Editing Persecution of Christians (section)

=== Roman Empire ===
[[File:Barbara of Nicomedia (Menologion of Basil II).jpg|thumb|Execution of [[Saint Barbara]], reputed to have been killed under the emperor [[Diocletian]], depicted in the ''[[Menologion of Basil II]]'']]

====The Great Persecution====
{{Main|Diocletianic Persecution}}
{{See also|Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire}}
The Great Persecution, or Diocletianic Persecution, was begun by the senior ''[[Augustus (title)#Imperial honorific|augustus]]'' and [[Roman emperor]] [[Diocletian]] ({{Reign|284|305}}) on 23 February 303.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Nicholson|first=Oliver|title=Christians, persecution of|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-1035|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity|year=2018|editor-last=Nicholson|editor-first=Oliver|edition=online|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-866277-8|access-date=2020-10-07}}</ref> In the eastern Roman empire, the official persecution lasted intermittently until 313, while in the [[Western Roman Empire]] the persecution went unenforced from 306.<ref name=":0" /> According to [[Lactantius]]'s ''De mortibus persecutorum'' ("on the deaths of the persecutors"), Diocletian's junior emperor, the ''[[Caesar (title)|caesar]]'' [[Galerius]] ({{Reign|293|311}}) pressured the ''augustus'' to begin persecuting Christians.<ref name=":0" /> [[Eusebius of Caesarea]]'s ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Church History]]'' reports that [[imperial edict]]s were promulgated to destroy churches and confiscate scriptures, and to remove Christian occupants of government positions, while Christian priests were to be imprisoned and required to perform [[sacrifice in ancient Roman religion]].<ref name=":0" /> In the account of Eusebius, an unnamed Christian man (named by later hagiographers as {{interlanguage link|Euethius of Nicomedia|el|Εβένσιος της Νικομήδειας|es|Evecio de Nicomedia|it|Evezio|sw|Evesi wa Nikomedia}} and venerated on 27 February) tore down a public notice of an imperial edict while the emperors Diocletian and Galerius were in [[Nicomedia]] ([[İzmit]]), one of Diocletian's capitals; according to Lactantius, he was tortured and burned alive.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shaw|first=Brent D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8ZRPTgcjrcC|title=Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-521-19605-5|page=176}}</ref> According to Lactantius, the church at [[Nicomedia]] ([[İzmit]]) was destroyed, while the ''[[Optatan Appendix]]'' has an account from the [[praetorian prefecture of Africa]] involving the confiscation of written materials which led to the [[Donatist schism]].<ref name=":0" /> According to Eusebius's ''[[Martyrs of Palestine]]'' and Lactantius's ''De mortibus persecutorum'', a fourth edict in 304 demanded that everyone perform sacrifices, though in the western empire this was not enforced.<ref name=":0" />

An "unusually philosophical" dialogue is recorded in the trial proceedings of [[Phileas of Thmuis]], bishop of [[Thmuis]] in [[Egypt (Roman province)|Egypt]]'s [[Nile Delta]], which survive on Greek [[papyri]] from the 4th century among the [[Bodmer Papyri]] and the [[Chester Beatty Papyri]] of the [[Bodmer Library|Bodmer]] and [[Chester Beatty Library|Chester Beatty]] libraries and in manuscripts in [[Latin]], [[Ethiopic]], and [[Coptic language|Coptic]] languages from later centuries, a body of [[hagiography]] known as the ''[[Acts of Phileas]]''.<ref name=":0" /> Phileas was condemned at his fifth trial at [[Alexandria]] under {{interlanguage link|Clodius Culcianus|ru|Клодий Кульциан}}, the ''[[praefectus Aegypti]]'' on 4 February 305 (the 10th day of [[Meshir|''Mecheir'']]).

