Church History Books 1–9 (trans.) 5

How many things Apollonius pursues in confuting the Cataphrygians. What things Irenaeus disputed against the heretics at the city of Rome. That at Rome Apollonius suffered martyrdom. Concerning the doubt which arose in Asia. How one opinion concerning the Pasch pleased all. What of the writings of Irenaeus have come down even to us. What also of the others who flourished in the same times.

Concerning those who introduced the sect of Artemon: of what character he was in his morals, and by what device they sought to profane the sacrosanct books. Therefore, Soter the bishop having administered the priesthood in the city of Rome for eight years, the twelfth from the apostles, Eleutherus, succeeds him, in the seventeenth year of the reign of Antoninus Verus; at which time, throughout many provinces of the Roman world, from the acclamation and sedition of the mob, persecutions were stirred up against our people—which we can easily infer from those things which we have found committed to writing for the preservation of the memory of the deeds done.

And although concerning this a fuller narrative by us—than that which we have pursued concerning the martyrdoms of individuals—appears to be set forth under its own title, yet, because we have judged these matters to be fitting equally also for the instruction of the present work, we shall insert a few things out of many.

For while other writers of histories relate wars, trophies, and victories, celebrate the brave deeds of magistrates and generals, and narrate the deaths of citizens or of enemies—passing over in silence, amid all those slaughters, the things which pertain to God—it will not be absurd if our narrative describe the wars which the flesh endured for the salvation of the soul, and the battles which the soul undertook that it might recover the heavenly fatherland; if it relate its contests which it waged for the faith of the truth, wherein it fought not against mortal soldiers but for the liberty of the spirit; if, I say, we commit to the monuments of letters those battles which were fought not for tracts of land nor for the possessions of provinces, but for the kingdom of the heavens and the inheritance of paradise—not seeking dominion for a mortal king, but destined to triumph under the immortal King, the God of all. These things, concerning the martyrs of Vienne, past which the most noble Rhone flows in headlong descent, in the times of the aforementioned Antoninus Verus, were described in order by them and transmitted by a faithful account to the churches of Asia and Phrygia.

That fuller faith may be had concerning these things, I shall set down the very examples of the writers themselves. 'The servants of Christ dwelling at Vienne and Lyons, cities of Gaul, who bear the faith and hope of the redemption wrought by Christ: peace and grace and glory be to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.' And when they had prefaced their account with certain matters, as it were by way of introduction, after some intervening words they thus begin the narrative of what was done: 'To recount the sufferings which they aimed upon the holy martyrs, as it truly was, we ourselves who were present are not sufficient, much less can any writing comprehend it.'

For with all his might the Enemy assailed us, as one who through the harshness of the persecution was already displaying the beginnings of his coming and thereby fulfilling the mystery of his wickedness and cruelty; so that first we were forbidden the dwelling in houses, then next the use of the baths, afterward even any going forth into public, and at the last, that we should not be seen at all in any place whatever, at home or abroad, in public or in private.

But the grace of God was present, which brought forth into the midst men steadier than pillars, who through their patience were able not only to bear the assaults which the Enemy devised, but even of their own accord to seek them out and willingly to expose themselves to all the torments, whether of reproaches or of tortures; and when the torturers were already almost wearied, they still thought their own portion too little, crying out with the strength of patient endurance that 'the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.' Thus they bravely bore the outcries raised against them and the reproaches, and patiently accepted being torn and stoned and shut up, receiving with equanimity whatever the madness of the raging mob might contrive.

Then at a certain time, while the tribune and the chief men of the city stood by, at the mere outcries of the people the brethren were seized and thrust into prison, and such cruelty was used that no one could set forth the several kinds of its savagery.

Now Vettius Epagathus, one of the brethren, who kept both a perfect charity toward God and an entire love toward men — whose life, though he was a young man, had been so tested by all and approved that even in the ordinances of the Lord he walked without blame, and was most ready also for the service of God's servants — he, being full of divine zeal and fervor of spirit, when he saw such cruel punishments inflicted upon the servants of God, and, against right and religion, so many penalties devised against human flesh, could no longer endure the indignity of the thing, but demanded to be heard, that he might prove that among us nothing impious was committed. For he was both most noble among his own and most learned. But when the obstinacy of the judge would not receive his defense, he asked only this of him, whether he too were a Christian.

With a most clear and free voice he testified that he was indeed a Christian. But in this the accusers knew not what they said, while he, having in himself Jesus as an Advocate for us, by this name was accounted worthy to be honored, following the example of the holy presbyter Zacharias, who had shown toward the saints the fullness of charity. And he himself, while he stands by the brethren and follows the Lord's example, laid down his soul for his sheep and for his friends. And therefore, together with these, as faithful disciples of Christ, they shall follow the Lamb in the coming kingdom, wherever He goes.

Making use, then, of these excellent and most faithful leaders, all the rest of the holy company was strengthened. But some, found unequal and weaker and too feeble to bear the weight of the persecution that was brought upon them, about ten in number, by their fall left us grief and immense sorrow, and broke the spirits of many whom the faith of the former had kindled. Whence we were all greatly terrified — not because of the punishments themselves, for the falls of our own people tortured us far more grievously than the torments that were being inflicted.

Yet daily there were arrested those whom the Lord judged worthy to be enrolled in place of the fallen, so that out of both churches all who seemed zealous and great were gathered. It happened also that certain pagan slaves of ours were seized, since it had been publicly ordered that all should be sought out and held; and these, at the instigation of the demon, dreading the torments which they saw inflicted upon the saints, and being urged to this very thing by the soldiers, charged us with perpetrating Oedipal deeds and other things which it is not lawful for us even to utter or to think, and such as we cannot believe were ever done among men.

And when these things had been spread abroad among the common people concerning us, we began to be a matter of the greatest horror and execration among all men, even among those who before, on account of kinship, had been more moderate. All at once they began to rage against the Christians and to be furious with an incurable hatred. Then we saw fulfilled that which was spoken by the Lord: 'The time shall come, in which everyone that kills you shall think that he offers a service to God.' After this, beyond every kind of telling was the measure of the punishments and tortures inflicted upon the holy martyrs, Satan pressing on, that thereby, forsooth, by their confession as well, some such thing might be extorted, as though committed by us.

In this they all persisted with one and the same fury — the mob, the judge, the official, the soldiers — pressing above all upon a certain Sanctus by name, a deacon of Vienne, and Maturus, a neophyte indeed, but most robust in faith and patience; and also Attalus, a citizen of Pergamum, who was a pillar and support of our church in all things; and Blandina, a woman, through whom Christ showed that the things which among men are despised and held in contempt are accounted in great glory before God, and that His love makes those things which by nature are frail to be, through grace, most firm.

For while we all were trembling for her, and even her mistress according to the flesh, who was herself one of the number of the martyrs, feared lest perhaps Blandina should give way under the torments and scarcely suffice for the tortures of even the first confession because of the weakness of the body — she was strengthened with such power of endurance that the hands of the executioners, who in turn succeeded one another out of the judge's contentious animosity, were sooner loosed and gave out. In the end, renewing the torments ever again from early morning until evening, they at last confessed themselves defeated, amazed how the spirit remained in her when nothing was now left in her body through the tortures.

But that truly blessed woman, as she herself afterward related to us, as often as she uttered the voice of confession and proclaimed 'I am a Christian,' so often were new strengths restored to her body, and, as though the pains were taken away through the confession, she was renewed afresh for the contests. And all the more, because she had understood that the devout voice extinguished the sense of pain, she the more frequently and more cheerfully proclaimed 'I am a Christian' and 'Among us nothing evil is done.'

The deacon Sanctus by name, likewise, above what can be told and above what it is lawful for human nature to bear, while the ministers of the demons pressed on the more fiercely, that they might extract from him some acknowledgment of an unlawful confession, endured new kinds of penalties, and such as far exceeded the substance of the human condition. But that man, full of God, so laughed at their cruelties and their savage bestiality in the questioning, that he never deigned to confess to them even so much as his race, whence he was, of what home or fatherland, nor even his own name; but to all these single inquiries he answered that he was a Christian: 'This is to me my name, this my race and fatherland. Otherwise,' said he, 'I am nothing at all but a Christian.'

Whence an incredible madness agitated them, that with so many kinds of penalties exhausted they had not been able to extort from him even the profession of his own name. They apply renewed fires to the more sensitive members of his body. From which his flesh, indeed, being scorched by the fire, flowed away, yet he himself remained unmoved, unshaken, unafraid, tempering within himself the human flames by those heavenly and eternal fountains which proceed from the belly of Jesus. And so the whole body shuddered; the recognition of the human form perished in him, and the cruelty of the torments had taken away the possibility of recognizing not only who he was, but even what he was.

Yet Christ alone was recognized in him through the glory of the martyr, who through his patience was destroying the adverse powers and showing to His own that there is nothing terrible where the Father is loved, nothing of pain where the faith of Christ is. But the artificers of crimes were by no means abashed at the martyr's virtue. For after a few days, considering that, if they should again inflict torments upon wounds still swelling — which would resent even the softest touch of a hand — and again vex the limbs already putrefied, one of two things would come to pass: either he would yield into their impious laws, or, if in the torments he should lay down his soul, terror of the cruelty would be held forth to threaten the rest. But this turned out far contrary to what the impious had thought.

For — a thing which can scarcely be believed by the unbelieving — he was restored to his former state, so that the second cruelty repaired what the first had taken away, and thus the repeated punishments no longer conferred upon him a penalty, but a healing. And Blandina too, whom we mentioned a little before, was by like example recalled to a second set of tortures. She, being almost half alive and set as it were on the borders of death, having been beaten again with repeated torments, as if awakening suddenly from sleep, came into remembrance of the future blessedness, and with steadfast voice said: 'You err, O men, in thinking that those feed on the entrails of infants who do not even use the flesh of dumb animals.' And so, persevering in her confession, she was again thrust back, joined to the number of the martyrs.

The servants of God, that is, worn down by the affliction of the prison and by the squalor of the penal confinement, and, as they say, with their feet stretched to the seventh hole in the stocks — contrary to what can be believed — in the innermost place of darkness, through all the kinds of penalties which the savagery of the raging men could devise, were perishing. Yet even there the help of the divine Majesty was not lacking to such an end of theirs. For some of those who had borne the most savage torments, and were not permitted to obtain any human remedy, in a wonderful manner, by the power of the Lord, grew strong again, and by their sudden alacrity of mind confirmed the rest unto patience.

And those were the more impatient of the penalties who had lately been seized and whose bodies the torments had not yet hardened. Those, in short, were the ones being killed by the horror of the filth and the darkness of the confinement. But the glory of blessed Pothinus, bishop of Lyons — who was more than ninety years of age and feeble in body as befitted that age, and in other respects almost already dead, living by love of martyrdom alone — he is led to the tribunal, or rather carried, being unstrung by age and languor. His soul was preserved for this alone, that Christ might through him more magnificently triumph in a frail body. Meanwhile the aged man is set before the tribunals. From all sides the shout of the impious populace is raised; they cry aloud that this very man is Christ.

Then indeed he is asked by the governor who was the God of the Christians. He answered: 'If you are worthy, you shall know.' Hereupon a kind of rabid frenzy of some immense fury seized upon them all, so that those who stood near struck him with their hands, and those farther off, whatever weapon had come into their hands, hurled it from afar, so that each one reckoned it to be a matter of the highest guilt for himself if he had not inflicted some outrage upon the old man. For in this they believed their gods to be avenged. And, half-dead, he gave back his breath. About the same time an immense dispensation of God is set in motion, and mercy is unexpectedly obtained through the skill of Christ the Lord.

That which we can scarcely remember was done before by persecutors: all who at first, being seized, had denied the faith, were arrested and thrust into prison to await their end, not now as Christians, but as murderers and incestuous persons, being detained; and the wretches had a double punishment, since indeed hope, and the martyr's crown, and the charity of Christ, and the grace of the Holy Spirit relieved the sufferings of the rest and comforted the afflicted, whereas these very penalties tormented these others. And so by their very look they were distinguished from the rest: for those were brought forth from the tortures joyful, and bearing on their very faces I know not what divine thing, accounting their chains as precious necklaces, made through the squalor of the prison the good odor of Christ, so that they seemed to themselves shut up not in a dungeon but in a perfumer's chamber.

