Book 5

Translated by Thothica

1 hr 35 min

THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Contents of Book Five

I. How many, and in what manner, in the time of Verus, in Gaul went through the contest on behalf of godliness. II. How the God-beloved martyrs cared for those who had fallen in the persecution, receiving them. III. What manifestation came to the martyr Attalus through a dream. IV. How the martyrs commended Irenaeus by a letter. V. How God, hearing from heaven the prayers of our people, sent rain to Marcus Aurelius Caesar. VI. A list of those who were bishops at Rome. VII. How even down to those times marvellous powers were wrought through the faithful. VIII. How Irenaeus makes mention of the divine Scriptures. IX. Those who were bishops in the time of Commodus. X. Of Pantaenus the philosopher. XI. Of Clement of Alexandria. XII. Of the bishops in Jerusalem. XIII. Of Rhodo and the dissension among the Marcionites which he mentioned. XIV. Of the false prophets of the Phrygians. XV. Of the schism at Rome under Blastus. XVI. What is recorded concerning Montanus and the false prophets with him. XVII. Of Miltiades and the discourses he composed. XVIII. What things Apollonius too refuted in the Phrygians, and whom he mentioned. XIX. Serapion concerning the heresy of the Phrygians. XX. What things Irenaeus discussed in writing with the schismatics at Rome. XXI. How Apollonius was martyred at Rome. XXII. What bishops were known in their time. XXIII. Of the question then stirred up concerning the Passover. XXIV. Of the dissension throughout Asia. XXV. How one vote concerning the Passover was agreed upon by all. XXVI. What of the literary labour of Irenaeus has come down to us also. XXVII. What of the rest who flourished together at that time. XXVIII. Concerning those who from the beginning put forward the heresy of Artemon, what manner of men they were, and how they dared to corrupt the holy Scriptures.

PREFACE

Soter, the bishop of the church of the Romans, having governed for eight years, ended his life; him Eleutherus, twelfth from the apostles, succeeded, in the seventeenth year of the emperor Antoninus Verus. In his time, the persecution against us being more violently kindled in certain parts of the earth from the rising of the populaces in the cities, it is possible to gather by conjecture, from the things that befell in one single nation, that myriads of martyrs were distinguished; which things it befell to be delivered in writing to those who came after, as being truly worthy of unfading memory.
Now the whole writing of the most complete narrative concerning these things has been set down by us in our collection of the martyrs, containing a narrative not only historical but also instructive; but whatever bears upon the present undertaking, this I shall now gather and set down.
Others, then, making historical narratives, would by all means have delivered in writing victories of wars and trophies over enemies, and the prowess of generals and the valour of soldiers, defiled with blood and countless slaughters, for the sake of children and country and the rest of their possessions;
but our narrative of the polity according to God shall inscribe upon eternal monuments the most peaceful wars on behalf of the very peace of the soul, and those who in these played the man for truth rather than for country, and rather for godliness than for their dearest ones, proclaiming for eternal memory the steadfastness of the athletes of godliness and their long-suffering manliness, and the trophies over demons and the victories over the invisible adversaries, and the crowns over all these.

