CΟΝTEΝTS ΟF BΟΟΚ IΙ
Τhe contents of the second book of the History of the Church is as follows :
I. On the life of the Apostles after the Ascension of Christ.
ΙΙ. On the emotion of Tiberius at learning from Pilate the story of Christ.
III. How in a short time the message concerning Christ ran through the whole world.
IV. How after Tiberhb Caius appointed Agrippa as King of the Jews and punished Herod with perpetual banishment.
V. How Philo was sent on an embassy to Caius on behalf Of the Jews.
VI. ΑlΙ the evils which accumulated on the Jews after their crime against Christ.
VII. How Pilate, too, committed suicide.
VIII. Concerning the famine in the the of Claudius.
IX. The martyrdOm οf James the Apostle.
X. How Agrippa, who was also called Herod, perecuted the Apostles and at once felt the punishment of God.
XI. On Theudas the magician.
XII. On Helena the Queen of the Adiabeni.
XIII. On Simon Magus.
XIV. Οn the preaching of Peter the Apostle at Rome.
XV.On the Gospel according to Mark.
XVI. How Mark was the first to preach the knowledge of Christ to those in Egypt.
XVII. The narrative of Philo on the Ascetics in Egypt.
XVIII. The treatise of Philo which have come down to us.
XIX. The misfortunes which overtook the Jews in Jerusalem on the day of the Passover.
XX. What was done at Jerusalem under Nero.
XXI. On the Egyptian whom the Acts of the Apostles also mentioned.
XXII. How Paul was sent a prisoner to Rome from Judaea and after defending himself was acquitted of all guilt.
XXIII. How Jame who was called tbe brother of the Lord suffered martyrdom.
XXIV. How after Μark Αnnianus was the first to be appointed bishop of the chureh of the Alexandrians.
XXV. On the persecution under Nero in which Ρaul and Peter at Rome were adorned with martyrdom for religion's sake.
XXVI. How the Jews were pursued by countless evils and how they began the final war against the Romans.
Our book was compiled from those of Clement, Tertullian, Josephus, and Philo.
BΟΟK II
ΑLL that needed stating by way of preface in the history of the Church-the proof of the divinity of the saving Logos, the ancient history οf our teaching, and the antiquity of the dogmas of the Christian life according to the Gospel, particularly all the points concerning his reeently fuffilled advent, the events before his Passion, and the story of the choice of the Apostles—all this We traeed in preceding book, summarizing the demonstration. Let us now consider in the present book what folloWed his Αscension, nothing some things from the divine writings, and adding what is taken from other sources from treatises which We will quote from time to rime.
I. Matthias was the first to be chosen to the Apostolate instead of the traitor Judas. As has been shown, he had himself been one οf the Lord's disciples, For the administration of the common fund tried men, seven in number, by Stephen, stephelb were appointed to the ministry by prayer and the on Of the Apostles' hands. And Stephen was first after his Lord not only in ordination, but, as though he had been put forward for this very purpose, also in that he was stoned to dearil by the Lord's murderers, and so vas the first to carry off the crown, implied by his name,1 whieh Was gained by the martyrs of Christ found worthy of Vietory.
Αt that mme time alSo James, who was called the brother of the Lord. inasmuch as the latter too was styled the child of Joseph, and Joseph was called the father of Christ, for the Virgin Va betrOthed to him when, before lhey came together, she was discovered to have eoncebed by the Holy Spirit, as the Sacred writing of the Gospels teaches — this same James, to whom the men Of old had also giVen the surname of Just fOr his excellence of Virtue, is ’ated to haVe been the first elected to the throne of the bishoprie of the Chureh in Jerusalem. Clement in the sixth book of the hypotyposes adduces the following: “ ” he says, “ Peter and James and John after the Ascension OF the Saviour did not struggle for glory, beCause they had previously been given honour by the saViOur, but ehOe James the Just as bishop of ” The same Writer in the seventh book of the same work says in additiOn thiS about him, “ Αfter the Resurrection the Lord gaVe the tradition of knowledge to James the Just and John and Ρeter, these gaVe it to the other Apostles and the other Apostles to the seventy, of whom Barnabas also was one. Now there Were tWo Jameses, one James the Just, who a throwm down from the pinnacle of the temple and beaten to death with a fuller's club, and the other he who Was ” Ρaul also mentions the same. James the Jurt when he writes, “ Αnd I saw none other of the Apostles save James the brother of the Lord.”
Αt this time too the terms of Our saViOur ’s promise
to the king of the Osrhoense were receiving fulfil 1 ment. Thomas was divinelymoved to send Thaddaeus to Edessa as herald and evangelist of the teaching concerning Christ, as we have shown Just previously from the writing preserved there. When he reached the place Thaddaeus healed Αbgar by the word of Christ, and amazed all the inhabitants by hiS strange miracles. By the mighty inRuence of his deeds he brought them to reverence the power of Christ, and made them disciples of the saving teaching. From that day to this the whole eity οf the Εdessenes has been dedicated 1 to the name of Christ, thus displaying no common proof of the benencenee of our sariour to them. Let this suffice nom the history of the ancients and let us pass again to the divine scripture.
to the king of the Osrhoense were receiving fulfil 1 ment. Thomas was divinelymoved to send Thaddaeus to Edessa as herald and evangelist of the teaching concerning Christ, as we have shown Just previously from the writing preserved there. When he reached the place Thaddaeus healed Αbgar by the word of Christ, and amazed all the inhabitants by hiS strange miracles. By the mighty inRuence of his deeds he brought them to reverence the power of Christ, and made them disciples of the saving teaching. From that day to this the whole eity οf the Εdessenes has been dedicated 1 to the name of Christ, thus displaying no common proof of the benencenee of our sariour to them. Let this suffice nom the history of the ancients and let us pass again to the divine scripture.
