Church History (Book 5 – Book 6)

Church History

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Chapter 20

The Writings of Irenaeus Against the Schismatics at Rome.

1 Irenaeus also wrote several letters against those at Rome who were corrupting the sound order of the Church. One he addressed to Blastus, On Schism. Another he addressed to Florinus, On Monarchy, or That God Is Not the Maker of Evils, since Florinus seemed to be defending that opinion. Florinus was later drawn away into the error of Valentinus, and because of him Irenaeus also wrote his work On the Ogdoad. In it he points out that he himself had reached the first generation after the apostles.^[167] 2 Near the end of that work we found a most charming note by Irenaeus, and we must include it here. It reads: “I adjure you who will copy this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his glorious coming, when he comes to judge the living and the dead: compare what you have copied, and correct it carefully against the manuscript you copied from. Copy this oath as well, and put it in your copy.” [2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5]

4 Let these words of his be useful to us, and let us record them, so that we may have those ancient and truly holy men as an excellent example of the most earnest care. In the letter to Florinus that we mentioned, Irenaeus again recalls his time with Polycarp, saying: “These teachings, Florinus, to put it with restraint, are not of sound judgment. These teachings are out of harmony with the Church, and throw those who believe them into the greatest ungodliness. Not even the heretics outside the Church have ever dared to put forward these teachings. These teachings were not handed down to you by the presbyters before us, who had also studied together with the apostles.^[168] 6 “For I saw you when I was still a boy, in lower Asia, with Polycarp. You were doing splendidly in the royal court and trying to win his good opinion. I remember the events of those days better than those of recent years. What we learn as children grows with the soul and becomes one with it. So I can tell you the very place where blessed Polycarp sat when he talked, and his comings and goings, his manner of life, his physical appearance, and the talks he gave to the crowds. I can tell how he described his dealings with John and with the others who had seen the Lord, how he recalled their words, and what he had heard from them about the Lord, about his miracles and his teaching. Polycarp had received it all from eyewitnesses of the life of the Word, and he reported everything in agreement with the Scriptures. [1 John 1:1; Luke 1:2]

7 “By God’s mercy to me, I listened eagerly to these things even then. I wrote them down not on paper but in my heart, and by God’s grace I continually go over them again, faithfully. I can testify before God that if that blessed apostolic presbyter had heard anything of this kind, he would have cried out, stopped his ears, and said as he usually did, ‘O good God, to what times have you kept me, that I should put up with this!’ And he would have fled from the very place where he had been sitting or standing when he heard such words. 8 “This can also be shown from the letters he sent, either to the neighboring churches to strengthen them, or to some of the brothers to warn and encourage them.” So says Irenaeus.

Chapter 21

How Appolonius Suffered Martyrdom at Rome.

1 About the same time, in the reign of Commodus, our circumstances changed for the gentler. By God’s grace, peace came over the churches throughout the whole world. The saving Word was then bringing souls from every race of people to the devout worship of the God of the universe. So now many at Rome who were very prominent in wealth and family were turning, with their whole households and relatives, toward their own salvation. 3 But the demon who hates what is good, and is envious by nature, could not bear this. He stripped for the contest again and devised various schemes against us. In the city of Rome he had Apollonius brought to court. Apollonius was a believer of that time, famous for his education and philosophy. The demon did this by stirring up one of his servants who was suited to such work to accuse him. But the wretched man had come to the trial at the wrong time. An imperial decree said that informers against such people were not allowed to live, so his legs were broken at once, the judge Perennius having given that sentence against him.

5 The martyr, who was deeply loved by God, was earnestly urged by the judge and asked to give an account of himself before the Senate. Before them all he gave a most eloquent defense of the faith for which he was bearing witness. Then, as though by decree of the Senate, he was put to death by beheading. An ancient law among them held that those who had once appeared before the court and in no way changed their purpose were never to be released. Anyone who wants to know his words before the judge, his answers to the questions of Perennius, and his whole defense before the Senate will find them in the account of the ancient martyrdoms that we have collected.

Chapter 22

The Bishops that Were Well Known at This Time.

In the tenth year of the reign of Commodus, Victor succeeded Eleutherus, who had served as bishop for thirteen years. In the same year Julian completed his tenth year over the churches of Alexandria, and Demetrius was entrusted with them. At this time Serapion, whom I have already mentioned, the eighth bishop of the church of Antioch from the apostles, was still well known. Theophilus led the church at Caesarea in Palestine. Narcissus, whom my account has also mentioned before, still held his office in the church at Jerusalem. About the same time Bacchylus was bishop of Corinth in Greece, and Polycrates of the church at Ephesus. As one would expect, countless others were also prominent in those days. But I have listed by name only those whose written statement of the orthodox faith has come down to us.

Chapter 23

The Question Then Agitated Concerning the Passover.

1 No small controversy arose at this time. All the churches of Asia, following what they took to be an older tradition, thought they should keep the fourteenth day of the moon for the feast of the Saviour’s Passover. This was the day on which the Jews had been told to sacrifice the lamb. They held that, whatever day of the week it fell on, they must end their fast on that day. But the churches in the rest of the world did not have this custom. They kept the practice that has prevailed to this day by apostolic tradition, that the fast should end on no day other than the day of our Saviour’s resurrection. 3 Synods and gatherings of bishops were held on this matter. With one mind they all set out, in letters, a decision for the church everywhere: that the mystery of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead should be celebrated on no day other than the Lord’s day, and that on that day alone we should end the Passover fasts. A writing is still in circulation from those who then met in Palestine, over whom Theophilus, bishop of the church at Caesarea, and Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, presided. There is likewise another from those at Rome on the same question, which names Victor as bishop. There is one from the bishops in Pontus, over whom Palmas presided as the eldest, and one from the churches in Gaul, over which Irenaeus was bishop.

4 There is also one from the bishops of Osrhoene and its cities, and a personal letter from Bacchylus, bishop of the church of Corinth, along with very many others. They all expressed one and the same opinion and judgment, and cast the same vote. Their decision was a single one, as I have stated.

Chapter 24

The Disagreement in Asia.

2 The bishops of Asia insisted that they must keep the custom handed down to them long before. Polycrates led them. In the letter he wrote to Victor and the church of Rome, he set out the tradition that had come down to him in these words: “We, then, keep the day without tampering, neither adding nor taking away. For great lights have fallen asleep in Asia too, and they will rise on the day of the Lord’s coming, when he comes with glory from heaven and will raise all the saints. They include Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who has fallen asleep in Hierapolis, and his two daughters, who grew old as virgins. His other daughter lived her life in the Holy Spirit and rests at Ephesus. 5 “And there is also John, who leaned back on the Lord’s chest, who became a priest wearing the priestly plate, and was a witness and a teacher. He has fallen asleep at Ephesus. There is also Polycarp at Smyrna, both bishop and martyr, and Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumeneia, who has fallen asleep in Smyrna. Why should I mention Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who has fallen asleep in Laodicea? Or the blessed Papirius, or Melito the eunuch, who lived his whole life in the Holy Spirit? He lies in Sardis, waiting for the visitation from heaven, when he will rise from the dead.”^[169] [John 13:25; John 21:20; Exodus 28:36]

7 “All these men kept the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the Gospel. They did not depart from it in any way, but followed the rule of faith. I too, Polycrates, the least of you all, follow the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. Seven of my relatives were bishops, and I am the eighth. My relatives always kept the day when the people put away the leaven. So, brothers, I have been sixty-five years in the Lord. I have conferred with the brothers from all over the world, and I have read through all of Holy Scripture. I am not frightened by those who try to intimidate us. For those greater than I have said, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’”^[170] [Acts 5:29] 9 Then, writing about all the bishops who were with him and shared his view, he adds: “I could mention the bishops who were present, whom you asked me to summon, and I did summon them. If I wrote down their names, they would be a great crowd. They saw how insignificant I am, yet they agreed with this letter. They knew that I have not worn gray hair for nothing, but have always lived my life in the Lord Jesus.” At this, Victor, who led the church of Rome, tried to cut off at one stroke the churches of all Asia, together with the neighboring churches, from the common unity, on the ground that they held wrong teaching. He denounced them in letters and proclaimed that all the brothers there were completely excommunicated.

11 But not all the bishops agreed with this. They urged him in return to think of peace, and of unity and love toward their neighbors. Their words are still preserved, and they rebuke Victor rather sharply. Among them was Irenaeus. He wrote in the name of the brothers in Gaul whom he led. He held that the mystery of the Lord’s resurrection should be celebrated only on the Lord’s day. But he also gave Victor much fitting advice: he should not cut off whole churches of God that kept a tradition of ancient custom. Among other things he wrote the following, in these very words: 13 “For the dispute is not only about the day, but also about the manner of the fast itself. Some think they should fast one day, some two, some more. Others count their ‘day’ as forty hours, day and night together. This variety among those who keep the fast did not begin in our time. It goes back long before us, to our forefathers. They probably did not hold strictly to accuracy, and in their simplicity and plain way they formed a custom and passed it on to later generations. Yet all of these lived in peace, and we also live in peace with one another. The difference over the fast only confirms our agreement in the faith.”

15 Irenaeus adds to this an account, which I will quote here because it fits. It goes as follows: “The presbyters before Soter, who led the church which you now lead, kept it up in the same way. I mean Anicetus, Pius, Hyginus, Telesphorus and Xystus. They did not keep the custom themselves, and they did not allow those with them to keep it. Even so, they were at peace with people from the parishes where it was kept, when these came to them. Yet keeping it was more offensive to those who did not keep it. Nobody was ever rejected for this reason. On the contrary, the presbyters before you, though they did not keep it, sent the Eucharist to those from the parishes that did keep it.”^[171] 16 “When the blessed Polycarp was staying in Rome in the time of Anicetus, they had some small disagreements about other matters. They made peace at once, and did not quarrel over this point. Anicetus could not persuade Polycarp not to keep it, since Polycarp had always kept it with John the disciple of our Lord and with the other apostles with whom he had lived. Nor did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to keep it. Anicetus said he had to hold to the custom of the presbyters before him.”

