chapter 20 Theodoret’s Graecarum affectionum curatio: Defending Christianity in Christian Syria*

Introduction

This chapter is about what is perhaps the last of the series of Christian Apologies that were written to refute criticism and accusations made by pagans. It was composed at a time when Christianity was already the dominant religion in the Roman Empire by Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, a small Syrian city, situ- ated on one of the main routes from the Mediterranean and the great city of Antioch to Mesopotamia. The Curatio was written early in Theodoret’s career, surely before the first Council of Ephesus of 431, and perhaps even before he became a bishop in 423.1 This means that it was written not long after Alaric had sacked Rome, and around the same time that Augustine wrote the final books of his City of God.2

Theodoret’s Early Life and Education

Theodoret was born in Antioch in 393, evidently to well-to-do parents. He received an excellent Greek rhetorical education (just as John Chrysostom had received around thirty years earlier) and (again like Chrysostom) he acquired the ability to write very good classical Greek. Antioch was ostensibly a Greek city, and Greek was certainly the language used by its upper class in all public business, in fact in all business that has left written evidence. The writings of the most famous Antiochene authors, the pagan Libanius as well as the Christian John Chrysostom,3 certainly offer no hint that either ever

* This article originated as a lecture delivered at conference ‘Pagans and Christians’, orga- nized by Central European University, Budapest 2013, to be published in Mediterraneo Antico (forthcoming). 1 Théodoret de Cyr, Thérapeutique des Maladies Helléniques, ed. and trans. by P. Canivet, S. Chr. 57, Paris, 1958, 28–31. 2 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo, London, 1967, 281, 378. Civ.Dei was begun in 413 and completed in 425. 3 But Ps. Martyrius 50 (485B) suggests that Chrysostom actually had good Latin.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004289529_021 390 chapter 20 used any language other than Greek. But the territory of Antioch contained a large population that was Syriac speaking, or at least bilingual, and in the neighbouring Mesopotamia, Aramaic (Syriac) was becoming the language of Christian theological literature. Theodoret’s family was bilingual. His mother sought counsel from the hermit Macedonius, who did not speak Greek,4 and Theodoret himself was able to converse with monks who only spoke Syriac.5 From early youth Theodoret was very familiar with the hermits who lived in the hills in the neighbourhood of Antioch. He was blessed at different times by the hermits Macedonius, Peter, and Aphraates.6

The Impact of Asceticism

Theodoret was deeply impressed by the lives of extreme austerity chosen by the hermits and monks, even thought they were mostly simple men without any advantages of birth and education. On reaching adolescence he wanted to become a monk himself, but his parents would not let him. He was, however, ordained as a lector, and as such would read the lesson in church.7 As soon as both parents had died, Theodoret, now twenty-three years old, sold his prop- erty and gave the proceeds to the poor.8 He then entered the monastery of Nicerta, seventy-five kilometers south of Antioch.9 Like Chrysostom, he spent seven years as a monk, and, once more like Chrysostom, he then abandoned the ascetic life to be ordained in rapid succession priest and bishop, for in 423 CE,10 at the age ofthirty, he was consecrated Bishop of Cyrrhus.11

4 Theodoret, HR. IX 5–8; XIII.16–17. 5 F. Millar, Theodoret of Cyrrhus: A Syrian in Greek Dress? in Hagit Amirav and Bas ter Haar Romeny (eds.), From Rome to Contantinople: Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron, Leuven, 2007, 105–25. Theodoret tells us that he had read the writings of Pope Leon the Great (ep. 113, ed. Zéma, 58), so like Chrysostom he may also have known some Latin. Perhaps both were intended to qualify for the imperial service- even if Theodoret’s parents had promised that he would serve the church, and had him educated appropriately (Ep. 81, Zéma, 196). 6 Theodoret, HR. VIII, 15; IX, 4; XIII, 8. 7 HR, XII, 4 (1397B). So also Chrysostom at around this age (Palladius, Dial. 5, [PG. XLVII, 18]). 8 Ep. 113, ed. Zéma, 66. 9 P. Canivet and M.T. Canivet, “Sites chrétiennes d’Apamène,” Syria 48 (1971): 299–303. 10 Theodoret wrote Ep. 81 of 448 CE in the twenty-fifth year of his episcopate, and Ep. 113 of 449 CE in the twenty-sixth year. 11 J. Abdul Massih, “Évaluation de l’état general du site archéologique de Cyrrhus–Nebi Houri,” Annales Archéologiques Syriennes 49 (2006): 45–59.