Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/232

Rh 220 PETRUS. Dtatrtba itself was the work of Peter, the title of the citation being considered as applying to the whole treatise ; but Cave and others have observed that the Diatriba was written not before the latter part of the sixth century. A Vatican MS. from which the text of the Bonn edition of the Clironicon is taken, describes the work of Peter from which the citation is taken, as addressed TpiKevrii^ tivi, Cuidam Tricentio. 3. Ilepi ^i6r't]Tos fii€iov. Liber de Divinitate s. Deitate. There is a citation from this treatise in the Acta Concilii Ephesini ; it occurs in the Actio jrrima^ and a part of it is again cited in the Defensio CyrUli which is given in the sequel (pars iii. c. 2) of the Acta. Three citations in Latin, one of them a version of the passage in the Defensio CyriUi, are given in the Acta Concilii Chaleedon. Actio prima. {Concilia^ vol. iii. col. 508, 836, vol. iv. col. 286, ed. Labbe, vol. i. col. 1399, vol. ii. col. 241, ed. Hardouin.) 4. Hepl t^s iiriSrjfilas tov Xptarov, Homilia de Adventu Salvatoris s. Christi. A short citation from this occurs in the Latin version of the work of Leontius of Byzantium [Leontius, literary, No. 5], Contra Nestorianos et Eutychianos, lib. i. (apud Galland. Bihlioth. Patrum^ vol. xii. p. %^^ A fragment in the original is given in a part of the Greek text of Leontius published by Mai in his Scriptorum Vet. Nova Collection vol. vii. p. 134, 4to. Romae, 1833. 5, 6. Two fragments, one described, e/c TOV irpcoTov yov trepl tov fJLTide irpoinrapx^it^ T^j/ ^vxV'^, /xTjSe ajxapr-Zicraffav toOto els Td aujxa fiKTjOrjvai, Ex primo Sermone, de eo quod wee praeeastittt Anima^ nee cum peccasset propterea in Corpus missa est, the other as, e/c T-ffs /j-vcr- Tayuyias rjs eiroi'^aaTo irpos tt^j/ ^KKh-qcriav, jjUWau TOP TOV fxapTvpiov CTfcpavov dvaSexecSat, Ex Mystagogia quam feat ad Ecclesiam cum Martyrii Coronam suscepturus esset, are cited by the emperor Justinian, in his Epistola (s. Tractatzis) ad Mennam CPolitanum adversv^ Origenem, given in the Acta Concilia CPolitanilL s. Oecumenici V. ( Concilia, vol. v. col. 652, ed. Labbe, vol. iii. col. 256, 257, ed. Hardouin.) Another fragment of the same discourse is contained in the compilation Leontii et Joatmis Rerum Sacrarum Lib. JI. pub- lished by Mai in the above cited Collectio, vol. vii. p. 85. 7. Epistola S. Petri Episcopi ad Ecclesiam Alewandrinam, noticing some irregular proceedings of the schismatic Meletius. This letter, which is very short, was published in a Latin version by Scipio Maffei, in the third volume of his Obser- vazione Letterarie (6 vols. 12mo. Veronae 1737 — 1740). 8. AtSacKaAt'o, Doctrina. A fragment of this work is cited by Leontius and Joannes, and was published by Mai (ibid. p. 96). We have no certain information of any other works of Peter. A fragment of one of his works, of which the title is not given, is cited by the emperor Justinian in his Tractatus contra Mono- physitas, published by Mai in the Colledio already cited, vol. vii. pp. 306, 307. The Epistola de Lapsis Tempore Persecutionis, in the Bodleian library (Codd. Baroccian. No. clviii. ; see Catalog. MStorum Angliae et Hibern.), is probably the same as the Canones ; and a fragment from an Epistola ad Epictetum, extant in a MS. in the library of St. Mark at Venice, is probably not from Peter but from Athanasius. Some passages (quaedam loca) from the writings of Peter are given in the YlavdeK- TTjs T&v ipfj.ifivii.wv Tuv ^elwv ivTo£v TOV Kvpiov, Pandecta de Interprelatione Mandatorum DiviTiorumf PETRUS. of Nicon [NicoN, literary. No. 3). The publishcl fragments of Peter's works, with the exception of the passage in the Diatriba de Pascliate, the Latin citations in the Acta Concilii Chaleedon., and the fragments cited by Justinian, are given in the fourth volume of Galland's Bibliotlieca Patrum, p. 91, &c. (Euseb. H.E. vii. 32, viii. 13, ix. 6, cum notis Valesii ; Athanasius, Apolog. contra Arianos, c. 59 ; Epiphan. I. c. ; Concilia, II. cc. ; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 301, vol. i. p. 160, ed. Oxford, 1740 — 1743; Tillemont, Memoires, vo]. V. p. 436, &c. ; Fabric. Biblioth. Graec. vol. ix. p. 316, &c. ; Galland. Biblioth. Patrum, proleg. ad vol. iv. c. 6.) 2. Of Alexandria (2), was presbyter of the Church at Alexandria during the life-time of Atha- nasius, whom he accompanied for many years in his wanderings and shared his dangers. Athanasius before liis death had nominated Peter as his suc- cessor, and after his decease his appointment was carried into effect with the great applause of the orthodox part of the Alexandrian populace and with the approval of the neighbouring bishops, a. d. 373. But the Arians, then in the ascendant under the emperor Valens, though they had, from reverence or fear, conceded the quiet possession of the see to the age and authority of Athanasius [Athana- sius], were by no means disposed to acquiesce in the appointment of an orthodox successor ; and Peter was, at once deposed, and, according to Socmtes and Sozomen, imprisoned by the officers of the emperor. Tillemont and Galland, however, doubt if he was imprisoned. At any rate he soon made his escape, and, getting on board ship, fled to Rome, where he was kindly received by the pope Damasus I., leaving his Arian competitor Lucius [Lucius, No. 2] in possession of the churches of Alexandria. On the departure of Valens from Antioch (a. d. 378) to his fatal war with the Goths, Peter, who had returned from Rome with letters from Damasus, confirming his title to the see, re- covered possession of the churches by favour of the populace, who expelled Lucius, and compelled him to flee to Constantinople. Peter, however, survived his restoration only for a short time, dying A. D. 381, and being succeeded in his bishopric by his own brother Timotheus or Timothy. Valesius {Not. ad Sozomeri. H. E. vii. 9) describes Peter as the abettor of Maximus the Cynic [Maximus Alexandrinus] in his usurpation of the see of Constantinople, but Theodoret {H. E. v. 8) ascribes the transaction to Timotheus. (Socrates, H. E. iv. 20—22, 37 ; Sozomen, H. L. vi. 19, 39 ; Theodoret, H. E. iv. 20—22.) Peter was held in the highest esteem by his con temporaries. Gregory Nazianzen unites him in the same eulogy with St. Athanasius ; and the emperor Theodosius the Great, in one of his laws, refers to the faith preached by him as the standard of ortho- doxy. (Tillemont, Mtm. vol vi. p. 580, &c.) Two productions of Peter have been preserved in part : — 1. 'ETTtcrToAT) s. Tpdfxp.aTa, Epistola, a letter sent by him, after his escape from Alexandria, to all the churches, giving an account of the persecutions and other atrocities perpetrated by Lucius and the Arian party. Theodoret has given a large extract, probably the chief part of this, in the original Greek {H, E. iv. 22). 2. Epistola ad Episcopos et Presbyteros atque Diaconos pro vera Fide in ex- silio constitutos, s. ad Episcopos, Presbyteros, atque Diaconos qui sub Valente Imperatore Diocaesaream