PRIMASIUS. - Bishop of Hadrumetum (Byzacena), who lived in the 6th century and died shortly after 552. In the "Three Chapters controversy" he followed the conflicting decisions of Pope Vigilius of Rome, condemning and then accepting the edict of the emperor Justinian de tribus capitulis (544). Relegated for this reason to a monastery, he was rewarded, after he had given his assent, with the dignity of primate of Byzacena (Victor of Tunnuna, Chron. ad ann. 552, ed. Mommsen, in MGH, Chronica minora, II, p. 203). In Constantinople P. met his compatriot Junillus, who interested him in Greek exegesis.

Thus, through the translation made by Junillus (v.) of the biblical introduction of Paul of Nisibis, P. came to know Antiochene exegesis. P. is the author of a commentary on the Apocalypse, which is based on the exegesis of St. Augustine and of Tyconius. Alongside Beatus, his work is one of the principal sources for the reconstruction of the lost commentary of Tyconius (v.) on the Apocalypse. P. also completed the work of St. Augustine De haeresibus (Cassiodorus, Instit. div. litt., 9; Isidore of Seville, De vir. ill., 22), but this work is not preserved.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: J. Haussleiter, Leben und Werke der Bischofs P. von Hadrumetum, Progr., Erlangen 1887; id., in Hauck, Real-Reyel., 16 (1905), pp. 55 ff. The text of the commentary in PL 68, 793-936; J. Haussleiter, Die lateinische Apokalypse der alten afrikanischen Kirche, in Th. Zahn, Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, IV, Erlangen 1891, pp. 1-224; H. I. Vogels, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der lateinischen Apokalypse-Übersetzung, Düsseldorf 1920, pp. 19-36, 153-64. The commentary on the Apocalypse was found in the library of Cassiodorus, v. P. Courcelle, Les lettres groupes en Occident, Paris 1943, p. 354. On the De haeresibus v. Dziolowski, Isidor und Idelson als Literaturhistoriker, Münster in W. 1898, pp. 37-39. The commentary on the Pauline Epistles attributed in PL 68, 413 ff. to P. is not his work, but an orthodox recension of the commentary of Pelagius.

Erik Peterson

@incollection{ec10_primasio, author = {Peterson, Erik}, title = {Primasio}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {4--5}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/primasio} }

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Primasius

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