RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Theophilus of Alexandria Theosophy
transl., St. Louis, 1908; idem, Geschichte, i. 278-290; T. Zahn, Kanon, vols, ii.-iii.; Kruger, History, pp. 132- 135; DNB, iv. 993-999 (detailed); Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, i. 475-480. A very full list of literature is given by Richardson in ANF, Bibliography, pp. 35-36.
THEOPHYLACT, the-ef 'i-lakt : Archbishop of Achrida (the modern Ochrida in Albania, 100 m. n. of Janin). He was a native of Euboea and for his great learning was chosen teacher of the young Prince Constantine, son of Emperor Michael Ducas (1071-78), to whom he dedicated a treatise on the " Education of a Prince " (Opera, iii. 529-548). About 1078 he became archbishop of Achrida and he survived the accession of Alexius Comnenus (1081), but by how many years is not known. Theophylact was a many-sided representative of the Byzantine churchman. He was a disciple of Michael Psellus (q.v.) and learned from his master no small degree of classical culture. As archbishop he ruled in large measure independently of Constantinople and he grappled faithfully with the difficulties of an arduous position; in his letters he often complains of the rude ways and the wickedness of the rough Bulgars who composed his flock. He was far from narrow-minded and judged leniently in the controversies between East and West. As exegete he was skilful and sensible; though dependent in his. views on the earlier Fathers like all medieval Greek commentators, he conceived rightly the aim and method of exegesis, and the precision of his interpretation makes his commentaries still worthy of consideration. They treat of the entire New Testament with the exception of the Apocalypse, and of portions of the Old Testament. An edition of Theophylact's " Works," in Greek and Latin, was published in four volumes at Venice, 1754-63 (reprinted in MPG, cxxiii.-cxxvi.). It includes, besides the commentaries (vols, i., ii., and part of iii.), certain homilies, of which those on the adoration of the cross and the presentation of Mary in the Temple (iii. 460 sqq.) are the best. An account of the fifteen martyrs of Tiberiopolis (iii. 477 sqq.) uses old sources. There are also a noteworthy panegyric on the Emperor Alexius (iii. 549 sqq.) and 130 letters (iii. 559 sqq.) to important and well-known personages of his time. (Philipp Meyer.)
Bibliography: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Grceca, vii. 586-598, Hamburg, 1801; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 133-135, 463-465; K. Prsechter, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, i. 399-414, and J. Draseke, in the same, x. 515- 529; and the dissertation by B. M. de Rubeis, most accessible in MPG, cxxiii. 9-137.
THEOSOPHY. I. Doctrines.
The Universe (§ 1). Man (§ 2). Reincarnation (§ 3). Karma (§ 4). Liberation (§5). II. Theosophical Society in America. III. Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society.
I. Doctrines: The main teachings of Theosophy (Gk. tfieosophia, " divine wisdom "), which are at the same time religious, philosophic, and scientific, may be summed up as follows: it postulates one eternal, immutable, all-pervading principle, the root of all manifestation. From that one existence comes forth periodically the whole universe, manifesting the two aspects of spirit and matter, life and
form, positive and negative, " the two poles of nature between which the universe is woven." Those two aspects are inseparably united, i. The therefore all matter is ensouled by Universe, life while all life seeks expression through forms. All life being fundamentally one with the life of the Supreme Existence, it contains in germ all the characteristics of its source, and evolution is only the unfolding of those divine potentialities brought about by the conditions afforded in the various kingdoms of nature. The visible universe is only a small part of this field of evolution. As ether interpenetrates the densest solid, so matter, still subtler, interpenetrates ether, and these different grades of matter constitute seven distinct regions, spoken of as the seven great planes of the universe. The physical is the densest; the one next to it is called astral; still subtler than the astral plane is the mental. The four higher spiritual planes are as yet mere names to all except initiates and adepts. The materials being thus prepared, the divine life begins the evolution of consciousness, building for itself forms on the various planes, passing slowly through the elemental, mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, and finally reaching self-consciousness and individualization, when it passes into the human stage.
Man, being a part of the whole, is also evolving toward the perfect manifestation of the divine characteristics latent in him. That perfection, however, implies not only the attainment 2. Man. of sainthood, but also the possession of divine power and full knowledge of the universe, visible and invisible. As he needs a physical body to work with on the physical plane, so does he need bodies composed of the matter of those higher planes, in order to cognize them, and the organizing of such bodies is the task upon which men are engaged, consciously, in the more advanced members of the race, but unconsciously in the vast majority. The physical body, then, is not the only one man uses, even during this physical life. In connection with it and interpenetrating it, even as the planes of the universe interpenetrate each other, he has an astral body, by means of which he feels and desires, a mental body, by means of which he thinks. The higher four spiritual bodies are still unorganized at the present stage of evolution, save in rare instances. But the three just mentioned are already fairly developed and constitute the normal working instruments of man. This does not mean that the astral and mental bodies are as yet organized so as to take direct cognizance of the planes to which they belong by constitution; in the majority, they work only in connection with the physical body. But some individuals have already developed the senses belonging to those higher bodies. The phenomena of clairvoyance, telepathy, prophetic dreams, etc., are merely manifestations of the activity of those finer senses. Unreliable at first, like the infant's vision, they can be developed and trained, until the subtler worlds stand as an open book before the man. This constitutes the evolution of the form, which proceeds pari passu with the evolution of the consciousness, the activities of which in the subtler bodies mav be termed the soul.
Theosophy