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Taking advantage of a sick Gregory, and supported by some Egyptian ecclesiastics sent by [[Peter II of Alexandria|Peter II]], Patriarch of Alexandria under whose directions they professed to have acted, during the night Maximus was consecrated Bishop of Constantinople, in the place of Gregory. The conspirators chose a night when Gregory was confined by illness. They burst into the [[cathedral]] and started the consecration. Maximus was placed on the archiepiscopal throne and just began having his long curls sheared away when the day dawned. The news quickly spread and everybody rushed to the cathedral. The magistrates appeared with their officers and drove Maximus and his consecrators from the cathedral and into the tenement of a flute-player where the tonsure was completed.
This audacious proceeding excited great indignation among the people, with whom Gregory was popular. Maximus fled to Thessalonica to place his cause before emperor Theodosius I. He met with a cold reception from the emperor, who committed the matter to [[Ascholius of Thessalonica| Ascholius]], the much respected Bishop of Thessalonica, charging him to refer the affair to Bishop [[Damasus I of Rome]].
In two letters returned from Damasus, in one to Ascholius and the Macedonian bishops, Damasus condemned those who proposed to consecrate a restless man, an alien from the Christian profession, who was not worthy to be called a Christian, and who wore an idolatrous garb ("habitus idoli") and long hair which St. [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] said was a shame to a man. In the other letter to Bp. Ascholius, Damasus also asked him to take special care that a Catholic bishop may be ordained. <ref>Migne, Patrolog., xiii., pp. 366-369; Ep. 5; 5, 6)</ref>