Dionysius

Footnotes

Introductory Note to Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria.

^[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.]

From the Second Book.

^[729] Ex Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 17.

From the Same Second Book.

^[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.

^[732] Isa. v. 7.

^[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.

From the Same Second Book.

^[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.]

^[737] Prov. viii. 30.

From the Third Book.

^[738] Ex Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 18.

From the Fourth Book.

^[739] Ex Athan., Ep. de decret. Nic. Syn., 4. 25. [P. 94, notes 1, 2, infra.]

^[740] Ps. xlv. 1.

^[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.

And Again:

^[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^[745] Of the work itself Athanasius thus speaks: Finally, Dionysius complains that his accusers do not quote his opinions in their integrity, but mutilated, and that they do not speak out of a good conscience, but for evil inclination; and he says that they are like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.]

Canon I.

^[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.

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