NPNF2-01 Eusebius 127
127 1 It is reported72 that Marcus Aurelius Caesar, brother of Antoninus,73 being about to engage in battle with the Germans and Sarmatians, was in great trouble on account of his army suffering from thirst.74 But the soldiers of the so-called Melitene legion,75 through the faith which has given strength from that time to the present, when they were drawn up before the enemy, kneeled on the ground, as is our custom in prayer,76 and engaged in supplications to God.
2 This was indeed a strange sight to the enemy, but it is reported77 that a stranger thing immediately followed. The lightning drove the enemy to flight and destruction, but a shower refreshed the army of those who had called on God, all of whom had been on the point of perishing with thirst.
3 This story is related by non-Christian writers who have been pleased to treat the times referred to, and it has also been recorded by our own people.78 By those historians who were strangers to the faith, the marvel is mentioned, but it is not acknowledged as an answer to our prayers. But by our own people, as friends of the truth, the occurrence is related in a simple and artless manner.
4 Among these is Apolinarius,79 who says that from that time the legion through whose prayers the wonder took place received from the emperor a title appropriate to the event, being called in the language of the Romans the Thundering Legion.
5 Tertullian is a trustworthy witness of these things. In the Apology for the Faith, which he addressed to the Roman Senate, and which work we have already mentioned,80 he confirms the history with greater and stronger proofs.
6 He writes81 that there are still extant letters82 of the most intelligent Emperor Marcus in which he testifies that his army, being on the point of perishing with thirst in Germany, was saved by the prayers of the Christians. And he says also that this emperor threatened death83 to those who brought accusation against us.
7 He adds further:84
“What kind of laws are those which impious, unjust, and cruel persons use against us alone? which Vespasian, though he had conquered the Jews, did not regard;85 which Trajan partially annulled, forbidding Christians to be sought after;86 which neither Adrian,87 though inquisitive in all matters, nor he who was called Pius88 sanctioned.” But let any one treat these things as he chooses;89 we must pass on to what followed.
8 Pothinus having died with the other martyrs in Gaul at ninety years of age,90 Irenaeus succeeded him in the episcopate of the church at Lyons.91 We have learned that, in his youth, he was a hearer of Polycarp.92
9 In the third book of his work Against Heresies he has inserted a list of the bishops of Rome, bringing it down as far as Eleutherus (whose times we are now considering), under whom he composed his work. He writes as follows:93
128 1 “The blessed apostles94 having founded and established the church, entrusted the office of the episcopate to Linus.95 Paul speaks of this Linus in his Epistles to Timothy.96
2 Anencletus97 succeeded him, and after Anencletus, in the third place from the apostles, Clement98 received the episcopate. He had seen and conversed with the blessed apostles,99 and their preaching was still sounding in his ears, and their tradition was still before his eyes. Nor was he alone in this, for many who had been taught by the apostles yet survived.
3 In the times of Clement, a serious dissension having arisen among the brethren in Corinth,100 the church of Rome sent a most suitable letter to the Corinthians,101 reconciling them in peace, renewing their faith, and proclaiming102 the doctrine lately received from the apostles.”103
4 A little farther on he says:104
“Evarestus105 succeeded Clement, and Alexander,106 Evarestus. Then Xystus,107 the sixth from the apostles, was appointed. After him Telesphorus,108 who suffered martyrdom gloriously; then Hyginus;109 then Pius;110 and after him Anicetus;111 Soter112 succeeded Anicetus; and now, in the twelfth place from the apostles, Eleutherus113 holds the office of bishop.
5 In the same order and succession114 the tradition in the Church and the preaching of the truth has descended from the apostles unto us.”
1 These things Irenaeus, in agreement with the accounts already given by us,115 records in the work which comprises five books, and to which he gave the title Refutation and Overthrow of the Knowledge Falsely So-called.116 In the second book of the same treatise he shows that manifestations of divine and miraculous power continued to his time in some of the churches.
2 He says:117
“But so far do they come short of raising the dead, as the Lord raised them, and the apostles through prayer. And oftentimes in the brotherhood, when, on account of some necessity, our entire Church has besought with fasting and much supplication, the spirit of the dead has returned,118 and the man has been restored through the prayers of the saints.”
