Ecclesiastical History — Book VI

Eusebius of Caesarea · a new plain-English translation from the Greek

arg| This is the content of the sixth book of the Ecclesiastical History. 1. Concerning the persecution under Severus. 2. Concerning Origen's training from childhood. 3. How, while still very young, he championed the word of Christ. 4. How many of those he instructed went on to become martyrs. 5. On Potamiaena. 6. On Clement of Alexandria. 7. On Jude, a writer. 8. On the bold deed Origen dared. 9. On the wonders connected with Narcissus. 10. On the bishops in Jerusalem. 11. On Alexander. 12. On Serapion and the writings attributed to him. 13. On the writings of Clement. 14. Which scriptures he mentioned. 15. On Heraclas. 16. How Origen devoted himself to the divine scriptures. 17. Concerning Symmachus the interpreter. 18. Concerning Ambrose. 19. What is recorded about Origen. 20. What writings of men of that time are in circulation. 21. Which bishops were known in those days. 22. Which works of Hippolytus have come down to us. 23. Concerning Origen's zeal, and the way he was thought fit for the church's presbyterate. 24. What he expounded while at Alexandria. 25. How he mentioned the scriptures of the covenant. 26. How the bishops regarded him. 27. How Heraclas took over the bishopric of the Alexandrians. 28. The persecution under Maximin. 29. Concerning Fabian, and how he was wondrously designated by God as bishop of the Romans. 30. Who became pupils of Origen. 31. On Africanus. 32. What Origen expounded at Caesarea in Palestine. 33. On the error of Beryllus. 34. The events under Philip. 35. How Dionysius took over the bishopric from Heraclas. 36. What other works Origen applied himself to. 37. On the dissension among the Arabians. 38. On the heresy of the Elkesaites. 39. On the events under Decius. 40. What befell Dionysius. 41. On those who were martyred in Alexandria itself. 42. On the others of whom Dionysius gives an account. 43. On Novatus, what kind of man he was in his ways, and on the heresy he started. 44. Dionysius' account of Serapion. 45. A letter of Dionysius to Novatus. 46. On Dionysius' other letters.

1.1| When Severus, too, stirred up persecution against the churches, splendid martyrdoms of those who contended for piety were accomplished everywhere, but they were especially numerous at Alexandria. There, as though to the greatest of stadiums, God's contenders were sent from Egypt and the whole of the Thebaid, and through their most steadfast endurance of every kind of torture and manner of death they bound on the crowns that are with God. Among them was Leonides, who is said to have been the father of Origen; he was beheaded and left his son still very young. It is not out of place to describe briefly how strongly that son was disposed toward the divine word from that time on, especially since so much is said and noised abroad about him among most people.

2.1| A great deal could be said by anyone who undertook to set down the man's life in writing at leisure, and an account of him would need a treatise of its own. For the present, however, we shall cut most of it short and go through, as briefly as possible, a few of the things about him, presenting what is made known in certain letters and in the reports of his acquaintances who have survived into our own time.

2.2| In Origen's case even what happened, so to speak, in his very swaddling clothes seems to me worth recording. Severus was then in the tenth year of his reign; Laetus governed Alexandria and all the rest of Egypt, and Demetrius had then recently succeeded Julian in the oversight of the communities there.

2.3| So when the fire of persecution had blazed up fiercely, and countless people were being crowned with the crowns of martyrdom, so great a longing for martyrdom took hold of Origen's soul, though he was still only a boy, so that he was eager to go straight at the dangers, to leap forward, and to rush into the contest.

2.4| Indeed, his departure from life was already only a very short way off, and would have come, had not a divine and heavenly providence, for the good of very many, set his mother in the way of his eagerness.

2.5| She, at any rate, first pleaded with him in words and begged him to spare her a mother's feelings for him. But when she saw him pressing on all the harder, now that he had learned his father had been arrested and was being held in prison, and was wholly given over to his impulse toward martyrdom, she hid all his clothes and so forced him to stay at home.

2.6| But Origen, since there was nothing else he could do, and since his eagerness was growing beyond his years and he could not keep still, sent his father a letter urging him most strongly toward martyrdom. In it he exhorts him in these very words: "Hold firm, and do not change your mind for our sake." Let this stand as the first proof of Origen's boyhood sharpness of mind and of a disposition toward reverence for God that was wholly genuine.

2.7| For he had already laid no small foundations in the teachings of the faith, having been schooled in the divine Scriptures from early childhood. At any rate he had labored at them to no small degree, since his father, besides his general education, had taken care of these studies too, and not as a side matter.

2.8| In any case, before the study of Greek subjects, he pressed him by every means to practice the sacred lessons, requiring from him each day passages to learn by heart and to recite.

2.9| And this was not done against the boy's will, for he worked at these things with the greatest eagerness, so that the plain and obvious readings of the sacred words were not enough for him. He sought something more and from that time was already probing for deeper insights, so that he even gave his father trouble by asking what in fact the meaning of the divinely inspired Scripture intended to show.

2.10| His father, to all appearances, would rebuke him to his face, urging him to seek nothing beyond his age and nothing further than the obvious sense. But privately, rejoicing greatly within himself, he confessed his deepest gratitude to God, the cause of all good things, because he had thought him worthy to become the father of such a child.

2.11| They say that often, coming to the boy as he lay asleep, he uncovered his chest as though a divine spirit were consecrated within it, kissed it with reverence, and counted himself blessed in his fine child. These things and others related to them are reported to have happened concerning Origen when he was a boy.

2.12| When his father had been brought to completion in martyrdom, he was left bereft, not yet seventeen years old, with his mother and six younger brothers.

2.13| His father's property was taken over by the imperial treasury, and he was left, together with his family, in want of the necessities of life. He was then judged worthy of God's providential care and received both welcome and rest from a certain woman, very wealthy and in other respects most distinguished, who was looking after a man famous among the heretics then in Alexandria. This man was an Antiochene by birth, and the woman just mentioned kept him with her as an adopted son and treated him with the greatest attention.

2.14| But though Origen was necessarily in his company, he gave clear proofs of his orthodoxy in the faith. For although a vast crowd gathered at Paul's house (for this was the man's name), because of his apparent ability in speech, and they were not only heretics but our own people as well, Origen could never be induced to join him in prayer. From early boyhood he kept the rule of the church, and he loathed, as he himself says somewhere in so many words, the teachings of the heresies.

2.15| His father had advanced him in Greek studies, and after his father's death he gave himself over wholly and with greater passion to the practice of letters, so that he acquired a fair preparation in grammar. Not long after his father's death he devoted himself to these pursuits and was abundantly supplied with necessities, as far as was possible at that age.

3.1| While he was occupied with teaching, as he himself somewhere relates in writing, no one in Alexandria was devoted to catechetical instruction, since all had been scattered by fear of the persecution. Some from among the pagans came to him, intending to hear the word of God.

3.2| Of these he notes that the first was Plutarch, who after living well was crowned with a divine martyrdom, and the second was Heraclas, Plutarch's brother. Heraclas also gave in Origen's school abundant proof of a philosophical life and of discipline, and after Demetrius he was thought worthy of the bishopric of the Alexandrians.

3.3| It was in his eighteenth year that he took charge of the school of catechetical instruction. In this period he also made progress during the persecutions in Alexandria under Aquila, the governor, when he acquired a name most widely known among all who set out from the faith, because of the welcome and eagerness he showed toward all the holy martyrs, strangers and acquaintances alike.

3.4| For he stood by not only the holy martyrs while they were in chains, and while they were being examined up to the final sentence, but also after that, when they were led away to their deaths, and he showed great boldness and went straight into the dangers. As a result, when he approached fearlessly and greeted the martyrs with a kiss in complete freedom, the crowd of pagans standing around grew furious, and more than once they all but stoned him to death. Only because he found the right hand of God an unfailing helper did he slip away, against all expectation.

3.5| That same divine and heavenly grace, again and again, on more occasions than one can count, kept him safe from the plots made against him in those days because of his extreme zeal and boldness on behalf of the word of Christ. So great, in fact, was the unbelievers' war against him that they gathered in bands and posted soldiers around the house where he was staying, because of the number of people who were receiving instruction in the sacred faith under him.

3.6| The persecution against him blazed so fiercely, day after day, that the whole city could no longer hold him; he moved from house to house and was driven out from every side, because of the multitude who were coming to the divine teaching through him. For his practical deeds, too, were achievements of the most genuine philosophy and were altogether admirable (

3.7| such as the word he showed, they say, such was the manner of his life, and such as the manner of his life, such was his word). It was above all for these reasons, with divine power working together with him, that he brought countless people to emulate him.

3.8| When he saw that still more students were coming to him, and that Demetrius, who presided over the church, had entrusted the work of catechizing to him alone, he judged that the teaching of literary studies was out of keeping with training in the divine lessons, and without delay he broke off the study of literature as useless and opposed to the sacred studies,

3.9| and then, reasoning as was fitting, so that he would not lack support from others, he sold off all the writings of the ancient authors that he had earlier collected and studied with love of the beautiful, and he was content with the four obols a day that the buyer brought him. For very many years he continued to live as a philosopher in this way, stripping away from himself every material for youthful desires. Throughout each day he went through no small labors of discipline, and he devoted the greater part of the night to the study of the divine Scriptures. He held to the most philosophical way of life possible, at one time in exercises of fasting, at another in measured periods of sleep, which he took not at all on a bed but eagerly on the ground.

3.10| Above all, he thought that the Savior's sayings in the Gospel had to be guarded, those that urge people not to have two tunics or to use sandals, and not to wear themselves out with anxieties about the time to come.