CHAPTER I

Gaul, then, was the country in which the stadium of the said persons was set; the renowned and notable metropoleis of which, surpassing the rest of those there, are Lugdunum and Vienna, through both of which the river Rhone, flowing around the whole country with a great stream, passes.
The most distinguished churches there, then, sent the writing concerning the martyrs to the churches throughout Asia and Phrygia, relating the things done among them in this manner.
I shall set down their words: "The servants of Christ sojourning in Vienna and Lugdunum of Gaul, to the brethren throughout Asia and Phrygia who have the same faith and hope of redemption as we: peace and grace and glory from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord."
Then, after these things, having prefaced others, they make the beginning of their account in these words: "The greatness of the affliction here, and the so great wrath of the nations against the saints, and all that the blessed martyrs endured, neither are we able to declare accurately, nor is it possible to compass it in writing.
For with all his might the adversary fell upon us, foreshadowing already his coming, which is presently to be without fear, and went through all things, training and exercising beforehand his own against the servants of God, so that not only were we shut out from houses and baths and the marketplace, but it was forbidden that any of us appear at all to them in any place whatever.
But the grace of God generalled against him, and rescued the weak, and arrayed against him steadfast pillars, able through endurance to draw upon themselves all the onset of the evil one; who also went to close quarters, enduring every kind of reproach and chastisement; and counting their many things few, they hastened to Christ, truly showing that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which is to be revealed in us.
And first they nobly endured the things heaped upon them in a mass by the whole populace—shoutings and blows and draggings and plunderings and castings of stones and shuttings up, and all that an enraged multitude is wont to do as against enemies and foes;
and indeed, being brought up into the marketplace by the tribune and the authorities presiding over the city, examined before all the multitude and having confessed, they were shut up in the prison until the coming of the governor;
and afterward, being led before the governor, and he using toward us all cruelty, Vettius Epagathus, one of the brethren, full of love toward God and toward his neighbour, whose conduct had been so exact that, though he was young, he was on a level with the testimony borne to the elder Zacharias—for he walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, and was untiring in every ministry toward his neighbour, having much zeal for God and being fervent in spirit—being such a one, he did not bear the judgement so unreasonably given against us, but was exceedingly indignant, and asked that he himself also be heard, making a defence on behalf of the brethren, that there was nothing godless nor impious among us.
But when those about the tribunal cried out against him—for he was a man of note—and the governor did not endure the just request so put forward by him, but only asked this, whether he too were a Christian, and he in a most clear voice confessed it, he too was taken up into the lot of the martyrs, named the Advocate of the Christians, having the Advocate in himself, the Spirit of Zacharias, which he showed forth through the fulness of love, having been well pleased to lay down even his own life on behalf of the defence of the brethren; for he was, and is, a genuine disciple of Christ, following the Lamb wherever he goes.
From this point, then, the rest were distinguished, and the first martyrs became manifest and ready, who with all eagerness fulfilled the confession of the martyrdom; but there appeared also the unready and untrained and still weak, unable to bear the strain of a great contest; of whom about ten in number proved abortive, who caused us great grief and immeasurable mourning, and checked the eagerness of the rest who had not been seized; who, although suffering all the dreadful things, nevertheless were present with the martyrs and did not leave them.
Then we were all greatly dismayed because of the uncertainty of the confession, not fearing the chastisements brought upon us, but looking to the end and dreading lest any should fall away.
Nevertheless there were seized day by day the worthy, filling up the number of those, so that there were gathered from the two churches all the zealous, and those by whom especially the affairs here had been established;
and there were seized also certain heathen household-servants of ours, since the governor had publicly commanded that we should all be sought out; who also, by the snare of Satan, fearing the tortures which they saw the saints suffer, the soldiers urging them on to this, falsely accused us of Thyestean feasts and Oedipodean unions, and such things as it is not lawful for us either to speak or to think, nor indeed even to believe that any such thing ever came to pass among men.
When these things were noised abroad, all were made savage against us, so that even if some before, on account of kinship, were moderate, then they were greatly enraged and gnashed against us; and there was fulfilled the saying of our Lord, that "the time shall come in which everyone that killeth you shall think that he offereth service to God."
Thereupon at last the holy martyrs endured chastisements beyond all telling, Satan being eager that through them too something of the blasphemies should be uttered;
but with surpassing fury all the wrath both of the populace and of the governor and of the soldiers fell upon Sanctus the deacon from Vienna, and upon Maturus, a newly enlightened but noble contender, and upon Attalus, a Pergamene by race, who had always been a pillar and foundation of those here, and upon Blandina, through whom Christ showed that the things which among men appear cheap and unsightly and contemptible are deemed worthy of great glory before God, on account of the love toward him shown in power and not boasting in appearance.
For when we all were afraid, and her mistress in the flesh, who was herself also one of the martyr-contenders, was in agony lest she should not be able to confess with boldness because of the weakness of her body, Blandina was filled with such power that those who tortured her in every way in turn, from morning until evening, were worn out and gave up, and themselves confessed that they were defeated, having no longer anything they could do to her, and marvelled that she still remained breathing, though her whole body was torn and laid open; and they bore witness that one kind of torture was enough to bring out the soul, much more so many and such.
But the blessed woman, like a noble athlete, renewed her strength in the confession; and her recovery and rest and freedom from pain at what befell her was the saying, "I am a Christian, and among us no evil is done."
And Sanctus too, himself with surpassing endurance and beyond all human nature nobly bearing all the maltreatments of men, when the lawless ones hoped, through the continuance and the greatness of the tortures, to hear from him something of what they ought not, withstood them with so great firmness that he told neither his own name, nor of nation nor of city whence he was, nor whether he were slave or free; but to all that was asked he answered in the Roman tongue, "I am a Christian." This, instead of name and instead of city and instead of race and instead of everything, he confessed again and again; and no other voice did the nations hear from him.
Whence indeed there arose a great contentiousness of the governor and of the torturers against him, so that, when they had nothing more to do to him, at last they fastened red-hot brazen plates upon the tenderest members of his body.
And these were burning, but he himself remained unbending and unyielding, firm in the confession, bedewed and strengthened by the heavenly spring of the water of life that goes forth from the bowels of Christ;
and his poor body was a witness of what had befallen, all one wound and bruise and contracted, and having cast off its outward human form; in which Christ, suffering, accomplished great glories, bringing to nought the adversary and showing forth, for the example of the rest, that there is nothing fearful where the love of the Father is, nor painful where the glory of Christ is.
For when the lawless ones, after days, again tortured the martyr, and supposed that, his body being swollen and inflamed, if they should apply the same chastisements, they would prevail over him—since he could not even bear the touch of the hands—or that, dying under the tortures, he would inspire fear in the rest, not only did no such thing happen concerning him, but, beyond all human expectation, his poor body raised itself up and was straightened in the later tortures, and recovered its former appearance and the use of its limbs, so that the second torture became to him, through the grace of Christ, not a chastisement but a healing.
And Biblis too, one of those who had denied, whom the devil thought he had already devoured, and wishing also to condemn her through blasphemy, he led to torture, forcing her to say the godless things about us, as one already easily broken and unmanly;
but she, in the torture, recovered her senses, and, so to speak, awoke as from a deep sleep, being reminded by the temporary punishment of the eternal chastisement in Gehenna; and contrariwise she contradicted the blasphemers, saying, "How could such men eat children, to whom it is not lawful even to eat the blood of irrational animals?" And from then she confessed herself a Christian, and was added to the lot of the martyrs.
And the tyrannical instruments of torture being brought to nought by Christ through the endurance of the blessed, the devil devised other contrivances—the shuttings up in the prison, in the darkness and the most grievous place, and the stretchings of the feet in the stocks, drawn apart to the fifth hole, and the rest of the maltreatments which angry servants, and these full of the devil, are wont to inflict upon those shut up; so that very many were stifled in the prison, as many as the Lord wished thus to depart, showing his glory.
For some, tortured so bitterly that it seemed they could not live even if they obtained every care, remained in the prison, destitute of the care of men, but strengthened by the Lord and made mighty both in body and in soul, and rousing and consoling the rest; but the young and lately seized, whose bodies had not been maltreated beforehand, did not bear the weight of the confinement, but died within.
And the blessed Pothinus, who had been entrusted with the ministry of the bishopric at Lugdunum, being above ninety years of age and very weak in body, scarcely breathing because of the bodily weakness besetting him, but strengthened by eagerness of spirit through the desire of martyrdom pressing upon him, was himself too dragged to the tribunal, his body being unstrung both by old age and by disease, but his soul preserved in him, that through it Christ might triumph;
who, being brought by the soldiers to the tribunal, the civic authorities escorting him and all the multitude making all manner of outcries as though he himself were the Christ, rendered the good confession.
And being examined by the governor, who was the God of the Christians, he said, "If thou art worthy, thou shalt know." Thereupon he was dragged about without mercy and suffered manifold blows, those near outraging him in every way with hands and feet, not even reverencing his age, and those at a distance hurling at him whatever each had in hand, and all thinking themselves greatly to offend and to be impious if any should fall short in wantonness toward him; for they supposed thus to avenge their gods. And, scarcely breathing, he was cast into the prison, and after two days expired.
Thereupon a great dispensation of God came to pass, and the immeasurable mercy of Jesus appeared, a thing rarely happening in the brotherhood, but not falling short of the skill of Christ.
For those who at the first seizure had denied were shut up themselves also and shared in the dreadful things; for in this season their denial was of no profit to them, but those who confessed what they also were, were shut up as Christians, no other charge being brought against them, while these were held as murderers and polluted, being punished doubly more than the rest.
For those were lightened by the joy of the martyrdom and the hope of the things promised and the love toward Christ and the Spirit of the Father; but these their conscience greatly punished, so that even among all the rest their faces were conspicuous as they passed by.
For the former went forth cheerful, with much glory and grace mingled in their faces, so that even their bonds lay about them as a comely ornament, as upon a bride adorned in fringes wrought with gold, breathing forth at the same time the fragrance of Christ, so that some supposed they had been anointed with worldly perfume; but the latter were downcast and humbled and ill-favoured and full of all unseemliness, and besides reproached by the nations as ignoble and unmanly, having the charges of murderers and having lost the all-honourable and glorious and life-giving title. Seeing these things, the rest were strengthened, and those who were seized confessed without hesitation, having not even a thought of diabolical reasoning.
To these, having interposed something, they again add: "After these things, then, the martyrdoms of their departure were divided into every kind. For of various colours and all manner of flowers having woven one crown, they offered it to the Father; it behoved, then, the noble athletes, having endured a varied contest and greatly conquered, to receive the great crown of incorruption.
Maturus, then, and Sanctus and Blandina and Attalus were led to the beasts in the public place and to the common spectacle of the inhumanity of the nations, the day of the beast-fights being given on purpose because of our people.
And Maturus and Sanctus again went through every chastisement in the amphitheatre, as though they had suffered nothing at all before, or rather as though, having already through many turns overcome the adversary, they had now the contest for the crown itself; they bore again the runnings of the gauntlet of scourges customary there, and the draggings by the beasts, and all that the maddened populace, some from one side, some from another, cried out and commanded, and above all the iron chair, on which their bodies, roasted, filled them with the savour.
But they did not even thus cease, but raged yet more, wishing to conquer their endurance; and not even so did they hear from Sanctus any other thing than the voice of confession which from the beginning he was wont to say.
These, then, their souls remaining a long time through a great contest, were at last sacrificed, having through that day been made a spectacle to the world in the place of all the variety of the gladiatorial shows.
But Blandina, hung upon a stake, was set forth as food for the beasts cast in; who, by being seen hanging in the form of a cross, through her intense prayer wrought much eagerness in those contending, who beheld in the contest, with their outward eyes also, through the sister, him who was crucified for them, that he might persuade those who believe in him that everyone who has suffered for the glory of Christ has ever fellowship with the living God.
And no one of the beasts then touching her, she was taken down from the stake and taken up again into the prison, kept for another contest, that, conquering through more exercises, she might make the condemnation irrevocable for the crooked serpent, and might rouse the brethren—she, the little and weak and contemptible, having put on Christ, the great and invincible athlete, having through many turns overcome the adversary, and through the contest crowned with the crown of incorruption.
And Attalus too, himself greatly demanded by the crowd—for he was of note—entered ready as a contender on account of his good conscience, since he had been genuinely exercised in the Christian array and had ever been among us a witness of truth.
And being led round the circle of the amphitheatre, a tablet going before him on which was written in Roman, "This is Attalus the Christian," and the populace being very furious against him, the governor, learning that he was a Roman, commanded him to be taken up with the rest of those who were in prison, concerning whom he wrote to Caesar and awaited the answer from him.
But the interval was not idle for them nor unfruitful, but through their endurance the immeasurable mercy of Christ appeared; for through the living the dead were quickened, and the martyrs showed grace to those who were not martyrs, and great joy came to the virgin mother, receiving back living those whom she had cast out as abortive.
For through them the greater part of those who had denied were measured back again and conceived again and rekindled, and learned to confess, and now living and braced, drew near to the tribunal, the God who wills not the death of the sinner, but is gracious toward repentance, sweetening it, that they might again be examined by the governor.
For when Caesar had written that they should be beaten to death, but that if any should deny, these should be released, and the festival here beginning to be held (and this is a thronged one, since from all the nations they assemble at it), he led up to the tribunal, making a theatre of the blessed and a procession before the crowds; wherefore he examined them again, and as many as seemed to have possessed Roman citizenship, of these he cut off the heads, but the rest he sent to the beasts.
And Christ was greatly glorified over those who before had denied, then, contrary to the supposition of the nations, confessing. For these were examined privately, as though they were to be released, and confessing were added to the lot of the martyrs; but those remained outside who had never any trace of faith nor sense of the bridal garment nor thought of the fear of God, but who also through their conduct blasphemed the way—that is, the sons of perdition; but all the rest were added to the church.
And while these were being examined, a certain Alexander, a Phrygian by race, a physician by profession, who had spent many years in Gaul and was known to almost all for his love toward God and his boldness in the word—for he was not without an apostolic gift—standing by the tribunal and by a nod urging them on to the confession, was manifest to those standing about the tribunal as though in travail.
And the crowds, being indignant that those who before had denied now again confessed, cried out against Alexander as though he did this; and when the governor took notice and examined him who he was, and he said that he was a Christian, becoming wroth he condemned him to the beasts. And on the morrow he entered with Attalus also; for the governor, gratifying the crowd, again gave Attalus too to the beasts;
who also, going through all the instruments devised in the amphitheatre for chastisement, and enduring a most great contest, were at last sacrificed themselves too, Alexander neither groaning nor uttering anything at all, but in his heart conversing with God;
but Attalus, when he was set upon the iron chair and was burned round about, when the savour from his body went up, said to the multitude in the Roman tongue, "Lo, this is to eat men, which you do; but we neither eat men nor do any other wicked thing." And being asked what name God has, he answered, "God has not a name as a man has."
After all these, on the last day of the gladiatorial shows, Blandina was again brought in, with Ponticus too, a lad of about fifteen years, who also had been brought in day by day to behold the chastisement of the rest; and they were forced to swear by their idols, and because of their abiding steadfast and despising them, the multitude was made savage against them, so as neither to pity the age of the boy nor to reverence the woman,
but exposed them to all the dreadful things and led them through every chastisement in turn, again and again forcing them to swear, but unable to accomplish this. For Ponticus, urged on by his sister, so that even the nations beheld that she was exhorting and confirming him, having nobly endured every chastisement, gave up the spirit;
but the blessed Blandina, last of all, like a noble mother having urged on her children and sent them forth victorious to the King, herself too measuring back all the contests of the children, hastened to them, rejoicing and exulting at the departure, as though invited to a bridal feast, not as cast to the beasts;
and after the scourges, after the beasts, after the frying-pan, at last, cast into a net, she was thrown to a bull, and, having been well tossed by the animal, having no longer any sense of the things that befell her because of the hope and grasp of the things believed and her converse with Christ, she too was sacrificed, the nations themselves confessing that never among them had a woman suffered such and so many things.
But not even thus did their madness and cruelty toward the saints take its fill. For wild and barbarous tribes, stirred up by a wild beast, were hardly to be stopped, and their wantonness took yet another beginning upon the bodies.
For that they had been defeated did not shame them, because of their having no human reasoning, but rather it kindled their wrath as that of a beast, and the governor and the populace showing the like unjust hatred toward us, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "Let the lawless one be lawless still, and the just one be justified still."
For those who had been stifled in the prison they cast to the dogs, carefully watching night and day lest any of them should be buried by us; and then, setting forth both the remains of the beasts and of the fire, here mangled, there charred, and the heads of the rest with their severed parts, likewise unburied, they guarded them with military care for many days.
And some snarled and gnashed their teeth at them, seeking to take some greater vengeance upon them; others laughed and mocked, at the same time magnifying their idols and attributing to them the punishment of these; but the more moderate, and seeming in some measure to feel pity, reproached them much, saying, "Where is their God, and what did their religion profit them, which they chose even before their own life?"
And the things from them had such variety; but the things concerning us were set in great mourning, because we could not hide the bodies in the earth; for neither did the night help us toward this, nor did money persuade nor entreaty soften, but in every way they watched, as though to gain something great, if they should not obtain burial.
Next to these, after other things, they say: "The bodies of the martyrs, then, having been in every way made a spectacle and exposed to the open air for six days, were afterward burned and reduced to ashes by the lawless, and swept into the river Rhone flowing near, that not even a remnant of them might appear upon the earth any more.
And these things they did as though able to conquer God and take away their regeneration, that, as those said, they might not even have hope of resurrection, relying on which they introduce to us a strange and new religion and despise the dreadful things, ready and with joy coming to death: 'Now let us see if they will rise, and if their God can help them and deliver them from our hands.'"

