Historia Ecclesiastica

XXXII. Αfter Νero and Domitian tradition says that under the Emperor whose times we are now describing persecution was raised against us sporadically, in some cities, from pupular risings. We have learnt that in it Symeon, the son οf Clopas, whom we showed to have been the second hishop of the church at Jerusalem, ended his life in martyrdom. The witness for this is that same Hegesippus, of whom we have already quoted several passages. Αfter speaking of certain hereties he goes on to explain how Symeon was at this time accused by them and for many days was tortured in various manners for being a Christain, to the great astonishment of the judge and those with him, until he suffered an end like that of the Lord. But there is nothing better than to listen to the historian who tells these facts as follows. “ some οf these (that

The same writer says that other grandsons of one of the so-called brethren of the saviour named Judas survived to the same reign after they had given in the time of Domitian the testimony already recorded of them in behalf of the faith in Christ. Ηe writes thus: “ They came therefore and presided over every chureh as witnesses belonging to the Lord's family, and when there was complete peace in every cherch they survived until the reign of the Emperor Trajan, until the time when the son of the Lord's uncle, 2 the aforesaid Simon the son of Clopas, was similarly accused by the sects on the same charge before Atticus the Consular. Ηe was tortured for many days and gave hiS witness, so that all, even the consular, were extremely surprised how, at the age of one hundred and twenty, he endured, and he was eommanded to be ” Besides this the Same writer, explaining the events [*](2 Ηe was the brother of Joseph ; see iii. 11. 1.)

XXXIII. The persecution which at that time was extended against us in many places was so great that Plinius secundus, one of the most distinguished governors, was disturbed at the number of the martyrs, and reported to the Emperor the number of those being put to death for the faith, and in the same document mentioned that he understood them to do nothing wicked or illegal except that they rose at dawn to sing to Christ as though a God, and that they themselves forbade adultery, murder and similar terrible crimes, and that they did eVerything in obedienee to the law. In answer to this Trajan issued a decree to the effect that the tribe of Christians should not be sought for but punished when it was met with. By this means the imminent threat of persecution was extinguished to some extent, but none the less opportunities remained to those who wished to harm

XXXIV. In the third year of the afore-mentioned emperor, Clement handed over the ministry of the bishops of Rome to Evarestos and departed this life, having been in charge of the teaching of the diving word for nine years.

XXXV. Μoreover, when Symeon suffered martyrdom in the manner already deseribed a certian Jew named Justus, who was one of the many thousands of the circumcision who by that time had belived on [*](1 The Greek word means knowledge which is meaningless and clearly a mistaken translation of the Latin. Tertullian wrote disciplinam.)

XXXVI. Αt this time there flourished in Asia Polycarp, the companion of the Apostles, who had been appointed to the bishopric of the church in Smyrna by The eyewitnesses and ministers of the Lord. Distinguished men at the same time were Papias, who was himself bishop of the diocese of Hierapolis, and Ignatius, still a name of note to most men, the second after Ρeter to succeed to the bishopric of Antioch. The story goes that he was sent from Syria to Rome to be eaten by beasts in testimony to Christ. Ηe was taken through Asia under most careful guard, and strengthened by his speech and exhortation the diocese of eaeh city in which he stayed. Ηe particularly warned them to be on their guard against the heresies which then for the first time were beginning to obtain, and exhorted them to hold fast to the tradition of the Apostles, to which he thought necessary, for safety's sake, to give the form of written testimony. Thus while he was in Smyrna where Polycarp was, he wrote one letter to the church at Ephesus, mentioning their pastor Onesimus, and another to the church at Mangnessia on the Meander (and here, too, he mentioned the bishop Damas), and another to the church in Tralles, of which he relates that Polybius was then the ruler. In addition to these he also wrote to the churcb at Rome, and to it he extended the request that they should not deprive him of the hope for which he longed by begging him off from his martyrdom. It

This he put into words from the city mentioned to the churehes named. When he had already passed beyond Smyrna he also again conversed in writing from Troas with those in Philadelphia and with the church of the Smyrnaeans, and especially with Polycarp who was then the head of this church. Ηe knew well that Polycarp was an apostolic man and like a true and good shepherd commends the flock at Antioch to him, asking him to be zealous in his care for it. Ηe also wrote to the Smyranaeans quoting words from I know not what source and discoursing thus about Christ: “ For I know and believe that

Ιrenaeus also knew of his martyrdom and quotes his letters saying thus : “ Αs one of the Christians said when he was condemned to the beaSts as testimony for God, ‘ Ι am the wheat of God and Ι am ground by the teeth of beasts that I may be found pure bread.’”

