Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 69
69 Dionysius the bishop PL 23, 677
Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, as presbyter had charge of the catechetical school under Heraclas, and was the most distinguished pupil of Origen. Consenting to the doctrine of Cyprian and the African synod, on the rebaptizing of heretics, he sent many letters to different people, which are yet extant; He wrote one to Fabius, bishop of the church at Antioch, On penitence, another To the Romans, by the hand of Hippolytus, two letters To Xystus, who had succeeded Stephen, two also To Philemon and Dionysius, presbyters of the church at Rome, and another To the same Dionysius, afterwards bishop of Rome; and To Novatian, treating of their claim that Novatian had been ordained bishop of Rome, against his will. The beginning of this epistle is as follows: “Dionysius to Novatian, his brother greeting. If you have been ordained unwillingly, as you say, you will prove it, when you shall willingly retire.”
There is another epistle of his also To Dionysius and Didymus, and many Festal epistles on the passover, written in a declamatory style, also one to the church of Alexandria On exile, one To Hierax,bishop in Egypt, and yet others On mortality, On the Sabbath, andOn the gymnasium, also one To Hermammon and others On the persecution of Decius, and two books Against Nepos the bishop, who asserted in his writings a thousand years reign in the body. Among other things he diligently discussed the Apocalypse of John, and wrote Against Sabellius and To Ammon, bishop of Bernice, and To Telesphorus, also To Euphranor, also four books To Dionysius, bishop of Rome, to the Laodiceans On penitence, to Origen On martyrdom, to the Armenians On penitence,also On the order of transgression, to Timothy On nature, to Euphranor On temptation, many letters also To Basilides, in one of which he asserts that he also began to write commentaries on Ecclesiastes. The notable epistle which he wrote against Paul of Samosata, a few days before his death is also current. He died in the twelfth year of Gallienus.
Dionysios, Alexandrinae urbis episcopus, sub Heracla scholam κατηχήσεων presbyter tenuit, et Origenis valde insignis auditor fuit. Hic in Cypriani et Africanae synodi dogma consentiens, de haereticis rebaptizandis, ad diversos plurimas misit epistolas, quae usque hodie exstant, et ad Fabium Antiochenae urbis episcopum scripsit de poenitentia, et ad Romanos per Hippolytum alteram: ad 909 Xystum, qui Stephano successerat, duas epistolas, et ad Philemonem et ad Dionysium, Romanae Ecclesiae presbyteros, duas epistolas, et ad eumdem Dionysium, postea Romae episcopum, et ad Novatianum causantem, quod invitus Romae episcopus ordinatus esset, cujus epistolae hoc exordium est: Dionysius Novatiano fratri salutem. Si invitus, ut dicis, ordinatus es, probabis, cum volens secesseris. [ Nam oportuit quidvis etiam hac gratia perpeti, ne discinderetur Ecclesia Dei. Neque minus praeclarum ex hoc contigisset testimonium, quod noluisses dissidium inducere, quam proficisci solet ex eo, si quis recuset simulacris immolare, atque adeo praeclarius etiam, mea quidem sententia, siquidem illic uni propriaeque consulitur animae, hic totius Ecclesiae negotium agitur. Tametsi nunc quoque si persuaseris, si compuleris fratres in concordiam redire, plus egeris officio, quam peccaris errato. Atque hoc quidem haud imputabitur, illud vero laudibus feretur. Caeterum si non obtemperantibus illis minus assequeris quod vis, tamen fac modis omnibus ut tuam ipsius serves animam. ] Est ejus ad Dionysium et ad Didymum altera epistola, et ἑορταστικαὶ de Pascha plurimae, declamatorio sermone conscriptae, et ad Alexandrinam Ecclesiam de exsilio, et ad Hieracam in Aegypto episcopum, et alia de Mortalitate, 911 et de Sabbato, et περὶ γυμνασίου, et ad Hermammonem, et alia de persecutione Decii, et duo libri adversum Nepotem episcopum, qui mille annorum corporale regnum suis scriptis asseverat, in quibus de Apocalypsi Joannis diligentissime disputat: et adversum Sabellium, et ad Ammonem Beronices Episcopum, et ad Telesphorum, et ad Euphranorem, et quatuor libri ad Dionysium Romanae urbis episcopum, et ad Laodicenses de poenitentia; item ad Canonem de poenitentia, et ad Origenem de martyrio, ad Armenios de poenitentia et de ordine delictorum, de natura ad Timotheum, de tentationibus ad Euphranorem. Ad Basilidem quoque multae Epistolae, in quarum una se asserit, etiam in Ecclesiasten coepisse scribere commentarios. Sed et adversus Paulum Samosatenum, ante paucos dies quam moreretur, insignis ejus fertur epistola. Moritur duodecimo Galieni anno.
