PETER III, Patriarch of Antioch. — Born c. 982 at Antioch, died there in September 1056; he studied in Constantinople from 1009 onwards and entered the civil service, becoming a superior judge and administrative president. Under Emperor Constantine Monomachus he requested and obtained release from secular duties in order to become a cleric.
From the office of procurator of the Church of the Apostles and skeuophylax of Hagia Sophia, he ascended in the spring of 1052 to the patriarchate of Antioch at the age of 70.
He distinguished himself by his zeal and moderation. At the beginning of his patriarchate P. wrote a letter known as the “intronistic” to Pope Leo IX with a profession of faith. To his impassioned colleague, Patriarch Michael Cerularius, he recommended restraint, reminding him that he had seen forty years earlier in Constantinople the name of the Pope inscribed in the diptychs (liturgical commemoration).