SAINT SOPHRONIUS was born in Damascus around the year 560. A highly regarded teacher and fluent speaker of Greek, he entered the monastery of St. Theodosius near Bethlehem, and as a monk and theologian traveled widely to preach against Monothelitism (which denied the dual human and divine will of Jesus). He was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem in 634, and it is said that his death in 638 was hastened by the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims a year earlier.