Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

740 24. the organization of the church
have risen among the monks, and then been promoted among the clergy.
This meant that he had usually opportunity for biblical and patristic learning,
and would be a spiritual man of whom miraculous powers might be
expected. Such, for example, was the patriarch Eutychius (c. 513–82). 34 At
the age of twelve he was sent from Augustopolis in Phrygia to
Constantinople for his secular education. Becoming a monk, he was
pressed to become bishop of Zaliches, but gave himself to the bishop of
Amasea, who was at Constantinople. He was made a reader and tonsured,
then deacon, and at the minimum age of thirty was ordained presbyter. He
lived in the monastery at Amasea, and was responsible for its administration,
with the title Catholicus. After ruling his monks for eighteen years he
was sent to Constantinople for the council on the Three Chapters. His biblical
skill commended him to the authorities, especially when he found a
biblical precedent for condemning heretics who had died in full communion
with the church. He was appointed patriarch in place of Menas in 552.
We need not follow the later vicissitudes of his career, but only note that
at varous stages, but especially in exile in Amasea, his miraculous gifts are
displayed, at least according to his biographer. Promoting a holy monk,
even with stupendous miraculous gifts, could be a disaster if he lacked
administrative skills, as occurred with Theodore of Sykeon. Having allegedly
acquired miraculous gifts and holy orders as the result of terrible penances
in his youth, Theodore was demanded as bishop by the ‘clergy and
landowners’ of Anastasiopolis. But he soon had to be allowed by patriarch
and emperor to demit office, despite his continuing miracles and the reluctance
of his metropolitan. 35
In the west, aristocratic background and monastic training often
combine. Eucherius of Lyons (died c. 449) was probably of a senatorial
family. In middle life he retired to Lérins, the new centre of ascetic learning,
with his wife, and became a noted writer on the ascetic life before
becoming bishop of Lyons before 441; his two sons shared his retreat and
both became bishops (Veranus at Vence and Salonius at Geneva). 36
Caesarius of Arles is more than an ordinary bishop, but rises in typical
fashion. Born in 470 of a noble family of Chalon-sur-Saône, he joined the
minor clergy at eighteen, and in 490 fled to Lérins. Moving to Arles, he
joined a community of monks in a noble household. Eonius the metropolitan,
a relative, had him trained in rhetoric, then about 499 ordained him
deacon and priest, and sent him to reorganize a community of monks. In
502 Eonius before his death got the agreement of clergy and of the
Visigothic king Alaric II (484–507) to Caesarius’ succession. As bishop,
Caesarius dealt successfully with rulers like Theoderic. He visited Rome
34 Eustratius, Vita S. Eutychii, ed. Laga, CCSG 25; Cameron (1990).
35 Vie de Théodore de Sykéon ed. Festugière (1970) 58, 73–8.
36 Documents and life in Wickham (1982a).
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