ORESTE, patriarch of GERUSALEMME. - Greek monk, born probably in Calabria around the middle of the 9th century, when Sicily had already been conquered by the Arabs and, consequently, the Greek Basilian monks had fled from there to Calabria. The circumstances of his end are unclear: while some speak of his death in exile in Babylon in 1012, others, perhaps more plausibly, assign 1005 as the date of his death and Costantinopoli as its place.
O. wrote three Greek biographies of Calabrian monks: Saba the Younger, his father Cristoforo, and his brother Macario. He also wrote hymns, as appears from Codice corsiniano 366. Having become Greek patriarch of Gerusalemme around 984, he enjoyed the confidence of the Greek emperor Basilio II and of the caliph al-'Aziz, who had married one of his sisters. He was chosen as mediator of peace between the Byzantines and the Arabs and was successful (1000-1001). At Costantinopoli, where he was on the occasion of the peace negotiations, he probably remained for several years, while his brother Arsenio administered the patriarchate of Gerusalemme.