CHAPTER II

Such were the things that befell the churches of Christ in the time of the said emperor, from which it is possible by reasonable conjecture to gather also the things wrought in the rest of the provinces. It is worth attaching to these, from the same writing, other words, in which the gentleness and loving-kindness of the said martyrs is recorded in these very words:
"Who also became so far zealots and imitators of Christ, who, being in the form of God, counted not equality with God a thing to be grasped, that, being in such glory, and having borne witness not once nor twice but often, and having been taken up again from the beasts and bearing about the brandings and the bruises and the wounds, neither did they themselves proclaim themselves martyrs, nor indeed did they permit us to address them by this name, but if ever any of us, by letter or by word, called them martyrs, they rebuked him sharply.
For gladly they yielded the title of martyrdom to Christ, the faithful and true martyr and firstborn of the dead and Author of the life of God, and they recalled the martyrs who had already departed, and said, 'They are now martyrs, whom in the confession Christ deemed worthy to be taken up, sealing their testimony through their departure; but we are confessors, mean and lowly'; and with tears they besought the brethren, asking that earnest prayers be made for their being perfected.
And they showed forth the power of martyrdom in deed, having much boldness toward the nations, and they made manifest their nobility through endurance and fearlessness and tremblelessness, but they declined the title of martyrs toward the brethren, being full of the fear of God.
And again, after a little, they say: "They humbled themselves under the mighty hand, by which they are now greatly exalted. And then they made defence to all, but accused no one; they loosed all, but bound none; and on behalf of those who inflicted the dreadful things they prayed, even as Stephen, the perfect martyr, 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' But if he prayed for those who stoned him, how much more for the brethren?"
And again they say, after other things: "For this was their greatest war against him, on account of the genuineness of their love, that, the beast being stifled, he might vomit forth living those whom he before thought he had devoured. For they did not take boasting against the fallen, but in the things in which they themselves abounded, this they supplied to the more needy, having mother-like bowels, and shedding many tears for them to the Father, they asked life, and he gave it them;
which they also shared with their neighbours, having departed to God victorious in all things. Having loved peace always and commended peace to us, with peace they went to God, leaving no grief to their mother nor sedition and war to the brethren, but joy and peace and concord and love."
And these things concerning the affection of those blessed ones toward the fallen of the brethren let them be usefully set forth, on account of the inhuman and pitiless disposition of those who afterward dealt without sparing toward the members of Christ.

CHAPTER III

The same writing of the aforesaid martyrs contains also another story worthy of memory, which there could be no grudging in setting forth for the knowledge of those who shall read; and it is thus.
A certain Alcibiades, of their number, lived a very austere life, partaking at the first of nothing at all, but using only bread and water, and trying to live thus also in the prison; to Attalus, after the first contest which he accomplished in the amphitheatre, it was revealed that Alcibiades did not well in not using the creatures of God and in leaving to others a pattern of stumbling.
And Alcibiades, being persuaded, partook of all things without restriction and gave thanks to God; for they were not unvisited by the grace of God, but the Holy Spirit was their counsellor. And let this be so.
Now while those about Montanus and Alcibiades and Theodotus, throughout Phrygia, were then for the first time bringing forth among many the supposition concerning prophesying (for very many other marvels of the divine gift were even then being accomplished in diverse churches, and afforded among many a belief that these too prophesied), and a dissension having arisen concerning the said persons, again the brethren throughout Gaul subjoined their own judgement concerning these things also, pious and most orthodox, setting forth also diverse letters of the martyrs perfected among them, which, while still in bonds, they wrote to the brethren in Asia and Phrygia, and moreover to Eleutherus, then bishop of the Romans, being ambassadors for the sake of the peace of the churches.

CHAPTER IV

The same martyrs commended Irenaeus, who was then already a presbyter of the community at Lugdunum, to the said bishop at Rome, bearing very much witness to the man, as the words which run thus declare:
"We pray that thou mayest rejoice in God again and always, Father Eleutherus. These letters we have urged our brother and companion Irenaeus to carry to thee, and we beseech thee to hold him in commendation, being a zealot of the covenant of Christ. For if we knew that place secures righteousness to anyone, we should commend him first of all as a presbyter of the church, which indeed he is."
What need to set down the list of the martyrs in the said writing, separately of those perfected by the cutting off of the head, and separately of those cast to the beasts for food, and again of those who fell asleep in the prison, and the number of the confessors still surviving at that time? For whoever pleases can easily learn these things most fully, taking in hand the work, which itself too has been set down by us, as I said, in the collection of the martyrs. But such were the things in the time of Antoninus.

