Книга 5

1. Bishop Soter of the Roman Church died in the eighth year of his bishopric. His successor was Eleutherius, the twelfth bishop, counting from the apostles. It was the seventeenth year of the reign of Emperor Antoninus Verus 1083, when a terrible persecution against us broke out in some regions 1084: people rose up against us in the cities. That there were an innumerable number of martyrs can be guessed from the events that happened in one nation; posterity was told about them in writing, and they truly deserve to remain unforgettable. 2. We placed the entire work in which they are fully presented in the “Collection of Martyrs” 1085, the purpose of which was not only a story, but also a lesson. Now I will select from there what is relevant to the present work. 3. Others, in their historical narratives, necessarily write about military victories, about trophies, about the exploits of military leaders and the valor of warriors, stained with blood and murders committed for the sake of their children, homeland and all wealth. Our word, telling about how to live in God, will be written on the eternal tablets of those who waged a peaceful war for the peace of their souls and courageously fought for the truth, and not for their homeland, for faith, and not for loved ones. It will proclaim the enduring memory of the resistance of the fighters for the faith, of their long-suffering courage, of the victory over demons and invisible opponents and of the crowns received for all this. 1. Gaul 1086 was the country where the scene for the events described was established; its glorious metropolises Lugdunum 1087 and Vienna are superior to other cities there. The Rodan River 1088 passes through both cities, abundantly irrigating the entire country. 2. The churches of these two cities, famous and glorious, sent a record of the martyrs to the Churches in Asia and Phrygia 1089. This is how they talk about what happened to them (I quote their own words): 3. “To the servants of Christ who live in Vienna and Lugdunum, in Gaul, to the brothers in Asia and Phrygia, who have the same faith and hope of redemption with us - peace, joy and glory from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 4. Then, after some preface, they begin their story like this: “What kind of oppression there was here, what frantic indignation among the pagans against the saints that the blessed martyrs endured, we are not able to tell exactly and cannot describe. 5. The enemy attacked us with all his might, preparing for his inevitable coming in the future. He set everything in motion: he set us against us and taught us to persecute the servants of God. Not only were we not allowed into houses, baths and markets; 6. we were generally forbidden to show ourselves anywhere; but the grace of God took up arms against them: it strengthened the weak, it opposed a strong stronghold, which took upon itself the entire onslaught of the evil one; These people went to meet the enemy, endured all kinds of reproach and torture; considering many things to be small, they hastened to Christ, truly showing that “the sufferings of this present time are worth nothing in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us” 1090. 7. At first, they bravely withstood the attack of the mob, who rushed in en masse and in crowds: they were shouted at, beaten, dragged, robbed, thrown stones at them, imprisoned, and acted as a brutal crowd likes to treat enemies and the enemy. 8. By order of the tribune and the city authorities, they were taken to the square and interrogated in the presence of the entire crowd. They confessed their faith and were imprisoned until the arrival of the legate in 1091. 9 . Then they were brought to him. He treated them with all the cruelty usual towards us. Then Vettius Epagathus 1092, one of the brothers, who had achieved the fullness of love for God and neighbor, led a life so impeccable that he, a young man, was equated with the elder presbyter Zechariah 1093 (he acted according to all the commandments and statutes of the Lord blamelessly 1094, did not hesitate to serve his neighbor in every possible way, had great zeal for God and burned spirit 1095), could not bear such a reckless judgment and demanded that they listen to his defense of his brothers, for we have neither godlessness nor wickedness. 10. Those around the pulpit showered him with abuse - and he was a famous man; the legate, irritated by such a legitimate demand, only asked if he was a Christian. Epagathus loudly and clearly confessed his faith and himself received the lot of a martyr. He was called the comforter of Christians, but he had a comforter in himself: the spirit of Zechariah 1096 was manifested by him in the fullness of love; he chose to come to the defense of his brothers and lay down his soul for them 1097. He was and remains a true disciple of Christ, who follows the Lamb wherever He leads him 1098. 11. Here a difference was discovered among the rest: some were ready for martyrdom and eagerly made a confession of faith. However, they turned out to be unprepared, without experience, still weak, unable to withstand this intense great competition. There were ten such people who fell away. They caused us great grief and immeasurable grief and broke the courageous resolve of those who had not yet been captured and who, although with great fear, helped the martyrs and did not abandon them. 12. Here we were all struck with horror, because the outcome of their confession was dark; We were not afraid of torture, but, seeing the impending end, we were afraid that someone would fall away. 13. Every day they seized those who were worthy to fill the number of martyrs; from the two mentioned Churches they took away the most active people, on whom the Churches, in essence, rested. 14. They also captured some of our pagan slaves; The legate, in the name of the authorities, ordered to look for us all. They, frightened by the torture that the saints endured before their eyes, and succumbing to the persuasion of the soldiers, slandered us and gave false testimony according to the machinations of Satan: we have Thyestan feasts 1099, Oedipal connections 1100 and in general things that we can’t even talk about, but can’t even think about; It’s impossible to believe that this has ever happened to people. 15. When these rumors spread, everyone went wild; even those who were previously more inclined towards us due to friendly ties gnashed their teeth at us in rage 1101. The word of our Lord has come true: “The time will come when everyone who kills you will think that he is serving God” 1102. 16. Now the holy martyrs suffered tortures that cannot be described. Satan tried in every possible way to ensure that a blasphemous word was uttered through their lips. 17. All the furious anger of the crowd, the legate, and the soldiers fell upon Saint 1103, the deacon of Vienna; on Mathura 1104, recently baptized but a good fighter; on Attalus 1105, a Pergamian by birth, who has always been the support and stronghold of local Christians, and on Blandina 1106: on it Christ showed that what is insignificant, unnoticed and despicable among people is glorified by God for the love for Him, shown not for show, but in action. 18. Everyone was afraid for her: both we and her earthly mistress, who herself was among the confessors, believed that Blandina, due to her bodily weakness, did not have enough strength for a bold confession. She was filled with such strength that the executioners, who, replacing each other, tormented her in every possible way from morning to evening, got tired and left her. They admitted that they were defeated and did not know what else to do; they were surprised how Blandina was still alive, although her whole body was torn and was a continuous gaping wound. According to them, one type of torture is enough for a person to give up the ghost - there is no need for so many of them. 19. But the blessed one, like a real fighter, drew new strength from her confession: she restored them, rested, did not feel pain, repeating: “I am a Christian, nothing bad is being done here.” 20. And the Saint courageously endured suffering that was beyond all human strength and with which people tormented him. The lawless people hoped to hear from him an undue word, torn out by continuous severe torture, but he was so firm in his rebuff that he did not even say his name, nationality, or hometown, did not say whether he was a slave or a free man; He answered all questions in Latin: “I am a Christian.” Instead of a name, instead of a city, instead of his origin, instead of everything, he repeated his confession over and over again: the pagans did not hear another word from him. 21. Both the legate and the executioners were extremely irritated and, not knowing what to do, finally began to apply hot copper plates to the most sensitive places on the body. 22. And the flesh burned, but the Saint remained unshakably firm in his confession; the living water 1107 coming from the womb of Christ watered him and gave him strength 1108. 23. His body testified to what he had experienced: everything was covered in scars and wounds, shrunk, having lost its human appearance; but Christ, who suffered in him, glorified him, weakening the enemy and using this example to show the others 1109 that nothing is scary, where the love of the Father is, nothing hurts, where the glory of Christ is. 24. A few days later, the lawless began to torture the martyr again, hoping that if they subjected his swollen and inflamed limbs to the same torment, they would either overcome him - and then he could not even bear the touch of a hand - or he would die under torture and his death would frighten the others. Nothing of the kind happened to him, however: in subsequent tortures, he, contrary to everyone’s expectations, grew stronger, straightened up, acquired his former appearance and the ability to use his members: secondary torture became not a punishment for him, but, by the grace of Christ, a healing. 25. The devil was about to devour Bibliada 1110, one of those who renounced, but, wanting her to also be condemned for blasphemy, he led her to torture, forcing her to accuse us of godless deeds - and she was a fragile and timid creature. 26. She, however, became sober under torture and, one might say, woke up from a deep sleep: the temporary pain reminded her of eternal execution in Gehenna, and she began to contradict the slanderers: “How can these people eat children if they are forbidden to eat the blood of even irrational animals?” 1111. After this she declared that she was a Christian. She was numbered among the martyrs. 27. The steadfastness of the martyrs, led by Christ, weakened these tyrannical punishments, and the devil came up with other intrigues: imprisonment in dark, very harsh prisons, stretching of the legs on a wooden board to the fifth hole and other torments to which the evil servants of the devil, filled with his spirit, usually subject prisoners. Many died, suffocated in prison - precisely those whom the Lord wished to free in this way, revealing His glory. 28. Others, who suffered such bitter torment that it seemed they would not be able to survive even with the most careful care, continued to live in prison: without any human care, strengthened by the Lord mentally and physically, they persuaded and consoled others. And the newcomers, who had just been captured and were not yet familiar with bodily suffering, could not bear the severity of imprisonment and died in prison. 29. The episcopal ministry in Lugdunum was entrusted to Blessed Pofinus in 1112. He was over ninety, physically he was very weak, he could hardly breathe due to physical weakness, but he was strengthened by the spirit of jealousy and driven by the thirst for martyrdom. He himself was drawn to the judge, exhausted in body both from old age and from illness, but preserving his soul within himself, so that through it Christ might triumph 1113. The soldiers brought him to the judge; They were accompanied by the city authorities and a huge crowd, screaming in every way as if he were Christ Himself. His confession was wonderful 1114. 31. When asked by the legate what kind of God the Christians have, he replied: “If you are worthy, you will know.” Then they dragged him mercilessly, showering him with blows in every possible way. Those standing nearby, not respecting his old age, beat him with their hands and kicked him; those who were further away threw everything that came to hand: everyone considered it a criminal impiety to lag behind in this gross mockery; They thought that in this way they were taking revenge for their gods. Pofinus, barely breathing, was thrown into prison, and two days later he gave up the ghost. 32. And here the great care of the Lord was revealed and the immeasurable mercy of Jesus was revealed, rare even for our brotherhood, but corresponding to Christ’s plan. 33. Those initially captured and those who renounced were still kept in custody and were also tortured. At that time, renunciation was useless, and those who declared themselves to be what they were were planted as Christians and were not accused of anything else; These same ones were kept as murderers and debauchees, and in comparison with the rest they were doubly punished. 34. The joy of martyrdom, hope for the promised reward, love for Christ, the Father's spirit - all this eased the fate of the confessors; but those who renounced were greatly tormented by their conscience: when the prisoners were taken out, they could immediately be distinguished by their appearance. 35. The confessors walked cheerfully; there was a stamp of grace and glory on their faces; the shackles seemed a worthy decoration - this is how clothes with gold embroidery suit a bride 1115. From them came the fragrance of Christ 1116; some even thought that they were being anointed with myrrh; those who renounced walked dejected, humiliated, all decorum was lost by them; Moreover, the pagans insulted them as low cowards and accused them of murder; they have lost their honorable, glorious, life-giving name. Seeing this, the rest were strengthened; those captured without hesitation pronounced their confession, without thinking about the devil’s arguments.” 36. Having said something else here, they continue: “Their martyrdom ended in various deaths: they presented a wreath woven from all kinds of flowers of different colors to the Father. They, noble fighters who won great victories in various competitions, were to receive the crown of immortality. 37. Matura, Sancta, Blandina and Attalus were thrown into the amphitheater to the beasts and pagan inhumanity as a spectacle; For our sake, a special day of persecution was appointed. 