Fabianus, bp. of Rome
Fabianus (1) (called by the Greeks and in the Liberian Catalogue Fabius, by Eutychius and in the Alexandrian Chronicle Flavianus), bp. of Rome from early in Feb.236 to Jan.20, 250, and a martyr. Eusebius relates that, the brethren being assembled in the church to choose a successor to Anteros, Fabianus, a layman lately come from the country, being indicated as the chosen of Heaven by a dove settling on his head, the people acclaimed him as worthy and placed him on the episcopal throne (H. E. vi.29). That the choice proved a good one is witnessed by Cyprian, who rejoices that |his honourable consummation had corresponded to the integrity of his administration| (Ep.39, cf.30).
In the Liberian Catalogue (a.d.354) he is said to have divided the regions of the city among the deacons, and to have been martyred Jan.20, 250. In the Felician Catalogue (a.d.530) and in later editions of the Liber Pontificalis it is added that he made also seven subdeacons to superintend the seven notaries appointed to record faithfully the acts of the martyrs; also that he caused to be brought to Rome by sea the body of Pontianus (the predecessor of his predecessor Anteros), martyred in Sardinia, and buried it in the cemetery of Callixtus on the Appian Way; in which cemetery he too was buried. It is remarkable that, though the Roman calendar designates all the first 30 bishops of Rome except two as saints and martyrs, Fabianus is the first, except Telesphorus and Pontianus, whose martyrdom rests on any good authority (cf. also Eus. H. E. vi.39; Hieron. de Ill. Vir. c.54; Cypr. Epp.39, 30). Fabianus was among the earliest victims of the Decian persecution. Fragments of a slab bearing the inscription PhABIANOC + EPI + MR (Fabianus episcopus martyr), together with others inscribed with the names of Anteros, Lucius, and Eutychianus, Roman bishops of the same period, have been found in what is called the papal crypt of the cemetery of Callixtus, thus attesting the accounts given of the place of his burial (Roma Sotterranea, by Northcote and Brownlow).
Fabianus is specially named by Eusebius (H. E. vi.36) as one among many bishops to whom Origen wrote in defence of his own orthodoxy. Cyprian mentions him (Ep.59) as having, with Donatus bp. of Carthage, written a letter severely censuring one Privatus, an heretical bp. of Lambaesa in Numidia, who had been condemned by a synod of 90 bishops at Lambaesa for |many and grievous faults.| Nothing more is known about Fabianus with certainty. Great doubt rests on the story (accepted by Andreas du Chesne, in Vit. Pontif., and in the main by the Bollandists) of his having been the founder of the seven Gallic churches of Toulouse, Arles, Tours, Paris, Narbonne, Clermont, Limoges; to which he is said to have sent respectively Saturninus, Trophimus, Gratianus, Dionysius, Paulus, Astremonius, and Martialis as missionary bishops. The story is absent from early records, and is disputable also on other grounds. Still more improbable is the story, accepted by the Bollandists and Baronius, and resting mainly on the authority of the Acts of St. Pontius, that the emperor Philip and his son became Christians, and were baptized by Fabianus. [[231]Philippus (5).] Three spurious decretals are attributed to Fabianus. There are also ten decreta assigned to him by Gratian and others, on matters of discipline.
[J.B -- Y.]
Fabiola, a noble Roman lady
Fabiola (1), a noble Roman lady, a friend of St. Jerome, who wrote for her two dissertations (Ep. lxiv. and lxxviii. ed. Vall.) on the dress of the high priest, and on the stations of the Israelites in the desert; and also a memoir of her in his touching letter to Oceanus (Ep. lxxvii. ed. Vall.) in the year of her death, 399. Thierry (St. Jerome, ii.11) has worked up the intimations about her into an interesting and dramatic story. She was descended from Julius Maximus and extremely wealthy; a woman of a lively and passionate nature, married to a man whose vices compelled her to divorce him. She then accepted a second husband, the first being still alive. It is probable that this step separated her from Paula and the other friends of Jerome, and from church communion, and may account for the fact that we hear nothing of her during Jerome's stay at Rome. After the death of her second husband she voluntarily went through a public penance. Having publicly renewed her communion with the church, she sold all her possessions, and determined to administer the vast sums thus acquired for the good of the poor. She supported monasteries in various parts of Italy and the adjacent islands, and joined Pammachius in the institution of a hospital (nosokomeion), where she gathered in the sick and outcasts, and tended them with her own hands. In 395 she suddenly appeared at Bethlehem, making the journey with her kinsman Oceanus. Several causes prevented Bethlehem from becoming her home. The Origenistic strife divided Jerome and his friends from Rufinus and Melania, and the new-comers did not escape the discord. Oceanus warmly espoused the side of Jerome; Fabiola seems to have stood aloof. But efforts were made, if we may believe Jerome (cont. Ruf. iii.14), to draw them into the camp of the adversary. Letters in which Rufinus was praised, fraudulently taken from the cell of Jerome's friend Eusebius, were found in the rooms of Fabiola and Oceanus. But this proceeding failed to cause a breach between Fabiola and Jerome. Jerome bears witness to the earnestness with which she attached herself to his teaching. The two treatises above mentioned are the results of her importunity (Ep. xiv. ed. Vall.).
Jerome was seeking a suitable dwelling-place for her, and engaged in writing his treatise on the mystical meaning of the high priest's garments, when the inroad of the Huns caused a panic in Palestine. Jerome and his friends hurried to the sea-coast at Joppa, and had hired vessels for flight, when the Huns abandoned their purpose and turned back. Jerome, with Paula and Eustochium, returned to Bethlehem; but Fabiola went on to Rome.
The last three years of her life were occupied with incessant activity in good works. In conjunction with Pammachius she instituted at Portus a hospice (xenodochium), perhaps taking her model from that established by Jerome at Bethlehem; and it was so successful that, as Jerome says, in one year it become known from Parthia to Britain. But to the last her disposition was restless. She found Rome and Italy too small for her charities, and was purposing some long journey or change of habitation when death overtook her a.d.399. Her funeral was celebrated as a Christian triumph. The streets were crowded, the hallelujahs reached the golden roof of the temples. Jerome's book on the 42 stations (mansiones) of the Israelites in the desert was dedicated to her memory.
[W.H.F.]
Faustus (11), sometimes called the Breton
Faustus (11), sometimes called |the Breton,| from having been born in Brittany, or (as Tillemont thinks) in Britain, but more generally known as Faustus of Riez from the name of his see. Born towards the close of the 4th cent., he may have lost his father while he was young, for we only hear of his mother, whose fervid piety made a great impression on all who saw her. Faustus studied Greek philosophy, but in a Christian spirit; mastered the principles of rhetoric, and may have pleaded for a time at the bar.
While still youthful (probably c.426 or a little later) he entered the famous monastery of Lerins, then presided over by St. Maximus. Here he became a thorough ascetic and a great student of Holy Scripture, without, however, giving up his philosophic pursuits. Here he probably acquired the reputation, assigned to him by Gennadius, of an illustrious extempore preacher. He became a presbyter, and c.432 or 433 succeeded Maximus as abbat of Lerins. His tenure was marked by a dispute with his diocesan Theodore, bp. of Fréjus, concerning their respective rights. The third council of Arles was convened by Ravennius, bp. of Arles, for the sole purpose of settling this controversy. The decision left considerable ecclesiastical power in the hands of the abbat. The epistle of Faustus to a deacon named Gratus (al. Gratius or Gregorius), who was heretical on the union of the two natures in the Person of Christ, belongs also to this period.
Faustus next succeeded St. Maximus in the episcopate of Riez in Provence. Baronius places this as late as 472, but Tillemont (Mém. vi. p.775) as early as 462 or even 456. Faustus continued as bishop the stern self-discipline which he had practised as monk and abbat. He often retired to Lerins, becoming known throughout and beyond his diocese as one who gave succour to those sick whether in body or mind. He seems to have taken a stern view of late repentances, like those so prevalent at an earlier period in the church of N. Africa. In the councils of Arles and of Lyons a presbyter named Lucidus, accused of having taught fatalism through misunderstanding Augustine, was induced to retract; and Leontius, bp. of Arles, invited Faustus to compose a treatise on grace and free choice.
Faustus appears from Sidonius to have had some share in the treaty of 475 between the emperor Nepos and Euric king of the Visigoths, which Tillemont and Gibbon agree in regarding as discreditable to the Roman empire. It wrested Auvergne and subsequently Provence from an orthodox sovereign, and gave them to an Arian. This was unfortunate for Faustus, who c.481 was banished, probably because of his writings against Arianism. His banishment is naturally attributed to king Euric, on whose death in 483 he returned to Riez. His life was prolonged until at least a.d.492, possibly for some years later.
His writings have not come down to us in a complete and satisfactory condition. The following are still accessible: --
(1) Professio Fidei. -- He opens with a severe attack on the teaching of Pelagius as heretical, but expresses a fear of the opposite extreme, of such a denial of man's power as a free agent as would virtually amount to fatalism.
(2) Epistola ad Lucidum Presbyterum. -- Here, too, he anathematizes the error of Pelagius; but also any who shall have declared that Christ did not die for all men, or willeth not that all should be saved.
(3) De Gratia Dei et Humanae Mentis libero Arbitrio. -- After again censuring Pelagius, the writer argues strongly on behalf of the need of human endeavour and co-operation with the Divine aid. In his interpretation of passages of Holy Scripture (e.g. Ex. iv.21; vii.13; Rom. ix.11-26) which favour most Augustinianism, he is most extreme and least successful. Many passages might almost have come from the pen of some Arminian controversialist at the synod of Dort. In cap. x. of bk. ii., which is entitled Gentes Deum Naturaliter Sapuisse, Faustus calls attention to the language of Daniel towards Nebuchadnezzar and his censure of Belshazzar, as a heathen recognition of God (Dan. iv., and v.). He also appeals for the same purpose to the first chapter of Jonah, the repentance of the Ninevites (Jon. iii.) and the language of Jeremiah (xviii.7-10). Perhaps the famous expression in the apology of Tertullian, O testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae, might be considered to favour the view of heathendom here taken by Faustus.
(4) Ad Monachos Sermo. -- The tone of this short letter resembles that of his other writings. He refers to excommunication as a terrible weapon only to be used in the last resort. It is sad to see monks go back to the world, especially if, after doing so, they retain their monastic dress. As usual, he is energetic in his appeals to the human element in religion. |Use your will. Resist the devil. Cherish all graces, especially obedience and humility.|
(5) De Ratione Fidei Catholicae. -- The former part is a brief statement of the case against Arianism. It explains the distinction between Persona and Natura in reference to our Lord's Incarnation, and appears to be addressed to an orthodox but perplexed friend, whom the author treats as a superior. The second portion is metaphysical, and discusses the nature of the soul, which Faustus seems to pronounce material. Claudius Mamertus, in his de Statu Animae, wrote against Faustus on this point. Faustus may, however, not have meant to do more than draw a marked distinction between the Creator and the creature; arguing, as he does, nihil credendum incorporeum praeter Deum.
(6) Homilia de S. Maximi Laudibus. -- A eulogy of his predecessor.
(7) Epistolae. -- Two have already been described. The other 17 epistles touch upon problems of metaphysics and theology.
Faustus was of unimpeachably good character; of an earnest, active, ascetic life; orthodox on the central doctrine of the Christian faith and suffering exile for it as a confessor; but stigmatized as a semi-Pelagian, and consequently by many authorities, both ancient and modern, denied the title of saint. But his own flock at Riez, deeply moved by his life and preaching, and warmly attached to his memory, insisted on giving him a local canonization as Sanctus Faustus Reiensis; they erected a basilica, dedicated in his name, and kept Jan.18 as his festival. The first complete ed. of his works was pub. by A. Engelbrecht in Corpus Script. Eccl. Lat. vol. xxi.; cf. other publications of Engelbrecht on the same subject.
[J.G.C.]
Felicissimus, deacon of Carthage
Felicissimus (1), deacon of Carthage, whom Novatus associated with himself in the management of a district called Mons (Cyp. Ep.41). He was the chief agent (signifer seditionis, Ep.59) of the anti-Cyprianic party, which combined the five presbyters originally opposed to Cyprian's election with the later-formed party for the easy readmission of the lapsed (Epp.43, 45). Cyprian (Ep.52) definitely states that Felicissimus had been, when the persecution arose, on the point of being tried before the presbytery on charges of homicidal cruelty to his father and wife. Like other African and Spanish deacons (Neander, vol. i. p.324, ed. Bohn), he acquired influence through his administration of church property and was able to threaten with excommunication any who accepted relief or office from Cyprian's commissioners. The latter excommunicated him (Ep.42) with Cyprian's consent. The mild resolution of the council of 252, making easy the readmission of the lapsed on earnest repentance [[232]Cyprianus], destroyed his locus standi. The party then coalesced with that of Privatus (2), who consecrated Fortunatus anti-bishop; and Felicissimus sailed for Rome to conciliate or intimidate Cornelius into recognizing him (Ep.59). Failing here, the party melted quietly away.
[E.W.B.]
Felicitas (1), martyr at Rome
Felicitas (1), commemorated on Nov.23; martyr at Rome with her seven sons, under Antoninus Pius, and, according to their Acts, at his personal command, Publius being prefect of the city, c. a.d.150. It is almost certain that there was no authorized persecution under Antonius Pius, but public calamities stirred up the mob to seek for the favour of the gods by shedding Christian blood ( Julii Capitolini, Vita Antonini Pii, c.9). Doubtless, in some such way, Felicitas and her children suffered. In her Acts Publius the Prefect is represented as commanded by Antoninus to compel her to sacrifice, but in vain, though he appeals to her maternal affection as well as her fears. He then calls upon each of her sons, Januarius, Felix, Philippus, Sylvanus, Alexander, Vitalis, Martialis, with a similar want of success, the mother exhorting them, |Behold, my sons, heaven, and look upwards, whence you expect Christ with His saints.| The prefect, having tortured some of them, reported to the emperor, at whose command they were beheaded. Their martyrdom is commemorated by Gregory the Great, in Hom.3 super Evang. where, preaching in a church dedicated to her, he lauds Felicitas as |Plus quam martyr quae septem pignoribus ad regnum praemissis, toties ante se mortua est. Ad poenas prima venit sed pervenit octava| (Mart. Vet. Rom. Hieron., Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi).
[G.T.S.]
Felicitas (2), martyr at Carthage
Felicitas (2), Mar.7; martyr at Carthage with Perpetua, Revocatus, Saturninus, and Secundinus, all catechumens, and baptized after their arrest. Felicitas and her companions having been interrogated by Hilarianus, the proconsul, and remaining steadfast, were condemned to be thrown to the beasts on the anniversary of the young Geta's accession. Felicitas, being in the eighth month of her pregnancy, and the law not permitting women in her condition to be executed, was greatly distressed at the delay of her martyrdom. Prayer was therefore made that God might grant her an earlier delivery, and this accordingly took place a few days after. While the pangs of labour were upon her, the jailer, hearing some exclamations of pain, said, |If thy present sufferings are so great, what wilt thou do when thou art thrown to the wild beasts? This thou didst not consider when thou refusedst to sacrifice.| Whereupon she answered, |What I now suffer I suffer myself, but then there will be another Who will suffer for me because I also shall suffer for Him.| They were all put to death together in a.d.202 or 203, during the reign of Severus, whose latter years were marked by a very rigorous persecution (Ael. Spart. Sever. Imp. § 27 in Hist. August. Scriptt.). Few martyrdoms are better attested than this. The ancient Roman calendar, pub. by Bucherius, and dating from c.360, mentions only three African martyrs, viz. Felicitas, Perpetua, and Cyprian. Their names are in the canon of the Roman Mass, which mentions none but really primitive martyrs. Their martyrdom is mentioned by Tertullian in de Anima, lv., and treated at length in three sermons (280, 281, 282) by St. Augustine, while their burial at Carthage, in the Basilica Major, is asserted by Victor Vitensis, lib. i. de Pers. Vandal. There are three texts of these Acts -- the original Lat. text, an ancient Gk. version, and a shorter Lat. text, probably an excerpt from the Gk. version. For all three texts see the ed. of Dean J. A. Robinson in Texts and Studies, i.2; cf. also von Gebhardt's Acta.
[G.T.S.]
Felix (1) I., bp. of Rome
Felix (1) I., bp. of Rome, probably from Jan.5, 269, to Dec.30, 274, in the reigns of Claudius and Aurelian. The Liberian Catalogue (354) names the consuls of the years above mentioned as those contemporary with his accession and death, and gives 5 years, 11 months, and 25 days as the duration of his episcopate; while the Liberian Depositio Episcoporum gives Dec.30 as the date of his death. Later and less trustworthy authorities, including the Liber Pontificalis, differ as to the date and duration of his episcopate. He appears in the Roman Calendar as a saint and martyr, his day being May 30. His martyrdom is asserted, not only in the later editions of the Liber Pontificalis, but also in the early recension of 530, known as the Felician Catalogue. Notwithstanding this testimony, his martyrdom seems inconsistent with the silence of the Liberian Catalogue, and with his name appearing in the Depositio Episcoporum, not the Depositio Martyrum of the same date.
Nothing is known with certainty of his acts, except the part he took in the deposition of Paul of Samosata from the see of Antioch. A synod at Antioch (a.d.290) having deposed this heretical bishop and appointed Domnus in his place, announced these facts in letters addressed to Maximus and Dionysius, bps. of Alexandria and Rome, and to other Catholic bishops. Felix, who had in the meantime succeeded Dionysius, addressed a letter on the subject to Maximus and to the clergy of Antioch, fragments of which are preserved in the Apologeticus of Cyril of Alexandria, and in the Acts of the council of Ephesus, and which is also alluded to by Marius Mercator, and by Vincent of Lerins in his Commonitorium; cf. Harnack, Gesch. der alt. Ch. Lit. i.659. Three decretals, undoubtedly spurious, are assigned to him (Harduin, Concil.).
[J.B.]
Felix II., bp. of Rome
Felix (2) II., bp. of Rome after the exile of pope Liberius (a.d.355). He has a place in the Roman calendar as a saint and martyr, and in the Pontifical and in the Acts of St. Felix and St. Eusebius as a legitimately elected and orthodox pope, persecuted by the emperor and the Arian faction. Contemporary and other ancient writers (Faustus and Marcellinus, Hilary, Athanasius, Jerome, Rufinus, Sozomen, and Theodoret) unanimously represent him, on the contrary, as an interloper placed in the see violently and irregularly by the emperor and the Arians, and do not allude to his martyrdom. The following is the account given by Marcellinus and Faustus, two contemporary Luciferian presbyters of Rome, who must have had good opportunity of knowing the truth. It occurs in the preface to their Libellus Precum addressed to the emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius during the pontificate of Damasus, who succeeded Liberius, and by whom the writers complain of being persecuted. Immediately on the banishment of Liberius all the clergy, including the archdeacon Felix, swore to accept no other bishop during the life of the exiled pope. Notwithstanding, the clergy afterwards ordained this Felix, though the people were displeased and abstained from taking part. Damasus, pope after Liberius, was among his perjured supporters. In 357 the emperor visited Rome, and, being solicited by the people for the return of Liberius, consented on condition of his complying with the imperial requirements, but with the intention of his ruling the church jointly with Felix. In the third year Liberius returned, and the people met him with joy. Felix was driven from the city, but soon after, at the instigation of the clergy who had perjured themselves in his election, burst into it again, taking his position in the basilica of Julius beyond the Tiber. The faithful and the nobles again expelled him with great ignominy. After 8 years, during the consulship of Valentinianus and Valens (i.e. a.d.365), on the 10th of the Calends of Dec. (Nov.22), Felix died, leaving Liberius without a rival as bp. of Rome till his own death on the 8th of the Calends of Oct. (Sept.24), 366. The other writers mentioned tell us that the election and consecration of Felix took place in the imperial palace, since the people debarred the Arians from their churches; that three of the emperor's eunuchs represented the people, the consecrators being three heretical bishops, Epictetus of Centumellae, Acacius of Caesarea, and Basil of Ancyra; and it was only the Arian section of the clergy, though apparently a large one, that supported Felix.
A very different account is given in the Pontifical and in the Acts of St. Felix and of St. Eusebius; the former account is undoubtedly to be preferred. But though Felix, as well as Liberius, has obtained a place in the list of lawful popes, and has even been canonized, it is thus evident that his claim is more than doubtful. Accordingly, Augustine, Optatus, and Eutychius (as did Athanasius, Jerome, and Rufinus) exclude him from their lists of popes. In the Roman church, however, his claim to the position appears to have remained unquestioned till the 14th cent., when, an emendation of the Roman Martyrology having been undertaken in 1582, under pope Gregory XIII., the question was raised and discussed. Baronius at first opposed the claims of Felix; a cardinal, Sanctorius, defended them. The question was decided by the accidental discovery, in the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian in the forum, of a coffin bearing the inscription, |Corpus S. Felicis papae et martyris, qui damnavit Constantium.| In the face of this, Baronius was convinced, and retracted all he had written (Baron. ad Liberium, c. lxii.). Accordingly Felix retained his place in the Martyrology, though the title of pope was afterwards expunged from the oratio for his day in the breviary. What became of the inscribed slab is not known, and in the absence of any knowledge of its date, its testimony is valueless.
[J.B -- Y.]
