Menas of Constantinople (also ''Minas''; ; died 25 August 552), considered a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

in the Chalcedonian-affirming Church and by extension both the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

and

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

of modern times, was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, and enters the records in high ecclesiastical office as

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

and director of the Hospital of Sampson in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, where tradition has him linked to saint

Sampson the Hospitable Sampson the Hospitable (, ; died 530 AD) was a citizen of Constantinople who devoted his time to serving the poor of the city. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Churches as well in the Catholic Church. Life Sampson (or Samson) was ...

directly, and in the healing of

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

from the

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

in 542. He was appointed

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I on 13 March 536.

Pope Agapetus I Pope Agapetus I (489/490 – 22 April 536) was the bishop of Rome from 13 May 535 to his death on 22 April 536. His father, Gordianus, was a priest in Rome and he may have been related to two popes, Pope Felix III, Felix III and Pope Gregory I, ...

consecrated him to succeed

Anthimus I of Constantinople Anthimus I of Constantinople (Greek: Ἄνθιμος; died 548) was a Miaphysite, patriarch of Constantinople from 535–536. He was the bishop or archbishop of Trebizond before accession to the Constantinople see. He was deposed by Pope Agapet ...

, who was condemned as a

monophysite Monophysitism ( ) or monophysism ( ; from Greek , "solitary" and , "nature") is a Christological doctrine that states that there was only one nature—the divine—in the person of Jesus Christ, who was the incarnated Word. It is rejected as ...

. This was the first time that a

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

consecrated a Patriarch of Constantinople. At some date, very soon after his election, he received the order (keleusis) from the Emperor, whose text is not preserved, but which instructed him to call a synodos endemousa to examine the case of Anthimus, which would be heard at a series of five sessions, beginning on 2 May and ending 4 June 536. This Synod condemned Anthimus, as noted in

Novellae Constitutiones The ("new constitutions"; ), or ''Justinian's Novels'', are now considered one of the four major units of Roman law initiated by Roman emperor Justinian I in the course of his long reign (AD 527–565). The other three pieces are: the ''Codex Jus ...

XLII from Justinian, addressed directly to Menas. Within this same effort from Justinian to seal the growing rift between the Patriarch in

and that of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Menas later took a position against

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

, a crisis merging into the

Three-Chapter Controversy The Three-Chapter Controversy, a phase in the Chalcedonian controversy, was an attempt to reconcile the non-Chalcedonians of Syria and Egypt with Chalcedonian Christianity, following the failure of the '' Henotikon''. The ''Three Chapters'' ( ...

, an attempt to condemn the writings of certain

non-Chalcedonian Non-Chalcedonian Christianity comprises the branches of Christianity that do not accept and uphold theological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the council following Ephesus, held in 451. Non-Chalcedonian denominations reject the Chr ...

figures. Menas' patriarchate represents the greatest extent of papal influence in Constantinople. Almost immediately after the events of 536, which may be viewed as a Chalcedonian victory over

monophysites Monophysitism ( ) or monophysism ( ; from Greek , "solitary" and , "nature") is a Christological doctrine that states that there was only one nature—the divine—in the person of Jesus Christ, who was the incarnated Word. It is rejected as ...

, the ordination of an independent network of alleged monophysite / self-professed

miaphysite Miaphysitism () is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one nature (''physis'', ). It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It differs from the Dyophysitism of the ...

bishops claiming apostolic authority would begin, leading eventually to the formation of a separate non-Chalcedonian church, the still-existing

Syrian Orthodox Church The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The ch ...

that would be in communion with other excommunicated sees of the same theological persuasion. Justinian and Menas' efforts for doctrinal Church unity would meet with failure. It was during his patriarchate that emperor Justinian's church of

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

, then the largest building in the world and the seat of the Patriarchs, was consecrated. Also, in 551 the Emperor compelled Menas to call what would be the

Second Council of Constantinople The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and re ...

, to reconcile the Western and Eastern Churches around the Three-Chapter Controversy, to be chaired ultimately by his successor Patriarch

Eutychius of Constantinople Eutychius of Constantinople (, ''Eutychios''; 512 – 5 April 582), considered a saint in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions, was the patriarch of Constantinople from 552 to 565 and from 577 to 582. His feast is kept ...

in 553. Lieve Van Hoof and Peter van Nuffelen, "The Historiography of Crisis - Jordanes, Cassiodorus and Justinian in mid-sixth century Constantinople", ''The Journal of Roman Studies'', Volume 107, November 2017, pp. 275–300, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075435817000284. He died peacefully in 552. His feast day in both the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

traditions is observed on 25 August.

Notes and references

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mennas Saints from Constantinople Menas Year of birth missing 6th-century Christian saints Justinian I Roman-era Alexandrians 552 deaths