{{infobox saint | name

Theodoret of CyrusTheodoret of CyrrhusTheodoret of Cyr | image | imagesize 150px | alt Theodoret of Cyrus | caption Theodoret of Cyrus | titles | birth_date c. 393 AD | birth_place Antioch | death_date c. 457 | death_place Cyrrhus | venerated_in | beatified_date | beatified_place | beatified_by | canonized_date | canonized_place | canonized_by | major_shrine | feast_day | attributes | patronage | issues | suppressed_date | suppressed_by | quote }}

Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus (; c. 393 – c. 457) was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria (423-457). He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms. He is considered blessed or a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Biography

According to Tillemont, he was born at Antioch in 393, and died either at Cyrrhus ("about a two-days' journey east of Antioch" or eighty Roman miles), or at the monastery near Apamea (fifty-four miles southeast of Antioch) about 457.

The following facts about his life are gleaned mainly from his ''Epistles'' and his ''Religious History'' (''Philotheos historia''). His mother having been childless for twelve years, his birth was promised by a hermit named Macedonius on the condition of his dedication to God, whence the name Theodoret ("gift of God"). He was brought up under the care of the ascetics and acquired a very extensive classical knowledge, and, according to Photius, a style of Attic purity. That he was a personal disciple of Theodore of Mopsuestia and heard the orations of John Chrysostom is improbable.

At a young age he became a ''lector'' among the clergy of Antioch, then resided a while in a monastery, was a cleric at Cyrrhus, and in 423 became bishop over a diocese about forty miles square and embracing 800 parishes, but with an insignificant town as its see city. Theodoret, supported only by the appeals of the intimate hermits, himself in personal danger, zealously guarded purity of the doctrine. He converted more than 1,000 Marcionites in his diocese, besides many Arians and Macedonians; more than 200 copies of Tatian's ''Diatessaron'' he retired from the churches; and he erected churches and supplied them with relics.

His philanthropic and economic interests were extensive and varied: he endeavored to secure relief for the people oppressed with taxation; he divided his inheritance among the poor; from his episcopal revenues he erected baths, bridges, halls, and aqueducts; he summoned rhetoricians and physicians, and reminded the officials of their duties. To the persecuted Christians of Persian Armenia he sent letters of encouragement, and to the Carthaginian Celestiacus, who had fled the rule of the Vandals, he gave refuge.

The Nestorian controversy

Theodoret stands out prominently in the christological controversies aroused by Cyril of Alexandria. Theodoret shared in the petition of John I of Antioch to Nestorius to approve of the term ''theotokos'' ("mother of God"), and upon the request of John wrote against Cyril's ''anathemas''.

He may have prepared the Antiochian symbol which was to secure the emperor's true understanding of the Nicene Creed, and he was a member and spokesman of the deputation of eight from Antioch called by the emperor to Chalcedon. To the condemnation of Nestorius he could not assent. John, reconciled to Cyril by the emperor's order, sought to bring Theodoret to submission by entrenching upon his eparchy.

Theodoret was determined to preserve the peace of the Church by seeking the adoption of a formula avoiding the unconditional condemnation of Nestorius, and toward the close of 434 strove earnestly for the reconciliation between the Eastern churches. But Cyril refused to compromise and when he opened his attack (437) upon Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore, John sided with them and Theodoret assumed the defense of the Antiochian party (c. 439). Domnus II, the successor of John, took him as his counselor. After the death of Cyril, adherents of the Antiochian theology were appointed to bishoprics. Irenaeus the friend of Nestorius, with the cooperation of Theodoret, became bishop of Tyre, in spite of the protests of Dioscorus, Cyril's successor, who now turned specially against Theodoret; and, by preferring the charge that he taught two sons in Christ, he secured the order from the court confining Theodoret to Cyrrhus.

