Works.

        Of between fifty and sixty writings of Dionysius, including letters, only one or two letters have come down to us in full; but, thanks to Eusebius, we know something of the scope of his work and possess some important fragments of it (Church History vi. 4o-vii. 28). He wrote an exposition of the beginning of Ecclesiastes (Church History vii 26. 3), fragments of which are preserved in Procopius of Gaza, and a work On Nature, cast in the form of a letter to his “son” Timothy, refuting the atomistic views of the Epicureans, with which he seems to have been well acquainted. Eusebius preserves portions of it in his Preparation for the Gospel (xiv. 23-27). There was also a work On Temptations, addressed to one Euphranor (Church History vii. 26. 2, but this has entirely disappeared.

        A work On Promises, in two books, was called forth as a reply to a Refutation ofthe Allegorists, which had been written by Nepos, bishop of Arsinoe, before his death. Nepos seems to have been a successful hymn writer; Dionysius says that the brethren still enjoy his hymns (Church History vii. 24. 4). But Nepos held that the scriptures should be understood “in a more Jewish manner and that there would be a certain millennium of bodily luxury upon this earth,” and appealed to the Revelation of John in support of it.

        This led Dionysius in his On Promises to examine the claims of apostolic authorship made for the Revelation. He compared its style and ideas with those of the Gospel of John and came to the conclusion that they can hardly be from the same hand and that the Revelation must be figuratively understood. This judgment of Dionysius shows a thoroughly sound critical sense on his part and was in part responsible for the doubt with which the Revelation was ever after regarded in the Eastern church. It is characteristic of Dionysius that, while he disagreed with the millennial views of Nepos, he spoke of him in cordial and generous terms:

I confess that in many other respects I approve and love Nepos, for his faith and industry and diligence in the scriptures, and for his extensive psalmody, with which many of the brethren are still delighted, and I hold him in the more reverence because he has gone to rest before us. But the truth should be loved and honored most of all [Church History vii. 24. 4].

In 260-61 Dionysius wrote his Refutation and Apology against Sabellius, addressing it to Dionysius, bishop of Rome. It was in four books and is lost except for some fragments preserved by Athanasius in his work On the Opinions of Dionysius and by Basil in his work On the Holy Spirit, both works of the following century, and it is quoted at considerable length in Eusebius (Preparation for the Gospel vii 19). Athanasius came to the defense of Dionysius, who was being, as he thought, wrongfully quoted by the Arians in defense of their views on the relation of the Son to the Father. Dionysius had previously addressed four letters on Sabellianism to correspondents of his and had sent extracts from these to Xystus, bishop of Rome, in the single year of the latter's office, August, 257, to August, 258. On the basis of these, apparently, Dionysius was charged with doctrinal irregularity before Dionysius of Rome, to whom he replied with this Refutation. It will be seen that he was in frequent correspondence with the bishops of Rome, writing to Stephen, Xystus, and Dionysius.

        The schisms of Nepos and of Sabellius were not the only ones with which Dionysius dealt. In his numerous letters sent in all directions, he discussed the rebaptism of heretics, the treatment of the lapsed, the schism of Novatian (whom he advised to give up his episcopal pretentions in the interests of the peace of the church), and finally the case of Paul of Samosata, the bishop of Antioch, whose views of the person of Christ were disturbing the Eastern church in Dionysius' last days.

        Eusebius tells of at least fifty such letters, some of them virtually treatises in the form of letters, which were written by Dionysius between 249 and 264. The works On the Sabbath, On Exercise, and On Marriage were of this kind. It had been the custom of the bishops of Alexandria to determine each year the date at which Easter was to be celebrated and to announce this in a letter sent to all the churches concerned. Dionysius took occasion in these letters to instruct the churches on other questions of immediate importance to them, and a whole series of these letters is mentioned by Eusebius (Church History vii. 20-23).

        If we could recover the writings of Dionyius, we should have the portrait of a wise, sincere, and able Christian leader in the trying times of Origen, Cyprian, and Novatian, the fateful middle years of the third century. But, of them all, we have less than ten pages, probably not one-twentieth of what he wrote, and we must list among the lost works of early Christian literature not only the bulk of his letters but, except for a few fragments, his major writings, On Nature, On Trials, On Promises, the Refutation and Apology, and his partial Exposition of Ecclesiastes.