Editing Victorinus of Pettau

'''Saint Victorinus of Pettau''' (also '''Ptuj''' or '''Poetovio'''; died 303 or 304) was an [[Early Christianity|Early Christian]] ecclesiastical writer who flourished about 270, and who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor [[Diocletian]]. A Bishop of Poetovio (modern [[Ptuj]] in Slovenia; Pettau) in [[Pannonia]], Victorinus is also known as '''Victorinus Petavionensis''' or '''Poetovionensis'''.Victorinus composed commentaries on various texts within the Christians' [[Holy Scripture]]s.

==Life==
Born probably in [[Greece in the Roman era|Roman Greece]] on the confines of the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern]] and [[Western Roman Empire|Western Empires]] or in [[Poetovio]] with rather mixed population, due to its military character, Victorinus spoke [[Koine Greek|Greek]] better than [[Vulgar Latin|Latin]], which explains why, in [[St. Jerome]]'s opinion, his works written in the latter tongue were more remarkable for their matter than for their style. Bishop of the City of Pettau, he was the first theologian to use Latin for his [[exegesis]].

His works are mainly exegetical. Victorinus composed commentaries on various books of [[Holy Scripture]], such as ''[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]],'' ''[[Book of Exodus|Exodus]],'' ''[[Leviticus]],'' ''[[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]],'' ''[[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]],'' ''[[Book of Habakkuk|Habakkuk]],'' ''[[Ecclesiastes]],'' the ''[[Song of Solomon|Canticle of Canticles]],'' ''[[Gospel of Matthew|St. Matthew]],'' and the ''[[Book of Revelation|Apocalypse]],'' besides treatises against the heresies of his time. All that have survived are his ''Commentary on [[Apocalypse]]'' and the short tract ''On the construction of the world'' (''De fabrica mundi'').

Victorinus was much influenced by [[Origen]]. [[St. Jerome]] gives him an honourable place in his catalogue of ecclesiastical writers. Jerome occasionally cites the opinion of Victorinus (in [[Ecclesiastes 4|Eccles. iv. 13]]; in [[Ezekiel 26|Ezech. xxvi.]] and elsewhere), but considered him to have been affected by the opinions of the Chiliasts or Millenarians.  According to Jerome, Victorinus died a martyr in 304. 

By contrast to Jerome's positive reception in the late fourth and early fifth century,  Victorinus's works were condemned and listed as [[apocrypha]] according to the [[Gelasian Decree]], a 6th century work.  The decree was attributed to the fifth century [[Pope Gelasius I]]; it includes a list of works compiled by heretics or used by schismatics to be rejected and avoided, and lists Victorinus's work there.

Victorinus is commemorated in both the Latin  [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] on 2 November. Until the 17th century he was sometimes confused with the Latin rhetorician, [[Victorinus Afer]].

==''Commentary on the Apocalypse''==
Victorinus wrote a commentary on the [[Book of Revelation]] that was later republished in a redacted form by Jerome in the 5th century AD.  An original unredacted manuscript was found in 1918, however. The commentary was composed not long after the [[Valerian (emperor)#Persecution of Christians|Valerian Persecution]], about 260. According to [[Claudio Moreschini]], "The interpretation is primarily allegorical, with a marked interest in arithmology."  Johannes Quasten writes that "It seems that he did not give a running commentary on the entire text but contented himself with a paraphrase of selected passages."

The book is interesting to modern scholars as an example of how people in antiquity interpreted the book of Revelation.  Victorinus sees the four animals singing praise to God as the Gospels, and the 24 elders seated on thrones in [[Revelation 4]] are the 12 patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles.  He also agrees with views that the [[Whore of Babylon]] "drunk with the blood of martyrs and saints" represents the City of Rome and its persecutions of Christians, and that [[The Beast (Revelation)|The Beast]] described in [[Revelation 13|chapter 13]] represents Emperor [[Nero]].  As Nero was already dead during Victorinus's time, he believed that the later passages referred to [[Nero Redivivus legend|Nero Redivivus]], a monstrous revived Nero who would attack from the East with the aid of the Jews.

== Works ==
* ''On the Creation of the World''
* ''Commentary on the Apocalypse''

==See also==

==Footnotes==

==References==

== External links ==
*[http://orthodoxwiki.org/November_2 November 2 Feasts at OrthodoxWiki.org]
*[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07.vi.html Works of Victorinus]
*[http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1980 Victorinus at Catholic.org]
*[http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/victorinus.php Victorinus at EarlyChurch.org.uk]
*[http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1102.shtml Victorinus at SaintPatrickDC.org] 
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061021020309/http://catholic-forum.com/saints/saintv33.htm Victorinus at Catholic-Forum.com]
*[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0240-0300-_Victorinus.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes]


[[Category:Post–Silver Age Latin writers]]
[[Category:Church Fathers]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:4th-century Romans]]
[[Category:3rd-century births]]
[[Category:300s deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ptuj]]
[[Category:3rd-century Christian theologians]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian theologians]]
[[Category:3rd-century writers in Latin]]

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