Hesy'chius HIEROSOLYMITANUS
7. HIEROSOLYMITANUS, or of JERUSALEM, an early Christian writer of considerable repute in his day, many of whose writings are extant.
The date of his life and his official rank in the church have been much disputed. Cyril of Scythopolis, in his life of St. Euthymius (
Βίος τοῦ ἁγίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Εὐθυμίου, Cotel.
Eccles. Graec. Monum. vol. iv. p. 31), speaks of Hesychius, "presbyter and teacher of the church," as being with Juvenal patriarch of Jerusalem, when he dedicated the church of the " Laura," or monastery of Euthymius, A. D. 428 or 429. Theophanes records the
προβολὴ, advancement (i.e. ordination ?) of Hesychius, "the presbyter of Jerusalem," A. M. 5906, Alex. era (= = A. D. 414); and notices him again as elninenlt for learning (
ἤνθει ταῖς διδασκαλίαις) the year following, A. D. 415.
He gives him no higher title when recording his death, A. M. 5926, Alex. era,= = A. D. 434. Photius, who has described some of his works, also calls him" Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem," but without mentioning the time when he lived. Yet, notwithstanding these tolerably clear intimations, Miraeus (
Auctarium de Scriptor. Eccles. No. clxxv.), Possevinus (
Apparatus Sacer, vol. i. p. 739, ed. Col. 1608 ), Cave, and Thorschmidt (
Comment. de Hesychio Milesio), consider Hesychius the writer to be identical with the Isysius or Isacius (
Ἰσάκιος), bishop or patriarch of Jerusalem, to whom pope Gregory the Great wrote an epistle (
Epistol. 11.40.; Opera, vol. ii. col. 1133, ed. Benedict.), and whose death occurred, according to the Alexandrian or Paschal chronicle, in A. D. 609. (
Chron. Pasch. p. 382, ed. Paris, vol. i. p. 699, ed. Bonn.)
But the absence of any higher designation than presbyter in Photius and Theophanes forbid the supposition that their Hesychius ever attained episcopal rank; and the want of any distinguishing epithet leads us to conclude that there was no other Hesychius of Jerusalem who had acquired distinction as a writer.
The account of Hesychius in the Greek Menology is probably correct in its general outline.
According to it, he was born and educated at Jerusalem, where, by meditating on the Scriptures, he acquired a deep acquaintance with divine things.
He afterwards left Jerusalem, and followed a monastic life "in the deserts" (it is not stated in what desert, but it was probably in Palestine), gathering from the holy fathers there, with beelike industry, the flowers of virtue.
He was ordained presbyter, against his will, by the patriarch of Jerusalem, and spent the rest of his life in that city, or in other places where the Lord Jesus Christ had suffered. Trithemius, who calls him Esytius (
De Scriptor. Eccles. No. lxxxii), and Sixtus of Sena (
Bibl. Sancta, lib. iv. p. 245, ed. Col. 1586), say, but we know not on what authority, that he was a disciple of Gregory Nazianzen, which is hardly probable.
Works
His principal writings are,--
Editions
A Latin version of this was published fol. Basel, 1527, and 8vo. Paris, 1581, and is reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum (vol. xii. p. 52, &c., ed. Lyon. 1677).
Authorship and Original Language
The authorship and original language of this work have been much disputed.
In some passages the writer evidently speaks as one to whom the Latin tongue was vernacular; and in some of the MSS. he is called Isychius, presbyter of Salona, not to be confounded with the Hesychius the correspondent of Augustin (Augustin,
Ep. 197, 198, 199; Opera, vol. ii. col. 737, &c., ed. Benedict. 1679, and vol. ii. p. 1106, ed. Paris, 1836), whom Augustin addresses as his "coepiscopus;" but Tillemont thinks that the original was in Greek, and that there are internal indications that the writer lived at Jerusalem; and Cave suggests that the passages in which the writer speaks as a Latin are the interpolations of the translator, whom he supposes to have been Hesychius of Salona.
The work is cited as the work of Hesychius of Jerusalem by Latin writers of the ninth century. The Latin version is ancient, though subsequent to the time when the Latin version of the Scriptures by Jerome came into general use in the church. Considerable pains are taken in the work to confute the opinions of Nestorius, and, as is thought by many, of Eutyches. Now, as the heresy of the latter was not denounced until A. D. 448, fourteen years after the death of Hesychius of Jerusalem, according to Theophanes, this circumstance would appear fatal to his claims to the authorship. But Tillemont thinks that the opinions controverted are not those of Eutyches, but the nearly similar errors of the Apollinarists [
APOLLINARIS, No. 2;
EUTYCHES].
(or
Κεφάλαια)
τῶν ιβ᾽ προφητῶν καὶ Ἠσαΐον,
Sticheron (or (Cupita) in duodecim Prophetas Minores et Esaiam.
