Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1066

Rh 1054 TIIEODORUS. (Ultraject. 1G94.) Theodorus Manlins has been Bometimes confounded with the poet Mar.ilius. 50. Mathematictjs. [No. 31.] 51. Mechanicus, a person of whom nothins; more is known than that Proclus addressed to him his treatise De Providentia et Fato. There was a younger mechanician of this name who lived in the time of Justinian, and to whom Leontius de- dicated his treatise on the sphere. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. p. 400.) 52. Meliteniota, a native apparently of Meli- tene in Armenia, filled the offices of Sacellarius Magnus and Chief Teacher {hZdcTKoKos twv Sidaa- kolKuv) in the great church at Constantinople to- wards the close of the twelfth century. He was the author of a work on astronomy, the introduc- tion and first chapter of which were published by Ismael Bulloaldus, appended to his edition of V ioQma.^s^ De judicandi Facultate et Animi Prin- cipatu, Paris, 1663, and reprinted by Fabricius {Bibl. Graec. vol. x. p. 401, &c.). 53. Metochita. [Metochita.] 54. Of Miletus, a Stoic philosopher mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (ii. 104). 55. MONOTHELITA. [ByZANTIUS, PhARANI- TAS.] 56. MoPSUESTENUS, bishop of Mopsuestia, was born at Antioch, of distinguished and wealthy pa- rents. Together with Joannes Chrysostomus he studied rhetoric under Libanius, and afterwards philosophy under Andragathus. At an early age he embraced the monastic life, after the example of his friend Chrysostom, by whom he was strength- ened in his purpose of adhering to the monastic discipline, when he was on the point of marrying a lady named Hermione. Two of the letters of Chrysostom, addressed to Theodorus on this 8ul>- ject, are still extant. Theodorus studied sacred literature with great diligence under Flavianus of Antioch, Diodorus of Tarsus, and Craterius. From Antioch he removed to Tarsus, and about the year 394 succeeded Olympius, as bishop of Mop- suestia, in Cilicia. He was present at the council held in A. d. 394 at Constantinople, and subse- quently at several others. He died in a. d. 429, after having filled the office of bishop for thirty-six years, and was succeeded by Meletius. For fifty years he had occupied a conspicuous position as a preacher and writer in the Eastern Church, and had distin- guished himself as the opponent of the Arians, ApoUinarists, and other heretics. His own theo- logical position is a subject which has given rise to a great deal of discussion, into the details of which we cannot here enter. Even during his lifetime he was accused of favouring the heresy of Pelagius, and is said to have found it necessary to establish his reputation for orthodoxy, by a retractation of his suspicious expressions. He, at all events, re- mained unmolested in the communion of the Church. After his death, however, the Nestorians appealed to his writings in confirmation of their opinions, and at the fifth oecumenical council (a. d. 553) Theodorus and his writings were condemned. He found, however, many Avarm defenders, especially Facundus. [Facundus.] Among those who most bitterly assailed him and his writings were Leon- tius, Cyril of Alexandria, Rabulas of Edessa, and others. His works were held in great repute among the Syrian Churches, and many of them were translated into Syriac, Arabic, and Persian. His memory was reveisd among the Nestorians. THEODORUS. Several distinguished ecclesiastics are mentioned as his disciples, as Nestorius, Joannes of Antioch, Andreas of Samosata, Maris the Persian, Theo- doretus bishop of Cyrus, Rufinus the Syrian, and Barsumas the Persian. His brother Polychronius was bishop of Apamea. Theodorus took an active interest in the Augus- tinian controversy, and wrote a work on the doc- trine of original sin, directed especially against Jerome. (Photius, Cod. 177.) Though from his antagonism to the theology of Augustine he natu- rally approximated somewhat to that of Pelagius, his opinions differed from those of the latter in several most important respects, especially with respect to the necessity and effects of Christ's work. This he regarded as intended not so much to restore a ruined nature as to enable a created and imperfect nature to realise the true end of its existence : its new creation consisting in its being raised into a higher sphere, and rendered capable of a development overstepping the limits of finite nature, — a divine life exalted above temptation and change, through union Avith God. In this purpose he held that all intelligent beings were included, and therefore of course denied the eter- nity of future punishment, and, if he carried his principles out consistently, his scheme must have admitted of the restoration of the fallen angels. His view of Christ's nature bore an analogy to his conceptions of the destiny of man. He accepted the doctrine of the incarnation of the Divine Word, but looked upon the moral development of the human nature of Christ as progressive ; that deve- lopment being more certain and rapid than in men generally, from the indwelling Divine Word aiding his human will, though not superseding it. But the exaltation of Christ's humanity to divine per- fection and immutability, while commencing from his birth, was not complete till his resurrection. Theodorus was a somewhat voluminous writer. 1. One of his earliest works Avas that Uepl ivav- 6pcji}ir-f](Tews tov fiovoyevovs, against the Arians, Eunomians and ApoUinarists (Marius Mercator, ii. p. 259). 2. Facundus (iii. 2) quotes from the thirteenth book of a Avork which he entitles Mi/s- ticus. 3. Photius {Cod. 4. 177) mentions a Avork 'Tnep BacriXeiov Kara Evuoij.iov, in twenty-five or twent}'-eight books (unless, as some suppose,Photiu8 speaks of two distinct Avorks), 4. De adsumente et adsumto, fragments of which are extant (Collect, iv. Synodi v.). The preface is given by Facundus (x. 1). 5. rie/)l T7JS eV liepaiZi [xay iKrjs (Phot. Cod. 81), in three books. 6. A Avork in five books, Ilphs Tovs Aeyoi'Tas (pvaei ical ov yvcifxr) irTaietv rohs avQpdiTovs, in which he especially attacked Jerome, and indirectly at least, Augustine (Photius, Cod. 177. From a misunderstanding of the ex- pressions in Photius, Salmasius was led into the error of supposing that Theodorus prepared another Greek version of the Scriptures). 7. Theodorus was especially celebrated as a commentator on the Scriptures. In this department he seems to have begun to exert his powers at a very early age. (Leontius, lib. 3. cont. Nest, et Eut. p. 696.) In his expositions he aimed at educing the literal sense of passages, avoiding the allegorical interpre- tations of Origenes and his followers. He appears to have Avritten upon almost all the books of the Bible, though he rejected the canonical authority of several (the Book of Job, the Canticles, the Epistle of James the Second and T'nird Epistles