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Sylvia, Sister of Flavius Rufinus

Wace's Dictionary of Early Christian Biography

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Sylvia ( Silvania ), sister of Flavius Rufinus, consul in 392 and prefect of the East under Theodosius and Arcadius. A work written by her was discovered at Arezzo in 1885, bound up with an unpublished work of St. Hilary of Poictiers (de Mysteriis ). It contained 2 hymns and an account of a journey in the East. M. Ch. Kohler gave an analysis of the text in Bibl. de l’Ecole des Chartres, and M. Gamurrini discussed its authorship in a paper before the Academy of Christian Archaeology at Rome (cf. Revue Critique , May 25, 1885, p. 419). It has since been shown by M. Fératin that the pilgrim author is Etheria, a Spanish nun, mentioned by the monk Valerius (Migne, Patr. Lat. lxxxvii. 421). It has been generally quoted, however, as the Peregrinatio Silviae. It is of the highest interest from its account of the services at Jerusalem at the time ( c. 385 ). Important extracts from it are given in Duchesne's Origines du Culte Chrétien , of which a good trans. by Mrs. McClure has been pub, by S.P.C.K. Cf. also F. Cabrol, Les Eglises de Jerusalem; la discipline et la liturgae au IV ^mé Siècle, Etude sur la Peregrinatio Salviae .

[G.T.S.]

[H.W.]