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Maris, Bishop of Chalcedon

Wace's Dictionary of Early Christian Biography

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Maris (2), ( Mares, Magnus, Marius ), bp. of Chalcedon, a prominent Arian (Le Quien, Or. Chr. i. 599), said to have been a disciple of the martyr Lucian of Antioch (Philost. H. E. ii. 14; Tillem. v. 770, vi. 253, 646). He wrote in support of Arian opinions before the council of Nicaea (Athan. de Syn. § 17; Tillem. vi. 646). At the council he joined with Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theognis, Ursacius, and Valens against Athanasius (Socr. i. 8, 27), and was one of five who were unwilling to subscribe on account of the term ὁμοούσιον (i. 8). Maris at length yielded (Soz. i. 211; Nicet. Chron. Thesaur. v. 8; cf. Vales. note 71, ad Soz. i. 21). He was one of 17 who held out against the council and supported Arius, according to Gelasius (Mansi, ii. 818; cf. 878 B). His name occurs among the subscribers ( ib. ii. 696). Philostorgius states (in Nicet. Chon. Thes. v. 8) that Maris, Eusebius, Theognis, expressed to the emperor their repentance for having signed, stating that they had complied only through fear of him, and that the emperor indignantly banished them to Gaul. Maris assisted at the council of Tyre in 335, and was one of the commission to Mareotis (Athan. Ap 100 Ar. §§ 13, 72; Theod. H. E. 1. 28; Mansi, 11. 1125 D, 1130 B, 1143 D; Tillem. viii. 35, 42, 49). In 335 he was one of the deputies sent to Constantinople against Athanasius (Socr. i. 35; Tillem. vi. 250). He frequently wrote to pope Julius against Athanasius (Hilar. Frag. ii. § 2, in Patr. Lat. x. 632, here written Marius; Theod. H. E. ii. 6 al. 8; Tillem. vii. 270). In 341 he attended the council of Antioch and is named in the Ep. of Julius ( Ap 100 Ar. § 20; Tillem. vi. 312). In 342 he was of the party who secured the appointment of Macedonius to the see of Constantinople (Socr. ii. 12; Tillem. vi. 323, 493). The same year he was one of four bishops deputed by Constantius to Constans (Socr. li. 18; Athan. de Syn. § 25; Tillem. vi. 326; Hefele, Conc. ii. 80, 83). Sozomen (iii. 10) omits Maris here. That he was present at the council of Sardica (343–344) appears certain, although his name is not among the signatures (Tillem. viii. 95, 686, 688; Hefele, ii. 92, n. 3). At the council of Philippopolis his name is again absent, and among the subscriptions occur Thelaphius as bp. of Chalcedon (Mansi, ii. 138), probably by a clerical error. In 359 he defended the doctrine of the Anomoeans against Basil (Philostorg. iv. 12; Tillem. vi. 483) and was at the council of Ariminum (Socr. ii. 41; Soz. iv. 24), and in 360 at the council of Constantinople ( ib.; Hefele, ii. 271; Tillem. vi. 487). In 362 Maris, then advanced in age and blind, at an interview with Julian, severely rebuked his apostasy, whereupon the emperor tauntingly observed, "Thy Galilean God will not heal thy sight." "I thank God," retorted Maris, "for depriving me of the power of beholding thy face" (Socr. iii. 12; Soz. v. 4; Tillem. vii. 332). He was living in the reign of Jovian (Philostorg. viii. 4; Tillem. viii. 764) and must be the Magnus of Chalcedon at the council of Antioch in 363 (Socr. iii. 25; Mansi, iii. 371, 372, 511). In an anonymous Life of Isaacius abbat of Constantinople (iii. 12 in Boll. Acta SS. Mai. vii. 254 B), Maris is said to have been present at the council of Constantinople in 381, a statement which may safely be rejected.

[C.H.]