39. Mathur and Saint went through all the torment in the amphitheater, as if they had never suffered anything before; or rather, as they had already defeated the enemy in many battles and were fighting for the wreath itself, they again endured the transition customary in those places from scourging to throwing to animals and, in general, everything that the distraught people demanded from all sides. They were finally seated on an iron chair; the fumes from the roasting bodies enveloped them. 39. The pagans did not let up and raged even more, wanting to defeat their endurance, but they did not hear anything from the Saint, except those words in which he was accustomed from the very beginning to express his confession. 40. Since the martyrs for the most part remained alive in this long competition, they were eventually stabbed to death. During this day, instead of the motley variety of animal persecution, only we served as a spectacle. 41. It was decided to hang Blandin from a pole to be devoured by animals. The sight of her, as if crucified on the cross, her fervent prayer inspired much zeal in the competitors: thanks to her sister, with their bodily eyes they saw Him Crucified for us; may those who believe in Him be convinced that everyone who suffered for Christ is in eternal communion with the living God. 42. Since not a single animal touched Blandina, she was removed from the pillar and again sent to prison. She was saved for another competition: may she win many battles and make the condemnation of the insidious serpent inevitable; may she inspire her brothers, small and weak, insignificant - and a great invincible fighter for Christ 1117, defeating the enemy in many battles and for this struggle crowned with the crown of immortality. 43. The mob persistently demanded the execution of Attalus (he was a famous person). He came out ready to fight: his conscience was clear, he was truly instructed in Christian teaching and always testified to the truth among us. 44. They led him around the amphitheater; in front they carried a tablet with the Latin inscription: “This is Attalus the Christian.” Although the people were seething with hatred towards him, the legate, having learned that he was a Roman citizen, ordered him to be kept in prison along with the others, about which he sent a letter to Caesar 1118: he was waiting for a decision. 45. In the meantime, time did not pass idlely and fruitlessly for them; for their patience, the immeasurable mercy of Christ was shown to them: the living revived the dead, the martyrs forgave those who renounced 1119 and the Virgin Mother had great joy when she accepted the dead miscarriages alive. 46. Thanks to the confessors, most of the apostates returned to the faith, conceived new fruits, became passionate and learned the confession. Revived and full of strength, they approached the pulpit for a new interrogation, and the Lord, who does not want the death of a sinner 1120 and is merciful to the repentant, rejoiced. 47. The answer came from Caesar: to torture confessors; whoever renounces, let them go. The Assembly of Provincials was just beginning (very crowded, since all tribes come to it), and the legate turned the entrance of the martyrs to the podium into a theatrical spectacle for the crowd. Here he interrogated them again: he ordered the Roman citizens to cut off their heads and throw the rest to the beasts. 48. The recent apostates glorified Christ, contrary to the expectations of the pagans. They were interrogated each separately, promising release, but they confessed their faith and were numbered among the martyrs. Left aside were those in whom there was not a trace of faith, who did not understand what the wedding garment 1122 meant, and did not have the fear of God. The sons of perdition 1123, they themselves renounced blasphemy 1124 against the Path 1125; all the rest united with the Church. 49. A certain Alexander 1126, a Phrygian by birth, a doctor, was present during the interrogation. He lived for many years in Gaul and was known to almost everyone for his love of God and the boldness of his speech 1127; He was not deprived of the apostolic gift. Standing at the podium, he encouraged the confessors with signs; it seemed to those standing around that he was in labor pains, 50. and the mob, irritated that the recent apostates had become confessors, began to cry out that this was the work of Alexander. The legate called him over and began to interrogate him who he was, and, angry at his answer: “Christian,” condemned him to be devoured by wild beasts. The next day he entered the arena with Attalus, and the legate, for the sake of the mob, gave Attalus to the beasts. 51. In the amphitheater they tested on themselves all the instruments invented for torture, and withstood a great competition; finally they were stabbed to death. Alexander did not utter a word or a sound: his heart was with God. 52. Attalus, when he was seated on a hot iron chair and the smell of roasting came from his body, said, addressing the crowd, in Latin: “This is eating people - what you do, but we don’t eat people and don’t do anything bad at all.” When asked about the name of God, he replied: “God has no name, like man.” 53. After all, on the last day of the persecution, they took Blandina out again with Pontik 1128, a boy of about fifteen. They were brought every day to look at the torment of others and were forced to swear in the name of pagan idols - and they remained in disdainful calm. The crowd went wild; They did not spare the child, the women were not ashamed: 54. They were doomed to all kinds of torture, they were led around their entire circle, they were invariably forced to swear, but they achieved nothing. Pontik was encouraged by his sister: the pagans saw how she convinced and strengthened her brother. He, having bravely endured all the torment, gave up his ghost. 55. And blessed Blandina, the last of all, who, like a noble mother, convinced her children and led them, the winners, to the King, went through all the suffering of her children and hurried to them, rejoicing at her departure and rejoicing in it, as if invited to a wedding feast 1129, and not thrown to be devoured by wild beasts. 56. After scourges, encounters with animals, and a hot frying pan, she was finally put in a willow basket and thrown to the bull. The animal tossed her for a long time, but she no longer felt anything in the hope of the promise and in communion with Christ. She was also stabbed to death. The pagans themselves admitted that not a single woman among them could withstand so much such torment. 57. Their madness and cruelty towards the saints was not satisfied here either. Fierce barbarian tribes, disturbed by a fierce beast, find it difficult to calm down. They came up with something new, their own: they began to mock dead bodies. 58. Deprived of the human ability to reason, they were not ashamed of their defeat, but, like animals, they became even more inflamed with anger; both the legate and the people experienced the same and unjust hatred towards us, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Let the unjust still commit unrighteousness, and let the holy one be sanctified” 1130. 59. The bodies of those who suffocated in prison were thrown to the dogs and carefully guarded day and night so that none of our people would bury them. They threw away what was left of the fire and animal teeth; torn, charred pieces, as well as heads and stumps of torsos - all this remained without burial for many days in a row and was guarded with military diligence. 60. Some, at the sight of these remains, angrily gnashed their teeth, looking for something else to take revenge on; others, laughing, mocked, praised their idols and attributed to them the punishment of Christians. The gentler people, inclined to some extent to compassion, reproached us, saying: “Where is their God? What benefit do they have from their faith, for which they gave their lives? 61. People treated us so differently, but we were in great sadness, because we could not bury their bodies. And the night did not come to the rescue, and money did not convince, and prayers did not touch: the remains of the martyrs were protected in every possible way, as if counting on great benefits from the fact that they would not have graves.” 62. Then, among other things, they say the following: “The bodies of the martyrs, desecrated in every possible way as a lesson to everyone, remained for six days in the open air, then the wrongdoers burned them and swept the ashes into the Rodan River, which flows nearby, so that nothing of them would remain on earth. 62. They did this in the hope of defeating God and taking away their revival. 63. They said so: “So that they have no hope of resurrection, having believed in which they introduce a strange new faith, despise torture and are ready to joyfully go to death. Let's see if they will be resurrected, and if God can help them and snatch them out of our hands." 1. All this happened in the Christian Churches under the mentioned emperor. From these events one can reasonably infer what was happening in the remaining provinces. It is worth adding from the same letter a verbatim story about the kindness and philanthropy of the mentioned martyrs: 2. “So zealously did they imitate Christ, Who, “being in the image of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” 1131 that so glorified not once or twice, but many times tortured, thrown to beasts and returned to prison, all with burns, scars and wounds, they not only did not declare themselves martyrs, but forbade us to call them that, and if anyone appealed in a letter or conversation to them: “martyrs,” they bitterly reproached him 1132. 3. They willingly gave the title of martyr to Christ, the faithful, true Martyr, the Firstborn from the dead 1133, the Lord of life in God 1134; they remembered the martyrs who had already departed and said: “here they are, the martyrs: Christ deigned to receive them at confession, sealing their testimony with death, and we are simply insignificant confessors.” And with tears they asked the brothers to pray intensely so that they could endure to the end. 4. They actually showed the power of martyrdom: they boldly spoke to the pagans; their patience, fearlessness, firmness showed the nobility of their souls; Filled with the fear of God, they asked their brothers not to call them martyrs.” 5. A little later they continue: “They bowed humbly under the powerful hand that now lifted them high 1135. Then they defended everyone and did not blame anyone: they untied everyone, did not tie anyone up. They prayed for the executioners, like Stephen the martyr who had achieved perfection: “Lord! do not impute this sin to them" 1136. If he prayed for those stoning him, how much more for his brothers?” 6. Then, by the way, they say: “Their love was real, and therefore they had a great war with the devil: they wanted to squeeze his throat so that he would spew out alive those whom he was going to swallow whole. They did not exalt themselves over the fallen 1137; out of their maternal mercy they gave to those in need from their abundance 1138 and, shedding abundant tears for them before the Father, asked to give them life, and He gave it; 7. they gave it to their neighbors and, having conquered everything, went to God. They always loved peace, bequeathed peace to us, and went to God in peace. Mothers left no worries and brothers 1139 did not leave discord and enmity, but joy, peace, unanimity and love.” 8. The story of the love of those blessed martyrs for their fallen brothers may serve to benefit those who later treated these members of Christ so inhumanely and mercilessly. 1. In the same scripture about the above-mentioned martyrs there is another memorable story, with which it is worth introducing future readers. Here it is: 2. “Alcibiades 1140, one of them, lived a harsh life and had never eaten anything except bread and water. He tried to behave the same way in prison, but after his first competition in the amphitheater, Attalus discovered that Alcibiades was doing wrong, refusing what God had created 1141 and giving rise to temptation. 3. Alcibiades obeyed, began to eat everything without sorting, and thanked God. The grace of God never abandoned the martyrs, and the Holy Spirit was their advisor.” That's all. 4. The followers of Montanus, Alcibiades and Theodotus 1142 in Phrygia had only just begun to speak publicly about their prophecies (since many other miracles had been performed by God’s grace in different churches even before that time, many believed their prophetic gift). Disagreements arose on this matter, and the brothers from Gaul, expressing their own judgment, cautious and completely orthodox, also extracted letters from various martyrs who had died among them, which they, worried about the peace of the church, while still in chains, wrote to the brothers in Asia and Phrygia, as well as to Eleutherius, the then Bishop of Rome 1143. 1. These same martyrs reported to the aforementioned Bishop of Rome about Irenaeus, presbyter of Lugdun, saying many kind words about him, as is clear from the following: 2. “We wish you, Father Eleutherius, to rejoice in God now and always. We asked that this letter be delivered to you from our brother and accomplice 1144 Irenaeus; We ask you to be disposed towards him: he is zealous for the covenant of Christ. If we thought that righteousness gives a person a place, then we would place him, according to his merits, first among the elders of the church.” 3. Why give a list of martyrs from their message? Some were beheaded, others were thrown to be devoured by wild animals; some calmed down in prison. There is no need to list the surviving confessors. Whoever wants to, will learn about this in full detail by picking up this entry, which, as I said, I inserted into my “Collection of Martyrs.” Such events took place under Antonin. 1. They say that his brother, Caesar Marcus Aurelius 1145, before the battle with the Germans and Sarmatians 1146, found himself in a hopeless situation, since his army was weakened from thirst 1147. The warriors of the so-called Melitine Legion 1148, with faith, which from that time until now has supported them in battles with the enemy, fell, according to our prayer custom, to their knees and turned to God with a prayer. 2. The sight was amazing for the enemies, but what, according to the story, befell them right there was even more amazing: a terrible thunderstorm put the enemies to flight and destroyed them; the downpour that poured down on those who called to God restored the strength of the entire army, which was on the verge of death 1149. 3. Writers who are far from our faith, but present the same events, also have stories about this; Ours have them too. Historians from the outside recognize the miracle, but, not understanding anything about our faith, they deny that it happened through our prayers 1150. Our people, who are close to the truth, convey the facts simply and artlessly. 4. One of them, Apollinaris, says that the legion, through whose prayer the miracle happened, received from the emperor a name that in Latin means “lightning” 1151. 