Theodoret of Cyrus orCyrrhus (Ancient Greek:Θεοδώρητος Κύρρου;c. AD 393 –c. 458/466) was an influential theologian of theSchool of Antioch, biblical commentator, andChristianbishop ofCyrrhus (423–457).

Mar Theodoret of Cyrus
Theodoret of Cyrus
Born	c. 393 Antioch,Coele Syria,Roman Empire
Died	c. 458 Cyrrhus,Syria Prima,Eastern Roman Empire
Venerated in	Church of the East Chaldean Catholic Church

He played a pivotal role in several 5th-centuryByzantine Church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms. He wrote againstCyril of Alexandria's12 Anathemas which were sent toNestorius and did not personally condemn Nestorius until theCouncil of Chalcedon. His writings against Cyril were included in theThree Chapters Controversy and were condemned at theSecond Council of Constantinople. SomeChalcedonian andEast Syriac Christians regard him as blessed.^[a]

According toTillemont, he was born atAntioch in 393, and died either at Cyrrhus ("about a two-days' journey east ofAntioch" or eighty Roman miles), or at themonastery nearApamea (fifty-four miles south-east of Antioch) about 457.^{[citation needed]}

The following facts about his life are gleaned mainly from hisEpistles and hisReligious History (Philotheos historia). He was the child of a prosperous Antiochene couple who had been childless for many years. Encouraged by the fact that his mother had been cured of a serious eye complaint and converted to a sober life by Peter theGalatian, an ascetic living in the locality,^[3] Theodoret's parents sought further help from the local holy men, since she had been childless for twelve years. For years their hopes were fed but not fulfilled. Eventually, Theodoret's birth was promised by ahermit namedMacedonius the Barley-Eater on the condition of his dedication to God, whence the name Theodoret ("gift of God").^[4]

Theodoret received an extensive religious and secular education. The evidence given by Theodoret suggests that his education was exclusively religious. He paid weekly visits to Peter the Galatian, was instructed by Macedonius and other ascetics, and at an early age became alector among the clergy of Antioch. He studied the works ofDiodore of Tarsus andTheodore of Mopsuestia as it was certainly their theological tradition in which he was brought up. He clearly also received an extensive classical education, unsurprisingly for the child of prosperous parents in a city which had long been a centre of secular learning and culture. His correspondents included the sophists Aerius and Isokasius. He understood Syriac as well as Greek, but was not acquainted with either Hebrew or Latin.^[5] In his letters he quotes fromHomer,Sophocles,Euripides,Aristophanes,Demosthenes andThucydides.^[6] When he was twenty-three years old and both parents were dead, he divided his fortune among the poor (Epist. cxiii; P.G., LXXXIII, 1316) and became a monk in the monastery of Nicerte not far from Apamea.^[7] There he lived for about seven years.

In 423 he left as he had been appointed Bishop of Cyrrhus, over adiocese about forty miles square and embracing 800 parishes, but with an insignificant town as itssee city. Theodoret, supported only by the appeals of the intimate hermits, himself in personal danger, zealously guarded purity of the doctrine. He converted more than 1,000Marcionites in his diocese,^[8] besides manyArians andMacedonians;^[9] more than 200 copies ofTatian'sDiatessaron he retired from the churches; and he erected churches and supplied them withrelics.

His philanthropic and economic interests were extensive and varied: he endeavoured to secure relief for the people oppressed with taxation; he divided his inheritance among the poor; from his episcopal revenues he erected baths, bridges, halls, and aqueducts; he summonedrhetoricians andphysicians, and reminded the officials of their duties. To the persecuted Christians ofPersianArmenia he sent letters of encouragement, and to theCarthaginian Celestiacus, who had fled the rule of theVandals, he gave refuge.^{[citation needed]}

Theodoret stands out prominently in theChristological controversies aroused byCyril of Alexandria. Theodoret shared in the petition ofJohn I of Antioch toNestorius to approve of the termtheotokos ("mother of God"),^[5] and upon the request of John wrote against Cyril'sanathemas.

