Auxentius, a Cappadocian, was ordained priest by Gregory, usurper of St. Athanasius, see of Alexandria. He was much esteemed by the Arians; and when after a synod at Milan, a.d. 355, the Catholic Bishop Dionysius was banished with many others, Auxentius was intruded in his stead, and, as St. Athanasius remarked, a Latin Church received as its pastor one who was ignorant of the Latin tongue, St. Hilary and others endeavoured to remove him, but in vain, and in 369 Auxentius was excommunicated in a synod at Rome, but succeeded in maintaining his post.