Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume I/Church History of Eusebius/Book III/Chapter 4

The First Successors of the Apostles.

1. Paul preached to the Gentiles and laid the foundations of the churches &#8220;from Jerusalem round about even unto Illyricum,&#8221; is evident both from his own words, and from the account which Luke has given in the Acts.

2. And in how many provinces Peter preached Christ and taught the doctrine of the new covenant to those of the circumcision is clear from his own words in his epistle already mentioned as undisputed, in which he writes to the Hebrews of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

3. But the number and the names of those among them that became true and zealous followers of the apostles, and were judged worthy to tend the churches founded by them, it is not easy to tell, except those mentioned in the writings of Paul.

4. For he had innumerable fellow-laborers, or &#8220;fellow-soldiers,&#8221; as he called them, and most of them were honored by him with an imperishable memorial, for he gave enduring testimony concerning them in his own epistles.

5. Luke also in the Acts speaks of his friends, and mentions them by name.

6. Timothy, so it is recorded, was the first to receive the episcopate of the parish in Ephesus, Titus of the churches in Crete.

7. But Luke, Of Luke personally we know very little. He is not mentioned in the Acts, and only three times in Paul&#8217;s epistles (Col. iv. 14; Philem. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 11), from which passages we learn that he was a physician, was one of Paul&#8217;s fellow-workers who was very dear to him, and was with him during his last imprisonment. Iren&#230;us, who is the first to ascribe the third Gospel and the Acts to this Luke, seems to know nothing more about him personally. Eusebius is the first to record that he was born at Antioch; but the tradition must have been universally accepted in his day, as he states it without any misgivings and with no qualifying phrase. Jerome (de vir. ill. 7) and many later writers follow Eusebius in this statement. There is no intrinsic improbability in the tradition, which seems, in fact, to be favored by certain minor notices in the Acts (see Schaff, Ch. Hist. I. 651). Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. 25) says that he labored in Achaia, and in Orat. 4 he calls him a martyr. Jerome (ibid.) says that he was buried in Constantinople. According to Nicephorus (H. E. II. 43) and later writers, Luke was a painter of great skill; but this late tradition, of which the earlier Fathers know nothing, is quite worthless. Epiphanius (H&#230;r. II. 11) makes him one of the Seventy, which does not accord with Luke&#8217;s own words at the beginning of his Gospel, where he certainly implies that he himself was not an eye-witness of the events which he records. In the same connection, Epiphanius says that he labored in Dalmatia, Gallia, Italy, and Macedonia,&#8212;a tradition which has about as much worth as most such traditions in regard to the fields of labor of the various apostles and their followers. Theophylact (On Luke xxiv. 13&#8211;24) records that some supposed that he was one of the disciples with whom Christ walked to Emmaus, and this ingenious but unfounded guess has gained some modern supporters (e.g. Lange). He is a saint in the Roman Catholic sense, and is commemorated October 18. who was of Antiochian parentage and a physician by profession, and who was especially intimate with Paul and well acquainted with the rest of the apostles, has left us, in two inspired books, proofs of that spiritual healing art which he learned from them. One of these books is the Gospel, which he testifies that he wrote as those who were from the beginning eye witnesses and ministers of the word delivered unto him, all of whom, as he says, he followed accurately from the first. The other book is the Acts of the Apostles Traces of a knowledge of the Acts are found in the Apostolic Fathers, in Justin, and in Tatian, and before the end of the second century the book occupied a place in the Canon undisputed except by heretics, such as the Marcionites, Manicheans, &amp;c. The Muratorian Fragment and Iren&#230;us (III. 14) are the first to mention Luke as the author of the Acts, but from that time on tradition has been unanimous in ascribing it to him. The only exception occurs in the case of Photius (ad Amphil. Qu&#230;st. 123, ed. Migne), who states that the work was ascribed by some to Clement, by others to Barnabas, and by others to Luke; but it is probable as Weiss remarks that Photius, in this case, confuses the Acts with the Epistle to the Hebrews. As to the date of its composition. Iren&#230;us (III. 1. 1) seems (one cannot speak with certainty, as some have done) to put it after the death of Peter and Paul, and therefore, necessarily, the Acts still later. The Muratorian Fragment implies that the work was written at least after the death of Peter. Later, however, the tradition arose that the work was written during the lifetime of Paul (so Jerome, de vir. ill. 7), and this has been the prevailing opinion among conservative scholars ever since, although many put the composition between the death of Paul and the destruction of Jerusalem; while some (e.g. Weiss) put it after the destruction of Jerusalem, though still assigning it to Luke. The opposite school of critics deny Luke&#8217;s authorship, throwing the book into the latter part of the first century (Scholten, Hilgenfeld, &amp;c.), or into the times of Trajan and Hadrian (e.g. Volkmar, Keim, Hausrath, &amp;c.). The T&#252;bingen School saw in the Acts a &#8220;tendency-writing,&#8221; in which the history was intentionally perverted. This theory finds few supporters at present, even among the most extreme critics, all of whom, however, consider the book a source of the second rank, containing much that is legendary and distorted and irreconcilable with Paul&#8217;s Epistles, which are looked upon as the only reliable source. The question turns upon the relation of the author of the &#8220;we&#8221; sections to the editor of the whole. Conservative scholars agree with universal tradition in identifying them (though this is not necessary in order to maintain the historical accuracy of the work), while the opposite school denies the identity, considering the &#8220;we&#8221; sections authentic historical accounts from the pen of a companion of Paul, which were afterward incorporated into a larger work by one who was not a pupil of Paul. The identity of the author of the third Gospel and of the Acts is now admitted by all parties. See the various Commentaries and New Testament Introductions; and upon the sources of the Acts, compare especially Weizs&#228;cker&#8217;s ''Apost. Zeitalter, p. 182 sqq., and Weiss&#8217; Einleitung,'' p. 569 sq. which he composed not from the accounts of others, but from what he had seen himself.