In the western empire, the Diocletianic Persecution ceased with the usurpation by two emperors' sons in 306: that of Constantine, who was [[Acclamatio|acclaimed]] ''augustus'' by the army after his father [[Constantius I]] ({{Reign|293|306}}) died, and that of [[Maxentius]] ({{Reign|306|312}}) who was elevated to ''augustus'' by the [[Roman Senate]] after the grudging retirement of his father [[Maximian]] ({{Reign|285|305}}) and his co-''augustus'' Diocletian in May 305.<ref name=":0" /> Of Maxentius, who controlled Italy with his now un-retired father, and Constantine, who controlled [[Roman Britain|Britain]], [[Roman Gaul|Gaul]], and [[Roman Iberia|Iberia]], neither was inclined to continue the persecution.<ref name=":0" /> In the eastern empire however, Galerius, now ''augustus'', continued Diocletian's policy.<ref name=":0" /> Eusebius's ''Church History'' and ''Martyrs of Palestine'' both give accounts of martyrdom and persecution of Christians, including Eusebius's own mentor [[Pamphilus of Caesarea]], with whom he was imprisoned during the persecution.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Peter the Archbishop of Alexandria (Menologion of Basil II).jpg|thumb|The execution of the patriarch [[Peter I of Alexandria|Peter of Alexandria]] under the emperor [[Maximinus Daia]], depicted in the ''[[Menologion of Basil II]]'']]
[[File:Martyrs Silvanus the Bishop of Emesa, Luke the deacon, and Mocius (Mucius) the reader (Menologion of Basil II).jpg|thumb|The execution of the martyrs [[Luke the Deacon]], [[Mocius the Reader]], and {{interlanguage link|Silvanus, bishop of Emesa|fr|Sylvain (évêque d'Émèse)|it|Silvano di Emesa|sw|Silvano wa Homs}}, reputed to have been killed under the emperor [[Maximinus Daia]], depicted in the ''[[Menologion of Basil II]]'']]
When Galerius died in May 311, he is reported by Lactantius and Eusebius to have composed a deathbed edict – the [[Edict of Serdica]] – allowing the assembly of Christians in [[conventicles]] and explaining the motives for the prior persecution.<ref name=":0" /> Eusebius wrote that Easter was celebrated openly.<ref name=":0" /> By autumn however, Galerius's nephew, former ''caesar'', and co-''augustus'' [[Maximinus Daia]] ({{Reign|310|313}}) was enforcing Diocletian's persecution in his territories in [[Anatolia]] and the [[Diocese of the East]] in response to petitions from numerous cities and provinces, including [[Antioch]], [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Lycia]], and [[Pisidia]].<ref name=":0" /> Maximinus was also encouraged to act by an [[Oracle|oracular]] pronouncement made by a statue of Zeus ''Philios'' set up in Antioch by [[Theotecnus of Antioch]], who also organized an anti-Christian petition to be sent from the Antiochenes to Maximinus, requesting that the Christians there be expelled.<ref name=":0" /> Among the Christians known to have died in this phase of the persecution are the [[presbyter]] [[Lucian of Antioch]], the bishop [[Methodius of Olympus|Methodius]] of [[Olympus (Lycia)|Olympus in Lycia]], and [[Peter I of Alexandria|Peter]], the [[patriarch of Alexandria]]. Defeated in a civil war by the ''augustus'' [[Licinius]] ({{Reign|308|324}}), Maximinus died in 313, ending the systematic persecution of Christianity as a whole in the Roman Empire.<ref name=":0" /> Only one martyr is known by name from the reign of Licinius, who issued the [[Edict of Milan]] jointly with his ally, co-''augustus'', and brother-in-law Constantine, which had the effect of resuming the toleration of before the persecution and returning confiscated property to Christian owners.<ref name=":0" />

The ''[[New Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' states that "Ancient, medieval and early modern hagiographers were inclined to exaggerate the number of martyrs. Since the title of martyr is the highest title to which a Christian can aspire, this tendency is natural".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howells |first1=Kristina |title=Making Sense of Bible Prophecy |date=2008 |publisher=Lulu |isbn=978-1409207832 |page=91}}</ref> Attempts at estimating the numbers involved are inevitably based on inadequate sources.<ref name="Frend">{{cite book |title=The Rise of Christianity |author=W. H. C. Frend |publisher=Fortress Press, Philadelphia |year=1984 |page=319 |isbn=978-0-8006-1931-2|author-link=W. H. C. Frend }}</ref>

