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Dionysius
Introductory Note to Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria.
[607] Epistle to Philemon, infra.
[608] Vol. v. p. 390, this series.
[609] There are also passages, of larger or smaller extent, bearing upon his life and his literary activity, in Jerome (De viris illustr., ch. 69; and Præfatio ad Lib., xviii., Comment. in Esaiam), Athanasius (De Sententia Dionysii, and De Synodi Nicænæ Decretis), Basil (De Spiritu Sancto, ch. 29; Epist. ad Amphiloch., and Epist. ad Maximum). Among modern authorities, we may refer specially to the Dissertation on his life and writings by S. de Magistris, in the folio edition issued under his care in Greek and Latin at Rome in 1796; to the account given by Basnage in the Histoire de l’Eglise, tome i. livre ii. ch. v. p. 68; to the complete collection of his extant works in Gallandi’s Bibliotheca Patrum, iii. p. 481, etc.; as well as to the accounts in Cave’s Hist. Lit., i. p. 95, and elsewhere.
[610] [Not, however, as an inferior, but as one bishop in those days remonstrated with another, and as he himself remonstrated with Stephen. See infra.]
[611] Hist. Eccl., viii. 7.
I.—From the Two Books on the Promises.
[612] In opposition to Noëtus, a bishop in Egypt. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., vii. 24 and 25. Eusebius introduces this extract in the following terms: “There are also two books of his on the subject of the promises. The occasion of writing these was furnished by a certain Nepos, a bishop in Egypt, who taught that the promises which were given to holy men in the sacred Scriptures were to be understood according to the Jewish sense of the same; and affirmed that there would be some kind of a millennial period, plenished with corporeal delights, upon this earth. And as he thought that he could establish this opinion of his by the Revelation of John, he had composed a book on this question, entitled Refutation of the Allegorists. This, therefore, is sharply attacked by Dionysius in his books on the Promises. And in the first of these books he states his own opinion on the subject; while in the second he gives us a discussion on the Revelation of John, in the introduction to which he makes mention of Nepos.” [Of this Noëtus, see the Philosophumena, vol. v., this series.]
[613] As it is clear from this passage that this work by Dionysius was written against Nepos, it is strange that, in his preface to the eighteenth book of his Commentaries on Isaiah, Jerome should affirm it to have been composed against Irenæus of Lyons. Irenæus was certainly of the number of those who held millennial views, and who had been persuaded to embrace such by Papias, as Jerome himself tells us in the Catalogus and as Eusebius explains towards the close of the third book of his History. But that this book by Dionysus was written not against Irenæus but against Nepos, is evident, not only from this passage in Eusebius, but also from Jerome himself, in his work On Ecclesiastical Writers, where he speaks of Dionysius.—Vales. [Compare (this series, infra) the comments of Victorinus of Petau for a Western view of the millennial subject.]
[614] τῆς πολλῆς ψαλμῳδίας. Christophorsonus interprets this of psalms and hymns composed by Nepos. It was certainly the practice among the ancient Christians to compose psalms and hymns in honour of Christ. Eusebius bears witness to this in the end of the fifth book of his History. Mention is made of these psalms in the Epistle of the Council of Antioch against Paul of Samosata, and in the penultimate canon of the Council of Laodicea, where there is a clear prohibition of the use of ψαλμοὶ ἰδιωτικοί in the church, i.e., of psalms composed by private individuals. For this custom had obtained great prevalence, so that many persons composed psalms in honour of Christ, and got them sung in the church. It is psalms of this kind, consequently, that the Fathers of the Council of Laodicea forbid to be sung thereafter in the church, designating them ἰδιωτικοί, i.e., composed by unskilled men, and not dictated by the Holy Spirit. Thus is the matter explained by Agobardus in his book De ritu canendi psalmos in Ecclesia.—Vales. [See vol. v., quotation from Pliny.]
[615] ταυτῆ μᾶλλον ᾗ προανεπαύσατο: it may mean, perhaps, for the way in which he has gone to his rest before us.
[616] κατεπαγγελλομένων, i.e., diu ante promittunt quam tradunt. The metaphor is taken from the mysteries of the Greeks, who were wont to promise great and marvellous discoveries to the initiated, and then kept them on the rack by daily expectation, in order to confirm their judgment and reverence by such suspense in the conveyance of knowledge, as Tertullian says in his book Against the Valentinians.—Vales. [Vol. iii. p. 503.]
[617] Reading ἐλπίζειν ἀναπειθόντων for ἐλπιζόμενα πειθόντων, with the Codex Mazarin.
[618] ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ ᾽Αρσενοείτῃ. In the three codices here, as well as in Nicephorus and Ptolemy, we find this scription, although it is evident that the word should be written ᾽Αρσινοειτῃ, as the district took its name from Queen Arsinoe.—Vales.
[619] εἱ καὶ φαίνοιντο. There is another reading, εἱ καὶ μὴ φαίνοιντο, although they might not appear to be correct. Christophorsonus renders it: ne illis quæ fuerant ante ab ipsis decreta, si quidquam in eis veritati repugnare videretur, mordicus adhærerent præcavebant.
[620] ἡπλωμέναις ταῖς καρδίαις. Christophorsonus renders it, puris erga Deum ac simplicibis animis; Musculus gives, cordibus ad Deum expansis; and Rufinus, patefactis cordibus. [The picture here given of a primitive synod searching the Scriptures under such a presidency, and exhibiting such tokens of brotherly love, mutual subordination (1 Pet. v. 5), and a prevailing love of the truth, is to me one of the most fascinating of patristic sketches. One cannot but reflect upon the contrast presented in every respect by the late Council of the Vatican.]
[621] This passage is given substantially by Eusebius also in book iii. c. 28.
[622] The text gives ὀνειροπολεῖν, for which for which ὀνειροπολεί or ὠνειροπόλει is to be read.
[623] δι᾽ ὧν εὐφημότερον ταῦτα ᾠήθη ποριεῖσθαι. The old reading was εὐθυμότερον; but the present reading is given in the mss., Cod. Maz., and Med., as also in Eusebius, iii. 28, and in Nicephorus, iii. 14. So Rufinus renders it: et ut aliquid sacratius dicere videretur, legales aiebat festivitates rursum celebrandas. [These gross views of millennial perfection entailed upon subsequent ages a reactionary neglect of the study of the Second Advent. A Papal aphorism, preserved by Roscoe, embodies all this: “Sub umbilico nulla religio.” It was fully exemplified, even under Leo X.]
[624] [The humility which moderates and subdues our author’s pride of intellect in this passage is, to me, most instructive as to the limits prescribed to argument in what Coleridge calls “the faith of reason.”]
[626] διεξαγωγῆς λεγομένης. Musculus renders it tractatum libri; Christophorsonus gives discursum; and Valesius takes it as equivalent to οἰκονομίαν, as διεξαγαγεῖν is the same as διοικεῖν.
[632] It is worth while to note this passage of Dionysius on the ancient practice of the Christians, in giving their children the names of Peter and Paul, which they did both in order to express the honour and affection in which they held these saints, and to secure that their children might be dear and acceptable to God, just as those saints were. Hence it is that Chrysostom in his first volume, in his oration on St. Meletius, says that the people of Antioch had such love and esteem for Meletius, that the parents called their children by his name, in order that they might have their homes adorned by his presence. And the same Chrysostom, in his twenty-first homily on Genesis, exhorts his hearers not to call their children carelessly by the names of their grandfathers, or great-grandfathers, or men of fame; but rather by the names of saintly men, who have been shining patterns of virtue, in order that the children might be fired with the desire of virtue by their example.—Vales. [A chapter in the history of civilization might here be given on the origin of Christian names and on the motives which should influence Christians in the bestowal of names. The subject is treated, after Plato, by De Maistre.]
[635] This is the second argument by which Dionysius reasoned that the Revelation and the Gospel of John are not by one author. For the first argument he used in proof of this is drawn from the character and usage of the two writers; and this argument Dionysius has prosecuted up to this point. Now, however, he adduces a second argument, drawn from the words and ideas of the two writers, and from the collocation of the expressions. For, with Cicero, I thus interpret the word σύνταξιν. See the very elegant book of Dionysius Hal. entitled Περὶ συντάξεως ὀνομάτων—On the Collocation of Names; although in this passage σύνταξις appears to comprehend the disposition of sentences as well as words. Further, from this passage we can see what experience Dionysius had in criticism; for it is the critic’s part to examine the writings of the ancients, and distinguish what is genuine and authentic from what is spurious and counterfeit.—Vales.
