[2496] Joh. xiv. 27.
[2497] Matt. v. 9.
[2498] 1 Cor. iv. 21.
[2499] Cf. Heb. xii. 18.
[2500] Ps. cxxxii. 1, LXX.
[2501] Matt. xi. 29.
[2502] Rom. xii. 18.
[2503] Jer. xi. 14, LXX.
[2504] Matt. v. 23, 24.
[2505] 1 Cor. xiv. 16, where in the Greek giving of thanks' is eucharist.'
[2506] Matt. xxvi. 48, 49: the kiss of peace formed an integral part of the eucharistic office from primitive till mediæval times.
[2507] Attributed by Cicero to Ennius.
[2508] Prov. i. 7.
[2509] 1 Joh. iv. 18.
[2510] 1 Kings xii. 10.
[2511] Tarquin the Proud the last king of Rome was driven into exile because of his many acts of tyranny.
[2512] Nu. xii. 3.
[2513] Exod. xvii. 4.
[2514] Exod. xxxii. 31, 32.
[2515] Joh. x. 11, R.V.; Luke xv. 4, 5.
[2516] Rom. ix. 3, 4, R.V.
[2517] Eph. vi. 4.
[2518] John, Bishop of Jerusalem, who had accused Jerome of Origenism, a charge which was brought against himself by Epiphanius (see Letter LI.).
[2519] Jerome represents John as saying that he took advantage of a verse in the lesson "to preach on faith and all the dogmas of the Church" (c. Joh. Jer. ii.).
[2520] Jerome now addresses John of Jerusalem.
[2521] The Origenists.
[2522] The orthodox.
[2523] Philemon 10.
[2524] The highest and lowest offices in the Roman magistracy. Jerome insinuates that if the ordained slave was a common informer so also was John of Jerusalem.
[2525] A hit at Rufinus.
[2526] The statement that he had read 6000 volumes of Origen was attributed to Epiphanius by Rufinus and John of Jerusalem. Cf. Apol. c. Ruf. ii. c. 13.
[2527] Paulinian, who had been ordained by Epiphanius.
[2528] Sacerdotes; lit. sacrificing priests.'
[2529] Not by himself but by Epiphanius.
[2530] Otherwise Lydda, a town in the south of Judah at this time the seat of a bishopric.
[2531] Ælia Capitolina was the name given by Hadrian to the colony established by him on the site of Jerusalem.
[2532] Nu. iv. 3, LXX. A.V. follows the Hebrew.
[2533] 2 Cor. v. 17.
[2534] 1 Tim. iv. 12.
[2535] The word presbyter' means elder.
[2536] Here as frequently in Jerome the word sacerdos' is used to denote a bishop.
[2537] Probably Isidore, who had taken a view hostile to Jerome, and who at this time fell under the displeasure of Theophilus.
[2538] The execution of the decree was stopped by the sudden death of the imperial minister Rufinus.
[2539] John of Jerusalem.
[2540] Ps. xxiv. 1.
[2541] Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 19.
[2542] 1 Cor. xiii. 4-7.
[2543] 1 Cor. xiii. 13.
[2544] Eccl. iv. 12.
[2545] Cf. Col. iii. 14.
[2546] Cf. Joh. xiii. 20.
[2547] Gal. v. 15.
Letter LXXXIII. From Pammachius and Oceanus.
A letter from Pammachius and Oceanus in which they express the perplexity into which they have been thrown by Rufinus's version of Origen's treatise, On First Principles (see Letter LXXX.) and request Jerome to make for them a literal translation of the work. Written in 399 or 400 a.d.
1. Pammachius and Oceanus to the presbyter Jerome, health.
A reverend brother has brought to us sheets containing a certain person's translation into Latin of a treatise by Origen--entitled peri archon. These contain many things which disturb our poor wits and which appear to us to be uncatholic. We suspect also that with a view of clearing the author many passages of his books have been removed which had they been left would have plainly proved the irreligious character of his teaching. We therefore request your excellency to be so good as to bestow upon this particular matter an attention which will benefit not only ourselves but all who reside in the city; we ask you to publish in your own language the abovementioned book of Origen exactly as it was brought out by the author himself; and we desire you to make evident the interpolations which his defender has introduced. You will also confute and overthrow all statements in the sheets which we have sent to your holiness that are ignorantly made or contradict the Catholic faith. The writer in the preface to his work has, with much subtlety but without mentioning your holiness's name, implied that he has done no more than complete a work which you had yourself promised, thus indirectly suggesting that you agree with him. Remove then the suspicions men cannot help feeling and confute your assailant; for, if you ignore his implications, people will say that you admit their truth.