==== Constantinian period ====
{{Main|Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire}}
{{See also|Religious policies of Constantine the Great}}
The Christian church marked the conversion of [[Constantine the Great]] as the final fulfillment of its heavenly victory over the "false gods".<ref name="Brown2">Brown, Peter. "Christianization and religious conflict". The Cambridge Ancient History 13 (1998): 337–425.</ref>{{rp|xxxii}} The Roman state had always seen itself as divinely directed, now it saw the first great age of persecution, in which the [[Devil in Christianity|Devil]] was considered to have used open violence to dissuade the growth of Christianity, at an end.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Shaw|first=Brent D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8ZRPTgcjrcC|title=Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-521-19605-5|pages=598–599}}</ref> The orthodox catholic<!-- do not capitalize either of these words, the meant as general terms, not labels connected with the present-day denominations --> Christians close to the Roman state represented imperial persecution as an historical phenomenon, rather than a contemporary one.<ref name=":2"/> According to MacMullan, the Christian histories are colored by this "triumphalism".<ref name="MacMullen1986p4">MacMullen, Ramsay (1997) ''Christianity & Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries'', Yale University Press, p.4 quote: "non Christian writings came in for this same treatment, that is destruction in great bonfires at the center of the town square. Copyists were discouraged from replacing them by the threat of having their hands cut off</ref>{{rp|4}}

[[Peter Leithart]] says that, "[Constantine] did not punish pagans for being pagans, or Jews for being Jews, and did not adopt a policy of forced conversion".<ref name="Leithart2010">{{cite book |last1=Leithart |first1=Peter J. |title=Defending Constantine The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom |date=2010 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=9780830827220}}</ref>{{rp|61}} Pagans remained in important positions at his court.<ref name="Leithart2010"/>{{rp|302}} He outlawed the gladiatorial shows, destroyed some temples and plundered more, and used forceful rhetoric against non-Christians, but he never engaged in a purge.<ref name="Leithart2010"/>{{rp|302}} Maxentius' supporters were not slaughtered when Constantine took the capital; Licinius' family and court were not killed.<ref name="Leithart2010"/>{{rp|304}} However, followers of doctrines which were seen as heretical or causing [[schism]] were persecuted during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, and they would be persecuted again later in the 4th century.<ref name="Tilley1996">{{cite book|title=Donatist Martyr Stories The Church in Conflict in Roman North Africa|date=1996|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=9780853239314|editor1-last=Tilley|editor1-first=Maureen A.|pages=ix, xiv}}</ref> The consequence of Christian doctrinal disputes was generally mutual excommunication, but once Roman government became involved in ecclesiastical politics, rival factions could find themselves subject to "repression, expulsion, imprisonment or exile" carried out by the Roman army.<ref name="John F. Shean">{{cite book |last1=Shean |first1=John F. |title=Soldiering for God Christianity and the Roman Army |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004187337}}</ref>{{rp|317}}

In 312, the Christian sect called [[Donatism|Donatists]] appealed to Constantine to solve a dispute. He convened a synod of bishops to hear the case, but the synod sided against them. The Donatists refused to accept the ruling, so a second gathering of 200 at Arles, in 314, was called, but they also ruled against them. The Donatists again refused to accept the ruling, and proceeded to act accordingly by establishing their own bishop, building their own churches, and refusing cooperation.<ref name="John F. Shean"/>{{rp|317}}<ref name="Tilley1996"/>{{rp|xv}} This was a defiance of imperial authority, and it produced the same response Rome had taken in the past against such refusals. For a Roman emperor, "religion could be tolerated only as long as it contributed to the stability of the state".<ref name="Earle E. Cairns">Cairns, Earle E. (1996). "Chapter 7:Christ or Caesar". Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church (Third ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. {{ISBN|978-0-310-20812-9}}.</ref>{{rp|87}} Constantine used the army in an effort to compel Donatist' obedience, burning churches and martyring some from 317 – 321.<ref name="Tilley1996"/>{{rp|ix; xv}} Constantine failed in reaching his goal and ultimately conceded defeat. The schism remained and Donatism continued.<ref name="John F. Shean"/>{{rp|318}} After Constantine, his youngest son [[Constans|Flavius Julius Constans]], initiated the [[Macarius (imperial legate)|Macarian campaign]] against the Donatists from 346 – 348 which only succeeded in renewing sectarian strife and creating more martyrs. Donatism continued.<ref name="Tilley1996"/>{{rp|xvii}}

