[1]In one of Eusebius's works (the _Præparatio Evangelica_) he is quoted
side by side with great authors like Plato and Aristotle.
[2]Most of those who read this will be aware that {pais} (Lat. _puer_)
can be used in various senses, like our "boy" and French _garçon_.
[3]Not the Prefect of Egypt of that name mentioned by Dionysius on p. 46,
though he did afterwards try to usurp the throne (see p. 16).
[4]For Dionysius's share in this dispute see his letter on p. 50.
[5]Dionysius's phrase about him on p. 66 is "tutor and chief ruler of
Egyptian magicians"; see note 3 _in loco_.
[6]This Æmilianus was one of several who afterwards attempted to seize
the throne; see above, p. 14. Macrianus was another of them in Egypt
(p. 68, _n._).
[7]The office indicated seems to be the same as that of _Rationalis_
mentioned above on p. 16.
[8]I was much assisted in drawing up this summary of {peri Physeôs} and
also in writing the notes upon the extracts from the text by Professor
H. Jackson, of Cambridge fame.
[9]The particular passage, however, adduced by Procopius above is Gen.
iii. 21.
[10]On this point C. H. Turner's article in Hastings's _Dictionary of the
Bible_, Vol. V, pp. 496 f. (on Patristic Commentaries), may be
consulted.
[11]The passage on Luke xxii, quoted by Dr. Sanday (_Inspiration_, p.
36), is of very doubtful authenticity.
[12]"Martyr" in this case need not necessarily be taken strictly as
meaning "one put to death for the Faith," though no doubt the mediæval
tradition was in favour of his martyrdom in that sense.
[13]It looks as if Dionysius was afraid to mention his name. Perhaps it
was Sabinus the Prefect. The word "poet" in Greek means properly
"maker," and there is evidently a _double entendre_ in its use here.
[14]_i. e._ against Christ (1 Cor. xii. 3).
[15]The reference is to Heb. x. 34. It will be noticed that Dionysius
attributes this Epistle to S. Paul, either inadvertently or in
accordance with the Alexandrine tradition, which Origen also accepts
(Eus., _H. E._, vi. 25).
[16]Viz. the revolt of Decius in Oct. 249.
[17]_i. e._ Philip the Arabian, who was popularly supposed to be half a
Christian.
[18]The reference is obviously to Matt. xxiv. 24 (Mark xiii. 22) though
Dionysius has substituted "cause to stumble" ({skandalisai}) for
"cause to go astray" ({planêsai} or {apoplanan}).
[19]The reference is very loosely to Matt. xix. 23 and 25.
[20]Viz. those who held no prominent position; the ordinary folk.
[21]Cp. Gal. ii. 9.
[22]Cp. Acts xxviii. 23 and Rev. i. 9.
[23]There is evidently an allusion here to Matt. v. 11 and Luke vi. 22.
[24]Viz. the _ungulæ_, with which the flesh was torn from the bones.
[25]Only three are mentioned in the text.
[26]_i. e._ some time between 251, when persecution ended with the death
of Decius, and 257, when Valerian revived it.
[27]The first was a martial offence, the second a civil.
[28]_i. e._ by being allowed to follow Christ's example.
[29]This was the _catasta_, or platform, which corresponded to our
prisoner's dock.
[30]Dionysius's language recalls 2 Cor. ii. 14; Col. ii. 15 is different.
[31]Cf. Heb. xi. 38.
[32]_i. e._ they showed themselves worthy of being among the elect.
[33]A range of hills to the east of the Nile seems to have been so
called.
[34]On the marriage of the clergy at this time, see Bingham, _Antiq._,
IV, v. [S] 5.
[35]This is probably the earliest extant mention of the Saracens--at
least by that name.
[36]The opinion that the martyrs passed at once to heaven and shared His
throne was general among the early Fathers (see Matt. xix. 28 and 1
Cor. vi. 2, 3).
[37]Cp. Ezek. xviii. 23, xxxiii. 11, 2 Pet. iii. 9.
[38]These expressions are not to be pressed as if they assumed episcopal
authority.
[39]Cp. Gal. i. 20.
[40]_i. e._ in October 249.
[41]The Prefect of Egypt.
[42]This was a kind of soldier employed on secret service by the emperors
and their provincial governors.
[43]Probably his sons, though they might be his pupils or his servants.
[44]One of "the boys."
[45]Whether Timotheus was making off to join Dionysius or was fleeing in
another direction is not clear.
[46]Cp. Mark xiv. 52.
[47]Dionysius's language here recalls 2 Cor. xi. 1, 17, 21 and xii. 6,
11.
