Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Rabbûlas, bp. of Edessa
Rabbûlas, bp. of Edessa, 412–435. Chief
authorities: (1) a panegyric in Syriac, compiled
soon after his death by a contemporary cleric,
himself a native of Edessa, extant in a MS. of
6th cent., of which Bickell has furnished a
German trans. in Thalhofer's Ausgewählte Schriften der Kirchenväter (vol. x. pp. 56–68);
(2) the later and less trustworthy biography
of Alexander, the founder of the Acoemetae.
According to the panegyrist, Rabbûlas was
born in Kenneschrin, known by the Greeks as
Chalcis in Osrhoene, of rich and noble parentage.
His father was a heathen priest, his
mother a Christian. He received a liberal
education, and was well versed in pagan
literature. From his father he inherited a
considerable fortune, and was chosen prefect
of his native city. He was still a heathen
and for a long time resisted his mother's
entreaties to become a Christian. He took,
however, a Christian wife. Various instrumentalities
contributed to his conversion.
The panegyrist attributes it to his intercourse
with Eusebius of Chalcis and Acacius of
Beroea, and to two remarkable miracles witnessed
by him. The biographer of Alexander
ascribes it to Alexander's influence and teaching.
Both accounts probably are substantially
true. On his conversion he went on
pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was baptized in
the Jordan, having previously renounced his
property and manumitted his slaves. His
wife, daughters, and all the females of his
household embraced the religious life, and
Rabbûlas retired to the monastery of St.
Abraham at Chalcis. The see of Edessa
being vacant in 412 by the death of Diogenes,
Rabbûlas was appointed by a synod meeting
at Antioch. Edessa was famous for its
intellectual activity. Rabbûlas became the
leading prelate of the Oriental church, regarded,
according to the exaggerated language
of the biographer of Alexander, as "the
common master of Syria, Armenia, Persia,
nay of the whole world." The panegyrist
describes him as having steadily opposed the
doctrines of Nestorius from the very first.
The church of Edessa, with the East generally,
followed the teaching of Diodore of Tarsus and
Theodore of Mopsuestia, in which those doctrines
were virtually contained, and
IBAS, a
presbyter of his church, who would have
personal knowledge, says that Rabbûlas was
no exception. By degrees, however, Rabbûlas
veered round, and ended as the most uncompromising
opponent of Theodore's teaching,
using his utmost endeavours to bring
about the suppression of his works.
(Ep. ad Marium, Labbe, iv. 666; Liberat.
Breviar. c. 10, Labbe, v. 752.) His separation
from Theodore's school of doctrine was strongly
exhibited in the winter preceding the
council of Ephesus, 430–431, in a letter to
Andrew of Samosata, upbraiding him for
having attacked Cyril, a fragment of which is
printed by Overbeck among the Syriac documents
in his ed. of Ephrem Syrus (Oxf. 1865).
>From Andrew's reply and from Theodorus
Lector (lib. ii. p. 565) we learn that Rabbûlas's
fiery zeal for orthodoxy had led him to
anathematize Andrew before his congregation
at Edessa; and according to the panegyrist,
Rabbûlas, when visiting Constantinople,
preached in the presence of Nestorius and
denounced his doctrine. After this it is surprising
to find Rabbûlas at the council of
Ephesus, joining the Orientals in their opposition
to Cyril. His signature appears to the
letter to the clergy and laity of Hierapolis
(Baluz. col. 705) and to that addressed to the
deputies of the Orientals to Constantinople
(ib. 725), in both of which the heretical nature
of Cyril's teaching is asserted. From this
vacillation Rabbûlas speedily recovered. A
visit to Constantinople in the winter after the
council, 431–432, enabled him to confer with
Nestorius's successor, the wise and pious
Maximian, and confirmed him in opposition to
the Nestorian doctrine, which he returned to
his diocese determined to eradicate. This was
no easy task. The defenders of Nestorius
claimed to be disciples of Diodore of Tarsus and
Theodore of Mopsuestia, whose names were
revered throughout the East. To denounce
Nestorianism and accept Cyril's anathemas
was to repudiate the theologians whom they
had been taught to venerate as infallible
guides. Rabbûlas saw clearly that the evil
must be attacked at his source in the works of
Diodore and Theodore. He called to his aid
the strong will and unscrupulous pen of Cyril.
