Flavian II | |
---|---|
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East | |
Church | Church of Antioch |
See | Antioch |
Installed | 498 |
Term ended | 512 |
Predecessor | Palladius |
Successor | Severus |
Personal details | |
Died | 518 Petra, Byzantine Empire |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | July 20 (Julian Calendar) August 2 (Gregorian Calendar) |
Venerated in | Orthodox Christianity, Catholic Christianity |
Flavian II of Antioch (Latin: Flavianus II; Greek: Φλαβιανός Β Αντιοχείας, Phlabianós II Antiokheías) was the Patriarch of Antioch from 498 until his deposition in 512.
Flavian was a Basilian monk at the Monastery of Tilmognon and later became a apocrisiarius. After the death of Palladius in 498, Flavian was appointed by Emperor Anastasius I as Patriarch of Antioch on the condition that he accepted the Henotikon. However, during his reign as patriarch, Flavian did not show any opposition to Chalcedonianism.
As patriarch, Flavian and Patriarch Elias of Jerusalem, resisted the attempts to abolish the Council of Chalcedon. However, due to the conflict between Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians in Antioch, Flavian endeavoured to please both parties by steering a middle course in reference to the Chalcedonian decrees, yet was forced by Anastasius to sign the Henotikon in 508/509. Furthermore, Flavian was accused of Nestorianism by Philoxenus, Bishop of Hierapolis.
In 511, Philoxenus convinced Monophysites of the surrounding Syrian countryside to storm Antioch and force Flavian to condemn the Council of Chalcedon but was met by fierce Chalcedonians who slaughtered the attackers and dumped their bodies into the River Orontes. The monks of Flavian's former monastery journeyed to Antioch to defend Flavian against the anti-Chalcedonians. These events drove Anastasius to adopt a Miaphysite ecclesiastical programme and thus Flavian and Elias lost imperial support.