An erotapòkrisis of the Corpus macarianum presents an exegesis and interpretation of Rm 2,14b as found in an ascetical brotherhood with origins in the fourth century. The lemma forms the beginning of the erotapòkrisis and invites a single response. The Author orients this lemma toward a moral, ascetical and “spiritual” interpretation of the natural law and the divine law written in the conscience, one which is obscure and not entirely comprehendable by moderns. The exegetical and hermeneutical procedure at work in the text may offer a suggestion for further reflection and reconsideration of the environment and identity of the author, as well as of the origins of those writings comprising the Corpus macarianum.

Through an analysis of the transmission and the historical context of the text, as well as of the doctrinal content of CPL 1610, this paper substantiates the likelihood of the Gelasian authorship of the letter, which was called into question by Coustant Thiel and Schwartz and supported by Nautin.

The collection of Coptic literary papyri of the Egyptian Museum of Turin is one of the most important in the world, if not for the number of codices, certainly for their contribution to the knowledge of Coptic literature and codicology. This paper makes an exhaustive list of the codices and of the works that they contain, with reference to their publication, especially that of Francesco Rossi (late XIX century), who could read more than is visible today. The tables provided are useful because the papyri have been set in different order (with their new call number), after Rossi’s publication.

This article draws attention to the silent relationship ─ both in written and archeological sources ─ between monasteries and the production of parchment in Late Antiquity, particularly in Visigothic Spain, where there is little archaeological data concerning early monastic communities. Once contextualized, the little, indirect evidence for the production of parchment may provide a valuable argument for the identification of Christian monastic buildings in certain archaeological sites that have been classified according to other typologies (villages, encampment, etc.), at a time of major changes, during which the parchment codex has replaced the papyrus roll.

This paper discusses the merits and faults of a Note by Vittorino Grossi, published in this journal (volume 52), concerning a new Italian translation of Augustine’s bestseller, City of God, with an introduction by Domenico Marafioti (Mondadori 2011). The Author discusses the divergence of interpretations of Augustine’s works.

This article will attempt to show that from the beginning of the letter of Eusebius of Nicodemia to Paulinus of Tyre, the meaning of ὁμοούσιος should be sought in the opposition on the part of the Council of Nicea to the divisive doctrine of hypostases by Arius and his followers. The assertion of the similarity or identity of nature or ousia between the Father and the Son that ὁμοούσιος suggests is traceable to the teaching of Alexander of Alexandria, but also of Eusthatius of Antioch, so that it could be thought that in Nicea a convergence between the two major opponents of Arius could have taken place, in the same way in which it had occurred over the Antiochene formula of 325. Analysis of the doctrine of ὁμοούσιος by Athanasius confirms that the term was opposed to the divisive interpretation of the hypostases within Arianism. The second part of the article, takes into consideration the study on the interpretation of the Nicene ὁμοούσιος proposed by P. F. Beatrice. The Author argues that Beatrice’s thesis, which attempts to trace the introduction of the term in the Nicene Creed back exclusively to Constantine, with the agreement of Eusebius of Caesarea, is not backed by the documentation at our disposal.

The article intends to analyse the notion of Church in Clement of Alexandria’s thought. The analysis begins with the biblical images used by the author, i.e., those of the body, mother and spouse, before dwelling on its essential dimensions. The notion of ecclesial tradition emerges as a central theme in this reflection in its formal aspects as well as in its contents. They find their definition and codification in the ecclesiastical canon which makes reference to a correct orthopraxis and, therefore, to a confrontation with heterodoxy. Such an aspect, even though it was only mentioned, allows the onto-logical-atemporal dimension of the Church to express itself in the visible-temporal dimension, thereby showing the unity of the Church “in its essence, its thought content, its origin and its preeminence as a whole.”

Two literary sources, Palladius’ Historia Lausiaca and Gerontius’ Vita Melaniae, provide information about the ascetical activity of Melania the Younger and her husband Pinianus, two extremely wealthy aristocratic Romans in late antiquity. Peter Brown recently has sug-gested that they are to be seen as heroic individuals who embraced total renunciation of their possessions in contrast with the practice of regular expiatory almsgiving as recommended by Augustine of Hippo. This paper argues that while the generosity of their alms-giving was enormous and while Gerontius’ rhetorical objective was to portray them as engaging in total renunciation of riches, a careful reading of the texts reveals that much of their almsgiving came from their annual income and the sale or donation of some of their possessions, but that their income-generating capital investment in fixed assets like property was preserved, which enabled them to engage in acts of charity over a lengthy period of time. The only exception to this was their dispossession of property in Rome threat-ened by the presence of Alaric between 408 and 411 and other property in Spain and Gaul. Despite Melania’s preference for celi-bacy, frugal living and almsgiving, she and her husband remained wealthy individuals. Even their experiences in Africa, where Pinianus was nearly forced to become a presbyter in Hippo, much to Augustine’s embarrassment, indicates that they remained people of substance whose impressive and continual record of almsgiving gave them an authority in the local church that rivalled Augustine’s.

In this paper, the Author examines how the Epistles of Paul, mainly his Epistles on Romans and on Galatians, have influenced Augustine when he tries to define love of neighbour. Thanks to a survey of exegetical commentaries of the Bishop of Hippo and a comparison with those of his predecessors, like Marius Victorinus or Ambro- siaster, and contemporaries, like Jerome, the Author shows in what ways the notion of neighbour in Augustine’s thought is original and must be understood in a cenobitic framework. As a consequence, the Augustinian notion of neighbour must be read in these exegetical works as both a soteriogical and an ecclesiological one.

