SEVERO di ANTIOCHIA. — Leader of the Monophysite movement of the sixth century, born at Sozopolis in Pisidia around 465, died at Xois (Egypt) in 538. Having completed his studies at Alexandria and Beirut, he received Baptism in 488; subsequently he became a monk, then a hermit, and finally devoted himself to founding a new monastery near Maïouma of Gaza. The bishop of Magydos in Pamphylia, Epiphanius, then in exile, ordained him a priest, imparting to him his passion for Monophysite doctrine.
In 509 he went to Constantinople to defend II. He remained there for three years and wrote the Philalethes, a work of controversy in which he appealed to the authority of St. Cyril. Elected patriarch of Antioch in 512, he expressed his support for Zeno’s Henotikon, while openly condemning Pope Leo’s Tome and the Council of Chalcedon. For this reason he incurred the opposition of the extremist Monophysites and the Chalcedonians; he became the cause of heated quarrels among the monks. When Justin, having become emperor in 518, endeavored to restore religious peace, S. was forced to flee to Egypt, where he organized resistance to imperial policy, remaining until his death the soul of that resistance. At the same time he fought another Monophysite, Julian of Halicarnassus (v.). After Justin’s death (527), S. returned to prominence, secretly supported by the empress Theodora. Invited to Constantinople in 535, he succeeded in drawing the new patriarch Anthimus into the ranks of the opponents of the Council of Chalcedon. But through the intervention of Pope Agapetus he was again condemned in 536, and his works were also proscribed. He withdrew into the Egyptian desert. An ascetic of great renown, deeply versed in Scripture and the Fathers, and a prolific writer, he is honored in the Coptic Church as a saint and martyr.
Of S.’s numerous works, originally written in Greek, some ancient Syriac translations remain and have recently been published: Philalethes, an examination of 24 chapters drawn from St. Cyril, published with a Latin translation by A. Sandra, Beyruth 1928. Mons. J. Lebon published at Louvain the Liber contra impium grammaticum (that is, against the Chalcedonian John): it contains a discussion of the interpretation of patristic texts (Corpus Script. Orient., Scriptores Syri, IV, 4, 5, 6; Louvain 1929–33 and 1938); Orationes ad Nephalium and the correspondence with the Monophysite Sergius (ibid., fasc. 7, there 1949). S. was engaged on two fronts; he fought the Eutychians and the Chalcedonians with equal ardor. Against Julian of Halicarnassus, the Critique of Julian’s Tome and Critique of the Propositions, edited under the title Antijulianistica by A. Sandra, Beyruth 1931. The other works in this series are: Against the Additions to the Tome; Against the Apology of Julian; Apology of the Philalethes, which remain unpublished. R. Draguet published an Anti-Julianist Pastoral, dating from around 530, in Le Muséon, 40 (1947). There also exists, in Syriac, a series of 125 Homiliae cathedrales, delivered by S. as patriarch of Antioch. The first, his enthronement discourse, was published by M. A. Kugener in Oriens christianus, 2 (1902), p. 265 ff.; the others, which include the Greek fragments and the partial editions of Mai and Rahmani, are being published in PO 4; 8; 12; 16; 20; 22; 23; 25; 26 (Louvain 1908–48), in the Syriac version of James of Edessa. Of the Letters, numbering four thousand, a selection was made; E. W. Brooks published The sixth Book of the select Letters of Severus (London 1902–1904) and a second Collection of Letters in PO 12 and 14. Also noteworthy are several liturgical writings and a certain number of short poems (ibid., 6 and 7), as well as the ancient biographies of the patriarch (ibid., 2). The works of pseudo-Dionysius were attributed to S. (v. DIONIGI L'AREOPAGITA), but without solid foundation.
S.’s doctrine is of great importance for understanding the position of the Jacobite churches. Following his teaching, they profess a Monophysitism that is much more verbal than real (v. MONOFISITI), but, like him, they reject the Council of Chalcedon.