Commentary on the Psalms, Psalms 1-72

Introduction

INTRODUCTION (1) Theodoret, born in Antioch a dozen years after the Second Ecumenical Council had been held in Constantinople in 381, was destined to live in interesting—and theologically tumultuous —times. His life as bishop in Cyrus, “little backwater”1 though it may have been, was intimately affected by the Third and Fourth Councils, of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) respectively (not to mention the “Robber Council” of Ephesus in 449 that briefly deposed him), as was his reputation after his death in 466 by the Fifth Council at Constantinople in 553. His exegesis and hermeneutics, the focus of this introduction, fell— if only by dint of birth and upbringing in this center of learning —within the canons of the School of Antioch, whose leading lights he can hardly have known personally. Diodore of Tarsus had died about the time of Theodoret’s birth; his pupils John Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia were then at the pinnacle of their careers, though exercising their episcopal ministry beyond Antioch, the former becoming bishop of Constantinople in 397 (to die in exile a decade later) and the latter bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia in 392 until his death in 428. All three great Antiochene exegetes had delivered or composed works on the Psalter,2 which Theodoret would have come to know at second hand, as he came to know as well works on this spiritual classic from Fathers of the Alexandrian school. 1 1. So Frances Young, From Nicaea to Chalcedon (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 267, who also concedes (268 and n. 236, citing Theodoret’s Ep. 113) that the see had responsibility for 800 parishes. 2. Cf. Diodore of Tarsus, Commentarii in Psalmos, ed. J. M. Olivier, CCG 6 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1980); R. Devreesse, Le commentaire de Théodore de Mopsueste sur les Psaumes (I–LXXX), Studi e Testi 93 (Rome: Vatican Press, 1939); John Chrysostom, Expositio in Psalmos, PG 55.39–498, Eng. trans., Robert C. Hill, St John Chrysostom. Commentary on the Psalms (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press, 1998). (2) This introduction to Theodoret’s own work on the Psalms will give attention to the following matters: 1. Theodoret’s exegetical works, including the Commentary on the Psalms; 2. Text of the Commentary; short and long forms; 3. Theodoret’s Greek text of the Psalter; alternative versions; 4. Commentary on the Psalms: nature, purpose, characteristics, and influences; 5. Theodoret as interpreter of the Psalms; his wider thinking on Scripture; 6. The Christology of the Commentary on the Psalms; 7. Other theological accents; 8. Moral accents; the spirituality of the Commentary. 1. Theodoret’s exegetical works, including the Commentary on the Psalms (3) Though his letters also reveal the degree of his involvement in the civic improvement and social welfare of his diocese, Theodoret devoted much time to writing; he could claim authorship of thirty-five works,3 interestingly the same number as that of his years as a bishop, and regrettably not all extant. While it is understandable that, in view of the tenor of the times, his dogmatic and controversial treatises attracted particular attention , he wrote also apologetic and historical works, in addition to hundreds of letters. We wonder about his style as a pastor of souls, something not so obvious from the writings on the part of this theologian at his desk by comparison with a preacher like Chrysostom; this dimension would emerge more clearly from the ten logoi on Providence delivered to a congregation in Antioch and happily extant, to which he refers in passing in commentary on Ps 68.21.4 2 INTRODUCTION 3. Ep. 146, ed. Y. Azéma, Théodoret de Cyr. Correspondance III, 176 (a letter to “the monks of Constantinople” dated by Azéma in 451). 4. PG 80.1389. Cf. T. Halton, Theodoret of Cyrus on Divine Providence, 3: “It is probable that the discourses, if they were more than written exercises, were delivered in Antioch.” See also Halton, loc. cit., 162 n. 17, which pro- (4) Theodoret’s exegetical output is imposing, and noteworthy for being devoted to the Old Testament primarily, any commentary on the Gospels not figuring and that on the fourteen Pauline Epistles being left possibly till last. The Pentateuch, Historical Books, and Prophets of the Christian Bible, as well as the Song of Songs, all came in for comment, whether in full commentary or—under pressure of failing health—a series of Quaestiones . A Commentary on the Psalms Theodoret, like so many of the Fathers,5 did...