On the martyrdom οf stephen there arose the Rrst and greatest persecution of the Church in Jerusalem by the Jews. Αll the diSeiples, with the single exception of the Twelve, were scattered throughout Judaea and Samaria; some, as the divine scripture sayS, traverSed as far aS Ρhoenice, Cyprus and Αntioch, but they were not yet in a position to venture to transmit the word of faith to Gentiles, and announced it only to Jews. Αt that time Ρaul also was still ravaging the Church, entering into the houses of the faithful, dragging out men and women, and handing them over to prison. Philiop, however, οne of those who with Stephen had been already ordained to the diaconate, was among those who were seattered abroad, and went down to samaria, where, nlled with divine
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power, he was the Rrst to preaeh the word to those there. So great was the grace of Ood, which worked with him, that even simon Magus, with countleSs others, was captivated by his wordS. Αt that time Simo had obtained such fame by his magical power over his victims that he was held to be the Oreat Ρower of God ; but even he waS then so overwhelmed by the marvels wrought by Philiop by divine power, that he submitted, and feigned faith in ChriSt even to the point οf baptism. It is worthy of wonder that this is still done by those who continue hiS moSt unelean heresy to the Ρresent day, for following the method of their Ρrogenitor they attach themselves to the Church like a pestilential and scurfy disease, and ravage to the utmost all Whom they are able to inoculate with the deadly and terrible poison hidden in them. Μost of theSe, however, have already been driven out, as many as have been detected in their wickedneSs, just as simon himself, when his real nature was detected by Ρeter, paid the proper punishment. While the saving was daily progressing and growing, Some Ρrovidence brought from the land of the Εthiopians an officer of the queen of that land, for the nation, following ancestral eustoms, is Still ruled by a woman. Tradition says that he, who was the Rrst of the Oentiles to receive from Philip by revelation the mysteries of the ffivine word, and was the nrst-fruits of the faithful throughout the world, waS also the RrSt to return to his native land and preach the OoSpel οf the knowledge οf the Ood of the univerSe and the sojourn οf our Saviour which gives life to men, so that by him was actuauy fulmled the porphecy which sa ys, “ Εthiοpia shall stretch out her hand to ” In addition to these Paul, the chosen vessel neither of men nor through men but through revelation of Jesus christ himself and God the Father who raised him from the dead, was appointed an Αpostle, being vouchsafed this calling by a rision and the heavenly voice οf revelation.
II. The wonderful resurrection and ascension into heavcn of our Saviour was now already generally famous, and in accordance with an ancient eustom that those who were ruling οver the nations should report to him who held the imperial office any new movement among them, in οrder that no event might escape his notiee, Pilate communicated to the Εmperor Tiberius the story of the resurrection from the dead of our Saviour Jesus as already famous aInong all throughout all Palestine, together with the information he had gained of his οther wonders and how he was aheady believed by many to be a God, in that after death he had risen from the deasd.1 They say that Tiberius referred the report to the senate, which rejected it ostensibly because it had not preriously tested the matter, for an ancient law prevailed that no οne should be held as a God by the Romans exeept by a vote and decree of the senate, but in truth because the saving teaching of the divine message needed no ratification and commendation from men. In this way the council of
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the Romans rejected the report sent to it concerning οur sariour, but Tiberius kept the opinion which he had fonnerly held and made no wicked plans against the teaching οf Christ.
Tertullian, who had an accurate knowledge of Roman law, a man espeeially famous among those most distinguished in Rome, has noted this in the Apology for the christians which was written by him in Latin but translated into the oreek language; he tells the story as follows: “ But, in order that we may ffiscuss sueh laws from their origin, there an an ancient decree that none should be con- secrated as a god by an Εmperor before being approved by the senate. Marcus Aemilius has acted thus conceming a certain idol Αlbumus. Αnd this supports our argument that among you godship has been given by human approval. If a god does not Ρlease man, he does not hecome god, so that, according to this, man must be gracious to Ood. Tiberius, therefore, in whose time the name of Christian came into the World, when this doctrine was reported to him from Ρalestine, where it Rrst began, communh cated it to the Senate, and made it plain to them that he favoured the doctrine, but the senate, because it had not itself tested it, rejected it; but he continued in his own opinion and threatened death to the accusers of the ”1 For heavenly providence had designed putting this in his mind in order that the word of the Oospel might have an unimpeded beginning, and traverse the earth in all directions.
III. Thus by the power and assistance of Ηeaven
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the saving word began to flood the whole world with light like the rays of the sun. Αt once, in accordance with the divine Scriptures, the voice οf its inspired evangelists and Apostles “ Went forth to the whole earth and their words to the end of the ” In every eity and rillage arose churehes crowded with thousands of men, like a teeming threshing-floor. Those who by hereditary succession and original error had their souls bound by the ancient disease οf the superstition of idols were set free as if from Rerce maSters and found release from fearful bondage by the power οf Christ through the teaching of his followers and their wonderful deeds. They rejected all the polytheism of the demons, and confessed that there is οnly one God, the Creator of the universe. Ηim they honoured with the rites of true piety by the ffirine and rational worship which was implanted by οur saviour in the life of men. But indeed it was when the grace of Ood was already being poured out even οn the other nations — when faith in Christ had been received, nrSt by Cornelius with all his house in Ρalestinian Caesarea through divine mani- festation and the ministration of Ρeter, and also by many οther Oreeks in Αntioch, to whom those preached who had been Scattered in the persecution about stephen, and the Chureh in Αntiοch was already flourishing and multiplying — it was at that moment and in that place, when So many of the prophets from Jerusalem were also present, and with them Barnabas and Paul, and a number of the other brethren besides them, that the name of Chrirtian was nrst given, as from a fresh and life-givning fountain. Agabus also, one of the Ρrοphets with them, made preffictions that there waS to be a famine, and Ρaul and Barnabas were sent to give assistance to the ministry οf the brethren.
IV. Tiberius ffied after reigning about twenty-two years.1 Αfter him Caius received the sovereignty and at once gave to Αgrippa 2 the crown of the rule of the Jews. Ηe made him king of the tetrarchies οf Philip and LysaniaS, and after a short time added to them the tetrarchy of Ηerod, Sentencing Ηerod (he was the Ηerοd of the Ρassion of the saviour) for many offences to perpetual banishment, together with his wife Herodias. Οf tffihls too Josephus is witness.
In his reign Ρhilo beeame generally known as a man of the greatest distiction, not only among our own people but also among those of heathen educa- tion. Ηe was a Ηebrew by racial descent but in- ferior to none οf the magnates in authority in Alexandria. The extent and quality οf the labour he bestowed οn the theologieal learning of hiS raee is in fact patent to all, and it is not necessary to say anything of his position in philosophy and the liberal stuffies of the heathen world since he is related to have surpassed all his contemporaries, especially in his zeal for the study οf Ρlato and Ρythagoras.
V. Νοw this wTiter has narrated in Rve books what happened to the Jews ìn the time of Caius; he has in this work combined the Stories or the insanity of Caius,
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how he announeed himself as a god and perpetrated innumerable aets of insolence during his reign, of the misery of the Jevs in his time, of the mission which he vas himself elrtrusted to make to tbe city or tbe Romans on behalf of those of his own race in Alexandria, and or how, When he appeared before Caius on behalf of his ancestral lavs, he reeeiVed nothing but laughter and ridicule, and narrowly eseaped risking his life.
Josephus also relates these facts and writes as follows in the eighteenth book of the Antiquities; “ Now When a disturbance took place in Alexandria between the Jews who lived there and the Greeks, three of each side were chosen to to as representative to Caius. Οne of the Alexandrian representatives was Αpion, Who uttered many calumnies against the Jews, saying especially that they neglected to give honour to Caesar, and that while all who are subject to tbe rule of the Romans build altars and temples ot Caius, and in other respects reeeive hinl tb they do the gods, these men alone think it improper to honour him with statues or to swear by his name. Now thought Apion had made many serious charges by whieh he naturally hoped that Caiu, would be roued, Philo, the chief of the embassy of the Jew, a man of high reputation in every respect for he was the brother of Alexander the Alabarch and a philosopher of no little skill, was able in his reply to deal with the accusations but Caius cut him short, bade him get out of the way, and was so enraged that he clearly was on the point or serious measures against them. So Philo went out, deeply insulted, and told the the who were with him that they must keep up their courage, for though Caius was enraged agailbt them he was in fact already fighting against God.”
So far Josephus. Philo himself in the Embassy which he Wrote gives an accurate and detailed aecount of what he did at the time Ι shall Ρass over the greater Ρart and eite Only those points whieh plainly demonstrate to students the misfortunes whieh eame upon the Jews, all at once and after a rilort time, in consequenee Of their crimes against Christ. In the ffist Ρlace he relate that, in the time Of Tiberius, in the city ofthe Romans, Sejanus, the most influential of the Emperor's court at the time, took measures eompletely to destroy the whole race, and in Judaea Ρilate, under whom the crime against the saviour was perpetrated, made an attempt on the temple, still standing in Jerusalem, contrary to the privileges granted to the JeWs, and harassed them tO the utmost,
(VI.) whhe arter the death Of Tiberius Caius reeeived the sovereignty and inffieted many injuries on many, but more than all did the greatest harm to the vhole nation of the Jews. This may be learned shOrtly from his own word, in which he writes exactly as follows: “ Now the eharaeter of Caius vas extremely capricious towards all, but particularly towards the raee of Jews. Ηe hated them bitteriy bitterly: in other cities, beginning with Alexandria, he seized the synagogues and ffiled them vith images and statues of his own form (for by giving permission to other to install them he did in fact put them there). and in Jerusalem the temple, which had hithterto beeen untouched and held worthy of preservation from all violation, he tried to change and transform to a shrine of his own to be called that off ‘Gaius the new Zeus manifest.'”
The same writer narrates in a second treaties entitled Οn the Virtues1 innumerable other atrocities, beyond all description, perpectrated on Jews in Alexandria in the same reign, and Josephus comfirms him, showing in the same Way that rile universal misfortunes of the nation began with the time οf Pilate and the crimes against the Saviour. Listen then to the actural words of his statement in the second book of the Jewish War. “ Now Pilate. sent as procurator to Judaea by Tiberius, brought into Jerusalem at night and covered up the images of Caesar which are called ensigns. When day came this roused the greatest commotion among the Jews, for they were horrified at what they saw close by since their laws had been trampled om, for they do not permit any image to be set up in the city.”
Now comparing this with the writing of the Gospels you will see that it was not long before they Were overtaken by the ery vhieh they uttered in the presence of Pilate himself, with Which they rilOuted Out that they had no other king than Caesar only. The same writer
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then goes on to relate another misfortune which οvertook them, as follows: “ Αnd after this he roused another commotion by expenffing the sacred treasure, called Corban, for an aqueduet which he brought from a ffistance οf three hundred stadia. Popular indignation was aroused at this, and when Pilate came to Jerusalem the Ρeople stood round with howh of exeeration; but he had foreseen their ffidIsturbance and had mixed with the crowd armed soldiers disguised in civilian clothes, with orders not to use their swords but to club those who had shouted. Ηe gave the signal for this from his judgement-seat; and as the Jews were smitten many perished from the blows, many from being trampled upon hy their fellows in their ffight, and the mob, οvercome at the calamity οf those who perished, was silent.”
The same writer shoWs that besides this innumerable other revolts were started in Jerusalem itseK, affirming that from that time risngs and war and the mutual contrivance of eril never ceased in the city and throughout Judaea, until the time when the siege under vespasian came upon them as the last scene of all. Thus the penalty of Ood pursued the Jews for their crimes against Christ.
VII. it is also worthy of notice that tradition relates that that same pilate, he οf the Saviour's time, in the days of Caius, whose Ρeriοd we have described, fell into such great calamity that he was forced to become his own slayer and to punish himself with his οwn hand, for the Ρenalty of God, as it seems, followed hard after him. Those who record the olympiads οf the Greeks with the annals οf events relate this.1
VIII. caius had not completed four years οf sovereignty when Clauffius suceeeded him as Emperor.2 In his time famine seized the world (and this also writers 3 with a purpose quite other than ours have reeorded in their histories), and so what the prophet Αgabus had foretold, aceorffing to the Acts οf the Apostles, that a famine would be over the whole wold, received fuffihnent. Luke in the Αcts describes the famine in the time οf clauffius and narrates how the Chrirtians at Antioch sent to those in Judaea, eaeh accorffidlng to his ability, by Ρaul and Barnabas, and he goes οn to say,
(IX.) “ Νοw at that ” — obviously that οf Claudius, — “ Ηerοd the king put forth his hand to vex certain οf the church and killed James the brother of John with the ” Concerning this James, clement adds in the seventh book οf the Hypotyposes a story worth mentioning, apparently from the tradition of his predecessors, to the effect that he who brought him to the court was so moved at seeing him testify as to eonfess that he also was himself a Christian. “ so they Were both led away ” he says, “ and on the way he asked for forgivensess for himself from James. Αnd James looked at him for a moment and said, ‘ Ρeace be to ’ and kissed him. so both were beheaded at the same time.”
Αt that time, as the divinde scripture says, Herod, Seeing that his action in the murder of Jame had given pleasure to the Jews, turned to Ρeter also, put him in prison, and would have perpetrated his murder alsO had it not been for Divine intervention at the last moment, for an angel appeared to him by night and he Was miraculously released from lris bonds and set free for the ministry of preaching. such Was the dispensation of heaven for Peter.
X. Αs the king's attempt on the Apostles there was no more delay, but the avenging minister of the sentenee Of God OvertoOk him at once, immediatedly after his plot against the Apostles, as the Scripture relates in the Acts. Ηe had gone to Caesarea, and there on the set day of the feast,1 adorned with splendid and royal robes, he addressed the standing on high before his judgement-seat. The whole people applauded his address, as though at the voice Of a god and not of a man, and tbe story 2 relates that an angel of the Lord smote him at once, and he was eaten of worms and expired. Ιt is worthy or wonder how in this marvel also the narrative of Josephus agrees with the diVine seripture. He clearly testffies to the truth in the nineteenth book or the Antiquities where the wonder in related in the following words: “ Now the third year of his reign over ah Judaea had been ffirished when he came to the eity of Caesarea, wbiCh was formerly called the tower οf strato. There he was celebrating gameS in honour οf Caesar, beeause he knew that this was a kind of feast for his safety, and at it waS asSembled a multitude of those in office and of high rank in the province. On the second day of the games he put on a robe made entirely of silver, so that it waS a wonderul fabrie, and proceeded to the theatre at the beginning of the day. Then when the silver waS refulgent with the first glint of the rayS of the sun it gleamed marvellously with a peculiar sheen, fearful and terrifying to those who gazed at it. Αt onee the flatterers raised their voiceS from various quarters — but no good did it do him — and addresSed him as a god, saying, Be thou propitious ! even if until now we feared thee as man, yet from henceforth we confess thee as of more than mortal ’ The king Was not diSmayed at these wordS, nor did he reject the impiouS Rattery.
