Callinicus I of Constantinople

Saint Callinicus I of Constantinople was Ecumenical Patriarch from 693 to 705, under the emperors Justinian II, Leontius and Tiberius III. The Church remembers him for the patience with which he bore the vengeance of an emperor he had opposed, and tradition keeps the story of his end in Rome. His feast is on 23 August.

Early life and ministry

Before he became patriarch, Callinicus was a priest and keeper of the sacred vessels (skeuophylax) at the church of the Mother of God at Blachernae in Constantinople. He came to the patriarchal throne in 693, when Justinian II was emperor. According to the sources, he opposed the harshness with which the emperor treated the nobles and the servants of the Church and, according to some, he stood against a plan to tear down a church of the Mother of God near the Great Palace.

The fall and return of Justinian

The chronicler Theophanes the Confessor writes that the emperor meant to kill the patriarch, but was forestalled by the rising of Leontius. Callinicus joined the conspirators, and in 695 Justinian was overthrown. According to some sources, the patriarch crowned Leontius and then Tiberius III Apsimar, who reigned until Justinian came back. The chronicles say nothing of his relations with these two emperors.

When Justinian regained the throne in 705, he took vengeance on those who had brought him down. Callinicus was removed from his see, blinded and sent into exile in Rome.

His end

According to his Life, preserved in a short account in the imperial Menologion of the eleventh century, he was walled up alive in Rome by the emperor's order. After forty days the wall was opened and he was still alive, but he fell asleep in the Lord a few days later, worn out by exhaustion. This is a tradition, and the early Byzantine historians Theophanes and Patriarch Nikephoros do not confirm these details. The sources also differ on the date of his death: some point to 706, others to a later year, 711.

Tradition adds that he was buried in the church of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul at the command of the pope, probably John VII, to whom the apostles themselves are said to have appeared in a vision. His place on the throne of Constantinople was taken by Cyrus.

Veneration

Callinicus was numbered among the saints by the Church of Constantinople. His memory is kept on 23 August, though some calendars give 28 or 30 August.