Felix III., bishop of Rome
Felix (3) III., (otherwise II.), bp. of Rome from Mar.483 to Feb.492. The clergy having met in St. Peter's church to elect a successor to Simplicius, Basilius (Praefectus Praetorio and Patrician) interposed in the name of his master Odoacer the Herulian, who since 476 had ruled the West as king of Italy, alleging, as a fact known to his hearers, that Simplicius before his death had conjured the king to allow no election of a successor without his consent; and this to avoid the turmoil and detriment to the church that was likely to ensue. Basilius expressing surprise that the clergy, knowing this, had taken independent action, proceeded in the king's name to propound a law prohibiting the pope then to be elected and all future popes from alienating any farms or other church possessions; declaring invalid the titles of any who might thus receive ecclesiastical property; requiring the restitution of alienated farms with their proceeds, or the sale for religious uses of gold, silver, jewels, and clothes unfitted for church purposes; and subjecting all donors and recipients of church property to anathema. The assembled clergy seem to have assented to this, and to have been then allowed to proceed with their election, their choice falling on Caelius Felix, the son of a presbyter also called Felix. The Roman synod under pope Symmachus (498-514) protested against this interference of laymen with the election of a pope, and Symmachus consented to declare it void, but required the re-enaction of the law against the alienation of farms, etc.
The pontificate of this Felix was chiefly remarkable for the commencement of the schism of 35 years between Rome and the Eastern patriarchates. In 451 the council of Chalcedon had condemned the Monophysite or Eutychian heresy, adopting the definition of faith contained in the famous letter of pope Leo I. to Flavian, patriarch of Constantinople. The council had also enacted canons of discipline, the 9th and the 17th giving to the patriarchal throne of Constantinople the final determination of causes against metropolitans in the East; and the 28th assigning to the most holy throne of Constantinople, or new Rome, equal privileges with the elder Rome in ecclesiastical matters, as being the second after her, with the right of ordaining metropolitans in the Pontic and Asian and Thracian dioceses, and bishops among the barbarians therein. This last canon the legates of pope Leo had protested against at the council, and Leo himself had afterwards repudiated it, as contrary (so he expressed himself) to the Nicene canons, and an undue usurpation on the part of Constantinople. In connexion with the heresy condemned by the council of Chalcedon and with the privileges assigned by its canons to Constantinople, the schism between the East and West ensued during the pontificate of Felix.
The condemnation of Monophysitism at Chalcedon by no means silenced its abettors, who in the church of Alexandria were especially strong and resolute. They supported Peter Mongus as patriarch; the orthodox supporting first Timotheus Solofacialus, and on his death John Talaia. [[235]Acacius (7); Joannes (11).] Felix, in a synod at Rome, renewed his predecessor's excommunication of Peter Mongus, addressed letters to the emperor Zeno and Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople. Acacius is urged to renounce Peter Mongus, and induce the emperor to do the same. Felix sent also a formal summons for Acacius to appear at Rome and answer the charge of having disregarded the injunctions of Simplicius. The letter to Zeno implored the emperor to refrain from rending the seamless garment of Christ, and to renew his support of the one faith which had raised him to the imperial dignity, the faith of the Roman church, against which the Lord had said that the gates of hell should not prevail; but both the emperor and Acacius continued to support Peter. The papal legates having returned to Rome, Felix convened a synod of 67 Italian bishops, in which he renewed the excommunication of Peter Mongus, and published an irrevocable sentence of deposition and excommunication against Acacius himself. The sentence of excommunication was served on Acacius by one of those zealous champions of Felix, the Sleepless Monks (|Acoemetae|), who fastened it to the robe of the patriarch when about to officiate in church. The patriarch discovered it, but proceeded with the service, and then, in a calm, clear voice, ordered the name of Felix, bp. of Rome, to be erased from the diptychs of the church. This was on Aug.1, 484. Thus the two chief bishops of Christendom stood mutually excommunicated, and the first great schism between the East and West began. The emperor and the great majority of the prelates of the East supported Acacius; and thus the patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, as well as Constantinople, remained out of communion with Rome.
Another noted Monophysite, called Peter Fullo (i.e. the Fuller), had excited the orthodox zeal of Felix, patriarch of Antioch. He had added to the Tersanctus the clause, |Who wast crucified for us,| and was charged with thus attributing passibility to the Godhead. To him, therefore, from a Roman synod, Felix addressed a synodical letter in which, in the name of Peter, the chief of the apostles and the head of all sees, he pronounced his deposition and excommunication.
In 489 Acacius died, and was succeeded by Flavitas, or Fravitas. Felix, on hearing of the vacancy of the see, wrote to Thalasius, an archimandrite of Constantinople, warning him and his monks (who appear throughout to have espoused the cause of Rome) to communicate with no successor till Rome had been fully apprised of all proceedings and had declared the church of Constantinople restored to its communion. Flavitas having died within four months after his accession, the popes' letter to him was received by his successor Euphemius. Felix, though satisfied as to the faith of Euphemius, insisted on the erasure of the name of Acacius, which condition being demurred to, the breach continued.
After his rupture with the East, Felix helped to reconstitute the African church, which had cruelly suffered at the hands of the Arian Vandals. This persecution, which had raged under king Hunneric, who died in 484, ceased under his successor Gundamund, when a number of apostates sought readmission to catholic communion. A synod of 38 bishops held at Rome under Felix in 488 issued a synodical letter dated Mar.15, laying down terms of readmission. Felix died Feb.24, 492.
His extant works are 15 letters (Migne, Patr. Lat. lviii.893 ff.). Gratian gives also a decretum as his, to the effect that the royal will should yield to priests in ecclesiastical causes. The ancient authorities for his Life are his letters and those of his successor Gelasius, the Breviarium of Liberatus Diaconus, and the Histories of Evagrius and Nicephorus Callistus.
[J.B -- Y.]
Felix (4) IV., bp. of Rome
Felix (4) IV. (otherwise III.; see Felix II.), bp. of Rome (July 526 -- Oct.530) during 4 years, 2 months, and 14 or 18 days (Anastas. Biblioth.). The same authority states that he built the basilica of SS. Cosmas and Damian, restored that of the martyr St. Saturninus, and was buried, on Oct.12, in the basilica of St. Peter. There is little to be told of him, except the circumstances of his appointment. His predecessor, John I., had died in prison at Ravenna, into which he had been thrown by Theodoric the Ostrogoth, who then ruled the West as king of Italy. Theodoric took the unprecedented step of appointing his successor on his own authority, without waiting for the customary election by clergy and people. This high-handed proceeding seems to have been at length acquiesced in. No subsequent king or emperor laid claim to a like power of interference in the appointment of popes, though the confirmation of elections by the civil power was insisted on, and continued till the election of Zachary in 752, when the confirmation of the exarch of Ravenna, as representing the Eastern emperor, was first dispensed with under the Carlovingian empire. The same freedom of election by clergy and people continued to be the theory till the appointment was given to the College of Cardinals during the pontificate of Nicholas II., a.d.1059. For previous interventions of the civil power see Bonifacius II., Eulalius (1), Felix III., Symmachus, Laurentius (10). The only further event known as marking the pontificate of Felix is the issue of an edict by Athalaric, the successor of Theodoric, requiring all civil suits against ecclesiastics to be preferred before the bishop and not the secular judge. The edict was called forth by Felix, with the Roman clergy, having complained to the king that the Goths had invaded the rights of churches and dragged the clergy before lay tribunals. It extended only to the Roman clergy, |in honour of the Apostolic see| (Cassiodor. lib 8, c.24). Justinian I. afterwards extended it, though with an appeal to the civil tribunal, to all ecclesiastics (Justin. Novel.83, 123).
For this pope's letter, esp. letter to Caesarius of Arles, requiring probation from candidates for the priesthood before their ordination, see Migne, Patr. Lat. lxv. An important decretum of this pope was made known by Amelli in 1882, and edited by Mommsen in Neuer Archiv fur älter deutsch. Gesch. Kunde, 1886. See Duchesne, La Succession du pape Félix IV. (Rome, 1883).
[J.B -- Y.]
Felix (26) I., bp. of Aptunga
Felix (26) I., bp. of Aptunga, in proconsular Africa. Felix was one of those who laid hands on Caecilian as bp. of Carthage, if not the sole officiating bishop, a.d.311 (Aug. Brevie. Coll. iii.14, 26; 16, 29). The Donatist party, having failed in the Court of Inquiry at Rome, under Melchiades, Oct.2, 313, to establish their case against Caecilian, turned their attack on Felix, whom they sought to convict of the infamous crime of |tradition| in the persecution of Maximus, a.d.303. The emperor gave orders to Aelianus, the proconsul of Africa, to hold an inquiry on the spot, which took place on Feb.15, 314 (Aug. Post. Coll.38, 56; Ep.43, 3-14; 88; c. Cresc. iii.61) at Carthage, in the presence of many who had held municipal offices at the time of the persecution. In vain the prosecution relied on a chain of fraudulent evidence elaborately concocted. The proconsul pronounced the complete acquittal of Felix, which was confirmed by the emperor, and repeated in a letter to Verinus, or Valerius, the vicar of Africa, a.d.321. The whole case was brought up again at Carth. Conf., a.d.411, when Augustine argued that there was no doubt of the completeness of the imperial decision. Aug. c. Cresc. iii.81, iv.79; de Unic. Bapt.28; Brev. Coll.41, 42; Post. Coll.56; Mon. Vet. Don. iii. pp.160-167 and 341-343, ed. Oberthür; Bruns. Concil. i.108 ; Routh, Rel. Sacr. iv.92.
[H.W.P.]
Felix (174), bp. of Tubzoca
Felix (174), bp. of Tubzoca (perhaps Thibaris in Numidia). His story illustrates the first edict of persecution issued by Diocletian in Feb.303, and the special severity with which it was worked in the West under the emperor Maximian. This edict did not authorize death as a punishment, but simply prohibited the assembly of Christians for religious worship; ordered the destruction of churches and sacred documents, and authorized torture. Official notice of its publication arrived at Tubzoca on June 5, and the overseer of the city, Magnellianus, summoned first the clergy and then the bishop, and demanded the sacred writings. Felix replied, |It is better that I should be burned rather than the Holy Scriptures, since it is better to obey God rather than man.| Three days were given him for reconsideration, during which time he was committed to the private custody of Vincentius Celsinus, a leading citizen. Upon his continued refusal he was sent to the proconsul Anulinus at Carthage, June 24. By him the bishop was twice examined. With the edict there seems to have been sent by Maximian the praetorian prefect or commander of the emperor's guard, to secure its due execution. To him, upon his final refusal, Felix and his companions were delivered for transporation into Italy, arriving after four days' sail in Sicily. At Agrigentum, Catana, Messana, and Taurominium they were received with great honour by the Christians. Thence they were carried by the prefect to Venusia, in Apulia, where, having again called upon Felix to surrender the sacred writings, he condemned him to death for disobedience. Felix suffered by beheading, Aug.30, on which day he is commemorated by Bede. There is considerable confusion as to details in different versions of the Acts, which d'Achery and Baluze have in vain endeavoured to remedy. Martyr. Vet. Roman. Bedae, Adonis, Usuardi; Baronius, Annal. a.d.302,
cxvii.-cxxiii.; Ruinart, Acta Sincera; Surius; d'Acherii Spicileg. t. xii.634; Baluz. Miscell. t. ii. p.77; Tillem. v.202.
[G.T.S.]
Felix (186) of Nola
Felix (186) of Nola. [[243]Paulinus (8).]
Felix (212)
Felix (212). [[244]Scillitan Martyrs.]
