thumb|right|Papyrus fragment of the Symposium, oratio 8, dated 5th or 6th century, the earliest known manuscript of a work by Methodius ([[Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey|Montserrat Abbey library, P.Monts. Roca 4.57)]]

Methodius of Olympus () (died c. 311) was an early Christian bishop, ecclesiastical author, and martyr. Today, he is honored as a saint and Church Father; the Catholic Church commemorates his feast on June 20.

Life

Few reports have survived on the life of this first systematic opponent of Origen; even these short accounts present many difficulties. Eusebius does not mention him in his Church History, probably because he opposed various theories of Origen, thus Jerome provides the earliest accounts of him. According to him, Methodius suffered martyrdom at Chalcis at the end of the newest persecution, i.e., under Diocletian, Galerius or Maximinus Daia. Although he then adds, "that some assert", that this may have happened under Decius and Valerian a, this statement (ut alii affirmant), adduced even by him as uncertain, is unlikely, given that Methodius also wrote against the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry (234–305).

The location of Methodius's episcopal see is a matter of controversy. His writings repeatedly betray a Lycian background and hence his see has also been located in that province. Methodius has been called bishop of the Lycian capital Patara, but this tradition first appeared in the late 6th century. and switching sees was unusual at that time, - Olympus is widely acknowledged as historically correct, e.g. by Theodor Zahn. Franz Diekamp rejects this verdict and argues, that Methodius was bishop of Philippi in Macedonia, because several manuscript mention him as bishop of that city, John of Antioch in 435 numbered Methodius among the bishops of Greece and Illyria and because it is dubious whether Olympus had a bishop in 311 at all. Furthermore, Jerome locating the martyrdom of Methodius in Chalkis in Greece would fit a bishop from Macedonia, but not from Lycia. In the dialogue, composed with reference to Plato's Symposium, he depicts a festive meal of ten virgins in the garden of Arete, at which each of the participators extols Christian virginity and its sublime excellence. It concludes with a hymn on Jesus as the Bridegroom of the Church. Larger fragments are preserved of several other writings in Greek; old versions of other works survive in Slavonic, though some are abbreviated.

The following works are in the form of dialogue:

  1. On Free Will (peri tou autexousiou), an important treatise attacking the Gnostic view of the origin of evil and in proof of the freedom of the human will
  2. On the Resurrection (Aglaophon e peri tes anastaseos), in which the doctrine that the same body that man has in life will be awakened to incorruptibility at the resurrection is specially put forward in opposition to Origen.

While large portions of the original Greek text of both these writings are preserved, only Slavonic versions of the four following shorter treatises survive:

  1. De vita, on life and rational action, which exhorts in particular to contentedness in this life and to the hope of the life to come
  2. De cibis, on the Jewish dietary laws, and on the young cow, which is mentioned in Leviticus, with allegorical explanation of the Old Testament food-legislation and the red cow (Num., xix)
  3. De lepra, on leprosy, to Sistelius, a dialogue between Eubulius (Methodius) and Sistelius on the mystic sense of the Old Testament references to lepers (Lev., xiii)
  4. De sanguisuga, on the leech in Proverbs (Prov., xxx, 15 sq.) and on the text, "the heavens show forth the glory of God" (Ps. xviii, 2).

Of other writings, no longer extant, Jerome mentions (loc. cit.) a voluminous work against Porphyry, the Neoplatonist who had published a book against Christianity; a treatise on the Pythonissa directed against Origen, commentaries on Genesis and the Canticle of Canticles. Other authors attributed a work On the Martyrs, and a dialogue Xenon to Methodius; in the latter he opposes the doctrine of Origen on the eternity of the world. Gregory Abu'l Faraj attribute to Methodius some kind of work dealing with the patriarchs.

The 7th-century Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius is falsely attributed to him, as is the "Oration on Simeon and Anna".

Among the editions of his works are: P.G., XVIII; Jahn, S. Methodii opera et S. Methodius platonizans (Halle, 1865); Bonwetsch, Methodius von Olympus: I, Schriften (Leipzig, 1891).

The Byzantine encyclopedia Suda write about his work: