Saints Alexander (†340), John (6th c.) and Paul the New (†784), Patriarchs of Constantinople — August 30 / September 12 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 30 according to the Julian Calendar (September 12 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saints Alexander, John and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople.

Saints Alexander, John and Paul, Patriarchs of Constantinople, lived at different times, but each of them had to contend with heretics who distorted the teaching of the Church. Saint Alexander (325–340) was chorepiscopus under the first Patriarch of Constantinople, Metrophanes (316–325), and because of the patriarch’s advanced age he represented him at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325), which was convened against the Arians. Before his death, the hierarch Metrophanes directed that his chorepiscopus be elected to the see of Constantinople. In those years the most holy Patriarch Alexander had to struggle against both Arians and pagans. Once, in a dispute with a pagan philosopher, the hierarch said to him: “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to be silent!” — and the godless man lost the power of speech. He then signalled without words that he acknowledged his error; his speech returned to him, and together with other pagan philosophers he was baptized. Through the prayers of the hierarch Alexander, God’s judgment fell upon the heretic Arius. Arius had feigned agreement to enter into communion with the Orthodox, and Saint Constantine the Great had even appointed the day of his reception. Blessed Alexander stood in prayer the whole night, beseeching the Lord not to permit the heretic’s false union with the Church. In the morning, as Arius, surrounded by the emperor’s counsellors and armour-bearers, was proceeding in triumph toward the church, he was suddenly seized with illness in the Forum of Constantine; his belly burst open and his entrails poured out.

Worn out by many labours, the most holy Patriarch Alexander reposed in the year 340, at the age of ninety-eight.

The hierarch John is glorified in the service of this day for his fasting, his love for the poor and his miracles; for this reason some identify him with John the Faster (582–595, commemorated September 2), while according to other opinions he is John the Cappadocian (518–520) or Patriarch John Scholasticus (565–577).

The hierarch Paul was a native of Cyprus. He ascended the patriarchal throne of Constantinople (780–784) in the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo IV the Khazar (775–780). He was richly adorned with virtues, a pious man, yet timid. Seeing the torments and sufferings that the Orthodox endured for their faithfulness to the veneration of the holy icons, the blessed father concealed his Orthodox faith and remained in communion with the iconoclasts. After the death of Emperor Leo he wished to restore the veneration of icons, but he was unable to carry out his intention, since the heretics had already grown too powerful. Realizing that he could not lead his flock, the hierarch voluntarily left his see, withdrew to the Monastery of Saint Florus and received the great schema. He repented of his association with the iconoclasts and proposed that a Seventh Ecumenical Council be convened to condemn this heresy. On his advice, the hierarch Tarasius (784–806), who was at that time an imperial counsellor, was raised to the patriarchal throne after Saint Paul. The patriarch and schemamonk reposed in the year 784. He is called “the New” to distinguish him from the holy Patriarch Paul (†350, commemorated November 6).