St. Sophronius of Jerusalem (c. 560–638) was Patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 until his death. A monk, theologian, and prolific writer, he is venerated as a saint in both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. His surviving works include seven patriarchal homilies, the Epistola Synodica, the Encomium in SS. Cyrum et Joannem, the Pratum Spirituale (compiled with John Moschus), anacreontic poems, and various fragments. The passages below are drawn from the critical text in Migne’s Patrologia Graeca, Tomus LXXXVII, Pars Tertia (Paris, 1865). Translations are from the Latin facing column of the PG, rendered into English.
I. Homily I: On the Nativity of Christ (Oratio I. In Christi Natalitia, PG 87:3201–3212)
Context: Delivered Christmas 634 A.D. while the Saracens besieged Bethlehem and prevented the customary procession. Sophronius compares his congregation’s longing for Bethlehem to King David’s longing for the water of its well (2 Reg. xxiii:15), interpreting David’s refusal to drink as a prophetic figure of the Jews’ rejection of Christ.
“He foresaw that the insane and wicked Jews would by no means believe in Christ’s preaching unto their own destruction and perdition. But we, who gratefully receive Christ the Saviour, and are adorned with the orthodox faith, and turn away from the execrable unbelief of the Jews, and detest their spurious and foul madness in every way, earnestly desire to approach holy Bethlehem.”
Source: Oratio I. In Christi Natalitia, PG 87, col. 3210C. (Latin: “quia insanos sceleratosque Judæos Christi prædicationi in suum ipsorum interitum et perditionem, nequaquam credituros præsagiebat, certoque prævidebat. At nos vero, qui Christum Servatorem gratanter suscipimus, et orthodoxa fide ornati sumus, et exsecrandam Judæorum incredulitatem aversamur, et spuriam fœdamque eorumdem amentiam modis omnibus detestamur, sacram Bethleem adire enixe avemus.”)
“The holy prophet prefigured in deed the perfidy of the Jews toward Christ.”
Source: Oratio I. In Christi Natalitia, PG 87, col. 3210B. (Latin: “Ut vates ergo sanctissimus Judæorum in Christum perfidiam facto adumbrabat.”)
II. Homily II: On the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God (Oratio II. In Sanctissimæ Deiparæ Annuntiationem, PG 87:3217–3288)
Context: In this elaborate theological homily, Sophronius contrasts those who receive the Gospel with light and faith against those who refuse it — identifying the Jews as the primary paradigm of ruinous unbelief.
“Nothing is more pernicious than unbelief toward the divine oracles. For this reason the Jews have fallen headlong; for this reason the Samaritans have gone astray; for this reason the gentiles dwell in darkness; for this reason the heretics have been cast down; because they refused to give faith to the Gospels of God, did not yield to the divine oracles, but remained opposed and hostile to them, and were found dead in soul and body alike, deprived of eternal life, and shown to be without part in the true Light.”
Source: Oratio II. In SS. Deiparæ Annuntiationem, PG 87, col. 3228A–B. (Latin: “Nihil enim perniciosum magis, quam incredulitas adversus effata divina. Propterea Judæi in præceps acti sunt; propterea aberrarunt Samaritæ: propterea in tenebris versantur gentiles; propterea hæretici corruerunt; quia cum Dei evangeliis fidem denegarent, neque divinis oraculis obsequerentur, sed pertinaciter et hostiliter eadem impugnarent, anima simul et corpore demortui, atque æternæ vitæ expertes, veræque lucis exsortes reperti sunt.”)
III. Homily V: On the Meeting of Our Lord (Oratio V. In occursum Domini, PG 87:3287–3358)
Context: The Feast of the Presentation (Hypapante). Sophronius meditates on the light of Christ coming into the world and being rejected by those in darkness — explicitly naming the Jews as those whose darkness is permanent because they refused the Light.
“…those Jews wrapped in darkness, and who are not to be enlightened, had already heard Him saying: ‘Because the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil’ (Jn. iii:19) — for wickedness always darkens the mind and does not allow it to see the light — or also that word of the holy Gospel: ‘The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it’ (Jn. i:5). Therefore let us all, O brethren, be illuminated; let us all be enlightened.”
Source: Oratio V. In occursum Domini, PG 87, col. 3284B. (Latin: “tenebris illis involuti, nec illustrandi Judæi: Quia Lux venit in mundum, et dilexerunt homines magis tenebras, quam lucem: erant enim eorum mala opera — semper enim animum obscurat malitia, nec eum sinit videre lucem — vel etiam illa [quod sacrum ait Evangelium] Lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebræ eam non comprehenderunt.”)