Firmilianus (1), bp. of Caesarea
Firmilianus (1), St., bp. of Caesarea in Cappadocia, one of the greatest prelates of his time. In 232 he already occupied his see (Eus. vi.26, 27), though Cave (Hist. i. p.123) speaks of 233 as the year of his elevation. When Origen soon after left Egypt, Firmilian induced him to visit Cappadocia; subsequently he paid Origen long visits in Judaea to advance his own knowledge of theology (Eus. l.c.). He urged Dionysius of Alexandria to attend the council of Antioch, held to repudiate Novatianism (ib. vi.46; cf. Routh, R. S. iii.51).
In 256 he is addressed by Cyprian in a letter now lost as to the Asiatic practice of rebaptizing those baptized by heretics. In his long reply (Cyp. Ep.75) Firmilian describes it as impossible to add much to the strength of Cyprian's arguments. He is clear as to the antiquity of the practice in Asia, which he regards as ratified by the action of the council of Iconium in the case of the Montanists. He speaks of several meetings of the Cappadocian bishops, one immediately before his writing. Baronius, Labbe, and other Roman writers have been anxious to prove that the baptismal dispute originated with Firmilian and the East, but the attempt is against the whole tenor of Cyprianic correspondence as well as the express statement of Eusebius (vii.3). To Firmilian the see of Jerusalem appears to be the central see, so far as such an idea arises. He presided at Antioch, a.d.266, in the first synod held to try Paul of Samosata, and visited Antioch twice on this business (Concil. Antioch. contr. Paul. Samos. in Routh, R. S. iii.304; Eus. vii.30). Imposed upon by Paul's promises, he procured the postponement of a decision against him. But when it was necessary to convene another synod in 272, Firmilian, who was to have again presided, died on his journey, at Tarsus. To his contemporaries his 40 years of influential episcopate, his friendship with Origen and Dionysius, the appeal to him of Cyprian, and his censure of Stephanus might well make him seem the most conspicuous figure of his time.
Routh (vol. iii. p.149) points to him as one of the oldest authorities who states with precision the anti-Pelagian doctrine. Basil (de Spiritu Sancto, xxix.) speaks of his discourses as early testimonies to the exactness of his own doctrine, and quotes his agreement with Cyprian on baptism in the epistle to Amphilochius (Ep.188).
[E.W.B.]
Flavianus (4) I., bp. of Antioch
Flavianus (4) I., bp. of Antioch, 381-404. Born at Antioch, of a distinguished family, he was still very young when his father's death left him heir of his considerable property. As bishop he continued to occupy the family mansion at Antioch, which he devoted to the reception of the sick and distressed of his flock. Chrysostom, in his highly coloured eulogium pronounced on receiving priest's orders at his hands, records that he was remarkable from his earliest years for temperance and contempt of luxury, although early deprived of parental control and exposed to temptations incident to youth, wealth, and good birth. Theodoret (H. E. ii.24) relates that, when a half-concealed Arianism was triumphing, Flavian, with his friend Diodorus (afterwards bp. of Tarsus), left his home and adopted the life of a solitary. The necessities of the times soon recalled them to Antioch, where as laymen they kept alive an orthodox remnant. Leontius was then the intruding bp. of Antioch, and, while a Eusebian at heart, sought by temporizing to preserve a hollow peace in his church. The counsel of the orthodox bp. Eustathius, before he was expelled from Antioch (c.328), was that his adherents should maintain the unity of the church and continue in communion with his successors in the see; but there was no small risk of their being thus gradually absorbed by the Eusebians and losing hold of the Catholic faith. This danger was strenuously met by Flavian and Diodorus. They rallied the faithful about them, accustomed them to assemble round the tombs of the martyrs, and exhorted them to adhere steadfastly to the faith. They are said by Theodoret to have revived the antiphonal chanting of the Psalms, which tradition ascribed to Ignatius (ib. ii.24; Socr. H. E. vi.8). Leontius endeavoured to check the growing influence of these gatherings by causing them to be transferred from the martyries without the walls to the churches of the city, but this only increased their popularity and strengthened the cause of orthodoxy. Flavian and Diodorus became all-powerful at Antioch; Leontius, being unable to resist them, was compelled to retrace his steps (Theod. ii.24).
Leontius was succeeded by Eudoxius, then by the excellent Meletius, who was deposed, and in 361 by Euzoïus, the old comrade of Arius. Euzoïus was repudiated with horror by all the orthodox. Those who had till now remained in communion with the bishops recognized by the state, separated themselves and recognized Meletius as their bishop. The old Catholic body, however, who bore the name of Eustathians, would not submit to a bishop, however orthodox, consecrated by Arians, and continued to worship apart from their Meletian brethren, as well as from Euzoïus, having as leader Paulinus, a presbyter highly esteemed by all parties. This schism between two orthodox bodies caused much pain to Athanasius and others. A council at Alexandria, early in 362, wisely advised that Paulinus and his flock should unite with Meletius, who had now returned from exile; but the precipitancy of Lucifer of Cagliari perpetuated the schism by ordaining Paulinus bishop. The Arian emperor Valens came to reside at Antioch in June 370; and this was the signal for a violent persecution of the orthodox. Meletius was banished a third time, and the duty of ministering to the faithful under their prolonged trials devolved on Flavian and Diodorus. The Catholics, having been deprived of their churches, took refuge among ravines and caverns in the abrupt mountain ranges overhanging the city. Here they worshipped, exposed to the assaults of a rude soldiery, by whom they were repeatedly dislodged. The persecution ceased with the death of Valens in 378. The exiles were recalled, and Meletius resumed charge of his flock. His official recognition as the Catholic bp. of Antioch was more tardy. Gratian had commanded that the churches should be given up to prelates in communion with Damasus, bp. of Rome, and that Arian intruders should be expelled. But here were two bishops with equal claims to orthodoxy, Paulinus and Meletius, and a third, Vitalian, who held Apollinarian views. Sapor, a high military officer, to whom Gratian had committed the execution of the edict, was much perplexed. Flavian convinced him that the right lay with Meletius. The separation, however, still continued. Paulinus declined the proposal of Meletius that they should be recognized as of equal authority and that the survivor should be sole bishop. The Oriental churches recognized Meletius, the West and Egypt Paulinus (ib. v.1-3). In 381 Flavian accompanied Meletius to the council of Constantinople, during the session of which Meletius died. Gregory of Nazianzus entreated his brother-bishops to heal the schism by recognizing Paulinus as orthodox bp. of Antioch (Greg. Naz. de Vita Sac. v.1572 seq. p.757). But this, however right in itself, would have been a triumph for the Westerns. The council was composed of Oriental bishops, and, in spite of the remonstrances of Gregory, Flavian was elected to succeed Meletius. Flavian cannot be altogether excused for this continuance of the schism; and the less so if, as Socrates (v.5) and Sozomen (vii.3, 11) state, he was one of the six leading clergy of Antioch who had sworn not to seek the bishopric themselves at the death of Meletius or Paulinus, but to acknowledge the survivor. This charge, however, is rendered very doubtful by the absence of reference to it in the letters of Ambrose or any contemporary documents published by adherents of Paulinus during the controversy. Flavian was consecrated by Diodorus of Tarsus and Acacius of Beroea with the ratification of the council. Paulinus remonstrated in vain (Theod. v.23), but his cause was maintained by Damasus and the Western bishops and those of Egypt; while even at Antioch, though most of the Meletians welcomed Flavian with joy (Chrys. Hom. cum Presbyt. fuit ordinatus, § 4), some, indignant at his breaking an engagement, real or implied, separated from his communion and joined Paulinus (Soz. vii.11). The West refused all intercourse with Flavian, and the council at Aquileia in Sept.381 wrote to Theodosius in favour of Paulinus, and requested him to summon a council at Alexandria to decide that and other questions. Theodosius acquiesced, but selected Rome. The Eastern prelates declined to attend, and held a synod of their own at Constantinople in 382. Even here the bishops of Egypt, Cyprus, and Arabia recognized Paulinus, and demanded the banishment of Flavian, who was supported by the bishops of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Syria (Socr. v.10). A synodal letter was, however, dispatched to Damasus and the Western bishops, recognizing Flavian's consecration as legitimate (Theod. v.9). Paulinus himself attended the council at Rome, accompanied by Epiphanius and his ardent supporter Jerome. At this council the West refused to acknowledge Flavian as canonically elected. It is said that they even excommunicated him and his two consecrators (Soz. vii.11). The two rivals continued to exercise episcopal functions for their respective flocks. Consequently church discipline became impossible. Early in his episcopate Flavian exercised his authority against the Syrian sect of perfectionists known as Euchites or Messalians, and to make himself acquainted with their doctrines, which it was their habit to conceal, he condescended to an unworthy act of deception.
In 386 Flavian ordained Chrysostom presbyter, and Chrysostom preached a eulogistic inaugural discourse (Chrys. u.s. §§ 3, 4). The sedition at Antioch and the destruction of the Imperial Statues, 387, shewed Flavian at his best. When the brief fit of popular madness was over and the Antiochenes awoke to their danger, Flavian at their entreaty became their advocate with the emperor, starting immediately on his errand of mercy (Chrys. de Statuis, iii.1, xxi.3). The success of his mission was complete. Though Paulinus died in 388, the schism continued; for on his deathbed he had consecrated Evagrius, a presbyter of his church, as his successor (Socr. v.15; Soz. vii.15; Theod. v.23). Theodosius summoned Flavian to meet him at a synod at Capua. Flavian excused himself as winter was setting in, but promised to obey the emperor's bidding in the spring (Theod. v.23). Ambrose and the other leading Western prelates urged Theodosius to compel Flavian to come to Rome and submit to the judgment of the church. Flavian replied to the emperor that if his episcopal seat only was the object of attack, he would prefer to resign it altogether. The knot was before long cut by the death of Evagrius. Flavian's influence prevented the election of a successor. The Eustathians, however, still refused to acknowledge Flavian, and continued to hold their assemblies apart (Soz. vii.15, viii.3; Socr. v.15). This separation lasted till the episcopate of Alexander, 414 or 415. The division between Flavian and Egypt and the West was finally healed by Chrysostom, who took the opportunity of the presence of Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, at Constantinople for his consecration in 398, to induce him to become reconciled with Flavian, and to join in dispatching an embassy to Rome to supplicate Siricius to recognize Flavian as canonical bishop of Antioch. Their mission was entirely successful (Socr. v.15; Soz. viii.3; Theod. v.23). To shew that all angry feeling had ceased, and to conciliate his opponents, Flavian put the names of Paulinus and Evagrius on the diptychs (Cyril. Alex. Ep.56, p.203). Flavian lived long enough to see the deposition and exile of Chrysostom, against which he protested with his last breath. His death probably occurred in 404 (Pallad. Dial. p.144; Soz. viii.24; Theophan. p.68). He governed the church of Antioch for 23 years; and Tillemont thinks it probable that he lived to the age of 95. The Greek church commemorates him on Sept.26.