Theodoret now composed the ''Eranistes'' (see below). In vain were his efforts at court at self-justification against the charges of Dioscurus, as well as the countercharge of Domnus against Eutyches of Apollinarism. The court excluded Theodoret from the Second Council of Ephesus in 449 because of his antagonism to Cyril. Here, because of his ''Epistle 151'' against Cyril and his defense of Diodorus and Theodore, he was condemned without a hearing and excommunicated and his writings were directed to be burned. Even Domnus gave his assent.

Theodoret was compelled to leave Cyrrhus and retire to his monastery at Apamea. He made an appeal to Leo the Great, but not until after the death of Theodosius II in 450 was his appeal for a revocation of the judgments against him granted by imperial edict. He was ordered to participate in the Council of Chalcedon, which created violent opposition. He was first to take part only as accuser, yet among the bishops. Then he was constrained (October 26, 451) by the friends of Dioscurus to pronounce the ''anathema'' over Nestorius. His conduct shows (though hindered from a statement to that effect) that he performed this with his previous reservation; namely, without application beyond the teaching of two sons in Christ and the denial of the ''theotokos''. Upon this he was declared orthodox and rehabilitated.

The only thing known concerning him following the Council of Chalcedon is the letter of Leo charging him to guard the Chalcedonian victory (''PG'', lxxxiii. 1319 sqq.). With Diodorus and Theodore he was no less hated by the Monophysites than Nestorius himself, and held by them and their friends as a heretic. The Three-Chapter Controversy led to the condemnation of his writings against Cyril in the Second Council of Constantinople (553).

Works

Exegetical

In literature Theodoret devoted himself first of all to exegesis. The Scripture was his only authority Eranistes 1, and his representation of orthodox doctrine consists of a collocation of Scripture passages. The genuineness and relative chronology of his commentaries is proven by references in the latter to the earlier. The commentary on the ''Song of Songs'', written while he was a young bishop, though not before 430, precedes ''Psalms''; the commentaries on the prophets were begun with ''Daniel'', followed by ''Ezekiel'', and then the ''Minor Prophets''. Next that on the ''Psalms'' was completed before 436; and those on ''Isaiah'', ''Jeremiah'', and the ''Pauline Epistles'' (including ''Hebrews''), before 448. Theodoret's last exegetical works were the interpretations of difficult passages in the ''Octateuch'' and ''Quaestiones'' dealing with the books of ''Samuel'', ''Kings'', and ''Chronicles'', written about 452 to 453.

Excepting the commentary on ''Isaiah'' (fragments preserved in the ''catenae'') and on ''Galatians'' ii.6-13, the exegetical writings of Theodoret are extant. Exegetical material on the ''Gospels'' under his name in the ''catenae'' may have come from his other works, and foreign interpolations occur in his comments on the ''Octateuch''.

The Biblical authors are, for Theodoret, merely the mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit, though they do not lose their individual peculiarities. By the unavoidable imperfection of the translations, he states, the understanding is encumbered. Not familiar with Hebrew, Theodoret uses the Syriac translation, the Greek versions, and the ''Septuagint''.

In principle his exegesis is grammatical-historical; and he criticizes the intrusion of the author's own ideas. His aim is to avoid a one-sidedness of literalness as well as of allegory. Hence he protests against the attributing of ''The Song of Songs'' to Solomon and the like as degrading the Holy Spirit. Rather is it to be said that the Scripture speaks often "figuratively" and "in riddles." In the Old Testament everything has typological significance and prophetically it embodies already the Christian doctrine. The divine illumination affords the right understanding after the apostolic suggestion and the New Testament fulfilment. Valuable though not binding is the exegetical tradition of the ecclesiastical teachers. Theodoret likes to choose the best among various interpretations before him, preferably Theodore's, and supplements from his own. He is clear and simple in thought and statement; and his merit is to have rescued the exegetical heritage of the school of Antioch as a whole for the Christian Church.

Apologetic, historical

Among apologetic writings was the ''Ad quaestiones magorum'' (429-436), now lost, in which he justified the Old Testament sacrifices as alternatives in opposition to the Egyptian idolatry, and exposed the fables of the Magi who worshiped the elements (''Church History'' v. 38).

