Hierarch Eulogius of Alexandria, Hierarch

Hierarch Eulogius, Greek by language and Syrian by origin, was abbot of a monastery of the Theotokos founded by Emperor Justinian in Antioch, from where, by the will of Emperor Tiberius II, he was elevated to the patriarchal see of Alexandria, which he held for about 27 years (c. 580-607/608). He became the chief polemicist of his generation against Monophysitism (the Severian and Eutychian factions), as well as against the Agnoetes (followers of the deacon Themistius, who denied the fullness of Christ's human knowledge), the Novatianists, and the Samaritan-Dositheian sect; in 589 he convened a council in Alexandria against the Samaritans. He maintained close theological and personal correspondence with Pope St. Gregory the Great of Rome — ten letters from Pope Gregory to him survive (596-603), praising his virtue and the power of his prayers. Most of St. Eulogius's own writings survive only as excerpts in the "Bibliotheca" of Patriarch Photius. He died in 607 or 608. His memory is kept on February 13/26, and also in the Synaxis of All Saints who shone forth in the land of Egypt (January 19).