18 “This was how matters stood, and still they stayed in communion with each other. In the church Anicetus gave place to Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist, plainly out of respect. They parted from each other in peace. The whole church was at peace, both those who kept the custom and those who did not.” So Irenaeus, who lived up to his name (“peaceful”) and was a peacemaker in character, made such appeals and acted as an envoy for the peace of the churches. He wrote letters about the controversy that had arisen, not only to Victor but also to many other leaders of churches, saying what suited each case.^[172]

Chapter 25

How All Came to an Agreement Respecting the Passover.

The bishops in Palestine whom we have just discussed were Narcissus and Theophilus, and with them Cassius, bishop of the church at Tyre, and Clarus, bishop of the church at Ptolemais, together with those who met with them. They set out at great length the tradition about the passover that had come down to them in succession from the apostles. Near the end of their writing they add these words: “Try to send copies of our letter to every church, so that we may not be guilty before those who so easily mislead their own souls. We also let you know that in Alexandria they keep the passover on the same day that we do. Letters are carried from us to them and from them to us, so that we keep the holy day in agreement and together.”

Chapter 26

The Elegant Works of Irenaeus Which Have Come Down to Us.

Besides the writings and letters of Irenaeus already mentioned, there is also a very short and extremely necessary work of his, entitled *On Knowledge*. There is another that he dedicated to a brother named Marcianus, *Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching*. There is also a book of various discourses, in which he mentions the Epistle to the Hebrews and the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, quoting some passages from them. That is all of Irenaeus’s works that have come to our knowledge. Commodus ended his reign after thirteen years. Severus then became emperor, less than six months after Commodus’s death, with Pertinax having ruled in the meantime.

Chapter 27

The Works of Others that Flourished at that Time.

Many memoirs of the ancient churchmen of that time, written with virtuous zeal, are still preserved by many people. Of those we have examined ourselves, there are the works of Heraclitus on the Apostle, and of Maximus on the question much talked about among the heretics, where evil comes from, and on whether matter was created. There are also the works of Candidus on the Six Days of creation, and of Apion on the same subject; likewise of Sextus on the resurrection, another treatise by Arabianus, and the writings of countless others. Because we have nothing to go on for them, we cannot record when they lived or say anything of their history. Writings of very many others have also come down to us, whose names we cannot even list. They are orthodox and churchly, as each one’s interpretation of the divine Scripture shows, but they are unknown to us, because the writings do not carry the names of their authors.

Chapter 28

Those Who First Advanced the Heresy of Artemon; Their Manner of Life, and How They Dared to Corrupt the Sacred Scriptures.

3 In one of these works, a serious labor written against the heresy of Artemon, which Paul of Samosata in our own day has tried to revive, there is an account that bears on the history we are examining. The writer was correcting this heresy, which says that the Saviour was a mere man and which had been introduced as a novelty not long before, since its promoters wanted to dignify it as ancient. Besides many other arguments refuting their blasphemous lie, he reports the following, in these words: “They say that all the earlier teachers, and the apostles themselves, received and taught what they now say, and that the truth of the preaching was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop in Rome from Peter, but that from his successor Zephyrinus the truth was falsified. 5 “What they say might perhaps be convincing, if first of all the divine Scriptures did not stand against them. There are also writings of certain brothers older than the time of Victor, which they wrote to the nations in defense of the truth and against the heresies of their day. I mean Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, Clement, and many others, in all of whom Christ is spoken of as God. For who does not know the books of Irenaeus and Melito and the rest, which proclaim Christ as God and man? And all the psalms and hymns written by believing brothers from the beginning sing of Christ as the Word of God, speaking of him as God.

6 “Since the church’s teaching has been proclaimed for so many years, how could those before Victor have preached as these men claim? And how are they not ashamed to tell such lies about Victor? They know perfectly well that Victor excommunicated Theodotus the cobbler, the leader and father of this God-denying apostasy, who was the first to say that Christ was a mere man. For if Victor held the views that their blasphemous teaching holds, as they claim, how could he have thrown out Theodotus, the inventor of this heresy?” So much for what was said about Victor. 8 Victor served in this office for ten years. Zephyrinus was then appointed his successor, about the ninth year of the reign of Severus. The author of the book mentioned above, written about the originator of this heresy, adds another event that happened in Zephyrinus’s time. He writes, in these words: “I will remind many of the brethren of something that happened in our own day. I think that if it had happened in Sodom, it might perhaps have warned even the Sodomites. There was a certain confessor, Natalius, who lived not long ago but in our own times.^[173] [Matthew 11:23]

11 “Once he was deceived by Asclepiodotus and another Theodotus, a banker. Both were disciples of Theodotus the cobbler, who, as I said, was the first to be cut off from communion by Victor, the bishop at that time, because of this way of thinking, or rather this senselessness. Natalius was persuaded by them to be chosen bishop of this heresy, for a salary: he was to receive from them one hundred and fifty denarii a month. While he was with them, he was often warned by the Lord in visions. For our compassionate God and Lord Jesus Christ did not want a witness of his own sufferings to perish by living outside the church. 12 “But Natalius paid too little attention to the visions. He was lured by the place of honor among them, the first seat, and by the shameful love of gain that destroys so many. In the end he was whipped by holy angels, and was badly beaten through the whole night. So at daybreak he got up, put on sackcloth, scattered ashes over himself, and with great haste and tears threw himself down before Zephyrinus the bishop. He rolled at the feet not only of the clergy but of the laity too, and moved the compassionate church of the merciful Christ to tears. He pleaded long, and showed the welts from the blows he had received, and only with difficulty was he restored to communion.”

14 Let us add to these some other words of the same writer about these people, which run as follows: “They have fearlessly tampered with the divine Scriptures. They have rejected the rule of the ancient faith, and they have not known Christ. They do not ask what the divine Scriptures say. Instead they labor eagerly to find some form of reasoning that will support their godlessness. And if someone sets before them a passage of divine Scripture, they examine whether it can be made into a conditional or a disjunctive form of syllogism. They abandon the holy Scriptures of God and take up geometry, as men who are from the earth and speak from the earth, and who do not know the one who comes from above. Indeed, among some of them Euclid is studied with great zeal, Aristotle and Theophrastus are admired, and Galen, perhaps, is even worshiped by some. [John 3:31]

16 “But as for those who make use of the arts of unbelievers to support their heretical opinion, and who peddle the plain faith of the divine Scriptures by the cunning of the godless, what need is there to say that they are not even near the faith? For this reason they have fearlessly laid hands on the divine Scriptures, claiming that they have corrected them. I am not slandering them in saying this, and anyone who wishes can find out. If someone collects the copies of each of them and compares them with one another, he will find them differing greatly. The copies of Asclepiades, for example, will not agree with those of Theodotus.^[174] 18 “There are plenty of these to be had, because their disciples have eagerly copied out what each of them has “corrected,” as they call it, which is really what he has destroyed. Again, the copies of Hermophilus do not agree with these. As for those of Apollonides, they are not even consistent with themselves. You can compare the copies they first prepared with those they later twisted again, and you will find them very different. They cannot fail to know how bold a sin this is. Either they believe that the divine Scriptures were spoken by the Holy Spirit, and then they are unbelievers; or they consider themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and then what else are they but demon-possessed? They cannot deny that the daring deed is their own, since the copies are written in their own hand. They did not receive such Scriptures from those who taught them the faith, and they cannot show any copies from which they transcribed them.

19 “Some of them have not even thought it worth the trouble to falsify the Scriptures. They simply reject the law and the prophets. Under the pretext of grace, they teach a lawless and godless doctrine, and have slid down to the lowest depth of destruction.” Let this account suffice.

Book 6

Chapter 1

The Persecution Under Severus.

When Severus began to persecute the churches, brilliant martyrdoms for the sake of true religion took place everywhere. They were most numerous in Alexandria. The finest of God’s champions from Egypt and the whole Thebaid were sent there, as to a vast arena, and by their steadfast endurance of every kind of torture and death they won the crowns laid up with God. Among them was Leonides, who is called the father of Origen. He was beheaded and left his son still very young. It is not out of place to describe briefly how devoted this son was to the divine Word from that time on, since his fame is so widely spoken of.^[175]

Chapter 2

The Training of Origen from Childhood.

2 Someone trying to give a full account of this man’s life could say a great deal, and a work about him would need a book of its own. For now, though, I will leave out most of it and relate a few facts as briefly as I can. I take them from certain letters and from the reports of his acquaintances who are still alive in our own time. Even Origen’s earliest years, from his swaddling clothes, seem to me worth recording. It was the tenth year of Severus’s reign. Laetus governed Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and Demetrius had recently taken over the oversight of the churches there, after Julian.^[176] 4 The fire of persecution was now blazing fiercely, and countless people were winning the crown of martyrdom. Origen was still only a boy, yet such a longing for martyrdom took hold of his soul that he wanted to meet the dangers head on. He was eager to leap forward and rush into the contest. In fact, the end of his life would have been very near, had not the divine and heavenly providence, for the benefit of many, stood in the way of his eagerness through his mother.

