Theodosius Romanus

Theodosius Romanus
Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Church	Syriac Orthodox Church
See	Antioch
Installed	887
Term ended	896
Predecessor	Ignatius II
Successor	Dionysius II
Personal details
Birth name	Romanus
Born	Tagrit, Abbasid Caliphate
Died	896

Theodosius Romanus was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 887 until his death in 896.

Biography

Theodosius was born in the 9th century as Romanus in the city of Tagrit, Mesopotamia and later went on to become a monk at the Monastery of Qartmin where he also studied and mastered medicine to the point that he became known as a skilled physician.

He was consecrated patriarch in 887, upon which he adopted the name Theodosius; during his tenure as patriarch he ordained 32 metropolitans.

Works

Theodosius' work includes a lengthy commentary on Pseudo-Hierotheus, the first two treatises of which he wrote whilst staying at Amid before finishing the third treatise at Samosata. He also wrote a treatise explaining the maxims of various philosophers, including a collection 112 Pythagorean maxims, most of which he had translated from Greek into Syriac.

As well as this, Theodosius is known to have written a medical syntagma, a synodical epistle and a Lenten homily in Arabic.

References

• The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences - Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum.