Theodorus (archbishop of Ravenna)

Theodorus was the archbishop of Ravenna from 677 to 691.[1]: 304 

Theodorus

Archbishop of Ravenna
Theodorus' sarcophagus in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna[nb 1]
ChurchCatholic Church
DioceseArchdiocese of Ravenna
In office677-691
PredecessorReparatus
SuccessorDamianus

Life

Consecrated in Ravenna by his suffragans,[1]: 283–4 [2] under his tenure the church of Ravenna reconciled with the Roman papacy, thus ending a period of acrimony during which the Byzantine emperor Constans II, who was a monothelite, directly opposed the Pope by proclaiming the autocephaly of the church of Ravenna in 666.[3]: 320 [1]: 283–4 
In fact, in 680 Theodorus adhered to the Sixth Ecumenical Council which condemned monothelitism in favour of the Chalcedonian orthodoxy, thus resubmitting his church to Pope Agatho,[3]: 321 [2] and in 682 he formally renounced to the typus of autocephaly, following the resumption of friendly relations between Constans II's successor Constantine IV and the new Pope Leo II.[1]: 283–4 
Writing for the Catholic Encyclopedia, church historian Umberto Benigni claimed that he "was hated by his clergy for having suppressed many abuses among them".[2]

According to the 9th-century historian Andreas Agnellus, during Theodorus' tenure his namesake Theodorus, exarch of Ravenna, ordered a chapel dedicated to Saint Theodore the Deacon, but of which there is no trace today.[1]: 146–7 

Burial

Theodorus' stone sarcophagus is located in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe,[4]: 53  along with others belonging to some of his distant successors such as Gratiosus (died c.789). All these sarcophagi were sculpted imitating higher-quality models from previous centuries.[1]: 289 

See also

Notes
  1. The Latin epigraph on the sarcophagus' lid reads: "†HIC REQUIESCIT IN PACE THEOδORVƧ V.B. ARCIHEPIƧCOPUƧ†", roughly translatable as "Here rests in peace the archbishop Theodorus".

References
  1. Mauskopf Deliyannis, Deborah (2010). Ravenna in Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83672-2.
  2. Benigni, Umberto (1911), "Ravenna", The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company
  3. Brown, T.S. (2008), "Chapter 13: Byzantine Italy, c.680-c.876", The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press
  4. Bovini, Giuseppe. Ravenna: Arte e Storia (in Italian). Ravenna: Longo Editore.

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