CrucisSt. Sophronius of Jerusalem
St. Sophronius of Jerusalem was born about 560 at Damascus and, after teaching as a rhetorician, embraced the monastic life, traveling among the monasteries of Egypt, Palestine, and beyond as a companion of the spiritual writer John Moschus. A man of deep learning and piety, and a poet of some note, he was chosen Patriarch of Jerusalem about 634, in the last years of his life.
As patriarch he became the foremost champion against the Monothelite heresy, which, seeking to reconcile the Monophysites, taught that Christ had only one will; Sophronius insisted that the Lord, being truly God and truly man, possessed both a divine and a human will, a doctrine the Church would later solemnly affirm. His patriarchate was overshadowed by catastrophe, for in 637 the armies of Islam besieged and took Jerusalem, and it fell to Sophronius to surrender the holy city to the caliph Umar, negotiating terms to protect its Christians and shrines. He died soon after, about 638, and is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 11 March.
Selected quotes
“As the Jordan once parted for Israel, let the waters of baptism part the soul from its old life.”
“Walk where the Savior walked, not only with your feet upon the holy ground but with your heart in His footsteps.”
“Sing to the Lord a new song, O my soul, for He has visited His people and remembered His mercy.”