|
At this time, Felix, having presided over the church of Rome for
five years, was succeeded by Eutychianus, but he in less than ten
months left the position to Caius, who lived in our day. He held it
about fifteen years, and was in turn succeeded by Marcellinus, who
was overtaken by the persecution. About the same time Timaeus
received the episcopate of Antioch after Domnus, and Cyril, who
lived in our day, succeeded him. In his time we became acquainted
with Dorotheus, a man of learning among those of his day, who was
honored with the office of presbyter in Antioch.
He was a lover of the beautiful in divine things, and devoted himself
to the Hebrew language, so that he read the Hebrew Scriptures with
facility. He belonged to those who were especially liberal, and was
not unacquainted with Grecian propaedeutics. Besides this he was a
eunuch, having been so from his very birth. On this account, as if
it were a miracle, the emperor took him into his family, and honored
him by placing him over the purple dye-works at Tyre. We have heard
him expound the Scriptures wisely in the Church. After Cyril,
Tyrannus received the episcopate of the parish of Antioch. In his
time occurred the destruction of the churches.
Eusebius, who had come from the city of Alexandria, ruled the
parishes of Laodicea after Socrates. The occasion of his removal
thither was the affair of Paul. He went on this account to Syria,
and was restrained from returning home by those there who were zealous
in divine things. Among our contemporaries he was a beautiful example
of religion, as is readily seen from the words of Dionysius which we
have quoted. Anatolius was appointed his successor; one good man, as
they say, following another. He also was an Alexandrian by birth.
In learning and skill in Greek philosophy, such as arithmetic and
geometry, astronomy, and dialectics in general, as well as in the
theory of physics, he stood first among the ablest men of our time,
and he was also at the head in rhetorical science. It is reported that
for this reason he was requested by the citizens of Alexandria to
establish there a school of Aristotelian philosophy.
They relate of him many other eminent deeds during the siege of the
Pyrucheium in Alexandria, on account of which he was especially
honored by all those in high office; but
I will give the following only as an example.
They say that bread had failed the besieged, so that it was more
difficult to withstand the famine than the enemy outside; but he being
present provided for them in this manner. As the other part of the
city was allied with the Roman army, and therefore was not under
siege, Anatolius sent for Eusebius, for he was still there before
his transfer to Syria, and was among those who were not besieged, and
possessed, moreover, a great reputation and a renowned name which had
reached even the Roman general, and he informed him of those who were
perishing in the siege from famine. When he learned this he requested
the Roman commander as the greatest possible favor, to grant safety to
deserters from the enemy. Having obtained his request, he
communicated it to Anatolius. As soon as he received the message he
convened the senate of Alexandria, and at first proposed that all
should come to a reconciliation with the Romans. But when he
perceived that they were angered by this advice, he said, "But I do
not think you will oppose me, if I counsel you to send the
supernumeraries and those who are in nowise useful to us, as old women
and children and old men, outside the gates, to go wherever they may
please. For why should we retain for no purpose these who must at any
rate soon die? and why should we destroy with hunger those who are
crippled and maimed in body, when we ought to provide only for men and
youth, and to distribute the necessary bread among those who are needed
for the garrison of the city?"
With such arguments he persuaded the assembly, and rising first he
gave his vote that the entire multitude, whether of men or women, who
were not needful for the army, should depart from the city, because if
they remained and unnecessarily continued in the city, there would be
for them no hope of safety, but they would perish with famine. As all
the others in the senate agreed to this, he saved almost all the
besieged. He provided that first, those belonging to the church, and
afterwards, of the others in the city, those of every age should
escape, not only the classes included in the decree, but, under cover
of these, a multitude of others, secretly clothed in women's
garments; and through his management they went out of the gates by
night and escaped to the Roman camp.
There Eusebius, like a father and physician, received all of them,
wasted away through the long siege, and restored them by every kind of
prudence and care. The church of
Laodicea was honored by two such pastors in succession, who, in the
providence of God, came after the aforesaid war from Alexandria to
that city.
Anatolius did not write very many works; but in such as have come down
to us we can discern his eloquence and erudition. In these he states
particularly his opinions on the passover. It seems important to give
here the following extracts from them.
From the Paschal Canons of Anatolius.
"There is then in the first year the new moon of the first month,
which is the beginning of every cycle of nineteen years, on the
twenty-sixth day of the Egyptian Phamenoth; but according to the
months of the Macedonians, the twenty-second day of Dystrus, or,
as the Romans would say, the eleventh before the Kalends of April.
On the said twentysixth of Phamenoth, the sun is found not only
entered on the first segment, but already passing through the fourth
day in it. They are accustomed to call this segment the first
dodecatomorion, and the equinox, and the beginning of months, and the
head of the cycle, and the starting-point of the planetary circuit.
But they call the one preceding this the last of months, and the
twelfth segment, and the final dodecatomorion, and the end of the
planetary circuit. Wherefore we maintain that those who place the
first month in it, and determine by it the fourteenth of the passover,
commit no slight or common blunder. And this is not an opinion of our
own; but it was known to the Jews of old, even before Christ, and
was carefully observed by them. This may be learned from what is said
by Philo, Josephus, and Musaeus; and not only by them, but also
by those yet more ancient, the two Agathobuli, surnamed
'Masters,' and the famous Aristobulus, who was chosen among the
seventy interpreters of the sacred and divine Hebrew Scriptures by
Ptolemy Philadelphus and his father, and who also dedicated his
exegetical books on the law of Moses to the same kings. These
writers, explaining questions in regard to the Exodus, say that all
alike should sacrifice the passover offerings after the vernal equinox,
in the middle of the first month. But this occurs while the sun is
passing through the first segment of the solar, or as some of them have
styled it, the zodiacal circle. Aristobulus adds that it is necessary
for the feast of the passover, that not only the sun should pass
through the equinoctial segment, but the moon also.