3 And again, after other remarks, he says:119
129 “If they will say that even the Lord did these things in mere appearance, we will refer them to the prophetic writings, and show from them that all things were beforehand spoken of him in this manner, and were strictly fulfilled; and that he alone is the Son of God. Wherefore his true disciples, receiving grace from him, perform such works in his Name for the benefit of other men, as each has received the gift from him.
4 For some of them drive out demons effectually and truly, so that those who have been cleansed from evil spirits frequently believe and unite with the Church. Others have a foreknowledge of future events, and visions, and prophetic revelations. Still others heal the sick by the laying on of hands, and restore them to health. And, as we have said, even dead persons have been raised, and remained with us many years.
5 But why should we say more? It is not possible to recount the number of gifts which the Church, throughout all the world, has received from God in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and exercises every day for the benefit of the heathen, never deceiving any nor doing it for money. For as she has received freely from God, freely also does she minister.”120
6 And in another place the same author writes:121
“As also we hear that many brethren in the Church possess prophetic gifts, and speak, through the Spirit, with all kinds of tongues, and bring to light the secret things of men for their good, and declare the mysteries of God.”
(So much in regard to the fact that various gifts remained among those who were worthy even until that time.
1 Since, in the beginning of this work,122 we promised to give, when needful, the words of the ancient presbyters and writers of the Church, in which they have declared those traditions which came down to them concerning the canonical books, and since Irenaeus was one of them, we will now give his words and, first, what he says of the sacred Gospels:123
2 “Matthew published his Gospel among the Hebrews in their own language,124 while Peter and Paul were preaching and founding the churchin Rome.125
3 After their departure Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also transmitted to us in writing those things which Peter had preached;126 and Luke, the attendant of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel which Paul had declared.127
4 Afterwards John, the disciple of the Lord, who also reclined on his bosom, published his Gospel, while staying at Ephesus in Asia.”128
130 5 He states these things in the third book of his above-mentioned work. In the fifth book he speaks as follows concerning the Apocalypse of John, and the number of the name of Antichrist:129
“As these things are so, and this number is found in all the approved and ancient copies,130 and those who saw Jn face to face confirm it, and reason teaches us that the number of the name of the beast, according to the mode of calculation among the Greeks, appears in its letters. …”131
6 And farther on he says concerning the same:132
“We are not bold enough to speak confidently of the name of Antichrist. For if it were necessary that his name should be declared clearly at the present time, it would have been announced by him who saw the revelation. For it was seen, not long ago, but almost in our generation, toward the end of the reign of Domitian.”133
7 He states these things concerning the Apocalypse134 in the work referred to. He also mentions the first Epistle of John,135 taking many proofs from it, and likewise the first Epistle of Peter.136 And he not only knows, but also receives, The Shepherd,137 writing as follows:138
“Well did the Scripture139 speak, saying,140 ‘First of all believe that God is one, who has created and completed all things,’” &c.
8 And he uses almost the precise words of the Wisdom of Solomon, saying:141 “The vision of God produces immortality, but immortality renders us near to God.” He mentions also the memoirs142 of a certain apostolic presbyter,143 whose name he passes by in silence, and gives his expositions of the sacred Scriptures.
9 And he refers to Justin the Martyr,144 and to Ignatius,145 using testimonies also from their writings. Moreover, he promises to refute Marcion from his own writings, in a special work.146
10 Concerning the translation of the inspired147 Scriptures by the Seventy, hear the very words which he writes:148
“God in truth became man, and the Lord himself saved us, giving the sign of the virgin; but not as some say, who now venture to translate the Scripture, ‘Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bring forth a son,’149 as Theodotion of Ephesus and Aquila of Pontus,150 both of them Jewish proselytes, interpreted; following whom, the Ebionites say151 that he was begotten by Joseph.”
11 Shortly after he adds:
131 “For before the Romans had established their empire, while the Macedonians were still holding Asia, Ptolemy, the son of Lagus,152 being desirous of adorning the library which he had founded in Alexandria with the meritorious writings of all men, requested the people of Jerusalem to have their Scriptures translated into the Greek language.
