Theodoret

Theodoret was born at Antioch in the Roman province of Syria in the late fourth century, conventionally dated to about 393, into a prosperous Christian family. His mother, who credited local Syrian ascetics with the healing of an eye affliction, dedicated him from childhood to the religious life and placed him under the influence of monks and holy men of the region. He received a thorough education in classical Greek literature as well as in Scripture, formed in the Antiochene theological tradition that stressed the literal and historical sense of the biblical text and a firm distinction between the divine and human natures in Christ. In youth he distributed much of his inherited property to the poor. Around 416 he withdrew to a monastery at Nicerte near Apamea, where he lived under monastic discipline for some seven years before being called to episcopal office.

In 423 he was consecrated bishop of Cyrrhus, a relatively small city in the province of Euphratensis whose diocese nevertheless included hundreds of villages. He proved an energetic pastor, opposing remaining pagan cults as well as Arian and Marcionite groups, constructing churches and civic works, and corresponding extensively with imperial officials and fellow bishops. He was a prolific writer. His biblical commentaries treat the Octateuch, Kings and Chronicles, the Psalms, the Song of Songs, the Prophets, and the Pauline epistles. He also composed an Ecclesiastical History continuing Eusebius down to 428, a Religious History (Philotheos Historia) containing lives of thirty Syrian monks and nuns, apologetic and dogmatic treatises, and a large surviving correspondence that is a principal source for fifth-century ecclesiastical and imperial affairs.

Theodoret became a leading spokesman of the Antiochene party in the Christological conflicts of the 430s and 440s. A friend and defender of Nestorius, he opposed Cyril of Alexandria’s Twelve Anathemas and took part in the struggles surrounding the Council of Ephesus in 431. After prolonged tension he accepted the Formula of Reunion of 433, yet he continued to write against what he regarded as Apollinarian or monophysite tendencies, most notably in the dialogue Eranistes. At the Second Council of Ephesus in 449, later called the Latrocinium or Robber Council, he was deposed and banished; he appealed to Pope Leo I. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 restored him to his see after he anathematized Nestorius. He then returned to the administration of his diocese.

He died in the later 450s, most often dated about 458, probably at Cyrrhus. A century later, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, certain of his writings against Cyril were condemned as part of the Three Chapters, although the council did not condemn Theodoret personally, who had died in communion with the Church. His works survived in Greek and in Syriac and Latin versions and have been valued for their exegetical learning, historical information, and moderate Antiochene Christology. He remains one of the most important Greek ecclesiastical writers of the fifth century.