3.11| But with a zeal greater than his years, he endured cold and nakedness and pressed on to the extreme of excessive poverty. He astonished those around him exceedingly, and he distressed countless people who begged to share their possessions with him, because they saw the labors he was contributing to the divine teaching; but he himself did not give way in his endurance.

3.12| It is said, at any rate, that for several years he walked on the ground without using any shoes at all, and that for very many years he abstained from wine and from any food beyond what was necessary, so that he even fell into danger of upsetting and ruining his chest.

3.13| By offering the onlookers such examples of a philosopher's life, he naturally stirred more of his students to a similar zeal, so that even among the unbelieving pagans, some who were not at all ordinary men of learning and philosophy were drawn to his teaching. When these people, too, received through him faith in the divine Word genuinely and in the depth of their souls, they became so conspicuous during that time of persecution that some of them were seized and brought to completion in martyrdom.

4.1| The first of these was Plutarch, mentioned a little earlier. As he was being led away to death, the man we are discussing, who stayed with him right to the end of his life, was again nearly killed by Plutarch's fellow citizens, since he had appeared to be responsible for Plutarch's death. But once more the will of God preserved him.

4.2| After Plutarch, the second of Origen's students to be revealed as a martyr was Serenus, who gave proof by fire of the faith he had received.

4.3| Heraclides became the third martyr of this school, and after him Heron the fourth, the former still a catechumen, the latter newly baptized; both were beheaded. In addition to these, a fifth athlete of piety from the same school is proclaimed, another Serenus, distinct from the first, who, the account says, was punished by beheading after enduring a great many tortures. Among the women, Herais, who was still a catechumen, received, as he himself somewhere says, the baptism by fire, and departed this life.

5.1| Let Basilides be counted seventh among these. He led away the celebrated Potamiaena, about whom much is said, and is still sung among the people of the region. She had fought off lovers by the thousand in defense of the purity of her body and of her virginity, in which she was outstanding (for the bloom of her body was in its prime, as was that of her soul). She endured countless torments, and finally, after tortures terrible even to relate, she was brought to her end through fire, together with her mother Marcella.

5.2| They say that the judge (his name was Aquila) inflicted harsh tortures on her over her whole body, and finally, to insult her body, threatened to hand her over to gladiators. She reflected briefly with herself and, when asked what she decided, gave such an answer that she seemed to them to have uttered something impious according to their custom.

5.3| As soon as she had accepted the terms of the sentence, Basilides, one of those enrolled in the army, took charge of her and led her off to her death. When the crowd tried to harass her and insult her with licentious words, he held them back, driving off those who were insulting her, and showed her the greatest pity and kindness. She, welcoming the man's sympathy for her, urged him to take courage: when she departed, she said, she would ask for him from her own Lord, and before long she would repay him for all he had done on her behalf.

5.4| Having said this, she bravely met her end, as burning pitch was poured slowly and little by little upon different parts of her body, from the extremities of her feet to the top of her head.

5.5| Such was the contest that the renowned maiden fought to the end. Not long afterward, Basilides, who, when for some reason his fellow soldiers asked him to swear an oath, insisted that he was not permitted to swear at all, since he was a Christian and openly confessed it. At first they thought he was joking, but when he persisted in his refusal, he was taken before the judge; there he acknowledged his objection and was handed over to prison.

5.6| When the brothers in God came to him and asked the reason for this sudden and surprising decision, he is said to have told them that Potamiaena, three days after her martyrdom, had come upon him at night, set a crown upon his head, and declared that she had entreated the Lord for him and had won her request, and that she would soon receive him. Thereupon the brothers bestowed on him the seal in the Lord, and the next day, having distinguished himself by testimony to the Lord, he was beheaded.

5.7| Many others of the people of Alexandria are also reported to have come over in great numbers to the word of Christ at the time mentioned, since Potamiaena appeared to them in their sleep and called them. But let these matters stand as they are.

6.1| Clement succeeded Pantaenus and directed the catechetical school at Alexandria up to that time, so that Origen was among his students. In composing his treatise the Stromata, Clement set out a chronological record in the first book and brings the dates down as far as the death of Commodus, with the result that it is clear that his studies were completed in the time of Severus, whose times the present account is recording.

7.1| At this time Judas, another writer, who discussed in writing the seventy weeks in Daniel, brings his chronology down as far as the tenth year of Severus' reign. He also supposed that the Antichrist's much-talked-of coming was already drawing near at that time; so violently did the agitation of the persecution against us then unsettle the minds of the many.

8.1| At this time, while Origen was carrying out his work of instruction at Alexandria, he did something that came from an immature and youthful mind, yet it contained a very great proof of faith and self-control together.

8.2| He took the saying "There are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs on account of the kingdom of heaven" in too simple and youthful a way. He thought he was fulfilling the Savior's word, and at the same time, since he was young and discussed divine matters not only with men but also with women, he wanted to shut out every suspicion of shameful slander among unbelievers. So he set out to carry out the Savior's word by deed, taking care that most of his acquaintances should not find out.

8.3| But it was not possible for him, however much he wished it, to keep so great a deed hidden. Demetrius, as head of the community there, learned of it later. He marveled greatly at Origen's daring, but approved the zeal and sincerity of his faith, told him to take courage, and urged him now to devote himself all the more to the work of instructing catechumens.

8.4| That, then, was how he behaved at that time. But not long afterward, when the same Demetrius saw him prospering, great, brilliant, and famed among everyone, he was moved by a human weakness and tried to write to the bishops throughout the world that what Origen had done was most improper. This was when the most esteemed and distinguished of the bishops in Palestine, those of Caesarea and Jerusalem, judged Origen worthy of the privileges of the elders and of the highest honor, and laid hands on him to make him a presbyter.

8.5| By then Origen had advanced to great fame, had won a name among people everywhere and no small renown for virtue and wisdom. Demetrius, having no other charge available, made a terrible slander out of the deed done long before in his boyhood, and dared to include in his accusations even those who had advanced Origen to the presbyterate.

8.6| These things, however, happened a little later. At that time Origen in Alexandria carried on the work of divine teaching openly for all who came to him, by night and by day, devoting all his leisure tirelessly to the divine lessons and to those who attended him.

8.7| Severus, who had held power for eighteen years, was followed by his son Antoninus. In his reign Alexander, whom we mentioned a moment ago as bishop of the church in Jerusalem, was one of those who had shown courage in the persecution and had been preserved by God's providence after the contests of confession. Because he had distinguished himself by his confessions for Christ, he was judged worthy of the episcopate mentioned, while Narcissus, his predecessor, was still alive.

9.1| The citizens of that community recall many other marvelous things about Narcissus, handed down from the brethren in succession, and among them they tell the following miracle done through him.

9.2| They say that once, during the great all-night vigil of the Passover, the oil ran short for the deacons. At this a terrible despondency seized the whole crowd, and Narcissus ordered those who prepared the lamps to draw water and carry it to him.

9.3| When this was done at once, he prayed over the water and told them to pour it into the lamps with genuine faith in the Lord. They did so, and contrary to all expectation, by a marvelous and divine power the water's nature was transformed into the quality of oil. A small sample of the miracle of that time has been kept by very many of the brethren there for a very long time, from then even down to us.

9.4| They also relate very many other things worth remembering about this man's life, among them the following. Some worthless little men, unable to bear the strictness and firmness of his life, and fearing that they would be convicted and punished because they were conscious of countless wrongs in themselves, got in first and stitched together a plot against him, pouring out a terrible slander about him.

9.5| Then, to win the trust of their hearers, they confirmed their accusations with oaths. One swore that he would surely perish by fire, another that his body would surely be consumed by a foul disease, and the third that he would surely lose his sight. Yet even so, though they swore, none of the faithful paid them any attention, because of the self-control and wholly virtuous conduct of Narcissus, which shone out to everyone at all times.

9.6| Narcissus himself, however, could not endure the wickedness of these men, and had in any case long loved the philosophic life. He withdrew from the entire body of the church and spent very many years hidden in deserts and obscure country places. But the great eye of justice did not stay still over what had been done,

9.7| He then quickly pursued the impious men with the curses they had sworn down upon themselves when they perjured themselves. The first, with no cause at all, when a small spark fell in the house where he was staying, was burned to death with his whole family as the entire house caught fire at night. The second was suddenly filled in his body, from the tips of his feet to his head, with the very disease he had named as his own penalty.

9.8| The third, seeing how the earlier two had ended and fearing the inescapable justice of God, who oversees all things, confessed to everyone the plot they had devised together. He was so worn down by repentant lamentation, and so unceasing in his tears, that both his eyes were ruined. Such were the punishments these men suffered for their lying.

10.1| Since Narcissus had withdrawn and no one knew at all where he happened to be, the heads of the neighboring churches resolved to move on to the ordination of a different bishop, who was called Dius. He did not preside for long, and Germanion succeeded him, and after him Gordius. In Gordius' time Narcissus appeared from somewhere as if come back to life, and was again called by the brothers to lead them. Everyone admired him all the more, both for his withdrawal and his philosophy, and above all for the vengeance God had thought him worthy to receive.

11.1| Since he was no longer able to perform his service because of extreme old age, the divine dispensation called the Alexander already mentioned, who was bishop of another diocese, to share the ministry with Narcissus, by a revelation that appeared to him at night in a vision.

11.2| So, as if in obedience to an oracle, he made the journey from the country of the Cappadocians, where he had first been deemed worthy of the bishopric, to Jerusalem, for the sake of prayer and to see the places. The people there received him most warmly and would not allow him to return home, because of another revelation that had appeared to them also by night, and a single, very clear voice that spoke to the most earnest among them. It instructed them to go out beyond the gates and receive the bishop God had appointed for them. When they had done this, with the shared agreement of the bishops who governed the surrounding churches, they compelled him to remain.

11.3| Alexander himself, indeed, mentions Narcissus' joint presidency with him in his own letters to the people of Antinoë, which are still preserved among us. At the end of the letter he writes these words verbatim: "Narcissus, who before me held the place of the episcopate here and is now joined with me through his prayers, having completed one hundred and sixteen years, greets you and urges you, as I do, to be of the same mind."

11.4| So matters stood. In the church of Antioch, when Serapion had died, Asclepiades succeeded to the episcopate, himself also distinguished by his confessions during the persecution. Alexander mentions his appointment, writing to the Antiochenes as follows:

11.5| "Alexander, slave of Jesus Christ and his prisoner, sends greetings in the Lord to the blessed church of the Antiochenes. The Lord made my chains light and easy to bear at the time of my imprisonment, when I learned that, by divine providence, Asclepiades, whose faith makes him altogether fitting, had been entrusted with the episcopate of your holy church of the Antiochenes, as his worth deserved."

11.6| He indicates that he sent this letter through Clement, writing toward the end in this way: "I have sent you this letter, my lords and brothers, through Clement, the blessed presbyter, a virtuous and proven man, whom you know and will come to know better. Being here too, by the Master's providence and oversight, he has strengthened and increased the church of the Lord."

12.1| Of Serapion's literary activity it is likely that other writings are preserved in other hands, but the only ones to have reached us are the one To Domnus, who had fallen away during the time of the persecution from faith in Christ to the voluntary worship of the Jews; the one To Pontius and Caricus, men of the church; and other letters to other people.

12.2| There is also another treatise composed by him, On the Gospel according to Peter, so called. He wrote it to refute the false statements in it, on account of some in the community at Rhossus who, using that writing as a pretext, had drifted into heterodox teachings. It is reasonable to quote a few brief phrases from it, in which he sets out the opinion he held about the book, expressing it in these words:

12.3| "For we, brothers, accept both Peter and the other apostles as we would Christ, but as experienced men we reject the writings falsely attributed to their name, knowing that we did not receive such things. For when I was with you,

12.4| I had supposed that all of them held to the right faith, and without going through the gospel they put forward under Peter's name I said, "If this alone seems to cause you petty quarrels, let it be read." But now that I have learned, from what I have been told, that their mind was harboring some heresy in its lair, I shall hurry to come to you again; so, brothers, expect me soon.

12.5| But we, brothers, having grasped what sort of heresy Marcianus belonged to, a man who even contradicted himself without understanding what he was saying, as you will find out from what has been written to you,

12.6| were able to borrow this very gospel from others who had made use of it, namely from the successors of its originators, the people we call Docetae (for most of its notions belong to their teaching), and to go through it; and we found that most of it agrees with the true teaching of the Savior, but that some things have been added besides, which we have also set out below for you.

13.1| So much for Serapion's writings. Of Clement, all eight books of the Stromateis are preserved among us, and he gave them this heading: "Stromateis of Titus Flavius Clement, being gnostic memoirs in accordance with the true philosophy."

13.2| The books he entitled Hypotyposeis match these in number; in them he mentions Pantaenus by name as his teacher and sets out his interpretations of the scriptures and his traditions.

13.3| He also has the Exhortation addressed to the Greeks; three books of the work entitled The Tutor; another book of his entitled Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved?; the treatise On the Pascha; discourses On Fasting and On Slander; the Exhortation to Endurance, or To the Newly Baptized; and the work entitled The Church's Canon, or Against the Judaizers, dedicated by him to Alexander, the bishop already mentioned.

13.4| In the Stromateis, then, he has woven a patchwork not only from the divine scripture but also from Greek writers, whenever something they said seemed to him useful too, and he records the opinions held by most people,

13.5| unfolding Greek and barbarian thought alike and, further, correcting the false doctrines of the heresiarchs; and he spreads out a great deal of history, furnishing us with material for wide learning. With all this he mixes in the doctrines of the philosophers as well, so that he has fittingly given the Stromateis a title that matches their content.

13.6| In them he also makes use of evidence drawn from the disputed writings: the Wisdom said to be Solomon's, the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, the letter to the Hebrews, and the letters of Barnabas, Clement and Jude.

13.7| He mentions Tatian's Address to the Greeks, and Cassian, as one who had also composed a chronography, and further Philo, Aristobulus, Josephus, Demetrius and Eupolemus, Jewish writers, on the ground that all of them had demonstrated in their writings that Moses and the Jewish race were older than the most ancient origins claimed by the Greeks.

13.8| The books of the man that we have described are full of a great deal of other useful learning as well. In the first of them he states about himself that he came very close to the succession of the apostles, and in them he also promises to write a commentary on Genesis.

13.9| In his work On the Pascha too he admits that he was pressed by his companions to hand down in writing, for those who came after, the traditions he happened to have heard from the elders of old; and in it he mentions Melito and Irenaeus and certain others, whose accounts he has also included.

14.1| In the Hypotyposeis, to put it briefly, he has given condensed accounts of the whole of the covenanted scripture, not passing over even the disputed writings, by which I mean Jude, the remaining catholic epistles, the letter of Barnabas, and the Apocalypse that goes by the name of Peter's.

14.2| He says the Epistle to the Hebrews is Paul's, though it was written to Hebrews in the Hebrew language, and that Luke translated it with great care and published it for the Greeks; this is why the same coloring of style is found in the translation of this epistle and in the Acts. He says that the words "Paul, an apostle" were not set at its head, and with good reason:

14.3| "For in writing to Hebrews," he says, "who had taken up a prejudice against him and eyed him with suspicion, he was very prudent and did not repel them at the outset by setting his name down."

14.4| Then, going a little further down, he adds: "Moreover, as the blessed presbyter used to say, seeing that the Lord, who was the Almighty's apostle, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul, out of modesty, as one sent to the gentiles, does not write himself down as apostle of the Hebrews, both because of the honor due to the Lord and because it was beyond his charge that he wrote to the Hebrews as well, as he was herald and apostle to the gentiles."

14.5| In the same books, again, Clement has set down a tradition of the elders of old concerning the order of the gospels, and it runs as follows. He said that the gospels which contain the genealogies were written first,

14.6| and that the gospel according to Mark came about in this way. When Peter had preached the word publicly in Rome and proclaimed the gospel by the Spirit, those who were present, and there were many of them, urged Mark, who had followed Peter from far back and remembered what had been said, to write down what he had spoken; and when he had done so, he passed the gospel on to those who asked him for it.

14.7| When Peter learned of this, he neither actively forbade it nor urged it on. Last of all John, seeing that the bodily facts had been made plain in the gospels, and being urged on by his friends, was carried along by God in the Spirit and composed a spiritual gospel. So much for Clement.

14.8| Again, the Alexander mentioned above refers to Clement, and to Pantaenus as well, in a certain letter addressed to Origen, as men who had become his acquaintances. He writes as follows: "For this too, as you know, has been the will of God: that the friendship handed down to us from our forebears should remain inviolate, or rather should grow warmer and firmer.

14.9| For we know as fathers those blessed men who went on ahead of us, and whom we shall join before long: Pantaenus, who was truly blessed and was my master, and the holy Clement, who also became my master and benefited me, and any others like them. Through them I came to know you, who are in every way the best of men, my master and my brother." So much for that.

14.10| Adamantius, for this too was a name of Origen's, writes somewhere himself that during this period, while Zephyrinus was leading the church of the Romans, he stayed in Rome, saying that he had longed to see the church of the Romans, most ancient of all. After spending no great time there, he returned to Alexandria,

14.11| and there he resumed his usual work of instruction with all diligence, Demetrius, the bishop of that place, still urging him on at that time and all but begging him to labor unsparingly for the benefit of the brethren.

15.1| But he saw that he was not equal to his deeper study of divine things, to the examination and interpretation of the sacred writings, and on top of that to the instruction of the people who came to him, for they gave him no time even to breathe, one group after another attending his school from dawn until evening. So he divided the crowds. From among his pupils he chose Heraclas, a man earnest in divine matters, highly learned in other respects too, and no stranger to philosophy, and made him his partner in the work of instruction. To him he entrusted the first introduction of those who were just learning the elements, while for himself he kept the teaching of those already advanced.

16.1| So exact was the examination of the divine words that Origen undertook that he even learned the Hebrew language thoroughly and made his own possession the original scriptures current among the Jews, in the Hebrew characters themselves. He also tracked down the editions of the others, besides the Seventy, who had translated the sacred scriptures, and discovered certain further versions that differed from the well-worn translations, beside those of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion. These versions, which had lain hidden for a long time in some nooks or other, I do not know where, he searched out and brought to light.

16.2| Because of their obscurity he did not know whose they might be, and on them he noted only this: that he had found one at Nicopolis near Actium,

16.3| and the other in some other such place. In the Hexapla of the Psalms, moreover, after the four well-known editions, he set alongside a fifth, and not that alone but a sixth and a seventh translation, and beside one of these he noted again that it had been found in a jar at Jericho in the days of Antoninus the son of Severus.

16.4| All of these he brought together in one place, divided them into clauses and set them side by side, together with the Hebrew text itself, and so left us the copies of what is called the Hexapla. Separately he prepared, in the Tetrapla, the edition of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion alongside that of the Seventy.