For as there are two equinoctial segments, the vernal and the
autumnal, directly opposite each other, and as the day of the passover
was appointed on the fourteenth of the month, beginning with the
evening, the moon will hold a position diametrically opposite the sun,
as may be seen in full moons; and the sun will be in the segment of the
vernal equinox, and of necessity the moon in that of the autumnal.
I know that many other things have been said by them, some of them
probable, and some approaching absolute demonstration, by which they
endeavor to prove that it is altogether necessary to keep the passover
and the feast of unleavened bread after the equinox. But I refrain
from demanding this sort of demonstration for matters from which the
veil of the Mosaic law has been removed, so that now at length with
uncovered face we continually behold as in a glass Christ and the
teachings and sufferings of Christ. But that with the Hebrews the
first month was near the equinox, the teachings also of the Book of
Enoch show."
The same writer has also left the Institutes of Arithmetic, in ten
books, and other evidences of his experience and proficiency in divine
things. Theotecnus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, first
ordained him as bishop, designing to make him his successor in his own
parish after his death. And for a short time both of them presided
over the same church. But the synod which was held to consider
Paul's case called him to Antioch, and as he passed through the city
of Laodicea, Eusebius being dead, he was detained by the brethren
there. And after Anatolius had departed this life, the last bishop
of that parish before the persecution was Stephen, who was admired by
many for his knowledge of philosophy and other Greek learning. But he
was not equally devoted to the divine faith, as the progress of the
persecution manifested; for it showed that he was a cowardly and
unmanly dissembler rather than a true philosopher. But this did not
seriously injure the church, for Theodotus restored their affairs,
being straightway made bishop of that parish by God himself, the
Saviour of all. He justified by his deeds both his lordly name and
his office of bishop. For he excelled in the medical art for bodies,
and in the healing art for souls. Nor did any other man equal him in
kindness, sincerity, sympathy, and zeal in helping such as needed his
aid. He was also greatly devoted to divine learning. Such an one was
he.
In Caesarea in Palestine, Agapius succeeded Theotecnus, who had
most zealously performed the duties of his episcopate. Him too we know
to have labored diligently, and to have manifested most genuine
providence in his oversight of the people, particularly caring for all
the poor with liberal hand. In his time we became acquainted with
Pamphilus, that most eloquent man, of truly philosophical life, who
was esteemed worthy of the office of presbyter in that parish. It
would be no small matter to show what sort of a man he was and whence he
came. But we have described, in our special work concerning him, all
the particulars of his life, and of the school which he established,
and the trials which he endured in many confessions during the
persecution, and the crown of martyrdom with which he was finally
honored. But of all that were there he was indeed the most admirable.
Among those nearest our times, we have known Pierius, of the
presbyters in Alexandria, and Meletius, bishop of the churches in
Pontus, rarest of men. The first was distinguished for his life of
extreme poverty and his philosophic learning, and was exceedingly
diligent in the contemplation and exposition of divine things, and in
public discourses in the church. Meletius, whom the learned called
the "honey of Attica," was a man whom every one would describe as
most accomplished in all kinds of learning; and it would be impossible
to admire sufficiently his rhetorical skill. It might be said that he
possessed this by nature; but who could surpass the excellence of his
great experience and erudition in other respects? For in all branches
of knowledge had you undertaken to try him even once, you would have
said that he was the most skillful and learned. Moreover, the virtues
of his life were not less remarkable. We observed him well in the time
of the persecution, when for seven full years he was escaping from its
fury in the regions of Palestine.
Zambdas received the episcopate of the church of Jerusalem after the
bishop Hymenaeus, whom we mentioned a little above. He died in a
short time, and Hermon, the last before the persecution in our day,
succeeded to the apostolic chair, which has been preserved there until
the present time. In Alexandria, Maximus, who, after the death of
Dionysius, had been bishop for eighteen years, was succeeded by
Theonas. In his time Achillas, who had been appointed a presbyter
in Alexandria at the same time with Pierius, became celebrated. He
was placed over the school of the sacred faith, and exhibited fruits of
philosophy most rare and inferior to none, and conduct genuinely
evangelical. After Theonas had held the office for nineteen years,
Peter received the episcopate in Alexandria, and was very eminent
among them for twelve entire years. Of these he governed the church
less than three years before the persecution, and for the remainder of
his life he subjected himself to a more rigid discipline and cared in no
secret manner for the general interest of the churches. On this
account he was beheaded in the ninth year of the persecution, and was
adorned with the crown of martyrdom.
Having written out m these books the account of the successions from
the birth of our Saviour to the destruction of the places of worship,
a period of three hundred and five years, permit me to pass on to the
contests of those who, in our day, have heroically fought for
religion, and to leave in writing, for the information of posterity,
the extent and the magnitude of those conflicts.
|
|