6 At first she pleaded with him in words and begged him to have pity on a mother’s feelings. But he learned that his father had been arrested and was being held in prison, and he gave himself wholly to his drive toward martyrdom. When she saw how much more intense he had become, she hid all his clothes and forced him to stay at home. Since there was nothing else he could do, and his zeal was too great for his years to let him stay quiet, he sent his father an urgently encouraging letter about martyrdom. In it he urged him, in these exact words: “Hold firm, and do not change your mind on our account.” Let this be written down as the first proof of Origen’s boyhood sharpness of mind and of his thoroughly genuine devotion to God. 9 Already he had laid no small foundations in the teachings of the faith, since he had been trained in the divine Scriptures from childhood. In fact he had worked hard at them, for besides the usual general education, his father had taken no casual interest in this study. Before any training in Greek subjects, he urged him above all to practice in the sacred studies, and each day he required him to memorize passages and recite them. The boy did this willingly, and he worked at it with great eagerness. The plain and obvious reading of the sacred words was not enough for him. Even then he wanted something more and was already probing for deeper insight. He even gave his father trouble by asking what the meaning of the God-inspired Scripture really was. [2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:15]

11 His father, to all appearances, scolded him. He told him not to look for anything beyond his age or beyond the obvious meaning. But privately he was filled with joy, and he gave great thanks to God, the cause of all good things, for counting him worthy to be the father of such a child. They say that he often stood over the boy as he slept, uncovered his chest as though a divine Spirit were dedicated within it, kissed it reverently, and counted himself blessed in his fine child. These and other similar things are recorded of Origen as a boy. 13 When his father was made perfect by martyrdom, Origen was left alone with his mother and six younger brothers. He was not yet seventeen years old. The father’s property was seized for the imperial treasury, and Origen and his family were left without the necessities of life. But he was counted worthy of God’s care. He found a welcome and a place of rest with a very wealthy woman, who was distinguished in other ways too. She was looking after a man who was notorious among the heretics then in Alexandria. He was an Antiochene by birth. The woman kept him with her as an adopted son and treated him with the very greatest honor.

15 Origen, though obliged to be in the same house with this man, gave clear proof of his orthodoxy in the faith. A huge crowd gathered at Paul’s house (this was the man’s name), because he seemed to have great ability in speech. They were not only heretics but also our own people. Yet Origen could never be induced to join him in prayer. From boyhood he kept the rule of the Church, and he loathed the teachings of the heresies, as he himself says somewhere in those very words. His father had advanced him in Greek studies. After his father’s death he threw himself more eagerly into the study of letters, so that he had no small preparation in literature. Not long after his father’s death he gave himself to this work, and for a young man of his age he was amply supplied with what he needed.^[177]

Chapter 3

While Still Very Young, He Taught Diligently the Word of Christ.

2 While he was busy with his teaching (as he himself tells us somewhere in writing), no one in Alexandria was giving instruction to new believers, because all had been driven away by the threat of persecution. Some of the Gentiles came to him to hear the word of God. He notes that the first of these was Plutarch, who lived well and was then adorned with a divine martyrdom. The second was Heraclas, Plutarch’s brother. He also gave abundant proof, under Origen’s teaching, of a philosophic and disciplined life. After Demetrius he was counted worthy of the bishopric of Alexandria. 4 Origen was in his eighteenth year when he took charge of the school for catechumens. During this time he also made progress, in the persecutions under Aquila, the governor of Alexandria. Then he won a very famous name among all who were of the faith, because of the welcome and eagerness he showed to all the holy martyrs, whether he knew them or not. He was with them not only when they were in chains, or while they were being examined up to the final sentence. Even after that, when the holy martyrs were led away to death, he spoke with great boldness and went right up to the danger. So he would boldly approach and greet the martyrs with a kiss, and often the Gentile mob around them, enraged, all but stoned him. Only because the hand of God was his helper did he escape, once and for all, in a marvelous way.

6 This same divine and heavenly grace guarded him again and again (it is impossible to say how many times) when plots were made against him in those days, because of his great zeal and boldness for the word of Christ. The unbelievers waged such a war against him that they gathered in bands and posted soldiers around the house where he was staying, because of the number of people being taught the sacred faith by him. Day by day the persecution against him blazed so fiercely that the whole city could no longer hold him. He moved from house to house and was driven out from every side, because of the crowds who came to the divine teaching through him. For his practical conduct also showed the right actions of true philosophy, and they were truly admirable. 8 They say that his conduct matched his teaching, and his teaching matched his conduct. For this reason especially, with divine power working along with him, he stirred up countless people to share his zeal. Then he saw more and more students coming. Demetrius, who presided over the church, had entrusted the work of instructing new believers to him alone. Origen judged that teaching literature did not fit with training in divine learning. So without delay he broke off his literature school, as useless and opposed to sacred studies.

9 After sound reflection, so that he would not depend on help from others, he sold all the copies of ancient literature he had once collected with such care and love. The buyer paid him four obols a day, and he lived on that. For many years he kept up this philosophic way of life and removed from himself every occasion for youthful desires. All day he took on no small labors of self-discipline. For most of the night he gave himself to the study of the divine Scriptures. He held as firmly as he could to a most philosophic manner of life. Sometimes he trained himself by fasting, and sometimes he strictly limited his hours of sleep. He was careful never to sleep on a bed, but on the ground.^[178] 11 Above all, he thought he must keep the Saviour’s words in the Gospel. These urge us not to have two tunics or use sandals, and not to wear ourselves out with worry about the future. He showed zeal beyond his years. He endured cold and nakedness and pushed his poverty to the extreme, and this astonished those around him. He also grieved a great many people who longed to share their possessions with him, because they saw how hard he labored in teaching the divine message. But he did not give way in his endurance.^[179] [Matthew 10:10; Matthew 6:34; Luke 9:3]

13 It is said that for many years he walked on the bare ground and never wore any shoes. For a great many years he also went without wine and without any food beyond what was necessary. As a result he fell into danger of upsetting and ruining his chest. By giving those who watched him such examples of a philosophic life, he naturally stirred more of his students to the same zeal. Even among the unbelieving Gentiles, a good number of people of education and philosophy, and not just ordinary ones, were won over to his teaching. These people received faith in the divine Word through him, genuinely and deep in the soul. They became so distinguished in the persecution of that time that some of them were arrested and brought to completion in martyrdom.^[180]

Chapter 4

The pupils of Origen that became Martyrs.

The first of these was Plutarch, whom I mentioned a little earlier. As he was being led away to death, Origen, the man we are speaking of, stayed with him right to the end of his life. Because he seemed to be to blame for Plutarch’s death, he was almost killed once more by his fellow citizens. But again God’s purpose kept him safe. After Plutarch, the second of Origen’s students to be revealed as a martyr was Serenus. Through fire he gave proof of the faith he had received. The third martyr from the same school was Heraclides, and the fourth was Hero. The first of these was still a catechumen and the other had only recently been baptized. Both were beheaded. Then a fifth champion of godliness from the same school was proclaimed, another Serenus, different from the first. The account says he endured great torture and then was punished by beheading. Among the women, Herais, who was still a catechumen, received “the baptism through fire,” as Origen himself says somewhere, and so departed from life.^[181] [Luke 12:50; Mark 10:38]

Chapter 5

Potamiaena.

1 Basilides should be counted the seventh among these. He was the man who led away the famous Potamiaena. Much is still said and sung about her among the people of that region. She fought off countless attempts by would-be lovers to defend the purity and virginity of her body, for which she was famous. The bloom of her body was in full flower along with that of her soul. She also endured countless sufferings for faith in Christ. Finally, after tortures terrible and dreadful to tell, she was put to death by fire together with her mother, Marcella. 3 They say that the judge, whose name was Aquila, inflicted harsh torments on her whole body. At last he threatened to hand her over to the gladiators to have her body abused. She thought it over for a moment. Then, when he asked her what she had decided, she gave an answer that seemed to them to be impious. As soon as she had spoken, she received the sentence. Basilides, one of the soldiers, took charge of her and led her away to death. The crowd tried to harass her and insult her with filthy words. But he held them back and drove off the abusers, showing her great pity and kindness. She welcomed his sympathy and told him to take courage. When she had departed, she said, she would ask her Lord on his behalf, and before long she would repay him for what he had done for her.

5 They say that after she had said this, she bravely went through with her death. Burning pitch was poured slowly, little by little, over different parts of her body, from the tips of her feet to the top of her head. Such was the contest endured by this much-praised young woman. Not long afterward Basilides was asked by his fellow soldiers to swear an oath for some reason. He insisted that he was not allowed to swear at all, for he was a Christian, and he said so openly. At first they thought he was joking. But when he stubbornly kept affirming it, he was taken to the judge. There he confessed his resolve and was handed over to be put in chains. 6 When the brethren in God came to him and asked the reason for this sudden and astonishing decision, he is said to have told them this: three days after her martyrdom, Potamiaena appeared to him at night and put a crown on his head. She said she had pleaded with the Lord on his behalf, that her request had been granted, and that before long she would take him to herself. After this the brethren gave him the seal of the Lord. The next day he bore a splendid witness to the Lord and was beheaded.^[182]

7 Many others in Alexandria are also recorded to have come over to the word of Christ in great numbers at this time, because Potamiaena had appeared to them in their sleep and called them. But let that be enough on this subject.

Chapter 6

Clement of Alexandria.

Clement succeeded Pantaenus and led the instruction of new believers in Alexandria up to that time, so that Origen was among his students. In the first book of his work the Stromata, Clement set out a table of dates and ended his reckoning with the death of Commodus. So it is clear that he worked on these writings in the time of Severus, whose reign this present account is recording.^[183]

Chapter 7

The Writer, Judas.

At this time another writer, Judas, wrote about the weeks in Daniel and carried his chronology down to the tenth year of the reign of Severus. He also believed that the much-talked-about coming of the Antichrist was already near. So violently had the persecution then raging against us unsettled the minds of many.^[184]

Chapter 8

Origen's Daring Deed.

