LYONNET, STANISLAUS

Biblical scholar; b. 1902; d. 1986. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1919, and was ordained a priest in 1934. After taking a licentiate in classics, Lyonnet taught Greek for three years at the Haute-Études (Paris) where he afterwards took up the study of ancient languages under the guidance of two famous linguists, A. Meillet and E. Benveniste. He graduated in 1933 with a doctoral dissertation on "Le parfait en arménien classique." After theological studies at the Jesuit theologate in Lyon-Fourvière, he went to the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. In 1943 he defended his thesis on "Les origines de la version arménienne de la Bible et le Diatessaron" (published in 1950). He remained at the Institute, where he was appointed a professor, and taught until 1980.

During his very long and prolific career he wrote several books and many articles. Among his works are La vie selon l'Esprit, condition du chrétien (Paris 1965) with I. de la Potterie; Les étapes du salut selon l'épître aux Romains (Paris 1969); Sin, Redemption and Sacrifice: A Biblical and Patristic Study, Analecta biblica 48 (Rome 1970), with L. Sabourin; Le message de l'épître aux Romains (Paris 1971); "Péché—dans le judaïsme, le Nouveau Testament; péché originel" Dictionnaire de la Bible, Supplément, v. VII (1966) 480–567. He is best known, however, for his translation of the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians in the Bible de Jérusalem (1953). At a time when most scholars saw the key to the interpretation of the New Testament in the Mysteries and Gnosis, Lyonnet was one of the first to recognize the importance of the Jewish background. Although he did not himself study the Jewish translations (Targumim) and commentaries (Midrashim) of the Old Testament, nevertheless, he introduced some of the famous experts (M. McNamara, J. A. Fitzmyer, R. Le Déaut) to the study of Intertestamental Judaism.

Lyonnet's openness to the views of others was well known but was unacceptable to some of his Roman colleagues who had rejected literary criticism. His articles "Le sense de eph'hō en Rm 5,12 et l'exégèse des Pères grecs," Biblica 36 (1955) 436–456, and "Le péché originel et l'exégèse de Rm 5,12–14," Recherches de Science Religieuse 44 (1956) 63–84, both gave rise to criticisms from conservative scholars. He was at one time suspended from teaching for two years (1962–64), but endured that trial with a sincere obedience and a real spiritual freedom. He took advantage of that period to give many talks to the French-speaking bishops who participated in Vatican Council II, and to assist them in many ways. A few years later, Pope Paul Vl appointed him consultor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. At the request of Pope John Paul II he gave the annual retreat at the Vatican during Lent, 1982.

[j.-n. aletti]