Saints
“The Senator-Bishop”
St. Nectarius of Constantinople
Archbishop of Constantinople · Father of the Second Council · Successor of St. Gregory the Theologian
The unbaptized senator of Constantinople who, on the withdrawal of St. Gregory the Theologian, was elected to the throne of Constantinople in 381, baptized, ordained, and consecrated in the same day. He presided over the latter half of the Second Ecumenical Council and the final issue of its decrees, and was the predecessor under whom St. John Chrysostom served as a presbyter.
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- Born
- c. 330 (Tarsus, Cilicia)
- Reposed
- September 27, 397 (Constantinople)
- See
- Constantinople
- Feast
- October 11
His life
Nectarius was born around the year 330 in Tarsus in Cilicia, of a Christian family of senatorial rank. He served in the imperial civil administration and rose to be praetor of Constantinople. He was at the Council of 381 as a catechumen, unbaptized but having lived in the Christian register all his life, intending to receive baptism in his own time.
When St. Gregory the Theologian withdrew from the throne of Constantinople rather than be a cause of division between the Eastern and Egyptian factions at the Council, the bishops asked the Emperor Theodosius to nominate a successor. Theodosius gave them a list of candidates including Nectarius, whose name he placed last. The bishops, examining the list, found themselves drawn to the senator, and elected him.
On the same day he was catechised, baptized, chrismated, ordained deacon, ordained presbyter, and consecrated to the throne of Constantinople in a sequence of services that began at dawn and was completed before the evening, the Emperor and the Council standing as witnesses. He presided over the rest of the Council, the Council subscribed the Creed and the canons under his presidency, and the Synodical Letter to the West the following year went out in his name.
He held the throne for sixteen years, a quiet and able pastor of a city that had been theologically tumultuous for sixty years. He kept St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory the Theologian (in retirement at Cappadocia), and the other Cappadocian elders as his theological counsellors. He ordained the young John Chrysostom as deacon and presbyter in Antioch on Meletius's recommendation, the foundation of Chrysostom's later succession to the throne of Constantinople.
He reposed on September 27, 397, after sixteen years on the throne. The Church keeps his memory on October 11. He is remembered as the man elected for the qualities of his Christian life before he was elected for the qualities of his episcopate, and as a witness to the older patristic principle that the throne does not make the man but finds him.
In his own words
I was a catechumen at dawn; before evening I had taken the throne. I had time only to pray that what I had received in the morning would be enough for what was asked of me by night.
Writings
Read his works
Holy St. Nectarius of Constantinople, pray to God for us.
