HESYCHIUS, he-sik'i-us ·. A name of frequent occurrence in the history of early ecclesiastical literature.

1. An Egyptian bishop of the third century who suffered martyrdom under Maximus about 311 A.D. (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., viii. 13). He is known chiefly as a Biblical, critic, A revision of the Septuagint prepared by him once occupied in Alexandria and Egypt a position of importance analogous to that held by the work of Lucian fmn Constantinople to Antioch (see Bible Versions, A, I. 1, f 5). He also prepared an edition of the New Testament which found a few enthusiastic admirers, though it was rejected by Jerome (cf. Ad Rufinum, ii. 26; De vir. ill., lxxvii.; cf. Gelasius I., Decretum, vi. 14-15). None of his writings have been preserved, and nothing is now known of the nature of his critical work.

fd. Presbyter of Jerusalem; d. 430. He was the author of a work on church history, of which a portion was read before the Fifth General Council (Second Constantinople, 553; of. Mansi, Concilia, ix. 248-249). This work has been lost. A large amount of literary material (printed in part in MPG, xciii.), commonly ascribed to Hesychius, has been preserved, but further research is necessary before the authorship can be definitely determined. The Explanationes in Leroiticum (MPG, xeiii. 787-790) are manifestly spurious, as they are based upon the Vulgate. W. Cave was of the opiniod that the author of these writings was a presbyter named Hesychius who lived at Jerusalem about 600 A.D.

For others of this name consult Fabricius-Harles, BxTbliotheea Gro;ca, vii. 544 (Hamburg, 1801).

(Philipp Meyer.)

Bibliography: 1. O. Bardenhewer, Patrologia, pp. 163-164, Freiburg, 1894; H. B. Swete, Introduction to the O. T. in Greek, London, 1900; Sch�rer, Geschichte, iii. 314 sqq., Eng. transl., II., iii. 165-166; Kr�ger, History, p. 219; DCB, iii. 7-8.

2. W. Cave, Scriptorum eccl. hist. literaria, i. 570 sqq., Oxford, 1740; Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Graeca, vii. 548-551, Hamburg, 1801; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologia, p. 351-353, Freiburg, 1894; Krumbacher, Geschichte p. 147; DCB, iii. 11-12; Ceillier, Auteurs sacrés, xi. 654-657.