island of Pharos, an anchorite, who suggested to him the writing of the lives of the saints and
martyrs.
To this collection Simeon owes his fame.^929 He apparently never carried out his original
plan, which was to cover the year, for the genuine Lives of his now extant are nearly all of September
(the first month of the Greek Church year), October, November and December. The remaining
months have very few. But how many he wrote cannot be determined. Allatius credits him with
only one hundred and twenty-two. MSS. attributed to him are found in the libraries of Munich,
Venice, Florence, Madrid, Paris, London and elsewhere. The character of his work is sufficiently
indicated by his epithet Simeon the Paraphraser, given to him because he turned "the ancient lives
of the saints into another sort of a style than that wherein they were formerly written."^930 He used
old material in most cases, and sometimes he did no more than edit it, at other times he re-wrote
it, with a view to make it more accurate or attractive. Some of the lives are, however, original
compositions. His work is of very unequal value, and as his credulity led him to admit very doubtful
matter, it must be used with caution. However, he deserves thanks for his diligence in rescuing
from obscurity many now illustrious names.
Besides the Lives, nine Epistles, several sermons, orations, hymns, and a canonical epitome
bear his name.^931 The Simeonis Chronicon is probably the work of a Simeon of the twelfth century.
§ 147. Oecumenius.
I. Oecumenius: Opera omnia, in Migne, Patrol. Gr. Tom. CXVIII., CXIX., col. 726, reprint of
ed. of Hentenius. Paris, 1630–31, 2 vols. fol. Ceillier, XII. 913, 914.
Oecumenius was bishop of Tricca, in Thessaly, toward the close of the 10th century, and wrote
a commentary upon the Acts, the Epistles of Paul and the Catholic Epistles, which is only a catena,
drawn from twenty-three Fathers and writers of the Greek Church,^932 with an occasional original
comment. The work displays taste and judgment.
§ 148. Theophylact.
I. Theophylact: Opera omnia, in Migne, Patrol. Gr. Tom. CXXIII.-CXXVI., reprint of ed. Of de
Rubeis. Venice, 1754–63, 4 vols. fol. Du Pin, IX. 108, 109; Neander, III. 584–586; Ceillier,
XIII. 554–558.
Theophylact, the most learned exegete of the Greek Church in his day, was probably born at
Euripus,^933 on the Island of Euboea, in the Aegean Sea. Very little is known about him. He lived
under the Greek Emperors Romanus IV. Diogenes (1067–1071), Michael VII. Ducas Parapinaces
(^929) It is found in Migne, and utilized in the great hagiographies of A. Lippomani (Paris, 1551-60, 8 vols. ), Surius (Cologne,
1570-79, 6 vols. ) and the Boltandists (1643-1875, 61 vols.).
(^930) Du Pin, in loco.
(^931) Migne, CXIV. col. 209-292.
(^932) Their names are given in Migne, CXVIII. col. 9.
(^933) This is the name likewise of the narrowest part of the Euboic Sea.