The fourth century was dominated by its many conflicts defining orthodoxy versus heterodoxy and heresy. In the Eastern Roman empire, known as Byzantium, the [[Arian controversy]] began with its debate of Trinitarian formulas which lasted 56 years.<ref name="Olson">{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Roger E.|title=The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform|publisher=InterVarsity Press|location=Downer's Grove, In.|year=1999|page=172|isbn=978-0-8308-1505-0}}</ref>{{rp|141}} As it moved into the West, the center of the controversy was the "champion of orthodoxy", [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]]. In 355 Constantius, who supported Arianism, ordered the suppression and exile of Athanasius, expelled the orthodox [[Pope Liberius]] from Rome, and exiled bishops who refused to assent to Athanasius's exile.<ref name=":4"/> In 355, [[Dionysius (bishop of Milan)|Dionysius]], bishop of [[Mediolanum]] ([[Milan]]) was expelled from his episcopal see and replaced by the Arian Christian [[Auxentius of Milan]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shaw|first=Brent D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8ZRPTgcjrcC|title=Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-521-19605-5|pages=460–466}}</ref> When Constantius returned to Rome in 357, he consented to allow the return of Liberius to the papacy; the Arian [[Pope Felix II]], who had replaced him, was then driven out along with his followers.<ref name=":4"/>

The last emperor of the [[Constantinian dynasty]], [[Julius Constantius|Constantine's half-brother]]'s son [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] ({{Reign|361|363}}) opposed Christianity and sought to restore traditional religion, though he did not arrange a general or official persecution.<ref name=":0"/>

==== Valentinianic–Theodosian period ====
According to the ''[[Collectio Avellana]]'', on the death of Pope Liberius in 366, Damasus, assisted by hired gangs of "charioteers" and men "from the arena", broke into the [[Basilica Julia]] to violently prevent the election of [[Pope Ursicinus]].<ref name=":4"/> The battle lasted three days, "with great slaughter of the faithful" and a week later Damasus seized the [[Lateran Basilica]], had himself ordained as [[Pope Damasus I]], and compelled the ''[[praefectus urbi]]'' [[Viventius]] and the ''[[praefectus annonae]]'' to exile Ursicinus.<ref name=":4"/> Damasus then had seven Christian priests arrested and awaiting banishment, but they escaped and "gravediggers" and minor clergy joined another mob of hippodrome and amphitheatre men assembled by the pope to attack the [[Liberian Basilica]], where Ursacinus's loyalists had taken refuge.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Shaw|first=Brent D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8ZRPTgcjrcC|title=Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-521-19605-5|pages=458–460}}</ref> According to [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], on 26 October, the pope's mob killed 137 people in the church in just one day, and many more died subsequently.<ref name=":4" /> The Roman public frequently enjoined the emperor [[Valentinian the Great]] to remove Damasus from the throne of Saint Peter, calling him a murderer for having waged a "filthy war" against the Christians.<ref name=":4" />

In the 4th century, the [[Thervings|Terving]] king [[Athanaric]] in {{Circa|375}} ordered the [[Gothic persecution of Christians]].<ref>Peter Heather & John Matthews, ''Goths in the Fourth Century'', pp. 96ff</ref> Athanaric was perturbed by the spread of [[Gothic Christianity]] among his followers, and feared for the displacement of [[Gothic paganism]].

