Christian theologian, born in Antioch, S Turkey (formerly Syria). He was made Bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia in 392. He wrote commentaries (mostly now lost) on almost all the books of Scripture, adopting a literal meaning in preference to the use of allegorical interpretation. As the teacher of Nestorius, he was perhaps the founder of Nestorianism, and his views on the Incarnation were condemned by the fifth ecumenical council in 553.
Theodore (c.350 - 428), was bishop of Mopsuestia, a city in what is now Turkey which has since declined into a village which is now known as Yakapinar, from 392 to 428. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate.
Life and work
Theodore was born at Antioch, where his father held an official position and the family was wealthy (Chrysostrom, ad Th. Theodore's cousin, Paeanius, to whom several of John Chrysostom's letters are addressed, held an important post of civil government; Theodore first appears as the early companion and friend of Chrysostom, his fellow-townsman, his equal in rank, and but two or three years his senior in age. Together with their common friend Maximus, who was later bishop of Isaurian Seleucia, Chrysostom and Theodore attended the lectures of the greek-speaking teacher of rhetoric Libanius (Socr. Chrysostom credits his friend with diligent study, but the luxurious life of polite Antioch seems to have received an equal share of his thoughts. When Chrysostom himself had been converted to the monastic life of Basil of Caesarea, he likewise converted Maximus and Theodore. It is unclear whether Theodore had been previously baptized before taking up monastic vows. His "fall" spread consternation through the little society, and the anxiety drew forth from Chrysostom the earliest of his literary compositions -- two letters "to Theodore upon his fall." These compositions kept Theodore fast to his vows, although the disappointment left traces in his after-life.
Chrysostom's connection with Diodore was probably broken off in 374, when he plunged into a more complete monastic seclusion; Theodore's seems to have continued until the elevation of Diodore to the see of Tarsus in 378. During this period doubtless the foundations were laid of Theodore's understanding of the Bible and ecclesiastical doctrine, and he was imbued for life with the principles of scriptural interpretation which Diodore had inherited from an earlier generation of Antiochenes, and with the peculiar views of the Person of Christ into which the master had been led by his antagonism to Apollinaris of Laodicea. The latter years of this decade witnessed Theodore's first appearance as a writer. The orthodox at Antioch, it seems, resented the loss of the traditional Messianic interpretation, and, if we may trust Hesychius of Jerusalem, Theodore was compelled to promise that he would commit his maiden work to the flames -- a promise he contrived to evade (Mansi, ix.
Gennadius of Marseilles (de Vir. Ill. 12) represents Theodore as a presbyter of the church of Antioch; and from a letter of John of Antioch (Facund. That would mean he was ordained priest at Antioch in 383, in his 33rd year, the ordaining bishop being doubtless Flavian, Diodore's old friend and fellow-laborer, whose "loving disciple" Theodore now became (John of Antioch, ap. The epithet seems to imply that Theodore was an adherent of the Meletian party, but there is no evidence that he was involved in the feuds which preoccupied the Catholics of Antioch during Flavian's office. Theodore's great treatise on the Incarnation belongs to this period according to Gennadius, and possibly also more than one of his commentaries on the Old Testament. Theodore is said by Hesychius to have left Antioch while yet a priest and remained in to Tarsus until 392, when he was consecrated to the see of Mopsuestia on the death of Olympius, probably through the influence of Diodore.
Mopsuestia was a free town (Pliny) upon the Pyramus (Ceyhan) river, between Tarsus and Issus, some 40 miles from either, and 12 from the sea.
Theodore's long episcopate was marked by no striking incidents. While there, Theodore had the opportunity to preach before the emperor Theodosius I, who was then starting for his last journey to the West. Theodosius II inherited his grandfather's respect for Theodore, and often wrote to him. Another glimpse of Theodore's episcopal life is supplied by a letter of Chrysostom to him from Cucusus (AD 404-407) (Chrys. The exiled patriarch "can never forget the love of Theodore, so genuine and warm, so sincere and guileless, a love maintained from early years, and manifested but now." 204) thanks him profoundly for frequent though ineffectual efforts to obtain his release, and praises their friendship in such glowing terms that Theodore's enemies at the fifth Ecumenical Council made unsuccessful efforts to deny the identity of Chrysostom's correspondent with the bishop of Mopsuestia.
Notwithstanding his literary activity, Theodore worked zealously for the good of his diocese. Theodore "expounded Scripture in all the churches of the East," says John of Antioch (ibid. ii.2), with some literary license, and adds that in his lifetime Theodore was never arraigned by any of the orthodox. 2) John begs him to retract, urging the example of Theodore, who, when in a sermon at Antioch he had said something which gave great and manifest offence, for the sake of peace and to avoid scandal, after a few days as publicly corrected himself. The heretical sects attacked by Theodore showed their resentment in a way less overt, but perhaps more formidable.
Theodore's last years were complicated by two controversies. 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. 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.
