The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Theophilus the Indian
b. Dibous; sent on embassy c. AD 354; d. after 364 · Arian deacon, then bishop · Imperial envoy to Arabia and India · Dibous (the Maldives or Socotra) → Constantinople → Himyar → India
The Nicene Age
Who Theophilus the Indian was
Taken from his island homeland to the Roman court as a hostage-boy, ordained deacon by Eusebius of Nicomedia, and sent back east by Constantius II about 354 on an embassy to the Himyarites and beyond. Philostorgius — who is the only source and was of his own party — reports that he found Christians already established in India, and corrected their practice of hearing the Gospel seated rather than standing. He is the archive’s only fourth-century witness to the Indian church, and his testimony reaches us only through Photius’ ninth-century epitome of a lost Arian history: two transmission layers, both recorded. Distinct from the four other men called Theophilus in the archive.
Named once in the sources within the horizon; no other ancient witness names him.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees and heretics & schismatics.
Common questions
When did Theophilus live?
Theophilus the Indian is dated b. Dibous; sent on embassy c. AD 354; d. after 364 in the archive, which places Theophilus in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Theophilus?
Theophilus the Indian is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Philostorgius. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Theophilus from?
The archive associates Theophilus the Indian with Dibous (the Maldives or Socotra), Constantinople, Himyar, India. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Theophilus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Theophilus the Indian to 3 other figures, including Philostorgius, John the Persian and Pantaenus of Alexandria. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Ecclesiastical History III.4–6 — surviving only through Photius’ epitome (c. 850)
c. AD 430[He was sent by Constantius to the Homerites and to the Indians, where he found Christians already, and reformed their practice of hearing the Gospel sitting down.]Philostorgius · Ecclesiastical History III.4–6 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
Place
Places served
The 3 places the sources put Theophilus, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.
- 1Dibous
- 2Constantinople
- 3Indiaprovince only