CHAPTER V

The account holds that the brother of this man, Marcus Aurelius Caesar, drawing up against the Germans and Sarmatians in battle, his army being pressed by thirst, was in helplessness; but that the soldiers of the so-called Melitene legion—a legion which from then to this day has subsisted through faith—in the array against the enemy bent the knee to the ground, after our own custom of prayers, and turned to supplications to God;
and, this marvellous sight appearing strange to the enemy, the account holds that another thing yet more marvellous straightway overtook them: a thunderbolt driving the enemy to flight and destruction, and a shower upon the army of those who had called upon the Divine, restoring it all, when it was on the very point of perishing from thirst.
The story is borne also among the writers far removed from our account, to whom the writing of the times indicated has been a care, and it has been declared also by our own. But by the external historians, as being foreign to the faith, the marvel was set down, yet it was not confessed by them to have come to pass by the prayers of our people; but by our own, as lovers of truth, in a simple and guileless manner the thing done has been delivered.
Of these would be Apolinarius too, who said that from then the legion which through prayer wrought the marvel received from the emperor a title suited to what had happened, called in the Roman tongue the Thunder-striking.
And a trustworthy witness of these things would be Tertullian, who addressed to the senate his Roman Apology on behalf of the faith, of which we have also before made mention, confirming the story with a greater and clearer proof.
He writes, then, himself too, saying that letters of Marcus, the most sensible emperor, are extant even to this day, in which he himself bears witness that in Germany, his army being on the point of perishing for want of water, it was saved by the prayers of the Christians; and he says that this man even threatened death to those who attempted to accuse us. To which the said man adds these things also:
"What manner of laws, then, are these, which against us alone follow, impious, unjust, cruel? Which neither Vespasian observed, though he conquered the Jews; which Trajan in part set at nought, forbidding Christians to be sought out; which neither Hadrian, though he busied himself with all things of curiosity, nor he who was surnamed the Pious, ratified." But these things let one set down as he pleases; but let us pass to the sequence of what follows.
Pothinus, then, having been perfected with those who were martyred in Gaul, in the ninetieth year of his life, Irenaeus succeeded to the bishopric of the community at Lugdunum over which Pothinus presided; and we learned that this man was a hearer of Polycarp in his youthful age.
He, having set down the succession of the bishops at Rome in the third book of his work Against the Heresies, brings the list down to Eleutherus, whose times we are examining—since indeed the writing was laboured by him in his time—writing thus:

CHAPTER VI

"The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the church, entrusted to Linus the ministry of the bishopric; of this Linus Paul makes mention in the epistles to Timothy.
And Anencletus succeeds him; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement is allotted the bishopric, who had both seen the blessed apostles and conversed with them, and still had the preaching of the apostles ringing in his ears and the tradition before his eyes—not alone, for there were still many remaining then who had been taught by the apostles.
In the time of this Clement, then, no small sedition having arisen among the brethren in Corinth, the church in Rome sent a most able writing to the Corinthians, reconciling them to peace and renewing their faith and the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles."
And after a little he says: "And this Clement Evarestus succeeds, and Evarestus Alexander, then in this way, sixth from the apostles, Xystus is appointed, and after him Telesphorus, who also was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus, then Pius, after whom Anicetus. Soter having succeeded Anicetus, now in the twelfth place from the apostles Eleutherus holds the lot of the bishopric.
In the same order and in the same teaching both the tradition in the church from the apostles and the preaching of the truth have come down to us."

CHAPTER VII

These things Irenaeus, in accordance with the histories already gone through by us, set down in the works which he entitled, five in number, Of the Refutation and Overthrow of the Knowledge Falsely so Called; and in the second of the same work he indicates that even down to his time examples of the divine and marvellous power had been left in certain churches, in these words, saying:
"They are so far from raising a dead man, as the Lord raised and the apostles by prayer, and as often in the brotherhood, on account of necessity, the whole local church having asked with fasting and much supplication, the spirit of the dead man has returned, and the man was granted to the prayers of the saints."
And again he says, after other things: "But if they shall say that the Lord too did such things in appearance, leading them up to the prophetic writings, we will show from these that all things were thus both foretold concerning him and came to pass surely, and that he alone is the Son of God; wherefore also in his name his true disciples, having received the grace from him, accomplish such things for the benefit of the rest of men, as each one has received the gift from him.
For some drive out demons surely and truly, so that often those very ones cleansed from the wicked spirits believe and are in the church; and others have foreknowledge of things to come and visions and prophetic utterances; others heal the sick by the laying on of hands and restore them to health; and already, as we said, even the dead were raised and remained with us for many years; and what more?
It is not possible to tell the number of the gifts which the church throughout the whole world, having received from God in the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate, accomplishes day by day for the benefit of the nations, neither deceiving any nor taking money for it; for as freely it has received from God, freely also it ministers."
And in another place the same man writes: "Even as we hear of many brethren in the church having prophetic gifts and speaking through the Spirit with all kinds of tongues, and bringing to light the hidden things of men for their profit, and expounding the mysteries of God." And these things concerning the diversity of gifts remaining among the worthy down even to the times indicated.

CHAPTER VIII

Since at the beginning of the work we made a promise to set down in due season the words of the ancient ecclesiastical presbyters and writers, in which they have delivered in writing the traditions that came down to them concerning the testamentary Scriptures, and Irenaeus was one of these, come, let us set down his words also,
and first those concerning the sacred Gospels, which run thus: "Matthew, then, among the Hebrews in their own dialect, brought forth also a writing of the Gospel, while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel in Rome and founding the church;
and after the departure of these, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself too delivered to us in writing the things preached by Peter; and Luke too, the follower of Paul, set down in a book the Gospel preached by him.
Then John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned upon his breast, himself too published the Gospel, while tarrying in Ephesus of Asia."
These things, then, are said by the aforesaid in the third book of the said work; and in the fifth he treats thus concerning the Apocalypse of John and the number of the name of Antichrist: "These things being so, and this number being set down in all the careful and ancient copies, and those very men who saw John face to face bearing witness, and the word teaching us that the number of the name of the beast, according to the Greek reckoning, is shown by the letters in it."
And going down he says concerning the same: "We, then, do not risk asserting positively concerning the name of Antichrist. For if it were needful that his name be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared through him who also saw the Apocalypse; for it was not seen long ago, but almost in our generation, toward the end of the reign of Domitian."
These things too concerning the Apocalypse have been related by the aforesaid; and he makes mention also of the first epistle of John, bringing in very many testimonies from it, and likewise of the former of Peter. And not only does he know, but also he receives the writing of the Shepherd, saying: "Well, then, says the Scripture which says, 'First of all believe that God is one, who created and framed all things,'" and the rest.
And he has used certain sayings from the Wisdom of Solomon, all but saying, "The vision of God is productive of incorruption, and incorruption makes one to be near God." And he makes mention of the memoirs of a certain apostolic presbyter, whose name he delivered in silence, and sets down his expositions of the divine Scriptures.
And moreover he has made mention of Justin the martyr and of Ignatius, using again testimonies from the things written by these; and he has himself promised, out of the writings of Marcion, to contradict him in a special work of his own.
And concerning the translation of the inspired Scriptures according to the Seventy, hear what he writes in these very words: "God, then, became man, and the Lord himself saved us, giving the sign of the virgin, but not as some of those who now dare to translate the Scripture say, 'Behold, the young woman shall be with child and shall bear a son,' as Theodotion the Ephesian translated, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes, whom the Ebionites following say that he was begotten of Joseph.
To these he adds, after a little, saying: "For before the Romans confirmed their rule, while the Macedonians still held Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, being eager to adorn the library set up by him in Alexandria with the writings of all men, as many as were of worth, asked of the men of Jerusalem to have their Scriptures translated into the Greek dialect.
And they—for they were still then subject to the Macedonians—sent to Ptolemy the most experienced among them in the Scriptures and in both dialects, seventy elders, God doing what he wished.
But he, wishing privately to make trial of them, and being cautious lest perchance, having agreed together, they should hide the truth in the Scriptures through the translation, having separated them from one another, commanded all to write the same translation, and this he did concerning all the books.
And when they came together to the same place at Ptolemy's and compared each his own translation, God was glorified, and the Scriptures were known to be truly divine, all rendering the same things in the same words and the same names from beginning to end, so that even the nations present knew that the Scriptures had been translated by the inspiration of God.
And it is no marvel that God wrought this, who also, in the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, the Scriptures having been destroyed, and after seventy years the Jews having gone up to their country, then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, inspired Ezra the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to set in order all the discourses of the prophets who had gone before, and to restore to the people the legislation through Moses." So far Irenaeus.

CHAPTER IX

Antoninus having continued in the reign nineteen years, Commodus took over the government; in whose first year Julian is entrusted with the bishopric of the churches at Alexandria, Agrippinus having completed the ministry for twelve years.

CHAPTER X

There presided then over the community of the faithful there a man most distinguished for learning, his name Pantaenus, a school of the sacred discourses subsisting among them from ancient custom; which extends also to us, and which we have received to be maintained by those powerful in word and in zeal concerning divine things; and especially at that season the said man is said to have shone, having set out from the philosophic school of those called Stoics.
So great, then, they say, eagerness with most fervent disposition did he show toward the divine word, that he was even shown forth as a herald of the Gospel according to Christ to the nations of the East, having set out as far as the land of the Indians. For there were—there were even then—more evangelists of the word, taking care to bring in a divine zeal of apostolic imitation for the increase and building up of the divine word; of whom Pantaenus too, having become one, is said to have come to the Indians,
where the account holds that he found, anticipating his coming, the Gospel according to Matthew among certain there who had come to know Christ, to whom Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached, and had left them the writing of Matthew in Hebrew letters, which was preserved to the time indicated.
Pantaenus, at any rate, after many achievements, presided at last over the school at Alexandria, recording in living voice and through writings the treasures of the divine doctrines.