It was not until the later 4th century reigns of the ''augusti'' [[Gratian]] ({{Reign|367|383}}), [[Valentinian II]] ({{Reign|375|392}}), and [[Theodosius I]] ({{Reign|379|395}}) that Christianity would become the official religion of the empire with the joint promulgation of the [[Edict of Thessalonica]], establishing [[Nicene Christianity]] as the [[state religion]] and as the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] on 27 February 380. After this began state persecution of non-Nicene Christians, including [[Arianism|Arian]] and [[Nontrinitarianism|Nontrinitarian]] devotees.<ref name="MacMullen'sordinaryday">{{cite book|last1=MacMullen|first1=Ramsay|title=Changes in the Roman Empire: Essays in the Ordinary|date=2019|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691655246}}</ref>{{rp|267}}

When [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] became coadjutor Bishop of Hippo in 395, both Donatist and Catholic parties had, for decades, existed side-by-side, with a double line of bishops for the same cities, all competing for the loyalty of the people.<ref name="Tilley1996"/>{{rp|xv}}{{efn|French archaeology has shown the north African landscape of this time period became "covered with a white robe of churches" with Catholics and Donatists building multiple churches with granaries to feed the poor as they competed for the loyalty of the people.<ref name="Brown1964">{{cite journal|last=Brown|first= P.|year=1964|title=St. Augustine's Attitude to Religious Coercion|journal=Journal of Roman Studies|volume= 54|issue=1–2| pages=107–116|doi=10.2307/298656|jstor= 298656|s2cid= 162757247}}</ref>}}{{rp|334}} Augustine was distressed by the ongoing schism, but he held the view that belief cannot be compelled, so he appealed to the Donatists using popular propaganda, debate, personal appeal, General Councils, appeals to the emperor and political pressure, but all attempts failed.<ref name="Frend1">{{cite book|last=Frend|first=W.H.C.|title=The Donatist Church|date=2020|publisher=Wipf and Stock|isbn=9781532697555|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QNbaDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{rp|242,254}} The Donatists fomented protests and street violence, accosted travelers, attacked random Catholics without warning, often doing serious and unprovoked bodily harm such as beating people with clubs, cutting off their hands and feet, and gouging out eyes while also inviting their own martyrdom.<ref name="Markus">R. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St.Augustine (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 149–153</ref>{{rp|120–121}} By 408, Augustine supported the state's use of force against them.<ref name="Brown1964"/>{{rp|107–116}} Historian Frederick Russell says that Augustine did not believe this would "make the Donatists more virtuous" but he did believe it would make them "less vicious".<ref name="Russell2"/>{{rp|128}}

