Pamphilus of Caesarea
Saint Pamphilus of Caesarea | |
|---|---|
| Priest and Martyr | |
| Born | c. latter half of the 3rd century Pre-Congregation |
| Feast | February 16; also (RC only) June 1 |
Saint Pamphilus (
Eusebius of Caesarea
, who recorded details of his career in a three-book Vita that has been lost.
Biography
Eusebius' Martyrs of Palestine attests that Pamphilus was of a rich and honorable family of
Diocletianic persecution, after spending two years in prison. While he was in prison, Pamphilus and Eusebius worked together on five books in defense of Origen.[2]
The Diocletianic persecution began in earnest in the year 303. In 306 a young man named
martyrdom. His brother Aedesius, also a disciple of Pamphilus, suffered martyrdom about the same time at Alexandria under similar circumstances.[3] Saint Pamphilus's turn came in November, 307. He was brought before Urbanus, the governor of Palestine,[4] and upon refusing to offer sacrifice, was cruelly tortured, and then relegated to prison. In prison he continued copying and correcting manuscripts. He also composed, in collaboration with Eusebius, also imprisoned,[4] an Apology for Origen in five books, which Eusebius edited and to which he added a sixth book. Saint Pamphilus and other members of his household, along with Valens, deacon of the Church of Jerusalem and Paul of Jamnia,[4] men "in the full vigour of mind and body", were without further torture sentenced to be beheaded in February, 309. While sentence was being given a youth named Porphyrius - "the slave of Pamphilus", "the beloved disciple of Pamphilus", who "had been instructed in literature and writing" – demanded the bodies of the confessors for burial. He was cruelly tortured and put to death, the news of his martyrdom being brought to Pamphilus before his own execution. Nearly at the same time another of his companions, Patriklos, suffered a martyr death in Caesarea and was later interred after the payment of a ransom to Diocletian in Cappadocia.[5]
Veneration
St Pamphilus is regarded as a
feast day
is celebrated on 16 February (the RC Church lists an additional commemoration on June 1).
Works and influence
- Of the Apology for Origen only the first book is extant, in a Latin version made by Saint Jerome stated in his De Viris illustribus that there were two apologies—one by Pamphilus and another by Eusebius. He discovered his mistake when Rufinus's translation appeared in the height of the controversy over Origen, and rushed to the conclusion that Eusebius was the sole author. He charged Rufinus, among other things, with palming off under the name of the martyr what was really the work of the heterodox Eusebius, and with suppressing unorthodox passages. As to the first accusation there is abundant evidence that the Apology was the joint work of Pamphilus and Eusebius. Against the second may be set the negative testimony of Photius who had read the original; "Photius, who was severe to excess towards the slightest semblance of Arianism, remarked no such taint in the Apology of Origen which he had read in Greek."[6] The canons of the alleged Council of the Apostles at Antioch were ascribed by their compiler (late fourth century) to Pamphilus.[7]
- The ascription to Pamphilus, by Gennadius, of a treatise Contra mathematicos was a blunder due to a misunderstanding of Rufinus's preface to the "Apology".[8]
- A Summary of the Acts of the Apostles among the writings associated with Euthalius bears in its inscription the name of Pamphilus.[9]
- While defending Origen from accusations that he held and taught certain J. W. Hanson have cited Pamphilius, among other Fathers of the Church, as an example of early Christian universalism, although the exact conception of apokatastasis in patristic writings generally, and Origenian thought in particular, is disputed among historical theologians.
- David Hume adopted the evocative pseudonym Pamphilus for his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
See also
References
- ^ "Codex" 118
- ^ "Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Appendix, An Historical View of the Council of Nice, Isaac Boyle, pp. 35-39". Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ a b Eusebius, Martyrs of Palestine
- ^ a b c Lives of the Saints, for Every Day of the Year, p. 212
- Analecta Bollandiana137, 2019, pp. 63-71
- Ceillier
- ^ Adolf von Harnack, Spread of Christianity, I, 86-101.
- ^ Bacchus, Francis Joseph. "St. Pamphilus of Cæsarea." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 30 Mar. 2013
- ^ Patrologia Graeca LXXXIX, 619 sqq.
- ^ Origen and Origenism
Sources
- Lives of the Saints, For Every Day of the Year, edited by Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O.Cist., Ph.D., New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1955, pp. 211–212.
Further reading
- Pamphilus, Defence of Origen: Introduction to Book 1, from Rufinus' Latin version (in English)
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1911). . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
External links
- Henry Wace, "A Dictionary of Christian Biography": Pamphilus
- Works by Pamphilus of Caesarea at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
