Copyright ©2011 by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
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Metropolitan bp. of Mabbug (modern Membij/ancient Hierapolis) (485–519),
ascetic theologian, christological polemicist, and sponsor of the
Philoxenian NT. Born in
By the 490s, Philoxenos emerged as the senior leader of the
anti-Chalcedonians in Syria and Mesopotamia, particularly after 498 when the
pro-Chalcedonian Flavian was named
Philoxenos’s theology was very much centered on the Greek milieu of Antioch
and Constantinople. Philoxenos came to mistrust traditional Syriac
vocabulary as insufficient for expressing the nuances of Greek
christological thought. He sought to bring Syriac theology closer to Greek
terminology and established Mabbug as a center for translation. He sponsored
a new translation of the NT into Syriac by the auxiliary bp.
Philoxenos’s anti-Chalcedon efforts culminated in 512 when Flavian was ousted
in favor of
In 519, Justin I exiled Philoxenos. In his final years, Philoxenos continued writing to monastic communities, encouraging them to persist in ascesis and Miaphysite christology. Philoxenos died in 523 under house arrest. Later traditions that he was executed are difficult to substantiate.
Philoxenos’s reputation grew after his death. Several 6th- and 7th-cent. mss.
survive citing his works alongside Cyril and Severus. Philoxenos’s cult was
strong in
Although Philoxenos’s ascetic Discourses circulated widely in their entirety, the majority of his corpus was preserved only in the catena of polemical handbooks, stripping his christological polemics of their ascetic context. Considering his entire corpus, Philoxenos was no mere polemicist. He played the many roles of late antique bp., monastic leader, prolific theologian, biblical commentator, and would-be imperial counsellor.
Liturgical commemorations for Philoxenos are attested for 10 Dec., 18 Feb., 1 and 2 April, and 16 and 18 Aug.