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 HISTORY

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HISTORY

version ("Chronique de Jean, 6veque de Nikiou", publ. par. H. Zotenberg, Paris, 1883). Zotenberg believes that the work was originally written in Greek and then translated; Noldeke ("Gottinger gelehrte Anzeigen", 1881, 587 sqq.) thinks it more probable that the original was Coptic. To the Alexandrian Cosmas, known as the "Indian Voyager" we owe a Christian " Topography " of great value for ecclesiasti- cal geography (ed. Montfaucon, "Collectio nova Patrum et Scriptor. gra;c.", II, Paris, 1706; translated into English by McCrindle, London, 1897). Of grea,t value also for ecclesiastical geography are the " Noti- tise episcopatuum " (Ta/cTiKd), or lists of the patri- archal, metropolitan, and episcopal sees of the Greek Church (" Hieroclis Synecdemus et Notitiae graecffi epis- copatuum ", ed. Parthey, Berlin, 1866; " Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis Romani", ed. Gelzer, Leipzig, 1890). The most important collection of the early Greek his- torians of the Church is that of Henri de Valois in three folio volumes (Paris, 1659-73; improved by W. Reading, Cambridge, 1720); it contains Eusebius, So- crates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Evagrius, and the frag- ments of Philostorgius and Theodorus Lector.

The ancient Syriac writings of ecclesiastico-histori- cal interest are chiefly Acts of martjTS and hjTnns to the saints ("Acta martvrum et sanctorum", ed. Bedjan, Paris, 1890 — ). The "Chronicle of Edessa", based on ancient sources, was WTitten in the sixth cen- tury (ed. Assemani, " Bibliotheca orientalis", I, 394). In the same century the Monophysite bishop, John of Ephesus, wrote a history of the Church, but only its third part (571 to 586) is preserved (ed. Cureton, Oxford, 1853; tr., Oxford, 1860). Lengthy extracts from the second part are found in the annals of Diony- sius of Telmera. His work covers the years 583-843 (fragments in Assemani, " Bibliotheca orientalis", II, 72 sqq.). Among the Armenians we meet with versions of Greek and Syriac works. The most important native Armenian chronicle of an ecclesiastico-historical char- acter is ascribed to Moses of Chorene, an historical personage of the fifth century. The author of the " History of Greater Armenia '"' calls himself Moses of Chorene, and claims to have lived in the fifth century and to have been a disciple of the famous St. Mesrop (q. v.). The self-testimony of the compiler must be rejected, since the work makes use of sources of the sixth and seventh centuries, and there is no trace of it to be found in Armenian literature before the ninth century. Probably, therefore, it originated about the eighth century. In the known manuscripts the work contains three parts: the "Genealogy of Greater Armenia " extends to the dynasty of the Arsacides, the "Middle Period of our .\ncestry" to the death of St. Gregory the Illuminator, and the " End of the History of our Country" to the downfall of the Armenian Arsacides (ed. Amsterdam, 1695; Venice, 1881 ; French translation in Langlois, "Collection des historiens an- ciens et modernes lie I'.VrnK^'nie ", 2 vols., Paris, 1867-9). In the Middle Ages there was still extant a fourth part. The work seems to be on the whole reliable. The ancient history, down to the second or third century after Christ, is based on popular legends. Another Armenian historian is St. EUsh6 (q. v.).

Comprehensive ecclesiastico-historical works appear in the Latin West later than in the Greek East. The first beginnings of historical science are confined to translations with additions. Thus St. Jerome trans- lated the " Clu-onicle " of Eusebius and continued it down to 378. At the same time he opened up a spe- cial field, the history of Christian literature, in his "De viris illustribus " ; ("Chronicon", ed. Schoene, 2 vols., Berlin, 1866-75; " De vir. ill.", ed. Richardson, Leipzig, 1896). About 400 the "Church History" of Eusebius was translated by Rufinus who added the history of the Church from 318 to 395 in two new I books (X and XI). Rufinus's continuation was itself
 * 30on translated into Greek. The latest edition is in

the Berlin collection of Greek Christian wTitings men- tioned above in connexion with Eusebius. St. Je- rome's Latin recension of the " Chronicle " of Eusebius was followed later by many other chronicles, among which may be mentioned the works of Prosper, Ida- cius, Marcellinus, Victor of Tununum, Marius of Avenches, Isidore of Seville, and Venerable Bede. In the West, the first independent history of revelation and of the Church was written by Sulpicius Severus, who published in 403 his " Historia (Chronica) Sacra" in two books; it reaches from the beginning of the world to about 400 (P. L., XX; ed. Halm, Vienna, 1 866). It is a short treatise and contains little histori- cal information. A little later, Orosius wrote his " Historia adversus paganos " in seven books — a uni- versal history from the standpoint of the Christian apologist. It begins with the deluge and comes down to 416. The purpose of Orosius was to refute the pagan charge that the great misfortunes of the Roman Empire were due to the victory of Christianity (P. L., XXXI; ed. Zangemeister, Vienna, 1882). With the same end in view, but with a far grander and loftier conception, St. Augustine wrote his famous " De civitate Dei", composed between 413 and 428, and issued in sections. It is an apologetic philosophy of history from the standpoint of Divine revelation. The work is important for church history on account of its numerous historical and archsologioal digressions (ed. Dombart, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1877). About the middle of the si.xth century, Cassiodorus caused the works of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret to be translated into Latin, and then amalgamated this version into one complete narrative under the title " Historia tri- partita" (P. L., LXIX-LXX). Together with the works of Rufinus and Orosius, it was one of the prin- cipal sources from which through the Middle Ages the Western peoples drew their knowledge of early church history. Rich material for ecclesiastical history is also contained in the national histories of some West- ern peoples. Of the " History of the Goths", written by Cassiodorus, we possess only an extract in Jordanis, " De origine actibusque Getarum" (ed. Mommsen in "Mon. Germ. Hist: Auct. antiquissimi", V., Berlin, 1882). Especially important is the "History of the Franks" in ten books by Gregory of Tours, which reaches to 591 (ed. Arndt, "Mon. Germ. Hist: Scrip- tores rerum Meroving. ", I, Hanover, 1884-5). Greg- ory wrote also a "Liber de vita Patrum", a work entitled "In glorid martjTum", and the book " De virtutibus (i. e. miracles) S. JuHani" and "De virtuti- bus S. Martini " (ed. cit., pt. II, ed. Krusch). In the beginning of the seventh century St. Isidore of Seville composed a " Chronicle of the West Goths " (" Historia de regibus Gothorum, Wandalorum, Suevorum", ed. Mommsen, " Chronica Minora ", II, 241-303). Several other similar chronicles, from the fourth to the seventh century, were edited by Mommsen in the " Monu- menta Germaniae Historica : Auctores Antiquissimi " under the title of "Chronica Minora".

(B) The Church Hintorians of the Second Period. — The second periwl of church history, it is true, pro- duced a copious historical literature, although it be- longs rather to special than to general church history. Its works deal more often with particular nations, dioceses, and abbeys; general histories are rare. More- over, owing to the dominant position of the Church among the Western peoples, ecclesiastical and profane history are in this epoch closely interwoven.

In the East church history is almost completely identified with the history of the imperial court owing to the close relations of State and Church. For the same reason the Byzantine chronicles from Justinian the Great to the destruction of the empire in the middle of the fifteenth century contain much valuable informa- tion about the history of the Greek Church The most important of them are: the " Chi'onography of Theo- phanes Isaacius" (ed. de Boor, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1885):