Born of good family in Thessalonica,[1] he was elected by the Arians to the bishopric of Constantinople.
Both Eustathius and Evagrius were banished by the Roman emperor Valens, and their followers bitterly persecuted.
[6] The churches of Constantinople, which had for forty years been in Arian hands, were now restored to the orthodox; and similarly in other cities.
[7] Philostorgius[8] adds that Demophilus went to his own city, Berea; however this must have been some time afterwards, or he must have returned from exile, for he represented the Arian party at the synod in Constantinople in 383.
[9] The same writer says that Demophilus was wont to throw everything into confusion, especially the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and quotes from a sermon at Constantinople, in which he spoke of the human nature of the Saviour as lost in the divine, as a glass of milk when poured into the sea.