Maximus The Cynic

Egyptian Cynic of the late fourth century. He was installed as bishop of Constantinople in an election so irregular that it received canonical denunciation at the second ecumenical council (381). Maximus's subsequent attempts to gain Western support, while initially successful, were short-lived, terminating with the Synod of Rome (382). Nothing by him survives, but literary productivity was not a Cynic trait. Maximus is known solely from historical accounts by others with whom he was involved-unless he is identified with the pagan philosopher and miracle-worker under whom the emperor Julian (361-63) had studied.