2 At this time, while Origen was carrying on the work of instruction in Alexandria, he did something that showed an immature and youthful mind, yet also gave the greatest proof of faith and self-control. He took the words “there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven” in a very simple and youthful way. He thought he was fulfilling the Savior’s word. He also reasoned that, being young, he taught divine things not only to men but also to women, and he wanted to shut out every suspicion of shameful slander among unbelievers. So he set out to carry out the Savior’s saying in action, and he took care that most of his acquaintances would not find out.^[185] [Matthew 19:12] 4 But, even though he wished it, he could not keep so great a deed hidden. Demetrius, who presided over the community there, learned of it later. He greatly admired Origen’s boldness, and since he approved of his eagerness and the sincerity of his faith, he immediately told him to take courage and urged him to give himself even more to the work of instruction. That is how Demetrius was at that time. But not long afterward he saw Origen doing well, great, brilliant and famous among all, and he was moved by human feeling. He tried to write to the bishops throughout the world that what Origen had done was utterly improper. This was after the most respected and distinguished bishops in Palestine, those of Caesarea and Jerusalem, had judged Origen worthy of the highest honor and had laid hands on him for the presbyterate.

6 By then Origen had risen to great fame. His name was known to people everywhere, and he had won no small reputation for virtue and wisdom. Demetrius had no other charge to bring, so he made a terrible slander out of the deed Origen had done long before as a boy. He even dared to include in his accusations those who had advanced Origen to the presbyterate. But this happened a little later. At that time Origen, in Alexandria, carried on the work of teaching divine things without reserve to all who came to him, by night and by day. He gave all his time tirelessly to the study of divine lessons and to the students who came to him. 7 Severus ruled for eighteen years and was succeeded by his son Antoninus. During his reign Alexander, whom I mentioned a little earlier as bishop of the church in Jerusalem, was counted worthy of that office. He was one of those who had shown courage in the persecution and had been kept safe by God’s providence after the struggles of confession. He had stood out for his confessions for Christ, and he received the bishopric while Narcissus, his predecessor, was still alive.

Chapter 9

The Miracles of Narcissus.

3 The people of that diocese recall many other marvels about Narcissus, handed down from the brothers who followed one another in succession. Among them they tell of this miracle done through him. They say that once, during the great all-night vigil of the Passover, the oil ran out for the deacons. The whole congregation was gripped by deep discouragement. Narcissus told those who were preparing the lamps to draw water and bring it to him. When this was done at once, he prayed over the water and, with genuine faith in the Lord, ordered them to pour it into the lamps. They did so, and beyond all expectation, by a marvelous and divine power, the nature of the water was changed into the quality of oil. A small sample of that miracle has been kept by very many of the brothers there from that day to ours. 5 They also relate many other things about this man’s life that are worth remembering, among them the following. Some worthless little men could not bear the strictness and firmness of his life. They were conscious of countless wrongs of their own and feared being caught and punished, so they got in ahead of him. They put together a plot against him and poured out a terrible slander. Then, to win over their hearers, they confirmed the charges with oaths. One swore that he would perish by fire if it were not true; another, that his body would be consumed by a foul disease; the third, that he would lose his sight. Yet even with their oaths none of the believers paid them any attention, because everyone could see Narcissus’s self-control and wholly virtuous conduct, which shone out in all he did.

7 Narcissus himself, however, could not bear the wickedness of these men. He had in any case long loved the philosophic life, so he slipped away from the whole body of the church and lived in hiding for many years in deserted places and remote country. But the great eye of justice did not stay quiet over what had been done. It quickly came after the ungodly men for the curses they had called down on themselves by their false oaths. The first man’s house was set on fire at night by a small spark that fell for no apparent reason, and he was burned up with his whole family. The second was suddenly covered with the disease he had named for himself, from the tips of his feet to his head. 8 The third man saw what had happened to the others. He feared the inescapable justice of God, who watches over all, and he confessed to everyone the wicked scheme they had jointly devised. In his repentance he wore himself down with so much lamenting, and wept so ceaselessly, that both his eyes were destroyed. Such were the punishments these men received for their lying.

Chapter 10

The Bishops of Jerusalem.

Narcissus had withdrawn, and no one knew where he was. So the leaders of the neighboring churches decided to appoint another bishop. His name was Dius. He did not preside long, and Germanion succeeded him, and after him Gordius. In Gordius’s time Narcissus appeared from somewhere, as if come back to life, and the brothers again urged him to take the leadership. Everyone admired him even more than before, for his withdrawal and his philosophic life, and above all for the vengeance God had thought fit to bring on his behalf.

Chapter 11

Alexander.

2 Narcissus could no longer carry out his duties because of his very great age. So by God’s arrangement Alexander, who was bishop of another diocese, was called to share the ministry with Narcissus, through a revelation that appeared to him at night in a vision. He set out from the land of the Cappadocians, where he had first been made bishop, and traveled to Jerusalem to pray and to see the holy places, as if following a divine oracle. The people there welcomed him warmly and would not allow him to return home. They too had received another revelation at night, and one very clear voice had spoken to the most earnest among them. It told them to go outside the gates and receive the bishop God had appointed for them. They did this, and with the common agreement of the bishops who oversaw the surrounding churches they forced him to stay.

4 Alexander himself, in his own letters to the Antinoites, which we still have, mentions that Narcissus shared the leadership with him. At the end of the letter he writes these words: “Narcissus greets you. He held the office of bishop here before me, and now he is joined with me in prayer. He is a hundred and sixteen years old, and he urges you, as I do, to be of one mind.” So these things stood. In the church at Antioch, when Serapion died, Asclepiades succeeded to the bishopric. He too had been outstanding among the confessors during the persecution. 6 Alexander also mentions Asclepiades’ appointment, writing to the Antiochenes as follows: “Alexander, a servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ, to the blessed church of the Antiochenes, greetings in the Lord. The Lord made my chains light and easy to bear during my time in prison, when I learned that by divine providence Asclepiades, whose faith makes him most fitting for it, and who is worthy of it, has been entrusted with the bishopric of your holy church of the Antiochenes.” Eusebius notes that Alexander sent this letter by Clement, for near the end he writes: “I have sent you this letter, my brothers and lords, by Clement, the blessed presbyter, a man of virtue and proven character. You know him, and you will know him better. By the providence and oversight of the Master he came here, and he has strengthened and increased the church of the Lord.”

Chapter 12

Serapion and His Extant Works.

2 Serapion no doubt left other writings, kept by others, as evidence of his skill with words. But the only ones that have come down to us are these: the writings to Domninus, who in the time of persecution fell away from faith in Christ to the Jewish religion; those to Pontius and Caricus, men of the church; and other letters to various people. There is also another work he composed on the so-called Gospel of Peter. He wrote it to refute the false statements in that book, because some people in the church at Rhossus had used that writing as a pretext for turning aside to teachings that differed from the church’s. It is reasonable to quote a few short sentences from it, in which he sets out his view of the book. He writes as follows: 4 “We, brothers, accept Peter and the other apostles as we would Christ. But as people with experience, we reject the writings falsely put out in their names, knowing that we did not receive such things. When I was with you, I assumed that all of you held to the right faith. So I had not gone through the gospel they put forward under Peter’s name, and I said: ‘If this is the only thing that seems to give you petty-mindedness, let it be read.’ But now I have learned from what I was told that their minds were harboring some heresy. So I will hurry to come to you again. Brothers, expect me soon.

6 “You, brothers, will learn from what has been written to you what kind of heresy Marcianus held, and how he contradicted himself because he did not understand what he was saying. For we were able to borrow this very gospel from others who had made a study of it, that is, from the successors of those who began it, whom we call Docetists (for most of their ideas belong to that teaching). We went through it and found that most of it agreed with the true teaching of the Saviour, but that some things had been added. We have set these out for you below.” So much for Serapion.^[186]

Chapter 13

The Writings of Clement.

3 All eight of Clement’s Stromata survive among us. He gave them this title: “Titus Flavius Clement’s Stromata of Notes on Knowledge, according to the True Philosophy.” There are also the same number of books called Hypotyposes, in which he names Pantaenus as his teacher and sets out Pantaenus’s interpretations and traditions. He also wrote the Exhortation to the Greeks, the three books of the work called the Instructor, and another work titled “Who Is the Rich Man Who Is Being Saved?” There is also his treatise On the Passover, discussions On Fasting and On Slander, the Exhortation to Endurance, or To the Newly Baptized, and the work called the Church Canon, or Against the Judaizers, which he dedicated to Alexander, the bishop already mentioned.^[187] 5 In the Stromata Clement did not only make a patchwork collection from the divine Scripture. He also quotes the Greeks, wherever he thought they had said something useful. He sets out the teachings held by many people, Greek and non-Greek alike. He corrects the false opinions of the founders of heresies. He lays out a great deal of history, and so gives us a base for wide learning. He mixes in the doctrines of the philosophers with all of this. It is therefore natural that he gave the work a title that fits its subject, Stromata.^[188]

7 In these books he also uses testimony from the disputed writings: the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, the letter to the Hebrews, and the letters of Barnabas, Clement and Jude. He mentions Tatian’s Discourse to the Greeks, and Cassian, who also wrote a work on chronology. He also mentions the Jewish writers Philo, Aristobulus, Josephus, Demetrius and Eupolemus. All of them show in their writings that Moses and the Jewish people were older than the earliest beginnings of the Greeks.^[189] 9 These books of his are full of much other useful learning as well. In the first of them he says of himself that he came very close to the succession of the apostles. In them he also promises to write notes on Genesis. In his work on the Passover he admits that his friends pressed him to write down for later generations the traditions he happened to have heard from the early presbyters. In that work he mentions Melito, Irenaeus and some others, and quotes their accounts.

