Eustratios of Antioch

Eustratios was briefly Patriarch of Antioch in late 969. Appointed by Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, Eustratios never formally assumed office or traveled to his see due to the emperor's assassination. He is a largely obscure figure in ecclesiastical history, omitted from most traditional patriarchal lists, and is known primarily through the late 12th-century text De translationibus episcoporum.

Election to patriarch Eustratios was the first recorded holder of the See of Antioch following the Roman reconquest of the city on October 29, 969. Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas required a patriarch he could trust to govern the newly recovered city and support his political ambitions in the East. He found this candidate in Eustratios, who was then the Bishop of Flavias, a diocese dependent on the Metropolis of Anazarbus. and the prolonged attachment of Mesopotamian Armenia (with Arsamosata as its metropolis) to Constantinople.

Deposition Eustratios's tenure as patriarch-elect was cut short by political upheaval. Before he could travel to Antioch or be formally enthroned, Nikephoros II Phokas was assassinated by conspirators on the night of December 10–11, 969.

Because Eustratios had not yet been enthroned, it was easy for the new regime to set aside the late emperor's uncrowned candidate. He was likely bypassed and forced to return to his former title as Bishop of Flavias. The separation of Flavias from Anazarbus, now devoid of its original political purpose, was presumably never realized.

Legacy Due to his failure to take physical possession of the see, Eustratios remained entirely unknown to contemporary and near-contemporary historians such as Yahya of Antioch and Nikon of the Black Mountain. Both authors present Theodore II as the successor to Christopher and the first legitimate patriarch of Antioch following the Byzantine reconquest. Nevertheless, he held the right to be included in patriarchal lists, having been canonically elected and having borne the title, even if only for a matter of days.