Church History Books 1–9 (trans.) 5 part 3/3

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.'

But also the subscriptions of many bishops together, declaring the same things, were attached to the aforesaid letters. Concerning these, however, enough has been said. Irenaeus sent forth writings to various persons. There exists, then, one little book of his which is inscribed 'To Blastus, On Schism'; another 'To Florinus, On Monarchy, and that God is not the author of evils.' For the aforesaid Florinus seemed to maintain this, though he was afterward rolled down into errors; and Irenaeus indicates that he himself had followed certain of the successors of the apostles.

The subscription of this little book, quite elegantly affixed, I have judged it worthy to insert here. 'I adjure you,' he says, 'you who transcribe this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by His coming in glory, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, that you compare what you write and diligently correct it against the exemplars from which you have copied, according to the faith; and that you likewise transcribe and insert this same oath of adjuration into the copies you make.' These things, usefully said by him, I have believed it necessary to insert into our work, so that through them everyone may be rendered diligent who has counted it worthy either to read or to copy out these things, learning the example of diligence handed down by holy and illustrious men.

But in those things which we said above that Irenaeus wrote to Florinus, he makes mention of Polycarp, and shows that he himself had associated with him, through these words: 'These teachings, Florinus,' he says, 'which you assert, I confidently declare are not of a sound mind. These teachings are not in harmony with the faith of the Church. These teachings not even those heretics who were driven out of the Church could ever have devised. These teachings—this impiety which they have put forth—not even those who had seen the apostles, whom you also knew, [would have uttered]. For I saw you, while I was still a boy in Asia with Polycarp, at that time acting splendidly, while you were still within the imperial court and striving to please Polycarp.'

For far more does the memory of the events of that time cling to me than of the present; for the things which we learn from boyhood grow together with the very soul and cleave to it. Hence I can even tell you the very spot in which the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse, and his gait, and his countenance, and the whole manner of his life, and the very form of his body; and also the discourses which he held before the people, and how he was wont to recount his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord Himself, and how he would call to mind and rehearse all the words which he had heard from them spoken by the Lord, and concerning His mighty works and His teaching.

And yet all these things he would set forth in harmony with the Scriptures. These I then, as I listened, wrote down—not upon paper, but in my heart—and by the grace of God I faithfully keep them, and, as it were, without ceasing ruminate upon them within myself. I therefore call God to witness, and in His sight I affirm to you, that if that blessed and apostolic man Polycarp had heard any such thing, he would have cried out: 'Good God, for what times hast Thou reserved me, that I should hear these things?' Would he not indeed straightway have fled the very place in which, sitting or standing, he had heard words of this kind? Moreover, from his letters, which he wrote either to the neighboring churches or to certain of the brethren, admonishing them, peace was spread abroad to the churches throughout all the earth, and the word of the Lord gathered them together.

Finally, even in the city of Rome he joined to the faith many of those illustrious and exceedingly wealthy men, together with their children and wives and kinsfolk and their whole household alike. But that ancient enemy of man's salvation did not look upon this with kindly eyes. Straightway, therefore, he sets about to assail our people with various engines. First, in the city of Rome, he drags to judgment a certain Apollonius, a man illustrious in our faith and in every discipline of philosophy, having stirred up against him a certain informer. And when the emperor had ordered that Christians who were denounced should be punished, he judged that the informer must first be dealt with; and the informer was the first to receive the sentence from the judge Perennius that his legs should be broken.

Then next the blessed martyr Apollonius was entreated to make a defense of his faith, which he uttered in the hearing of the senate and of all the people; and by a decree of the senate he was beheaded. For thus by the earlier laws it had been ordained. Having discharged the priesthood thirteen years, [Eleutherus dies and] Victor succeeds. But also, in the room of Julian at Antioch, Serapion is appointed the eighth bishop from the apostles, of whom we made mention above. At that time Theophilus was administering the churches at Caesarea of Palestine, and Narcissus at Jerusalem; while at Corinth Bacchyllus, and at Ephesus Polycrates, were reckoned among the noble bishops. And many others also in other places are reported to have been, at that same time, excellent priests.

Yet we make mention only of those whose faith and knowledge we are able to attest from the evidences of their own work. At this time a question of no small moment arose, springing as it were from an ancient observance of theirs: namely, that they thought the Pasch ought to be kept in every way upon the fourteenth of the moon—when, that is, the lamb is enjoined to be sacrificed by the Jews—as though, that day being come, the fast ought to be broken; whereas such a custom had never at all been observed in any of the other churches. For which cause assemblies of bishops and councils are convened throughout each and every province; and by letters sent to one another, [it was decreed] that from every several place there should be celebrated one and the same mystery, and that on this day alone the paschal fast should be broken.

