Sophronius was Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria between 841-860 or 844-857 AD. An exponent of iconophile theology, he wrote a lost iconophile oration that he also sent (ca. 841-842 AD) to the last iconoclast Byzantine Emperor Theophilus (828-842 AD). [On the theological side of Sophronius’ activity, see the testimony of the chronicle of Eutychios, whose surviving Arabic text is found translated into Latin in Migne 1863: col. 1337; on Sophronius’ position in the dogmatic debates of this tumultuous period, see Beck 1959: 496. On Sophronius in general, see Hilgard 1894a: CXXIII-CXXIV; Cohn 1899a: col. 2124; Wendel 1942: col. 1450; Dickey 2007: 83; on the (Islamic) dates of his patriarchal rule in Alexandria, see Renaudotius 1713: 289.]
Today, he is mainly known as the compiler of an
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Citation: Papanikolaou, Dimitrios. "Sophronius I Patriarch of Alexandria". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 April 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14454, accessed 21 November 2024.]