Editing Flavian of Constantinople (section)

== Death and Martyrdom ==
[[File:Martyrdom of Saint Flavian.png|thumb|The Martyrdom of Saint Flavian by Shea (1894)|alt=Depiction of the Martyrdom of Flavian by Dioscorus and Barsumas]]

At the previously mentioned second Council of Ephesus at the crux of the council the various leaders opposed to Eutyches' [[Monophysitism]] were variously assaulted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Flavian, Martyr, Archbishop of Constantinople |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/st-flavian-martyr-archbishop-of-constantinople-5466 |access-date=10 May 2024 |website=EWTN - Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}}</ref> Once Flavian's condemnation was read, some of his supporters (namely bishops Onesiphorus of [[Iconium]], Marinianus of [[Synnada]], Nunechius of [[Diocese of Laodicea in Phrygia|Laodicea]] and others) rushed to appeal to  Dioscorus, who summoned the [[Comes|counts]] Helpidius and Eulogius to restore order. They entered the church, led by the [[proconsul]] Proclus  and followed by soldiers and a mob. Flavian feared for his life and escaped to the [[sacristry]], where he was under guard. He wrote a letter to [[Pope Leo I|Pope Leo]], which [[papal legate]] and future Pope [[Pope Hilarius|Hilarius]] conveyed to Rome after escaping Ephesus with much difficulty. Flavian, however, was then beaten, kicked, and trampled over by impudent monks led by a certain [[Barsauma (died 456)|Barsauma]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scholasticus |first=Evagrius |title=Ecclesiastical History |date=593}}</ref> He succumbed to his injuries after three days at [[Hypaepa|Epipus]] in [[Lydia]], and was buried obscurely.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Comes |first=Marcellinus |title=Annales |date=534}}</ref>

The exact circumstances of Flavian's death, and the extent of Dioscorus' personal responsibility for it, are unclear and remain controversial in [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern]]-[[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodox]] dialogue. Flavian's lettter to Leo says that soldiers "with unsheathed swords" threatened the bishops, and that a crowd of soldiers surrounded him and prevented him from taking sanctuary in the altar, but he does not mention any physical assault.<ref name="Chadwick">{{cite book |last=Chadwick|first=Henry|author-link=Henry Chadwick (theologian)|year=1955|title=The Exile and Death of Flavian of Constantinople: A Prologue to the Council of Chalcedon|publisher=Oxford Publishing Limited(England) |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-theological-studies_1955-04_6_1/|access-date=2 December 2024}}</ref> At the [[Council of Chalcedon]] two years later, eyewitnesses gave several conflicting accounts. One deacon, Ischyrion, accused Dioscorus of ordering his [[Synkellos|syncelli]] (personal clerics) to murder people at Ephesus and even promoting them for the killings. [[Basil of Seleucia]] claimed "Armed soldiers burst into the church, and there were arrayed Barsauma and his monks, [[parabalani]], and a great miscellaneous mob" and that Dioscorus controlled the bishops there using "the threats of the mob". According to [[Diogenes of Cyzicus]], a group of Barsauma's monks beat up Flavian while Barsauma cried "Strike him dead!". Finally, some bishops testified that Dioscorus' soldiers killed Flavian with clubs and swords. However, Richard Price and Michael Gaddis question the impartiality of these accounts, noting that these bishops had to place all blame for Flavian's death on Dioscorus to exculpate themselves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Price |first=Richard |url=http://dge.cchs.csic.es/dge-i/lst-trad/Bookzz/Price%20-%20Gaddis%202007.pdf |title=The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon |last2=Gaddis |first2=Michael |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-84631-100-0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211072052/http://ixoyc.net/data/Fathers/624.pdf |publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] |archive-date=11 February 2014}}</ref>

Additional, possibly embellished details about Flavian's death only appear in later authors. The earliest source on Flavian's death, [[Nestorius]], describes how Flavian was beaten at Ephesus, though not to death, and then banished to his home city of [[Hypaepa]]. However, the soldiers rushed him to his place of exile (with murderous intent, according to Nestorius), so that Flavian's injuries combined with the fatigue of the journey led to his death after four days.<ref name="Chadwick"/> [[Prosper of Aquitaine]], another contemporary, affirms that Flavian was killed by the soldiers taking him to his place of banishment. In a disputed letter to [[Theodoret]] dated 11 June 453, Pope Leo blamed Dioscorus in a general sense for Flavian's death. [[Liberatus of Carthage]] relates that Flavian suffered blows and died as a result. According to [[Evagrius Scholasticus]], [[Eusebius of Dorylaeum]] complained at the council that Dioscorus himself, along with Barsauma's monks, beat and kicked Flavian.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Evagrius Scholasticus |author-link=Evagrius Scholasticus |title=Ecclesiastical History (431–594 AD), Book 2 |translator=Edward Walford |translator-link=Edward Walford |url=https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/evagrius_2_book2.htm |isbn=978-0353453159 |quote=He also said that Flavian had even been brought to a miserable end by being thrust and trampled on by Dioscorus himself.}}</ref> [[Theophanes the Confessor]], writing three centuries after the event, mentions that Dioscorus personally struck Flavian "both with hands and feet".<ref>{{cite book |author=Charles Joseph Hefele |author-link=Karl Josef von Hefele |title=A History Of The Councils Of The Church |url=https://www.ecatholic2000.com/councils/untitled-35.shtml |isbn=978-1500177898}}</ref> The detail of Flavian clutching the altar as he was beaten is also a later invention.