Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/895

 Romanus (9), St., a celebrated hymn writer of the Eastern church, who is said to have written more than 1,000 hymns, of the kind called κοντάκια, a form which he probably invented. It perhaps derives its some what disputed name from the legend as to its origin, found in the Synaxasion of St. Romanus's day (Menaea, Oct. 1), which says that the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, and commanded him to eat a roll (κοντάκιον) which she gave him, and that, obeying, he found himself endowed with the power of composing hymns. If he was the first who wrote κοντάκια, it is an argument in favour of placing him (as do Pitra and the Bollandists) in the reign of Anastasius I. (491–518) rather than of Anastasius II. (713–719).

[H.A.W.]

Rufinus (3), Tyrannius, of Aquileia, the translator of Origen and Eusebius, the friend of Jerome and afterwards his adversary; a Latin ecclesiastical writer of some merit, and highly esteemed in his own time; born c. 345 at Concordia in N. Italy; baptized at Aquileia c. 371; lived in Egypt some 8 years and in Palestine about 18 (371–397); ordained at Jerusalem c. 390; in Italy, mostly at Aquileia, 397–408; died in Sicily, 410.

Sources.—The works of Rufinus himself, especially his Apology (otherwise Invectives), two books, against Jerome; Hieron. Apology against Rufinus, three books; Id. Chronicle, Ol. 289, An. 1, 378; Id. Epp. 3–5, 51, 57, 80–84, 97, 125, 133; Id. ''Pref. to Comm. on Ezk. and Jer.'' bk. i; Paulin. Epp. 28, 40, 46, 47; Aug. Epp. 63, 156; Pallad. ''Hist. Laus.'' 118; Gennad. ''de Script. Eccl.'' c. 17; Sid. Apoll. lib. iv. Ep. 3; Gelasius in ''Concil. Rom. (Patr. Lat.'' lix. col. 173).

Literature.—Rufinus's career has usually been treated as an appendage to that of Jerome. There is a full Life of Rufinus by Fontanini (Rome, 1742), reprinted by Migne in his ed. of Rufinus (Patr. Lat. xxi.)—minute and exhaustive in details and in fixing dates; a shorter account by Schoenemann, Bibliotheca Historico-Literaria Patrum Lat. (Lips. 1792) is also reprinted by Migne.

Works.—The genuine original works of Rufinus still extant are: A Dissertation on the Falsification by Heretics of the Works of Origen, prefixed to his trans. of Pamphilus's Apology for Origen; A Commentary on the Benedictions of the Twelve Patriarchs (Gen. xlix.); the Apology for himself against the attacks of Jerome, in two books; a shorter one addressed to pope Anastasius; two books of ''Eccl. Hist.'', being a continuation of Eusebius; a History of the Egyptian Hermits; and an Exposition of the Creed. Besides these there are several prefaces to the translations from Greek authors, on which his chief labour was expended, and which include The Monastic Rule of Basil, and his 8 Homilies; the Apology for Origen, written by Pamphilus and Eusebius; Origen's Περὶ Ἀρχῶν and many of his commentaries; 10 works of Gregory Nazianzen; the Sentences of Sixtus or Xystus; the Sentences of Evagrius, and his book addressed to Virgins; the Recognitions of Clement; the 10 books of Eusebius's History; the Paschal Canon of Anatolius of Alexandria.

Early Life: Concordia and Aquileia.—His parents were probably Christians, since there is no trace of other than Christian associations in his writings. His mother did not die till his sojourn in Rome in 398 (Hieron. Ep. lxxxi. x). He was not baptized till c. 371. That he made the acquaintance of Jerome in early life is shewn by his request to him when about to go into Gaul, c. 368, to copy out for him the works of Hilary upon the Psalms and upon the councils of the church (Ep. v. 2). Either before or about the time of the return of Jerome from Gaul, Rufinus had gone to Aquileia and embraced a monastic life ("in monasterio positus," Rufin. Apol. i. 4). There, about 30 years before he wrote his Apology against the attacks of his former friend, Rufinus was baptized (ib.) by Chromatius and his brother Eusebius (then respectively presbyter and deacon), and Jovinus the archdeacon, all of them ascetic friends, and all subsequently bishops. This must have been at the close of his stay at Aquileia ("Ille modo se lavit," Hieron. Ep. 4, 374).

Life in the East: Egypt.—We do not know how long the company of friends lived together at Aquileia, nor what caused its dissolution. But when the "subitus turbo" drove Jerome to the East, Rufinus left Italy in the company of Melania for Egypt and visited the monasteries of Nitria (Pallad. Hist. Laus. 118; Hieron. Ep. iii. 2 ), where Rufinus apparently intended to remain. But the church of Alexandria was then in a state of trouble. Athanasius died in 372, and his successor, the Arian Lucius, acting with the successive governors of Alexandria, came as a wolf among the sheep (Ruf. H. E. ii. 3; Socr. iv. 21–23 ; Soz. vi. 19). Rufinus himself was thrown into prison, and afterwards, with many other confessors, banished from Egypt (H. E. ii. 4; Apol. ad Anastasium, 2, "In carceribus, in exiliis"), but must have returned as soon as the stress of the persecution abated. In Egypt he saw and heard Didymus, who wrote for him a book on the questions suggested by the death of infants (Hieron. Apol. iii. 28), and whom he praises in his Ecclesiastical History (ii. 7). He also was a pupil of Theophilus, afterwards bp. of Alexandria (Hieron. Apol. iii. 18). He saw also the hermits, whose teaching he prized still more—Serapion and Menites and Paulus; Macarius the disciple of Anthony, and the other Macarius, Isidore, and Pambas. On their teachings he says he attended earnestly and frequently; and he afterwards described them in his Historia Monachorum. After 6 years he went to Jerusalem. Whether Melania had been with him in Egypt is not certain, though Palladius implies that he was her companion throughout. Certainly he now settled with her on the Mount of Olives. But it would seem that, "after a short interval," he returned to Egypt again for 2 years (Apol. ii. 22). Melania's settlement at Jerusalem is placed by Jerome in his Chronicle in 379, i.e. according to the present or Dionysian computation in 377. We may place Rufinus's final settlement there with her in 379. There is, however, some reason to believe they made one more journey to Egypt; for Palladius states, as a fact he had heard from Melania, that she had, been present at the death of Pambas, which occurred after