He may have prepared the Antiochiansymbol which was to secure the emperor's true understanding of theNicene Creed, and he was a member and spokesman of the deputation of eight from Antioch called by the emperor toChalcedon. To the condemnation of Nestorius he could not assent. John, reconciled to Cyril by the emperor's order, sought to bring Theodoret to submission by entrenching upon hiseparchy.^{[citation needed]}

Theodoret was determined to preserve the peace of the Church by seeking the adoption of a formula avoiding the unconditional condemnation of Nestorius, and toward the close of 434 strove earnestly for the reconciliation between the Eastern churches. But Cyril refused to compromise and when he opened his attack (437) uponDiodorus of Tarsus and Theodore, John sided with them and Theodoret assumed the defence of the Antiochian party (c. 439).[5]Domnus II, the successor of John, took him as his counsellor. After the death of Cyril, adherents of the Antiochian theology were appointed to bishoprics.Irenaeus the friend of Nestorius, with the cooperation of Theodoret, becamebishop of Tyre, in spite of the protests ofDioscorus, Cyril's successor, who now turned specially against Theodoret; and secured the order from the court confining Theodoret to Cyrrhus.

Theodoret now composed theEranistes (see below). In vain were his efforts at court at self-justification against the charges of Dioscurus, as well as the countercharge of Domnus againstEutyches ofApollinarism. The court excluded Theodoret from theSecond Council of Ephesus in 449 because of his antagonism to Cyril. Here, because of hisEpistle 151 against Cyril and his defence of Diodorus and Theodore, he was condemned without a hearing andexcommunicated and his writings were directed to be burned. Even Domnus gave his assent.^{[citation needed]}

Theodoret was compelled to leave Cyrrhus and retire to his monastery at Apamea. He made an appeal toLeo the Great, but not until after the death ofTheodosius II in 450 was his appeal for a revocation of the judgments against him granted by imperial edict. He was ordered to participate in theCouncil of Chalcedon, which created violent opposition. He was first to take part only as accuser, yet among the bishops. Then he was constrained (October 26, 451) by the friends of Dioscurus to pronounce theanathema over Nestorius. His conduct shows (though hindered from a statement to that effect) that he performed this with his previous reservation; namely, without application beyond the teaching of two sons in Christ and the denial of thetheotokos. Upon this he was declaredorthodox and rehabilitated.^{[citation needed]}

The only thing known concerning him following the Council of Chalcedon is the letter of Leo charging him to guard the Chalcedonian victory (PG, lxxxiii. 1319 sqq.). With Diodorus and Theodore he was no less hated by theMiaphysites than Nestorius himself, and held by them and their friends as a heretic. After Chalcedon, he lived in Cyrrhus until his death, which may have been in 460.^[10][11]

TheThree-Chapter Controversy led to the condemnation of his writings against Cyril in theSecond Council of Constantinople (553).^{[citation needed]}

The most significant works of Theodoret are those ofexegesis.

A chronology of the composition of these works can be developed by studying references in the latter works to the earlier works. The commentary on theSong of Songs, written while he was a young bishop, though not before 430, precedesPsalms; the commentaries on the prophets were begun withDaniel, followed byEzekiel, and then theMinor Prophets. Next that on thePsalms was completed before 436; and those onIsaiah,Jeremiah, and thePauline Epistles (includingHebrews), before 448. Theodoret's last exegetical works were the interpretations of difficult passages in theOctateuch andQuaestiones dealing with the books ofSamuel,Kings, andChronicles, written about 452 to 453.^{[citation needed]}

Excepting the commentary onIsaiah (fragments preserved in thecatenae) and onGalatians ii.6-13, the exegetical writings of Theodoret are extant. Exegetical material on theGospels under his name in thecatenae may have come from his other works, and foreign interpolations occur in his comments on theOctateuch.^{[citation needed]}

His representation of orthodox doctrine consists of a collocation of Scripture passages.^{[citation needed]}

The biblical authors are, for Theodoret, merely the mouthpieces of theHoly Spirit, though they do not lose their individual peculiarities. By the unavoidable imperfection of the translations, he states, the understanding is encumbered. Not familiar withHebrew, Theodoret uses theSyriac translation, the Greek versions, and theSeptuagint.^{[citation needed]}

In principle his exegesis is grammatical-historical; and he criticizes the intrusion of the author's own ideas. His aim is to avoid a one-sidedness of literalness as well as ofallegory. Hence he protests against the attributing ofThe Song of Songs toSolomon and the like as degrading the Holy Spirit. Rather is it to be said that the Scripture speaks often "figuratively" and "in riddles." In theOld Testament everything has typological significance and prophetically it embodies already the Christian doctrine. The divine illumination affords the right understanding after theapostolic suggestion and theNew Testament fulfilment. Valuable though not binding is the exegetical tradition of the ecclesiastical teachers. Theodoret likes to choose the best among various interpretations before him, preferably Theodore's, and supplements from his own. He is clear and simple in thought and statement; and his merit is to have rescued the exegetical heritage of theschool of Antioch as a whole for the Christian Church.^{[citation needed]}

Many of Theodoret's dogmatic works have perished; five, however, have survived.