12 But, as they were then subject to the Macedonians, they sent to Ptolemy seventy elders, who were the most skilled among them in the Scriptures and in both languages. Thus God accomplished his purpose.153
13 But wishing to try them individually, as he feared lest, by taking counsel together, they might conceal the truth of the Scriptures by their interpretation, he separated them from one another, and commanded all of them to write the same translation.154 He did this for all the books.
14 But when they came together in the presence of Ptolemy, and compared their several translations, God was glorified, and the Scriptures were recognized as truly divine. For all of them had rendered the same things in the same words and with the same names from beginning to end, so that the heathen perceived that the Scriptures had been translated by the inspiration155 of God.
15 And this was nothing wonderful for God to do, who, in the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, when the Scriptures had been destroyed, and the Jews had returned to their own country after seventy years, afterwards,in the time of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, inspired Esd the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to relate all the words of the former prophets, and to restore to the people the legislation of Moses.”156
Such are the words of Irenaeus.
1 After Antoninus157 had been emperor for nineteen years, Commodus received the government.158 In his first year Julian159 became bishop of the Alexandrian churches, after Agrippinus160 had held the office for twelve years.
1 About that time, Pantaenus,161 a man highly distinguished for his learning, had charge of the school of the faithful in Alexandria.162 A school of sacred learning, which continues to our day, was established there in ancient times,163 and as we have been informed,164 was managed by men of great ability and zeal for divine things. Among these it is reported165 that Pantaenus was at that time especially conspicuous, as he had been educated in the philosophical system of those called Stoics.
2 They say that he displayed such zeal for the divine Word, that he was appointed as a herald of the Gospel of Christ to the nations in the East, and was sent as far as India.166 For indeed167 there were still many evangelists of the Word who sought earnestly to use their inspired zeal, after the examples of the apostles, for the increase and building up of the Divine Word.
132 3 Pantaenus was one of these, and is said to have gone to India. It is reported that among persons there who knew of Christ, he found the Gospel according to Matthew, which had anticipated his own arrival. For Bartholomew,168 one of the apostles, had preached to them, and left with them the writing of Matthew in the Hebrew language,169 which they had preserved till that time.
4 After many good deeds, Pantaenus finally became the head of the school at Alexandria,170 and expounded the treasures of divine doctrine both orally and in writing.171
1 At this time Clement,172 being trained with him173 in the divine Scriptures at Alexandria, became well known. He had the same name as the one who anciently was at the head of the Roman church, and who was a disciple of the apostles.174
2 In his Hypotyposes175 he speaks of Pantaenus by name as his teacher. It seems to me that he alludes to the same person also in the first book of his Stromata, when, referring to the more conspicuous of the successors of the apostles whom he had met,176 he says:177
3 “This work178 is not a writing artfully constructed for display; but my notes are stored up for old age, as a remedy against forgetfulness; an image without art, and a rough sketch of those powerful and animated words which it was my privilege to hear, as well as of blessed and truly remarkable men.
4 Of these the one—the Ionian179 —was in Greece, the other in Magna Graecia;180 the one of them was from Coele-Syria,181 the other from Egypt. There were others in the East, one of them an Assyrian,182 the other a Hebrew in Palestine.183 But when I met with the last,184 —in ability truly he was first,—having hunted him out in his concealment in Egypt, I found rest.
5 These men, preserving the true tradition of the blessed doctrine, directly from the holy apostles, Peter and James and Jn and Paul, the son receiving it from the father (but few were like the fathers), have come by God’s will even to us to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds.”185
1 At this time Narcissus186 was the bishop of the church at Jerusalem, and he is celebrated by many to this day. He was the fifteenth in succession from the siege of the Jews under Adrian. We have shown that from that time first the church in Jerusalem was composed of Gentiles, after those of the circumcision, and that Marcus was the first Gentile bishop that presided over them.187
2 After him the succession in the episcopate was: first Cassianus; after him Publius; then Maximus;188 following them Julian; then Gaius;189 after him Symmachus and another Gaius, and again another Julian; after these Capito190 and Valens and Dolichianus; and after all of them Narcissus, the thirtieth in regular succession from the apostles).