Chapter 14

The Scriptures Mentioned by Him.

2 In the Hypotyposes, to put it briefly, Clement gave condensed explanations of all the Scripture of the covenant, and he did not pass over the disputed books. I mean Jude and the other general letters, the letter of Barnabas, and the so-called Apocalypse of Peter. He says that the letter to the Hebrews is Paul’s, and that it was written to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language. Luke, he says, translated it with great care and published it for the Greeks. That is why the same style of expression is found in this letter and in the Acts.^[190] 4 He says that the words “Paul, an apostle” were not put at the head of the letter, and with good reason. The letter was going to Hebrews, who were already prejudiced against Paul and suspicious of him. So he wisely did not turn them away at the start by putting his name first. Then a little further on Clement adds: “As the blessed presbyter used to say, the Lord was the apostle of the Almighty and was sent to the Hebrews. Out of modesty, therefore, Paul, who was sent to the Gentiles, does not describe himself as an apostle of the Hebrews. He does this out of respect for the Lord, and because he was writing to the Hebrews as something extra, being a preacher and apostle to the Gentiles.”^[191]

6 In the same books Clement again sets down a tradition of the earliest presbyters about the order of the Gospels. It goes like this. The Gospels that contain the genealogies were written first. The Gospel of Mark came about in this way. Peter had publicly preached the word in Rome and, by the Spirit, proclaimed the gospel. Those present, who were many, urged Mark to write down what had been said, since he had followed Peter for a long time and remembered his words. Mark did this and gave the Gospel to those who asked for it. 8 When Peter learned of it, he neither forbade it nor urged it on. Last of all, John saw that the physical facts had been made clear in the Gospels. Urged on by his friends and carried along by the Spirit of God, he composed a spiritual Gospel. That is Clement’s account. Alexander, mentioned earlier, also speaks of Clement and Pantaenus in a letter to Origen, as men he had known personally. He writes: “This, as you know, was also God’s will, that the friendship we inherited from our forefathers should remain unbroken, and even become warmer and firmer.

10 “For we know as fathers those blessed men who went on before us, and to whom we shall soon go: Pantaenus, truly blessed and my lord, and the holy Clement, who became my lord and helped me, and anyone else like them. Through them I came to know you, who are excellent in every way, my lord and brother.” So much for that. Now Adamantius (this was also a name of Origen) says himself somewhere that he visited Rome at this time, when Zephyrinus was leading the church of the Romans. He says he had prayed to see the very ancient church of the Romans. He did not stay long there and then returned to Alexandria.^[192] 11 So Origen carried out the usual work of catechetical instruction there with great zeal. Demetrius, who was still bishop there at that time, kept urging him on and all but pleaded with him to work tirelessly for the good of the brothers.^[193]

Chapter 15

Heraclas.

But Origen saw that he could not keep up with the deeper study of divine things, the examination and interpretation of the sacred writings, and at the same time the instruction of those who came to him. They gave him no chance even to catch his breath, for one group after another came to his school from dawn until evening. So he divided the crowds. From among his pupils he chose Heraclas, a man zealous in the study of divine things and also very learned, and not without knowledge of philosophy. He made him a partner in the work of instruction. He entrusted to him the first introduction of beginners, and kept for himself the teaching of those who were more advanced.

Chapter 16

Origen's Earnest Study of the Divine Scriptures.

1 Origen brought such exact scholarship to the study of the divine writings that he even learned the Hebrew language. He made his own the original Scriptures in Hebrew letters that circulated among the Jews. He also tracked down the editions of others who had translated the sacred writings besides the Seventy. He found some other translations, differing from the familiar ones, besides those of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion. I do not know from what hiding places he searched them out and brought them to light, for they had long been lost to view. 4 Because their origin was uncertain, and he did not know whose they were, he simply noted that he had found one at Nicopolis near Actium, and another in some other such place. In the Hexapla of the Psalms, after the four well-known editions, he set beside them not only a fifth translation but also a sixth and a seventh. Of one of these he again noted that it had been found in a jar at Jericho, in the time of Antoninus, the son of Severus. He gathered all these together, divided them line by line, and set them side by side, along with the Hebrew text itself. In this way he left us the copies of what we call the Hexapla. In the Tetrapla he also arranged separately the editions of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion together with that of the Seventy.^[194]

Chapter 17

The Translator Symmachus.

Of these translators, you should know that Symmachus was an Ebionite. The Ebionite heresy, as it is called, is the teaching of those who say that Christ was born of Joseph and Mary. They considered him a mere man, and insisted that the law should be kept in a more strictly Jewish way, as we learned earlier in this history. Commentaries by Symmachus are still in circulation, in which he seems to argue against the Gospel of Matthew in order to support this heresy. Origen indicates that he received these, along with other interpretations of the Scriptures by Symmachus, from a certain Juliana, who he says received the books from Symmachus himself.

Chapter 18

Ambrose.

2 About this time Ambrose, who held the views of the Valentinian heresy, was refuted by the truth that Origen taught. His mind was lit up as if by a light, and he joined the Church’s orthodox teaching. Many other educated people also came to Origen, since his fame was ringing out everywhere, to test his ability in the sacred writings. Countless heretics, and quite a few of the most distinguished philosophers, gave him their eager attention. They were taught by him not only the divine teachings but, one might almost say, the secular philosophy as well. 4 For whenever he saw people with a natural gift for it, he led them on to philosophical studies too. He taught them geometry, arithmetic and the other preliminary subjects. He then took them on to the schools of thought among the philosophers and explained their writings, commenting on and examining each point, so that the man was proclaimed a great philosopher even among the Greeks themselves. He also urged many of the less educated to take up the ordinary school studies. He said these would give them no small help toward studying and understanding the divine Scriptures. For this reason he thought it especially necessary for himself to practice the secular and philosophical studies.

Chapter 19

Circumstances Related of Origen.

2 The Greek philosophers who flourished in his own time bear witness to his success in these studies. In their writings we find frequent mention of him. Sometimes they addressed their own works to him. Sometimes they submitted their labors to him, as to a teacher, for his judgment. But why mention this, when Porphyry, who settled in Sicily in our own day, wrote books against us? In them he tried to discredit the divine Scriptures and mentioned those who had interpreted them. He could not bring any real charge against our doctrines, so for lack of arguments he turned to abuse and tried to slander the interpreters, above all Origen. 4 Porphyry says he had known Origen in his youth, and he tries to slander him. Without realizing it, however, he ends up commending him. Where he could not say otherwise he tells the truth, and where he thought he would go undetected he lies. At one moment he accuses Origen as a Christian, and at another he describes his progress in the study of philosophy. Hear what he says, in his own words: “Some people were eager to find not a way of abandoning the wretchedness of the Jewish Scriptures but a way of resolving it. They turned to interpretations that do not hang together and do not fit what is written. These bring not so much a defense of the foreign writings as acceptance and praise for their own people. For they boast that what Moses plainly says are riddles. They treat his words as inspired oracles full of hidden mysteries. By their conceit they bewitch the critical faculty of the soul, and then they bring in their interpretations.”

6 Then, after some other remarks, he says: “Let the way of this absurdity be taken from a man I met myself when I was still very young. He was highly esteemed, and still is, through the writings he has left. I mean Origen, whose fame has spread widely among the teachers of these doctrines. He was a hearer of Ammonius, who in our time made the greatest progress in philosophy. From his teacher he gained great benefit in skill with words and learning. But in the right choice of how to live, he took the opposite road from his teacher.” 7 “For Ammonius was a Christian, brought up by Christian parents. When he took up thinking and philosophy, he at once changed to a way of life in keeping with the laws. But Origen was a Greek educated in Greek learning, and he ran aground on barbarian recklessness. He took himself and his skill in argument over to it and peddled them. In his way of life he lived as a Christian, and contrary to the laws. But in his opinions about the world and about the divine he played the Greek, and worked Greek ideas into foreign myths.”

9 “For he was always in the company of Plato. He spent his time with the writings of Numenius and Cronius, Apollophanes, Longinus, Moderatus, Nicomachus, and the distinguished men among the Pythagoreans. He also used the books of Chaeremon the Stoic and of Cornutus. From these he learned the method of adapting the Greek mysteries, and he applied it to the Jewish Scriptures.” Porphyry said this in the third book of his work against the Christians. He told the truth about Origen’s discipline and wide learning. But he plainly lied (what would a writer against Christians not say?) when he said that Origen had changed over from the Greeks, and that Ammonius had fallen from a godly way of life into the pagan way. 10 In Origen’s case, the teaching of Christ had been kept in his family from his forefathers, as the earlier account showed. In the case of Ammonius, divinely inspired philosophy remained pure and unfallen to the very end of his life. His works still bear witness to this, through the writings he left, which are well thought of by most people. One of them is titled On the Harmony of Moses and Jesus, and there are others that lovers of what is excellent have found.

12 Let this serve as proof of the slander of this liar, and of Origen’s wide experience in Greek learning. Some people criticized Origen for his zeal for such learning. Defending himself against them, he writes in a letter: “I had devoted myself to the word, and the report of my ability was spreading. Sometimes heretics came to me, and sometimes people trained in Greek learning, especially in philosophy. So it seemed right to me to examine the doctrines of the heretics, and what the philosophers claim to say about the truth.” 14 I did this in imitation of Pantaenus, who helped many people before our time and was well prepared in these subjects. I also followed Heraclas, who now sits in the presbytery of Alexandria. I found him with the teacher of philosophy, and he had already stayed with him five years before I began to attend those lectures. Before this he wore ordinary clothes. He took them off and put on the philosopher’s dress, and he still wears it today. “As far as he is able, he does not stop studying the books of the Greeks.” That is what Origen said in defense of his study of Greek learning.

