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 THEODORE

574

THEODORET

Theodore of Studium, Saint, a zealous champion of the veneration of images and the last great repre- sentative of the unity and independence of the Church in the East, b. in 759; d. on the Peninsula of Tryphon, near the promontory Akrita on 11 November, 826. He belonged to a very distinguished family and like his two brothers, one of whom, Joseph, became Arch- bishop of Thessalonica, was highly educated. In 781 Theodore entered the monastery of Saccudion on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus near Constantinople, where his uncle Plato was abbot. In 787 or 7SS Theo- dore was ordained priest and in 794 succeeded his uncle. He insisted upon the exact observance of the monastic rules. Diuing the Adulterine heresy dis- pute (see NiCEPHORDS, Saint), concerning the divorce and remarriage of the Emperor Constantine VI, he was banished by Con.stantine VI to Thessalonica, but re- turned in triumph after the emperor's overthrow. In 799 he left Saccudion, which was threatened by the Arabs, and took charge of the monastery of the Stu- dium at Constantinople. He gave the Studium an excellent organization which was taken as a model by the entire Byzantine monastic world, and still exists on Mount Athos and in Russian monasticism. He supplemented the somewhat theoretical rules of St. Ba.sil by specific regulations concerning enclosure, poverty, discipUne, study, rehgious services, fasts, and manual labour. When the Adulterine heresy dispute broke out again in 809 he was exiled a second time as the head of the strictly orthodox church party, but was recalled in 811. The administration of the icono- clastic Emperor Leo V brought new and more severe trials. Theodore courageously denied the emperor's right to interfere in ecclesiastical affairs. He was con- sequently treated with great cruelty, exiled, and his monastery filled with iconoclastic monks. Theodore lived at Metopa in Bithynia from 814, then at Bonita from 819, and finally at Smyrna. Even in banish- ment he was the central point of the opposition to CiBsaropapism and Iconoclasm. Michael II (820-9) permitted the exiles to return, but did not annul the laws of his predecessor. Thus Theodore saw himself compelled to continue the struggle. He did not re- turn to the Studium, and died witiiout having attained his ideals. In the Roman Martyrology his feast is placed on 12 November; in the Greek martyrologies on 11 November.

Theodore was a man of practical bent and never wrote any theological works, except a dogmatic trea- tise on the veneration of images. Many of his works are still unprinted or exist in Old Slavonic and Rus- sian translations. Besides several polemics against the enemies of images, special mention should be made of the "Catechesis magna", and the "Catechesis parva" with their sonorous sermons and orations. His writings on monastic life are: the iambic verses on the monastic offices, his will addressed to the monks, the "Canones", and the "Poenae monasteriales", the regulations for the monastery and for the church ser- vices. His hymns and epigrams show fiery feeling and a high spirit. He is one of the first of hymn- writers in productiveness, in a peculiarly creative technic, and in elegance of language. 550 letters tes- tify to his ascetical and ecclesiastico-political labours.

Tkeodorus Studites, Opera vnrin. ed. .SiRMOND (Paris. 1696) -.P.O., XCIX; Nomvatrum biU.,Y.\lU, IX. X (Rome, 1849, 1871, 1&8S, 1905); Theodorus Studites. Parva Catechesis, ed.AtrvRAY-TocG.4RD (Paris. 1891); Bibl. hagioar. Graco (2nd ed., Brussels, 1909), 249; TnoM.\8, TheodoT von Sludion (Osnabriick, 1892); Gardner, Theodore of Stiulium (London, 1905).

Klemens Loppler.

Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus and theologian, b. at Antioch in Syria about 393; d. about 457. He says himself I li:it his birth was an answer to the prayers of the monk Maccdonius ("Hist, rel.", IX; Epist. bcxxi). On account of a vow made by his mother he was dedi- cated from birth to the service of God and was brought up and educated by the monks Macedoniua

and Peter. At a very early age he was ordained lee- tor. In theology he studied chiefly the WTitings of Diodorus of Tarsus, St. John Chrysostom, and Theo- dore of Mopsucstia. Theodoret was also well trained in philosophy and literature. He understood Syriac as well as Greek, but was not acquainted with either Hebrew or Latin. When he was twenty-three years old and both parents were dead, he divided his for- tune among the poor (Epist. cxiii; P. G., LXXXIII, 1316) and became a monk in the monastery of Nicerte not far from Apamea, where he lived for seven years, devoting himself to prayer and study. Much against his will about 423 he was made Bishop of Cyrus. His diocese included nearly 800 parishes and was suffra- gan of Hierapolis. A large number of monasteries and hermitages also belonged to it, yet, notwithstand- ing aU this, there were many heathen and heretics within its borders. Theodoret brought many of these into the Church, among others more than a thousand Marcionites. He also destroyed not less than two hundred copies of the "Diatessaron" of Tatian which were in use in that district ("Ha>ret. fab.", I, xx; P. G., LXXXIII, 372). He often ran great risks in his iipostolic journeys and labours; more than once he suffered ill-usage from the heathen and was even in dan- ger of losing his hfe. His fame as a preacher was wide- spread and his services as a speaker were much sought for outside of his diocese; he went to Antioch twenty- six times. Theodoret also exerted himself for the material welfare of the inhabitants of his diocese. Without accepting donations (Epist. bixxi) he was able to build many churches, bridges, porticos, aque- ducts, etc. (Epist. Ixxxi, Lxxviii, cxxx\-iii).

Towards the end of 430 Theodoret became involved in the Nestorian controversy. In conjunction with John of Antioch he begged Nestorius not to reject the expression 6eoT6».o5 as heretical (Mansi, IV, 1067). Yet he held firmly with the other Antiochenes to Nes- torius and to the last refused to recognize that Nes- torius taught the doctrine of two persons in Christ. Until the Council of Chalcedon in 451 he was the literary champion of the Antiochene partj-. In 430 he published his 'Aparpoir-^ (Confutation) of the Anath- emas of Cyril to which the latter replied with an Apology (P."G., LXXVI, 392 sqq.). .\t the Council of Ephesus (431) Theodoret sided with John of .4ntioch and Nestorius, and pronounced with them the deposi- tion of Cyril and the anathema against him. He was also a member of the delegation of "Orientals", which was to lay the cause of Nestorius before the emperor but was not admittted to the imperial presence a sec- ond time (Hefele-Leclerq, "Hist, des Cone", II, i, 362 sqq.). The same year he attended the synods of Tarsus and Antioch, at both of which Cj'ril was again deposed and anathematized. Theodoret after his re- turn to CjTus continued to oppose Cyril by speech and WTiting. The symbol (Creed) that formed the basis of the reconcihation (c. 433) of John of Antioch and others with CjTil was apparentlv drawn up by Theodoret (P. G., LXXXIV, 209 sqq), who, how- ever, did not enter into the agreement himself because he was not willing to condemn Nestorius as CjTil de- manded. It was not until about 435 that Theodoret seems to have become reconciled with John of Anti- och, without, however, being obliged to agree to the condemnation of Nestorius (Synod, cxlviii and cU; Epist. clxxvi). The dispute with Cyril broke out again when in 437 the latter called Diodorus of Tar- sus and Theodore of Mopsucstia the real originators of the Nestorian heresy. Theodore entered tlie lists in their defence. The bitterness with wliidi these polemics were carried on is shown both bj' the letter and the speech of Theodoret when he learned of the death in 444 of the Patriarch of Alexandria (Epist. clxxx).

The episcopate of Dioscurus, the successor of C>Til, was a period of much trouble for Theodoret. Dios-