Tag: Eusebius Gallicanus

The sermons of three men named Eusebius: Eusebius of Emesa, Eusebius of Alexandria, and Eusebius Gallicanus

Posted on by Roger Pearse

In the fifth-to-sixth centuries AD, in Gaul, we find quite a number of Latin sermons under the name of “Eusebius”.  This is not, of course, Eusebius of Caesarea, the historian.  So who are they?

The first Eusebius is Eusebius of Emesa, the fourth century bishop.  He has a great advantage on the other two, which is that he actually existed.  A bunch of his sermons, 29 in all – originally composed in Greek – migrated over to Gaul, where they appear in an ancient Latin translation.  These were edited in the 1950s by Buytaert in two volumes. (I discuss vol. 1 here) The first volume contains a collection of seventeen sermons (CPG 3525) preserved in a twelfth century manuscript from Troyes in France.  For three of these the original Greek is extant, luckily. The second volume contains a further twelve sermons (CPG 3526), originally edited by Sirmond, which Buytaert has numbered as 18-29.  Other homilies are preserved in Greek, in Syriac fragments, and there is also a collection of eight homilies in Armenian.

The second Eusebius is Eusebius of Alexandria, which is the name attached to a collection of 22 homilies (CPG 5510-5531) transmitted to us along with a “Life” of the author by a certain John the Notary (CPG 5533).  The text of the homilies can be found in PG 86: 313-461, and the “Life” in PG 86:297-309. Sadly the “Life” is complete fiction, from which we learn two important things.  Firstly, that John the Notary had no idea of the actual history of the 5th century AD, in which he locates his hero.  And secondly, from an analysis of the style and language, we learn that the sermons were composed by the same author as the “Life”.  Ps.Eusebius of Alexandria is John the Notary.

The homilies of ps.Eusebius of Alexandria were also transmitted to Gaul and translated into Latin.  This we know from a Latin sermon of that period which is basically a combination of two of the sermons of ps.Eusebius of Alexandria, and also from our third Eusebius, some of whose sermons  show knowledge of the ps.Eusebius of Alexandria collection.

The third Eusebius is known today as Eusebius Gallicanus, or “Eusebius the Gaul”.  The name is modern, devised by a 17th century editor, to refer to a collection of seventy-seven Latin homilies (CPL 966, cf. CPG 3543), some of which are prefixed with a statement that they were made by a “Lord Eusebius” and translated from Greek.  Other editions attribute the collection to “ps.-Eusebius Emesenus” – yes, to our first Eusebius, Eusebius of Emesa.  But they are not his.  The Eusebius Gallicanus collection was not composed by anybody, but rather compiled.  It was assembled in the 6th century out of pre-existing materials, probably at Riez, and making use of materials collected at the monastery of Lerins.  Some of the sermons are by Faustus of Riez, and other known figures.

The modern publication history of Eusebius Gallicanus is complex.  It is one of the more significant gaps in Migne’s Patrologia Latina.  The collection was only edited in modern times, by F. Glorie in the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, volumes 101, 101A, and 101B.

Eusebius Gallicanus, Homily 12, De Pascha 1 – English translation

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and as ever I celebrate Sunday by leaving the computer turned off.  At the moment I have a pile of Latin sermons before me; the homilies of Eusebius of Emesa, Eusebius of Alexandria and Eusebius Gallicanus before me.

I thought that we might celebrate Easter by translating a previously untranslated Easter homily into English.  A quick search reveals that “Eusebius Gallicanus” includes 12 Easter homilies, the first in two versions.  Here is a quick machine-translated version of the first of those.  It’s plainly just a fragment; but no matter.

1. Rejoice, O heaven, and be glad, O earth. This day has shone forth more brightly from the tomb than it ever gleamed from the sun. Let hell exult because it is broken; let it rejoice because it is visited; let it triumph because after long ages it has seen an unknown light and has drawn breath in the darkness of deep night.

O beautiful light, you who shone forth from the radiant summit of heaven, and amidst the purple streams have clothed those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death with sudden brightness! Immediately the grating of stiff chains is loosed; the shattered bonds of the condemned have fallen; the torturers, their minds struck dumb, are astonished; at once the impious workshop trembled when it saw Christ in its very abodes.

2. “Who then,” they say, “is this terrible one, gleaming with snow-white splendour? Never has our Tartarus received such a one; never has the world vomited forth such a one into our caverns. This one is an invader, not a debtor; an exactor, not a sinner. We see a judge, not a suppliant: he comes to command, not to submit; to rescue, not to remain. Where now did the gatekeepers sleep while this warrior assailed our strongholds? If he were guilty, he would not be so proud; if any offenses darkened him, he would never scatter our Tartarus with his radiance. If he is God, why has he come? If a man, why has he presumed? If God, what is he doing in the tomb? If a man, why does he release captives? Has he perhaps made a pact with our author? Or has he attacked him and conquered him, and so crossed over into our realm? Surely he was dead, surely he was mocked. Our champion did not know what destruction this one would bring upon hell. That cross, which deceived our joys and gave birth to our losses—by wood we were enriched, by wood we are overthrown! That power, always dreaded by the peoples, perishes.”