17.1| Among these same translators it should be noted that Symmachus was an Ebionite. The so-called heresy of the Ebionites belongs to those who say that Christ was born from Joseph and Mary, who take him to be a mere man, and who insist that the law must be kept in a more Jewish fashion, as we learned also from the earlier narrative. Commentaries of Symmachus are still in circulation today, in which he seems to aim at the Gospel according to Matthew and so to strengthen the heresy just described. Origen indicates that he received these, together with Symmachus's other interpretations of the scriptures, from a certain Juliana, who, as he says, inherited the books from Symmachus himself.

18.1| At this time Ambrose, who held the views of the Valentinian heresy, was refuted by the truth that Origen championed. His mind was lit up, as it were, by a light, and he attached himself to the doctrine of orthodox church teaching.

18.2| Many others of the educated class also went to Origen, since the fame of the man was proclaimed everywhere, to test his ability in the sacred writings. Countless heretics, and no small number of the foremost philosophers, devoted themselves eagerly to him, and were taught by him, almost as much as in the divine matters, in the secular philosophy as well.

18.3| For he introduced those whom he saw to be naturally gifted to the philosophical studies as well, handing on geometry, arithmetic and the other preliminary subjects, and leading them on to the schools of thought among the philosophers. He would expound their writings, composing commentaries and examining each point, so that even among the Greeks themselves the man was proclaimed a great philosopher.

18.4| He also urged many of the less educated toward the general studies, saying that these would give them considerable aptitude and preparation for the study of the divine scriptures. For this reason above all he considered training in the worldly and philosophical subjects necessary for himself too.

19.1| As witnesses to his success in these matters there are the Greek philosophers themselves, who were flourishing in his time. In their writings we have found frequent mention of the man: at times they dedicated their own works to him, and at times they submitted their own labors to him as to a teacher for his judgment.

19.2| Why need I say this, when Porphyry, who settled in Sicily in our own day, composed treatises against us and tried through them to slander the divine scriptures? He mentioned those who had interpreted them, but could not bring any real charge at all against our doctrines, and so, at a loss for arguments, he turned to abuse and to slandering the interpreters, Origen above all.

19.3| Porphyry claimed to have known him in his youth. He tries to slander him, but without noticing it he commends the man: he speaks the truth where he could not have spoken otherwise, and lies where he thought he would go undetected. At one moment he accuses him as a Christian, at another he describes his progress in philosophical studies.

19.4| Hear then what he says, in his own words: "Some people, eager to find not an escape from the wickedness of the Jewish scriptures but a way of dissolving it, turned to interpretations that are incoherent and out of tune with what is written. These bring not so much a defense of the foreign writings as acceptance and praise for their own. For they boast that what Moses says plainly is riddles, and they pronounce it inspired, as oracles filled with hidden mysteries; and having bewitched the critical faculty of the soul with their pretentiousness, they bring in their interpretations."

19.5| Then, after other remarks, he says: "The manner of this absurdity should be taken from a man whom I too met when I was still very young, who was highly esteemed and still is through the writings he left, Origen, whose fame has spread widely among the teachers of these doctrines.

19.6| For he was a hearer of Ammonius, who in our time made the greatest progress in philosophy; and from his teacher he gained great benefit for his command of argument, but in the right choice of way of life he took the opposite course to him.

19.7| Ammonius, a Christian brought up among Christians by his parents, turned at once to a life in accordance with the laws when he took up thinking and philosophy. Origen, a Greek educated in Greek learning, drifted into a barbarian recklessness; and carrying himself and his skill in argument to it, he peddled them, living as a Christian and in defiance of the law in his manner of life, but in his opinions about things and the divine he followed Greek ways and mixed the Greek ideas into foreign myths."

19.8| For he was always with Plato, and he kept company with the writings of Numenius, Cronius, Apollophanes, Longinus, Moderatus, and Nicomachus, and of the other men of repute among the Pythagoreans. He also used the books of Chaeremon the Stoic and of Cornutus. From these he learned the method of interpreting the mysteries of the Greeks allegorically, and applied it to the Jewish scriptures.

19.9| This is what Porphyry said in the third book of his writings against the Christians. He told the truth about the man's discipline and wide learning, but he plainly lied (for what would a writer against the Christians not do?) where he says that Origen changed sides out of the Greeks, and that Ammonius fell away from a life of piety into the pagan way.

19.10| For Origen had kept the teaching of Christ from his forefathers, as the earlier narrative has shown, and Ammonius' divinely inspired philosophy remained pure and unfallen right up to the last end of his life. The works of the man bear witness to this even now, since through the writings he left he is well regarded by most people, as is, for example, the book entitled On the Agreement of Moses and Jesus, and all the others that are found among lovers of what is noble.

19.11| Let this be set out, then, as proof both of the slander of this liar and of Origen's wide experience in the learning of the Greeks. Defending himself against some who had blamed him for his zeal for those studies, he writes the following in a certain letter:

19.12| "When I had devoted myself to teaching the word, and the report of my condition spread abroad, heretics came to me at one time, and at another those versed in Greek learning, especially in philosophy. So I decided to examine both the teachings of the heretics and what the philosophers claim to say about the truth.

19.13| We did this in imitation of Pantaenus, who benefited many before us and had no small equipment in those subjects, and of Heraclas, who now sits in the presbytery of the Alexandrians. I found him with the teacher of philosophical studies, where he had already been attending him for five years before I began to listen to those lectures.

19.14| Because of him, though he had formerly worn ordinary dress, he took it off and put on the garb of a philosopher, and he keeps it to this day; and he does not cease to study the books of the Greeks as far as he is able."

19.15| These things he said in defending his Greek studies. At this time, while he was spending his days at Alexandria, one of the soldiers came up and handed over letters to Demetrius, bishop of the community, and to the prefect of Egypt of that time, from the governor of Arabia, asking that they send Origen with all haste to confer with him. And so he went to Arabia; but having soon brought the business of his visit to an end, he returned again to Alexandria.

19.16| Some time later, when no small war had flared up in the city, he slipped away from Alexandria and went to Palestine, and made his stay at Caesarea. There the bishops of the region asked him to lecture and to interpret the divine scriptures before the assembled church, even though he had not yet been ordained to the presbytery.

19.17| This too will be made clear from what is written by Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, and Theoctistus of Caesarea write in defending themselves about Demetrius, in words something like these. He had added to his letter that this had never been heard of and has not happened now, that laymen should speak when bishops are present; but in saying so he was, I do not know how, plainly not telling the truth.

19.18| "At any rate, wherever there are men suited to benefit the brothers, they are even invited by the holy bishops to speak to the people, as Euelpis at Laranda was invited by Neon, Paulinus at Iconium by Celsus, and Theodorus at Synada by Atticus, all blessed brothers. It is likely that this happens in other places too, and that we simply do not know of it." The man we are speaking of was honored in this way, even while still young, not only by those he knew but also by bishops in foreign parts.

19.19| But when Demetrius recalled him again by letter and urged him, through men who were deacons of the church, to come back to Alexandria, he returned and carried on his accustomed labors.

20.1| At this time many learned churchmen were flourishing, and it is easy to find even now the letters they wrote to one another. These were preserved down to our own day in the library at Aelia, which was furnished by Alexander, who then governed the church there; from it we ourselves have been able to gather together the materials for the subject at hand.

20.2| Among these men, Beryllus left behind, along with letters, various elegant compositions; he was bishop of the Arabs at Bostra. Hippolytus likewise, who himself presided over some other church, did the same.

20.3| There has also come down to us a dialogue by Gaius, a man of great learning, held at Rome in the time of Zephyrinus against Proclus, a champion of the Phrygian heresy. In it, as he curbs the rashness and daring of the opposing side in writing up new scriptures, he mentions only thirteen letters of the holy apostle, not counting the one to the Hebrews with the rest, since even to this day some among the Romans do not regard it as the apostle's.

21.1| But Antoninus, after reigning seven years and six months, was succeeded by Macrinus; and after Macrinus had lasted a year, another Antoninus again took over the Roman government. In his first year Zephyrinus, bishop of the Romans, passed away, having held his ministry for a full eighteen years;

21.2| after him Callistus received the episcopate, and he, surviving five years, left the ministry to Urban. After these, the emperor Alexander succeeded to the Roman rule, Antoninus having lasted only four years. In his reign Philetus also succeeded Asclepiades over the church of the Antiochenes.

21.3| The emperor's mother, Mamaea by name, a woman as devout as any, since the fame of Origen was proclaimed everywhere and had reached even her own ears, made it a great concern to be granted a sight of the man and to gain experience of his understanding in divine matters, which was admired by all.

21.4| While staying at Antioch, she summoned him with a military escort. He spent some time with her, displayed a great many things for the glory of the Lord and for the excellence of the divine school, and then hurried back to his customary occupations.

22.1| It was then, too, that Hippolytus, among very many other treatises, composed his work On the Passover, in which he set out a record of dates and laid down a certain sixteen-year cycle for the Passover, and brought his chronology down to the emperor Alexander’s first year. Of his remaining writings the following have come to us: On the Hexaemeron, On the Things After the Hexaemeron, Against Marcion, On the Song of Songs, as well as On Parts of Ezekiel, On the Passover, and Against All the Heresies; and a great many others you could find preserved among many people.

23.1| From that time Origen also began his commentaries on the divine scriptures, since Ambrose urged him on with countless inducements, not only the encouragements and exhortations of words, but also the most abundant supplies of what he needed.

