Early Church Fathers
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357 cf. Matt. v. 44. Matt. v. 46 instead of tina misqon exete&Eaxute\ the text has ti pleon poieite.
358 The use of the somewhat rare and poetical word Bora suggests a possible allusion to several well known passages in the dramatists; e.g. Aesch. Pr. 583, Soph. Ant. 30 and Eur. Phoen. 1603.
362 Romulus, bishop of Chalcis in Coele Syria, sided with the dominant haeretical party through pusillanimity. He was at Chalcedon in 451. Who may have been his crab.gaited friend can only be conjectured.
It would appear that edicts anathematizing Eutyches were published soon after the accession of Marcian.
364 There is here neither note of time, nor certainty whether this Cyrus is the Cyrus who is thanked in Ep. XIII. for the Lesbian wine. The superscriptions of both letters are unfavourable to theories identifying him with any possible bishop of the name.
368 A Johannes was an Archimandrite of Constantinople and was present at Chalcedon in 451, (Labbe iv. 512 d) but there is no evidence to identify the recipient of the present letter, which may be dated from Nicerte not long after the death of Theodosius.
370 This is the last of the series of Theodoret's letters to his illustrious friend. It expresses his gratitude for his restitution by Marcian and begs Anatolius to use his best endeavours to get a council called to settle the difficulties of the Church. The letter thus dates itself in the year 451 and indicates that the calling of the council of Chalcedon was to some extent due to Theodoret's initiative. At the earlier sessions at Chalcedon Marcian was represented by Anatolious, and it was partly the authority of Anatolius which overbore the protests of Dioscorus and his party against the admission of Theodoret.
371 Marcian was crowned Emperor on August the 24th 450. Theodosius II. had died on the preceding 28th of July.
372 "Dioscorus presided, and next to him Julian, or Julius, the representative of the `most holy bishop of the Roman Church 0' then Juvenal of Jerusalem, Domnus of Antioch, and, his lowered position indicating what was to come, Flavian of Constantinople." Canon Bright in Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 856; Mansi. vi. 607.
374 cf. p. 155 n. "A sudden and total revolution at once took place. The change was wrought, - not by the commanding voice of ecclesiastical authority, - not by the argumentative eloquence of any great writer, who by his surpassing abilities awed the world into peace, - not by the reaction of pure Christian charity, drawing the conflicting parties together by evangelic love. It was a new dynasty on the throne of Constantinople. The feeble Theodosius dies; the masculine Pulcheria, the champion and the pride of orthodoxy, the friend of Flavianus and Leo ascends the throne, and gives her hand, with a share of the empire, to a brave soldier Marcianus." Milman, Lat. Christ. 1. 264.
375 Garnerius has substituted for Aspar the name Abienus who was Consul in 450. Schulze would retain the ordinary reading of Aspar. The recipient of the letter, whoever he be, is thanked for his part in the rescinding of the acts of the late Latrocinium.
376 The internal evidence of the letter makes it synchronize with the preceding. The advocacy of the cause of Theodoretus by Vincomalus is the more striking in that it does not appear to have been suggested by personal friendship. Vincomalus was Consul Designate in 452. (Dict. Christ. Biog. iv. 1159. Labbe iv. 843.) Magister = "Magister Officiorum," cf. note on p. 283.
379 The Acoemetae, "sleepless," or "unresting," were an order of monks established in the 5th century by Alexander, an officer of the imperial household. Marcellus, the third Abbot, was a second founder, and was warmly supported by the patriarch Gennadius of Constantinople. (458-71.) Before Chalcedon he joined with other orthodox abbots to petition Marcian against Eutyches. (Labbe iv. 531 Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 813). Alexander's foundation was of 300 monks of various nations, divided into six choirs, and so arranged that the work of praise and prayer should "never rest." This has been copied elsewhere and since,
"where tapers day and night
On the dim altar burned continually,
In token that the house was evermore
Watching to God.
Wordsworth, Exc. viii.
384 Garnerius identifies this Andrew with an archimandrite who was in favour of the deposition of Eutyches at Flavian's Constantinopolitan Council in 448.
385 "No one," says Garnerius "will have any doubt as to the reference being to Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodorus of Mopsuestia who compares the words used with Letter XVI, with the end of Dialogue I, and with expressions in both the ecclesiastical and religious history." Cf. pp. 256, 175, 133, and 136.
386 From the mention at the end of the letter of the epistle of Leo to Flavianus, Garnerius argues that it must be dated at the end of 449 or somewhat later. The epistle of Leo is dated on the 13th of June and could not have reached Theodoret in his detention at Cyrus till the autumn.
394 Cf. note onp. 30 3. Among martyred Dionysii were (i) one of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, (ii) one at Tripoli (iii) another at Corinth, (iv and v) and two at Caesarea, in the persecution of Diocletian. Cosmas and Damianus are the famous semi-mythical physicians, the Silverless Martyrs. Vide p. 295.
396 Damas. Epist. ad Paulinum.
402 This, remarks Garnerius, is less a letter than a prolix exposition of Theodoret's view of the Incarnation. Theodoret mentions his condemnation at the Latrocinium and the exile of Eutyches, but says nothing of the favourable action towards himself of Marcianus. Theodosius died on the 29th of July, and Marcian began his reign on the 25th of August, 450. Theodoret could not possibly hear of the exile of Eutyches before the end of September. The document may therefore be dated in the late autumn of 450 before Theodoret had received the imperial permission to return to Cyrus.