[639] The old reading was, τὸν λόγον, τὴν γνῶσιν. Valesius expunges the τὴν γνῶσιν, as disturbing the sense, and as absent in various codices. Instead also of the reading, τόν τε τῆς σοφίας, τόν τε τῆς γνώσεως, the same editor adopts τόν τε τῆς γνώσεως, τόν τε τῆς φράσεως, which is the reading of various manuscripts, and is accepted in the translation. Valesius understands that by the ἑκάτερον λόγον Dionysus means the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος and the λόγος προφορικός, that is, the subjective discourse, or reason in the mind, and the objective discourse, or utterance of the same.
[640] [The jealousy with which, while the canon of New Testament Scripture was forming, every claim was sifted, is well illustrated in this remarkable essay. Observe its critical skill and the fidelity with which he exposes the objections based on the style and classicality of the Evangelist. The Alexandrian school was one of bold and original investigation, always subject in spirit, however, to the great canon of Prescription.]
[641] Against the Epicureans. In Eusebius, Præpar. Evangel., book xiv. ch. 23–27. Eusebius introduces this extract in terms to the following effect: It may be well now to subjoin some few arguments out of the many which are employed in his disputation against the Epicureans by the bishop Dionysius, a man who professed a Christian philosophy, as they are found in the work which he composed on Nature. But peruse thou the writer’s statements in his own terms.
[642] οὐσίαν.
[643] ἀπρονόητον.
[644] τῶν ἀμερῶν.
[645] ὄγκους.
[646] ἐκληρονόμησε τὸ ὄνομα. Eusebius subjoins this remark: ταῦτ᾽ εἰπὼν, ἑξῆς ἀνασκευάζει τὸ δόγμα διὰ πολλῶν, ἀτὰρ δὲ διὰ τούτων, = having said thus much, he (Dionysius) proceeds to demolish this doctrine by many arguments, and among others by what follows.—Gall.
II. A Refutation of This Dogma on the Ground of Familiar Human Analogies.
[648] The text is, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῶν μικρῶν τῶν συνήθων καὶ παρὰ πόδας νουθετούντων, etc. We adopt Viger’s suggestions and read νουθετοῦνται.
[649] The text is, ἑκατέρας συνεκόμισε καιριον, for which Viger proposes εἰς τὸν ἑκατέρας, etc.
[650] The text gives, ὁράτωσαν γὰρ τὰς ἀθεάτους ἐκεῖνοι, καὶ τὰς ἀνοήτους νοείτωσαν, οὐχ ὁμοίως ἐκείνῳ, etc. The passage seems corrupt. Some supply φύσεις as the subject intended in the ἀθεάτους and ἀνοήτους; but that leaves the connection still obscure. Viger would read, with one ms., ἀθέτους instead of ἀθάετους, and makes this then the sense: that those Epicureans are bidden study more closely these unregulated and stolid (ἀνοήτους) atoms, not looking at them with a merely cursory and careless glance, as David acknowledges was the case with him in the thoughts of his own imperfect nature, in order that they may the more readily understand how out of such confusion as that in which they are involved nothing orderly and finished could possibly have originated. [P. 86, note 2, infra.]
[651] Ps. cxxxix. 16. The text gives, τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν σου ἴδωσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου. This strange reading, instead of the usual τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν μου εἶδον (or ιδον) οἱ ὀφθαλμοι σου, is found also in the Alexandrine exemplar of the Septuagint, which gives, τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν σου εἰδοσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, and in the Psalter of S. Germanus in Calmet, which has, imperfectum tuum viderunt oculi mei. Viger renders it thus: quod ex tuis operibus imperfectum adhuc et impolitum videbatur, oculi tandem mei perviderunt; i.e., Thy works, which till now seemed imperfect and unfinished, my eyes have at length discerned clearly; to wit, because being now penetrated by greater light from Thee, they have ceased to be dim-sighted. See Viger’s note in Migne.
[652] [The reproduction of all this outworn nonsense in our age claims for itself the credit of progressive science. It has had its day, and its destiny is to be speedily wiped out by the next school of thinkers. Meanwhile let the believer’s answer be found in Isa. xxxvii. 22, 23.]
[653] ἀῤῥύθμους.
III. A Refutation on the Ground of the Constitution of the Universe.
[654] οὐσίας.
[655] φύσεως.
[656] ἀκήρατα.
[657] αἰώνια.
[658] μακραίωνα.
[659] περσέα, a sacred tree of Egypt and Persia, the fruit of which grew from the stem.
[661] The text gives διαφθορᾶς, for which Viger suggests διαφορᾶς.
[662] φιλοκρίνων.
[664] ἀψύχων.
[665] ἀγελάρχης.
[667] [Our author touches with sagacity this crux of theory: whence comes force, the origin and the perpetuation of impetus? Christianity has thus anticipated the defects of “modern science.”]
[668] ταῖς ἐπικάρποις.
[669] ἀρχάς.
[670] Ecclus. xvi. 26, 27.
[671] των ἀτόμων τομεῖς.
[672] οὕτω σφενδονισθέντος.
[673] This sentence, which is quoted as from the Scriptures, is found nowhere there, at least verbatim et ad litteram. [Amos iii. 3.]
IV. A Refutation of the Same on the Grounds of the Human Constitution.
[675] Job x. 10-12. [The milky element (sperma) marvellously changed into flesh, and the embroidery of the human anatomy, are here admirably brought out. Compare Ps. cxxxix. 12-16; also p. 86, note 1, supra.]
[676] [Eccles. iii. 11. Note the force of the word Cosmos. Coleridge’s Aids to Reflection, p. 251, ed. New York, 1840. Also, Coleridge’s fancy about the τὸ καλόν quasi καλοῦν.
[677] ἐδωδὴ ωσπερ φορολογοῦσα.
[678] The text is, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δι᾽ ὅσων ἐμφανῶς ἡ διοίκησις τῆς ἀνθρωπείου μεμηχάνηται διανομῆς. Viger proposes διαμονῆς for διανομῆς, and renders the whole thus: “ac cætera quorum vi humanæ firmitatis et conservationis ratio continetur.”
[679] The text is, ὧν ὁμοίως τοῖς ἄφροσιν ἔχοντες οἱ σοφοὶ τὴν κρίσιν, οὐκ ἴσχουσι τὴν γνῶσιν. We adopt Viger’s suggestion, and read χρῆσιν for κρίσιν.
[680] We read, with Viger, θεότητα for ἀθεότητα. The text gives οἱ μὲν γὰρ εἰς ἣν ἂν οἰηθῶσιν ἀθεότητα, etc., which might possibly mean something like this: There are some who refer the whole economy to a power which these (others) may deem to be no divinity (but which is) the highest intelligence in all things, and the best benefactor, etc. Or the sense might be = There are some who refer this most intelligent and beneficent economy to a power which they deem to be no divinity, though they believe the same economy to be the work of a wisdom, etc.
[681] The text is, ἡμεῖς δὲ ὕστερον ὡς ἂν οἶοί τε γενώμεθα, κἂν ἐπιπολῆς, ἀναθεωρήσομεν. Viger renders it thus: “Nos eam postea, jejune fortassis et exiliter, ut pro facultate nostra, prosequemur.” He proposes, however, to read ἐπὶ πολλοῖς (sc. ῥήμασι or λόγοις) for ἐπιπολῆς.
[682] The text is, χειρουργίαι τούτων ὑπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων εὕρηνται σωματουργῶη. Viger proposes σωματουργοί, “handicrafts for the construction of such bodies have been discovered by men.”
[683] κόσμων. [See note 6, p. 88, supra.]
[684] ἀκοσμίαν.
V. That to Work is Not a Matter of Pain and Weariness to God.
[685] Hesiod’s Works and Days, v. 408.
[686] Ibid., v. 411.
[687] θεοπρεπῆ.
[688] ἀμελῶς. Jer. xlviii. 10.
[689] The text gives, διὰ τὸ τῆς πείρας ἀληθές. We adopt Viger’s emendation, ἄηθες.
[690] [“Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.” But see Hippolytus (vol. v.), and compare Clement, vol. ii. pp. 565–567, this series.]
[691] τύχην.
[692] ὑποθηκῶν.
[693] εἴδωλον.
[694] πρόφασιν.
[695] φύσει γὰρ γνώμη τυχῇ μάχεται. Viger refers to the parallel in Tullius, pro Marcello, sec. 7: “Nunquam temeritas cum sapientia commiscetur, nec ad consilium casus admittitur.”
