Holy Hierarch Antipatros, Bishop of Bostra

Saint Antipatros of Bostra

Today in the Orthodox Church we also commemorate Saint Antipatros, who was a fifth-century bishop of Bostra (modern-day Buṣrâ al-Šâm in the Dar‘â Governorate of Syria). Like Patriarch Saint Eustathios, Saint Antipatros was known for his trenchant critiques of Origenism, fragments of which are handed down to us by Saint John of Damascus as well as by Pamphilius and Eusebius.

We know very little of the life of Saint Antipatros [Gk. Ἀντíπατρος, L. Antipater, Ar. ’Antîbâtr أنتيباتر], apart from the fact that he was a bishop in Bostra, that he was active at the time of the Fourth Œcumenical Council, and that he was held in high esteem by both his civil and ecclesiastical contemporaries. He was also friends with Saint Euthymios of Palestine. His writings also continued to be authoritative in the Christian East as late as 540, particularly his treatise against Origenism. This work is no longer fully extant, however, though the fragments of it are as mentioned above. We also know that he was in correspondence with the Emperor Leo I, who asked him for his opinion on the Fourth Œcumenical Council; however, his response to this letter is lost. We do, however, have three complete homilies by Saint Antipatros still extant in Greek, on Saint John the Forerunner, on the Holy Theotokos and on the Feast of Theophany. Holy bishop Antipatros of Bostra, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!