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| St. Antipater of Bostra (Feast Day - June 13) |
Verses
Antipater received the Savior richly,
Adorned greatly with the virtues as an offering.
Little is known about this fifth century Bishop of Bostra in Arabia, who flourished during the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod (451). Antipater was held in high esteem by his contemporaries, civil and ecclesiastical. He is rated among the authoritative ecclesiastical writers by the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod (787).
He was a pronounced opponent of Origenism, against whom he wrote his chief work (in Greek). Only a few fragments of it are preserved, in the “Parallels” of John of Damascus. This work of Antipater was looked on as a masterly composition, and, as late as 540 was ordered to be read in the churches of the East as an antidote to the spread of the Origenistic heresies. He also wrote a treatise against the Apollinarists, known only in brief fragments, and several homilies, two of which have reached us in their entirety.
Saint Antipater reposed in peace and is commemorated on June 13th.
Works:
Homily on Saint John the Baptist (PG 85:1763).
Homily on the Annunciation of the Theotokos (PG 85:1775).
Fragments:
A Reply to the Influential Defense of Origen by Eusebius Pamphilus (PG 85:1791).
On the Woman With the Flow of Blood (PG 85:1793).
Against Origen (PG 85:1793).
On the Cross (PG 85:1795).
Against Apollinaris (PG 85:1795).
