This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Macedonius II of Constantinople" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Macedonius II of Constantinople (Greek: Μακεδόνιος; diedc. 517) waspatriarch of Constantinople (496–511).

Within a year or two (the date is uncertain) he assembled a council, in which he confirmed in writing the acts of theCouncil of Chalcedon. In 507Elias I of Jerusalem,patriarch of Jerusalem, who had been unwilling to sanction the deposition ofEuphemius of Constantinople, united himself in communion with Macedonius. The emperorAnastasius I Dicorus employed all means to oblige Macedonius to declare against the Council of Chalcedon, but flattery and threats were alike unavailing. An assassin named Eucolus was even hired to take away his life. The patriarch avoided the blow and ordered a fixed amount of provisions to be given monthly to the criminal. The people ofConstantinople were equally zealous for the council of Chalcedon, even, more than once, to the point of sedition. To prevent unfavourable consequences, Anastasius I ordered the prefect of the city to follow in the processions and attend the assemblies of the church.^[1]

In 510 Anastasius I made a new effort. Macedonius II would do nothing without anecumenical council at which thebishop of Rome should preside. Anastasius I, annoyed at this answer and irritated because Macedonius would never release him from the engagement he had made at his coronation to maintain the faith of the Church and the authority of the council of Chalcedon, sought to drive him from his chair. He sentEutychian monks and clergy, and sometimes the magistrates of the city, to load him with public outrage and insult. This caused such a tumult amongst the citizens that the emperor was obliged to shut himself up in his palace and to have ships prepared in case flight should be necessary. He sent to Macedonius, asking him to come and speak with him. Macedonius II went and reproached him with the sufferings his persecutions caused the Church. Anastasius I stated his willingness to this, but at the same time made a third attempt to tamper with the beliefs of the patriarch.^[1]

One of his instruments wasPhiloxenus of Mabbug, a Eutychian bishop. He demanded of Macedonius II a declaration of his faith in writing; Macedonius addressed a memorandum to the emperor insisting that he knew no other faith than that of the Fathers of Nicaea and Constantinople and that he anathematisedNestorius andEutyches and those who admitted two Sons or two Christs, or who divided the two natures. Philoxenus of Mabbug, seeing the failure of his first attempt, found two individuals who accused Macedonius of an abominable crime, avowing themselves his accomplices. They then charged him withNestorianism, and with having falsified a passage in an epistle ofPaul of Tarsus, in support of that sect. At last, the emperor commanded him to send by master of the offices the authentic copy of the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon signed with the autographs of the bishops. Macedonius II refused and hid it under the altar of the great church. Thereupon Anastasius II had him carried off by night and taken toChalcedon, to be conducted thence to Eucaïta inPontus, the place of the exile of his predecessor. In 515Pope Hormisdas worked for the restitution of Macedonius II, whom he considered unjustly deposed; it had been a stipulation in the treaty of peace between the rebel consulVitalian, a relative of Macedonius, and Emperor Anastasius that the patriarch and all the deposed bishops should be restored to their sees. But Anastasius never kept his promises, and Macedonius II died in exile. His death occurred c. 517, atGangra, where he had retired for fear of theHuns, who ravaged allCappadocia,Galatia, and Pontus.^[1]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Wace, Henry; Piercy, William C., eds. (1911). "Macedonius II, patriarch of Constantinople".Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century (3rd ed.). London: John Murray. cites:
  • Evagrius Scholasticus, III, xxxi and xxxii, in ib. 2661;
  • Liberatus of Carthage, vii, in ib. 982;
  • Giovanni Domenico Mansi, viii, 186, 198;
  • Theodoret, Lect. ii, 573-578, inPatrologia Graeca, lxxxvi;
  • Theophanes the Confessor,Chronicle, 120-123, 128, 130, 132;
  • Victor of Tunnuna,Chronicle, inPatrologia Latina, lxviii, 948.

• 5th-century patriarchs of Constantinople
• 6th-century patriarchs of Constantinople
• 517 deaths

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from October 2019
• All articles needing additional references
• Use dmy dates from January 2025
• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the DCBL with Wikisource reference
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the DCBL
• Year of birth unknown