Jerome, Letters 92.1
created: This entry is taken from Letters 92.1 written by Jerome in 400 C.E.. This work w
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: la; la
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/297

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Jerome, Letters 92.1. This passage was written ca. 400 C.E. possibly in Bethlehem. Among the voluminous correspondence of St. Jerome is this letter, his translation into Latin of a Greek original written by Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, in 400 C.E. The letter addresses the bishops of Palestine and Cyprus following the council in Alexandria, where Theophilus and the amenable participants condemned the Origenist “heresy” as it was specifically identified with the Nitrian monasteries and Theophilus’ former associate Isidore. This condemnation marked a volte-face for Theophilus, who only in the previous year had openly spurned the concept of divine corporeality. The list of Palestinian addressees at the start of this letter begins with Eulogius, the archbishop at Caesarea. Jerome’s translation of this synodical letter is important testimony for his own engagement in the Origenist controversy that had embroiled the see of Jerusalem at the end of the 4th century. Once an admirer of Origen as an intellectual and scholastic model who was well represented in the Library at Caesarea (see Letter 34.1), Jerome had turned to oppose his thought by the late 390s. He joined in vehement debate over the spiritual and corporeal nature of the divine with his neighbors John, the bishop of Jerusalem, and Tyrannius Rufinus, the learned monk at the Mount of Olives (see Related Texts).

Haec epistula uniformis ad Palaestinos et ad Cyprios episcopos missa est. utriusque principia tulimus. Ad Palaestinos: Dominis dilectissimis, fratribus et coepiscopis Eulogio, Iohanni, Zebinno, Auxentio, Dionysio, Gennadio, Zenoni, Theudosio, Dictenio, Porphyrio, Saturnino, Alani, Paulo, Ammonio, Heliano, alteri Paulo, Eusebio et omnibus, qui in Aeliae encaeniis congregati sunt, catholicis episcopis Theophilus in domino salutem dicit.

[Ed. Hilberg and Slovak 1996]

This letter has been sent in identical copies to the Palestinian and Cypriot bishops. We give the first lines of both copies. To the Palestinian bishops: To the Lord’s beloved, brothers and fellow bishops Eulogius, John, Zebinnus, Auxentius, Dionysius, Gennadius, Zeno, Theodosius, Dictenios, Porphyry, Saturninus, Alan, Paul, Ammonius, Aelian, the second Paul, Eusebius, and all the catholic bishops who gathered in Aelia to celebrate the consecration (of the Holy Sepulcher): Theophilus greets you in the Lord. [Trans. J. L. Rife]

Works Cited

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Additional Bibliography

[...]

[Cyprus

Jerusalem

Palestine]

[Aelian, bishop

Alan, bishop

Ammonius, bishop

Auxentius, bishop

Dictenios, bishop

Dionysius, bishop

Eulogius, bishop

Eusebius, bishop

Gennadius, bishop

Isidore, monk

John, bishop

John, bishop of Jerusalem

Origen

Paul, bishop

Porphyry, bishop

Saturninus, bishop

Theodosius, bishop

Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria

Tyrannius Rufinus, monk

Zebinnus, bishop

Zeno, bishop]

[Christianity

Education (sacred)

Theology]