EULOGIUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, ST.

Fl. 580 to 607; a theological controversialist; b. Antioch, Syria; d. Alexandria. Eulogius was a monk who became a priest and abbot of the Deipara, or Mother of God, monastery at Antioch, and in 580 he became patriarch of Alexandria. He met the future Pope gregory i in Constantinople (c. 582). Of his correspondence with Pope Gregory between 595 and 600, only Gregory's letters are extant. In one of these, written probably in June 598, the pope gives details of augustine of canterbury's successful mission in England. In 595 the Pope urged Eulogius to oppose the usurpation of the title of universal patriarch by john iv the faster, patriarch of Constantinople (582–595). In Bibliotheca photius preserved an account of 11 dogmatic orations of Eulogius and of his books against Novatianism (Patrologia Graeca 103:532–536) and against the Severian Monophysites (ibid. 103:934–955). see novatian and novatianism.

In theology Eulogius was a Chalcedonian who followed the doctrine of St. basil of caesarea via john the grammarian, whose apology he knew evidently only through long citations in severus of antioch's Contra Grammaticum. In contrast with contemporary theological opinion represented by the De sectis (c. 580), he denied ignorance in Christ, and this doctrine became part of the ordinary magisterium of the Church through Pope Gregory I. The authenticity of his Homily for Palm Sunday (Patrologia Graeca 103:2408–64) has been challenged, since a similar sermon is attributed to cyril of alexandria (ibid. 43:427–438) and epiphanius (ibid. 77:1050–72).

Feast: Sept. 13; Feb. 13 (Greek Church).

Bibliography: Patrologia Graeca, ed. j. p. migne (Paris 1857–66) 86.2:2937–64. v. n. beneŠeviČ, Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 24 (1928) 802. Acta Sanctorum Sept. 4:83–94. b. altaner, Patrology, tr. h. graef (New York 1960) 620. j. j. delaney and j. e. tobin, eds., Dictionary of Catholic Biography (New York1961) 389. c. moeller, Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 46 (1951) 683–688. a. grillmeier and h. bacht, Das Konzil von Chalkedon: Geschichte und Gegenwart (Würzburg 1951–54) 1:691–693. o. bardenhewer, Theologische Quartalschrift 78 (1896) 353–401.

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