Zacharias the Rhetor

• He was born at Maiuma of Gaza in Palestine in the last third of the 5th century. He was one of five brothers and one of his brothers was Procopius of Gaza.
• From 485 to 487 he studied at Alexandria where he made friends with St. Severus, the future Orthodox patriarch of Antioch.
• He joined St. Severus in autumn 487 at Berytus (Beirut) to study law (487-492), leading an austere life among the Orthodox ascetics.
• At least from 492, he practiced as a scholastikos (advocate) at Constantinople where he also reached a high office, while

remaining in close touch with religious circles, indeed living in the same monastery as his brothers, the priests Philip and Victor.

• Between 527 and 536 he was promoted as metropolitan for the see of Mitylene (Lesbos).
• Evagrius depended on Zacharias’Ecclesiastical History. Even in its reduced form, the work remains the most important historical source for the reign of Marcian,Leo I,and Zeno.

• Ammonius or the Dispute on the Creation of the World: About the dispute which took place at Alexandria with his professor, the pagan sophist Ammonius.
• Opuscula Against the Manichaeans: Written in 527 or slightly earlier.
• The Life of Severus of Antioch: An autobiographical document written in ca. 515 and preserved in Syriac.
• The Life of Peter the Iberian: Only a brief

fragment in Syriac survives.

• The Life of Isaiah of Gaza: Zacharias’ authorship of this work is denied by some scholars.
• Ecclesiastical History: Books III-VI are a valuable source for events in Egypt and Palestine from 450 to 491.