The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Valerian
fl. 3 September AD 381 (death unrecorded) · Bishop of Aquileia · President of the council · Attendee at Aquileia · Aquileia
The Nicene Age
Who Valerian was
One of the thirty-two Western bishops who sat at Aquileia on 3 September 381 and deposed the Homoian bishops Palladius of Ratiaria and Secundianus of Singidunum. The acts survive as verbatim stenographic minutes — the only fourth-century council that can be read as recorded dialogue rather than as canons and a letter — so his presence is documented to the day. Bishop of Aquileia from 369 to 388 and president of the council of 381. Ambrose organised it and did nearly all the questioning, but it was Valerian who sat in the chair and whose name opens the protocol. Chromatius, then a presbyter of his church, succeeded him.
Named once, in the roll of the Council of Aquileia (3 September 381); no other ancient source names him.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees.
Common questions
When was Valerian active?
Valerian is dated fl. 3 September AD 381 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Valerian in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400).
What did Valerian write?
Valerian has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: The Gesta of the Council of Aquileia against Palladius and Secundianus.
Which early sources mention Valerian?
Valerian is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from The Council of Aquileia. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Valerian from?
The archive associates Valerian with Aquileia.
Writings (1)
The Gesta of the Council of Aquileia against Palladius and Secundianus
3 September 381The verbatim stenographic minutes of the council — the only fourth-century council whose proceedings survive as recorded dialogue rather than as canons and a letter.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Gesta Concilii Aquileiensis — the opening protocol and roll of the thirty-two bishops
c. AD 381In the consulship of the illustrious Syagrius and Eucherius, on the 3rd day of September, the undermentioned Bishops, sitting in council in the church at Aquileia, namely, Valerian, Bishop of Aquileia, Ambrose, Eusebius, Limenius, Anemius, Sabinus, Abundantius, Artemius, Constantius, Justus, Philaster, Constantius, Theodorus, Almachius, Domninus, Amantius, Maximus, Felix, Bassianus, Numidius, Januarius, Proculus, Heliodorus, Jovinus, Felix, Exuperantius, Diogenes, Maximus, Macedonius, Cassianus, Marcellus, and Eustathius, Bishops.The Council of Aquileia · Gesta Concilii Aquileiensis §1 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Valerian in the sources
These figures are placed with Valerian by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Valerian naming them in return.
- Abundantius
- Almachius
- Amantius
- Anemius
- Artemius
- Bassianus
- Cassianus
- Constantius (first of the name at Aquileia)
- Constantius (second of the name at Aquileia)
- Diogenes
- Domninus (bishop at Aquileia)
- Eusebius
- Eustathius
- Exuperantius
- Felix of Jadera
- Felix (second of the name at Aquileia)
- Heliodorus
- Januarius (bishop at Aquileia)
- Jovinus
- Justus
- Limenius
- Macedonius
- Marcellus (bishop at Aquileia)
- Maximus (first of the name at Aquileia)
- Maximus (second of the name at Aquileia)
- Numidius
- Proculus
- Sabinus of Placentia
- Theodorus (bishop at Aquileia)
- Chromatius of Aquileia
Events in this lifetime
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Valerian.