Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1061

Rh THEODORUS. The orthodox Greeks do not recognise him ; tlieir lists contain Theodorns I, from a. d. 750 or 751 to 773 or 774, or later; Theodoras II. under the reign of the emperor John Tzimisces ; Theodorns III. in the first half of the eleventh century ; Theodoras IV. a learned jurist [Balsamo, Theodorus] in the twelfth century ; and Theodore V. of a more recent date. (Le Quien, Oriens Christian, vol. ii.) Theodoretus, successor of Theodorus I., is sometimes erroneously called Theodorus. (Fabric. jB/W. Grace. vol. X. p. 396, vol. xii. p. 733.) An extract from a SwoSi/coj', Synodica Epistola, of Theodore of Antioch, evidently Theodore I., is cited by Theo- dore Studita in his AntirrJietictis II. (Sirmond, Opera Varia, vol. v. p. 124.) Two works entitled Homilia de Sando Theodora Orientali, and In duodecim PropJietas, the first in Arabic, the second in Greek, both by a Theodore of Antioch, are extant in MS. (Le Quien, Oriens Chndiaii. vol. ii. col. 746; Fabric. BibL Graec. vol. x. p. 396), but whether they are by the same person, and with which of the Theodores he is to be identified, is not known. 12. AsciDAS (o 'Ao-KtSas), a Cappadocian, first a monk of the convent of Nova Laura in Palestine, and afterwards archbishop of Caesaraeia in Cappa- docia in the reign of Justinian I. He was probably appointed to his see in A. D. 536, or soon after, but resided little in his diocese, being much at court, where he enjoyed the favour and confidence of the emperor, and was much employed by him. He ■was also in favour with the empress Theodora, pro- bably from his secretly holding the opinions of the Acephali. When the revival of the doctrines ofOrigen [Origenes] in the monasteries of Pa- lestine, and especially in that monastery called Nova Laura, began to excite attention, Eustochius, patriarch of Jerusalem, a decided Anti-Origenist expelled from the convent of Nova Laura those of the monks who were known as Origenists, and compelled them, by his persecution, to fly to distant parts. In their dispersion, however, they diffused their views more widely, and their cause was warmly espoused by many persons, of whom Theo- dore Ascidas was at once the most active and influential. He loudly protested against the conduct of Eustochius as both impious and unjust ; so that Eustochius found it needful to send as delegates to Constantinople, to counteract Theodore's influence, several monks of his own party, at the head of whom were Conon of the monastery of St. Saba and Rufus, abbot of the monastery of St. Theodosius. Theodore, with undaunted resolution, maintained i| the Origenists, but the emperor was persuaded by !| Pelagius the Deacon, legate of Pope Vigilius, and by Mennas, patriarch of Constantinople, to order the condemnation of certain propositions, extracted by the Palestinian monks from the works of Origen and to anathematize their author. The condemnation of Origen was a severe mortification to Theodore, who, however, availing himself of this example of the anathematizing of the dead, prevailed on the emperor, by holding out to him the prospect of thereby reconciling the Monophysites to the church, to issue a libellus, condemning the three decisions " tria Capitula" of the Council of Chalcedon, which recognised the orthodoxy of Theodoret of Cyrus, of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and of the Epistle of Ibas of Edessa ; and to ana- thematize Theodore of Mopsuestia, a prelate much reverenced by the opposite party. This condem- nation of the tria Capitula excited great disturbances THEODORUS. 1049 in the church ; Pope Vigilius resisted the con- demnation for a time, and issued an act of deposition and excommunication against Theodore, Avhich was of no effect. The emperor persisted ; bribery and persecution were freely employed to obtain eccle- siastical support for the imperial edict; and so great was the confusion that even Theodore himself is said to have publicly acknowledged that both he and his great opponent the deacon Pelagius, the pope's legate, deserved to be burnt alive for the scandals their struggle had occasioned. The dis- turbance was only ended by the assembling of the fifth general (or second Constantinopolitan) council A. D. 553. That council condemned Origen and his supporters on the one hand ; and Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, and Ibas on the other. Theo- dore Ascidas subscribed to these several anathemas. He died A. d. 558 at Constantinople ; if, as is most likely, he is the bishop of Caesaraeia, whose death is noticed by Joannes Malalas, Chronographia, p. 234, ed. Oxford, p. 8 1, ed. Venice, p. 489, ed. Bonn. (Cyril. Scythopolit. Sabae Vita, c. Ixxxiii. &c. apud Coteler. Monumenta Eccles. Graec. vol. iii. p. 361, &c. ; Evagrius, H. E. iv. 38 ; Liberat. Breviar. c. xxiii. xxiv. ; Malalas, Chronographia, p. 234, ed. Oxford, p. 81, ed. Venice, p. 489, ed. Bonn ; Con- cilia, vol. iii. pp. I, &c. ed. Hardouin ; Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, vol. i. col. 378, &c.) The Tes- timonium of Theodore and of Cethegus the Patrician as to the tergiversation of Vigilius in the matter of the tria Capitula was first published by Baluse in his Supplementum to the Concilia (Paris, 1683, and again 1707), and is given in the Concilia of Harduin, vol. iii. col. 184, and of Mansi, vol. ix. col. 363. 1 3. AsiNAEUS [6 'Aa-ipdlos), a Neo-Platonic phi- losopher, a native of one of the towns which bore the name of Asine, probably of the Laconian Asine, on the coast, near the mouth of the Eurotas. He was a disciple of Porphyry, and one of the most eminent of the later Platonists. Proclus repeatedly mentions him in his commentaries on Plato (see the references in Fabric. Biblioth. Graec. vol. ix. p. 443), and frequently adds to his name some laudatory epithet, 6 /aeyas "the great," 6 ^avixaarSs " the admirable," yevvaios " the noble." He wrote a work on the soul, now lost. It is cited by Nemesius of Emesa [Nemesius, No. 1] in his De Natura Ilominis, cap. ii. De Anima, under this title of "Oti 7} ^pvx'h irdvTa ra ezS?? eVrj, Aiiimam esse ornnes species. (Proclus, Comment, passim ; Damascius, Vita Isidori, apud Phot. Biblioth. Cod. 242 ; Brucker, Hist. Critica PhUosoph. Period ii. Pars i. Lib. i. c. 2. § 4, vol. ii. pp. 232, 249, ed. Leipzig. 1766 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. voh iii. p. 190, vol. ix. p. 443, vol. X. p. 373.) 14. Of Athens, father of the orator Isocrates [IsocRATEs] according to Photius. {Biblioth. Cod. 260.) Theodorus was of the demos of Erchia, which was also the birth-place of the historian Xenophon. 15. The Atheist. [No. 32.] 16. Balsamo. [Balsamo.] 17. Of Byzantium (1), a rhetorician or pleader of Byzantium. He is mentioned, but somewhat contemptuously by Plato {Phaedr. vol. iii. p. 266, ed. Steph. vol. i. pt. i. p. 81, ed. Bekker, p. 811, ed. Baiter, 4 to. Ziiric. 1 839) as " the most excellent tricker-out of a speech," toi/ ye fieKria-TOV oyo- SaiSaXov. He appears to have written a treatise on rhetoric, as Plato, in the passage just cited.