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Book II — Source paragraphs and footnotes

Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17

10 complete historical source paragraphs and 17 editorial footnotes. Author and edition credits are shown for each record; original wording is retained.

English translation and editorial credits: Rev. Arthur Cushman McGiffert (Ph.D.).

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1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

This tradition that Philo met Peter in Rome and formed an acquaintance with him is repeated by Jerome (de vir ill. 11), and by Photius (Cod. 105), who even goes further, and says directly that Philo became a Christian. The tradition, however, must be regarded as quite worthless. It is absolutely certain from Philo’s own works, and from the otherwise numerous traditions of antiquity that he never was a Christian, and aside from the report of Eusebius (for Jerome and Photius do not represent an independent tradition) there exists no hint of such a meeting between Peter and Philo; and when we realize that Philo was already an old man in the time of Caius (see above, chap. 4, note 8), and that Peter certainly did not reach Rome before the later years of Nero’s reign, we may say that such a meeting as Eusebius records (only upon tradition, λόγος žχει) is certainly not historical. Where Eusebius got the tradition we do not know. It may have been manufactured in the interest of the Philonic authorship of the De vita contemplativa, or it may have been a natural outgrowth of the ascription of that work to him, some such explanation suggesting itself to the reader of that work as necessary to explain Philo’s supposed praise of Christian monks. Philo’s visit to Rome during the reign of Caligula being a well-known historic fact, and Peter’s visit to Rome during the reign of Claudius being assumed as likewise historic (see above, chap. 14, note 8), it was not difficult to suppose a meeting between them (the great Christian apostle and the great Jewish philosopher), and to invent for the purpose a second visit of Philo to Rome. It seems probable that the ascription of the work De vita contemplativa to Philo came before the tradition of his acquaintance with Peter in Rome (which is first mentioned by Eusebius); but in any case the two were mutually corroborative.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-1 · Original source

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1. It is also said that Philo in the reign of Claudius became acquainted at Rome with Peter, who was then preaching there. Nor is this indeed improbable, for the work of which we have spoken, and which was composed by him some years later, clearly contains those rules of the Church which are even to this day observed among us.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

περὶ βίου θεωρητικοῦ ἢ ἱκετῶν; De Vita Contemplativa. This work is still extant, and is given by Mangey, II. 471–486. Eusebius is the first writer to mention it, and he identifies the Therapeutæ described in it with the Christian monks, and assumes in consequence that monasticism in the form in which he knew it existed in the apostolic age, and was known and praised by Philo. This opinion was generally adopted by the Fathers (with the single exception of Photius, Cod. 105, who looked upon the Therapeutæ as a Jewish sect) and prevailed unquestioned until the Reformation, when in the Protestant reaction against monasticism it was denied that monks existed in the apostolic age, and that the Therapeutæ were Christians at all. Various opinions as to their identity have been held since that time, the commonest being that they were a Jewish sect or school, parallel with the Palestinian Essenes, or that they were an outgrowth of Alexandrian Neo-Pythagoreanism. The former opinion may be said to have been the prevailing one among Christian scholars until Lucius, in his work entitled Die Therapeuten und ihre Stellung in der Gesch. der Askese (Strassburg, 1879), proved (what had been asserted already by Grätz and Jost) that the Therapeutæ are really to be identified with Christian monks, and that the work De Vita Contemplativa is not a genuine work of Philo’s. If the former proposition is proved, the latter follows of necessity, for it is absolutely impossible to suppose that monasticism can have existed in so developed a form (or indeed in any form) in the time of Philo. On the other hand it may be proved that the work is not Philonic, and yet it may not follow that the Therapeutæ are to be identified with Christian monks. And so some scholars reject the Philonic authorship while still maintaining the Jewish character of the Therapeutæ (e.g. Nicolas, Kuenen, and Weingarten; see Schürer, Gesch. der Juden im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, p. 863). In the opinion of the writer, who agrees therein with the great majority of scholars, Lucius has conclusively demonstrated both his propositions, and has shown that the work De Vita Contemplativa is the production of some Christian of the latter part of the third century, who aimed to produce an apology for and a panegyric of monasticism as it existed in his day, and thus to secure for it wider recognition and acceptance. Lucius concludes with the following words: “Wir haben es demnach in D.V.C. mit einer Tendenzschrift zu thun, welche, da sie eine weit ausgebildete und in zahlreichen Ländern verbreitete Askese, so wie Zustände voraussetzt, genau wie dieselben nur im Christenthum des dritten Jahrhunderts vorhanden waren, kaum anders aufgefasst werden kann, als eine, etwa am Ende des dritten Jahrhunderts, unter dem Namen Philo’s, zu Gunsten der Christlichen Askese, verfasste Apologie, als erstes Glied eines an derartigen Producte überaus reichen Litteratur-zweige der alten Kirche.” Compare with Lucius’ work the reviews of it by Hilgenfeld in the Zeitschrift für wiss. Theol., 1880, pp. 423–440, and by Schürer in the Theologische Literaturzeitung, 1880, No. 5. The latter especially has added some important considerations with reference to the reasons for the composition of this work under the name of Philo. Assuming then the correctness of Lucius’ conclusions, we see that Eusebius was quite right in identifying the Therapeutæ with the Christian monks as he knew them in his day, but that he was quite wrong in accepting the Philonic authorship of the work in question, and in concluding that the institution of monasticism as he knew it existed already in the apostolic age (compare note 19, below).

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-2 · Original source

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3. In the work to which he gave the title, On a Contemplative Life or on Suppliants, after affirming in the first place that he will add to those things which he is about to relate nothing contrary to truth or of his own invention, he says that these men were called Therapeutæ and the women that were with them Therapeutrides. He then adds the reasons for such a name, explaining it from the fact that they applied remedies and healed the souls of those who came to them, by relieving them like physicians, of evil passions, or from the fact that they served and worshiped the Deity in purity and sincerity.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

It may fairly be doubted whether the work does not really contain considerable that is not in strict accordance with the facts observed by the author, whether his account is not to an extent idealized, and whether, in his endeavor to emphasize the Jewish character of the Therapeutæ, with the design of establishing the antiquity of monasticism (compare the review of Schürer referred to above), he has not allowed himself to introduce some imaginative elements. The strong asseveration which he makes of the truthfulness of his account would rather increase than allay this suspicion, and the account itself at certain points seems to bear it out. On the whole, however, it may be regarded as a reasonably accurate sketch. Were it not such, Eusebius would not have accepted it, so unreservedly as he does, as an account of Christian monks. Lucius’ exhibition of the points of similarity between the practices of the Therapeutæ, as described here, and of early Christian monks, as known from other sources, is very interesting (see p. 158 sq.).

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-3 · Original source

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3. In the work to which he gave the title, On a Contemplative Life or on Suppliants, after affirming in the first place that he will add to those things which he is about to relate nothing contrary to truth or of his own invention, he says that these men were called Therapeutæ and the women that were with them Therapeutrides. He then adds the reasons for such a name, explaining it from the fact that they applied remedies and healed the souls of those who came to them, by relieving them like physicians, of evil passions, or from the fact that they served and worshiped the Deity in purity and sincerity.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

θεραπευταί and θεραπευτρίδες, “worshipers” or “physicians”; from θεραπεύω, which means either to do service to the gods, or to tend the sick.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-4 · Original source

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3. In the work to which he gave the title, On a Contemplative Life or on Suppliants, after affirming in the first place that he will add to those things which he is about to relate nothing contrary to truth or of his own invention, he says that these men were called Therapeutæ and the women that were with them Therapeutrides. He then adds the reasons for such a name, explaining it from the fact that they applied remedies and healed the souls of those who came to them, by relieving them like physicians, of evil passions, or from the fact that they served and worshiped the Deity in purity and sincerity.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Heinichen omits, without explanation, the words και τὴν ῾Ελλᾶδα, which are found in all the other editions that I have examined. Inasmuch as Heinichen gives no hint of an alternate reading at this point, I can conclude only that the words were accidentally omitted by him.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-10 · Original source

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7. Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account: “Everywhere in the world is this race found. For it was fitting that both Greek and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Egypt, exclusive of the cities Alexandria and Ptolemais, was divided into land districts, originally 36 in number, which were called νομοί (see Mommsen’s Provinces of the Roman Empire, Scribner’s ed. I. p. 255 sq.).

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-11 · Original source

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7. Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account: “Everywhere in the world is this race found. For it was fitting that both Greek and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

πατρίδα. This word, as Schürer points out (Theol. Literaturzeitung, 1880, no. 5), is not a noun, as it is commonly regarded (and hence translated “fatherland”), but an adjective (and hence to be translated “eine vaterländische Colonie,” “a colony of the fatherland”); the οἰκουμένη, mentioned in the previous paragraph, being the fatherland of the Therapeutæ.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-12 · Original source

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8. The best men from every quarter emigrate, as if to a colony of the Therapeutæ’s fatherland, to a certain very suitable spot which lies above the lake Maria upon a low hill excellently situated on account of its security and the mildness of the atmosphere.”

