Alexander of Cappadocia
Alexander of Cappadocia.
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Translator's Biographical Notice.
[a.d. 170-233-251.] Alexander was at first bishop of a church in Cappadocia, but on his visiting Jerusalem he was appointed to the bishopric of the church there, while the previous bishop Narcissus was alive, in consequence of a vision which was believed to be divine. [1227] During the Decian persecution he was thrown into prison at Cæsarea, and died there, [1228] a.d. 251. The only writings of his which we know are those from which the extracts are made. [1229]
[1227] Euseb., Hist. Eccles., vi. 11. [Narcissus must have been born about a.d. 121. Might have known Polycarp.]
[1228] Ibid., vi. 46. [Narcissus lived till a.d. 237, and died a martyr, aged 116.]
[1229] [He was a pupil of Pantænus, continued under Clement, and defended Origen against the severity of Demetrius. Two dates which are conjectural are adjusted to these facts. I find it difficult to reconcile them with those implied by Eusebius.]
From the Epistles of Alexander.
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I. An Epistle to the People of Antioch. [1230]
Alexander, a servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ, sends greeting in the Lord to the blessed church of Antioch. Easy and light has the Lord made my bonds to me during the time of my imprisonment since I have learned that in the providence of God, Asclepiades--who, in regard to the right faith, is most eminently qualified for the office--has undertaken the episcopate of your holy church of Antioch. And this epistle, my brethren and masters, I have sent by the hand of the blessed presbyter Clement, [1231] a man virtuous and well tried, whom ye know already, and will know yet better; who also, coming here by the providence and supervision of the Master, has strengthened and increased the Church of the Lord.
[1230] A fragment. In Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., book vi. ch. xi.
[1231] It was the opinion of Jerome in his Catalogusthat the Clement spoken of by Alexander was Clement of Alexandria. This Clement, at any rate, did live up to the time of the Emperor Severus, and sojourned in these parts, as he tells us himself in the first book of his Stromateis. And he was also the friend of bishop Alexander, to whom he dedicated his book On the Ecclesiastical Canon, or Against the Jews, as Eusebius states in his Eccles. Hist., book vi. ch. xiii. (Migne). [But from the third of these epistles one would certainly draw another inference. How could he, a pupil of Clement, describe and introduce his master in such terms as he uses here?]
II. From an Epistle to the Antinoites. [1232]
Narcissus salutes you, who held the episcopate in this district before me, who is now also my colleague and competitor in prayer for you, [1233] and who, having now attained to [1234] his hundred and tenth year, unites with me in exhorting you to be of one mind. [1235]
[1232] In Euseb., Hist. Eccles., book vi. ch. xi.
[1233] sunexetazomenos moi dia ton euchon. Jerome renders it: Salutat vos Narcissus, qui ante me hic tenuit episcopalem locum et nunc mecum eundem orationibus regit.
[1234] enukos.
[1235] The text gives homoios emoi phronesai. Several of the codices and also Nicephorus give the better reading, homoios emoi homophronesai, which is confirmed by the interpretations of Rufinus and Jerome.
III. From an Epistle to Origen. [1236]
For this, as thou knowest, was the will of God, that the friendship subsisting between us from our forefathers should be maintained unbroken, yea rather, that it should increase in fervency and strength. For we are well acquainted with those blessed fathers who have trodden the course before us, and to whom we too shall soon go: Pantænus, namely, that man verily blessed, my master; and also the holy Clement, who was once my master and my benefactor; and all the rest who may be like them, by whose means also I have come to know thee, my lord and brother, who excellest all. [1237]
[1236] In Euseb., Hist. Eccles., ch. xiv.
[1237] [This contemporary tribute confirms the enthusiastic eulogy of the youthful Gregory. See p. 38, supra.]
