Book review of John Behr's volume concerning the surviving fragments of the main figures of the so-called Antiochene school of though

Pásztori-Kupán, István

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NOT FORPUBLIC RELEASE //Blrnas1/journals/application/oup/JTS/fls087.3d[30.5.2012–12:12am] [1–3] Paper: fls087MANUSCRIPT CATEGORY: REVIEWR E V I E WThe Case against Diodore and Theodore: Texts and theirContexts. Edited by JOHN BEHR. Pp. xxþ 526. (OxfordEarly Christian Texts.) Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 2011. ISBN 978 0 19 956987 8. £140.5 THIS work is not merely a well-researched collection of textsconcerning the controversy which arose around the two famousteachers of the Antiochene tradition, but also a scholarly attemptto throw light upon the background and main motives of thiscenturies-long dispute. As it is known, both Diodore of Tarsus10 and Theodore of Mopsuestia died in peace with the universalChurch (Diodore around 390, Theodore in 428). Moreover, theformer had been mentioned among the pillars of orthodoxy inthe decree of Theodosius I issued on 30 July 381 after the clos-ure of the second ecumenical council held at Constantinople15 (Codex Theodosianus 16.1.3). Nonetheless, Cyril, the mightypatriarch of Alexandria, after having deposed Nestorius, thepupil of Theodore and patriarch of Constantinople between428 and 431, and then having signed the Formula of Reunionwith John of Antioch, the former ally of Nestorius, in 433,20 mounted a furious assault upon the two masters of his earlieropponent, thus triggering a long controversy which resulted inTheodore’s condemnation a century later.The timing of the publication of Cyril’s tract Against Diodoreand Theodore in 438 could not have been accidental. It is often25 overlooked that in the same year, on 27 January 438, EmperorTheodosius II and his older sister, Pulcheria Augusta, hadordered the remains of John Chrysostom to be brought toConstantinople and buried near the altar of the Church of theApostles as an imperial act of penance for the maltreatment of30 the famous Antiochene preacher and exiled patriarch ofConstantinople by their father, Emperor Arcadius (Socrates,Hist. eccl. 7.45). This solemn event implicitly blemished Cyril’sreputation, since he had taken a very active part in the infamousSynod of the Oak in 403, aiding his uncle and predecessor,35 Theophilus of Alexandria, in having John Chrysostom deposed.Furthermore, Cyril indignantly refused the request of his col-league, Atticus of Constantinople, to reintroduce the name ofChrysostom in the diptychs of Alexandria, although he hadbeen urged also by Isidore of Pelusium not to continue his40 uncle’s policy (Isidore, Ep. 370 ad Cyr. Alex. de contentione,The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, 2012 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com1 of 3NOT FORPUBLIC RELEASE //Blrnas1/journals/application/oup/JTS/fls087.3d[30.5.2012–12:12am] [1–3] Paper: fls087MANUSCRIPT CATEGORY: REVIEWPG 78, col. 392). Cyril replied to Atticus that Judas Iscariotcould not be mentioned among the apostles either, since hisplace had been taken by Matthias (Cyril, Ep. 76 ad Atticum,PG 77, col. 356). Thus, his newly published book in 438,5 which simultaneously targeted Chrysostom’s beloved master(Diodore) as well as his best friend (Theodore), clearly repre-sented an implicit attack against the famous Antiochene preacherand martyred patriarch. His clear aim was to condemn Diodoreand Theodore as fathers of Nestorianism—an aim which was10 ultimately achieved, albeit not in his lifetime.In the first part of this work John Behr oVers a clearly arguedpresentation of the context of this debate, which began soon afterTheodore’s death. The discussion of the theological background,the origin of certain doctrinal terms and phrases reaching back to15 the controversies of the fourth century, includes assessments ofthese teachers in modern scholarship, as well as a presentation oftheir lives, works, and theological legacy. The campaign againstDiodore and Theodore is presented in a chronological fashion,from initial reactions through the aftermath of Ephesus (431)20 and their apparent fading out of theological discussion aroundand after the Council of Chalcedon (451), including most ofthe second half of the fifth century until Emperor Justinian’sfamous Three Chapters, to the ensuing controversy as well astheir condemnation by the fifth ecumenical council held in25 Constantinople in 553, aided by the coerced consent of PopeVigilius, held in house arrest in the eastern capital byJustinian. Among the famous Antiochenes Theodore of Mop-suestia was condemned in person, which implicitly meant thecondemnation of Diodore as well, whilst Theodoret of Cyrus30 and Ibas of Edessa—having been rehabilitated by Chalcedon—escaped the anathema pronounced upon their names, but did notescape the condemnation of their works considered as havingbeen directed mainly against Cyril of Alexandria. One of thevery few staunch defenders of these Antiochene teachers in the35 sixth century was Facundus, the bishop of Hermiane in Africa.The second part of the volume oVers the texts in connectionwith the controversy around Diodore and Theodore as well astheir historical-theological background. Faithfully to the title ofhis work, the author chooses to present these bilingual texts40 (Syriac–English, Greek–English, Latin–English) in the chronolo-gical order of their appearance instead of trying to reconstructtracts of Diodore and Theodore. The theological importance ofthese texts and florilegia, coming from Cyril, Eutheriusof Tyana, Timothy Aelurus, Severus of Antioch, Leontius ofR E V I E W2 of 3NOT FORPUBLIC RELEASE //Blrnas1/journals/application/oup/JTS/fls087.3d[30.5.2012–12:12am] [1–3] Paper: fls087MANUSCRIPT CATEGORY: REVIEWByzantium, Emperor Justinian, Facundus, the fifth ecumenicalcouncil, and Pope Vigilius, cannot be overstated. The authormakes a very important contribution not only towards ourchronological and contextual understanding of a whole series of5 doctrinal and church-political reasons behind this controversy,but also makes some of these documents accessible for the firsttime to an English-speaking readership. The addition in theappendix of the Syriac–English text of the surviving excerptsof Theodore’s On the Incarnation preserved in British Library10 Add. MS 14669 represents an indispensable source for furtherdiscussion and assessment of one of the most controversial yetalso highly influential figures of doctrinal history.doi:10.1093/jts/fls087 ISTVA´N PA´SZTORI-KUPA´NProtestant Theological Institute15 Kolozsva´r/Cluj,Transylvania,Romaniamcpasztori@yahoo.comR E V I E W 3 of 3

Pásztori-Kupán István, Review of John Behr: The Case Against Diodore and Theodore

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