Methodius
6. Surnamed PATARENSIS, and sometimes, EUBULUS or EUBULIUS, lived in the third, and died in the beginning of the fourth century of our era. He held successively the sees of Olympus and Patara in Lycia (whence Patarensis) and Tyrus in Phoenicia. He was a Christian; and Suidas says that he died the death of a martyr, at Chalcis Ἀνατολῆς (one of the two Chalcis in Syria), during the reign of Decius (A. D. 249-251) and Valerianus. The addition of the latter name seems to be spurious, since Valerian did not reign with, but after Decius. However the original text of Suidas may be, he was wrong with regard to the time assigned by him to the death of Methodius; for there seems to be no doubt that this divine was a contemporary of Porphyry, and perhaps outlived him; and if he therefore died during one of the later persecutions of the Christians, as is asserted, it might have been in 303, as Cave thinks, or in 311, according to Fabricius. Methodius was a man of great learning and exemplary piety, who enjoyed the general esteem of his contemporaries.
Works
He wrote several works, the principal of which are:--
1. Περὶ Ἀναστάσεωος, De Resurrectione
against Origen, which was divided into two or perhaps three parts.
Editions
Fragments of it are given by Epiphanius in his Panarium; in Photius, Bibliotheca; a few are contained in the works of Damascenus.
2. Περὶ τῶν γενετῶν, De Creatis
in Photius.
3. Περὶ Αὐτεξουσίον καὶ πόθεν τὰ κακὰ, De Libro Arbitrio.
Editions
Leo Allatius had the complete text with a Latin version but the work, as contained in the edition of Methodius by Combéfis, is not quite complete.
4. Περὶ τῆς ἀγγελομιμήτου παρθενείας καὶ ἁγνείας, De Angelica Virginitate et Castitate,
written in the form of a dialogue.
Editions
Leo Allatius published this work, Gr. et Lat., in his Diatriba de Methodiis, at Rome, 1656, 8vo. and dedicated it to Pope Alexander VII.
At the same time Petrus Possinus obtained the Greek text of this work from Lucas Holsten, at Rome; and having prepared a copy for the press, sent it, together with a Latin version, to Paris, where it was published in the following year, 1657, fol. Possinus, strangely enough, dedicated his edition to the same pope, not knowing that Leo Allatius was doing, or had just done, the same thing; nor was Allatius at all aware of Possinus being engaged in the same work at the same time as he was. It is also contained in Combéfis, Auctuar. Biblioth. Patr. Paris, 1672. Photius, quoted below, says that the work had been adulterated, and contained especially several passages tending to Arianism, of which no trace is to be found in the later editions, so that his MS. was decidedly different from those perused by Allatius and Possinus.
5. Oratio de Simeone et Anna, seu In Festum Occursus et Purificationis B. Mariae
This work is said to be the production of a later Methodius, but Allatius vindicates the authorship of Methodius Patarensis
Editions
ed. Petrus Plantinus, Antwerp, 1598.
6. Λόγος περὶ Μαρτύρων, Sermo de Martyribus.
7. Εἰς τὰ Bai+/a, In Ramos Palmarum
An oration, of which Photius has extracts. The authorship of Methodius is doubtful.
8. Libri adversus Porphyrium
of which there are fragments in Damascenus.
9. De Pythonissa contra Origenem
lost.
10. Commentarii in Cantica Canticorum, fragments.
11. Ξένων.
lost, &c.
De Revelatione
This Methodius is said to have written a work, De Revelatione, which, however, is more justly attributed to a later Methodius. [No. 3.]
Editions
The principal works of Methodius, viz., De Libro Arbitro, De Resurrectione, De Angelica Virginitate et Castitate, two homilies, and the extracts given by Photius were published by Combefis, Graece et Latine, cum notis, Paris, 1644, fol., together with the works of Amphilochus and Andreas Cretensis. Phot. Bibl. 234. 235, 236, 237; Cave, Hist. Lit, p. 96, sc. ed. Geneva; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 260, &c.
Further Information
This Methodius stands in the index to Fabricius as Methodius Patarensis, which is correct; but the passage where the reader finds most information on him (vol. vii. p. 260, &c.) is omitted. (Hankius, Script. Byzant.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.