The Library · §4 · Photius of Constantinople

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Twenty-Five Books Against Eunomius

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The work of Theodore of Antioch, on behalf of Basil against Eunomius, in twenty-five books, has been read by me. In expression he is not altogether brilliant, but in thought and argument very close-packed, and accredited throughout by the testimonies of Scripture. He conducts the refutation of Eunomius's works almost word for word, and proves at length that Eunomius is utterly unlearned in secular learning, and far more so in our theology. This is the Theodore who became bishop of Mopsuestia, I believe.

Greek

Ἀνεγνώσθη ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΥ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΣ ὑπὲρ Βασιλείας κατὰ Εὐνομίου ἐν λόγοις κέ. ἔστι δὲ τὴν μὲν φράσιν οὐ πάνυ λαμπρός, ταῖς δὲ διανοίαις καὶ τοῖς ἐπιχειρήμασι λίαν πυκνός, καὶ ταῖς γραφικαῖς ἅμα πιστωθὲν μαρτυρίαις. κατὰ λέξιν δὲ σχεδὸν τῶν Εὐνομίου λόγων τὴν ἀνασκευὴν ποιεῖται, ἀμαθῆ τε λίαν τῶν τε θύραθεν μαθημάτων καὶ πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς θεοσοφίας διὰ πολλῶν ἐπιδείκνυς. ὁ δὲ Μοψουεστίας γεγονὼς ἐπίσκοπος οὗτός ἐστιν, οἶμαι.

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About this text

Photius's notes on the first 17 books in his Library, from Theodore's defense of Dionysius to the Acts of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon.

Photius of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893) was a scholar and patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century.

The Library is a record of Photius's private reading, containing summaries of 279 books that he had read and discussed. Photius engaged a secretary and set down all the summaries he could recollect, arranging them in the order in which his memory recalled them rather than by subject. In the ninth century it was still possible to read vast quantities of ancient literature, both pagan and Christian, that has since been lost, and Photius is often our best or only source of information about these lost books.

A reader will meet summaries of early Christian writings, including works by Eusebius, Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Apollinarius, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Sophronius, as well as summaries of works by Theodore the Presbyter, Hadrian the Monk, and Nonnosus, and of the acts of the councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. Photius was a keen critic of style and content, and his summaries often include his own judgments on the works he describes. Because many of the books he read have since disappeared, his notes are frequently the only surviving evidence for their contents.

Part only: Codices 1–17 of 279

EditionImmanuel Bekker, Photii Bibliotheca (Berlin, 1824)

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