E04491: Evagrius Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical History mentions *Isidoros (abbot of Pelusium in Lower Egypt, ob. c. 440, S02023) as one of the holy men living in the early 5th century. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria), 593/594
‘15 In the same reign [of Theodosius II, 408-450] Isidore was also prominent; his fame was widespread, as the poet said, and he was famous among all for deed and word; this man so wasted the flesh by toils and so enriched the soul with elevating words that on earth he pursued an angelic life and throughout was a living monument of solitary life and contemplation of God. Now he wrote many other things that are full of every benefit, but he also wrote to the celebrated Cyril [of Alexandria]: from this in particular it is revealed that he flourished at the same time as the venerable man.’
Text: Bidez and Parmentier 2011. Translation: Whitby 2010.
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Language
Greek
Evidence not before
593
Evidence not after
594
Activity not before
593
Activity not after
594
Place of Evidence - Region
Syria with Phoenicia
Place of Evidence - City, village, etc
Antioch on the Orontes
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Antioch on the Orontes
Thabbora
Thabbora
Major author/Major anonymous work
Evagrius Scholasticus
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Source
Evagrius was born in about 535 in the Syrian city of Epiphania. Educated at Antioch and Constantinople, he pursued a career as a lawyer at Antioch, serving as a legal advisor to Patriarch Gregory (570-592). He wrote the Ecclesiastical History in 593/4, with the express purpose of covering the period following the coverage of the mid 5th century ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. His narrative starts with Nestorius and the Council of Ephesus (431) and stops with the death of Evagrius’ patron, Gregory of Antioch, in 592. The work offers a balanced mixture of ecclesiastical and secular events in the East Roman Empire, being best informed about Antioch and Syria. Evagrius also published a dossier of original documents from the archive of Patriarch Gregory of Antioch, which has not survived.
Discussion
Isidoros was abbot of a monastery near the eastern end of the Nile Delta in c. 400-c. 440. About two thousand of his letters survive.
Bibliography
Text and French translation:
Bidez, J., and Parmentier, L., Evagre le Scholastique, Histoire ecclésiastique (Sources Chrétiennes 542, 566; Paris, 2011, 2014), with commentary by L. Angliviel de la Beaumelle, and G. Sabbah, and French translation by A.-J.Festugière, B. Grillet, and G. Sabbah.
Other translations:
Whitby, M., The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus (Translated Texts for Historians 33; Liverpool, 2000).
Hübner, A., Evagrius Scholasticus, Historia ecclesiastica = Kirchengeschichte (Fontes Christiani 57; Turnhout, 2007).
Carcione, F., Evagrio di Epifania, Storia ecclesiastica (Roma, 1998).
Further Reading:
Allen, P., Evagrius Scholasticus, the Church Historian (Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense, Etudes et Documents 41; Leuven, 1981).
Évieux, P., Isidore de Péluse (Sources chrétiennes, 422, 454, 586; Paris, 1997-2017).
Treadgold, W., The Early Byzantine Historians (Basingstoke, 2006), 299-308.