Few details are known about his life. He was bishop in 609, and during the Persian expulsion of Jerusalem in 614 he was taken prisoner and led into Persia.
From there he wrote a most moving letter to his Church in Jerusalem, exhorting them to penance and mercy. When the Byzantine emperor Heraclius achieved his great victory over the Persians in 628, the Patriarch was able to return, bringing the relic of the Holy Cross back to his see. Shortly thereafter he died. His feast is celebrated on February 21.
Bibl.: PG 86, 2327-34 (the letter written in captivity); Bardenhever, V, p. 41; Chr. A. Papadopulos, "Istoria της έκκλησίας" (Ιστορία των Αθηνών, Alessandria 1910, pp. 235-45; Fliche-Martin-Frutaz, V, nn. 61, 66, 76, 94 sg. Giorgio Hofmann).