16 About this time Origen was living in Alexandria. A soldier came and delivered letters to Demetrius, the bishop of the church there, and to the prefect of Egypt at that time. They were from the governor of Arabia and asked that Origen be sent to him with all speed to talk with him. So they sent him on his way, and he came to Arabia. He soon finished the purpose of his visit and returned to Alexandria. Some time later a serious war broke out in the city. Origen slipped away from Alexandria, and since he did not think it safe to stay anywhere in Egypt, he went to Palestine and settled in Caesarea. There the bishops of that region asked him to teach and to explain the divine Scriptures in the public assembly of the church, even though he had not yet been ordained a presbyter. 18 This also becomes clear from what Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, and Theoctistus of Caesarea wrote to Demetrius, defending themselves on this point. They said: “Demetrius added to his letter that it was never heard of before, and has never happened now, for laymen to address the people when bishops are present. Somehow he is plainly not telling the truth. Wherever men are found who are able to help the brothers, the holy bishops invite them to speak to the people. In Laranda, Euelpis was invited by Neon; in Iconium, Paulinus by Celsus; in Synnada, Theodorus by Atticus, our blessed brothers. This probably happens in other places too, though we do not know of them.” So even while he was still a young man, Origen was honored in this way, not only by his acquaintances but by bishops in foreign lands.

19 But Demetrius recalled him by letter and urged him, through men who were deacons of the church, to come back to Alexandria. So Origen returned and resumed his usual labors.

Chapter 20

The Extant Works of the Writers of that Age.

2 At this time a number of learned churchmen were flourishing. It is easy to find the letters they wrote to one another, which still survive. These have been preserved down to our own day in the library at Aelia, which Alexander, then head of the church there, had built up. From that library I have also been able to gather the material for the present work. Among these men, Beryllus left behind letters and writings of various kinds, marked by fine literary taste. He was bishop of the Arabs at Bostra. Hippolytus likewise was head of some other church.^[195] 3 There has also come down to us a dialogue by Gaius, a very learned man. It took place at Rome in the time of Zephyrinus, with Proclus, who was defending the Phrygian heresy. In it Gaius silences the rashness and boldness of his opponents in producing new writings, and he mentions only thirteen letters of the holy apostle. He does not count the letter to the Hebrews with the others, since even to this day some at Rome do not regard it as the apostle’s.^[196]

Chapter 21

The Bishops that Were Well Known at that Time.

2 After Antoninus had reigned seven years and six months, Macrinus succeeded him. Macrinus lasted about a year, and then another Antoninus took over the Roman government. In this man’s first year Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome, died, having served for a full eighteen years. After him Callistus was entrusted with the episcopate. He lived five more years and left the office to Urbanus. After this the emperor Alexander succeeded to the Roman rule, when Antoninus had lasted only four years. In this same period Philetus succeeded Asclepiades in the church of Antioch.^[197] 4 The emperor’s mother, whose name was Mammaea, was a deeply devout woman, if ever there was one, and reverent in her manner of life. Origen’s fame had spread everywhere and had even reached her ears. She thought it very important to be given the chance to see him and to test for herself his understanding of divine things, which everyone admired. She was staying at Antioch with a military guard, and she summoned him there. He spent some time with her and showed her a great many things that served the glory of the Lord and the excellence of the divine teaching. Then he hurried back to his usual occupations.

Chapter 22

The Works of Hippolytus Which Have Reached Us.

At that time Hippolytus also wrote many other treatises, including a work on the Passover. In it he set out a chronological record and laid down a sixteen-year cycle for calculating the Passover, and he brought his reckoning of the years down to the first year of the Emperor Alexander. Of his other writings, these have reached us: On the Hexaemeron, On the Things After the Hexaemeron, Against Marcion, On the Song of Songs, On Parts of Ezekiel, On the Passover, and Against All the Heresies. You could find many others preserved among many people.^[198]

Chapter 23

Origen's Zeal and His Elevation to the Presbyterate.

2 From that time Origen also began his commentaries on the divine Scriptures. Ambrose pressed him hard with countless encouragements. He did not only urge him with words and appeals, but also supplied him very generously with everything he needed. More than seven shorthand writers were on hand while Origen dictated, taking turns at set times. There were at least as many copyists, together with girls trained in fine handwriting. Ambrose provided all of them with plenty of whatever they required. He also contributed an indescribable eagerness of his own to the study of the divine oracles and to diligence in it, and this above all drove Origen on to compose his commentaries. 4 While this was going on, Urban, who had been bishop of the church of Rome for eight years, was succeeded by Pontianus. In Antioch, Zebinus succeeded Philetus. At this time Origen set out for Greece because of urgent business concerning church affairs. He traveled through Palestine and received the laying on of hands for the presbyterate at Caesarea from the bishops there. The controversy this stirred up about him, the decisions that the leaders of the churches made on the matters raised, and the other works on the divine word that he produced in his prime would need a separate treatise. I have given a modest account of them in the second book of the Defense that I wrote on his behalf.^[199]

Chapter 24

The Commentaries Which He Prepared at Alexandria.

2 To this I should add the following. In the sixth volume of his exposition of the Gospel of John, Origen says that he wrote the first five while still in Alexandria. Of his work on the whole Gospel, only twenty-two volumes have come down to us. In the ninth volume on Genesis (there are twelve in all) he shows that not only the volumes before the ninth were written at Alexandria, but also his commentaries on the first twenty-five Psalms and on Lamentations. Of the work on Lamentations, five volumes have reached us. In them he also mentions his books On the Resurrection, which are two in number. 3 He also wrote On First Principles before he moved away from Alexandria. The ten books titled Stromata he composed in the same city, during the reign of Alexander, as the notes in his own hand at the front of the volumes make clear.^[200]

Chapter 25

His Review of the Canonical Scriptures.

1 In expounding the first Psalm, Origen gives a list of the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament, writing word for word as follows: “We must not be ignorant that the books of the Testament, as the Hebrews hand them down, are twenty-two, which is the number of the letters in their alphabet.” 2 Then, after a few remarks, he continues: “The twenty-two books, according to the Hebrews, are these. The book we call Genesis the Hebrews call Bresith, from the opening of the book; it means ‘In the beginning.’ Exodus is Ouelesmoth, that is, ‘These are the names.’ Leviticus is Ouikra, ‘And he called.’ Numbers is Ammesphekodeim. Deuteronomy is Eleaddebareim, ‘These are the words.’ Jesus son of Nave is Iosoue ben Noun. Judges and Ruth are in one book among them, Saphateim. The first and second of Kings are one book among them, Samouel, ‘the one called by God.’ The third and fourth of Kings are one, Ouamelch David, that is, ‘the kingdom of David.’ The first and second of Chronicles are one, Dabreiamein, that is, ‘Words of the days.’ The first and second of Esdras are one, Ezra, that is, ‘a helper.’ The book of Psalms is Thelleim. The Proverbs of Solomon are Meloth. Ecclesiastes is Koelth. The Song of Songs is Sir Assirim. Isaiah is Iessia. Jeremiah, with Lamentations and the Letter, in one book, is Ieremia. Daniel is Daniel. Ezekiel is Iezekiel. Job is Job. Esther is Esther. Apart from these there are the Maccabean books, which are entitled Sarbeth Sabanaiel.”^[201]

4 He sets these out in the work just mentioned. In the first book of his commentary on Matthew, keeping to the rule of the church, he testifies that he knows only four Gospels. He writes: “I have learned by tradition about the four Gospels, which alone are undisputed in the church of God under heaven. The first was written by Matthew, once a tax collector but afterward an apostle of Jesus Christ. He published it for those who came to faith from Judaism, and it was composed in Hebrew letters.” 7 “The second is by Mark, who wrote it as Peter directed him. Peter acknowledged him as a son in his letter, saying, ‘She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son.’ The third is by Luke, the Gospel praised by Paul, which he made for those who came from the Gentiles. Last of all is the Gospel by John.” In the fifth book of his expositions on John’s Gospel, the same man says this about the letters of the apostles: “Paul, who was made fit to be a minister of a covenant not of letter but of Spirit, and who fully preached the gospel from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum, did not write to all the churches he taught. And even to those he wrote to, he sent only a few lines.” [1 Peter 5:13; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Romans 15:19]

10 “Peter, on whom the church of Christ is built, and against which the gates of Hades will not prevail, left one letter that is acknowledged as his. Let us allow a second as well, though that is doubted. What need is there to speak of John, who leaned on Jesus’ breast? He left one Gospel, though he confessed that he could have written so many that even the world could not contain them. He also wrote the Revelation, though he was commanded to keep silent and not to write down the voices of the seven thunders. He also left a letter of very few lines. Let us allow a second and a third as well, since not everyone says these are genuine. In any case, the two together do not run to a hundred lines.” [Matthew 16:18; John 13:25; John 21:25; Revelation 10:4] 12 Besides this, in his homilies on the Letter to the Hebrews he gives the following account: “The character of the style of the letter entitled ‘To the Hebrews’ does not have the plainness of speech of the apostle, who admitted that he was unskilled in speech, that is, in expression. Rather, the letter is better Greek in the construction of its wording, as anyone who knows how to judge differences of style would agree. Again, the thoughts of the letter are wonderful and not inferior to the acknowledged writings of the apostle. Anyone who pays close attention to reading the apostle would agree that this is true.” [2 Corinthians 11:6]

14 After other remarks he adds this: “If I were to give my own opinion, I would say that the thoughts are the apostle’s, but the wording and composition belong to someone who recalled the apostle’s teachings, and who, as it were, wrote notes on what his teacher had said. So if any church holds this letter to be Paul’s, let it be commended for that too, for it was not without reason that the men of old handed it down as Paul’s. But who actually wrote the letter, God knows. The account that has reached us is from some who say that Clement, who became bishop of the Romans, wrote the letter, and from others that it was Luke, who wrote the Gospel and the Acts.” But let that be enough on these matters.