“No living person has ever entered here; no one has ever terrified the executioners. Never in this dwelling, blinded as it is by perpetual darkness, has a pleasant light appeared. Has the sun perhaps departed from the world? But neither heaven nor the stars obey us, and yet hell is shining. We cannot defend the prison’s custody against him. We have been poorly invaded; we could not darken the light; moreover, we fear for our own destruction.”

The Latin, from CCSL 101, modifiied to restore the “v” and “j” so that it is more readable to normal people (!):

DE PASCHA, I

1. Exsulta caelum, et laetare terra. Dies iste amplius ex sepulcro radiavit, quam de sole refulsit. Ovet inferus quia resolutus est, gaudeat quia visitatus est, resultet quia ignotam lucem post saecula longa vidit et in profundae noctis caligine respiravit.

O pulchra lux quae de candido caeli fastigio promicasti, et inter fluenta purpurea sedentes in tenebris et umbra mortis subita claritate vestisti! Soluit confestim stridorem rigen­tium catenarum: dirupta cecidere vincula damnatorum, Attonitae mentis obstupuere tortores; simul impia officina contremuit, cum Christum in suis sedibus vidit.

2. “Quisnam” inquiunt “est iste terribilis et niveo splendore coruscus? Numquam noster talem excepit tartarus; numquam in nostra cavema talem evomuit mundus. Invasor iste, non debitor; exactor est, non peccator. Judicem videmus, non supplicem: venit iubere, non succumbere; eripere, non manere. Ubi iam janitores dormierunt, cum iste bellator claustra vexabat? Hic, si reus esset, superbus non esset; si eum aliqua delicta fuscarent, numquam nostros tartaros suo dissiparet fulgore. Si deus, ut quid venit? Si homo, quid praesumpsit? Si deus, quid in sepulcro facit? Si homo, qua­re captivos soluit? Numquidnam iste cum auctore nostro composuit? aut forte aggressus et ipsum vicit, et sic ad nos­tra regna transcendit? Certe mortuus erat, certe illusus erat. Proeliator noster nescivit quam hic stragem procuraret inferno. Crux illa fallens gaudia nostra, parturiens damna nostra; per lignum ditati sumus, per lignum evertimur! Perit potestas illa, semper populis formidata”.

“Nullus hic vivus intravit, nemo carnifices terruit. Numquam in hac habitatione et nigra semper caligine caecata, jucundum lumen apparuit. Aut forte sol de mundo migravit? Sed nec caelum nobis astraque parent*, et tamen inferus lucet. Defen­dere contra ipsum carceris nostri custodiam non valemus. Male intrati sumus, lumen obtenebrare nequiuimus, insuper et de nostro interitu formidamus”.

Happy Easter!

From my diary

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve started making a translation of the “letter 149” of Jerome, De solemnitatibus paschae.  I believe that an English translation does exist, by G.S.M. Walker in his Sancti Columbani Opera, Dublin (1957); but it would require a day trip to access this. So I wasn’t going to bother.

Indeed I wasn’t at all keen on working on it – computistical texts are a specialised subject! -,  until I remembered all the Jehovah’s Witness posters on twitter, all calling on Christians to observe Jewish customs.  I’ve had a few brushes with them myself – they don’t seem genuine, but rather like hired bots.

But De Solemnitate is really about the Solemnities, Sabbaths and New Moons of Passover, and so it addresses squarely the question of why Christians do not observe Old Testament ritual, and with quite a few bible references and arguments.  So I have been able to get into it by looking at it this way.  It will take a few days to complete, I expect.  It’s more interesting than I had thought.

Another subject that I have begun to take an interest in is “Eusebius Gallicanus”.  This is a modern name for a Latin sermon collection, of about 76 sermons, which circulated in the 5-6th century.  It’s extant in 140+ manuscripts, so it was clearly popular.  There isn’t even a Wikipedia page about it.

I think that a selection from the collection was published by Buytaert from a Troyes manuscript in the 50s under the name of Eusebius of Emesa.  Unfortunately this volume also is inaccessible, so I can’t be sure.

I recently discovered that the Corpus Christianorum issued an edition in three volumes (CCSL 101, 101A and 101B), and these I was able to lay my hands on.  I don’t yet know whether these sermons are worth exploring very far, but I won’t know until I’ve looked at them.

It’s the dullest days of the year, and it’s very hard to wake up.  On the other hand these dull, rainy days are perfect for staying indoors!