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Socrates of Constantinople | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 380 |
| Died | c. 439 (aged c. 59) Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Period | Theodosian dynasty |
Socrates of Constantinople (c. 380 – after 439), also known asSocrates Scholasticus (Ancient Greek:Σωκράτης ὁ Σχολαστικός[1]), was a 5th-centuryGreekChristianchurch historian, a contemporary ofSozomen andTheodoret.[2]
He is the author of aHistoria Ecclesiastica ("Church History", Ἐκκλησιαστική Ἱστορία) which covers thehistory of late ancient Christianity during the years 305 to 439.
He was born inConstantinople. Even in ancient times, nothing seems to have been known of his life except what can be gathered from notices in hisHistoria Ecclesiastica, which departed from its ostensible model,Eusebius of Caesarea, in emphasizing the place of the emperor in church affairs and in giving secular as well as church history.[citation needed]
Socrates' teachers, noted in his prefaces, were the grammariansHelladius andAmmonius, who came toConstantinople fromAlexandria, where in 391 they had been involved in a violent revolt that culminated in the destruction of theSerapeum of Alexandria.[3]
It is not proved that Socrates of Constantinople later profited from the teachings of thesophistTroilus. No certainty exists as to Socrates' precise vocation, though it may be inferred from his work that he was a layman.[citation needed]
In later years, he traveled and visited, among other places,Paphlagonia andCyprus.[4]
The history covers the years 305 to 439, and experts believe it was finished in 439 or soon thereafter, and certainly during the lifetime of EmperorTheodosius II, i.e., before 450. The purpose of the history is to continue the work ofEusebius of Caesarea (1.1). It relates in simpleGreek language what the Church experienced from the days ofConstantine to the writer's time. Ecclesiastical dissensions occupy the foreground, for when the Church is at peace, there is nothing for the church historian to relate (7.48.7). In the preface to Book 5, Socrates defends dealing withArianism and with political events in addition to writing about the church.[5]
Socrates' account is in many respects well-balanced. He is careful not to use hyperbolic titles when referring to prominent personalities in the church and the government and he even criticizes Eusebius for his excessive praises to EmperorConstantine the Great in hisVita Constantini.[6]
TheHistoria Ecclesiastica is one of the few sources of information aboutHypatia, the female mathematician and philosopher of Alexandria, who was brutally murdered by a mob, allegedly by order of PatriarchCyril of Alexandria. Socrates presents Hypatia's murder as entirely politically motivated and makes no mention of any role that Hypatia's neoplatonism might have played in her death, arguing instead that she was killed for supporting local prefectOrestes in his political struggle against Cyril.[7][8] Socrates unequivocally condemns the actions of the mob, declaring, "Surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort."[9][10][11]
Socrates is often assumed to have been a follower ofNovatianism, but this is based on the fact that he gives a lot of details about the Novatianists, and speaks of them in generous terms, as he does of Arians and other groups. He speaks of himself as belonging to the church.[12]
Socrates asserts that he owed the impulse to write his work to a certain Theodorus, who is alluded to in theproemium to the second book as "a holy man ofGod" and seems therefore to have been amonk or one of the higherclergy. The contemporary historiansSozomen andTheodoret were combined with Socrates in a sixth-century compilation, which has obscured their differences until recently, when their individual portrayals of the series of Christian emperors were distinguished one from another and contrasted by Hartmut Leppin,Von Constantin dem Großen zu Theodosius II (Göttingen 1996).
TheHistoria Ecclesiastica was first edited in Greek byRobert Estienne, on the basis ofCodex Regius 1443 (Paris, 1544); a translation into Latin by Johannes Christophorson (1612) is important for its variant readings. The fundamental early modern edition, however, was produced byHenricus Valesius (Henri Valois) (Paris, 1668), who used theCodex Regius, a Codex Vaticanus, and a Codex Florentinus, and also employed the indirect tradition ofTheodorus Lector (Codex Leonis Alladi).
The text was edited inPatrologia Graeca vol. 67 (online atdocumentacatholicaomnia.eu). The new critical edition of the text is edited by G. C. Hansen, and published in the seriesDie Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1995). An English translation by A. C. Zenos was published inNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 2, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wallace, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890 (online editions:newadvent.org,ccel.org,munseys.com). More recently (2004–2007), Socrates'History has been published in four bilingual (Greek/Latin and French) volumes byPierre Maraval in theSources Chrétiennes collection.
Socrates of Constantinople, Greek historian [...]
GreekWikisource has original text related to this article:Σωκράτης ὁ Σχολαστικός