Chapter 26

Heraclas Becomes Bishop of Alexandria.

This was the tenth year of the reign just mentioned. In that year Origen moved from Alexandria to Caesarea, leaving the catechetical school there in the care of Heraclas. Not long afterward Demetrius, bishop of the church of Alexandria, died after serving in that ministry a full forty-three years, and Heraclas succeeded him. At this time Firmilian, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was prominent.

Chapter 27

How the Bishops Regarded Origen.

Firmilian showed such great zeal for Origen that sometimes he summoned him to his own region for the benefit of the churches, and sometimes he went to Judea himself and spent some time with Origen there, to grow in the knowledge of divine things. Moreover, Alexander, who led the church at Jerusalem, and Theoctistus, the bishop at Caesarea, throughout almost the whole time stayed close to Origen as their only teacher. They allowed him to interpret the divine Scriptures and to carry out the rest of the church’s work of teaching.

Chapter 28

The Persecution Under Maximinus.

After Alexander, the Roman emperor, had completed a reign of thirteen years, Maximinus Caesar succeeded him. Because of his hatred for the household of Alexander, which included many believers, he stirred up a persecution. He ordered that only the leaders of the churches be put to death, as the ones responsible for the teaching of the gospel. At that time Origen wrote his work On Martyrdom, and dedicated it to Ambrose and to Protoctetus, a presbyter of the community at Caesarea. Both of them had been caught up in no ordinary danger in the persecution, and the report is that they were outstanding in their confession of the faith. Maximinus’ reign lasted no more than three years. Origen noted the time of this persecution in the twenty-second book of his Commentaries on John, and in various letters.

Chapter 29

Fabianus, Who Was Wonderfully Designated Bishop of Rome by God.

3 After Maximinus, Gordian took over the Roman government. In the church at Rome, Pontian had been bishop for six years, and Anteros succeeded him. Anteros served in the office for a month, and then Fabian succeeded him. They say that after the death of Anteros, Fabian came in from the country with others and was staying in Rome. There, in a most astonishing way, divine and heavenly grace brought him to the office. All the brothers had gathered at the church to ordain the man who would succeed to the bishopric. Many distinguished and famous men were in the minds of most people. Fabian was present, but no one was thinking of him at all. Yet they recall that suddenly a dove flew down from above and settled on his head, a likeness of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Saviour in the form of a dove. [Matthew 3:16] 4 At this the whole people, as though moved by one divine Spirit, cried out with all eagerness and with one soul that he was worthy. Without delay they took him and placed him on the bishop’s throne. At that time Zebinus, the bishop of Antioch, departed this life, and Babylas took over the office. In Alexandria, after Demetrius, Heraclas had received the ministry, and Dionysius took over his work in the catechetical school there. Dionysius too was one of Origen’s students. [Acts 4:32]

Chapter 30

The Pupils of Origen.

While Origen was carrying on his usual work in Caesarea, countless students came to him, not only from the surrounding area but from other lands, having left their own homelands. The best known of these that we are aware of were Theodore, who is the same man as Gregory, the famous bishop of our own day, and his brother Athenodore. They were intensely devoted to Greek and Roman studies. Origen put a love of philosophy into them and urged them to trade their former pursuit for the discipline of divine things. They stayed with him a full five years and made such progress in the knowledge of God that, while both were still young, they were thought worthy of the office of bishop in the churches of Pontus.

Chapter 31

Africanus.

2 During this time Africanus, the author of the work called the Cesti, also became well known. A letter of his to Origen survives, in which he raises doubts about the story of Susanna in Daniel, as being spurious and invented. Origen wrote back to him at great length. Other works of this same Africanus have also come down to us: five books of Chronology, carefully and diligently prepared. In them he says that he made a journey to Alexandria because of the great reputation of Heraclas. As we have shown, Heraclas was outstanding in philosophical discourse and in the other studies of the Greeks, and was entrusted with the bishopric of the church there. 3 There is also another letter of the same Africanus, written to Aristides, about the supposed disagreement between the genealogies of Christ in Matthew and in Luke. In it he shows very clearly that the evangelists agree, on the basis of an account that had come down to him. I set that account out earlier, in its proper place, in the first book of this work.

Chapter 32

The Commentaries Which Origen Composed in Caesarea in Palestine.

2 About this time Origen was putting together his commentaries on Isaiah and, along with them, on Ezekiel. Of the commentary on Isaiah, thirty volumes have come down to us, covering the third part of the book, as far as the vision of the four-footed beasts in the desert. On Ezekiel we have twenty-five volumes, which are all he wrote on that whole prophet. He was in Athens at that time and finished his work on Ezekiel there. He also began his commentary on the Song of Songs and carried it as far as the fifth volume. When he returned to Caesarea, he brought this work to completion as well, in ten volumes in all. 3 Why should I now draw up an exact list of the man’s writings? It would need a treatise of its own. I did record such a list in my account of the life of Pamphilus, the holy martyr of our own time. There I wanted to show how great Pamphilus’ zeal for divine things was, so I set out the catalogue of the library he had gathered of the works of Origen and of other church writers. Anyone who wishes can learn from it, in the fullest way, which of Origen’s labors have come down to us. For now, we must go on with the course of the history.

Chapter 33

The Error of Beryllus.

2 Beryllus, whom I mentioned a little earlier as bishop of Bostra in Arabia, was turning aside from the rule of the church and trying to introduce certain things foreign to the faith. He dared to say that our Saviour and Lord had not existed beforehand in a being of his own before his coming to live among men, and that he had no divinity of his own, but only the Father’s divinity living in him. Many bishops held inquiries and discussions with the man over this. Origen was invited along with others. He first went down to talk with him, to test what he really thought. When he understood what Beryllus was saying, he saw that his teaching was not sound. He persuaded him by reasoning and won him over by proof, set him on the truth of the doctrine, and restored him to his former sound belief. 4 Written records of Beryllus and of the synod held because of him are still in circulation today. They contain Origen’s questions to him, the discussions held in Beryllus’ own diocese, and everything that was done at that time. The elders of our own day pass down countless other recollections of Origen, which I think I will leave aside, since they do not belong to the present work. As for what was necessary to know about him, it can be gathered from the defense of Origen that Pamphilus, the holy martyr of our day, and I wrote together. We worked on it jointly and with great care because of those who love to find fault.

Chapter 34

Philip Caesar.

Gordian had held the Roman rule for six full years when Philip, together with his son Philip, succeeded to the throne. The story is told that Philip was a Christian. On the day of the last paschal vigil he wanted to share with the crowd in the prayers of the church. But the man who then presided would not let him enter until he had confessed and placed himself among those who were counted as sinners and held a place of repentance. Otherwise, because of the many charges against his conduct, the bishop would never have received him. It is said that Philip obeyed willingly, showing by his actions the sincere and reverent state of his heart toward the fear of God.

Chapter 35

Dionysius Succeeds Heraclas in the Episcopate.

In the third year of Philip’s reign, Heraclas died after leading the churches of Alexandria for sixteen years, and Dionysius took over the office of bishop.

Chapter 36

Other Works of Origen.

2 At that time, as one would expect, the faith was growing and our teaching was being spoken openly before everyone. They say that Origen, now past sixty, had built up great skill through his long preparation. So he allowed stenographers to take down the talks he gave before the public, something he had never permitted before. In this period he also wrote eight books against the work titled “True Discourse,” which Celsus the Epicurean had written against us. He also wrote twenty-five volumes on the Gospel of Matthew, and commentaries on the Twelve Prophets, of which we have found only twenty-five volumes. 4 A letter of his is also still in circulation, written to the emperor Philip himself, and another to Philip’s wife Severa. There are various other letters of his to various people. I was able to collect those that survived scattered among different owners, and I have listed them in volumes of their own so that they would not be scattered any longer. They number more than a hundred. He also wrote to Fabian, bishop of Rome, and to a great many other leaders of churches, about the soundness of his own teaching. You have the evidence for this in the sixth book of the defense I wrote about the man.

Chapter 37

The Dissension of the Arabians.

At about this same time, others again appeared in Arabia, introducing a doctrine foreign to the truth. They said that for the present time the human soul dies at the moment of death and perishes along with the body, but that at the time of the resurrection it will come to life again together with the body. A fairly large synod was then assembled, and Origen was invited there once more. He opened a discussion before the assembly on the question at issue, and argued so effectively that the thinking of those who had previously gone astray was changed.

Chapter 38

The Heresy of the Elkesites.

At that time another distortion of the faith began, the so-called heresy of the Elkesaites, which was put out as soon as it began. Origen mentions it in a public homily on the eighty-second Psalm, speaking something like this: “Someone has come recently, very proud of his ability to champion a godless and most impious opinion, called that of the Elkesaites, which has newly appeared against the churches. I will set before you the evil things that this opinion says, so that you will not be carried off by it. It rejects some things from the whole of Scripture. Again, it uses texts from the whole of the Old Testament and the Gospels, yet it rejects the apostle completely. It says that denying the faith is a matter of indifference, and that the person who understands will, when forced, deny with his mouth but not with his heart. They also produce a certain book which they say has fallen down from heaven. They say that whoever hears it and believes will receive forgiveness of sins, a different forgiveness from the one Christ Jesus gave.” So much for these people.^[202]

Chapter 39

The Persecution Under Decius, and the Sufferings of Origen.