CHAPTER XI

In his time Clement was known at Alexandria, exercising himself in the divine Scriptures, of the same name as the one who of old governed the church of the Romans, a disciple of the apostles;
who indeed by name in the Hypotyposes which he composed makes mention of Pantaenus as his teacher, and he seems to me to hint at this same man also in the first book of the Stromateis, when, having indicated the more manifest of the apostolic succession which he had received, he says these things:
"Now this work is not a writing artfully contrived for display, but memoirs are laid up by me for old age, a remedy against forgetfulness, an artless image and outline of those clear and living discourses and of those blessed and truly notable men whom I was deemed worthy to hear.
Of these one was in Greece, the Ionian; another in great Greece—one of them was of Coele-Syria; another from Egypt; and others throughout the East, and of this, one of the Assyrians, and one in Palestine a Hebrew by origin; but having met with the last, yet in power first, I rested, having hunted him out, hidden, in Egypt.
But these, preserving the true tradition of the blessed teaching straightway from Peter and James and John and Paul, the holy apostles, son receiving from father (but few are like their fathers), came indeed, with God, even to us, to lay up those ancestral and apostolic seeds.

CHAPTER XII

In their time the bishop of the church in Jerusalem was Narcissus, renowned among many even to this day, holding the fifteenth succession from the siege of the Jews under Hadrian, from which time, as we have shown, the church there first consisted of the nations after those of the circumcision, and Mark first of the nations governed them as bishop;
after whom the successions of those there contain that Cassian was bishop, and after him Publius, then Maximus, and after these Julian, then Gaius, after whom Symmachus, and another Gaius, and again another Julian, and Capito besides these, and Valens and Dolichianus, and over all Narcissus, who became thirtieth from the apostles according to the succession of those who followed.

CHAPTER XIII

In this time also Rhodo, of those of Asian race, having been a disciple at Rome, as he himself relates, of Tatian, whom we have known from what precedes, having composed diverse books, with the rest is arrayed also against the heresy of Marcion; which he relates to have been divided into diverse opinions in his time, recording those who had brought in the division, and exactly refuting the false reasonings devised by each of these. Hear, then, him too writing these things:
"For this cause they have become discordant even among themselves, laying claim to an inconsistent opinion. For of their herd Apelles, who plumes himself on his manner of life and his old age, confesses one principle, but says that the prophecies are from an opposing spirit, being persuaded by the utterances of a possessed virgin, named Philumene;
but others, even as the very mariner Marcion himself, introduce two principles; of whom are Potitus and Basilicus.
And these, following the Pontic wolf, and not finding the division of things, as neither did he, turned to facility and asserted two principles barely and without proof; and others again of them, drifting to the worse, suppose not two only but even three natures; of whom the leader and patron is Synerus, as those who put forward his school say."
And the same man writes that he had even come into conversation with Apelles, saying thus: "For the old man Apelles, having met with us, was convicted of saying many things ill; whence also he said that one ought not at all to examine the word, but that each should remain as he has believed; for he asserted that those who set their hope on the crucified one shall be saved, only if they be found in good works. But the most obscure of all things was the matter dogmatized by him, as we said before, that concerning God. For he said that there is one principle, even as our own word too.
Then, having set forth all his opinion, he adds, saying: "And when I said to him, 'Whence is this proof for thee, or how canst thou say one principle? Tell us,' he said that the prophecies refute themselves through having said nothing at all true; for they are discordant and false and contrary to themselves. But how there is one principle, he said he did not know, but was only thus moved.
Then, when I adjured him to speak the truth, he swore that he spoke truly in saying that he did not understand how there is one unbegotten God, but that he believed this. And I, laughing, condemned him, because, saying he was a teacher, he did not know how to establish what was taught by him."
And in the same work, addressing Callistio, the same man confesses that he himself had been a disciple at Rome of Tatian; and he says that a book of Problems had been laboured by Tatian, through which Tatian promised to set forth the obscure and hidden things of the divine Scriptures; and Rhodo himself, in his own work, undertakes to set forth the solutions of his problems. And there is extant of the same man also a memoir on the Hexaemeron.
And this Apelles uttered countless impieties against the law of Moses, blaspheming the divine discourses through many writings, and using no small zeal for their refutation, as indeed he thought, and overthrow. So much, then, concerning these.

CHAPTER XIV

But the enemy of the church of God, being especially a hater of good and a lover of wickedness, leaving no manner of plot against men untried, again set strange heresies to spring up against the church; of whom some, like venomous serpents, crept through Asia and Phrygia, boasting of Montanus indeed as the Advocate, and of the women from him, Priscilla and Maximilla, as having become prophetesses of Montanus.

CHAPTER XV

And others flourished at Rome, of whom Florinus was leader, having fallen from the presbytery of the church, and Blastus with him, held by a like fall; who also, drawing away many of the church, brought them under their own will, each trying privately to innovate concerning the truth.

CHAPTER XVI

Against the so-called heresy of the Phrygians, then, the power that champions the truth raised up at Hierapolis Apolinarius, of whom the account has before made mention, as a strong and irresistible weapon, and others with him, more of the learned men of that time; from whom there has been left to us also very much material of history.
One of the aforesaid, then, beginning his writing against them, indicates first that he had gone against them with unwritten refutations also; he prefaces, at any rate, in this manner:
"For a very long and quite sufficient time, beloved Avircius Marcellus, having been bidden by thee to compose some discourse against the heresy of those called after Miltiades, I was somehow rather hesitant until now, not for want of being able to refute the falsehood and bear witness to the truth, but fearing and being cautious lest somehow I should seem to some to write in addition to, or to add ordinances to, the word of the new covenant of the Gospel, to which it is possible neither to add nor to take away for him who has resolved to live according to the Gospel itself.
But lately having come to be in Ancyra of Galatia, and having found the local church deafened by this new—not, as they say, prophecy, but much rather, as shall be shown, false prophecy—I discussed, as far as possible, the Lord granting, concerning these very things and concerning the matters put forward by them, each one, for many days in the church, so that the church rejoiced and was strengthened toward the truth, and those of the opposite party were for the present beaten back, and the adversaries grieved.
So when the local presbyters asked that we leave some memoir of the things said against those who set themselves against the word of truth—our fellow-presbyter Zoticus of Otrous being present also—this indeed we did not do, but we promised, having written here, the Lord giving, with zeal to send it to them."
Having said these things and others next to these at the beginning of the discourse, going on he relates the author of the said heresy in this manner: "Their stubbornness, then, and the recent heresy of separation from the church, had such a cause as this.
There is said to be a certain village in Mysia of Phrygia, called Ardabau by name; where they say that one of the newly faithful first, Montanus by name, in the time of Gratus the proconsul of Asia, in an immeasurable desire of soul for pre-eminence, having given the adversary entrance into himself, was carried away by a spirit, and suddenly, coming to be in a certain possession and ecstasy, began to be inspired and to speak and to talk strangely, prophesying, forsooth, contrary to the custom of the church from of old by tradition and succession.
And of those who at that season were present at the hearing of the spurious utterances, some, being vexed as at one possessed and demon-ridden and in a spirit of error and disturbing the crowds, rebuked and forbade him to speak, remembering the distinction and warning of the Lord to be on watch against the coming of the false prophets; but others, lifted up as at a holy spirit and a prophetic gift, and not least puffed up, and forgetting the distinction of the Lord, provoked the mind-injuring and flattering and people-deceiving spirit, charmed and led astray by it, so that it was no longer kept from speaking.
And by a certain art, or rather by such a method of evil contrivance, the devil, having devised the destruction of the disobedient, and being honoured by them beyond their deserts, secretly roused and further kindled their mind, which had fallen asleep from the faith according to truth, so that he raised up also two other women and filled them with the spurious spirit, so that they too spoke madly and unseasonably and in a strange manner, like the aforesaid. And those who rejoiced and were puffed up at him the spirit pronounced blessed and inflated by the greatness of its promises; but at times also it condemned them shrewdly and plausibly to their face, that it might seem also to be reproving (and these were few of the Phrygians who were deceived); but the whole catholic church under heaven the headstrong spirit taught to blaspheme,
because the false prophetic spirit received neither honour nor entrance into it; for when the faithful in Asia often and in many places of Asia came together for this and examined the recent discourses and pronounced them profane and rejected the heresy, then indeed they were thrust out of the church and shut off from communion."
Having related these things in the first place and having brought in throughout the whole work the refutation of their error, in the second he says these things concerning the death of the aforesaid:
"Since, then, they called us also slayers of prophets, because we did not receive their immoderate-voiced prophets (for these they say are those whom the Lord promised to send to the people), let them answer us before God: Is there any one, O best of men, of these who began to speak from Montanus and the women, who was persecuted by Jews or slain by lawless men? None. Nor was any of them seized and crucified for the name? Surely not. Nor indeed was any of the women ever scourged in the synagogues of the Jews or stoned?
Nowhere, in no way. But by another death Montanus and Maximilla are said to have ended. For these, a mind-injuring spirit having moved each of them, the account is that they hanged themselves, not together, but at the time of the death of each; and there is much report that thus too they ended and ended their life in the manner of the traitor Judas;
even as much report holds that that marvellous one, the first, as it were a kind of steward of the prophecy called after them, Theodotus, being once lifted up and taken up into heaven, fell into ecstasy and trusted himself to the spirit of deceit, and, tossed like a discus, ended miserably; they say, at any rate, that this came to pass thus.
But let us not, without having seen, suppose that we know any such things, O blessed one; for perhaps thus, perhaps not thus, have Montanus and Theodotus and the aforesaid woman ended."
Again, in the same discourse he says that the holy bishops of that time attempted to refute the spirit in Maximilla, but were hindered by others, plainly co-operating with the spirit;
and he writes thus: "And let not the spirit, in the same discourse according to Asterius Urbanus, that speaks through Maximilla, say, 'I am driven away like a wolf from the sheep; I am not a wolf; I am word and spirit and power'; but let it clearly show the power in the spirit, and convict, and through the spirit compel to confession those then present for the proving and discussing the speaking spirit, approved men and bishops, Zoticus from the village of Cumane and Julianus from Apamea, whose mouths those about Themison muzzled, and did not suffer the false and people-deceiving spirit to be refuted by them."
And in the same place, again, having said other things in the meantime for the refutation of the false prophecies of Maximilla, he indicates at once the time at which he wrote these things, and makes mention of her predictions, by which she foretold that there would be wars and tumults, whose false speech he sets straight, saying thus:
"And how has not this falsehood too become already manifest? For it is more than thirteen years to this day since the woman died, and there has been neither partial nor universal war in the world, but rather, by the mercy of God, an abiding peace even for the Christians."
And these things from the second work. And from the third I shall set down a few words, by which, against those who boast that more even of them had been martyred, he says these things: "When, then, having been refuted in all the things said, they are at a loss, they try to take refuge in the martyrs, saying that they have many martyrs, and that this is a sure proof of the power of the so-called prophetic spirit among them. But this, as it seems, is more than anything not true.
For some of the other heresies too have very many martyrs, and we shall not, surely, on that account agree with them, nor confess that they have the truth. And first the Marcianists, so called, of the heresy of Marcion, say they have very many martyrs of Christ, but Christ himself in truth they do not confess."
And after a little he adds to these, saying: "Whence indeed, when those called from the church to the martyrdom of the faith according to truth happen to be with certain of those called martyrs of the heresy of the Phrygians, they differ from them and are perfected not having communicated with them, on account of their unwillingness to assent to the spirit through Montanus and the women. And that this is true, it is manifest that even in our times it came to pass in Apamea on the Maeander, in the case of those who were martyred with Gaius and Alexander from Eumenia."