IV. Homily VI: Encomium of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (Oratio VI. In SS. Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, PG 87:3357–3397)
Context: A panegyric on the apostles. Sophronius describes how Satan, having failed at every turn, stirred up the Jews to envy Christ and to crucify Him who came to save them — and then drove the persecution of the Resurrection’s heralds.
“[The devil] it was who made the Jews disobedient to the Law and the prophets, and subjected them to the abominations of the gentiles; who instilled envy of Christ into the Hebrews, and [moved them to] crucify Him who had come to save them; who persuaded them to calumniate His Resurrection, and to persecute and slay the heralds thereof.”
Source: Oratio VI. In SS. Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, PG 87, col. 3400A. (Greek: “ὁ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους νόμῳ καὶ προφήταις ἀπειθεῖς ἐργασάμενος, καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν ὑποτάξας βδελύγμασιν · ὁ φθονῆσαι Χριστῷ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ἐνθέμενος, καὶ σταυρῶσαι τὸν σώζειν αὐτοὺς ἀφικόμενον · ὁ τὴν αὐτοῦ συκοφαντεῖν ἀναπείσας ἀνάστασιν, καὶ ταύτης διώκειν καὶ φονεύειν τοὺς κήρυκας.”; Latin: “qui Judæos legi et prophetis inobedientes fecit, gentiumque subjecit abominationibus; qui invidere Christo Hebræis suasit, et cruciligere qui venerat ut salvaret illos; qui ipsius persuasit accusare resurrectionem, et hujus persequi et occidere prædicatores.”)
“…and now the kingdom of God had been taken away from the Jews and given to the gentiles, who offer to God in its due time the fruit He gave them.”
Source: Oratio VI. In SS. Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, PG 87, col. 3400C. (Latin: “nec non cum jam et regnum Dei a Judæis ablatum et gentibus datum fuisset, quæ fructum in tempore suo Deo qui dedit offerunt.”)
V. Homily VII: Encomium of St. John the Baptist (Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87:3305–3357)
This lengthy homily is among the richest in adversus Judaeos content. Sophronius draws on the figures of Jacob, Zechariah, John the Baptist, and the ten lepers to develop themes of Jewish carnality, spiritual blindness, supersessionism, and the transfer of the firstborn’s inheritance to Christian believers.
Jewish Blindness and the Refusal of the Gospel
“Those who believe in Him shall rightly supplant that ancient people of the Jews, and, as those faithfully found in Christ, shall obtain the primogeniture which, in point of time, belonged to that [Jewish] people.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3316C. (Latin: “Per quem illi quoque ex hominibus, qui in ipsum credant, merito antiquum illum Judæorum populum supplantabunt, et utpote Christo egregie fideles inventi, primogenituram, quæ, si tempus spectes, illius [Judaici] populi erat, obtinebunt.”; Greek: “Δι᾿ οὗ καὶ οἱ εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πιστεύοντες, τὸν πάλαι τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαὸν εἰκότως πτερνίσουσι, καὶ τὰ κατὰ χρόνον αὐτοῦ πρωτοτόκια, ὡς καλῶς Χριστῷ πεπιστευκότες, κομίσονται.”)
Zechariah as Type of Jewish Unbelief
“Did he not willingly become a type of the unbeliever who exists under the Law? … He proclaimed the fruitful seed into the arid souls of the Jews which bear no fruit of faith, or also to the Church of the gentiles which previously had no sweet and nourishing fruit.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3337C–D. (Latin: “salutem annentiat, frugiferum semen in aridas Judæorum et gentium terras immistit.”; for the type of unbelief: “nonne quia diffidentiam, sub lege exsistentem, ad vivum in se expressit.”)
John the Baptist Running Far from Jewish Unbelief
“He [John] ran swiftly toward grace and ran before the Lord: withdrawing far from Jewish unbelief and the mysteries of the night.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3332A. (Latin: “e contra celerrime ad gratiam cucurrit et Domino præcucurrit: procul secedendo a Judæorum infidelitate et a mysteriis nocturnis.”; Greek: “εὔδρομός τις πρὸς ταύτην καὶ Πρόδρομος γίγνεται τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς ἀπιστίας, καὶ νυκτὸς πόῤῥω καταλείπων τὰ μυστήρια.”)
The Desolation of the Jewish House and the Transfer to the Gentile Church
“Christ Himself said to the people of the Jews: ‘Behold, your house is left to you desolate’ — making His own house the desert Church of the gentiles, and having those who are called as His own body.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3348D. (Latin: “Christi tenent ad Judæos: Ecce domus vestra relinquetur vobis deserta, domum suam a deserta gentium ecclesia facit, vocatos autem in corpus suum habet.”; Greek: “τοῖς Ἰουδαίων δήμοις εἰπὼν ὁ Χριστός · «Ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος», οἶκον ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἔρημον τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν πεποίηται.”)
