Methodios of Olympos

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Methodios of Olympos

Methodios of Olympos (Latin Methodius; † probably 311 or 312 ) was a Greek Christian writer, according to some sources also bishop and martyr . He is a saint of the Catholic Church; his festival is celebrated on June 20th .

Life

The news about the life of Methodios is sparse. Epiphanius of Salamis mentions him in his Panarion as Methodios, also known under the name Euboulios . St. Jerome calls him episcopus et martyr , bishop and martyr in several places . In De viris illustribus he writes that Methodios was bishop of Olympos in Lycia and later of Tire . Towards the end of the last persecution he was martyred in Chalkis, Greece. With the "last persecution" is probably meant that under Maximinus Daia , which means that Methodios 311 or 312 died. The alternative indication of Jerome (or, as others claim, under Decius and Valerianus ) would put his death at 251 and is considered unreliable. The office of bishop in Tire is also more than doubtful, and it is also unclear which of the places called Chalkis is meant.

Works

The best-known work of the Methodios is the Gastmahl (symposium), which not only borrows the title from Plato 's work of the same name : the form of dialogue as well as numerous phrases and expressions are taken directly from Plato. However, Methodios does not describe a drinking binge in which eros is discussed, but a gathering of ten holy virgins in a paradisiacal garden who extol chastity.

Methodios was familiar with the philosophy of Plato, but fought against the contemporary Neo-Platonists such as Porphyry . In Christology he seems to have been a follower of subordinatianism (his statements in this regard are sometimes obscure and difficult to understand); during the christological disputes between Arians and Orthodox in the 4th century it was co-opted by both sides.

The symposium is the only work that has been preserved entirely in the original Greek. Other works are only preserved in fragments, in quotations or in translations into Slavic languages: On free will (De autexusio), On the resurrection (De resurrectione), Against Porphyrius (Adversus Porphyrium), On the creatures (De creaturis) .

Text editions and translations

  • Method d'Olympe: Le Banquet . Ed .: Herbert Musurillo. Les Éditions du Cerf, Paris 1963 (edition with French translation and commentary).
  • Holy Methodius' feast or virginity. Translated from the Greek and provided with explanations by Leonhard Fendt . Kempten / Munich 1911 ( archive.org ).

literature

Overview representations

Investigations

  • Katharina Bracht: Perfection and Consummation. On the anthropology of Methodius von Olympus (= studies and texts on antiquity and Christianity. Volume 2). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1999.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Martirologio , Vatican website, accessed June 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Adv. Haer. 64, 63.
  3. ^ De viris illustribus 83.
personal data
SURNAME Methodios of Olympos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Methodius, Euboulios
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek church father
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH 311 or 312