Isidore of Pelusium
Encyclopedia
Isidore of Pelusium was born in Egypt to a prominent Alexandria
n family. He became an ascetic, and moved to a mountain near the city of Pelusium
, in the tradition of the Desert Fathers
.
Isidore is known to us for his letters, written to Cyril of Alexandria
, Theodosius II
, and a host of others, known and unknown. A collection of 2,000 letters was made in antiquity at the "Sleepless" monastery in Constantinople, and this has come down to us through a number of manuscripts, with each letter numbered and in order. The letters are mostly very short extracts, a sentence or two in length. Further unpublished letters exist in Syriac translation.
Some of the letters are of considerable interest for the exegesis of the Greek bible.
He is revered as a saint, whose feast day is February 4.
, a collection of the Greek writings of Christian writers and theologians featuring the original Greek text and a Latin translation facing. However the edition given is very confused, and splits the letters into 5 "books" which are unknown to the manuscripts.
This situation arose because of the piecemeal way in which the letters were rediscovered at the Renaissance
. The first editor, Jacques de Billy, discovered a manuscript of the collection of 2,000 letters which only contained about 1,200 letters. These he published in three books. The next editor discovered a manuscript containing only a selection of letters by subject, in a different order. He printed the extra letters in his own order as "book 4". Yet another editor found a further manuscript and made up a fifth book.
Pierre Evieux edited the second half of the collection, where the disarrangement was most serious, in 1997 and 2000, in the Sources Chrétiennes
series. He also produced a table of cross-reference between the original numbering and that in the Patrologia Graeca. The other letters have never received any critical edition or been translated into any modern language.
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
n family. He became an ascetic, and moved to a mountain near the city of Pelusium
Pelusium
Pelusium was a city in the eastern extremes of Egypt's Nile Delta, 30 km to the southeast of the modern Port Said. Alternative names include Sena and Per-Amun , Pelousion , Sin , Seyân , and Tell el-Farama...
, in the tradition of the Desert Fathers
Desert Fathers
The Desert Fathers were hermits, ascetics, monks, and nuns who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD. The most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270–271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism...
.
Isidore is known to us for his letters, written to Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...
, Theodosius II
Theodosius II
Theodosius II , commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople...
, and a host of others, known and unknown. A collection of 2,000 letters was made in antiquity at the "Sleepless" monastery in Constantinople, and this has come down to us through a number of manuscripts, with each letter numbered and in order. The letters are mostly very short extracts, a sentence or two in length. Further unpublished letters exist in Syriac translation.
Some of the letters are of considerable interest for the exegesis of the Greek bible.
He is revered as a saint, whose feast day is February 4.
History of the text
The letters can be found in volume 78 of the Patrologia GraecaPatrologia Graeca
The Patrologia Graeca is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the ancient Koine or medieval variants of the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857–1866 by J. P. Migne's Imprimerie Catholique...
, a collection of the Greek writings of Christian writers and theologians featuring the original Greek text and a Latin translation facing. However the edition given is very confused, and splits the letters into 5 "books" which are unknown to the manuscripts.
This situation arose because of the piecemeal way in which the letters were rediscovered at the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. The first editor, Jacques de Billy, discovered a manuscript of the collection of 2,000 letters which only contained about 1,200 letters. These he published in three books. The next editor discovered a manuscript containing only a selection of letters by subject, in a different order. He printed the extra letters in his own order as "book 4". Yet another editor found a further manuscript and made up a fifth book.
Pierre Evieux edited the second half of the collection, where the disarrangement was most serious, in 1997 and 2000, in the Sources Chrétiennes
Sources chretiennes
Sources Chrétiennes is a bilingual collection of patristic texts founded in Lyon in 1942 by the Jesuits Jean Daniélou, Claude Mondésert, and Henri de Lubac....
series. He also produced a table of cross-reference between the original numbering and that in the Patrologia Graeca. The other letters have never received any critical edition or been translated into any modern language.