Theodore of Mopsuestia

Greek theologian

• Born: c. 350
• Birthplace: Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey)
• Died: 428
• Place of death: Mopsuestia, Cilicia (now Yakapinar, Turkey)

The most important representative of the Antiochene school of biblical exegesis and theology, Theodore served as bishop of Mopsuestia from 392 until his death in 428. Primarily because of alleged similarities with Pelagianism and Nestorianism, Theodore’s theological views were condemned by Emperor Justinian and by the Fifth Council of Constantinople in 553.

Early Life

Theodore, generally known by the name of his bishopric as “of Mopsuestia” (mahp-soo-EHS-chee-uh) was born at Antioch about 350. Little is known about his parents or family, except that his father held an official position at Antioch and the family was reportedly wealthy. Theodore’s brother, Polychronius, eventually became bishop of Apamea on the Orontes; a cousin, Paeanius, held an important civil post at Constantinople.

Theodore belonged to the nobility in Antioch, thus his early education was under the most renowned professor of rhetoric of his day, the Sophist Libanius. Theodore was an early companion, fellow student, and friend of John Chrysostom, who was also born in Antioch, although a few years before Theodore. John, usually known simply as Chrysostom, became famous for his eloquent preaching and eventually became Patriarch of Constantinople.

Theodore and Chrysostom enjoyed an excellent philosophical education along with another friend and fellow student, Maximus, who later became bishop of Isaurian Seleucia. It seems that the three friends came to enjoy the luxurious life of polite Antioch. Chrysostom was the first to turn back from the pleasures of that world, and he then succeeded in winning back his fellow students, Theodore and Maximus. The three friends shortly thereafter sought a retreat in the Asketerion, a famous monastic school of Diodore (later bishop of Tarsus) and Carterius, near Antioch.

According to Chrysostom, Theodore’s conversion was sincere and fervent, and he threw himself into the monastic discipline with characteristic zeal. He may have been baptized at this time as well. His days were spent in study, his nights in prayer. He practiced almost every conceivable form of ascetic self-discipline, including lengthy fasts and sleeping on the bare ground. He is reported to have found inexpressible joy in the service of Christ as a Christian celibate until “the world” beckoned to him again.

Theodore had become fascinated by the charms of a beautiful young girl named Hermione, and he was seriously contemplating marriage and a return to the secular life. This proposal became a matter of great concern to his fellow ascetics in the monastery, with many prayers offered and various efforts made for his “recovery” from his “fall.” Such efforts included the earliest known literary compositions of Chrysostom—two letters appealing to Theodore to abandon his infatuation and remain true to his monastic vows. Theodore was not yet twenty years of age, but the appeal of his friends prevailed. He remained true to his vow of celibacy throughout his life.

From 369 to 378, Theodore remained under the spiritual leadership of Diodore, who was at that time elevated to the See of Tarsus. Theodore probably became closely acquainted with both Scripture and church doctrine during these years. He may also have developed his principles of interpretation of the Bible and his views of the person of Christ, which eventually led him into theological controversy. He subsequently came under the influence of Flavian, bishop of Antioch, who ordained him as a priest in 383, three years before his friend Chrysostom was ordained. Chrysostom almost immediately rose to the full height of his oratorical powers in the pulpit of Antioch. Theodore may have felt himself eclipsed by his friend’s greater power as a preacher, or a visit from his old master Diodore to Antioch may have caused him to move to Tarsus, where he stayed until 392, at which time he was elevated to the See of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia, where he remained for the final thirty-six years of his life.

Life’s Work

Nothing is known about the physical appearance or general health of Theodore. He died in 428, at the age of seventy-eight, reportedly exhausted from more than fifty years of literary and pastoral work. Most of his later years were marked by theological controversy, but he died peacefully with a great reputation from his many books and other writings. His long episcopate was marked by no outstanding incidents, and his many friends and disciples left few personal recollections. He impressed Emperor Theodosius I, however, who heard him preach once, and Theodosius is said to have declared that he had “never met with such a teacher.” (Theodosius had also heard Saint Ambrose and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus.) A letter from Chrysostom when he was an exile also reveals that the two friends always retained a high regard for each other. Chrysostom declared that he could “never forget the love of Theodore, so genuine and warm, so sincere and guileless, a love maintained from early years, and manifested but now.” He assured Theodore that, “exile as he is, he reaps no ordinary consolation from having such a treasure, such a mine of wealth within his heart as the love of so vigilant and noble a soul.”

