Pierius was a Christian priest and probably head of the

Catechetical School of Alexandria The Catechetical School of Alexandria was a school of Christian theologians and bishops and deacons in Alexandria. The teachers and students of the school (also known as the Didascalium) were influential in many of the early theological controver ...

, conjointly with

Achillas Achillas ( el, Ἀχιλλᾶς) was one of the guardians of the Egyptian king Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, and commander of the king's troops, when Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 BC. He was called by Julius Caesar a man of extraordinary daring, a ...

. He flourished while Theonas was bishop of Alexandria, and died at Rome after 309. The ''

Roman Martyrology The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approve ...

'' commemorates him on 4 November. His skill as an exegetical writer and as a preacher gained for him the appellation, "Origen the Younger".Jerome, ''de Viris Illustribus'' 76. Online in the ''NPNF'' translation a
CCEL.org
Accessed 31 January 2010.

Philip of Side Philip of Side or Philip Sidetes (''ca'' 380 - after 431), a historian of the early Christian church, was born at Side in Pamphylia. He wrote a Christian history of which fragments survive. For some detail he relied upon the well-known ''Historia E ...

Photius Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...

, and others assert that he was a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. However, since

St. Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is com ...

assures us that he survived the

Diocletianic Persecution The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rig ...

and spent the rest of his life at Rome, the term "martyr" can only mean that he underwent sufferings, not death, for his faith.

Works

He wrote a work (''biblion'') comprising twelve treatises or sermons (''logoi''), in some of which he repeats the dogmatic points attributed by some authors to

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

, such as the subordination of the Holy Ghost to the Father and the Son, and the pre-existence of human souls. His known sermons are: one on the ''

Gospel of St. Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

'' (''eis to kata Loukan''); an Easter sermon on

Osee In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the ...

(Hosea) (''eis to pascha kai ton Osee''); a sermon on the Mother of God (''peri tes theotokou''); a few other Easter sermons; and a eulogy on St. Pamphilus, who had been one of his disciples (''eis ton bion tou hagiou Pamphilou''). Only fragments of his writings are extant. They were edited by

Martin Joseph Routh Martin Joseph Routh (18 September 175522 December 1854) was an English classical scholar and President of Magdalen College, Oxford (1791–1854). Birthplace and Oxford career Routh was born at South Elmham, Suffolk, son of the Rev. Peter Rou ...

, and in ''

Patrologia Graeca The ''Patrologia Graeca'' (or ''Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca'') is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857– ...

''; Carl de Boor added some fragments.For an English translation see Stewart Dingwall Fordyce Salmond in ''Ante-Nicene Fathers'' (New York, 1896), 157.

Notes

References

*Radford, ''Three Teachers of Alexandria'' (Cambridge, 1908); * Bardenhewer, ''Gesch. der altchrist. Lit.'', II (Freiburg, 1903), 198–203; *____, ''Patrologie'', tr. Shahan (Freiburg, 1908), 158; * Harnack, ''Gesch. der altchrist. Lit.'', I (Leipzig, 1893), 439–44; *''

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...

'', II November, 254–64. ;Attribution {{Authority control Church Fathers 4th-century Christian saints