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[German Version] The person and work of Origen were already controversial during his lifetime. After his death, while the reception of his work continued to spread in the Greek East and Latin West, resistance was raised again against the allegorical interpretation of the Bible and some of the theses Origen had presented, especially in the areas of protology and eschatology (pre-existence of souls and apocatastasis). At the end of the 3rd century, Methodius of Olympus contested Origen’s understandi…

[German Version] ( Sextus; c. 170, Jerusalem – c. 240, Jerusalem). A tutor in the Christian royal house of Edessa under Abgar IX (179–216), Julius Africanus successfully petitioned Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) to rebuild Emmaus, where he lived at the time. Having entered into the service of Emperor Alexander Severus (222–235), he was entrusted with the task of establishing the Pantheon library in Rome. He was acquainted with Origen and his circle, attended the school of Heraclas in Alexandria, and …

[German Version] In Eastern monasticism, a laura (or lavra) is a particular type of monastic community; it differs from cenobitic monasticism (Cenobites) in practicing a moderate form of anachoretic life (Anchorites). Greek λαὑρα/ laúra means “alley” or “passage”; originally it denoted a colony of hermits consisting of scattered cells connected by a path. The term came into use in Byzantine Palestine in the 4th century. The lavrite system is associated with the name of Chariton, who established monastic life in the Judean Deser…

[German Version] (pre-412 until post-451), priest and exegete, supposed to have commented on the whole Bible. Recognized as a teacher of the church (Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Euthymii 16), he was particularly prominent as a preacher. Despite supposed sympathies for the Monophysite Eutyches, in both exegesis and theology, Hesychius proved to be a moderate Alexandrian (Alexandrian theology), with no predisposition toward particular formulations of the christological dogma. Significant fragments of his extensive work as com…

[German Version] Origenism is a complex phenomenon, since the response to Origen’s works and ideas came from many sources; it arose initially from the Judeo-Christian tradition of Alexandria, where the exegetical heritage of Philo of Alexandria played a leading role. This Alexandrian tradition also incorporated certain ideas from pagan philosophy, Platonism in particular, following the lead of Philo and Clement of Alexandria. Also important was the appropriation of this tradition in early monastic…

[German Version] (c. 550, Damascus – Mar 11, 638, Jerusalem). After studying rhetoric, Sophronius traveled to Palestine in 578 and there became a monk. He and John Moschus undertook journeys to Egypt, Sinai, Syria, Cyprus, Rome, and North Africa. In 634 he became patriarch of Jerusalem. In his synodal letter to Sergius I of Constantinople, he stated his resistance to Monenergism as a possible resolution of the conflict with the Monophysites. Shortly before his death, he surrendered the holy city t…

[German Version] Firmilian of Caesarea, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (c. 230–68, Tarsus), one of the leading figures in the eastern episcopate. He was well-disposed toward Origen, whom he heard preach (232/33) and whom ¶ he even visited in Palestine (Eus. Hist. eccl. VI 27), allegedly during a pilgrimage (Jer., De Viris Illustribus 54.4). Together with other bishops in Asia Minor, he opposed Fabius of Antioch, who had supported the course taken by the Novatians. In the Rebaptism Controversy between Stephen I of Rome and Cyprian of Carthage (2…

[German Version] (died Dec 17, 630), patriarch of Jerusalem. At the time of the Persian conquest of Palestine in 614, Modestus, as presbyter and abbot of Theodosius Monastery, worked first to save the Christians from their desperate situation by calling on Byzantine troops in Jericho to raise the siege of Jerusalem. After the capture of the city by the Persians, Modestus, as representative of the deported patriarch Zacharias, worked to alleviate the material and spiritual need of the church. He co…

[German Version] (died 458), brought his episcopal see to the status of a patriarchate. With this political objective in mind, Juvenal first built an alliance with Cyril of Alexandria. Consequently, at the first imperial synod in Ephesus (431), Juvenal supported Cyril's hard line against Nestorius. Juvenal attained the apex of his power at the time of the second Synod of Ephesus (449) when he actively supported the anti-Antiochene policy of Dioscorus of Alexandria. At the time, his area of influen…

[German Version] (6th cent.). Initially a monk in Tyre, then in the laura of Gerasimus near Jericho, around 520 Zosimas founded a monastery near Caesarea, from which he radiated his charismatic gifts. Dorotheus of Gaza frequently cites his teachings on asceticism ( Didaskaliae 1.14; 6.77; 8.91, 94), which were set down by a disciple in his Alloquia (“Conversations”). The work reflects the traditions of early monasticism, especially the desert fathers; its genre recalls the Apophthegmata Patrum. The centerpiece of Zosimas’s spiritual message is radical rejection of the …