Ρolycarp, too, mentions these same things in the letter to the Philippians bearing his name and says: “ Νow I beseech you all to obey the word of righteousness, and to practise all the endurance which you also saw before your eyes, not only in the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in others among yourselves, and in Pual himself, and in the other Apostles; being persuaded that all of these ‘ ran not in vain, ’ but in faith and righteousness, and that they are with the Lord in the ‘ place whieh is their ’ with whom they also suffered. For they did not ‘ love this present world ’ but him who died on our behalf, and was raised by God for our ” Αnd he continues later, “ Both you and Ignatius wrote to me that if anyone was going to Syria he shovld also take your letters Ι will do this if Ι have a convenient opportunity, either myself or the man whom Ι am sending as a representative for you and me. We send you, as you asked, the letters of Ιgnatius, which were sent to us by him, and others which we had by us These are subjoined

XXXVII. Among those who were famous at this time was also Quadratus, of whom traffition says that he shared vith the daughters of Philip the ffistinc- tion of a prophetic gift. Αnd many others besides them were well known at this time and take the first rank in the Apostolic succession. These pious foundations οf the churches laid by the Apostles. They spread the preaching and scattered the saving seeds of the kingdom of Heaven, sowing them broad- cast through the whole world. Many of those then disciples, smitten in the soul by the divine Logos with an ardent passion for the love of wisdom,1 first fulfilled the Saviour's command and distributed their property to the needy, then, starting on their ourney, took up the work of evangelists and were zealous to preach to all who had not yet heard the word of the faith, and to transmit the writhing of the divine Gospels. Αs soon as they had no more than laid the foundations of the faith in some strange place, they appointed others as shepherds and had been just brought in, but they themselves passed on again to other lands and peoples, helped by the grace and co-operation of God, seeing that [*](1 The Greek wordd is “ philosophy ’’ ; but Eusebius does not mean metaphysics.)

It is impossible for us to give the number and the names of all who first succeeded the Apostles, and were shepherds or evangelists in the churches throughout the world. It was, therefore, natural for us to recorded by name the memory only of those of whom the tradition still surviveS to our time by their treatises on the Apostolic teaching.

XXXVIII. such writings, of course, were the letters of Ignatius of which we gave the list, and the Εpistle of Clement which is recognized by all, which he wrote in the name of the church of the Romans to that οf the Corinthians. In this he has many thoughts parallel to the Εpistle to the Ηebrews, and aetuahy makes some verbal quotations from it showing elearly that it was not a recent production, and for this reason, too, it has seemed natural to include it among the οther writings of the Apostle. For Ρaul had Spoken in writing to the Ηebrews in their native language, and some say that the evangelist Luke, others that this same Clement translated the writing. Αnd the truth οf this would be supported by the similarity of style preserved by the Epistle of Clement and that to the Hebrewss, and by the little difference between the thoughts in both writings.

It must be known that there is also a second [*](1 so Wendland: the Mss. read ἐνήργουν.)

XXXIX. Thus the recognized writing of Clement is well known and the works of Ignatius and Polycarp have been spoken οf, and of Papias five treatises are extant which have also the title of “ Interpretation οf the oracles of the ” These are also mentioned by Irenaeus as though his οnly writing, for he says in οne place, “ “To these things also Ρapias, the hearer of John, who was a comanion of Ροlycarp and one of the ancients, 2 bears witness in writing in the fourth of his books, for five books were composed by ” so says Irenaeus. Yet Ρapias himself, according to the preface of his treatises, makes plain that he had in no way been a hearer and eyewitness of the sacred Αpostles, but teaches that he had received the articles of the faith from those who had known them, for he speaks as follows : “ Αnd I shall not hesitate to append to the interpretations all that I ever learnt well from the presbyters and remember well, for of their truth I am conndent. For unlike most I did not rejoice in them who say much, but in them who teach the truth, nor in [*](3 “Ρrimitive’’ would perhaps be a better rendering for the Greek, which at Ιeast sometimes seems to mean a man who belonged to “the ” Cf. the application οf the adjective to Mnason ἀρχαίῳ μαθητῇ) in Αcts xxi. 16)

