Today, our church honors Saint Anatolius, the Patriarch of Constantinople and hymnographer, as well as the martyrs Hyacinthus, Theodotus, Theodote, Diomedes, Eulampius, and Asclepiades.
Anatolius was a priest and representative of the Church of Alexandria in the imperial capital. He became Patriarch of Constantinople in 449 CE.
Dioscorus I, the Monophysite Patriarch of Alexandria, nominated him to the patriarchal throne in hopes of gaining an ally and supporter in promoting his theological heresies.
However, Anatolius proved to be an Orthodox hierarch and was the first to sign the deposition of the heretical Patriarch Dioscorus during the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon in 451 AD, thwarting Dioscorus’s plans. Furthermore, Anatolius reinstated the name of Saint Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, into the diptychs. Flavian had been deposed by Dioscorus during the “Robber Council” of Ephesus in 449.
Saint Anatolius’s actions teach us to be firm, cautious, and theologically discerning whenever heretical ideas emerge and develop into distorted teachings. Therefore, deposing and separating from the canonical and authentic doctrine is undertaken for the sake of the Church’s fullness and the salvation of its faithful.
Moreover, Saint Anatolius sent letters to all the bishops, urging them to anathematize the Monophysite heretics and safeguard the Orthodox faith of the faithful.
After shepherding the people of God with Orthodox conviction and managing the spiritual and administrative affairs of the Church in the best possible way, Patriarch Anatolius was unjustly killed by fanatical heretics in 458 CE.
Source: Church of Cyprus
