Severus was born in the city of Sozopolis in Pisidia in c. 459,[6] or c. 465,[7] into an affluent Christian family, however, later Miaphysite sources would assert that his parents were pagan.
[8] His father was a senator in the city,[9] and his paternal grandfather,[6] also named Severus,[10] was the Bishop of Sozopolis and had attended the Council of Ephesus in 431.
[10] After his father's death,[9] in 485, Severus travelled to Alexandria in Egypt to study grammar, rhetoric,[11] and philosophy,[8] in both Greek and Latin.
[12] At Alexandria, he met Zacharias of Mytilene, a fellow student and friend, who persuaded him to read the works of Gregory of Nazianzus, and Basil of Caesarea, in particular his correspondence with Libanius.
According to Zacharias, whilst students at Alexandria, he and Severus discovered and destroyed a hoard of pagan idols at the neighbouring city of Menouthis.
He initially intended to return to Pisidia and practise law, however, after a pilgrimage to the Church of Saint Leontius in Tripolis, the head of John the Baptist at Emesa, and Jerusalem, he resolved to join Evagrius and become a monk.
[9] Severus entered the monastery of Peter the Iberian near Maiuma in Palestine, a prominent centre of non-Chalcedonianism, and remained there for several years.
[14] Severus practised asceticism in the desert until c. 500,[13] at which time he became ill and was convinced to recover at the Monastery of Saint Romanus in Maiuma,[15] where he was ordained a priest by Epiphanius, Bishop of Magydus.
[13] In the same year, Patriarch Elias I of Jerusalem commissioned Nephalius to expel non-Chalcedonian monks from their monasteries in Palestine, and Severus was sent to Constantinople to complain to Emperor Anastasius I.
[9] In 512, Flavian II, Patriarch of Antioch, was deposed by Anastasius,[19] and a synod was held at Laodicea in Syria to elect a successor.
[20] The consecration ceremony was attended by the bishops Dionysius of Tarsus, Nicias of Laodicea, Philoxenus of Mabbug, Peter of Beroea, Simeon of Chalcis, Marion of Sura, Eusebius of Gabbula, Silvanus of Urima, Sergius of Cyrrhus, John of Europus, Philoxenus of Doliche, and Iulianus of Salamias.
[12] Following Anastasius' death and his succession by Emperor Justin I in July 518, the bishops of Syria Secunda travelled to Constantinople and clamoured for Severus' deposition.
[22] In his exile, Julian of Halicarnassus also took up residence at the monastery of the Ennaton and exchanged letters with Severus on the topic of the body of Christ.
[32] Emperor Justinian, who succeeded his uncle Justin I in 527, held a three-day synod at the Palace of Hormisdas in the spring of 532 at Constantinople to restore unity to the church through dialogue between five Chalcedonians and five or more non-Chalcedonians.
[33] The emperor invited Severus and promised immunity,[22] however, he chose not to attend on the grounds of age and as he was accused of corruption and bribery, which he vehemently denied.
Their leader, Themistius, a deacon at Alexandria, saw himself as defending the Severan view, nevertheless, a new sect was founded after him[35][36] advocating a more extreme belief of Christ's corruptibility.