Dionysius the Bishop

Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, as a presbyter had charge of the school for catechumens under Heraclas, and he was the most distinguished pupil of Origen. Agreeing with the teaching of Cyprian and the African synod on rebaptizing heretics, he sent many letters to various people, which still survive. He wrote one to Fabius, bishop of the church at Antioch, On Repentance; another To the Romans, by the hand of Hippolytus; two letters To Sixtus, who had succeeded Stephen; two also To Philemon and Dionysius, presbyters of the church at Rome; another To the same Dionysius, afterward bishop of Rome; and one To Novatian, about their claim that Novatian had been ordained bishop of Rome against his will. This letter begins as follows: “Dionysius to Novatian, his brother, greeting. If you were ordained unwillingly, as you say, you will prove it when you withdraw willingly.” [a]

There is another letter of his as well, To Dionysius and Didymus, and many Festal Letters on the Passover, written in an ornate style; also one to the church of Alexandria On Exile; one To Hierax, a bishop in Egypt; and others On Mortality, On the Sabbath and On the Gymnasium; also one To Hermammon, and others On the Persecution of Decius; and two books Against Nepos the bishop, who maintained in his writings a reign of a thousand years in the body. Among other things he carefully discussed the Apocalypse of John, and he wrote Against Sabellius; To Ammon, bishop of Berenice; To Telesphorus; To Euphranor; four books To Dionysius, bishop of Rome; to the Laodiceans, On Repentance; to Origen, On Martyrdom; to the Armenians, On Repentance; also On the Order of Transgression; to Timothy, On Nature; to Euphranor, On Temptation; and many letters To Basilides, in one of which he says that he had also begun to write commentaries on Ecclesiastes. The notable letter he wrote against Paul of Samosata a few days before his death is also in circulation. He died in the twelfth year of Gallienus. [c]