Read a work by Pierius the presbyter, who is said to have suffered
martyrdom[603] with his brother Isidore, and to have been the teacher
of the martyr Pamphilus in theology and head of the catechetical
school at Alexandria. The volume contains twelve books. The style is
clear and brilliant, and, so to say, spontaneous; there is nothing
elaborate about it, but, as it were unpremeditated, it flows along
evenly, smoothly and gently. The work is distinguished by a wealth
of argumentation. It contains much that is foreign to the present
institutions of the Church, but is possibly in accordance with older
regulations. In regard to the Father and the Son his statements are
orthodox, except that he asserts that there are two substances and
two natures, using these terms (as is clear from what follows and
precedes the passage) in the sense of hypostasis, not in the sense
given by the adherents of Arius. But in regard to the Holy Ghost
his views are dangerous and impious; for he declares that His glory
was less than that of the Father and the Son. There is a passage in
the treatise entitled _On St. Luke’s Gospel_, from which it can be
shown that the honour and dishonour of the image is the honour and
dishonour of the prototype. It is hinted, in agreement with Origen’s
absurd idea, that souls have a pre-existence. In his work on Easter
and the homily upon the prophet Hosea, the author discusses the
Cherubim made by Moses and Jacob’s pillar; he admits that they were
made, but talks nonsense about their being providentially granted,
as if they were nothing, or something else, or as if what was made
was something else; for he says that they did not exhibit any sort of
form, but absurdly asserts that they only had wings of a kind.
This Pierius was presbyter of the Church of Alexandria, when Theonas
was bishop, and Carus and Diocletian were emperors of Rome. It is
said that he was so distinguished for love of work and learning, and
that his discourses to the people were so agreeable and instructive,
that he was called “the young Origen,” since Origen at that time
enjoyed a very high reputation. They say that he was well versed in
dialectic and rhetoric, and that he voluntarily practised temperance
and poverty. According to some, he suffered martyrdom; according to
others, he spent the rest of his life at Rome after the time of the
persecution.