Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/283

 METHODIUS

243

METHYMNA

Theophilus out of hell. It Is told in the Synaxarion for the feast of Orthodoxy.

St. Methodius is reputed to have written many works. Of these only a few sermons and letters are extant(in Migne, P. G.,C, 1272-1325). Anaccountof the martyrdom of Denis the Areopagite by him is in Migne, P. (i., IV, 669-682, tw-o sermons on St. Nicho- las in N. C. Falconius, "S. Nicolai acta primigenia" (Naples, 1751), 39-74. For other fragments and scholia, see Krumbacher, " Byzantinische Litteratur" (Munich, 2nd ed., 1S97), 167.

Anonymous Life of M elhodius in P. G..C. 1244-1261 : Logoteta, Commentarius critico-thcologicus de Methodia SyTacusano (Ca- tania, 1786); Leo Allatius, Z>e A/ p/Aorfiorum srn'pfis dia(rt6a in S. Hippoluti opera (Hamburg, 1718), pp. 89-95; Cavel. Scrip- torum eccles. historia literaria, H (London, 168S), 30; Fabri- cidb-Harles, Bibliotheca Grceca, VII (Hamburg. 1790-1806), 273-274.

Adri.in Fortescuk.

Methodius of Olympus, S.\int, bishop and ecclesi- astical author, date of birth unknown; d. a martyr, probably in 311. Concerning the life of this first scientific opponent of Origen very few reports have been handerl down; and even these short accounts present many difticulties. Eusebius has not men- tioned him in his "Church History", probably be- cause he opposed various theories of Origen. We are indebted to St. Jerome for the earliest accounts of him (De virisillustribus, Ixxxiii). According to him, Metho- dius was Bishop of Olympus in Lycia and afterwards Bishopof Tyre. But the latter statement is not reliable; no later Greek author knows anj-thing of his being Bishop of Tyre; and according to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., VIII, xiii). Tyrannic was BLshop of Tyre during the Diocletian persecution and died a martyr; after the persecution Paulinus was elected bishop of the city. Jerome further states that Methodius suffered martyr- dom at the end of the last persecution, i. e., under Maximinus Daja (311). Although he then adds, "that some assert", that this may have happened under Decius and Valerian at Chalcis, this statement {ut alii affirmant), adduced even by him as uncer- tain, is not to be accepted. Various attempts have been made to clear up the error concerning the men- tion of Tyre as a subsequent bishopric of Methoflius; it is possible that he was transported to Tyre during the persecution and died there.

Methodius had a very comprehensive philosophical education, and was an important theologian as well as a prolific and polished author. Chronologically, his works can only be assigned in a general way to the end of the third and the loeginning of the fourth century. He became of special importance in the hi.story of theological literature, in that he successfully combated various erroneous views of the great Alexandrian, Origen. He particularly attacked his doctrine that man's body at the resurrection is not the same body as he had in life; also his idea of the world's eternity and the erroneous notions it involved. Nevertheless he recognized the great .services of Origen in ecclesias- tical theology. Like him, he is strongly influenced by Plato's philosophy, and u.ses to a great extent the allegorical explanation of Scripture. Of his numer- ous works only one has come down to us complete in a Greek text, viz., the dialogue on virginity, under the title: "Symposium, or on Virginity" (Su/xiriff-ioi' ^ irepi iyvelas) in P. G., XVIII, 27-220. In the dialogue, composed with reference to Plato's " Banquet ", he depicts a festive meal of ten virgins in the garden of Arete (virtue), at which each of the participators ex- tols Christian virginity and its sublime excellence. It concludes with a hymn on Christ as the Bridegroom of the Church. Larger fragments are preserved of sev- eral other writings in Greek; we know of other works from old versions in Slavonian, though some are ab- breviated.