CHAPTER XVII

And in this work he makes mention also of the writer Miltiades, as having himself too written a certain discourse against the aforesaid heresy; having set down certain of their words, he adds, saying: "Having found these things in a certain work of theirs in which they were opposing the work of our brother Alcibiades, in which he shows that a prophet ought not to speak in ecstasy, I made an abridgement."
And going down in the same place he enumerates those who had prophesied under the new covenant, among whom he reckons a certain Ammia and Quadratus, saying thus: "But the false prophet in ecstasy, whom freedom from restraint and fearlessness attends, beginning from voluntary ignorance, and ending in involuntary madness of soul, as was said before.
In this manner they will not be able to show any of those under the old covenant or under the new who was a prophet carried by the spirit—neither Agabus nor Judas nor Silas nor the daughters of Philip, nor Ammia in Philadelphia nor Quadratus, nor any others whatever, in whom they will boast as belonging to them, though they do not.
And again, after a little, he says these things: "For if, after Quadratus and Ammia in Philadelphia, as they say, the women about Montanus succeeded to the prophetic gift, let them show who of them succeeded to those about Montanus and the women; for the apostle deems it right that the prophetic gift be in the whole church until the perfect coming. But they could not show it, this being now somewhere about the fourteenth year from the death of Maximilla."
This man, then, says so much; and the Miltiades indicated by him has left us also other memorials of his own zeal concerning the divine oracles, both in the discourses which he composed against the Greeks and in those against the Jews, having met each subject separately in two works; and moreover, against the worldly rulers also, he composed an apology on behalf of the philosophy which he followed.

CHAPTER XVIII

Apollonius too, an ecclesiastical writer, having set himself to refute the so-called heresy of the Phrygians while it was still flourishing in Phrygia, made a special work against them, convicting verbatim their so-called prophecies as being false, and refuting what manner of life the leaders of the heresy had. Hear him, then, in these very words saying these things concerning Montanus:
"But who this recent teacher is, his works and his teaching show. This is he who taught dissolutions of marriages, who legislated fastings, who named Pepuza and Tymion Jerusalem (and these are small cities of Phrygia), wishing to gather thither men from everywhere; who appointed collectors of money, who contrived the taking of gifts under the name of offerings, who supplied salaries to those who preach his word, that through gluttony the teaching of the word might prevail."
And these things concerning Montanus; and going down concerning his prophetesses he writes thus: "We show, then, that these very prophetesses, from the time they were filled with the spirit, left their husbands. How then did they lie in calling Priscilla a virgin?"
Then he adds, saying: "Does it seem to thee that every Scripture forbids a prophet to take gifts and money? When, therefore, I see the prophetess having taken both gold and silver and costly garments, how should I not refuse her?"
And again, going down, he says these things concerning one of their confessors: "And moreover Themison too, who was clothed in plausible covetousness, who did not bear the sign of the confession, but laid aside his bonds by a multitude of money, when he ought on this account to have been humble, boasting as a martyr, dared, imitating the apostle, having composed a certain catholic epistle, to catechize those who had believed better than he, and to contend together with the words of empty speech, and to blaspheme against the Lord and the apostles and the holy church."
And concerning another of those honoured among them as a martyr he again writes thus: "But that we may not speak of more, let the prophetess tell us the things concerning Alexander, who calls himself a martyr, with whom she feasts, to whom many also do obeisance; whose robberies and other audacities, for which he has been punished, it is not we who must tell, but the record-office holds them. Who, then, forgives whom his sins?
Does the prophet the robberies to the martyr, or the martyr the covetousness to the prophet? For though the Lord said, 'Get not gold nor silver, nor two coats,' these have offended in all the opposite way, concerning the possession of these forbidden things. For we shall show that those called among them prophets and martyrs make money not only from the rich, but also from the poor and orphans and widows.
And if they have confidence, let them stand on this and be defined upon these things, that if they be convicted, they may at least henceforth cease offending. For the fruits of the prophet must be proved;
for from the fruit the tree is known. But that the things concerning Alexander may be known to those who wish, he was judged by Aemilius Frontinus the proconsul in Ephesus, not on account of the name, but for the robberies which he dared, being already a transgressor; then, having lied against the name of the Lord, he was released, having deceived the faithful there, and his own community, whence he was, did not receive him because of his being a robber; and those who wish to learn the things concerning him have the public archive of Asia; whom the prophet, having been with him many years, knows not.
Refuting this man, we refute through him also the substance of the prophet. The like we are able to show in the case of many; and if they are bold, let them endure the refutation."
And again in another place of the work, concerning the prophets in whom they boast, he adds these things: "If they deny that their prophets have taken gifts, let them confess this, that if they be convicted of having taken, they are not prophets; and we will set forth countless proofs of these things. And it is necessary that all the fruits of a prophet be proved. A prophet, tell me, dyes his hair? A prophet paints his eyes with antimony? A prophet is a lover of adornment? A prophet plays at tables and dice? A prophet lends at interest? Let them confess whether these things are lawful or not; but I will show that they have been done among them."
This same Apollonius in the same work relates that it was the fortieth year, at the writing of his work, from the time when Montanus undertook his pretended prophecy; and again he says that Zoticus,
of whom the former writer also made mention, came to Pepuza when Maximilla pretended to prophesy, and attempted to refute the spirit working in her, but was hindered by those who held her opinions. And he makes mention also of a certain Thraseas, one of the martyrs of that time.
And moreover, as from tradition, he says that the Saviour commanded his apostles not to depart from Jerusalem for twelve years; and he has used testimonies also from the Apocalypse of John, and relates that a dead man was raised by divine power through John himself in Ephesus; and he says certain other things, by which he sufficiently and most fully set straight the error of the aforesaid heresy. These things Apollonius also.

CHAPTER XIX

Of the writings of Apolinarius against the said heresy, Serapion makes mention, who, the account holds, became bishop of the church of the Antiochenes in the times indicated after Maximinus; he makes mention of him in his own epistle to Caricus and Pontius, in which, himself too setting straight the same heresy, he adds these things:
"And that you may know this too, that the working of this false order called the New Prophecy is abhorred by the whole brotherhood in the world, I have sent you also the writings of Claudius Apolinarius, the most blessed who became bishop of Hierapolis in Asia."
And in this epistle of Serapion there are borne also the subscriptions of diverse bishops, of whom one has subscribed somewhat thus: "Aurelius Quirinius, a martyr, I pray that you may be in health"; and another in this manner: "Aelius Publius Julius, bishop from Debeltum, a colony of Thrace. As God lives in the heavens, the blessed Sotas in Anchialus wished to drive out the demon of Priscilla, but the hypocrites did not suffer it."
And of more bishops besides, in number agreeing with these, autograph subscriptions are borne in the said writings. And such were the things concerning these.

