Chrysanthus, Bishop of the Novatians

After the death of Sisinnius, Chrysanthus was compelled to take on the office of bishop. He was the son of Marcian, the predecessor of Sisinnius. He had held a military post in the palace at an early age, and later, under Theodosius the Great, he was made governor of Italy and after that vicar of the British Isles. In both posts he won the highest admiration. He returned to Constantinople at an advanced age, eager to be made prefect of that city, and instead he was made bishop of the Novatians against his will. For when Sisinnius was at the point of death, he had named Chrysanthus as the most suitable person to fill the see. The people took this declaration as law and wanted him ordained at once. Now while Chrysanthus was trying to escape having this office forced on him, Sabbatius thought the moment had come to make himself master of the churches. Disregarding the oath by which he had bound himself, he got himself ordained by a few insignificant bishops. Among them was Hermogenes, whom Sabbatius himself had excommunicated with curses because of his blasphemous writings. But this perjured move did Sabbatius no good. The people, disgusted with his unruliness, made every effort to find where Chrysanthus had gone. They found him hidden away in Bithynia, brought him back by force, and installed him as bishop. [a]

He was a man of unsurpassed modesty and prudence, and so he strengthened and enlarged the churches of the Novatians at Constantinople. He was also the first to distribute gold to the poor out of his own private property. Furthermore, he would accept nothing from the churches except two loaves of the consecrated bread every Lord’s day. He was so eager to advance his own church that he drew Ablabius, the most eminent orator of the time, from the school of Troilus and ordained him a presbyter. Ablabius’s sermons are in circulation; they are remarkably elegant and full of point. But Ablabius was later promoted to be bishop of the church of the Novatians at Nicaea, where he also taught rhetoric at the same time.