''De providentia'' consists of apologetic discourses, proving the divine providence from the physical order (chapters i-iv), and from the moral and social order (chapters vi-x).

The "Graecarum Affectionum Curatio" or ''Cure of the Greek Maladies or Knowledge of the Gospel Truth from the Greek Philosophy,'' of twelve discourses, was an attempt to prove the truth of Christianity from Greek philosophy and in contrast with the pagan ideas and practises. The truth is self-consistent where it is not obscured with error and approves itself as the power of life; philosophy is only a presentiment of it. This work is distinguished for clearness of arrangement and style.

The ''Church History'' of Theodoret, which begins with the rise of Arianism and closes with the death of Theodore in 429, falls far behind those of Socrates Scholasticus and Sozomen. It contains many sources otherwise lost, specially letters on the Arian controversy; but it is defective in historical sense and chronological accuracy, and on account of Theodoret's inclination to embellishment and miraculous narrative, and preference for the personal. Original material of Antiochian information appears chiefly in the latter books.

Theodoret's sources are in dispute. According to Valesius these were mainly Socrates and Sozomen; Albert Guldenpenning's thorough research placed Rufinus first, and next to him, Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius, Sozomen, Sabinus, Philostorgius, Gregory Nazianzen, and, least of all, Socrates. N. Glubokovskij counts Eusebius, Rufinus, Philostorgius, and, perhaps, Sabinus.

The ''Religious History,'' with an appendix on divine love, contains the biographies of thirty (ten living) ascetics, held forth as religious models. It is a document of remarkable significance for understanding the complexities of the role of early monastics, both in society and in the church; it is also remarkable for presenting a model of ascetic authority which runs strongly against Athanasius's ''Life of Antony''. Upon the request of a high official named Sporacius, Theodoret compiled a ''Compendium of Heretical Accounts'' (''Haereticarum fabularum compendium''), including a heresiology (books i-iv) and a "compendium of divine dogmas" (book v), which, apart from Origen's ''De principiis'' and the theological work of John of Damascus, is the only systematic representation of the theology of the Greek Fathers.

Theodoret's Correspondence (mentioned below) is a primary source for the development of Christological issues between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon and illuminates current administrative and social problems.

Dogmatic

Among dogmatic treatises Theodoret mentions (''Epist.'' cxiii, cxvi) having written against Arius and Eunomius, probably one work, to which were joined the three treatises against the Macedonians. There were, besides, two works against the Apollinarians, and of the ''Opus adversus Marcionem'' nothing has been preserved. The treatises ''On the Trinity'' and ''On the Divine Dispensation'' (cf. ''Peri theologias kai tes theias enanthropeseos; Epist. cxiii''), assigned by A. Ehrhard to the work ''On the Holy and Life-giving Trinity'' and ''On the Incarnation of the Lord'' of Cyril of Alexandria, certainly belong to the Antiochian School and to Theodoret. To the same belong chapters xiii-xv, xvii, and brief parts of other chapters of the fragments which Jean Garnier (''Auctarium'') included under the title, ''Pentology of Theodoret on the Incarnation'' as well as three of the five fragments referred by Marius Mercator to the fifth book of some writing of Theodoret. They are polemics against Arianism and Apollinarianism.

Theodoret's ''Refutation'' of the twelve ''anathemas'' of Cyril is preserved in the antipolemic of Cyril. He detects Apollinarianism in Cyril's teaching, and declines a "contracting into one" of two natures of the only begotten, as much as a separation into two sons (''Epist.'' Cxliii). Instead of a "union according to hypostases," he would accept only one that "manifests the essential properties or modes of the natures." The man united to God was born of Mary; between God the ''Logos'' and the form of a servant a distinction must be drawn. Only minor fragments (cf. ''Epist.'' xvi) of Theodoret's defense of Diodorus and Theodore (438-444) have been preserved.

His chief christological work is the ''Eranistes etoi polymorphos'' ("Beggar or Multiform") in three dialogues, describing the Monophysites as beggars passing off their doctrines gathered by scraps from diverse heretical sources and himself as the orthodox.