[48]Viz. Tobit xii. 7, where the best attested reading is "to reveal
gloriously," instead of "(it is) glorious to reveal."
[49]The Prefect of Egypt at that time.
[50]Though Dionysius was Bishop, it is noticeable that he still
associates himself with the presbyterate here and elsewhere; cp. 1
Pet. v. 1, etc.
[51]Acts v. 29.
[52]Marcellus seems to be the "brother from Rome" mentioned above, and
Eusebius is not now mentioned.
[53]The word "also" either refers to the imperial edict or suggests that
some written communication had been sent.
[54]Viz. Valerian and his son Gallienus.
[55]Cp. 1 Tim. ii. 2; this laudable custom is often referred to in early
Christian writings.
[56]This restriction was constantly enforced by persecuting emperors,
because the graves of martyrs were a favourite resort for prayer and
worship. The word cemetery (=sleeping-place) was introduced by
Christians for graveyards.
[57]This is an indignant protest against Germanus's charges.
[58]1 Cor. xv. 3.
[59]Col. iv. 3.
[60]Cp. Acts xii. 25.
[61]The brethren who lived on the outskirts of a city like Alexandria
were not bound to attend the mother church, but had as it were chapels
of ease in their own vicinities.
[62]Or perhaps "carried on" (to act as thou didst).
[63]Strictly speaking, Novatian's withdrawal was not very likely to
involve actual martyrdom.
[64]The word is {katorthôma} (success); perhaps "recovery" would bring
out the antithesis to "fall" ({sphalma}) better.
[65]Gen. xix. 17 (LXX).
[66]Another reading gives "blessed" ({makarios}), which, though less well
supported by the MSS., makes the phrase {makariôs anepausato} more
pointed.
[67]This expression probably means to include the Churches of Mesopotamia
and Osroene, besides those which he proceeds to mention below.
[68]Eusebius is mistaken in identifying this peace with the cessation of
persecution: the reference is to the subsiding of the Novatianist
schism in 254 which restored peace to Christendom. The surprise and
joy were due to the violence of the language and other measures which
the chief combatants (Stephen and Cyprian) had employed.
[69]Hadrian's colony in Mount Sion was so named (A.D. 132). Later on the
older and more glorious name of Jerusalem was restored to the see.
[70]Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia (+ A.D. 260), and one of Origen's
distinguished pupils. On the baptismal controversy he sided with
Cyprian of Carthage.
[71]The adroit reference to the wonted liberality of the Roman Church is
to be noted: other instances are given by Salmon, _Infallibility_, p.
375.
[72]Here again Dionysius shows his adroitness, if Benson (_Cyprian_, p.
357) is right in thinking that the list of churches he gives suggests
a repetition of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Ghost (Acts ii.
9 f.).
[73]Cp. the letter to Dionysius, p. 58.
[74]Lev. xxiv. 13-16.
[75]The word here used represents {mystêrion}, denoting the Christian
revelation as {mystêrion} often does.
[76]Cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 22 and Gal. i. 8, 9.
[77]The former are converts from heathenism, or perhaps from heresy; the
latter Christians who have lapsed.
[78]The word here is the Greek {cheirotonia} in Syriac letters, and so
might also be rendered "ordination."
[79]The MSS. from which this extract comes state that it is from a letter
to Dionysius and Stephanus of Rome. No such letter is otherwise known,
and it is not likely that Stephen's name would come second, as he was
then bishop and Dionysius only a presbyter, though later on he became
bishop. Possibly it is from the letter which our Dionysius tells us he
wrote to his Roman namesake and Philemon when they were of the same
opinion as Stephen: see p. 55. As far as the contents of the extract
go, it is not at all incredible that Dionysius was willing to admit
the validity of such baptisms as are specified: it was only heresies
of a very fundamental kind which he considered to invalidate baptism.
[80]The successor to Stephanus in 257 as Bishop of Rome: he was martyred
after one year's reign.
[81]This was, according to Benson (_Cyprian_, p. 354), a threat which he
did not actually carry into effect, and was only meant to restrain
them from adopting Cyprian's attitude on the matter.
[82]_i. e._ those of Iconium and Synnada (_circ._ 230): Dionysius may
also be referring to the three much more recent councils which Cyprian
had held at Carthage between 254 and 256 (_i. e._ since his letter to
Stephen above). By this time he had by patient inquiry found out much
more than he had known at first of what was necessary to be known
before coming to a decision.
[83]_Cf._ 1 Cor. vi. 11 and v. 7, 8.
[84]See note on p. 54. Dionysius became afterwards Bishop of Rome in 259:
a fragment of a letter from our Dionysius to him is printed on p. 58.
