Macedonius II was Patriarch of Constantinople from 496 to 511 and is venerated as a confessor for his steadfast defense of the Council of Chalcedon (the Fourth Ecumenical Council) during the reign of the Emperor Anastasius I. By tradition he was a nephew of the earlier Patriarch Gennadius and served as a presbyter and skevophylax (sacristan) of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia before his elevation to the patriarchal throne. He is commemorated on April 25, and is to be distinguished from the fourth-century heretic Macedonius I, the Pneumatomachian.
Macedonius came to the patriarchate after Anastasius secured the deposition of his predecessor, Euphemius. According to the tradition, Macedonius treated the deposed Euphemius with marked deference, having his insignia removed in the older man's presence and providing for the expenses of Euphemius's journey into exile in Asia Minor. Shortly after his elevation, Macedonius assembled a council and confirmed in writing the acts of the Council of Chalcedon, setting the course of his patriarchate against the doctrinal aims of the emperor.
Anastasius, who favored the opponents of Chalcedon, pressed Macedonius by a succession of means to repudiate the council, but the patriarch would not yield. He held that no change in doctrine could be made except by an ecumenical synod over which the bishop of Rome should preside. The synaxarion relates that the emperor's agents harassed him publicly through monks, clergy, and magistrates, and that the bishop Xenaias brought false accusations against him; the people of the city are said to have rallied to his defense. In 511 Anastasius had Macedonius carried off by night, first to Chalcedon and then into exile at Euchaita in Pontus, the place where Euphemius had also been sent. He afterward withdrew to Gangra, and died there in exile about the year 516.
