Among the letters of Isidore which deal with the study of Holy Scripture in general may be mentioned Epp. i. 369; iv. 91, 140, 208, 221; v. 281, 293, 318. More nearly approaching the subject of exegesis are the letters on linguistic topics, such as that on the use of pijrore in Scripture (ii, 270), or those on Scripture synonyms [Trench, Synonyms of
* There is some reason to think that Isidore’s letters may have been translated into Syriac: two British Museum MSS (cod. dcecxxvii. = Add, 14731, sec. xi., and cod. xlix. of Rose and Forshall’s catalogue, swc. xiii.) contain selections from his correspondence. ;
+ The total number of letters thus became 2012 ; but Ritters- husius had printed in bis fourth book several that were really already in Billi, and in the same way Schott’s fifth book con- tained several that had appeared in Rittershusius.
t Fuller details about the history, MSS, and editions of the collection of Isidore’s letters will be found in a paper by the present writer, Journal of Theological Studies, 1904.
514 PATRISTIC COMMENTARIES
PATRISTIC COMMENTARIES
the New Testament, pp. xiv-xvi, does not seem to know of them] (iii. 92; iv. 180; v. 128, 203, 286, 337, 3388, 411). Far more numerous are the letters which are exegetical in the strictest sense, as explaining passages in which Isidore’s correspondents had appealed to him for help.
The prominent place which belongs here to the Pauline epistles may be explained naturally enough on the ground of their inherent difficulties ; but it also corresponds to the special veneration which Isidore displays towards the Apostle. He never tires of drawing on the resources of his vocabulary for fresh phrases with which to do him honour: St. Paul is 6 Oecméo.os Ilaidos, 7d oKedos THs Ekdoyjs, 6 TOY TOO Xpiorod vonudrwy raplas, 6 ynv kat Oddaccav pvOploas, 6 BapBdpos piocogety dvarelous (11. 124) ; 6 kopupatos [Tov vouluws roy mapbyTa Blov dia@\nodvrwv] (ili. 207); 6 rSv dvOpwrlvav mpay- pdrov akpiB@s Bacaviocas Thy piicw (ili. 351; ef. v. 74) ; 6 €& Lovdairfs érddtews evaryyedikdy unydvnua yeyovws (v. 197) ; and see especially iv. 80 (on St. Paul as the cxefos éx\oyfs, and on miracles) and v. 299 (on the reasons for our veneration of St. Paul, and on the contrast between him and those who claim to be his successors).
The following is a list of the letters, some eighty in number, which are directed exclusively or primarily to the interpretation of passages in the Pauline Epistles :—
Epp. Epp. Ro 1 = 11.213; 111.3850;] 1 Co 927 if” 265 3) vi iv. 194. 144, 12 iv. 59. TNO hig ee ED ins WO) (Gigs Vie LOZverGs, 74). 127 iy. 103. D0 Av. Gils 13" =i, 443, 444. Sivas 132% 1.56. 62523 iv, 52. 14205 i. 442) ie iv. 62. sy si, Dap, 88 1 ie 15%! iii. 399. gi8 iv. 63; 1555 vs 52. See vain, UE, Satile, 2 Co 4" ied. Ds 913 ii, 58. bei 266; 118 iv. 101. Thy ok 122 iil. 75. 129 d, 428 5) aii, IHS stink; “See Gass 182. ive Slo, IGM, 137 The Wh, OOO. Gal 18 ili. 165. ae Tah, OL aemilelOGs 13} ii. 216. Eph 2 ii. 53: TS veo Oe! A%* ii. 189, 239. 137 iv. 16. 2 ay Bey 138 “i, 456. Phi? iy. 104. TiCo 122 75499: Be iy. 22, Oh: iv. 150. « 98 1. 139. DEN ba eT 3% iii, 186, 1877, 32 7, 445, 188. 38 y. 82. Col} ini. 81. 38 iv. 6. 9° iv. 166. 45 iv. 94, giv. 108. 6’ iv. 95. Tris! in. 216 Sy. G2 iv. 42; 219. 6 iv. 129, 318 ir, 192) YEO cate 48 iv. 112. 9° iii. 176. 58 li. 124, 920. 21 71, 138. Tit 1 ii. 64; iv. 85.*
None of the printed Catenz on the Epistles have made any extended use of this large body of letters, Isidore is quoted once in Cramer’s Bodleian Catena on Romans: 78=Hp. iv. 62; eleven times in his Munich Catena on Romans: 78 as before; 88=i. 477 ; 88=iv. 51; 9'8=i1. 58; 11§=iv. 101; 191= iii, 75; 12%=iv. 220; 12%=iy. 11; 13!=ii, 216 B
* For completeness’ sake, references to the Hebrews may here he added: He 13=Epp. iil. 58; 215=iy. 146; 48=iy, 147, v. 91; 413=j, 94; 917=iv. 118; 1028=iy. 168 ; 127=iii. 184; 1216=j, 320; 1217 =iy, 26; 134=iv. 192. :
137=iv. 16; 13%=i. 456; and twice in his Catena on 1 Corinthians: 68=iv. 129, and 9° 2!=ii. 138. Among Karo and Lietzmann’s Catenz, No. vii. (on Romans) quotes, we are told, Hpp. 1245, 1244, 1323, 1337; but these letters belong exactly to that part of the collection where it is not at present possible to bring the old numeration into com- parison with the printed text—no doubt they are all to be found in Book iv.
Isidore as an independent interpreter has a terseness and directness of his own: but perhaps the reason why he is not more often qnotaks in the Catene is that his explanations are sometimes only echoes of those of Chrysostom ; compare, for instance, the comment on Ro 12 in Lp. iii. 284 with the parallel passage in the latter’s Homilies. Isidore’s panegyric on Chrysostom’s whole exposi- tion of the Romans has been mentioned above (p. 502”); and elsewhere he cites the letter of Libanius to Chrysostom as illustrating ryyv rod dodiwou Iwdvyov [sc. Chrysostom] yAGrrav Kal 7d Kaos TOv vonudtwy Kal Thy wuKvotnTa Tev évOumy- pdtwy (ii. 42). Nor was admiration for his writings divorced in Isidore’s mind from admiration for his life and character: Chrysostom is called by him (in reference to his de Sacerdotio) 6 rév rod Geot amoppyTrwv wropyrns, 0 THs év Bufavrlw éxxAnolas Kal mwaons dpbadus (i, 156): in the cause of Chrysostom he can speak plainly about one patriarch of Alex- andria, or plead boldly with another; Egypt, he says, by making use of Theophilus rdv Ardouar7 Kal Xpuoordrpyv, Tov DeogidH Kal Oeodyor KaTeToNeunoev dvOpwirov (i. 152), and he writes to Cyril, in the in- terests of peace and reconciliation, a letter that is universally understood to allude to the restoration of St. Chrysostom’s name to the diptychs (i. 370).