Athanasius of Antioch
fl. 595-630
Coptic Church
Egypt
Athanasius of Antioch was the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch from 595 to 630. Around 615, he personally visited Alexandria to reestablish the union of the two sees after the misunderstandings that had arisen during the period of the tritheist controversy (see DAMIAN). Maybe on account of this merit, the Copts translated his biography of SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH rather than the more famous ones by Zechariah the Scholastic and John of Beth Aphthonia.
Fragments exist in Sahidic from two codices of the White Monastery (Dayr Anbā Shinūdah); a fragment from the Bohairic version (Athanasius, 1908); probably the Arabic version (cf. Graf, 1944, pp. 315 and 420), and the Ethiopic version. The text is more markedly hagiographical in character and more in tune with the taste of the period than the abovementioned biographies.
Tito Orlandi
Note: The DACB uses the transliteration system of the Encyclopedia of Islam (2nd ed.), dropping the diacritical marks on the kha, dtaa, saad, and daad.
Bibliography:
Athanasius, Saint. The Conflict of Severus, Patriarch of Antioch. Ethiopic text ed. and trans E. J. Goodspeed with remains of Coptic versions by W. E. Crum. In PO 4, pt. 6, no. 20. Paris, 1908.
Baumstark, A. Geschichte der syrischen Literatur. Bonn, 1922.
Orlandi, T. "Un Codice copte del Monastero Bianco." Le Muséon 81 (1968):401-02.
