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The Chronology of Twenty Homilies of Severian of Gabala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Extract

We know the events of only five or six years in the life of Severian of Gabala, from A.D. 398 or 399 to 404. We are told that Severian was Syrian by birth and spoke Greek with a Syriac accent. His brother bishop and friend Antiochus of Ptolemais went to Constantinople, probably very soon after Chrysostom's episcopal consecration on 15 December 397 or 26 February 398, and earned a great deal of money preaching. Severian decided to follow his friend's example and went to the imperial capital in 398 or 399 to make his fortune. He was well received by Chrysostom; his preaching was evidently a great success, and he became known to many in high office as well as to the emperor Arcadius and the empress Eudoxia.

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Research Article
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Copyright © Fordham University 

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References

1 The principal recent accounts of Severian's life are Altendorf, 265–70, and Voicu, 752–53. Baur and Kelly, passim, also treat of Severian's relations with Chrysostom. The following are the sigla used in this article: Google Scholar Albert, Goten = Albert, Gerhard, Goten in Konstantinopel (Paderborn, 1984).Google Scholar Altendorf = Altendorf, Hans-Dietrich, “Untersuchungen zu Severian von Gabala” (diss. Tübingen, 1957).Google Scholar Aucher = Aucher, Jean-Baptiste, Severiani sive Seberiani Gabalorum episcopi Emesensis homiliae nunc primum editae ex antiqua versione Armena in Latinum sermonem translatae (Venice, 1827).Google Scholar Baur = Baur, Chrysostomus, John Chrysostom and His Time, 2: Constantinople , trans. Gonzaga, M. (Westminster, Md., 1958).Google Scholar Brottier = Brottier, Laurence, Jean Chrysostome: Sermons sur Genèse , SC 433 (Paris, 1998).Google Scholar Cameron, Barbarians = Cameron, Alan and Long, Jacqueline, Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius (Berkeley, 1993).Google Scholar Carter = Carter, Robert E., “An Index of Scriptural References in the Homilies of Severian of Gabala,” Traditio 54 (1999): 323–51.Google Scholar CPG = Geerard, Mauritius, Clavis Patrum Graecorum, 2: Ab Athanasio ad Chrysostomum (Turnhout, 1974) and Supplementum (Turnhout, 1998).Google Scholar Gregory = Gregory, Caspar, “Die kirchlichen Lesestücke aus dem Neuen Testament,” in Textkritik des Neuen Testaments 1 (Leipzig, 1900), 343–86.Google Scholar Kecskeméti = Kecskeméti, Judit, “Sévérien de Gabala: exégéte et théologien méconnu,” Euphrosyne, N.S. 24 (1996): 99126.Google Scholar Kelly = Kelly, J. N. D., Golden Mouth (Ithaca, N. Y., 1995).Google Scholar Liebeschuetz = Liebeschuetz, J. H. W. G., Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom (Oxford, 1990).Google Scholar Palladius = Palladius: Dialogue de la vie de Jean Chrysostome , ed. Malingrey, Anne-Marie, SC 341 (Paris, 1988).Google Scholar Paverd, Statues = van de Paverd, Frans, St. John Chrysostom, the Homilies on the Statues , Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 239 (Rome, 1991).Google Scholar Quasten = Quasten, Johannes, Patrology, 3: The Golden Age of Greek Patristic Literature (Westminster, Md., 1960).Google Scholar REB = Revue des Études Byzantines. Google Scholar Savile = Savile, Henry, S. Iohannis Chrysostomi opera graece , 8 vols. (Eton, 1612–13).Google Scholar SC = Sources Chrétiennes.Google Scholar Socrates, , ed. Hansen, = Sokrates Kirchengeschichte , ed. Hansen, Günther Christian (Berlin, 1995).Google Scholar Sozomen, , ed. Bidez-Hansen, = Sozomenus Kirchengeschichte , 2d edition, ed. Bidez, Joseph and Hansen, Günther Christian (Berlin, 1995).Google Scholar Voicu = Voicu, Sever J., “Sévérien de Gabala,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité 14 (Paris, 1990), 752–63.Google Scholar Zellinger, , Studien = Johannes Zellinger, Studien zu Severian von Gabala , Münsterische Beiträge zur Theologie, 8 (Münster i. W., 1926).Google Scholar

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32 PG 56: 402, 2430.Google Scholar

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35 CPG 4196 (PG 56: 499516).Google Scholar

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46 CPG 4209 (PG 63: 531–44).Google Scholar

47 CPG 4186 (PG 49: 323–36).Google Scholar

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49 CPG 4200 (PG 59: 627–36).Google Scholar

50 CPG 4212 (PG 65: 1526).Google Scholar

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52 CPG 4240 (Aucher, , 1755).Google Scholar

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56 CPG 4240 (Aucher, , 19, 17–22).Google Scholar

57 CPG 4209 (PG 63: 531–44).Google Scholar

58 PG 63: 532, lin. ult.–533, 5.Google Scholar

59 PG 63: 544, 18–22.Google Scholar

60 CPG 4210 (PG 63: 543–50).Google Scholar

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64 CPG 4198 (PG 56: 553–64).Google Scholar

65 PG 56: 557, 1–7 (my English translation).Google Scholar

66 Zellinger, , Studien , 44.Google Scholar

67 CPG 4194/5 (PG 56: 471–84).Google Scholar

68 PG 56: 481, 23–26.Google Scholar

69 PG 63: 534, 4 ab imo–535, 19 ab imo. See Carter, , 341–42.Google Scholar

70 CPG 4194 (PG 56: 429500).Google Scholar

71 CPG 4195 (Savile 5: 648–53).Google Scholar

72 PG 56: 469, 8–4 ab imo, and 470, 20 ab imo.Google Scholar

73 In a communication on 17 August 1999 at the Thirteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies at Oxford.Google Scholar

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79 PG 53: 273, 18–21 and 18–12 ab imo.Google Scholar

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85 Quasten, , 216.Google Scholar

86 Brottier, , 182–84.Google Scholar

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88 Brottier, , 270, n. 3.Google Scholar

89 Brottier, , 218, 252, 256, 300, 302, 310, 348.Google Scholar

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91 Savile 5: 648, 40.Google Scholar

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93 PG 56: 472, 32–33.Google Scholar

94 PG 56: 465, 10–39.Google Scholar

95 PG 56: 482, 6–11 referring to 431, 17–20.Google Scholar

96 PG 56: 468, 19–16 ab imo.Google Scholar

97 PG 56: 456, 10–12.Google Scholar

98 PG 56: 469, 8–4 ab imo, and 470, 20 ab imo.Google Scholar

99 PG 56: 456, 7–28.Google Scholar

100 PG 56: 447, 20–21.Google Scholar

101 PG 56: 431, 34–41.Google Scholar

102 Savile 5: 648, 40.Google Scholar