Field’s volumes appeared in the following order : 2 Corinthians, 1845; 1 Corinthians, 1847 ; Romans, 1849; Galatians, Ephesians, 1852; Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1855; 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1861; Hebrews (with indexes to the whole), 1862.
About the same time with the Greek edition, and under the same auspices, an English transla- tion of the Homilies was undertaken at Oxford as part of the large series of translations in the ‘Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church.’ In 1839 appeared in two parts the homilies on 1 Corinthians, translated by H. K. Cornish and J. Medley (from the Benedictine text, but modified from Savile); in 1840 those on Galatians, trans- lated anonymously, and on Ephesians, translated by W. J. Copeland; in 1841 the homilies on Romans by J. B. Morris (from Savile’s text, modified by the new collations of MSS); in 1843 a volume containing Philippians by W. C. Cotton (from Savile), Colossians by J. Ashworth, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians by J. T'weed (all these from the reissue of the Benedictine text, compared with Savile); in the same year another volume con- taining 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, also by J. Tweed (from the new Benedictine text, with Savile, and occasionally with material from colla- tions); and in 1848 the homilies on 2 Corinthians by J. Ashworth and J. F. Christie (from Field’s text, which, as above mentioned, had been pub- lished as early as 1845). ‘
44, Severianus of Gabala (commentaries or homilies on all the Epistles ?).— ‘
Severianus, bishop of Gabala, on the Syrian coast south of Antioch, is principally known to us as one of the main instruments of St. Chrysostom’s misfortunes. It was common knowledge that Chrysostom’s fame as a preacher was the cause of his selection to the episcopate of Constantinople, and therefore other Syrian bishops who had
acquired a local reputation in the pulpit were moved to follow in his footsteps, and, neglecting
their flocks, to transfer their oratorical gifts to a more comprehensive sphere. Antiochus of Ptolemais and Severian of Gabala came in this way to reside in the capital ; and whether or no they were moved by jealousy of the bishop’s preaching powers, they soon showed themselves two of the most persistent and unscrupulous of his enemies. History has not cared to tell us
PATRISTIC COMMENTARIES 507
more of them: they are visible on the stage for a moment in the light which radiates round the personality of St. Chrysostom, and when that light is withdrawn they pass on into darkness again. Nor in the case of Antiochus do any literary remains survive to enable us to judge how far his friends were justified in bestowing on him the rival appellation of the ‘Golden Mouth’ ; even Gennadius, de Viris Illustribus, 20,* knew only a single one of his homilies. Severian was perhaps the more eminent preacher of the two, and cer- tainly the more considerable exegete : Gennadius (op. cit. 21) describes him as ‘in divinis scripturis eruditus et in homiliis declamator admirabilis,’ and had read his exposition on the Galatians. The evidence of the Catenz points to his having written on at least several others of St. Paul’s epistles: Oecumenius quotes him on Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians ;+ Cramer gives several quotations from him in each of his two Catenze on Romans, many in that on 1 Corin- thians, several again on Galatians, Thessalonians, and the Pastoral epistles, while for the four epistles of the Roman captivity the colophons at the end of the Catens summarize their sources, and in each case Severian is named among them. Ephesians: Tév els riv mpds "Edeolous émirrodqy Tlav\ov Tod dmocrddou éeEnyntikGy éxdoyGv Tomos amd povis ’Qpvyévous, Tod pmakaptou *Iwdvvov, Devynpiavod, Qcoddpov. Philippians: Téy els ryy mpds Pourmyotous émurtonny é&nyntikav éxdoyav Téuos a Tod pakaplov Twdvvov IQ, Sevnpravod D. Oeodwpov ©. Colossians : Al éxdoyal Tis épunvelas Tis mapovons émioToNs €k TOU Kara tAdTOS Urouvhuaros TOO copod Kal olkovjevtKod dida- okddov “Lwdyvov Tod émuckdrou THs BaciAldos méAews Kal Levnpiavod rod TaBdrns kat Oeodépov ro} Mowoveorias* éyer kal wlav xphow Tod waxaplov Kupiddov. Philemon : Tév els rhv mpods Dirywova, emearoAny e&nynreKOv éxdoyov rouos a’. % épunvela THs émtoToAhs TOD paKaplov *Twdvvou ro Xpvoosrduov, Levypravod, Oeodpov Mowoveorias. It is clear that the statements of these colophons imply something more than the occasional use which could be made of miscellaneous homilies and the like: they are satisfied only by supposing that Severian had formally written on these epistles.t The same thing follows for 1 Corin- thians from the extensive quotations from him, 90 in number, in Cramer’s Catena. Add to this the express testimony of Gennadius for the Galatians, and we have six epistles which Severian can be proved to have expounded—whether in commen- taries, or like Chrysostom in homilies, has not so far been established. As Severian is further re- presented on each of the remaining epistles (to a ereater or less degree) in Cramer’s Catena, the deduction is a probable one, that, like his other contemporaries of the Antiochene school, his ex- position covered the whole range of the Pauline epistles.§
Severian is, as we should expect, a commentator
* Gennadius, a presbyter of Marseilles, published about A.p. 495 a supplement to the de Viris Illustribus of St. Jerome, enumer- ating exactly one hundred writers for the century that had elapsed between the original work and the continuation.