[696] εὐτυχῆ.
[697] Fortune, τύχην.
[698] ἐμφρονεστάτην.
[699] τρέφοντες.
[700] The text gives, ἡδυ ὄν αὐτοῖς εἶναι τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν. Viger suggests ἡδιον for ἡδυ ὄν.
[701] δωτῆρας ἐάων. See Homer, Odyssey, viii. 325 and 335.
[702] θέούς.
[703] διὰ τὸ θέειν.
[704] δημιουργίαν αὐτοῖς ἢ κατασκευήν.
[705] θεοποιησωσιν.
[706] ἐκ τοῦ θεῖναι.
[707] ποιῆσαι.
[708] The text gives, οὓς ἐν τῷ κενῷ κατεῖδε θεούς. Viger proposes τούς for οὕς.
[709] συγκροτῶν.
[710] For ἀτόμων Viger suggests ἀτμῶν, “of vapours.”
[711] Or, giving them to drink.
[715] Ecclesiasticus 16.29-30.
[716] The text is, ἐπὶ τῇ πάντων κρίσει. Viger suggests κτίσει, “at the creation of all things.”
[717] The quotation runs thus: καὶ πάντα κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ πρόσταξιν πέφηνε καλά. Eusebius adds the remark here: “These passages have been culled by me out of a very large number composed against Epicurus by Dionysius, a bishop of our own time.” [Among the many excellent works which have appeared against the “hopelessly blinded” Epicureans of this age, let me note Darwinism tested by Language, by E. Bateman, M.D. London, Rivingtons, 1877.]
III.—From the Books Against Sabellius. On the Notion that Matter is Ungenerated.
[718] In Eusebius, Præpar. Evangel., book vii. ch. 19.
[719] Eusebius introduces this extract thus: “And I shall adduce the words of those who have most thoroughly examined the dogma before us, and first of all Dionysius indeed, who, in the first book of his Exercitations against Sabellius, writes in these terms on the subject in hand.” [Note the primary position of our author in the refutation of Sabellianism, and see (vol. v.) the story of Callistus.]
[720] παθητήν.
[721] πρὸς τοὺς ἀθεωτάτους πολυθέους.
IV.—Epistle to Dionysius Bishop of Rome.
[722] Fragments of a second epistle of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, or of the treatise which was inscribed the “Elenchus et Apologia.” [A former epistle was written when Dionysius (of Rome) was a presbyter.]
[723] And in what follows (says Athanasius) he professes that Christ is always, as being the Word, and the Wisdom, and the Power.
[726] Scil. Wisdom.
[727] Wisd. vii. 25.
[728] From Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 18. [See remarks on inevitable discrepancies of language and figurative illustrations at this formative period, vol. iv. p. 223.]
[729] Ex Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 17.
[730] Ibid., 4. 20.
[731] Rom. ii. 13; James iv. 12. The Greek word ποιητής meaning either maker or doer, causes the ambiguity here and below.
[733] Athanasius adds (ut supra, 4. 21), that Dionysius gave various replies to those that blamed him for saying that God is the Maker of Christ, whereby he cleared himself.
[734] John i. 1. [For ῥημα, see vol. ii. p. 15, this series.]
[735] Ex Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 25. [P. 94, notes 1, 2, infra.]
[736] John i. 1. [For ῥημα, see vol. ii. p. 15, this series.]
[738] Ex Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 18.
[739] Ex Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 25. [P. 94, notes 1, 2, infra.]
[741] Emanant. [P. 49, supra, and vol. iii. p. 299, this series.]
[742] Sermonem. [So Tertullian, Sermo, vol. iii. p. 299, note 19.]
About the Middle of the Treatise.
[743] Ex Basilio, lib. de Spir. Sancto, chap. 29.
[744] Ibid. cap. penult., p. 61.
The Conclusion of the Entire Treatise.
[745] Of the work itself Athanasius thus speaks: Finally, Dionysius complains that his accusers do not quote his opinions in their integrity, but mutilated, and that they do not speak out of a good conscience, but for evil inclination; and he says that they are like those who cavilled at the epistles of the blessed apostle. Certainly he meets the individual words of his accusers, and gives a solution to all their arguments; and as in those earlier writings of his he confuted Sabellius most evidently, so in these later ones he entirely declares his own pious faith. [Conf. Hermas, vol. iii. p. 15, note 7, with note 2, supra.]
V.—The Epistle to Bishop Basilides.
[746] Containing explanations which were given as answers to questions proposed by that bishop on various topics, and which have been received as canons. [The Scholium, p. 79, is transposed from here.]
[747] ἀπονηστίζεσθαι δεῖ. Gentianus Hervetus renders this by jejunandus sit dies Paschæ; and thus he translates the word by jejunare, “to fast,” wherever it occurs, whereas it rather means always, jejunium solvere, “to have done fasting.” In this sense the word is used in the Apostolic Constitutions repeatedly: see book v. chap. 12, 18, etc. It occurs in the same sense in the 89th Canon of the Concilium Trullanum. The usage must evidently be the same here: so that it does not mean, What is the proper hour for fasting on the day of Pentecost? but, What is the hour at which the ante-paschal fast ought to be terminated—whether on the evening preceding the paschal festival itself, or at cockcrowing, or at another time?—Gall. See also the very full article in Suicer, s.v.
[748] I give the beginning of this epistle of Dionysius of Alexandria also as it is found in not a few manuscripts, viz., ἐπέστειλάς μοι…τῇ τοῦ πάσχα περιλύσει,—the common reading being, τὴν τοῦ πάσχα ἡμέραν. And the περίλυσις τοῦ πάσχα denotes the close of the paschal fast, as Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. v. 23) uses the phrase τὰς τῶν ἀσιτιῶν ἐπιλύσεις,—the verbs περιλύειν, ἀπολύειν, ἐπιλύειν, καταλύειν, being often used in this sense.—Cotelerius on the Apostolic Constitutions, v. 15.
[749] ἀφ᾽ ἑσπέρας.
[750] [Note this and the Nicene decision which made the Alexandrian bishop the authority concerning the paschal annually, vol. ii. Elucidation II. p. 343.]
[751] πάνυ μεμετρημένην.
[752] κατὰ καιροὺς ἐνηλλαγμένους.
[755] τῇ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ μιᾷ Σαββάτων.
[756] τῆ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ εἰς μίαν Σαββάτων.
[758] κοινότητα.
[759] νύκτα βαθείαν.
[760] ὀψέ, late.
[762] παρὰ τοῦτο…προεληλύθει.
[763] Luke xxiii. 56; xxiv. 1-2.
[764] ὄρθρου βαθέος.
[765] προϋποφαινομένην αὐτὴν ἐωθινὴν ἐμφανίζει.
[767] πρὸ νυκτὸς ἔγγυς ἤδη μεσούσης ἀνιέντας.
[768] ὡς παρ᾽ ὀλίγον προκαταλύοντας τὸν δρὸμον.
[769] [1 Tim. iv. 8. Mark the moderation of our author in contrast with superstition. But in our days the peril is one of an opposite kind. Contrast St. Paul, 2 Cor. xi. 27.]
[770] That is, as Balsamon explains, the six days of the week of our Lord’s passion.
[771] To these canons are appended the comments of Balsamon and Zonaras, which it is not necessary to give here.
[772] Matt. ix. 20; Luke viii. 43.
[773] Referring to the relations of marriage, dealt with in 1 Cor. vii. 5, etc.
[774] διακρίνονται.
[775] Rom. xiv. 23. [Gr. κατακέκριται = is condemned = self-condemned. Wordsworth cites Cicero, De Officiis, i. 30.]
[776] [The entire absence of despotic authority in these episcopal teachings is to be noted. 2 Cor. i. 24.]
Epistle I.—To Domitius and Didymus.
[777] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vii. 11.
[779] Reading ἐπειδὴ πυνθάνεσθε, for which some codices give ἐπεὶ πυνθάνεσθαι.
[780] στρατηγῶν. Christophorsonus would read στρατηγοῦ in the sense of commander. But the word is used here of the duumviri, or magistrates of Alexandria. And that the word στρατηγός was used in this civil acceptation as well as in the common military application, we see by many examples in Athanasius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and others. Thus, as Valesius remarks, the soldiers (στρατιωτῶν) here will be the band with the centurion, and the attendants (ὑπηρετῶν) will be the civil followers of the magistrates.