3 Philip reigned seven years and was succeeded by Decius. Because of his hatred for Philip, Decius started a persecution against the churches. In it Fabian was martyred at Rome, and Cornelius succeeded him as bishop. In Palestine, Alexander, bishop of the church of Jerusalem, once again stood before the governor’s courts at Caesarea for Christ’s sake. He distinguished himself by a second confession and was thrown into prison, crowned with the honor of a full old age and venerable gray hair. After his bright and conspicuous witness before the governor’s courts, he fell asleep in prison, and Mazabanes was appointed to succeed him as bishop of Jerusalem. 5 In the same way, Babylas of Antioch also died in prison after his confession, and Fabius took over leadership of the church there. As for Origen, the demon of evil drew up all his forces against him as though against an equal, and waged war on him with every device and every power. He attacked Origen more fiercely than any of those who were being fought at that time. How many things the man endured for the word of Christ, and what kind: chains and tortures of his body, punishments under the iron collar and in the depths of the prison. For many days his feet were stretched four notches apart in the stocks, and he bore it. He bore the threats of fire and everything else his enemies inflicted. And what kind of end he met, since the judge stubbornly insisted with all his might that on no account should he be put to death. And what words he left behind after this, full of help for those who need to be lifted up again. A great many of the man’s letters give a true and accurate account of all this.

Chapter 40

The Events Which Happened to Dionysius.

2 I will set out what happened to Dionysius from his letter to Germanus, where he tells the story about himself in this way: “I speak even in the sight of God, and he knows that I am not lying. It was not by any decision of my own, and not without God, that I took flight. Even earlier, before the persecution under Decius was announced, Sabinus immediately sent a frumentarius to search for me. I stayed at home four days, waiting for the frumentarius to arrive. He went everywhere looking: the rivers, the roads, the fields, wherever he guessed I might be hiding or walking. But he was struck with blindness and did not find the house, because he could not believe that a man being hunted would stay at home.”^[203] [2 Corinthians 11:31] 4 Only after the fourth day did God command me to leave, and he opened a way for me in a wonderful, unexpected manner. So I, my servants, and many of the brothers set out together. That this was the work of God’s providence was shown by what followed, in which perhaps we were of some use to others. Then, after a few remarks in between, Dionysius tells what happened to him after his flight, and goes on: “About sunset I was seized, together with those who were with me, and the soldiers took me to Taposiris. Timothy, by God’s providence, happened not to be there, and was not caught. When he came later, he found the house deserted, with guards posted in it, and us carried off as captives.”^[204]

6 After some other remarks he says: “And what was the manner of his marvelous arrangement of things? I will tell the truth. One of the country people met Timothy as he was running away in confusion, and asked him why he was in such a hurry. Timothy told him the plain truth. The man heard it. He was on his way to a wedding feast, for it is their custom to spend the whole night in such gatherings. He went in and told those who were reclining at the table. All of them, as if at a signal, jumped up together, ran as fast as they could, and burst in on us with a shout. The soldiers who were guarding us fled at once. The men then stood over us, as we were, lying on bare bedframes without bedding.^[205] 8 “As for me, God knows, I thought at first that they were robbers who had come to strip and plunder us. So I stayed on the bed where I lay, wearing only a linen garment, and held out to them the rest of my clothing that lay beside me. But they told me to get up and leave quickly. Then I understood why they had come, and I cried out, begging and pleading with them to go away and leave us alone. If they wanted to do me a kindness, I asked them to get ahead of those who were taking me away and cut off my head themselves. As I was shouting such things, as my companions, who shared everything with me, know well, they lifted me up by force. I let myself drop on my back on the ground, but they took hold of my hands and feet, dragged me out, and led me away.

9 “Those who witnessed all these things followed me: Gaius, Faustus, Peter and Paul. They picked me up, carried me out of the little town, set me on a bare-backed donkey, and led me away.” This is what Dionysius says about himself.^[206]

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Notes

[167] The Greek verb paracharattō literally means to alter the stamp on a coin, and so to counterfeit or debase. It is a strong word for corrupting the Church’s order.

[168] “Studied together with” (sumphoitēsantes) literally means “attended school with,” a stronger word than “were companions of.”

[169] “The priestly plate” was the gold plate (petalon) worn on the forehead of the Jewish high priest (see Exodus 28:36). Polycrates uses it as a figure for John’s standing. “Visitation” translates the Greek episkopē, which can also mean “oversight” or “the office of bishop.” The Greek text at “Thraseas... from” is damaged, and “Eumeneia” is the usual reading.

[170] The last words echo Acts 5:29. The Greek text of this passage is damaged in places. The verb in “my relatives always [kept] the day” is missing in the manuscripts and is supplied from the sense.

[171] “Eucharist” here refers to the consecrated bread of the Lord’s Supper, which the Roman presbyters sent to other churches. Sending it was understood as a sign of fellowship between the churches.

[172] Irenaeus’s name comes from the Greek word for “peace” (eirēnē).

[173] A “confessor” was a believer who had openly confessed Christ under persecution and suffered for it, but had not been put to death. Severus became emperor in 193, so his ninth year is about AD 201–202.

[174] Eusebius is quoting an anonymous earlier writer. “Peddle” translates a word for retail trading, often with the sense of adulterating goods for sale.

[175] “Athletes” and “arena” are the author’s sporting images for martyrs and the place of their contest. The Thebaid is the region of Upper Egypt.

[176] The Greek word paroikiai here means the Christian communities (churches) of Alexandria and its area. Eusebius dates this to Severus’s tenth year, about AD 202.

[177] “Rule of the Church” (kanōn tēs ekklēsias) means the settled body of belief the Church held and taught. The Greek word for the studies he took up is grammatika, which covers literature and language study in general.

[178] An obol was a small Greek coin, one-sixth of a drachma; four obols a day was a very meager income.

[179] Compare Matthew 10:9-10 (instructions to the Twelve: no two tunics, no sandals), Luke 10:4 (to the Seventy-two: no sandals), and Matthew 6:25-34 // Luke 12:22-31 on not worrying about tomorrow.

[180] The Greek word thōrax means “chest” or “upper body,” so the danger described is to his chest or torso.

[181] A catechumen was a person still being instructed before baptism. “Baptism through fire” means martyrdom, which was regarded as a baptism for those not yet baptized with water.

[182] “The seal of the Lord” here most likely means baptism, which the early church often called a “seal.”

[183] “Stromata” means “Miscellanies” or “Patchwork,” the title of Clement’s major work.

[184] “The weeks in Daniel” refers to the “seventy weeks” of Daniel 9.

[185] The saying is from Matthew 19:12. Eusebius presents the act as a youthful misreading of it.

[186] “Docetists” (Greek Dokētai) comes from dokein, “to seem”; they held that Christ only seemed to have a real human body and to suffer.

[187] “Stromata” means “patchwork” or “miscellanies,” and “Hypotyposes” means “outlines” or “sketches.” The Greek gnōstikōn here means “relating to knowledge,” not the heresy called Gnosticism.

[188] “Stromata” means “patchwork” or “miscellanies,” a collection of varied material. Eusebius explains the title by using katastrōsis (“spreading out”), which comes from the same root as stroma.

[189] “Disputed writings” (antilegomena) are books that some in the church accepted and others questioned. The “Clement” named here is probably the letter known as 1 Clement.

[190] “Hypotyposes” means “Outlines.” The older translation says “canonical Scripture”; the Greek says “all the Scripture of the covenant” (endiathēkos graphē), which Eusebius then says includes disputed books. “General letters” are also called the Catholic Epistles.

[191] The “blessed presbyter” is probably Pantaenus, Clement’s teacher, though Clement does not name him here.

[192] Alexander here is the bishop of Jerusalem mentioned earlier in Book 6. “Lord” is a respectful title for a teacher, not a claim of divinity.

[193] “Catechetical instruction” means teaching those preparing to join the church, and Eusebius uses the word loosely for Origen’s school at Alexandria.

[194] “Hexapla” means “sixfold” and “Tetrapla” “fourfold,” referring to the number of parallel columns or versions. “Seventy” is the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament.

[195] Aelia was the Roman name for Jerusalem.

[196] The “Phrygian heresy” is the movement named after Montanus, which began in Phrygia. The “apostle” is Paul.

[197] The first Antoninus is the emperor usually called Caracalla; the second is usually called Elagabalus. The Greek text here reads “Thilētos,” an evident corruption of Philetus, bishop of Antioch.

[198] The Hexaemeron is the six days of creation in Genesis. Hippolytus’ work on it is known only by title, and the Greek name is plain Ἱππόλυτος.

[199] “Defense” refers to the Defense of Origen that Eusebius wrote together with Pamphilus; it is not preserved in the original Greek.

[200] “On First Principles” is the Greek Peri Archon, known in Latin as De Principiis. “Stromata” means “Miscellanies” or “Patchwork.”

[201] The Hebrew titles are given in Greek spelling, and the forms are uncertain and partly corrupt. The list as transmitted omits the Twelve Prophets; adding them would give the stated total of twenty-two books.

[202] “Elkesaites” is also spelled “Elchasaites.” The Greek says only “will deny” and names no object; denial under pressure of persecution is evidently meant. “The apostle” most likely means Paul.

[203] A frumentarius was originally a grain-supply soldier who came to serve as a courier and agent for the Roman authorities. The Greek says this happened before the Decian persecution was announced. Sabinus is probably the Roman prefect of Egypt, though the text does not say so.

[204] Taposiris was a town in Egypt, near Alexandria. The Greek verb translated “carried off as captives” literally means “enslaved.”

[205] “His marvelous arrangement” refers to God’s providential ordering of events (Greek oikonomia).

[206] “Witnesses” translates the Greek martyres. By Dionysius’s time the word was already coming to mean “martyrs”, but here it most likely means those who were eyewitnesses of these events.