He left behind certain homilies, of which a few fragments are preserved. Theodoret, in his Eranistes, quotes one on John i.14 (Dial. i. p.46), another on St. John the Baptist (ib. p.66), on Easter, and the treachery of Judas (Dial. iii. p.250) or the Theophania, and a passage from his commentary on St. Luke (Dial. ii. p.160).
[E.V.]
Flavianus (8), bp. of Constantinople
Flavianus (8), 18th bp. of Constantinople, between Proclus and Anatolius, for about two or three years. He is described by Nicephorus as being at his election guardian of the sacred vessels of the great church of Constantinople, with a reputation for a heavenly life. At the time of his consecration Theodosius II. was staying at Chalcedon. Chrysaphius his minister immediately plotted against the new patriarch. Foiled in an attempt to extort a present of gold to the emperor for acknowledging his elevation, Chrysaphius, with the empress Eudocia for an ally, planned two methods of attack against Flavian -- the direct subversion of the authority of the emperor's sister Pulcheria; and the support of Eutyches, to whom the archbishop was opposed. Pulcheria had devoted herself to a religious life; let the emperor order the prelate to ordain her a deaconess. Flavian, receiving the emperor's command to this effect, and beyond measure grieved, sent a private message to Pulcheria, who divined the scheme, and to avoid a struggle retired to Hebdomum, where for a time she led a private life (Theoph. u. infr.).
Flavian having assembled a council of 40 bishops at Constantinople Nov.8, 448, to compose a difference between the metropolitan bp. of Sardis and two bishops of his province, Eusebius, bp. of Dorylaeum, appeared and presented his indictment against Eutyches. The speech of Flavian remains, concluding with this appeal to the bp. of Dorylaeum: |Let your reverence condescend to visit him and argue with him about the true faith, and if he shall be found in very truth to err, then he shall be called to our holy assembly, and shall answer for himself.| For the particulars of this great controversy see Dioscorus and Eutyches. When, on Aug.8, 449 the Latrocinium assembled at Ephesus, Eutyches violently attacked the archbishop.
On Aug.11, 449, Flavian expired at Hypepe in Lydia from the effects of the barbarous ill-usage which resulted from this attack. When Pulcheria returned to power, after her brother's death, she had Flavian's remains, which had been buried obscurely, brought with great pomp to Constantinople. It was more like a triumph, says the chronicler, than a funeral procession.
Among the documents which touch on the career of Flavian are the reply of Petrus Chrysologus, archbp. of Ravenna, to a circular appeal of Eutyches, and various letters of Theodoret. Leo wrote Flavian a beautiful letter before hearing that he was dead.
Leo. Mag. Epp.23, 26, 27, 28, 44; Facund, Pro Trib. Capit. viii.5; xii.5; Evagr. ii.2. etc.; Liberatus Diac. Breviar. xi. xii.; Soz. H. E. ix.1; Theophan. Chronogr. pp.84-88, etc.; Niceph. Constant. xiv.47.
[W.M.S.]
Flavianus (16), bp. of Antioch
Flavianus (16) II., bp. of Antioch, 458-512, previously a monk in the monastery of Tilmognon, in Coelesyria (Evagr. H. E. iii.32), and at the time of his consecration |apocrisiarius| or nuncio of the church of Antioch at the court of Constantinople (Vict. Tunun. Chron.; Theophan. Chronogr. p.122). Before his consecration Flavian passed for an opponent of the decrees of Chalcedon, and on his appointment he sent to announce the fact to John Haemula, bp. of Alexandria, with letters of communion, and a request for the same in return (Evagr. iii.23). He speedily, however, withdrew from intercourse with the patriarchs of Alexandria, and joined the opposite party, uniting with Elias of Jerusalem and Macedonius of Constantinople (Liberat. c.18, p.128). Flavian soon found a bitter enemy in the turbulent Monophysite Xenaias or Philoxenus, bp. of Hierapolis. On Flavian's declaring for the council of Chalcedon, Xenaias denounced his patriarch as a concealed Nestorian. Flavian made no difficulty in anathematizing Nestorius and his doctrines. Xenaias demanded that he should anathematize Diodorus, Theodore, Theodoret, and others, as necessary to completely prove that he was not a Nestorian. On his refusing, Xenaias stirred up against him the party of Dioscorus in Egypt, and charged Flavian before Anastasius with being a Nestorian (Evagr. iii.31; Theophan. p.128). Anastasius used pressure, to which Flavian yielded partially, trusting by concessions to satisfy his enemies. He convened a synod of the prelates of his patriarchate which drew up a letter to Anastasius confirming the first three councils, passing over that of Chalcedon in silence, and anathematizing Diodorus, Theodore, and the others. Xenaias, seeking Flavian's overthrow, required of him further a formal anathema of the council of Chalcedon and of all who admitted the two natures. On his refusal, Xenaias again denounced him to the emperor. Flavian declared his acceptance of the decrees of Chalcedon in condemning Nestorius and Eutyches, but not as a rule of faith. Xenaias having gathered the bishops of Isauria and others, induced them to draw up a formula anathematizing Chalcedon and the two natures, and Flavian and Macedonius, refusing to sign this, were declared excommunicate, a.d.509 (Evagr. u.s.; Theophan. p.131). The next year the vacillating Flavian received letters from Severus, the uncompromising antagonist of Macedonius, on the subject of anathematizing Chalcedon, and the reunion of the Acephali with the church (Liberat. c.19, p.135). This so irritated Macedonius that he anathematized his former friend, and drove with indignation from his presence the apocrisiarii of Antioch (Theophan. p.131). On the expulsion of Macedonius, a.d.511, Flavian obeyed the emperor in recognizing his successor Timotheus, on being convinced of his orthodoxy, but without disguising his displeasure at the violent and uncanonical measures by which Macedonius had been deposed. This exasperated Anastasius, who readily acceded to the request of Xenaias and Soterichus that a council should be convened, ostensibly for the more precise declaration of the faith on the points at issue, but really to depose Flavian and Elias of Jerusalem; but it was broken up by the emperor's mandate, to the extreme vexation of Soterichus and Xenaias, without pronouncing any sentence (Labbe, Concil. iv.1414, vii.88; Theophan. u.s.; Coteler. Monum. Eccl. Graec. iii.298). Flavian's perplexities were increased by the inroad of a tumultuous body of monks from Syria Prima, clamouring for the anathematization of Nestorius and all supposed favourers of his doctrines. The citizens rose against them, slew many, and threw their bodies into the Orontes. A rival body of monks poured down from the mountain ranges of Coelesyria, eager to do battle in defence of their metropolitan and former associate. Flavian was completely unnerved, and, yielding to the stronger party, pronounced a public anathema in his cathedral on the decrees of Chalcedon and the four so-called heretical doctors. His enemies, determined to obtain his patriarchate for one of their own party, accused him to the emperor of condemning with his lips what he still held in his heart. The recent disturbances at Antioch were attributed to him, and afforded the civil authorities a pretext for desiring him to leave Antioch for a time. His quitting Antioch was seized on by the emperor as an acknowledgment of guilt. Anastasus declared the see vacant, sent Severus to occupy it, and. banished Flavian to Petra in Arabia, where he died in 518. Eutych. Alex. Annal. Eccl. p.140; Marcell. Chron.; Theophan. p.134; Evagr. H. E. iii.32.
[E.V.]
Florentius, chief minister of state at Constantinople Florentius (50), a chief minister of state at Constantinople under Theodosius II. and Marcian, a man of the highest reputation for soundness of faith, purity of life, and statesmanlike wisdom (Labbe, Concil. iv.220). He was consul in a.d.429, patrician in 448, prefect of the praetorian guards, and the high dignity of prefect of the East was bestowed on him a seventh time by Marcian in 450.
In 448, when Flavian had resolved to put Eutyches on his trial for heretical doctrine, Theodosius demanded that Florentius should have a seat at the synod as his representative. Hitherto the ostensible reason for the presence of imperial officers at ecclesiastical synods was the preservation of order. The ground expressly assigned by the emperor for requiring the admission of Florentius, viz. that the matters under discussion concerned the faith, was a startling innovation which Flavian withstood as long as he dared (Acac. Hist. Brevicul. p.112; Liberat. Breviar. c. xi.; Labbe, Concil. iv.247). On the opening of the trial Florentius took his seat among the metropolitans, next to Seleucus, bp. of Amasea (Labbe, 238; Liberat. p.60), and disclaimed all desire to dogmatize, or to forget his position as a layman; but he took a very leading and authoritative part in the discussion, and manifested a strong leaning towards the acquittal of Eutyches. But his efforts to induce Eutyches to acknowledge the two natures in Christ or to adopt language which might satisfy the council were fruitless, and the interests of orthodoxy compelled him to assent to his condemnation (Labbe, 507, 517). As Eutyches left the hall he lodged with Florentius an appeal against his condemnation to the churches of Rome, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. The bishop availed himself of the plea that the trial was closed to exclude the registration of the appeal (ib.244). When the council of Chalcedon met, Florentius was present with other high civil dignitaries; but there is no record of the part he took. We have letters to Florentius from Theodoret (Ep.89), Isidore of Pelusium (Ep. lib. i.486), and Firmus of Caesarea (Ep.29).
[E.V.]
Florinus, presbyter at Rome
Florinus (1), for some time in the latter half of the 2nd cent. a presbyter at Rome, deprived for falling into heresy. He is known from two notices (v.15, 20) in Eusebius, taken from writings of Irenaeus against Florinus. One is an interesting fragment of a letter to Florinus, in which Irenaeus records his youthful recollections of Polycarp, representing how that bishop, whose good opinion Florinus had once been anxious to gain, would have been shocked at his present opinions. The fragment contains unmistakable internal evidence of genuineness. The title of the letter to Florinus was On Monarchy, or that God is not the Author of Evil, and Eusebius remarks that Florinus seems to have maintained the opposite opinion. Later writers have naturally followed the report of Eusebius. Philaster (79) refers to an unnamed heretic, who taught that things which God made were in their own nature evil. Augustine (66) calls the anonymous heretic Florinus and, with little probability, makes him the founder of a sect of Floriniani. He probably arrived at this result by combining the notice in Eusebius with Philaster's mention in another place of Floriani. The work of Irenaeus which we possess does not mention Florinus, and has no trace of the letter, nor does Tertullian, in dealing with the same subject, employ the letter to Florinus. If Florinus ever in a heretical sense made God the author of evil, his errors afterwards took the opposite direction, and he became a Valentinian. In reply to him Irenaeus composed his work On the Ogdoad. If the controversy of Irenaeus with Florinus was earlier than the publication of the treatise on heresies, we should expect some trace of it therein; and the fact that, after the publication of a treatise dealing so fully with Valentinianism, a separate treatise on the Ogdoad was necessary, may point to the controversy having arisen later. In favour of the later date is also the fact that there is extant a Syriac fragment (Harvey, ii.457), purporting to be an extract from a letter of Irenaeus to Victor of Rome concerning Florinus, a presbyter, who was a partisan of the error of Valentinus, and had published an abominable book. Florinus is not named by Epiphanius, Philaster, or
Pseudo-Tertullian who has so many notices of Roman heretics; and it is likely, therefore, that he was not named in the earlier work of Hippolytus, nor in the lectures of Irenaeus, on which that work was founded; he is not named in the later work of Hippolytus, nor by Tertullian. This silence is not easily explained if either Florinus or any school of Floriniani were any source of danger after his exposure by Irenaeus. (cf. Zahn, Forschungen, iv.233-308).
