Church History Books 1–9 (trans.) 5 part 2/3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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