Abdias of Babylon
Abdias of Babylon | |
|---|---|
AD | |
| Died | c. 2nd century AD |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Feast | 28 October |
Legend makes Abdias (or Obadiah) first bishop of Babylon and one of the
.History of the Apostolical Contest
An
This compilation purports to have been translated from
Latin by Sextus Julius Africanus, the friend of Origen, or as reported in Golden Legend by his disciple Tropaeus Africanus.[6]
Later scholarship determined the book was originally written in Latin, probably around 910 AD, long after the death of Abdias of Babylon.[7] The most obvious clues include the book's citations of the Vulgate of St Jerome, of the Ecclesiastical History of Rufinus and of his Latin translation of the Recognitiones of Clement.
An earlier date of composition is given by
R. A. Lipsius, who theorizes the work was compiled during the latter half of the sixth century, in an unidentified Frankish monastery, for the purpose of satisfying the natural curiosity of Western Christians. At the same time the author of this Historia used much older pseudo-Apostolic materials that he abridged or excerpted to suit his purpose. He often revised or expurgated to conform them to Catholic teaching, because many of the writings that he used were originally Gnostic
compositions, filled with Gnostic speeches and prayers.
The work is of interest because of what the author claims to have drawn from the ancient Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum.
Notes
- ^ A'Becket, John Joseph. "Abdias of Babylon". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 19 Sept. 2012
- ^ often referred to as the "Apostolic History of pseudo-Abdias"
- ISBN 0826452639.
- Matthew B. Riddle, Introductory Notice to Apocrypha of the New Testament (1870).
- ^ Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII
- ^ The Golden Legend: The Lives of Saints Simon and Jude Archived 2010-03-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Christie, Albany James (1867), "Abdias", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, p. 2, archived from the original on 2005-07-28, retrieved 2005-05-10
References
- F. G. Holweck, A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abdias of Babylon". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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