Proclus Succeeds Maximian

Maximian governed the church peacefully for two years and five months, and died on the twelfth of April, in the consulship of Areobindus and Aspar. It happened to be the fifth day of the week of fasting just before Easter; the day of the week was Thursday. Then the emperor Theodosius, wishing to prevent the disturbances in the church that usually come with the election of a bishop, made a wise arrangement for the matter. So that there might be no new dispute over the choice of a bishop and no riot arising from it, he did not delay: before Maximian’s body was buried, he directed the bishops who were then in the city to place Proclus in the bishop’s chair. For he had already received letters from Celestine, bishop of Rome, approving this choice, and he had sent them on to Cyril of Alexandria, John of Antioch and Rufus of Thessalonica. In them Celestine assured them that nothing stood in the way of transferring to another see a man who had been named, and truly was, the bishop of some one church. So Proclus was installed in the bishopric and conducted Maximian’s funeral. But it is now time to give a short account of him too. [a]