Dalmatius

Venerable Dalmatius was archimandrite of the Dalmatian monastery in Constantinople, also called archimandrite of the monasteries, that is, the chief of the monks of the city, who died in 440 (the Greek source gives 438, and our data 436). He is commemorated on 3 August, together with his son Faustus and his predecessor Isaac.

According to the Greek source, Dalmatius came from Asia Minor and served as a soldier under the emperor Theodosius the Great; according to the English one, in the second company of the guards. He was married and had a family. Feeling the call to the monastic life, he left the army, gave his property to his wife and children and was tonsured a monk, together with his son, at the monastery founded in Constantinople by Isaac and afterward named for Dalmatius, the first monastery of the Byzantine capital, which stood on the estate of the senator Saturninus. He received the instruction of Isaac and later became abbot (in 396, according to the Greek source).

Like many monks of the capital, he opposed the Nestorian heresy and played an important part in the downfall of Nestorius. When Theodosius II refused to accept the decisions of the First Council of Ephesus, annulled the council and sided with the Nestorians, Dalmatius, called the father of the monks of the capital, went at the urging of Cyril of Alexandria at the head of a crowd of monks, clergy and faithful to the emperor's palace. It was the first time in 48 years that he had left his monastery, and the emperor was astonished to see the holy man abroad; he granted the request to hear Cyril's defence, which led in the end to Cyril's vindication and the victory of Orthodoxy. For this contribution he was named archimandrite and exarch of the monasteries of Constantinople.

Of his writings there survive a narrative of the conversation between Dalmatius and Theodosius II, a letter of the council to Dalmatius, and one of the clergy of Constantinople to the same council.