presbyters and deacons should immediately be punished; but that senators, and men of importance, and Roman knights, should lose their dignity, and moreover be deprived of their property; and if, when their means were taken away, they should persist in being Christians, then 5 they should also lose their heads; that matrons should be deprived of their property, and sent into banishment; but that people of Caesar's household, whoever of them had either confessed before, or should now confess, should have their property confiscated, and should be sent in 10 chains by assignment to Caesar's estates.

Dionysius of Alexandria on the authorship of the

Apocalypse.

AND from the thoughts too, and from the words and their arrangement, this writer may reasonably be supposed different from the other. For the Gospel and the Epistle agree together, and begin in like manner. The one says, 15 'In the beginning was the Word'; the other, 'That which was from the beginning.' The one says, 'And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of an only-begotten from the Father'; the other the same a little varied, 'That which we have heard, 20 which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld, and our hands handled, of the Word of life, and the life was manifested.' For this he makes his prelude and steadfastly maintains, as he makes plain in what follows, against those who say 'That the Lord has not come in flesh': 25 wherefore also he carefully adds, 'And that which we have seen we testify, and we declare unto you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us: that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.' He is consistent with himself, and does not depart from his 30 purposes, but goes through all things under the same heads and names, of which we will shortly mention some.

εχῶς ἐντυγχάνων εὑρήσει ἐν ἑκατέρῳ πολλὴν τὴν ζωήν, πολὺ ‘τὸ φῶς, ἀποτροπὴν τοῦ σκότους, συνεχῆ “τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τὴν χάριν, τὴν χαράν, τὴν σάρκα καὶ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Κυρίου, τὴν κρίσιν, τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, 5 τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀγάπην τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἡμᾶς ἀγάπης ἐντολήν, ὡς πάσας δεῖ φυλάσσειν τὰς ἐντολάς· ὁ ἔλεγχος τοῦ κόσμου, τοῦ διαβόλου, τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ἡ ἐπαγγελία τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ἡ υἱοθεσία τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἡ δι ̓ ὅλου ‘πίστις ̓ ἡμῶν ἀπαιτουμένη, “ὁ το Πατὴρ καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς πανταχοῦ· καὶ ὅλως διὰ πάντων χαρακτηρίζοντας, ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν συνορῶν τοῦ τε εὐαγγελίου καὶ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς χρῶτα πρόκειται, λοιοτάτη δὲ καὶ ξένη παρὰ ταῦτα ἡ ἀποκάλυψις, μήτε ἐφαπτομένη, μήτε γειτνιῶσα τούτων μηδενὶ σχεδόν, ὡς 15 εἰπεῖν, μηδὲ συλλαβὴν πρὸς αὐτὰ κοινὴν ἔχουσα· ἀλλ ̓ οὐδὲ μνήμην τινα οὐδὲ ἔννοιαν οὔτε ἡ ἐπιστολὴ τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως ἔχει· (ἐῶ γὰρ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον·) οὔτε τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἡ ἀποκάλυψις· Παύλου διὰ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ὑποφήναντός τι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων αὐτοῦ, ἃς οὐκ 20 ἐνέγραψε καθ ̓ αὑτάς. ἔτι δὲ καὶ διὰ τῆς φράσεως τὴν διαφορὰν ἔστι τεκμήρασθαι τοῦ εὐαγγελίου καὶ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς πρὸς τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν. τὰ μὲν γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἀπταίστως κατὰ τὴν ̔Ελλήνων φωνήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ λογιώτατα ταῖς λέξεσι, τοῖς συλλογισμοῖς, ταῖς συντάξεσι 25 τῆς ἑρμηνείας γέγραπται, πολλοῦ γε δεῖ βάρβαρόν τινα φθόγγον, ἢ σολοικισμόν, ἢ ὅλως ἰδιωτισμὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς εὑρεθῆναι. ἑκάτερον γὰρ εἶχεν, ὡς ἔοικε, τὸν λόγον, ἀμφοτέρους αὐτῷ χαρισαμένου τοῦ Κυρίου, τόν τε τῆς γνώσεως, τόν τε τῆς φράσεως. τούτῳ δὲ ἀποκάλυψιν μὲν ἑωρακέναι,

He that reads carefully will find in either much mention of the life, the light, the turning away of darkness; and continually the truth, the grace, the joy, the flesh and the blood of the Lord, the judgement, the forgiveness of sins, the love of God for us, the command to us to love one another, the 5 need of keeping all the commandments, the conviction of the world, of the devil and of Antichrist, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the adoption of God, the faith which is throughout required of us, everywhere the Father and the Son. In short, if we mark them by all their characters, it 10 is plain to see that the complexion of the Gospel and of the Epistle is one and the same. But the Apocalypse is entirely different from these and foreign to them, neither touching nor bordering on any of them; scarcely, so to say, having even a syllable in common with them. Nay, 15 more, the Epistle (for I let alone the Gospel) contains neither mention nor thought of the Apocalypse, nor yet the Apocalypse of the Epistle, whereas Paul by his Epistles signified something even of his visions, which he did not separately insert. Moreover, we may conjecture from the 20 diction the difference of the Gospel and the Epistle from the Apocalypse. For the former are written not only without error, as regards the rules of Greek, but very elegantly in words, in reasonings, and in arrangement of the explanations. We are very far from finding in them 25 a barbarous word or a solecism, or any vulgarism at all. For he had, as it appears, both the one word and the other, as the Lord had granted both to him—that of knowledge, and that of expression. That the other saw a revelation