[G.S.]
Fortunatus, bp. of Poictiers
Fortunatus (17), Venantius Honorius Clementianus, bp. of Poictiers, and the last representative of Latin poetry in Gaul, was born c.530 at Ceneta, the modern Ceneda, near Tarvisium (Treviso) (Vit. Sanct. Martin. lib. iv.668). He seems to have resided at an early age at Aquileia, where he came under the influence of one Paulus, who was instrumental in his conversion. Paulus Diaconus (Hist. Langobard. lib. ii.23) relates that he studied grammar, rhetoric, and poetry at Ravenna. In gratitude for his recovery from blindness, he set out on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Martin of Tours c.565. Crossing the Alps and passing into Austrasia, he visited king Siegbert, for whom he composed an epithalamium on his marriage with Brunehault, couched in terms of extravagant flattery. Euphronius bp. of Tours and Fortunatus became close friends (Miscell. iii.1-3). After completing his pilgrimage, he continued to travel in Gaul, because of the disturbed state of Italy, due to the incursions of the Lombards, but finding an additional inducement in the society of Rhadegund of Poictiers, for whom he conceived a Platonic attachment. She was the daughter of Bertharius, king of the Thuringians, and had been espoused against her will to Lothair I., king of Neustria, but had separated from him, and retired in 550 to Poictiers, where she founded the convent of St. Croix, more for literary than for religious seclusion, appointing her own domestic Agnes the first abbess. At what date Fortunatus visited Poictiers is uncertain, but he was induced to become chaplain and almoner to the convent. Rhadegund employed her poet-chaplain in correspondence with the prelates of Gaul, and despatched him from time to time on delicate missions. He thus became intimate with Gregory of Tours, Syagrius of Autun, Felix of Nantes, Germanus of Paris, Avitus of Clermont, and many others, to whom his poems are addressed. He also composed Lives of the saints, theological treatises, and hymns, including the famous Vexilla Regis, composed for a religious ceremony at Poictiers. The Pange Lingua, though generally ascribed to his pen, was more probably composed, as Sirmond has shown (in Notis ad Epist. Sidon. Apollin. lib. iii. Ep.4.), by Claudianus Mamertus. Fortunatus was ordained priest, and, subsequently to the death of Rhadegund in 597, succeeded Plato in the bishopric of Poictiers; but died early in the 7th cent.
His works comprise: (1) Eleven Books of Miscellanies, chiefly in elegiac verse, interesting for the light they throw upon the manners of the time and the history of art (Miscell. i.12; iii.13), but as literature all but worthless.
(2) The Life of St. Martin of Tours in four books, consisting of 2,245 hexameter lines, hastily composed, and little more than a metrical version of Severus Sulpicius's incomparably better prose.
(3) An elegiac poem in three cantos, written in the character, and evidently under the inspiration, of Rhadegund. The first, de Excidio Thuringiae, is dedicated to her cousin Amalfred (or Hermanfred); the second is a panegyric of Justin II. and his empress Sophia, who had presented Rhadegund with a piece of the true cross.
(4) A collection of 150 elegiac verses addressed to Rhadegund and Agnes, and a short epigram ad Theuchildem.
(5) The Lives of eleven saints -- Hilary of Poitiers, Germain of Paris, Aubin of Angers, Paternus of Avranches, Rhadegund of Poictiers, Amant of Rodez, Médard of Noyon, Remy of Rheims, Lubin of Chartres, Mauril of Angers, and Marcel of Paris -- but the first book of the Life of Hilary and the Lives of the three last named saints ought probably to be attributed to another Fortunatus. To these must be added an account of the martyrdom at Paris of St. Denys, St. Rusticus, and St. Eleutherius.
His style is pedantic, his taste bad, his grammar and prosody seldom correct for many lines together, but two of his longer poems display a simplicity and pathos foreign to his usual style -- viz. that on the marriage of Galesuintha, sister of Brunehaut, with Chilperic, and his Elegy upon the Fall of Thuringia.
The latest and best ed. of his works is by Leo and Krusch (Berlin, 1881-1885). A good earlier ed. by Luchi is reprinted in Migne's Patr. Lat. lxxxviii. Augustin Thierry, Récits mérovingiens, t. ii. Recit. vi.; and Ampère, Hist. lit. de la France, t. ii. c.13.
[E.M.Y.]
Fortunatus (18), bp
Fortunatus (18), a bp. who has been confounded with Venantius Fortunatus, bp. of Poictiers. Born at Vercellae, he migrated into Gaul, and became intimate with St. Germanus, who induced him to write the Life of St. Marcellus. He was probably the author of bk. i. of the Life of St. Hilary of Poictiers, and of three other Lives of saints ascribed to his more distinguished namesake. He died at Celles, in the diocese of Sens, c.569. Rivet, Hist. lit. de la France, t. iii. p.298.
[E.M.Y.]
Forty Martyrs, The
Forty Martyrs, The. Three groups occur as such: --
(1) Forty soldiers, who suffered under Licinius, 320, at Sebaste in Armenia. A list of their names is given in the martyrology of Ado under March 11. [See SEBASTE, FORTY MARTYRS OF, in D. C. A.] They were young, brave, and noted for their services. The emperor having ordained that the military police of the cities should offer sacrifices, the governor called upon these forty to comply. They refused, and withstood both bribes and threats. Thereupon a new punishment was devised. They were immersed for a whole night in a frozen pond, a hot bath being placed within sight for any who might choose to avail themselves of it, their doing so, however, being the sign of apostasy. The trial was too great for one. He left the pond and flung himself into the bath, but as soon as he touched the hot water he died. The number of forty was not, however, broken. The sentinel who watched the bath saw in a vision angels descend and distribute rewards to all in the pond. The guard at once stripped off his clothing and took the vacant place in the pond. Next morning they were all flung into fires. There was one Melito, younger and more vigorous than the rest, whose resolution they thought they might shake. His mother, however, who was present, herself placed him in the executioner's cart, saying: |Go, my son, finish this happy voyage with thy comrades, that thou mayst not be the last presented to God.| Their relics were carefully preserved and carried to various cities, where many churches were built in their honour. The mother Emmelia, and the sister Macrina, of St. Basil obtained some for their monastery near the village of Annesi in Pontus, where already a church had been built in their honour (Greg. Nys. Vit. S. Macyin.). Sozomen (H. E. ix.2) tells a strange story about another set of their relics. In addition to the authorities quoted, consult Pitra, Analect. Sacr. t. i. p.599, in Spicil. Solesmense. Their popularity throughout the entire East has ever been very great (cf. Dr. Zirecek, Geschichte der Bulgaren). In Burton's Unexplored Syria, App. ii., a church in their honour is noted at Huns, near Damascus; cf. also Melchior de Vogüé, Les Églises de la terre sainte, p.367.
(2) Another set of Forty Martyrs in Persia, 375. is commemorated on May 20 (Assemani, Mart. Orient. i.141). Among them were the bishops Abdas and Ebed-Jesu. Ceillier, iii.82, 336; Bas. Menol.
(3) Under Dec.24 Forty Virgin Martyrs under Decius at Antioch in Syria are noted in Mart. Hieron., Adon., Usuard.
[G.T.S.]
Fravitta, bp. of Constantinople
Fravitta, 23rd bp. of Constantinople a.d.489. Our chief authority is Nicephorus Callistus, who relates that on the death of Acacius, the emperor Zeno placed on the altar of the great church of Constantinople two sheets of paper. On one was written a prayer that God would send an angel to inscribe on the blank sheet the name of him whom He wished to be the patriarch. A fast of 40 days with prayer was ordered. The church was given into the custody of a confidential eunuch, the imperial chamberlain, and the imperial seal set on the casket containing the papers. A presbyter named Fravitta was in charge of the suburban church of St. Thecla. Fired with ambition, he paid the eunuch large sums, and promised him more, to write his name on the blank sheet. At the end of the 40 days the casket was opened; the name of Fravitta was found, and he was enthroned amid universal acclamations. Within 4 months he died, and the powerful eunuch was pressing his executors for the promised gold. They revealed the odious tale to the emperor. The forger was turned out of all his employments and driven from the city. Zeno, ashamed of his failure, entrusted the election of the new patriarch to the clergy.
Such is the account of Nicephorus Callistus. In the correspondence between Zeno, Fravitta, and pope Felix on the appointment there is no trace of this story.
Fravitta at one and the same time wrote letters to Peter Mongus asking for his communion, and a synodal to pope Felix begging his sanction and co-operation. This document was carried to Rome by Catholic monks of Constantinople who had always kept separate from Acacius and his friend Mongus. An accompanying letter of Zeno showed great affection for Fravitta; Zeno had only laboured for his appointment because he thought him worthy and to restore peace and unity to the churches. Pope Felix, delighted with the letters, had Zeno's read aloud to the deputation and all the clergy of Rome, who expressed loud approval. When the pope, however, wished the monks from Constantinople to undertake that the names of Acacius and Mongus should be rejected from the diptychs, they replied that they had no instructions on that point. The joy of the pope was finally destroyed by the arrival at Rome of a copy of the letter which Fravitta had sent to Mongus. Directly contrary to that which Felix had received, it actually denied all communion with Rome. The pope would not hear a word more from the monks. Whether the story of Nicephorus Callistus be true or not, Fravitta stands disgraced by this duplicity. Niceph. Cellist. xvi.19, Patr. Gk. cxlvii. § 684. p.152; Joann. Zonar. Annal. xiv. iii. Patr. Gk. cxxxiv. § 53, p.1214; Liberat. Diac. Brev. xviii. Patr. Lat. lxviii.; Felicis Pap. Ep. xii. and xiii. Patr. Lat. lviii. p.971; Evagr. iii.23, Patr. Gk. lxxxvi. part ii.; Theoph. Chronogr.114, Patr. Gk. cviii. p 324.
[W.M.S.]