CHAPTER XX

Against those at Rome who corrupted the sound ordinance of the church, Irenaeus composed diverse epistles, the one entitled To Blastus, On Schism, the other To Florinus, On Monarchy, or That God is not the Author of Evils. For this opinion Florinus seemed to champion; on whose account, when he was again being drawn away by the error of Valentinus, the work On the Ogdoad too was composed by Irenaeus, in which he also indicates that he had received the first succession of the apostles;
where, near the end of the work, having found a most graceful subscription of his, we necessarily set this down too in this writing, running in this manner: "I adjure thee who shalt copy this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his glorious coming, in which he comes to judge the living and the dead, that thou compare what thou hast copied and correct it carefully by this copy from which thou hast copied; and likewise this oath shalt thou copy and set it in the copy."
And these things were usefully said by him, and let them be related by us, that we may have an excellent example of most zealous care, those ancient and truly holy men.
In the epistle to Florinus which we mentioned before, Irenaeus again makes mention of his association together with Polycarp, saying: "These doctrines, Florinus—that I may speak sparingly—are not of a sound mind; these doctrines are discordant with the church, casting those who are persuaded by them into the greatest impiety; these doctrines not even the heretics outside the church ever dared to assert; these doctrines the presbyters before us, who also accompanied the apostles, did not deliver to thee.
For I saw thee, when I was still a boy, in lower Asia with Polycarp, faring splendidly in the royal court and trying to be well thought of by him. For I remember the things of that time better than the things that happen now
(for the learnings from boyhood, growing with the soul, are united to it), so that I can tell even the place in which the blessed Polycarp sat and discoursed, and his goings out and his comings in, and the character of his life, and the form of his body, and the discourses which he made to the multitude, and how he related his association with John and with the rest who had seen the Lord, and how he remembered their words, and what were the things concerning the Lord which he had heard from them, and concerning his powers, and concerning his teaching, as Polycarp, having received them from the eyewitnesses of the life of the Word, related all things in agreement with the Scriptures.
These things even then, through the mercy of God that came upon me, I heard diligently, recording them not on paper, but in my heart; and always, through the grace of God, I genuinely ruminate upon them, and I can testify before God that if that blessed and apostolic presbyter had heard any such thing, he would have cried out and stopped his ears, and, after his custom, would have said, 'O good God, for what times hast thou kept me, that I should endure these things,' and would have fled even from the place in which, sitting or standing, he had heard such words.
And from his epistles too, which he wrote either to the neighbouring churches, strengthening them, or to certain of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them, it can be made manifest." These things Irenaeus.

CHAPTER XXI

In the same time of the reign of Commodus, our affairs were changed to gentleness, peace, with the divine grace, possessing the churches throughout the whole world; when the saving word was leading every soul of every race of men to the godly worship of the God of all, so that already even more of those at Rome distinguished for wealth and birth advanced toward their own salvation with their whole households and all their kin.
But this was not bearable to the hater-of-good demon, being envious by nature; so he stripped himself again, devising manifold contrivances against us. In the city of the Romans, at any rate, he led Apollonius, a man of the faithful of that time renowned for learning and philosophy, to trial, having stirred up one of those who were fit for such things, one of his servants, for the accusation of the man.
But the wretch, having entered the suit unseasonably, since it was not lawful, by an imperial decree, for the informers of such things to live, straightway had his legs broken, Perennius the judge bringing such a sentence against him;
but the most God-beloved martyr, the judge having earnestly entreated him much and asked him for a discourse before the senate-council, having afforded before all a most learned defence on behalf of the faith for which he bore witness, was perfected by capital punishment, as though by a decree of the senate, since by no other way could those once entering the court and in no way changing their purpose be released, an ancient law prevailing among them.
Of this man, then, the words before the judge and the answers which he made to the questioning of Perennius, and the whole defence to the senate, whoever pleases to learn, will know from the record of the ancient martyrs collected by us.

CHAPTER XXII

In the tenth year of the reign of Commodus, Eleutherus, having ministered the bishopric for thirteen years, was succeeded by Victor; in whose time also, Julian having completed his tenth year, Demetrius was entrusted with the ministry of the communities at Alexandria; in whose time also, of the church of the Antiochenes, the eighth from the apostles, Serapion already before declared, was still then known as bishop. And of Caesarea of Palestine Theophilus was governor, and Narcissus likewise, of whom the account before made mention, still then held the ministry of the church in Jerusalem; and of Corinth of Greece in the same time the bishop was Bacchyllus, and of the community in Ephesus Polycrates. And others, as is likely, besides these, countless, were distinguished in these times; but those of whom the orthodoxy of the faith has come down to us in writing, these we have reasonably enumerated by name.

CHAPTER XXIII

No small question being then stirred up, because the communities of all Asia thought, as from a more ancient tradition, that they ought to observe the fourteenth of the moon at the feast of the saving Passover, on which it was proclaimed to the Jews to sacrifice the lamb, so that it was needful by all means, on this day, on whatever day of the week it might fall, to make the dissolutions of the fasts—it not being the custom to perform it in this manner in the churches throughout all the rest of the world, which observed, from apostolic tradition, the custom that has prevailed even to this day, so that it is not fitting to dissolve the fasts on any other day than that of the resurrection of our Saviour—
synods and assemblings of bishops came together for this, and all with one mind by letters drew up for those everywhere an ecclesiastical decree, that on no other day than the Lord's day should the mystery of the Lord's resurrection from the dead be performed, and that on this alone we should keep the dissolutions of the Paschal fasts.
And there is extant even now a writing of those gathered together in Palestine at that time, over whom were placed Theophilus bishop of the community in Caesarea and Narcissus of that in Jerusalem; and of those at Rome likewise another, concerning the same question, indicating Victor as bishop; and of the bishops throughout Pontus, over whom Palmas, as most ancient, was placed; and of the communities throughout Gaul, of which Irenaeus was bishop;
and moreover of those throughout Osroene and the cities there; and specially of Bacchyllus the bishop of the church of the Corinthians, and of very many others, who, having brought forth one and the same opinion and judgement, set down the same vote.

CHAPTER XXIV

And of these the determination was one, the one declared; but of the bishops in Asia, who strongly maintained that it was needful to preserve the custom of old delivered to them, the leader was Polycrates; who himself too, in the writing which he addressed to Victor and the church of the Romans, sets forth the tradition that had come to him, in these words:
"We, then, keep the day undefiled, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia also great luminaries have fallen asleep, who shall rise on the day of the coming of the Lord, in which he comes with glory from the heavens and shall seek out all the saints: Philip of the twelve apostles, who has fallen asleep in Hierapolis, and two of his daughters who grew old as virgins, and his other daughter, who, having lived in the Holy Spirit, rests in Ephesus;
and moreover John also, who leaned upon the breast of the Lord, who became a priest wearing the plate, and a witness and a teacher;
this man has fallen asleep in Ephesus; and moreover Polycarp too in Smyrna, both bishop and martyr; and Thraseas, both bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who has fallen asleep in Smyrna. What need to speak of Sagaris, bishop and martyr,
who has fallen asleep in Laodicea, and moreover Papirius the blessed, and Melito the eunuch, who lived wholly in the Holy Spirit, who lies in Sardis awaiting the visitation from the heavens in which he shall rise from the dead?
All these kept the day of the fourteenth of the Passover according to the Gospel, in nothing transgressing, but following the rule of the faith; and moreover I too, Polycrates, the least of all of you, according to the tradition of my kinsmen, some of whom also I have followed. For seven of my kinsmen were bishops, and I am the eighth; and always my kinsmen kept the day when the people put away the leaven.
I therefore, brethren, being sixty-five years in the Lord, and having conversed with the brethren from the whole world, and having gone through all holy Scripture, am not frightened at the things that terrify; for those greater than I have said, 'We must obey God rather than men.'"
To these he adds these things concerning the bishops present with him as he wrote and of the same opinion, saying: "And I could have made mention of the bishops present, whom you deemed worthy to be summoned by me, and I summoned; whose names, if I should write, are many multitudes; but they, knowing my littleness, agreed with the epistle, knowing that not in vain do I bear grey hairs, but have ever lived in Christ Jesus."
Thereupon Victor, the president of the Romans, attempted at once to cut off from the common unity the communities of all Asia, together with the neighbouring churches, as heterodox, and posted them up by letters, proclaiming all the brethren there utterly excommunicate;
but this was not pleasing to all the bishops. They, on the contrary, exhorted him to be minded of the things of peace and of unity and love toward neighbours; and there are borne also the words of these who rebuke Victor rather sharply;
among whom Irenaeus too, writing from the person of the brethren over whom he presided in Gaul, maintains indeed that it is needful that the mystery of the Lord's resurrection be performed on the Lord's day alone, yet fittingly exhorts Victor, in many other things, that he should not cut off whole churches of God observing the tradition of an ancient custom; and adding in these very words these things:
"For the dispute is not only concerning the day, but also concerning the very form of the fast. For some think they ought to fast one day, others two, others even more; others measure their day at forty hours, of day and of night.
And such variety of those who observe it has not arisen in our time, but much before, in the time of those before us, who, not having held to exactness, as is likely, made for the future the custom in its simplicity and private fashion; and none the less all these were at peace, and we are at peace with one another, and the dissension of the fast establishes the concord of the faith."
To these he adds also a story, which I shall fittingly set down, running in this manner: "Among whom also the presbyters before Soter, who presided over the church which thou now governest—I mean Anicetus and Pius and Hyginus and Telesphorus and Xystus—neither themselves observed, nor permitted those after them; and none the less they themselves, not observing, were at peace with those from the communities in which it was observed, when they came to them, although to observe was the more contrary to those who did not observe.
And never were any cast out on account of this form, but the presbyters before thee who did not observe sent the Eucharist to those from the communities who did observe;
and the blessed Polycarp, sojourning at Rome in the time of Anicetus, and having had a little difference with one another concerning certain other things, were straightway at peace, not contending about this matter with one another. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe, inasmuch as he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord and the rest of the apostles with whom he had associated; nor indeed did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe, who said that he ought to hold the custom of the presbyters before him.
And these things being so, they communicated with one another, and in the church Anicetus yielded the Eucharist to Polycarp, plainly out of respect; and with peace they departed from one another, the whole church having peace, both those who observed and those who did not observe."
And Irenaeus, true to his name in his title and in his very manner a peacemaker, thus exhorted and was an ambassador on behalf of the peace of the churches; and the same man conversed by letters fittingly, not only with Victor, but also with very many diverse rulers of churches, concerning the question that had been stirred.

