Theodore of Mopsuestia
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Theodore of Mopsuestia (
Life and work
Theodore was born at
Chrysostom's connection with
Mopsuestia was a free town (Pliny) upon the
Theodore's long episcopate was marked by no striking incidents. His letters, long known to the
Notwithstanding his literary activity, Theodore worked zealously for the good of his diocese. The famous letter of Ibas to Maris testifies that he struggled against extinguished
Theodore's last years were complicated by two controversies. When in 418 the Pelagian leaders were deposed and exiled from the West, they sought in the East the sympathy of the chief living representative of the school of Antioch. This fact is recorded by Marius Mercator, who makes the most of it (Praef. ad Symb. Theod. Mop. 72). They probably resided with Theodore till 422, when Julian of Eclanum returned to Italy. Julian's visit was doubtless the occasion upon which Theodore wrote his book Against the Defenders of Original Sin. Mercator charges Theodore with having turned against Julian as soon as the latter had left Mopsuestia, and anathematized him in a provincial synod. The synod can hardly be a fabrication, since Mercator was a contemporary writer; but it was very possibly convened, as Fritzsche suggests, without any special reference to the Pelagian question. If Theodore then read his ecthesis, the anathema with which that ends might have been represented outside the council as a synodical condemnation of the Pelagian chiefs. Mercator's words, in fact, point to this explanation.
A greater heresiarch than Julian visited Mopsuestia in the last year of his life. It is stated by
Posthumous legacy
The popularity of Theodore increased following his death. Meletius, his successor at Mopsuestia, protested that his life would have been in danger if he had uttered a word against his predecessor (
Shortly after Theodore's death men in other quarters began to hold him up to obloquy. As early perhaps as 431
The ferment then subsided for a time, but the disciples of Theodore, repulsed in the West, pushed their way from Eastern Syria to Persia. Ibas, who succeeded Rabbula in 435, restored the School of Edessa, and it continued to be a nursery of Theodore's theology till suppressed by Emperor Zeno in 489 and found refuge at Nisibis. Among the Nestorians of Persia the writings of Theodore were regarded as the standard both of doctrine and of interpretation, and the Persian church returned the censures of the orthodox by pronouncing an anathema on all who opposed or rejected them (cf. Assem. iii.i.84; and for a full account of the spread of Theodore's opinions at Edessa and Nisibis see Kihn, Theodor und Junilius, pp. 198–209, 333–336).
The 6th century witnessed another and final outbreak of hatred against Theodore. The fifth general council (553), under the influence of the emperor
Theodore believed that the torment of
Literary remains
Facundus (x.4) speaks of Theodore's "innumerable books"; John of Antioch, in a letter quoted by Facundus (ii.2), describes his polemical works as alone numbering "decem millia" (i.e. muria), an exaggeration of course, but based on fact. A catalogue of such of his writings as were once extant in Syriac translations is given by
His commentary on the minor prophets has been preserved and was published by Mai (Rome, 1825–1832) and Wegnern. It is noteworthy for its independence of earlier hermeneutical authorities and Theodore's reluctance to admit a Christological reference. It is marked by his usual defects of style; it is nevertheless a considerable monument of his expository power, and the best illustration we possess of the Antiochene method of interpreting Old Testament prophecy.
A fortunate discovery in the 19th century gave us a complete Latin translation of the commentary on
Theodore's commentaries on the rest of the Bible have survived only in quotations and excerpts. His commentary on Genesis is cited by Cosmas Indicopleustes, John Philoponus, and Photius (Cod. 3, 8). Latin fragments are found in the Acts of the second council of Constantinople, and an important collection of Syriac fragments from the Nitrian manuscripts of the British Museum was published by Dr. Eduard Sachau (Th. Mops. Fragm. Syriaca, Lips. 1869, pp. 1–21). Photius, criticizing the style of this work in words more or less applicable to all the remains of Theodore, notices the writer's opposition to the allegorical method of interpretation. Ebedjesu was struck by the care and elaboration bestowed upon the work.
The printed fragments of his commentaries on the Psalms, in Greek and Latin, fill 25 columns in Migne. More recently attention has been called to a Syriac version (Baethgen), and new fragments of a Latin version and of the original Greek have been printed. His preference for historically sensitive interpretation led him to deny the application to Christ of all but three or four of the Psalms usually regarded as Messianic. Evidently, he later came to regard the book as somewhat hasty and premature.