His famous letter to our Dionysius on the Sabellian controversy is not
included in this volume. Part of a letter to Philemon is given on p.
56. He was a Roman Presbyter.
[85]On the north-west coast of Cyrenaica, one of the five chief cities
which gave its name to the Libyan Pentapolis. Sabellius denied the
three Persons in the Trinity, and held that the Person of the Father
who is One with the Son was incarnate in Christ: see further p. 19.
[86]There seems no doubt that this is the right reading here, though most
of the MSS. read "God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ"; but
clearly Dionysius is only speaking of God the Father in this clause
and of Jesus Christ in the next. See 2 Cor. i. 2, Eph. i. 3, etc.
[87]It was Dionysius's treatment of this subject which afterwards gave
Arius the heresiarch of Alexandria an opening for claiming his
teaching in support of his own tenets, though there is no Arian
suggestion, of course, in this phrase: see p. 20.
[88]Col. i. 15.
[89]Eus., _H. E._ vii. 26, mentions letters to Ammonius, Bishop of
Bernice, Telesphorus Euphranor and Euporus in this connexion.
Athanasius appears only to have known one joint letter to Ammonius and
Euphranor.
[90]Dionysius seems to distinguish here two kinds of writings: (1) those
that were based on systematic research and criticism, and (2) those
that handed on the more traditional and less critical views and
statements of the past.
[91]Divine interposition is more vaguely suggested above on p. 44. S.
Augustine's statement should also be compared, that at a critical
moment of his conversion he heard a voice saying, "Take and read"
(_Conf._ vii. 12, [S] 29); S. Polycarp likewise heard a voice from
heaven saying, "Be strong and play the man," as he was led into the
arena.
[92]See Introduction, p. 11.
[93]This is one of the more common apocryphal sayings usually attributed
to our Lord: hence the epithet "apostolic" is somewhat strange.
[94]The word for "Father" here is {papas} (pope), a colloquial form of
{patêr} applied to any bishop (or even to one of the inferior clergy
sometimes) in the first ages. For Heraclas see p. 11. It is to be
noticed, however, that this canon of his dealt not with heretical
baptism (such as Dionysius is dealing with), but with actual or
reputed perverts, and stated the terms on which they were to be
restored to the Church of their baptism.
[95]_i. e._ the Church in Africa Proconsularis, of which Carthage was the
metropolis and Cyprian the metropolitan.
[96]Iconium was the chief city of Lycaonia (see Acts xiii. and xiv.), and
Synnada was an important town in Phrygia Salutaris. These synods had
been held some twenty-five years before (in A.D. 230).
[97]Deut. xix. 14.
[98]See above, p. 53.
[99]A confession of faith has always been required before baptism: this
Novatian virtually ignored by his action.
[100]Here as elsewhere Dionysius shows his breadth of view about God in
recognizing that the Holy Spirit might in some measure remain even
with the lapsed.
[101]It is strange that so old a believer should never have noticed the
difference before, but baptism was almost entirely confined at that
time to Easter and Whitsuntide, and he may have always been absent.
[102]Cp. 1 Cor. xiv. 16. The Amen is either that after the Consecration
of the Elements or at the Reception of them.
[103]"Standing" was, and is still, the posture in the East: Scudamore,
_Not. Euch._, p. 637.
[104]A somewhat rare word for "Altar" without some descriptive epithet
like "holy" or "mystic."
[105]The _Consistentes_ were the last order of penitents, who were
allowed to remain after the dismissal of the catechumens and other
penitents, but did not join in the oblation or communion itself: cf.
Canons of Nicæa, No. xi.
[106]The letter from which this is supposed to be an extract is said by
Eusebius (_H. E._ vi. 46, 2) to have been on the subject of
Repentance, and may possibly be "the instruction" which Dionysius says
he had given on p. 42 above.
[107]Viz. under the impression that they were going to die.
[108]_i. e._ after thus pledging ourselves to them.
[109]Cf. 1 Pet. ii. 3, where Ps. xxxiii. (xxxiv.) 9 is quoted.
[110]Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 7, etc.
[111]The reference is to Luke xv. 4 ff. and Ezek. xxxiv. 6, etc.
[112]Dionysius is thinking perhaps of the story in Tobit v. 6, where
Raphael becomes the companion of Tobit's son Tobias on his journey.
[113]On the principle that "charity thinketh no evil ... but hopeth all
things" (1 Cor. xiii.): similar but not identical phrases (in words or
sense) are found 1 Cor. xvi. 17, 2 Cor. ix. 12, xi. 9, Phil. ii. 30,
and Col. i. 24.
[114]The difficulties of soldiers becoming and remaining Christians were
peculiarly great under the early Emperors.
[115]That is, some had not yet been called upon to be actual martyrs,
Dionysius among them who was still in exile.
[116]Is. xlix. 8.
[117]These were the same civil officials as those mentioned in Acts vi.
20 at Philippi, with their servants, there called lictors
({rhabdouchoi}): the soldiers belonged to the centurion, of course.
[118]This has already been described on p. 44.
[119]Including Timotheus who had been the means of his escape.
[120]A town on the coast 150 miles west of Alexandria.
[121]He and the three deacons have already been mentioned on p. 46. They
must have left Dionysius when he went into exile and returned to
Alexandria.
[122]"In the island," according to Rufinus's version, but it is not clear
what island he means: the pestilence is probably one of those frequent
epidemics which devastated North Africa and other districts of the
empire.
[123]The epithet "perfect," though applied to believers generally in the
New Testament (Matt. v. 28, etc.), was later specially used of
martyrs.
[124]Gallus succeeded to the empire on the death of Decius and his sons
in 251, and reigned till 253, when it was wrested from him by Æmilian,
who was in turn ousted by Valerian after four months' rule. Dionysius
makes no mention of this episode, though he does of Macrian's attempt
later.
[125]The quotation is from Rev. xiii. 5, but the last words follow a
reading which has no support in the MSS. It should also be noticed
that Dionysius does not think it at all certain that the author of the
Revelation is the Evangelist: see p. 86.
[126]Valerian reigned from 253 till his disappearance in 260. The
duration of the persecution was forty-two months, from before
midsummer 257 till late in 260.
[127]Here the expression means Christians generally, not prophets or
clergy as often.
[128]Alexander Severus and Philip the Arabian are no doubt meant.
[129]Compare such expressions in S. Paul's letters as Rom. xvi. 5, 1 Cor.
xvi. 11, etc.
[130]No doubt Macrianus is meant, who is mentioned further on, but it is
difficult to account for the exact epithets which Dionysius here
applies to him. Apparently he had been Valerian's tutor in some kind
of magic, and had allied himself somehow with the Jewish colony in
Alexandria (hence {archisynagôgos}), who would, of course, be hostile
to the Christians.
[131]Christian exorcists must be meant, though the claim to supernatural
powers which Dionysius makes for them is sufficiently remarkable.
[132]This was a frequent charge against the Christians themselves. Here
Dionysius turns it against their persecutors in Egypt.
[133]It is very difficult, without a knowledge of Latin and Greek, to
understand Dionysius's play on words throughout this section. The
office which Macrianus held was that of, in Latin, _Rationalis or
Procurator summæ rei_, in Greek {ho epi tôn katholou logôn} (something
like our Chancellor of the Exchequer): hence Dionysius says he was not
_rational_ (or reasonable) in his treatment of the Christians and
showed no _catholic_ spirit towards them.
[134]Ezek. xiii. 3. Dionysius takes the last phrase ({to katholou}), as
if it was the object of the verb, not an adverb, in order to suit his
argument.
[135]This may perhaps mean that besides his other faults Macrianus was
tainted with the atheistic views of the Epicureans, while Dionysius
also alludes in this sentence to the accounts which Macrianus would
have to present to the Emperor of his own administration.
[136]Cf. Eph. iv. 6 and Col. i. 17.
[137]Another play on words, as if Macrianus was derived from the Greek
{makros} (far off), which is somewhat doubtful.
[138]Is. lxvi. 3, 4 (LXX). Here the reference is to Valerian falling into
the hands of Sapor, the Persian King, who inflicted grievous insults
upon him, and kept him in captivity till his death.
[139]Macrianus was lame of one leg. After Valerian's defeat and
disappearance (in 260), for which he was himself largely responsible,
Macrianus and his two sons, Macrianus junior and Quietus, made an
abortive attempt to seize the throne, which was soon defeated.
[140]Ex. xx. 5.
[141]The two Macriani were defeated and slain by Aureolus, another
usurper, in Illyricum, and Quietus was put to death in the East.
[142]Dionysius is still speaking of Macrianus, who had incited Valerian
to attack the Persians, and then had himself attacked Gallienus and
tried to usurp the throne.
[143]Is. xlii. 9, but Dionysius has substituted, for the last phrase, a
phrase from xliii. 19. The original prophecy applies to the triumph of
Cyrus and the conversion of the world to the worship of Jehovah. Its
application in the text strikes us to-day as too fanciful.
[144]Whether Gallienus himself was really a Christian is very doubtful,
but his wife, Cornelia Salonina, seems to have been.
