PAMPHILUS, Saint. - Born in Berytus (Phoenicia), a disciple of Pierius of Alexandria, presbyter in Caesarea, died a martyr on 16 February 369 (Eusebius, De mart. Palaest., 11, 14).

Eusebius of Caesarea, his disciple (Eusebius Pamphili), wrote in 3 books a biography of P. (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 in St. Jerome, Adv. Rufin., I, 9. Together with Eusebius, P. devoted himself to critical studies of the biblical codices (v. A. Harnack, Altchristl. Literatur, I, 2, 543 ff.) and to the Christian library of Caesarea, founded by Origen. In prison he wrote an Apology 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 Apology, but in Adv. Rufin., I, 8. I, 10. II, 23, he attributes its authorship to Eusebius.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: A. Harnack, Die altchristl. Literatur, I, 2, Leipzig 1893, p. 580. The translation of Rufinus in PG 17, 541 ff.; G. Baray, Pamphile de Césarée, in DThC, XI, 11, coll. 1839-41; G. Mercati, Un preteso frammento di s. Panfilo martire, in Nuove note di letteratura biblica e cristiana antica (Studi e testi, 95), Città del Vaticano 1941, p. 91. On the library of Caesarea v. A. Ehrhard, in Römische Quartalschrift, 5 (1891), p. 221 ff.

Erik Peterson

@incollection{ec9_panfilo_santo, author = {Peterson, Erik}, title = {Panfilo, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {676--677}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/panfilo-santo} }

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Pamphilus, Saint

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