IV. From an Epistle to Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria. [1238]
And he [1239] --i.e., Demetrius--has added to his letter that this is a matter that was never heard of before, and has never been done now,--namely, that laymen should take part in public speaking, [1240] when there are bishops present. But in this assertion he has departed evidently far from the truth by some means. For, indeed, wherever there are found persons capable of profiting the brethren, such persons are exhorted by the holy bishops to address the people. Such was the case at Laranda, where Evelpis was thus exhorted by Neon; and at Iconium, Paulinus was thus exhorted by Celsus; and at Synada, Theodorus also by Atticus, our blessed brethren. And it is probable that this is done in other places also, although we know not the fact. [1241]
[1238] In Euseb., Hist. Eccles., ch. xix.
[1239] Demetrius is, for honour's sake, addressed in the third person. Perhaps he se hagiotes or some such form preceded.
[1240] homilein.
[1241] [This precise and definite testimony is not to be controverted. It follows the traditions of the Synagogue (Acts xiii. 15), and agrees with the Pauline prescription as to the use of the charismata in 1 Cor. xiv. The chiefs of the Synagogue retained the power of giving this liberty, and this passed to the Christian authorities.]
Note by the American Editor.
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If Alexander died in the Decian persecution, it is noteworthy how far the sub-apostolic age extended. This contemporary of Cyprian was coadjutor to Narcissus, who may have seen those who knew St. John. See vol. i. p. 416, note 1, this series; also vol. i. p. 568, Fragment ii.
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theognostus hypotyposes anf06 theognostus-hypotyposes From His Seven Books of Hypotyposes or Outlines /ccel/schaff/anf06.vi.v.html
Theognostus of Alexandria
Theognostus of Alexandria.
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Translator's Biographical Notice.
[a.d. 260. I can add nothing but conjectures to the following:] Of this Theognostus we have no account by either Eusebius or Jerome. Athanasius, however, mentions him more than once with honour. Thus he speaks of him as aner logios, an eloquent or learned man. [1242] And again as Theognostos ho thaumasios kai spoudaios, the admirable and zealous Theognostus. [1243] He seems to have belonged to the Catechetical school of Alexandria, and to have flourished there in the latter half of the third century, probably about a.d. 260. That he was a disciple of Origen, or at least a devoted student of his works, is clear from Photius. [1244] He wrote a work in seven books, the title of which is thus given by Photius: [1245] The Outlines of the blessed Theognostus, the exegete of Alexandria. Dodwell and others are of opinion that by this term exegete, [1246] is meant the presidency of the Catechetical school and the privilege of public teaching; and that the title, Outlines, [1247] was taken from Clement, his predecessor in office. According to Photius, the work was on this plan. The first book treated of God the Father, as the maker of the universe; the second, of the necessary existence of the Son; the third, of the Holy Spirit; the fourth, of angels and demons; the fifth and sixth, of the incarnation of God; while the seventh bore the title, On God's Creation. [1248] Photius has much to say in condemnation of Thegnostus, who, however, has been vindicated by Bull [1249] and Prudentius Maranus. [1250] Gregory of Nyssa has also charged him with holding the same error as Eunomius on the subject of the Son's relation to the work of creation. [1251] He is adduced, however, by Athanasius as a defender of the Homoüsian doctrine.
[1242] De Decret. Nic. Syn., 25, Works, vol. i. part i. p. 230.
[1243] Epist. 4, to Serapion, sec. 9, vol. i. part ii. p. 702.
[1244] Bibl., cod. 106.
[1245] tou makariou Theognostou 'Alexandreos kai exegetou hupotuposes.
[1246] exegetou.
[1247] hupotuposeis.
[1248] De Dei Creatione.
[1249] Defens. fid. Nic., sec. ii. chap. 10. [Bull always vindicates where he can do so, on the principle of justice, for which I have contended on p. v. (prefatory) of vol. iv.]
[1250] Divinit I. C., iv. 24.
[1251] Book iii., against Eunomius.
From His Seven Books of Hypotyposes or Outlines.