23.2| For more than seven shorthand writers were at hand as he dictated, relieving one another at appointed times, and there were no fewer copyists, together with girls trained in fine penmanship. For all of these Ambrose provided an ample abundance of the necessities required. Indeed he also contributed an inexpressible eagerness to the exercise and zeal Origen devoted to the divine oracles, and this above all spurred him on to compose his commentaries.

23.3| While matters stood thus, Urban, after eight years as bishop of the church of the Romans, was succeeded by Pontianus, and after Philetus, Zebennus took over the church of the Antiochenes. In their time Origen,

23.4| setting out for Greece by way of Palestine because urgent business of the churches required it, received the imposition of hands for the office of presbyter in Caesarea from the bishops there. The disturbances that arose about him because of this, the decisions the heads of the churches reached on those disturbances, and the other things he contributed in his prime to divine teaching, which need a treatise of their own, I have recorded moderately in the second book of the defense that I composed on his behalf.

24.1| One should add to these remarks that in book six of the Expositions on the Gospel according to John he states that he wrote the first five while still at Alexandria; and of this work on the entire gospel, we have received only twenty-two volumes.

24.2| In the ninth book of his Commentary on Genesis (twelve books altogether) he makes clear that he composed notes not only on the books before the ninth while in Alexandria, but also on the Psalms, the first twenty-five, and further on Lamentations, of which five volumes have reached us, and in these he mentions his work On the Resurrection;

24.3| that too is in two books. Moreover he wrote his work On First Principles before his departure from Alexandria, and the ten books entitled Stromateis he put together in the same city in the time of Alexander's reign, as the autograph notes at the head of the volumes also make clear.

25.1| In expounding the first Psalm, he gave an account of the list of the sacred writings of the Old Testament, writing in these words: "It must not be overlooked that the books of the covenant, as the Hebrews hand them down, are twenty-two, as many as the count of the letters they have."

25.2| Then, after some intervening matter, he adds: "According to the Hebrews the books are twenty-two in number, and they are these: the book we call Genesis, which the Hebrews title from the beginning of the book, Bresith, meaning 'In the beginning'; Exodus, Ouellesmoth, meaning 'These names'; Leviticus, Ouikra, 'And he called'; Numbers, Ammesphekodeim; Deuteronomy, Elleaddebareim, 'These are the words'; Jesus son of Nave, Iosouebennoun; Judges, Ruth, among them in a single book, Sophteim; of Kingdoms, first and second, among them one book, Samouel, 'the one called by God'; of Kingdoms, third and fourth, in one book, Ouammelchdauid, meaning 'the kingdom of David'; of Chronicles, first and second, in one book, Dabreiamein, meaning 'words of days'; of Ezra, first and second, in one book, Ezra, meaning 'helper'; the book of Psalms, Spharthelleim; Proverbs of Solomon, Meloth; Ecclesiastes, Koelth; Song of Songs (it is not, as some suppose, 'Songs of Songs'), Sirassireim; Isaiah, Iessia; Jeremiah, with Lamentations and the Letter combined in one book, Ieremia; Daniel, Daniel; Ezekiel, Iezekiel; Job, Iob; Esther, Esther. Apart from these are the Maccabean books, which are entitled Sarbethsabanaiel."

25.3| He sets these down in the work mentioned above. In the first book of his Commentary on Matthew, guarding the church's canon, he bears witness that he knows only four Gospels, writing in some such words as these:

25.4| "As I have learned by tradition regarding the four Gospels, which are the only ones beyond dispute in the church of God under heaven, the first to be written was that of Matthew, formerly a tax collector, afterward an apostle of Jesus Christ; he issued it to those who believed out of Judaism, arranged in Hebrew letters;

25.5| the second is by Mark, who wrote it as Peter guided him, and whom Peter also acknowledged as his son in the catholic letter, with these words: 'She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son';

25.6| and the third is by Luke, the Gospel praised by Paul, which he composed for those from the Gentiles; last of all is the one by John."

25.7| And in the fifth book of his Expositions on John's Gospel the same man says this about the letters of the apostles: "Paul, who was made sufficient to be a servant of the new covenant, a covenant of the Spirit and not of the letter, and who completed the gospel from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum, did not write even to all the churches he taught, and even to those he wrote to, he sent only a few lines.

25.8| Peter, upon whom Christ's church is built, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, has left one letter that is acknowledged, and perhaps a second as well; for it is doubted.

25.9| Why should one speak of the man who leaned back on the breast of Jesus, John, who has left one Gospel,

25.10| admitting that he could have made so many that not even the world could contain them? He also wrote the Revelation, after being ordered to keep silent and not to write down the utterances of the seven thunders. He has left a letter too, of very few lines, and perhaps a second and third; since not everyone says these are genuine. In any case, the two together do not come to a hundred lines."

25.11| Moreover, about the Letter to the Hebrews he gives this account in his Homilies on it: "The character of the style of the letter entitled To the Hebrews does not have the plainness of speech of the apostle, who admitted that he was plain in speech, that is, in expression; rather, the letter is more Greek in the composition of its diction,

25.12| as everyone who understands how to judge differences of style would agree. Again, the thoughts of the letter are wonderful and no less than the acknowledged writings of the apostle, and everyone who pays attention to reading the apostle would agree that this is true."

25.13| After other remarks he adds the following: "For my part, giving my own judgment, I would say that the thoughts come from the apostle, but the diction and composition belong to someone who recalled the apostle's teachings and, as it were, wrote up notes on what the teacher had said. If, then, any church holds this letter to be Paul's, let it be commended for that too; for it is not without reason that the men of old have handed it down as Paul's.

25.14| But who actually wrote the letter, God knows the truth; the account that has reached us says, on the one hand, from some that Clement, who became bishop of the Romans, wrote the letter, and from others that it was Luke, author of the Gospel and the Acts."

26.1| But let this stand as it is. This was the tenth year of the reign mentioned, the year in which Origen moved from Alexandria to Caesarea and left to Heraclas the school of instruction for catechumens there. Soon afterward Demetrius, bishop of the church of the Alexandrians, also died, having remained in his service for a full forty-three years; Heraclas took his place.

27.1| At this time Firmilian, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was distinguished; he showed such zeal for Origen that at one time he summoned him to his own regions for the benefit of the churches, and at another went himself to Judea to spend some time with him for the sake of progress in divine things. Moreover, Alexander, who had charge of the church of Jerusalem, and Theoctistus of Caesarea, both of whom attended on him the whole time as on their only teacher, allowed him to carry out the interpretation of the divine Scriptures and the rest of the church's teaching.

28.1| When the emperor of the Romans, Alexander, had completed thirteen years of rule, Maximinus Caesar succeeded him. Out of hatred for the house of Alexander, which included many believers, he stirred up a persecution and commanded that the rulers of the churches alone be executed, since they were to blame for the instruction given in the gospel. It was then that Origen drew up his work On Martyrdom, inscribing the treatise to Ambrose and to Protoctetus, a presbyter of the community at Caesarea, because no ordinary crisis had overtaken them both in the persecution; tradition holds that in it the two men were distinguished by their confession, since Maximinus's time lasted no more than three years. Origen has noted the date of this persecution in the twenty-second book of the Expositions on John's Gospel, and in several letters.

29.1| When Gordian took over the Roman government after Maximinus, in the church at Rome Pontianus, who had been bishop for six years, was succeeded by Anteros, and he, after serving in the ministry for a month, by Fabian.

29.2| They say that Fabian, coming from the countryside with others after the death of Anteros, was staying in Rome, where, most unexpectedly, by divine and heavenly grace he was advanced to the clergy.

29.3| For when all the brothers had assembled for the election of the one who would succeed to the bishopric, and many distinguished and renowned men were in the minds of most, Fabian, though present, did not occur to anyone's thought. Nevertheless they record that suddenly a dove flew down from on high and settled on his head, displaying a likeness of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Savior in the shape of a dove;

29.4| at which the entire people, moved as though by a single divine Spirit, cried out with every eagerness and one soul that he was worthy, and without hesitation took him and placed him on the throne of the bishopric. At that time also, when Zebennus, bishop of Antioch, departed this life, Babylas took over the office; and in Alexandria, when Heraclas had taken over the ministry after Demetrius, Dionysius succeeded to the post of instructing the catechumens there, he too being one of Origen's students.

30.1| While Origen was carrying on his customary work at Caesarea, many approached him, not only from the local population but countless students from abroad who had left their homelands. Of these we have known as especially distinguished Theodore, who was the very man who in our own time is a renowned bishop, Gregory, and his brother Athenodorus. They were intensely taken with Greek and Roman studies, but Origen, having inspired in them a love of philosophy, urged them to trade their former pursuit for the discipline of divine things. After spending five whole years with him, they gained such progress in divine matters that, while both were still young, they were thought worthy of the bishopric of the churches in Pontus.

31.1| At this time Africanus, the author of the work entitled the Cestoi, also became well known. A letter of his addressed to Origen is in circulation; in it he voices his doubts that the story of Susanna in Daniel is genuine, suspecting it to be a fabrication. Origen wrote back to him with a very full reply.

31.2| Other works by the same Africanus have also reached us, five books of Chronographies, composed with great accuracy. In them he says that he set out for Alexandria because of the wide renown of Heraclas, who, as we have indicated, had distinguished himself greatly in philosophical discourse and the other studies of the Greeks, and had the bishopric of the church there entrusted to him. Another letter of the same Africanus is also in circulation, addressed to Aristides,

31.3| concerning the supposed disagreement between Matthew's and Luke's genealogies of Christ. In it he demonstrates most clearly that the evangelists agree, from an account that had come down to him, which I set out earlier at the proper time, in the first book of the work in hand.