Fructuosus (1) M., bp. of Tarragona
Fructuosus (1), M., bp. of Tarragona in the 3rd cent. The Acta of his martyrdom and of his two deacons and fellow-sufferers, Eulogius and Augurius, are the most ancient Spanish Acta, and marked by a realistic simplicity which contrasts very favourably with many of the Acta of Diocletian's persecution. Prudentius made use of them in his hymn to the martyrs (Felix Tarraco Fructuose vestris, etc., Peristeph. vi.), and they are largely quoted by St. Augustine (Serm.273, Migne, Patr. Lat. xxxviii.). Under Valerian and Gallienus in the consulate of Aemilianus and Bassus (a.d.259), Aemilianus Praeses of Tarragona issued an edict against the Christians, compelling all to sacrifice to the gods. Hearing this, bp. Fructuosus and the whole church of Tarragona gave themselves to unceasing prayer. One night, after Fructuosus had retired, four apparitores appeared at his gate and summoned him and his deacons before the Praeses. This was Sunday, and they remained in prison till Friday, enjoying, however, some intercourse with the brethren outside. Fructuosus even baptized a catechumen within the prison. Appearing before the Praeses, all three simply and steadfastly avowed their faith. Finally the Praeses asked Fructuosus, |Art thou the bishop of the Christians?| He answered, |I am.| The Praeses retorted, |Thou wast,| and gave orders for them to be scourged and burnt alive. On their way to the amphitheatre Christians and heathens alike crowded around in sympathy. Some offered Fructuosus a cup of aromatic strengthening drink. He refused, saying, |It is not yet time to break the fast | (it being Friday, and ten o'clock; the Friday fast lasting till three). At the gate of the amphitheatre Fructuosus addressed the people. |Be of good cheer; a pastor shall not be wanting to you, nor shall the love and promise of God fail you, either here or hereafter. For this which you behold is but the infirmity of an hour.| After the flames were kindled, the ligatures binding their hands were quickly burnt; then Fructuosus, consuetudinis memor, fell on his knees and so passed away.
This is the account of the Acta printed by Tamayo in the Martyr. Hisp. (vol. i. Jan.21) from a 14th-cent. calendar in the library of the cathedral of Astorga. It omits important points contained in the Bollandist Acta (A.A. S.S. Jan. ii.), which are the same as those printed by Florez (Esp. Sag. xxv.).
[M.A.W.]
Frumentius
Frumentius. [[248]Edesius, 3.]
Fulgentius, Fabius Claudius Gordianus, bp. of Ruspe Fulgentius (3), Fabius Claudius Gordianus, bp. of Ruspe, b.468, d.533. His life was mostly spent in the provinces of N.W. Africa ruled by the Vandal kings, Genseric, Hunneric, and Thrasimund, and he suffered from their persecutions. The writings of Fulgentius himself, a biographical memoir prefixed to his works and addressed to bp. Felicianus, his successor, supposed to be by Ferrandus, a deacon of Carthage, and a treatise de Persecutione Vandalica, by Victor Vitensis in 487 (Migne, Patr. Lat. t. lviii.), are the principal sources of information for the Vandal persecution in Africa.. Every refinement of cruelty seems to have been visited upon the presbyters, bishops, and virgins of the N. African church during the reigns of Genseric and Hunneric. At the first incursion of the Vandals the whole country was desolated, houses of prayer and basilicas razed, neither age nor sex spared, the tombs of the martyrs rifled for treasure, bishops banished from their sees, virgins basely used, and every effort made to alienate the people from the Catholic faith. At the commencement of Hunneric's reign (Victor, lib. ii.) a gleam of sunshine cheered the church, during which the vacant see of Carthage was filled by Eugenius, whose extraordinary virtues are duly recorded by his biographers. His popularity excited the rage and animosity of the conquerors, who forbade their own people to enter his church. Those who disobeyed were submitted to torture; some were blinded, and many died of the inhuman treatment. Women were scalped, stripped, and paraded through the streets. Victor says, |We knew many of these.| Nor did the orthodox alone suffer. Jocundus, the Arian patriarch, was burned alive, and Manicheans were hunted down like wild beasts. At the end of his 2nd year Hunneric refused all position in the court or executive to any but Arians, and banished to Sardinia all who refused to conform; heavy pecuniary fines were imposed whenever a bishop was ordained; many Christian women died under inhuman cruelties, and many were crippled for life. In 486 the bishops and priests were exiled into the desert, and in his 8th year Hunneric issued an edict, still preserved (ib. iii.), summoning the Homoousians to renounce their faith, fixing a date for their submission and for their churches to be destroyed, books burned, and pastors banished. The consequences of this edict are detailed with horrible circumstantiality by Victor, and even Gibbon considers them inhumanly severe. The cruelties of the Diocletian persecution were equalled, if not surpassed, by these efforts to extirpate the Homoousian faith. Gordian, the grandfather of Fulgentius, a senator of Carthage, was exiled by Genseric. His two sons returned home during an interval of grace to find their property in the hands of Arian priests. Not being allowed to remain at Carthage, they settled at Telepte in the province of Byzacene. One of them, Claudius, married Maria Anna, a Christian lady, who gave birth in 468 to Fulgentius. His mother was careful that he should study the Greek language, and would not allow him to read Roman literature until he had committed to memory the greater part of the poems of Homer and of the plays of Menander. He displayed great talent for business and much versatility. His fine character recommended him to the court, and he was appointed fiscal procurator of the province. But after perusing Augustine's comment on Ps. xxxvi. (xxxvii. Heb.), he was attracted by the |pleasures of a mind at peace with God, which fears nothing but sin.| Hunneric having banished the bishops to the neighbouring deserts, young Fulgentius began to retire from society and devote himself to prayer and various austerities. One of these exiled bishops, FAUSTUS, had formed a little monastery not far from Telepte, to which Fulgentius betook himself. Owing to the persecution, and at the advice of Faustus, Fulgentius removed to another small monastery, under abbat Felix, between whom and Fulgentius sprang up an enduring friendship. They divided the superintendence of the monastery between them, Fulgentius undertaking the duties of teacher. Troubles from an incursion of the Numidians compelled them to settle at Sicca Veneria or Siccensis (Vita, c. ix.). An Arian presbyter in the neighbourhood, alarmed at the influence exercised by the saintly Felix and Fulgentius, laid a plot to rob and torture them. The little company again migrated to Ididi in Mauritania, and here Fulgentius, reading the Institutiones Cassiani, resolved to go to Egypt and the Thebaid to follow a more severe rule of mortification. At Syracuse he was kindly received by bp. Eulalius, who discouraged his going to the Thebaid, as it was separated by a |perfidious heresy and schism from the communion of St. Peter,| i.e. the Monophysite doctrine and the schism to which that led in the Egyptian church after the council of Chalcedon, a.d.451. The advice was followed, and for some months he resided near Syracuse. In 500 he visited Rome, was present at the gorgeous reception given to Theodoric, and that year returned to Africa. He received from Sylvester, primarius of Byzacene, a site for a spacious monastery which was at once crowded; thence he retired to a lonely island, which lacked wood, drinkable water, and access to the mainland. Here he occupied himself with manual toil and spiritual exercises. Felix, having discovered his retreat, persuaded Faustus to ordain Fulgentius a presbyter, and, under pain of
excommunication, to compel a return to his monastery. This was shortly after the death of Hunneric and accession of Thrasimund, who, though an Arian, was more liberal than his predecessors (Gibbon, Smith's ed. vol. iv. c.37). The little seaport of Ruspe, on a projecting spur of the coast near the Syrtis Parva, had remained without a bishop, and desired Fulgentius, who was taken by force from his cell to Victor the primate of Byzacene and consecrated as its bishop in 508, when 40 years old. He made no change in his costume or daily regimen. His first demand from his people was a site for a monastery, and his old friend Felix was summoned to preside over it. But Thrasimund dismissed Fulgentius and other newly elected bishops to Sardinia. Here, in the name of the 60 exiles, he wrote important letters on questions of theological and ecclesiastical importance. His literary faculty, knowledge of Scripture, and repute as a theologian, probably induced Thrasimund to summon him to Carthage, and ten objections to the Catholic faith were presented to him. His reply was his earliest treatise, viz. One Book against the Arians, Ten Answers to Ten Objections. The third objection resembles a common argument of the earlier Arians, viz. that Prov. viii.22, John xvi.29, Ps. ii.7, and other passages imply that the Son is |created,| |generated in time,| and therefore not of the same substance with the Father, to which Fulgentius replied that they all refer to the Incarnation, and not to the essence of the Son of God. He used the argument of Athanasius, which makes the customary worship of the Son of God verge either on Polytheism or Sabellianism if we do not at the same time recognize the consubstantiality of the Son. To deny, said Fulgentius, the Catholic position, produces the dilemma that the Son of God was either from something or from nothing. To suppose that He was made |out of nothing| reduces Him to the rank of a creature; while to suppose that He was made |from something,| in essence different from God, involves a coeternal Being, and some form of Manichean dualism. Fulgentius laid the greatest emphasis on the unity of God's essence, and assumed, as a point not in dispute, that Christ was the object of Divine worship. This throws some light upon the later Arianism. The reply was not considered satisfactory by Thrasimund, who sent another group of objections, which were to be read to Fulgentius. No copy was to be left with him, but he was expected to return categorical answers: a statement vouched for by the opening chapters of the ad Trasimundum Regem Vandalorum Libri tres (cf. Schroeckh, Christliche
Kirchengeschichte, xviii.108). Bk. i. treats |of the Mystery of the Mediator, Christ, having two natures in one person|; bk. ii. |of the Immensity of the Divinity of the Son of God|; bk. iii. |of the Sacrament of the Lord's Passion.| In bk. i. Fulgentius displays great familiarity with Scripture, and endeavours to establish the eternal generation of the Logos, and the birth in time of the Christ, when the Logos took flesh, and endeavours to shew that by |flesh| is meant the whole of humanity, body and reasonable soul, just as occasionally by |soul| is denoted not only reasonable soul but body as well. In bk. i. he shews that the whole of humanity needed redemption, and was taken into union with the Eternal Word; in bk. ii. that nothing less than Deity in His supreme wisdom and power could effect the redemption. In many ways he argues the immensity of the Son and of the Spirit of God. In bk. iii. he opposes strongly not only Patripassianism, but all theopathia, Theopaschitismos and the supposition that the Deity of Christ felt substantialiter the sorrows of the Cross. The dyophysite position is urged with remarkable earnestness, and held to be completely compatible with the unity of the person of Christ. The personality of the Christ the Son of God is distinguished from the personality of the Father, with an almost semi-Arian force, while he holds that the nature and substance of the Father and the Son are one and the same. |Sicut inseparabilis est unitate naturae sic inconfusibilis permanet proprietate personae| (lib. iii. c.3). (Cf. |;unus omnino; non confusione substantiae; sed unitate personae,| of the Athanasian Creed.) Yet though Christ emptied Himself of His glory, He was full of grace and truth. The two natures were united, not confused, in Christ. But as there was taken up into His one personality the reasonable soul and flesh of man, not a human personality, but human nature, He could weep at the grave of Lazarus and die upon the Cross. Chap.20 shews conclusively that Fulgentius must have read as the text of Heb. ii.9, choris Theou rather than chariti Theou as he lays repeated emphasis on the sine Deo. The author of the Vita assures us that Thrasimund secured the assistance of an Arian bishop, Pinta, to reply to these three books, and that Fulgentius rejoined. The existing work entitled Pro Fide Catholica adv. Pintam Episcopum Arianum, liber unus (Opp. Migne's ed. pp.708-720) cannot be the work of Fulgentius. The indignation of the Arian party at Carthage led to what is called his second exile. In the dead of night Fulgentius was hurried on board a vessel bound for Sardinia. On reaching Calaris (Cagliari) in Sardinia, he was received by the exiles with great enthusiasm and reverence. Here he remained until the king died in 523, and displayed extraordinary energy in literary, polemical, and monastic work. With the assistance of Brumasius, the |antistes| of the city, he built another monastery, where more than 40 monks lived under a strict rule of community of property. The equity, benevolence, and self-abnegation of these coenobites are extolled in high terms, and Fulgentius is especially commended for his sweetness and gentleness to the youngest and weakest, which was never disturbed except when bound by his office and vows to act with severity towards insubordination or sin. Symmachus, bp. of Rome, wrote a letter of congratulation to these valiant champions of Christ (Anast. in Symmacho, Baron. ann.504). During this period the majority of his extant letters were penned, for the most part in answer to difficult theological questions, and then also Fulgentius revealed his strong agreement with Augustine on predestination, grace, and remission of sin, at a time when these doctrines were being called in question by the semi-Pelagians of S. Gaul and N. Africa. Cf. Neander, General Church History, Clark's trans. vol. iv.417 ff.; Shedd, Hist. of Christian Doctrine, vol. ii.104 ff.; Wiggers, Augustinismus and Pelagianismus, II. Theil, 369-393; Schroeckh, xviii.
