Church History II 17

And there is an account that this man came, in the time of Claudius at Rome, into conversation with Peter, who was then preaching to those there. And this would not be improbable, since the very treatise which we say was composed by him at a later date and after some years plainly contains the rules of the church which are kept even now and down to our own time.

But also, recounting as accurately as may be the life of the ascetics among us, he would become manifest as one who not only knew, but also approved, extolled, and reverenced the apostolic men of his day — men who, as it seems, had sprung from the Hebrews, and who on this account still preserved most of the ancient customs in a manner more after the Jewish fashion.

First, indeed, having asserted that he would add nothing of his own, beyond the truth, from himself, in the things he was about to relate, he says — in the treatise which he entitled «On the Contemplative Life, or Suppliants» — that they call these men «Therapeutae,» and the women with them «Therapeutrides,» adding the reasons for such an appellation: either because, like physicians, they heal and tend the souls of those who come to them, freeing them from the passions of vice; or on account of their pure and sincere service and worship toward the Divine.

Now whether he himself imposed this appellation upon them, fitly inscribing the name to suit the men's manner of life, or whether in truth the first of them actually called them so at the beginning — the appellation of «Christians» being as yet in no way proclaimed everywhere — there is no need at all to contend.

Nevertheless, among the first things he bears witness to their renunciation of property, asserting that, when they begin to take up the philosophic life, they withdraw from their goods to their kinsfolk; then, having renounced all the cares of life, they go forth outside the walls and make their abodes in solitary fields and gardens, well knowing that intercourse with those unlike themselves is unprofitable and harmful — those of that time, as is fitting, accomplishing this with an ardent and most fervent faith, practising the emulation of the prophetic life.

Wherefore also in the acknowledged Acts of the Apostles it is recorded that all the acquaintances of the apostles, selling their possessions and goods, distributed to all according as anyone had need, so that there was not anyone in want among them; for, as many as were owners of lands or houses, as the account says, sold them and brought the prices of the things sold, and laid them at the feet of the apostles, so that distribution was made to each according as anyone had need.

And having borne witness to things closely resembling these, in the very syllables, concerning the aforesaid persons, Philo adds, saying thus concerning them: «The race, then, is in many places of the inhabited world; for it was fitting that both Greece and the barbarian land should partake of the perfect good. But it abounds in Egypt, in each of the so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria.

And the best from every quarter, as it were to a homeland of the Therapeutae, set forth as colonists to a certain most suitable place, which lies above the lake Maria, situated upon a hill of rather low elevation, very conveniently both for safety and for the temperateness of the air.»

Then next, having described what manner of dwellings theirs were, he says this concerning the churches throughout the region: «And in each house there is a sacred chamber, which is called a «sanctuary» and «monastery,» in which, living in solitude, they accomplish the mysteries of the holy life, bringing in nothing — neither drink, nor food, nor any other of the things that are necessary for the needs of the body — but laws, and oracles delivered through the prophets, and hymns, and the other things by which knowledge and piety are increased together and brought to perfection.»

And after some other matters he says: «And the whole interval from morning until evening is for them an exercise. For, perusing the sacred writings, they philosophize upon their ancestral wisdom by way of allegory, since they hold the things of the literal interpretation to be symbols of a nature that is hidden, made plain in deeper meanings.»

And there are among them also writings of men of old, who, having become founders of their sect, left behind many memorials of the allegorical mode; whom, using as it were certain archetypes, they imitate in the manner of their chosen way of life.

These things, then, seem to have been said by the man as one who had listened to them as they expounded the sacred Scriptures. And it is perhaps likely that the things which he says are among them as writings of the ancients are the Gospels and the writings of the apostles, and certain narratives — as is likely — interpretative of the prophets of old, such as are contained in the Epistle to the Hebrews and several other Epistles of Paul.

Then again next, concerning their composing of new psalms, he writes thus: «So that they not only contemplate, but also compose songs and hymns to God in all manner of metres and melodies, of necessity setting them down in rhythms more solemn.»

Many other things, indeed, concerning those of whom the account treats, he goes through in the same work; but it seemed necessary to gather those passages by which the characteristic marks of the ecclesiastical mode of life are set forth.

But if to anyone it does not seem that the things said are proper to the polity according to the Gospel, but that they might also fit others besides those indicated, let him be persuaded even from the words that follow, in which he will obtain an indisputable

— if he be fair-minded — testimony concerning this matter. For he writes thus: «And, laying down self-control beforehand as it were a certain foundation in the soul, they build upon it the other virtues. Food or drink none of them would take before the setting of the sun, since they judge philosophizing to be worthy of the light, but the necessities of the body to belong to darkness; whence to the one they assigned the day, but to the others a brief part of the night.»

«And some even after three days are reminded of food — those in whom the longing for knowledge is more deeply implanted; and some are so delighted and luxuriate, being feasted richly and abundantly by wisdom, which supplies the doctrines ungrudgingly, that they hold out even for twice that time, and scarcely after six days are accustomed to taste necessary food.» These sayings of Philo we hold to be plain and indisputable concerning those of our own faith.

But if anyone, even after these things, contradicting, should still harden himself, let him too be released from his unbelief, yielding to clearer proofs, which it is possible to find nowhere except in the worship of the Christians alone, according to the Gospel.

For he says that there are also women associated with those of whom the account treats, of whom the greater part are aged virgins, who have kept their chastity, not by necessity — as some of the priestesses among the Greeks — but rather by their own free choice, through zeal and longing for wisdom; with which being eager to live, they made no account of the pleasures of the body, desiring offspring not mortal but immortal, which the soul that loves God is alone able of itself to bring forth.

Then, going on a little further, he sets forth even more emphatically these things also: «And the expositions of the sacred writings are made by them by way of deeper meanings in allegories. For all the legislation seems to these men to resemble a living creature, and to have as its body the literal expressions, but as its soul the invisible mind laid up within the expressions; which this worship began especially to contemplate, beholding, as through a mirror of the names, the surpassing beauties of the thoughts displayed therein.»

What need is there to add to these things their assemblies in the same place, and the occupations of the men apart and of the women apart in the same place, and the exercises which by custom are even now and to this day performed by us — which, in a special way, at the feast of the saving Passion, we are wont to accomplish in fastings and watchings through the night, and in attentiveness to the divine words?

These things the aforesaid man, having noted with greater accuracy the manner — which has been preserved even to this day among us alone — has handed down in his own writing; and especially the all-night vigils of the great feast and the exercises in them, and the hymns that are wont to be said by us, recounting how, while one chants in measure decorously, the rest, listening in silence, join in chanting the closing strains of the hymns; and how, on the aforesaid days, lying upon straw on the ground, they do not at all taste wine — as he has recorded in these very words — nor any of the things that have blood, but water alone is their drink, and their relish with bread is salt and hyssop.

In addition to these things he writes of the manner of presidency of those entrusted with the ecclesiastical liturgies, and of the diaconates, and of the presidencies of the episcopate, highest above all. And whoever has a longing for the accurate observation of these things may learn it from the aforesaid history of the man.

And that it was the first heralds of the teaching according to the Gospel, and the customs handed down from the beginning by the apostles, which Philo took up and wrote of, is plain to everyone.