32.1| Around this time Origen also composed his commentaries on Isaiah, and together with them those on Ezekiel. Of these, thirty volumes on the third part of Isaiah, as far as the vision of the four-footed beasts in the desert, have come down to us, and twenty-five on Ezekiel, which are the only ones he wrote on the whole of that prophet. When he was in Athens at that time, he finished the commentaries on Ezekiel,

32.2| and began those on the Song of Songs, and he carried them there as far as the fifth volume. After returning to Caesarea he brought these also to completion, ten in number.

32.3| Why should I now draw up an exact catalogue of the man's writings, when it requires a leisure of its own? I did in fact record it in my account of the life of Pamphilus, the holy martyr of our own day. There, to show how great Pamphilus' zeal for divine things was, I set out the lists of the library he had gathered the works of Origen and those of other church writers, and from them anyone who wishes can learn most completely which of Origen's labors have come down to us. For the present we must go on with the sequence of the narrative.

33.1| Beryllus, whom I mentioned a little earlier as bishop of Bostra in Arabia, was turning aside from the rule of the church and attempting to introduce some strange teachings into the faith. He dared to say that our Savior and Lord did not exist beforehand in a distinct circumscription of his own essence before his sojourn among human beings, and that he did not have a divinity peculiar to himself, but only the Father's divinity dwelling within him.

33.2| Because of this, a great many bishops held inquiries and discussions with the man. Origen, invited along with others, went down and at first entered into conversation with him, trying to find out what he really thought. When he understood what he was saying, he corrected him for his unsound doctrine, persuaded him by argument, established him in the truth about the teaching, and brought him back to his former sound opinion.

33.3| Written records concerning Beryllus and the synod held on his account are still in circulation today. They contain Origen's questions to him, the discussions held while he was in the diocese, and each of the proceedings of that time.

33.4| The elders of our own day hand down countless other recollections about Origen, which I think I will pass over, since they do not belong to the present undertaking. But whatever it was necessary to know about him can be gathered from the defense on his behalf that I composed together with Pamphilus, the holy martyr of our own time. We worked on it zealously together for the sake of those who love to find fault.

34.1| After Gordian had completed six full years of rule over the Romans, Philip took over the empire together with his son Philip. The story is told that he, as a Christian, wished to share with the congregation, on the day of the Pascha's last vigil, in the church's prayers, yet the one presiding at that time would not permit him to enter until he had confessed and enrolled himself among those who were counted as being in sin and who held a place for repentance. Otherwise, because of the many charges against him, the bishop would never have received him unless he had done this. And he is said to have obeyed readily, showing by his deeds the genuine and reverent quality of his disposition toward the fear of God.

35.1| It was in the third year of his reign that Heraclas died, after sixteen years of leadership over the churches of Alexandria, and Dionysius received the bishopric.

36.1| At that time, as one would expect, the faith was growing in numbers and our message was spoken with confidence among all people. Origen, they say, was by then past sixty years of age, and since he had gathered, from his long preparation, a very great command of his subject, he allowed shorthand writers to take down the discourses he delivered in public, something he had never before permitted.

36.2| In this period he also composed the eight books against the work entitled True Discourse, which Celsus the Epicurean wrote against us, and the twenty-five volumes on the Gospel of Matthew, together with those concerning the twelve prophets, of which we ourselves found only twenty-five.

36.3| A letter of his is also extant addressed to Philip the emperor himself, and another to Philip's wife Severa, as well as various other letters to various people. Of these, as many as we were able to collect, having survived scattered among different owners, we have listed in separate volumes, so that they would no longer be scattered; they number more than a hundred.

36.4| He also writes to Fabian, bishop of Rome, and to a great many other leaders of churches, about his own orthodoxy. You have the proofs of these too in the sixth book of the defense of the man that we wrote.

37.1| Again, in Arabia at the time just mentioned, others arose who brought in a doctrine alien to the truth. They claimed that the human soul, for the present period, dies together with the body at death and is destroyed along with it, but that at some later time, at the season of the resurrection, it will come back to life with it. At that time too a considerable synod was assembled, and Origen was again called upon; he opened a discussion in public on the matter in question, and argued so effectively that the opinions of those who had previously gone astray were changed.

38.1| At that time too another perversion began, the heresy of the so-called Helkesaites, which was extinguished as soon as it began. Origen mentions it in a homily given in public on the eighty-second Psalm, speaking somewhat as follows: "Someone has come at the present time, proud of being able to champion an atheistic and most impious opinion, called that of the Helkesaites, which has newly risen up against the churches. I shall set before you the evils that opinion proclaims, so that you may not be carried off by it. It rejects some things from the whole of Scripture; it uses sayings again from the whole of the old Scripture and the gospel, but it rejects the apostle altogether. It says that denial makes no difference, and that the person who understands will deny with the mouth under compulsion, but not with the heart. And they bring forward a certain book, which, they say, has fallen from heaven, and that whoever hears it and believes will receive forgiveness of sins, a different forgiveness from the one Christ Jesus granted."

39.1| But Philip, after reigning seven years, was succeeded by Decius. Because of his hatred for Philip he stirred up a persecution against the churches. In it Fabian was perfected by martyrdom at Rome; Cornelius succeeded him in the episcopate.

39.2| In Palestine, Alexander, who was bishop of the church at Jerusalem, was again brought before the governor's tribunals at Caesarea for the sake of Christ. Having distinguished himself by a second confession, he underwent imprisonment, crowned with a rich old age and venerable white hair.

39.3| After his splendid and conspicuous witness before the governor's tribunals, he fell asleep in prison, and Mazabanes was appointed to succeed him in the episcopate of Jerusalem.

39.4| In much the same way as Alexander, Babylas died in prison at Antioch after his confession, and Fabius took charge of the church there.

39.5| Now the kind and number of things that befell Origen during the persecution, and what end he met with, when the wicked demon marshaled all his forces against the man as if in rivalry and led every device and power against him, assailing him above all those who were fought against in that day; and what things the man suffered for Christ's word: bonds and tortures inflicted on the body, punishments under the iron collar and in the recesses of the prison; how for very many days his feet were stretched out to four holes of the instrument of torture; the threats of fire and everything else his enemies brought upon him, which he bore bravely; and what outcome his case had, as the judge strove with all his might and obstinately insisted that he should by no means put him to death; and what sayings he left behind after this, full of benefit for those who need uplifting: the man's many letters contain the truth about all this, together with accuracy.

40.1| I will set out what concerns Dionysius from his letter to Germanus, where he gives this account of himself: "I speak even in the presence of God, and he himself knows whether I lie. It was not on my own judgment, nor without God, that I made my flight. Even before this, when the persecution under Decius was announced,

40.2| Sabinus at that very hour sent a frumentarius to search for me. I stayed four days in my house, waiting for the frumentarius to arrive. He went around searching everywhere, the roads, the rivers, the fields, wherever he suspected I was hiding or walking, but he was struck with blindness and failed to find the house; since he could not believe that I, a hunted man, would be staying at home.

40.3| Only with difficulty, after the fourth day, when God told me to move away and made a way for me beyond all expectation, did I go out, together with my servants and many of the brothers. That this was the work of God's providence, what followed made clear, in which we perhaps proved useful to some."

40.4| Then, after saying some things in between, he explains what befell him after the flight, adding these words: "About sunset I fell into the soldiers' hands, together with those with me, and was taken to Taposiris. Timothy, by God's providence, happened not to be there and was not caught. Coming later, he found the house deserted, with attendants guarding it, and us carried off into captivity."

40.5| And after other matters he says: "And what was the way of his wonderful ordering of events? I shall tell the truth. One of the countrymen met Timothy as he was fleeing in confusion, and asked the reason for his haste. He told him the truth, and the man, on hearing it

40.6| (he was on his way to feast at a wedding, for it is their custom to keep vigil all night at such gatherings) went in and reported it to those reclining at table. They all rose together with one impulse, as though at a signal, and came running at top speed. They burst in on us with a shout, and when the soldiers guarding us immediately fled, they stood over us just as we were, lying on bare bedsteads. And I,

40.7| God knows, taking them at first for robbers who had come to plunder and steal, stayed on my bed. I was naked except for my linen garment, and I held out to them the rest of my clothing, which lay beside me. But they ordered me to get up and leave as quickly as possible.

40.8| Then I realized why they had come, and cried out, begging and entreating them to depart and let us be; and if they wished to do some kindness, I asked them to get ahead of those who were taking me away and cut off my head themselves. As I shouted such things, as my companions, who shared everything with me, know, they lifted me up by force. I dropped to the ground on my back, but they took hold of me by the hands and feet, dragged me out, and I was followed by the witnesses to all this: Gaius, Faustus, Peter and Paul.

40.9| They took me up and carried me out of the little town, set me on a bare-backed donkey, and led me away." So Dionysius writes about himself.

41.1| The same man, in his letter to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, recounts in this way the struggles of those who bore witness at Alexandria under Decius: "Among us the persecution did not begin with the emperor's decree, but anticipated it by a whole year. The prophet and deviser of evils for this city, whoever that man was, got in ahead, and stirred up and incited the crowds of the pagans against us, fanning them into the superstition of their own country. Inflamed by him, and seizing every opportunity for unholy deeds,

41.2| they took this worship of the demons to be the only piety: to thirst for our blood. So first they seized an elderly man, Metras by name, and ordered him to utter blasphemous words.

