We may incidentally remark that the technical terms used in the mystery of the Incarnation were so imperfectly fixed even in the time of Marius Mercator that he translates the word nature, the Syriac [Syriac] which doubtless renders the Greek φύσις , by the Latin substantia. This last word generally renders the Greek ὑπόστασις and the Syriac [Syriac] and hardly ever stands for the word "nature."
It should here be stated that some quotations from the present work of Theodore may be seen in East-Syrian literature, especially in a MS. recently added to my collection through the good offices of Mr. W. G. Greenslade.
(iii) Theodore's Doctrine.
We do not intend to give here a synopsis of the Christological doctrine of Theodore, which gave rise to such bitter controversies among Christian theologians who came after him, and which divided the followers of Christ into so many distinct and hostile groups. We assume that the readers of the present work are well acquainted with the Trinitarian and Christological dogmas with which it deals, and we leave to them the task of understanding and assimilating Theodore in his own words. It will be sufficient to state that in arguing against some early Christian thinkers who had unduly emphasised the divine side of Christ to the detriment of His humanity, he laid great stress on the fact that the man Jesus was a true man, endowed with all human faculties including a true human soul, and that the second person of the Trinity, or God the Word, Son of God the Father, |17 was to be distinguished from the human son of Mary, born of the seed of David, although through the very close and intimate union existing between them, they were not two Sons but one Son. The man Jesus was, so to speak, only figuratively and honorifically the Son of God, while the true and natural Son of God was and is the Word-God who assumed the form of the man Jesus. The close union between them was, as it were, not physical but moral and spiritual, manifesting itself in one visible individual, or rather personage, who formed the one πρόσωπον or outward appearance of Christ. Nowhere, however, do we find in Theodore the idea of two persons ( ὑποστασις ) in Christ. Such an idea had its full development in the time that followed the Council of Ephesus. Theodore never goes beyond the idea of two natures and one πρόσωπον . He writes in the third chapter: "From the fact also that they (the Fathers of the Council of Nicea) referred both words to the one person (= prosopon) of the Son they showed us the close union between the two natures": [Syriac]
As the present work is a commentary on the Nicene creed and consequently covers the whole field of Christian religion, the readers will find in it many other interesting points besides Trinity and Incarnation. These last two points, however, are treated with much more detail than the others.
As a commentator Theodore has been criticised by no less an authority than Harnack as too prosaic and monotonous. This stylistic defect is noticeable in the present work which is in some places marred by many verbal antitheses and repetitions arising from his desire to stress his point for his readers or rather hearers.
(iv) The Manuscript.
The MS. containing the present work of Theodore is found in my collection of MSS. and is therein numbered Mingana Syr. 561. As the MS. is not throughout in a good state of preservation and is in |18 many places wormed and damaged by damp, it was not found desirable to reproduce it in facsimile. For this reason I have had to copy all its text and edit it in the ordinary Syriac type instead of following the usual practice in my Woodbrooke Studies of giving facsimiles in case of unique texts.
1. The Mingana Collection has now found a definite home in the newly erected Selly Oak Colleges' Library, Birmingham. The Library owes its existence to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cadbury.
2. Mansi, Sacr. Conc. nova et amp. collectio, iii. 851.
3. John of Antioch as quoted by Facundus in Migne's Pat. Lat., lxvii. 563.
4. Ibid.
5. Facundus, Pat Lat., lxvii. 562. Facundus died shortly after 571.
6. 5 Ibid
7. Ad Theodorum lapsum in Montfaucon's edition (Venice, 1734), p. 36 sq., and in Migne's Pat. Gr., xlvii. 310 sq. The late Dr. H. B. Swete in referring to this passage in Dict. of Christian Biography, p. 935, quotes also the sentence: "he was full withal of light-hearted joy as having found the service of Christ to be perfect freedom." I do not believe that in the context this sentence is meant to apply to Theodore. Chrysostom is here making a general statement that has no direct bearing on any particular person.
8. Pat. Gr., lii. 668-669.
9. Dictionary of Christ. Biography, iv. 936. I am indebted for the above references to this article which is permeated with sound scholarship.
10. Memoires, xii. 442.
11. Pat. Gr., lxxvii. 340.
12. Ibid., 343-346.
13. Pat. Gr., lxxxvi. 1237.
14. Eccl. Hist., v. 39.
15. Pat. Gr., cxlvi. 1156.
16. Synodicon Orientale, p. 459.
17. Synodicon Orientate, p. 210 (of the text).