Evagrius Scholasticus, Church History 2.25
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/229
Context
Evagrius Scholasticus came from a background of wealth and education in
Syria and rose to prominence in the circles of power in the early Byzantine empire and
church, as legal advisor of the Patriarchate of Antioch and honorary officeholder under
Maurice and Tiberius II. His Church History covering the First Council of
Ephesus to the middle reign of Maurice (431-593/4 C.E.) provides especially rich evidence
for the history of Late Antique Syria. This passage describes the tense aftermath of the
Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon (451 C.E.), which condemned the Monophysite heresy
and validated Orthodox teaching on the unity of Christ’s divine and human nature (4.2-4.3).
Juvenal, the bishop of Jerusalem who signed at Chalcedon, fled to Caesarea, where, we know
from other accounts (see Related Texts), a mob of anti-Chalcedonian monks were agitating
outside the city; thereafter they ensured the election of Theodosius to occupy the vacated
throne at Jerusalem.
Text
Ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον τὴν πρὸς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα τὴν ἠρεμίαν εἶχεν.
Ἔνιοι γὰρ τῶν μοναχῶν τῶν ἀνὰ τὴν σύνοδον εὑρεθέντων καὶ τἀναντία ταύτης βουληθέντων
φρονεῖν πρὸς τὴν Παλαιστίνην ἀφικνοῦνται· καὶ προδοσίαν τῆς πίστεως ὀδυρόμενοι τὸ
μοναδικὸν ἔσπευδον ἀναρριπίσαι καὶ ἀνασοβῆσαι. Καὶ ἐπειδή περ Ἰουβενάλιος τὸν οἰκεῖον
κατειλήφει θρόνον, καὶ βιαζόμενος παρὰ τῶν ἀνασυρέντων τὰ οἰκεῖα ἀνασκευάσαι τε καὶ
ἀναθεματίσαι κατὰ τὴν βασιλέως πόλιν ἀνέδραμεν, ἁλισθέντες οἱ τἀναντία τῆς ἐν Καλχηδόνι
συνόδου, ὡς ἀνωτέρω εἰρήκαμεν, φρονοῦντες χειροτονοῦσιν ἀνὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Ἀνάστασιν
Θεοδόσιον, τὸν μάλιστα κυκήσαντα τὴν ἐν Καλχηδόνι σύνοδον, τὸν καὶ πρῶτον περὶ ταύτης
αὐτοῖς ἀγγείλαντα.
1
Textual Note
Ed. Bidez and Parmentier 1898Translation
But the desert areas near Jerusalem did not even maintain
tranquility. For some of the monks who had been present at the Synod but wished to hold
different opinions from it came to Palestine; and lamenting the betrayal of the faith,
they were eager to reignite and reawaken the monastic community. After Juvenal had
occupied his own see, being compelled to reverse and anathematize his own views by those
raving men, he took refuge in the emperor’s city, while those who, as we mentioned
above, held different opinions from the Synod of Chalcedon assembled in the Church of
the Resurrection and elected Theodosius. He in particular threw the Synod at Chalcedon
into confusion, and was also the first to bring a report of it to them.
2
Translation Note
Rev. Whitby 2000Discussion Note
"[T]he emperor's city" means Caesarea Maritima.Works Cited
- 1 Jerome, S. Eusebii Hieronymi Opera I.2: Epistulae LXXI-CXX, ed. Isidor Hilberg and Conrad Slovak, Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 55 (Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996), bk: 2.5, p: 51-52.
- 2 Thietmar, Thietmar: Pilgrimage (1217-18), in Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187-1291, trans. Denys Pringle, Crusade Texts in Translation 23 (London: Routledge, 2018), 95–133, bk: 2.5, p: 78.
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “Evagrius Scholasticus, Church History 2.25,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/229.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “Evagrius Scholasticus, Church History 2.25.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2023. Entry published June 30, 2023. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/229.About this Entry
Entry Title: Evagrius Scholasticus, Church History 2.25
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “Evagrius Scholasticus, Church History 2.25”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “Evagrius Scholasticus, Church History 2.25”
Additional Credit:
- TEI encoding by William L. Potter
- Electronic text added by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonia identified by Joseph L. Rife