Leo'ntius26. Of ST.
SABA. Surius has given (De Probatis Sanctorum
Vitis, a. d. 22 Nov.), professedly from Symeon Metaphrastes, an interpolated Latin
version of a life of St. Gregory of Agrigentum, by Leontius, presbyter and abbot of St. Saba.
The Greek original, which is extant in MS., bears the title
Λεοντίον
πρεσβυτέρου καὶ ἡγουμένου τῆς μονῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Σάβα τῆς Ῥωμαίων τόλεως εἰς
βίον καὶ δαύματα τοῦ ὁσίου Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Γρηγοριου τοῦ Ἀκραγαντίνου,
Leontii Presbyteri et Abbatis Coenobii S. Sabae (urbis Romae, sc.
Novae s.
CPoleos) Liber de Vita et Miraculis S.
Patris nostri Gregorii Agrigentini. If the expression " Urbis Romae" is
correctly referred to Leontius, it furnishes an argument for identifying him with Leontius of
Byzantium [No. 5], who, in that case, must have embraced a monastic life in the monastery of
St. Saba, near Jerusalem. (Surius,
l.c. ; Fabric.
Bibl.
Graec. vol. viii. p. 322; Cave,
Hist. Litt. vol. ii
Dissert. 1. p. 12.)