Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/32

 DIONYSIUS

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DIONYSIUS

doctrine of Sabellius was again condemned and, then, the false opinions of those were rejected who, hke the Marcionites. in a similar manner separate the Divine monarchy into three entirely distinct hypostases, or who represent the Son of God as a created being, while the Holy Scriptures declare Him to have been begotten; passages in the Bible, such as Deut., xxxii, 6, Prov., viii, 22, cannot be cited in support of false doctrines such as these. Along with this doctrinal epistle Pope Dionysius sent a separate letter to the Alexandrian Bishop in which the latter was called on to explain his views. This Dionysius of Alexandria did in his "Apologia" (.\thanasius, De sententia Dionysii, V, xiii; De decretis Xicsenie sraodi, x.xvi). According to the ancient practice of the Roman Church Dionysius also esteniled his care to the faithful of distant lands. When the Christians of Cappadocia were in great dis- tress from the marauding incursions of the Goths, the pope addressed a consolatory letter to the Church of C;esarea and sent a large sura of money by messengers for the redemption of enslaved Christians (Basilius, Epist. Ixx, ed. Gamier). The great synod of Antioch winch deposed Paul of Samosata sent a circular letter to Pope Dionysius and Bishop Maximus of Alexandria concerning its proceedings (Eusebius, Hist, ecel., VII, xxx). After death the body of Dionysius was buried in the papal crj-pt in the catacomb of Callistus.

Liber Foni., ed". Duchesne, I, ccxlvUi, 157 ; L.ingen, Ge- schichle der r.^mKchen Kirche (Bonn, ISSl). I, 332 sqq.; IIagemanx, Die rimisclie Kirche (Freiburg im Br., 1S64), 3« sqq.. 432 sqq.; Hefele. KoTi^Hiengeschichie, 2nd ed., I, 255 sqq.; Ji.vRDENHEWER, Geschiclite der aUkirchlichen Liieratur (Freiburg im Br., 1903). II, 581 sq.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Dionysius, S.iixt, Bishop of Corinth about 170. The date is fixed by the fact that he wrote to Pope Soter (c. 16S to ITli; Harnack gives 165-7 to 173-5). Eusebius in his Chronicle placed his "floruit" in the eleventh year of Marcus .-Vurelius (171). When Hege- sippus was at Corinth in the time of Pope Anicetus, Primus was bishop (about 150-5), while Bacchyllus was Bishop of Corinth at the time of the Paschal contro- versy (about 190-S). Dionysius is only kno^^^l to us through Eusebius, for St. Jerome (De viris ill., xx^•ii) has used no other authority. Eusebius knew a col- lection of seven of the "Catholic Letters to the Churches" of Dionysius, together with a letter to him from Pinj'tus, Bishop of Cnossus, and a private letter of spiritual advice to a lady named Chrysophora, who had written to him.

Eusebius first mentions a letter to the Lacedaemo- nians, teaching orthodoxj', and enjoining peace and tmion. A second was to the Athenians, stirring up their faith exhorting them to live according to the Gospel, since they were not far from apostasy. Diony- sius spoke of the recent martjTdom of their bishop, Publius (in the persecution of Marcus .\urelius), and says that Dionysius the .\reopagite was the first Bishop of .\thens. To the Xicomedians he wrote against Marcionism. Writing to Gortj-na and the other dio- ceses of Crete, he praised the bishop, Philip, for his aversion to heresy. To the Church of .\mastris in Pontus he wrote at the instance of Bacchylides and Elpist us (otherwise unknown), mentioning the bishop's name as Palmas; he spoke in this letter of marriage and continence, and recommended the charitable treatment of those who had fallen away into sin or heresy. Writing to the Cnossians, he recommended their bishop, Pinytus, not to lay the yoke of continence too heavily on the brethren, but to consider the weak- ness of most. Pinytus roplie<l, after polite words, that he hoped Dionysius would send strong meat next time, that his people might not grow up on the milk of babes. This severe prelate is mentioned by Eusebius (IV, xxi) as an ecclesiastical writer, and the historian praises the tone of his letter.

