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St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem
VI/VII Centuries
Patriarch St. Sophronius of Jerusalem was called the Sophist
because of his knowledge of Greek. He was an ardent opponent
of
monothelitism. Many
of his writings, including the Florilegium
and the life of St. John the Almsgiver, are no longer extant. He wrote
an encomium on
John and Cyrus and composed 23 anacreontic odes on the
feasts
of the church. His Christmas homily of 634 suggests that the Saracens
held Bethlehem at that time. (Historians had dated the event later). The
Orthodox remember St. Sophronius chiefly as the author of
the life of St. Mary of Egypt.
Sophronius was born in
Damascus around 560. He and his friend
John Moschus
became ascetics together while they were in their late teens or early
twenties.
Some say they lived near the Jordan; some say they lived in Egypt. In 605,
Sophronius fled to Alexandria in the wake of Persian invaders, and when
the
Persians invaded Alexandria in 616, he fled to Rome. In 619, he returned
to Palestine and lived in the
Theodosius monastery in Jerusalem. When
Patriarch
Cyrus of Alexandria
began to preach monothelitism, St. Sophronius
travelled
to that city to argue against him; in 633, when
Patriarch Sergius of
Constantinople
also began to preach monothelitism, St. Sophronius travelled to that city
to argue
against him. Neither visit was successful. After Sophronius was elected
Patriarch of
Jerusalem in 634, he wrote the Synodical Letter to
teach the
two wills of Christ.
In 637, the
Muslims captured Jerusalem; St. Sophronius died a year later
of grief
at the fall of his city.
Karen Rae Keck
- ABOUT:
- WORKS:
- Anacreontica.
PG 87(III):3733.
Describing Bethlehem.
--- Christus Rex
-
No. 20: 1-54:
Describing the city of Jerusalem.
--- Christus Rex
-
Die anakreontischen Gedichte Nr. 19 und Nr. 20.
Greek with German translation by H. Donner,
(Heidelberg: Winter, 1981).
- De baptismate Apostolorum
(On the Baptism of the Apostles).
PG 87(III):3371.
Fragmentary; also attributed to Theodoret
(PG 92:1075).
- Writings on
Sts. Cyrus and John:
- De SS. Cyri et Joannis.
PG 87(III):3677.
- Vita Acephala SS. Cyri et Joannis.
PG 87(III):3689.
- Vita SS. Cyri et Joannis -- Laudes.
PG 87(III):3379.
- Vita SS. Cyri et Joannis -- Miracula.
PG 87(III):3423.
- John Duffy:
Observations on Sophronius'
"Miracles of Cyrus and John", (1984).
Journal of Theological Studies
(35/1): 71.
- John Duffy:
The Miracles of Cyrus and John --
New Old Readings from the Manuscript,
(1987).
Illinois Classical Studies (12/1): 169.
Epigrammata tria
(Three Epigrams).
PG 87(III):4009.
Epistola ad Arcadium Cyprianum.
PO 35.
Asking Archbishop
Arcadius of Cyprus to support
him against the Monoenergist compromise.
-
Lettre de Sophrone de Jérusalem
á Arcadius de Chypre.
Syriac text of lost Greek original, with
French translation by Micheline Albert
(Turnhout: Brepols, 1978).
Epistola synodica ad Sergium CP
(Synodical Letter to Sergius of Constantinople).
PG 87(III):3147.
A strong attack on monothelitism.
Fragmentum dogmaticum.
PG 87(III):4009.
Scholium on a passage in Basil.
Orationes:
- In Christi natalitia
(On the Nativity of Christ).
PG 87(III):3201.
In Deiparæ Annuntiationem
(On the Annunciation of the Theotokos).
PG 87(III):3217.
In Hypapantem
(On the Meeting of the Lord).
PG 87(III):3287.
In Exaltationem S. Crucis
(On the Exaltation of the Holy Cross).
PG 87(III):3301.
De festo S. Crucis
(On the Feast of the Holy Cross).
PG 87(III):3309.
De Sanctis Angelis et Archangelis.
PG 87(III):3315.
In S. Joannem Baptistam.
PG 87(III):3321.
In SS. Apostolos Petrum et Paulum.
PG 87(III):3355.
In S. Joannem Theologum.
PG 87(III):3363 and 1:769.
Fragment.
In Theophania.
PG 87(III):4001.
Fragment.
De peccatorum confessione
(On the Confession of Sins).
PG 87(III):3365.
Thaumata
(Wonders).
(Madrid: IAN, 1975).
Dominic Montserrat:
Carrying on the Work of the Earlier Firm --
Doctors, Medicine, and Christianity in the
Thaumata of Sophronius of Jerusalem, (2005).
From
Health in Antiquity edited by H. King,
(London: Routledge, 2005).
Emphasises continuity between pagan and Christian
medicine.
Troparium.
PG 87(III):4005.
Vita S. Anastasii martyris.
PG 92:1679.
Vita S. Mariæ Ægyptiacæ
PG 1:3-4.
This story of a prostitute's conversion
and subsequent
life of miraculous asceticism is so important
to the Eastern Orthodox that it is read aloud in
church during the fifth week of Lent.
Jordanville translation.
--- ORTHODOX PAGE
A Prayer to the Theotokos.
--- Catholic Doors
Doubtful authorship:
- De laboribus, certaminibus,
et peregrinationibus SS. Petri et Pauli.
PG 87(III):4011.
2006/03
Anastasius;
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