Introduction to This Volume

How this book is arranged

This is the sixty-eighth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This volume holds Theodoret of Cyrus, History, Dialogues and Letters, from the period about AD 431 – 457.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section numbers.

The translations

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation. In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. The modern English version prepared for SermonIndex is used for Religious History (Lives of the Syrian Monks) (Theodoret of Cyrus); the other works are printed in older public-domain translations.

In this volume

Theodoret was born at Antioch about AD 393 and became bishop of Cyrrhus in Syria about AD 423, a see he held until about AD 457. He was a great commentator on Scripture and a historian, and he argued against Cyril of Alexandria in the controversy with Nestorius. He was deposed at the council of Ephesus in AD 449 and restored at Chalcedon in AD 451.

Theodoret of Cyrus wrote much in the years of the controversy between Antioch and Alexandria. This volume holds his Religious History, which describes the monks he knew, and his Eranistes, in three dialogues between Orthodoxos and Eranistes on the unchangeable nature of God, the union of Christ’s natures without confusion, and the impassible. It also holds his short writings against Cyril, his letters, and his commentary on Romans. The numbers of the letters follow the ordering of the edition that was translated, so some numbers are not present.

Dates and authorship

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is uncertain.