Eustratius or Eustratios (; 582–602) was a hagiographer, theologian and priest of

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

.Oliver Nicholson, "Eustratius", in Oliver Nicholson (ed.), ''

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity The ''Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'' (ODLA) is the first comprehensive, multi-disciplinary reference work covering culture, history, religion, and life in Late Antiquity. This was the period in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near Ea ...

'', Volume 1: A–I (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), p. 569. Eustratios was a native of Melitene. He was a pupil of Patriarch

Eutychius of Constantinople Eutychius of Constantinople (, ''Eutychios''; 512 – 5 April 582), considered a saint in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions, was the patriarch of Constantinople from 552 to 565 and from 577 to 582. His feast is kept ...

(552–565, 577–582), whose biography he wrote. It is a basically factual account, although not lacking in rhetorical flourish. It is an important source for the

Second Council of Constantinople The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and re ...

(553) and for Eutychius' exile in Amaseia (565–577). In 602, Eustratios finished a biography of the Persian Christian saint Golinduch. He devotes special attention to the role of Bishop Domitian of Melitene in the diplomacy between the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and the

Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the larg ...

. Domitian was one of his chief informants on the life of Golinduch.Matthew Dal Santo, ''Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great'' (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 31–34. Eustratios also wrote a tract against belief in

soul sleep Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is "sleeping" after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the intermedi ...

entitled ''A Refutation of Those Who Say That the Souls of the Dead Are Not Active and Receive No Benefit from the Prayers and Sacrifices Made for Them to God''. A Latin translation of this work ''De statu animarum post mortem'' was reprinted in 1841. It was written between 582 and 602, possibly in or about 593–594, when there arose in Constantinople a controversy over some miracles attributed to

Euphemia Euphemia (; 'well-spoken f), known as Euphemia the All-praised in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a virgin martyr, who died for her faith at Chalcedon in 303 AD. According to tradition, Euphemia was martyred for refusing to offer sacrifices t ...

. He responds to arguments that the dead are "incapable of activity" (''anenergetoi'' and ''apraktoi''), by countering that the dead are even more active in death.

Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...

's ''Dialogues'', composed around the same time, deal with similar themes as Eustratios' ''Refutation''. Matthew Dal Santo hypothesises that the two men may have known each other in Constantinople. Other Byzantine writers opposing

Christian mortalism Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is "sleeping" after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the interme ...

were John the Deacon, Niketas Stethatos, Philip Monotropos (''Dioptra'' pp. 210, 220), and

Michael Glykas Michael Glykas or Glycas () was a 12th-century Byzantine historian, theologian, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He was probably from Corfu and lived in Constantinople. He was a critic of Manuel I Komnenos, and was imprisoned and blinded due to ...

.Nicholas Constas "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream": The Middle State of Souls in Patristic and Byzantine Literature"
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 55: 92–124

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eustratius Of Constantinople Byzantine theologians 6th-century Byzantine writers 6th-century Christian theologians 6th-century births 7th-century deaths