Theodore wrote widely on a great variety of topics. Active in the theological controversies of his time, he is said to have written at least fifteen books on the Incarnation of Christ before he began his serious exegetical work in 402. Unfortunately, many of Theodore’s writings have not survived, and those that have do not give a true indication of the scope of his work. He began with a commentary on the Psalms and eventually wrote commentaries on practically every book of the Bible. In addition, he wrote at least thirty-seven other works on a variety of theological, ecclesiastical, and practical problems: the Incarnation, the sacraments, the Holy Spirit, exegetical method, monasticism, and other topics.

Theodore is doubtless best known today as a theologian, and in particular for his views on Christology and anthropology. Although his theological ideas were condemned by the Fifth Council of Constantinople more than a century after his death, during his lifetime he enjoyed the reputation of an orthodox teacher. It is ironic that this untiring foe of theological heresies was later condemned as a heretic himself. In his opposition to heresy, Theodore’s attention was particularly directed toward the Christological views of Apollinaris of Laodicea. His fifteen-volume On the Incarnation was primarily directed against Apollinaris, and Theodore’s extreme views on the “two natures” of Christ were largely by way of response to Apollinaris’s teachings concerning the subordination of the human nature of Christ.

Theodore insisted on the complete manhood of Christ and roundly condemned the theory of Apollinaris that the divine Logos had taken the place of Christ’s rational soul. Theodore reasoned that if the Godhead had replaced human reason, Jesus would not have experienced fear or any other human emotion. He would not have wrestled in prayer or needed the Holy Spirit’s assistance; the story of the temptations of Christ, for example, would have been meaningless. Christ would have had nothing in common with humanity, which would render the Incarnation itself devoid of meaning.

Theodore also insisted that the two natures of Christ, human and divine, were perfect and always remained two. He refused to contemplate the spiritual and material as confused in any manner. His emphasis on this theological point may have been derived from a careful analysis of human personality. Since only elements of the same substance can become unified, Theodore could not conceive of any sort of union between the two natures of Christ. This view, later held in somewhat modified form by Nestorius, was condemned by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431.

Significance

By his insistence on maintaining the human nature of Christ along with the divine, Theodore of Mopsuestia held his own against the ontological speculations of the Alexandrian school, which were, in fact, derived primarily from philosophical abstractions. In principle, his position was vindicated by the great Council of Chalcedon in 451, which recognized in Christ two natures “without confusion, change, division, or separation in one person and subsistence.” Through his emphasis on the human nature of Christ and his keen awareness of the biblical evidence, Theodore may have saved Christendom from falling into endless theological speculation.

As the greatest exegete and spiritual leader of the Antiochene school, Theodore became the acknowledged leader of numerous ecclesiastical figures of the fourth and fifth centuries. In his theological writings he also stressed the importance of free will and the human contribution to salvation. Human achievements were ascribed to free will; thus, Theodore opposed the doctrines of predestination and original sin. Because of such views, Theodore was regarded by some as a forerunner to Pelagius, whose views were also condemned by the council at Ephesus in 431.

Theodore’s theological views, considered orthodox during his lifetime, became controversial after his death, particularly when Nestorians and Pelagians appealed to his writings. In the end, the Alexandrian school succeeded in bringing Theodore and his writings under ecclesiastical anathema. Indeed, the primary reason so few of his writings survive today is that many of them were intentionally destroyed by church authorities. Rabboula, orthodox Syriac bishop of Edessa from 411 to 436, vehemently attacked Theodore and his teachings and ordered all existing copies of his works confiscated and burned. It may have been Monophysite reaction to the Council of Chalcedon that first brought Theodore’s theological views into question. He was condemned as a heretic by Emperor Justinian in 544. Under Imperial pressure Pope Vergilius condemned sixty propositions from Theodore’s writings as heretical, and the Fifth Council of Constantinople in 553 placed his writings under anathema.