41.3| When he refused to obey, they beat his body with clubs, pricked his face and eyes with sharp reeds, led him out to the suburb, and stoned him.

41.4| Next they led a believing woman, called Quinta, to the idol temple and tried to force her to worship. When she turned away in loathing, they bound her by the feet and hauled her through the whole city along the rough paving, dashing her against the millstones and flogging her at the same time; then they brought her to the same place and stoned her.

41.5| Then all together they rushed upon the houses of the godly, and each group fell upon those whom they recognized as neighbors, dragged them off, plundered and looted them. The more valuable of the treasures they carried off, while the cheaper things, and whatever had been made from wood, they flung about and set on fire in the streets, presenting the sight of a city captured by enemies.

41.6| The brothers withdrew and gave way, and they accepted the plundering of their possessions with joy, just as those to whom Paul also bore witness; and I do not know that anyone, apart from perhaps a single person who fell into it, denied the Lord, at least up to this point.

41.7| They also seized the then most admirable Apollonia, a virgin advanced in years, and by striking out all her teeth they knocked her jaws loose; then they heaped up a pyre before the city and threatened that they would burn her alive unless she joined them in shouting the proclamations of impiety. She begged off for a moment, and when she was released she leapt vigorously into the fire and was burned to death.

41.8| They also caught Serapion in his own house, tortured him with harsh torments, broke all his limbs, and threw him headlong from the upper story. And there was no road, no highway, no alley that we could walk, neither by night nor by day, for always and everywhere everyone was shouting that anyone who would not sing the praises of their blasphemous words must at once be dragged off and burned. And this went on in full force for a long time in this manner,

41.9| but strife and civil war overtook the wretches and turned their cruelty against us upon one another, and we drew breath a little, since they had no leisure for their anger toward us. Immediately, however, the change of that reign, which had been kinder to us, was announced, and a great fear of the threat against us was stretched taut.

41.10| And indeed the edict arrived, almost exactly the very thing foretold by our Lord, all but the most terrible of all, such as to make even the elect stumble, if that were possible.

41.11| At any rate, all cowered down. Many of the more prominent persons came forward at once, some out of fear, others, being public officials, were led on by their official duties, and others were dragged along by those about them. Summoned by name, they came forward to the unclean and unholy sacrifices, some going pale and trembling, as though they were not about to sacrifice but were themselves to be victims and offerings for the idols, so that the great crowd standing around jeered at them, and it was plain that they were cowards in every respect, both toward dying and toward sacrificing.

41.12| Others ran more readily to the altars, asserting with their boldness that they had not been Christians even before; about them the Lord's prediction is most true, that they will be saved with difficulty. Of the rest, some followed one or the other of these groups, and others fled;

41.13| and others were arrested. Of these, some went as far as chains and prison, and some, shut up for several days, then renounced the faith even before coming to the tribunal; others endured the tortures for a while, but then gave up for the future.

41.14| But those firm and blessed pillars of the Lord, strengthened by him, and receiving from the strong faith within them a power and endurance worthy of and proportionate to it, became admirable witnesses of his kingdom.

41.15| The foremost of them was Julian, a gouty man unable to stand or walk, who was brought in together with two others who bore him. Of these, one denied at once, but the other, named Cronion and surnamed Eunous, and Julian the old man himself confessed the Lord; they were mounted on camels and flogged aloft through the whole city, which is very large, as you know, and finally, with the whole populace crowded around, they were consumed in quicklime.

41.16| A soldier, Besas, stood beside them as they were led away and opposed those who were insulting them; when the mob cried out against him he was brought forward, and that most courageous fighter of God, who had distinguished himself in the great war for piety, was beheaded.

41.17| And another, a Libyan by birth, truly Macar ("Blessed") in both name and praise, although the judge pressed him hard to deny, was not persuaded and was burned alive. Following them, Epimachus and Alexander, who had remained prisoners a long time and endured countless pains, scrapings and scourgings, were likewise dissolved in unquenchable fire.

41.18| With them were four women. One was Ammonarion, a holy virgin, whom the judge tortured at very great length with fierce obstinacy, because she had declared beforehand that she would utter nothing of what he ordered; she made good her promise and was led away. The others, the most venerable old woman Mercuria and Dionysia, who was rich in children, yet did not cherish them more than the Lord, died by the sword, since the governor was ashamed to go on torturing to no end and to be defeated by women, and they no longer underwent the trial of torments; for the champion Ammonarion had taken upon herself those meant for all.

41.19| Egyptians: Heron, Ater, and Isidore, and with them a boy of about fifteen, Dioscorus, were handed over. The judge tried first to deceive the lad with words, as one easily misled, and to force him with tortures, as one quick to yield, but Dioscorus was neither persuaded nor gave way.

41.20| The rest he tore apart most savagely; when they held out under that, he gave them to the fire as well. Dioscorus, however, who shone brilliantly in public and answered his private questions with great wisdom, he admired and let go, saying that, because of his youth, he was granting him a postponement for repentance. And now that most godly Dioscorus is with us, having been kept for a longer contest and a more enduring prize.

41.21| A certain Nemesion, also an Egyptian, was falsely accused of being an associate of robbers. He cleared himself of this wholly foreign charge before the centurion, but was then denounced as a Christian and came in chains before the governor. That most unjust man mauled him with double the tortures and scourgings he used on the robbers, and burned him between the robbers, so that the blessed man was honored by the example of Christ.

41.22| A whole squad of soldiers, Ammon, Zeno, Ptolemy and Ingenes, and an old man, Theophilus, with them, were standing in front of the tribunal. When someone was being tried as a Christian and was already inclining toward denial, these men stood by gnashing their teeth, signaling with their faces, stretching out their hands, and gesturing with their bodies.

41.23| When everyone turned to look at them, before anyone could lay hands on them in any other way, they ran ahead up to the platform, saying that they were Christians. As a result the governor and his assessors were seized with fear, while those on trial appeared quite fearless in the face of what they would suffer, and the judges shrank back. So these men marched out in triumph from the courts and exulted in their witness, God leading them in glorious triumph.

42.1| Very many others, in cities and in villages, were torn to pieces by the pagans. I will mention one of them as an example. Ischyrion was employed for pay as a steward by one of the magistrates. His paymaster ordered him to sacrifice; when he did not obey, he abused him; when he persisted, he heaped insults on him; and when he still held firm, the man took a very large staff, drove it through his bowels and entrails, and killed him.

42.2| Why must I speak of the great number who wandered about in deserts and mountains, and perished from hunger, thirst, cold, disease, robbers and wild beasts? The survivors among them are witnesses of their election and victory, and I will set out one deed of theirs to make this clear.

42.3| Chaeremon was a very old bishop of the city called Nilopolis. Having fled to the Arabian mountain together with his wife, he never returned. Though the brethren searched thoroughly, they were never able to see either them or their bodies again.

42.4| Many in that same Arabian mountain were enslaved by barbarian Saracens. Some of these were ransomed, only with difficulty and at great expense; others have not been to this day. I have related these things, brother, not without purpose, but so that you may know how many and how great were the terrors that befell us; those who have had more experience of them would know still more.

42.5| Then, a little further on, he continues: "Now the divine martyrs among us, who are now assessors of Christ and sharers in his kingdom, partners in his judgment and judging together with him, took under their protection some of the fallen brethren who had become liable to the charge of sacrificing. Seeing their conversion and repentance and judging that it could be acceptable to him who does not at all desire the death of the sinner, since the repentance was proved genuine, they received them, gathered them in, presented them, and shared prayers and meals with them. What advice, then, brethren, do you give us about these people?

42.6| What must we do? Shall we stand with them, of one vote and one mind, and uphold their judgment and their grace, and deal kindly with those to whom they showed mercy? Or shall we declare their judgment unjust, set ourselves up as examiners of their opinion, grieve their kindness, and overturn the arrangement?" Dionysius reasonably includes these words, since he is raising the question of those who weakened during the time of the persecution.

43.1| This was because Novatus, presbyter in the Roman church, puffed up with arrogance against these people, as though no hope of salvation remained for them any longer, not even if they performed everything that belongs to genuine conversion and pure confession, became founder of a sect of his own, of those who in the conceit of their reasoning called themselves the Pure.

43.2| On this account a very large synod gathered at Rome, made up of sixty bishops and of still more presbyters and deacons; and the pastors in the other provinces also deliberated privately, each in his region, about what should be done. A decision was reached by all: that Novatus, together with those who had been puffed up with him, and those who preferred to assent to the man's brother-hating and utterly inhuman opinion, should be regarded as outside the church, while those of the brethren who had fallen into the misfortune should be healed and treated with the medicines of repentance.

43.3| There came down to us letters of Cornelius, the Romans' bishop, to Fabius of the church of the Antiochenes, reporting on the council of the Romans and on the decisions of those in Italy, Africa and the regions there. There were also other letters, composed in the Roman tongue, from Cyprian and his colleagues in Africa, which made clear that they too agreed that those who had been tested must be given help, and that it was right to expel the leader of the heresy from the catholic church, and likewise all who were being led away with him.

43.4| To these another letter of Cornelius was attached, about the decisions of the council, and yet another about the actions of Novatus. There is no reason not to set out parts of it, so that readers of this work may know his affairs. Informing Fabius what sort of man Novatus had turned out to be in character,

43.5| Cornelius writes these very words: "So that you may know that this remarkable man long ago craved the episcopate, and that he kept this reckless desire hidden within himself without being noticed, using as a cover for his folly the fact that at the beginning he had the confessors with him, I wish to say the following.

