Antiochene Theology, Theodoret

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A theologian of the Antiochene school, Theodoret, b. Antioch, c. 393, d. c. 458, was a monk of Apamea and bishop of Cyrus, Syria (423). A friend of Nestorius, he became embroiled in the controversy with Saint Cyril of Alexandria, whose views, he held, implied a confusion of the divine and human natures of Christ. Cyril's successor, the powerful Dioscorus, accused (448) Theodoret of dividing Christ into two natures, and although Theodoret insisted on the unity, he was anathematized. The Robber Synod of Ephesus (449), defending Cyril's theology, deposed Theodoret and forced him into exile for a year. At the Council of Chalcedon (451), Theodoret was identified with the Nestorian opposition, but he was persuaded to renounce Nestorius and was recognized as orthodox.

Theodoret's surviving writings are fine expressions of the Antiochene school of interpretation.

Meletius, d. 381, bishop of Antioch and representative of the Antiochene tradition in theology, was appointed to the see in 360. Although a moderate in the controversy over Arianism, he immediately offended the Arian emperor Constantius II and was exiled. In his absence the supporters of Eustathius, a former bishop of Antioch, consecrated (362) Paulinus as bishop, creating a schism. Meletius returned in 363 but was exiled twice again (365 - 66 and 371 - 78) under Emperor Valens. In the meantime the schism and controversy continued. The bishops of Rome and Alexandria sided with Paulinus, whom they regarded as more orthodox than Meletius; the latter's principal supporter was Saint Basil. Finally restored to his diocese in 378, Meletius was presiding over the First Council of Constantinople when he died.

Theologians of the Antiochene school emphasized the humanity of Jesus Christ, the Alexandrian his deity. Theodore of Mopsuestia held that Christ's human nature was complete but was conjoined with the Word by an external union. Nestorius, Theodore's pupil, took up his teacher's position after his death.

Nestorius was condemned by the Council of Ephesus (431), which was convened specifically to settle the dispute. There the Theotokos was officially affirmed and orthodox doctrine on the nature of Jesus Christ clarified: Christ was pronounced true God and true man, as having two distinct natures in one person - a position that was reaffirmed by the Council of Chalcedon (451).

A biblical commentator and bishop of Mopsuestia (mahp - soo - es' - chuh) in Cilicia, Theodore, c. 350-428, was a representative of the Christology of the Antiochene school. He was born at Antioch and there studied rhetoric, literature, and biblical exegesis with his friend Saint John Chrysostom. Ordained a priest about 383, he was consecrated bishop of Mopsuestia in 392.

In his interpretation of Scripture, Theodore employed a critical and scientific approach, taking a historical rather than an allegorical approach to Genesis and the Psalms. Theodore's Christology, although it contributed to Nestorianism, anticipated the formula adopted at the Council of Chalcedon (451) on the dual but united natures of Christ. His views were nevertheless condemned at the Councils of Ephesus and Constantinople (553).

Bibliography
R A Greer, Theodore of Mopsuestia (1961); R A Norris, Manhood and Christ (1963); J J Delaney and J E Tobin, Dictionary of Catholic Biography (1961); J Quasten, Patrology (1950). A Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition (1975); R Loofs, Nestorius and His Place in the History of Christian Doctrine (1914); J Pelikan, The Christian Tradition, v.1, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 100 - 600 (1971).

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Antiochene Theology

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The book of Acts indicates that the term "Christian" was first used at Antioch and that there was a church there at the time of the early ministry of the apostle Paul (11:26). It was from Antioch that Paul began his three missionary journeys. It might be called the nearest approach which he had to a headquarters base. The decisions of the Apostolic Council at Jerusalem were published there (Acts 15:30 - 31).

The first monarchical bishop to secure notice was Ignatius of Antioch. He held the post in the early second century. In his seven epistles he shows himself to be a man eager to defend the full deity and full humanity of Christ. He particularly warns against docetism, and here appears an emphasis which is increasingly to characterize the school of Antioch. God came into flesh, was born of the Virgin Mary. Christ died to deliver men and women from ignorance and from the devil. He rose again from the dead for us. The believer is not only in Christ, he is also christophoros. The Supper is the flesh and blood of Christ, though there is no suggestion of substantial change. Brotherly love is a cardinal emphasis in Ignatius.