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

ὑπὲρ λίμνης Μαρίας. In Strabo the name is given as ἡ Μαρεῶτις or Μαρεία λίμνη. The Lake Mareotis (as it is most commonly called) lies in the northern part of the Delta, just south of Alexandria. It was in ancient times much more of a lake than it is now, and the description of the climate as given here is quite accurate.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-13 · Original source

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8. The best men from every quarter emigrate, as if to a colony of the Therapeutæ’s fatherland, to a certain very suitable spot which lies above the lake Maria upon a low hill excellently situated on account of its security and the mildness of the atmosphere.”

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

How Eusebius, who knew that Philo lived and wrote during the reign of Claudius, could have overlooked the fact that Christianity had not at that time been long enough established to admit of virgins growing old within the Church, is almost inexplicable. It is but another example of his carelessness in regard to chronology which comes out so often in his history. Compare Stroth’s words: “In der That ein wichtiger Beweis, der gerade der irrigen Meinung des Eusebius am meisten entgegen ist. Denn sie hätten alt zum Christenthum kommen müssen, sonst konnten sie ja zu Philo’s Zeiten unmöglich im Christenthum alt geworden sein, dessen Schrift Eusebius selbst in die Regierung des Claudius setzt. Es ist beinahe unbegreiflich, wie ein so guter Kopf, wie Eusebius ist, in so grobe Irrthümer fallen konnte.”

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-20 · Original source

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19. For they say that there were women also with those of whom we are speaking, and that the most of them were aged virgins who had preserved their chastity, not out of necessity, as some of the priestesses among the Greeks, but rather by their own choice, through zeal and a desire for wisdom. And that in their earnest desire to live with it as their companion they paid no attention to the pleasures of the body, seeking not mortal but immortal progeny, which only the pious soul is able to bear of itself.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

For a description of the religious cults among the Greeks and Romans, that demanded virginity in their priests or priestesses, see Döllinger’s Heidenthum und Judenthum, p. 182 and 521 sq.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-21 · Original source

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19. For they say that there were women also with those of whom we are speaking, and that the most of them were aged virgins who had preserved their chastity, not out of necessity, as some of the priestesses among the Greeks, but rather by their own choice, through zeal and a desire for wisdom. And that in their earnest desire to live with it as their companion they paid no attention to the pleasures of the body, seeking not mortal but immortal progeny, which only the pious soul is able to bear of itself.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Ibid.§§8–10. The author of the D. V. C. mentions young men that serve at table (διακονοῦντες) and a president (πρόεδρος) who leads in the exposition of the Scriptures. Eusebius is quite right in finding in these persons deacons and bishops. The similarity is too close to be merely accidental, and the comment of Stroth upon this passage is quite unwarranted: “Was einer doch alles in einer Stelle finden kann, wenn er es darin finden will! Philo sagt, dass bei ihren gemeinschaftlichen Gastmählern einige bei Tische dienten (διακονοῦντες), hieraus macht Eusebius Diakonate; und dass bei ihren Untersuchungen über die Bibel einer (πρόεδρος) den Vorsitz habe; hieraus macht Eusebius die bischöfliche würde (ἐπισκοπῆς προεδρίαν).”

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-24 · Original source

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23. In addition to this Philo describes the order of dignities which exists among those who carry on the services of the church, mentioning the diaconate, and the office of bishop, which takes the precedence over all the others. But whosoever desires a more accurate knowledge of these matters may get it from the history already cited.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

See Bk. VI. chap. 3, note 9.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-5 · Original source

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5. He bears witness, however, that first of all they renounce their property. When they begin the philosophical mode of life, he says, they give up their goods to their relatives, and then, renouncing all the cares of life, they go forth beyond the walls and dwell in lonely fields and gardens, knowing well that intercourse with people of a different character is unprofitable and harmful. They did this at that time, as seems probable, under the influence of a spirited and ardent faith, practicing in emulation the prophets’ mode of life.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

See Bk. III. chap. 4, note 14.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-6 · Original source

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6. For in the Acts of the Apostles, a work universally acknowledged as authentic, it is recorded that all the companions of the apostles sold their possessions and their property and distributed to all according to the necessity of each one, so that no one among them was in want. “For as many as were possessors of lands or houses,” as the account says, “sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet, so that distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

De Vita Contemplativa, §3.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-8 · Original source

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7. Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account: “Everywhere in the world is this race found. For it was fitting that both Greek and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Namely, the Therapeutæ.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-9 · Original source

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7. Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account: “Everywhere in the world is this race found. For it was fitting that both Greek and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria.

