Editing Theodoret (section)

===Apologetic, historical===
Among [[apologetics|apologetic]] writings was the ''Ad quaestiones magorum'' (429-436), now lost, in which Theodoret justified the [[Old Testament]] sacrifices as alternatives in opposition to the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] idolatry,<ref>{{sic|?|Qquestion}} 1, Lev., ''PG'', lxxx. 297 sqq.</ref> and exposed the fables of the [[Magi]] who worshipped the elements (''Church History'' v. 38).

''De providentia'', or ''Ten Discourses on Providence'', 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). They were most probably delivered to the cultured Greek congregation of Antioch, sometime between 431 and 435. Unlike most sermons, they are reasoned arguments, lectures rather than homilies on scriptural texts.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

The ''Graecarum Affectionum Curatio'' or ''Cure of the Greek Maladies'', subtitled ''The Truth of the Gospel proved from Greek Philosophy,'' arranged in twelve books, was an attempt to prove the truth of Christianity from [[Greek philosophy]] and in contrast with the pagan ideas and practises. As such, it forms one of the last Apologies written, since in an age when Christianity was dominant, the need for apologies gradually died out. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521880732&ss=exc |title=Plato And Theodoret Christian Appropriation Platonic Philosophy And Hellenic Intellectual Resistance :: Ancient philosophy :: Cambridge University Press |publisher=Cambridge.org |access-date=14 October 2013}}</ref>

The ''Ecclesiastical History'' of Theodoret, which begins with the rise of Arianism and closes with the death of Theodore in 429 (despite being completed in 449–450) is very different in style from those of [[Socrates Scholasticus]] and [[Sozomen]]. It contains many sources otherwise lost, specially letters on the Arian controversy; however, the book is extremely partisan, the heretics being consistently blackened and described as afflicted with the 'Arian plague'. The narrative is more compressed than in the other historians, and Theodoret often strings documents together, with only brief comments between. Original material of Antiochian information appears chiefly in the latter books.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Theodoret's sources are in dispute. According to [[Henri Valois|Valesius]] these were mainly Socrates and Sozomen; Albert Guldenpenning's thorough research placed [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]] first, and next to him, [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], [[Athanasius]], Sozomen, [[Sabinus (4th century)|Sabinus]], [[Philostorgius]], [[Gregory Nazianzen]], and, least of all, Socrates. N. Glubokovskij counts Eusebius, Rufinus, Philostorgius, and, perhaps, Sabinus.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

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 [[Church Fathers|Greek Fathers]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

====''A History of the Monks of Syria''====
The ''Religious History,'' also known as ''[[A History of the Monks of Syria]]'', 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''.

Of the 30 monks listed in ''A History of the Monks of Syria'', the last 10 monks were living at the time that Theodoret was writing the book during the 5th century.<ref>Price, R. M. (1985). ''A History of the Monks of Syria by Theodoret of Cyrrhus''. Cistercian Studies 88. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications.</ref>

{{columns-list|colwidth=18em|
*[[James of Nisibis]] (d. 337-8)
*[[Julian Sabas]] (d. 367)
*Marcianus (d. 380s)
*[[Eusebius of Teleda]] ({{fl.}} 350s)
*Publius (fl. 350s)
*[[Symeon the Elder]] (fl. 370s)
*[[Palladius of Antioch]] (fl. 370s)
*Aphrahat (d. c. 410)
*[[Peter the Galatian]] (d. {{c.}} 403)
*Theodosius (d. c. 405)
*Romanus (d. c. 400)
*[[Zeno the Hermit]] (d. 410s)
*[[Macedonius of Syria]] (d. 420)
*[[Maesymas]] (fl. late 4th century)
*[[Acepsimas]] (fl. late 4th century)
*[[Maron]] (d. 410s)
*[[Abraham Kidunaia|Abraham]] (d. 420s)
*[[Eusebius of Asikha]] (d. 430s)
*[[Salamanes]]
*Maris (d. c. 430)
*[[James of Cyrrhestica]]
*[[Thalassius and Limneus|Thalassius]], [[Thalassius and Limneus|Limnaeus]], John
*[[Zebinas]], [[Polychronius]], Asclepius
*[[Symeon Stylites]]
*[[Baradates]]
*[[Thalelaeus]]
*[[Marana and Cyra]]
*[[Domnina of Syria]]
}}