Titus, Bishop of Bostra
Born about 362-371. Sozomen (Hist. eccl., III, xiv) names Titus among the great men of the time of Constantius; he also tells (op. cit., V, xv) of a mean trick played upon Titus by Julian the Apostate. It was expected that the re-establishment of paganism would occasion riots in Bostra as it had elsewhere. Julian wrote to Titus that he would hold him and the clergy responsible for any outbreak. Titus replied that though the Christians were equal in number to the pagans they would obey him and keep quiet. Julian then wrote to the Bostrians urging them to expel Titus because he had calumniated them by attributing their quiet conduct not to their own good dispositions but to his influence. According to Socrates (op. cit., III, xxv) Titus was one of the bishops who signed the Synodal Letter, addressed to Jovian by the Council held at Antioch (363), in which the Nicene Creed was accepted, not, however, without a clause “intended somewhat to weaken and semiarianize the expression homoousios” (Hefele, “Councils”, II, p. 283; ANTIOCH.—Synods of Antioch). St. Jerome (Ep. lxx) names Titus among writers whose secular erudition is as marvellous as their knowledge of Scripture; in his “De vir. ill.”, cii, he speaks of his “mighty” (fortes) books against the Manichaean and nonnulla alia. He places his death under Valens. Of the nonnulla alia only fragments of exegetical writings have survived. These show that Titus followed the Antiochene School of Scripture exegesis in keeping to the literal as opposed to the allegorical interpretation. The “Contra Manichæos” is the most important work of the kind that has come down to us, and its historical value is very great because of the number of quotations it contains from Manichaean writers. In one passage Titus seems to favour Origen’s view that the pains of the damned are not eternal (on this point see especially Ceillier, “Histoire générale des auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques”, VI p. 54, who seems disposed to acquit him of this error). The work consists of four books of which the fourth and the greater part of the third are only extant in a Syriac translation.
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The Greek and Syriac texts of the Contra Manich. were published by LAGARDE (Berlin, 1859). Earlier editions of the Greek text suffer from an insertion from a work of Serapion owing to the misplacement of a leaf in the original codex. For Contra Manich. and other writings attributed to TITUS see MIGNE and GALLANDI. The genuine exegetical fragments of this commentary were published by SICKENBERGER in Texte u. Untersuchen, VI, i (new series). BARDENHEWER-SHARAN, Patrology (St. Louis, 1908), 270-1.
F.J. BACCHUS Transcribed by Thomas M. Barrett Dedicated to the Memory of Bishop Titus of Bostra
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Titus, bishop of Bostra
Titus (2), bp. of Bostra in Arabia Auranitis, c. 362-371, of very high repute for learning and eloquence. He is named by Jerome among the many distinguished Christian writers of great secular erudition and knowledge of Holy Scripture (Hieron. Ep. 70 [84]). Jerome mentions his works, dwelling especially on three written against the Manicheans (Hieron. de Vir. Ill. c. 102). He is also enumerated by Sozomen (H. E. iii. 14, ad fin.) with Eusebius of Emesa, Basil of Ancyra, Cyril of Jerusalem, and others, as writers of the highest celebrity, whose learning is proved by the many remarkable writings they left. The appearance of Titus in such company, and his being distinctly reckoned among the Acacians by Socrates (H. E. iii. 25), makes his orthodoxy doubtful. He is chiefly known to us from the attempt made by the emperor Julian to induce the citizens of Bostra to expel him as a calumniator of their city. The pagan inhabitants made the authoritative revival of their cult by Julian the signal for organized attacks on their Christian fellow-citizens. The Christians retaliated. Julian, choosing to assume that the Christians were responsible for these disturbances, threatened to call Titus and the city clergy to judicial account if any fresh outbreak occurred (Soz. H. E. v. 15). Titus replied that though the Christian population exceeded the heathen in numbers, in obedience to his admonitions they had remained quiet under severe provocations and there was no fear of the peace of the city being disturbed by them (ib.). Julian then issued a rescript to the citizens of Bostra, Aug. 1, 362, charging Titus with calumniating them by his representations that they only abstained from violence in obedience to his monitions, and calling upon them to drive him out of their city as a public enemy (Julian Imp. Ep. 52, p. 437). The death of Julian found Titus still bp. of Bostra (Rendell, Emperor Julian, pp. 188, 222). On the accession of Jovian, Titus is enumerated by Socrates (H. E. iii. 25) as a member of the Acacian party. According to Jerome, he died in the reign of Valens, c. 370. Of his works (Soz. H. E. iii. 14) we have only very scanty remains. Of that against the Manichees in four books (“fortes libros,” l.c.) commended by Jerome and referred to by Epiphanius (Haer. lxvi. c. 21) and Theodoret (Haer. Fab. lib. i. c. 26), three books exist in MS. in the library of the Johanneum at Hamburg. Tillem. Mm. eccl. vii. 385; Ceill. Aut. eccl. vi. 43 ff.; Cave, Hist. Lit. i. 228; Migne, Patr. Gk. xviii. 1069 ff.; Fabr. Bibl. Graec. vi. 748, viii. 684, ix. 320; Clinton, Fasti Rom. No. 141.
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