Theophilus of Antioch, in the latter part of the second century, developed the Logos doctrine, referring to the logos prophorikos brought forth to create. The word trias is used to apply to the Godhead first by Theophilus.

Three quarters of a century later Paul of Samosata occupied the episcopal throne in Antioch. The emphasis on the human nature of Christ that was to characterize the later Antioch makes a clear appearance. With a monarchian stress, he found the Logos, a divine force, part of the mind of the Father, dwelling in Jesus from his birth, but apart from the Virgin. He manifested himself as energeia. Jesus was not to be worshipped though his enduement with the Logos was quantitatively unusual. His unity with God is one of purpose, of will, of love. While it is possible for Paul to speak of one prosopon of God and the Logos, and to use the term homoousios of Christ and the Father, yet the Logos and the Son were not by any means identical. Paul was excommunicated and, after the Roman recapture of Antioch, well - nigh completely lost his influence. Paul's opponents did not approve the term homoousios, later to become a touchstone of orthodoxy.

Shortly after Paul's fall from power a schoolmaster, Lucian, came to prominence in Antioch. Lucian conceived of Christ on a higher plane than did Paul. Whether he considered him as equal with the Father in his deity is questionable. His work on the text of the Greek Bible was extensive, and he favored the historical and critical interpretation of the Scriptures.

In the decades following the Council of Nicaea, Antioch exhibited wide differences of opinion on the Arian question, but in this atmosphere John Chrysostom grew to maturity with his extraordinary ability as a preacher. Emphasizing the moral values of Christianity, he continued the stress on historical exegesis. One of Chrysostom's teachers, the presbyter Diodorus, became in due course Bishop of Tarsus and was recognized as a "normal" theologian by the Council of Constantinople in 381. But he did not find an adequate expression for the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ. There seemed almost to be a dual personality in his conception. Another presbyter, Theodore, later Bishop of Mopsuestia, developed historical criticism much further.

He failed to find the doctrine of the Trinity in the OT, and he minimized the messianic intimations in the Psalms. But he put heavy stress upon the importance of textual and historical study as a basis for exegesis. Theodore emphasized the difference between God and man. The Logos humbled himself and became man. The prosopon of the man is complete and so is that of the Godhead. His disciple, the church historian Theodoret, carried on his work. Theodoret's exegesis is in the best historical tradition, his apologetic writing clear and well organized. He stressed the infinite difference between God and man. His Christological views were unquestionably influenced by his friend Nestorius, the most prominent representative of the Antiochene school. Impetuous, self confifident full of energy, Nestorius was not a scholar. He emphasized the humanity of Jesus, but it is reasonably clear that what he intended to express was not a view that is heretical.

The union of Godhead and manhood in Christ is voluntary, but it can be said that there is one prosopon of Jesus Christ. Nestorius campaigned against the term Theotokos as applied to the Virgin Mary, yet he agreed that, if properly understood, the term was unobjectionable. It was the violence of his emphases, with their stress on the separateness of the human and the divine in Christ, which was dangerous.

Justinian's Edict of the Three Chapters in 543 was unfair to the School of Antioch in its condemnations of the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia and of Theodoret. The Council of Constantinople of 553, called the Fifth Ecumenical, condemned writings of the Antioch school, but on the basis of falsified and mutilated quotations.

The separation from the imperial church of the bishops who led the Nestorian schism and the capture of Antioch in 637 by the rising power of Islam checked the further distinctive development of the School of Antioch. Its Aristotelian emphasis on rationality, on ethical quality, and on man's free agency was not popular. Yet it is to be valued for its stress on the genuine continuance in the Second Person of the properties of each nature and for its insistence upon the importance of grammaticohistorical exegesis.

P Woolley
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)

Bibliography
C C Richardson, The Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch; G Bardy, Paul de Samosate and Recherches sur saint Lucien d'Antioche et son ecole; F Loofs, Paulus von Samosata and Nestorius and His Place in the History of Christian Doctrine; H deRiedmatten, Les Actes du proces de Paul de Samosate; R Devreesse, Essai sur Theodore de Mopsueste; J F Bethune Baker, Nestorius and His Teaching; A R Vine, An Approach to Christology; R V Sellers, Two Ancient Christologies.

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