Voices and influences
Theophylact of Ohrid
He wrote clear, useful Gospel commentaries while stuck serving a difficult Balkan diocese he never wanted.
Summary
This site quotes Theophylact of Ohrid 461 times across 25 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived died 1107.
- Quoted here most in Acts: 176 of 461.
Theophylact of Ohrid
- Lived
- died 1107
- Tradition
- Patristic
5 of 461 quotations
Own words
Quoted at 50 words or fewer, because Theophylact of Ohrid's works are in copyright.
As the Lord promised the covetous ruler a treasure in heaven, he nevertheless did not heed, for he was a slave to his treasures, and therefore "became sorrowful" upon hearing the Lord urge him to part with his possessions, since he desired eternal life precisely …
Luke 18:23 But when the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy. BSB
For that day will not come with observation, but unexpectedly, secretly, like a net capturing those who are inattentive to themselves. Another person might perhaps investigate in detail the expression: "dwelling (sitting) upon the face of all the earth." That day will capture in its …
Luke 21:35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of all the earth. BSB
Everywhere alongside virtue there is vice. Some marveled, others reviled. The former were truly devout; they lived in Jerusalem precisely because the law permitted them to appear three times a year at the temple in Jerusalem.
Acts 2:7 Astounded and amazed, they asked, “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? BSB
Because the words "pray to the Lord for me" Simon said not because he repented and converted, but only for the sake of appearances. For otherwise, where is the weeping? Where is the remorse and confession of sins?
Acts 8:24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” BSB
"Having called the saints and widows, he presented her before them alive" – to the former as a consolation, and to the latter as a protectress.
Acts 9:41 Peter took her by the hand and helped her up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her to them alive. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Theophylact of Ohrid 461 times across 25 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Theophylact was born about 1050 on the island of Euboea, came to Constantinople, and studied under Michael Psellos, the outstanding scholar of eleventh-century Byzantium. He did well in the capital: he was a deacon of Hagia Sophia, held the post of maistor ton rhetoron — master of the rhetors, the senior teaching chair of the church — and was made tutor to Constantine Doukas, the young heir to the throne. Then, some time in the 1080s or early 1090s, he was appointed archbishop of Ohrid, the head of the Bulgarian church, and sent to the Balkans. His letters make no secret of what he thought about it. He was a Greek intellectual dropped into a Slavic province he found rough, poor, and provincial; he complains about the food, the smell, the mud, the tax collectors who bled his people, and the isolation. He calls himself an exile. He served there for something over twenty years — he was still writing after 1107, and the date of his death is not known. He was also, by the evidence of the same letters, a real pastor. He defended his flock against imperial tax officials, intervened for the poor, argued with governors, and stayed. He learned to respect the Bulgarians he had complained about, and he wrote a life of Clement of Ohrid, the disciple of Cyril and Methodius who had brought Slavic Christianity to that region, honouring the local tradition rather than replacing it. His commentaries are why he is on this wall. He wrote on all four Gospels, on Acts, on the epistles of Paul, on the catholic epistles, and on several minor prophets. They are not original, and he never claimed they were. They are largely a distillation of John Chrysostom, compressed, simplified, and made continuous — Chrysostom's exegesis without Chrysostom's length. That turned out to be exactly what people needed. Theophylact's Gospel commentary became the most widely used handbook on the Gospels in the Greek-speaking church, and it was read in the West too: Erasmus used it, Aquinas used it, and Calvin cites him. He also wrote a temperate treatise on the errors of the Latins, notable in a polemical age for how much of the quarrel he was willing to call a matter of custom rather than heresy. A man who wanted a chair in the capital, got sent to the mountains instead, and spent his exile writing the plainest commentaries in Byzantium. Sources: Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on the Gospels (Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vols. 123–126); Theophylact, Letters; Margaret Mullett, Theophylact of Ochrid: Reading the Letters of a Byzantine Archbishop; The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).
461 quotations across 25 books
Where this voice is quoted
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
“"Is Christ divided?" Why have you divided Christ? Why have you torn apart His body? A speech filled with anger. Some, however, understood the words "is Christ divided?"”
so no one can say that you were baptized into my name.
“I say this not because it was actually so, but out of fear that the disease might reach such a degree. For if division arose when baptism was performed by insignificant people, then if I, who preached baptism, had baptized, some would certainly have agreed…”
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
“He calls the spiritual mind the mind of the Lord. The word "judge" (συμβιβάσει) stands in place of: correct (διορθώσεται). Having said above: "no one can judge about the spiritual," he now proves that he said this rightly.”
