Rufinus' Apology in Defence of Himself

Tyrannius Rufinus (344–411)

Sent to Anastasius, Bishop of the City of Rome

This document was called forth by accusations against Rufinus made, soon after his accession, to Anastasius, who held the Roman see from 498 to 503. The authority of the Roman Popes at this time was not what it afterwards became, and it is improbable that Anastasius should have summoned Rufinus, as some suppose him to have done, from Aquileia, where he was living on confidential terms with the Bishop Chromatius, to come to Rome to answer a formal accusation or to be judged by him But since Rome was the centre of information, a Christian would not wish to be ill-thought of by its Bishop. Those who accused Rufinus were the friends of Jerome at Rome, especially the noble widow Marcella and the Senator Pammachius. They had endeavoured to gain some condemnation of Rufinus from Siricius before his death in November 398; but Siricius befriended Rufinus ("his simplicity was imposed on," according to Jerome) On the election of Anastasius, however, in 399, they accused Rufinus of having, by his translation of Origen's Peri 'Arxwn introduced heresy into the Roman church. Jerome thus speaks Marcella, Ep. cxxvii. 10. "She was the cause of the…

See also

• More works by Tyrannius Rufinus

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