Dionysius of Alexandria

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Dionysius of Alexandria

Dionysius of Alexandria (also known as Dionysius the Great; † 264/65) was Origen's most important student and officiated as Bishop of Alexandria from 248 . Along with Cyprian of Carthage, he is considered one of the most important bishops of the 3rd century.

Persecution of Christians by Decius

Dionysius was born as a heathen from a respected family, probably before 190; he then converted to Christianity early and said he had a vision that he had been given the gift of refuting any heresy . Around 232 he took over the direction of the important catechist school in Alexandria from Heraclas , at which Origen, who was Dionysius' teacher, had already taught. In the year 249 there were first riots against Christians under Emperor Philip Arabs in Alexandria - Dionysius reports about this in a letter to Bishop Fabius of Antioch - which then escalated in 250 with the persecution of Christians by the Emperor Decius , which Dionysius fled into the Libyan desert forced. As in other cities, in Alexandria, on the one hand, numerous Christians became lapsi , that is, they renounced their faith in view of the imminent danger of death; on the other hand, there were also numerous martyrdoms; to be mentioned are Julian and Kronion, who were burned as well as the Libyan Makarius and Epimachus; After a long imprisonment, an Alexander was also handed over to the fire, together with four women; the virgin Ammomarion died from torture; Mercuria and Dionysia, two elderly women, were executed by the sword; the Egyptians Heron, Ater, and Isidorus were tortured and then burned; the fifteen-year-old Dioskurus, who had withstood the torture, was released; Nemesion was burned on the side with two robbers. Numerous Christians were sold into slavery.

Novatian schism

As a result, the question arose how to deal with the lapsi. Dionysius advocated re-entry into the religious community, especially since some of those executed during the persecution had spoken out in favor of this before their death. In doing so, he stood against Novatian , who had stood against Cornelius in Rome as a counter-bishop . The correspondence between Dionysius and Novatian, who hoped for support from the Alexandrian bishop, has been preserved. In it, Dionysius rebuked Novatian that he should rather have suffered martyrdom than split his church. Dionysius' attitude was one of understanding towards sinners, from whom he did not want to withhold forgiveness. His authority and practical skills as an organizer helped ensure that the Church in the East did not experience any division over the question of the lapsi.

A little later the plague spread in Egypt, which Dionysius describes in his letters, emphasizing that the pagans left their friends and relatives out of fear of infection and still had more deaths to mourn than the Christians remained true to one another.

Heretic controversy

In the meantime, the heretic controversy spread from the province of Africa in the church. It dealt with the question of the validity of baptism donated by a heretic . Cyprian of Carthage had spoken out vehemently against the validity of these baptisms and was supported by Bishop Firmilian in Caesarea in Cappadocia. The Synods of Carthage in 255 and 256 confirmed this position. In contrast, there was the Roman bishop (from 254 this was Stephen I ), who represented an objective understanding of the sacrament that was independent of the dignity of the baptized person. The pragmatic Dionysius sought a balance here for the sake of the unity of the church. While he tended to reject Cyprian's position theologically, he also warned Stephan not to provoke a split in the church with this question. In addition, he sent letters to Rome in which he asked for the theological clarification of individual cases of heretic baptisms and as a result he apparently adhered to the practice prescribed by Stephan of forbidding "rebaptisms".

Other theological issues

The Egyptian bishop Nepos preached chiliastic teachings that Christ would establish a millennial kingdom on earth. In doing so, he referred to the Apocalypse of John , whose apostolic authorship Dionysius denied in his work Perì epaggelion through a critical comparison with the Gospel of John - the question of the identity of the author of the Apocalypse is still controversial today. The teaching of Nepos was particularly widespread in the Arsinoe district and Dionysius personally went to the villages there to preach against chiliasm, and he was also able to convince Korakion, who had disseminated the writings of Nepos there. Later Dionysius was also involved in an argument with Sabellians , who represented monarchian positions in Christology . On the other hand, Dionysius took a stance like that later represented by Arius , stating that the son, in contrast to the father, was poíema , that is, created, and different in substance from him. The Roman bishop Dionysius , who had been in office since 259, rejected this position of his Alexandrian counterpart as a false teaching, while Eusebius of Caesarea showed sympathy for Dionysius of Alexandria; the Orthodox Trinitarian Church mostly ignored this episode, which is referred to as the quarrel between the two Dionyses.

Valerian persecution of Christians

After the brief reign of two other emperors in 253, Emperor Decius was succeeded by Valerian , who in 257 initiated a large-scale persecution of Christians. Dionysius had to flee again from his hometown, but while Cyprian suffered martyrdom in Carthage, Dionysius was spared this fate, even if he was only able to return under Gallienus in 260. However, Alexandria was subsequently shaken by civil war-like unrest and the renewed outbreak of the plague.

Philosophical writings

Probably before his time as bishop, when Dionysius was solely entrusted with the management of the catechism school (232–248), the only known philosophical work of Dionysius was written: De natura (περὶ φύσεως). From this work we have virtually only excerpts from the first book, which have come down to us from Eusebius and Johannes Damascenus . The work was dedicated to Dionysios' son Timotheus. At least in the first book of De natura , the physics of Epicurus was refuted from a Christian point of view, which is unique in Greek-Christian literature. Dionysius argues for a providence and against the random rule of the Epicurean atoms using examples from everyday life, the cosmos and the human body. He also criticizes Epicurus' theory of gods. Stylistically, the remains of the font have some qualities and there are also innovative content-related elements, but the philosophical depth shows deficits. The polemic of Dionysius is an indication of controversy between Epicureans and Christians in Alexandria at the time of Dionysius.

Adoration

Dionysius died aged 264, and was followed by Maximus in the episcopate . His feast day is November 17th; due to an erroneous date that actually referred to his flight into exile, there is also a date on October 3rd .

expenditure

  • Kilian Josef Fleischer: Dionysius of Alexandria, De natura (περὶ φύσεως). Translation, commentary and appreciation. With an introduction to the history of Epicureanism in Alexandria , Brepols, Turnhout, 2016, ISBN 978-2-503-56638-2 .
  • ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΛΕΙΨΑΝΑ. The Letters and other remains of Dionysius of Alexandria. Edited by Charles Lett Feltoe, B. D. (Cambridge 1904).
  • Dionysius of Alexandria, The preserved work. ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΛΕΙΨΑΝΑ. Introduced, translated and annotated by Wolfgang A. Bienert, Library of Greek Literature 2 (Stuttgart 1972).
  • Adolf von Harnack : Collection of the letters of Dionysius of Alexandria , in: Harnack: The collection of letters. of the Apostle Paul and the other pre-Constantine collections of letters , 1926, p. 62 ff.

literature

predecessor Office successor
Heraclas Bishop of Alexandria
248–264 		Maximus
personal data
SURNAME Dionysius of Alexandria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dionysius the Great
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Head of the Alexandria Catechism School and Bishop of Alexandria
DATE OF BIRTH before 190
DATE OF DEATH 264 or 265