Hierarch Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem

St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was born around 560 in Damascus. In his youth he taught rhetoric, but after meeting the monk John Moschus he renounced the world and entered the Laura of St. Theodosius in Palestine. Together with John Moschus he traveled extensively through the monasteries of Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, gathering the accounts of ascetics that would form the celebrated Spiritual Meadow. The Persian invasion under Khosrow II forced them to flee to Alexandria, where Sophronius became closely acquainted with Patriarch John the Almsgiver (already catalogued in this database). After John Moschus's death in Rome around 620, Sophronius brought his relics back to Palestine and returned to Egypt, where he firmly opposed the Monothelite heresy promoted by Patriarch Cyrus of Alexandria. In 634 he was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem. His synodal letter against Monothelitism was later affirmed by the Sixth Ecumenical Council as an authoritative statement of Orthodox teaching on the two operations in Christ. In 637, during the Arab conquest, Sophronius personally negotiated the surrender of Jerusalem to Caliph Umar, securing the preservation of the Christian holy places. He died shortly afterward, in 638. He is also known as the author of the Life of St. Mary of Egypt and numerous liturgical hymns. Feast: March 11/24.