There exists, in fine, even unto this present day the decree of the council held at Caesarea of Palestine, in which the first is Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea itself; and another decree like it, over which Victor the bishop is shown to have presided, together with Palmas of the province of Pontus. There exists also a sacerdotal assembly of the Gauls, which writes with Irenaeus as its president; and of Achaia, that under Bacchyllus, bishop of the church of the Corinthians—all of whom, from their various places, brought forth one and the same sentence of their judgment. But the bishops of the region of Asia maintained rather that the custom handed down to them from the ancients ought to be preserved.

Among these, Polycrates, who was seen to hold the primacy among them, writing to Victor, bishop of the Roman church, sets forth through these words the manner of the ancient tradition handed down even unto himself: 'We therefore,' he says, 'keep the undefiled day of the Pasch, neither adding nor taking away anything.'

For indeed great luminaries have fallen asleep in Asia, the highest and elect men, whom the Lord shall raise up at His coming, when He shall come from the heavens in glory and shall seek out all His saints: among whom is Philip the evangelist, who fell asleep at Hierapolis, together with his two daughters, who grew old as virgins, and his other daughter, filled with the Holy Spirit, who fell asleep at Ephesus; and moreover John, who leaned upon the breast of the Lord, who was a high priest and wore the priestly plate, a martyr and teacher of the Church, who himself also fell asleep at Ephesus; Polycarp too, at Smyrna, both bishop and martyr; and likewise Thraseas, bishop at Eumenia, but consummated by martyrdom at Smyrna.

And what shall I say further of Sagaris, no less a priest and a martyr, who rests in peace at Laodicea; and of Papirius; and of Macarius; and of Melito, a eunuch for the kingdom of God and filled with the Holy Spirit, who lies in the city of the Sardians, awaiting the coming of the Lord from the heavens, that he may rise again? All these observed the Pasch according to the Gospel, doing nothing at all beyond it, but keeping in all things the rule of faith. And I too, Polycrates, least of you all, observe it according to the tradition of my forefathers—those, at least, whom I have followed from the beginning.

For seven of my forefathers were bishops in succession, I am the eighth; and they all thus observed this day, so that it should coincide with that on which the people of the Jews puts away the leaven. Wherefore, dearest brethren, being sixty-five years of age in the name of the Lord, and having most fully the acquaintance of many bishops of the whole world, and attending to the holy Scriptures, I shall not be dismayed by those things which are brought forth to terrify me; for my elders too have said, 'One must obey God rather than men.' And after a little, concerning the bishops who were present with him, he adds this: 'I could also make mention of the bishops here present, whom you yourselves asked me to summon—as indeed I did.'

'Whose names, were I to write them, would be too great a multitude; and they all, knowing my littleness, confirm by their consent the things which we write, being assured that not in vain have I brought forward my grey hairs, but that I have ever conducted myself in the discipline of Christ.' But at these things Victor, bishop of the Roman church, acting too obstinately, strives to cut off from the fellowship of communion the churches of all Asia and of the neighboring provinces everywhere, as though they were declining into heresy, and sends letters by which he cut off all together, without distinction, from the ecclesiastical covenant. Those writing to him on the contrary urged him that he should rather do the things that make for peace, and be zealous for concord and unanimity.

In fine, there exist even the letters of these men, by which they rather sharply rebuke Victor as consulting unprofitably for the interests of the Church. For Irenaeus also, together with the others over whom he presided—though holding that the mystery of the Lord's resurrection should be celebrated—nevertheless reproves Victor, that he had not acted rightly in cutting off from the unity of the body so many and so great churches of God, which were keeping a custom handed down to them from antiquity. And concerning many things too [he writes]: that the fast ought to be observed by some for one day, by others for two, by others indeed for more, and by some even for forty—so that, reckoning the hours of the day and of the night, they fix a whole day.

'And this diversity of observance did not begin now for the first time, nor in our own days, but long before, among those who simply held fast what had been handed down from the beginning; while others afterward fell away into another custom, whether through negligence or through inexperience.'