But after a little looking up he saw an angel seated above hiS head.1 ThiS he at once Ρerceived to be the harbinger of evil, as it had formerly been of good ; 1 he had in his hiS heart, and agony rapidly beginning Spread increasingly through hiS stomach. So he looked up to hiS friendS and said, ἴ’ I, Who am your god, am now commanded to give up my life, for fate has immediately reproved the lying wordS just urtered about me. I, whom you called im- mortal, am now being taken off to ffie. Fate muSt be accepted aS Ood haS willed, yet I have lived no mean life, but in the spaciouSneSs which men deem ’ while he was Saying this, he began to be overwhelmed by the intensity of his pain; he waS therefore earried haStily hrtO the Ρalaee, and the report was Spread among all that he would certainly die shortly. But the multitude seated on sackeloth with their wives and ehildren, aeeording to the laW of their fatherS, at once began to beseeeh Ood for the king and the whole Ρlace Was ffiled with wailing and lamentations. The king lying in a room on high, and looking down on them aS they fell prostrate, did not remain without tears himselr. Αfter being racked by pain in the stomach for Bve suceessive dayS he passed from life in the fityfourth year of his age and the Seventh of hiS reign.1 Ηe had reigned four years in the time of CaiuS Caesar. For three years he possessed the tetrarchy of Philip, but in the fourth reeeived alSo that of Ηerod, and he continued for three more yearS in the reign of ClaudiuS ’’ 1 am surprised how in thiS and other points JoSephuS conhrmS the truth of the divine Scriptures. Even if he seem to some to differ as to the name of the king, neVertheless the date and the events Show that he is the same, and either that the name has been ehanged by some clerical error οr that there were tWo names for the same man, as has happened with many.
XI. Since Luke in the Αcts introduceS Gamaliel as saying at the inquiry about the Apostles that at the time indicated Theudas aroSe, saying that he WaS Somebody, and that he was destroyed and all who
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obeyed him were scartercd; eome, let us compare the writing of Josephus with regard to him.1 in his vork lately mentioned he give the following narrartive. “ Νov when Fadus was procurator of Judaea a eertain impOtOr named Theudas persuaded a great multitude to take their possessions and follow him to the riVer Jordan, fOr he Said that he was a prophet and ulldertook to divide the river by hiS commands and provide an eay erossing for them. By saying this he deceived many; Fadus, however, did not alloW them to enjoy their delusiOn, but sent a Squadron of cavelry against them whieh attaeked them unexpectedly, killed many and took many alive, captured TheudaS himself, cut off his head, and brought it to Jerusalem.”
After this he mentions mentions as follOWs the famine Whieh took Ρlace in the time of Claudius:
XII. “ Αt the Same time it happened that the great famine tOOk plaee in Judaea, in Whieh Queen Ηelena bought corn from Egypt at great expense and distributed it to those who were in ” You would find that this too agrees ẁ̀ith the writing of the Acts οf the Αpostles, whieh reeords hoW the disciples in Αntioch, each aceording to his several ability, deter- mined to send to the relier of the dwellers in Judaea, which they did, sending it to the eldem by the hand of Barnabas and Ρaul. Splendid monuments of the Ηelena whom the historian has COmmemOrated are Theudas eannot really have been rererred to by Gamaliel, who was speaking many years before the time of Fadus. Μοst modern writers on Αcts think that nevertheless the Helena whom the historian has commemorated are still shown in the suburbs of the present Aelia 1 ; she Vas Said to be queen Of the nation of Αdiabene.
XIII. Seeing that the faith in our sariour and Lord Jesus Christ was already being given to all men, the enemy of men's salvation planned to capture rile capital in advanee, and sent there simon, who was mentioned above, and by aiding the ’s trieky soreery won over to error many Of the inhabitants of Rome. This is told by Jurtin, Who was an ornament of our farth not Ιong after the Apostles, and I will set out the necessary infoimation about him in due eourse. Ιn his first Apology to Antoninus for our opinions he writes as follows: “ Αnd after the ascensiOn of the Lord intO heaven the demOns Ρut forward men Vho said that they were gOds, and they not only escaped perseeution by you but were eVen Vouehsafed honours. There Was a certain simon, a Samaritan, from a Village callcd Gittho, vho in the time of Claudius Caesar worked miracles by magie through the art of the demOns possessing him ;he Was reekoned as a god in Rome, your capital city, and honoured as a god among you by a statue οn the river Tiber between the two bridges, with this inscription in Latin — SIMONI DEO SANCTO, 2” that is to Simon a holy god. “ and almost all Samaritans and a few in other nations a well, recognize him as the chief god and worship him, and
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they say that a certain Helena, who travelled about with him at that time but had formerly lived in a house of ill-fame ’’ in Tyre of Phoenicia, “ was the first Idea 1 from him.”
This is what Justin says, and Irenaeus agrees with him in the first book against heresies where he collects the stories about Simon and his unholy and foul teaching. It would be superfluous to relate this in the present work since those who desire it can study in detail the origin and life and the false doctrinal principles of the heresiarchs who followed him and the customs introduced by them all, for they are carefully preserved in the above-mentioned book of Irenaeus. Thus we have received the tradition that Simon was the first author of all heresy. From him, and down to the present time, those who have followed, feigning the Christian philosophy, with its sobriety and universal fame for purity of life, have in no way improved on the idolatrous superstition from which they thought to be set free, for they prostrate themselves before pictures and images of Simon himself and of Helena, who was mentioned with him, and undertake to worship them with incense and sacrifices and libations. Their more secret rites, at which they say that he who first hears them will be astonished, and according to a scripture current among them will be “ thrown into marvel,” truly are full of marvel and frenzy and madness ; for they are of such a kind that they not merely cannot be related in writing, but are so full of baseness and unspeakable conduct that they cannot even be mentioned by the lips of decent men. For whatever foulness might be conceived beyond all that is base, it is surpassed by the utter foulness of the heresy of these men, who make a mocking sport of wretched women, “ weighed ” as is truly said, by every kind of evil.
