 Upon his arrival, Vitalian was made magister militum in praesenti, named honorary consul, and soon after raised to the rank of patricius. As a well-known champion of Chalcedonian orthodoxy, Vitalian was to play a role in the new regime's reaffirmation of the Chalcedonian doctrines and reconciliation with Rome. He played an active role in the negotiations with the Pope, and in 519, he was one of the prominent men who escorted a papal delegation into the capital. Vitalian also took vengeance on the staunchly Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch, Severus, who had celebrated Vitalian's defeat in his panegyric On Vitalian the tyrant and on the victory of the Christ-loving Anastasius the king: Justin ordered Severus's tongue to be cut, and Severus fled to Egypt along with Julian, Bishop of Halicarnassus.
