(CE:2242b-2243a)
THEODOTUS OF ANCYRA, bishop of Ancyra (Galatia) (d. c. 445). After being a supporter of Nestorius, he became an opponent, taking the side of CYRIL at the Council of EPHESUS. This was probably why his memory continued to live on in the Coptic literary tradition and why he was attributed with the authorship of a homily in honor of the martyr George. Historically, he wrote six books Against Nestorius (none of which has survived), an Explanation of the Council of Nicaea, and various homilies.
The homily preserved in the Coptic tradition, In Georgium martyrem, has survived in a full codex in Bohairic (Vatican Library, Rome, Coptica 63, 5, ed. Budge, 1888; Balestri and Hyvernat, 1908, Vol. 2, pp. 183-269). The saint is praised in the prologue, with the usual rhetorical convention of the fear of writing about him. This is followed by an account of his martyrdom, in accord with the well-known version of the Passio Georgii, followed by the translation of his relics to Diospolis Parva by the servant Pasicrates, the legend of the blindness of DIOCLETIAN, and the advent of CONSTANTINE. The conclusion refers to the consecration of the church of George.
The style and content of the homily clearly show that the text was produced in the late period of the CYCLES, that is, the seventh to the eighth century.
TITO ORLANDI
