Oecumenius
Oecumenius
(), a Byzantine ecclesiastical writer of the 10th century, of whose personal history nothing is known except that he was bishop of Triceca, in Thessaly, and wrote Greek commentaries on various parts of the Gospel. The works attributed to him are, Commentaiia in sacrosancta quatuor Christi Evangelia, . . auctore quiden (ut pluairmi sentiunt) cumenio, interprete vero Joanne HIentenio (Louvain, 1543, fol.). The Greek text was published by O. F. Matthaei (Leips. 1792, 3 vois. 8vo): (compiled from the ancient Greek fathers, and especially from St. Chrysostom): . These divers commentaries were several times published; one of the best editions is that of Paris, 1631, 2 vols. fol. The commentary on Revelation was reprinted by Cramer (Oxf. 1840, 8vo). With Oecumenius originated the Catenae (q.v.); his commentaries are chiefly composed of extracts from the writings of the fathers, with a few remarks of his own. The various explanations are linked together, without regard to their agreement or contrariety, by such words as another’ (), otherwise’ (), and otherwise’ ( ); and sometimes they amount to ten in one place. The reader is generally left to choose for himself, for cumenius seldom prefers one to another. The method of interpretation is grammatical (Davidson, Hermneneutics, p. 169). It is noticeable that he does not read 1 John v. 7; and that he reads SdEg and not Og (1Ti 3:16). See Hentenius, Praef. ad cumen. Commentar.; Maatthaei, Proleg. ad Euthymii Commentar. in Quatuor Evang.; Simon, Hist. critique des principaux commentateurs du Nouveau Testament, c. xxxii; Possevin, Apparatus sacer; Cave, Hlist. Litti’. ad ann. 990; Fabricius, Bibl. Graeca, 8:343;, Dupin, Bibl. Nouvelle des Auteurs Ecclesiastes cent. xi; Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, 19:742; Oudin, Comment. de Scriptor. eccls. ii, col. 518; Lardner, Credibility, 1:1; Cramer, Preface to his edition; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 38:508; Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, s.v.; Hook, Ecclesiastes Biogr. 7:455.