consequence of having cut off one of his ears to escape being made a bishop (Pall. Hist. Laus. 12). In his youth he accompanied St. Athanasius to Rome (Socr. Hist. iv. 23; Pall. 12). He was a learned man, and could repeat, it is said, the O. and N. T. by heart, as well as passages from Origen and other Fathers (Pall. 12). He was banished to Diocaesarea in the persecution under Valens (ib. 117). After being for some time high in favour with Theophilus of Alexandria, he and his brothers were accused by him of Origenism. Sozomen (viii. 12) and Nicephorus (xiii. 10) ascribe the accusation to personal animosity on the part of Theophilus. Socrates (vi. 7) explains the accusation as an attempt to divert from himself the odium which he had incurred as an Origenist. Jerome considers the accusation merited (Ep. ad Alex.). Driven from Egypt, the brothers took refuge first in Palestine (Niceph. xiii. 11) and afterwards at Constantinople, where they were well received by Chrysostom (viii. 13). There they were protected also by the favour of the Empress Eudoxia (Soz. viii. 13), and even satisfied Epiphanius of Salamis, who came to Constantinople at the instigation of Theophilus to convict them of heresy (viii. 15). At the synod "ad Quercum," held on the arrival of Theophilus, they were persuaded to submit to him, Ammonius being ill at the time. He died shortly afterwards. Perhaps this Ammonius is the author of the Institutiones Asceticae, of which 22 chapters are extant (Lambec. Biblioth. Vindob. iv. 155).
Ammonius Saccas. Next to nothing is known of this philosopher. That he obtained his name of Saccas (= σακκοφόρος) from having been a porter in his youth is affirmed by Suidas (under Origenes) and Ammianus Marcellinus (xxii. 528). He was a native of Alexandria; Porphyry asserts that he was born of Christian parents, and returned to the heathen religion. Eusebius (H. E. vi. 19, 7) denies this, but perhaps confounds him with another Ammonius, the author of a Diatessaron, still extant. That the founder of the Alexandrian school of philosophy (for such Ammonius Saccas was) should have been at the same time a Christian, though not impossible, seems hardly likely. Moreover, the Ammonius of Eusebius wrote books; whereas, according to both Longinus and Porphyry, Ammonius Saccas wrote none. Plotinus is said to have been most strongly impressed with his first hearing of Ammonius, and to have cried out, "This is the man I was looking for!" (τοῦτον ἐζήτουν), after which he remained his constant friend till the death of the elder philosopher. Among other disciples of Ammonius were Herennius, the celebrated Longinus, Heracles the Christian, Olympius, Antonius, a heathen called Origen, and also the famous Christian of that name. It is possible, however, that the Christians, Origen and Heracles, may have been the disciples of that Ammonius whom Eusebius confounds with Ammonius Saccas, and who was himself a Christian; but this cannot be certainly known. We may guess something concerning the philosophy of Ammonius Saccas from the fact that Plotinus was his pupil. Hierocles (ap. Photius) affirms that his aim was to reconcile the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, hence he appears to have combined mysticism and eclecticism. Nemesius, a bishop and a neo-Platonist of the close of the 4th cent., cites two passages, one of which he declares to contain the views of Numenius and Ammonius, the other he attributes to Ammonius alone. They concern the nature of the soul and its relation to the body; but they appear to have been merely the traditional views of Ammonius, not any actual written words of his. The life and philosophy of Ammonius have been discussed by Vacherot, Hist. de l᾿Ecole d᾿Alex. i. 342; Jules Simon, Hist. de l᾿Ecole d᾿Alex. i. 204; Dehaut in his historical essay on the life and teaching of our philosopher; and Zeller in his Philosophie der Griechen, who also mentions other writers on Ammonius.
Amphilochius (1), archbp. of Iconium. Of this great Catholic leader, who was regarded by his contemporaries as the foremost man in the Eastern church after his friends Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus, very scanty information remains. The works ascribed to him are mostly spurious; and the Life (Migne, Patr. Gk. xxxix. p. 14) is a later fiction. Various references to the writings of Basil and Gregory contain nearly all that is known of him and his family. Amphilochius appears to have been a first cousin of Gregory Nazianzen. The language of Basil (Ep. 161) might imply that he was born and lived in Basil's own town Caesarea. Gregory expresses regret that he did not see much of Amphilochius during his earlier years (Ep. 13). Their intimate friendship commenced at a later date. Amphilochius, like many other eminent Christian fathers, was educated for the bar. The letters of his cousin imply that he carried on his profession at Constantinople.
It is not improbable that trouble in regard to money matters about 369 weaned Amphilochius from his worldly pursuits and turned his thoughts inward. He had abandoned his profession, and was then living in retirement at Ozizala, devoting himself apparently to religious exercises and to the care of his aged father. His cousin Gregory appears to have been mainly instrumental in bringing about this change. At least he says with honest pride, that "together with the pure Thecla"[1] he has "sent Amphilochius to God" (Op. ii. p. 1068). And now his closer friendship with Basil and Gregory begins. Ozizala was situated not far from Nazianzus, for Gregory's correspondence implies that they were near neighbours. A letter of Basil, apparently belonging to this period, is in the name of one Heraclidas, who, like Amphilochius, had renounced the profession of the bar and devoted himself to a religious life. Heraclidas, lodged in a large hospital (πτωχοτροφεῖον) recently erected by Basil near Caesarea, and enjoying the constant instructions of the bishop, urges Amphilochius to obtain leave from his father to visit Caesarea and profit by the teaching and example of the same instructor (Ep. 150). This letter was written in the year 372 or 373 (see Garnier's Basil. Op. iii. p. cxxxiv.). The
- ↑ This seems to be the same Thecla with whom Gregory elsewhere corresponds, and not the monastery of St. Thecla, whither Gregory retired.