The following works are in the form of dialogue: (1) " On Free Will " {irepi toS airf^ovalov), an important

treatise attacking the Gnostic view of the origin of evil and in proof of the freedom of the human will; (2) " On the Resurrection " (S.vXao^i;' ij irtpi t^s drao-Tdffeus) in which the doctrine that the same body that man has in life will be awakened to incorruptibility at the resurrection is specially put forward in opposition to Origen. While large portions of the original Greek text of both these writings are preserved, we have only Slavonian versions of the four following shorter trea- tises: (3) " De vita ", on life and rational action, which exhorts in particular to contentedness in this life and to the hope of the Hfe to come; (4) " De cibis", on the discrimination of foods (among the Jews), and on the young cow, which is mentioned in Leviticus, with alle- gorical explanation of the Old-Testament food-legisla- tion and the red cow (Num.,xix); (5) "De lepra", on Leprosy, to Sistelius, a dialogue between Eubulius (Methodius) and Sistelius on the mystic sense of the Old-Testament references to lepers (Lev., xiii); (6) "De sanguisuga", on the leech in Proverbs (Prov., XXX, 15 sq.) and on the text. " the heavens show forth the glory of God" (Ps. xviii, 2). Of other writings, no longer extant, Jerome mentions (loc. cit.) a volu- minous work against Porphyrins, the Neoplatonist who had published a book against Christianity; a treatise on the " Prthonissa" directed against Origen, commentaries on (jenesis and the Canticle of Canticles. By other later authors a work " On the Martyrs ", and a dialogue "Xenon" are attributed to Methodius; in the latter he opposes the doctrine of Origen on the eternity of the w-orld. New editions of liis works are: P. G., XVIII; Jahn, "S. Methodii opera et S. Metho- dius platonizans" (Halle, 1865); Bonwet.sch, "Metho- dius von Olympus: I, Schriften" (Leipzig, 1891).

Pankow, Methodius, Bischof von Olympus in the Katholik (1887; issued in book form, Mainz, 1888); Bonwetsch, Die Theologie des Methodius von Olympus (Berlin, 1903); Fritschel, Methodius von Olympus und seine Philosophie (Leipzig, 1879); Fendt, Sunde und Busse in den Schriften des Methodius von Olympus in the Katholik. I (1905), 24 sqq.; Atzberger, Ge- schichle der christl. Eschatologie (Freiburg i. B., 1.896), 469 sqq.; Harnack, Geschichte der altchristl. Literatur, I, 468 sqq.; II, 147 sqq.; Bardenhewer, Patrology, tr. Shahan (Freiburg and St. Louis, 1908), 175-8; Kihn, Patrologie, I (Paderbom, 1904), 341-351. J. p. KiKSCH.

Methuselah. See Mathusala.

Methymna, a titular see in the island of Lesbos. It was once the .second city of the island, and enjoyed great prosperity. In the Peloponnesian War it played an important role (Thucydides, III, ii, 18; vi. 85; vii, 57; Xenophon, Hellen., I, vi, 14), and in Christian times it similarly distinguished itself in its resistance to the Turks. 'The ancient poets praise the excellent wine of Methymna (Virgil, Georgics, II, 90; Ovid, Ars Am., I, 57; Horace, Sat., II, 8, 50; Odes, I, 17, 21). Methymna was the birthplace of the poet Arion and probably also of the historian Myrsilus. For a list of the bishops of Methymna see Le Quien, "Oriens Christ.", I, 961-64. One of them, Gabriel, in the sev- enteenth century united with Rome (All.atius, "De perpetua consensione", II, 7). In 640 it is mentioned by the "Ecthesis" of pseudo-Epiphanius as an auto- cephalous archdiocese, and about 1084 was made a metropolitan see under Alexius I Comnenus. It has retained this rank in the Orthodox Church, though for Catholics it is now .a mere titular archdiocese. To-day it boars the name of Molivo. and with the places de- pendi'nt upon it iunnl)ers 37,(K) iiiluiliitaiits. of whom 29,01)0 arc Orthodox Greeks, 90110 Mussulmans, and 40 Catholics. The last named are dependent on the Diocese of Smyrna. Molivo is a kaza of the sanjak of Metelin in the vilayet of Rhofles. Situated at the southern extremity of the island of Mitylrne, nearly thirty miles from Metelin anil live iiavul miles from the Asiatic coiitiiierit, Molivo oer'iipies a deliglitful marine site on the slope of a hill formed of ba.saltic rocks.

Lk Quien, Orims Christ., I, 901-64; Gams, .Series rpiaco- porum, 449; CmtlET, LaTurquie d'A^e,! (Paris, 1872), 469.

— S. Salaville.