THE MEMORY OF
EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY,
THEOLOGIAN
OF THE
CHURCH OF BRITAIN.
BOOKS TO BE READ.
1st. "The doctrine of the Lord, through the Twelve Apostles, to the Gentiles." Spence, Nisbet.
2nd. "The Apostolic Constitutions." Lagarde. Williams and Norgate, 1862.
3rd. "Coptic Constitutions." Lagarde. Tattam, 1845,
4th. Justin Martyr----for Liturgy.
5th. Hippolitus, "Refutation of all heresies." Duncker. Göttingen, 1859.
6th. Hierocles on "Golden Verses" of Pythagoras. Roger Daniel. London, 1654.
7th. "Ecclesiastical History (in Greek) from establishment of the Church to our own time." By Professor Kyriakos. Athens, 1898.
8th. "St. Denys, l'Areopagite, premier Evèque de Paris." Darras, 1863. Vives, Paris.
9th. Gale's "Court of the Gentiles." Hall, Oxon, 1672.
10th. Dexter's Chronicle. Migne, T. 31.
11th. Monuments inédits. Faillon.
DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
AND
THE ALEXANDRINE SCHOOL.
ALEXANDRIA became the home of Christian Philosophy, but Athens was its birthplace. Pantaenus and Ammonius-Saccus were chief founders of the Alexandrine School. They were both Christian. They both drew their teaching from the Word of God, " the Fountain of Wisdom," and from the writings of Hierotheus, and Dionysius the Areopagite----Bishops of Athens. For several centuries there had been a Greek preparation for the Alexandrine School. As the Old Testament was a Schoolmaster, leading to Christ, so the Septuagint, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristobulus, Philo, and Apollos were heralds who prepared the minds of men for that fulness of light and truth in Jesus Christ, which, in Alexandria, clothed itself in the bright robes of Divine Philosophy.
Pantaenus was born in Athens, a.d. 120, and died in Alexandria, a.d. 213. He was Greek by nationality, and Presbyter of the Church in, Alexandria by vocation. First, Stoic, then Pythagorean, he became Christian some time before a.d. 186, at which date he was appointed chief instructor in the Didaskeleion, |vi by Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria. Pantaenus recognised the preparation for the Christian Faith in the Greek Philosophy. Anastasius-Sinaita describes him as "one of the early expositors who agreed with each other in treating the first six days of Creation as prophetic of Christ and the whole Church."
Eusebius says, that "Pantaenus expounded the treasures of the Divine dogmas preserved direct, as from father to son, from St. Paul and other Apostles. Phptius records that Pantaenus was pupil of those who had seen the Apostles, but that he certainly had not listened to any of them themselves. Now, if Pantaenus was pupil of those who had seen the Apostles, and yet had, not listened to their oral teaching, it is natural to infer that he was pupil through their writings. I am a pupil of Dr. Pusey, but I never listened to his oral teaching; I am pupil through his writings. Now, there exist, to this day, the writings of two Presbyters who had seen the Apostles----both, converts to the faith through St. Paul,-----whose writings contain the treasures of the Divine dogmas, received from St. Paul and the other Apostles. Those two Presbyters are Hierotheus and Dionysius the Areopagite, both ordained Bishop of Athens by St. Paul. Dionysius the Areopagite expressly calls, St. Paul his "chief initiator," and as such, gives his teaching on the holy Angels, in the sixth chapter of the Heavenly Hierarchy; and frequently describes St. Paul as his "chief instructor."
If, then, we can prove that the writings of |vii Dionysius' existed before and were known in Alexandria, when Pantaenus delivered his lectures in that city, we may fairly infer that Pantaenus would know, and knowing, would use, the writings penned by the Chief of his own Areopagus, and Bishop' of his own Athens.
Historical criticism does not permit us to reject probabilities, merely because they confirm the Christian Faith.