But those others were sad, downcast, hideous in their very appearance, and fouler with every deformity of disgrace. Moreover they were reproached even by the heathen themselves, as men who had lost their faith and incurred a crime, and who had indeed been deprived of the name of Christians, yet had not escaped the punishments of murderers. When the rest saw these things thus done, they were incredibly strengthened, so that when arrested they constantly, without any wavering of mind, professed themselves to be nothing else. And when they had pursued certain matters in these places somewhat further, after other things, thereafter, through the diverse forms of their martyrdom, the Lord Christ, weaving as it were a certain crown composed of various flowers, offered it, that they might receive the reward.

For Maturus and Sanctus and Blandina and Attalus, on the days of the games, when countless thousands of nations of diverse sorts had been gathered for the spectacle, are set in the midst of the arena. And again Maturus with Sanctus, as though nothing had been done before, are exposed to all the torments; that they might break their endurance, and, so to speak, from the very crown of their heads snatch away their crowns, being incited by the mad voices of the people. But their spirits were all the more strengthened by the hope of the glory now near, which they seemed already, again and again, to touch and handle with their right hands.

And when both the kinds of torments and almost the whole time of the spectacles had been consumed, and they had not been able in any way to move them from their resolve — even when, set upon iron seats, the flesh consumed by the scourges was burned by the fire administered beneath — at the last the untiring spirits of the martyrs took flight through their necks cut with the sword. But Blandina, bound to a stake and stretched out in the fashion of a cross, is prepared as food for the beasts. Yet she, hanging on the wood, with unterrified and quite joyful countenance, poured forth a prayer to God, in which she besought both constancy for herself and perseverance for the rest, her partners in the contest.

And she confidently hoped that her vows would easily be fulfilled, which she aided by her own examples, teaching at the same time this also, that to those who are partners in the sufferings of Christ, the sharing of His glory too must be granted, even though bitter. But when none of the beasts dared to touch her body, being taken down from the wood she is again recalled to prison, to be prepared for still further contests, so that through many victories she might crush the head of the tortuous serpent, and rouse the spirits of the brethren to endurance by this, that she herself, in a small and frail body, remained unconquered through so many combats, and in each several contest [instructed them]... For [Attalus] was a man very active and, what is nobler than all, a man of the best conscience, and in the faith of Christ, through all exercises, ever a martyr.

And when he had been led around in the amphitheater, with a placard preceding him on which was written 'Attalus the Christian,' the fury of the raging mob began to rage against him the more vehemently. But when it had been made known to the governor that he was a man of Roman citizenship, he orders him to be brought back to prison with the rest, and reports concerning him to Caesar, and awaits his sentence, what he should command about him. But in the meanwhile, placed in prison, they suffered the time to pass not unfruitfully for themselves, but by the vigor of their soul and the alacrity of their faith, they made very many martyrs by their exhortations.

From this a great joy was born to the Mother Church, seeing her sons — who had seemed already almost to have fallen away into death — restored through these to life; and by their admonitions many who by denying had already been made as it were a kind of miscarriage, were taught; for they were taught by these that God does not will the death of a sinner, but that he should be converted and live. Therefore, when a rescript had come from Caesar, that [those who confessed should be tortured, and those who denied should be released], the judge orders Christians to be prepared for him and brought in, at a most celebrated [festival] in which men gathering from all provinces held a market, to furnish the pomp of punishments as a spectacle to all who were present. And so again crosses, again penalties, again torments are prepared.

And if perchance any Roman citizens were found, he decrees that these be beheaded, but the rest to be handed over to the beasts. But among those who had denied and could neither be dismissed nor [continued to] deny, now that pardon was granted to those who denied, [these] persisted in confession and, recalled from the flock of perdition, were joined to the number of the martyrs. So then, when the examination was being held concerning the aforesaid, a certain Alexander, a Phrygian by race and a physician by profession, a religious and prudent man, dear and acceptable to all by the uprightness of his life and character, being moved by the love of God, while he stood by the tribunal, was exhorting to confession by his nods those who were under examination, so that it became plain to all who stood by what disposition of mind he bore.

And when the people had marked this, being especially indignant on account of those who, what they had before denied, were now recalling by a revived confession, they cried out against Alexander that these very things were being committed at his instigation. He, being ordered by the governor to be set in the midst and asked who he was, testifies with free profession that he is a Christian; whom he straightway ordered to be prepared for the beasts. And on the next day [Alexander, along with Attalus, was brought in]. For the governor, the precept of Caesar being observed, wishing to gratify the peoples, ordered Attalus himself also to be handed over to the beasts.

But when none of the wild beasts had touched the bodies of the saints, he orders them, tormented with all the punishments of scourges and the other penalties, at the last to be slaughtered in the sight of the people in the midst of the arena; blessed Alexander in all the punishments which he endured uttering not even a single word at all, but from the beginning even to the end always speaking within himself with God and remaining in His praises and prayers. But Attalus, when he was being roasted in an iron chair with live coals placed beneath, and the reek of the burning flesh was carried to the nostrils and mouths of the people looking on, cried out with a great voice to the crowd: 'Behold, this is to eat men, which you are doing.'

'Why do you seek from us as a hidden crime that which you commit in open daylight? For we neither eat men nor do any other evil.' And when he was asked, 'What name has your God?' he answered: 'Those who are many are distinguished by names; He who is one has no need of a name.' After these, on the very last day of the games, [the martyrs were brought forth, and a certain boy of about fifteen years], who along with the others in the previous tortures had been ordered ever to stand by, that seeing the punishments of the rest they might the more be terrified. They are therefore set in the midst and ordered to swear by the gods. But they, on the contrary, said that those by whom they were being compelled to swear were nothing at all.

