QUADRATUS, APOLOGIST. - Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, 23, 3) knows through Dionysius of Corinth a bishop Q. of Athens, successor of the bishop and martyr Publius. This Q., who lived under Marcus Aurelius, has nothing to do with another Q. mentioned by the same Eusebius 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 Apology addressed to the emperor Hadrian (ibid., IV, 3, 1). This identification is not probable, because the author of the Apology appears to have been acquainted with rhetorical and juridical language. The phrase in Eusebius: "Apology for our religion" is perhaps taken from the text, as is also the following phrase: "because certain wicked persons were seeking to harass (ἐναγλείν) our people." If one compares the psephism of the Delians in favor of the Jews in Josephus, Antiq., XIV, 10, 14 (232), one will notice the technical character of these expressions, for which reason it appears rather improbable that the "prophet" Q. knew how to use such language. Of the Apology of Q. only a small fragment has been preserved, in Eusebius (ibid., IV, 3, 2), in which the author speaks of persons raised by Jesus who lived down to his own times. With this fragment is connected fragment XI of Papias (ed. Fr. X. Funk, Opera PP. Apostolici, I, Tübingen 1901, p. 366 ff.) taken from Philip Sidetes, according to whom Papias would have spoken of persons raised by Jesus and who lived until the times of Hadrian; but the notice of Philip Sidetes seems a combination on the basis of Eusebius with a false attribution to Papias. The recent attempt of Andriessen to attribute the Epistle to Diognetus (v.) to Q. does not go beyond the realm of hypotheses. The notices of St. Jerome (De vir. ill., 19; Ep. 70 ad Magnum, 4: PL 22,667) are nothing but combinations.

Bibliography4 works

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 the failed attempt of R. Harris to find other fragments of the Apology of Q., 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

@incollection{ec10_quadrato_apologista, author = {Peterson, Erik}, title = {Quadrato, apologista}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {362--363}, 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/quadrato-apologista} }

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Quadratus, Apologist

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