Beryllus from Bostra

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Beryllus von Bostra , ancient Greek Βήρυλλος Bḗryllos (* in the 2nd century AD ; † after 244 AD ) was a bishop of Bostra ( Roman province of Arabia Petraea ). His function as bishop is presumed from the year 230 to 244 AD. After Eusebius he was known as the author and author of many letters and treatises.

So far no texts have been found by him; we only owe fragments of his theological conception to the opponents.

Live and act

The place and year of his birth are unknown. Beryllus was the Bishop of Bostra during the reigns of Emperors Alexander Severus , Maximinus Thrax and Gordian I.

His writings have been lost. He became known mainly because he denied the pre-existence of Christ . He represented a dynamic monarchianism with the denial of the independent divinity of Christ. He taught that the Son of God had neither his own being nor his own divinity prior to his incarnation, that God did not exist before the incarnation , only God the Father. In other words, that Jesus of Nazareth was born human and only became 'divine' after his baptism by John the Baptist . Christ does not have his own 'deity', only that of the God the Father . In the old church he was considered a heretic .

According to Eusebius , he was one of the 'learned church people' (Hist. Eccl. VI, 20) of his time. His writings and letters were kept in the library established by Alexander of Jerusalem ; however, they have not been preserved.

Origen quarreled with Beryllus at the “Arab Councils” (a total of two synods between 246 and 247 AD) regarding monarchianism between the years 238 and 244 and seems to have convinced him with regard to his doctrine of pre-existence , but this remains unproven.

In his views he is said to have resembled Noetus from Smyrna and Prareas .

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literature

Remarks

  1. BERYLLUS OF BOSTRA, 2019 Encyclopedia.com [1] ; Otto Bardenhewer : History of the early church literature. Vol. 2, 1903, Reprint Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2018, ISBN 978-1-10808-185-6 , pp. 273 f. ( [2] on books.google.de)
  2. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Councils of Arabia [3]
  3. ^ Christian Gotthold Neudecker : General lexicon of religious and Christian church history for all confessions. Vol. 5, Bernhard Friedrich Voigt, Weimar 1837 ( [4] on books.google.de)