5. The venerable Tertullian also testifies to this, having addressed the Roman Senate with the Apology of our Faith, already mentioned. He conveys this story, confirming it with evidence that is stronger and more convincing; 6. According to him, letters from Mark 1152, a very reasonable emperor, are still circulating, in which he testifies that his army in Germany 1153 almost died without water and was saved by the prayers of Christians. According to him, the emperor threatened 1,154 of our accusers with death. 7. Tertullian concludes with these words: “What are these laws that only godless, cruel rulers apply against us? Vespasian, even though he was the conqueror of the Jews, did not observe them; Trajan partially crossed them out, prohibiting searching for Christians 1155; they were not confirmed either by Adrian, who intervened in everything 1156, or by the emperor, nicknamed “The Pious” 1157. Let anyone think about it however they want. 8. Let's move on to subsequent events. When Pofinus died in the ninetieth year of his life, and with him the Gallic martyrs, Irenaeus became the successor of Pofinus, who ruled the Lugdunian Church. We learned that in his youth he listened to Polycarp. 9 . In the 3rd book of his work “Against Heresies,” he gives a list of Roman bishops who successively succeeded each other, and brings it to Eleutherius, whose time we are describing. In his essay written to his bishopric, he includes that list. He writes like this: 1. “The blessed apostles, having founded and established the Church, entrusted the episcopal ministry to Linus; The Apostle Paul recalls this Linea in his Epistles to Timothy. 2. His successor was Anacletus; Clement was the third after the apostles to receive the lot of the bishopric: he saw the blessed apostles and talked with them; the apostolic sermon sounded in his ears; he had their legend before his eyes. And he was not alone: ​​at that time there were still many disciples of the apostles. 3. Under this Clement, great disagreement arose between the brothers in Corinth, and the Roman Church sent convincing letters to the Corinthians, urging them to peace, reviving their faith and reminding them of the tradition that they had just received from the apostles" 1158. 4. “The successor of Clement was Evarest, and the successor of Evarest was Alexander; Xystus was placed sixth after the apostles; after him there was Telesphorus, who died with glory, like a martyr. Behind him was Hyginus, then Pius, after him Anicetus. The successor of Anicetus was Soter, and now the twelfth after the apostles received the lot of the bishopric of Eleutherius. 5. In this order and with such successive transmission, the apostolic tradition and the preaching of the truth have reached us." 1159 1. Irenaeus, in accordance with what we talked about earlier, in the 2nd book (there are only five) of his work, entitled “The Reproof and Overthrow of False Knowledge,” says that before his time, God’s power of miracles remained visibly in some Churches: 12. “They [the heretics] cannot raise the dead, as the Lord and the apostles resurrected with their prayer 1160 or as it often happened that when a need arose among the brothers, the entire local Church remained in fasting and intense prayer, and the soul of the deceased returned: the person was given through the prayers of the saints” 1161. And then 1162, by the way: 3. “If they say that the miracles of the Lord were imaginary, then we will lead them to the prophets and, based on their books, we will show that everything about Him, as was predicted, really happened and that He is the only Son of God. Therefore, His true disciples, who have received grace from Him, perform His good deeds, different, depending on who received what gift from Him. 4. Some cast out demons truly and reliably, and often, having been cleansed of evil spirits, people become believing members of the Church; others foresee the future, have visions and prophesy; others heal the sick and, by laying hands on them, restore them to health; even, as we said, they resurrected the dead, and they lived with them for a long time. 5. It is impossible to list all the gifts that the Church throughout the world receives from God in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, and pours them out daily for the good of the pagans, without deceiving anyone and without profiting from anyone: she received it freely from God, and she serves it freely.”1163 6. Elsewhere he writes: “As we have heard from many, there are many brothers in the Church who have the gift of prophecy and speak in different languages by the inspiration of the Spirit; they reveal people’s innermost thoughts for benefit, and also explain Divine mysteries” 1164. Here is a story about how the worthy still have different gifts. 1. At the beginning of our work 1165, we promised to bring to the point the opinions of the ancient elders and church writers regarding the canonical books that have survived according to tradition. One of these writers was Irenaeus; we will quote his words - 2. first of all, what concerns the holy Gospels: “Matthew gave the Jews the Gospel, written in their own language, just at the time that Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and founding the Church. 3. After their death, Mark, Peter's disciple and translator, gave us Peter's sermon, which he recorded. Luke, Paul's companion, placed in the book the Gospel he preached. 4. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, reclining on His chest, wrote the Gospel while living in Asia, in Ephesus” 1166. 5. This is said by Irenem in the 3rd book of the mentioned work, and in the 5th he talks about the Revelation of John and the number of the name of the Antichrist: “This is how things stand; in all carefully made ancient lists the same number is given; it is attested by those who personally saw John, and reason tells us that the number of the name of the beast is given in the letters of his name according to their numerical value among the Hellenes” 1167. 6. And below he says the same thing: “We are afraid to say anything precise about the name of the Antichrist. If it were necessary now to openly proclaim his name, then he would be named by the one to whom the Revelation was made. After all, it was given recently, almost in our time, towards the end of the reign of Domitian” 1168. 7. This is what Irenaeus reported about the Revelation. He also mentions the First Epistle of John and cites from there a lot of evidence 1169, as well as from the First Epistle of Peter 1170. He not only knew, but also accepted the book “The Shepherd”. He says: “Scripture says well 1171: first of all, believe that there is one God, that He created everything and put everything in order” 1172. 8. He quotes almost verbatim some sayings from the Wisdom of Solomon: “The contemplation of God makes a person inaccessible to sin, and this inaccessibility brings him closer to God” 1173. He also recalls the writings of a certain presbyter, an apostolic man, without naming him by name, but citing his explanation of the Divine Scripture 1174. 9 . He also mentions Justin Martyr and Ignatius, uses evidence from their writings 1175 and promises to carefully engage in a special work in refuting Marcion on the basis of his own books 1176. 10. Listen to his word-for-word account of the translation of the inspired Scriptures by seventy interpreters 1177: “God became man, and the Lord Himself saved us, choosing the Virgin as a sign of this. Some of the present, for example, Theodotion of Ephesus 1178 and Aquila of Pontus 1179, both proselytes from the Jews, dare to interpret the words: “The young woman will conceive and give birth to a Son” 1180 in the sense that Christ was born of Joseph. Their followers are the Ebionites" 1181. 11. A little later 1182 he continues: “Even before Roman rule, when Asia was in the power of the Macedonians, Ptolemy, son of Lagus 1183, eager to decorate the library he founded in Alexandria with 1184 the most perfect works of all peoples, asked the inhabitants of Jerusalem for 1185 of their books, translated into the Greek language 1186. 12. The Jews, who were then subjects of Macedonia 1187, sent seventy elders 1188 to Ptolemy, who knew both the Scriptures and both languages ​​perfectly - the Lord did His will. 13. Ptolemy wanted to put them to the test: fearing that they would conspire to hide the true meaning of Scripture in the translation, he placed each one separately from the others and ordered everyone to do the same translation, and of all the books. 14. When the translators gathered with Ptolemy and began to compare their translations, the Lord was glorified and Scripture was recognized as truly Divine: everyone had the same thoughts expressed in the same words - from the very beginning to the end. The pagans who were present understood that the books were translated according to the inspiration of God. 15. It is not surprising that God performed this miracle: when in Nebuchadnezzar’s 1189 captivity the Scriptures were distorted and seventy years later 1190 the Jews returned to their native country, then already during the time of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the Lord inspired Ezra 1191, a priest from the tribe of Levi, to recreate all the words of the ancient prophets and restore the Mosaic legislation” 1192. The reign of Antoninus lasted nineteen years 1193, Commodus took power from him in 1194. In the first year of his reign 1195, after the death of Agrippina, who had served as episcopate for twelve years in Alexandria 1196, Julian accepted the bishopric in 1197. 1. At this time, the training of believers there was led by a man known for his education, named Panten 1198. According to ancient custom, there is a school in Alexandria where the Holy Scriptures are taught. It exists to this day, and we have heard that it is taught by people who are strong in words and zealous in the study of the Divine 1199. At that time, they say, the mentioned husband, brought up in the rules of Stoic philosophy, especially shone. 2. He, according to stories, showed such an ardent zeal for the word of God that he became a bold preacher of the Gospel of Christ among the pagans in the East and even reached the land of the Indians 1200. Many, yes, many, then proclaimed the word of the gospel; At the inspiration of the Lord, they imitated the apostles, spreading the word of God and teaching in it. 3. Panten, one of these, reached the Indians and, they say, found among the local residents, who knew Christ, the Gospel of Matthew brought to them even before his arrival. Christ was preached to them by Bartholomew 1201, one of the apostles 1202; he left them the Gospel of Matthew, written in Hebrew letters 1203; it continues to this day. 4. Panten improved a lot at the Alexandria School; he guided him to death, explaining both in writing and in live conversation the treasures of Divine dogmas. 1. At the same time, Clement, who studied the Holy Scriptures, was known in Alexandria. He was the namesake of the Bishop of Rome, who was considered an apostolic disciple. 2. In his “Essays,” he calls Panten by name as his teacher, and in the 1st book of “Stromat,” in my opinion, secretly listing the most famous successors of the apostles, in whose teaching he was instructed, he says: 3. “This book was written without tricks and not for people; I have collected for myself in my old age a treasure of memories - this is a remedy against oblivion: like shadows, artlessly drawn images of people pass before me, living and bright, whose words I have been honored to listen to, blessed men who themselves are worthy of words. 4. One of them was an Ionian 1204, another came from Magna Graecia 1205, the third was a Syrian from Coelesyria 1206; there was one from Egypt, there were from the East; one is from Assyria, the other, Jews, from Palestine. The last one I accidentally met was the first in strength, 1207, and calmed down on him; I tracked him down, hiding in Egypt. 5. They preserved the holy teaching, exactly transmitted to them by Peter, James, John and Paul, receiving it from the holy apostles, like sons from their father (few children are like their fathers); thank God, they lived to see us in order to plant these ancestral and apostolic seeds in us” 1208. 1. Under them, the bishop of the Jerusalem Church was the famous Narcissus 1209, who is known to many to this day. He was the fifteenth, counting from the war with the Jews under Hadrian. We already said in 1210 that from that time the Church there was first composed of pagans (before that it consisted of the circumcised) and the first pagan bishop was Mark. 2. After him in the list of bishops who successively succeeded each other are: Cassian, then Publius, then Maximus, after them Julian, then Gaius, then Symmachus, then another Gaius, again another Julian, Capto, after them 1211 Valens and Dolichian and after all Narcissus, the thirtieth in succession from the apostles 1212. 1. At this time, Rodon 1213, a native of Asia, who studied in Rome, as he himself says, with Tatian (whom we already met in 1214), wrote various books and, together with others, rebelled against Marcion’s heresy. He says that in his time different directions arose in it, refutes false inventions and carefully characterizes the perpetrators of this division. Listen to him himself: 2. “The reason they disagree with each other is that they defend an untenable teaching. Apelles 1215 from the same herd 1216, respected both for his way of life and for his old age, recognizes a single principle, but the prophecies, in his opinion, come from an enemy spirit, as he was convinced of by the sayings of the demon-possessed maiden Philumena 1217. 3. Others, like the helmsman Marcion himself, introduce two principles; these include Potitus and Basilisk. 4. They, following on the heels of the Pontic wolf and not distinguishing, like him, the nature of things, turned onto the easy path and declared the existence of two principles simply and without evidence; others have gone even worse: they accept the existence of not two, but three natures. Their leader is Sineros, as those who praise his school claim.” 5. He also writes about the conversations he had with Apelles: “Elder Apelles communicated with us, and we often caught him in absurdities. Therefore, he began to say that there is no need to examine Scripture at all: let everyone remain with his own faith. He argued that those who hope in the Crucified One will be saved, but only if they do good deeds. The darkest things in his teaching were his discussions about God (we talked about this). Just like us, he recognized a single beginning.” 6. Then, having fully stated the opinions of Apelles, Rawdon says: “When I told him: “Where did you get the evidence? How can you say that there is one beginning? Tell me!”, he said that the prophecies expose themselves and that there is not a word of truth in them: they do not agree with each other, they are false and contradict one another. And that there is one beginning, he, according to him, does not know, but only he is attracted to this thought. 