His chief Christological work is theEranistes etoi polymorphos (Beggar or Multiform, or perhapsThe Collector) in three dialogues, describing theMonophysites as beggars passing off their doctrines gathered by scraps from diverse heretical sources and himself as the orthodox. The work is interspersed with lengthyflorilegia (anthologies of patristic citations), which may be the reason for its preservation. Theseflorilegia provide evidence of Theodoret's considerable learning, with 238 texts drawn from 88 works, including pre-Nicene writers such as Ignatius, Irenaeus and Hippolytus, as well as theologians such as Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers. This use offlorilegia heralds a new stage in doctrinal development, in that it creates a new authority for Christian theology: that of the 'Fathers'.^[12][13]

Two works,On the Holy and Life-giving Trinity andOn the Incarnation of the Lord, have survived through ascription to his opponentCyril of Alexandria.^[12][14][15]

Another surviving work by Theodoret is hisRefutation of the Anathemas, his rejection of the twelve anathemas pronounced on him by Cyril of Alexandria, which has been preserved in Cyril's defence.^[16] He detects Apollinarianism in Cyril's teaching, and declines a "contracting into one" of two natures of the only begotten, as much as a separation into two sons (Epist. Cxliii). Instead of a "union according tohypostases," he would accept only one that "manifests the essential properties or modes of the natures." The man united toGod was born ofMary; between God theLogos and the form of a servant a distinction must be drawn.

Another surviving work is theExpositio rectae fidei. This was preserved among the writings of Justin Martyr. However, both Lebon (1930) and Sellers (1945) independently recognised it as the work of Theodoret, probably pre-dating the outbreak of the Christological controversies.^[17]

Only minor fragments (cf.Epist. 16) of Theodoret's defence of Diodorus and Theodore (438-444) have been preserved.^[18]

There are many lost works. Theodoret mentions having written againstArius andEunomius,^[19] probably one work, to which were joined the three treatises against the Macedonians. There were, besides, two works against the Apollinarians, and of theOpus adversus Marcionem nothing has been preserved.

God is immutable also in becoming man, the two natures are separate in Christ, and God the Logos is ever immortal and impassive. Each nature remained "pure" after the union, retaining its properties to the exclusion of all transmutation and intermixture. Of the twenty-seven orations in defence of various propositions, the first six agree in their given content with Theodoret. A few extracts from the five orations on Chrysostom were preserved by Photius (codex 273).

Amongapologetic writings was theAd quaestiones magorum (429-436), now lost, in which Theodoret justified theOld Testament sacrifices as alternatives in opposition to theEgyptian idolatry,^[20] and exposed the fables of theMagi who worshipped the elements (Church History v. 38).

De providentia, orTen Discourses on Providence, consists of apologetic discourses, proving the divine providence from the physical order (chapters i-iv), and from the moral and social order (chapters vi-x). They were most probably delivered to the cultured Greek congregation of Antioch, sometime between 431 and 435. Unlike most sermons, they are reasoned arguments, lectures rather than homilies on scriptural texts.^{[citation needed]}

TheGraecarum Affectionum Curatio orCure of the Greek Maladies, subtitledThe Truth of the Gospel proved from Greek Philosophy, arranged in twelve books, was an attempt to prove the truth of Christianity fromGreek philosophy and in contrast with the pagan ideas and practises. As such, it forms one of the last Apologies written, since in an age when Christianity was dominant, the need for apologies gradually died out. The truth is self-consistent where it is not obscured with error and approves itself as the power of life; philosophy is only a presentiment of it. This work is distinguished for clearness of arrangement and style.^[21]

TheEcclesiastical History of Theodoret, which begins with the rise of Arianism and closes with the death of Theodore in 429 (despite being completed in 449–450) is very different in style from those ofSocrates Scholasticus andSozomen. It contains many sources otherwise lost, specially letters on the Arian controversy; however, the book is extremely partisan, the heretics being consistently blackened and described as afflicted with the 'Arian plague'. The narrative is more compressed than in the other historians, and Theodoret often strings documents together, with only brief comments between. Original material of Antiochian information appears chiefly in the latter books.^{[citation needed]}

Theodoret's sources are in dispute. According toValesius these were mainly Socrates and Sozomen; Albert Guldenpenning's thorough research placedRufinus first, and next to him,Eusebius of Caesarea,Athanasius, Sozomen,Sabinus,Philostorgius,Gregory Nazianzen, and, least of all, Socrates. N. Glubokovskij counts Eusebius, Rufinus, Philostorgius, and, perhaps, Sabinus.^{[citation needed]}

