Theophilus I of Alexandria
Saint Theophilus of Alexandria | |
---|---|
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark | |
Theophilus atop the Serapeum, depiction from the Alexandrian World Chronicle | |
Papacy began | 384 |
Papacy ended | 15 October 412 |
Predecessor | Timothy I |
Successor | Cyril "Pillar of Faith" |
Personal details | |
Died | 15 October 412 |
Buried | Dominicium, Alexandria |
Nationality | Egyptian |
Denomination | Church of Alexandria |
Residence | Saint Mark's Church |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 18 Paopi (Coptic calendar) 15 October (Julian calendar) Currently 28 October (Gregorian calendar) |
Venerated in | Coptic Orthodox Church and Syriac Orthodox Church |
Theophilus (Greek: Θεόφιλος) was the 23rd Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the Seat of Saint Mark. He became pope at a time of conflict between the newly dominant Christians and the pagan establishment in Alexandria, each of which was supported by a segment of the Alexandrian populace.
Background
In 391, Theophilus (according to Rufinus and Sozomen) discovered a hidden pagan temple. He and his followers mockingly displayed the pagan artifacts to the public which offended the pagans enough to provoke an attack on the Christians. The Christian faction counter-attacked, forcing the pagans to retreat to the Serapeum. A letter was sent by the emperor that Theophilus should grant the offending pagans pardon, but destroy the temple; according to Socrates Scholasticus, a contemporary of his, the latter aspect (the destruction of the temple) was added as a result of heavy solicitation for it by Theophilus.
Scholasticus goes on to state that:
Seizing this opportunity, Theophilus exerted himself to the utmost ... he caused the Mithraeum to be cleaned out ... Then he destroyed the Serapeum ... and he had the phalli of Priapus carried through the midst of the forum. ... the heathen temples ... were therefore razed to the ground, and the images of their gods molten into pots and other convenient utensils for the use of the Alexandrian church[1]
— Socrates Scholasticus, The Ecclesiastical History
The destruction of the Serapeum was seen by many ancient and modern authors as representative of the triumph of Christianity over other religions. According to John of Nikiu in the 7th century, when the philosopher Hypatia was lynched and flayed by an Alexandrian mob, they acclaimed Theophilus's nephew and successor Cyril as "the new Theophilus, for he had destroyed the last remains of idolatry in the city".[2]
Theophilus turned on the followers of Origen after having supported them for a time. He switched his view of God from the incorporeal view of God held by Origen to the anthropomorphic view held by many local monks who were hostile to his pastoral letter of 399.[3]
He was accompanied by his nephew Cyril to Constantinople in 403 and there presided at the "Synod of the Oak" that deposed John Chrysostom.
On 10 July in the Eastern (Greek) Orthodox Synaxarion, there is a commemoration for the 10,000 monks slain on the orders of Pope Theophilus in his paranoid campaign against perceived Origenism and the Four Tall Brethren. His nephew and dynastic successor Cyril was canonized in both Eastern and Western Christendom, with the notable exception of the Assyrian Church of the East, for his articulation and defense of the hypostatic union, his central role at the First Council of Ephesus, and his opposition to Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople.
Surviving works
- Correspondence with Jerome, Pope Anastasius I and Pope Innocent I
- Vision of Theophilus
- Tract against Chrysostom
- Homily on the Crucifixion and the Good Thief
- Homilies translated by Jerome (preserved in Migne)
- Other homilies survive only in Coptic and Ge'ez translations.
Theophilus’ Paschal table
Theophilus obliged the pious Christian emperor Theodosius I (AD 379–395) to himself by dedicating his Paschal table to him (around AD 390).[4] Theophilus’ Paschal table did not survive, but what we do know is that the Metonic 19-year lunar cycle underlying it must have been very different from the very first similar lunar cycle which somewhere in the third quarter of the third century was invented by Anatolius but differed very little from the classical Alexandrian 19-year lunar cycle,[5] which in the fifth century would be introduced by Annianus and adopted by Theophilus’ successor Cyrillus and whose Julian equivalent would become the Metonic basic structure of Dionysius Exiguus’ Paschal table.[6] Bede's Paschal table is an exact extension of Dionysius Exiguus' one.[7]
In popular culture
Theophilus appears in the novel Flow Down Like Silver, Hypatia of Alexandria by Ki Longfellow.
