Methodius of Olympus

Also: Methodius of Patara, Eubulius

Born: the year and the place are not known. Died perhaps between 311 and 312; the place is not known.

A bishop in Lycia who wrote dialogues in the style of Plato. He argued against some ideas of Origen and died a martyr.

Wrote in Greek. A major author.

Places lived

290 to 311Olympus (Lycia), now Olympos, near Çıralı, Turkeybishopyears not sure, place probableOther sources call him bishop of Patara, Tyre or Philippi. The years are a guess from his death.

6 works, in the order they were written. 5 works can be read here.

Banquet of the Ten Virginsc. 270 to 300 · place not known · dialogueTen women each give a speech in praise of virginity, after the model of Plato.43,007 words
On Free Willc. 270 to 300 · place not known · dialogueOn the origin of evil in the free choice of creatures.7,061 words
Against Porphyry (fragments)between about 270 and 311 · place not known · apologyA few sentences from his lost answer to the attack of the philosopher Porphyry on the Christians.546 words
On Created Things (extracts)before about 311 · place not known · treatiseExtracts kept by Photius, in which he argues against Origen that the world is not eternal.2,692 words
On Leprosybefore about 311 · place not known · dialogueA dialogue that reads the law on leprosy in Leviticus 13 as a picture of sin in the soul.not yet on the site
On the Resurrectionc. 270 to 311 · place not known · dialogueA defence of the rising of the same body, against Origen.14,315 words

How we know the dates and places

Born not known: No ancient source gives a year.
Place of birth not known: No ancient source names a place.
Died not sure: Jerome, On Illustrious Men 83 (a martyr at the end of the last persecution)
Place of death not known: Jerome, On Illustrious Men 83, says "Chalcis in Greece". Scholars doubt the place.
Olympus (Lycia), years not sure: Jerome, On Illustrious Men 83; Socrates, Church History 6.13
Olympus (Lycia), place probable: Jerome, On Illustrious Men 83; Socrates, Church History 6.13