The Ten Lepers: Jewish Ingratitude
“He received and praised the one who returned and confessed the grace, even though he was an alien, and deemed it fitting that those who receive benefits should bear good will toward the author of them. But the rest He justly rebuked as ungrateful — for they were Jews — as having just now suffered weakness in their eyes, which the Saviour called the lamp of the whole body.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3388A–B. (Latin: “Reliquos autem tanquam ingratos, Judæi enim erant, merito reprehendit; modo quippe oculis infirmati, quos Salvator totius corporis appellavit lucernam.”; Greek: “τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ὡς ἀγνώμονας (Ἰουδαῖοι γὰρ ἦσαν) ἐμέμψατο.”)
The Jews as Spiritually Carnal, Under the Letter
“For it is evident that the Jews were signified by the writing on the tablet, since they served the written letter of the Law; but the gentiles by the word and spirit of the mouth, as having rather the Word and having approached the Law by the Spirit.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3344C. (Latin: “Patet enim Judæos scripto tabellæ significari, quia legi scriptæ serviebant; gentes autem verbo et spiritu oris, quia verbum habebant et spiritu ad legem accedebant.”)
The Neighbours Who Would Give John a Hebrew Name
“The neighbours and devout disciples of the synagogue, upon hearing the prophetic name, and the grace of God the Father now illuminating the world, attempted to repel this title, striving to flee its proper significance and to introduce another. And so they boldly said to the mother: ‘There is no one in your family who is called by this name’ — for they were intent upon the manner of the Jews.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3340B. (Latin: “Vicini synagogæque devoti et discipuli…istiusmodi titulum respuerunt…Itaque audacius genitrici dixerunt: Quia non est in gente tua, qui nomine isto appelletur, Judæorum enim morem intendebant.”)
VI. Epistola Synodica ad Sergium CP. (PG 87:3147–3200)
In his great Synodal Letter — read aloud and approved at the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680–681) — Sophronius narrates the Passion of Christ against the Jews.
“He ascends to the voluntary Passion, and is voluntarily betrayed to the Jews; or rather He delivers Himself to them of His own will for the salvation of men. And He is bound, and struck with blows, and spat upon, and scourged, and mocked, and clothed with a purple robe as the King of all, and given a reed as a royal sceptre in kingly fashion, and condemned by the judging Pilate, and at last nailed to the gibbet, and His hands and feet are bloodied, fastened to the saving Cross, and He is raised up with thieves, and given vinegar to drink, and tastes gall, and crying out with a loud voice delivers His soul to the Father, and His side is pierced by a lance, and after death pours forth water and saving blood.”
Source: Epistola Synodica ad Sergium CP., PG 87, col. 3180A–B. (Latin: “ad spontaneam passionem ascendit, et ultro Judæis est proditus: imo ipse seipsum illis, ob salutem hominum, sponte prodidit, et ligatur, et colaphis cæditur, et inspuitur, et flagellatur, et illuditur, et chlamyde purpurea tanquam rex omnium induitur, et arundo tanquam sceptrum regium regaliter ei contraditur, et Pilato judicante damnatur, ad extremum patibulo configitur, et manibus, atque pedibus cruentatur salutiferæ cruci conclavatus, et cum latronibus levatur, et acetum potatur, et fel degustat, et magna voce clamans animam tradit Patri, et latus lancea perforatur, sanguinem quoque, et aquam salutarem post mortem profundit.”)
VII. Encomium in SS. Cyrum et Joannem (Laudes in SS. Cyrum et Joannem, PG 87:3397–3676)
In his account of the martyrs Cyrus and John, Sophronius records an episode from the life of St. Cyrus: a pagan official was incited against him by malicious men, who denounced him for teaching Christians to worship one whom “the Jews crucified.”
“A certain Galilean physician by his skill has led almost all the people of the city astray and turned them away from the worship of the gods; and he proclaims Jesus, whom the Jews crucified, as God, and is destroying our ancestral religion.”
Source: Laudes in SS. Cyrum et Joannem, PG 87, col. 3400D / 3573B. (Latin: “Galilæus quidam medicus, scientia sua totum civitatis populum erroribus irretiit et a deorum adoratione avertit; quem Judæi crucifixerunt Jesum, hunc in Deum colendum nuntiat et patrios deos ad nihilum redigit.”)
VIII. Pratum Spirituale (Pratum Spirituale, compiled by Sophronius & John Moschus, PG 87:2851–3112)
In the episode of Cosmas the Scholastic of Alexandria, Sophronius records the zeal of a devout Christian laymen for the conversion of the Hebrews.
