Methodius of Olympus

The Church Father and Saint Methodius of Olympus (died c. 311) was a Christian bishop, ecclesiastical author, and martyr.

Few reports have survived on the life of this first systematic opponent of Origen; even these short accounts present many difficulties. Eusebius does not mention him in his Church History, probably because he opposed various theories of Origen. We are indebted to Saint Jerome for the earliest accounts of him. According to him, Methodius was Bishop of Olympos in Lycia and afterwards Bishop of Tyre. The latter statement is not reliable; no later Greek author knows anything of his being Bishop of Tyre; and according to Eusebius, Tyrannio was Bishop of Tyre during the persecutions of Diocletian and died a martyr; after the persecution Paulinus was elected bishop of the city. Jerome further states that Methodius suffered martyrdom at the end of the last persecution, i.e., under Maximinus Daia (311). Although he then adds, "that some assert", that this may have happened under Decius and Valerian at Chalcis, this statement (ut alii affirmant), adduced even by him as uncertain, is unlikely. Various attempts have been made to clear up the error concerning the mention of Tyre as a subsequent bishopric of Methodius; it is possible that he was transported to Tyre during the persecution and died there.

Methodius had a comprehensive philosophical education, and was an important theologian as well as a prolific and polished author. Chronologically, his works can only be assigned in a general way to the end of the third and the beginning of the 4th century. He became of special importance in the history of theological literature, in that he combated various views of the great Alexandrian, Origen. He particularly attacked his doctrine that man's body at the resurrection is not the same body as he had in life, as well as his idea of the world's eternity. Nevertheless, he recognized the great services of Origen in ecclesiastical theology.

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