A greater heresiarch than Julian visited Mopsuestia in the last year of his life. 2) that Nestorius, on his way from Antioch to Constantinople (AD 428), took counsel with Theodore and received from him the seeds of heresy which he shortly afterwards scattered with such disastrous results. Evagrius makes this statement on the authority of one Theodulus, a person otherwise unknown. 39) Theodore died at the age of 78, having been all his life engaged in controversy, and more than once in conflict with the popular notions of orthodoxy;
Posthumous legacy
The popularity of Theodore increased following his death. "We believe as Theodore believed; long live the faith of Theodore!" "We had rather be burnt than condemn Theodore," was the reply of the bishops of Syria to the party eager for his condemnation (Ep. by Ibas of Edessa, who in 433 wrote his famous letter to Maris in praise of Theodore; by John I of Antioch, who in 428 succeeded to the see of Antioch.
Yet Theodore's ashes were scarcely cold when in other quarters men began to hold him up to obloquy. and not long afterwards prefaced his translation of Theodore's ecthesis with a still more violent attack on him as the precursor of Nestorianism . The council of Ephesus, however, while it condemned Nestorius by name, contented itself with condemning Theodore's creed without mentioning Theodore; and the Nestorian party consequently fell back upon the words of Theodore, and began to circulate them in several languages as affording the best available exposition of their views (Liberat. This circumstance deepened the mistrust of the orthodox, and even in the East there were some who proceeded to condemn the teaching of Theodore. Rabbula, bishop of Edessa, who at Ephesus had sided with John of Antioch, now publicly anathematized Theodore (Ibas, Ep. Proclus demanded from the bishops of Syria a condemnation of certain propositions supposed to have been drawn from the writings of Theodore. Cyril, who had once spoken favourably of some of Theodore's works (Facund. 67) that the opinions of Diodore, Theodore, and others of the same schools had "borne down with full sail upon the glory of Christ"; 71), that Diodore and Theodore were the parents of the blasphemy of Nestorius; 72), that had Theodore been still alive and openly approved of the teaching of Nestorius, he ought undoubtedly to have been anathematized; He collected and answered a series of propositions gathered from the writings of Diodore and Theodore, a work to which Theodoret replied shortly afterwards.
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 Zeno, AD 489. 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. and for a full account of the spread of Theodore's opinions at Edessa and Nisibis see Kihn, Theodor und Junilius, pp.
The 6th century witnessed another and final outbreak of hatred against Theodore. This condemnation of Theodore and his two supporters led to the Controversy of the Three Chapters but we may point out one result of Justinian's policy. they had no particular interest in Theodore's doctrine or method of interpretation. But the stir about Theodore led to inquiry; It is almost certainly to this cause that we owe the preservation in a Latin dress of at least one-half of Theodore's commentaries on Paul. Published under the name of Ambrose of Milan, the work of Theodore passed from Africa into the monastic libraries of the West, was copied into the compilations of Rabanus Maurus and others, and in its fuller and its abridged form supplied the Middle Ages with an accepted interpretation of an important part of the Bible. The name of Theodore, however, disappears almost entirely from Western church literature after the 6th century.
Literary remains
Facundus (x. 4) speaks of Theodore's "innumerable books"; John of Antioch, in a letter quoted by Facundus (ii.
His commentary on the minor prophets has been preserved and was published by Mai (Rome, 1825-1832) and Wegnern. Its exegetical value is diminished by Theodore's absolute confidence in the Septuagint, excessive independence of earlier hermeneutical authorities, and reluctance to admit a Christological reference, as well as by his usual defects of style.
A fortunate discovery in the 19th century gave us a complete Latin translation of the commentary on Galatians and the nine following epistles. But this translation gives us the substance of Theodore's interpretation of the apostle Paul, and so we have a typical commentary from his pen on a considerable portion of each Testament.
His commentaries on the rest of the Bible has survived only in quotations and excerpts. 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.
The printed fragments of his commentaries on the Psalms, in Greek and Latin, fill 25 columns in Migne. That his first literary adventure was hasty and premature was frankly acknowledged by Theodore himself.
Besides pieces of his commentaries on books from the Old and New Testament, we have fragments or notices of his writings on various topics. After a logical and scriptural demonstration of the truth and perfection of each of the natures in Christ, Theodore deals more at length with the Sacred Manhood. None of the remains of Theodore throw such important light upon his Christology.
Works that have not survived as well include: his de Apollinario et eius Haeresi and other polemics against Apollinarianism; Photius mentions that Theodore wrote three books on "Persian Magic", which not only attacked Zoroastrianism, but according to Photius betrayed his "Nestorian" views in the third book, and even advanced the startling theory of a final restoration of all men.
Ebedjesu includes in his list "two tomes on the Holy Spirit", probably a work directed against the heresy of the Pneumatomachi;
Lastly, Leontius intimates that Theodore wrote a portion of a liturgy; Internal evidence confirms the judgment of Dr. Neale, who regards it as a genuine work of Theodore.
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
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