Sergius of Tella was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from c. 544 to c. 547 or c. 557 to 560.
Sergius of Tella | |
|---|---|
| Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East | |
| Church | Syriac Orthodox Church |
| See | Antioch |
| Installed | c. 544 or c. 557 |
| Term ended | c. 547 or 560 |
| Predecessor | Severus I |
| Successor | Paul II |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Died | c. 547/560 Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire |
Biography
editSergius was born at Tella, and was a friend of Jacob Baradaeus.[1] He became a monk at the monastery of Hala, and was ordained a priest by the bishop John of Anazarbus.[2] As a monk, Sergius accepted the doctrine of tritheism,[3] and accompanied Jacob Baradaeus to Constantinople in 527.[4] At Constantinople, Sergius tutored Empress Theodora's grandson Athanasius,[3] and became a friend of John Philoponus, who wrote a non-Chalcedonian treatise named "A Treatise Concerning the Whole and the Parts" at Sergius' request.[5]
Jacob Baradaeus, who had become Bishop of Edessa, consecrated Sergius as patriarch of Antioch at Constantinople,[1][4] thus cementing the schism in the church of Antioch into the non-Chalcedonian Syriac Church and Chalcedonian Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.[6] Sources disagree on the date of Sergius' consecration as patriarch.[7] According to the Zuqnin Chronicle, he was consecrated in 544, whereas John of Ephesus in his Ecclesiastical History dates the consecration to 557.[7] Sergius resided at Constantinople for the duration of his term as patriarch,[1] for which he was later erroneously termed patriarch of Constantinople by the 14th-century historian Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos in his Ecclesiastical History.[5] He died a natural death,[1] either in 547 as per the Zuqnin Chronicle, or in 560 as per John of Ephesus.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Allen (2011), pp. 30–31.
- ^ Mazzola (2018), p. 237.
- ^ a b Mazzola (2018), p. 239.
- ^ a b Young (1998), p. 601.
- ^ a b Lang (2001), pp. 32–33.
- ^ Melton (2014), pp. 472–473.
- ^ a b c Wilmshurst (2019), p. 806.
Bibliography
edit- Allen, Pauline (2011). "Episcopal Succession in Antioch in the Sixth Century". In Johan Leemans; Peter Van Nuffelen; Shawn W. J. Keough; Carla Nicolaye (eds.). Episcopal Elections in Late Antiquity. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. pp. 23–39.
- Lang, Uwe Michael (2001). John Philoponus and the Controversies Over Chalcedon in the Sixth Century: A Study and Translation of the Arbiter. Peeters Publishers.
- Mazzola, Marianna, ed. (2018). Bar 'Ebroyo's Ecclesiastical History : writing Church History in the 13th century Middle East. PSL Research University. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- Melton, J. Gordon (2014). Faiths Across Time: 5,000 Years of Religious History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610690256.
- Wilmshurst, David (2019). "West Syrian patriarchs and maphrians". In Daniel King (ed.). The Syriac World. Routledge. pp. 806–813.
- Young, Robin Darling (1998). "Jacob Baradaeus". In Everett Ferguson; Michael P. McHugh; Frederick W. Norris (eds.). Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 601.