PANFILO, saint. — Born in Berytus (Phoenicia), a disciple of Pierius of Alexandria, presbyter in Caesarea, he died a martyr on 16 February 369 (Eusebius, De mart. Palaest., 11, 14).
Eusebius of Caesarea, his disciple (Eusebius Pamphili), wrote a biography of P. in 3 books (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VII, 32, 25; De martyr. Palaest., 11, 3; Hieronymus, Ep. 34, ad Marcellam, cap. 1). The work has been lost; a fragment is preserved by St. Jerome, Adv. Rufin., I, 9. Together with Eusebius, P. devoted himself to critical studies of biblical codices (v. HARAN, Altchristl. Literatur, I, 2, 543 ff) and to the Christian library of Caesarea, founded by Origen. In prison he wrote an Apologia for Origen in 5 books, to which Eusebius, after the martyr’s death, added a sixth book (Photius, cod. 118). Only the first book has been preserved in Rufinus’s Latin translation. Jerome, in De vir. ill., 75, speaks of P. as the author of the
(photo Pont. comm. arch. sacra)
PANFILO, CIMITERO di — Epitaph of Cepasius — Rome, cemetery of Panfilo.
Apologia, but in Adv. Rufin., I, 8. I, 10. II, 23, attributes its authorship to Eusebius.