Editions
This was published by David Hoeschel with the Εἰσαγωγὴ, Isagoge, of Adrian [ADRIANUS], 4to. Augsburg, 1602. It is contained also in the Critci Sacri (vol. viii. p. 26, ed. London, 1660).
or
Εὐκτικά.
This work is considered to be the one mentioned by Photius (
Phot. Bibl. 198)) as the last piece in a collection of ascetic writings described by him.
Editions
It was printed with the
Opuscula of Marcus Eremita, 8vo. Paris, 1563, and reprinted by Ducaeus (Du Duc) in the
Biblioth. Patrum Gr. Lat. (commonly cited by the title of
Auctarium Ducaeanum) vol. i. p. 985, fol. Paris, 1624.
Editions
A Latin version of it is given in the
Bibliotheca Patrum (vol. xii. p. 194), with the title
Ad Theodulum Sermo Compendiosus animae perutilis, de Temperantia et Virtute, quae dicuntur ἀντιρρητικὰ καὶ εὐκτικὰ, hoc est, de ratione reluctandi ac precandi.
Editions
These two discourses on the Virgin Mary were published by Ducaeus in the Bibliotheca Patrum Gr. Lat. vol. ii. p. 417, and
a Latin version by Joannes Picus of Paris in the Bibl. Patrum (vol. xii. p. 185, &c.)
Several extracts from this piece are given by Photius (
Phot. Bibl. 269), from whom we take the title, in which Bekker, on the authority of a MS. at Paris, and on internal evidence, has properly restored the word
Ἀνδρέαν in place of the common reading
Θωμᾶν.
Editions
A Latin version of the whole is in the Biblioth. Patr. vol. xii. p. 188, &c.
Editions
ascribed in some MSS. to Gregory Nuyssen, and printed in some editions of his works.
Editions
These two pieces are contained in the Novum Auctarium of Combefis, vol. i. fol. Paris, 1648, and a Latin version in the Bibl. Patrum, vol. xii. p. 190c.
Editions
Extracts from this are given by Photius (Phot. Bibl. 275).
This piece is of very doubtful genuineness.
Editions
It is given in the Acta Sanctorum of Bollandus, Martii, vol. ii. (a. d. xv),
a Latin version in the body of the work at p. 368, and
the Greek original, in the Appendix, p. 736.
Editions
An extract from this is given by Ducange in his illustrations of the Paschal Chronicle, subjoined to that work in the Paris (p. 424) and Bonn editions (vol. ii. p. 116) of the Byzantine writers; and by
Hody, in the Proleg. c. xxiv. prefixed to the Chronicon of Jo. Malalas, Oxon. 1691; and
a part of this extract is cited by Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 398, ed. Oxford, 1740-1743.
Editions
Some fragments of this are published in the Noxum Auctarium of Combefis, vol. i. p. 773, fol. Paris, 1648.
Editions
An abridgment of No. 11, published in the Ecclses. Graec. Monum. of Cotelerius (vol. iii. p. 1).
Editions
Some fragments of this are given by Cardinal Antonio Caraffa in his
Catena Veterum Patrum in Cantica Veteris et Noui Testamenti.
Other Works
These are all the works of Hesychius, of which the whole or any considerable fragments have been published.
He wrote also,
77
ad 107,
inclusive, et in Ps. 118, extant in MS, and sometimes ascribed to Chrysostom, from whose published commentary on the Psalms it is altogether different. Anselmo Banduri promised to publish this commentary of Hesychius, but did not.
Lost Works
Several other pieces are extant in MS., but some of the most important of this writer's works are lost, including,
A Latin version of a passage in this is cited in the
Collatio of the fifth oecumenical or second Constantinopolitan council (Labbe asid Cossart.
Concil. vol. v. col. 470).
The work is also cited in the
Chron. Paschale (p. 371, ed. Paris, vol. i. pp. 680, 681, ed. Bonn).
Cotelerius speaks of this work (
Eccles. Graec. Monumenta, vol. iii. p. 521 ) as having been mentioned by Usher, but does not give a reference to the place in Usher's works.
Further Information
Phot.
Bibl. ll. cc., ed. Bekker; Theophanes,
Chronog. vol. i. pp. 71, 79, ed. Paris, vol. i. pp. 129, 142, ed. Bonn; with the notes of Goarus in loc. in both editions;
Acta Sanct. ll.c. and
Martii, vol. iii. p. 173;
Menolog. Graec. jussu Imp. Basil. edit. (ad Mart. xxviii.) pt. iii. p. 33; Cotelerius,
Eccles. Gr. Monum. ll. cc.; Cave,
Hist. Litt. l.c., and vol. i. p. 570, &c., ed. Oxford, 1740-43; Tillemont,
Mémoires, &c., vol. xiv. p. 227, &c., and notes, p. 744, &c.; Fabric.
Bibl. Gr. vol. vii. pp. 419, 548, et alibi.