And when with very many other words they reproached the gods of the nations, the multitude of the people began to rage the more against them, pitying neither the tender age of the boy nor the sex of the woman, but through all the kinds of torments, driving them as it were around a certain circle, suffered nothing to be lacking to the penalties which cruelty had devised. Then Ponticus, receiving the greatest strength of endurance by his mother's exhortation and persevering in the confession of the faith, gave back his undefiled spirit. But the blessed Blandina, last of all, like a noble mother of all, exulting and rejoicing, as though invited to the bridal chamber of the Bridegroom and to the marriage feast.

From this it came about that she danced under the scourges and rejoiced though burned on the gridirons, and seemed so cheerful and glad as if she were reclining at a royal banquet amid the dishes. After this she is handed over to the beasts, but remains untouched by them. [Then she is enclosed in a net and cast] to a bull fiercely goaded; by which, when she had been assailed with countless blows and tossed about the whole circuit of the arena, she is not hurt at all, but remains, as ever, with joyful countenance, steadfast mind, already conversing with Christ by hope itself and the confidence of her soul. At the last she is ordered to be slaughtered with the sword — a woman who had been able to bear such and so great things! But not even so was cruelty able to take any satiety.

For being incited by the venom of the ancient serpent, their fierce and barbarous manners knew not how to grow gentle. Indeed, from the very patience of the saints they became the more savage. [They saw that] there was a greater virtue in the tortured than in the torturers. And from this the judge alike, and the people, were being incited to abominable hatreds, that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: 'Let him that is unjust do injustice still, and he that is filthy be filthy still.' And so, by an unheard-of kind of savagery, [they treated the bodies] of those who were being killed in prison, that no one, out of a regard for humanity, might commit the gathered remains to burial.

But if perchance anything of the bodies of the martyrs had been left over either by the beasts or by the fire, it was kept guarded by the soldiers, and it was sought whether human [ingenuity] could inflict anything further. Yet the nations exulted, magnifying their idols, by whose power they said the vengeance had been given upon them. But if any among them seemed a little milder or more humane, they would say: 'Where now is their God?'

'And what did this religion profit them, for which they even laid down their souls?' So then among [the heathen this was] held; especially because we could not commit the bodies to the ground, since not even at the time of night was any opportunity granted us for this, nor was there any means, either to persuade the guards by gifts, or by prayers, or by any other kind [of entreaty]; so attentively and anxiously did they take care that no remains should be given [to burial]. [And so, when they had done all this,] the burned bones of the martyrs, reduced to ash, together with the rest of the dust of the earth, they scattered into the river Rhone, that nowhere might their remains rest — as though, forsooth, by doing this they might conquer God, and, as they said, might thereby take away from them the hope of resurrection.

'For hoping this' (they said), 'and by I know not what superstition persuading themselves, they gladly subject themselves to torments and to death. Now let us see whether they will rise again, and whether their God can be present to help them and to snatch them out of our hands.' These are the things which are declared to have been done in those times, from the letter of the brethren of Lyons. From which what may also have been done throughout the other provinces is to be gathered by conjecture. There are still related in that same letter certain things also concerning the humanity and gentleness of the blessed martyrs, which I think worthy to be associated by their own words with these matters, as with the rest.

'And these,' they say, 'in imitation of Christ, who, when He was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God' — placed in such great glory, and made martyrs once and again and more frequently, after the beasts, after the fires and the [heated] plates, neither called themselves martyrs, nor allowed others so to name them; but if perchance any of us, either in a letter or in conversation, had named them martyrs, they rebuked him sharply, saying that this appellation is due to Christ alone, who alone is the faithful and true Witness (martyr), and who is the firstborn from the dead and the author of eternal life; or else that this title is fitting only for those who, after a good confession, have merited to depart from this life and to go to God.

'But we,' they said, 'lowly and needy, desire that at least the confession itself may remain safe in us.' And in this they also besought the other brethren with tears, that they would pray to the Lord for them, that they might merit to receive martyrdom as the seal of a perfect confession. And so great humility was in them, that though in the very facts they were martyrs, yet they fled the boasting of the name. But among the heathen they stood with all boldness, showing the nobility of their soul through contempt of injury and endurance of punishments. They were therefore humble among the brethren, exalted among the persecutors, meek toward their own, terrible toward their adversaries, subject to Christ, upright against the devil.

They humbled themselves under the most mighty hand of God, by which they were now more loftily exalted. [They accused] no one. They also prayed for their persecutors, using the words of holy Stephen, the first martyr, and saying: 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.'

Against these the devil was stirring up the more vehement battles, because, through the exceeding charity which they had in Christ Jesus, [they were snatching back those whom he had believed] devoured; and again they were leading forth living those from his inmost bowels. And like mothers toward their little ones, so toward these they clung with wholly poured-out bowels of compassion, pouring out for them before the omnipotent God fountains and rivers of tears; they asked life for them from God, and it was granted. [The devil believed] it would be a martyr's crown, if he might be permitted to detain, as if they were spoils, the part of the members snatched away from the churches.

Above all they themselves loved peace and commanded us to keep it; nor did they build for themselves any way to martyrdom except through peace, taking care not to forsake it, but holding that peace must always be kept, peace must be guarded among the brethren, and charity especially maintained, which is the bond of unity. These things, as I think, we set down not uselessly for the edification of readers, on account of those who are carried, puffed up and swollen, against the brethren, and in case any have perchance stumbled, who think that the bowels of Christ's mercy are shut against them. There is reported still in the same writing another narrative also, which for the sake of instruction I have thought worthy to insert here.

There was a certain Alcibiades who led a hard and austere life, wishing to take no food, but using only salt and bread with water. And when he wished to maintain this rigor of life even after being placed in prison, it was revealed to Attalus, after his first confession which he confessed in the amphitheater, that Alcibiades was not acting rightly in refusing to use the creatures of God. When these things were made known, Alcibiades began to receive all things with thanksgiving, because the same Spirit who revealed to Attalus that he should teach this also persuaded Alcibiades that he should follow. But let this be the end of these matters.

Therefore Montanus and Alcibiades and Theodotus in the regions of Phrygia then first arose; for at that time still many other powers and graces were being ministered in the various churches through the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that belief was easily accorded even to these men, namely that the grace of prophecy could be given to them also.

