Church History

Theodoret was bishop of Cyrrhus, a small city in northern Syria, from 423, and one of the leading theologians of the school of Antioch. He says in his prologue that he takes up the story where Eusebius ended. The five books run from the dispute between Arius and Bishop Alexander of Alexandria through the reigns of Constantine’s successors to the time of Theodosius II.

The work is openly partisan. Its theme is the struggle of the Nicene faith against the Arians, and emperors and bishops are judged by which side they took. Its order of events is sometimes loose, and for the Council of Nicaea it stands a century and a quarter after the facts. What gives it weight is the documents: Theodoret transcribes letters of Alexander, of Arius, of Eusebius of Nicomedia, of Constantine and of several councils, and for some of these his is the only surviving copy.