A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

St. AMPHILOCHIUS.

ST. AMPHILOCHIUS an intimate Friend of St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianzen, was of Cappadocia. Having for some time profess'd Rhetorick, be afterwards attended the Bar, * 1.1 where he discharg'd the Office of an Advocate and a Judge a 1.2. Leaving this he retir'd into a solitary place of Cappadocia call'd Ozizala, and after he had led there for some time a very Holy Life, he was in the Year 375 Ordain'd Bishop of Iconium the Metropolis of Lycaonia, a Province of the Diocess of Asia, bordering upon Cappadocia. When he was Bishop he took Care not only of his own Church, but also of the Affairs of the Neighbouring Churches. He was present at the Council of Constan∣tinople, and there the Care of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of his Country was committed to him. About the Year 383, or 384, he held a Council at Syda against the Massalians, which Photius mentions in Vol 52. Theodoret relates in Ch. 16. of B. V. of his History, that St. Amphilochius petition'd the Emperour Theodosius to prohibit the Hereticks to hold their Assemblies in Cities; That the Emperour judging his Petition too Rigorous, deny'd it; but Amphilochius returning some time after to the Palace, and seeing Arcadius his Son close by the Emperour Theodosius who had already been proclaim'd Em∣perour, he Saluted the Father without Saluting the Son; That Theodosius thinking he had fail'd in his Duty through Inadvertence, commanded him to Salute his Son, to whom St. Amphilochius made answer, That it was enough that he had Saluted him. Whereupon Theodosius fell into a Passion, and declar'd how much he was offended with him for his neglecting of his Son; That then Amphi∣lochius discreetly told him, You cannot suffer an Injury to be done to the Emperour your Son, and do you suffer those who dishonour the Son of God? That the Emperour being surpriz'd with this Reply,

made a Law; wherein he forbids Hereticks to hold their Assemblies any longer. Theodoret says, That this happen'd after Theodosius's Return into the East, that is, about the Year 392. But 'tis much more probable, that St. Amphilochius spoke thus to the Emperour, sometime after the Coun∣cil of Constantinople in the Year 382, since it was then that the Law of Theodosius was made against Hereticks, forbidding their Assemblies. The Year of Amphilochius's Death is not certainly known. St. Jerom in his Book of Ecclesiastical Writers written in 392, mentions him as one then living. There also he mentions a Treatise of the Holy Spirit, which St. Amphilochius had read to him a little while before, wherein he proves that the Holy Spirit was God, Adorable and Al∣mighty.

The Works of this Father have been quoted with Commendation by the Councils and the Ancients. The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, produce some Testimonies out of them against the Errors of Nestorius and Eutyches, but they do not tell us, out of what Book they are taken. Theodoret in his Dialogues produces others which are taken out of the Homilies upon these Words of the Gospel; My Father is greater than I; and upon these other Words, The Son can do nothing of himself; and out of a Homily upon these other Words of Jesus Christ in St. John Chap. 5. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath eternal life; and out of a Homily upon these Words of Jesus Christ in St. Matth. Chap. 26. My God, let me not drink of this Cup; out of a Discourse against the Arians, which is the same with that upon these Words, My Father is greater than I, as appears by Leontius; and out of another Sermon upon the Word, the Son of God. Facundus in Ch. 3. of B. XI. of his Treatise, cites Four Passages out of St. Amphilochius, whereof the First is taken out of the Homily upon these Words, My Father is greater than I; the Second out of the Homily upon these Words, He that believeth in him that sent me hath eternal life; the Third out of the Homily upon these Words, I ascend to my Father and my God; and the Last out of the Homily upon these Words, Let me not drink of this Cup. The Seventh Council in Action Five, quotes a Fragment of St. Amphilochius against the Books written by Hereticks who bear the Name of the Apostles. Leontius and Anastasius Sinaita quote also some Passages of St. Amphilochius. St. John Damascene produces some Passages taken out of Two of his Letters, whereof one was address'd to the Suadrenses and the other to Seleucus. There is also a Fragment and a Question concerning the Flesh of Jesus Christ which is thought to have been extracted by Photius, and another Fragment of a Letter written to the Deacon Pancarius. Barlaam has also collected some Passages taken out of the Letter to Seleucus, out of the First Sermon upon these Words, No Man knows either the day or the hour of judgment; out of another upon these Words, The Child Jesus grew; out of another upon these Words, Destroy this Temple. These Fragments have almost all been collected together by Father Combefis, who has also publish'd the entire Works, as many as could be found, under the Name of Amphilochius, and printed them at Paris in 1644.

These are Eight Sermons, a Poem upon the Holy Books, and the Life of St. Basil.

