Titus of Bostra

Holy Hierarch Titus of Bostra, a bishop, died about the year 378 and is known as a learned writer and orator. Bostra lies in Arabia Auranitis. The emperor Julian the Apostate, at a time of unrest in Bostra caused by the revival of paganism, told Titus that he would hold him and the rest of the Christian clergy responsible for the disorders. Titus wrote back that although the Christians of the city outnumbered the pagans, the flock had remained at peace thanks to his exhortations and would remain so in spite of provocations from the pagans. Julian then issued, on 1 August 362, a rescript to the citizens of Bostra, bidding them drive Titus out for having "slandered" them by saying that they kept the peace through his exhortations and not through their own peaceful nature. But up to the death of Julian, Titus remained bishop of Bostra.

Titus is counted among the bishops who signed the letter of the Council of Antioch to the emperor Jovian in 363, in which the Nicene creed was accepted with a reservation in favour of a "semi-⁠Arian" understanding of the word of one essence.

Sozomen names Titus, together with Eusebius of Emesa, Basil of Ancyra, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem and others, as one of the great church writers of the time of Constantius. Blessed Jerome speaks of him as a writer whose secular learning was as remarkable as his knowledge of Holy Scripture, and mentions his "strong" books against the Manichaeans. The work against the Manichaeans is also cited by Epiphanius and Theodoret. Only a small part of his writings has survived. His four books "Against the Manichaeans" are among the most important polemical works of their kind and abound in quotations from Manichaean writers. In one place Titus seems to lean toward Origen's view of the temporary nature of the torments of hell. The fourth book and most of the third are known only in a Syriac translation.

Of his other works only fragments remain, among them a commentary on the Gospel, from which it is evident that Titus belonged to the Antiochene school of exegesis, placing more emphasis on literal than on allegorical interpretation. His name is not included in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. He is commemorated on 7 March, in the new style.