God is immutable also in becoming man, the two natures are separate in Christ, and God the Logos is ever immortal and impassive. Each nature remained "pure" after the union, retaining its properties to the exclusion of all transmutation and intermixture. Of the twenty-seven orations in defense of various propositions, the first six agree in their given content with Theodoret. A few extracts from the five orations on Chrysostom were preserved by Photius (codex 273).

Letters

Compared to the more than 500 letters known to Nicephorus Callistus in the fourteenth century, only about half that number had survived to the twentieth century. To the 179 letters published by Jacques Paul Migne, J. Sakkelion added another 47 letters he published from a manuscript he found at the Monastery of Patmos in 1855. An English translation of the surviving letters is part of the ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'' (2 ser., iii. 250-348).

Translations

Translations of some of Theodoret's writings can be found in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. A bilingual edition of the Eranistes was published by Oxford University Press in 1974. A bilingual edition of ''Questions on the Octateuch'' was published by the Catholic University of America Press in 2007.

Bilingual editions (Greek text with parallel French translation) of several of the texts mentioned above have been published in recent years in ''Sources Chrétiennes''.

An English translation is available as an e-book from Munseys.com.

A monograph by István Pásztori-Kupán including so far untranslated works of Theodoret is available from Routledge .

References

External links

http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_author/64/Theodoret_of_Cyr.html

Theodoret's works

''Encyclopædia Britannica'' 11th edition

Greek Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca, with analytical indexes and concordances made on the whole writings

[‎http://www.proteo.hu/dok/PKI/PKI_PhD_Full_text.pdf István Pásztori-Kupán: Theodoret of Cyrus’s Double Treatise On the Trinity and On the Incarnation: The Antiochene Pathway to Chalcedon (PhD thesis)]

Category:390s births Category:450s deaths Category:Syriac people Category:Church Fathers Category:Assyrian Church of the East Category:Anti-Gnosticism Category:Syrian bishops Category:Ancient Christian controversies Category:4th-century Romans Category:5th-century Byzantine people Category:5th-century bishops

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birth name	Robert Lyle Knepper
birth date	July 08, 1959
birth place	Fremont, Ohio, U.S.
occupation	Actor
yearsactive	1986–present
spouse	Tori Knepper (2002-2009) Divorced
children	Benjamin Knepper
website	}}

Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox network's drama series ''Prison Break'', for which he was nominated a Satellite Award. He has also appeared in the films ''Hitman'' (2007) and ''Transporter 3'' (2008), and joined the cast of ''Heroes'' for its fourth season and final season as Samuel Sullivan. He joined the cast of ''Stargate Universe'' for its second season, which aired in the US in the 2010 fall season. Knepper reprised his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the first season of Breakout Kings.

Life and career

Born in Fremont, Ohio, Knepper was interested in acting from an early age due to his mother's involvement at a community theater. He was raised in Maumee, Ohio, near Toledo, by his mother and father, who was a veterinarian. Knepper spent many years of his youth working in the community theater and high school productions. After graduating from Maumee High School in 1977, he attended Northwestern University to study drama. During this time, Knepper also obtained professional roles in plays in Chicago. Nearing the completion of his degree, Knepper quit Northwestern and went to New York City, where he continued to work in theater. Although Knepper never intended to work in film and television projects, he began his television and film career in 1986 with ''The Paper Chase'' and ''That's Life!''.

He recently guest-starred in ''Criminal Minds'' in the Season 6 episode, 'Reflection of Desire' as Rhett Walden, an insane serial killer who believes that his dead mother is actually alive.

On August 26, 2011, Knepper, along with three others, was honored by the Maumee Alumni Association during an awards dinner and at the opening Maumee High School varsity football game.

In 2012, he guest-starred as Frank Sinatra in the film Cloclo, biopic of Claude François the French pop singer who wrote "Comme d'habitude", the original version of "My Way."

