Born in Alexandria into a poor family, Maximus was the son of Christian parents, who had suffered on account of their religion; but whether from Pagan or Arian violence is not clear.
The magistrates appeared with their officers; Maximus and his consecrators were driven from the cathedral, and in the tenement of a flute player the tonsure was completed.
He met with a cold reception from the emperor, who committed the matter to Ascholius, the much respected bishop of Thessalonica, charging him to refer it to Pope Damasus I.
Having only his own representations to guide them, and there being no question that Gregory's translation was uncanonical, while the election of Nectarius was open to grave censure as that of an unbaptized layman, Maximus I also exhibiting letters from Peter II the late venerable patriarch, to confirm his asserted communion with the church of Alexandria, the Italian bishops pronounced in favour of Maximus I and refused to recognize either Gregory or Nectarius.
A letter of Ambrose and his brother prelates to Theodosius[6] remonstrates against the acts of Nectarius as no rightful bishop, since the chair of Constantinople belonged to Maximus I, whose restoration they demanded, as well as that a general council of Easterns and Westerns, to settle the disputed episcopate and that of Antioch, should be held at Rome.
[7] The invectives of Gregory of Nazianzus against Maximus I[8] were written after their struggle for the patriarchate, and contrast starkly with the praises of his twenty-fifth Oration.