THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITYordered Arians to be expelled from churches, and promoted the orthodox
Gregory of Nazianzus as bishop against strong opposition. He then called
what became known as the Council of Constantinople (381), or Constanti-
nople I, a council of 150 eastern bishops who met in the church of St Irene;
those present confi rmed Gregory and (if not very wholeheartedly) the Nicene
faith. However, the election was still contested, and, unhappy at the situa-
tion, Gregory stepped down and returned to Cappadocia; he left a record
of his feelings in an autobiographical poem, and while it is true that he was
already a bishop, and that transfer from one see to another had been forbid-
den at Nicaea, Sozomen at least thought that his election would have been
acceptable.^10 But the affair illustrated the capacity of the patriarch of Alex-
andria to interfere in Constantinopolitan politics, and tensions were still high
when Theodosius installed orthodox relics in a church which had previously
belonged to the Arian party, following this by bringing the supposed head
of John the Baptist to the city. Moreover the conversion of the Goths to
‘Arian’ rather than Nicene Christianity also added to the explosive mix in the
city,^11 and John Chrysostom as patriarch allowed the Goths who lived there a
church, though only for orthodox worship;^12 he successfully insisted on this
even when under pressure from the emperor, nervous about the needs of the
Gothic troops led by Gainas. The latter had successfully ousted the power-
ful eunuch minister Eutropius, but such was the hostility to the foreigners
that a large number were massacred after taking refuge in the church, and
the church was burnt down. The Goths were expelled from Constantinople
in 400 and Gainas became the victim of inter-Gothic rivalries. A main, but
diffi cult, source for Eutropius and the Goths in Constantinople is a speech
Figure 1.2 Istanbul: Justinian’s church of St Sophia