Sergius of Tella

Sergius was born at Tella, and was a friend of Jacob Baradaeus.[1] He became a monk at the monastery of Hala, and was ordained a priest by the bishop John of Anazarbus.[2] As a monk, Sergius accepted the doctrine of tritheism,[3] and accompanied Jacob Baradaeus to Constantinople in 527.[4] At Constantinople, Sergius tutored Empress Theodora's grandson Athanasius,[3] and became a friend of John Philoponus, who wrote a non-Chalcedonian treatise named "A Treatise Concerning the Whole and the Parts" at Sergius' request.[5]

Jacob Baradaeus, who had become Bishop of Edessa, consecrated Sergius as patriarch of Antioch at Constantinople,[1][4] thus cementing the schism in the church of Antioch into the non-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox Church and Chalcedonian Imperial Church.[6] Sources disagree on the date of Sergius' consecration as patriarch.[7] According to the Zuqnin Chronicle, he was consecrated in 544, whereas John of Ephesus in his Ecclesiastical History dates the consecration to 557.[7] Sergius resided at Constantinople for the duration of his term as patriarch,[1] for which he was later erroneously termed patriarch of Constantinople by the 14th-century historian Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos in his Ecclesiastical History.[5] He died a natural death,[1] either in 547 as per the Zuqnin Chronicle, or in 560 as per John of Ephesus.[7]

Primary sources

• Bar Hebraeus. Ecclesiastical History. Translated by Marianna Mazzola. PSL Research University. Retrieved 31 May 2020.

Secondary sources

• Allen, Pauline (2011). "Episcopal Succession in Antioch in the Sixth Century". In Johan Leemans; Peter Van Nuffelen; Shawn W. J. Keough; Carla Nicolaye (eds.). Episcopal Elections in Late Antiquity. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. pp. 23–39.
• Lang, Uwe Michael (2001). John Philoponus and the Controversies Over Chalcedon in the Sixth Century: A Study and Translation of the Arbiter. Peeters Publishers.
• Melton, J. Gordon (2014). Faiths Across Time: 5,000 Years of Religious History. ABC-CLIO.
• Wilmshurst, David (2019). "West Syrian patriarchs and maphrians". In Daniel King (ed.). The Syriac World. Routledge. pp. 806–813.
• Young, Robin Darling (1998). "Jacob Baradaeus". In Everett Ferguson; Michael P. McHugh; Frederick W. Norris (eds.). Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 601.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)