7. I conjured him to tell me the truth, and he swore to the truthfulness of his words: he does not understand how it is that there is one unborn God, but he believes in Him. I laughed and reproached him that, calling himself a teacher, he did not know how to prove what he taught.” 8. In the same work, addressing Callistion, Rawdon says that he studied in Rome with Tatian, who, according to him, worked on a book entitled “Controversial Issues” 1218; although he promised to explain in it what is dark and hidden in the Holy Scriptures, Rawdon announces that he will offer a solution to these questions in his own book. He is also credited with interpreting the six days of creation. 9 . This same Apelles reviled the Mosaic Law 1219 with thousands of blasphemous words; in many books he blasphemed Scripture with great zeal and, as it seemed to him, exposed it and destroyed it. Enough about that. The enemy of the Church of God 1220, a hater of beauty and a lover of evil, who does not miss a single way to plot intrigues against people, has worked to create heresies that are strange and hostile to the Church. Some of the heretics, like poisonous snakes, crawled through Asia and Phrygia, proclaiming Montanus as a comforter, and his henchmen, Priscilla and Maximilla, as prophetesses. Others were strong in Rome: at their head was Florinus 1221, deprived of the priesthood. At the same time with him was Vlast 1222, who fell into a similar error. They led many away from the Church, luring them into their teaching; both, each in their own way, distorted the truth with new inventions. 1. Against the so-called Phrygian heresy stood a system of defenders of the truth - a strong and irresistible bulwark: Apollinaris of Hierapolis, whom we mentioned earlier in 1223, and many learned men, his contemporaries 1224. From them a lot of information for our history has come to us. 2. One of them, 1225, at the beginning of his work against Montanus, reports that he verbally exposed heretics. Here is his introduction: 3. “For a very long time, you have been ordering me, dear Avirky Marcellus, to write a book against the so-called Miltiades 1226 heresy. Until this day, I put everything off - not out of powerlessness to expose the lie and testify to the truth, but cautiously wary that it would not seem to anyone that I had written something new into the Gospel of the New Testament and rearranged something there; whoever wants to live according to the Gospel dares neither subtract nor add anything 1227. 4. Recently I was in Galatia, in Ancyra 1228, and found the local Church almost deaf from these new, as they say, prophecies, or rather, as will be shown, false prophecies. If possible, with God’s help, I spent many days talking in Church about these people and about the questions proposed to me. The Church rejoiced and strengthened itself in the truth - at this time the opponents were repulsed; the enemies were saddened. 5. The local presbyters asked me, in the presence of our co-presbyter Zotik 1229 from Otria 1230, to leave them records of my objections to the enemies of the truth. We did not do this, but we promised, God willing, to carefully lay them out at home and send them to them.” 6. Having made several similar remarks at the beginning of the book, he gives the following account of the origin of this heresy: “The new heresy, which caused a split in the Church, arose for this reason. 7. There is in Mysia 1231, on the border with Phrygia, the village of Ardava. They say that a certain Montanus, one of the local converts (this was under Gratus, proconsul of Asia), in an immense passion for primacy, allowed the enemy 1232 to enter into himself; animated by him, suddenly falling into a frenzy, he began to say something strange, 1233 prophesying contrary to the custom of the Church, which has long been and successively preserved. 8. Of those who happened to listen to his illegal cries at that time, some were indignant, believing that he was possessed by a demon, was in the grip of the spirit of delusion and was causing confusion among the people; they reproached him and did not allow him to speak, remembering that the Lord taught to distinguish between spirits and to be vigilantly wary of the appearance of false prophets 1234: others, on the contrary, as if proud and much vain of the Holy Spirit and the prophetic gift 1235, forgot about the Lord's command to discern spirits 1236: they called on this spirit of madness, flattering, misleading the people; seduced by him, they strayed from the right path to such an extent that it was impossible to force them to remain silent. 9 . The devil, having planned, or rather, maliciously plotted the death of those who disobeyed him and did not honor him according to his dignity, secretly aroused and kindled their thoughts 1237, which had fallen asleep for true faith. He excited the two women 1238, filled them with his deceitful spirit, and they, like Montanus, began to speak meaninglessly, inappropriately and strangely. Those who rejoiced and were proud of this, the spirit declared blessed and puffed up with the greatness of promises. Sometimes, however, having guessed, he threw convincing accusations right in their faces, wanting to show himself as an accuser (there were few deceived in Phrygia). This rebellious spirit taught blasphemy against the entire Church existing under heaven 1239: his false prophecies were contemptuously rejected by her. 10. Asian believers began to gather often and in many places and consider the new teaching 1240: it was declared unclean and they rejected the heresy, excommunicating its followers from the Church and forbidding them to communicate with it.” 11. Having talked about this at the beginning and throughout the book, exposing their errors, in the second book he speaks about the death of the above-mentioned people: 12. “They called us killers of the prophets, because we did not accept them, excessively talkative prophets (it was the Lord, they say, who promised to send them to the people 1241). Let them answer us before God: is there anyone among the followers of Montanus, starting with him and those women, whom the Jews persecuted or the lawless killed? No one. Which of them was taken and crucified for the name of a Christian? Again, no one. Were any of their women scourged in the synagogues of the Jews or stoned? Nowhere and never 1242. 13. Another death, they say, was that of Montanus and Maximilla. Both of them, driven by the spirit of madness, hanged themselves, but not together. They talked a lot about the end of each: they died, ending their lives, like Judas the traitor. 14. The general rumor claims that their wondrous Theodotus 1243, who was, as it were, the first patron of their “prophecies,” being beside himself, entrusted himself to the spirit of lies, which promised to lift him from the earth and take him to heaven; having fallen, he died a miserable death. That's how they say it all happened. 15. We were not eyewitnesses; Let's assume, dear, that these are just assumptions. Maybe that’s how it was, or maybe that’s not how Montanus, Theodotus and the woman mentioned died.” 16. In the same book, he writes that the holy bishops tried to expose the spirit that was in Maximilla, but they were prevented by obvious collaborators of this spirit. “Let not the spirit say through Maximilla (this is in the same book of Asterius Urban 1244): “I am being driven out like a wolf from a flock of sheep. I am not a wolf - I am word, spirit and strength." Let him clearly show his strength in spirit, let him be tested, let him with his spirit force the bishops, Zotik 1245 from the Coman village 1246 and Julian from Apamea 1247, tried men, who were then present for the sake of testing and conversation with the spirit speaking in her, to recognize him. Femison and his supporters shut their mouths and did not allow them to expose the spirit of lies and delusion.” 18. In the same book he indicates the time of its writing; exposing Maximilla's false prophecies, recalls her predictions of future wars and coups and shows their falsity. 19. “Isn’t this lie obvious now? More than thirteen years have passed from the death of this woman to the present day, and there are no wars either in the whole world or in any one corner of it. And Christians, by the grace of God, have been granted lasting peace.” 20. This is from the second book. From the third we will give a short excerpt: his answer to the heretics who boasted that they had many martyrs: “Refuted on all counts, not knowing what to object, they try to resort to martyrs and say that they have many martyrs, and this undoubtedly testifies to the strength of their “prophetic” spirit. This is not true at all. 21. There are many martyrs in other heresies, but for this reason we will not come into agreement with them and will not consider them possessors of the truth. The Marcionites, so named after Marcion’s heresy, will be the first to say that they have many martyrs of Christ, but they do not truly confess Christ Himself.” A little further down he continues: 22. “Therefore, if members of the Church, called to martyrdom for the true faith, meet with the so-called “martyrs”, followers of the Phrygian heresy, they keep themselves apart and die without entering into communion with them: they do not want to recognize the spirit that spoke through Montanus and those women. And that this is true is clear from what happened in our time in Apamea on the Meander with the martyrs Gaius and Alexander of Eumenia” 1248. 1. In the same work he recalls Miltiades 1249, who also wrote against this heresy. Having cited some words of heretics, he continues: “I found this in a certain work of theirs and I quote, abbreviating, their objections to brother Miltiades, who proves that a prophet should not speak in a frenzy.” 2. Somewhat lower in this very book he lists the New Testament prophets, including a certain Ammiah and Kodratus. He says: “The false prophet is in an imaginary frenzy, with which is associated a daring fearlessness. He begins with willful delirium, which turns, as we said, into involuntary madness. 3. They will not be able to point out a single Old Testament or New Testament prophet who would be filled with the Spirit of God in this way; they will not be able to boast of either Agab, or Judas 1250, or Silas 1251, or the daughters of Philip 1252, or Ammia from Philadelphia, or Codratus, or anyone else who would be close to them.” 4. A little further on he says: “If, as they say, after Codratus and Ammia of Philadelphia the gift of prophecy was received by the women who were under Montana, then let them indicate those who received this gift from Montana and those women. The Apostle says that the gift of prophecy should be in the whole Church until the last coming 1253. They cannot indicate anyone, although the fourteenth year has passed since Maximilla’s death” 1254. 5. This is what he writes. Miltiades, whom he mentioned, has left us other monuments of his diligent study of the Holy Scriptures, including a book against the Greeks and another against the Jews: he especially treats both topics in two books of each of the named works. He also sent to the rulers of the world 1255 and an Apology for the philosophy he followed. 1. Apollonius 1256, a church writer, also wrote a book exposing the so-called Phrygian heresy, which was still in full force in Phrygia at that time. He wrote a special book, where word by word he shows the falsity of their “prophecies” and does not spare the leaders of the heresy in the story of their lives. Listen to him speak about Montana: 2. “What kind of new teacher this is is shown by his deeds and teaching. It was he who taught to dissolve a marriage, established the rules for fasting 1257; Pepuza and Timius 1258 (small Phrygian cities) called Jerusalem 1259 and wanted to organize meetings there of people who came from everywhere; he appointed money collectors, covered up bribes in the name of offerings, paid salaries to his preachers so that gluttony would facilitate the preaching of his disciples.” 3. This is about Montana. Below he speaks of his prophetesses: “These first prophetesses left their husbands only when they were filled with the spirit. Didn’t those who called Priscilla a virgin lie?” “Do you agree that all Scripture prohibits a prophet from taking gifts and money? 1260 And when I see a prophetess who takes gold, and silver, and expensive clothes, how can I not turn away from her? 5. A little further down he speaks of one of their confessors: “And Femison, of course, was covered up by greed: not wanting to endure the torment of confession, he got rid of his shackles for a lot of money. He should have felt his humiliation here, but he boastfully declared himself a martyr and dared, in imitation of the Apostle, by composing a conciliar letter, to teach those who believed more correctly than him, to start empty disputes and blaspheme the Lord, the apostles and the Holy Church.” 6. He writes again about another person from among those whom they honor as martyrs: “In order not to talk about many, let the prophetess herself tell us about Alexander, who called himself a martyr, with whom she eats, and to whom many bow at his feet. We don’t need to talk about his robberies and other crimes for which he was punished: records of this are kept in the state archive. 7. But who forgives whom? Prophet - robbery to a martyr? Or is a martyr a greed for the prophet? It was said by the Lord: “Do not take with you neither gold, nor silver, nor two clothes” 1261; with them it’s the other way around: they just sinned with this forbidden acquisition. We will show that their so-called “prophets” and “martyrs” beg not only from the rich, but also from the poor, orphans and widows. 8. If they are confident in themselves, let them come forward and give an answer, and if they are caught, then at least let them not sin in the future. It is necessary to check what fruits the prophet has brought; for a tree is known by its fruits 1262. 9 . Let those who wish to get to know Alexander know that he was condemned in Ephesus by the proconsul Aemilius Frontinus not for Christianity, but for robberies: he is simply a criminal. Covering his lie with the name of Christ, he deceived the local believers and was released, but his native parish, where he was from, did not accept him as a thief. Those wishing to obtain information about him have at their disposal the Asian State Archive. 10. And the prophet, who lived with him for many years, does not know him. By exposing him, we expose the very nature of the prophet. We can bring the same charges against many; if they dare, let them withstand exposure.” 