As an interpreter of Scripture, Theodore stood out among the scholars of his day. His scholarship is said to have astounded his contemporaries. In thoroughness, accuracy, and consistency of thought he had no peer, not even Chrysostom. His followers called him simply “the interpreter.” He became the most remarkable and original representative of the Antiochene school of exegesis, noted for its insistence on the plain, literal meaning of Scripture and its opposition to the fanciful, allegorical interpretations so typical of Origen and the Alexandrian school.

Theodore was also a pioneer in the use of critical methods of Bible study unheard of in his day. He made careful use of scientific, critical, philological, and historical methods, thereby anticipating by more than a millennium the rise of modern historical-critical methods of Bible study. He consistently tried to take into account the historical circumstances under which biblical books were written; subsequently, he rejected several books as uncanonical, including Job, Chronicles, the Song of Songs, Ezra, Revelation, and the Catholic Epistles (except 1 Peter and 1 John). The few of his writings that survive demonstrate something of the power and authority of his work. The only commentary that survives in the original Greek is On the Twelve Prophets, but many of his writings were translated into Syriac very early and have been preserved, at least in part, primarily by Nestorians. His commentary on John had long been known, but later discoveries included commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer, the Nicene Creed, and the sacraments. His massive work on the Incarnation was discovered early in the twentieth century in a codex in Seert, Turkey, but unfortunately seems to have been destroyed during World War I.

Bibliography

Bellitto, Christopher M. The General Councils: A History of the Twenty-one General Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II. New York: Paulist Press, 2002. Noted Church historian Bellitto traces the history of twenty-one general councils. Written for the nonspecialist, the first section, “Councils of the Early Church,” is of particular note. Bellitto addresses not only the historical context, goals, successes and failures of the councils but also the impact on their times.

Dewart, Joanne McWilliam. The Theology of Grace of Theodore of Mopsuestia. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1971. An important study of Theodore’s teachings about the grace of God. Emphasizes Theodore’s scriptural understanding of grace as divine benevolence, best understood against the background of the Pelagian controversy. Demonstrates Theodore’s insistence on the cooperation of divine grace and the human will.

Greer, Rowan A. Theodore of Mopsuestia: Exegete and Theologian. London: Faith Press, 1961. A sympathetic assessment of the theology of Theodore from the point of view of biblical criticism. Greer uses Theodore’s Commentary of St. John as representative of his critical and exegetical work and as a vantage point from which to illustrate the basic differences between the Antiochene and Alexandrian schools. He concludes that Theodore was a biblical critic first of all; his theology sprang from his study of the Bible.

Norris, Richard A. Manhood and Christ: A Study in the Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1963. A thorough survey of Theodore’s anthropological presuppositions and their impact on his Christological thought. This highly recommended theological analysis contains valuable appendices on fifth and sixth century discussion of Theodore as well as more recent treatment of his thought.

Patterson, Leonard. Theodore of Mopsuestia and Modern Thought. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1926. Although dated, this is an important study of Theodore’s life and thought. Particularly interesting is Patterson’s discussion of Theodore’s relation to modern thought (for example, evolutionary theory and the mind-body relationship).

Sullivan, Francis S. J. The Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia. Rome: Apud Aedes Universitatis Gregorianae, 1956. A careful study of Theodore’s thought concerning the unity of Christ. Sullivan treats some of the problems involved in making use of existing fragments of Theodore’s works, mostly in Syriac translation. He concludes that Theodore was indeed, despite his orthodox intentions, the “father of Nestorianism.”

Swete, Henry B. “Theodore of Mopsuestia.” In A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines During the First Eight Centuries, edited by William Smith and Henry Wace, vol. 4. London: John Murray, 1887. Dated but extremely valuable and sympathetic study of Theodore’s life and work. Excellent use made of primary sources, despite the fact that many of Theodore’s writings had not yet been discovered when Swete prepared this article.