It is here worth nothing that he twiee counts the name of John, and reckons the first John with Ρeter and James and Matthew and the other Αpostles, clearly the the evangelist, but by changing his statement Ρlaces the seeond with the others outside the number of the Αpostles, putting Αristion Before him and clearly calling him a presbyter. This confirms the truth οf the story of those who have said that there were twp of the same name in Αsia, and that there are two tombs at Εphesus both still called John's. This calls for attention: for it is probable that the second (unless anyone prefer the fonner) saw the revelation which passes under the name οf John The Papias whom we are now treating confesses that he had received the words of the Αpostles from their followers, but says that he had aetually heard Αristion and the presbyter John. Ηe often quotes them by name and gives [*](1 Thc meaning οf the Greek is doubrtul ; see Jackson and Lake, Beginnings of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 501.) [*](1 Cf. vii. 25. 16 (excerpt from Dionysios).)

In the same writing he also quotes other interpretations of the words οf the Lord given by the Aristion mentioned above and traditions of John the presbyter. To them we may dismiss the studious; but we are now obliged to append to the words already quoted from him a tradtion about the Mark who wrote the Gospel, which he expounds as follows. “ Αnd the Presbyter used to say tffihls, Mark became Ρeter’s interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not, indeed, in order, of the things said or done by the Lord. For he had not heard the Lord, nor had he followed him, but later on, as I said, followed Ρeter, who used to give teaching as necessity demanded but not making, as it were, an auangement of the Lord's oracles, so that Mark did nothing wrong in thus writing down single Ρoints as he remembered them. For to one tHhIng he gave attention, to leave out nothing of what he had heard and to make no false statements in them.' " This is related by Ρapias about Mark, and about Matthew this was said, “ Matthew collected the oracles in the Ηebrew language, and eaeh interpreted them as best he could.”

The same writer used quotations from the rirrt Epistle οf John, and likewise also from that or Ρeter, and has expounded another Story about a woman who was accused before the Lord of many sins, which the Gospel according to the Ηebrews contains. Let this suffice us in addition to the extracts made.

CΟΝTEΝTS OF BΟΟΚ IV

The contents of the fourth book of the History of the Church is as follows:

Ι. Who were the bishops of Rome and Alexandria in the reign of Trajan.

II. What the Jews suffered in his time.

III. The apologistes for Christianity in the time of Ηadrian.

ΙV. The bishops of Rome and Alexandria in his time.

V. The bishops of Jerusalem, beginning from the Saviour down to the time mentioned.

VI. The last siege of the Jews under Hadrian.

VII. Who were the leaders of knowlege, falsely so-called, at that rime.

VIII. Who are the writers fo the church.

IX. Αletter of Hadrian to the effect that we must not be persecuted without being tried.

X. Who were thc bishops of Rome and Alexandria in the reign of Antoninus.

XI. Oh the leaders οf heresy in their times.

XII. On the apology of Justin to Antoninus.

XIII. Α letter of Antoninus to the Council of Asia On Our religion.

XIV. The story of Polycarp who had known the apostle.

XV. How in the time of Verus Polycarp with others was martyred in the city os Smyrna.

XVI. How Justin the philosopher was martyred in the city of Rome as an ambassador for the word of Christ.

XVII. On the martyrs whom Justin mentions in his own writings.

XVIII. What writings of Justin have come down to us.

XIX. Who were the leaders of the churcbes of Rome and Alexandria in the reign of Verus.

XX. Who were the bishops Of Antioch.

XXI. Οn tbe ecclesiastical writers who were famous in their time.

XXII. On Hegesippus and vbat he relates.

XXIII. Οn Dionysius, the bishop of Corinth, and the letters which he wrote.

XXIV. Οn Theophilus, hishop of Antioch.

XXV. Οn Philip and Modestus.

XXVI. Οn Melito and the statements which he makes.

XXVII. Οn Apolinarius.

XXVIII. On Musanus.

XXIX. Οn the heresy of Tatian.

XXX. Οn Bardesanes the Syrian and his extant books.

BOOK IV

I. ABOUT the tweKth y ear of the reign of Trajan 1 the bishop 2 of the ffiocese of Alexandria, whom we men- tioned a little earlier, passed away, and Primus, the fourth from the Apostles, received the charge of those in that place. Αt this time, too, at Rome Alexander, when Evarestus had completed his eighth year, was the Rfth to succeed Feter and Paul, and took up the bishopric.

