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Bible Encyclopedias
Macedonius
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or a patriarch of Constantinople, flourished in the 4th century. After the death of bishop Alexander, of Constantinople, in 336, Macedonius and Paulus became candidates for his succession. The latter was elected by the Athanasian party, but was soon after (338) deposed by the emperor Constance, who put Eusebius of Nicomedia in his place. Upon the death of Eusebius, Paulus was reinstated, but was again deposed by the Semi-Arian emperor, who in 342 pronounced Macedonius patriarch, notwithstanding the opposition of the people, who rose in insurrection, resulting in great bloodshed (comp. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Milman's ed.], 2. 357 sq.). The orthodox rival, however, succeeded, after a time, in making his influence felt throughout the country, and Macedonius was finally obliged to yield him the patriarchate. In 350, after having thoroughly reorganized his party, Macedonius returned, and by the aid of the civil authorities regained. the superintendence over the churches. His decided connection with the Semi-Arians, and the widening of the gulf between the Arians and Semi-Arians, proved, however, fatal to his credit, and in 360 his enemies succeeded in securing his deposition by a synod at Constantinople. He is supposed to have died soon after. His followers at once adopted his name. The Macedonians are generally regarded as Semi- Arians of that period, especially those in and around Constantinople, in Thrace, and in the surrounding provinces of Asia Minor (Sozomen, 4:27). There is, however, one point in which the Macedonians, although not opposed to, are yet distinguished from the Semi-Arians; it is their idea of the antagonism of the divinity and the homoousia of the Holy Spirit. On this point the Macedonians are identical with the Pneumatmaachians, and therefore the latter finally joined the former. They professed that the Holy Spirit is a divine energy diffused throughout the universe, but denied its being distinct, as a person, from the Father and the Son (Epiphanius, Haeres. 74; Augustine, De Haeres. c. 52). In 381 Theodosius the Great assembled a council of one hundred and fifty bishops at Constantinople (second oecumenical), which condemned this doctrine, and the Macedonians soon after disappeared. See Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. 1:305 sq. (N. Y. 1854, 3 vols. 8vo); Hase, Hist. of the Christ. Church, p. 115 (N. York, 1855); Basilius, De Spiritu S. opp . (ed. Garn.), 3:1 sq.; Thilo, Bibl. pp. Gr. dogyn. 1:666 s.; 2:182 s.; A. Maji, Nov.patr. bibl. t. iv (Romans 1847); Didymus, De Spir. Scto. interpr. Hier. (in Opp. Hier. ed. Mart. IV, 1:494 sq.); Walch, Ketzergeschichte, vol. iii; Bauer, Dreieinigkeitslehre, vol. i; Neander, Hist. of Christ. Dogmas, 1:350 sq.: Milman, Lat. Christianity, I, 334, 338 sq. (J. H.W.)
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Macedonius'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/m/macedonius.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