And when very much dissension had arisen among the brethren, the churches of Gaul again rendered decisions in an exposition of the faith, bringing forth the letters of the martyrs who had been perfected among them, which those men, placed in chains, had written to the brethren dwelling throughout Asia and Phrygia, and to Eleutherus bishop of the city of Rome, admonishing him concerning the peace of the church; and who also commended Irenaeus to the bishop, bearing witness to his life, as their own words, which are written below, show: 'We have entreated our brother and companion Irenaeus to carry these writings to you, whom we beseech you to hold as commended to you; for he is a zealot of the covenant of Christ.'

For we know that the mere rank of office does not make anyone righteous—an office which this man nevertheless uses rightly in the presbyterate—but that something more is required. After these things they also enumerate the glories of various martyrs: how many were slain by the sword, how many by beasts, how many by fires, and how many were consumed by the squalor of prison.

If anyone wishes to know these things more fully, let him read them in full. The histories relate that his brother Aurelius Caesar (Marcus Aurelius), waging wars against the Germans and Sarmatians, when his army was in danger from thirst, burning with heat and seeking what needed to be done, found in a certain legion soldiers who were Christians; God heard their supplications, and suddenly, against everyone's hope, most abundant showers being poured forth, the thirst of the endangered army—for which the Christians had prayed—was quenched, while the enemy, who now were pressing on toward its destruction, were put to flight by frequent thunderbolts and by fires falling from heaven. Whether this was obtained by the prayers of our people is not recorded there, since among those authors even the other miracles that have been done by our people find no credence.

But among our own, Tertullian records these things, and among the Greeks Apollinaris, who says that this very legion was thereafter, by the emperor and with its name changed, called 'the Thundering Legion' on account of the miracle of that remarkable deed. Tertullian... But let us now return from this to the order of history. Therefore, when Pothinus, in the ninetieth year of his life, had been crowned with martyrdom together with the rest of the martyrs of Gaul, Irenaeus received the priesthood of the church of Lyons. We have learned that this Irenaeus had in boyhood been a hearer of Polycarp. He, in the third book against heresies, in the times of bishop Eleutherus—the times which we now have in hand—indicates that he was writing that work, in these words: '...he mentions Peter and Paul. To Linus succeeds Anencletus, after whom in the third place Clement received the episcopate.'

This man was with the blessed apostles and always passed his life with them, and having been instructed by them he kept a fresh memory of their tradition and always had before him the form of their preaching. When dissension arose at Corinth among the brethren, Clement himself, in the person of the Roman church, wrote a necessary letter to the Corinthians, which would recall them to peace and renew their faith, which had been shaken, expressing in it the tradition of the apostles which he himself had lately received from them. To this Clement succeeds Euarestus, to Euarestus Alexander; and after him Xystus is ordained sixth from the apostles; after whom Telesphorus, who also underwent an illustrious martyrdom.

After him Hyginus, then Pius; after Pius comes Soter, and after Soter Eleutherus is sought—but either Rufinus or certainly the archetype codex of our copies omitted these words; the inferior manuscripts fill the gap, for example the codex O reads 'and to Soter, Eleutherus,' the codex P 'to this Soter, Eleutherius succeeds'—'the one who is ninth from the apostles obtains the lot of the episcopate and guards whole and unimpaired those same preachings of the divine faith which the apostles handed down.' These things Irenaeus has comprised in the aforesaid books. But nonetheless also in the second book of the same work, saying that even in his own times certain relics of divine power are found in the churches, he writes in this manner: 'But they are far indeed from being able to raise a dead man, as the Lord raised the dead and the apostles did through prayers.'

But the brethren also frequently did this in very many churches, so that, when the whole church was gathered together and, with fastings and many supplications poured out to God, the spirit of a dead man returned and the man was rendered living through the prayers of the saints. But if they say that the Lord did these things through mere appearance, let us come to the prophets, who foretold that these things were to be done by him and who confirmed that he is the Son of God; wherefore his disciples also, in his name and receiving grace from him, do these things for the succour of men's salvation, according as each has deserved. For some drive out demons and so cleanse those who were assailed by them, that often those very persons who were healed, believing, remain in the church.

But others receive foreknowledge of things to come and see prophetic visions. Others restore the sick to health by the laying on of the hand. And even the dead have sometimes been raised by these and have remained with us for many years. And what more need be said?

These things are done in the churches of God through the grace and name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate—things which nevertheless happen daily—not for any trafficking nor for the gain of money, but, just as grace is received freely, so it is freely bestowed. 'Just as,' he says, 'we have heard many of the brethren in the church having the grace of the prophets and speaking in all tongues through the gift of the Holy Spirit, who also bring the mysteries and secrets of God into the open, when it is expedient.' He shows that these graces endured even up to those times among the worthy in the churches, since indeed at the beginning we promised to treat these things at the proper time. 'First,' he says, 'let us look at the holy Gospels.'

Matthew indeed published for the Hebrews, written in their own language, a gospel, at the time when Paul and Peter were preaching the gospel at the city of Rome and were making solid the foundations of the church there. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, set down in a book the gospel which Peter had preached. After these things, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also reclined upon his breast, published a gospel while stationed at Ephesus, a city of Asia. These things he says in the third book of the aforesaid work.

But in the fifth book, concerning the Apocalypse, he says: 'Since therefore these things are so, and this number is found in all the correct and ancient copies, and those also attest these same things who saw John while he was in the body and preaching the word of the Lord—since the number of the beast, according to the reckoning and the letters of the Greeks which are written in it... We therefore do not wish to incur danger by pronouncing anything too confidently about the name of Antichrist. For if it were needful that these things be plainly declared, and he who wrote the Apocalypse had had to do so, his name would have been plainly expressed; since the revelation itself was not made long before, but almost in our own age.' These things also concerning the Apocalypse the aforementioned man set forth for us.

He mentions also the first epistle of John and the first of Peter, and takes very many examples from them, and also makes use of the little book which is called the Shepherd. 'Well, therefore,' he says, 'does the Scripture report, which says: First of all it must be believed that there is one God, who created and framed all things.' He uses also testimonies from the Wisdom of Solomon; and he mentions, as if from memory, the discourses of a certain apostolic man whose name he keeps silent. He also makes mention of Justin the martyr and of Ignatius and their writings, and that he would answer Marcion. But hear also with what words he reports concerning the seventy translators of the divine scriptures: 'God,' he says, 'was made man, and the Lord himself saved us.'