[781] This happened in the first persecution under Decius, when Dionysius was carried off by the decision of the prefect Sabinus to Taposiris, as he informs us in his epistle to Germanus. Certainly any one who compares that epistle of Dionysius to Germanus with this one to Domitius, will have no doubt that he speaks of one and the same event in both. Hence Eusebius is in error in thinking that in this epistle of Dionysius to Domitius we have a narrative of the events relating to the persecution of Valerian,—a position which may easily be refuted from Dionysius himself. For in the persecution under Valerian, Dionysius was not carried off into exile under military custody, nor were there any men from Mareotis, who came and drove off the soldiers, and bore him away unwillingly, and set him at liberty again; nor had Dionysius on that occasion the presbyters Gaius and Faustus, and Peter and Paul, with him. All these things happened to Dionysius in that persecution which began a little before Decius obtained the empire, as he testifies himself in his epistle to Germanus. But in the persecution under Valerian, Dionysius was accompanied in exile by the presbyter Maximus, and the deacons Faustus, and Eusebius, and Chæremon, and a certain Roman cleric, as he tells us in the epistle to Germanus.—Valesius.
[782] ἐν τῇ νόσῳ. Rufinus reads νήσῳ, and renders it, “But of the deacons, some died in the island after the pains of confession.” But Dionysius refers to the pestilence which traversed the whole Roman world in the times of Gallus and Volusianus, as Eusebius in his Chroniconand others record. See Aurelius Victor. Dionysius makes mention of this sickness again in the paschal epistle to the Alexandrians, where he also speaks of the deacons who were cut off by that plague.—Vales.
[783] περιστολὰς ἐκτελεῖν. Christophorsonus renders it: “to prepare the linen cloths in which the bodies of the blessed martyrs who departed this life might be wrapped.” In this Valesius thinks he errs by looking at the modern method of burial, whereas among the ancient Christians the custom was somewhat different, the bodies being dressed out in full attire, and that often at great cost, as Eusebius shows us in the case of Astyrius, in the Hist. Eccles., vii. 16. Yet Athanasius, in his Life of Antonius, has this sentence: “The Egyptians are accustomed to attend piously to the funerals of the bodies of the dead, and especially those of the holy martyrs, and to wrap them in linen cloths: they are not wont, however, to consign them to the earth, but to place them on couches, and keep them in private apartments.”
[784] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi. 45.
[785] Jerome, in his Catalogus, where he adduces the beginning of this epistle, gives Novatianus for Novatus. So in the Chronicon of Georgius Syncellus we have Διονύσιος Ναυατιανῷ. Rufinus’ account appears to be that there were two such epistles,—one to Novatus, and another to Novatianus. The confounding of these two forms seems, however, to have been frequent among the Greeks. [See Lardner, Credib., sub voce Novat. Wordsworth thinks the Greeks shortened the name, on the grounds which Horace notes ad vocem “Equotuticum.” Satires, I. v. 87.]
[786] We read, with Gallandi, καὶ ἦν οὐκ ἀδοξυτέρα τῆς ἕνεκεν τοῦ μὴ ἰδωλολατρεῦσαι (sic) γινομένης, ἡ ἕνεκεν τοῦ μὴ σχίσαι μαρτυρία. This is substantially the reading of three Venetian codices, as also of Sophronius on Jerome’s De vir. illustr., ch. 69, and Georgius Syncellus in the Chronogr., p. 374, and Nicephorus Callist., Hist. Eccles., vi. 4. Pearson, in the Annales Cyprian., Num. x. p. 31, proposes θῦσαι for σχίσαι. Rufinus renders it: “et erat non inferior gloria sustinere martyrium ne scindatur ecclesia quam est illa ne idolis immoletur.”
Epistle III.—To Fabius, Bishop of Antioch.
[787] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi. 41, 42, 44. Certain codices read Fabianus for Fabius, and that form is adopted also by Rufinus. Eusebius introduces this epistle thus: “The same author, in an epistle written to Fabius bishop of Antioch, gives the following account of the conflicts of those who suffered martyrdom at Alexandria.”
[788] καὶ φθάσας ὁ κακῶν, etc. Pearson, Annales Cyprian. ad ann., 249 § 1, renders it rather thus: “et prævertens malorum huic urbi vates et auctor, quisquis ille fuit, commovit,” etc.
[789] εὐσέβειαν τὴν θρησκείαν δαιμόνων. Valesius thinks the last three words in the text ( = service to their demons) an interpolation by some scholiast. [Note θρησκείαν = cultus, James i. 27.]
[791] [To this day St. Apollonia is invoked all over Europe; and votive offerings are to be seen hung up at her shrines, in the form of teeth, by those afflicted with toothache.]
[792] τὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας κηρύγματα. What these precisely were, it is not easy to say. Dionysius speaks of them also as δύσφημα ῥήματα in this epistle, and as ἄθεοι φωναί in that to Germanus. Gallandi thinks the reference is to the practice, of which we read also in the Acts of Polycarp, ch. 9, where the proconsul addresses the martyr with the order: λοιδόρησον τὸν Χριστόν—Revile Christ. And that the test usually put to reputed Christians by the early persecutors was this cursing of Christ, we learn from Pliny, book x. epist. 97. [Vol. i. p. 41.]
[793] Or, shrink from.
[794] ἐφέστιον, for which Nicephorus reads badly, ᾽Εφέσιον.
[795] ἐπιπολύ.
[796] ἀθλίους. But Pearson suggests ἄθλους, ="when insurrection and civil war took the place of these persecutions.” This would agree better with the common usage of διαδεχομαι.
[797] ἀσχολίαν του πρὸς ἠμας θυμοῦ λαβόντων. The Latin version gives “dum illorum cessaret furor.” W. Lowth renders, “dum non vacaret ipsis furorem suum in nos exercere.”
[798] This refers to the death of the Emperor Philip, who showed a very righteous and kindly disposition toward the Christians. Accordingly the matters here recounted by Dionysius took place in the last year of the Emperor Philip. This is also indicated by Dionysius in the beginning of this epistle, where he says that the persecution began at Alexandria a whole year before the edict of the Emperor Decius. But Christophorsonus, not observing this, interprets the μεταβολὴν τῆς βασιλείας as signifying a change in the emperor’s mind toward the Christians, in which error he is followed by Baronius, ch. 102.—Vales.
[799] In this sentence the Codex Regius reads, τὸ προῤῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν παραβραχυ τὸ φοβερώτατον, etc., ="the one intimated beforetime by our Lord, very nearly the most terrible one.” In Georgius Syncellus it is given as ἠ παρὰ βραχύ. But the reading in the text, ἀποφαῖνον, “setting forth,” is found in the Codices Maz., Med., Fuk., and Savilii; and it seems the best, the idea being that this edict of Decius was so terrible as in a certain measure to represent the most fearful of all times, viz., those of Antichrist.—Vales.
[800] ἀπήντων δεδιότες.
[801] οἱ δὲ δημοσιεύοντες ὑπὸ τῶν πράξεων ἤγοντο. This is rendered by Christophorsonus, “alii ex privatis ædibus in publicum raptati ad delubra ducuntur a magistratibus.” But δημοσιευοντες is the same as τὰ δημόσια πράττοντες, i.e., decurions and magistrates. For when the edict of Decius was conveyed to them, commanding all to sacrifice to the immortal gods, these officials had to convene themselves in the court-house as usual, and stand and listen while the decree was there publicly recited. Thus they were in a position officially which led them to be the first to sacrifice. The word πραξεις occurs often in the sense of the acts and administration of magistrates: thus, in Eusebius, viii. 11; in Aristides, in the funeral oration on Alexander, τὰ δ᾽ εἰς πράξεις τε καὶ πολιτειας, etc. There are similar passage also in Plutarch’s Πολιτικὰ παραγγέλματα, and in Severianus’s sixth oration on the Hexameron. So Chrysostom, in his eighty-third homily on Matthew, calls the decurions τοὺς τὰ πολιτικὰ πράττοντας. The word δημοσιεύοντες, however, may also be explained of those employed in the departments of law or finance; so that the clause might be rendered, with Valesius: “alii, qui in publico versabantur, rebus ipsis et reliquorum exemplo, ad sacrificandum ducebantur.” See the note in Migne.
[802] ἰσχυριζόμενοι here for διισχυριζόμενοι.—Vales.
[803] πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς ἀπεῖπον. It may also mean, “renounced the faith in the prospect of what was before them.”
[804] A blessed one. Alluding to Matt. v. 10, 12.