'And yet, nonetheless, all these men, even when they varied in observance, were always—and still are—at peace both among themselves and with us; nor did the discrepancy destroy their concord.' After these things he inserts also a certain narrative, which, for its aptness [he gives thus]: 'Finally,' he says, 'all those presbyters before Soter, who held the priesthood of the church over which you now preside—I mean Anicetus, and Pius, and Hyginus, and Telesphorus, and Xystus—neither did they themselves so observe it, nor did those who were with them; and yet, although they themselves did not observe it thus, they kept peace with those who did, even though it might seem contrary to them that the rest did not observe it in like manner.'

'Nevertheless, never for this cause were any repelled from the fellowship of the Church, nor were those coming from those regions refused reception; nay rather, all the presbyters who were before you always solemnly sent the Eucharist to the presbyters of the churches who did not observe it thus. And the blessed Polycarp, when he had come to the city of Rome under Anicetus, although they had between them some slight difference concerning certain other matters, yet at once came together in peace; and concerning this question they so conducted themselves that neither maintained his own opinion by obstinate contention.'

'For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe those things which he knew that John, the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles, with whom he had always been, had observed; nor, on the other hand, did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to forsake those things which he said were kept by him according to the custom of his predecessors. And though they held these matters thus between themselves, they communed with one another in such wise that Anicetus yielded to Polycarp, in the church itself, the celebration of the Eucharist, at least out of consideration of honor; and thus they parted from one another in full faith, with peace intact and firm charity, so that all the churches—both those which observed the Pasch thus and those which did not so observe it—might nevertheless keep concord among themselves.' Irenaeus, thus fulfilling the work of his very name—namely, reconciling the peace of God to the churches—writes and asserts by letters, not only to Victor but likewise to the various rulers of the churches, that no dissension over this question ought to arise in the churches of God.

In Palestine also, the priests of God assembling together—Narcissus of Jerusalem and Theophilus, of whom we have already spoken above, and with them Cassius of Tyre and Clarus of Ptolemais, and very many others gathered alike—when this question was being treated, [and] what the apostolic tradition contained among them as well, they indicate near the end of the decree which was established in their council, in this manner: 'Let copies of our letters,' they say, 'be transmitted throughout all the churches, that we may not be made guilty of the souls which are plunged into diverse errors.'

'We signify to you, therefore, that at Alexandria also the same is observed.' Thus far concerning the aforesaid question, from those things which are found in the writings of the ancients. [Irenaeus] entitled a treatise on discipline, writing to a certain Marcianus; and also dialogues on various subjects, in which he sets down very many testimonies from the Epistle to the Hebrews and from the book which is called the Wisdom of Solomon. These are the things which have come to our knowledge concerning the little works of Irenaeus. After Commodus left the empire, and it was held by Pertinax for six months only, the same Pertinax met his death; and Severus after him assumed the principate.

In whose times very many ecclesiastical men, noble and illustrious in style, arose, who discoursed upon the question of all the heretics—that question which is ever being inquired: whence come evils, or whence malice, and that matter was made and not uncreated. There was also Candidus, who wrote upon the Hexaemeron, that is, on the beginning of Genesis; Appius too likewise comments upon the same; Sextus also, who [wrote] on other things; and innumerable others, whom it would be tedious either to enumerate or even to designate each by some illustrious token of his sayings. Very many of them, however, refuting the perfidies of the heretics that arose in their times, committed the right and apostolic faith to the monuments of their volumes—as against Artemon, that author of the heresy which afterward

Paul of Samosata, in our own almost-present times, attempted to revive—[the heresy] which affirms the Savior to have been a mere man, that is, without God, and falsely alleges that this was handed down of old even by the apostles themselves. Against these, one of those whom we mentioned above [wrote, showing] that the Church had handed down [the truth]—not as they now assert—and that this truth of the preaching had been preserved even unto the times of Victor. And how did their successors, writing against the Gentiles or against the heretics—that is, Justin, and Miltiades, and Tatian, and Clement, and very many others—[proclaim Christ]? Who is ignorant of the volumes of these, and of those who lived at the same time, in which they proclaim Christ to be God and man together?

Moreover, the psalms and songs which were written by the faithful brethren from the beginning celebrate Christ as the Word of God and as God, with all the praise of their hymns. How, then, could [this doctrine] have taken its beginning in the times of Victor? And how do they raise this calumny against Victor, who know that Victor repelled from the communion of the Church Theodotus the tanner—who had been the chief and father of their impiety, and who first at Rome dared to say that Christ was a mere man? For if Victor, as they say, believed thus, how did he cast out of the Church Theodotus, the inventor of that blasphemy? But let it suffice to have recalled these things concerning Victor.