8. And they say that Paul meant to refer to Luke&#8217;s Gospel wherever, as if speaking of some gospel of his own, he used the words, &#8220;according to my Gospel.&#8221; Rom. ii. 16, xvi. 25; 2 Tim. ii. 8. Eusebius uses the expression &#966;&#945;&#963;&#8055;, &#8220;they say,&#8221; which seems to imply that the interpretation was a common one in his day. Schaff (Ch. Hist. I. p. 649) says that Origen also thus interpreted the passages in Romans and Timothy referred to, but he gives no references, and I have not been able to find in Origen&#8217;s works anything to confirm the statement. Indeed, in commenting upon the passages in the Epistle to the Romans he takes the words &#8220;my Gospel&#8221; to refer to the gospel preached by Paul, not to the Gospel written by Luke. It is true, however, that in the passage from his Commentary on Matthew, quoted by Eusebius in VI. 25, below, Origen does suppose Paul to refer to Luke and his Gospel in 2 Cor. viii. 18. The interpretation of the words &#8220;according to my Gospel,&#8221; which Eusebius represents as common in his day, is adopted also by Jerome (de vir. ill. chap. 7), but is a gross exegetical blunder. Paul never uses the word &#949;&#8016;&#945;&#947;&#947;&#8051;&#955;&#953;&#959;&#957; in such a sense, nor is it used by any New Testament writer to designate the gospel record, or any one of the written Gospels. It is used always in the general sense of &#8220;glad tidings,&#8221; or to denote the scheme of salvation, or the substance of the gospel revelation. Eusebius is not the first to connect Luke&#8217;s Gospel with Paul. The Muratorian Fragment speaks of Luke&#8217;s connection with Paul, and Iren&#230;us (III. 1. 1, quoted below in V. 8. &#167;2) says directly that Luke recorded the Gospel preached by Paul. Tertullian (Adv. Marcion. IV. 5) tells us that Luke&#8217;s form of the Gospel is usually ascribed to Paul, and in the same work, IV. 2, he lays down the principle that the preaching of the disciples of the apostles needs the authority of the apostles themselves, and it is in accord with this principle that so much stress was laid by the early Church upon the connection of Mark with Peter and of Luke with Paul. In chap. 24 Eusebius refers again to Luke&#8217;s relation to Paul in connection with his Gospel, and so, too, Origen, as quoted by Eusebius, Bk. VI. chap. 25. The Pauline nature of the Gospel has always been emphasized, and still is by the majority of scholars. This must not be carried so far, however, as to imply that Luke drew his materials from Paul; for Paul himself was not an eye-witness, and Luke expressly states in his preface the causes which induced him to write, and the sources from which he derived his material. The influence of Paul is seen in Luke&#8217;s standpoint, and in his general spirit&#8212;his Gospel is the Gospel of universal salvation.