He appears as a character played by Manuel Cauchi in the 2009 film Agora, directed by Alejandro Amenábar.
Legacy
The lunar crater Theophilus was named after him, as part of a group of three lunar craters named after prominent Alexandrian Christians.
Pope Theophilus is venerated as a saint only within the Coptic Church of Alexandria; his sainthood is not recognized by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Assyrian Churches.
References
Literature
- Georges Declercq (2000) Anno Domini (The Origins of the Christian Era): Turnhout (ISBN 9782503510507)
- John N.D. Kelly (1998) Golden Mouth: New York (Cornell University Press)
- Alden A. Mosshammer (2008) The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era: Oxford (ISBN 9780199543120)
- Norman Russell (2006) Theophilus of Alexandria: London, Routledge (The Early Church Fathers)
- Jan Zuidhoek (2017) "The initial year of De ratione paschali and the relevance of its paschal dates", Studia Traditionis Theologiae 26: 71-93
Further reading
- Charles, Robert H. (2007) [1916]. The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu: Translated from Zotenberg's Ethiopic Text. Merchantville, New Jersey: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 9781889758879.
- Polański, T., "The Three Young Men in the Furnace and the Art of Ecphrasis in the Coptic Sermon by Theophilus of Alexandria", Studies in Ancient Art and Civilisation, 10 (2007), 79–100.
External links
- "Theophilos (385–412)". Official web site of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- "Theophilos". The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- Christian Classics Ethereal Library: Theophilus
- Bede's Library: Theophilus
- Order of the Magnificat: St. Cyril
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Nestorian Theology
- John of Nikiu, Chronicle: the lynching of Hypatia
- Socrates and Sozumenos Ecclesiastical Histories ch. vii
- Five Metonic 19-year lunar cycles
Titles of the Great Christian Church | ||
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Preceded by | Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria 385–412 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
Chalcedonian schism
(43–451)
Popes and Patriarchs
(451–present)
- Timothy II
- Peter III
- Athanasius II
- John I
- John II
- Dioscorus II
- Timothy III
- Theodosius I
- Peter IV
- Damian
- Anastasius
- Andronicus
- Benjamin I
- Agathon
- John III
- Isaac
- Simeon I
- Alexander II
- Cosmas I
- Theodore I
- Michael I
- Mina I
- John IV
- Mark II
- James
- Simeon II
- Joseph I
- Michael II
- Cosmas II
- Shenouda I
- Michael III
- Gabriel I
- Cosmas III
- Macarius I
- Theophilus II
- Mina II
- Abraham
- Philotheos
- Zacharias
- Shenouda II
- Christodoulos
- Cyril II
- Michael IV
- Macarius II
- Gabriel II
- Michael V
- John V
- Mark III
- John VI
- Cyril III
- Athanasius III
- John VII
- Gabriel III
- John VII
- Theodosius III
- John VIII
- John IX
- Benjamin II
- Peter V
- Mark IV
- John X
- Gabriel IV
- Matthew I
- Gabriel V
- John XI
- Matthew II
- Gabriel VI
- Michael VI
- John XII
- John XIII
- Gabriel VII
- John XIV
- Gabriel VIII
- Mark V
- John XV
- Matthew III
- Mark VI
- Matthew IV
- John XVI
- Peter VI
- John XVII
- Mark VII
- John XVIII
- Mark VIII
- Peter VII
- Cyril IV
- Demetrius II
- Cyril V
- John XIX
- Macarius III
- Joseph II
- Cyril VI