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

σεμνεῖον καὶ μοναστήριον

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-15 · Original source

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9. And then a little further on, after describing the kind of houses which they had, he speaks as follows concerning their churches, which were scattered about here and there: “In each house there is a sacred apartment which is called a sanctuary and monastery, where, quite alone, they perform the mysteries of the religious life. They bring nothing into it, neither drink nor food, nor any of the other things which contribute to the necessities of the body, but only the laws, and the inspired oracles of the prophets, and hymns and such other things as augment and make perfect their knowledge and piety.”

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

De Vita Contemplativa, §10.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, editorial note cite_note-22 · Original source

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20. Then after a little he adds still more emphatically: “They expound the Sacred Scriptures figuratively by means of allegories. For the whole law seems to these men to resemble a living organism, of which the spoken words constitute the body, while the hidden sense stored up within the words constitutes the soul. This hidden meaning has first been particularly studied by this sect, which sees, revealed as in a mirror of names, the surpassing beauties of the thoughts.”

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

7. Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account: “Everywhere in the world is this race found. For it was fitting that both Greek and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria.

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 8 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

8. The best men from every quarter emigrate, as if to a colony of the Therapeutæ’s fatherland, to a certain very suitable spot which lies above the lake Maria upon a low hill excellently situated on account of its security and the mildness of the atmosphere.”

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 9 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

9. And then a little further on, after describing the kind of houses which they had, he speaks as follows concerning their churches, which were scattered about here and there: “In each house there is a sacred apartment which is called a sanctuary and monastery, where, quite alone, they perform the mysteries of the religious life. They bring nothing into it, neither drink nor food, nor any of the other things which contribute to the necessities of the body, but only the laws, and the inspired oracles of the prophets, and hymns and such other things as augment and make perfect their knowledge and piety.”

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 10 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

13. Then again he writes as follows concerning the new psalms which they composed: “So that they not only spend their time in meditation, but they also compose songs and hymns to God in every variety of metre and melody, though they divide them, of course, into measures of more than common solemnity.”

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 15 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

15. But if any one thinks that what has been said is not peculiar to the Gospel polity, but that it can be applied to others besides those mentioned, let him be convinced by the subsequent words of the same author, in which, if he is unprejudiced, he will find undisputed testimony on this subject. Philo’s words are as follows:

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 17 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

18. But if after these things any one still obstinately persists in denying the reference, let him renounce his incredulity and be convinced by yet more striking examples, which are to be found nowhere else than in the evangelical religion of the Christians.

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 20 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

19. For they say that there were women also with those of whom we are speaking, and that the most of them were aged virgins who had preserved their chastity, not out of necessity, as some of the priestesses among the Greeks, but rather by their own choice, through zeal and a desire for wisdom. And that in their earnest desire to live with it as their companion they paid no attention to the pleasures of the body, seeking not mortal but immortal progeny, which only the pious soul is able to bear of itself.

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 21 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

20. Then after a little he adds still more emphatically: “They expound the Sacred Scriptures figuratively by means of allegories. For the whole law seems to these men to resemble a living organism, of which the spoken words constitute the body, while the hidden sense stored up within the words constitutes the soul. This hidden meaning has first been particularly studied by this sect, which sees, revealed as in a mirror of names, the surpassing beauties of the thoughts.”

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 22 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

22. These things the above-mentioned author has related in his own work, indicating a mode of life which has been preserved to the present time by us alone, recording especially the vigils kept in connection with the great festival, and the exercises performed during those vigils, and the hymns customarily recited by us, and describing how, while one sings regularly in time, the others listen in silence, and join in chanting only the close of the hymns; and how, on the days referred to they sleep on the ground on beds of straw, and to use his own words, “taste no wine at all, nor any flesh, but water is their only drink, and the reish with their bread is salt and hyssop.”

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 24 · Original source

Date uncertain | Eusebius of Caesarea (historical work attribution)

23. In addition to this Philo describes the order of dignities which exists among those who carry on the services of the church, mentioning the diaconate, and the office of bishop, which takes the precedence over all the others. But whosoever desires a more accurate knowledge of these matters may get it from the history already cited.

Complete source paragraph · Book II, Chapter XVII.—Philo’s Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.; original source section: Chapter 17, source paragraph 25 · Original source