Theophilus and the Monks of the Desert

A little before this, the question had been raised whether God has a body and the form of a man, or whether he is without a body and has no human shape, or indeed any other bodily shape at all. Out of this question arose quarrels and disputes among a very great number of people, some favoring one opinion and some taking up the opposite. A great many of the simpler ascetics claimed that God has a body and a human form. But most others condemned their judgment and argued that God is without a body and free of all form whatever. Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, agreed so completely with the second group that in the church, before all the people, he spoke out against those who gave God a human form, teaching plainly that the divine Being is entirely without a body. [a]

When the Egyptian ascetics learned of this, they left their monasteries and came to Alexandria. There they stirred up a riot against the bishop, accusing him of impiety and threatening to kill him. Theophilus saw his danger, and after some thought he used this device to escape the death that threatened him. He went to the monks and spoke to them in a soothing tone: “In seeing you, I see the face of God.” These words calmed the fury of these men, and they replied: “If you really admit that God’s face is like ours, anathematize Origen’s books. For some people draw arguments from them to oppose our opinion. If you will not do this, expect us to treat you as an impious man and an enemy of God.” Theophilus answered: “As far as I am concerned, I will gladly do what you ask. Do not be angry with me, for I too disapprove of Origen’s works, and I consider those who favor them deserving of blame.” In this way he succeeded for the moment in calming the monks and sending them away. And probably the whole dispute on this subject would have been laid to rest, if it had not been for another thing that happened immediately afterward.

Over the monasteries in Egypt there were four devout men as superiors, named Dioscorus, Ammonius, Eusebius, and Euthymius. These men were brothers, and they were called “the Tall Monks” because of their height. They were also distinguished both for the holiness of their lives and for the breadth of their learning, and for these reasons they were very highly regarded at Alexandria. Theophilus in particular, the bishop of that city, loved and honored them greatly. He went so far as to make one of them, Dioscorus, bishop of Hermopolis against his will, dragging him by force from his retreat. Two of the others he begged to stay with him, and with difficulty persuaded them to do so; still, he got his way by using his authority as bishop. When he had ordained them to the clergy, he put them in charge of the church’s business. Bound by necessity, they carried out the duties laid on them successfully. Yet they were unhappy, because they could not pursue philosophy and their ascetic exercises. In time they came to think that they were being harmed in spirit, as they saw that the bishop was devoted to gain and greedily set on getting wealth, and, as the common saying goes, would “leave no stone unturned” for the sake of profit. So they refused to stay with him any longer, declaring that they loved solitude and much preferred it to living in the city.

As long as he did not know the real reason for their leaving, he earnestly begged them to stay with him. But when he saw that they were displeased with his conduct, he became extremely angry and threatened to do them every kind of harm. They, however, paid little attention to his threats and withdrew into the desert. At this Theophilus, who was clearly a man of hasty and spiteful temper, raised no small outcry against them and tried by every means to injure them. He also took a dislike to their brother Dioscorus, bishop of Hermopolis, and he was further greatly annoyed at the esteem and reverence in which the ascetics held him.

He knew, however, that he could do these men no harm unless he could stir up the monks against them, and he used this trick to bring it about. He knew well that in their frequent theological discussions with him these men had held that God is without a body and in no way has a human form, because, they argued, such a makeup would bring with it human passions as well. This had been shown by the ancient writers, and especially by Origen. Theophilus held the very same opinion about the divine nature. Yet to satisfy his desire for revenge, he did not hesitate to twist what he and they had rightly taught. He deceived most of the monks, men who were sincere but “untrained in speech,” the greater part of whom could not read at all. He sent letters to the monasteries in the desert, advising them not to listen either to Dioscorus or to his brothers, since they said that God has no body. He wrote: “On the contrary, according to the sacred Scripture God has eyes, ears, hands, and feet, as men have. But Dioscorus’s party, being followers of Origen, bring in the blasphemous teaching that God has neither eyes, ears, feet, nor hands.”

With this sophistry he took advantage of the simplicity of these monks, and so a fierce quarrel was stirred up among them. Those who had educated minds were not taken in by this plausible argument, and so they still hold to Dioscorus and Origen. But the more ignorant, who far outnumbered the others, fired by a burning zeal without knowledge, at once raised an outcry against their brothers. So a split was made, and each party branded the other as impious. Some, listening to Theophilus, called their brothers “Origenists” and “impious,” and the others called those who had been won over by Theophilus “Anthropomorphites.” Because of this, violent arguments broke out, and an unending war among the monks. When Theophilus heard that his device had succeeded, he went to Nitria, where the monasteries are, with a crowd of people, and armed the monks against Dioscorus and his brothers. They were in danger of their lives and escaped with great difficulty.

While these things were going on in Egypt, John, bishop of Constantinople, knew nothing of them. He flourished in eloquence and became more and more famous for his sermons. He was also the first to enlarge the prayers in the night hymns, for the reason I am about to give.