By Archimandrite Demetrios Kavvadias
On the 6th of November, our Holy Church commemorates Saint Paul the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople, who, in the relevant hymnographic texts, is compared with the righteous Abel and Zechariah, the father of the Honorable Forerunner. This is because he too, being a righteous man, met a martyr's death following an ambush and was deemed worthy of the crown of incorruption, just like those blessed men of the Old Testament.
Saint Paul was born at the beginning of the fourth century AD in the holy city of Thessaloniki, which has given birth to and nurtured many saints. His parents were pious, and he grew up hearing of the wondrous life and martyrdom of Saint Demetrios the Myrrhgusher. He was educated and pious, and was distinguished by the purity of his life, his gentleness, and his steadfast adherence to the unadulterated Orthodox faith.
This obedient and pious cleric, who was especially beloved by the people, was eventually ordained Archbishop following the death of Saint Alexander (August 30, 340), and thus succeeded him, in accordance with the prophecy of Saint Metrophanes and the designation of Saint Alexander. This ordination took place in the absence and without the knowledge of Emperor Constantius, and provoked the anger of the Arians, who were quick to slander him before the Emperor. When Constantius returned from Antioch to the capital, he therefore convened a synod of Arian-minded bishops and succeeded in deposing Paul and raising to the throne the Arian bishop of Nicomedia, Eusebius, one of the greatest heresiarchs, who began persecuting those who rightly confessed the faith and followed the decrees of the Synod of Nicaea.
Saint Paul then took refuge in Rome, near the Orthodox Pope Julius and Saint Athanasius, who had likewise been exiled from the throne of Alexandria, and remained there in prayer. A year later, the impious Eusebius died, and the Orthodox called Archbishop Paul back to his position. He hastened to the Imperial City, where he found Macedonius, a like-minded man who had been ordained by the Arians, installed on his throne. Macedonius had also fallen into another error and had become a Pneumatomachian.
The events that followed brought disturbances that shook the peace of Byzantium. As a result, Emperor Constantius, from Antioch, sent Hermogenes, the military commander of Thrace, to invade the City with his troops and forcibly remove Paul. The rioters, however, killed Hermogenes, and Paul returned to his position until the arrival of the Emperor, who deposed him once again and vented his anger against Macedonius as the instigator of the troubles.
Once again, Pope Julius welcomed Paul, who now also secured the support of Emperor Constans, who was residing at Trier. Through the Pope's appeals to the bishops of the East, Paul returned to his position. Constantius, however, sent the prefect Philip against him to depose him and once again install Macedonius, but this time without disturbances. Thus Philip, through deceit, lured Paul away under the pretense of conferring honors upon him at the public baths, where his men abducted him and exiled him to his homeland, Thessaloniki. From there, Paul once again traveled to Rome.
After the Synod of Serdica in 347, Saints Athanasius and Paul were able to regain their thrones once again. For nearly three years, the Archdiocese of Constantinople experienced moments of glory and peace under the care of its Orthodox and rightful shepherd, Paul, who followed the decrees of the Synod of Nicaea without deviation. Unfortunately, however, a new cycle of trials awaited the much-afflicted Archbishop Paul and the local Church. In 350, the Count Magnentius revolted against Constans, the Orthodox Emperor of the West, who supported Archbishop Paul, and was proclaimed Emperor by his own troops. One of his many objectives was the conquest of the eastern part of the Empire, which would secure for him enormous financial benefits and glory. Constantius responded to this challenge with an attack, until, following fierce battles, he recaptured Lugdunum (present-day Lyon), thereby attaining absolute power.
Thus, with no longer an Orthodox Emperor in the West, Constantius was able to plan his war against the Orthodox without hindrance, beginning with Archbishop Paul. The blessed Archbishop was arrested and taken in chains to Singara, then to Emesa, and finally to Cucusus in Armenia, which had also become the place of exile of Saint John Chrysostom when, approximately sixty years later, he was forcibly removed from the same throne.
There in Cucusus, one day, while the martyric Archbishop was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, the Arians burst in, arrested him, and shut him in a room, where they strangled him with his own omophorion. Thus he gave up his spirit to the Lord, confessing the Orthodox dogma concerning the divinity of the Son of God.
Verses
At the Great Church, it was decreed that his memory should be celebrated on the Sunday following November 6, the day of his martyrdom (in the year 351 or 357). Today, his revered skull is kept with reverence at the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra on Mount Athos.
The tradition of the Church regards the Saint as a champion of the Orthodox, the protector of Church Chanters, and a healer of ailments of the throat and every pain affecting this sensitive area of the body (as is also the case with Saint Blaise the Hieromartyr, Bishop of Sebaste, whose feast is celebrated on February 11).
Thus, he is honored at several monasteries in our homeland, such as those on Mount Athos and at the ancient Holy Women's Monastery of the Lady of the Angels at Kechrovouni on Tinos, where his icons are found in many of the monastic cells. In particular, he is honored with a Divine Liturgy celebrated by the women chanters of the Monastery, and artoklasia and kollyva are offered in his honor.
A sacred service in honor of the Saint was composed by the late Elder Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis.
The confession of divine faith revealed you to the Church as another Paul, zealous among the priests. Abel cries out together with you before the Lord, as does the righteous blood of Zechariah. O Venerable Father, entreat Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.
Bibliographical Sources:
Gedeon, Manuel, Patriarchal Tables, Constantinople, 1890.
Efstratiadis, Sophronios, former Metropolitan of Leontopolis, Hagiology of the Orthodox Church, published by the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece.
Kavadias, Dimitrios, Hieromonk, Saint Metrophanes, Archbishop of Constantinople, Athens, 2008.
Matthaiou, Victor, Bishop of Oinoe, Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church, Volume III, November, Athens, 1980.
Mikragiannanitis, Gerasimos, Monk, Service to Our Father among the Saints, Paul, Archbishop of Constantinople, the Confessor.
New Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church, Volume Three, November, Indiktos Publications, Athens, 2004.
Synaxarion of Constantinople (Hippolyte Delehaye, Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum, Novembris, Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae), Brussels.
Christou, K. Panagiotis, Greek Patrology, Volume V, Early Byzantine Period – Seventh and Ninth Centuries, Kyromanos Publications, Thessaloniki, 2010.
Translators Note:
* This traditional Byzantine iambic distich commemorates Saint Paul the Confessor (commemorated on November 6), who was strangled to death by Arian heretics. The hymnographer employs a striking play on words to connect the Saint's physical martyrdom with his subsequent healing grace. In the first line, the Saint bears proudly (αὐχῶν) the physical noose (ἀγχόνην) around his throat. In the second line, the image of strangulation is reversed through the repetition of the word ἀγχόνην: Paul is granted the heavenly grace to loosen and heal the constriction and suffocation caused by harmful bodily humors (ῥευμάτων) in the pharynx and throat (φάρυγξι). As Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite explicitly explains in his Synaxarion, the Saint, having himself been strangled, received the grace to heal these ailments of the throat.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
