Anatolius (Greek: Ανατόλιος, died c. 579/580) was a Byzantine official, active in the reign of Tiberius II Constantine (r. 574–582).
[1] Evagrius Scholasticus reports: "Anatolius, who was originally one of the vulgar and an artisan, but had subsequently, by some means or other, obtained admission into public offices and other posts of importance.
John of Ephesus describes Anatolius as "archon and deputy praetorian prefect" (Greek: ἄρχων καὶ ὰντιὐπαρχος) at Edessa.
This would make him a topoteretes (deputy) of the Praetorian prefecture of the East and praeses (provincial governor) of Osroene, of which Edessa was the capital.
Soon Theophilus had lists of names, including prominent citizens spread throughout the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire.
But Rufinus knowing well that he had no place of refuge to which he could escape, drew his knife, and smote it into his heart, and having given himself also a wound in the abdomen, fell down dead.
[1] John of Ephesus explains: "For just as he [Anatolius] left the bishop's presence, those who had been sent to arrest him met him, and laid hands upon him, and said, 'Come peaceably with us, my lord governor: we are greatly in need of your highness: give orders for bailsmen to be put in for you at a talent apiece, that within ten days you appear at Antioch.'
And when upon this he threatened them with his power, and said, 'You are putting a stop to all matters of state;' they replied, 'Threaten us not, my lord governor: as your highness is a living man, you will not get away from hence without giving us bail.'
And now finding that he had no choice, nor probability of escape, he consented, and gave bail, and set out immediately with them and their other prisoners for Antioch.
At the back of the icon however they reportedly found "skilfully introduced ... a likeness of Apollo, so carefully done as not to be visible without looking closely at it.
Horrified at the sight, the archers threw him [Anatolius] on the ground, and kicked him, and dragged him by the hair to the Praetorium, where they declared all that had happened".
His confession did not only implicate himself and Anatolius: he also accused Gregory of Antioch and Eulogius of Alexandria (later a patriarch, term 581–607) of participating in a human sacrifice.
Contemporary rumour had it either "that really he was murdered, in order that his deposition might be got out of the way; but to the truth of this we will not bear testimony" or "as many thought, he killed himself, because the sentence of death was certain to be pronounced against him.
[1] John of Ephesus reports that all accused crypto-pagans arriving at Constantinople were placed on trial by "a court ...consisting of magistrates and jurists, to try them, and examine into the truth of the matter, upon oath that they would show no partiality, nor respect of persons."
The place appointed for their meeting was the prefect's court, and all the depositions relating to the heathen were to be read before them, both of cases in the east and in the west; and whosoever was not present he gave orders that his girdle should be cut, and he should lose his office.
In obedience to so strict a commandment they all met, and sat the whole day from morning till night fasting, and anxious".
"Anatolius himself, after being first exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre and mangled by them, was then impaled, without terminating even then his punishment in this world; for the wolves, tearing down his polluted body, divided it as a feast among themselves; a circumstance never before noticed.
[3] He might be part of the unnamed associates of Anatolius mentioned by Evagrius: "He [Anatolius] and his associates were the cause of still greater disturbances and a general rising of the populace: for, when some of the party had received sentence of banishment instead of death, the populace, inflamed with a sort of divine zeal, caused a general commotion, in their fury and indignation, and having seized the persons condemned to banishment and put them into a skiff, they committed them alive to the flames; such being the people's verdict.
Whitby has suggested that the man could be Magnus, known to have been curator of the palace of Hormisdas during the reign of Tiberius II Constantine.
On the other hand, John of Ephesus' version offers a wealth of "circumstantial information" and even includes mention of the official records.
He deduces that Christians had found it impossible to break the "monopoly of power", concentrated at the hands of the wealthy pagans of the city.
[5] Evagrius account offers the following miracle: "Anatolius rushed to a certain image of the Mother of God, which was suspended by a cord in the prison, and folding his hands behind his back, announced himself as a suppliant: but she, in detestation and conviction of the guilty and God-hated man, turned herself quite round, presenting a prodigy awful and worthy of perpetual remembrance; which, having been witnessed by all the prisoners as well as by those who had the charge of Anatolius and his associates, was thus published to the world".
[5] Evagrius records: "In the third year of the administration of the empire by Tiberius [577], a violent earthquake befell Theopolis [Antioch] and its suburb of Daphne, precisely at noon; on which occasion the whole of that suburb was laid in utter ruin by the shocks, while the public and private buildings in Theopolis, though rent to the ground, were still not entirely levelled.
He points to the hagiography of Simeon Stylites the Younger, a contemporary of Anatolius, which alludes to the existence of prominent pagans in Antioch and its vicinity, with some of them even consulting the saint.