St Callinicus, Patriarch of Constantinople (+705)

Saint Callinicus, Patriarch of Constantinople (693–705), was at first a presbyter of the church of the Most Holy Mother of God at Blachernae. In 693, after the death of Patriarch Paul (686–693), the helm of the Church of Constantinople was entrusted to him. At that time Justinian II (685–695), known for his cruelty, was reigning. He decided to build a palace near a church dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God, and ordered Callinicus to give his blessing for the demolition of this church. The holy father answered that he prayed only for the building of churches, not for their destruction. When the church was demolished all the same, the blessed one cried out with tears: “Glory to Thee, O Lord, who endurest all things!”

Soon God’s punishment fell upon Justinian: he was deposed and exiled to Kherson. Leontius ascended the throne. Ten years later Justinian escaped from captivity, gathered an army and came up to Constantinople. He promised the patriarch and the emperor that once he entered the city he would harm no one, and swore it on the Cross, the Gospel and the Holy Mysteries; but when he made his way into Constantinople, he began to slaughter the leading citizens and the people, and beheaded the emperor. By his order the hierarch Callinicus was seized, his eyes were put out, his tongue was cut off, and he was walled up alive in a stone wall in Rome. Forty days later the wall was broken open and the holy father was found still alive, but already dying. Four days later he reposed (+705). The Apostles Peter and Paul appeared in his sleep to John VI, Pope of Rome (701–705), and commanded him to bury Patriarch Callinicus in Rome, in the church of the Apostles.