To Victor, having discharged the episcopate ten years, Zephyrinus succeeded as heir of the priesthood, in the ninth year of the principate of Severus. Concerning this Zephyrinus, the same writing which we cited above [says]: 'I will therefore remind you, brethren, of the things which have been done among us—things which, had they perchance happened in Sodom, might even have amended and corrected those men. There was among us a certain confessor, Natalis by name, who confessed the faith within our own memory still.'

'This man, deceived at one time by a certain Asclepiodotus and Theodotus the bankers—who were both disciples of that Theodotus the tanner, the first to be driven from the fellowship of the Church for this foolish assertion by Victor, then bishop of the city of Rome—consented that, upon receiving a salary from them, he should be named bishop of that heresy, by a fixed compact: namely, one hundred and fifty denarii of monthly payment. And this Natalis, when he had placed himself in this office, thus deceived, was frequently admonished in dreams by the Lord; for the merciful God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, was unwilling to lose from the Church His martyr, who in many sufferings had shown himself a witness for Him.'

'But when he received the visions too heedlessly, overcome by love of primacy and by the allurement of base gain, at last, being scourged the whole night through by the holy angels and racked with grievous torments, he rose in the morning, clothed himself in sackcloth and sprinkled himself with ashes, and with many tears bewailing his error, prostrated himself before the feet of Zephyrinus the bishop. And rolling at the feet of all—not of the clergy only, but even of the laity—with much lamentation, he moved the whole church to tears and compassion, that they might implore for him pardon from Christ by continual and unceasing prayers on his behalf; showing at the same time, in the sight of the Lord, the bruises of his body and the scars which he had received for the confession of His name; and scarcely at length was he received into the communion of the ecclesiastical body.' And after some things the same writer adds these words also:

'But they have corrupted the divine Scriptures without any reverence for the fear of God, and they insolently and impiously reject the rule of the ancient faith, being ignorant of Christ—whom for this cause they have not found, because they did not rightly seek Him. And they have sunk to such a depth of folly and impiety that, if anyone should propound to them a discourse from the Scriptures, they on the contrary inquire whether the argument in question forms a conjoined or a disjoined kind of syllogism; and forsaking the holy Scriptures of God, they busy themselves with geometry. As men who are truly of the earth, they speak of the earth, and therefore they know not Him who is from above and comes from the heavens.'

'In fine, Euclid flourishes among them above all, especially in the disciplines of geometry; Aristotle too and Theophrastus are held by them in admiration; while Galen is even adored by some of them. By whose arts and doctrines they strive to establish the impiety of their heresy, and by the deceptions of men ignorant of God they undermine the simplicity of the divine Scriptures and the sincerity of the faith. But they do these things because they have not even become neighbors to the faith. Therefore, without any fear, they profane the divine Scriptures, and, while corrupting them, they say that they are correcting them.'

'But lest anyone suppose that I bring forward falsehoods against them, it is open to all to know [the truth]: if anyone will take their copies and compare them, nonetheless, with the copies of others of them, he will find that these too disagree greatly among themselves; for each one emends [the text] as it seems good to him. In fine, the copies of Asclepiodotus do not agree at all with those of Theodotus. And then, moreover, if any of their disciples have chanced to transcribe them, [they have set down] whatever seemed good to them, or whatever it was permitted them to add or take away; and they all boast of possessing corrected copies—rather, defiled ones. Again, the copies of Hermophilus do not agree with those of Apollonides. Nay, not even do their own copies agree with themselves, if you compare the earlier with the later.'

'For they are ever emending, they to whom what they emend is ever displeasing; and they keep seeking out new readings, whenever the ones in use seem to them contrary. But what recklessness this presumption involves, I think that not even they themselves are ignorant. For either they do not believe that the Scriptures were composed by the divine Spirit—and then they are unbelievers—or else they deem themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit; and what else do they thereby show, save that they are driven by a demon? For neither can they deny their deed, since their very hands are caught upon those very copies; and they themselves know that from their own masters and teachers of the Scriptures I have received an understanding of the exposition [that betrays] this kind of corruption.'

'But some of them did not even deign any longer to corrupt the Scriptures, but utterly to deny them—the Law, that is, and the Prophets—and, under the pretext of this impious assertion, they have been rolled down into the uttermost gulf of perdition.' Let it suffice that these things have been committed to our histories concerning them.