ST Severus Christology and Life.
ST Severus Christology and Life.
ST Severus Christology and Life.
Severus:
Life and Christology
Overview
• Biography
• Christology
• Why is it so important?
• Some Theological Questions
• Whom are we Addressing in our Prayers?
• More Theological Questions
• Heresies
• Chalcedon
• St. Severus’ Christology
Biography
• Born in 465 in Sozopolis, Turkey into a wealthy family
• Paternal grandfather (name was also Severus) was
Metropolitan of Sozopolis and attended the Council
of Ephesus in 431
• After the death of his father, studied in Alexandria
• There, he was introduced to the writings of St. Basil
the Great and St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Theologian)
• In 486, moved to Beirut to study philosophy and
Roman law where he was influenced by a group of
Christian students
• Was baptized in 488 (23 years old) in Tripoli
Biography
• After baptism, he was qualified as a lawyer, but
eventually became a monk at St. Romanus
Monastery in Palestine
• Lived in the wilderness of Palestine until 508 (about
20 years)
• Was expelled for rejecting Chalcedon and insisting on
the Christology of St. Dioscorus
• Fled to Constantinople until 511 when he was
permitted to return to his monastery
• Elected as Patriarch of Antioch on November 6, 512
(age 47) after Flavian II was deposed for not rejecting
Chalcedon
Biography
• Continued ascetic life as patriarch: sent away the
many cooks from the papal residence and
demolished existing baths
• Warned his people against attending the races and
theaters
• Widely known as “the crown of the Syrians”
• Was summoned to Constantinople by Emperor
Justinian who attempted to persuade him to accept
Chalcedon
• When St. Severus refused, the Emperor planned to
have him killed
Biography
• St. Theodora, the Emperor’s wife, intervened
and urged him to flee the city
• St. Theodora was the daughter of a Syrian
priest who was an opponent of Chalcedon
• Fled to Egypt disguised as a simple monk
travelling from monastery to monastery
• Lived in the home of a layman, Dorotheus
• Departed in the city of Sakha on February 21
(Amshir 14), 538 (73 years old)
• Body was buried at the Monastery of El-
Zugag
Missing Qourban
One day, he went to the
desert of Scete, at Wadi-El
Natroun, and he entered the
church in a uniform of a
stranger monk and a great
miracle took place at that
time. It came to pass, that
after the priest had placed the
bread (Qourban) on the altar
and gone around the church
offering the incenses, and
after the reading of the
Epistles and the Gospel,
Missing Korban
Zero time
Zero space
At the moment of
Incarnation, the
divine and human
natures of Jesus
Christ are united to
each other in a
mysterious union