Young Kim: "The Pastoral Care of Epiphanius of Cyprus"

     This paper will attempt to offer a portrait of a kinder, gentler Epiphanius of Cyprus through reflections on his Ancoratus, typically described today as a compendium of Christian dogma.  However, the text was more than just a seemingly haphazard collection of theological doctrines.  It was in fact a lengthy letter written in response to Christians under duress.  Epiphanius included in his work copies of the two letters he had received from ecclesiastical leaders in Syedra in Pamphylia, who were deeply concerned about the growing strength and spread of the so-called Pneumatomachoi.  With Athanasius recently deceased, these Christians looked to Epiphanius for help and perhaps even understood him to be the next great defender of orthodoxy.  They asked Epiphanius to write to them, “in order to strengthen the simpler and to make secure those in doubt...,” and some of them felt as though they were in a ship sailing on rough seas, trying to make their way to the “tranquil harbour of Christ.”  Souls were at stake here, and Epiphanius responded with the sense of urgency that one would expect from a vigilant shepherd.  He very well may have intended the Ancoratus to be read aloud, and he included in it numerous biblical examples and practical illustrations, which would have clarified for the listeners the difficult doctrines he was expounding and provided for them helpful apologetic tools to restore lost or deceived sheep.  Furthermore, the Ancoratus can be subdivided into several “units” which could have served as individual lessons on specific doctrinal issues.  These elements show that the Ancoratus was above all the work of a concerned pastor.

     Epiphanius is perhaps most famous for his subsequent work, the Panarion, and for his involvement in several high-profile ecclesiastical controversies of the late fourth century, both of which reveal a man prone to harsh polemic and narrow-minded dedication to what he understood to be theological orthodoxy.  Indeed in many modern assessments of Epiphanius, his life and work have contributed to a rather negative reputation characterized by an apparent second-rate intellect, narrow-mindedness, and misguided zeal.  While these criticisms are certainly not without some merit, this paper proposes a more balanced look at this complicated man.