Saint Victorinus of Pettau (also Ptuj or Poetovio;

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Βικτωρίνος Πεταβίου; died 303 or 304) was an

Early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

ecclesiastical writer who flourished about 270, and who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

. A Bishop of Poetovio (modern

Ptuj Ptuj (; , ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, eighth-largest town of Slovenia, located in the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria (northeastern Slovenia). It is the seat of the City Municipality of Ptuj, Municipality of Pt ...

in Slovenia; ) in

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, Victorinus is also known as Victorinus Petavionensis or Poetovionensis. Victorinus composed commentaries on various texts within the Christians'

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Life

Born probably in

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on the confines of the

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and Western Empires or in Poetovio with rather mixed population, due to its military character, Victorinus spoke

better than

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, which explains why, in St. Jerome's opinion, his works written in the latter tongue were more remarkable for their matter than for their style. Bishop of the City of Pettau, he was the first theologian to use Latin for his

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

. His works are mainly exegetical. Victorinus composed commentaries on various works of the Bible, including

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, Leviticus,

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Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...

, the

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, Matthew, and the Apocalypse of John (Revelation). He also composed theological treatises against varieties of Christianity he considered heretical. The only works of his that survived past antiquity, however, are his ''Commentary on the Apocalypse'' and the short tract ''On the construction of the world'' (''De fabrica mundi''). Victorinus was much influenced by

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Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

gives him an honorable place in his catalogue of ecclesiastical writers. Jerome occasionally cites the opinion of Victorinus (on Ecclesiastes 4:13, Ezekiel 26, and elsewhere), but considered him to have been affected by the opinions of the Chiliasts or Millenarians. According to Jerome, Victorinus died a martyr in 304. By contrast to Jerome's positive reception in the late fourth and early fifth century, Victorinus's works were condemned and listed as forbidden an according to the

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, a 6th-century work attributed to the 5th century

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; it includes a list of works compiled by heretics or used by schismatics to be rejected and avoided, and lists Victorinus's work there. Victorinus is commemorated in both the Latin

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and the

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on 2 November. Until the 17th century he was sometimes confused with the Latin rhetorician, Victorinus Afer.

''Commentary on the Apocalypse''

Victorinus wrote a commentary on the

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that was later republished in a redacted form by Jerome in the 5th century AD. An original, unredacted manuscript was found in 1918. The commentary was composed not long after the Valerian Persecution, about 260. According to Claudio Moreschini, "The interpretation is primarily allegorical, with a marked interest in arithmology." Johannes Quasten writes that "It seems that he did not give a running commentary on the entire text but contented himself with a paraphrase of selected passages." Victorinus interpreted Revelation 20:4-6 quite literally in a

millennialist Millennialism () or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief which is held by some religious denominations. According to this belief, a Messianic Age will be established on Earth prior to the Last Judgment and the future permanent stat ...

(chiliastic) fashion: as a prophecy of a forthcoming rule of the just in an Earthly paradise. The book is interesting to modern scholars as an example of how people in antiquity interpreted the book of Revelation. Victorinus sees the four animals singing praise to God as the Gospels, and the 24 elders seated on thrones in Revelation 4 are the 12 patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. He also agrees with views that the

Whore of Babylon Babylon the Great, commonly known as the Whore of Babylon, refers to both a symbolic female figure and a place of evil as mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. Her full title is stated in Revelation 17:5 as "Mystery, Babylon ...

"drunk with the blood of martyrs and saints" represents the City of Rome and its persecutions of Christians, and that

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described in

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represents Emperor

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. As Nero was already dead during Victorinus's time, he believed that the later passages referred to Nero Redivivus, a monstrous revived Nero who would attack from the East. Victorinus sees the sharp two-edged sword that Christ wields with his mouth in Revelation 1 as the biblical canon, with one edge being the Old Testament and another the New Testament. He also believed that the "

two witnesses The two witnesses () are two figures mentioned in Revelation 11:1-14. Some Christians interpret them as two literal prophets, such as Moses and Elijah or Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Others interpret them as symbols for a group or groups of peo ...

" in Revelation were the prophets

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and another that he suspects is

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

because "his death was never discovered." For Victorinus, the two witnesses (and Christ) are the only inhabitants of Paradise in the present age, as all (even Christian martyrs) are currently in Hades. However, the two witnesses will descend to Earth in the age described in Revelation to finally meet their deaths.

Works

* ''On the Creation of the World'' * ''Commentary on the Apocalypse''

Footnotes

References

External links