Διονύσιος, Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπος, ἐπὶ Ἡρακλᾶ, σχολὴν κατηχήσεων πρεσβυτερίου κατέσχε καὶ Ὠριγένους ἐπίσημος βοηθὸς ἐγένετο. Οὗτος εἰς τὸ δόγμα τοῦ Κυπριανοῦ, καί τῆς Ἀφρικῆς συνόδου συναινῶν, περὶ αἱρετικῶν ἀναβαπτισθησομένων, πολλὰς πρὸς διαφόρους ἀπέστειλεν ἐπιστολὰς, τὰς καὶ ἄχρι τοῦ παρόντος τυγχανούσας, καὶ πρὸς Φλαβιανὸν δὲ Ἀντιοχείας ἐπίσκοπον γράφει περὶ μετανοίας, καὶ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους διὰ Ἱππολύτου ἑτέραν, καὶ πρὸς Ξύστον διαδεξάμενον Στέφανον 910 ἐπιστολὰς δύο, πρὸς Φιλήμονα καὶ Διονύσιον τῆς ἐν Ῥώμῃ Ἐκκλησίας πρεσβυτέρους ἐπιστολὰς δύο, καὶ πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν Διονύσιον, ὕστερον Ῥώμης ἐπίσκοπον, καὶ πρὸς Νωβατιανὸν αἰτιώμενον, ὡς ἄκων ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ ἐχειροτονήθη ἐπίσκοπος, ἧςτινος ἐπιστολῆς τὸ προοίμιον ἔχει οὕτως· « Διονύσιος Ἀλεξανδρείας Νωβατιανῷ. Εἰ ἄκων ὡς φὴς ἤχθης, δείξῃς ἀναχωρήσας ἑκών. Ἔδει μὲν γὰρ καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν παθεῖν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ διακόψαι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἦνο ὐκ ἀδοξοτέρα τῆς ἕνεκεν τοῦ μὴ εἰδωλολατρῆσαι γινομένης, ἡ ἕνεκεν τοῦ μὴ σχίσαι μαρτυρία, κατ' ἐμὲ δὲ καὶ μείζων. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὲρ μιᾶς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὑπὲρ ὅλης τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, καὶ νῦν δὲ εἰ πείσαις, καὶ εἰ βιάσαις τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς εἰς ὁμόνοιαν ἐλθεῖν, μεῖζον ἔσται σοι τοῦ σφάλματος τὸ κατόρθωμα. Καὶ τὸ μὲν οὐ λογισθήσεται, τὸ δὲ ἐπαινεθήσεται. Εἰ δὲ ἀπειθούντων ἀδυνατοίης, σώζων σῶζε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν. » Ἔστιν αὐτοῦ πρὸς Διονύσιον καὶ Δίδυμον ἄλλη ἐπιστολὴ, καὶ ἑορταστικαὶ περὶ τοῦ πάσχα πολλαὶ, λόγων κράτος ἔχουσαι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν Ἀλεξανδρέων Ἐκκλησίαν περὶ ἐξορίας, καὶ πρὸς Ἱέρακα Αἰγύπτου ἐπίσκοπον, καὶ ἄλλη περὶ θνήσεως καὶ σαββάτου, καὶ περὶ γυμνασίου, καὶ πρὸς Ἑρμάμμωνα, καὶ ἄλλη περὶ διωγμοῦ Δεκίου, καὶ δύο λόγοι κατὰ Νέπωτος ἐπισκόπου τοῦ συγγραψαμένου χιλίων ἐνιαυτῶν σωματικὴν βασιλείαν, ἐν οἷς περὶ τῆς Ἰωάννου Ἀποκαλύψεως ἐπιμελῶς διείλεκται. Καὶ κατὰ Σαβελλίου, καὶ πρὸς Ἄμμωνα Βερονίκης ἐπίσκοπον, καὶ πρὸς Τελεσφόρον καὶ Εὔραν, καὶ τέσσαρες λόγοι πρὸς Διονύσιον Ῥώμης ἐπίσκοπον, καὶ πρὸς Λαοδικεῖς περὶ μετανοίας, ὁμοίως πρὸς Κάνωνα περὶ Μετανοίας, πρὸς Ὠριγένην περὶ Μαρτυρίου, πρὸς Ἀρμενίους περὶ Μετανοίας, καὶ κανόνας ἁμαρτιῶν, περὶ Φύσεως πρὸς Τιμόθεον, περὶ Πειρασμῶν πρὸς Εὐφράνορα, καὶ πρὸς Βασιλείδην πολλὰς ἐπιστολὰς, ἀφ' ὧν ἐν τῇ μιᾷ λέγει, ὡς ἤρζατο καὶ εἰς τὸν Ἐκκλησιαστὴν συντάττειν ὑπομνήματα, καὶ κατὰ Παύλου τοῦ Σαμοσατέως πρὸ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν τῆς αὐτοῦ τελευτῆς, ἐπίσημος αὐτοῦ φέρεται ἐπιστολή. Τελευτᾷ τῷ δεκάτῳ ἔτει Γαλιήνου βασιλέως.