Augustine wrote that there had, in the past, been ten Christian persecutions, beginning with the Neronian persecution, and alleging persecutions by the emperors [[Domitian]], [[Trajan]], "Antoninus" ([[Marcus Aurelius]]), "Severus" ([[Septimius Severus]]), and [[Maximinus Thrax|Maximinus]] (''Thrax''), as well as Decian and Valerianic persecutions, and then another by [[Aurelian]] as well as by Diocletian and Maximian.<ref name=":2"/> These ten persecutions Augustine compared with the [[10 Plagues of Egypt]] in the ''[[Book of Exodus]]''.{{Refn|Augustine, ''Civitate dei'', XVIII.50: {{langx|la|Proinde ne illud quidem temere puto esse dicendum siue credendum, quod nonnullis uisum est uel uidetur, non-amplius ecclesiam passuram persecutiones usque ad tempus Antichristi, quam quot iam passa est, id est decem, ut undecima eademque nouissima sit ab Antichristo. Primam quippe computant a Nerone quae facta est, secundam a Domitiano, a Traiano tertiam, quartam ab Antonino, a Seuero quintam, sextam a Maximino, a Decio septimam, octauam a Valeriano, ab Aureliano nonam, decimam a Diocletiano et Maximiano. Plagas enim Aegyptiorum, quoniam decem fuerunt, antequam exire inde inciperet populus Dei, putant ad hunc intellectum esse referendas, ut nouissima Antichristi persecutio similis uideatur undecimae plagae, qua Aegyptii, dum hostiliter sequerentur Hebraeos, in mari Rubro populo Dei per siccum transeunte perierunt.}}|group=note}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pollmann|first=Karla|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62901044|title=Mauritius und die Thebäische Legion: Akten des internationalen Kolloquiums: Freiburg, Saint-Maurice, Martigny, 17.-20. September 2003|publisher=Academic Press Fribourg|year=2005|isbn=3-7278-1527-2|editor-last=Wermelinger|editor-first=Otto|pages=227–254|trans-title=Mauritius and the Thebaic Legion: files of the international colloquium: Freiburg, Saint-Maurice, Martigny, 17–20 September 2003|chapter=Poetische Paraphrasen der Actio Acaunensium Martyrum des Eucherius von Lyon|oclc=62901044|editor-last2=Bruggisser|editor-first2=Philippe|editor-last3=Näf|editor-first3=Beat|editor-last4=Roessli|editor-first4=Jean-Michel}}</ref> Augustine did not see these early persecutions in the same light as that of fourth century heretics. In Augustine's view, when the purpose of persecution is to "lovingly correct and instruct", then it becomes discipline and is just.<ref name="Marcos">Marcos, Mar. "The Debate on Religious Coercion in Ancient Christianity." Chaos e Kosmos 14 (2013): 1–16.</ref>{{rp|2}} Augustine wrote that "coercion cannot transmit the truth to the heretic, but it can prepare them to hear and receive the truth".<ref name="Brown1964"/>{{rp|107–116}} He said the church would discipline its people out of a loving desire to heal them, and that, "once compelled to come in, heretics would gradually give their voluntary assent to the truth of Christian orthodoxy."<ref name="Russell2">{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Frederick H. |title=The Limits of Ancient Christianity: Essays on Late Antique Thought and Culture in Honor of R.A. Markus. |date=1999 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-472-10997-9 |chapter=Persuading the Donatists: Augustine's Coercion by Words}}</ref>{{rp|115}} He opposed the severity of Rome and the execution of heretics.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Toleration, History of |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church|year=1912 |publisher=University of Michigan |editor-last=Herbermann|editor-first=Charles George|pages=761–772}}</ref>{{rp|768}}

It is his teaching on coercion that has literature on Augustine frequently referring to him as ''le prince et patriarche de persecuteurs'' (the prince and patriarch of persecutors).<ref name="Markus"/>{{rp|116}}<ref name="Brown1964"/>{{rp|107}} Russell says Augustine's theory of coercion "was not crafted from dogma, but in response to a unique historical situation" and is therefore context dependent, while others see it as inconsistent with his other teachings.<ref name="Russell2"/>{{rp|125}} His authority on the question of coercion was undisputed for over a millennium in [[Western Christianity]], and according to Brown "it provided the theological foundation for the justification of medieval persecution."<ref name="Brown1964" />{{rp|107–116}}

==== Heraclian period ====
[[Callinicus I of Constantinople|Callinicus I]], initially a priest and ''skeuophylax'' in the {{interlanguage link|Church of the Theotokos of Blachernae|ka|მოსკოვის ვლაქერნის ღვთისმშობლის ხატის ეკლესია|ru|Церковь Влахернской иконы Божией Матери в Кузьминках}}, became patriarch of Constantinople in 693 or 694.<ref name=":15">{{cite web |editor1-last=Kazhdan |editor1-first=Alexander P. |editor1-link=Alexander Kazhdan |editor2-last=Talbot |editor2-first=Alice-Mary |editor2-link=Alice-Mary Talbot |year=1998 |title=Dumbarton Oaks Hagiography Database |url=https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/resources/hagiography/hagiointro.pdf |website=doaks.org |location=Dumbarton Oaks |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |access-date=11 April 2022}}</ref>{{rp|58–59}} Having refused to consent to the demolition of a chapel in the [[Great Palace of Constantinople|Great Palace]], the ''Theotokos ton Metropolitou'', and having possibly been involved in the deposition and exile of [[Justinian II]] ({{Reign|685|695|705|711}}), an allegation denied by the ''Synaxarion of Constantinople'', he was himself exiled to Rome on the return of Justinian to power in 705.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|58–59}} The emperor had Callinicus [[immured]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|58–59}} He is said to have survived forty days when the wall was opened to check his condition, though he died four days later.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|58–59}}