Biography

Theodoret of Cyrus(Cyrrhus) (c. 393 - c. 460)

Theodoret was born at Antioch towards the close of the fourth century and died at Cyrus, or Cyrrhus, the capital of the Syrian province of Cyrrhestica, in 457. He was educated in the monastery of St. Euprepius, near Antioch, ordained a deacon by Bishop Porphyrius, and elected bishop of Cyrus in 420 and 423.

As a pupil of Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, he joined, at the synod of Ephesus (431), the minority which disposed Cyril, but by the Synod of Ephesus (449) he was himself disposed and banished to the monastery of Aparnea. By the synod of Chalcedon, however (451), he was again restored to his see.

He was a prolific writer. Exegetical, historical, polemical, and dogmatical works, sermons, and letters by him, still exist. But his principal work is his Church History, comprising the period from 325 to 429, translated into French by Mathée (Poitiers, 1544). The first collected edition of his works was published by Sirmond (Paris, 1642, 4 vols. fol.), to which was added in 1684 a fifth by Hardouin, containing, among other things, his life by Garnier. There are also editions by Schuize (Halle, 1769-74, 4 vols.) and Migne (Paris, 1859-60, 5 vols.)