I looked for this book based on a comment by Chris Wickham in The Inheritance of Rome that Theodoret of Cyrrhus is one of the few figures from the period 400-1000 C.E. that he could "imagine meeting with any real pleasure" [The others are Gregory the Great, Einhard (the biographer of Charlemagne), Braulio of Zaragoza, and Augustine]. Reading it, I can see what Wickham means. Theodoret's personality shines through these pages. He comes across as reasonable, compassionate, intelligent, curious, and tolerant.

The History is a collection of brief biographies of thirty or so ascetics living in Syria during the forth and fifth centuries. The characterization of these paragons of self-abasement is not strong, there is little to distinguish between them, but the intensity of their faith and the reasons for their choosing to live apart from society are explored and explained. Theodoret knew many of these monks and he uses is position as bishop of Cyrrhus to engage them in conversation, despite their vows of silence, and to persuade them to mitigate the more extreme forms of penance, if only temporarily.

n.b. This contains the most detailed biography there is of Symeon Stylites, a monk who spent the last 37 years of his life standing atop a pillar in the Syrian desert. His life served as the basis for Luis Buñuel's wonderful short film Simón del desierto (1965).

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