The most extended of these dissertations is ad Monimum, libri tres. I. De duplice praedestinatione Dei. II. Complectens tres quaestiones. III. De vera expositione illius dicti: et verbum erat apud Deum. Monimus was an intimate friend of Fulgentius, and, on perusing Augustine's de Perfectione Justitiae Hominis, had thought that that Father taught predestination to sin as well as to virtue. Fulgentius assured Monimus that God does not predestinate men to sin, but only to the punishment merited by sin, quoting Ez. xviii.30. |Sin,| said he, |is not in Him, so sin is not from Him. That which is not His work cannot be His predestination.| No constraint of the will is meant by predestination, but the disposition of Divine grace by which God pardons one, though He may punish another, gives grace to one who is unworthy of it, even if He find another worthy of His anger. Bk. ii. is occupied with Arian questions as to the Trinity, and the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. The rigidity of his ecclesiastical theory is here conspicuous. The charity, the sacrifices, the services of heretics are of no avail, since they are separated from the Catholic Church. Bk. iii. replies to the Arian interpretation of |apud Deum| in John i.1; to their theory that if it had been said |verbum est in Deo,| we might have thence deduced the identity of the two natures, that |apud| implies separation and dissimilarity. His argumentum ad hominem is very ingenious; the exegetical argument which follows is feeble.
During this period Fulgentius wrote the Liber ad Donatum de Fide Orthodoxa et Diversis Erroribus Haereticorum (Ep. viii. Migne), elsewhere described as a letter to the Carthaginians. His object was succinctly to characterize Sabellian, Arian, Macedonian, and Manichean heresy; he condemns Photinus, and the errors of Eutyches and Nestorius by name, declaring that the true doctrine of the church was to assert the two natures, as against Eutyches, and to repudiate the two persons, against Nestorius. During his residence in Sardinia an important letter was written to Euthymius, de Remissione Peccatorum (§ xiv. Ceillier, p.527, Migne). The question was asked by Euthymius, a devout laic, whether remission of sins was possible after death. After a broad description of what remission of sin is, Fulgentius declares the human conditions to be |faith,| |good works,| and |time,| but it can only be secured in the Catholic church, which has power to remit all sin except the sin against the Holy Ghost, which he declares to be |final impenitence.| The utmost stress is laid upon the irreversible condition of the soul at death. All merits are attributed to Divine grace (Wiggers, op. cit. p 382).
The 3 books, de Veritate Praedestinationis et Gratia Dei (Migne, p.604), are addressed to John and Venerius, to whom other letters were also sent during the 2nd exile (Ep. xv. Ceillier, § x.) on the doctrines of Faustus of Rhegium (de Riez, Riji, sometimes Galliarum).
Fulgentius lays down, in opposition to Faustus, that grace can neither be known nor appreciated until given; that so long as man is without it, he resists it by word or deed. Faustus had spoken of an imperishable grain of good in every man which is nourished by grace. Free will is this spark of heavenly fire, not obliterated by the fall. Fulgentius urged that there may be free will, but not free will to that which is good.
In 523 Thrasimund died, and his successor, Hilderic, allowed the return of the Catholic bishops, and the election of new ones in the churches still vacant. The bishops were received at Carthage with transports of joy, and none with greater enthusiasm than Fulgentius, who was welcomed with triumphal arches, lamps, torches, and banners. On arriving at Ruspe, he yielded in the monastery entire deference to Felix, took the position of the humblest neophyte, and only suggested more vigorous work for the clerics, more frequent fasting for the monks. In 524 a council was held at Juncensis, apparently to enforce a more rigid attention to the canons. Fulgentius was called to preside. His precedence was disputed by a bishop called Quodvultdeus, but confirmed by his brethren. After the council, Fulgentius besought out of charity that his brethren would transfer this nominal precedence to his rival, thus heaping on his head coals of fire. The primate of Carthage, Boniface, sought the presence of Fulgentius at the dedication of a new church, and wept tears of joy under his powerful discourse. During this period Fulgentius wrote his great work against Fabianus, fragments only of which remain. They discuss a variety of interesting problems bearing on the Divinity of the Holy Spirit and other elements of Trinitarian doctrine. The Sermones which remain, by their flowing eloquence, antithetic style and tender sensibility, attest the power of Fulgentius. He powerfully discriminates between the Son and the Trinity, and clearly implies the double procession of the Holy Spirit. He claims that the Father had created everything by the Son. Men are only wounded by the poison and malice of creatures by reason of their sins. The mightiest beings are submitted to man. There is no evil in nature. He draws weighty distinctions between the sins of the just and the wicked.
Ferrandus the deacon asked whether he might count upon the salvation of an Ethiopian who had come as a catechumen eagerly desiring baptism, but had died at the moment of baptism. Fulgentius starts with the thesis that faith is the indispensable condition of salvation, baptism or no baptism. Heretics and enemies of the church will not be saved by baptism. The Ethiopian had given evidence of faith, and was baptized, though then unconscious, both conditions being indispensable to salvation. He is therefore saved. But he reprobates baptism of the really dead, for baptism removes the stain and curse of original sin, the seat of which is the soul. If the soul is severed from the body, baptism is worthless. He decides that the benefits of the Eucharist are contained in baptism, and hence, he says, for many centuries past, infants are not fed with the Eucharist after their baptism.
In another correspondence Fulgentius argues that the passion was Christ's quâ His whole person, but quâ nature it was the experience of His flesh only. His soul and body were separated at death. His soul went to Hades, His body to the grave, but His Divine nature at that very moment filled all space and time, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Many of the same arguments are repeated in the Letter Addressed to the Monks of Scythia, who accepted all the decisions of Chalcedon, anathematized Pelagius, Julian, and even Faustus, and asked for further light. The reply of Fulgentius and 15 other bishops consists of 67 chapters. The points of chief interest are that Fulgentius denied that the Virgin was conceived immaculate, and that when speaking of the eternal generation of the Son, he used the bold expression, |ex utero Patris.| He laid the strongest emphasis on the Monergistic hypothesis of regeneration, and weakened the universalism of God's love by declaring that |all| does not mean |all men,| but |all kinds of men.|
While pursuing his literary work with such industry, Fulgentius retired from his monastery at Ruspe to another on the island of Circina, and redoubled his self-mortifications. Here his health gave way. When told that a bath was absolutely necessary to prolong his life, he obstinately refused to break his rule. He died in Jan.533, in his 65th year and the 25th of his episcopate, and Felicianus was elected his successor the same day.
The most complete ed. of his works was issued in Paris (1684) by L. Mangeant. The whole, with many letters to which he replied, is in Migne, Patr. Lat. t. lxv.; Schroeckh, Kirchengeschichte, xvii. xviii.108 ff.
[H.R.R.]
Fulgentius (4) Ferrandus, disciple and companion of Ruspe Fulgentius (4) Ferrandus, a disciple and companion of Fulgentius of Ruspe (3); sharing his exile to Sardinia during the persecution by the Arian kings of the Vandals. Ferrandus received the hospitality of St. Saturninus at Cagliari, and on the death of Thrasimund, a.d.523, returned to Carthage, where he became a deacon. In all probability he was the author of the Vita prefixed to the works of Fulgentius of Ruspe, and dedicated to Felicianus. Hoffmann, Lex. s.n.; Herzog, Encycl. art. by Wagenmann; Petrus Pithaeus, in preface Lectori, prefixed to Breviatio Canonum Ferrandi, Cod. Canonum, p.303.
Two letters of Ferrandus to Fulgentius are extant (Migne, Patr. lxv. pp.378-435), with the lengthy and careful replies of the latter. For the former see Fulgentius (3). The second asked concerning: -- 1. The Separability of the Persons of the Trinity.2. Whether the Divinity of the Christ suffered on the cross, or the Divine Person suffered only in the flesh. The fifth question concerned the double gift of the cup to the apostles, as mentioned in St. Luke's gospel. Ferrandus was often appealed to for his own theological judgment. His collected writings (Biblioth. Patr. Chiffletius, 1649) preserve one entitled de Duabus in Christo naturis, and an Epistola Anatolio de quaestione an aliquis ex Trinitate passus est. He is also the author of a Breviatio canonum ecclesiasticorum (Codex Canonum, F. Pithaeus, and Miscellanea Ecclesiastica, Petrus Pithaeus, pp.303 ff.), a collection and digest of 232 canons of the earliest councils, Nicaea, Laodicea, Sardica, Constantinople, Carthage, etc., chiefly appertaining to the election, ordination, and character of bishops, presbyters, and deacons; the feasts of the church; the duties of virgins, catechumens, etc. It is thought to have been compiled during the reign of Anastasius (d.518). Ferrandus appears to have had his knowledge of the Greek councils through a translation and digest of such canons as had been previously in use in Spain. The mention of later synods and writings has led others to believe that the Breviatio was compiled c.547. [CANON LAW, D. C. A.] Ferrandus took a not unimportant part in the violent discussions produced by the edict of Justinian I. (the Capatula Tria), which condemned certain passages from Theodoret, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Ibas of Edessa. Ferrandus was backed by the vehemently orthodox and dyophysite spirit of the N. African church, and in a letter (546) to Anatolius and Pelagius, two deacons of the Roman church, whom Vigilius instructed to communicate with him, declared against the reception of the edict of Justinian. The most complete ed. of his works is by Chiffletius (Dijon, 1649). The two letters to Fulgentius of Ruspe are in Sirmond's and Migne's edd. of Fulgentii Opp.
[H.R.R.]
Fundanus (1) Minueius, proconsul of Asia
Fundanus (1) Minucius, proconsul of Asia in the reign of Hadrian. He received the imperial instructions applied for by his predecessor Granianus as to how Christians were to be dealt with (Justin. Mart. Apol. i. § 69; Eus. H. E. iv.9). [[251]HADRIANUS (1).] This rescript seems to shew that a Christian was not to be tried merely for being a Christian, but only for some definite breach of the law. As this might be due to principles, Christianity would remain still punishable, but only in overt act.
[C.H.]