[145]This is a very obscure calculation, but the upshot of it may be as
follows: Gallienus was associated with his father Valerian as Emperor
seven years (253-60), then Macrianus usurped the power (in Egypt) for
one year, or rather more; thus Gallienus regained the power in his
ninth year (_i. e._ after midsummer 261). Gallienus's original Edict
of Peace was issued in Oct. 260, but the Rescript applying it to Egypt
was delayed for some time. The Easter festival for which this letter
was written, therefore, must have been that of 262.
[146]Cf. 1 Cor. v. 8.
[147]Exod. xii. 30.
[148]I have translated the Berlin editor's reading here, as being the
least unsatisfactory of those proposed. Others give a text which may
be rendered: "I would this were all: for the things that befell us
before drove us into many grievous troubles." But the exact meaning is
doubtful, however we take it.
[149]This epithet for martyrs has already occurred on p. 64.
[150]This is none other than a quotation from Pericles's speech about the
plague at Athens in Thucyd. ii. 64, though in Dionysius's original
phrase it sounds as if he meant some local minor historian.
[151]The word Dionysius uses here is the same as S. Paul, uses (1 Cor.
iv. 13: {peripsêma}, offscouring). It is said to have been used at
Athens of the human scapegoats thrown into the river in time of
famine: "Be thou my expiation ({peripsêma})." Elsewhere it seems to
have degenerated into a sort of extravagant compliment: "I am your
humble servant ({peripsêma})." Dionysius suggests it might regain its
more serious meaning in the present case.
[152]Here again Dionysius uses an expression suggested by S. Paul in
Phil. iii. 8.
[153]It is not clear whether Dionysius actually alludes here to the
well-protected harbours of Alexandria or (more loosely) to the Lake
Mareotis: probably to the former, because the canal he refers to in
the next sentence (though he calls it a river) was cut from the Nile
into one of the harbours and passed at the back of the city between it
and the Lake Mareotis.
[154]Cf. Ps. lxxvii. 13, cxxxvi. 4, and Wisd. xi. 4. The whole passage,
of course, refers to Exod. xiv. and xvii.
[155]Cf. Exod. vii. 20, 21.
[156]_i. e._ if the biggest river and the ocean itself, as he proceeds
exaggeratedly to claim, cannot do so, what other cleansing can there
be?
[157]Cf. Gen. ii. 10 ff. Dionysius evidently adopts the later Jewish view
that the Gihon was the Nile, Æthiopia (or Cush) being identified with
Egypt.
[158]The meaning of the phrase employed by Dionysius here ("hale old
men") comes from Homer, _Il._ xxiii. 791 (cf. Virg., _Æn._ vi. 304);
but elsewhere a very similar phrase seems to suggest "a cruel,
untimely old age."
[159]Evidently at Alexandria (the capital of that country which was the
chief granary of Rome) either the necessitous citizens or perhaps all
between forty and seventy were entitled to receive doles of corn; but
now the relief was extended to all ages between fourteen and eighty.
[160]Either the heathen are meant, who ought to tremble and be convinced,
or the Christians, who were too courageous through trust in God to
tremble.
[161]The last sentence is involved and obscure. I am not sure that my
paraphrase rightly expresses the thought.
[162]I have adopted our modern mode of expression, but in the early
Church Pascha was often used for the fast which receded Easter as well
as for the feast itself, and that is how Dionysius uses it here.
[163]_i. e._ at 3 a.m. on Easter Day, the traditional hour of our Lord's
Resurrection, especially in the West.
[164]_i. e._ at 6 p.m. on Easter Eve.
[165]"All," _i. e._ "who came," or perhaps "all the four evangelists."
The "difference" is not really confined to the time, but to the
parties which came, the other devout women coming later than the two
Marys.
[166]The four references are to Matt. xxviii. 1, John xx. 1, Luke xxiv.
1, and Mark xvi. 2.
[167]Cf. John ix. 5, etc.
[168]The Council _in Trullo_ (A.D. 680) accepted this second meaning and
consented to Dionysius's ruling on the point raised without reserve.
[169]Dionysius thinks that S. Matthew's account, with which S. John's
tallies, speaks of the two Marys coming to look at the tomb about
midnight on Easter eve or morning, while S. Luke and S. Mark mentioned
certain women who arrived at the tomb somewhat later, when the sun had
just risen, but one at least of the Marys mentioned by S. Matthew is
identical with one of those mentioned by S. Mark and apparently by S.
Luke. Possibly, however, Dionysius means that the two Marys took part
in both visits to the tomb. Dr. Swete on S. Mark and Dr. Westcott on
S. John should be consulted by any one who wishes to pursue the
question further.