[805] μετὰ πολύν. But Codices Med., Maz., Fuk., and Savilii, as well as Georgius Syncellus, read μετ᾽ οὐ πολύν, “after a short time.”
[806] ξυστῆρας.
[807] Here Valesius adds from Rufinus the words καὶ ᾽Αμμωνάριον ἕτερα, “and a second Ammonarium,” as there are four women mentioned.
[808] In Georgius Syncellus and Nicephorus it is given as Aster. Rufinus makes the name Arsinus. And in the old Roman martyrology, taken largely from Rufinus, we find the form Arsenius.—Vales.
[809] In his Bibliotheca, cod. cxix., Photius states that Isidorus was full brother to Pierius, the celebrated head of the Alexandrian school, and his colleague in martyrdom. He also intimates, however, that although some have reported that Pierius ended his career by martyrdom, others say that he spent the closing period of his life in Rome after the persecution abated.—Ruinart.
[810] σύνταγμα στρατιωτικόν. Rufinus and Christophorsonus make it turmam militum. Valesius prefers manipulum or contubernium. These may have been the apparitors or officers of the præfectus Augustalis. Valesius thinks rather that they were legionaries, from the legion which had to guard the city of Alexandria, and which was under the authority of the præfectus Augustalis. For at that time the præfectus Augustalis had charge of military affairs as well as civil.
[811] βάθρον. Valesius supposes that what is intended is the seat on which the accused sat when under interrogation by the judge.
[812] θριαμβεύοντος αὐτούς. Rufinus makes it, “God thus triumphing in them;” from which it would seem that he had read δι᾽ αὐτούς. But θριαμβεύειν is probably put here for θριαμβεύειν ποιεῖν, as βασιλεύειν is also used by Gregory Nazianzenus.
[813] That is, Nilopolis or Niloupolis. Eusebius, bishop of the same seat, subscribed the Council of Ephesus.—Reading.
[814] τὸ ᾽Αράβιον ὄρος. There is a Mons Arabicusmentioned by Herodotus (ii. 8), which Ptolemy and others call Mons Troïcus.—Vales.
[815] This passage is notable from the fact that it makes mention of the Saracens. For of the writers whose works have come down to us there is none more ancient than Dionysius of Alexandria that has named the Saracens. Ammianus Marcellinus, however, writes in his fourteenth book that he has made mention of the Saracens in the Acts of Marcus. Spartianus also mentions the Saracens in his Niger, and says that the Roman soldiers were beaten by them.—Vales. [“The barbarous Saracens:” what a nominis umbra projected by “coming events,” in this blissfully ignorant reference of our author! Compare Robertson, Researches, on the conquest of Jerusalem.]
[816] As to the martyrs’ immediate departure to the Lord, and their abode with Him, see Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, ch. xliii., and On the Soul, v. 55. [Vol. iii. p. 576; Ib., p. 231.]
[817] That the martyrs were to be Christ’s assessors, judging the world with Him, was a common opinion among the fathers. So, after Dionysius, Eulogius, bishop of Alexandria, in his fifth book, Against the Novatians. Photius, in his Bibliotheca, following Chrysostom, objects to this, and explains Paul’s words in 1 Cor. vi. 2 as having the same intention as Christ’s words touching the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south who should rise up in the judgment and condemn that generation.
[818] συνδικάζοντες. See a noble passage in Bossuet, Préface sur l’Apocal , § 28.
[820] Dionysius is dealing here not with public communion, such as was the bishop’s prerogative to confer anew on the penitent, but with private fellowship among Christian people.—Vales.
[821] ἄδικον ποιησώμεθα is the reading of Codices Maz., Med., Fuk., and Savil., and also of Georgius Syncellus. Others read ἄδεκτον ποιησόμεθα, “we shall treat it as inadmissible.”
[822] The words καὶ τὸν Θεὸν παροξύνομεν, “and provoke God,” are sometimes added here; but they are wanting in Codices Maz., Med., Fuk., Savil., and in Georgius Syncellus.
[823] Eusebius introduces this in words to the following effect: “Writing to this same Fabius, who seemed to incline somewhat to this schism, Dionysius of Alexandria, after setting forth in his letter many other matters which bore on repentance, and after describing the conflicts of the martyrs who had recently suffered in Alexandria, relates among other things one specially wonderful fact, which I have deemed proper for insertion in this history, and which is as follows.”
[824] That is, none either of the clergy or of the people were moved by his prayers to consider him a proper subject for absolution; for the people’s suffrages were also necessary for the reception into the Church of any who had lapsed, and been on that account cut off from it. And sometimes the bishop himself asked the people to allow absolution to be given to the suppliant, as we see in Cyprian’s Epistle 53, to Cornelius [vol. v. p. 336, this series], and in Tertullian On Modesty, ch. xiii. [vol. iv. p. 86, this series]. Oftener, however, the people themselves made intercession with the bishop for the admission of penitents; of which we have a notable instance in the Epistle of Cornelius to Fabius of Antioch about that bishop who had ordained Novatianus. See also Cyprian, Epistle 59 [vol. v. p. 355].—Vales.
[825] In the African Synod, which met about the time that Dionysus wrote, it was decreed that absolution should be granted to lapsed persons who were near their end, provided that they had sought it earnestly before their illness. See Cyprian in the Epistle to Antonianus [vol. v. p. 327, this series].—Vales.
[826] ἀφίεσθαι. There is a longer reading in Codices Fuk. and Savil., viz.: τῶν θείων δώρων τῆς μεταδόσεως ἀξιοῦσθαι καὶ οὕτως ἀφιεσθαι, “be deemed worthy of the imparting of the divine gifts, and thus be absolved.”
[827] Valesius thinks that this custom prevailed for a long time, and cites a synodical letter of Ratherius, bishop of Verona (which has also been ascribed to Udalricus by Gretserus, who has published it along with his Life of Gregory VII.), in which the practice is expressly forbidden in these terms: “And let no one presume to give the communion to a laic or a woman for the purpose of conveying it to an infirm person.”
[828] ἀποβρέξαι. Rufinus renders it by infundere. References to this custom are found in Adamanus, in the second book of the Miracles of St. Columba, ch 6; in Bede, Life of St. Cuthbert, ch. 31, and in the poem on the life of the same; in Theodorus Campidunensis, Life of St. Magnus, ch. 22; in Paulus Bernriedensis, Life of Gregory VII., p. 113.
[829] ὁμολογηθῆναι. Langus, Wolfius, and Musculus render it confiteri, “confess.” Christophorsonus makes it in numerum confessorum referri, “reckoned in the number of confessors:” which may be allowed if it is understood to be a reckoning by Christ. For Dionysius alludes to those words of Christ in the Gospel: “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father.”—Vales.
Epistle IV.—To Cornelius the Roman Bishop.
[830] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi. 46.
Epistle V.—Which is the First on the Subject of Baptism Addressed to Stephen, Bishop of Rome.
[831] In the second chapter of the seventh book of his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius says: “To this Stephen, Eusebius wrote the first of his epistles on the matter of baptism.” And he calls this the first, because Dionysius also wrote other four epistles to Xystus and Dionysius, two of the successors of Stephen, and to Philemon, on the same subject of the baptizing of heretics.—Gallandi.
[832] Eusebius introduces the letter thus: “When he had addressed many reasonings on this subject to him (Stephen) by letter, Dionysius at last showed him that, as the persecution had abated, the churches in all parts opposed to the innovations of Novatus were at peace among themselves.” [See vol. v. p. 275.]
[833] καὶ ἔτι προσωτέρω. These words are omitted in Codices Fulk, and Savil., as also by Christophorsonus; but are given in Codices Reg. Maz., and Med., and by Syncellus and Nicephorus.
[834] Baronius infers from this epistle that at this date, about 259 a.d., the Oriental bishops had given up their “error,” and fallen in with Stephen’s opinion, that heretics did not require to be rebaptized,—an inference, however, which Valesius deems false. [Undoubtedly so.]
[835] The name assigned by the pagans to Jerusalem was Ælia. It was so called even in Constantine’s time as we see in the Tabula Peutingerorum and the Itinerarium Antonini, written after Constantine’s reign. In the seventh canon of the Nicene Council we also find the name Ælia. [Given by Hadrian a.d. 135.]
[836] The words κοιμηθέντος ᾽Αλεξάνδρου are given in the text in connection with the clause Μαρῖνος ἐν Τύρῳ. They must be transposed however as in the translation; for Mazabanes had succeeded Alexander the bishop of Ælia, as Dionysius informs us in his Epistle to Cornelius. So Rufinus puts it also in his Latin version.—Vales.