If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss.
“If you have silver or gold, then your work will survive, and you will receive a reward; but if you have hay and the like, then your work will not withstand the force of the fire (this is what the expression "it will be burned"…”
To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
“What, he says, is the point of recalling the past? Look at what is now — at how you are drowning in pleasures, while we are quite the opposite.”
Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man still uncircumcised when called? He should not be circumcised.
“On the other hand, some, finding something important in circumcision, were circumcised after their conversion to the faith. Therefore he says that this contributes nothing to the faith.”
For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman.
“A freedman is one who has been liberated from slavery. So he says: you who believed while in a state of slavery are a freedman of the Lord, for Christ has freed you both from sin and from that outward slavery, even though you are…”
But the one who loves God is known by God.
“These words have the following meaning: whoever loves his neighbor undoubtedly loves God as well; and whoever loves God (he did not say "has known" God, but) "has knowledge" from God, that is, has become known to God and His own.”
Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
“This he uses to frighten them. And he did not say: this knowledge of yours, but "this liberty," that is, self-will and pride, lest it become a stumbling block for the weak.”
If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right.
“He hints at certain false teachers who took from them shamelessly and of their own accord. Therefore he did not say: if others take, but: "have authority over you," that is, they lord it over you, rule over you, order you about like slaves; do…”
In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
“Those who preach the Gospel should live from the Gospel. He named the strongest proof of all at the end. Why, he says, do I present now one thing, now another?”
What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.
“That is: for me, the great and praiseworthy reward is in not using my right to take, not using it at all. For the word κατάχρησις (which in other cases means misuse) he used here in the sense of use (χρήσις) in general.”
To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win…
“By "lawless" he means either those who did not have the Law of Moses, who converted from among the Gentiles, such as Cornelius (Acts 10), and in visiting whom Paul condescended to their weakness, or also the Greeks, to whom he likewise adapted himself—for example…”
And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.
“That is, from a certain striking force (Num. 14:37). By this he hints to them that in the midst of trial they did not have magnanimity, but grumbled and said: when will good fortune come? when will the calamities pass?”
I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say.
“Having called their deed idolatry, he ascribed to them a great crime. Now he softens the severity of his word and makes the guilty themselves the judges (which is characteristic only of one who is undoubtedly confident in the truth of his words), and says…”
Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar?
“From the simplest example, learn that what you are doing is communion with idols. He said "Israel according to the flesh," because Christians are according to the spirit.”
Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
“He says this as a reproach to them. Are we really to test and provoke God, whether He can punish us when we go over to the side of His enemies?”
For man did not come from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
“He sets forth the reasons why the husband has preeminence over the wife, namely: the wife was created from his rib, and he was not created for her, but she for him. For it is said: "Let us make him a helper" (Gen. 2:18).”
In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good.
“As the first believers, having all things in common, ate at a common table, so in imitation of them, though imperfectly, on certain appointed days, perhaps feast days, in Corinth after partaking of the Mysteries a common meal was offered: the wealthy brought provisions, and…”
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
“Take the proof of what has been said from what happens among you. For it is because many partake unworthily that cases of untimely death and prolonged illnesses occur. But do those who reach the deepest old age without experiencing illness no longer sin?”
If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you come together it will not result in judgment.
“A shaming word. For he speaks with them as with children who are irritable from hunger, and condemns their gluttony. Therefore, leading them out of the church, he sends them home, and there shames them considerably. That is, to their own harm and condemnation.”
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
“He presents the members of the body as speaking and murmuring that they are diminished before the other members, in order that, having demonstrated the senselessness of the murmuring of the members, he might expose those who in the Church murmur that there are some…”
The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
“Many who spoke in tongues could not explain what they themselves were saying. Therefore they were useful only to themselves. But the one who prophesies is useful to all listeners.”
Assuredly, there are many different languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.
“That is, so many languages appeared in the world—Scythian, Indian, Thracian, and those of other peoples—and all tribes say something, for they are not without language.”
It is the same with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, strive to excel in gifts that build up the church.
“Some, after the words "so also you," place a period, and explain: so also you, speaking in tongues things unintelligible, appear as foreigners to the listeners; then they begin again and read: "zealous for spiritual gifts." But Saint John Chrysostom reads without the division.”