Severus of Antioch

by Pauline Allen, C.T.R Hayward

In the first book to be devoted exclusively to Severus, well-known author in the field, Pauline Allen, focuses on a fascinating figure who is seen simultaneously as both a saint and a heretic. Part of our popular Early Church Fathers series, this volume translates a key selection of Severus' writings which survived in many other languages. Shedding light on his key opposition to the Council of Chalcedon and rehabilitates his reputation as a key figure of late antiquity, is examines his his life and times, thinking, homiletic abilities and his pastoral concerns. Severus was patriarch of Antioch on the Orontes in Syria from 512-518. Though he is venerated as an important saint in the Old Oriental Christian tradition, he has mostly been regarded as a heretic elsewhere; and as his works were condemned by imperial edict in 536, very little has survived in the original Greek.

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a good glimpse at the foremost and most orthodox of Mono/miaphysite theologians of the turn of the fifth/sixth centuries. We see his theological as well as pastoral concerns as he looks out for the members of his faith community, especially in the years of exile after Justinian's accession to the throne.

One of the things that struck me was the similarity that Severus' letters share with his (long-dead) theological opponent, Pope Leo I. Some of his letters about ordinations and the sacraments and other canonical concerns read like a papal decretal (letters that become binding in canon law). His dogmatic letters tend to be longer than Leo's -- or often exist only in fragments -- but again we see the overriding concern of Christology, only from opposite poles.

The introduction gives a good outline of the life and theology of Severus which I found very helpful as I began to wade the waters of the Mia/monophysite world. I recommend this book to anyone similarly interested.