11. Elsewhere in this work he speaks of those whom they pride themselves on as prophets: “If they claim that their prophets do not accept gifts, then let them agree that people convicted of this cannot be prophets. And we will present thousands of evidence that we accepted. It is necessary to check all the fruits of the prophet. Tell me: does the prophet go to the bathhouse? does the prophet make eyeliner? does the prophet like jewelry? does the prophet play chess and dice? the prophet will give money on interest? Let them admit: is this acceptable or not? And I will prove that they had all this.” 12. This same Apollonius, in the same book, reports that it was written forty years after Montanus undertook to “prophesy.” 13. He also says that Zotik, whom the previous writer mentions 1263, having learned that Maximilla had declared herself a prophetess in Pepuza, tried to expose the spirit operating in her, but was prevented by her like-minded people. He also remembers Thraseus 1264, one of the martyrs of that time. He also says that there is a tradition that the Savior ordered His apostles not to leave Jerusalem for twelve years; he uses evidence from the Revelation of John, says that John, by the power of God, resurrected the deceased in Ephesus 1265. He provides various evidence with which he completely refuted the errors of the said heresy. This is the story of Apollonius. 1. The books of Apollinaris against this heresy are mentioned by Serapion 1266, who is called the then bishop of the Antiochian Church, the successor of Maximin. He also recalls Apollinaris himself in a letter to Karik and Pontik 1267: exposing the same heresy in him, he concludes as follows: 2. “So that you know that the activities of this society of liars, which calls itself “new prophecy,” are abominable to our brotherhood throughout the world, I am sending you a letter from Claudius Apollinaris, the most blessed bishop of Hierapolis in Asia.” 3. In the same letter of Serapion there are signatures of different bishops; one of them signed: “Aurelius of Kyrenia, martyr, I pray for your health.” Another: “Aelius Publius Julius, Bishop of Develta 1268, Thracian Colony. God lives in heaven: Sotas, the blessed Bishop of Anchial 1269, wanted to expel the demon from Priscilla, but the hypocrites did not let him” 1270. 4. In these writings there are handwritten signatures of many bishops who agreed with him. This is what is written against these heretics. 1. Irenaeus wrote various letters against those who spoiled the sound church charter in Rome: one was entitled “To the authorities about the schism”, the other - “To Florin about the unity of command, or that God did not create evil.” Florinus seems to have defended the opposite idea. For him, attracted to the errors of Valentinus, Irenaeus wrote the book “On the Eight,” in which he calls himself the immediate successor of the apostles. 2. At the end of this book we found a nice note that we could not help but include in this work: “I adjure you, future copyist of this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by His glorious coming, when He comes to judge the living and the dead: compare what you will copy with the original, and carefully correct your copy according to the one from which you are copying. Rewrite this spell as well and add it to your list.” 3. Let these words serve us well: they are given so that those ancient, truly holy men may become for us a convincing example of attention and thoroughness. 4. In the already mentioned letter to Florinus, Irenaeus recalls his communication with Polycarp: “These opinions, Florin, to put it mildly, are created by unhealthy thoughts. These opinions do not agree with the Church; they plunge those who receive them into the greatest wickedness. Even heretics outside the Church never dared to proclaim these opinions. These opinions were not communicated to you by the elders, our predecessors, the apostolic disciples. 5. I saw you as a boy in Lower Asia 1271 with Polycarp: you shone at court and tried to distinguish yourself. 6. I remember the events of that time better than recent ones (what I learn in childhood grows with my soul). I can show where blessed Polycarp sat and talked, I can tell about his departures and arrivals, the peculiarities of his life, his appearance, the conversations he had with the people, how he spoke about his meetings with John and those others who saw the Lord with their own eyes 1272, about how he recalled their words, what he heard from them about the Lord, about His miracles and His teaching. Polycarp proclaimed what he received from those who saw the Word of life, this is in accordance with Scripture. 7. By God’s mercy to me, I then listened carefully and wrote it down not on paper, but in my heart. And by the grace of God, I chew properly all the time and can testify before God that if this blessed apostolic elder had heard something like that, he would have cried out, stopped his ears and, according to his custom, exclaimed: “Merciful God! How long have you preserved me so that I can endure this!” He would run away from where he was sitting or standing if he heard such words. 8. This is quite clear from his letters, which he sent either to neighboring Churches to strengthen them, or to some brother to instruct and persuade him.” These are the words of Irenaeus. 1. With the return of Commodus, a quiet time came for us, they began to treat us more gently, and the Church, by the grace of God, lived in peace throughout the entire universe. The saving doctrine began to lead every calling to the pious service of God, the Creator of all; in Rome, many, famous for wealth and birth, along with their entire house and all their relatives, followed the path of salvation. 2. This was unbearable for the demon, who by nature is a slanderer who hates the beautiful, and he began to build various intrigues for us: in Rome, for example, he brought to trial 1273 Apollonius 1274, a man known among the believers of that time for his philosophical education, teaching one of his servants, who was accustomed to such a thing, to accuse Apollonius. 3. However, the unfortunate man did not come to court at a good hour: according to the imperial decree, such informers should have been executed, and his legs were immediately broken 1275 - such a sentence was passed by Judge Perennius 1276. 4. The judge fervently begged and begged Apollonius to defend himself before the Senate; beloved by God, he delivered before everyone a most convincing apology for the faith he professed and was, by decree of the Senate in 1277, beheaded in 1278; They have an ancient law in force, according to which, once brought before the court, they can be released only if they change their way of thinking. 5. Anyone who would like to read his conversation with the judge, his answers to the persuasion of Perennius, and the entire apology addressed to the Senate, can familiarize himself with this in our collection of ancient martyrs. In the tenth year of the reign of Commodus 1279, Victor became the successor of Eleutherius, who served as bishop for thirteen years 1280. In the same year, after Julian, who was bishop for ten years 1281, the administration of the Alexandrian Church was handed over to Demetrius 1282. In their time, Serapion, already known to us, was famous, the bishop of the Antiochian Church, the eighth after the apostles. In Caesarea the Palestinian Church was ruled by Theophilus 1283; Narcissus, mentioned above, still led the Jerusalem Church; in Corinth, in Hellas, at the same time the bishop was Bacchilus, and in Ephesus - Polycrates. There were, of course, many other remarkable bishops at that time, but, of course, I listed by name only those from whom the writings of the faithful have come down to us. 1. At this time, they began to reconsider a very important issue: all the Asian Churches, based supposedly on a very ancient tradition, believed that the feast of the saving Passover should be set on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, on which the Jews were ordered to slaughter a lamb; Whatever day of the week the fourteenth falls on, fasting should be stopped. There was no such custom among the Churches throughout the rest of the universe; according to apostolic tradition, they maintained a custom that has been preserved to this day: fasting should be stopped only on the day of the Resurrection of our Savior 1284. 2. Bishops convened councils and conferences on this occasion 1285; everyone unanimously decided - and this church decision was communicated in writing to all believers - to celebrate the mystery of Christ's Resurrection not on any other day, but only on the Lord's Day, and only on that day to stop fasting. 3. The message of the Palestinian bishops, who then gathered under the chairmanship of Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea, and Narcissus of Jerusalem, is available to this day. There is also an Epistle from those gathered in Rome about this controversial issue, from which it is clear that Victor was then the bishop there; Epistle of the Pontic bishops, assembled under the presidency of Palma, as the elder; Gallic (the bishop in Gaul was Irenaeus); 4. as well as the bishop of Osroene 1286 and the cities there. Particular mention should be made of the Epistles of Bacchilus, Bishop of Corinth, and many others who unanimously made the same decision and voted for it. The decision was unanimous, as we reported. 1. The head of the Asian bishops, who insisted that the custom handed down from ancient times should be observed, was Polycrates. In a letter to Victor and to the Roman Church, he says this about the tradition that came down to his time: 2. “We strictly observe this holiday, we do not add anything, we do not subtract anything. In Asia rest the great luminaries of the faith, who will rise on the day of the coming of the Lord, when He will descend from heaven in glory and seek out all the saints: Philip, one of the twelve, who rests in Hierapolis, his two daughters, who grew old as virgins, and another of his daughters, who lived in the Holy Spirit, resting in Ephesus; 3. John, who reclined on the chest of the Lord, who was a priest and wore a robe, a witness and teacher, 4. who rests in Ephesus; and Polycarp of Smyrna, bishop and martyr, and Thraseus, bishop and martyr of Eumenia, who rests in Smyrna. 5. Should we talk about Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who rests in Laodicea, about blessed Papirius, Melito the eunuch 1287, who lived entirely in the Holy Spirit, resting in Sardis, awaiting the coming from heaven and the resurrection from the dead. 6. They all celebrated Easter on the fourteenth day (of the lunar month) according to the Gospel, without breaking anything and following the rule of faith. And I, Polycrates, the least of you, do what was handed down to me by my relatives, I follow them. Seven of my relatives were bishops, I am the eighth. And my relatives always celebrated this holiday, when people do not eat leavened bread. 7. I, brothers, have lived sixty-five years in the Lord 1288, have been in relations with brothers throughout the entire universe, have read all the Holy Scriptures and will not be afraid of any threats 1289, for those who were greater than me 1290 said: “You should obey God rather than people” 1291. 8. Then he writes about the bishops who were with him when he wrote, and who were of the same mind with him: “I could name all the bishops present whom you advised me to convene; I called them. If I write all their names, there will be a great many. They know how small and insignificant I am, but they agreed with my letter, knowing that I did not somehow live to see my gray hairs, but always organized my life following Christ.” 9 . Then Victor, the primate of the Romans, decided to excommunicate the Asian and neighboring Churches at once for dissent; he branded all the brothers there in writing, indiscriminately declaring them excommunicated. 10. Not all bishops, however, liked this; Victor was persuaded to think about peace, unity with his neighbors, and love. Messages with sharp attacks on Victor are known. 11. Among Victor’s opponents was Irenaeus, who wrote on behalf of all the Gallic brothers, of which he was the head: he immediately declared that the mysterious Resurrection of the Lord should be celebrated only on the Lord’s Day, and began to duly persuade Victor not to excommunicate entire Churches of God for observing the custom handed down to them from ancient times. He gives a lot of other advice, concluding with these words: 12. “The dispute is not only about the day, but also about which fast to observe. Some think that one should fast for one day, others that two, and some even more; others count forty day and night hours for fasting. 13. All this diversity in observing fasting did not arise with us, but much earlier, with our great-grandfathers, and they, without worrying, of course, about accuracy, passed on to their descendants their customs, which were strengthened in their simple, unpretentious life. Nevertheless, everyone lived in peace, and we live in peace with each other, and disagreement in fasting does not destroy agreement in faith.” 14. Here he gives a story that would be good to put here: “The presbyters who lived before Soter, the primates of the Church that you now rule: Anicetus, Pius, Hyginus, Telesphorus and Xystus - did not themselves observe fasting and did not command it to their own. Nevertheless, they who did not observe it were at peace with the brothers who came to them from the Churches where it was observed, although its observance seemed extremely absurd to those who did not observe it. 15. No one was ever rejected for this custom; the bishops, your predecessors, who did not observe it, sent the Eucharist to the members of the Churches who observed it. 16. Blessed Polycarp was with Anicetus in Rome; They slightly disagreed on some things, but immediately made peace; they did not want to argue about this main issue; neither Anicetus could persuade Polycarp to abandon what John, the disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles with whom Polycarp communicated had always observed; nor Polycarp Anicetus, who said that he was obliged to observe the custom of his predecessors. 