RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dionysius the Areopagite Dionysius Exiguus
the thought that anything should be changed in the doctrine or general cultus and regulations of the Church, but for outwardly conspicuous defects, like frivolity, religious indifference, imniorality in general, neglect of duty, ignorance and worldliness, especially of the priests, he has not only an open eye, but also a just appreciation. From the cooperation of the pope and an ecumenical council he expects the remedy. He assumes that the council in its proper duties, viz. , of deciding controversial points of doctrine, of proceeding against a heretical pope or against one who gives too much offense, certainly stands above the latter; on the other hand, he yields to the pope a regular right of supervision over the Church as a whole, and says that in the things " wherein the papal rule and office is supreme the pope stands above a council and above all the Church " (De auct. gen. concil., i. 27). Considering the ecclesiastical position of Dionysius and the character of his writings, it is easy to understand how in the sixteenth ceiitury they were appreciated as very timely and promotive of a conservative reform in opposition to the Reformation. On this account most of them were published at that time at Cologne by Loer and Blomevenna, and were often reprinted. A complete edition of his works was commenced at Montreuil in 1896 under the title, Doctoris ecstatici Dionysii Cartusiani opera omnia in unum digesta ad fidem editionum Coloniensium cura et labore monachorum S. Ordinis Cartusiensis, 30 vols., 1896-1905, of which all but vols, jcxv.-xxvi. have appeared. S. M. Deutsch.
Bibliography; The chief source is the biography by Dietrich von Loer, Cologne, 1530, reprinted with notes in ASB, March, ii. 245-255. Modern lives are by: Welters, Roermonde, 1882; D. A. Mougel, Montreuil, 1896. Consult also: W. Moll, Johannes Brugmann, i. 70-81, Amsterdam, 1854; K. Werner, Die Scholastik des spateren Mittelalters, IV. i. 134-137, 206-262, Vienna, 1887; O. Zockler, in TSK, Iviii. (1881), 648 sqq.; KL, iii. 1801-07.
DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH: Greek bishop. He was a contemporary of Soter of Rome (165-173 or 167-175), and was the author of epistles to various congregations. Among these letters Eusebius {Hist, eccl., iv. 23) mentions the following: (1) to the Lacedaemonians, with exhortations to peace and unity; (2) to the Athenians, urging them to hold fast to the faith and to live according to the Gospel; (3) to the Nicomedians, with polemics against the Marcionite heresy; (4) to the congregation at Gortyna and the other Cretan churches, with a eulogy of piety and steadfastness; (5) to the congregation of Amastris and the other churches in Pontus; (6) to the Cnossians with admonitions against extreme asceticism; (7) to the Romans, with thanks for gifts and an admonition; (8) to Chrysophora. Four fragments of the epistle to the Romans have been preserved by Eusebius (ii. 21, IV. 23), and their contents bear eloquetit testimony to the authority of the Roman Church. The admonition mentioned in (7) is identified by Harnack with the second epistle of Clement.
G. KRiiGEK.
Bibliography: The fragments of Dionysius's works are collected in M. J. Routh, Reliquice Sacros, i. 175-201, Oxford, 1846, and translated in ANF, viii. 765 sqq. For his life consult: Eusebius, Hist, eccl., iv. 22 sqq. (in NPNF, 2d series, i. 200 sqq., note 1); B. F. Westcott, Hist, of
Canon of N. T., pp. 185-190, London, 1855; [W R. Cassels], Supernatural Religion, i. 218, 295, ii. 163-171, London, 1874-75; Neander, Christian Church, iii. 467^ iv. 382; Harnack, Geschichte, i. 235-236, II. i. 313; Kruger, History, pp. 156-157; DCB, i. 849-850; KL iii' 1798-1800.
DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS (" Dionysius the Little " ) : One of the most conspicuous men of the Latin Church in the sixth century; d. in Rome before 544. He was a Scythian by birth, came to Rome toward the end of the fifth century and became a monk there. Later authors call him an abbot. From the description given by his friend Cassiodorus (Institutiones, i. 23) he must have been a master in all monastic virtues, as his self-chosen surname indicates. He had also the polish of a man of the world, took great interest in learning, and was a famous teacher. He was in conflict with the popes of his time and was received into the peace of the Church only after his death. Probably he had associations with the " Scythian monks " who in 519 or 520 brought to Rome the so-called theopaschitic formula (see Theopaschites). His chief importance rests on the fact that by translations he acquainted the West with Greek learning. Both his Greek birth and his position in Rome fitted him for that service. His works are: (1) A collection of canons in two recensions, containing the fifty apostolic canons, the canons of Nicfea, Ancyra, Neo-Ca;sarea, Gangra, Antioch, Laodicea, and Constantinople, the twenty-seven canons of Chalcedon (xxviii.-xxx. are wanting), the twenty-one canons of Sardica, and the decisions of Carthage of 419. The two recensions differ by different positions of the canons of Chalcedon and a more complete version of the acts of Carthage in the second redaction. Cassiodorus testifies to the use of the collection in the Church of Rome. The first recension was edited by C. H. Turner in Ecclesiw occidenUdis monumenta, i. (Oxford, 1899) ; the second is in MPL, Ixvii. (see Canon Law, II., 3, § 3). (2) A collection of decretals containing an epistle of Siricius, twenty-one epistles of Innocent I., one by Zozimus, four belonging to the time of Boniface I., three by Celestine I., seven by Leo I., one by Gelasius, and one by Anastasius I. This collection also was soon made use of by the popes, and is first referred to in 534. (3) The " Easter- Table," a continuation of the ninety-five-year Easter-table of Cyril of Alexandria, which ended with 531. Dionysius took up the work iii 525, repeated the last nineteen-year cycle of Cyril and added five others from 532. Hereby he introduced into the Latin Church the Alexandrian Easter computation, which had been customary in the East since the Council of Nica;a, while the West had till then followed the cycle of Victor, and thus he promoted not a little the unity of the Church. He won popularity by numbering the years not from the era of Diocletian, the impious persecutor of the Christians, but " from the Incarnation of the Lord." Lie placed the birth of Christ on Dec. 25, 754 a.u.c, and Mar. 25 of the same year he took as the day of the Incarnation (see Era). His Easter-cycle was soon adopted by Rome, gradually also in other parts of Italy. Toward the end of the sixth century it was useil in Gaul, and by the eighth century had come into
Dioscurus Disciples of Christ