FILOXENOS of MABBÙG. — A Syrian Monophysite theologian of the fifth-sixth centuries. Originally from Persia, he studied at the School of the Persians, then in Edessa, where he adhered completely to Monophysite doctrine. He propagated it with such fervor in Syria that the patriarch of Antioch expelled F. from the region. Accused before the emperor Zeno before 482, F. presented a profession of faith that seemed sufficient. F. then went on the offensive and accused the Antiochene patriarch Calandion. When the Monophysite Peter the Fuller was able to occupy the see of Antioch, he appointed F. metropolitan of Mabbùg (485). When, however, the orthodox Flavian came to the see of Antioch, F. had to suffer all the consequences.
He came to Constantinople, where he was excommunicated by Macedonius. Through intrigues, however, he first obtained the deposition of Macedonius and then that of Flavian and of Elias, the orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem. When, after the death of Anastasius (518), the emperor Justin began the persecution against the Monophysites, F. was sent into exile. He died ca. 522; he is venerated by the Jacobites.
F.’s doctrine, as a “nominal” Monophysite, emerges from his works. Those published so far (many still remain unpublished) are: 5 treatises on the Trinity and the Incarnation (ed. A. Vaschalde, in Corpus Scriptor. Christ. Orient. Syri. XXVII, Louvain 1910, and M. Bière, in PO 15, 4); 13 discourses on the Christian life (ed. E. A. W. Budge, The discours of Philoxenus, 2 vols., London 1894); 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. Acc. dei Lincei. Memorie della classe di scienze morali, Rome 1884 pp. 446-506; J. Lebon, Textes inédits des Ph. de M., in Le Musdon, 43 (1930), pp. 17-84, 149-220). A version of the Bible prepared by F. bears the title of Philoxenian.
Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina