch Dioscorus of Alexandria occupied the patriarchal see from 444 to 451. The cathedral opened on August 8, 449. It took place in the same church of Ephesus in which the 3rd Ecumenical Council met 18 years before. Comites were the companions (retinue) of the highest officials in the provinces, and later the companions of emperors. Iconium is a city on a high fertile plain in Asia Minor; was once the main city of Lycaonia, a province lying in the middle part of Asia Minor. Saint Anatoly occupied the patriarchal see in Constantinople from 449 to 458. The meeting of the council opened on October 8, 451. By this time, Theodosius had died, and the imperial throne in Byzantium was occupied by Marcian (reigned 450–457), who, having become emperor, married Pulcheria You might be interested in: