**ANASTASIUS SINAITA, Saint.** — Priest and hegumen of Mount Sinai, d. after 700, honored as a saint by the Byzantine Church on April 21. A notable exegete and polemicist, his life is almost unknown and his literary output remains little known and incompletely published. This is due to the existence of numerous namesakes, many of whom were monks like him and lived in the 7th–8th centuries. It is known only that he was in Alexandria before 640 and under the Monophysite patriarch John III (678–85), and that he was still alive more than twenty years after the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680–81).
As a polemicist, he primarily fought the Christological heresies of Nestorianism, Monophysitism, and Monothelitism. A *Syntagma against Nestorius*, highlighted by A. in the *Hodegos*, ch. 4 (PG 89, 97), seems to be lost, as does an *Apologetic Tome addressed to the People*, ibid., ch. 8 (col. 121). His principal work, directed against Monophysitism, is *The Guide* (*Hodegos*), already mentioned. Composed around 685 in the desert without reference materials at hand, the work is not without defects, and no logical order is to be found in II. Patristic citations are drawn from memory, and it is no surprise that critics find false attributions. Cf. J. Zellinger, *Studien zu Severian von Gabala* (Münsterische Beiträge zur Theologie, 8), Münster 1926, p. 126, which reveals that the fragment cited under the name of Severian of Gabala, ch. 16 (PG 89, 262–264), is not by this author. Moreover, a critical edition is lacking. Under the title *Anastasiana*, J. B. Pitra published two authentic opuscula by A.: 1) *Capitulum in quo brevis sermo est de haeresibus quae ab initio fuerunt et de synodis adversus eas habitis*; 2) *Concisa et perspicua fidei nostrae notitia* (*Iuris ecclesiastici Graeco-rum historia et monumenta*, Rome 1868, pp. 257–74). In the latter, Monothelitism is already mentioned. A. also wrote a multi-book work against the Jews, now lost. The *Disputatio adversus Iudaeos*, published under his name (PG 89, 1203–72), is not his.
As an exegete, he left a *Commentary on the Hexaemeron* in 12 books, of which only the last is published in the original text. Of the others, only an ancient translation by an unknown author survives. A true Alexandrian, he allegorizes excessively and interprets the whole of Genesis as referring to Christ and the Church (PG 89, 851–1078). To the sixth book, which treats of *κατ’ εἰκόνα* (i.e., the likeness of God in man), may be connected the fragment titled *ἐκ τοῦ κατ’ εἰκόνα* (PG 89, 1143–50), and the third discourse on the same subject: *περὶ τοῦ κατ’ εἰκόνα λόγος πρὸς τὸν θεόν* (1151–80), where one is surprised to find a history of Monothelitism from its origins to the year 700. The collection entitled *Questions and Answers*, grouping 154 items (PG 89, 311–834), is not authentic in its present form. It is for criticism to clarify its origin, though the main part may perhaps belong to our A. In Book VI (PG 89, 944), the author refers to another lost work of his, which would have the title: *Mystical Contemplation of the Saving Sufferings of Christ, Our God*.
A. is also the author of several sermons. The following have been published: 1) Two discourses *On Psalm 6*, which constitute a single sermon for the beginning of Lent (PG 89, 1079–1114), preserved also in Syriac and Arabic versions; 2) A discourse *On the Mass and Communion*; 3) A sermon *On the Dead* (ibid., 1191–1202); 4) A fragment of a discourse *On Blasphemy*, published by A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, *Ἀνάλεκτα Ἱεροσολυμιτικῆς σταχυολογίας*, I, St. Petersburg 1891, pp. 400–404; 5) A sermon *For Good Friday*, preserved in an Arabic translation and published in a German translation by L. Scheicho in *Theologisch-Praktische Quartalschrift*, 65 (1912), pp. 780–795. Unpublished is a sermon *On the Descent of Christ’s Soul into Hell*, preserved in a Syriac translation.
For the attribution to A. of the florilegium entitled *Doctrina Patrum de incarnatione Verbi*, V. *Anastasius* the APOCRISIARIUS.
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