133 1 At this time Rhodo,191 a native of Asia, who had been instructed, as he himself states, by Tatian, with whom we have already become acquainted,192 having written several books, published among the rest one against the heresy of Marcion.193 He says that this heresy was divided in his time into various opinions;194 and while describing those who occasioned the division, he refutes accurately the falsehoods devised by each of them.
2 But hear what he writes:195
“Therefore also they disagree among themselves, maintaining an inconsistent opinion.196 For Apelles,197 one of the herd, priding himself on his manner of life198 and his age, acknowledges one principle,199 but says that the prophecies200 are from an opposing spirit, being led to this view by the responses of a maiden by name Philumene,201 who was possessed by a demon.
3 But others, among whom are Potitus and Basilicus,202 hold to two principles,203 as does the mariner204 Marcion himself.
4 These following the wolf205 of Pontus, and, like him, unable to fathom the division of things, became reckless, and without giving any proof asserted two principles. Others, again, drifting into a worse error, consider that there are not only two, but three natures.206 Of these, Syneros207 is the leader and chief, as those who defend his teaching208 say.”
5 The same author writes that he engaged in conversation with Apelles. He speaks as follows:
“For the old man Apelles, when conversing with us,209 was refuted in many things which he spoke falsely; whence also he said that it was not at all necessary to examine one’s doctrine,210 but that each one should continue to hold what he believed. For he asserted that those who trusted in the Crucified would be saved, if only they were found doing good works.211 But as we have said before, his opinion concerning God was the most obscure of all. For he spoke of one principle, as also our doctrine does.”
6 Then, after stating fully his own opinion, he adds:
“When I said to him, Tell me how you know this or how can you assert that there is one principle, he replied that the prophecies refuted themselves, because they have said nothing true;212 for they are inconsistent, and false, and self-contradictory. But how there is one principle he said that he did not know, but that he was thus persuaded.
7 As I then adjured him to speak the truth, he swore that he did so when he said that he did not know how there is one unbegotten God, but that he believed it. Thereupon I laughed and reproved him because, though calling himself a teacher, he knew not how to confirm what he taught.”213
134 8 In the same work, addressing Callistio,214 the same writer acknowledges that he had been instructed at Rome by Tatian.215 And he says that a book of Problems216 had been prepared by Tatian, in which he promised to explain the obscure and hidden parts of the divine Scriptures. Rhodo himself promises to give in a work of his own solutions of Tatian’s problems.217 There is also extant a Commentary of his on the Hexaemeron.218
9 But this Apelles wrote many things, an impious manner, of the law of Moses, blaspheming the divine words in many of his works, being, as it seemed, very zealous for their refutation and overthrow?219
(So much concerning these.
1 The enemy of God’s Church, who is emphatically a hater of good and a lover of evil, and leaves untried no manner of craft against men, was again active in causing strange heresies to spring up against the Church.220 For some persons, like venomous reptiles, crawled over Asia and Phrygia, boasting that Montanus was the Paraclete, and that the women that followed him, Priscilla and Maximilla, were prophetesses of Montanus.221
Others, of whom Florinus223 was chief, flourished at Rome. He fell from the presbyterate of the Church, and Blastus was involved in a similar fall. They also drew away many of the Church to their opinion, each striving to introduce his own innovations in respect to the truth.
1 Against the so-called Phrygian225 heresy, the power which always contends for the truth raised up a strong and invincible weapon, Apolinarius of Hierapolis, whom we have mentioned before,226 and with him many other men of ability, by whom abundant material for our history has been left.
2 A certain one of these, in the beginning of his work against them,227 first intimates that he had contended with them in oral controversies. He commences his work in this manner:228
“Having for a very long and sufficient time, O beloved Avircius Marcellus,229 been urged by you to write a treatise against the heresy of those who are called after Miltiades,230 I have hesitated till the present time, not through lack of ability to refute the falsehood or bear testimony for the truth, but from fear and apprehension that I might seem to some to be making additions to the doctrines or precepts of the Gospel of the New Testament, which it is impossible for one who has chosen to live according to the Gospel, either to increase or to diminish.