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" |- style="text-align: center;" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1986 || ''That's Life!'' || Steve Larwin || |- | rowspan="4"| 1987 || ''Tour of Duty'' || Racist Soldier || TV episode: "Burn, Baby, Burn" |- | ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' || Wyatt Miller || TV episode: "Haven" |- | ''Wild Thing''|| Wild Thing || |- | ''The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)'' || Alonzo || TV episode: "Joy Ride" |- | 1988 || ''D.O.A.'' || Nicholas Lang || |- | 1989 || ''Renegades'' || Marino || |- | rowspan="2"| 1990 || ''E.A.R.T.H. Force'' || Dr. Peter Roland || |- | ''Young Guns II || Deputy Carlyle || |- | 1991 || ''Session Man'' || || |- | 1992 || ''Gas Food Lodging'' || Dank || |- | 1992 || ''Red Shoe Diaries || Nick Willard || TV episode: "You Have the Right to Remain Silent" |- | 1993 || ''Doorways || Thane || Unaired TV pilot |- | 1993 || ''When the Bough Breaks || Lt. Jimmy Creedmore || |- | rowspan="3"| 1996 || ''Dead Of Night'' || Christian || |- |''Jaded'' || Freddy || |- |''Everyone Says I Love You''|| Greg || |- | rowspan="5"| 1998 || ''You Are Here'' || || |- |''Phantoms'' || Agent Wilson || Plays Federal Agent |- |''The Stringer'' || John || |- |''ER'' || Keith Reynolds || TV episode: "My Brother's Keeper" |- |''Star Trek: Voyager'' || Gaul || TV episode: "Dragons Teeth" |- |rowspan="2"| 1999 || ''Absence of the Good || Glenn Dwyer || |- | ''Kidnapped in Paradise'' || Renard || Plays the leader of modern day pirates |- |rowspan="3"| 2000 || ''Harsh Realm'' || Mad priest || TV episode: "Camera Obscura" |- | ''Seven Days'' || Major Gene Hastings || TV episode: "Space Station Down" |- | ''La Femme Nikita'' || Henry Collins || TV episode: "Toys in the Basement" |- |rowspan="3"| 2001 || ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' || Dr. Peter Kelmer || TV episode: "The Good Doctor" |- | ''Thieves'' || Special Agent Shue || TV series |- | ''Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot'' || Robert F. Kennedy || |- | 2002–2003 || ''Presidio Med'' || Sean || TV series (recurring role) |- |rowspan="2"| 2004 || ''Species III'' || Dr. Abbot || |- | ''CSI: Miami'' || Freddy Coleman || TV episode: "Addiction" |- | 2003-2005 || ''Carnivàle'' || Tommy Dolan || TV series (recurring role) |- |rowspan="2"| 2005|| ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' || Don Surine || |- | ''Hostage'' || Will Bechler || |- | 2005–2009 || ''Prison Break''|| Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell || TV series |- | 2007 || ''Hitman'' || Yuri Marklov || |- |rowspan="2"| 2008 || ''Transporter 3'' || Johnson || |- | ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' ||Colonel|| |- | 2009 ||''G.I joe'' ||Cpt Smith|| |- | 2009–2010 || ''Heroes''|| Samuel Sullivan || TV series |- |rowspan="5"| 2010 || ''Burning Daylight'' || Elam 'Burning Daylight' Harnish || Segment "Part III: Burning Daylight" |- | ''Stargate Universe''|| Simeon || TV series |- | ''Chase''|| Jack Druggan || TV Episode: "The Comeback Kid" |- | ''Criminal Minds''|| Rhett Walden || TV Episode: "Reflection of Desire" |- | ''Shameless US'' || Rod||TV Series: 2 episodes |- | rowspan="3"| 2011 || ''Breakout Kings'' || Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell || TV series: episode 3 ( The Bag Man) |- | ''Earth's Final Hours''|| John Streich || TV movie |- | ''Cloclo (French Movie)'' || Frank Sinatra || Movie |}

References

External links

Robert Knepper's interview at ''CynbytheSea''

Category:1959 births Category:Actors from Ohio Category:American film actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:People from Fremont, Ohio Category:People from Lucas County, Ohio

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