Philostorgius ( grc-gre, Φιλοστόργιος; 368 – c. 439 AD) was an
Anomoean Church historian of the 4th and 5th centuries.
Very little information about his life is available. He was born in Borissus,
Cappadocia
Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...
to Eulampia and Carterius, and lived in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
from the age of twenty. He is said to have come from an Arian family, and in Constantinople soon attached himself to
Eunomius of Cyzicus, who received much praise from Philostorgius in his work.
He wrote a history of the
Arian controversy titled ''Church History'' (Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία). Philostorgius' original appeared between 425 and 433, in other words, slightly earlier than the ''History'' of
Socrates of Constantinople
Socrates of Constantinople ( 380 – after 439), also known as Socrates Scholasticus ( grc-gre, Σωκράτης ὁ Σχολαστικός), was a 5th-century Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret.
He is the ...
, and was formed in twelve volumes bound in two books. The original is now lost. However, one copy was found by the ninth-century historian
Photius
Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
, in his library in Constantinople, who wrote an
epitome
An epitome (; gr, ἐπιτομή, from ἐπιτέμνειν ''epitemnein'' meaning "to cut short") is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents " ...
of it. Others also borrowed from Philostorgius, most notably the author of the ''
Artemii Passio'' (
Artemius being a legendary martyr under
Julian the Apostate
Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplat ...
), and so, despite the eventual disappearance of the original text, it is possible to form some idea of what it contained by reviewing the epitome and other references. This reconstruction of what might have been in the text was first published, in German, by the Belgian philologist
Joseph Bidez in 1913; a third, revised edition of his work undertaken by
Friedhelm Winkelmann Friedhelm is a name of Germanic origin. It may refer to:
*Friedhelm Busse (1929–2008), German national socialist politician and activist
*Friedhelm Döhl (born 1936), German composer and professor of music
* Friedhelm Eronat (born 1953), Geneva-b ...
was published in 1981; this edition has recently been translated into English by Philip R. Amidon.
He also wrote a treatise against
Porphyry, which is completely lost.
[Philostorgius, in Photius, ''Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius'', book 10, chapter 10.]
Editions
* Bruno Bleckmann, Markus Stein (ed.): ''Philostorgios Kirchengeschichte'' (= ''
Kleine und fragmentarische Historiker der Spätantike'' E 7). 2 vols. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2015, .
* Philostorgius, ''Kirchengeschichte. Mit dem Leben des Lucian von Antiochien und den Fragmenten eines arianischen Historiographen'', edited by Joseph Bidez and revised by Friedhelm Winkelmann, GCS (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1981).
* Philostorgiu
''Church History'' editor and translator Philip R. Amidon, S.J. (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007).
*
PhotiosEpitome of the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius tr
Edward Walford
Edward Walford (1823–1897) was a British magazine editor and a compiler of educational, biographical, genealogical and touristic works, perhaps best known for his 6 Volumes of ''Old and New London'' (the first two of which were written by Walt ...
, (London: Henry G. Bonn, 1855)
References
Further reading
;Studies
* Bruno Bleckmann, "Apokalypse und kosmische Katastrophen: Das Bild der theodosianischen Dynastie beim Kirchenhistoriker Philostorg," in Brandes, Wolfram / Schmieder, Felicitas (hg), ''Endzeiten. Eschatologie in den monotheistischen Weltreligionen'' (Berlin, de Gruyter, 2008) (Millennium-Studien / Millennium Studies / Studien zu Kultur und Geschichte des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr. / Studies in the Culture and History of the First Millennium C.E., 16), 13–40.
External links
Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgiusfro
The Tertullian Project
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{{Authority control
368 births
430s deaths
4th-century Christians
4th-century Romans
5th-century Byzantine historians
5th-century Christians
4th-century Byzantine historians
Christian writers