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Dionysius
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Introductory Note to Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria.
[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.
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