“Every single day I went in to him, and as God is my witness, I never went in without finding him either reading or writing against the Jews. For he burned with great zeal to convert that people to the truth. And for this reason he often sent me to certain Hebrews, that I might argue with them from the Scriptures, since he himself did not easily go out of his house.”
Source: Pratum Spirituale, Cap. [Cosmas Scholasticus], PG 87, col. 3041D–3042A. (Latin: “Diebus autem singulis intrabam ad eum ipse, et, teste veritate, nunquam ad illum ingressus sum, quin ipsum aut legentem, aut scribentem contra Judæos invenirem. Magno enim fervebat zelo convertendi gentem illam ad veritatem. Ideo et sæpe misit me ad Hebræos quosdam, ut per litteras illis colloquerer.”)
Another passage from the Pratum Spirituale records a dying Jew begging to be baptized, crying out: “Do not let me die as a Jew, but have mercy on me as Christians, and baptize me, that I too may depart this life as a Christian and go to the Lord.”
“By God who is to judge the living and the dead, do not allow me to die a Hebrew, but have mercy on me as Christians do, and baptize me, that I too may depart this life as a Christian and go to the Lord.”
Source: Pratum Spirituale, Cap. [Abba Andreas], PG 87, col. 3047A. (Latin: “Per Deum qui judicaturus est vivos et mortuos, nolite pati ut Hebræus moriar, sed tanquam Christiani facite mecum misericordiam, et baptizate me, ut Christianus de hac vita exeam, et ad Dominum pergam.”; Greek: “Τὸν Θεὸν τὸν μέλλοντα κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκροὺς, μὴ ἐἀσητέ με Ἰουδαῖον ἀποθανεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς Χριστιανόν.”)
IX. Homily VII, on Joseph of Arimathea’s honourable counsel (Oratio VII, PG 87:3329)
Sophronius praises Joseph of Arimathea precisely by contrasting him with the murderous “counsel of the Jews.”
“He is proclaimed an honourable councillor, because he rejected the counsel of the Jews against the Saviour as shameful and unseemly; ‘For this man,’ it says, ‘was not consenting to their counsel and purpose.'”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3330A. (Latin: “Hic prædicatur consiliarius honestus, quia Judæorum consilium in Salvatorem tanquam malum et indecorum rejecit; ‘Is enim, dicitur, eorum consilio et sententiæ non adnumeratus est.'”; Greek: “διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον εὐσχήμων βουλευτὴς κηρυττόμενος, ὅτι τὴν μὲν τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος βουλὴν ὡς αἰσχρὰν παρῃτήσατο καὶ ἀσχήμονα.”)
X. Homily VII, on the Irrational Unbelief of the Jews (Oratio VII, PG 87:3336–3337)
“From this source comes the irrational unbelief of the Jews.”
Source: Oratio VII. In S. Joannem Baptistam, PG 87, col. 3337D. (Latin: “Judæorum irrationabilem diffidentiam.”; Greek: “διὰ τὸ τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς ἀπιστίας ἀλόγιστον.”)
Notes on the Sources
The passages above are quoted from and translated on the basis of the Latin facing column of the Patrologia Graeca, Tomus LXXXVII, Pars Tertia, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris, 1865), which provides the Latin translation alongside the original Greek text. Where Greek is cited it is taken from the same edition. Column references (e.g. 3210C) follow the standard Migne conventions (A, B, C, D denoting quarter-columns).
The seven Patriarchal Homilies have now received a first critical edition with English translation: John M. Duffy, Sophronios of Jerusalem: Homilies (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 64; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020). Duffy’s introduction notes explicitly that “other targets of his venom include pagans, Jews, and despised heretics of all hues.”
Sources
- Primary: Migne, J.-P. (ed.). Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, Series Græca, Tomus LXXXVII, Pars Tertia: S. Sophronii Hierosolymitani, Joannis Moschi, Alexandri Monachi Opera Omnia. Paris: Apud J.-P. Migne, 1865. Google Books scan (Pennsylvania State University Library copy): https://books.google.com/books?id=CMHUAAAAMAAJ
- Secondary (English translation): Duffy, John M. (ed. & trans.). Sophronios of Jerusalem: Homilies. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, vol. 64. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020. https://domedieval.org/books/homilies-sophronios-of-jerusalem/
- Secondary (Synodal Letter): Allen, Pauline (ed. & trans.). Sophronius of Jerusalem and Seventh-Century Heresy: The Synodical Letter and Other Documents. Oxford Early Christian Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Reference: Voskrese.info biographical summary with full list of PG column references for Sophronius’s works: https://www.voskrese.info/spl/XsofronyJer.html