PIONIO. - He suffered martyrdom at Smyrna on the day of the feast (natale) of Polycarp, according to the Martyrdom of P., during the persecution of Decius; according to Eusebius, in the time of Marcus Aurelius. Eusebius, who speaks of P. in his Hist. eccl., IV, 15, 46, 47, had included the Martyrdom of P. in his collection of the earliest martyrdoms. Acts of P. have been preserved in Greek, Latin, Slavonic, and Armenian. A critical edition of the text is lacking. The Martyrdom appears to be based in part on information from P. himself. The martyr P. should not be confused with the Pionius mentioned in an addition to the Martyrdom of Polycarp (v.) and who was perhaps not only the editor of two recensions of the Martyrdom of Polycarp, but also the author of a life of Polycarp of little historical value. Feast: in the Byzantine Church, 11 March; in the Roman Martyrology, 1 February.
Pionius
BIBL.: the Greek text of the Martyrdom of P. in O. V. GERHARDT, PAUL, Acta martyrum selecta, Lipsia 1902, p. 96 sg.; reprinted in R. Knopf-G. Krüger, Ausgewählte Märtyrer-Akten, 3rd ed., Tubinga 1920, p. 45 sg. On the inclusion of the Martyrdom of P. in the collection of Eusebius, V. EHRHARD, ALBERT, Überlieferung und Bestand der hagiographischen und homiletischen Literatur der griechischen Kirche (Texte und Untersuchungen, 50), Lipsia 1936, p. 1 sg.; H. Delebaye, Les passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires, Bruxelles 1921, p. 28 sg., which also refutes the theories of Ed. Schwartz, De Pionio et Polycarpo, Gottinga 1905; V. also C. Schmidt, Gespräche Jesu mit seinen Jüngern, Lipsia 1919, pp. 705-725. On the Latin translation of the Martyrdom of P. V. A. Siegmund, Überlieferung der griechischen christlichen Literatur in der lateinischen Kirche, Monaco 1949, p. 205, 223.
Cite this article
“PIONIO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX (1952), p. 939. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/pionio.