[837] Alluding to the generous practice of the church at Rome in old times in relieving the wants of the other churches, and in sending money and clothes to the brethren who were in captivity, and to those who toiled in the mines. To this effect we have the statement of Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in his Epistle to Soter, which Eusebius cites in his fourth book. In the same passage, Eusebius also remarks that this commendable custom had been continued in the Roman church up to his own time; and with that object collections were made there, of which Leo Magnus writes in his Sermones.—Vales. [Note this to the eternal honour of this See in its early purity.]
[838] [In vol. v., to illustrate the history of Cyprian, reference is made to this letter; and in the Clark edition another rendering is there given (a preferable one, I think) of this same letter, which I have thought better to reserve for this place. It belongs here, and I have there noted its appearance in this volume.]
[839] [προεστῶτες. See Euseb., Hist. Eccles., book viii. capp. 2, 3 and 4; also vol. v., this series, as above mentioned.]
Epistle VI.—To Sixtus, Bishop.
[840] Dionysius mentions letters that had been written by him as well to the Presbyters Dionysius and Philemon as to Stephen, on the baptism of heretics and on the Sabellian heresy.
[841] Lib. vii. ch. 6.
[842] [i.e., Sixtus II.]
Epistle VII.—To Philemon, a Presbyter.
[843] Of Sixtus, bishop of Rome. [a.d. 257].
[844] 1 Thess. v. 21. [Euseb., vi. 7. The apostle is supposed to refer to one of the reputed sayings of our Lord, γινεσθε δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται = examinatores, i.e., of coins, rejecting the base, and laying up in store the precious. Compare Jer. xv. 19.]
[845] [I find that it is necessary to say that the “Africans” of Egypt and Carthage were no more negroes than we “Americans” are redmen. The Carthaginians were Canaanites and the Alexandrians Greeks. I have seen Cyprian’s portrait representing him as a Moor.]
[847] At that time presbyter of Xystus, and afterwards his successor. He teaches that Novatian is deservedly to be opposed on account of his schism, on account of his impious doctrine, on account of the repetition of baptism to those who came to him.
[848] Of a man who sought to be introduced to the Church by baptism, although he said that he had received baptism, with other words and matters among the heretics.
[849] [Vol. v. See a reference to Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures.]
Epistle X.—Against Bishop Germanus.
[850] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi. 40, vii. 11.
[851] οὑδεμίαν ἐπ᾽ ἐμαυτοῦ βαλλόμενος. In Codex Fuk. and in the Chronicon of Syncellus it is ἐπ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ. In Codices Maz. and Med. it is ἐπ᾽ ἐμαυτόν. Herodotus employs the phrase in the genitive form—βαλλόμενος ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ πέπρηχε, i.e., seipsum in consilium adhibens, sua sponte et proprio motu fecit.
[852] ἁλλὰ καὶ πρότερον. Christophorsonus and others join the πρότερον, with the διωγμοῦ, making it mean, “before the persecution.” This is contrary to pure Greek idiom, and is also inconsistent with what follows; for by the αὐτῆς ὥρας is meant the very hour at which the edict was decreed, διωγμός here having much the sense of “edict for the persecution.”—Vales.
[853] There was a body of men called frumentarii milites, employed under the emperors as secret spies, and sent through the provinces to look after accused persons, and collect floating rumors. They were abolished at length by Constantine, as Aurelius Victor writes. They were subordinate to the judges or governors of the provinces. Thus this Frumentarius mentioned here by Dionysius was deputed in obedience to Sabinus, the præfectus Augustalis.—Vales.
[854] οῖ παῖδες. Musculus and Christophorsonus make it “children.” Valesius prefers “domestics.”
[855] ἀπήντετό τις τῶν χωριτῶν. In Codices Maz., Med., Fuk., and Savil., ἀπήντα is written; in Georgius Syncellus it is ἀπηντᾶτο.
[856] χωριτῶν rendered indigenarum by Christophorsonus, and incolarum, “inhabitants,” by the interpreter of Syncellus; but it means rather “rustics.” Thus in the Greek Councils the τῶν χωρῶν πρεσβύτεροι, presbyteri pagorum, are named. Instead of χωριτῶν, Codices Maz., Med., and Fuk. read χωρικῶν; for thus the Alexandrians named the country people, as we see in the tractate of Sophronius against Dioscorus, and the Chronicon of Theophanes, p. 139.
[857] ἀστρώτων σκιμπόδων.
[858] φοράδην ἐξήγαγον. The φοράδην may mean, as Valesius puts it, in sella, “on a stool or litter.”
[859] Tobit xii. 7.
[860] τὸ τελευταῖον ἐπι τὸ πρῶτον ἀνατρέχοντι, i.e., to begin by interdicting him from holding Christian assemblies, while the great question was whether he was a Christian at all, would have been to place first what was last in order and consequence.
[862] ὑπεμνηματίσθη.
[863] ἀγράφως.
[864] Germanus had accused Dionysius of neglecting to hold the assemblies of the brethren before the persecutions broke out, and of rather providing for his own safety by flight. For when persecution burst on them, the bishops were wont first to convene the people, in order to exhort them to hold fast the faith of Christ; there infants and catechumens were baptized, to provide against their departing this life without baptism, and the Eucharist was given to the faithful.—Vales.
[865] αἰσθητῆς μετὰ τοῦ Κυρίου συναγωγς.
[866] ὡς εἶπον. Codices Maz. and Med. give εἰπεῖν, “so to speak;” Fuk. and Savil. give ὡς εἶπεν ὁ ἀπόστολος, “as the apostle said.” See on 1 Cor. v. 3.
[867] [Acts xiv. 27; Rev. iii. 8. If the author here quotes the Apocalypse, it is noteworthy. Elucidation, p. 110.]
[868] ἡμᾶς δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν ὁδῷ καὶ πρώτους καταληφθησομένους ἔταξεν.
[869] τὰ Κολλουθίωνος, supplying μέρη, as Dionysius has already used the phrase τὰ μέρη τῆς Λιβύης. This was a district in the Mareotic prefecture. Thus we have mention made also of τὰ Βουκόλου, a certain tract in Egypt, deriving its name from the old masters of the soil. Nicephorus writes Κολούθιον, which is probably more correct; for Κολλουθίων is a derivative from Colutho, which was a common name in Egypt. Thus a certain poet of note in the times of Anastasius, belonging to the Thebaid, was so named, as Suidas informs us. There was also a Coluthus, a certain schismatic, in Egypt, in the times of Athanasius, who is mentioned often in the Apologia; and Gregory of Nyssa names him Acoluthus in his Contra Eunomium, book ii.—Vales.
[870] κατὰ μέρος συναγωγαί. When the suburbs were somewhat distant from the city, the brethren resident in them were not compelled to attend the meetings of the larger church, but had meetings of their own in a basilica, or some building suitable for the purpose. The Greeks, too, gave the name προάστειον to places at some considerable distance from the city, as well as to suburbs immediately connected with it. Thus Athanasius calls Canopus a προάστειον; and so Daphne is spoken of as the προάστειον of Antioch, Achyrona as that of Nicomedia, and Septimum as that of Constantinople, though these places were distant some miles from the cities. From this place it is also inferred that in the days of Dionysius there was still but one church in Alexandria, where all the brethren met for devotions. But in the time of Athanasius, when several churches had been built by the various bishops, the Alexandrians met in different places, κατὰ μέρος καὶ διῃρημένως, as Athanasius says in his first Apology to Constantius; only that on the great festivals, as at the paschal season and at Pentecost, the brethren did not meet separately, but all in the larger church, as Athanasius also shows us—Vales.
[871] ἀποφάσεις.
[872] Maximus, in the scholia to the book of Dionysius the Areopagite, De cœlesti hierarchia, ch. 5, states that Dionysius was by profession a rhetor before his conversion: ὁ γοῦν μέγας Διονύσιος ὁ ᾽Αλεξανδρεων ἐπισκοπος, ὁ ἀπὸ ῥητόρων, etc.—Vales.
[873] τῶν ἐναντίων ἁπειλῶν.
[874] This Sabinus had been prefect of Egypt in the time of Decius; it is of him that Dionysius writes in his Epistle to Fabius, which is given above. The Æmilianus, prefect of Egypt, who is mentioned here, afterwards seized the imperial power, as Pollio writes in his Thirty Tyrants, who, however, calls him general (ducem), and not prefect of Egypt.—Vales.
