Bidez’s Sources Revisited

Our basis for the present study is the seventh appendix to Bidez’s critical edition of Philostorgius’ Ecclesiastical History. In his introductory words, Bidez lays before the reader what he sees as his particular contribution to the prior observations of Batiffol, Gwatkin and others: the realization that, like the Paschal Chronicle, Theophanes’ Chronicle contained traces of a non-Nicene source. In addition to Theophanes, Bidez ultimately suggests other texts should also be associated with this lost source, including segments from four Syrian chronicles, Jerome’s continuation of Eusebius’ Chronicle, and a martyrology by Theophylact Hephaistos, an eleventh-century bishop of Ochrid. Bidez argues that these can be used to reconstruct portions of the original Lost Arian History due to their similarities in content and wording. Extracts from each of these sources appear in his appendix, a given entry typically listing an excerpt from the Paschal Chronicle followed by any others from the titles above that bear a resemblance to it.