Following the death of Patriarch Timothy IV on 7 February 535,[1] there was a double election to fill the vacant patriarchate. The two main parties in Alexandria at the time were the Severans, followers of Severus of Antioch, and the Julianists, followers of Julian of Halicarnassus. The former elected the deacon Theodosius while the latter elected Gaianus, who had been archdeacon under Timothy IV.