The hierarchy of eastern bishops in the ecclesiastical historiography of the fifth century

Sławomir Bralewski

Uniwersytet Łódzki , Poland


Abstract

Francis Dvornik has expressed the view that, in the Eastern part of the Empire, the principle of accommodation dominated over the principle of the apostolic ori­gin. The situation, he maintained, resulted from the fact that the aforementioned area included excessively numerous sees which were either established by one of the Apostles or were considered to be somehow connected with their activities. Does the conclusion of the Czech researcher find any justification in the way the precedence of bishoprics is depicted in the Greek ecclesiastical historiography of the fifth century? The present article is to give an answer to the question. The analysis of the ecclesiastical historiography in question demonstrates that Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote in the IV th century, while setting a hierarchy of bishops was guided first and foremost by the principle of accommodation. The church historians, however, who compiled their works a mere century later put a decisively lesser stress on Eusebius’ predilection in that matter. Although the narrative of Philostorgius, since fragmentary, is hard to interpret, Socrates’ atti­tude displays a marked tendency of favoring the importance of the apostolic ori­gin, which was most probably taken over from Rufinus of Aquileia. Sozomen tended to tell the difference between the official hierarchy of bishops, which was based on the principle of accommodation, and the structure of bishoprics connec­ted with the Apostles. Theodoretus, in turn, tended to connect both the principles, however, preferring the idea of the Church originated by saint Peter, accordingly of the ecclesiastic structure based on the principle of the apostolic origin. As a consequence, and contrary to F. Dvornik’s thesis, it should be concluded that (at least) the authors of the Ecclesiastic Histories of the fifth century were in favor of the principle of the apostolic origin and maintained it was over the prin­ciple of accommodation.

Keywords:

