Saints Alexander, John and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople
Three patriarchs of Constantinople commemorated together on 30 August.
Biography
These three patriarchs are commemorated together on 30 August, though they did not live in the same period. Alexander served as patriarch in the 4th century; he represented his predecessor at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and toured Thrace and Macedonia teaching its rulings against Arius before his death in 337.
John, born in 1006 in Trebizond, was patriarch from 1064 until his death in 1075; he was known for his preaching and for distributing bread and grain to the poor.
The sources are unclear about Paul the New: some identify him with Patriarch Paul III (687–693), who presided over the Quinisext Council, and others with Paul IV, a Cypriot who resigned in 784 and retired to a monastery.