Theophaiies of Bvzantii;.m, the designation of two early ecclesiastical characters.
1. A historian who is supposed to have lived at Con- stantinople at the close of the 6th century. He wrote a history of the war waged with Persia from 567 to 578, and also, it is said, a history of the reign of Jus- tinian. Photius mentions both works, and quotes from the former {Cod. 64). See Labbeus, Excerpta Legatio- nnm (Paris, 1617).
2. The chrouographer, confessor, and saint. Of this man an ancient biography, said to be the work of Theo- dore Studita (q. v.), relates that he was born in or about the year 578, and that the emperor Constantine Copron- ymus became his guardian. The monastic impulse led him to bind himself to a life of continence on the eve of his marriage with the daughter of a wealthy patrician chosen to be his bride by the emperor himself, and sub- sequently to separate himself from his wife altogether. Leo IV called him to court, laid upon him official re- sponsibilities, and jilaced him over the public buildings in Mysia; but, in Irene's reign, Theophanes became a monk in Lesser Mysia, and in time abbot of the mon- astery of Ager, which he had built. He was a zealous imagc-worsliipper, and present as such at the second Council of Nice in 787. In 813 Leo the Armenian sought to persuade him to renounce the worship of images, and punished his obstinate refusal with impris- onment and banishment to the island of Samothrace, where Theophanes died about 816. A Chronogruphy by him is extant, which records both ecclesiastical and secular matters from the first year of the reign of Dio- cletian to the first year of Leo the Armenian. It lacks many excellences, and has been attributed, though with- out sufficient reason, to other authors ; but its statements ))i)ssess considerable value as sources for the Iconoclastic troubles. The best edition is that of Classen (Bomi, 1839, 2 vols.), preceded by a Greek Vita and an Offici- inii ^. Palris Xost. Theopkanis, etc., of March 12. See Vossius, /M /list. (Jr. ii, 24; Cave; Oudin; Fabr., fiibl. Gr. vi, 151 (oUi ed.;, etc.— Herzog, Real-Encyklop). s. V.
THEOPHANES, styled Cerameus, archbishop of Tauromemium, between Syracuse and Messina, in the former half of the Uth century (? see his own Homily 26, and Leo AUatius; but comp. Scorsus, ?/^ /?;/>•«). He also bore, it would seem, the name of (iregory, which occurs in several ]\ISS. He wrote I/omilies, sixty-two of which were published in 1644 by the Jesuit Scorsus at Paris, with notes and two i)roems setting forth the life, teachings, and literary qualities of Theophanes, etc. The /fomilies are written in Greek, and the style is llowing and easy, but vitiated by an excessive tendency to allegorize. Image -worship and invocation of the Virgin are taught everywhere. Consult Cave, I/ist, Lit. ii, 132, and see Herzog, lieul-Encyklop. s. v.
Theophany. The ancient Greeks were accustom- ed, during a certain festival named tu ^to(pdi'ta, to dis- play at Dclphos before the public gaze the images of all their gods. {)(0(pdvtta denoted the apparition of one or more gods. The term thus understood was applied bj' ancient Christian writers to the manifestations of God under the Old Covenant and to the incarnation of Christ; in the latter instance with reference to the birth, the baptism, and the second advent of Christ. 'H im<pdviia was, however, a usual substitute for its employment as respects his birth. See ErirnANY. Later usage has given to the term a doctrinal meaning, by which it is made to designate a special form of the divine revelation, to determine which form it is neces- sary to examine the entire series of modes of the divine manifestation (see Bretschneider, Systemat. Entwicldung, p. 196). Without delaying to undertake a survey of this kind, we sketch the scriptural view of the theoph- any in the following paragraphs.
1. The theophany is never an immediate revelation of the supermundane Deity itself (John i, 18; 1 Tim. vi, 16). God reveals himself only in Christ (IMatt. xi, 27). The theophany is therefore more accurately defined as a Christophaiiy, or an epiphany of (iod in Christ ; and all nature is a storehouse of signs of the divine presence, which uniformly point to Christ (liom. i, 20 ; Col. i, 16). See Logos.
2. The theophany, regarded as a Christophan}-, is de- veloped in three great stages: (1) under the Old Test.; (2) in the incarnation ; (3) in Christ's second advent. In that advent the theophany, or revelation of the di- vine glory, will reach its consummation (Titus ii, 13). The first advent Avas also a revelation of the kindness and love of God (iii, 4) and of his grace and truth (John i, 14-17 ; xiv, 9) ; and with that revelation corresponded the fact that Christ saw the Father in all his work, even as the future manifestation of Christ shall be accompa- nied with the blessed vision of the saints (1 John iii, 2). Our attention is, however, confined by dogmatics to the modes of manifestation which occurred under the Old Test, prior to the advent of Christ, or under the New as accompanying or representing his presence. See Ad- vent.
3. The theophany or Christophany of Scripture is the epiphany of the coming Christ, mediated through the angel of the Lord (Gen. xvi, 7, etc.), of the face (Exod. xxxiii, 14; Isa. iii, 9), or of the covenant (Mai. iii, 1). This angel was not a created being. His symbolic sign was the pillar of cloud and fire ; his attribute the display of the glory or majesty of God (oo^a, "liSS) ; his later IJabbinical and theological designation the Shechinah (q. v.).