CHAPTER XXV

Those, indeed, in Palestine, whom we have just gone through, Narcissus and Theophilus, and with them Cassius bishop of the church in Tyre, and Clarus of that in Ptolemais, and those who came together with these, having treated very much concerning the tradition concerning the Passover that had come down to them by succession from the apostles, at the end of the writing add these things in these very words: "Try to send copies of our epistle to every community, that we may not be liable to those who lightly deceive their own souls. And we declare to you that in Alexandria too they keep the same day as we do; for letters are carried from us to them and from them to us, so that with one accord and together we keep the holy day."

CHAPTER XXVI

But besides the works of Irenaeus rendered above, and his epistles, there is extant a certain very concise and most necessary discourse of his to the Greeks, entitled On Knowledge, and another, which he dedicated to a brother named Marcianus, For the Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, and a certain book of diverse discourses, in which he makes mention of the epistle to the Hebrews and of the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, setting down certain sayings from them. And the works of Irenaeus that have come to our knowledge are so many. Commodus having ended the rule after thirteen years, the emperor Severus, after the death of Commodus, Pertinax having continued not even six full months, holds power.

CHAPTER XXVII

Very many memorials, then, of the virtuous zeal of the ancient and ecclesiastical men of that time are preserved even now among many; of which, indeed, such as we ourselves have come to know, would be the works of Heraclitus on the apostle, and those of Maximus on the much-discussed question among the heretics, whence is evil, and concerning the doctrine that matter is created; and those of Candidus on the Hexaemeron, and of Apion on the same subject; likewise of Sextus on the resurrection, and another treatise of Arabianus, and of countless others, of whom, because we have no occasion, it is not possible either to deliver in writing the times or to note any mention of history. And the discourses of very many others too came to us, of whom it is not possible for us to enumerate even the names, of orthodox and ecclesiastical men, as indeed the interpretation of divine Scripture in each shows, but nevertheless unknown to us, because they do not bear the name of those who composed them.

CHAPTER XXVIII

In a certain work of one of these, laboured against the heresy of Artemon, which Paul of Samosata in our time has again attempted to renew, there is borne a certain narrative pertinent to the histories we are examining.
For the said heresy, which says that the Saviour was a mere man, having been innovated not long before, while he sets it straight—since those who introduced it wished to magnify it as being ancient—having set down many other things for the refutation of their blasphemous false speech, the discourse relates these things in these words:
"For they say that all those before, and the very apostles, both received and taught these things which now these men say, and that the truth of the preaching was kept down to the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop at Rome from Peter; but that from his successor Zephyrinus the truth was corrupted.
And what is said would perhaps be plausible, were it not, first of all, that the divine Scriptures oppose them; and there are writings of certain brethren, older than the times of Victor, which they wrote both against the nations on behalf of the truth and against the heresies of that time—I mean of Justin and Miltiades and Tatian and Clement and many others, in all of which Christ is theologized as God.
For who is ignorant of the books of Irenaeus and Melito and the rest, which proclaim Christ as God and man?
And as many psalms and odes of the brethren as were written from the beginning by the faithful, hymn Christ, the Word of God, theologizing him as God. How then, the mind of the church being proclaimed for so many years, is it possible that those down to Victor preached as these men say? And how are they not ashamed to lie thus against Victor, knowing accurately that Victor excommunicated Theodotus the leather-worker, the leader and father of this God-denying apostasy, who first said that Christ was a mere man? For if Victor was thus minded, as the blasphemy of these teaches, how would he have cast out Theodotus, the inventor of this heresy?"
And the things concerning Victor are so many; and after he had presided over the ministry ten years, Zephyrinus was appointed his successor, about the ninth year of the reign of Severus. And the writer of the aforesaid book concerning the author of the said heresy adds another deed that came to pass in the time of Zephyrinus, writing somewhat thus in these very words:
"I will remind, then, many of the brethren of a deed that came to pass in our time, which, I think, had it happened in Sodom, would perhaps have admonished even those. There was a certain Natalius, a confessor, not of old, but who lived in our times.
This man was once deceived by Asclepiodotus and another Theodotus, a banker; and these were both disciples of Theodotus the leather-worker, the first who, for this opinion, or rather folly, was set apart from communion by Victor, as I said, the bishop of that time.
And Natalius was persuaded by them to be called bishop of this heresy for a salary, so that he received from them a monthly hundred and fifty denarii.
Being, then, with them, he was often admonished by the Lord through visions; for the compassionate God and our Lord Jesus Christ did not wish that a witness of his own sufferings, having come to be outside the church, should perish.
But when he gave heed too carelessly to the visions, being enticed by the chief seat among them and by the base gain that destroys very many, at last he was scourged by holy angels through the whole night, being maltreated not a little, so that at dawn he rose, and, having put on sackcloth and sprinkled himself with ashes, with much haste and tears fell down before Zephyrinus the bishop, rolling at the feet not only of those in the clergy but also of the laity, and confounded with his tears the compassionate church of the merciful Christ; and using much entreaty, and showing the bruises of the blows which he had received, scarcely was he admitted to communion.
To these we shall attach also other words of the same writer concerning the same persons, running in this manner: "The divine Scriptures they have fearlessly tampered with, and the rule of the ancient faith they have set at nought, and Christ they have not known, not seeking what the divine Scriptures say, but laboriously practising what form of syllogism may be found for the establishment of their godlessness. And if one set before them a saying of divine Scripture, they examine whether it can be made a connected or a disjunctive form of syllogism;
and having forsaken the holy Scriptures of God, they practise geometry, as being of the earth and speaking from the earth and being ignorant of him who comes from above. Euclid, at any rate, is laboriously studied by some of them, and Aristotle and Theophrastus are admired; for Galen, perhaps, is even worshipped by some.
But those who abuse the arts of the unbelievers for the opinion of their heresy, and by the craftiness of the godless adulterate the simple faith of the divine Scriptures, that they are not even near to faith, what need to say? For this cause they laid their hands fearlessly upon the divine Scriptures, saying that they had corrected them.
And that I say this not falsely against them, whoever wishes can learn. For if anyone should be willing to gather the copies of each of them and examine them against one another, he would find them greatly discordant. At any rate, the copies of Asclepiades will not agree with those of Theodotus;
and it is possible to obtain many, because their disciples have zealously written out the things 'corrected,' as they call them, by each of them—that is, mangled; and again, the copies of Hermophilus do not agree with these. And the copies of Apollonides are not even consistent with themselves; for it is possible to compare those prepared by them at the first with those again afterward perverted, and to find them greatly out of tune.
And of how great audacity this offence is, it is likely that not even those are ignorant. For either they do not believe that the divine Scriptures were spoken by the Holy Spirit, and they are unbelievers; or they think themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and what else are they but demon-possessed? For neither can they deny that the audacity is their own, when the writings are even in their own hand, and they did not receive such Scriptures from those by whom they were catechized, and cannot show copies from which they copied them.
And some of them did not even deem it worth while to falsify them, but simply, having denied both the law and the prophets, under pretext of a lawless and godless teaching of grace, slipped down to the lowest pit of destruction." And let these things be related in this manner.