Marcian
A Thracian soldier who became emperor with the support of the empress Pulcheria, whom he married. He summoned the Council of Chalcedon, attended one of its sessions and enforced its decisions.
Evagrius, writing about 140 years later and drawing on the historian Priscus, says that Marcian was a Thracian and a soldier’s son, and that he was chosen emperor at the suggestion of Pulcheria, whom he married, though she remained a virgin (Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History 2.1). He called the bishops to Chalcedon, came to the council in person after the definition of faith had been approved, and afterwards sent troops to Alexandria, where the people had risen against the bishop the council appointed (Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History 2.2, 2.4–5). The minutes record the bishops’ acclamations of him and his grant of the rank of metropolis to the city (Council of Chalcedon session 6). He died after a reign of seven years (Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History 2.8).
In the timeline
- October AD 451, firm dateThe Council of Chalcedon
A council called by the emperor Marcian confesses Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human, and ranks Constantinople next after Rome. The Greek and Latin churches receive it; the Coptic, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian and Ethiopian churches do not.