43.6| Maximus, a presbyter of ours, and Urbanus, who twice reaped the finest glory of confession, and Sidonius, and Celerinus, a man who endured every torture with the greatest fortitude through the mercy of God, strengthened the weakness of his flesh by the force of his faith, and won a mighty victory over the adversary. These men, then, observed him and caught out his craftiness and duplicity, his perjuries and lies, his lack of fellowship and his wolfish friendship. They returned to the holy church, and in the presence of a good number of bishops, and of presbyters and a great many laymen as well, they declared all his schemes and wickednesses, which he had long kept in himself and concealed. They did so with lamentation and repentance for having been persuaded by that deceitful and malicious beast and having left the church for a short time.

43.7| Then, after a few words, he says: "Beloved brother, it is beyond description what a turn and change we saw come over him in a short time. This most distinguished man, who confirmed with fearful oaths that he did not aspire to the episcopate at all, suddenly appears as a bishop, as though thrown into our midst by some piece of machinery.

43.8| For this teacher of doctrine, this champion of ecclesiastical knowledge, when he tried to tear away and seize an episcopate not given him from above, chose two partners for himself who had given up hope of their own salvation. His plan was to send them to a small and quite insignificant part of Italy, and from there to deceive three bishops, rustic and extremely simple men, by a fabricated pretext, asserting and insisting that they must come quickly to Rome, so that any dissension whatever that had arisen might be settled, together with other bishops, through their mediation.

43.9| When these men arrived, being, as we said before, quite simple in the face of the schemes and tricks of the wicked, they were shut in by some men as disturbed as he was. At the tenth hour, while they were drunk and dizzy from the carousing, he forced them by violence to give him the episcopate by a counterfeit and empty laying on of hands. He claims this office by ambush and cunning, though it did not belong to him. One of them, not long afterwards, came back to the church,

43.10| lamenting and confessing his sin. We admitted him to communion as a layman, with all the people present pleading on his behalf. As for the other bishops, we ordained successors and sent them to the places where those men had been."

43.11| "So this avenger of the gospel did not know that a catholic church must have one bishop; yet he was not unaware (how could he be?) that in it are counted forty-six presbyters, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, and fifty-two exorcists, readers and doorkeepers together, and widows with the afflicted numbering more than fifteen hundred, all of whom the Master's grace and loving-kindness sustains.

43.12| Yet not even so great and so necessary a multitude in the church, rich and teeming in number by the providence of God, together with a vast and countless people, turned him back from such desperation and renunciation, or called him back into the church."

43.13| And again, after other matters, he adds these words: "Come now, let us next say with what deeds or what way of life he was confident enough to lay claim to the episcopate. Was it because he had lived from the beginning in the church, and had fought many contests on its behalf, and had been in many great dangers for the sake of piety?

43.14| But it is not so. The occasion of his believing was Satan, who had come to him and lived in him for a considerable time. With the exorcists attending him, he fell into a severe illness and, thought to be on the point of death, received it, if one can say that such a man received it, by being drenched with water on the very bed where he lay. Nor, when he escaped the illness, did he obtain the remaining rites,

43.15| which one must share in according to the rule of the church, including being sealed by the bishop. And if these were not obtained by him, how could he have obtained the Holy Spirit?

43.16| And again, a little further on, he says: He is the man who, through cowardice and love of life, denied at the time of the persecution that he was a presbyter. For when the deacons begged and urged him to come out of the little room in which he had shut himself up and to help the brothers as far as is proper, and as far as a presbyter can, when brothers are in danger and need assistance, he was so far from obeying the deacons who urged him that he went off in anger and left them. He said, in fact, that he did not wish any longer to be a presbyter, because he was a lover of a different philosophy.

43.17| Passing over a few things, he adds after these: For this splendid man abandoned the church of God, in which, after he came to believe, he had been thought worthy of the presbyterate by the favor of the bishop who laid a hand on him to give him the rank of presbyter. The whole clergy, and many of the laity as well, had opposed this, since it was not permitted for anyone who had been drenched on a bed because of illness, as this man had been, to enter any clerical rank; yet the bishop asked that he be allowed to ordain this man alone.

43.18| Then he adds to these another of the man's absurdities, and the worst of all, saying: Once the offerings are made, he divides the portion for each person and gives it to him, and then compels the wretched people to take an oath rather than offering a blessing. Holding the receiver's hands in both of his and refusing to release them, he waits until they swear and speak these words (for I shall borrow his own language): Swear by the blood and the body of Jesus Christ our Lord never to forsake me and turn back to Cornelius.

43.19| And the wretched man will not taste it unless he first utters a curse against himself; when he takes that bread, in place of saying the Amen he declares: I shall not go back to Cornelius.

43.20| And after other matters he says again: Know that by now he has been stripped bare and left desolate, since each day the brothers leave him and go back to the church. Moses, the blessed martyr, who not long ago bore a fine and wonderful witness among us, while still in the world saw his boldness and frenzy and cut him off from communion, together with the five presbyters who had split off with him from the church.

43.21| And at the end of the letter Cornelius has drawn up a list of the bishops who came to Rome and condemned the foolishness of Novatus, marking both their names and the diocese over which each presided, and also of those who did not come to Rome,

43.22| but who agreed by letter with the vote of those mentioned; he records their names together with the cities from which each wrote. This is what Cornelius wrote in his report to Fabius, bishop of Antioch.

44.1| To this same Fabius, who was somewhat inclined to yield to the schism, Dionysius of Alexandria also wrote, and in his letter to him he discussed many other matters concerning repentance and went through the contests of those at Alexandria who had recently been martyred. Along with the rest of his account he tells a story full of wonder, which also must be set down in this work. It runs as follows:

44.2| I shall set before you this one example that happened among us. There was among us a certain Serapion, an old believer who had lived the greater part of his life blamelessly but fell in the trial. He often begged, and no one paid attention to him; for he had sacrificed. Falling ill, he remained for three days in a row speechless and unconscious,

44.3| but on the fourth day he recovered a little, called his daughter's son to him, and said: How long, child, will you hold me back? I beg you, hurry, and release me quickly. Call one of the presbyters for me.

44.4| And having said this, he was speechless again. The lad hurried to the presbyter; it was night, however, and the presbyter was sick. He could not come, but since an order had been given by me that those departing from life should be absolved, if they asked for it, and especially if they had already pleaded for it before, so that they might depart with good hope, he gave the boy a little of the eucharist, telling him to moisten it and let it drip into the old man's mouth.

44.5| The boy came back carrying it, and as he approached, before he had even gone in, Serapion revived again and said, "Have you come, child? The presbyter was unable to come, but you do quickly what you were told, and let me go." The boy soaked the portion and at the same moment poured it into his mouth, and Serapion, having swallowed a little, at once gave up his spirit.

44.6| Was he not plainly kept back, and did he not remain alive until he could be released and, his sin wiped away, be acknowledged for the many good deeds he had done?

45.1| So far Dionysius. Let us also see what the same man wrote to Novatus, who was at that time troubling the brotherhood at Rome. Since Novatus made some of the brothers the pretext for his apostasy and schism, claiming that he had been forced by them to go this far, observe in what manner he writes to him: "Dionysius to Novatian his brother, greeting. If you were led on against your will, as you say, you will prove it by withdrawing of your own will. For one ought to suffer anything whatever rather than split the church of God, and a martyrdom endured to avoid causing a schism would be no less glorious than one endured to avoid worshiping idols; in my judgment it would be even greater. For in the former case a man bears witness for one soul only, his own, whereas in the latter he does so for the whole church. Even now, if you persuade or compel the brothers to come back to concord, your success will be greater than your fall: the fall will not be counted against you, and the success will be praised. But if they will not obey and you are powerless, then, saving, save your own soul. I pray for your well-being as you cling to peace in the Lord."

46.1| This, then, he wrote to Novatus. He also writes a letter on repentance to the brothers in Egypt, in which he sets out his judgments about those who had lapsed, mapping out the degrees of their failings. And to Colon (this man held the episcopate of the community of Hermopolis)

46.2| a private writing of his on repentance is extant, and another, a letter of exhortation, for his flock in Alexandria. Also among these is the work on martyrdom written to Origen. To the brothers at Laodicea, whom Thelymidres led as bishop, and likewise to those in Armenia, whose bishop was Meruzanes, he writes on repentance.

46.3| Besides all these he also writes to Cornelius at Rome, after receiving his letter against Novatus. In it he lets him know that he has been summoned by Helenus, the bishop at Tarsus in Cilicia, and by the others with him, Firmilian of Cappadocia and Theoctistus of Palestine, so that he might attend the synod at Antioch, where some were trying to strengthen the schism of Novatus.

46.4| In addition he writes that he had been informed of Fabius's falling asleep and of Demetrian's appointment as his successor in the bishopric of Antioch. He also writes about the bishop in Jerusalem, saying in these very words: "For the admirable Alexander, after being held in prison, went blessedly to his rest."

46.5| Next to this there is extant another letter of Dionysius to those in Rome, a diaconal letter carried by Hippolytus. To the same people he composes another on peace, and likewise one on repentance, and a further one to the confessors there who still held with the view of Novatus; and to those same confessors, once they had come back over to the church, he sends two more. And having conversed in the same way by letter with many others besides, he has left a varied store of benefit to those who even now give serious attention to his writings.

Cite a passage by its number: every paragraph here has its own anchor (for example https://openscriptorium.com/read/eusebius/006-ecclesiastical-history-book-vi#p1), and the bracketed reference numbers link the same way.

← All of Eusebius of Caesarea: The Works of Eusebius of Caesarea