Saint Epiphanius of Salamis

Having learned in Egypt, during a conference with a holy religious, that he would one day be bishop of Cyprus, he embarked secretly to withdraw to another place, in order to avoid this honor, which he regarded as a misfortune for himself. However, a contrary wind cast him against his will onto that island; he found the prelates assembled there to elect a bishop of Salamis, the capital of the entire kingdom, and he was raised to this dignity by a disposition of heaven. This was around the year 367. Salamis was then called Constantia. The care of this Church did not make him abandon that of his monastery of Eleuthero monastère d'Éleuthéropolis Territory where the body of the prophet was discovered. polis; he returned there from time to time. He continued to live as a solitary and to wear the habit. He preferred the practice of virtues to bodily austerities, and charity to abstinence: in his old age, he drank a little wine. One day when Epiphanius was receiving at his table the illus trious c Hilarion Illustrious cenobite and friend of Saint Epiphanius. enobite Hilarion, his friend, the latter having said: "Since I have worn the habit of a solitary, I have never eaten anything that has had life"—"And I," replied the bishop of Salamis, "since I have worn the same habit, I have never allowed anyone to go to sleep in the evening having in his heart something against me, and I have never gone to sleep myself having in my heart something against my neighbor." Hilarion admitted that the practice of Epiphanius was better than his own. The greatest pleasure of our Saint was to relieve those who were in need: many rich and charitable persons had their alms pass through his hands; among this number was Saint Olympias. A deacon having murmured against the holy bishop, because he used ecclesiastical revenues for the relief of the poor, was severely punished for it by God Himself.

Our Saint enjoyed universal consideration. As soon as he appeared in public, the people crowded around him, tearing threads from his garments to keep as relics, and kissing his hands and feet. Mothers begged him to bless their children. He had the gift of miracles. He was the only Orthodox bishop whom the Arians dared not attack when, supported by Emper or Val Ariens Heresy opposed by Columbanus in Italy among the Lombards. ens in 371, they undertook a cruel persecution against the Catholics; and yet, heresies never had a more implacable enemy: he sought them out, studied their characteristics, denounced them to other bishops, and wrote against them his principal work, of which we shall speak later.

He traveled to Rome in 382 to attend a council convened by Pope Damasus: he stayed with pape Damase Pope who ordained the two brothers and sent them on a mission. Saint Paula, an d in 385, he sainte Paule Virgin and martyr in Malaga, companion of Saint Cyriacus. had the consolation of offering her hospitality in turn for ten days in Salamis, when she was traveling to Palestine.

Saint Epiphanius has been reproached for certain acts in which he allegedly showed more zeal than prudence, such as performing ordinations and preaching outside his own diocese. He justifies himself on this subject: "It is the fear of God that made me act in this way; I proposed nothing but the utility of the Church. I do not complain at all when a foreign bishop works in this way for the glory of God in my diocese!" We see from these words that his intention was always pure and holy. As for the acts themselves, this is not the place to set forth their circumstances, nor to judge them: we are not writing an ecclesiastical history.

We shall report only one fact of this kind which took place in 401. Epiphanius, excited and circumvented by Theophilus of Alexandria, went to Constantinople to have the works of Origen condemned there; he first treated as an Or igenist Saint John Chr saint Jean Chrysostome Predecessor of Tryphon cited as an example of a holy and persecuted bishop. ysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, who, being more moderate than he in this matter, offered hospitality to Epiphanius; the latter refused it and rejected all communication with him. But having recognized that there had been on his part in this conduct an excess of zeal and precipitation, and that he had allowed himself to be deceived by the enemies of Saint John Chrysostom, he resolved to leave that city immediately; he said, before embarking, to the courtier bishops: "I leave you the city, the palace, the spectacle: as for me, I am leaving, I have no time to lose." In speaking thus, he was thinking of his death, which Saint John Chrysostom had predicted to him. He died, in fact, during the crossing (403). His disciples built, in Cyprus, under his name, a church, where they placed his image with many others. The ancients accorded much praise to Saint Epiphanius. Well instructed in Catholic doctrine, he followed it in all its integrity. He was an admirable man, full of God. The greatest saints authorized themselves by his example to justify their conduct.