We have a letter from Rabbûlas to Cyril
(Labbe, v. 469), denouncing Theodore as the
author of the heresy of Nestorius, which
denied that Mary was truly the mother of God.
Cyril, in his reply, of which a fragment is
preserved (ib.), lauded Rabbûlas for his zeal
in expelling the blasphemy of Nestorius, and
indicated Theodore, though guarding himself
from mentioning so revered a name, as "the
Cilician," from whose root this impiety proceeded.
The suppression of these writings,
so fatal to his own system of doctrine, became
a chief object with Cyril. An extension of the
imperial decree was obtained which included
"the sacrilegious books" of Diodore and
Theodore under the condemnation previously
passed on the writings of Nestorius (ib. v.
471, cf. iii. 1209). The letter of Ibas to
Maris describes the violent conduct of Rabbûlas,
ὁ πάντα τολμῶν,
in publicly anathematizing
Theodore and seeking out his works for
destruction (ib. iv. 663). Rabbûlas's violence
is also described in a letter of Andrew of
Samosata to his metropolitan, Alexander of
Hierapolis, shortly after Easter, 432, complaining
that Rabbûlas was dealing with a high
hand in Edessa, openly anathematizing
Theodore's teaching of one nature in Christ,
and excommunicating all who refused to accept
the Cyrillian dogmas or who read Theodore's
books, which he was everywhere committing to the flames. A synod summoned at Antioch by the patriarch John despatched letters to the bishops of Osrhoene desiring them, if the reports were true, to suspend communion with Rabbûlas (Baluz. xliv. col. 749). Meanwhile Rabbûlas was corresponding with Cyril on the terms of reconciliation between himself and the East; and the two prelates were agreed that nothing short of complete submission on the part of the Orientals and the withdrawal of the condemnation of Cyril's anathemas would satisfy them. A letter of Cyril to Rabbûlas (ib. cviii. col. 812) in 432 expresses the impossibility of his repudiating all he had written on the subject. The reconciliation was effected in the spring of 433. Andrew of Samosata, becoming convinced of Rabbûlas's orthodoxy by perusing his manifesto, at once left his diocese for Edessa to make reparation to his antagonist. Alexander's anger having been aroused, Andrew wrote to the oeconomi of Hierapolis to justify himself. He had not yet seen Rabbûlas, but he accepted communion with him and Cyril, and embraced the peace of the church (ib. ci. cvi. coll. 807–810).
Rabbûlas, also, with Acacius of Melitene, wrote to warn the Armenian bishops of the Nestorian heresy in the writings of Diodore and Theodore. In their perplexity they summoned a synod, and dispatched two presbyters to Proclus (who in Apr. 434 had succeeded Maximian as patriarch of Constantinople), entreating him to indicate which was the orthodox teaching. Proclus replied in his celebrated "Tome" on the Incarnation, wherein he condemned Theodore's opinions without naming him, a precaution counteracted by the officiousness of the bearers of the document (Liberat. Breviar. c. 10, ap. Labbe, v. 752; Garnerii Praef. in Mar. Merc. p. lii. ed. Par. 1673). The fiery Rabbûlas did not long survive this letter. His death is placed Aug. 7, 435, after an episcopate of 23 years.
Nearly all his few surviving works were printed by Overbeck in the original Syriac text, in his ed. of Ephrem Syrus (Oxf. 1865), pp. 210–248, 362–378. They include the scanty remains of the 640 letters which, according to his biographer, he wrote to the emperor, bishops, prefects, and monks. See also Bickell's Ausgewählte Schriften, pp. 153–271.
[E.V.]