Raymond Brown & the Comma pt. 7
Comma. All recent Roman Catholic scholarly discussion has recognized that the Comma Is neither genuine nor authentic.(20)
C. The Origins of the Comma
Granted that the Comma was not written by the author of I John, when, where, and how did it originate? The first clear appearance of the Comma is in the Liber apologeticus 1.4 (CSEL 18, 6) of Priscillian who died in 385.(21) Priscillian seems to have been a Sabellian or modalist for whom the three figures in the Trinity were not distinct persons but only modes of the one divine person. Seemingly he read the Comma (“Father, Word, and Holy Spirit; and these three are one in Christ Jesus”) in that sense; and because the Comma fits Priscillian’s theology many have surmised that he created it. Before commenting on that, let me survey the subsequent history of the Comma among Latin writers before its appearance two hundred or three hundred years later in the extant MSS. of the NT, as discussed above.
1. The Comma in Writers after Priscillian (A.D. 400-650)
Whether or not modalist in origin, the Comma could be read in an orthodox trinitarian manner. For instance, it was invoked at Carthage in 484 when the Catholic (anti-Arian) bishops of North Africa confessed their faith before Huneric the Vandal (Victor of Vita, Historia persecutionis Africanae Prov. 2.82 ; CSEL 7, 60). Indeed, in the century following Priscillian, the chief appearance of the Comma is in tractates defending the Trinity. In PL 62, 237—334 there is a work De Trinitate consisting of twelve books. Formerly it was attributed to the North African bishop Vigilius of Thapsus who was present at the Carthage meeting; it has also been designated Pseudo-Athanasius; but other guesses credit it to a Spanish scholar such as Gregory of Elvira (d. 392) or Syagrius of Galicia (ca. 450).22 Recently the first seven books have been published (CC 9, 3—99) as the work of Eusebius of Vercelli (d. 371), but not without debate (see CPL #1O5). In any case, the work is probably of North African or Spanish origin; and its parts may have been composed at different times, e.g., Books 1—7 written just before 400, and 8—12 at a period within the next 150 years. In Books 1 and 10 (PL 62, 243D, 246B, 297B) the Comma is cited three times. Another work on the Trinity consisting of three books Contra Varimadum has also been the subject of speculation about authorship and dating,(23) but North African origin ca. 450 seems probable. The Comma is cited in 1.5 (CC 90, 20—2 1). Victor, the bishop of Vita in North Africa toward the end of the Vandal crisis (Ca. 485), wrote the Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae in the course of which he cited the Comma as representing the testimony of John the evangelist (2.82 In CSEL 7, 60; 3.11 in PL 58, 227C). Early in the next century the Comma was known as the work of John the apostle as we hear from Fulgentius, the bishop of Ruspe in North Africa (d. 527), in his Responsio
(20) See Rivière, “Authenticité” 303-9.
(21) Occasionally it has been attributed to his follower Instantius. Priscillian founded a sect with ascetic (Manichean? gnostic?) leanings in southern Spain ca. 375. He was consecrated bishop of Avila but aroused the strong opposition of Ithacius of Ossonoba. In 385 Priscillian was executed in Trier for heresy and magic by the usurper Emperor Maximus, despite the intervention of St. Martin of Tours. The persecution of his followers continued after his death.
(22) Ayuso Marazuela, “Nuevo estudio” 69.
(23) Implausible are the attributions to Augustine (by Cassiodorus), to Athanasius (by Bede), to Vigilius of Thapsus, to Idacius of Clarus (or Hydatius, a Spanish bishop ca. 400). The editor of CC 90 (p. vii) thinks that the unknown North African author may have gone into exile in Naples whence came the later knowledge of the Comma in Italy by Cassiodorus.
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