Sozomen

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Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos (

The grandfather became within his own circle a highly esteemed interpreter of Scripture. The descendants of the wealthy Alaphrion founded churches and convents in the district, and were particularly active in promoting monasticism. Sozomen himself had conversed with one of these, a very old man. He states that he was brought up under monastic influences and his story bears this out.^[4]

Life and career

Education

Sozomen seems to have been brought up in the circle of Alaphrion and acknowledges a debt of gratitude to the monastic order. His early education was directed by the monks in his native place. It is impossible to ascertain what curriculum he followed in these monastic schools, but his writings give clear evidence of the thoroughness with which he was grounded in Greek studies.^[6]

As a man he retained the impressions of his youth, and his great work later was to be also a monument of his reverence for the monks in general and for the disciples of Hilarion in particular.^[4]

Lawyer

As an adult he acquired training as a

Sozomen's second work continues approximately where his first work left off. He wrote it in Constantinople, around the years 440 to 443 and dedicated it to Emperor Theodosius II.

The work is structured into nine books, roughly arranged along the reigns of

• Book I: from the conversion of
  Constantine I until the Council of Nicea
  (312–325)
• Book II: from the Council of Nicea to Constantine's death (325–337)
• Book III: from the death of Constantine I to the death of
  Constans I
  (337–350)
• Book IV: from the death of Constans I to the death of Constantius II (350–361)
• Book V: from the death of Constantius II to the death of
  Julian the Apostate
  (361–363)
• Book VI: from the death of Julian to the death of Valens (363–375)
• Book VII: from the death of Valens to the death of Theodosius I (375–395)
• Book VIII: from the death of Theodosius I to the death of Arcadius (395–408).
• Book IX: from the death of Arcadius to the accession of Valentinian III (408–25).

Book IX is incomplete. In his dedication of the work, he states that he intended cover up to the 17th consulate of

According to historian and scholar of Islam Michael Cook, Sozomen wrote that a group of "Saracens" (Arabs) in Palestine had adopted Jewish laws and customs after coming into contact with Jews and may have been (according to Cook) the forerunners of Islam and Muslims.^[8]

Sources

Sozomen borrowed heavily from other sources for his work.

The source for about three fourths of his material was the writings of

The extent of this dependence cannot be accurately determined. Sozomen used the work of Socrates as a guide to sources and order. In some matters, such as in regard to the Novatians, Sozomen is entirely dependent on Socrates.[6]

But Sozomen did not simply copy Socrates. He went back to the principal sources used by Socrates and other sources, often including more from them than Socrates did.

He used the writings of Eusebius, the first major Church historian. The Vita Constantini of Eusebius is expressly cited in the description of the vision of Constantine.

Sozomen appears also to have consulted the Historia Athanasii and also the works of

Rufinus is frequently used. Instructive in this respect is a comparison of Sozomen, Socrates, and Rufinus on the childhood of Athanasius. Rufinus is the original; Socrates expressly states that he follows Rufinus, while Sozomen knows Socrates' version, but is not satisfied with it and follows Rufinus more closely.

The ecclesiastical records used by Sozomen are principally taken from

For the period from Theodosius I, Sozomen stopped following the work of Socrates and followed Olympiodorus of Thebes, who was probably Sozomen's only secular source. A comparison with Zosimus, who also made use of Olympiodorus, seems to show that the whole ninth book of Sozomen, is mostly an abridged extract from Olympiodorus.

Sozomen used many other authorities. These include sources relating to Christianity in Persia, monkish histories, the Vita Martini of Sulpicius Severus, the works of Hilarius, logoi of Eustathius of Antioch, the letter of Cyril of Jerusalem to Constantius concerning the miraculous vision of the cross, and Palladius.

He also used oral tradition, adding some of the most distinctive value to his work.

Publication

The first printed (though untranslated) version of Sozomen, which was based on the Codex Regius of 1444, was that of Robert Estienne at Paris in 1544.^[10] The first translated edition to be published was that of Christophorson, which appeared in Latin in Geneva in 1612.^[11]

A noteworthy edition was done by Valesius (Cambridge, 1720), who used, besides the text of Stephens, a Codex Fucetianus (now at Paris, 1445), "Readings" of Savilius, and the indirect traditions of Theodorus Lector and of Cassiodorus-Epiphanius.

Hussey's posthumous edition (largely prepared for the press by John Barrow, who wrote the preface) is important, since in it the archetype of the Codex Regius, the Codex Baroccianus 142, is collated for the first time. But this manuscript was written by various hands and at various times and therefore is not equally authoritative in all its parts.

There is an excellent English translation published in 1846 (London, Samuel Bagster and sons), translator unnamed, later reprinted and credited to Chester David Hartranft (1839-1914), with a learned though somewhat diffuse introduction, in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, II (published New York, 1890).^[6] (This text is available on-line at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.)

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

• Cook, Michael (2000). The Koran : A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 0192853449
  . The Koran : A Very Short Introduction.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Harnack, Adolf; McGiffert, Arthur Cushman (1911). "Sozomen". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 525.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Healy, Patrick J. (1912). "Salminius Hermias Sozomen". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
  New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
  . Vol. XI (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. pp. 22–23.

Further reading

• On ethnic identity and ecclesiastical politics in Sozomen, see:
  • Argov, Eran I. (2005). "A Church Historian in Search of an Identity: Aspects of Early Byzantine Palestine in Sozomen's Historia Ecclesiastica". Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum. 9 (2): 367–396.
    S2CID 170779831
    .
• The English translation of the Ecclesiastical History ascribed to Chester D. Hartranft is available online:
  • Sozomen (1890). "Ecclesiastical History". In Schaff, Philip; Wace, Henry (eds.). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series. Vol. 2. Translated by Chester D. Hartranft. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co. Retrieved 13 March 2016 – via New Advent.
• The English translation of the Ecclesiastical History by Edward Walford as originally published in the Bohn Ecclesiastical Library, is available in book form:
  • Sozomen, Hermias (2018). The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen. Merchantville, New Jersey: Evolution Publishing.
    ISBN 978-1-935228-15-8
    .

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Ecclesiastical History

• Online text of the Ecclesiastical History
• Greek Text by Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical index