For his great mind, zeal for the Faith and power of oratory, he was called a "second Chrysostom".

He began by questioning the legitimacy of Constantine's parents' marriage and then went as far as to restore the good name of Patriarch Euthymius I who had so vigorously opposed that union.

[2] The Russian Princess Saint Olga came to Constantinople in the time of Patriarch Polyeuctus during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII and was baptised there in 957.

[4] Although he had supported his rise to the throne, against the machinations of Joseph Bringas, Polyeuctus excommunicated Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas for having married Theophano on the grounds that he had been the godfather to one or more of her sons.

He had previously refused Nikephoras communion for a whole year for the sin of having contracted a second marriage after the death of his first wife.