Quick Facts
Biography
Theodosius Romanus (died 1 June 896) was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 887 until his death in 896.
Biography
Romanus was born in the 9th century in the city of Tagrit 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.
The synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church met in the city of Amid and elected and consecrated Romanus as patriarch on 5 February 887, upon which he adopted the name Theodosius. During his tenure as patriarch, Theodosius Romanus ordained 32 metropolitan bishops, and served as patriarch until his death on 1 June 896.
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.