Rufinus Tyrannius (c. 345–410)

Italian monk and theologian. Under the patronage of Melania, a wealthy and devout Roman matron who lived in a convent in Jerusalem, Rufinus gathered together in a monastery on the Mount of Olives a number of monks who had suffered persecution under Valens. Here he devoted himself to the study of Greek theology.

Rufinus was born near Aquileia, Italy. A fellow student and close friend of St Jerome, he later quarrelled bitterly with him over the question of Origen's orthodoxy and worth as a commentator. He produced a free translation of Origen's De Principiis, but the work is not trustworthy. Rufinus, assuming that Origen's writings had been tampered with by heretics, declared that he had suppressed portions containing sentiments from which he dissented or which were contrary to others advanced by Origen elsewhere, on the plea that they were interpolations. Rufinus also translated the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, adding an indifferent continuation of his own bringing it up to the end of the 4th century. In 408 he was driven by Alaric to Sicily, where he died.