17. Nevertheless, they were in communication with each other; Anicetus, out of respect, of course, allowed Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his Church, and they parted in peace with each other and in peace with the entire Church of those who observed and those who did not.” 1292. Irenaeus, in accordance with his name 1293, turned out to be a peacemaker in practice: he called for peace in the Church and cared about it. He corresponded not only with Victor, but also with many heads of the Churches regarding the issue raised in 1294. The Palestinian bishops: Narcissus and Theophilus, recently mentioned by us, Cassius, Bishop of Tire, Clarus of Ptolemais and others, having gathered together, after many discussions about the successive apostolic tradition preserved before them about the celebration of Easter, they conclude their message with these words: “Try to send out lists of our message to all Churches, so that we do not have to answer for those whose souls easily fall into error. We inform you: in Alexandria the holiday is celebrated on the same day as us. A Message is sent from us to them, from them to us, so that we celebrate the holy day according to and together.” In addition to the aforementioned works of Irenaeus and his Epistles, there is his Word to the Hellenes under the title “On Knowledge” 1295, very brief and very necessary; another to Brother Marcian with an account of the apostolic sermon and a small book composed of various discussions: in it he mentions the Epistle to the Hebrews and the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, from which he cites various sayings. Here's what we've learned about the writings of Irenaeus 1296. Commodus reigned for thirteen years 1297; after his death, Pertinax had power for about six months in 1298, then Severus became emperor in 1299. Many people still have many of the writings of old church writers - monuments of their noble zeal. We know, for example, the works of: Heraclitus “On the Epistles of Paul”; Maxims about where evil comes from (a question about which heretics made a lot of noise), and about the fact that matter was created; Candide's discussion of the six days of creation, Apion on the same topic; Sextus "On the Resurrection"; some work of Arabian and many others; in the absence of any point of support, it is impossible to determine either the time of their writing or the time of the events they talk about. A lot of works have survived, even the titles of which cannot be named. All of them were written by orthodox church writers (as can be seen from the way they interpret Scripture), but unknown to us, for their name is not given in the title. 1. In the work of one of them 1300 against the heresy of Artemon 1301, which Paul of Samosata 1302 is trying to revive, there is a narrative about the events that we also talked about. 2. The creators of this heresy, which claims that the Savior was just a man, 1303 try to inspire respect for it by referring to its antiquity; our author refutes them, pointing out that it appeared quite recently. He has many other denunciations of this blasphemous lie. Here is his reasoning word for word: 3. “They say that in ancient times all people and the apostles themselves were instructed and taught what they teach now; the truth was preserved until Victor, the thirteenth bishop of Rome; with his successor Zefirin, the truth began to be distorted. 4. Their words might seem convincing if they were not contradicted, firstly, by the Holy Scriptures, and then by the writings of some brothers, written even before Victor in defense of the truth, against the pagans and against the heresies of that time. I mean Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, Clement 1304 and many others. They all acknowledge Christ as God. 5. Who does not know the books of Irenaeus, Melito and others? Everyone proclaims Christ as God and Man. And how many psalms and hymns have been written by believing brothers since the beginning of Christianity, glorifying Christ as the Word of God! 6. And if for so many years the opinion of the Church was proclaimed, is it possible to believe that those who lived before Victor taught as they say? Aren't they ashamed to level such slander against Victor? They know very well that the shoemaker Theodotus 1305, the head and father of this apostate teaching, who was the first to declare that Christ is just a man, was excommunicated by Victor from the Church. If Victor, according to them, adhered to their blasphemous teaching, would he have rejected Theodotus, who invented this heresy? 7. This is about Victor. He carried out his ministry for ten years 1306; Zephyrinus succeeded him in the ninth year of the reign of Severus, 1307. The author of the mentioned book about the said heresy also talks about another incident that happened under Zephyrinus. Here are his own words: 8. “I will remind many of the brethren what happened with us. I think if this had happened in Sodom, it would perhaps have brought some sense to the inhabitants there. There was a certain confessor Nataliy, not from ancient times, but our contemporary. 9 . He was somehow deceived by Asklepiodotus and the money changer Theodotus (another, not a heresiarch). Both of them were students of Theodotus the shoemaker, who was the first to be excommunicated from the Church by the then Bishop Victor for his intellectualism, or rather, madness. 10. They convinced Natalius to call himself the bishop of heretics for a fee of one hundred and fifty denarii a month; 11. and while he was with the heretics, the Lord often admonished him with visions, for the merciful God and our Lord Jesus Christ did not want the one who testified to His suffering to perish excommunicated. 12. He, however, did not pay attention to these visions, having been caught in the bait of dominance and self-interest, which destroyed so many people; in the end, he was beaten by the holy angels, who scourged him all night: getting up in the morning, covered in wounds, he put on rags, sprinkled ashes on his head and threw himself, shedding tears, at the feet of Bishop Zephyrinus; prostrated himself not only before the clergy, but also before the laity and touched the merciful Church of the merciful Christ with tears; but, although he asked, pleaded and showed the scars from his wounds, they accepted him back into the Church with difficulty.” 13. Let us add to this other words of the same writer about these heretics. He says this: “They calmly forged the Holy Scripture 1308, rejected the rules of the ancient faith, did not understand Christ, did not search for the meaning of Scripture 1309 and diligently tried to find some kind of syllogism to confirm their atheism. If someone called their attention to a saying of Scripture, they sought to see whether it would be a unifying or dividing syllogism. 14. Leaving the Holy Divine Scripture, they study geometry: taken from the earth, they speak from the earth, not knowing Him who descends from heaven; and some diligently study the geometry of Euclid; they admire Aristotle 1310 and Theophrastus 1311; Galen is revered almost as God 1312. 15. Abusing pagan science for their heretical teaching, they, with the cunning of atheists, dilute the integral truth of Divine Scripture. Need I say that they are not even close to faith? Therefore they fearlessly laid their hands on the Holy Scriptures, saying that they were correcting them. 16. Anyone who wants to can find out that I am not slandering them: let him collect and compare the lists they have with each other; he will find many disagreements: the Asklepiadotovs do not agree with the Theodotovs. 17. You can get a lot of these lists: their students diligently copied what the teachers, according to them, corrected, that is, spoiled. Take the Ermofilovs - again there is discord with others. The Apollonides contradict themselves. You can compare the early ones with those redone later - there are many disagreements. 18. They probably themselves understand how much audacity there is in this crime. They either do not believe that the Holy Scriptures are the words of the Holy Spirit - then they are unbelievers - or they consider themselves wiser than the Spirit - then they are possessed by a demon. They cannot renounce this crime, because the lists are their own. This is not the scripture that the catechumens taught them, and they cannot show the original from which they copied. 19. Some decided that it was not worth falsifying Scripture: they simply rejected the Law and the Prophets and, declaring their godless teaching to be grace-filled, reached the “abyss of destruction” 1313. Let it be told in this way. The seventeenth year of the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Verus - from March 17, 177 to March 6, 178. This persecution under Marcus Aurelius is considered the fourth (Aug. Civ. Dei. XVIII.52) or fifth (Sulp. Sev. II.32.1) persecution of Christians. This work of Eusebius has not reached us, but some of its fragments were included in the Church History. Gaul - the territory inhabited by the Gauls (modern France, western Switzerland, Belgium and northern Italy) Lugdunum (modern Lyon) is a Roman colony on the Rodan River, founded in 43 BC. e. on the site of an ancient Celtic settlement; from 27 BC e. administrative center of the province of Lugdunian Gaul. Rodan (modern Rhone) is a river originating from Mount Adula east of the Lenin Plain, flowing through Lake Leman (Geneva) and flowing into the Gulf of Gallic Inland (Mediterranean) Sea. About this message, see: Loehr W. Α. Der Brief der Gemeinden von Lyon und Vienne (Eusebius, h. e. V, 1–2 (4)) // Oecumenica et patristica: Festschrift für W. Schneemelcher. Stuttgart, 1989. S. 135–149; Siniscalco P. II “credo” dei martiri nella lettera delle chiese di Lione e di Vienna (Ar. Eusebio di Cesarea, Historia ecclesiastica 5,1,3 ss.) // Ecdesiologia e catechesi patristica: “sentirsi Chiesa” (Convegno di studio e aggiornamento, Roma 6–7 marzo 1981)/A cura di S. Felici. Roma, 1982. P. 81–100. We are talking about the legate (governor) of the imperial province of Lugdunian Gaul. Epagathos († 177) - the first of the 48 Lyon martyrs. Memory 25 July. See also: Greg. Tur. 1.29. This refers to the New Testament Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, famous for his righteousness Wed: Acts 18:25; Rom.12:11. In the First Epistle of John, the Savior himself is characterized in this way (1 John 3:16). Thyestes is in Greek mythology the son of Pelops, king of the city of Pis, from where he was exiled for murder along with his brother Atreus. To become king of Mycenae, Thyestes seduced Atreus' wife Aeropa and, with her help, stole the golden-fleeced ram from his brother, the owner of which was destined to rule over the city. However, the gods exposed Thyestes, and royal power went to Atreus. Thyestes took revenge on his brother by serving him at a feast a treat prepared from the meat of his slaughtered sons Tantalus and Polysthenes. See: Apollod. Epit. I. 10–13; Eur. El. 699–725; Eur. Orest. 995–1000. That is why in antiquity cannibalism was called “Fiesta feasts.” Oedipus is a Theban king in Greek mythology who was destined to kill his father Laius and marry his own mother Jocasta. From his marriage to Jocasta, Oedipus had two sons and two daughters. The expression “Oedipus relations” meant in antiquity any incestuous unions. Words from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:54), which describe the reaction of the members of the Sanhedrin to the accusatory speech of St. First Martyr Stephen. Saint, or Sakt († 177), is a holy martyr. Memory 25 July. Matur († 177) - Lyons martyr. Memory 25 July. Attalus († 177) – Lyons martyr; a Greek from Pergamum and a Roman citizen; perhaps he was close to the Montanists. Memory 25 July. Blandina († 177) – Lyons martyr, former slave. Memory 25 July. Bibliada (Bible) († 177) – Lyons martyr. Memory 25 July. In the Old Testament, God, having blessed Noah and his sons after the flood, forbade them to eat the blood of animals (Gen.9:4; see also: Deut.12:16). Pofin (Photin) (87–177) - the first bishop of Lugdunum; suffered martyrdom. Memory 23 August. About him, see also: Greg. Tur. 1.29. Wed: Rom.13:14; Gal.3:27. Only the emperor could condemn a Roman citizen to death. Compare: 2 Cor.2:5–8; Col. 3:13. An image from the New Testament parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:11–13). Expression from the Gospel of John (John 17:12). This refers to “the way of the Lord,” that is, living in accordance with His commandments. Wed: Ps.1:6. Alexander the Phrygian († 177) – Lyons martyr; perhaps a supporter of the Montanists. Memory 25 July. Pontik († 177) - the youngest of the 48 Lyon martyrs; Blandina's younger brother. Memory 25 July. An expression from the Revelation of John the Theologian (Rev. 19:9). This is not a verbatim quote, but a paraphrased statement from the Revelation of John (Rev. 22:11). A martyr (“witness”) is one who “testifies” to his faith with his own blood. Lyon confessors believed that only those who gave their lives for Christ are worthy to be called by this name. The definition given to Christ in Rev. 1:5. That is, those who renounced Christ during persecution. Mother Church and Christian brothers. Alcibiades († 177) - Lyons martyr, a native of Phrygia. Memory 25 July. According to Holy Scripture, God said to Noah: “Let all the beasts of the earth, and all the birds of the air, and all that moves on the earth, and all the fish of the sea, fear and tremble at you; they are given into your hands. Every moving thing that lives will be food for you” (Gen. 9:2-3). Theodotus - one of the leaders of Montanism; prophet; led the movement after Montand's death When Montanus's preaching reached Rome, the local bishop Eleutherius, after some hesitation, entered into open conflict with the Montanists. Fearing a schism in the Church, the Lyons confessors turned to Eleutherius with a message. Its contents are unknown to us; one can only assume that they called on the Bishop of Rome to show moderation on the issue of Montanism. The later famous Irenaeus of Lyons was entrusted with delivering this message to Rome. His mission was crowned with success - Eleutherius temporarily reconciled with the followers of Montanus. In the story given here, Eusebius speaks of Marcus Aurelius Caesar, whom he distinguishes from his brother, the emperor Antoninus Verus. Thus, he turns Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Verus into two different characters, one of whom is sympathetic to Christians, and the other of whom cruelly persecutes them. Historically, this error can be explained by the fact that Marcus Aurelius did have a brother-co-emperor (Lucius Verus), but by the time described (174–177) he had been dead for several years, and Marcus Aurelius single-handedly ruled the Empire. According to Robert Grant, Eusebius in this case deliberately distorts history, wanting to remove responsibility for the persecution from Marcus Aurelius, who was greatly revered by Constantine the Great, the patron of our author, and place it on a fictional emperor named Antoninus Verus (Grant R. M. The Case against Eusebius, or Did the Father of Church History write History? // Studia Patristica. Vol. 12. Part 1.1975. P. 416). According to Timothy Barnes, “Eusebius became a prisoner of the idea, trusting the tendentious assertion of two Christian writers (Apollinaris and Tertullian) that a certain Roman emperor named Marcus Aurelius was a patron of Christianity. Eusebius was psychologically incapable of doubting this evidence” (Barnes T. D. Constantine... R. 137). We are talking about an event that happened during the First Marcomannic War in 174. About it, see: Renan E. Marcus Aurelius and the end of the ancient world. Yaroslavl, 1991. pp. 152–155. Sarmatians are a group of tribes of Iranian origin who lived in the described time in the Northern Black Sea region to the middle reaches of the Danube in the west. Among the Sarmatian tribes, the Iazigs, Roxolani, and Alans took part in the Marcomannic wars; from the Germanic tribes, the Suevi, Quadi, Marcomanni, Hermundurs, Vandals, and Lombards. See: SHA. Mage. XXII. 1; Cass. Dio. LXXI. 3. The small army of Marcus Aurelius found itself surrounded by huge hordes of barbarians near the city of Carnunt on the middle Danube; for five days the Romans suffered from lack of drinking water (Just. Apol. I. 71). “...immediately rain appeared from the sky, for us the coolest, but for the enemies of Rome it was hail of fire” (Just. Apol. I. 71). According to the pagan historian Julius Capitolinus, Marcus Aurelius “with his prayers cast lightning from the sky against the military cunning of the enemies, and for his own, when they suffered from thirst, he asked for rain” (SHA. Mage. XXIV. 4). Claudian (Claud. De VI con. Honor. 