Quadratus, Apologist

QUADRATO, APOLOGIST. — Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, 23, 3), through Dionysius of Corinth, knows of a bishop Q. of Athens, successor to the bishop and martyr Publius. This Q., who lived under Marcus Aurelius, has nothing to do with another Q. mentioned by Eusebius himself among the orthodox prophets (ibid., III, 37, 1, alongside the daughters of Philip; V, 17, 2, 3, 4, alongside the prophetess Ammia in Philadelphia; the source of the last notice is the anti-Montanist author).

This Q., a prophet and disciple of the Apostles, probably lived in Asia Minor. He is often identified with the author of an Apologia addressed to the emperor Hadrian (ibid., IV, 3, 1). This identification is not probable, because the author of the Apologia appears to have been familiar with rhetorical and juridical language. The phrase in Eusebius, “Apologia for our religion,” may have been taken from the text, as may the following phrase: “because certain wicked persons were seeking to molest (ἐναγλείν) our people.” If one compares the psephisma of the Delians in favor of the Jews in Josephus, Antiq., XIV, 10, 14 (232), one will note the technical character of these expressions; it therefore seems unlikely that the “prophet” Q. would have known how to use such language. Only a small fragment of Q.’s Apologia has been preserved in Eusebius (ibid., IV, 3, 2), in which the author speaks of persons raised from the dead by Jesus who lived until his own time. This fragment is associated with fragment XI of Papias (ed. Fr. X. Funk, Opera PP. Apostolici, I, Tübingen 1901, pp. 366 ff.), taken from Philip of Side, according to whom Papias would have spoken of persons raised from the dead by Jesus who lived until the time of

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(photograph: Fotoestere, Turin) QUADRIPORTICO — Q. of the basilica of S. Paolo — Rome.
Hadrian; but the information from Filippo Sidete seems to be a fabrication based on Eusebius, with a false attribution to Papias. Andriessen’s recent attempt to attribute the Epistle to Diognetus (v.) to Q. remains within the realm of hypotheses. The information given by s. Girolamo (De vir. ill., 19; Ep. 70 ad Magnum, 4: PL 22, 667) is nothing more than fabrication.

BIBL.: Th. V. Otto, Corpus apologetarum christ., IX, Jena 1872, pp. 333–41; Ad. Harnack, Die Überlieferung der griech. Apologeten (Texte und Unters., I, 1, II), Leipzig 1882, p. 100 ff.; Th. Zahn, Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestam. Kanons, IV, Erlangen 1900, p. 41 ff. On R. Harris’s unsuccessful attempt to find other fragments of Q.’s Apologia, V. B. Altaner, Patrologie, 2nd ed., Florence 1930, p. 88; H. J. Marrou, A Diognète (Sources chrétiennes, 33), Paris 1951, pp. 256–59. Erik Peterson
Cite this article

“QUADRATO, APOLOGISTA.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X (1953), p. 221. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/quadrato-apologista.