Besides pieces of his commentaries on books from the Old and New Testament, we have fragments or notices of his writings on various topics. Chief amongst these, and first in point of time, was his treatise in fifteen books, on the Incarnation. According to Gennadius (de Vir. Ill. 12) it was directed against the
Works that have not survived as well include: his de Apollinario et eius Haeresi and other polemics against Apollinarianism; and a separate polemic against
Ebedjesu includes in his list "two tomes on the Holy Spirit", probably a work directed against the heresy of the Pneumatomachi; and "two tomes against him who asserts that sin is inherent in human nature." The last works were directed at Jerome[9] though they did not accurately represent his positions since Theodore was not personally acquainted with his writings, but relied on information provided by Julian of Eclanum.[10] Julian's Ad Florum, a polemic against Augustine, and Theodore's works against Jerome used many of the same arguments.[11]
Lastly, Leontius intimates that Theodore wrote a portion of a liturgy; "not content with drafting a new creed, he sought to impose upon the church a new Anaphora". The Hallowing of Theodore of Mopsuestia, an East Syriac liturgy ascribed to "Mar Teodorus the Interpreter" is still used by the East Syriac Rite Churches for a third of the year, from Advent to Palm Sunday. The proanaphoral and post-communion portions are supplied by the older liturgy "of the Apostles" (so called), the anaphora only being peculiar. Internal evidence confirms the judgment of Dr. Neale, who regards it as a genuine work of Theodore.
His lost work on the incarnation was discovered in 1905 in a Syriac translation in the mountains of northern Iraq in a Nestorian monastery. The manuscript was acquired by the scholar-archbishop
References
- ^ Soro 2007, p. 19.
- ^ "ഗ്രീക്ക് സഭാപിതാക്കന്മാരുടെ ഓർമ്മ" (PDF). syromalabarliturgy.org (in Malayalam).
- ^ McLeod 2009.
- ^ Baur 1912.
- ^ The Book of the Bee, CHAPTER LX. Evinity Publishing INC. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
- ^ Malavasi 2014, p. 246-248.
- ^ Beecher, Edward. History of Opinions on the Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution. Chapter XXV. Pages 219-224.
- ^ Photius, Bibliotheca. The Tertullian Project. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
- ^ Malavasi 2014, p. 230-232.
- ^ Malavasi 2014, p. 249, 258-259.
- ^ Malavasi 2014, p. 251-258.
- OCLC 10671494.
- This article uses text from A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies by Henry Wace.
Sources
- Anastos, Milton V. (1951). "The Immutability of Christ and Justinian's Condemnation of Theodore of Mopsuestia". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 6: 123–160. JSTOR 1291085.
- Baur, Chrysostom (1912). "Theodore of Mopsuestia". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Chesnut, Roberta C. (1978). "The Two Prosopa in Nestorius' Bazaar of Heracleides". The Journal of Theological Studies. 29 (2): 392–409. JSTOR 23958267.
- ISBN 978-9004174122.
- ISBN 9780664223014.
- Kalantzis, George (2010). "Single Subjectivity and the Prosopic Union in Cyril of Alexandria and Theodore of Mopsuestia". Studia Patristica. 47: 59–64. ISBN 9789042923744.
- Loon, Hans van (2009). The Dyophysite Christology of Cyril of Alexandria. Leiden-Boston: Basil BRILL. ISBN 978-9004173224.
- Malavasi, Giulio (2014). "The Involvement of Theodore of Mopsuestia in the Pelagian Controversy: A Study of Theodore's Treatise Against Those Who Say that Men Sin by Nature and Not by Will". Augustiniana: 228–260.
- S2CID 157064109.
- McLeod, Frederick G. (2005). The Roles of Christ's Humanity in Salvation: Insights from Theodore of Mopsuestia. Washington: COA Press. ISBN 9780813213965.
- McLeod, Frederick G. (2009). Theodore of Mopsuestia. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781134079285.
- McLeod, Frederick G. (2010). "Theodore of Mopsuestia's Understanding of Two Hypostaseis and Two Prosopa Coinciding in One Common Prosopon". Journal of Early Christian Studies. 18 (3): 393–424. S2CID 170594639.
- ISBN 9780881410563.
- Norris, Richard A., ed. (1980). The Christological Controversy. Minneapolis: Fortess Press. ISBN 9780800614119.
- Pásztori-Kupán, István (2006). Theodoret of Cyrus. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781134391769.
- Perhai, Richard J. (2015). Antiochene Theoria in the Writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Theodoret of Cyrus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451488005.
- ISBN 9780802872319.
- ISBN 9781604025149.
External links
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Theodore of Mopsuestia, Prologue to the Commentary on Acts at The Tertullian Project
- Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Nicene Creed at The Tertullian Project