Theodorean and the later Petrine reforms was that while the former were primarily, though not exclusively, for the benefit of the church, the latter were primarily for the benefit of the state. The most notable reform of Theodore III., however, was the abolition, at the suggestion of Vasily Golitsuin, of Myestiieclzestvo, or “place priority,” which had paralyzed the whole civil and military administration of Muscovy for generations (see Golisuin). Henceforth all appointments to the civil and military services were to be determined by merit and the will of the sovereign. Theodore's consort, Agatha, shared his-progressive views. She was the first to advocate beard shearing. On her death (4th of July 1681) Theodore married Martha Apraksina. He died on the 27th of April 1682, without issue.
See M. P. Pogodin, The First Seventeen Years of the Life of Peter the Great (Rus.) (Moscow, 1875).
THEODORE (602-690), seventh archbishop of Canterbury,
was born at Tarsus in Cilicia in 602. On the death of Wighard,
who had been sent to Pope Vitalian by Ecgberht of Kent and
Oswio of Northumbria in 667, apparently for consecration as
archbishop, Theodore, who had become prominent in the Eastern
work of the church, was recommended by Hadrian of Niridanum
to fill the vacant see. Vitalian consecrated Theodore in April
688 on condition that Hadrian, afterwards abbot of St Peter's,
Canterbury, should go with him. Hadrian was detained for
some time by Ebroin, the Neustrian mayor of the palace, but
Theodore reached England in May 669. According to Bede's
account he made a tour of the whole of Anglo-Saxon England,
reforming abuses and giving instruction as to the monastic
rule and the canonical Easter. Bede also declares that he was
the first archbishop to whom all the " church of the Angles "
submitted. From the first he seems to have ignored the scheme
for a separate province of York, but he reorganized the episco-
pate, assigning Bisi to East Anglia, Putta to Rochester, Hloth-
here to Wessex, and Ceadda after reconsecration to Mercia.
He brought the monastic education up to date by introducing
literary, metrical and musical studies. In 673 Theodore pre-
sided at the first synod of the clergy in England which was
held at Hertford. Various disciplinary regulations were
emphasized, and an annual meeting arranged at a place called
Cloveshoe. After this council Theodore revived the East Saxon
bishopric, to which he appointed Earconwald. Soon after the
first expulsion of Wilfrid in 678 he divided the Northumbrian
diocese, appointing Trumwine bishop to the Picts. This led
to a quarrel with Wilfrid which was not finally settled until
686-687. In 679 Theodore intervened to make peace between
Ecgfrith of Northumbria and Aethelred of Mercia. He presided
at other synods held in 680 at Hatfield and in 684 at Twyford,
and died in 690. A penitential composed under Theodore's
direction is still extant.
See Bede, Hist. Ecd., edited by C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896); Eddius, Vita Wilfridii in J. Raine's Historians of the Church of York, vol. i. (London, 1879); Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, edited by Earle and Plummer (Oxford, 1899); Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents (Oxford, 1869-78), iii. 173-213.
THEODORE LASCARIS (d. 1222), emperor of Nicaea, was
born of a noble Byzantine family. He became the son-in-law
of the Emperor Alexius III. and distinguished himself during
the sieges of Constantinople by the Latins (1203-4). After
the capture of the city he gathered a band of fugitives in
Bithynia and established himself in the town of Nicaea, which
became the chief rallying-point for his countrymen. Relieved
of the danger of invasion by a Latin force which had defeated
him in 1204 but was recalled to Europe by a Bulgarian invasion,
he set to work to form a new Byzantine state in Asia Minor,
and in 1206 assumed the title of emperor. During the next
years Theodore was beset by enemies on divers sides. He maintained himself stubbornly in defensive campaigns against the
Latin emperor Henry, defeated his rival Alexius Comnenus of
Trebizond, and carried out a successful counter-attack upon
Gayath-ed-din, the sultan of Koniah, who had been instigated
to war by the deposed Alexius III. Theodore's crowning
victory was gained in 1210, when in a battle near Pisidian
Antioch he captured Alexius and wrested the town itself from
the Turks. At the end of his reign he ruled over a territory
roughly conterminous with the old Roman provinces of Asia
and Bithynia. Though there is no proof of higher qualities
of statesmanship in him, by his courage and military skill
he enabled the Byzantine nation not merely to survive, but
ultimately to beat back the Latin invasion.