9. As to the rest of his followers, Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul; 2 Tim. iv. 10, where the Greek word used is &#7952;&#960;&#959;&#961;&#949;&#8059;&#952;&#951;, which means simply &#8220;went&#8221; or &#8220;is gone.&#8221; That Paul had sent him as Eusebius states (using the word &#963;&#964;&#949;&#953;&#955;&#8364;&#956;&#949;&#957;&#959;&#962;) is not implied in the epistle. Instead of &#949;&#7984;&#962; &#964;&#8048;&#962; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#955;&#8055;&#945;&#962; (or &#964;&#8052;&#957; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#955;&#8055;&#945;&#957;) most of the ancient of the New Testament have &#949;&#7984;&#962; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#945;&#964;&#8055;&#945;&#957;, which is the reading of the Textus Receptus, of Tregelles, of Westcott and Hort and others. Some , however (including the Sinaitic), have &#915;&#945;&#955;&#955;&#8055;&#945;&#957;, which Tischendorf adopts; and some of the of Eusebius also have this form, though the majority read &#964;&#8048;&#962; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#955;&#8055;&#945;&#962;. Christophorsonus in his edition of Eusebius reads &#7952;&#960;&#8054; &#964;&#8052;&#957; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#945;&#964;&#8055;&#945;&#957;, but entirely without authority. Epiphanius (H&#230;r. LI. 11) contends that in 2 Tim. iv. 10 should be read &#915;&#945;&#955;&#955;&#8055;&#945; and not &#915;&#945;&#955;&#945;&#964;&#8055;&#945;: &#959;&#8016; &#947;&#8048;&#961; &#7952;&#957; &#964;&#8135; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#945;&#964;&#8055;&amp; 139&#903; &#8037;&#962; &#964;&#953;&#957;&#949;&#962; &#960;&#955;&#945;&#957;&#951;&#952;&#8051;&#957;&#964;&#951;&#962; &#957;&#959;&#956;&#8055;&#950;&#959;&#965;&#963;&#953;&#957;, &#7936;&#955;&#955;&#8048; &#7952;&#957; &#964;&#8135; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#955;&#8055;&amp; 139&#903;. Theodoret (in 2 Tim. iv. 10) reads &#915;&#945;&#955;&#945;&#964;&#8055;&#945;&#957;, but interprets it as meaning &#964;&#8048;&#962; &#915;&#945;&#955;&#955;&#8055;&#945;&#962;: &#959;&#8021;&#964;&#969; &#947;&#8048;&#961; &#7952;&#954;&#945;&#955;&#959;&#8166;&#957;&#964;&#959; &#960;&#8364;&#955;&#945;&#953;. but Linus, whom he mentions in the Second Epistle to Timothy as his companion at Rome, was Peter&#8217;s successor in the episcopate of the church there, as has already been shown.

