LUKÁŠ DE LA VEGA NOSEK
HUSITSKÁ TEOLOGICKÁ FAKULTA UNIVERZITY KARLOVY
HUSSITE THEOLOGICAL FACULTY OF CHARLES UNIVERSITY
MELKITE THEOLOGY IN LATE EIGHTH CENTURY ARABIC. THE FORM OF ORTHODOXY IN THE CREED
OF THEODORE ABU QURRAH (755-830)
Abstract: An analytical study entitled Melkite Arab Theology in Late 8th Century ( The Shape of
Orthodoxy in Theodore Abū Qurrah‘s Creed, 755-830) is based on a detailed analysis of the key text of
the Confession of faith (ar. Amānah al-urthūdhuksīya) from the pen of the Melkite bishop of Harran,
Theodore Abū Qurrah. A deeper analysis of this text, even in world languages, is still lacking. The
study begins with an introduction to the Melkite Church and the life of Abū Qurrah. Subsequently,
the text of the Confession of faith itself is presented in more detail. The very personal character of
the whole text is traced, as well as some topics: the Christian trinity, Trinitarian heresiography, the
mystery of the Incarnation, and Christological heresiography. Theodore wrote a short Confession
of faith, which can be called a small theological summa. It is written very poetically. In content,
the Confession of faith is in complete harmony with the key councils of Christian antiquity. The
Confession not only shows the mature Christian theology of Theodore Abū Qurrah, and hence of
the Melkite tradition of the time, but above all it points to a unique interpretation of orthodoxy in
the Arabic language. Theodore proves in his Confession that the orthodoxy of the Melkite Church
of the late eighth and early ninth centuries lived in deep harmony with all the ancient councils of
Christianity. It is not just a repetition of the same thing, but a deeper form of interpretation.
Keywords: history of christian theology; melkite theology of 9th century; Theodore Abu Qurrah
(755-830); christology; trinitology
THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, Vol. 94, 2023, No. 1 – 2, Number of Article 5, p. stránka 67 – 87.
DOI: 10.14712/12117617.94.1-2.5