Synesius of cyrene biography samples
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This philosophy taught that there was one, supreme God, that everything in the universe was in harmony (or "sympathy", as it was called), and that God cared for Creation (providence).
Synesius would never cease to believe this, and always remained friends with the wise woman, with whom he continued to exchange lettersnote[E.g., Letter 15.] when he retired to his estate Anchimachus,
studying philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, everything; farming, hunting, having many a brush with hordes of pilfering Libyans; and every now and then upholding the cause of someone who had undeservedly fallen into difficulties
- in short, the life of a Greek or Roman gentleman.
In these years, he composed several texts, which show that he was a talented writer.
We may wonder what Patriarch Theophilus thought of it.
Still, his letters show how Synesius dealt with Arianism, sought advice from others, built a monastery, announced the Easter date, acted as a judge in ecclesiastical affairs, and had a quarrel with the military leader of the Cyrenaica, Andronicus, who had violated an asylum and was excommunicated after a speech by Synesius.
He left Constantinople in 400. I certainly shall not admit that the soul is posterior to the body … that the world and all its parts shall perish together. Seven months elapsed between the writing of this letter and Synesius's consecration. See also Volkmann,Synesius von Cyrene (Berlin, 1869); Clausen,De Synesio (Copenhagen, 1831); Halcomb,Dict.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, he does not treat the subject in a pedantic way. It was an honorable request and besides, this office suited both Synesius’ capacities and his feeling that, as an aristocrat, he had to serve the community.
On the day of his departure, there was an earthquake.note[Letter 61.] He visited the Academy of Athens, which he found, in comparison to the philosophical school of Hypatia, disappointing. The all-powerful Eutropius who sold the provinces to the highest bidder was not the man to allow the emperor to be troubled with complaints. The following belong to 409-14: two fragments of homilies; "Constitutio sive elogium Anysii" (Anysius was a general who had been successful against the barbarians); "Catastasis", describing the ruin of Pentapolis.
One of his works is On Dreams, which are, in his view, divine revelations that a good philosopher can understand; they are a way to "become linked with the spheres, that is to say, be carried up as if to its own natural state of being", and reach the origin of our existence without having to perform rituals or visit the temples (which had been closed in 392).
He had described the visit in two letters [54 and 135] to his brother, Euoptius. The ceremony was presided over by bishop Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria. I: Orationes et homiliarum fragmenta (Landshut, 1850). It is a prayer that "his sins may be forgiven and that he may behold the glory of the Saviour". If Synesius has really delivered this speech, which is in fact almost insulting to the addressee, he was lucky to survive.
His reason for undertaking the voyage was, he jestingly said, that "a number of people, priests and private persons, had had revelations in dreams that, unless he did so, some great evil would befall him. Theophilus, he said, must know everything and decide. The bishop-elect unbosomed himself in a letter [Ep. He was in some doubt, however, and announced that he would not dismiss his wife, but in the end accepted the offer.
cv] to Euoptius. He was a younger son of an ancient family of Cyrene which traced its descent from the Hieracleidæ, the mythical founders of the city.