2017. L. Van Hoof, P. Manafis, P. Van Nuffelen, Philo of Carpasia, Ecclesiastical history, in Revue d’Histoire ecclésiastique 112 (2017), 35-52 (original) (raw)

This article offers the first edition of the fragments of the lost Church History of a certain Philo. We argue that it is, most likely, a fourth-century work by the homonymous bishop of Carpasia, on the island of Cyprus. The two extant fragments both derive from works ascribed to Anastasius of Sinai (7 th century), of which at least one, so we demonstrate, must be ascribed to Anastasius of Antioch (second half of the 6 th century). The fragments report anecdotes about the persecutions of Diocletian, and we suggest that they should be understood against the background of discussions about episcopal authority current in the last quarter of the fourth century. If these anecdotes have no historical value, the Church History of Philo is important for our understanding of the genre of ecclesiastical history: Philo was one of the earliest successors of Eusebius but clearly did not consider his own work as a continuation of the latter. In fact, only in the fifth century, after Rufinus' Latin translation and continuation of Eusebius' Church history, does the Eusebian format appear to have found wider acceptance. We first offer a general discussion of the work, followed by an edition of the fragments with translation and brief commentary.