340 et seq.) and Themistius (Themist. Or. XV ad Theodos.) also speak about Marcus Aurelius as the author of this miracle. This version was also reflected in the fine arts of that era (Renan E. Op. op. pp. 152–153). At the same time, Cassius Dio believes that the miraculous rain was caused by the Egyptian magician Arnufis (Cass. Dio. LXXI. 8). Legio Fulminata. In fact, the Twelfth Legion bore this name long before Marcus Aurelius. We are talking about the message of Marcus Aurelius to the Senate and people of Rome, which is given in Justin’s “First Apology” (Just. Apol. I. 71). Most modern researchers question the authenticity of this document. Roman name for the areas between the Rhine, Vistula, Danube and Scandinavia, inhabited by Germanic tribes. Through burning (Just. Apol. I. 71). Emperor Hadrian showed extreme activity in all areas of activity. See: SHA. Adr. Iren. Adv. haer. III. 3. 3. Jesus raised the son of a widow in Nain (Luke 7:11–17), the daughter of Jairus in Capernaum (Matthew 9:18–26), Lazarus in Bethany (John 11:1–45); the Apostle Peter to Tabitha in Joppa (Acts 9:36–42); Apostle Paul - Eutyches in Troas (Acts 20:9-12). Iren. Adv. haer. II. 31.2. Iren. Adv. haer. V. 6. 1. Iren. Adv. haer. III. 1.1. Ibid. III. 16. 5, 8 (/ John 2, 18–22; 4, 1–3; 5.1). Ibid. III. 16.9; IV. 9.2; 16.5; 20.2; V. 7. 2; 36.3 (1 Peter 1, 8; 1, 12; 2, 16; 2, 22–23). Quote from “The Shepherd” by Hermas. Iren. Adv. haer. IV. 20.2. Ibid. IV. 38. 13. Wed: Prem. 6:20. Iren. Adv. haer. IV. 27. 1–2; 28.1; 30.1; 31.1; 32. Irenaeus quotes from the treatise of Justin the Philosopher “Against Marcion” (I ren. Adv. haer. IV. 6. 2; V. 26. 2) and from the Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans (Ibid. V. 28.4). Iren. Adv. haer. 1.27.4; III. 12. 12. Theodotion - translator of the Old Testament into Greek, who lived in the middle. II century; originally from Ephesus. He was a follower of Marcion, then converted to Judaism and studied the Hebrew language. I set myself the goal of checking and correcting the Septuagint. His translations of Old Testament texts were used by some prominent early Christian authors, in particular Origen, to clarify the meaning of certain fragments of Holy Scripture. See: Epiph. Adv. omn. haer. XIV, XVII. Aquila (late 1st – first half of the 2nd century) – translator of the Old Testament into Greek; relative of Emperor Hadrian; born in Sinop on the Black Sea coast (Pontus province). First he converted to Christianity and then converted to the Jewish faith. Made by him in the 20s. II century The translation of the Old Testament was distinguished by literalism. Iren. Adv. haer. III. 21.1. Ptolemy I Soter (c. 376/366 - 283 BC) - Macedonian, one of the generals of Alexander the Great; from 323 BC e. satrap, and from 305 BC. e. king of Egypt. Founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Wed: Jos. Ant. XII. 2. 1. We are talking about the famous Library of Alexandria, the largest book depository in antiquity. This library sought to have papyrus scrolls of all existing literary works. If under Ptolemy II Philadelphus it stored about 200,000 scrolls, then under Caesar it was already about 700,000. One part of the scrolls was in the Museion, the other in the Church of Serapis (Serapeum). During the siege of Alexandria by Caesar in 47 BC. e. The Museion book depository was destroyed in a fire, but this loss was soon compensated by Mark Antony, who donated to Egypt the library of the Pergamon kings (about 200,000 manuscripts). In 391, Christians destroyed the Church of Serapis, and most of the books stored in it were destroyed. The surviving copies were probably taken to Constantinople (408–450) already under Theodosius II. According to Josephus, Ptolemy made this request to the Jewish high priest Eleazar (Jos. Ant. XII. 2. 5.) Josephus (Jos. Ant. XII. 2; Jos. Contra Αρ. II. 4), Justin Martyr (Just. Apol. I. 31), Tertullian (Ter. Apol. XVIII. 5–7) and Blessed. Augustine (Aug. Civ. Dei. XVIII. 42) argue that the first translation of the Old Testament into Greek was carried out not under Ptolemy I Soter, but under his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC) After the collapse of the power of Alexander the Great, the Jews were subjects first of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and then (from 198 BC) of the Seleucid dynasty. Both of these dynasties were of Macedonian origin. According to Josephus - 72: Ptolemy asked Eleazar to choose six elderly husbands from each tribe (Jos. Ant. XII. 2.5). Nebuchadnezzar II - son and successor of the Babylonian king Nabopolassar; ruler of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom in 605–562. In 597 he took Jerusalem and captured King Jehoiachin; in 587 he recaptured Jerusalem, destroyed it and deported all the inhabitants to Babylonia (the so-called “Babylonian Captivity”). In fact, 50 years later - in 538, Eusebius in this case is guided by biblical chronology. According to the prophecy of Jeremiah, the Babylonian captivity was destined to last seventy years (Jer.25:11–12; 29, 10; Dan.9:2); Old Testament authors claim that this prophecy was fulfilled (2 Chronicles 36:22; 1 Ezra 1:1). Ezra is a descendant of Aaron; a pious and learned priest who lived in Babylon either under Artaxerxes I, or under Artaxerxes I. In the 7th year of the reign of this king - or in 458 BC. e., if we are talking about Artaxerxes I, or in 398 BC. e., if about Artaxerxes II - Ezra was sent to Jerusalem to rule the Jews. He put a lot of effort into organizing the life of the Jewish community according to the laws of Moses. According to legend, Ezra died at an old age and was solemnly buried in Jerusalem. The Book of Ezra, as well as Josephus (Jos. Ant. XI. 5. 1–6), narrate his deeds. See also: Tert. Cul. fem. 3. Compare: 3 Esdras 9:38–41. The exact figure is given by St. Theophilus of Antioch - 19 years and 10 days (Theoph. Ad. Aut. III.27). Cp.: Eutr.VIII. 14.2; Aur. Vict. Caes. XVI. 12; Epit.XVI. 1. Marcus Aurelius died on March 17, 180. Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (161–192) - son of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger; from 168 Caesar; from 177 August; ascended the Roman throne on March 17, 180. About him, see: SHA. Comm.; Herod. I. The first year of Commodus' reign is from March 17, 180 to March 16, 181. See also: Chron. Olymp. 236. Julian - Bishop of Alexandria in 180–189. Memory 4 March. Panten († 203) - Christian thinker of the late 2nd century; originally from Sicily; a Stoic philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a presbyter; to a congested school; his student was Clement of Alexandria. Tried to harmonize Christian dogma and Greek philosophy. Author of commentaries on the books of the Old Testament, now lost. About him see: Hier. Vir. ill. XXXVI. See also: Quasten J. Patrology. Vol. 2. P. 4–5. About the Alexandria catechetical school, see: Lebedev A.P. The clergy of the ancient Ecumenical Church. Ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg, 2008. pp. 219–234; Bardy G. Aux origines de l'école d'Alexandrie // Recherches de Science Religieuse. Vol. 27.1937. P. 65–90. It is difficult to say what Eusebius means in this case by “land of the Indians.” In antiquity, the term "India" was used to describe a variety of countries south and east of the Red Sea. Wed: Passion of the Apostle Bartholomew // Skogorev A.P. Decree. op. P. 304. Bartholomew - in the Synoptic Gospels one of the twelve apostles; in the Gospel of John, the Apostle Nathanael, a native of Cana of Galilee, is mentioned instead. Church tradition recognizes one apostle Nathanael, nicknamed Bartholomew. According to legend, he preached Christianity first in Asia Minor together with the Apostle Philip, and then in the East - in Arabia, Ethiopia, India and Greater Armenia, where he suffered martyrdom. Memory of June 11. For the deeds and martyrdom of the Apostle Bartholomew, see: The Passion of the Apostle Bartholomew. pp. 304–316. In the Christian tradition, the Apostle Judas Thomas is considered the main preacher of Christianity in India. See, for example: The Acts of Judas Thomas the Apostle // Meshcherskaya E. N. Decree. op. c. 156–306. Obviously, this refers to the Aramaic prototype of the Gospel of Matthew, which lacked the genealogy of Christ. See: Epiph. Adv. omn. haer. 1.29–30. Eusebius could become acquainted with this Gospel in the Caesarea library, collected by his teacher Pamphilus (Hier. Vir. ill. III). Ionia is the ancient name of the region inhabited by the Greeks on the western coast of Asia Minor with the adjacent islands (Samos, Chios, etc.); in the north it bordered on Aeolis, in the east – on Lydia and Caria, in the south – on Doris of Asia Minor. At the time described, it was part of the province of Asia. Magna Graecia is the ancient name of the areas colonized by the Greeks on the island. Sicily and Southern Italy. Kelesyria (“Hollow Syria”) is the name of Southern Syria (Damascus) at the time being described. Clem. Alex. Strom. I. 1. Narcissus († c. 212) - Bishop of Jerusalem at the end of the 2nd century. Due to false accusations, he was forced to leave the department and retire to the desert. After the death of Bishop Gordius, he was again elected primate of the Jerusalem Church. Since he occupied the throne of Jerusalem twice, he is considered both the thirtieth and thirty-fourth bishop. Memory 7 August. About him, see below: V. 9. 1 – 11. 1. In the Chronicle of Eusebius-Jerome, between Capito and Valens there are Maximus (26th) and Antoninus (27th bishop). See: Chron. Olymp. 241. Eusebius says in the Chronicle: “With such a large number of bishops of Jerusalem, we could not determine the reign of each of them, since to this day the years of their bishoprics have not been found anywhere” (Chron. Olymp. 241). Rodon - church writer of the second half of the 2nd century. The author of numerous works, including the treatise “Against Marcion,” fragments of which are preserved only in the text of Eusebius’s “Ecclesiastical History.” About him see: Hier. Vir. ill. XXXVII. Apelles - heresiarch of the late 2nd century; studied in Alexandria with Marcion, but then left him and settled in Rome, where he developed his own theosophical system. Apelles rejected the absolute dualism of Marcion and recognized the single origin of all things. He confessed the one unborn God, the creator of human souls, perfect in his goodness. At the same time, in his opinion, there are angels in the world who are not as perfect as God, one of whom (“the fiery lord of evil,” as Tertullian put it) created matter. Since evil is contained in human flesh, Christ, according to Apelles, did not put on it, but in pure matter. Apelles wrote the treatises Revelation and Syllogisms. About him, in addition to Eusebius, see: Tert. Praes. haer. 6, 10, 30, 33, 37; Tert. Cam. Chr. 1.6 – 8.24; Tert. Res. earn. 2.5; Tert. Anim. 23.36; Tert. Adv. Marc. III. 11; IV. 17; Hipp. Philos. VII. 12.38; X. 20; Orig. Contra Cel. V. 54; Orig. In Gen. II. 2 ; Orig. Comm. Mth. 43.46–47; Epiph. Adv. omn. haer. XUV. See also: Renan E. Decree. op. pp. 88–90. That is, from among the Marcionites. Philumena is a prophetess, under the influence of whose revelations Apelles created his theosophical system. According to Tertullian, she later became a harlot. About her see: Tert. Praes. haer. 6, 30; Tert. Cam. Chr. 6.24. This work of Tatian has not survived. In the lost treatise "Syllogisms", which was a critical analysis of the controversial passages of the Pentateuch. In it, Apelles sought to show the inconsistency and insufficiency of the “philosophy” of Moses. See: Orig. In Gen. II.2; Ambros. Parad. V.28. Florinus – heresiarch of the second half of the 2nd century; originally from Asia; was a student of St. Polycarp of Smyrna; settled in Rome and became a Roman presbyter. In his desire to refute Gnostic dualism and prove the uniqueness and unity of God, Florinus went to the other extreme, making the Almighty responsible for all the world's evil. After Irenaeus refuted his postulates in the “Epistle to Florinus on unity of command, or that God is not the author of evil,” he began to explain the origin of evil in the spirit of the teachings of Valentinus, which prompted Irenaeus to again condemn his views in the treatise “On the Eight.” Florin's writings have not survived. For fragments of the anti-Florinian treatises of Irenaeus, see below: V. 20. 