- Shenouda III
- Tawadros II (current)
Popes and Patriarchs
(451–present)
- Proterius
- Timothy II
- Timothy III
- John I
- Peter III
- Athanasius II
- John II
- John III
- Dioscorus II
- Timothy IV
- Theodosius I
- Gaianus
- Paul
- Zoilus
- Apollinarius
- John IV
- Eulogius
- Theodore I
- John V
- George I
- Cyrus
- Peter IV
- Peter V
- Peter VI
- Cosmas I
- Politianus
- Eustatius
- Christopher I
- Sophronius I
- Michael I
- Michael II
- Christodoulos
- Eutychius
- Sophronius II
- Isaac
- Job
- Elias I
- Arsenius
- Theophilus II
- George II
- Leontius
- Alexander II
- John VI
- Cyril II
- Sabbas
- Sophronius III
- Elias II
- Eleutherius
- Mark III*
- Nicholas I
- Gregory I
- Nicholas II
- Athanasius III
- Gregory II
- Gregory III
- Niphon
- Mark IV
- Nicholas III
- Gregory IV
- Nicholas IV
- Athanasius IV
- Mark V
- Philotheus
- Mark VI
- Gregory V
- Joachim I
- Silvester
- Meletius I Pegas
- Cyril III
- Gerasimus I
- Metrophanes
- Nicephorus
- Joannicius
- Paisius
- Parthenius I
- Gerasimus II
- Samuel
- Cosmas II
- Cosmas III
- Matthew
- Cyprian
- Gerasimus III
- Parthenius II
- Theophilus III
- Hierotheus I
- Artemius
- Hierotheus II
- Callinicus
- Jacob
- Nicanor
- Nilus
- Sophronius IV
- Photius
- Meletius II
- Nicholas V
- Christopher II
- Nicholas VI
- Parthenius III
- Peter VII
- Theodore II (current)
(1276–1954)
- Atanasio (Athanasius)
- Egidio da Ferrara (Giles)
- ?Humbert II, Dauphin of Vienne
- Juan (John)
- Guillaume de Chanac
- Arnaud Bernard du Pouget (Arnaldo Bernardi)
- uncanonical Jean de Cardaillac
- Pietro Amely di Brunac
- ? Johannes Walteri von Sinten
- uncanonical Simon of Cramaud
- Pietro Amely di Brunac
- Leonardo Dolfin
- Ugo Roberti
- Pietro Amaury di Lordat
- Lancelotus de Navarra
- Giovanni Contarini
- Pietro
- Vitalis di Mauléon
- Giovanni Vitelleschi
- Marco Condulmer
- Jean d'Harcourt
- Arnaldo Rogerii de Palas
- Pedro de Urrea
- Pedro González de Mendoza
- Diego Hurtado de Mendoza
- Alonso de Fonseca y Acevedo
- Bernardino Carafa
- Cesare Riario
- Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora
- Ottaviano Maria Sforza
- Julius Gonzaga
- Cristoforo Guidalotti Ciocchi del Monte
- Jacques Cortès
- Tommaso
- Alessandro Riario
- Enrico Caetani
- Giovanni Battista Albani
- Camillo Caetani
- Séraphin Olivier-Razali
- Alessandro di Sangro
- Honoratus Caetani
- Federico Borromeo
- Allesandro Crescenzi
- Aloysius Bevilacqua
- Petrus Draghi Bartoli
- Gregorio Giuseppe Gaetani de Aragonia
- Carlo Ambrosio Mezzabarba
- Filippo Carlo Spada
- Girolamo Crispi
- Giuseppe Antonio Davanzati
- Lodovico Agnello Anastasi
- Francisco Mattei
- Augustus Foscolo
- Paolo Angelo Ballerini
- Domenico Marinangeli
- Paolo de Huyn
- Luca Ermenegildo Pasetto
(1724–present)
- Cyril VI Tanas
- Athanasius IV Jawhar
- Maximos II Hakim
- Theodosius V Dahan
- Athanasius IV Jawhar
- Cyril VII Siaj
- Agapius II Matar
- Ignatius IV Sarrouf
- Athanasius V Matar
- Macarius IV Tawil
- Ignatius V Qattan
- Maximos III Mazloum
- Clement Bahouth
- Gregory II Youssef-Sayur
- Peter IV Geraigiry
- Cyril VIII Geha
- Demetrius I Qadi
- Cyril IX Moghabghab
- Maximos IV Sayegh
- Maximos V Hakim
- Gregory III Laham
- Youssef I Absi
(1824–present)
- *Markianos is considered Mark II on the Greek side of the subsequent schism, hence this numbering of Mark III.
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