Saint Sophronius I, a valiant leader of the Jerusalem Church throughout the seventh-century Islamic conquests, is honored on March 11.

While St. Sophronius is recognized and honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox churches more commonly revere him. On the same day, which is said to be his death date in 638, he is honored in all of these customs.

Around the year 560, Sophronius was born in Damascus, Syria, into a distinguished family and was educated in philosophy. His early love for God developed into a desire for a monastic lifestyle, and when he was still a little boy, he enrolled at a monastery in Palestine. John Moschus, a fellow monk who would go on to become a significant spiritual writer in the Eastern Christian tradition, became a friend and student of his.

Palestine was invaded in 605 by the Zoroastrian Persians, who were the Byzantine Empire's long-standing military adversaries and originated in modern-day Iran. The two monks consequently took refuge in Egypt and later escaped to Antioch. However, John and Sophronius' flight turned into a spiritual journey that took them to numerous monasteries around the Middle East. "The Spiritual Meadow", Moschus' memoir of their journey, has survived and is read in churches today.

Saint John the Almsgiver, the patriarch of Alexandria, was the two monks' main patron. They lived with him briefly until the Persians took over the city in 614. St. John was driven by the Zoroastrian invasion of Egypt back to his native Cyprus, while Sophronius and John Moschus, along with several other monks, sought safety in Rome. In 619, Moschus passed away in Rome.

Even before Islam gained prominence, there were bloody conflicts over Jerusalem, the eventual home of Sophronius' patriarchate. Taken captured by the Persians in 614, the Byzantines did not regain it until 628. Following protracted battles with the Zoroastrian empire, the Christian reconquest of the city proved triumphant. The victory, however, would not last long because the caliphs, Muhammad's successors, had already started the Islamic conquests.

During the 620s, doctrinal disputes regarding the identity of Christ resurfaced, causing internal suffering within Eastern Christendom. Sophronius was a vocal opponent of the "monothelite" heresy in the 630s, which held that Jesus possessed a single, divine will. This fallacy denied Christ's human will, rendering him less than "true God and true man." Sophronius trained and coached the greatest opponent of Monothelitism, Saint Maximus the Confessor.

Sophronius, who was chosen to head the Church in Jerusalem in 634, persisted in battling the heresy of Monothelitism. But soon, Caliph Umar and his horde of adherents presented him with a more pressing danger. During Sophronius's patriarchate, the Muslims besieged Jerusalem for two years, denying its citizens access to food. Negotiating a surrender with the caliph was the only way the patriarch could spare his people's lives. Thus, in 637, Jerusalem was conquered by Islam for the first time. The following year, St. Sophronius passed away, heartbroken.

Near the close of the seventh century, the heresy of "one will" in Christ was officially condemned at the Sixth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, supporting Patriarch St. Sophronius' opposition to Monothelitism. However, after the passing of St. Sophronius, the Jerusalem Patriarchate remained unoccupied for many years, with no successor chosen until 705 years later. However, Jerusalem would remain without Christian control until the First Crusade in 1099.

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