[875] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vii. 1, 10, 23. Eusebius introduces this extract thus: “In an epistle to Hermammon, Dionysus makes the following remarks upon Gallus” the Emperor.
[876] κατὰ νοῦν is the reading in the Codices Maz., Med., Fuk, and Savil., and adopted by Rufinus and others. But Robertus Stephanus, from the Codex Regius, gives κατὰ ῥοῦν, “according to the stream,” i.e., favourably.
[877] Eusebius prefaces this extract thus: “Gallus had not held the government two full years when he was removed, and Valerian, together with his son Gallienus, succeeded him. And what Dionysius has said of him may be learned from his Epistle to Hermammon, in which he makes the following statement.”
[878] ἐξουσία καὶ μῆνες τεσσαρακονταδύο.Rev. xiii. 5. Baronius expounds the numbers as referring to the period during which the persecution under Valerian continued: see him, under the year 257 a.d., ch. 7. [See Introductory Note, p. 78, supra. Here is a quotation from the Apocalypse to be noted in view of our author’s questionings, part i., i. 5, p. 83, supra.]
[879] The text is, καὶ τούτων μάλιστα τὰ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ὡς οὕτως ἔσχε συννοεῖν· ἕως ἤπιος, etc. Gallandi emends the sentence thus: καὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ μάλιστα πρὸ τούτων, ὡς οὐχ οὕτως ἔσχε, συννοεῖν, ἔως ἤπιος, etc. Codex Regius gives ὡς μὲν ἤπιος. But Codices Maz. and Med. give ἕως ἤπιος, while Fuk. and Savil. give ἔως γὰρ ἤπιος.
[880] He means the Emperor Philip who, as many of the ancients have recorded, was the first of the Roman emperors to profess the Christian religion. But as Dionysius speaks in the plural number, to Philip may be added Alexander Severus, who had an image of Christ in the chapel of his Lares, as Lampridius testifies, and who favoured and sustained the Christians during the whole period of his empire. It is to be noted further, that Dionysius says of these emperors only that they were said and thought to be Christians, not that they were so in reality.—Gallandi
[881] ἀρχισυνάγωγος.
[882] Baronius thinks that this was that Magus who, a little while before the empire of Decius, had incited the Alexandrians to persecute the Christians, and of whom Dionysius speaks in his Epistle to Fabius. What follows here, however, shows that Macrianus is probably the person alluded to.
[883] εὐδαιμονήσοντας. So Codices Maz., Med., Fuk. and Savil. read: others give εὐδαιμονήσαντας. It would seem to require εὐδαιμονήσοντα, “as if he would attain;” for the reference is evidently to Valerian himself.
[884] By the αὐτοῖς some understand τοῖς βασιλεῦσι; others better, τοῖς δαίμοσι. According to Valesius, the sense is this: that Macrianus having, by the help and presages of the demons, attained his hope of empire, made a due return to them, by setting Valerian in arms against the Christians.
[885] ἐπὶ τῶν καθόλου λόγων. The Greeks gave this name to those officials whom the Latins called rationales, or procuratores summæ rei. Under what emperor Macrianus was procurator, is left uncertain here.
[886] οὐδὲν εὔλογον οὐδὲ καθολικὸν ἐφρόνησεν. There is a play here on the two senses of the word καθολικός , as seen in the official title ἐπὶ τῶν καθόλου λόγων, and in the note of character in οὐδὲ καθολικόν. But it can scarcely be reproduced in the English.
[887] οὐαὶ τοῖς προφητεύουσιν ἀπὸ καρδίας αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ καθόλου μὴ βλέπουσιν. The quotation is probably from Ezek. xiii. 3, of which Jerome gives this interpretation: Vae his qui prophetant ex corde suo et omnino non vident.
[888] Robertus Stephanus edits τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐκκλησίας, “from his Church,” following the Codex Medicæus. But the best manuscripts give σωτηρίας.
[889] A play upon the name Macrianus, as connected with μακράν, “at a distance.” [This playfulness runs through the section.]
[890] ἐμπαίγματα.
[892] Christophorsonus refers this to Valerian. But evidently the οὗτος δέ introduces a different subject in Macrianus; and besides, Valerian could not be said to have been originally unworthy of the power which he aspired to.
[893] τὸν βασίλειον ὑποδῦναι κόσμον.
[894] ἀναπήρῳ.
[895] Joannes Zonaras, in his Annals, states that Macrianus was lame.
[896] ὧν ἠτυχει. So Codex Regius reads. But Codices Maz., Med., and Fuk. give ηὐτύχει, “in which he succeeded.”
[897] ἐξωμόρξατο.
[898] Eusebius introduces the extract thus: He (Dionysius) addressed also an epistle to Hermammon and the brethren in Egypt; and after giving an account of the wickedness of Decius and his successors, he states many other circumstances, and also mentions the peace of Gallienus. And it is best to hear his own relation as follows.
[899] This is rightly understood of Macrianus, by whose treachery Valerian came under the power of the Persians. Aurelius Victor, Syncellus, and others, testify that Valerian was overtaken by that calamity through the treachery of his generals.
[901] προστάς. But Valesius would read προσστάς, adstans.
[902] προσπελάσας is the reading of three of the codices and of Nicephorus; others give προπελάσας.
[903] [Rom. xiii. 4, 6. St. Paul’s strong expressions in this place must explain these expressions. A prince was, quoad hoc, comparatively speaking, godly and pious, as he “attended continually to this very thing.” So, “most religious,” in the Anglican Liturgy.]
[904] Who ever expressed himself thus,—that one after his seven years was passing his ninth year? This septennium (επταετηρίς ) must designate something peculiar, and different from the time following it. It is therefore the septennium of imperial power which he had held along with his father. In the eighth year of that empire, Macrianus possessed himself of the imperial honour specially in Egypt. After his assumption of the purple, however, Gallienus had still much authority in Egypt. At length, in the ninth year of Gallienus, that is, in 261, Macrianus the father and the two sons being slain, the sovereignty of Gallienus was recognised also among the Egyptians. And then Gallienus gave a rescript to Dionysius, Pinna, and Demetrius, bishops of Egypt, to re-establish the sacred places,—a boon which he had granted in the former year. The ninth year of Gallienus, moreover, began about the midsummer of this year; and the time at which this letter was written by Dionysius, as Eusebius observes, may be gathered from that, and falls consequently before the Paschal season of 262 a.d.—Pearson, p. 72. Gall.
Epistle XII.—To the Alexandrians.
[905] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vii. 22. Eusebius prefaces the 21st chapter of his seventh book thus: “When peace had scarcely yet been established, he (Dionysius) returned to Alexandria. But when sedition and war again broke out, and made it impossible for him to have access to all the brethren in that city, divided as they then were into different parties, he addressed them again by an epistle at the Passover, as if he were still an exile from Alexandria.” Then he inserts the epistle to Hierax; and thereafter, in ch. xxii., introduces the present excerpt thus: “After these events, the pestilence succeeding the war, and the festival being now at hand, he again addressed the brethren by letters, in which he gave the following description of the great troubles connected with that calamity.”
[906] οὐχ ὅπως τῶν ἐπιλύπων is the reading of Codices Maz., Med., and Savil.; others give, less correctly, ἐπιλοίπων.
[907] The text gives, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ εἴ τις περιχαρὴς ὃν οἰηθεῖεν μάλιστα, which is put probably for the mere regular construction, ὃν οἵοιντο ἀν μάλιστα περιχαρῆ. Nicephorus reads, εἴ τις περιχαρης ὢν οἰθείη. The idea is, that the heathen could have no real festal time. All seasons, those apparently most joyous, no less than those evidently sorrowful, must be times void of all real rejoicing to them, until they learn the grace of God.
[909] Dionysius is giving a sort of summary of all the calamities which befell the Alexandrian church from the commencement of his episcopal rule: namely, first, persecution, referring to that which began in the last year of the reign of Philip; then war, meaning the civil war of which he speaks in his Epistle to Fabius; then pestilence, alluding to the sickness which began in the time of Decius, and traversed the land under Gallus and Volusianus.—Vales.
[910] ἀναμασσόμενοι τὰς ἀλγηδόνας. Some make this equivalent to mitigantes. It means properly to “wipe off,” and so to become “responsible” for. Here it is used apparently to express much the same idea as the two preceding clauses.
[911] μόνης φιλοφροσύνης ἔχεσθαι.