10. Clement also, who was appointed third bishop of the church at Rome, was, as Paul testifies, his co-laborer and fellow-soldier. Clement is mentioned in Phil. iv. 3, but is not called a &#8220;fellow-soldier.&#8221; Eusebius was evidently thinking of Paul&#8217;s references to Epaphroditus (Phil. ii. 25) and to Archippus (Philem. 2), whom he calls his fellow-soldiers. The Clement to whom Eusebius here refers was a very important personage in the early Roman church, being known to tradition as one of its first three bishops. He has played a prominent part in Church history on account of the numerous writings which have passed under his name. We know nothing certain about his life. Eusebius identifies him with the Philippian Clement mentioned by Paul,&#8212;an identification apparently made first by Origen, and after him repeated by a great many writers. But the identification is, to say the least, very doubtful, and resting as it does upon an agreement in a very common name deserves little consideration. It was quite customary in the early Church to find Paul&#8217;s companions, whenever possible, in responsible and influential positions during the latter part of the first century. A more plausible theory, which, if true, would throw an interesting light upon Clement and the Roman church of his day, is that which identifies him with the consul Flavius Clement, a relative of the emperor Domitian (see below, chap. 18, note 6). Some good reasons for the identification might be urged, and his rank would then explain well Clement&#8217;s influential position in the Church. But as pointed out in chap. 18, note 6, it is extremely improbable that the consul Flavius Clement was a Christian; and in any case a fatal objection to the identification (which is nevertheless adopted by Hilgenfeld and others) is the fact that Clement is nowhere spoken of as a martyr until the time of Rufinus, and also that no ancient writer identifies him or connects him in any way with the consul, although Eusebius&#8217; mention of the latter in chap. 23 shows that he was a well-known person. When we remember the tendency of the early Church to make all its heroes martyrs, and to ascribe high birth to them, the omission in this case renders the identification, we may say, virtually impossible. More probable is the conjecture of Lightfoot, that he was a freedman belonging to the family of the consul Clement, whose name he bore. This is simply conjecture, however, and is supported by no testimony. Whoever Clement was, he occupied a very prominent position in the early Roman church, and wrote an epistle to the Corinthians which is still extant (see below, chap. 16; and upon the works falsely ascribed to him, see chap. 38). In regard to his place in the succession of Roman bishops, see chap. 2, note 1, above. For a full account of Clement, see especially Harnack&#8217;s Prolegomena to his edition of Clement&#8217;s Epistle (Patrum Apost. Opera, Vol. 1.), Salmon&#8217;s article, Clemens Romanus, in the ''Dict. of Christ. Biog., Schaff&#8217;s Ch. Hist.'' II. 636 sq., and Donaldson&#8217;s ''Hist. of Christ. Lit. and Doctrine,'' I. p. 90 sq.

11. Besides these, that Areopagite, named Dionysius, who was the first to believe after Paul&#8217;s address to the Athenians in the Areopagus (as recorded by Luke in the Acts) Acts xvii. 34. This Dionysius has played an important part in Church history, as the pretended author of a series of very remarkable writings, which pass under the name of Dionysius, the Areopagite, but which in reality date from the fifth or sixth century and probably owe their origin to the influence of Neo-Platonism. The first mention of these writings is in the records of the Council of Constantinople (532 ); but from that time on they were constantly used and unanimously ascribed to Dionysius, the Areopagite, until, in the seventeenth century, their claims to so great antiquity were disputed. They are still defended, however, in the face of the most positive evidence, by many Roman Catholic writers. The influence of these works upon the theology of the Middle Ages was prodigious. Scholasticism may be said to be based upon them, for Thomas Aquinas used them, perhaps, more than any other source; so much so, that he has been said &#8220;to have drawn his whole theological system from Dionysius.&#8221;

Our Dionysius has had the further honor of being identified by tradition with Dionysius (St. Denis), the patron saint of France,&#8212;an identification which we may follow the most loyal of the French in accepting, if we will, though we shall be obliged to suppose that our Dionysius lived to the good old age of two to three hundred years.

The statement of Dionysius of Corinth that the Areopagite was bishop of Athens (repeated by Eusebius again in Bk. IV. chap. 23) is the usual unwarranted throwing back of a second century conception into the first century. That Dionysius held a position of influence among the few Christians whom Paul left in Athens is highly probable, and the tradition that later he was made the first bishop there is quite natural. The church of Athens plays no part in the history of the apostolic age, and it is improbable that there was any organization there until many years after Paul&#8217;s visit; for even in the time of Dionysius of Corinth, the church there seems to have been extremely small and weak (cf. Bk. IV. chap. 23, &#167;2). Upon Dionysius and the writings ascribed to him, see especially the article of Lupton in the ''Dict. of Christ. Biog.'' I. p. 841&#8211;848. is mentioned by another Dionysius, an ancient writer and pastor of the parish in Corinth, as the first bishop of the church at Athens.

12. But the events connected with the apostolic succession we shall relate at the proper time. Meanwhile let us continue the course of our history.