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Polyeuctus was born in Constantinople at an unknown date. He was made a eunuch in childhood by his parents who hoped he would be able to enter the civil service of the Eastern Roman Empire. However, instead he became a [[monk]]. In his [[monasticism|monastic]] life he distinguished himself for his holiness and learning.
In 956, he was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by emperor Constantine VII "Porphyrogenitos", as patriarchal successor to the imperial prince Theophylactus Lekapenos. While he gained his position through Constantine VII, Patr. Polyeuctus remained independent of the emperor. He soon questioning questioned the legitimacy of marriage of Constantine's parents and went as far as to restore the good name of Patr. Euthymius I Syncellus who had so vigorously opposed their marriage. <ref>Norwich, John Julius, Byzantium, The Apogee, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992) p. 173.</ref>
In 957, during the reign of emperor Constantine VII, the Russian Princess [[Olga of Kiev|Olga]] came to Constantinople while Polyeuctus was patriarch. Patr. Polyeuctus [[baptism|baptized]] her, while emperor Constantine stood as her godfather, and prophesied: "Blessed are you among all the women of Russia, for you have rejected darkness and desired the light. Moreover, the children of the Russian land will bless you in every generation."
Although he had supported [[Nicephorus II Phocas|Nikephoros II Phokas]] in his rise to the throne against the machinations of Joseph Bringas, Patr. Polyeuctus excommunicated Nikephoros for having married the empress Theophano on the grounds that he had been the godfather to one or more of his sons. The patriarch had previously refused Nikephoras [[communion]] for a year for the sin of having contracted a second [[marriage]]. Although his first wife had been dead several years when he married Theophano, the religious views prevalent in the Eastern Roman Empire of the tenth century only begrudgingly tolerated remarriage, which was considered a sin, after the death of ones one's first wife.
Patr. Polyeuctus had the good grace to oppose sin on all fronts. He [[excommunication|excommunicated]] the assassins of the emperor Nikephoros and refused to crown the new emperor John I Tzimiskes, who was the nephew of the late Emperor and one of the assassins, until he had punished the assassins and exiled John I's lover the empress Theophano who organized the assassination of her husband.