135 But being recently in Ancyra231 in Galatia, I found the church there232 greatly agitated by this novelty, not prophecy, as they call it, but rather false prophecy, as will be shown. Therefore, to the best of our ability, with the Lord’s help, we disputed in the church many days concerning these and other matters separately brought forward by them, so that the church rejoiced and was strengthened in the truth, and those of the opposite side were for the time confounded, and the adversaries were grieved.
5 The presbyters in the place, our fellow-presbyter Zoticus233 of Otrous also being present, requested us to leave a record of what had been said against the opposers of the truth. We did not do this, but we promised to write it out as soon as the Lord permitted us, and to send it to them speedily.”
6 Having said this with other things, in the beginning of his work, he proceeds to state the cause of the above-mentioned heresy as follows:
“Their opposition and their recent heresy which has separated them from the Church arose on the following account.
7 There is said to be a certain village called Ardabau in that part of Mysia, which borders upon Phrygia.234 There first, they say, when Gratus was proconsul of Asia,235 a recent convert, Montanus by name, through his unquenchable desire for leadership,236 gave the adversary opportunity against him. And he became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning.237
8 Some of those who heard his spurious utterances at that time were indignant, and they rebuked him as one that was possessed, and that was under the control of a demon, and was led by a deceitful spirit, and was distracting the multitude; and they forbade him to talk, remembering the distinction238 drawn by the Lord and his warning to guard watchfully against the coming of false prophets?239 But others imagining themselves possessed of the Holy Spirit and of a prophetic gift,240 were elated and not a little puffed up; and forgetting the distinction of the Lord, they challenged the mad and insidious and seducing spirit, and were cheated and deceived by him. In consequence of this, he could no longer be held in check, so as to keep silence.
9 Thus by artifice, or rather by such a system of wicked craft, the devil, devising destruction for the disobedient, and being unworthily honored by them, secretly excited and inflamed their understandings which had already become estranged from the true faith. And he stirred up besides two women,241 and filled them with the false spirit, so that they talked wildly and unreasonably and strangely, like the person already mentioned.242 And the spirit pronounced them blessed as they rejoiced and gloried in him, and puffed them up by the magnitude of his promises. But sometimes he rebuked them openly in a wise and faithful manner, that he might seem to be a reprover. But those of the Phrygians that were deceived were few in number.
“And the arrogant spirit taught them to revile the entire universal Church under heaven, because the spirit of false prophecy received neither honor from it nor entrance into it.
10 For the faithful in Asia met often in many places throughout Asia to consider this matter,243 and examined the novel utterances and pronounced them profane, and rejected the heresy, and thus these persons were expelled from the Church and debarred from communion.”
11 Having related these things at the outset, and continued the refutation of their delusion through his entire work, in the second book he speaks as follows of their end:
12 “Since, therefore, they called us slayers of the prophets244 because we did not receive their loquacious prophets, who, they say, are those that the Lord promised to send to the people,245 let them answer as in God’s presence: Who is there, O friends, of these who began to talk, from Montanus and the women down, that was persecuted by the Jews, or slain by lawless men? None. Or has any of them been seized and crucified for the Name? Truly not. Or has one of these women ever been scourged in the synagogues of the Jews, or stoned? No; never anywhere.246
136 13 But by another kind of death Montanus and Maximilla are said to have died. For the report is that, incited by the spirit of frenzy, they both hung themselves;247 not at the same time, but at the time which common report gives for the death of each. And thus they died, and ended their lives like the traitor Judas.
14 So also, as general report says, that remarkable person, the first steward,248 as it were, of their so-called prophecy, one Theodotus—who, as if at sometime taken up and received into heaven, fell into trances, and entrusted himself to the deceitful spirit—was pitched like a quoit, and died miserably?249
15 They say that these things happened in this manner. But as we did not see them, O friend, we do not pretend to know. Perhaps in such a manner, perhaps not, Montanus and Theodotus and the above-mentioned woman died.”
