THE WRITINGS OF METHODIUS.

INTRODUCTION.

Methodius, who is also called Eubulius,St. Epiphanius, Heresies 64, sec. 63. was first of all bishop simultaneously of Olympus and Patara, in Lycia, as is testified by several ancient writers.St. Jerome, On Illustrious Men, ch. 83. He was afterwards moved, according to St. Jerome, to the episcopal see of Tyre in Phoenicia. At the end of the latest of the great persecutions of the Church, about the year 312, he suffered martyrdom at Chalcis in Greece. Some consider that it was at Chalcis in Syria, and that St. Jerome's testimony ought to be understood this way, as Syria was more likely to be the scene of his martyrdom than Greece, given its proximity to his diocese. Others affirm that he suffered under Decius and Valerian; but this is incorrect, since he wrote not only against Origen long after the death of Adamantius, but also against Porphyry while he was still alive, in the reign of Diocletian.

Methodius is known chiefly as the antagonist of Origen; although, as has been pointed out, he was himself influenced in no small degree by the method of Origen, as may be seen by his tendency toward the allegorical interpretation of Holy Scripture. The only complete work of this writer which has come down to us is his Banquet of the Ten Virgins, a dialogue of considerable power and grace in praise of the virginal life. His antagonism to Origen, however, comes...