Paul of the Novatians Chooses His Successor

A little while after John’s body was brought back, Paul, bishop of the Novatians, died, on the twenty-first of July, in the same consulship. At his own funeral he united, in a certain sense, all the different sects into one church. For all parties went with his body to the tomb, singing psalms together, because even in his lifetime his uprightness had won him the esteem of all. But since just before his death Paul did something worth remembering, I think it useful to put it into this history, for the readers of this work may be interested to know of it. And so that the brilliance of that important act may not be dimmed by dwelling on lesser details, I will not stop to describe at length how strictly he kept his ascetic rule of diet even through his illness, without the least departure from the course he had set himself, or how he left out none of his usual exercises of devotion and kept his accustomed fervor. [a]

What, then, was this act? Knowing that his departure was near, he sent for all the presbyters of the churches under his care and spoke to them like this: “See to the election of a bishop to preside over you while I am still alive, so that the peace of your churches may not be disturbed afterward.” They answered that this matter had better not be left to them. “For,” they said, “since some of us judge one way about it and some another, we would never agree on the same man. So we would like you yourself to name the person you would want to succeed you.” “Then give me this declaration of yours in writing,” said Paul, “that you will elect the man I appoint.”

When they had written this pledge and confirmed it with their signatures, Paul rose up in his bed, sat up, and wrote the name of Marcian on the paper, without telling any of those present what he had written. Marcian had been raised to the rank of presbyter and trained in the ascetic discipline by Paul, but he was then away from the city. Paul folded the document and put his own seal on it, and had the leading presbyters seal it as well. Then he handed it to Marcus, a bishop of the Novatians in Scythia, who was staying at Constantinople at the time, and said to him: “If it pleases God that I should remain much longer in this life, give me back this deposit, which I now entrust to your safekeeping. But if he sees fit to take me, you will find in it whom I have chosen to succeed me in the bishopric.” Soon after this he died. On the third day after his death the paper was unfolded in the presence of a great number of people, and Marcian’s name was found inside it; and they all cried out that he was worthy of the honor. So messengers were sent off without delay to bring him to Constantinople. They found him living at Tiberiopolis in Phrygia and brought him back with them by a pious deception. Then he was ordained and placed in the bishop’s chair on the twenty-first of the same month.