PHILOXENUS OF MABBUG. – A Syriac Monophysite theologian of the 5th–6th centuries. Originally from Persia, he pursued his studies at the Persian school in Edessa, where he fully embraced Monophysite doctrine. With such zeal did he promote it in Syria that the Patriarch of Antioch expelled him from the region. Accused before Emperor Zeno before 482, Philoxenus submitted a profession of faith that seemed satisfactory. He then turned to attacking the ancient Chaldean Patriarch. When the Monophysite Peter the Fuller occupied the Antiochene see, he appointed Philoxenus metropolitan of Mabbug (485). However, when the orthodox Flavian became Patriarch of Antioch, Philoxenus had to suffer all the consequences.
He went to Constantinople, where he was excommunicated by Macedonius. Through intrigues, he first secured the deposition of Macedonius and then that of Flavian and Elias, the orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. When, after the death of Anastasius (518), Emperor Justin began the persecution against the Monophysites, Philoxenus was sent into exile. He died c. 522; he is venerated by the Jacobites.
His doctrine, which is that of a “moderate” Monophysite, is evident from his works. Those published to date (many still remain unpublished) are: 5 treatises on the Trinity and the Incarnation (ed. A. Vaschalde, in Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Syri, XXVII, Louvain 1910, p. 8; M. Brière, in Patrologia Orientalis 15, 413); 13 discourses on the Christian life (ed. E. A. W. Budge, The Discourses of Philoxenus, 2 vols., London 1944); letters (ed. A. Vaschalde, Three Letters of Philoxenus, Rome 1902; I. Guidi, La lettera di F. ai monaci di Tell'Addà, in Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei. Memorie della classe di scienze morali, Rome 1884, pp. 446–506; J. Lebon, Textes inédits des Philoxène de M., in Le Muséon 43 (1930), pp. 17–84, 149–220). A version of the Bible supervised by Philoxenus bears the title Philoxenus.
Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina