School of Antiochwriter
Who he was
- Bishop of Apamea in Syria, he was a brother of Theodore of Mopsuestia. Theodoret (Hist. eccl. 5,40,2) praises him as an excellent shepherd of the Church of Apamea who, “ruled with wisdom and success and was distinguished for the charm of his discourse as well as for the sanctity of his life.” When Theodoret wrote these words (ca.
- Polychronius was still alive, but he died before the bishops met at Ephesus in June 431.
- He must be ranked among the great exegetes of the School of Antioch. His exposition betrays a rationalizing tendency in so far as he repeatedly tries to interpret Messianic prophecies as referring to events in the near future. If he has this in common with his brother, he definitely does not share his views regarding the canonicity of the book of Job. Polychronius strongly defends the latter. None of the extant quotations shows any trace of Nestorianism.
What he wrote
- There are scattered fragments concerned principally with Job, Daniel and Ezekiel. The anonymous scholia therein on Jeremias most probably belong to him.
- His interpretation of the book of Daniel was found to have points of agreement with that of the Neo-Platonist philosopher Porphry, which evoked later criticism.
- However few the fragments of Polychronius’ works, they are enough to prove that he, like his brother, was strongly opposed to allegorical interpretation.
- He composed commentaries on the books of the Old Testament.