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According to Tillemont, he was born at Antioch in 393, and died either at Cyrrhus ("about a two-days' journey east of Antioch" or eighty Roman miles), or at the [[monastery]] near Apamea (fifty-four miles southeast of Antioch) about 457.
The following facts about his life are gleaned mainly from his ''Epistles'' and his ''Religious History'' (''Philotheos historia''). His mother having been childless for twelve years, his birth was promised by a [[hermit]] named Macedonius on the condition of his dedication to God, whence the name Theodoret ("gift of God"). He was brought up under the care of the ascetics and acquired a very extensive classical knowledge, and, according to [[Photios I Photius the Great|Photius]], a style of Attic purity. That he was a personal disciple of [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]] and heard the orations of [[John Chrysostom]] is improbable.
At a young age he became a ''[[lector]]'' among the [[clergy]] of Antioch, then resided a while in a monastery, was a cleric at Cyrrhus, and in 423 became bishop over a [[diocese]] about forty miles square and embracing 800 parishes, but with an insignificant town as its [[see]] city. Theodoret, supported only by the appeals of the intimate hermits, himself in personal danger, zealously guarded purity of the doctrine. He converted more than 1,000 [[Marcionite]]s in his diocese, besides many [[Arianism|Arians]] and Macedonians; more than 200 copies of Tatian's ''Diatessaron'' he retired from the churches; and he erected churches and supplied them with [[relics]].