The Semi-Arian Roman emperor Constantius II came to Constantinople, convened a synod of Arian bishops, banished Paul I, and, to the disappointment of Macedonius I, translated Eusebius of Nicomedia to the vacant see.
Paul I went to Rome, and he and Athanasius of Alexandria and other orthodox bishops expelled from their sees were sent back by Pope Julius I with letters rebuking those who had deposed them.
[4] Macedonius held the see for about six years, while letters and delegates, the pope and the emperors, synods and counter-synods, were debating and disputing the treatment of Paul I and Athanasius.
In 349 the alternative of war offered by Constans, emperor of the West, induced Constantius II to reinstate Paul I; and Macedonius I had to retire to a private church.
The Novatianists suffered perhaps even more fearfully than the orthodox and some of them were stung into a desperate resistance: those of Constantinople removing the materials of their church to a distant suburb of the city; those at Mantinium in Paphlagonia daring to face the imperial soldiers sent to expel them from their home.
His opponents, Acacius of Caesarea, Eudoxius of Antioch, and others, followed him to Constantinople, and, availing themselves of the emperor's indignation, deposed him in 360 on the ground of cruelty and canonical irregularities.