'It is he who gave that sign which was written concerning the Virgin, and not as some say, Behold, a young woman shall conceive in the womb and bear a son, as Theodotion the Ephesian and Aquila the Pontic translated—both Jewish proselytes, whom the Ebionites followed, who say that Christ was born of Joseph. For before,' he says, 'the dominion of the Romans grew strong, while the Macedonians still possessed Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, wishing to seek greater glory for his library, which he was building at Alexandria out of the volumes of all the ancient Greeks, asked also of the people of Jerusalem that he might receive their Hebrew scriptures translated into the Greek tongue.'

'But they, being indeed subject to the Macedonians, sent to Ptolemy seventy most skilled men, elders; yet in this the will and counsel of God was at work. Then he, wishing to receive the proofs of each one individually, and fearing lest perhaps through the translation they might conceal the truth inserted in the divine volumes, set each of them apart by himself... He caused the order of translating to be observed in each of the several volumes, until again they were all recalled together into his presence and compared with one another the things which each had translated. And then God is truly glorified, and the holy Scripture is recognized to be truly divine.'

'For all of them, from beginning to end, translated the same things in the same words, so that even the gentiles who were present recognized that the scriptures had at that time been translated by the will of God. And it is no wonder if divine providence brought it about that this should be done so, since also in that captivity which had befallen the people under king Nebuchadnezzar, when the scriptures had been corrupted, when after seventy years the Jews returned to their homeland in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, God inspired Ezra the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to restore all the volumes and words of the former prophets, and to give back to the people the Law which had been given through Moses.' Marcus Aurelius, having reigned so long, after his passing left the sovereignty to Commodus.

In the first year of his reign, Julian received the priesthood at Alexandria, Agrippinus having died after completing twelve years in the episcopate. Over the catechetical school there presided Pantaenus, a man most noble in all learning; from whom among them a custom, handed down from antiquity, remains to this day, that the teachers of the divine scriptures in the ecclesiastical school there are men most approved in knowledge and learning. Of this office therefore he had charge and was held in honor, seeing that he had also formerly shone with distinction among the philosophers who are called Stoics.

Of him it is related that his zeal toward the word of God and his love were so great, that he even went to preach the gospel of Christ to all the nations that are hidden away in the farthest recesses of the East, carrying the message of the faith and of devotion by his preaching. For there were still in those times some evangelists also, who, in imitation of the holy apostles, wandering through the various parts of the world, by the grace of God and the virtue of their own spirit, brought the word of God and the faith of Christ to whatever nations were ignorant of them.

It is said that when Pantaenus had come to the Indians, he found that the apostle Bartholomew had among them laid the first seeds of the faith, and had left behind the Gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew letters, which the aforesaid Pantaenus, having found it there, brought back at that same time. But also, in many other pursuits of ecclesiastical teaching at Alexandria, he brought a sufficiently illustrious and noble life to a close with an excellent and admirable end, instructing his disciples both by the living voice and, in the monuments of his books, leaving treasures of knowledge to posterity as well. In the schools of his divine learning there flourished especially at Alexandria Clement, called by the same name as that Clement who at the city of Rome was both a successor and a disciple of the apostles.

Finally this same Clement, in the seventh book of the Dispositions, makes mention of Pantaenus as his master and teacher. But also in the first book of the Stromata he designates this same man, in that place where he enumerates that he had found several men of the apostolic preaching, saying thus: 'For me indeed the commentaries of this work are not written for display, but for the remembrance of old age and as a remedy against forgetfulness, so that in them there may be for me a certain outline of those magnificent things and divine words which I was counted worthy to hear from holy and blessed men: by one of whom I was instructed in Achaia, by another in Syria, by another in the East and especially in Palestine, this last coming of Hebrew descent.'

'But at the last, in Egypt, I enjoyed the teaching of a man to be preferred to all others for the merit of his virtue and knowledge; after whom, as though having found a treasure hidden away, I ceased to seek anything further; and they indeed commended to me the truth of the divine doctrine, which had been handed down to them immediately from the very first authors, the holy apostles Peter and James and John and Paul, as fathers commend it to a son. But few sons are like their fathers. Yet by God's favor, through them, in us the seed of the apostolic stock was preserved.' By the merit of its fame this account is still celebrated in our times, bringing the record down to the fifteenth year of the Hadrianic siege.

For first we indicated that Mark was there the bishop from among the gentiles, after whom Cassian, then Publius, after him Maximus, and so Julian, after whom Gaius and again another Julian, Capito also and Valens, then Dolichianus, after whom Narcissus. As he himself writes, having been educated in the city of Rome, he reports what he had from Tatian—of whom above, among the other writers, we made mention—that very many books were written, and especially those against the heresy of Marcion, which the same Tatian refutes. Those who were split off in the same heresy he himself designates by these words: 'Therefore,' he says, 'they disagree even among themselves, because they desire to affirm that which cannot stand.'

'For of their flock is Apelles, who, availing himself of the prerogative of abstinence and old age, asserts one principle, yet claims to be inspired, following the persuasion of a certain virgin driven by the spirit of a demon, Philumene by name. But others, like Marcion himself the sailor, introduce two principles, from whom are both Potitus and Basilicus; who themselves indeed followed Lupus of Pontus, but, not finding the outcome of things—as neither did he—turned to those things which they thought easier, and introduced two principles, confirming this without any proofs. Others too, of these same men, again sank down into something worse, affirming not only two, but three principles and three natures.'

'Of whom the chief and author is Syneros, as their own defenders say.' But Rhodo himself also writes of himself how he came into a debate with Apelles, and thus relates: 'The aged Apelles held a discourse with us and was convicted of teaching many things wrongly. Whence he also asserted that the ground of faith ought not to be examined at all, but that each one ought to remain in what he had believed. For he said that salvation belongs to those who hope in the Crucified, provided only that they be found in good works. Yet he plainly decided concerning God—as we said before—that there is one principle, as we also say.' And then, setting forth his whole opinion, Rhodo himself also introduces it: 'I was saying,' he says, 'to him: Whence, then, do we show the ground of one principle? Or how is this asserted—explain.'

