Epiphanius Scholasticus was a sixth-century translator of
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
works into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
.
Little is known of his life, aside from his works. It seems he bore the name Scholasticus "not so much because of any devotion to literature or theology, but in the sense that that word frequently had in the Middle Ages, meaning a chaplain, amanuensis, or general assistant of any dignitary of the church."
Under the direction of
CassiodorusFlavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname not his rank....
, in about 510, he compiled the
Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae EpitomeHistoriae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome, the abridged history of the early Christian Church known as the Tripartite History, was the standard manual of Church history in Medieval Europe....
, or the
Historia Tripartita ("Tripartite History"), a standard manual of church history through the Middle Ages.
Epiphanius Scholasticus was a sixth-century translator of
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
works into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
.
Little is known of his life, aside from his works. It seems he bore the name Scholasticus "not so much because of any devotion to literature or theology, but in the sense that that word frequently had in the Middle Ages, meaning a chaplain, amanuensis, or general assistant of any dignitary of the church."
Under the direction of
CassiodorusFlavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname not his rank....
, in about 510, he compiled the
Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae EpitomeHistoriae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome, the abridged history of the early Christian Church known as the Tripartite History, was the standard manual of Church history in Medieval Europe....
, or the
Historia Tripartita ("Tripartite History"), a standard manual of church history through the Middle Ages. Epiphanius undertook the translations into Latin of the Greek church histories of
Socrates ScholasticusSocrates of Constantinople, also known as Socrates Scholasticus, was a Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret, who used his work; he was born at Constantinople c. 380: the date of his death is unknown...
,
SozomenSalminius Hermias Sozomenus was a historian of the Christian church.-Family and Home:He was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christian family of Palestine....
and
TheodoretSaint Theodoret, known as Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus, was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria...
, written in the previous century.
Epiphanius also translated the commentaries of
DidymusDidymus the Blind was an ecclesiastical writer of Alexandria whose famous catechetical school he led for about half a century....
on the
Proverbs of SolomonThe Book of Proverbs is a book of the Hebrew Bible , included in the collected works known as the "Writings" or Ketuvim.-Title:...
and on the seven
general epistlesGeneral epistles are books in the New Testament in the form of letters. They are termed "general" because for the most part their intended audience seems to be Christians in general rather than individual persons or congregations as is the case with the Pauline epistles...
, as well as the commentaries of
Epiphanius of SalamisEpiphanius was bishop of Salami and metropolitan of Cyprus at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a Church Father. He gained the reputation of a strong defender of orthodoxy...
upon
Canticles. His
Codex Encyclicus, compiled at the urging of Cassiodorus, collects and translates letters addressed by different synods to the Emperor
Leo IFlavius Valerius Leo , known in English as Leo the Thracian or Leo I, was a Byzantine Emperor who ruled from 457 to 474...
in defence of the decrees of the
Council of ChalcedonThe Council of Chalcedon is considered by the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Old Catholics, and various other Western Christian groups to have been the Fourth Ecumenical Council . It was held from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon...
against the Monophysite Timotheus Aelurus. The list was drawn up in 458 by the order of Leo I, although Epiphanius made several additions to it.
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