Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Hypatius, presbyter and hegumenus
Hypatius (19), presbyter and hegumenus in the first half of the 5th
cent. of the monastery in Bithynia, once presided over and afterwards abandoned
by Rufinus. His Life, by Callinicus his disciple (Boll. Acta SS. 17 Jun.
iii. 303), tells how his zeal brought him into collision with his lukewarm bishop
Eulalius of Chalcedon. Understanding that Nestorius, before his formal accusation,
was broaching novel opinions, Hypatius had the patriarch's name removed from the
office books of the church adjoining his monastery (§§ 14, 38, 51, 53). Eulalius,
alarmed at this daring act, which amounted to an excommunication of the all-powerful
patriarch, remonstrated and threatened, but Hypatius undauntedly persisted. Again,
when Leontius, the prefect of Constantinople, was about to re-establish at Chalcedon
the Olympic games abolished by Constantine, Hypatius, finding that Eulalius would
do nothing, openly declared that he would by main force defeat this restoration
of idolatry at the head of his monks, though it should cost him his life. Leontius,
having had warning of this opposition, relinquished the project and returned to
Constantinople (§ 45) A certain ascetic archimandrite, Alexander, from Asia Minor,
having taken up his abode in the capital with 100 monks, gained much reputation
for sanctity, but in consequence of his bold rebukes of the imperial household
was ordered to leave. The exiles betook themselves to the church of Hypatius,
but Eulalius, obeying orders from the palace, had them beaten and expelled. Hypatius
immediately welcomed them into his monastery and dressed their wounds. The bishop
threatened fresh violence, but the rustic neighbours volunteered a defence, and
a riot was imminent when a messenger from the empress ordered that they should
not be molested. Alexander and his party retired in peace and founded a monastery
near, the inmates bearing the name of Acoemetae, the Sleepless (§ 57;
ACOEMETAE in D. C. A.,
and the Bollandist account of their founder in Acta SS. Jan. i. 1018).
[C.H.]