PIERIUS. - Presbyter in Alexandria, d. ca. 300. Head of the catechetical school. His place in the succession of teachers is not clear. It is certain that he was the teacher of Pamphilus and therefore a follower of Origen, an "Origenes iunior" (v. St. Jerome, De vir. illustr., 76). His works were studied together with those of Origen and Didymus (v. Palladius, Historia lausiaca, ed. C. Butler, I, Cambridge 1898, p. 34, 7, cf. p. 149, 14). Eusebius (Hist. eccl., 7, 32, 26) describes P. as an ascetic, philosopher, exegete and preacher.

According to Jerome (De vir. ill., 76), P. would have lived after the persecution in Rome. Philip of Side identifies him

(phot. Alinari)

PIERIN DEL VAGA, PIETRO BUONACCORSI, called - Detail of the stucco decoration of the vault of the Sala Regia - Apostolic Palace, Vatican.

with the martyr P. who had a church in Alexandria, a church also known to Epiphanius (Haer., 69, 2, 4; ed. K. Holl [CB, 25], Leipzig 1915, p. 153). Photius, Bibl., cod. 119, knew of a work by P. in 12 treatises. Probably a miscellaneous volume, containing exegesis, sermons and a commemorative oration on the martyr Pamphilus. Jerome knew Pierii exemplaria of the New Testament, either a recension of the sacred text, or marginal notes. According to Photius he would have taught the pre-existence of souls.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Ad. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, I, Leipzig 1893, p. 339; II, II, 1904, p. 36 ff.; Bardenhewer, II, p. 234 ff.; L. B. Radford, Three teachers of Alexandria: Theognostus, Pierius and Peter, Cambridge 1908; G. Fritz, s. v. in DThC, XII, coll. 1744-76. The text of the fragments of P. in PG 10, 241-46 and in G. de Boor, Neue Fragmente des Papias, Hegesippus und P. in bisher unbekannten Excerpten aus der Kirchengeschichte des Philippus Sidetes (Texte und Untersuchungen, 5, II), Leipzig 1888, pp. 165-84.

Erik Peterson

@incollection{ec9_pierio, author = {Peterson, Erik}, title = {Pierio}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1381--1382}, 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/pierio} }

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