But the most important letter is that to the Romans, the only one from which extracts have been preserved.

Pope Soter had sent alms and a letter to the Corinth- ians: — " For this has been your custom from the begin- ning, to do good to all the brethren in many ways, and to send alms to manj- Churches in ditferent cities, now relieving the poverty of those who asked aid, now as- sisting the brethren in the mines by the alms you send, Romans keeping up the traditional custom of Romans, which your blessed bishop, Soter, has not only main- tained, but has even mcreased, by affonling to the brethren the abundance which he has supplied, and by comforting with blessed words the brethren who came to him, as a father his children." Again: "You also by this instruction have mingled together the Romans and Corinthians who are the planting of Peter and Paul. For they both came to our Corinth and planted us, and taught alike; and alike going to Italy and teaching there, were martyred at the same time." Again: "To-day we have kept the holy Lord's day, on which we have read your letter, which we shall ever possess to read and to be admonished, even as the former one written to us through Clement." The tes- timony to the generosity of the Roman Church is car- ried on by the witness of Dionysius of .\lexandria in the third centurj-; and Eusebius in the fourth declares that it was still seen in his own day in the great perse- cution. The witness to the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, Kara. t6v airrbv Katpbv, is of first-rate im- portance, and so is the mention of the Epistle of Clem- ent and the public reading of it. The letter of the pope was written "as a father to his children".

Dionysius's own letters were ex-idently much prized, for in the last extract he says that he wrote them by request, and that they have been falsified "by the apostles of the de\-il". No wonder, he adds, that the Scriptures are falsified by such persons.

The extract.? are in ErsEBlls. //i.s^ EccL. IV. xxiii. also II, .-txv (Routh. Rdiquia Sacrm, I). See M.KB.v.Kt:v.,Gcsch.der AUchr. Liu., I, 236 (on p. 7So are mentioned two fragments attributed to Origen. which may be from Dionysius's letter to the Cnos- sians: they will be found in Hole, Fragmenta vomicfinischer KircJienvater atis den Sacra ParaUela (Leipzig. 1899). 28]; ibid., II, i, 313. B.irdexhewer, Gesch. der altkirdd. Lilt.. I, 532.

John Chapman.

Dionysius Exiguus, the surname Exiouus, or "The Little", adopted probably in self-depreciation and not because he was small of stature, flourished in the earlier part of the si.xth centurj', djnng before the year 544. According to his friend and fellow-student, Cassiodonis (De divinis Lectionibus, c. xxiii), though by birth a Scythian, he w.is in character a true Roman and thorough Catholic, most learned in both tongues — i. e. Greek and Latin — and an accomplished Scrip- turist. Much of his life was spent in Rome, where he governed a monasterj' as abbot. His industry was very great and he did good service in translating standard works from Greek into Latin, principally the "Life of St. Pachomius", the "Instruction of St. Pro- clus of Constantinople" for the Armenians, the "De opificio hominis" of St. Gregorj' of Nyssa, the history of the discoverj'^ of the head of St. John the Baptist. The translation of St. Cj-ril of .Alexandria's synodal letter against Xestorius, and some other works long attributed to Dionysius, are now acknowledged to be earlier and are assigned to Marius Mercator.

Of great importance were the contributions of Dio- nysius to the science of canon law, the first beginnings of which in Western Christendom were due to him. His "CoUectio Dionysiana" embraces (1) a collection of sjTiodal decrees, of which he has left two editions: — (o) "Codex canonum Ecclesi;E Universoe". This contains canons of Oriental sjmods and councils only in Greek and Latin, including those of the four oecu- menical councils from Niciea (325) to Chalcedon (451). — (b) "Codex canonum ecclesiasticarum". This is in Latin only; its contents agree generally with the other, but the Council of Ephesus (431) is omitted, while the so-called "Canons of the Apostles" and those of Sardica are included, as well as 138 canons of the