St. Pachomius Library: Rufinus

Tyrannius Rufinus of Aquileia

IV/V Centuries
Tyrannius Rufinus was born c. 345 in Aquileia. He studied in Rome, where he met Jerome, who encouraged him to become a monk. In 371, Rufinus travelled to Egypt to live in the Nitrian desert. He became a disciple of Didymus of Alexandria, and John of Jerusalem ordained Rufinus in 390. He may have founded, with his patron, St. Melania the Elder, a monastery on the Mount of Olives. In 393, both Rufinus and Jerome were accused of Origenism. The two quarrled. Jerome later attacked Rufinus' translation of Origen's First Principles and insisted that it omitted much to make Origen's theology palatable. Rufinus answered the accusations in a letter to Anastasius I, who was convinced of Rufinus' orthodoxy. Best known as a translator, Rufinus died in 410.
Rufinus also translated works by Pamphilius of Cæsarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Basil the Great. Rufinus translated and extended the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius; his continuation was the first history of the western church. Rufinus' commentary on the Apostles' Creed contains the earliest known continuous Latin text of the creed.
Karen Rae Keck

ABOUT:
- Columbia Encyclopedia: --- Bartleby
- St. Jerome: Apology Against the Books of Rufinus: --- NA
- St. Jerome: Letter 3: To Rufinus: Written when they were friends, encouraging Rufinus to visit him in Syria. --- NA
- St. Jerome: Letter 81: To Rufinus: Unfavourable response to Rufinus' translation of Origen's First Principles. --- NA
- St. Jerome: Letter 133: To Cætesiphon: Attacking Rufinus for bad scholarship, and in particular for attributing certain writings to Sts. Pamphilus and Xystus. --- NA
WORKS: (Valuable, but perhaps overinfluenced by Origen. Read with caution)
- Apology: Defending himself against charges of heresy. --- NA
- Commentary on the Apostles' Creed: --- NA
- On the Council of Nicæa, from The Ecclesiastical History, Book10, chapts. 1-6: --- Tertullian.Org
- Preface to St. Clement's Recognitions: --- NA
- Preface to The Ecclesiastical History: --- NA
- Preface to Origen's Commentary on Psalms 36-38: --- NA
- Preface to Origen's Commentary on Romans: See also the Peroration which Rufinus added to Origen's work. --- NA
- Preface to Origen's First Principles: Frequently included among the letters of St. Jerome. --- NA
- Preface to Origen's Homily on Numbers: --- NA
- Preface to The Sayings of Xystus: For the controversy surrounding this work, see Pope St. Sixtus II. --- NA

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