Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria

Eutychios of Alexandria (actually Sa'id ibn Batriq; * 876/77 in Fustat, Cairo today, † May 11 940 in Alexandria, Egypt) was Melkite patriarch of Alexandria ( 933 to his death ), and author of several publications.

Life and work

The exact date of birth of Eutychios is controversial in modern research in question but is rather the year 877 In his time as Patriarch he had to endure particularly sharp clashes with the Jacobite Church.

Before he became a pastor, he worked as a doctor. This is evident from the entry in the Encyclopedia Biography of Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah from the 13th century, are recorded in the famous doctors. Thus Eutychios wrote at least three headings: A Medical Handbook, a theological writing as well as a work of history, this is called Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah Bead, but is better known under the name annals.

The first work is not obtained, the second is alluded to in the Annals in part, but could not be identified with certainty from the corpus of the Arab- Christian literature until today. For this, the annals are preserved. The texts drawn up in the Arabic language work is a chronicle -like world history shows, ranging from the creation of the world until the year 938 The work offers lots of valuable information, particularly with regard to the Christian East and is not insignificant for the history of Byzantium, but also contains some misinformation, especially Eutychios often acted very critical. For all shortcomings but also an aspect is emphasized: Because Eutychios is the only author who has made ​​a kind of " synchronous observation " of the (Eastern) Roman Empire and the New Persian Sasanidenreichs in a work of history. Although many a late Classical (western ) Author of the Persian Empire of the Sassanids gave attention ( Ammianus Marcellinus, Prokopios of Caesarea and Agathias be mentioned here in the first place ), the Roman authors were still biased in many ways. Eutychios consideration, which of course came centuries after the fall of the Sasanidenreichs, is quite remarkable in this regard, though not free of errors.

In the 11th century the annals of Yahja Ibn Said continued. A Latin translation of the Eutychios, worried by Edward Pococke, appeared in 1658; it was then taken over by Jacques Paul Migne Patrologia Graeca in the collection. A German translation was done by Michael Breydy 1985.