ANASTASIO IL VECCHIO, SANTO

**ANASTASIUS** the Elder, saint. — Patriarch of Antioch (559–99). He ascended the patriarchal see (559) following the death of Domnus, and was an intrepid defender of orthodoxy, opposing the final dogmatic edict of Justinian, which sought to impose Aphthartodocetism as the teaching of the Church. The *basileus* contemplated exiling him, but death prevented this. Upon the accession of his successor Justin, A. was driven from his see (570) and exiled to Jerusalem. The proscribed prelate was consoled in exile by St. Gregory the Great, who, after working for Anastasius’s rehabilitation, joyfully greeted his return to his see in 593. He died in 598 or early the following year. During his exile, he continued his struggle against heresy and composed five treatises, which survive in Latin translation: *De Sanctissima Trinitate*; *De incircumscripta Dei essentia*; *De divina oeconomia*; *De passione et impassibilitate Christi*; *De resurrectione Christi* (PG 89, 1309–62). Under Anastasius’s name there also circulate four homilies (PG 89, 1362–98), one of which is inauthentic, the others doubtful. The pastoral letter addressed to his flock on 25 March 593 upon resuming possession of his see was published by Cardinal J. B. Pitra, *Iuris ecclesiastici Graecorum historia*.