Upon the request of a high official namedSporacius, Theodoret compiled aCompendium of Heretical Accounts (Haereticarum fabularum compendium), including aheresiology (books i-iv) and a "compendium of divine dogmas" (book v), which, apart fromOrigen'sDe principiis and the theological work ofJohn of Damascus, is the only systematic representation of the theology of theGreek Fathers.^{[citation needed]}

TheReligious History, also known asA History of the Monks of Syria, with an appendix ondivine love, contains the biographies of thirty (ten living) ascetics, held forth as religious models. It is a document of remarkable significance for understanding the complexities of the role of early monastics, both in society and in the church; it is also remarkable for presenting a model of ascetic authority which runs strongly against Athanasius'sLife of Antony.

Of the 30 monks listed inA History of the Monks of Syria, the last 10 monks were living at the time that Theodoret was writing the book during the 5th century.^[22]

Compared to the more than 500 letters known toNicephorus Callistus in the fourteenth century, only about half that number had survived to the twentieth century. Three collections survive, though there is some overlap between them. 179 letters were edited by J Sirmond in the seventeenth century. To these, J. Sakkelion added another 47 letters he published from a manuscript he found at theMonastery ofPatmos in 1855.^[23] 36 letters have been preserved in conciliar records. These letters provide glimpses of rural Christianity in northern Syria, as well as insight into episcopal relationships; hints of the development of Christological issues between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon can be seen; there are letters of consolation and commendation; throughout there is revealed the generous and sensitive soul of a pastor.^[12]

An English translation of the surviving letters is part of theNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2 ser., iii. 250–348).^[24]

In several works, Theodoret demonstrated an interest for linguistic issues related to translations of sacred texts and theological works, with emphasis on literary exchange between two languages, Greek and Syriac.^[25][26] Theodoret himself belonged to the highlyHellenized urban landscape ofRoman Syria,^[27] but hisAramaic background,^[28] accompanied with knowledge of Aramaic language (calledSyriac among Greeks), enabled him to note several features of his ancestral language. Aware of regional diversities of Aramaic dialects, he recorded that "the Osroënians, the Syrians, the people of the Euphrates, the Palestinians, and the Phoenicians all speak Syriac, but with many differences in pronunciation".^[29] Theodoret's regional (provincial) differentiation of Aramaic dialects included an explicit distinction between the "Syrians" (as Aramaic speakers ofSyria proper, western ofEuphrates), and the "Osroenians" as Aramaic speakers ofOsroene (eastern region, centered inEdessa), thus showing that dialect of the "Syrians" (Aramaic speakers of proper Syria) was known to have somewhat different pronunciation from that of the "Osroenians" (speakers of Edessan Aramaic).^[30][31]

• Translations of some of Theodoret's writings can be found inNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.
• A modern edition of theEranistes with English supplementary material was published by Oxford University Press in 1975.ISBN 0198266391
• Theodoret of Cyrus.On Divine Providence, translated and annotated byThomas P. Halton, 1988 (Ancient Christian Writers, 49)ISBN 9780809104208
• Theodoret of Cyrus.A Cure for Pagan Maladies, translation and introduction by Thomas P. Halton, 2013 (Ancient Christian Writers, 67)ISBN 9780809106066
• Ettlinger, GH, 2003.Theodoret: Eranistes, FC, Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.
• Petruccione, John F and RC Hill, 2007.Theodoret of Cyrus. The Questions on the Octateuch, Greek text and English translation, Washington, DC,Catholic University of America Press
• RC Hill has published translations into English of theCommentary on the Psalms (2000, 2001), theCommentary on the Songs of Songs (2001), and theCommentary on the Letters of St Paul (2001)
• István Pásztori-Kupán,Theodoret of Cyrus, (Routledge, 2006), includes full translations ofOn the Trinity,On the Incarnation, and excerpts fromA Cure of Greek Maladies andA Compendium of Heretical Mythification.^[32]
• Bilingual editions (Greek text with parallel French translation) of several of the texts mentioned above have been published in recent years inSources Chrétiennes.

• Aphrahat (hermit)

• "Theodoret of Cyrus". The Crossroads Initiative.
• Theodoret's works at CCEL
• Greek Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca, with analytical indexes and concordances made on the whole writings
• István Pásztori-Kupán: Theodoret of Cyrus’s Double Treatise On the Trinity and On the Incarnation: The Antiochene Pathway to Chalcedon (PhD thesis)
• Works by Theodoret atLibriVox (public domain audiobooks)