eastern bishops, fifth century

Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum gestarum, tłum. I. Lewandowski: Dzieje rzymskie, t. 1, Warszawa 2002
Barnes Th.D., Athanasius and Constantius: theology and politics in the Constantinian empire, Cambridge 1993
Barnes Th.D., Constantine and Eusebius, London 1981
Bralewski S., Obraz pa¬piestwa w historiografii kościelnej wczesnego Bizancjum, Byzantina Lodziensia 10, Łódź 2006
Bralewski S., Rozbieżności w ocenie Jana Chryzostoma w relacjach Sokratesa i Hermiasza Sozomena, w: Cesarstwo Bizantyńskie: dzieje, reli¬gia, kultura. Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Waldemarowi Ceranowi przez uczniów na 70-lecie Jego urodzin, red. P. Krupczyński – M. Leszka, Łask 2006
Burgessa R.W., The date and editions of Eusebius’Chronici Canones and Historia Ecclesiastica, JTS 48 (1997) 471-504
Chesnut G.F., The First Christian Histories: Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Evagrius, Paris 1978
Chronicon Paschale, ed. L. Dindorfius, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae 6/2, Bonnae 1882
Clercq V.C. de, Ossius of Cordova. A Contribution to the History of the Constantinian period, Studies in Christian Antiquity 13, Washington 1954
Codex Theodosianus, SCh 497, éd. Th. Mommsen, Paris 2005
Concilium Chalcedonense (451), ACO II 1, 2, ed. E. Schwartz, Berolini – Lipsiae 1933
Dagron G., Naissance d’une capitale: Constantinople et ses institutions de 330 à 451, Bibliothèque Byzantine. Études 7, Paris 1984
Dio Cassius, Historia Romana
Dokumenty Soborów Powszechnych, układ i oprac. A. Baron – H. Pietras, ŹMT 24, Kraków 2002
Drijvers J.W., A Bishop and his City – Cyril of Jerusalem, StPatr 42 (2006) 113-125
Dvornik F., Bizancjum a prymat Rzymu, tłum. M. Radożycka, Warszawa 1985
Eusebius Caesariensis, HE, SCh, tłum. A. Lisiecki, Euzebiusz z Cezarei, Historia Kościelna, POK 3, Poznań 1924
Eusebius Caesariensis, Theophania
Eusebius Caesariensis, Vita Constantini, GCS 7, tłum. T. Wnętrzak, ŹMT 44, Kraków 2007
Georgius Cedrenus, Historiarum compen¬dium
Golan D., Hadrian’s Decision to supplant Jerusalem by Aelia Capitolina, „Historia” 35 (1986) 226-239
Hezychiusz Illustrios, Patria Constantinoupoleos, ed. Th. Preger, Scriptores Originum Constantinopolitanarum, fasc. 1, Lipsiae 1901
Honigmann E., Juvenal of Jerusalem, DOP 5 (1950) 209-279
Horn C., Empress Eudocia and the Monk Peter the Iberian: Patronage, Pilgrimage, and the Love of a Foster-Mother in Fifth-Century Palestine, ByF 28 (2004) 206-213
Ignatius Antiochenus, Epistula ad Romanos, SCh 10
Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses, SCh 34
Janiszewski P., Żywioły w służbie propagandy, czyli po czyjej stronie stoi Bóg. Studium klęsk i rzadkich fenomenów przyrodniczych u historyków Kościoła w IV i V wieku, w: Chrześcijaństwo u schyłku starożytności. Studia źródłoznawcze, t. 3, red. T. Derda – E. Wipszycka, Kraków 2000
Kannengiesser Ch., Athanasius of Alexandria. Three orations against the Arians: a reap¬praisal, StPatr 17 (1982) vol. 3, 981-995
Leclercq H., Pèlerinage aux Lieux Saints, XV: Le pèlerinage d’Eudocie, DACL XIV 116- 120
Maraval P., Lieux saints et pèlerinages d’Orient. Histoire et géographie des origines à la conquête arabe, préface de G. Dagron, Paris 2004
Meyendorff J., The Council of 381 and the Primacy of Constantinople, w: La signification et l’actualité du IIe Concile Oecuménique pour le monde chrétien d’aujourd’hui, Chambésy – Geneve 1982
Minnerath R., La position de l’Églises de Rome aux trois premiers siècles, w: Il primato del vescovo di Roma nel primo millennio. Ricerche e testi¬monianze, Atti del Symposium Storico-Teologico (Roma, 9-13 ottobre 1989), ed. M. Maccarrone, Città del Vaticano 1991
Nuffelen P. Van, The career of Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 348-87). A Reassessment, JTS NS 58 (2007)
Nuffelen P. Van, Un héritage de paix et de piété. Étude sur les histoires ecclésiasti¬ques de Socrate et de Sozomène, Leuven 2004
Piétri Ch., Roma Christiana. Recherches sur l’Église de Rome, son organisation, sa politique, son idéologie de Miltiade à Sixte III (311-440), Rome 1976
Pollok J., Narodziny koncepcji „Ziemi Świętej”. Palestyna w teologicznej refleksji Euzebiusza z Cezarei i Cyryla Jerozolimskiego, w: Chrześcijaństwo u schyłku starożytności. Studia źródłoznawcze, red. T. Derda – E. Wipszycka, t. 1, Warszawa 1997
Ps-Dionysius Areopagita, De coelesti hierarchia, SCh 58bis, tłum. M. Dzielska: Hierarchia niebiańska, w: Pseudo-Dionizy Areopagita, Pisma teologiczne, Kraków 2005
Rodopoulos P., Primacy of Honor and Jurisdiction (Canons Two and Three of the Second Ecumenical Synod), w: La signification et l’actualité du IIe Concile Oecuménique pour le monde chrétien d’aujourd’hui, Chambésy – Geneve 1982
Sabbah G., Introduction, III: Sozomène et Socrate, w: Sozomène, Histoire ecclésiastique, livres I-II, SCh 306, Paris 1983
Salamon M., Nowy Rzym chrześcijański w oczach Bizantyńczyków, w: Prawosławie, red. J. Drabina, Kraków 1996
Salamon M., Rozwój idei Rzymu – Konstantynopola od IV do pierwszej połowy VI wieku, Katowice 1975
Stead G.C., Eusebius and the Council of Nicaea, JTS 24 (1973) 85-100
Stein E., Le développement du pouvoir patriarcal du siège de Constantinople jusqu’au Concile de Chalcédoine, „Le Monde Slave” 4 (1926)
Szymczak M., Słownik języka polskiego, t. 1, Warszawa 1995
Twomey V., Apostolikos Thronos. The Primacy of Rome as reflected in the Church History of Eusebius and the historico-apologetic writings of Saint Athanasius the Great, Münster 1982
Urbainczyk T., Observations on the Differences be¬tween the Church Histories of Socrates and Sozomen, „Historia” 46 (1997)
Yarnold E., Cyril of Jerusalem, London – New York 2000
Young F.M., From Nicaea to Chalcedon: a guide to the literature and its background, London 1983
Winkelmann F., Historiography in the Age of Constantine, w: Greek and Roman Historiography in Late Antiquity: Fourth to Sixth Century A.D., ed. G. Marasco, Leiden 2003

Published
2012-12-15


Bralewski, S. (2012). Hierarchia wschodnich biskupów w historiografii kościelnej V wieku. Vox Patrum, 58, 181–199. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.4073

Sławomir Bralewski 
Uniwersytet Łódzki



License

Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.