[170]_i. e._ as on the former occasion mentioned by S. Matthew and S.
Mark.
[171]The author of this saying (which is equivalent to our proverb, "A
miss is as good as a mile") is not known. Basil (_de Baptism._ ii. i)
quotes something like it, but with a different turn, and he, too,
attributes it to "one of our wise men," but perhaps he is only
referring to Dionysius in this passage.
[172]Cf. Matt. xiv. 26.
[173]He means the six days of what we call Holy Week, but he gives no
indication whether the Lenten fast was then confined to those days in
Alexandria and the Pentapolis or lasted longer. By "equally" he
proceeds to explain is meant the length of the fasting (six days or
two, and so on), and by "similarly" the manner or degree of it (till
cockcrow or till evening).
[174]The verb used ({hypertithenai}, Lat. _superponere_, to exceed) is
the technical one for this prolonged fast: the ordinary fast ended at
6 p.m. and that of the station days (Wednesday and Friday) at 3 p.m.
[175]Cf. 1 Pet. iii. 8 and Phil. ii. 20.
[176]The expression comes from Acts xiii. 2, where, however, it describes
a special act of worship rather than "ministering" in general.
[177]Nepos had apparently been Bishop of Arsenoe in Egypt, and was the
author of a work ({Elenchos Allêgoristôn}) putting forward grossly
material views of the Millennium. Dionysius refuted it in a carefully
prepared treatise in two books. This extract is from the second book,
and deals chiefly with the authorship of the Revelation of St. John
the Divine in a way very characteristic of his large-hearted and
broad-minded spirit.
[178]Or Dionysius may mean that he had encouraged the singing of the
Psalms in service.
[179]Cf. Tit. ii. 13, 2 Thess. ii. 8, etc.
[180]The reference is to 2 Thess. ii. 1 and 1 John iii. 2.
[181]It does not appear to whom Dionysius addressed this treatise, but he
usually did address what he wrote to some particular person.
[182]Here the two offices are conjoined as in 1 Tim. v. 17. The "teacher"
as an officer of the Church is mentioned in several of the early
Church Orders.
[183]Nothing more is known of him: either he had succeeded to the
leadership since the death of Nepos, or on this particular occasion
took the lead.
[184]The allusion is probably to Gaius of Rome and his school rather than
to the Alogi, as they were called, of the East; but both these bodies
were strongly opposed to Millenarian views.
[185]If this refers to a formal division into chapters, it disappeared
afterwards, for a new division was devised in the sixth century, on
which our present system is partly based.
[186]Dionysius plays here on the meaning of the Greek word for
Revelation, {apokalypsis}, "unveiling." He is fond of such a device.
[187]If that is the meaning of the words employed, then "saints"
({hagioi}) is not used in its New Testament sense for the "faithful"
generally, but a distinction is made more like the later use of the
word for those who attained higher saintliness than the rest; but
perhaps the phrase for "churchmen" implies "clerical or ecclesiastical
persons," and "saints" has its earlier sense.
[188]Cerinthus was the earliest exponent of Gnostic views, and as such
much abhorred by St. John the Apostle.
[189]_i. e._ reckoning that it is a matter where faith rather than reason
should act; or perhaps the translation should be "giving more weight
to (the author's) trustworthiness."
[190]This title is to be noticed, as the author himself never actually
describes himself by it. Dionysius is much more cautious as to the
authorship than Origen, his former master, who attributed the book to
St. John the Evangelist without hesitation, according to Eusebius, _H.
E._ vi. 25, 9.
[191]Rev. xxii. 7, 8: but Dionysius has no authority for joining the
latter clause on to the former, its construction being "it is I John
who saw and heard."
[192]_i. e._ the First Epistle of St. John; the second and third were not
so described at first and rightly so.
[193]Rev. i. 1, 2. One might almost think Dionysius was quoting from
memory, for he follows no extant text in omitting "God" before "gave"
(thus making Jesus Christ the subject and "him" = "to John") and "the
things which must come to pass" before "speedily": also he substitutes
"his testimony" for "the testimony of Jesus Christ," though "his"
still = "Jesus Christ."
[194]Rev. i. 4.
[195]Dionysius seems to contrast the "Divine revelation" of the Epistle
which we can trust with that of the Book so-called about which he felt
less sure.
[196]1 John i. 1.
[197]Matt. xvi. 17. Dionysius substitutes the adjective "heavenly" for
"which is in heaven."
[198]Rev. i. 9. Here again the text is somewhat inaccurate "in the
patience of Jesus" having no support elsewhere.