καὶ γνῶσιν εἰληφέναι καὶ προφητείαν, οὐκ ἀντερῶ· διάλεκ τον μέντοι καὶ γλῶσσαν οὐκ ἀκριβῶς ἑλληνίζουσαν αὐτοῦ βλέπω, ἀλλ ̓ ἰδιώμασίν τε βαρβαρικοῖς χρώμενον, καί που καὶ σολοικίζοντα, ἅπερ οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον νῦν ἐκλέγειν· 5 οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπισκώπτων, μή τις νομίσῃ, ταῦτα εἶπον, ἀλλὰ μόνον τὴν ἀνομοιότητα διευθύνων τῶν γραφῶν.

LXIV.

EUSEBIUS, Hist. Eccles. vii. 25.

Αὐτοκράτωρ Καίσαρ Πούπλιος Λικίνιος Γαλλιηνός, εὐσεβής, εὐτυχής, σεβαστός, Διονυσίῳ καὶ Πίννᾳ καὶ Δημητρίῳ, καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἐπισκόποις. τὴν εὐεργεσίαν 1ο τῆς ἐμῆς δωρεᾶς διὰ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου ἐκβιβασθῆναι προσέταξα· ὅπως ἀπὸ τόπων τῶν θρησκευσίμων ἀποχωρήσωσι. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὑμεῖς τῆς ἀντιγραφῆς τῆς ἐμῆς τῷ τύπῳ χρῆσθαι δύνασθε, ὥστε μηδένα ὑμῖν ἐνοχλεῖν. καὶ τοῦτο ὅπερ κατὰ τὸ ἐξὸν δύναται ὑφ ̓ 15 ὑμῖν ἀναπληροῦσθαι, ἤδη πρὸ πολλοῦ ὑπ ̓ ἐμοῦ συγκεχώ ρηται. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Αὐρήλιος Κυρήνιος, ὁ τοῦ μεγίστου πράγματος προστατεύων, τὸν τύπον τὸν ὑπ ̓ ἐμοῦ δοθέντα διαφυλάξει.

LXV.

Ibid. 13.

Τοῦ δὴ οὖν Παύλου σὺν καὶ τῇ τῆς πίστεως ὀρθοδοξία 20 τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἀποπεπτωκότος, Δόμνος, ὡς εἴρηται, τὴν λειτουργίαν τῆς κατὰ ̓Αντιόχειαν ἐκκλησίας διεδέξατο. ἀλλὰ γὰρ μηδαμῶς ἐκστῆναι τοῦ Παύλου τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας οἴκου θέλοντος, βασιλεὺς ἐντευχθείς Αὐρηλιανὸς αἰσιώτατα περὶ τοῦ πρακτέου διείληφε, τούτοις νείμαι 25 προστάττων τὸν οἶκον, οἷς ἂν οἱ κατὰ τὴν Ιταλίαν καὶ τὴν ̔Ρωμαίων πόλιν ἐπίσκοποι τοῦ δόγματος ἐπιστέλλοιεν.

Ibid 30.

and received knowledge and prophecy, I will not dispute: howbeit I see that his dialect and language are not accurately Greek, but that he used barbarous vulgarisms, and in some places downright solecisms. But these I need not now pick out; for I do not write this in mockery-let no 5 man think it—but only to show plainly the unlikeness of the writings.

Rescript of Gallienus.

THE Emperor Caesar Publius Licinius Gallienus, Pius, Felix, Augustus, to Dionysius, Pinnas, Demetrius, and the other bishops. I have ordered the bounty of my gift to be ic declared through all the world, that they may depart from the places of religious worship. And for this purpose you may use this copy of my rescript, that no one may molest you. And this which you are now enabled lawfully to do, has already for a long time been conceded by me. There- 15 fore Aurelius Cyrenius, who is the chief administrator of affairs, will keep this copy which I have given.

N. L.

Aurelian's Decision of the Bishopric of Antioch.

So then, as Paul had fallen from the bishopric as well as from the orthodox faith, Domnus as was said before succeeded him as bishop of the Church of Antioch. But 20 as Paul entirely refused to leave the church-house, petition was made to the emperor Aurelian, and he gave a very just decision of the matter, by ordering the house to be given up to those with whom the bishops of the religion in Italy and Rome held intercourse.

M

25