Codex 119

[Pierius]

Read a work by Pierius the presbyter, who is said to have suffered martyrdom [1] with his brother Isidore, and to have been the teacher of the martyr Pamphilus in theology and head of the catechetical school at Alexandria. The volume contains twelve books. The style is clear and brilliant, and, so to say, spontaneous; there is nothing elaborate about it, but, as it were unpremeditated, it flows along evenly, smoothly and gently. The work is distinguished by a wealth of argumentation. It contains much that is foreign to the present institutions of the Church, but is possibly in accordance with older regulations. In regard to the Father and the Son his statements are orthodox, except that he asserts that there are two substances and two natures, using these terms (as is clear from what follows and precedes the passage) in the sense of hypostasis, not in the sense given by the adherents of Arius. But in regard to the Holy Ghost his views are dangerous and impious; for he declares that His glory was less than that of the Father and the Son. There is a passage in the treatise entitled On St. Luke’s Gospel,from which it can be shown that the honour and dishonour of the image is the honour and dishonour of the prototype. It is hinted, in agreement with Origen’s absurd idea, that souls have a pre-existence. In his work on Easter and the homily upon the prophet Hosea, the author discusses the Cherubim made by Moses and Jacob’s pillar; he admits that they were made, but talks nonsense about their being providentially granted, as if they were nothing, or something else, or as if what was made was something else; for he says that they did not exhibit any sort of form, but absurdly asserts that they only had wings of a kind.

This Pierius was presbyter of the Church of Alexandria, when Theonas was bishop, and Carus and Diocletian were emperors of Rome. It is said that he was so distinguished for love of work and learning, and that his discourses to the people were so agreeable and instructive, that he was called “the young Origen,” since Origen at that time enjoyed a very high reputation. They say that he was well versed in dialectic and rhetoric, and that he voluntarily practised temperance and poverty. According to some, he suffered martyrdom;according to others, he spent the rest of his life at Rome after the time of the persecution.