A Patriarch in Exile: Severus of Antioch and His Pastoral Strategy (518–538)

A Patriarch in Exile offers a reassessment of one of the most influential and controversial figures of late antique Christianity: Severus of Antioch. Deposed from the patriarchal see of Antioch in 518 and forced into exile until his death in 538, Severus continued to exercise a remarkable form of ecclesial leadership over the non-Chalcedonian communities of the Eastern Mediterranean. Focusing on these two decisive decades, David-Gabriel Carpen reconstructs Severus’ pastoral strategy through a close reading of his letters, homilies, theological treatises, and the wider historical sources of the period. The book shows that Severus was not merely a polemical theologian opposed to Chalcedon, but a church leader deeply concerned with the concrete governance of dispersed communities: the guidance of clergy, the regulation of monastic life, the catechesis of the faithful, and the preservation of ecclesial unity under persecution. By distinguishing carefully between theology, ecclesiology, and political circumstance, this study challenges the long-standing view that Severus’ doctrinal position alone caused the later separation of the non-Chalcedonian Churches. Instead, it presents a more nuanced portrait of a patriarch whose authority endured precisely in exile, where pastoral care, theological rigor, and institutional resilience became inseparable. Read more