Synesius of Cyrene c. 370 AD – c. 414 AD
Synesius of Cyrene was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and Christian bishop of Ptolemais in Roman Libya. A pupil of Hypatia at Alexandria, to whom he addressed several of his finest letters, he combined deep philosophical Hellenism with Christian conviction and was consecrated bishop only on the express condition that he be allowed to retain certain philosophical opinions about which he could not honestly preach with conventional certainty. His Letters preserve a vivid record of late ancient intellectual and political life, while his treatises On Dreams, On Providence, and On Kingship articulate a humane Neoplatonic-Christian synthesis.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek-Roman
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Platonism, Christian
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Synesius of Cyrene:
“Philosophy and Christianity, rightly understood, are not at odds.”
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Attributed to Synesius of Cyrene:
“The mind is a fragment of the divine, lent to us for a time.”
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Attributed to Synesius of Cyrene:
“I will not preach what I do not believe, nor abandon what I have come to know.”
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Attributed to Synesius of Cyrene:
“Hypatia, my teacher, taught me to love wisdom above all things.”
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Attributed to Synesius of Cyrene:
“In times of barbarism, the lamp of philosophy must be kept burning.”