andrew of caesarea and the apocalypse in the ancient church of the ...

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published by H.C. Hoskier in 1928, recently both a critical édition and an English
translation hâve been published. 40 The discovery and publication of Oikoumenios'
commentary proves conclusively that his commentary preceded Andrew's, since Andrew
mentions Oikoumenios' opinions frequently, usually to réfute them, but sometimes to add to
them. Prior to Diekamp's discovery, it was impossible to attribute the références in Andrew's
commentary to Oikoumenios, since Andrew never refers to Oikoumenios by name. Instead,
Andrew prefaced références to Oikoumenios' opinions with vague statements that gave no
clue as to authorship, such as "some say." Since we now possess Oikoumenios' complète
commentary we know that Andrew was in fact frequently referring to Oikoumenios.
Ascribing a reliable date for the life and work of Andrew is vitally and inextricably
connected to the commentary of Oikoumenios. The latter's identity and dating are also nearly
entirely unknown except for one small pièce of crucial information found in the prologue to
the Oikoumenian commentary: Oikoumenios remarks that he is writing more than five
hundred years after John witnessed the Apocalypse. This would place his work toward the
very end of the sixth century, since Oikoumenios believed that John wrote the Apocalypse
during the time of Domitian. 41
1.3.2.1 Who was Oikoumenios?
Oikoumenios' commentary is critical to understanding the Andréas commentary not
only because it provides a clue for dating Andrew, but because the existence of the
Oikoumenian commentary was likely a primary factor prompting the request by Makarios
and motivating Andrew's subséquent composition.
revealed that the works previously attributed to Oikoumenios which were edited by Cramer in Catenae
Graecorum Partum VIII (Oxford: University Press, 1844) 497-582, proved to be nothing more than a
conflation of the commentaries of Andrew and Arethas, a tenth century bishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia.
39 The Complète Commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse, éd., H[erman] C[harles] Hoskier, University
of Michigan Humanistic Studies séries, vol. XXIII (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1928).
40 The first critical Greek édition was Oecumenii Commentarius in Apocalypsin, éd. Marc De Groote, Traditio
Exegetica Graeca séries, vol. 8 (Louvain: Peeters, 1999). The English translation, only recently made available,
is Oecumenius Commentary on the Apocalypse, trans. John N. Suggit, Fathers of the Church séries, vol. 112
(Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2006).
41 Oikoumenios, 1.21.1, 2.13.9 and 12. 20.6; De Groote 75, 98, and 291; Suggit 28,47-48 and 203.