{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1201",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 1201,
    "subject": "Here's Severian",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1998-10-16T14:14:09+00:00",
    "last": "1998-10-16T14:14:09+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0020-0048@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Alex David Groce",
        "address": "adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu"
      },
      "date": "1998-10-16T14:14:09+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Here's Severian",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I just sent the article to the online CE.  Here it is, for what it's worth\n(doesn't suggest any new interpretations of BOTNS to me, but maybe I'm just not\nbeing creative enough...)\n\nSeverian, Bishop of Gabala in Syria, flourished in the fourth and fifth\ncenturies.  Concerning his life before his episcopal consecration nothing has\ncome down to us.  He was regarded by his contemporaries as a good preacher, and\nwas known as the author of Biblical commentaries and sermons:  \"Vir in divinis\nScripturis eruditis et in homiliis declamator admirabilis fuit\" (Gennadius, \"De\nscript. eccles.\", xxi, in P. L., LVIII, 1073).  Posterity has preserved his\nname on account of the prominent but regrettable role which he played in the\ndeposition and banishment of St. John Chrysostom.  Incited by the great\noratorical and financial success attained in Constantinople by his\nfellow-Syrian, Antiochus, Bishop of Ptolemais, Severian came to the capital\nabout 400, provided with a series of Greek sermons.  Invited by Chrysostom to\npreach, he succeeded, in spite of his strong Syrian accent, in winning the\napproval of his hearers (Sozomen, \"Hist eccl.\", VIII, x).  Owing to the\nstrained relations between Chrysostom and the Empress Eudoxia, Severian had to\ndeclare for one of the parties, and, since he allowed himself to be swayed by\npersonal interests, his choice was soon made.  Nevertheless, the unsuspecting\nChrysostom, when ecclesiastical affairs necessitated a journey into the\nProvince of Asia in 401, appointed his guest his representative for liturgical\nfunctions.  Severian took advantage of Chrysostom's absence and was soon\nengaged in open conflict with Serapion, archdeacon and administrator of the\necclesiastical property and the episcopal palace, who remained true to\nChrysostom.  The resulting scandal and general excitement were so great that on\nhis return (401) Chrysostom requested Severian to return again to his diocese\n(Socrates, \"Hist. eccl.\", VI, xi; the longer version, ibid. in P. G., LXVII,\n731).  Eudoxia now interfered personally, and at her request Chrysostom allowed\nSeverian to return to Constantinople.  In this place Chrysostom delivered in\nSeverian's presence an address to the people (P. G., LII, 423 sqq.; Severian's\nanswer, ibid., 425 sqq.; cf. Socrates, \"Hist. eccl.\", VI, xi; Sozomen, VIII,\nx).\n\tThe peace thus effected was not lasting.  Severian commenced anew his\nintrigues, and at the Synod of the Oak was one of Chrysostom's most active\nopponents.  He also signed the lampoon against Chrysostom which Theophilus of\nAlexandria (q. v.) sent to Pope Innocent (Palladius, \"Dialogus\", III, in P. G.,\nXLVII, 14).  He even ventured to proclaim to the people from the pulpit this\nsuccess of his party immediately after the first banishment of Chrysostom, and\nto proclaim the removal of the archbishop a just punishment for his pride.\nRapid flight alone saved him from violence at the hands of the enraged populace\n(Sozomen, VIII, xviii).  Shortly after Chrysostom's return from his first\nexile, we find Severian with Acacius of Beroea and Antiochus of Ptolemais at\nthe head of the party opposed to the archbishop.  It was this party which on\nthe night of Easter Sunday, 404, incited the attack on the catechumens and\nclerics of Chrysostom, and finally approached the emperor directly to procure\nthe final banishment of their hated opponent (Palladius, III, IX, loc. cit.,\n14, 31 sqq.).  On the death of Flavian (404), the friend of Chrysostom, this\nsame triumvirate proceeded to Antioch, and, in defiance of justice and right,\nconsecrated in an underhanded fashion Porphyrius (Chrysostom's opponent) Bishop\nof Antioch (Palladius, XVI, loc. cit., 54).  Thus ends Severian's role in\nchurch history.  Of the later period of his life and activity, as little is\nknown as concerning the first period.  According to Gennadius (loc. cit.) he\ndied during the reign of Theodosius II (408-50).\n\tWritings.--(1) Sermons.--Of these the following are extant:  \"Orationes\nsex in mundi creationem\" (P. G., LVI, 429-500); \"Oratio de serpente, quem\nMoyses in cruce suspendit\" (ibid., 500-516); \"In illud Abrahae dictum:  Pone\nmanum tuam sub femur meum, Gen., xxiv, 2\" (ibid., 553-64); \"De ficu arefacta\"\n(ibid., LIX, 585-90); \"Contra Judaeos\" (ibid., LXI, 793-802; cf. LXV, 29 sqq.);\n\"De sigillis librorum\" (ibid., LXIII, 531-44); \"In Dei apparitionem\" (ibid.,\nLXV, 26); \"De pace\" (ibid., LII, 425-28), completed by A. Papadopulos,\n'xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx, I (St. Petersburg, 1891), 15-26; \"De\nnativitate Christi\", edited under Chrysostom's name by Savile, VII, 307, but\nattributed by Theodoret (Eranistes, III, in P. G., LXIII, 308) to Severian;\nfifteen homilies in an Old Armenian translation, edited by J. B. Aucher,\n\"Severiani . . . homilae nunc primum editae ex antiqua versione armena in\nlatinum sermonem translatae\" (Venice, 1827), of which no. 7 is the homily \"In\nAbrahae dictum: Gen., xxiv, 2, no. 13 \"De ficu arefacta\", and no. 10 the homily\nof St. Basil on Baptism (P. G., XXXI, 423-44).  The Codex Ambrosianus of Milan,\nc. 77 sup. (VII-VIII saec.) contains eighty-eigh \"semones sancti Severiani\";\nthe \"Homilarium Lacense\" (Berlin Cod. lat. 341) has addresses of Peter\nChrysologus under the name of \"Severianus episcopus\".  (2) The commentaries of\nSeverian are all lost; he had composed such on Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy,\nJob, the Epsistles to the Romans, the Galatians, I Corinthians, II\nThessalonians, and the Colossians (cf. Cosmas Indicopleustes, \"Topographica\nchrist.\", I, vi, x, in P. G., LXXXVIII, 373, 417; Gennadius, \"De script.\neccles.\", xxi).\nLUDWIG, Der hl. Joh. Chrysostomus in seinem Verhaltniss zum byzantin.  Hof\n(Braunsberg, 1883), 51 sqq.; TILLEMONT, Memiores, XI (1706), 170-77, 587-89;\nFABRICIUS-HARLES, Bibliotheca graeca, X, 507-11.\n\nCHRYS. BAUR."
        },
        {
          "kind": "sig",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "\"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.\" - John 8:32\n--\nAlex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)\nSenior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)\n'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President\n608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366\nhttp://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}