Severus of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Severus of Antioch also known as Severus of Gaza and nicknamed the Crown of Syrians, was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 512 until his death in 538. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and his feast day is celebrated on 29 September by the Syriac Orthodox Church and 8 February by the Coptic Orthodox Church
Born in Sozopolis, Severus studied grammar, rhetoric and philosophy in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. He then travelled to Phoenicia to study law and dedicated his time to study the works of the Church Fathers. After his baptism at the Church of Saint Leontius, Severus became a monk and entered the monastery of Peter the Iberian near Maiuma, which was a center of non-Chalcedonianism.
In 512, when Patriarch Flavian II of Antioch was deposed by Anastasius, Severus was elected as the Patriarch of Antioch after a synod was conducted in Laodicea, Syria. During the consecration ceremony, he affirmed the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesues and condemned the Council of Chalcedon as well as the Tome of Leo. Failing to accept the Council of Chalcedon, Justin I ordered Severus to be arrested and his tongue cut. Severus fled to Alexandria after discovering the emperor's orders. He was continued to be seen as the legitimate Patriarch of Antioch by the non-Chalcedonians. Severus continued to reside in the city of Sakha until his death on 5 February 538.
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This entry incorporates text from “Severus of Antioch” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.