Severus of Antioch

Severus of Antioch (Greek Severo, * to 456 in Sozopolis ( Pisidia ); † February 8 538 in Xois, Egypt) was an eminent theologian of late antiquity and the first Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch. He is regarded as a saint and teacher of the Syrian Orthodox Church.

Severus came from a wealthy, perhaps pagan parents. In Alexandria he studied rhetoric and grammar, in Beirut law. He was baptized in 488 Tripoli and became a monk in the monastery of St. Peter Iberers, later priest and archimandrite. From the monks he was sent to Constantinople Opel to protest against the persecution by the Chalkedonensier (followers of the Council of Chalcedon ), stayed for three years at the court and won the trust of the Emperor Anastasius I Severus worked with the overthrow of the chalkedonensischen Patriarch of Constantinople Opel and Antioch. He was elected with the help of Philoxenus of Mabbug 512 as the successor of the deposed Patriarch Flavian of Antioch, and held this post until 518 After the death of Anastasios 518 he fled to Egypt, where he continued to teach and the Monophysites supported in their resistance. 535 he was invited by Emperor Justinian I after Constantine Opel, where it temporarily succeeded to gain the Monophysitism reasserting using the Empress Theodora. 536, he was convicted again and went into exile, where he died.

Even the writings of Severus, who wrote several pamphlets were banned. However, they are known in Syriac translation.