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A short time after Nectarius also, bishop of Constantinople died,
during the consulate of Caesarius and Atticus, on the 27th of
September. A contest thereupon immediately arose respecting the
appointment of a successor, some proposing one person, and some
another: at length however it was determined to send for John, a
presbyter of the church at Antioch, for there was a report that he was
very instructive, and at the same time eloquent. By the general
consent therefore of both the clergy and laity, he was summoned very
soon afterwards to Constantinople by the Emperor Arcadius: and to
render the ordination more authoritative and imposing, several prelates
were requested to be present, among whom also was Theophilus bishop of
Alexandria? This person did everything he could to detract from
John's reputation, being desirous of promoting to that see, Isidore
a presbyter of his own church, to whom he was greatly attached, on
account of a very delicate and perilous affair which Isidore had
undertaken to serve his interests. What this was I must now unfold.
While the Emperor Theodosius was preparing to attack the usurper
Maximus, Theodosius sent Isidore with gifts giving twofold letters,
and enjoining him to present both the gifts and the proper letters to
him who should become the victor. In accordance with these injunctions
Isidore on his arrival at Rome awaited there the event of the war.
But this business did not long remain a secret: for a reader who
accompanied him privately sequestered the letters; upon which Isidore
in great alarm returned to Alexandria. This was the reason why
Theophilus so warmly favored Isidore. The court however gave the
preference to John: and inasmuch as many had revived the accusations
against Theophilus, and prepared for presentation to the bishops then
convened memorials of various charges, Eutropius the chief officer of
the imperial bed-chamber collected these documents, and showed them to
Theophilus, bidding him 'choose between ordaining John, and
undergoing a trial on the charges made against him.' Theophilus
terrified at this alternative, consented to ordain John. Accordingly
John was invested with the episcopal dignity on the 26th of
February, under the following consulate, which the Emperor Honorius
celebrated with public games at Rome, and Eutychian, then
Praetorian prefect, at Constantinople. But since the man is
famous, both for the writings he has left, and the many troubles he
fell into, it is proper that I should not pass over his affairs in
silence, but to relate as compendiously as possible whence he was, and
from what ancestry; also the particulars of his elevation to the
episcopate, and the means by which he was subsequently degraded; and
finally how he was more honored after his death, than he had been
during his life.
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