On Illustrious Men

29. Tatian the heresiarch

references Q 1, 280–82 — TLG 1329 — CPG 1336 — Cath 3, 616–17 — DHGE 14, 261–62 — DSp 3, 449 — EEC 12 , 334, M. P. McHugh — EECh 1, 238, P. Nautin — LThK 3, 404, J. A. Fischer — LThK 33 , 245, E. Grünbeck — NCE 4, 877, D. Kelleher — Gamble, Books, 116–18 — Nautin, Lettres et écrivains chrétiens des IIe et IIIe siècles (Paris, 1961), 13–32 XXVIII. PINY TUS THE BISHOP inytus of crete, bishop of the city of Knossos,1 wrote a very elegant letter To Dionysius, bishop of Corinth,2 in which he taught that the faithful should not continue to be fed on a milk diet lest they be taken by surprise as children on the last day, but should be fed on solid food3 so that they might advance to a spirited old age. 2. He also lived under Marcus Antoninus and Aurelius Commodus . notes 1. Eus., h.e. 4.21. Knossos was the capital of Crete. 2. h.e. 4.23. 3. 1 Cor 3.2; Heb 5.12–14; h.e. 4.23, here abbreviated. references Q 1, 282–83 — DSp 2, 1, 962–63 XXIX. TATIAN THE HERESIARCH atian,1 who first as a teacher of eloquence attained no small fame for himself for his rhetorical skill,2 became a follower of Justin Martyr,3 and flourished in the church as long as he did not depart from his side. ON ILLUSTRIOUS MEN 51 2. Later, however, inflated with the pride of eloquence, he founded a new heresy which is called the Encratite,4 which Severus further increased, and after whom the heretics of his party are called Severians5 down to this present day. 3. Moreover Tatian wrote numerous volumes, one of which, Against the Pagans,6 survives, which is the most famous7 in repute among all his works. 4. And he lived under the emperor Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. notes 1. R. M. Grant, Greek Apologists, Chaps. 13, 14; idem, “Studies in the Apologists . 1: Tatian’s Theological Method,” HThR 51 (1958): 123–28; idem, “Forms and Occasions of the Greek Apologists,” Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 52 (1986): 213–26. For Tatian’s life, see L. Leone, “Due date della vita di Taziano,” OrChrP 27 (1961): 27–37. 2. M. Whittaker, “Tatian’s Educational Background,” StudPat 13 (1975/76), 57–59; P. Yousif, “Il patrimonio culturale greco secondo Taziano,” in L’eredità classica nelle lingue orientali (1985), 73–95. 3. = Eus., h.e. 4.16. See R. Weijenborg, “Die Berichte über Justin und Crescens bei Tatian,” Antonianum 47 (1972): 362–90. 4. L. W. Barnard, “The Heresy of Tatian,” in Studies in Church History and Patristics, Analecta Vlatadon 26 (Thessalonica, 1979), 181–93; idem, “The Heresy of Tatian—once again,” JEH 19 (1968): 1–10. On Encratism see La tradizione dell’enkrateia (1985); H. Chadwick, art., “Enkrateia,” RAC 5. 5. On Severians cf. h.e. 4.29, quoting Irenaeus, Adv. haer. 1.28.1. 6. CPG 1104. Text: Tatian. “Oratio ad Graecos” and Fragments, ed. and trans. M. Whittaker, OECT (Oxford, 1982); M. Marcovich, Tatiani Oratio ad Graecos. Theophili Antiocheni ad Autolycum, PTS 43–44 (Berlin and New York, 1995); Ruiz Bueno, BAC 116 (Madrid, 1954), 572–628. See also M. McGehee, “Why Tatian never ‘apologised’ to the Greeks,” JECS 1, 2 (1993): 143–58 [not an “apology,” but a protreptic]; P. Bernard, “Le catalogue des statues dans le Discours aux Grecs de Tatien: Rhétorique ou Réalité?” [résum é] REG 99, 21–22; F. Bolgiani, “Taziano, Oratio ad Graecos cap. 30, I,” Kyriakon, ed. P. Granfield and J. A. Jungmann, FS J. Quasten, 2 vols., Vol. 1 (Münster, 1970), 226–35; S. Di Cristina, “L’idea di Dunamis nel De mundo e nell’Oratio ad Graecos di Taziano,” AugR 17 (1977): 485–504; G. F. Hawthorne, “Tatian and his Discourse to the Greeks,” HThR 57 (1964): 161–88; A. E. Osborne, Tatian’s Discourse to the Greeks. A Literary Analysis and Essay in Interpretation (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Cincinnati, 1969); R. M. Grant, Greek Apologists, Chaps. 13–14 and p. 246; idem, R. M. Grant, “Five Apologists and Marcus Aurelius,” VigChr 42 (1980): 1–17; J. Beaujeu, “Les apologètes et le culte du souverain,” Le culte des souverains dans l’Empire romain , Fondation Hardt, Entretiens 19 (1973): 101–42. 52 ST. JEROME ...