As an Antiochene, Theodore stressed the great impor-
tance of the human contribution to salvation, which he de-
veloped beyond the position of the Antiochene school. He
ascribed all human achievements to free will, thus destroying
the meaning and the importance of original sin. He also at-
tributed free will to Jesus Christ, who, according to this un-
derstanding, is subject to sin, believing thereby that Christ’s
perfection would be worthy of greater estimation. In this area
he was a forerunner and probably a teacher of Pelagius.
Because of these doctrines, and especially because of his
position as a forerunner of Nestorianism, Theodore was the
posthumous victim of strong polemics. Some of his writings
together with his doctrine on the incarnation were con-
demned by Justinian and by the Second Council of Constan-
tinople (533).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The edition of Theodore’s texts in Patrologia Graeca, edited by
J.-P. Migne, vol. 66 (Paris, 1847), is incomplete. Editions of
individual works with better, although fragmentary, texts are
his commentary on Psalms, Le commentaire de Théodore de
Mopsueste sur les Psaumes, I–LXXX, edited by Robert Dev-
reesse (Vatican City, 1939); his commentary on the Proph-
ets, Theodori Mopsuesteni commentarius in XII prophetas, ed-
ited by Hans Norbert Sprenger (Wiesbaden, 1977); the Syri-
ac text of his commentary on the Gospel of John with a Latin
translation, Comentarius in Evangelium Ioannis Apostoli, 2
vols., edited by J.-M. Vosté, Corpus Scriptorum Christian-
orum Orientarium, vol. 115 (in Syriac) and vol. 116 (in
Latin) (Louvain, 1940); his commentary on the epistles of
Paul, In epistolas B. Pauli commentarii, 2 vols., edited by
Henry B. Swete (1880–1882; reprint, Farnborough, 1969);
and the commentaries On the Nicene Creed and On the Lord’s
Prayer and on the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist,
“Woodbrooke Studies,” vols. 5 and 6 (Cambridge, 1932–
1933), which include the Syriac texts and English transla-
tions edited by Alphonse Mingana.
Theodore’s life and work is discussed in Leonard Patterson’s Theo-
dore of Mopsuestia and Modern Thought (New York, 1926);
Robert Devreesse’s Essai sur Théodore de Mopsueste, “Studi e
testi,” vol. 141 (Vatican City, 1948); and Rowan A. Greer’s
Theodore of Mopsuestia, Exegete and Theologian (London,
1961). A recommended study of his theology is Richard A.
Norris’s Manhood and Christ: A Study in the Christology of
Theodore of Mopsuestia (Oxford, 1963).
PANAGIOTIS C. CHRISTOU (1987)
THEODORE OF STUDIOS (759–826), theologian
and monastic reformer of the Byzantine church. Born to an
aristocratic family in Constantinople, Theodore received an
excellent secular and religious education under the close su-
pervision of his mother, Theoktiste, and his mother’s broth-
er, the abbot Platon.
Eighth-century Byzantine society was greatly disturbed
by the Iconoclastic Controversy. Theodore’s family had
sided with the Iconophiles, those who favored the use of
icons in Christian worship. His uncle Platon was a leader
against the Iconoclasts, and Theodore followed in his foot-
steps, as a result of which he suffered persecution and was
sent into exile three times.
When the persecution of the Iconophiles ceased under
Emperor Leo IV, many monks, including Platon, returned
to Constantinople. Under his influence, Theodore’s family
moved in 780 to Bithynia, where they established a monastic
community on their estate of Fotinou, not far from the vil-
lage of Sakkoudion. Here Theodore was ordained a priest in
787 or 788 and his monastic career began. In 794 Platon re-
signed as abbot in Theodore’s favor. When Theodore be-
came abbot, he reorganized the monastery according to the
rule of Basil of Caesarea (c. 329–379), and the Sakkoudion
community prospered for a while with a hundred monks.
Because of Saracen raids in Bithynia, Theodore and most of
his community were allowed by the patriarch in 798 or 799
to move to the monastery of Studios in Constantinople.
Under Theodore’s leadership, the Studios monastery
underwent a period of renaissance and exerted great influ-
ence on Byzantine society. It had more than seven hundred
monks and perhaps as many as a thousand. Theodore be-
came one of the most powerful men in Constantinople and
found himself in conflict with both emperors and patriarchs.
He tried to integrate monasticism and society and engage
monks not only in spiritual matters but in social welfare ac-
tivity, in hospitals, in xenones (hospices), and in work among
the needy.
Theodore was a prolific author of doctrinal, apologetic,
canonical, and ascetic theology. He also wrote poetry, homi-
lies, and letters. His doctrinal and apologetic works defend
the use of icons as part of the christological teachings of the
church and stress that the event of the Incarnation fully justi-
fies the use of iconography. His canonical and ascetic works
aimed at the improvement of monasticism’s image and disci-
pline. His poetry includes many church hymns and liturgical
services which remain in use, as well as iambic epigrams for
different nonreligious occasions. His homilies delivered on
various feast days and ecclesiastical occasions display style
and logic. Theodore’s letters, addressed to private persons,
monks, emperors, other state dignitaries, popes, and patri-
archs, are an important biographical source. More than 550
of them survive.
Theodore’s significance is twofold. First, his writings
constitute a mirror of eighth- and early ninth-century Byzan-
tium. Second, his life reveals agonistic efforts to free the
church from imperial influence. In this he was more con-
cerned with an orderly and moral society than with mystical
theology, more attuned to the legalisms characteristic of
Roman theology than to the spiritual aspirations of the
Christian East.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sources
Cozza-Luzi, Giuseppe, ed. Novae patrum bibliothecae, vols. 8 and- Rome, 1871 and 1888. In volume 8, see especially
9122 THEODORE OF STUDIOS