The Nicene Party and the Novatians Persecuted; Agelius

In the city of Constantinople, the Christians who stood for the Nicene doctrines and the followers of the Novatian views were treated with equal harshness. [a] In the end they were all driven out of the city, and the churches of the Novatians were closed by order of the emperor. The other party had no churches to be closed, since they had been stripped of them all in the reign of Constantius.

At this time Agelius, who had governed the church of the Novatians at Constantinople since the time of Constantius, was sentenced to exile. He is said to have been especially remarkable for living according to the laws of the church. In his way of life he had reached the highest degree of philosophy, namely, freedom from worldly possessions. His daily conduct showed it: he had only one tunic and always went barefoot. Not long after his banishment he was called back, received again the churches under his care, and boldly held church assemblies. This was through the influence of Marcian, a man of extraordinary virtue and eloquence, who had once been enrolled among the palace troops, but was at this time a presbyter of the Novatian heresy and the teacher of grammar to Anastasia and Carosa, the emperor’s daughters. There are still baths at Constantinople that bear the names of these princesses. It was for the sake of Marcian alone that the Novatians were granted this favor. [b]