Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. XI, 1953 Church Fathers Fathers and ecclesiastical writers up to the end of the 8th century, anonymous works

Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus

TEODORETO, VESCOVO DI CIRO

By Erik Peterson

Italian original Cite

Also known as: Italian: Teodoreto di Cirro; Latin: Theodoretus, Theodoretus Cyrensis

THEODORET, Bishop of Cyrrhus. - Born around 393 in Antioch, into a wealthy family, and educated in monastic schools, he died in 458. After having been a reader of the church, he distributed all his possessions and became a monk. In 423 he became bishop of the small city of Cyrus (to the east of Antioch) and fought Arians and Marcionites.

Personal friend of Nestorius and representative of Antiochene theology, in his refutation of the 12 anathemas of Cyril he attacked the patriarch of Alexandria. This writing (lost) was followed by a larger work against Cyril and the Council of Ephesus. He adhered to the formula of union in 434. At the Robber Council of Ephesus (449) he was deposed as a follower of Nestorius. T. appealed against this sentence to Pope Leo I. At the Council of Chalcedon (451) he was admitted among the orthodox doctors, after an explicit declaration against Nestorius, but the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553) again condemned his writings against Cyril and the Council of Ephesus and some of his letters and sermons. His dogmatic stance did not appear clear to the partisans of the two contending groups.

WORKS: a) Dogmatic writings: the two writings against Cyril, already mentioned. Also a work of T. is the writing, wrongly attributed to Cyril of Alexandria, on theology and the divine incarnation (PG 75, 1147-90, 1419-78). Then the Eranistes (= the monophysite beggar) seu Polymorphos. The two works of Pseudo-Justin are also attributed to T.: Expositio rectae fidei and Quaestiones et responsiones ad orthodoxos. b) Apologetic works: the most famous is the Graecarum affectionum curatio (v. the ed. by Raeder in the Biblioth. Teubneriana, Leipzig 1904), which makes extensive use of Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius. The sermons on Providence are lectures (not homilies) for the cultured public of Antioch. A writing against the magi in Persia has been lost. c) Exegetical works on many texts of the Octateuch (Quaestiones) and commentaries on the psalms, Song of Songs and the Prophets (the commentary on Isaiah published by A. Mohle, Berlin 1942) and on the Pauline Epistles. As an exegete T. is not of great originality, but he represents the middle ideas of the Antiochene school (on T. and Theodore of Mopsuestia v. R. Devreese, Essai sur Théodore de Mopsuestia [Studi e testi, 141], Vatican City 1948). d) Historical works: Historia religiosa (PG 82, 1283-1496), a history of the ascetic movement. A Refutatio haereticorum, in 5 books (PG 83, 335-556), for the older part based on earlier anti-heretical writings, and an Ecclesiastical History (ed. by Parmentier [CB 19], Leipzig 1911) for the period from 325 to 428. T. often coincides with Socrates and Sozomen. e) Sermons and epistles. Of the sermons only fragments exist, of the epistolary a good deal has been preserved (209 epistles in Greek and 27 in Latin).

Bibliography11 works

BIBL.: the ed. by Schultze and Noesselt, reprinted in PG 80-84 does not correspond to modern requirements; especially the collection of his epistles has been enriched. On the letters v. M. Monica Wagner, A chapter of byzantine epistolography. The letters of T., in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 4 (1948), pp. 119-81. On T. v. E. Schwartz, Zur Schriftstellerei Th., in Sitzungsber. bayr. Akad., 1922, fasc. 1; G. Bardy, Théodoret, in DThC, XV, coll. 299-321; C. da Mazzarino, La dottrina di T. sull'unione fantastica delle due nature di Cristo, Rome 1941; J. Montalverne, Theodoreti Cyrensis doctrina antiquior de Verbo «inhumanato» (Studia Antoniana, 1), Rome 1948. Articles on T.; J. Lebon, Restitutions à T., in Rev. d'hist. eccl., 26 (1930), p. 523 ff.; R. Devreese, Quaestiones in Octat., in Rev. bibl., 44 (1935), p. 167 ff.; M. Richard, T. et les moines d'Orient, in Mélang. de science relig., 1946, p. 147 ff.; M. Brook, Touchant la date du commentaire sur le psautier de T., in Revue d'hist. eccl., 44 (1949), p. 552 ff.; M. F. A. Brack, The date of T.'s Expositio rectae fidei, in Journ. Theol. Stud., 1951, p. 178 ff.; P. Nantin, La valeur des femmes dans l'Eranistes de T., in Rev. d'hist. eccl., 46 (1951), p. 681 ff.

Erik Peterson

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By Erik Peterson

How we know signed in print

Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI (1953), coll. 1926–1927.

More by Erik Peterson: Theodore the Reader · Theodore Metochites · Theodore of Raithu · Theodotus the Gnostic · Theodulus, Presbyter in Celesiria

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Chicago

Peterson, Erik. “Teodoreto, vescovo di ciro.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, coll. 1926–1927. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/teodoreto-vescovo-di-ciro.

MLA

Peterson, Erik. “Teodoreto, vescovo di ciro.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, coll. 1926–1927. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/teodoreto-vescovo-di-ciro.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec11_teodoreto_vescovo_di_ciro,
  author    = {Peterson, Erik},
  title     = {Teodoreto, vescovo di ciro},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {XI},
  pages     = {1926--1927},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1953},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/teodoreto-vescovo-di-ciro}
}

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