Background
Epiphanius was born in the small settlement of Besanduk, near Eleutheropolis (modern Beit Guvrin, Israel) in 310. His parents were Christian Greek, in other versions - Jewish.
(Epiphanius, monastic founder and bishop of Salamis on Cyp...)
Epiphanius, monastic founder and bishop of Salamis on Cyprus for almost forty years of the fourth century, threw heart and soul into the controversies of the time and produced the Panario or Medicine Chest, a historical encyclopedia of sects and heresies and their refutations. The book I deals with material that is also found in Nag Hammadi, other Gnostic writings, and in such patristic authors as Irenaeus and Hippolytus. Students of Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism, patrologists, historians of religion, church historians, and Judaism have found this translation useful.
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(Written in the fourth century A.D., the Panarion of St. E...)
Written in the fourth century A.D., the Panarion of St. Epiphanius is by far the most extensive ancient account of heresies in the early church and the major source for a considerable number of heterodox documents and traditions. Amidon here makes this important patristic document readily accessible to students and scholars, providing translations of selected passages, including precious documents of Gnosticism and Semi-Arianism excerpted and preserved by Epiphanius and first-hand accounts of his encounters with sects and notable figures of his time.
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( Now in paperback from SBL Press This volume of Frank Wi...)
Now in paperback from SBL Press This volume of Frank Williams translation includes Books II and III of the Panarion.The book is chiefly concerned with the sects contemporary with Epiphanius, the Arian, Manichaean and others. It thus describes the thought of the fourth century church, and includes a number of source documents, many of them found only here. Frank Williams offers the only full translation of Epiphanius in a modern language. Features: • Paperback format of an essential Brill translation • Coverage of Gnostic and Jewish Christian groups
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(American New Testament scholar Osburn looks at quotations...)
American New Testament scholar Osburn looks at quotations of scripture by the fourth-century bishop Epiphanius in the several theological treatises that he wrote, which were at the heart of contemporary religious controversy and played a major role in shaping Byzantine history and the history of Christian thought. His frequent use of scripture make
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Epiphanius was born in the small settlement of Besanduk, near Eleutheropolis (modern Beit Guvrin, Israel) in 310. His parents were Christian Greek, in other versions - Jewish.
He was educated while living as a monk in Egypt. After returning to Palestine, he studied as superior of the monastery in Ad that he founded for thirty years. He learned Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin, and was called by Jerome on that account Pentaglossis ("Five tongued").
While learning in Egypt, he came into contact with Valentinian groups. Epiphanius returned to Palestine c. 333. Still a young man, he founded a monastery at Ad nearby. He was nominated and consecrated as Bishop of Salamis, Cyprus in 365 or 367. His service continued until his death. He held the post of the Metropolitan of the Church of Cyprus. His career as bishop continued for nearly forty years, combined with traveling to combat unorthodox beliefs. He was presented at a synod in Antioch in 376, and in 382 at the Council of Rome. In both cases he upheld the position of Bishop Paulinus, who had the support of Rome, over that of Meletius of Antioch, who was supported by the Eastern Churches. Around 394-395 he visited Palestine, where, while preaching in Jerusalem, he attacked Origen's followers and urged the Bishop of Jerusalem, John II, to condemn his writings. He urged John to be careful of the "offence" of images in the churches. In a letter he wrote, what while travelling in Palestine he went into a church to pray. There he saw a curtain with a picture of saint on it, and tore it down. This sowed the seeds of conflict, which occured in the dispute between Rufinus and John against Jerome and Epiphanius. He fuelled this conflict by ordaining a priest for Jerome's monastery at Bethlehem, thus trespassing on John's jurisdiction. The dispute continued during 390s. In 402 Epiphanius was summoned in Constantinopole by Theophilus of Alexandria. By summoning him and others supportive to his anti-Origenist views Theophilus wanted to bring down his enemy John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, who was of Origenist views. As soon as Epiphanius realized it, he started back to Salamis, but drowned at sea on his way in 403. His works, valuable more for the writings they preserve than for his own interpretations, include chiefly two treatises on Biblical lore, Of Measures and Weights and On the Twelve Precious Stones; a handbook of orthodox doctrine on the Trinity, Ancoratus ("The Securely Anchored"); and a summary, of uneven worth, of some eighty heretical errors, Panarion ("The Medicine Cabinet"), all written during his episcopate.
(American New Testament scholar Osburn looks at quotations...)
(Epiphanius, monastic founder and bishop of Salamis on Cyp...)
( Now in paperback from SBL Press This volume of Frank Wi...)
(Written in the fourth century A.D., the Panarion of St. E...)
Saintly, scholarly, perhaps overzealous, he was rather a compiler than a profound theologian or historian. Epiphanius was clearly strongly against some contemporary uses of images in the church. He vigorously attacked the Origenists, erroneously including St. John Chrysostom among them.