Saint Anatolius,
Patriarch of Constantinople, was born at Alexandria in the second half
of the fourth century, at a time when many representatives of
illustrious Byzantine families ardently strove to serve the Church of
Christ armed with Greek philosophic wisdom. Having studied
philosophy, St Anatolius was ordained a deacon by St Cyril of Alexandria
(January 18). Anatolius was present at the Third Ecumenical Council at
Ephesus in the year 431 (September 9), at which the holy Fathers
condemned the false teaching of Nestorius.
Saint Anatolius remained a deacon at Alexandria
and after the death of St Cyril (+ 444), when the See of Constantinople
was occupied by Dioscorus, a supporter of the heresy being spread by
Eutyches, which said that the Divine nature in Christ had fully
swallowed up and absorbed His human nature. This false teaching
undermined the very basis of the Church's teaching about the salvation
and redemption of humankind [trans. note: Since "what is not assumed is
not saved", if Christ has only a Divine nature and not a human nature,
then the salvation of humankind, and even the Incarnation of Christ
would be rendered heretically docetic]. In the year 449 Dioscorus and
his followers convened a heretical "Robber Council" at
Ephesus, having received also the support of the emperor. The great
advocate of Orthodoxy, St Flavian, the Patriarch of Constantinople, was
deposed.
Elected to the See of Constantinople, Saint
Anatolius zealously set about restoring the purity of Orthodoxy. In 450,
at a local Council in Constantinople, Saint Anatolius condemned the
heresy of Eutyches and Dioscorus. Having died in exile, the confessor
Flavian was numbered among the saints and his relics were transferred to
the capital.
In the following year, 451, with the active
participation of Patriarch Anatolius, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was
convened at Chalcedon. The Fathers of the Chalcedon Council affirmed the
dogma about the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, "perfect in divinity
and perfect in humanity, true God and true man, made known in two
natures without mingling, without change, indivisibly, inseparably"
(Greek: "asynkhutos, atreptos, adiairetos, akhoristos").
After a life of constant struggle against
heresy and for truth, Patriarch Anatolius died in the year 458.
Among the canons enacted was the 28th Canon of
the Fourth Ecumenical Council stating that the See of Constantinople is
equal to the throne of Old Rome. The churches of Asia Minor, Greece and
the Black Sea region, and all new churches that might arise in these
regions were placed under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of
Constantinople, in accord with the 28th Canon.
Saint Anatolius also made a large contribution
to the literary treasury of the Orthodox Church. He composed liturgical
hymns for Sundays, for certain Feasts of the Lord (the Nativity and the
Theophany of Christ), for the martyrs ( St Panteleimon the Healer, St
George the Victory-Bearer, St Demetrius of Thessalonica). In the service
books they are designated simply as "Anatolian" verses.
