OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA. HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY. WRITTEN BY OTTO FRIDOLIN FRITZSCHE, LICENTIATE OF THEOLOGY. (Halle, at the expense of the Orphanage Library, MDCCCXXXVI.) PREFACE.
The Antiochene school, which was founded by the presbyters Dorotheus and Lucian, toward the end of the third century, as it pursued the path which the earlier Antiochene teachers had entered, sought out a theology by degrees and little by little in such a way that it shines quite brightly with its own peculiar character, and has exerted great force upon the Greek Church. For in vain will you attempt to perceive the principles of the Greek Church—especially the ancient one—unless you have properly understood Antiochene theology. And I have not spoken excessively; rather, the entire Greek theology, which indeed knew what it intended and was not held by a disastrous torpor, was, in my judgment, tripartite throughout the course of time: Alexandrian, Antiochene, and that which began a certain middle path. Since, therefore, the influence of the Antiochene school was so great, it is much to be lamented that it has not been illuminated by the same light as the Alexandrian. Only in this age have some learned men disputed about it more accurately, who, although they have erred in some matters, have with their own great praise stimulated these studies.
For my own part, the longer I have occupied myself in examining ecclesiastical history, and the more I perceived the force and gravity of the Antiochene school, with greater zeal I inquired into its affairs, which, in the greatest scarcity of historical monuments, can only be clarified in such a way that you might inquire what kind of men the individual teachers of that school were at different times. In this truly very difficult disquisition, both the times must be properly discerned, and those things which are specific to individual teachers and do not apply to the school itself.
Since these things are so, I thought I would be doing something worth the effort if I were to apply my care, such as it is, to the affairs of Theodore of Antioch, bishop of Mopsuestia, who brought Antiochene theology to that perfection which it attained, and if I were to comment more accurately upon his life, his writings, his interpretation of Sacred Scripture, his doctrine, and finally his fate after death. Accept, benevolent reader, this first commentary on Theodore A and its bipartite nature. And indeed, no one can describe the life of Theodore in such a dearth of historical records; but I have diligently gathered and examined those things which seem to be able to be said about the life of this man, whether certainly or probably, not omitting even lighter matters, as was proper.
The fewer things that devouring time has left behind concerning a certain most illustrious man, with the greater zeal it is fitting to gather and examine them, even if they are very light, so that you might be able, if not to teach what sort of man he was, at least to attain it by conjecture. For a great man can be recognized even from those few things, however few they may be, that have remained of him. Moreover, a learned and most illustrious doctor of the Church can almost be judged by his books, concerning which, if you have disputed accurately enough, you will have illustrated his affairs in large part. Although not even then is a disputation of this kind useless, if only a few fragments of those books survive. What, if from their titles alone you effect something? But to return to Theodore, it was most difficult and a task of great labor to explain regarding his writings, since the things that pertained to this had not yet been gathered and examined with sufficient accuracy, and the very disquisition itself—which no learned man had hitherto desired to extend so widely—was thorny in such silence of the ancients, in which I had to take care not to wish rather than to teach. But I have inquired not only into those things which might be faithful historical evidence, but also into how to understand these very things correctly and from them what might be correctly accomplished