Saint Epiphanius is depicted giving alms, in allusion to the following event: A swindler conspired with another to feign death and obtain from the Saint the means to cover funeral expenses. The bishop granted what was requested, but it happened that the fake corpse actually died. The survivor ran after Saint Epiphanius and asked for the resurrection of his comrade. The Saint replied that, having done his duty, he had no further need to intervene. In this case, a corpse is laid at the feet of the pontiff; but this does not mean that he is performing burial rites for him, as some authors have said. — His attire is most often that of hermits. "It seems," says Father Cahier, "that he should be painted barefoot," if it is true, as Metaphrastes reports, that having lost one of his sandals in the baptistery, he resolved never to wear shoes again. Saint Epiphanius shares the patronage of the Island of Cyprus with Saint Barnabas.

4. The *Panario Panarium Major work refuting 80 heresies. n* or Book of Antidotes against all heresies, which appeared in 374. The Saint therein exposes and refutes all the heresies that had preceded the birth of Jesus Christ, and those that had arisen since the promulgation of the Gospel. He is not always accurate when speaking of Arianism; but it is known how difficult it is to discover the truth in points where the spirit of revolt had so much interest in obscuring it. Saint Epiphanius refutes heresies by Scripture and tradition. "One must," he says, "necessarily admit tradition; one cannot learn everything from Scripture: that is why the Apostles transmitted some truths to us in writing, and others by way of tradition" (*Hær.* 60, ch. 6, p. 514). It is by tradition that he justifies the practice and proves the obligation of praying for the dead (*Hær.* 76, ch. 7, 8, p. 911). He adds that he cannot be sufficiently astonished at how Arius has the audacity to abolish the fast of Wednesday and Friday "which is observed throughout the whole earth and which is supported by the authority of the Apostles" (*ibid.*).

Saint Epiphanius counts eighty heresies up to his time, starting from the origin of the world; twenty before Jesus Christ, and sixty after. The idea that serves as his basis is that the Catholic Church is from eternity or from the beginning of the ages. Adam was not created circumcised, nor did he worship any idol; but, being a prophet, he knew God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was therefore neither a Jew nor an idolater, but showed from then on the character of Christianity; the same must be said of Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Eber, up to Abraham. Until then, there was no principle of action other than piety and impiety, faith and unbelief: faith with the image of Christianity, unbelief with the character of impiety and crime; faith without

any heresy, without any diversity of sentiments, without any particular denomination, all calling themselves men, just like the first; the same faith that the holy and Catholic Church of God still professes today, which, existing from the beginning, has revealed itself anew in the aftermath. From the first man to the flood, impiety manifested itself in violent and barbaric crimes: the first phase that Saint Epiphanius calls barbarism; from the flood to the time of Abraham, it manifested itself in savage and fierce customs, like those of the Scythians: the second phase, which he calls Scythianism, using this distinction of Saint Paul: In Jesus Christ there is neither Barbarian, nor Scythian, nor Hellene, nor Jew. Hellenism or idolatry began around the time of Serug, the great-grandfather of Abraham, and Judaism at the circumcision of that patriarch. Abraham was first called with the character of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, without being circumcised. From Hellenism were born the heresies or systems of Greek philosophy; from the union of Hellenism and Judaism, the heresy of the Samaritans, with its various branches; from Judaism, the heresies of the Sadducees, the Scribes, the Pharisees, and others; from Christianity, sixty had emerged until then, among which he counts and refutes those who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the Apollinarians: proving, against the former, that the Holy Spirit is coeternal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son, and that He proceeds from both; and against the latter, that the Son of God, in becoming incarnate, truly took a body and a soul similar to ours. As for the Blessed Virgin, there were heretics who denied her perpetual virginity; others, on the contrary, worshipped her as a divinity: he establishes against the former that she remained always a virgin, and against the latter, that one must honor her, but worship God alone. He concludes the whole work with the primary thought: that the Catholic Church, formed with Adam, announced in the patriarchs, accredited in Abraham, revealed by Moses, prophesied by Isaiah, manifested in Christ and united to Him as His only spouse, exists at once both before and after all errors.

In this work, as well as in his *Ancoratus*, he says that Peter, the prince of the Apostles, despite his denial, is the solid and immutable rock upon which the Lord built His Church in every sense, and against which the gates of hell, otherwise the heresies and heresiarchs, will not prevail. It is to him that the Lord, by saying: Feed my sheep, entrusted the care of the flock, a flock which he governs as he ought by the virtue of his master. T. I, p. 560; t. II, p. 14 and 15.

