Severian of Gabala

Who is Severian of Gabala?

Severian, Bishop of Gabala in Syria was a popular preacher in Constantinople from around 398/399 until 404. He became the enemy of John Chrysostom and helped condemn him at the Synod of the Oak.

Details of his life are scanty, and are preserved in Socrates Scholasticus and Sozomen. There is a brief life in Gennadius of Massilia. These tell us that he came to Constantinople around 398/399. He preached in a definite Syrian accent, and became a favourite of the empress Eudoxia. When, by the end of 401, the then archbishop John Chrysostom went to Asia, he charged Severian with the pastoral care of the church of Constantinople. But Severian was opposed and insulted by the deacon Sarapion, whom Chrysostom had delegated the economical affairs of the church. When Chrysostom backed his own men, the two became enemies. Johannes Quasten described him as "full of hate" for Jews and heretics.

More than 50 of his sermons are extant. Many were preserved in Greek among the works of his enemy Chrysostom, and others exist in Coptic, Georgian, and Arabic, perhaps also in Syriac. Eight of his sermons were published in Venice in 1827 from an ancient Armenian translation by J. B. Aucher.