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AFTER the decease of Atticus, there arose a strong contest about
the election of a successor, some proposing one person, and some
another. One party, they say, was urgent in favor of a presbyter
named Philip; another wished to promote Proclus who was also a
presbyter; but the general desire of the people was that the bishopric
should be conferred on Sisinnius. This person was also a presbyter
but held no ecclesiastical office within the city, having been
appointed to the sacred ministry in a church at Elaea, a village in
the suburbs of Constantinople. This village is situated across the
harbor from the city, and in it from an ancient custom the whole
population annually assembled for the celebration of our Saviour's
ascension. All of the laity were warmly attached to the man because he
was famous for his piety, and especially because he was diligent in the
care of the poor even 'beyond his power.' The earnestness of the
laity thus prevailed, and Sisinnius was ordained on the twenty-eighth
day of February, under the following consulate, which was the twelfth
of Theodosius, and the second of Valentinian. The presbyter Philip
was so chagrined at the preference of another to himself, that he even
introduced the subject into his Christian History, making some very
censorious remarks, both about the person ordained and those who had
ordained him, and much more severely on the laity. But he said such
things as I cannot by any means commit to writing. Since I do not
approve of his unadvised action in committing them to writing, I do
not deem it unseasonable, however, to give some notice here of him and
of his works.
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