2, 4–8; also: Iren. Frag. 51 (The Writings of Irenaeus / Trans. A. Roberts and W. H. Rembaut. Edinburgh, 1869. Vol. 2. P. 181; Russian translation: St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Op. cit. P. 547). Vlast - Roman presbyter; originally from Alexandria; friend of Florin; supporter of the Asia Minor bishops in the dispute over the time of Easter celebration. Irenaeus’s treatise “On the Schism against Authority” was addressed to him, from which only one excerpt has survived. See: Iren. Frag. 50 (The Writings of Irenaeus. Vol. 2. P. 181; Russian translation: St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Op. cit. pp. 546–547). In addition to Apollinaris, Miltiades, Gaius, Apollonius and others wrote against Montanus. According to one version, we are talking about Rodon, according to another - about Apollinaris himself. This refers to a heresiarch close to the Montanists of the second half of the 2nd century. Miltiades, one of the authors of the Psalms of Marcion. Ancyra is the capital of the province of Galatia in central Asia Minor. Apparently, this Zotik should be distinguished from Bishop Zotik of Koman, who is discussed below. This refers to Othrus, a small town in Phrygia near Hierapolis. Mysia (Misia) is a region in the north-west of Asia Minor, bordering on Lydia in the south, Great Phrygia in the east, and Hellespont Phrygia in the north; in the west it is washed by the waters of the Aegean Sea. The so-called glossolalia (“slurred speaking”), i.e. manifestations of ecstatic excitement. See: Hipp. Philos. VIII. 19. Montanus accused the Christian Church of losing contact with the Holy Spirit, which, in his opinion, led to the loss of the prophetic gift of the apostolic era. The Montanists, relying on the doctrine of the descent of the Holy Spirit on man, sought to restore this connection in the “last times” through living communication with God. They considered Montanus himself to be the Paraclete (Comforter Spirit), the messenger of the Creator and the savior of the world. Montan believed that any believer could acquire the prophetic gift. Montand said: “Man is like a lyre, and the Spirit comes into contact with him, like a plectrum (a stick for playing the lyre - I.K.).” See: Epiph. Adv. omn. haer. XLVIII. The Montanists rejected the primacy of bishops in Christian communities; They, in particular, resumed the practice of common meals of believers followed by evening worship (the so-called “agapes”), abandoning meetings specifically intended for preaching by bishops and for prayer. It was the need to combat Montanism that gave rise to a new form of unification of Christian communities - meetings of their representatives (councils), at which dogmatic and disciplinary issues were resolved. Initially (until the era of the Ecumenical Councils) not only clergy, but also laity took part in them. See: Lebedev A.P. Clergy... P. 116. This Asterius Urban, who was apparently a Montanist, is sometimes mistakenly considered the author of the work here quoted. Zotik († 204) - Bishop of Comana at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century. He suffered martyrdom. Memory 21 July. Comana is a village in Northern Pisidia southeast of Apamea Kibotos. Apamea Kibotos is a city in Southern Phrygia at the source of the Meander, built by Seleucus I Nikator in honor of his wife Apama Eumenia is a small city in southwestern Phrygia northwest of Apamea Kybotos at the source of the Kloudr River, founded in the middle. II century BC e. Attalus II Philadelphus. Miltiades - church writer of the second half of the 2nd century; rhetorician; an ardent opponent of Montanism; author of several polemical and apologetic works, of which only isolated fragments have survived. About him see: Tert. Adv. Val. 5; Hier. Vir. ill. XXXIX. Judas Barsabas - one of the leaders of the Christian community of Jerusalem after the Ascension; called a prophet in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15:32). Sila (Silouan, Silvanus) – apostle; a native of Antioch; one of the leaders of the Christian community in Jerusalem after the Ascension; companion of the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey; shared imprisonment with him in Philippi; co-author of two Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians. As an assistant to the Apostle Peter, he wrote down his First Council Epistle. Later, according to legend, he was the bishop of Corinth. Memory January 4 and July 30. The prophetic gift of Power is spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15:32). The fact that the four daughters of the Apostle Philip were prophetesses is evidenced by the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 21:9). See: 1 Cor.12:28–30; Eph.4:11. Maximilla, however, predicted that after her there would be no more prophetess, explaining this by the fact that life on earth would soon come to an end (Epiph. Adv. omn. haer. XLVIII. 2). Apollonius - Christian writer and polemicist of the late 2nd - early 3rd centuries; fought zealously against Montanism. According to some sources, he was the bishop of Ephesus. About him see also: Hier. Vir. ill. XL. Montan called for strict fasting and dissolution of marriages in view of the imminent Second Coming of the Savior and the Last Judgment. Pepuza and Timius are villages in Southern Phrygia east of Philadelphia. Montanus called Pepuza and Timius the “heavenly Jerusalem” because, according to his prophecies, it was there that the Second Coming was to take place. “If someone says in the spirit: give me silver or something else,” says the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” “you should not listen to him” (Doctr. apost. XL 12). Thraseus - Bishop of Eumenia in Phrygia; accepted martyrdom in Smyrna in 171. Comm. October 5. See below: V. 24.4. We are talking about the story of the resurrection by the Apostle John of Menelaus, the son of the Ephesian eparch, whom the Lord struck to death for indecent behavior in the bathhouse. See: The History of Johannan... pp. 321–326. Serapion († 211) - eighth bishop of Antioch; headed the local Church, based on the “Chronicle” of Eusebius-Jerome, approximately 189–211. (Chron. Olymp. 242, 247). Author of numerous works. See below: VI. 12. See also: Hier. Vir. ill. XLI. Below (VI. 12. 1) and at the blessed. Jerome (Hier. Vir. ill. XLI), the addressee of Apollinaris is named Pontius. Develt is a city on the Balkan Peninsula in the northeastern part of the province of Thrace on the way from Anchial to Adrianople. Anchial is a city on the western coast of the Black Sea in the northeast of the province of Thrace. By “Lower Asia” we mean Maritime Asia - the western part of the Asia Minor peninsula, washed by the Aegean Sea. The description of the trial of Apollonius and his speech before the Roman Senate came to us in an anonymous work, both versions of which - Armenian ("The Life of St. Apollonius the Hermit") and Greek ("The Martyrdom of the Holy and All-Honorable Apostle Apollos, also Saccaeus") - were discovered at the end of the 19th century. Rus. lane see: Writings of ancient Christian apologists. pp. 375–416. For the trial of Apollonius, see: Gabba E. Il processo di Apollonio // Mélanges d'archéologie, d'épigraphie et d'histoire offers à J. Carcopino. Paris, 1966. P. 397–402; Mommsen T. Der Prozess des Christen Apollonius unter Commodus // Sitzungsberichte der preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Bd. 27.1894. S. 497–503. This Apollonius, originally from Alexandria, was, according to the testimony of the blessed. Jerome, Roman senator (Hier. Vir. Ill. XLII; Hier. Ep. 70 ad Magnum). Roman legislation prohibited accepting denunciations against masters from slaves and demanded that they be sentenced to death for this. The breaking of legs either preceded crucifixion or replaced it. The “Martyrdom” and “Life” say nothing about the informer or the punishment to which he was subjected. “Martyrdom” calls him the proconsul of Asia (Works of ancient Christian apologists. P. 394). In the “Life”, instead of Perennius, Terence appears, the city prefect of Rome (Ibid. p. 395). According to the Life and Martyrdom, this decree prohibited anyone from being a Christian (Ibid. pp. 400–401). In “Martyrdom,” in addition, the law of Commodus is mentioned, which imposed the death penalty for professing the Christian faith (Ibid. p. 404). On the legal basis of the trial of Apollonius, see: Callewaert S. Questions de droits concernant le procès du martyr Apollonius // Revue des questions historiques. No. 153. 1905. P. 349–375; Freudenberger R. Die Überlieferung vom Martyrium der römischen Christen Apollonius // Zeitschrift für neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche. Bd. 60. 1969. S. 111–130; Zeiller J. Nouvelles observations sur l'origine juridique des persécutions contre les chrétiens aux deux premiers siècles // Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique. Vol. 46. ​​1951. P. 521–533; Griffe E. Les Actes du martyr Apollonius et le problème de la base juridique des persécutions // Bulletin de Littérature Ecclésiastique. T. 53.1952. P. 65–76. Also in “Life” (Works of ancient Christian apologists. P. 405). In “Martyrdom” it is said that Apollonia’s legs were broken (Ibid. p. 404). The tenth year of the reign of Commodus - from March 17, 189 to March 16, 190. Demetrius - Bishop of Alexandria in 189-231. Memory October 9. Theophilus - Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine at the end of the 2nd century; one of the leaders of the party that demanded to abandon the celebration of Passover according to Jewish custom. For Eusebius’s interpretation of the Easter controversy, see: Zernov N. Eusebius and the Paschal Controversy at the End of the Second Century // Church Quarterly Review. Vol. 116. 1933. P. 24–41. The local councils of Palestinian, Italian, Pontic, Gallic and Mesopotamian bishops mentioned below, which condemned the Jewish custom of celebrating Easter, took place c. 196 Osroene is a Roman province in northwestern Mesopotamia between the Euphrates, its tributary Habor (Khabur) and Armenia. The administrative center is Edessa. In church usage in the 2nd–3rd centuries. the word "eunuch" often meant "abstaining from marriage." See: Matthew 19:12; Athenag. Leg. 33; Clem. Alex. Strom. HI. 13; Tert. Cul. fem. IL 9. Wed. a similar saying by St. Polycarp of Smyrna (see above: IV. 15.20). These passages from the Epistle of Irenaeus are preserved only in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History. Εἰρηναῖος (Greek) – peaceful. Thanks to the efforts of St. Irenaeus of Lyons managed to prevent a schism in the Church. The dispute over the date of Easter was finally resolved only at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325, which decisively rejected the Jewish custom. Blazh. Jerome distinguishes Irenaeus' treatise "On Knowledge" from his "Word to the Hellenes." The treatise “On Knowledge” was directed not against the pagans, but against the teachings of Valentine. See: Hier. Vir. ill. XXXV. Later authors (St. Maximus the Confessor and Patriarch Photius) also mention the work of Irenaeus “On Faith,” addressed to the Viennese deacon Demetrius, and his treatise “On the Universe, or On the Essence of the World.” Commodus reigned for 12 years, 9 months and 14 days. Compare: Herod. 1.17; Eutr. VIII. 15; Aur. Vict. Caes. XVII. 7; Aur. Vict. XVII. 1. He was killed on December 31, 192 as a result of a conspiracy. Publius Helvius Pertinax (126–193) – the son of a freedman, who made a brilliant military and administrative career under Marcus Aurelius and became a senator; consul of 175 and 192; ascended the throne with the support of the Senate on January 1, 193. About him, see: SHA. Pert.; Herod. II. 1–5. Pertinax was killed on March 28, 193 during the Praetorian revolt in Rome. Thus, the duration of his reign was not six, as Eusebius says, but slightly less than three months. See: SHA. Pert. XV. 6; Eutr. VIII. 16; Aur. Vict. Caes. XVIII. 1; Epit. XVIII. 1. Lucius Septimius Severus (146–211) – a native of the city of Leptis Magna in North Africa; under Marcus Aurelius - senator, legate of several provinces; consul of 190; under Commodus - legate of Upper Pannonia; after the murder of Pertinax, he was proclaimed emperor by the Pannonian legions on April 9, 193. He had to endure a long and bloody struggle with other contenders for the throne - Didius Julian, Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. Septimius Severus achieved his final victory only in 197. About him, see: SHA. Sev.; Herod. II. 9.2 – III. 15.3. According to A. A. Spassky, we are talking about St. Hippolyte of Rome. See: Spassky A. A. History of dogmatic movements in the era of the Ecumenical Councils (in connection with the philosophical teachings of that time). Trinitarian question (History of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity). Ed. 2nd, Sergiev Posad, 1914. P. 33. Artemon - heresiarch of the 3rd century; a prominent representative of dynamism; denied the divinity of Christ. He preached his teachings in Rome in mid. 230s, for which he was excommunicated from the Church. Pavel Samosatsky - heresiarch of the 3rd century; the brightest representative of dynamism; Bishop of Antioch in 260–272 He taught that there is only one Divine Person (and not three) and that Christ was an ordinary person upon whom the Logos descended and who through this became god, but not “by nature,” but by will and actions. Condemned at the Council of Antioch in 269. About him, see below: VII. 27.1 – 28.2; 29. 1 – 30. 19. See also: Loofs F. Paulus von Samosata, eine Untersuchung zur altkirchlichen Literatur- und Dogmengeschichte. Leipzig, 1924. Samosata is a city on the right bank of the Euphrates; administrative center of the province of Commagene. We are talking about the earliest form of monarchianism (refusal of the hypostatic existence of the Logos and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity) - dynamism (adoptionism). Dynamists argued that Christ was a simple man in whom a special Divine power operated. According to St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, dynamism came from the Alogian heresy - a sect that rejected the Gospel of John (Epiph. Adv. omn. haer. LIV. 1). See: Karsavin L.P. Decree. op. pp. 79–81; Spassky A. A. History... P. 39–32. Theodotus Shoemaker (Tanner) - heresiarch of the late 2nd - early 3rd centuries; founder of dynamism; originally from Byzantium; according to Epiphanius, “a man of many learning” (Epiph. Adv. omn. haer. LIV. 1). According to legend, he renounced his faith during persecution and was forced approx. 190 moved from Byzantium to Rome, where he founded a philosophical school and began to actively participate in theological disputes. He was later excommunicated from the Church. Theodotus argued that Jesus was a simple man, like all other people, born of a Virgin by the special will of God, and not some heavenly being who took flesh; Thanks to exceptional piety, he acquired unusual power and became Christ, but he was never God. See: Hipp. Philos. VIL 35; Χ. 23. About Theodotus and his teaching, see: Spassky A. A. History... P. 32–38 See also: C chron. Olymp. 243. The ninth year of the reign of Septimius Severus - from April 9, 201 to April 8, 202. The Theodites considered false all the passages of the New Testament that pointed to the divinity of Christ. The Theodotians were guided by a literal understanding of Holy Scripture. The Theodotians relied on Aristotle in their metaphysics, primarily in their understanding of God as a single, absolutely extra-mundane being, as a pure amateur Thought, not subject to any passions or changes. Theophrastus (372–288 BC) – Greek philosopher; head of the Peripatetic school after the death of Aristotle. Theodotians actively used the developments of Theophrastus in the field of syllogistics. Galen (129–199) – famous Greek physician and philosopher; author of works on medicine, philosophy and logic. The Theodotians were close to Galen's idea of ​​the need to build logic on the model of mathematical theorems and in the spirit of Euclidean geometry. For this fragment, see: Schöne H. Ein Einbruch der antiken Logik und Textkritik in die altchristliche Theologie. Eusebios' KG 5,28,13–19 in neuer Übertragung erläutert // Pisciculi: Studien zur Religion und Kultur des Altertums F. J. Dölger zum 60. Geburtstag dargeboten von Freuden, Verehren und Schülern / Hrsg. von Th. Klauser and A. Rücker. Münster, 1939. Ergbd. 1. S. 252–265. You might be interested in: