PIETRO III, patriarch of ANTIOCHIA. — Born c. 982 at Antiochia, died there in September 1056; he pursued his studies at Costantinopoli from 1009 onward and embraced a civil career, becoming a senior judge and administrative president. Under the emperor Costantino Monomaco he requested and obtained release from secular duties in order to become a cleric.
From the office of procurator of the church of the Apostoli and that of scekofilace of S. Sofia, he rose in the spring of 1052 to the patriarchate of Antiochia, at the age of seventy.
He distinguished himself by his zeal and moderation. At the beginning of his patriarchate P. wrote a letter known as the “enthronement letter” to Pope Leone IX, containing his profession of faith. To his impassioned colleague, Patriarch Michele Cerulario, he recommended moderation, reminding him that forty years earlier at Costantinopoli he had seen the Pope’s name entered in the diptychs (liturgical commemoration).