This note is a presentation and analysis of two recently published volumes by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana: L’Atlante storico della Liturgia, by Keith F. Pecklers, translated from English by Carlo Dezzuto, and Ierotopi cristiani. Alla luce della riforma liturgica del Concilio Vaticano II, by Tiziano Ghirelli. In it, the author higlights the merits and the shortcomings of both publications.

Contemporary Christology in the twentieth century has rediscovered the mediation of Christ in creation, an aspect of faith attested to in the first Christian centuries. In this paper, we will attempt to go into detail about the mediating mission of the Son, applied in this case to the period from creation until incarnation, a period which contemporary systematic theology has investigated far less, except in a few exceptions, than it has in relation to creation itself. To do this, we have focused on the thought of an author from the second half of the second century: Melito of Sardis. In addition, the foreshadowing of the life of Christ before the incarnation; the activity of Christ from creation until incarnation; the suffering of the Logos throughout the history of Israel and the meaning of his presence in this period of historia salutis will be analysed.

Theology, and thus also patristic theology, requires an historical perspective in order to resolve issues in the context of secularization. This article illustrates the persistent suspicion with which theology views history, and the contribution that the historical method can offer to patristic theology.

This passage from Irenaeus’ Letter to Florinus (cf. Eus. Caes., HE 5, 20, 4-8) offers sufficient material for reflection on the patristic function within dogmatic theology, provided that we understand both Polycarp in the role of a Church Father standing in direct contact with the apostolic kerygma, and, at times, Irenaeus as a theologian reflecting on faith. We begin with the apostolic kerygma which Policarp first hears, learns and sets down clearly, then later recalls and transmits in harmony with faith and scripture. Irenaeus, for his part, carries out the role of theologian to the extent to which he listens to what was handed on attentively, commits it to memory, reflects upon it and then witnesses to it, moved by the grace of God. The language utilized by Irenaeus reveals reminiscences of the Platonic tradition, apropos of the function of memory and scripture (cf. Phaedrus) and of the Philonian tradition, apropos of the theological content of the biblical term to ruminate. The analysis undertaken offers a ground upon which to think about new relationships between dogmatic and patristic theologies, a question that can be developed in a later article.

In this paper the Augustinian concept of metonymy is analyzed through a commentary on de ciuitate Dei 11, 8 (CCSL 48, 327-328) and other parallel texts as well as their survival in some grammatical texts produced in Visigothic Spain. This study demonstrates the enormous influence of Augustine's thought in these texts, either through an indirect tradition, or through direct reading of his writings.

Concerning the vexing question concerning the value to be attributed to ὁμοούσιος, the key term of Nicea, this note rejects the earlier critiques raised against Simonetti by way of an interpretation of the expressions εξ ἑτέρας ὑπόστασις contained in the fourth creedal formula of Antiochia.

As bishops, both Augustine and Ambrose wrote sermons on Psalm 118 (119) towards the end of their lives. This article puts these two exegetical works in dialogue with each other by focusing on the common theological theme of participation operative in both commentaries. I argue that both Ambrose and Augustine present a Christological account of participation which functions as the basis of their respective ecclesiologies. Within this overarching Christological framework, the article notes that Ambrose grounds participation in the imago Dei, whereas Augustine’s takes his starting point from the grace Christ offers through the incarnation.

Neither of the two existing critical editions of the Apologeticum de tribus capitulis succeeds in identifying a literal citation which its author, Julian of Toledo attributes to Athanasius of Alexandria and which is not found in either of the works, authentic or attributed, of the patriarch of Alexandria. After an analysis of the sources which Julian may have utilized in his polemic with the Roman see, we find the citation in the Contra Arianos, Sabellianos et Photinianos dialogus of Virgil of Tapso in a fictitious conversation that this African author of the fifth century establishes between Arius and Athanasius.

From the perspective of concordism the pseudo-Didymean De Trinitate, offers many citations from philosophical and pagan religious literature, the purpose of which is to find confirmation of the truth revealed by Christ. This study shows how the most interesting among pagan poetry cited by Pseudo-Didymus aims to enrich the section of his work dedicated to the definition of God, the Trinitarian persons and their prerogatives, conveying a theology analogous to that developed by the Cappadocians.

After a contextualisation concerning Pella in the Roman Decapolis and the Decapolis itself as the theatre of Jesus’ teaching, this essay analyses the question of the flight of many members of the Jesus movement to Pella during the conflict with the Romans in the Jewish War. I shall evaluate Eusebius’s piece of information and shall endeavour to connect it to the larger issue of the so-called “parting of the ways” between the Jesus movement (what became Christianity) and Judaism – or the construal of this “parting of ways” by early Christian authors. Special attention will be paid to some recent hypotheses and discoveries regarding the “parting of the ways”, which seem to reinforce my argument concerning the overall accuracy of Eusebius’s account of the flight to Pella and the probable role of the Romans in this move and in the “parting of the ways” itself.

The article deals with the views of the Fathers of the Church on relations between husband and wife between the end of the first century and the end of the third century, an age that is less studied in this respect, even though it offers good documentation concerning the subject (particularly in the case of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria). Four themes are considered: 1. adultery and separation; 2. the conjugal debt; 3. the division of tasks between husband and wife; 4. the faith life of the couple. Different opinions and often original points of view are presented in regard to the lawfulness of the second marriage, the culpability of adultery, the value of sexuality in the marriage and the wife’s subordination to her husband.