Oldal 84 [84]
ISTVÁN PÁSZTORI-KUPÁN
Theodoret of Cyrus, one of the late but nonetheless great Christian
apologists, in his work consisting of twelve discourses entitled The Cure
of Greek Maladies (Graecarum affectionum curatio), which was written
in the first half of the fifth century, adopts the argument of faith, of trust
concerning the acquirement of any knowledge by any pupil of any skilled
craftsman, scholar, or philosopher.’ The mode of presenting his case differs
from that adopted in his other works. To mention the most obvious example,
in the first discourse, entitled On the Faith or Concerning Faith, there are
hardly any biblical references in comparison to the numerous quotations from
works by various ancient writers.” Nevertheless, this was the only effective
way to present a valid Christian answer to Greek philosophy: one has to
accept an entirely different way of thinking and a distinctive set of arguments
and authoritative texts, which are held in high respect by the non-Christian
community. Like quite a few Early Christian writers before him (Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius of Caesarea),* Theodoret was also able to
surpass the limits of his own paradigm.
The idea of initiation into any knowledge, craftsmanship, skill, or religious
mystery is very much present in this work. The faith of the apprentice,
however, both in the desired knowledge and in the initiator, is vital even for
the very commencement of the teaching. Of course, the conceit of the so¬
called educated prevents them from being good pupils of the “simple-minded”
fishermen and the cobbler (i.e. of the Apostle Paul). As Theodoret puts it,
When they pick the fruits of every craft, they are not interested in the language of
the craftsmen: they do not demand that the cobblers should come from Attica, nor
the blacksmiths, the architects, the painters, the constructors of boats or the pilots
— but even if these were to be Scythians or Sarmatians, Iberians or Egyptians, they
joyfully have the benefit of their skill, demanding only a careful job, and are not in
the least annoyed about the difference of nationalities. When listening to a cithara
1 The three critical editions of this work are: Thomas Gaisford, Theodoreti episcopi Cyrensis
Graecarum affectionum curatio, Oxford, Oxford Academic Press, 1839; Joannes Raeder,
Theodoreti Graecarum affectionum curatio, Leipzig, Teubner, 1904; Pierre Canivet,
Théodoret de Cyr: Thérapeutique des maladies helléniques, Sources Chrétiennes 57, Paris,
Cerf, 1958. For our paper we have used Canivet’s edition.
The first English translation of this chapter On the Faith is in Istvan Pasztori-Kupan,
Theodoret of Cyrus, The Early Church Fathers, London, Routledge, 2006, 85-108. For
a complete English translation of the entire work see Theodoret of Cyrus, A Cure for Pagan
Maladies, trans. Thomas Halton, New York, The Newman Press, 2013.
° Hereby we mean Clement’s Stromata, Origen’s Contra Celsum and Eusebius’s Praeparatio
evangelica. See Otto Stählin (ed.), Clemens Alexandrinus Stromata, Die griechischen
christlichen Schriftsteller 52, Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 1960-1970; M. Markovich (ed.),
Origenes Contra Celsum Libri VIII, Leiden, Brill, 2001; Karl Mras (ed.), Eusebius Werke VIII:
Praeparatio evangelica, Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller 43, Berlin, Akademie
Verlag, 1954-1956.
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