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RUFINUS, TYRANNIUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 821 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RUFINUS, TYRANNIUS , See also:presbyter and theologian, was See also:born at or near See also:Aquileia at the See also:head of the Adriatic, probably between 340 an 345. In See also:early manhood he entered the See also:cloister as a See also:catechumen, receiving See also:baptism about 370. About the same See also:time a visit of See also:Jerome to Aquileia led to a See also:close friendship between the two, and shortly after Jerome's departure for the See also:East Rufinus also was See also:drawn thither (in 372 or 373) by his See also:interest in its See also:theology and See also:monasticism. He first settled in See also:Egypt, See also:hearing the lectures of See also:Didymus, the Origenistic head of the catechetical school at See also:Alexandria, and also cultivating friendly relations with Macarius the See also:elder and other ascetics in the See also:desert. In Egypt, if not even before leaving See also:Italy, hehad become intimately acquainted with Melania, a wealthy and devout See also:Roman widow; and when she removed to See also:Palestine, taking with her a number of See also:clergy and monks on whom the persecutions of the Arian See also:Valens had See also:borne heavily, Rufinus (about 378) followed her. While his patroness lived in a See also:con-vent of her own in See also:Jerusalem, Rufinus, at her expense, gathered together a number of monks in a monastery on the See also:Mount of See also:Olives, devoting himself at the same time to the study of See also:Greek theology. This See also:combination of the contemplative See also:life and the life of learning had already See also:developed in the See also:Egyptian monasteries. When Jerome came to See also:Bethlehem in 386, the friendship formed at Aquileia was renewed. Another of the intimates of Rufinus was See also:John, See also:bishop of Jerusalem, and formerly a Nitrian See also:monk, by whom he was ordained to the priesthood in 390. In 394, in consequence of the attack upon the doctrines of See also:Origen made by See also:Epiphanius of See also:Salamis during a visit to Jerusalem, a fierce See also:quarrel See also:broke out, which found Rufinus and Jerome on different sides; and, though three years afterwards a formal reconciliation was brought about between Jerome and John, the See also:breach between Jerome and Rufinus remained unhealed. In the autumn of 397 Rufinus embarked for See also:Rome, where, finding that the theological controversies of the East were exciting much interest and curiosity, he published a Latin See also:translation of the See also:Apology of See also:Pamphilus for Origen, and also (398-99) a somewhat See also:free rendering of the rem; apXwv (or De Principiis) of that author himself. In the See also:preface to the latter See also:work he referred to Jerome as an admirer of Origen, and as having already translated some of his See also:works with modifications of ambiguous doctrinal expressions.

This allusion annoyed Jerome, who was exceedingly sensitive as to his reputation for orthodoxy, and the consequence was a See also:

bitter pamphlet See also:war, very wonderful to the See also:modern onlooker, who finds it difficult to see anything discreditable in the See also:accusation against a biblical See also:scholar that he had once thought well of Origen, or in the countercharge against a translator that he had avowedly exercised editorial functions as well. At the instigation of See also:Theophilus of Alexandria, See also:Anastasius (See also:pope 398-402) summoned Rufinus from Aquileia to Rome to vindicate his orthodoxy; but he excused himself from a See also:personal attendance in a written Apologia See also:pro fide sua. The pope in his reply expressly condemned Origen, but See also:left the question of Rufinus's orthodoxy to his own See also:conscience. He was, however, regarded with suspicion in orthodox circles (cf. the Decretum Gelassii, § 2o) in spite of his services to See also:Christian literature. In 408 we find Rufinus at the monastery of Pinetum (in the Campagna?); thence he was driven by the arrival of See also:Alaric to See also:Sicily, being accompanied by Melania in his See also:flight. In Sicily he was engaged in translating the Homilies of Origen when he died in 41o. The See also:original works of Rufinus are—(1) De Adulteratione Librorum Origenis—an appendix to his translation of the Apology of Pamphilus, and intended to show that many of the features in Origen's teaching which were then held to be objectionable arise from interpolations and falsifications of the genuine See also:text; (2) De Benedictionibus XII Patriarcharum Libri II—an exposition of Gen. xlix. ; (3) Apologia s. Invectivarum in Hieronymum Libri II; (4) Apologia pro Fide Sua ad Anastasium Pontificem; (5) Historia Eremitica—consisting of the lives of See also:thirty-three monks of the Nitrian desert ; 1 (6) Expositio Symboli, a commentary on the creed of Aquileia comparing it with that of Rome, which is valuable for its See also:evidence as to See also:church teaching in the 4th See also:century. The Historiae Ecclesiasticae Libri XI of Rufinus consist partly of a free translation of See also:Eusebius (to books in 9) and partly of a continuation (bks. x. and xi.) down to the See also:death of See also:Theodosius the See also:Great. The other See also:translations of Rufinus are—(1) the Instituta Monachorum and some of the Homilies of See also:Basil; (2) the Apology of Pamphilus, referred to above; (3) Origen's Principia; (4) Origen's Homilies (Gen.–See also:Kings, also Cant. and Rom.) ;(5) Opuscula of See also:Gregory of Nazianzus; (6) the Sententiae of See also:Sixtus, an unknown Greek philosopher; (7) the Sententiae of See also:Evagrius; (8) the Clementine Recognitions (the only See also:form in which that work is now extant) ; (9) the See also:Canon Paschalis of Anatolius Alexandrinus. We can hardly overestimate the See also:influence which Rufinus exerted on Western theologians by thus putting the great Greek fathers into the Latin See also:tongue.

D. Vallarsi's uncompleted edition of Rufinus (vol. i. fol., See also:

Verona, 1745) contains the De Benedictionibus, the Apologies, the 1 On this work see Dom See also:Butler in Texts and Studies, vi. i. pp. toff. Expositio Symboli, the Historia Eremitica and the two original books of the Hist. Eccl. See also See also:Migne, See also:Patrol. (vol. xxi. of the Latin See also:series). For the translations, see the various See also:editions of Origen, Eusebius, &c. See W. H. Freemantle in See also:Diet. Chr. Biog. iv.

555–6o; A. See also:

Ebert, Allg. Gesch. d. Litt. d. Mittelalters See also:im Abendlande, i. 321–27 (See also:Leipzig, 1889) ; G. See also:Kruger in Hauck-See also:Herzog's Real-encyk. See also:fur Prot. Theol., where there is a full bibliography.

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