XIV. of such evil was Simon the father and fabricator, and the Evil Power, which hates that which is good and plots against the salvation of men, raised him up at that time as a great antagonist for the great and inspired Apostles of our Saviour. Nevertheless the grace of God which is from heaven helped its ministers and quickly extinguished the flames of the Evil One by their advent and presence, and through them humbled and cast down “ every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.” Wherefore no conspiracy, either of Simon, or of any other of those who arose at that time, succeeded in those Apostolic days ; for the light of the truth and the divine Logos himelf, which had shone from God upon men by growing up on the earth and dwelling among his own Apostles, was overcoming all things in the might of victory. The aforesaid sorcerer, as though the eyes of his mind had been smitten by the marvellous effulgence of God when he had formerly been detected in his crimes in Judaea by the Apostle Peter, at once undertook a great journey across the sea, and went off in flight from east to west, thinking that only in this way could he live as he wished. He came to the city of the Romans, where the power which obsessed him wrought with him greatly, so that in a short time he achieved such success that he was honoured as a god by the erection of a statue by those who were there. But he did not prosper long. Close after him in the same reign of Claudius the Providence of the universe in its great goodness and love towards men guided to Rome, as against a gigantic pest on life, the great and mighty Peter, who for his virtues was the leader of all the Other Apostles. Like a noble captain of God, clad in divine armour, he brought the costly merchandise of the spiritual light from the east to the dwellers in the west, preaching the Gospel of the light itself and the word which saves souls, the proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven.
XV. Thus when the divine word made its home among them the power of Simon was extinguished and perished immediately. together with the fellow himself.
But a great light of religion shone on the minds of the hearers of Peter, so that they were not satisfied with a single hearing or with the unwritten teaching of the divine proclamation, but with every kind of exhortation besought Mark, whose Gospel is extant, seeing that he was Ρeter’s follower, to leave them a written statement of the teaching given them verbally, nor did they cease until they had persuaded him, and so became the cause of the Scripture called the Gospel according to Mark. And they say that the Apostle, knowing by the revelation of the spirit to him what had been done, was pleased at their zeal, and ratified the scripture for study in the churches. Clement quotes the story in the sixth book of the Hypotyposes, and the bishop of Hierapolis, named Papias, confirms him. Ηe also says that Peter mentions Μark in his first Epistle, and that he composed this in Rome itself, which they say that he himself indicates, referring to the city metaphorically as Babylon, in the words, “ the elect one in Babylon greets you, and Marcus my son.”
XVI. They Say that this Μark was the first to be sent to preach in Egypt the Gospel which he had also put into writing, and was the first to establish churches in Alexandria itself. The number of men and women who were there converted at the first attempt was so great, and their asceticism was so extraordinarily philosophic, that Philo thought it right to describe their conduct and assemblies and meals and all the rest of their manner of life.
XVII. Tradition says that he came to Rome in the time of Claudius to speak to Peter, who was at that time preaching to those there. This would, indeed, be not improbable since the treatise to which we refer, composed by him many years later, obviously contains the rules of the Church which are still observed in our own time. Moreover, from his very accurate description of the life of our ascetics it will be plain that he not only knew but welcomed, reverenced, and recognized the divine mission of the apostolic men of his day, who were, it appears, of Hebrew origin, and thus still preserved most of the ancient customs in a strictly jewish manner. Ιn the first Ρlace he promises not go beyond the truth in any detail or to add anything of his own invention to what he vas going to relate in the treatise whieh he entitled οἰὶ με Contemplative Life or Suppliants. Ηe then says that tbey and the women with them Were called Therapeutae and Therapeutrides, and enters upon the reason for such a name. Ιt was given either beeause, lilke physicians, they relieve from the Ρassiοns οf evil the souls those who come to them and so cure and heal them, or because of their pure and sincere serVice 1 and worship of the Divine. Thus it is not neeessary to discuss at length whether he gave them this description of himself, naturally adapting the name to their manner of life, or vhether the rirst ones really called themselves this from the beginning, since the title of Christian had not yet become well known everywhere. Αt any rate he bears witness especially to their abandonment of property, and states that When they begin to follow philosophy they give up their possessions to their relations, and then, haveing bade farewell to all the cares of life, go oubide the walls to make their dwellings in deserts and oses, 2 for the they are well aware that intercourse with those of another way is unprofitable and harmful, and it was the piacrice at that time, so it seems, of those who were thus initiated to emulate the life of the prophets in zealous and warm faith. For even in the canonical Acts of the Apostles it is related that all the acquaintances of the Apostles
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sold their goods and possessions and divided them to all according as anyone had need so that none was in want among them ; and as many as were possessors οf lands or houses, so the story says, sold them and brought the price οf what had been sold and laid it at the feet of the Apostles, so that it might be divided to eaeh according as any had need.
To practices like those which have been related Philo bears witness and continues in the following words : “ The race is found in many places in the world, for it was right that both Greece and barbarism should share in perfect good, but it abounds in Εgypt in each of the so-ealled nomes and especially around Αlexandria. The noblest from every region send a colony to a district well suited for their purpose, as though it were the land of the Therapeutae. This distriet is situated above Lake Mareia 1 on a low hill, very convenient for its safety and the temperateness οf the climate." Ηe then goes on to describe the nature οf their dwellings, and says this about the churches in various districts : “ In eaeh house there is a sacred dwelling whieh is called ‘ a sanctuaq and , ' whieh they celebrate in seclusion the mysteries of the sacred life, and bring nothing into it, either drink or food or any of the other things necessary for bodily needs, but law and inspired oraeles given by the prophets and hymns and other things by which knowledge and religion are increased and perfected." Αnd further on he says : The whole period from dawn
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to eve is for them a religious exercise ; they study the sacred scriptures and expound their national philosophy by allegory, for they regard the literal interpretation as symbolic of a concealed reality indicated in what is beneath the surface. They have also some writings of men of old, who were the founders of their seet, who left many memorials οf the meaning allegorically expounded, which they use as models and copy their method of treatment.
This seems to have been said by a man who had listened to their expositions of the sacred scriptures, and it is perhaps probable that the writings of men of old, whieh he says were found among them, were the Gospels, the writings of the Apostles, and some expositinos οf prophets after the manner of the ancients, sueh as are in the Εpistle to the Ηebrews and many οther of the epistles of Ρaul. Ηe then goes on to write thus about their composition οf new psahns : “ So that they not οnly contemplate but make songs and hymns to God in all kinds of metres and melodies, though they perforce arrange them in the more sacred measures."
