Early Life
Constantine was an Assyrian by birth, fluent in the Greek language and immersed in Eastern rituals and practices. By his upbringing, he would have been "fully at ease in the oriental milieu of the early-eight-century Byzantine court".
Before his selection as pope, he had visited Constantinople twice. He was one of the Roman legates to the Third Council of Constantinople there in 680/681. He also delivered a combative letter from Pope Leo II to Constantine IV in 682. He met and developed a rapport with Prince Justinian, the heir apparent to the Byzantine throne, on both occasions.
Read more about this topic: Pope Constantine
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)