Theophilus (correspondent of Isidore of Pelusium)

Theophilus is known only as a recipient of letters from Isidore of Pelusium, the monk-priest active in Pelusium and the eastern Nile Delta in the early-to-mid 5th century. The honorifics in the surviving letters are not uniform: in several he is addressed as Theophilus the shipmaster (naukleros, a shipowner or merchant-vessel master) and rebuked for habitually demanding and swearing oaths over trivial matters, which Isidore condemns as contrary to Christ's command not to swear at all; in two others he is called subdeacon and asked to weave a panegyric in memory of the much-admired Timothy; and in further letters, addressed without title, Isidore instructs him on points of moral and theological reflection, including whether evil things can be "possible" to God, the folly of seeking revenge, and the hypocrisy of those who confess God in word but deny him by their lives. Because the varying titles may indicate that more than one correspondent has been consolidated under this single name, the figure should be treated cautiously; beyond his role as Isidore's correspondent and pupil in moral instruction, he is otherwise unattested.