THEŌDŪRUS ABŪ QURRA

Melkite bishop of Harran and first Christian writer to use Arabic (he also wrote in Syriac and in Greek); b. edessa, Syria, c. 750; d. c. 825. Theōdūrus is the Arabic form of Theodore. His Arabic surname Abū Qurra is of uncertain meaning. The many ways of writing his full name are the result of conventions or mistakes. Once regarded only as a witness to teaching on the hypostatic union, Theōdūrus now emerges as a striking figure in religious dialogue with the dissidents and non-Christians of his day. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, his extant Greek works were printed with Latin translations, and efforts were made to reconstruct his biography. The printing of his Arabic works, begun in 1897, has been followed by the studies of G. Graf (since 1910) and I. Dick (since 1959). Sources for the life of Theōdūrus are his works and their titles, a generous paragraph in the writings of michael i, the syrian, some Arabic letters of Abū Rā‘iṭ a, and scattered references in Armenian and Georgian writings.

Life. Dick's reconstruction of Theōdūrus's life is attractive. In this, a.d. 813 is a known date; the other dates are more or less conjectural. Theōdūrus entered the laura (Monastery) of St. sabas near Jerusalem, but it is not known at what age he went there or with what education and experience. Here he was nourished on the Scriptures and the writings of the Greek Fathers, especially St. john damascene, who had died in this laura in 749. The Syriac and Arabic works of Theōdūrus belong to the period of his residence at St. Sabas and to the years immediately following, when he was bishop of Harran.

At that time Harran was no backwater. Its population included Chalcedonian and Jacobite Christians, Moslems, Jews, and pagan Sabaeans (see saba). Theōdūrus engaged in discussion with all of them. It was at Harran that he wrote the "Dialogue with the Prince of Edessa" (his third treatise in Patrologia Graeca 97) and the "Treatise on Image Worship" (the third in C. Bacha's edition and the eighth in Graf's). Under circumstances no longer known, he was deposed by Theodoret, patriarch of Antioch (795–812), and some time after 801 he was back at St. Sabas.

His second stay at the laura seems to have been a time of intense asceticism and literary activity. About 813 Theōdūrus wrote his "Letter to the Armenians" and possibly a lost letter to Pope Leo III. Not long after this, about 815, he began a series of journeys. In support of the doctrine of the Council of chalcedon and the anti-Monothelite teaching of St. maximus the confessor, he went to Alexandria and Armenia. At the court of the Armenian Prince Ashot Msaker, he developed his "Explanation of Terms Used by the Philosophers," the longest of his Greek works. Ashot's initial reaction was favorable. But when Abū Rā‘iṭ a, the Jacobite metropolitan of Takrit, sent Nonnus, the archdeacon of Nisibis, to debate with Theōdūrus, things took an opposite turn. If the religious discussions before Caliph al-Ma’mūn and the Moslem prince are genuine, Theōdūrus carried his vigorous dialogue to Baghdad. Nothing more is known of his last years.

Works. Of the Greek works of Theōdūrus, 43 are published in Patrologia Graeca 97, all with the Greek text and Latin translation except the 18th (for which a reference is given to Patrologia Graeca 94, where this work with Latin translation appears among the works of St. John Damascene) and the 32d (for which there is only a Latin translation); most of these works are brief. Of his Arabic works, 14 are known: the first, unpublished, is J. Arendzen's Bonn thesis of 1897; the other 13 are ten published by Bacha (Beirut 1904), one by L. Cheiko [al-Machriq 15 (1912): 757–774, 825–842], two by Dick [Muséon 72 (1959): 53–67]. The first 12 have been translated into German by Graf. Of Theōdūrus's Syriac works, none have yet been found, although he himself says in the eighth work of Graf's translation (Die arabischen Schriften, 212; Bacha's ed., 60) that he composed 30 treatises in Syriac (so in the Arabic text; the German translation accidentally has drei instead of dreizig ).

Theōdūrus's support for the Church's teaching authority and the primacy of Rome is striking. He maintains tradition against Monophysites and Monothelites. The treatments given to certain questions by Theōdūrus and the early mu‘tazilites have resemblances that are beginning to be studied.

Bibliography: i. dick, "Un Continuateur arabe de saint Jean Damascène: Théodore Abuqurra, évêque melkite de Harran," Proche Orient Chrétien 12 (1962): 209–223, 319–332; 13 (1963): 114–129, with full bibliog. g. graf, Die arabischen Schriften des Theodor Abû Qurra, Bishofs von Harrân (c. 740–820) (Paderborn 1910); Des Theodor Abû kurra Traktat über den Schöpfer und die wahre Religion (Münster). g. graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, 5 v. (Vatican City 1944–53) 2:7–26.

[j. a. devenny]