Vigilius of Thapsus

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Vigilius of Thapsus († around 490?) Was bishop of the North African city of Thapsus in the province of Byzacena .

Vigilius was among the participants in a kind of Synod of Bishops , which was convened for February 1, 484 by the Vandal King Hunerich in Carthage and at which the bishops of the Catholic Church and the Arians were supposed to discuss. This emerges from the “Notitia” in the appendix to the story of Victor von Vita .

Such a conference would have been of great importance at the time when the Church was split, but it turned into a tumult because of the behavior of the Arian Patriarch. A little later, King Hunerich issued an edict to dispossess the Catholics who had not converted, which was followed by the exile of many bishops.

But apart from this mention of the bishop, little is known about Vigilius' career or his subsequent activities. Two theological works and several pamphlets he received allow some conclusions.
It is believed that he fled to Constantinople (around 485?) When the Catholic bishops of North Africa - which was then a flourishing landscape in contrast to today - were banished by the Vandals . His letters show that he took an active part in the theological controversies that later aroused the majority of Eastern church communities. The theological dialogue “Contra Arianos, Sabellianos et Photinianos; Athanasio, Ario, Sabellio, Photino et Probo judice, interlocutoribus " (Latin, " against the Arians, Sabellians ... " ) from his pen.

Vigilius von Tapsos also wrote the 5-volume treatise "Contra Eutychetem " , which contains a valuable summary of the arguments against Eutychianism. He refers to this reference book in two or three other works that he against the heresies of the deacon Maribadus and against the views of the Arian bishop Palladius wrote.

Many other works are ascribed to Vigilius, but this is not always clearly verifiable. This includes:

  • Another dialogue against Arianos
  • Contra Maribadum Arianum
  • Contra Palladium Arianum
  • Twelve books De Trinitate (on the Trinity )
  • Contra Felicianum Arianum
  • Solutiones objectionum Arianorum , and
  • a Collatio cum Pascentio Ariano .

Several of these writings have survived through the works of other authors. The earlier assumption that Vigilius was also the author of Quicumque , however, has no reliable basis according to Kunstle , “Antipriscilliana” (Freiburg 1905).

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personal data
SURNAME Vigilius of Thapsus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of the North African city of Thapsus
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century
DATE OF DEATH at 490