See E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. vi., ed. J. B. Bury (London, 1896); G. Finfay, History of Greece, vol. iii. (Oxford, 1877); and A. Meliarakes, 'laropla tov SaaiXkiov ttjs Nixdias Kal tov Atawor&Tou Tfjs 'Hvtipov (Athens, 1898).
Theodore's grandson, Theodore II. (Lascaris), emperor from 1254 to 1258, is chiefly noticeable for two brilliant campaigns by which he recovered Thrace from the Bulgarians (1255-56). His ill-health and early death prevented his making full use of his ability as a ruler.
See M. J. B. Pappadopoulos, Théodore II. Lascaris, empereur de Nicée (Paris, 1908).
Irene Lascaris, daughter of Theodore I. (Lascaris), was first married to the general Andronicus Palaeologus, and after his death became the wife of Theodore's successor, John Vatatzes (q.v.), and mother of Theodore II. She is much praised by historians for her modesty and prudence, and is said to have brought about by her example a considerable improvement in the morals of her nation. She died some ten years before her husband.
THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA (c. 350-428), early Christian
theologian, the most eminent representative of the so-called
school of Antioch, was born at Antioch about the middle of the
4th century and was a friend of John Chrysostom; in rhetoric
the celebrated Libanius was his teacher. Soon, however, he
attached himself to the school of the great exegete and ascetic,
Diodorus, a presbyter in Antioch, and with only a transitory
period of vacillation, from which he was won back by Chrysostom,
he remained faithful to the theology and ascetic discipline of
this master. Under Diodorus he became a skilful exegete,
and ultimately outstripped his master in biblical learning.
About 383 Theodore became a presbyter in Antioch, and began
to write against Eunomius the Arian and against the christology
of Apollinaris. Soon after 392 he became bishop of Mopsuestia
in Cilicia (the modern Missis near Adana). As such he was held
in great respect, and took part in several synods, with a reputation
for orthodoxy that was never questioned. It was greatly
to his advantage that in the Eastern Church the period between
the years 390 and 428 was one of comparative repose. He was
on friendly terms even with Cyril of Alexandria. He died in
428 or 429, just at the beginning of the Nestorian controversy.
Theodore was a very prolific writer, but, before all, an exegete. He wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Old and New Testaments, of which, however, only a small proportion is now extant, as at a later period he lost credit in the church. We still possess in Greek his commentary on the Minor Prophets, in a Syriac version his commentary on St John,[1] and, in Latin translations, commentaries on the snorter Pauline epistles, besides very many fragments, especially on the epistle to the Romans. Theodore's importance as an exegete lies in two characteristics: (1) in opposition to the allegorical method he insists on getting at the literal meaning, and adheres to it when found; (2) in his interpretation of the Scriptures he takes into account the historical circumstances in which they were produced, and substitutes the historical-typological for the pneumatico-christological interpretation of prophecy; in other words, he interprets all Old Testament passages historically in the first instance, and sees the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy in the history of Christ and His church only in so far as the entire Old Testament is a “shadow of things to come.” Following his master Diodorus, who had already written a treatise Missing title in Greek Theodore also was the author of a special dissertation against the allegorists, i.e. against Origen and his followers, which, however, has unfortunately perished. The comparative freedom of Theodore's view of inspiration is also noteworthy. He discriminates between historical, prophetical and didactic writings, and in accordance with this distinction assumes varying degrees of inspiration. Finally, he entertained very bold opinions about the canon and several of the books included in it.
- ↑ Ed. P. B. Chabot (Paris, 1897).