After having exposed the faith of the Church, he adds its general discipline. The foundation of it is the virginity that a great number of the faithful kept, then the solitary life, then continence, after which widowhood, and finally an honest marriage, especially if it is unique. The crown of this whole is the priesthood, which is recruited most often from among virgins, or at least from among monks, or, in their absence, from among those who abstain from their wives, or who are widowers after a single marriage. He who has remarried cannot be received into the priesthood, whether in the order of bishop, priest, deacon, or subdeacon. The assemblies ordered by the apostles were generally held on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday; on these last two days, one fasted until None, except during the Paschal time. It was not permitted to fast on Sundays or on the feast of Christmas, whatever day it fell upon. Except for Sundays, one fasted the forty days before Easter; the last six one took only bread, salt, and water, and towards evening. The most fervent spent several, or even all six, without eating. One made nominal mention of the dead in the prayers and the sacrifice. Many had the particular devotion of abstaining from more or less things that were otherwise permitted. The Church forbade, in general, everything that was evil, superstitious, or inhumane, and recommended to all hospitality, almsgiving, and all works of charity towards everyone. Such is the substance of the great work of Saint Epiphanius. He sent it, according to their prayer, to priests and abbots of Syria, with a letter that contains the summary and which has been improperly divided into two.

The style of the *Panarion* is not very polished, according to Godeau (*Éloges des Ev. illustr.*, c. 37, p. 228); but the doctrine it contains is pure and excellent. One can compare it to those diamonds which, without being cut, shine by their natural beauty. We owe a great debt to Saint Epiphanius for having left us the history and refutation of the ancient heresies. It is true that they are known only by name; but others have succeeded them, and will succeed them until the end of the ages. The spirit of heretics is always the same; it always drags in its wake pride, stubbornness, and attachment to one's own thoughts.

2° The *Ancora Anchorat Dogmatic treatise on the Catholic faith. tus*, so called because it is like a kind of anchor intended to fix minds in the true faith, for fear that they might waver and be carried about by every wind of doctrine. In it, the holy doctor establishes and provides abridged proofs of the principal articles of the Catholic faith.

3° The *Anacephalaeosis*, or abridged recapitulation of the *Panarion*, and not of the *Ancoratus*, as Godescard and many other authors believed.

4° The *Treatise on Weights and Measures*. The author displays much erudition in it; he speaks of the weights, measures, and customs of the Jews, in order to facilitate the understanding of the Bible for the faithful.

5° The *Physiologus*, or collection of the properties of animals, with mystical and moral reflections. Only the reflections can be attributed to Saint Epiphanius.

6° The *Treatise on Precious Stones*. The holy doctor attempts to explain the qualities of the twelve precious stones that were on the breastplate of the Jewish high priest.

7° Two letters addressed, one to John, Bishop of Jerusalem, and the other to Saint Jerom saint Jérôme Father of the Church and author of the original biography of Saint Asella. e. In the first, the Saint responds to the various complaints that John made against him. He says that having seen in the church of Anablatha, in the diocese of Jerusalem, a veil hanging at the door, on which was painted an image of Jesus Christ or of some saint (he did not remember which it was), he tore this veil and sent another. It would be wrong to conclude from this passage that Saint Epiphanius did not want images to be honored, and that the cult rendered to them is of recent date; the contrary is attested by the most authentic monuments. Eusebius speaks of the miracles performed at the famous statue of the woman healed by Jesus Christ of an issue of blood, which was at Paneas in Palestine. We also see from Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Prudentius, Saint Paulinus, Saint Ephrem, etc., who lived at the same time, that the use of images was then universally received in the Church. Le Clerc himself admits it. The conduct of Saint Epiphanius therefore only proves that he had discovered abuses, or at least that he feared that the paintings in question might be an occasion of stumbling, either for the Jews or for the newly converted pagans. It is known that in such circumstances, it is sometimes prudent to forbid a practice of discipline in certain places. This remark is from Salmerón, *in t. Joan.*, c. 5, disp. 32.

In his letter to Saint Jerome, Saint Epiphanius informs him of the condemnation of Origen by Theophilus of Alexandria. There are still some doubtful or supposed works of Saint Epiphanius. (See the *Patrologia Graeca* of M. Migne, vol. XLI, XLII, XLIII.)

We noted above that Saint Epiphanius had neglected the polish of his style. His goal was to make himself accessible to the least intelligent. Moreover, this defect and the others that are criticized in his writings have not prevented him from being regarded as one of the principal Doctors of the Church.

*AA. SS.* and *Patrologia*.