The 1st. Sermon is upon the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

The 2d. is upon the Circumcision, wherein he enlarges upon the Praise of St. Basil.

The 3d. is upon the Purification of the Virgin the Mother of God, upon Anne and Simeon.

The 4th. is a second Sermon upon the Virgin and Simeon, which is not written by St. Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium the Friend of St. Basil, but by another Amphilochius Bishop of Syda, who was present at the Council of Ephesus; for this Sermon is written directly against Nestorius, and is of a Stile different from the former.

The 5th. is upon Lazarus.

The 6th. upon the Woman in the Gospel that was a Sinner.

The 7th. which had been formerly printed at Antwerp in 1598, is of the Holy Saturday.

The Last is about Penance. This has not the same Stile as the others. The Author speaks against the Heresy of the Iconoclasts, and relates Fabulous Stories, from whence it appears that this Homily is the Work of some Modern Greek. It cannot be certainly known of any one of these Sermons, that it belongs to St. Amphilochius of Iconium, rather than Amphilochius Bishop of Syda.

The Poem to Seleucus has the Stile of St. Gregory Nazianzen, whatever Father Combefis says to the contrary, and it is very probable that it was written by this Father under the Name of Amphilochius. There he makes an Enumeration of the Canonical Books which is not different from that which is in the 33d. Poem: For tho' he speaks of the Book of Esther and the Revelation, yet he does not put them in the Rank of those Books which all the World receives for Canonical; he only observes, that some have admitted them, and others have rejected them.

The Life of St. Basil attributed to Amphilochius, translated into Latin by Cardinal Ursus, whose Translation was printed by Rosweydus, publish'd in Greek and Latin by Father Combefis, contains many Fables, and many particulars of the Life of St. Basil contrary to the Truth of History b 1.3, so that it is plainly the Work of a Modern Greek. Father Combefis, who endeavours to maintain its Authority against the Opinion of Possevinus, Baronius and Bellarmin, says, That some places in it are added and

corrupted, but that the Body of the Work is Amphilochius's; which he does not prove at all, nor can it appear probable to those that read it, who will neither find in it the Stile, nor the Genius of the Fourth Age of the Church. The Life of St. Amphilochius written by Metaphrastes, is also of no great Authority: Wherefore one may say, That excepting the Fragments produced by the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, by Theodoret and Facundus, all the other Discourses publish'd by Father Combefis under the Name of Amphilochius, are either manifestly supposititious, or at least very doubt∣ful. But we must not say the same of the Letter publish'd by Cotelerius in his Second Volume of the Monuments of the Greek Church, p. 98. It is a Synodical Epistle written to the Bishops of ano∣ther Province. The Bishops in whose Name St. Amphilochius wrote it, declare, That they wish'd St. Basil had been present at their Synod; but he being detain'd by a grievous Sickness, they would be satisfied if he would send to them his Book of the Holy Spirit. They add, That they receive the Faith of the Nicene Council; but that tho' the Fathers of this Council had said, that we must believe in the Holy Spirit, as in the Father and the Son, yet they had not explain'd the Divinity of the Holy Spirit, because this Question was not then disputed. Afterwards they explain themselves more clearly upon this Subject. They prove the Divinity of the Holy Spirit by Baptism; they say that we must acknowledge in God but one Nature only, and three Hypostases. At last, They exhort those to whom they write to maintain the Faith and the Peace of the Church, and to sing the in Doxo∣logy, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; and add, That 'tis in vain to reject the Communion of the Arians, if they do not believe the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. This Letter has relation to the 403 Letter of St. Basil, wherein he writes to Amphilochius to send Deputies into Lycia, to inquire into the Faith of the Bishops of that Country, who were for the most part Orthodox. Probably Amphilochius did as St. Basil desired him in this Letter, and these Deputies brought a Letter from the Bishops of Lycia to which St. Amphilochius answers by this.

Notes

• * 1.1

  St. Amphi∣lochius.
• a 1.2

  Advocate and a Judge.] St. Gregory Nazianzen re∣commends to him the Affairs of his Friends in Letters 19, 106, 160. and it appears by Letter 106, that he was accus'd for not doing Justice.
• b 1.3

  Contrary to the Truth of History.] The Author of this Life supposes, that St. Basil was Bishop in the time of Julian, that Libanius was of Julian's Retinue, that when this Emperour was kill'd, he was con∣verted in a few Days after, and retired with St. Basil. Now 'tis evident that St. Basil was not Bishop in the Emperour Julian's time, and that Libanius was so far from being converted after his Death, that he wrote a Panegyrick in his praise. All the Histories which are related in this Life are Fabulous, and do no ways a∣gree with what the Ancients have said of St Basil. In a word, No body can read this Piece but they may pre∣sently discover its Imposture.