'Then he said: The prophecies indeed refute their very selves, because they contain nothing at all of truth, from the fact that they disagree with one another and are surely false, since they contradict their own selves. But how there is one principle, he indeed denied that he knew, saying only that so it seemed to him. And when he was adjured by me to say what is true, he affirmed with an oath that he did not know how God is one and unbegotten, but only believed it.'

'Then I held him as one plainly derided and marked for reproof, who professed himself a teacher.' In the same work also it is related that a certain Callistion in the city of Rome had been a disciple of Tatian; and he writes that a book of propositions or questions was composed by Tatian, in which he resolves all the things that are obscure and difficult in the divine scriptures.

But the same Rhodo, in his commentaries... There is also of the same author a commentary on the Hexaemeron, in which he relates that Apelles wrote very many impious things against the law of Moses and uttered blasphemous words against the whole Law, refuting him, as it seemed to himself. Since, however, the enemy of the human race, in order to war down the salvation of men, is nowhere at leisure, but stirs up diverse and various heresies in each and every place, among which he brings forth in Asia and Phrygia the greatest serpent of his kind, Montanus, who called himself the Paraclete; who, having fallen from some rank of the presbyterate away from the church, together with his associate Blastus, by both crime and frenzy led very many out of the church into their own pit, contriving new fictions against the truth.

Against them stood forth Apollinaris of Hierapolis, of whom we made mention above, and very many other men, most learned for those parts, who contended against them in defense of the truth, and who also left us very strong documents for the text of our history. Meanwhile, as we have said, Apollinaris, writing against this heresy and indicating in his preface that, seeing many indeed ensnared throughout the churches, he had corrected them by disputing face to face, yet, being asked by the brethren, transmitted these writings also to them.

In these, after some preliminaries, when he had named the author of the heresy, going on he also names a certain town of Phrygia which is called Ardabau, in which, they say, a certain man named Montanus, who had lately come to the faith of Christ, under Gratus proconsul of Asia, being inflamed by an excessive desire of primacy, gave place in himself to hostile spirits, and suddenly, in a certain ecstasy of mind, began uttering things different from those that had been handed down by the succession of the church's elders, as it were in a prophetic guise. And when the hearers who were present at that same time saw these things happening thus, some judged him to be as it were filled with a demon and blown about by an erring spirit, for the deceiving of the peoples, mindful of the precept and threat of the Lord whereby he commands that men beware of false prophets.

'But others thought him to be as it were filled with the Holy Spirit and endowed with prophetic grace, and, forgetful of the Lord's precept, they so far indulged the erring and seducing spirit that they even longed to provoke him to utter something. By whom Montanus, being held in veneration beyond what was fitting, advanced to such rashness that he even made two certain women partners of the insane spirit with which he himself was filled, and taught them to rave together with him, so that both sexes might the more easily be caught in error through each of them. And now he began to pronounce blessed those who adhered more familiarly to him, and made them swollen with the greatness of his promises,' until they were caught out as seducers.

'Yet very few there were among the Phrygians who were deceived by their madness.' The spirit persuaded them to blaspheme the whole church which is throughout the world, and not only to show it no reverence, but not even to cross its threshold. Yet those who frequently came forward were refuted as heretics and corrupters of the truth, and driven from the assembly of the church. Writing these things in his first book, and throughout the whole body of his work convicting the frauds of the heresy in each particular, in the second volume also he says: 'But what sort of thing is this, that they even call us slayers of the prophets, because we do not accept their insane phantasies? For they say that these are the prophets whom the Lord promised he would send to his people.'

'Let them answer us then: if they were sent by God as prophets, which of them suffered? Or who was slain by the wicked? Or which of them was seized for the name of the Lord and stood before kings and governors? Or who was scourged in the synagogues of the Jews? Or who was stoned? Nay rather, on the contrary, it is handed down that they met the end of their life after the example of Judas the betrayer. For it is said that, driven by the very demon by which they were inspired, they at various times ended their life by the noose. And that admirable Theodotus, as it were the firstborn of their prophecy, they relate both to have believed the spirit of error, by which, being carried up on high and thence brought down to the earth, he ended his life with a most wretched exit.'

But they themselves deny that this was so done concerning Montanus or Theodotus and the women; nevertheless it is affirmed by many. What then? Between those who deny and those who affirm, we commit the credence of the matter to God. The same author, after some interval, also subjoins this: 'But holy bishops too, most approved men, who lived at that same time—Zoticus of Cumana and Julian of Apamea—having set about to restrain the spirit that was speaking in Maximilla, ordered Themison to stop her mouth.' And again, proving that the prophecy of Maximilla was false—she who had foretold that very many wars were at hand—he uses these words: 'And how is her lie not plainly proven?'

'For thirteen years have now passed up to the present day since that woman died, and nowhere at all, either privately or publicly, has any war arisen; but rather, through God's mercy, perpetual peace has been granted to the Christians.' And also in the third book, concerning those who boasted that many martyrs had arisen from their heresy, he says this: 'When,' he says, 'having been convicted in all the things we have said above, they could answer nothing, they take refuge in the martyrs, saying that they have many martyrs of their spirit. What then? Because many other heretics too have very many martyrs, are we therefore to acquiesce to them that the truth is also with them? By no means. For the so-called Marcionists first have many martyrs.'

'But what truth of martyrdom can there be among them, where the truth of Christ is not?' He says: 'In short, the holy martyrs who undergo martyrdom for the true faith, when, going forth from the church, they are led to their passion, if perchance any be found with them of the heresy of the Phrygians, separate themselves from them and die apart, unwilling to have communion with those who think that the spirit of Montanus and Maximilla is to be acquiesced in—just as also in our own times at Apamea, which is situated above the Maeander, we know was done by Gaius and Alexander, who were martyrs from Eumenia.' And he inserts into his own work these words from his author's sayings: 'For it must not be believed,' he says, 'that in an ecstasy of mind—that is, in a trance through which one is made beside himself—a prophet can be a tenacious holder of what is just and right.'