Ηe discusses many οther points as well in the same book, but it seemed necessary to enumerate those by whieh the charaeteristics of the life of the Church are exhibited; but if anyone doubt that what has been said is peculiar to life according to the gospel, and think that it can be applied to others besides those indicated, let him be persuaded by the following words of Philo in which he will find, if he be fair, indisputable testimony on this point. Ηe writes thus : “ Having laid down for the soul continence as a foundation they build the other virtues on it. None of them would take food οr drink before sunset, for they think that philosophy deserves the daylight and the neceSsities οf the body darkness ; for this reason they allot the day to the one, and a small part οf the night to the others. some of them neglect food for three days for the great love of knowledge dwelling in them, and some so delight and luxuriate in the banquet of doctrine, so richly and ungmdgingly presided over b y wisdom, that they abstain for twice that time, and are accustomed scareely to taste necessary food every six days."
we think that these words of Ρhilo are elear and indisputably refer to our communion. But if after this anyone obstinately deny it let him be converted from his scepticism and be persuaded by clearer indications which cannot be found among any, save only in the worship of Christians according to the Gospel. For Ρhilo says that women belong aho to those under discussion and that most οf them are aged virgins who kept their chastity from no compulsion, like some of the priestesses among the Greeks, but rather from voluntary opinion, from zeal and yearning for wisdom, with which they desired to live, and paid no attention to bdily pleasures, longing not for mortal but for immortal children, which only the soul that loves God is eapable of bearing of itself. Ηe then proceeds to expound this more elearly. “ But the interpretations of the sacred scriptures are given them figuratively in allegories, for the whole law seems to these men to be like a living being ; for a body it has the spoken precepts, but for a soul the invisible mind underlying the words ; and it is thiS which this Seet has begun espeeially to contemplate, so that in the mirror of the words it sees manifested surpassing beauty οf thought."
What need is there to add to this a description of their meetings, and of how the men live separately and the women separately in the same place, and of the customary exercises which are still celebrated among us, particularly those which we are accutomed to celebrate at the feast of the Passion of the Saviour by abstinellce from food and vigils and attention to the word οf God ? The writer referred to has given in his own writing a description οf this, which exactly agrees with the manner which is still observed by us and by us alone ; he relates the vigils for the entire night of the great feast, and the exercises during them, and the hymns which we are aecustomed to recite, and how while one sings regularly with cadenee, the rest listen in silence and join in singing only the refrain of the hymns, and how οn stated days they sleep on the ground οn straw, how they completely refrain from wine, as he expressly states, and from all kinds of Resh, drinking only water and using salt and hyssop to season their bread. In adffition to this he writes of the order of preeedence οf those who have been appointed to the service of the Church, both to the diaconate and to the supremacy of the episcopate at rile head over all. Anyone who has a love of accurate knowledge of these things can learn from the narrative of the author quoted already, and it is plain to everyone that Philo perceived and described the first heralds of teaching according to the Gospel and the customs hand down from the beginning by the Apostles.
XVIII. Philo vas rich in language and broad in thought, sublime and elevated in his views of the divine writings, and had made various and diverse his exposition of the sacred words. Ηe rirst went through the subject of the events in Genesis in connected sequence, in the book which he entitled “ The Allegories of the sacred ’’ Ηe then made detailed arrangement into chapters of the difficulties in the Scriptures and gave their statement and solution in the books to which he gave the suitable title οf “ The Problems and Solutions in Genesis and in Exodus." There are, besides this, some specially elaborated treatises of his on certain problems, such as the two books “ On Agriculture," and as many “ Οn Drunkenness," and others with various appropriate titles, such as “ The Things which the Sober Μind desires and exercrates," “ On the confusion of Tongues," “ Οn flight and Discovery," “ Οn Assembly for Instruction," and “ On the Question who is Heir of the Divine Things," or “ On the Distinction between Οdd and Even," and further “ Οn the three Virtues which Moses describes with ’’ in additon to this, “ On those whose names have been changed and why they where," in which he says that he has also composed Books I. and II. “ Οn the Covenants." There is also a book of his “ Οn Migration and the wise life of the Man initiated into Righteousness, or Unwritten Laws," and also “ Οn Giants or the Immutability of God," and Books Ι., II., III., ΙV., V., “ Οn the Divine Origin of Dreams according to Μoses.’’ These are the books which have come down to us dealing with Genesis. Οn Exodus we know books I., ΙΙ., III., ΙV., V. of his “ Ρroblems and Solutions," the book “ On the Tabernacle," and that “ Οn the Ten Commandments," and Books I., II., ΙΙΙ., ΙV., “ Οn the Laws specially referrring to; the principal divisions of the Ten Commandments," and the book “ Οn Animals for Sacrifice and the Varieties of Sacrifice," and “ Οn the Rewards fixed in the Law for the Good and the Penalties and Curses for the ’’ Ιn addition to all this there are also some single volumes of his, such as the book “ Οn Providence," and the treatise composed by him “ Οn the ’’ and “ The ’’ moreover “ Αlexander, or that irrational animals have reason." Ιn addition to this the “ That every wicked man is a slave," to which is appended the “ That every good man is free." Αfter these he composed the book “ Οn the Contemplative Life, or Suppliants," from which we have quoted the passages dealing with the life of the men of the Apostolic age, and the interpretations οf the Hebrew names in the Law and the Prophets are said to be his work. Ηe came to Rome in the time of Caius, and in the reign of Claudius is said to have read before the whole Senate of the Romans his description of the impiety of Caiu which he entitled, with fitting irony, “ Concerning Virtues," and his words were so much admired as to be granted pa lace in libraries.
Αt this time, while Ρaul was finishing his journey from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, Claudius banished the Jews from Rome, and Aquila and Priscilla, with the other Jews, left Rome and came into Αsia, and lived there with Ρaul the Apostle, while he was strengthening the foundations of the churches there which had reeently been laid by him. The sacred Scripture of the Acts teaches this also.
XIX. Νow while Claudius was still administering the Εmpire there was a riot and confusion in Jerusalem at the feast οf the Ρassover so great that, merely among those who were violently crowded together at the ways leading οut οf the temple, thirty thousand Jews perished by tramplinlg οn each other, and the feast was turned into mourning for the whole nation and into lamentation in each house. This too Josephus relates in So many words. Claudius appointed Agrippa, the child οf Αgrippa, as king of the Jews, and sent out as Ρrocurator of the whole district or samaria and Galilee, together with that called Peraea. Ηe had administered the government for thirteen years and eight months when he died and left Νero his successor in the sovereignty.
XX. In the time of Νerο, while Felix was Ρrocurator of Judaea, Josephus again relateS the quarrel of the priests with one another in the following words in a passage in the twentieth book οf the Antiquities : “ Νow a quarrel arose between the Ηigh Ρriests and the priests and leaders of the people of Jerusalem. Εach of them made for himself a band of the boldest revolutionaries, of which he was the leader, and when they met they used to abuse each other and throw stones. There was not a single one to rebuke this, but it was done with licence as though in a city without government. sueh shamelessness and audacity seized the Ηigh Priests that they ventured to Send salves to the threshing-floors to take the tithes owed to the prierts, and it was a common occurrence to see destitute priests perishing of want. Thus the violence of the factions conquered all justice."
The same writer again relates that at the same time a certain kind of bandits arose in Jerusalem, who, as he says, murdered daily those whom they met, even in the midst of the city. In particular at the feasts they used to mingle with the crowd and concealing short daggers in their clothes used to Stab distinguished people with them ; then, when they had fallen, the murderers themselves shared in the indignation. In this way they evaded discovery through the conhdence generally plaeed in them. Jonathan the Ηigh Priest was the first to be slain by them, but after him many were murdered daily, and fear was worse than the disasters, for as if in war every man was hourly expecting death.
