DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, Saint. - Father of the Church, b. at the end of the 2nd century, d. around 264. The son of pagans, he came to the faith through reading and meditation. He was a disciple of Origen, to whom he always showed himself devoted. In 231-32 he replaced Heraclas in the direction of the Didaskaleion, when the latter was made bishop of Alexandria; in 247-48 he succeeded him in the episcopate. He suffered greatly under Philip the Arab (248-49), because of popular riots against the Christians, and in the persecution of Decius, from which he believed he ought to withdraw by flight. Having returned in Nov. 251, he fought against the heretical and schismatic movements.
In 257-58, under Valerian, after a glorious confession he was relegated to Kolluthion in the Mareotis, where he probably remained until March 262. His last years were still troubled by the war, the famine and the plague that afflicted his city. Feast on 17 Nov.
None of D.'s works has come down to us through an independent tradition: we have notices and fragments in Eusebius, Athanasius, Basil and others. In the books On Nature, of which substantial fragments remain (Eusebius, Praep. ev., XIV, 23-27), he opposes to the atomism of Democritus and Epicurus the Christian doctrine of creation and providence. Of a book On Temptations, addressed to Euphrator, only the title is known. Some fragment remains of a Commentary on the beginning of Ecclesiastes. Significant fragments remain (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VII, 24-25) of two books On the Promises, against the chiliast Nepos, bishop of Arsinoe in Egypt. A Refutation and Apology, in 4 books, he sent to Pope Dionysius to defend himself against the accusation of subordinationism and tritheism: notices and fragments especially in Athanasius (De sententia Dionysii ep. Al.). Two letters have come down complete: one (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, 45) to Novatian, inviting him to submit to Pope Cornelius, the other, in the collections of canonical epistles, to the bishop Basilides, on various points of discipline. Of others, relating to the Novatian schism, to the controversy over the Baptism of heretics, and to the Trinitarian question, we have notices and fragments. Particularly important are the "festal" letters, with which, announcing to the bishops and communities of the province the date of Easter, he gave admonitions suited to the occasion.
D. was above all a pastor and a man of action, most zealous for the good of his flock and of the whole Church, undaunted in the face of danger, skillful and prudent in governance, more concerned with safeguarding orthodoxy than with speculatively deepening dogma. He upholds the canonicity of the Apocalypse and the necessity of interpreting it allegorically, but attributes it to a John different from the Apostle. Combating Sabellianism, he at first adopts subordinationist positions, for which the Arians will regard him as their forerunner; but, after the admonitions of Pope Dionysius, he explains himself in the opposite sense. In the Novatian controversy he sides with the legitimate pope, Cornelius; as for the lapsi, he recommends indulgence. In the baptismal controversy he appears vacillating, considering it more a disciplinary matter than a dogmatic question.
Bibliography8 works
Michele Pellegrino