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I. [1252]
The substance [1253] of the Son is not a substance devised extraneously, [1254] nor is it one introduced out of nothing; [1255] but it was born of the substance of the Father, as the reflection of light or as the steam of water. For the reflection is not the sun itself, and the steam is not the water itself, nor yet again is it anything alien; neither is He Himself the Father, nor is He alien, but He is [1256] an emanation [1257] from the substance of the Father, this substance of the Father suffering the while no partition. For as the sun remains the same and suffers no diminution from the rays that are poured out by it, so neither did the substance of the Father undergo any change in having the Son as an image of itself.
[1252] From book ii. In Athanasius, On the Decrees of the Nicene Council, sec. xxv. From the edition BB., Paris, 1698, vol. i. part i. p. 230. Athanasius introduces this fragment in the following terms:--Learn then, ye Christ-opposing Arians, that Theognostus, a man of learning, did not decline to use the expression "of the substance" (ek tes ousias). For, writing of the Son in the second book of his Outlines, he has spoken thus: The substance of the Son.--Tr.
[1253] ousia.
[1254] exothen epheuretheisa.
[1255] ek me onton epeisechthe.
[1256] The words in italics were inserted by Routh from a Catena on the Epistle to the Hebrews, where they are ascribed to Theognostus: "He Himself" is the Son.
[1257] aporrhoia.
II. [1258]
Theognostus, moreover, himself adds words to this effect: He who has offended against the first term [1259] and the second, may be judged to deserve smaller punishment; but he who has also despised the third, can no longer find pardon. For by the first term and the second, he says, is meant the teaching concerning the Father and the Son; but by the third is meant the doctrine committed to us with respect to the perfection [1260] and the partaking of the Spirit. And with the view of confirming this, he adduces the word spoken by the Saviour to the disciples: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when the Holy Spirit is come, He will teach you." [1261]
[1258] In Athanasius, Epist. 4, to Serapion, sec. 11, vol. i. part ii. p. 703.
[1259] horon.
[1260] teleiosei. [i.e., making the disciples teleioi. James i. 4.]
[1261] John xvi. 12, 13.
III. [1262]
Then he says again: As the Saviour converses with those not yet able to receive what is perfect, [1263] condescending to their littleness, while the Holy Spirit communes with the perfected, and yet we could never say on that account that the teaching of the Spirit is superior to the teaching of the Son, but only that the Son condescends to the imperfect, while the Spirit is the seal of the perfected; even so it is not on account of the superiority of the Spirit over the Son that the blasphemy against the Spirit is a sin excluding impunity and pardon, but because for the imperfect there is pardon, while for those who have tasted the heavenly gift, [1264] and been made perfect, there remains no plea or prayer for pardon.
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[1262] From Athanasius, as above, p. 155.
[1263] ta teleia.
[1264] Heb. vi. 4. [Compare Matt. xii. 31.]
pierus fragments anf06 pierus-fragments A Fragment of a Work of Pierius on the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians /ccel/schaff/anf06.vi.vi.html
Pierus of Alexandria
Pierus of Alexandria. [1265]
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Translator's Biographical Notice.
[a.d. 275.] Among the very eminent men who flourished near his own time, Eusebius mentions Pierius, a presbyter of Alexandria, and speaks of him as greatly renowned for his voluntary poverty, his philosophical erudition and his skill in the exposition of Scripture and in discoursing to the public assemblies of the Church. [1266] He lived in the latter part of the third century, and seems to have been for a considerable period president of the Catechetical school at Alexandria. Jerome says that he was called Origenes, junior; and according to Photius, he shared in some of the errors of Origen, on such subjects especially as the doctrine of the Holy Ghost and the pre-existence of souls. [1267] In his manner of life he was an ascetic. After the persecution under Galerius or Maximus he lived at Rome. He appears to have devoted himself largely to sacred criticism and the study of the text of Scripture; and among several treatises written by him, and extant in the time of Photius, we find mention made of one on the prophet Hosea. And, in addition to the Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, [1268] Photius notices twelve books of his, and praises both their composition and their matter. [1269]