THEOPHILUS, Bishop of ANTIOCH. — Sparse information is available regarding the biography of T. The year of his birth, which took place near the Euphrates, and that of his conversion are unknown. It is known that he was elected Bishop of Antiochia in 169 and carried on continuous activity in favor of Christianity until 181, writing numerous works to defend it not only against pagans but also against heretics who threatened its unity.
A large part of his works has been lost; in fact, the writings Against the Heresy of Hermogenes, the Discourse against Marcion, the historical and catechetical studies, and the commentaries on Proverbs and the Gospels have not come down to us. Only the Three Books to Autolycus remain, a substantial apologetic work of no small historical and dogmatic value.
No precise information can be given about the personality of Autolycus or the circumstances that inspired the apology, but it can be argued that the three books were written not long after 180, following an oral controversy with Autolycus, a learned friend of T. still attached to the ancient religion. In the three books, as in other apologetic works of the 2nd century, two themes are developed: one destructive and polemical, the other constructive, in which the nature and concept of the new religion are expounded. In the polemical part, violent attacks are launched against polytheism and every form of pagan thought, but there is no rigorous critique of pagan philosophy and art, since T. repeatedly expresses with warmth and vehemence the traditional and popular anti-pagan motifs. Although T. admits that a few thinkers may have intuited some truth, guided by the lumen naturale that God has placed in all men, or may have drawn some accurate statements from the Scriptures, he nevertheless concludes that the little good mixed in with all the rest becomes pestilential, like a drink in which poison has been placed.
Though lacking in dialectical vigor and speculative depth, T. possesses clarity of thought, balance, and a solid attachment to tradition. Thus, coming last among the apologists, he was able to transmit the doctrine elaborated at Antioch with unusual clarity and mastery, leaving no doubt as to the orthodoxy of fundamental dogmas. On the nature and existence of God, T. writes:
God is the place of all things (II, 3) and of Himself (II, 2), He is eternal, subject neither to change nor to death (I, 6), He is not circumscribed, He is omnipotent (II, 3), He cannot be comprehended or perceived with the eyes of the flesh. His existence is grasped through the universe, which He created (I, 7) and which He sustains, being contained by His spirit (I, 8). The three Persons of the Trinity are clearly distinguished and defined by T., in whom the term “Trinity” is encountered for the first time: “Thus also the three days that preceded the creation of the two luminaries represent the Trinity, God, the Word, and Wisdom” (II, 22). The third Person is called, as by Irenaeus, “the hand,” though the progression is not clarified. T. is much clearer in defining the eternal existence of the Word, considered without ambiguity as a Person and not as a quality of God. Two moments of the Word are distinguished: one prior to creation, the other subsequent, moments that are indicated by the Stoic terms λόγος ἐνδιάθετος and λόγος προφορικός. The logos, Son of God, has illuminated the world like a suspended lamp (II, 18); He has gathered the waters and sometimes descends to speak with men in the name of the Father (II, 13). Moreover, T. formulates in an unequivocal manner the dogma of creation of the universe from nothing (II, 5). Man too was created from nothing, but, unlike the other creatures, in whose creation God made use of the Word (II, 27), man was created directly by God, in His image and likeness. Man is the beloved creature, endowed with free will (II, 36), the architect of his own fate: T. even attributes to man the possibility of rendering his own soul immortal. He indeed accepts the doctrine of conditional immortality, according to which only the soul of those who follow divine precepts is immortal.
Regarding the resurrection, T. admits that, in addition to the soul, the body will rise again, and man, resurrected in his entirety, will be placed in Paradise (II, 35), which God created precisely for him (II, 32-33).
To demonstrate the work of Providence, T. prefers to develop the concept of the celestial inspiration of the Prophets (II, 48; III, 10), by whose inspired guidance the salvation of men is achieved. T. dwells at length on demonstrating the priority of the Prophets over pagan writers, who drew from the Scriptures the accurate things they said; thus he links the New with the Old Testament, devoting a good part of Book III (17-31) to defending Christianity from the historical point of view, refuting the charge of novelty.
It is in T. that the New Testament is first considered as an inspired text: the Evangelists, like the Prophets, are “Bearers of the Spirit.” T.’s clear exposition of Antiochene doctrine, if it does not have outstanding literary value, exerted a wide influence in the early centuries on the formation of Christian doctrine, as evidenced by the considerable debts owed to him not only by Irenaeus but also by Hippolytus and Tertullian.