16 He says again in the same book that the holy bishops of that time attempted to refute the spirit in Maximilla, but were prevented by others who plainly co-operated with the spirit.
17 He writes as follows:
“And let not the spirit, in the same work of Asterius Urbanus,250 say through Maximilla, ‘I am driven away from the sheep like a wolf.251 I am not a wolf. I am word and spirit and power.’ But let him show clearly and prove the power in the spirit. And by the spirit let him compel those to confess him who were then present for the purpose of proving and reasoning with the talkative spirit,—those eminent men and bishops, Zoticus,252 from the village Comana, and Julian,253 from Apamea, whose mouths the followers of Themiso254 muzzled, refusing to permit the false and seductive spirit to be refuted by them.”
18 Again in the same work, after saying other things in refutation of the false prophecies of Maximilla, he indicates the time when he wrote these accounts, and mentions her predictions in which she prophesied wars and anarchy. Their falsehood he censures in the following manner:
19 “And has not this been shown clearly to be false? For it is to-day more than thirteen years since the woman died, and there has been neither a partial nor general war in the world; but rather, through the mercy of God, continued peace even to the Christians.”255 These things are taken from the second book.
20 I will add also short extracts from the third book, in which he speaks thus against their boasts that many of them had suffered, martyrdom:
“When therefore they are at a loss, being refuted in all that they say, they try to take refuge in their martyrs, alleging that they have many martyrs, and that this is sure evidence of the power of the so-called prophetic spirit that is with them. But this, as it appears, is entirely fallacious.256
21 For some of the heresies have a great many martyrs; but surely we shall not on that account agree with them or confess that they hold the truth. And first, indeed, those called Marcionites, from the heresy of Marcion, say that they have a multitude of martyrs for Christ; yet they do not confess Christ himself in truth.”
137 A little farther on he continues:
22 “When those called to martyrdom from the Church for the truth of the faith have met with any of the so-called martyrs of the Phrygian heresy, they have separated from them, and died without any fellowship with them,257 because they did not wish to give their assent to the spirit of Montanus and the women. And that this is true and took place in our own time in Apamea on the Maeander,258 among those who suffered martyrdom with Gaius and Alexander of Eumenia, is well known.”
1 In this work he mentions a writer, Miltiades,259 stating that he also wrote a certain book against the above-mentioned heresy. After quoting some of their words, he adds:
“Having found these things in a certain work of theirs in opposition to the work of the brother Alcibiades,260 in which he shows that a prophet ought not to speak in ecstasy,261 I made an abridgment.”
2 A little further on in the same work he gives a list of those who prophesied under the new covenant, among whom he enumerates a certain Ammia262 and Quadratus,263 saying:
“But the false prophet falls into an ecstasy, in which he is without shame or fear. Beginning with purposed ignorance, he passes on, as has been stated, to involuntary madness of soul.
3 They cannot show that one of the old or one of the new prophets was thus carried away in spirit. Neither can they boast of Agabus,264 or Judas,265 or Silas,266 or the daughters of Philip,267 or Ammia in Philadelphia, or Quadratus, or any others not belonging to them.”
4 And again after a little he says: “For if after Quadratus and Ammia in Philadelphia, as they assert, the women with Montanus received the prophetic gift, let them show who among them received it from Montanus and the women. For the apostle thought it necessary that the prophetic gift should continue in all the Church until the final coming. But they cannot show it, though this is the fourteenth year since the death of Maximilla.”268
5 He writes thus. But the Miltiades to whom he refers has left other monuments of his own zeal for the Divine Scriptures,269 in the discourses which he composed against the Greeks and against the Jews,270 answering each of them separately in two books.271 And in addition he addresses an apology to the earthly rulers,272 in behalf of the philosophy which he embraced).