[912] The phrase περίψημα πάντων refers to 1 Cor. iv. 13. Valesius supposes that among the Alexandrians it may have been a humble and complimentary form of salutation, ἐγώ ειμι περίψημά σου; or that the expression περίψημα πάντων had come to be habitually applied to the Christians by the heathen.
[913] ὑπτίαις χερσι. [See Introductory Note, p. 77.]
[914] καθαιροῦντες.
[915] ὁμοφοροῦντες.
[916] Compare Defoe, Plague in London.]
Epistle XIII.—To Hierax, a Bishop in Egypt.
[917] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vii. 21. The preface to this extract in Eusebius is as follows: “After this he (Dionysius) wrote also another Paschal epistle to Hierax, a bishop in Egypt, in which he makes the following statement about the sedition then prevailing at Alexandria.”
[918] Or, for.
[919] μεσαιτάτη τῆς πόλεως. Codex Regius gives τῶν πόλεων. The sedition referred to as thus dividing Alexandria is probably that which broke out when Æmilianus seized the sovereignty in Alexandria. See Pollio’s Thirty Tyrants.
[920] ἄπειρος. But Codices Fuk. and Savil. give ἄπορος, “impracticable.”
[921] ἀκροτόμου. It may perhaps mean “smitten” here.
[922] ᾽Εδέμ.
[923] Written Γηών in Codex Alexandrinus, but Γεών in Codex Vaticanus.
[924] ιχῶρας.
[925] ὡμογέροντας.
Epistle XIV.—From His Fourth Festival Epistle.
[926] ἐκ τῆς δ᾽ ἑορταστικῆς ἐπιστολῆς. From the Sacred Parallels of John of Damascus, Works, ii. p. 753 C, edit. Paris, 1712. In his Ecclesiastical History, book vii. ch. 20, Eusebius says: “In addition to these epistles, the same Dionysius also composed others about this time, designated his Festival Epistles, and in these he says much in commendation of the Paschal feast. One of these he addressed to Flavius, and another to Domitius and Didymus, in which he gives the canon for eight years, and shows that the Paschal feast ought not to be kept until the passing of the vernal equinox. And besides these, he wrote another epistle to his co-presbyters at Alexandria.”
[927] P. 84, note 6.
[928] P. 82, note 6.
[929] See, in the Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum of Gallandi, the Appendix to vol. xiv., added from the manuscripts, after the editor’s death by an anonymous scholar.
I.—A Commentary on the Beginning of Ecclesiastes.
[930] [Compare the Metaphrase, p. 9, supra. Query, are not these twin specimens of exegetical exercises in the school at Alexandria?]
[932] εἱς τὸν αἰῶνα.
[933] εἱς τὸὺς αἱῶνας.
[934] προαίρεσις.
[936] εἶπε, for which εἶδε, “discerned,” is suggested.
[938] περιφοράν.
[939] περιφερεται.
[940] ὡς οἶνον.
[941] Or, temporary.
[942] τέχνη.
[943] Reading προστιθεῖσα for προτιθεῖσα.
[944] ποιὸν οὐ κινησις.
[946] περισσεία.
[947] ὃς ἐλεύσεται ὀπίσω τῆς βουλῆς σύμπαντα ὅσα ἔποιησεν αὕτη.
[949] τὸ ἡγεμονικόν.
[954] ἐκ περισσεύματος.
[955] περισσόν.
[956] καθότι ἤδη τὰ πάντα ἐπελήσθη.
[958] παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ.
[960] The text gives, πῶς δὲ καὶ οὐκ παρὲκ Θεοῦ ἀσώτων βρωμάτων καὶ μέθη.
[962] Luke vi. 25; John xvi. 20.
[964] The fast of the Paschal week, and the feast that follows, are here referred to. Of course the religious salutation of the Hebrews (2 Sam. vi. 14) is the thought of Koheleth, and figuratively it is here adopted for holy mirth.]
[966] Ps. cii. 24, τὴν ὀλιγότητα τῶν ἡμερῶν μου ἀνάγγειλόν μοι.
II.—The Gospel According to Luke. An Interpretation.—Chap. XXII. 42–48
[967] παρενεγκεῖν.
[968] οὐκ ἔστι. Migne suggests οὐκέτι: “Let it no more come near me.”
[969] μετ᾽ αὐτόν. May it be, “and next to Himself” (the Father)?
[971] παρένεγκε.
[972] ἐπιεικείας.
[973] The text gives κἂν τοῦτο πάλιν τὸ εἰκτικόν, etc. Migne proposes, κἂν τούτῳ πάλιν τὸ εὐκτικόν = and Matthew again describes the supplicatory and docile in Him.
[974] Reading οὕτως for οὔτε.
[975] πατρικῆς.
[977] παρελήλυθε.
[978] ἐκτροπίας οἶνος.
[979] τροπήν.
[980] ἀνάκρασιν.
[981] The text is, ἡμᾶς ὕγια ἔδειξεν. Migne proposes ὑγίασεν.
[982] [Note this somewhat modern “explaining away.” It proves the freedom of our author from any predisposition to exegetical exaggeration, if nothing more.
[984] This sentence is supposed to be an interpolation by the constructor of the Catena.
[985] The text is, τῆς δουλείας. Migne suggests, τῆς δειλίας ="the feeling of our fear.”
[986] ἀναξηράνῃ.
[987] The text is, οὐδὲ ἡ σφόδρα δειλότατος, etc. We read, with Migne, εἱ instead of ἡ.
[988] [Note the following sentence, without which, as explanatory, this might be quoted as a Monothelite statement. Garbling is a convenient resource for those who claim the Fathers for other false systems.]
[989] ἀρχήν.
[990] [This seems to be a quotation from the Alexandrian Fathers showing how early such questions began to be agitated. Settled in the Sixth Council, a.d. 681, the last “General Council.”]
[991] γνώμη, gnomè.
[992] θέλημα γνωμικόν.
[993] μάλιστα ἴσως παντι ἀνθρώπῳ.
[998] Some such clause as ιαθῆναι δύναται requires to be supplied here.
[999] Reading οὕτω for οὔτε.
[1000] Reading ᾡτινιοῦν for ὁτιοῦν.
[1001] ῥυθμίζειν.
[1002] Another fragment from the Vatican Codex, 1611, fol. 291. See also Mai, Bibliotheca Nova, vi. 1. 165. This is given here in a longer and fuller form than in the Greek of Gallandi in his Bibliotheca, xiv., Appendix, p. 115, as we have had it presented above, and than in the Latin of Corderius in his Catena on Luke xxii. 42, etc. This text is taken from a complete codex.
[1003] δύναμις.
[1004] λιπαρῶς.
[1005] τοῦ θανάτου τὸ ὑψωμα.
[1006] παραφέρεις.
[1007] ει δὲ οὐκ ἔπιον αὐτὸ ἤδη καὶ ἀνήλωσα· ἀλλὰ δέος μή ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πλήρης ἐπικειμένου καταποθείην.
[1008] κεκενωμένος.
[1009] [In these allegorical interpretations we see the pupil of Origen.]
IV.—An Exposition of Luke XXII. 46, Etc.
[1010] Another fragment, connected with the preceding on Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane. Edited in a mutilated form, as given by Gallandi, in his Bibliotheca, xiv. p. 117, and here presented in its completeness, as found its the Vatican Codex 1611, f. 292, b.
[1011] Reading ἤ for ην.
[1020] A fragment. Edited from the Vatican Codex 1996, f. 78, belonging to a date somewhere about the tenth century.
[1021] Reading πολλοῦ γε δεῖ. The text gives πόλυ γε δεῖ.
[1022] ἀτμίς. If this strange reading ἀτμίς is correct, there is apparently a play intended on the two words πνεῦμα and ἀτμίς, = if God is a πνεῦμα, which word literally signifies Wind or Air, Christ, on that analogy, may be called ἀτμίς that is to say, the Vapour or Breath of that Wind.
[1023] That the Son is not different from the Father in nature, but connatural and consubstantial with Him. From the Panoplia of Euthymius Zigabenus in the Cod. xix. Nanianæ Biblioth.
[1024] [See his explanations in the epistle to Dionysius p. 92, supra.]
VII.—On the Reception of the Lapsed to Penitence.
[1025] A fragment, probably by the Alexandrian Dionysius. This seems to be an excerpt from his works On Penitence, three of which are mentioned by Jerome in his De Script. Eccl., ch. 69. See Mai, Classici Auctores, x. 484. It is edited here from the Vatican Codex.
[1026] τοῖς παλαμναιοις δαίμοσι. Or, with the demons of vengeance.
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