XXI. Ηe continues his narrative after οther details as follows: : “ The Εgyprian false prophet affiicted the Jews with a worse scourge than this, for this man appeared in the country as a sorcerer and secured for himself the faith due to a prophet. Ηe assembled about thirty thousand who had been deceived and led them round from the wilderness to the mount called Olivet, where he was in a position to force an entry into Jerusalem and overpower the Roman garison and the people by a despotic use of the soldiers who had joined him. But Felix, anticipating his attaek, met him with the Roman forces, and all the people agreed in rile defenee, so that when battle was joined the Egyptian fled with a few men and the greater part of those with him were destroyed or captured."
Josepohus relates this in the second book of the Wars, but it is worth nothing what is said about the Egyptian there and in the Acts or the Apostles, where, in the time of Felix, the centurion at Jerusalem said to Ρaul, when the mob of the Jews was rioting against him, “ Αrt thou not that Egyptian who before these days made an uprorar and led out in the wilderness four thousand men of the Sicarii 1 ? ’’ Such was the course of events under Felix.
XXII. Festus was sent as his successor by Νero, and Ρaul was tried before him and taken as a prisoner to Rome ; Αristarchus was with him, and he naturally called him his fellow-prisoner in a passage in tlle Epistles. Luke also, who committed the Acts of the Apostles to writing, finished his narrative at this point by the statement that Ρaul spent two whole years in Rome in freedom, and preached the word of God without hindrance. Trdition has it that after derending himelf the Apostle was again sent
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οn the ministry of preaching, and coming a second time to the same city suffered martyrdom under Νerο. During this imprisonment he wrote the second Εpistle to Timothy, indicating at the same time that his first defence had taken place and that his martyrdom was at hand. Νοtice his testimony on this point : “ Αt my first defence," he says, “ no man was with me, but all deserted me (may it not be laid to their charge), but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me that the preaching might be fuh filled by me and all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered from the lion's mouth." Ηe clearly proves by this that on the first occasion, in order that the praching which took place through him might be fulmled, he was delivered from the lion's mouth, apparently referring to Νero thus for his feroeity. Ηe does not go on to add any such words as “ he will deliver me from the lion's mouth," for he saw in the spirit that his death was all but at hand, wherefore after the words “ And 1 was delivered from the lion's mouth," he goes on to say, “ The Lord will deliver me from all evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom," indicating his impending martrydom. Αnd this he foretells even more clearly in the same writing, saying, “ For ἴ’ am already offered up and the time of my release is at hand." Νοw in the second Epistle of those to Timothy, he states that only Luke was with him as he wrote, and at his Rrst defence not even he ; wherefore Luke probably wrote the Αcts of the Apostles at that time, carrying down his narratiVe until the time when he was with Ρaul. We have said this to show that Paul's martyrdom was not accomplished during the sojourn in Rome which Luke describes. Ρrobably at the beginning Νero’s disposition was genrier and it was easier for Ρaul’s defence on behalf of his views to be received, but as he advanced towards reckless crime the Apostles were attacked along with the rest.
XIII. When Ρaul appealed to eaesar and was sent over to Rome by Festus the Jews were disappointed of the hope in which they had laid their plot against him and turned against James, the brother of the Lord, to whom the throne of the bishopric in Jerisalem had been allotted by the Apostles. The crim which they committed was as follows. They brought him into the midst and demanded a denial of the faith in Christ before all the people, but When he, contrary to the expectation of all of them, with a loud voice and with more courage than they had expected, confessed before all the people that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the son of God. they could no longer endure his testimony, since he was by all men believed to be most righteous beeause of the height which he had reached in a life of philosophy and religion, and killed him, using anarchy as an opportunity for power since at that moment Festus had died in Judaea, leaving the district without government or procurator. The manner of James's death has been Shown by the words of Clement already quoted, narrating that he was thrown from the battlement and beaten to death with a club, but Hegesippus, who belongs to the generation after the Apostles, gives the most aceurate aeeount of him Speaking as follows in his fifth book : “ The charge of the Church passed to James the brother of the Lord, together with the Αpostles. Ηe was called the ‘ Just ’ by all men from the Lord's time to ours, since many are called James, but he was holy from his mother's womb. Ηe drank no wine or strong drink, nor did he eat flesh ; no razor went upon his head ; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not go to the baths. Ηe alone was allowed to enter into the sanctuary for he did not wear wool but linen, and he used to enter alone into the temple and be found kneeling and praying for forgiveness for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel's because of his constant worship of God, kneeling and asking forgiveness for the people. so from his excessive righteousness he was ealled the Just and Oblias, that is in Greek, ‘ Rampart of the people and righteousness,’ as the prophets deelare concerning him. Thus Some of the seven sectS among the people, who were desribed before by me (in the Commentaries), inquired of him what was the gate of Jesus,’ and he said that he was the saviour. Owing to this some believed that Jesus was the Chrirt. The sects mentioned above did not believe either in resurrection or in one who shall come to reward each according to his deeds, but as many as believed did so because of James. Νow, since many even of the rulers believved, there was a saying that the whole people was in danger of looking for Jesus a the christ. So they assembled and said since they are straying after Jesus as though he were the Messiah. We beseech you to persuade concerning Jesus all who come for the day of the Passover, over, all obey you. For we and the whole people testify to you that you are righteous and do not respect persons. cso do you persuade the crowd not to err concerning Jesus, for the whole people and we all obey you. Therefore stand on the battlement of and that your words may be audible to all the people, for because of the Passover all the tribe, with the Gentiles also, have come ’ so the scribes and Pharisees mentioned before made James stand on the battlement of the temple, and they cried out to him and said, Oh, jsut one, to whom we all owe obeffience, since the people are straying after Jesus who was crucified, tell us what is the gate of Jesus ? 7. 1 ’ Αnd he answered with a loud voice, ‘ Why do you ask me concerning the son of Man ? Ηe iS sitting in heaven on the right hand of the great power, and he will come on the clouds of haven.’ Αnd many were convinced and confessed 2 at the testimony of
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James and said, ‘ Hosanna to the son of Then again the same seribes and Ρharisees said to one another, ‘ We did wrong to provide Jesus with such testimony, but let us go up and throw him down that they may be afraid and not believe him. Αnd they cried out saying, ‘ Oh, oh, even the just one ’ Αnd they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, 1 ‘ Let us take the just man for he is unprofitable to us. Yet they shall eat the fruit of their works.' So they went up and threw down the Just, and they said to one another, ‘ Let us stone James the ’ and they began to stone him since the fall had not killed him, but he turned and knelt saying, ‘I beseech thee, Ο ·Lord, God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they ’ Αnd while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Reehab, the son of Rechabim,2 to whom Jeremiah the prophet bore witness, cried out saying, ‘ Stop ! what are you doing ? The Just is praying for ’ Αnd a certain man among them, one of the laundrymen, took the club with which he used to beat out the clothes, and hit the Jurt on the head, and so he suffered martyrdom. Αnd they buried him on the spot by the temple, and his gravestone stone still remains by the temple. He beeame a true witness both to Jews and to Greeks that Jesus is the Chrisband at once Vespasian began to beriege them."
