Introduction to This Volume
How this book is arranged
This is the seventy-eighth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This volume holds Philoxenus of Mabbug and Severus of Antioch, from the period about AD 485 – 538.
Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section numbers.
The translations
The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation. In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.
In this volume
Philoxenus, also called Xenaias, was born about AD 440 in Beth Garmai, east of the Tigris, and was educated at Edessa. He became bishop of Mabbug (Hierapolis) in Syria in AD 485 and fought for the one nature of the incarnate Word against Chalcedon. Banished by the emperor Justin in AD 519, he died in exile about AD 523. His thirteen Discourses on the Christian life, his letters and his commentaries are among the finest works of early Syriac prose.
Severus was born about AD 465 at Sozopolis in Pisidia and studied at Alexandria and Beirut. He became a monk and then patriarch of Antioch in AD 512. When Justin came to the throne in AD 518 he fled to Egypt, and he died there in AD 538. Nearly all his works survive only in Syriac translations, among them hundreds of letters and the Cathedral Homilies.
Philoxenus of Mabbug and Severus of Antioch were the two great leaders of the Miaphysite Church in Syria. Philoxenus is represented by his Life, his thirteen discourses on the Christian life and three letters, and Severus by a selection of his letters and one of his Cathedral Homilies.
Dates and authorship
Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is uncertain.