[199]Rev. xxii. 7. See note on p. 86, above.
[200]It would seem likely, but by no means certain, that Dionysius is
speaking of strictly baptismal names here. We have very slight grounds
for being sure that the custom of connecting the giving of a name at
baptism was universal as early as this.
[201]See Acts xii. 25 and xiii. 5.
[202]_Ibid._, xiii. 13.
[203]This assertion is taken almost verbatim from Eus., _H. E._ iii. 39,
where a passage is also quoted from Papias in which John the Elder is
mentioned as well as John the Apostle among the Lord's disciples.
[204]This is the second argument which Dionysius adduces, but he seems as
if he now includes the third with it. See above.
[205]John i. 1, and 1 John i. 1, 2.
[206]Cf. 1 John iv. 2.
[207]_Ibid._, i. 2, 3.
[208]It looks as if this phrase may be a marginal gloss on the Light,
which has crept into the text, as it occurs nowhere in the writings of
St. John nor elsewhere in the New Testament; but the same might be
said of the "adoption" below, and one or two others of the other
phrases are quite rare in St. John's writings, so that they may be all
instances of the thoughts, not the words being identical in the two
books.
[209]The reference is to such passages as 2 Cor. xii. 1 ff., Gal. i. 12,
ii. 2, etc.
[210]This is the third argument.
[211]A rather forced and fanciful statement. Dionysius appears loosely to
refer to 1 Cor. xii. 8, somewhat boldly substituting "of speech" ({tês
phraseôs}) for St. Paul's "of wisdom."
[212]Cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 6 and 8.
[213]_i. e._ the results not of design but of the fortuitous intersection
of lines of causation.
[214]Gen. i. 31.
[215]The argument appears to be that, as on a small scale design is
"evident in the construction or repairing of a thing but is absent in
its decay," so the orderly creation and maintenance of the Universe on
the large scale implies intelligent direction.
[216]Hesiod (_Works and Days_, 554) is meant, but of course 100 stands
here, as elsewhere, for an indefinitely large number.
[217]The point is that movement which is useful suggests design: but as
the movement of the atoms is without design, it cannot be useful.
[218]Ps. cxxxviii. (cxxxix.) 16. Dionysius quotes the best text here of
LXX, but his application is rather obscure. Apparently he means that
the Epicureans claimed to know without either revelation or research
what the Psalmist knew only by revelation from God.
[219]Dionysius says that even the spider has more notion of design than
the atoms, but the sarcasm is not quite to the point.
[220]1 Cor. xv. 41.
[221]"God ever brings like to like."--Homer, _Od._ xvii. 218, a proverb
quoted both by Plato and Aristotle.
[222]Dionysius is probably thinking of Plato's _Timæus_ 56B, where the
pyramid is said to be the geometrical shape of fire which is the
principal constituent of the bodies of the stars (Professor H.
Jackson).
[223]Dionysius is here referring to such a passage as Gen. i. 6 ff. No
doubt the ancients thought the vault of heaven was solid, enclosing
the atmosphere which covers the earth, and that the stars were either
fixed upon it or moved in their courses on its surface.
[224]Ps. civ. 23.
[225]_i. e._ the sun's yearly (as opposed to its daily) course.
[226]"The righteous" here is a very unusual equivalent for "the
Christians": it is possible, however, that the translation is:
"however much these men disagree, being but poor creatures, though
righteous enough in their own estimate."
[227]Ecclus. xliii. 5.
[228]The idea is of some stars being solitary, like a Greek or Roman
colony ({apoikia}) with a constitution of its own, and of others
grouping themselves into constellations or communities ({synoikia}).
The colony had a founder ({oikistês}), the community or household
would have some sort of controller ({oikodespotês}).
[229]Ecclus. xvi. 26 f.
[230]The natural motion of atoms was downwards, but there was also a
slight sideward motion, and when they impinged a motion upwards by
blows and tossings, and this produced the shape of things. But
Dionysius here says, how is that theory consistent with the orderly
march of the stars?
[231]Dionysius here plays on the derivation of {atomoi}, from {temnein}
(= to cut).
[232]Amos iii. 3 (LXX). The A.V. and R.V. give the more exact meaning
"agreed" to the last word.
[233]Hesiod, _Works and Days_, iv. 408 and 411.
[234]Viz. the heathen, to whom the poets were to some extent what the
prophets are to us Christians.
[235]Jer. xlviii. 10.
[236]The happiness of the King of Persia was proverbial: see Hor., _Od._
ii. 12, 21, iii. 9, 4.