II. While the teaching of our Saviour and the church were nourishing daily and moving on to further progress the tragedy of the Jews was reaching the climax of successive woes. Ιn the course of the eighteenth year 3 οf the reign of the Emperor a rebellion of the Jews again broke out and destroyed a great multitude of them. For both in Alexandria and in the rest of Egypt and especially in Cyrene, as though they had been seized by some terrible spirit of rebellion, they rushed into sedition against their Greek fellow clblens, and increasing the seope of the rebellion in the following year started a great war while Lupus was governor of all Egypt. 4 In the nrst engagement they happened to overcome [*](1 A. D. 109. 2 Cerdon, cf. iii. 21. 3 A. D. 115. 4 Cf. Cassius, lxviii. 32 and lxix. 12 f.)

III. When Trajan had reigned for nineteen and a half years Aelius Hadrian succeeded 3 to the sovereignty To him Quadratus addressed a treatise, composing a defence for our religion because some wicked men were trying to trouble the Christians. It is still extant among many of the brethren and we have a copy ourselves. From it can be seen the clear proof οf his intellect and apostle orthodoxy. Ηe shows his early date by what he says as follows [*](1 Dio Cassius (lxviii. 32) gives his name as Andreas.) [*](2 Εxcept for Dio Cassius these cannot be identffied.) [*](3 A.D. 117.)

IV. In the tffihlrd year οf the same reign 2 Alexander, the bishop of the Romans, ffied after eompleting the tenth year of his ministry; Xystus was his successor. Αnd at the same time, in the diocese of the Alexandrians, Justus succeeded Primus, who died in the twelfth year of his rule.

v. 1 have not found any written statement of the dates of the bishops in Jerusalem, for tradition says that they were extremely short-lived, but 1 have gathered from documents this much —that up to the siege of the Jews by Ηadrian the successions οf bishops were fifteen in number. It is said that they were all Ηebrews by origin who had nobly accepted the knowledge of Christ, so that they were counted worthy even of the episcopal ministry by those who had the power to judge such questions. For their whole church at that time consisted of Ηebrews who [*](1 The Syriac text was dicovered by J. Rendel Harris οn Mt. sinai and published by him in Texts and Studies, i. 1. see Introduction p. xlix.) [*](2 A.D. 120.)

VI. The rebellion of the Jews 1 once more progressed in character and extent, and Rufus, the governor of Judaea, when military aid had been sent him by the Emperor, moved out against them, treating their madness without mercy. He destroyed in heaps thousands of men, women, and children, and, under the law of war, enslaved their land. The Jews were at rilat time led by a certain Bar Chochebas, 2 which means “star,” a man who was [*](1 Cf. Dio Cassius, lxix. 12–14.) [*](2 Literall v “son of a star.” with a prbable reference to Numbers xxiv. 17. After his defeat the Jews called him Bar Choziba “son of a lie.”)

VII. Like brilliant lamps the churches were noW shining throughout the World, and Faith in our saViour and Lord Jesus Christ was flourishing among all mankind, when the devil who hates what is good, as the enemy of truth, ever most hostile to man's salvation, turned all his devices against the church. [*](1 It has not been identified.) [*](2 The book is not extand.)

Nevertheless, at the time spoken of, the truth again brought forward for itself more champions Who campaigned against the godless heresies not only by unwritten arguments but also in written demonstrations.

VIII. Among these Hegesippus was famous and of his words we have already made much use, for from his traffition we have quoted details as to the apostolic age. Ηe collected his material 1 in hve books, giving in the simplest style of writing the unerring tradition of the apostolic preaching. Ηe indicates the time in which he flourished by writing thus about those who had made idols : “To them they made cenotaphs and shrines until now, and among them is Antinous, a slave of the Emperor Hadrian, in whose honour the Antinoian games are held, though he was our contemporary. For he also built a city called after Antious, and instituted prophets for ” Αt the same time too, Justm; a genuine lover of true philosophy, was still continuing to practise the learning of the Greeks. And he also himself indicates this period in his Apology to Antoninus by writing thus, “And we thought it not out of place to mention at this point Antinous of the present day whom all were intimidated to worship as a god, though they knew his nature and origin.”

The same writer mentions the war of that time against the Jews and makes this observation, “For in the present Jewish war it was only Christians whom nar Chocheba, the leader of the rebellion of the Jews, commanded to be punished severely, if they did not deny Jesus as the Messiah and blaspheme him.”

In the same book he shows that his conversion from Greek philosophy to true religion did not take place irrationally, but as an act of deliberate judgment; for he writes thus : “For I myself, while I was rejoicing in the teaching of Plato, heard the Christians abused. But 1 saw that they were afraid neither of death, nor οf anything usually thought feadul, and I considered it was impossible that they were living in wickedness and liberinism. For what libertine or incontinent person, or οne who ands good in the eating of human flesh, could greet death, that it might take away all his lusts, and would not try to prolong by all means his present life and to avoid the notice οf the rulers, and not give himself up to be murdered ?”