This account is given at length by Hegesippus, but in agreement with Clement. Thus it seems that James was indeed a remarkable man and ramous among all for righteousness, so that the wise even οf the Jews thought that this was the cause of the siege of Jemsalem immediately after his martyrdom, and that it happened for no other reason than the crime which they had committed against him.
of course Josephus did not shrink from giving written testimonyp to this, as follows : “ And theSe things happened to the Jews to avenge JameS the Just, who was the brother of Jesus the so-called christ, for the Jews killed him in spite of his great righteousness." 1 The same writer also narrates his death in the twentieth book of the Antiquities as follows : “ Νow when Caesar heard οf the death of Festus he sent Albinus as governor to Judaea, but the younger Αnanus, who, as we said, had received the Ηigh Priesthood, was bold in temperament and remarkably daring. Ηe followed the Seet of the sadducees, who are cruel in their judgements beyond all the Jews, as we have already explained. nus his eharacter led Αnanus to think that he had a suitable opportunity through the faet that Festus was dead and Albinus still on his way. Ηe sum- moned a council of judges, brought before it the brother of Jesus, the so-ealled Christ, whose name was James, and some otherS, on the accusation of breaking the law and delivered them to be stoned. But all who were reputed the most reasonable of the citizens and strict observers of the law were
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angered at this and sent secretly to the Emperor,
begging him to write to Αnanus to give up doing such things, for they said that he had not aeted rightly from the very beginning. Αnd some of them also went to meet Albinus as he journeyed from Alexandria, and explriaIned that it was illegal for Αnanus to assemble the council without his permission. Albinus was influenced by what was said and wrote angrily to Αnanus threatening him with penalties, and for this reason King Agrippa deprived him of the Ηigh Ρriesthood when he had held it for three months, and appointed Jesus the son of Dammaeus." Such is the story of James, whose is said to be the first of the Εpistles ealled Catholic. It is to he observed that its authenticity is denied, since few of the ancients quote it, as is also the case with the Epistle ealled ’s, which is itseK one of the seven called Catholie ; nevertheless we know that these letters have been used publicly with the rest in most churehes.
begging him to write to Αnanus to give up doing such things, for they said that he had not aeted rightly from the very beginning. Αnd some of them also went to meet Albinus as he journeyed from Alexandria, and explriaIned that it was illegal for Αnanus to assemble the council without his permission. Albinus was influenced by what was said and wrote angrily to Αnanus threatening him with penalties, and for this reason King Agrippa deprived him of the Ηigh Ρriesthood when he had held it for three months, and appointed Jesus the son of Dammaeus." Such is the story of James, whose is said to be the first of the Εpistles ealled Catholic. It is to he observed that its authenticity is denied, since few of the ancients quote it, as is also the case with the Epistle ealled ’s, which is itseK one of the seven called Catholie ; nevertheless we know that these letters have been used publicly with the rest in most churehes.
XXIV. In the eighth year of the reign οf Νero Αnnianus was the nrst after Mark the Evangelist to receive charge of the ffiocese 2 of Alexandria.
XXV. When the rule of Νero was now gathering strenght for unholy objects he began to take up arms against the worship of the Good οf the universe. Ιt is not part of the present work to describe his depravity : many indeed have related his story in accurate nauative, and from them he who wishes can study
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the perversity of his degenerate madness, which made him compass the unreasonable destruction of so many thousands, until he reached that Bnal guilt οf sparing neither his nearest nor dearest, so that in various ways he did to death alike his mother, brothers, and wife, with thousands of others attached to his family, as though they were enemies and foes. nut with all this there was still lacking to him thi μ’ that it should be attributed to him that he was the nrst οf the emperors to be pointed out as a foe of divine religion. This again the Latin writer Tertullian mentions in one place as follows : “ Look at your records : there you will Rnd that Νero was the nrst to persecute this belief when, haring overcome the whole Εast, he was speeially cruel in Rome against all. 1 We boast that sueh a man was the author of our chastisement ; for he who knows him can understand that nothing would have been condemned by Kero had it not been great and good."
In this way then was he the Rrst to be heralded as above all a fighter against God, and raised up to slaughter against the Apostles. It is related that in his time Ρaul was beheaded in Rome itselr, and that Ρeter likewise was crucified, and the title οf “ Ρeter and Ρaul,’’ which is still given to the cemeteries there, confirms the story, no less than does a writer οf the Church named caius, who lived when Zefyrinus was bishop οf Rome. Caius in a written discussion with Ρroclus, the leader οf the Montanists,1 speaks as follows οf the places where the sacred rellics of the Apostles in question are depoSited : “ But I can point οut the trophies of the Αpostles, for if you will go to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way you will find the trophies οf those who founded thiS ’’
Αnd that they both were martyred at the same time Dionysius, bishop οf Corinth, affirms in this passage of his correspondenee wtih the Romans : “ By so great an admonition you bound together the foundations of the Romans and Corinthians by Ρeter and Ρaul, for both of them taught together in our corinth and were our founders, and together also taught in Italy in the Same place and were mart yred at the same ’’ Αnd this may serve to conRrm still further the facts narrated.
Αnd that they both were martyred at the same time Dionysius, bishop οf Corinth, affirms in this passage of his correspondenee wtih the Romans : “ By so great an admonition you bound together the foundations of the Romans and Corinthians by Ρeter and Ρaul, for both of them taught together in our corinth and were our founders, and together also taught in Italy in the Same place and were mart yred at the same ’’ Αnd this may serve to conRrm still further the facts narrated.
XXVI. Josephus in the courSe of hiS extremely detailed description of the cataStrophe which overcame the whole Jewish raee, in addition to many other things explains exactly how many thousand Jews οf high rank in Jerusalem itself were outraged, Seourged, and crucified by FloruS, and that he was procurator of Judaea when it happened that the beginning of the war blamd up in the twelfth year of the reign of Νero. Ηe next says that throughout syria terrible disturbances followed the revolt οf the Jews. Εverywhere the Gentiles mercilessly attaeked
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the Jews in the ciues as though they were foes, so that the cities could be seen full οf unburied bodies, thrown out dead, old men and children, and women without covering for their nakedness ; the whole province was full of indescribable misery and the strain of the threats for the future was worse than the crimes of the Ρresent. This Josephus narrates, and such was the cond1tion οf the Jews.
Ecclesiastical History. Eusebius. Kirsopp Lake (Translator), J. E. L. Oulton (Translator). Germany. 2014.
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