School of Antiochwriter
Who he was
- In 412 he was held in high repute as a priest and preacher of the Church at Jerusalem.
- The Greek Church venerates him as a saint and highly gifted interpreter of Holy Scriptures.
- In 428 or 429 he accompanied Patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem to the consecration of the church of the Monastery of Euthymius.
- He commented on the entire Bible. He generally follows the Alexandrian method of allegorical exegesis. He denied the literal meaning of almost all the passages of Scripture.
- He was an enemy of Philosophy, because the heretics used it to falsify the teaching of the Church, especially the Christological philosophy.
- Cyril of Scythopolis praised him as ‘teacher of the Church,’ ‘Theologian’ and ‘far famed luminary.’ His Christology
- The basis of his Christological views is Alexandrian.
- He follows St. Cyril of Alexandria but without adopting his technical vocabulary.
- He defends Orthodoxy against Arians, Apollinarians and the Antiochian doctrine of separation.
- He assures the one incarnate nature of Christ without falling into Eutychianism.
- His theology is entirely biblical and his Christology unphilosophical. Words like Person, Hypostasis, Essence, Nature, and Incarnation are avoided and Scriptural expressions substituted.
What he wrote
1. Exegetical
- Commentary on Leviticus, Commentary on Job, Glossary on Isaiah, Glossary on the Minor Prophets, Glossaries on Psalms, Great Commentary on the Psalms, a second Commentary on Psalms and Glossary on Biblical Canticles. 2. Sermons
- Only a few of his authentic sermons have been published so far. 3. Church History
- An important on Theodore of Mopsuestia, read at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. It proves that Hesychius was a strong opponent of Nestorianism.
- Collection of Objections and Solutions, contains questions and solutions on 61 Gospel problems. 4. Spurious works - Ad Theodulum de temperantia et virtute (composed by Abbot Hesychius of Mt. Sinica in 6th or 7th century)
- The Kephalia on the minor Prophets.
- The Martyrium S. Longini and Laudatio S. Procopii Persae.