'Such prophets in ecstasy without doubt take their beginning from ignorance, but roll down at the end into madness, as we said above. But in this manner they can point out no one, neither in the Old Testament nor in the New, who was a prophet through the Spirit of God and prophesied in ecstasy—not the four daughters of Philip, nor Ammia who prophesied in the church of Philadelphia, nor Quadratus, nor any other one of their number.' And after a few words he again subjoins and says: 'Those women succeeded Montanus in the prophetic grace, and, as they were affirming, were given to the whole church for prophesying until the coming of the Lord; but their assertion is refuted. For it is now almost the fourteenth year since Maximilla died.' These things are from the commentaries of the aforesaid man.

But he himself, of whom the author indicates—Miltiades—also left us other not-to-be-despised monuments of his own work: another treatise against the Jews, and an apology for our faith addressed to the rulers of the Roman realm; he wrote also against the Cataphrygian heretics, putting forth a campaign against them, in which quite vigilantly he sets forth their prophecies and the morals of those who were the authors of the heresy, in these words: 'But let us see,' he says, 'who is this new teacher.'

'And first let us examine his doctrine according to the Lord's judgment; his very acts and works show what manner of man he is: it was he who first named Pepuza and Tymium, towns of Phrygia, Jerusalem, and decreed that all should be gathered together into these; who appointed collectors of money; who under the name of oblations receives gifts more cunningly; who provides salaries to those who preach his word, so that through these means men might be enticed to him.' These things concerning Montanus. But concerning his women, after some words he writes thus: 'We have shown, first of all, that these prophetesses, from the time when they were filled with the spirit, forsook their husbands. How then do they lie in calling Prisca a virgin? Does it not seem to you that all Scripture forbids a prophet to receive gifts or money?'

If therefore I see a prophet who has accepted gold and silver and costly garments, how am I to reckon that man a prophet? And again, after a little, he adds, saying: But Themiso too, who among them was puffed up by the mere name of confession, yet is void of the fruits of true confession—for indeed he laid aside his chains by means of much money, whereas he ought certainly to have borne himself humbly—this man, exalted with arrogance and arrogating to himself something of apostolic authority, writes a letter to all the churches, in which he attempts to teach those who believed far more rightly than he, and exhorts all to lend their ear to novel inventions of words. Moreover he blasphemes the Lord and His apostles and the holy Church.

But concerning certain others also who among them are honored as martyrs: yet, that we may not dwell upon many, tell us about Alexander, who calls himself a martyr, whom this prophetess keeps as her table-companion, and who was found guilty of crimes. It is not we who say it, but the public records contain these things. Which of them, then, forgives him his sins? Does the prophetess pardon the martyr his crimes? For when the Lord has said, 'Take neither gold nor money nor two tunics,' these men do the very opposite in everything, acquiring and heaping up those very things which the Lord commanded even those who possessed them to cast away. For we can prove that those who among them are named either prophets or martyrs gather money not only from the rich, but even from the poor, from orphans and widows.

Or if they have any confidence, let them present themselves and hold a debate with us concerning these matters, so that, if they are convicted, they may henceforth at least cease to entangle themselves in such dealings. For a prophet ought to be recognized, or even proved, by his fruits, even as the Lord also said, that 'a tree is known by its fruits.' And the prophet is to be tried, for he was brought to judgment before Aemilius Frontinus the proconsul; for he had already become an apostate from the name of Christ. But afterward, when certain faithful brethren, who at that time had some influence with the judge, interceded on his behalf, he pretended to be suffering for the name of the Lord, and by this pretense he was released.

Yet they think that not even in the church of his own homeland is credit to be given to the things we allege. In the public archives at Ephesus the acts are preserved—which, however, these excellent prophets who serve him do not even know are preserved there. Whoever indeed is convicted in these matters is without doubt refuted together with the ignorance of the prophets, so that along with him their ignorance too is exposed. These and many other like things concerning him we are able to demonstrate. Or, if they are confident, let them come to close quarters, let them meet our charges and rid themselves of these things, if they think they can escape the reckoning of them. Likewise, after a little, he adds this concerning the prophets themselves:

But if they deny that their prophets have accepted gifts, let them establish this: that, if they be convicted, they may no longer pretend to be prophets; and I will bring a thousand proofs. Nevertheless I judge it necessary that the remaining fruits also of these prophets be examined. Tell me, you O prophetesses: is the face of one prophesying ever painted with whitening and rouge? Is the prophetess tinted with eye-shadow? Does the prophetess make use of ornaments and take delight in necklaces? Then, does the prophet play at the gaming-board and at dice? Does the prophet put out his money at usury? Let them declare whether it is lawful for prophets to do these things; but I, for my part, will prove all these things against them.

These and many other things did the same Apollonius weave together, quite convincingly and consistently, to refute them; indicating also this, that the fortieth year was then being reckoned, in which he was writing these things, from the time when Montanus began his false prophecy. He tells too how at Pepuza, when Maximilla was pretending to prophesy, one suddenly entering began to command the spirit that spoke in her, so as to restrain it utterly; but those who fawned upon them opposed him. He mentions also a certain martyr Thraseas; and, as though from the tradition of the earlier ones, that the apostles departed from Jerusalem in the twelfth year. He reports besides that at Ephesus the dead were raised by John, and very many other matters, by all of which the aforesaid heresy is vehemently confuted.

These things in the nineteenth book. But Serapion, who after Maximinus was bishop at Antioch, in his letter which he writes to Caricus and Ponticus concerning this heresy—or rather this new abomination that has arisen, which is rejected and refuted by the whole brotherhood that is in the entire world—says: 'I have transmitted to you the letters of Claudius Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis in the province of Asia, in which he writes concerning these matters.' And in this very letter of Serapion certain subscriptions of the bishops also appear: 'Aurelius Quirinus, a martyr, wishes you good health'; 'Aurelius Publius Julius, bishop of the colony of Debeltum in Thrace: God lives'; and one who wished 'to cast out Priscilla, but her flatterers did not permit it.'