[237]By "Necessity" here Dionysius means not "Fate" in the fatalist's
sense, but that supreme Will and Purpose of God, which is opposed to
the Epicurean doctrine of chance.
[238]The title here given ({hypothêkai}) is not given in the list of
Democritus's works, but the {hypomnêmata êthika} may be meant.
[239]It is impossible to reproduce the play upon words here, {eutychê tên
phronêsin, emphronestatên tên tychên}. The reference seems to be to
such poetical passages as Soph., _O. T._ 977 ff., and Eur., _Alc._ 785
ff., where the practical wisdom of leaving the future to take care of
itself is extolled.
[240]Epicurus himself contended that by {hêdonê} (pleasure) he meant not
sensual enjoyments so much as freedom from pain of body and from
disturbance of soul ({ataraxia}), the source of which was largely in
the exercise of the mind and will: see Zeller, _Stoics, Epicureans and
Sceptics_, pp. 473 ff.
[241]The words quoted ({dôtêras eaôn}) are a Homeric phrase, e. g. _Od._
viii. 325 and 335.
[242]The derivation from {theein} is proposed by Plato, _Cratyl._ 397 C:
that from {theinai} by Herod, ii. 52, and of the two the latter is the
more likely ({root}{the}) though Curtius suggests a root {thes} = to
pray: see Peile, _Introd. to Philology_, p. 37 (3rd ed., 1875).
[243]These are probably some sort of Gnostics who took over Manichean
views of God and Matter, but not of the worst kind, for they
recognized that God had the control and disposition of matter.
[244]Some one, _i. e._ who could give them the property of being without
beginning.
[245]"Different from both," because the being without beginning is not of
the very essence of both. See further on.
[246]A curious expression, for which one would have expected the opposite
statement, viz. that the handicrafts can shape and form the materials
they deal with rather than that the materials give the necessary
methods and designs to the handicrafts which deal with them. Up to
this point Dionysius has been combating the view with which the
extract begins. The rest of the extract proceeds to show what amount
of truth there is in it.
[247]The reference here is to Manichean views of the worst kind, _i. e._
that matter is not only without beginning, but the source of evil and
altogether independent of God.
[248]_i. e._ Dionysius of Rome, to whom this treatise was addressed. This
particular "other letter" does not seem to have been known to
Eusebius, and when Athanasius quotes this extract in another of his
treatises he omits the words "to thee."
[249]Athanasius himself was sparing in his use of the term, and the Synod
of Antioch (A.D. 264) refused to accept it, as liable to
misconstruction.
[250]_i. e._ in the letter to Euphranor (about Sabellianism in Libya)
which had given rise to the Bishop of Rome's intervention.
[251]It looks as if Dionysius was in exile when he wrote this. See above,
p. 19.
[252]_i. e._ each of the two is itself and not the other, as was said
above in the case of parents and children.
[253]i. e. they had gone or sent to Rome, in order to attack him.
[254]Viz. about the plant and the ship, which he has already apologized
for as not quite appropriate.
[255]_i. e._ in Scripture, _e. g._ in such passage as Wisd. vii. 25, to
which he refers in the next sentence.
[256]Sc. in Dionysius's letter to Euphranor: cf. John x. 30, xvii. 11,
21, 22. The extract on p. 106 below deals with the same thought more
fully. In both places Dionysius's language is based on Philo's
discussion of the {logos endiathetos} and the {logos prophorikos} (the
conceived and the expressed word), _de vita Mosis_, p. 230, Cohn.
[257]i. e. _from_ the Father and _through_ the Son: Dionysius seems to
have derived this view of the Holy Spirit's Procession from his
master, Origen, though he is thinking here rather of the Mission of
the Spirit into the Church and its members than of the eternal and
necessary relations of the three Persons in the Holy Trinity to one
another, as the sentences that follow indicate.
[258]_Lit._ in their hands: a striking expression which Athanasius
borrows from Dionysius in his _Exposition of the Faith_.
[259]This is what Dionysius of Rome had imputed to our Dionysius, though
without the word "wholly" he would not have altogether discarded the
position.
[260]{Logos} is translated throughout this passage by "speech" (_i. e._
uttered words), except in the last clause, where it refers to the Son
Himself and where it must be rendered by "Word" as usual: but
obviously "speech" is only part of the full meaning of {logos}. The
whole passage should be compared with the preceding extract.
[261]Ps. xliv. (xlv.) 1: here R.V. translates {logon agathon}, "a goodly
matter," in accordance with A.V.
[262]The word used ({enkyklein}) suggests the scenic device of the
{enkyklêma}, by which some kind of change of scene was brought on to
the stage in the Greek theatre: see _Classical Dict._, s.v.