Richard Vaggione - Cuius Regio, eius Religio in the Hellespont--Sanctity and Religious Change 381-415

In 381 the cities of the Hellespont, largely "Macedonian", awoke to find themselves Nicene, though most of their bishops had boycotted the Council of Constantinople. By 415 it had been determined that, religiously, the region was "always" been Nicene. This paper will use the lives of local saints (Agapetus of Synaus and Parthenius of Lampsacus) to illustrate the efforts of local Nicenes and Anomoeans to appropriate the religious heritage of the walkouts from Constantinople I.

Though the affinities of both Saints were politically with the party of Macedonius, they were claimed by the victorious Nicenes and (in the case of Agapetus) by the Anomoeans. This paper explores the various recensions of the lives of these saints and attempts to put these claims  in their local and imperial political contexts. Then, after reflecting on their respective roles in enabling local churches to adjust to a change in their “official” theological allegiance, there will be a brief discussion of reasons why these lives remained of interest to Symeon Metaphrastes and succeeding generations of Nicenes during a time of imperial recovery.