Dionysius of Corinth

First we must speak of Dionysius. He had been entrusted with the bishop’s throne of the community in Corinth, and he shared his God-inspired labors generously, not only with those under him but also with those in foreign lands, making himself most useful to all through the general letters he composed for the churches. [a] Among these is the one to the Spartans, which instructs them in orthodoxy and urges peace and unity; and the one to the Athenians, which rouses them to faith and to the way of life the good news calls for. He rebukes them for neglecting it, as though they had all but fallen away from the word since their leader Publius was martyred in the persecutions of those days. [c] He mentions Quadratus, who was appointed their bishop after Publius’s martyrdom, and bears witness that through his zeal they were gathered together and their faith was rekindled. He also shows that Dionysius the Areopagite, who was led to the faith by the apostle Paul, as the Acts records, was the first to be entrusted with the bishopric of the community at Athens. [e] Another letter of his is in circulation, to the Nicomedians, in which he fights the heresy of Marcion and stands by the rule of the truth.

Writing to the church that sojourns at Gortyna, together with the other communities in Crete, he commends Philip their bishop, because the church under him is reported for a great many acts of courage, and he reminds them to guard against the perversion of the heretics. [f] Writing to the church that sojourns at Amastris, together with those in Pontus, he mentions that Bacchylides and Elpistus had urged him to write. He adds explanations of passages of the divine Scriptures and names their bishop, Palmas. He gives them much advice about marriage and chastity, and orders them to welcome those who return after any fall whatever, whether a wrongdoing or a heretical error. [g] To these is added another letter, to the Knossians, in which he urges Pinytus, bishop of the community, not to lay on the brothers a heavy burden of chastity as a thing compelled, but to consider the weakness of the many. [h] Pinytus, writing back, admires and commends Dionysius, but urges him in turn to give them at last some more solid food, and to nourish the people under him with more mature writings next time, so that they might not go on all their lives with milky teaching and grow old, without noticing it, under a training meant for infants. In this letter Pinytus’s orthodoxy in the faith, his care for the good of those under him, his learning and his understanding of divine things are shown as in a most exact portrait. [i]

There is also a letter of Dionysius to the Romans, addressed to Soter, who was bishop at the time. Nothing could be better than to quote some passages from it, in which he commends the custom of the Romans that has been kept up down to the persecution of our own day. He writes: “From the beginning this has been your custom: to do good in many ways to all the brothers, and to send supplies to many churches in every city. In this way you relieve the poverty of those in need, and you provide for the brothers in the mines by the supplies you have sent from the beginning. Romans that you are, you keep up the custom of the Romans handed down from your fathers. Your blessed bishop Soter has not only kept it up but added to it, furnishing the abundance that is sent to the saints, and encouraging with blessed words the brothers who come up to Rome, as a loving father encourages his children.” In this same letter he also mentions Clement’s letter to the Corinthians, showing that it had been the custom from long ago to read it in the church. He says: “Today, then, we spent the Lord’s holy day, and on it we read your letter. We will always be able to read it for our admonition, as we can the earlier one written to us through Clement.” [j]

The same writer also says this about his own letters, which had been tampered with: “When the brothers asked me to write letters, I wrote them. And the apostles of the devil have filled them with weeds, taking some things out and putting others in. For them the woe is laid up. It is no wonder, then, that some have set their hands to tampering with the Lord’s writings as well, since they have plotted even against writings that are not of that rank.” Besides these there is another letter of Dionysius in circulation, written to Chrysophora, a most faithful sister. In it he wrote what suited her, and gave her too her share of the fitting food of the word. So much for Dionysius. [k]