Panayiotis Christou
Testimonia neglected by the Seventh Ecumenical Council
Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum / Internationale Zeitschrift für Konziliengeschichtsforschung
Chapter C
Ιn the Vita of John Chrysostom which bears the name of George, Patriarch of Alexandreia, from the third decade of the seventh century, it is related that Chrysostom had an image of Saint Ρaul in his study. While meditating οn St. Ρaul's epistles, the father stared at his image, so that, in this way, communicated with him. This impressive testimony is used by John of Damascos and the florilegium of Vatopedi, but it is absent from the proceedings of the Council. The reason for this probably lies in the dubious historicity of the narrative. The text of the Vita itself is of doubtful authorship. Chrysostom Baur(15) considered this work to be a fabrication of the eighth century, perpetrated within the circles of the Greek Iconophiles in the West, who were under the Pope's jurisdiction. Whatever else may be said about it, the composition of the work at such a late date must be ruled out because of its use in the florilegia mentioned previously. Even if this Vita was composed by George of Alexandreia, however, this is too late a date for it to be trustworthy in respect of events which are ignored by all the other sources, especially Palladios. This must have been the reason which caused to Fathers of Nicaea ΙΙ to set no store by this remarkable testimony.
NOTES
15. "Georgius Alexandrinus", Byz. Zeit. 27 (1927), 1-16. Οn the contrary, Νοrton, "Τhe vita sancti Chrysostomi by George of Alexandria", Class. Philol. 20 (1925), 69-72.
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