138 1 As the so-called Phrygian heresy274 was still flourishing in Phrygia in his time, Apollonius275 also, an ecclesiastical writer, undertook its refutation, and wrote a special work against it, correcting in detail the false prophecies current among them and reproving the life of the founders of the heresy. But hear his own words respecting Montanus:
2 “His actions and his teaching show who this new teacher is. This is he who taught the dissolution of marriage;276 who made laws for fasting;277 who named Pepuza and Tymion,278 small towns in Phrygia, Jerusalem, wishing to gather people to them from all directions; who appointed collectors of money;279 who contrived the receiving of gifts under the name of offerings; who provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, that its teaching might prevail through gluttony.”280
3 He writes thus concerning Montanus; and a little farther on he writes as follows concerning his prophetesses: “We show that these first prophetesses themselves, as soon as they were filled with the Spirit, abandoned their husbands. How falsely therefore they speak who call Prisca a virgin.”281
4 Afterwards he says: “Does not all Scripture seem to you to forbid a prophet to receive gifts and money?282 When therefore I see the prophetess receiving gold and silver and costly garments, how can I avoid reproving her?”
5 And again a little farther on he speaks thus concerning one of their confessors:
“So also Themiso,283 who was clothed with plausible covetousness, could not endure the sign of confession, but threw aside bonds for an abundance of possessions. Yet, though he should have been humble on this account, he dared to boast as a martyr, and in imitation of the apostle, he wrote a certain catholic284 epistle, to instruct those whose faith was better than his own, contending for words of empty sound, and blaspheming against the Lord and the apostles and the holy Church.”
And again concerning others of those honored among them as martyrs, he writes as follows:
“Not to speak of many, let the prophetess herself tell us of Alexander,285 who called himself a martyr, with whom she is in the habit of banqueting, and who is worshiped286 by many. We need not mention his robberies and other daring deeds for which he was punished, but the archives287 contain them. Which of these forgives the sins of the other? Does the prophet the robberies of the martyr, or the martyr the covetousness of the prophet? For although the Lord said, ‘Provide neither gold, nor silver, neither two coats,’288 these men, in complete opposition, transgress in respect to the possession of the forbidden things. For we will show that those whom they call prophets and martyrs gather their gain not only from rich men, but also from the poor, and orphans, and widows.
8 But if they are confident, let them stand up and discuss these matters, that if convicted they may hereafter cease transgressing. For the fruits of the prophet must be tried; ‘for the tree is known by its fruit.’289
9 But that those who wish may know concerning Alexander, he was tried by Aemilius Frontinus,290 proconsul at Ephesus; not on account of the Name,291 but for the robberies which he had committed, being already an apostate.292 Afterwards, having falsely declared for the name of the Lord, he was released, having deceived the faithful that were there.293 And his own parish, from which he came, did not receive him, because he was a robber.294 Those who wish to learn about him have the public records295 of Asia. And yet the prophet with whom he spent many years knows nothing about him!296
10 Exposing him, through him we expose also the pretense297 of the prophet. We could show the same thing of many others. But if they are confident, let them endure the test.”
139 11 Again, in another part of his work he speaks as follows of the prophets of whom they boast:
“If they deny that their prophets have received gifts, let them acknowledge this: that if they are convicted of receiving them, they are not prophets. And we will bring a multitude of proofs of this. But it is necessary that all the fruits of a prophet should be examined. Tell me, does a prophet dye his hair?298 Does a prophet stain his eyelids?299 Does a prophet delight in adornment? Does a prophet play with tables and dice? Does a prophet lend on usury? Let them confess whether these things are lawful or not; but I will show that they have been done by them.”300
12 This same Apollonius states in the same work that, at the time of his writing, it was the fortieth year since Montanus had begun his pretended prophecy.301
13 And he says also that Zoticus, who was mentioned by the former writer,302 when Maximilla was pretending to prophesy in Pepuza, resisted her and endeavored to refute the spirit that was working in her; but was prevented by those who agreed with her. He mentions also a certain Thraseas303 among the martyrs of that time.
(He speaks, moreover, of a tradition that the Saviour commanded his apostles not to depart from Jerusalem for twelve years.304 He uses testimonies also from the Revelation of Jn 30 Jn 5 and he relates that a dead man had, through the Divine power, been raised by Jn himself in Ephesus.306 He also adds other things by which he fully and abundantly exposes the error of the heresy of which we have been speaking. These are the matters recorded by Apollonius.
NPNF2-01 Eusebius 127