St. Theophilus of Antioch October 13

 St. Theophilus of Antioch

Feastday: October 13

Death: 181

Bishop of Antioch (in modern Turkey), and an early Christian apologist. Originally a philosopher in the eastern Roman Empire, he began to study the Scriptures with the intention of attacking the Christian faith but was soon converted. A gifted apologist, he was the author of an Apology in three books and addressed to Autolycus (the only work of his writings to survive). It seeks to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity over the immoral myths of pagan religion. It is also noted for its development of the doctrine of the Logos (Word) as first enunciated in the Gospel of John and to express the word Triad when describing the relationship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There is also a Theophilus of Alexandria (c. 412 CE).

Theophilus, Patriarch of Antioch[1] (Greek: Θεόφιλος ὁ Ἀντιοχεύς) succeeded Eros c. 169, and was succeeded by Maximus I c. 183, according to Henry Fynes Clinton,[2] but these dates are only approximations. His death probably occurred between 183 and 185.[3]

We gather from his writings (the only remaining being his apology to Autolycus) that he was born a pagan, not far from the Tigris and Euphrates, and was led to embrace Christianity by studying the Holy Scriptures, especially the prophetical books.[4] He makes no reference to his office in his existing writings, nor is any other fact in his life recorded. Eusebius, however, speaks of the zeal which he and the other chief shepherds displayed in driving away the heretics who were attacking Christ's flock, with special mention of his work against Marcion.[5] He made contributions to the departments of Christian literature, polemics, exegetics, and apologetics. William Sanday[6] describes him as "one of the precursors of that group of writers who, from Irenaeus to Cyprian, not only break the obscurity which rests on the earliest history of the Church, but alike in the East and in the West carry it to the front in literary eminence, and distance all their heathen contemporaries".