Moreover, the same writer relates that Hadrian received a dispatch in favour of the Christians from Serennius Graninaus, a most distinguished governor, to the effect that it was not just to put them to death, without accusation or trial, to appease popular clamour, and that he wrote an answer to Minucius Fundanus, proconsul of Asia, οrdering him to try no one without inffictment and reasonable accusation, and Justin appends a copy of the letter, preserring the original Latin 1 as he had it, and prefixing these [*](1 This is not so in the extant Ms. οf Justin, which has replaced the Latin by the Greek οf Eusebius. The authem ticity οf the document has been warmly disputed, and there is not yct any agreement οn the point among critics.)

The author quoted then appends the Latin rescript itself, but we have translated it to the best of our power into Greek as follows :

ΙX. “To Minucius Fundanus. I reeeived a letter written to me from his Excellency Serennius Granianus, your predeeessor. 1 think that the matter ought not to remain without inquiry, to prevent men from being harassed or helping the rascality of informers. If then the provincials can make out a clear case οn these lines against the Christians so as to plead it in open court, let them be influenced by this alone and not by opinions or mere outeries. For it is far more correct if anyone wishes to make an accusation for you to examine this point. If then anyone accuses them, and shows that they are acting illegally, deeide the point according to the nature of the offence, but by Hercules, if anyone brings the matter forward for the purpose of blackmail, investigate gate strenuously and be careful to inffict penalties adequate to the ” 1 Such was the rescript of Hadrian.

X. After twenty-one years Hadrian paid the debt of nature, aud Antoninus, called Pius, received the sovereignty of ROnle. In his first year Telesphorus passed away in the eleventh year of his ministry, and Hyginus received the lot of the bishopric of the Romans. Irenaeus relates that Telesphorus gained renown in his death by martyrdom, and states in the same place that in the time of Hyginus, the aforementioned bishop of Rome, Valentinus, the founder of a special heresy, and Cerdo, the founder of the Marcionite error, were both famous in Rome Ηe writes thus thus:

XI. “Valentinus came to Rome in the time of Hyginus, but he flourished under pius, and remained until Anicetus, and Cerdo, who before the time of Marcion, in the days of Hyginus, the ninth bishop, had cOme tO the church and confessed, went on in the same way, sometimes teaching heresy, sometimes confesslng again, and somerimes convicted by his evil teaching and separated from the assembly of the ” This he says in the third book against the heresies. Moreover, in the first book he makes the following statement about Cerdo: “Α certain Cerdo had come originally from the circle of Simon and settled in Rome in the time of Hyginus, who held the ninth plaee in the apostolic succession from the apostles. Ηe tauglrt that the God preached by the Law and the Prophets was not the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the one was known, the other unknown, the one vas righteous and the other

The same Irenaues powerfully exposed the bottomless pit οf the system of Valentinus with its many errors, and unbared his secret and latent wickedness while he was lurking like a reptile. Furthermore he says that there was in their time 1 another named Mareus, most experieneed in the magie arts, and he writes of his initiations, whieh could not initiate, and of his foul mysteriesp expounffing them in these words : “Some of them conStruct a bride-ehamber, and celebrate a mystery with certain invocations on their initiate, and say that what they do is a spiritual marriage, according to the likeness of the unions above ; others bring them to water and baptize them with this invocation, ‘To the name of the unknown Father of the universe, to Truth, the mother of all things, to him who descended into ’ and others invoke Ηebrew words in order more fully to amaze the initiate.”

Αfter the fourth year of his episeopate Hyginus died and Ρius undertook the ministry of Rome. Ιn Αlexandria Marcus was appointed after Εumenes had completed thirteen years, and when Μarcus rerted from the ministry after ten years, Celadion received the ministry of the ehurch of the Alexandria. In the city of the Romans Ρius paSSed away in the Rfteenth year of his ministry and Anicetus presided over those there. In his time [*](l Apparently “in the time of Valentinus and Cerdo.”) [*](2 The play οn the words in the Greek is untranslahble.)

The same Justin laboured powerfully against the Oentiles, and addressed other arguments, affording a defence for our faith, to the Emperor Antoninus, called Ρius, and to the senate of the Romans, for he was living in Rome. In his Apology he explains his position and origin as follows: