The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, 325 A.D. 271 by Adolf von Harnack

Phoenicia.1

As we learn from Acts. Christianity reached the cities of Phoenicia at a very early period. When Paul was converted,there were already Christians At Damascus (Acts x. 2, 12f., 19) ; for Christians in Tyre see xxi. 4. for Ptolemais see xxi. 7. for Sidon xxvii. 2, and in general xi. 19.

numquam siriste, itaque ergo stat semper presbyter, qui, episeopo graece dicente, siriste interpretatur, et omnes audiant quaeexponuntur. lectiones etiam, quaecumque in ecelesia leguntur, quianecesse est graece legi, semper stat, qui siriste interpretatur propterpopulum, tit semper distant. sane quicumque hie [se. in Jerusalem]latini sunt, i.e. qui nec siriste lice graece noverunt, ne contristentur, etipsis exponit episcopus, quia sunt alii fratres et sorores graecilatini,qui latine exponunt eis

And as in the province of Palestine, one section of the population knows both Greek and Syriac, whilst another is purely Greek, and a third knows only Syriac. Therefore, since the bishop, though heknows Syriac, always speaks in Greek and never in Syriac, a presbyteralways stands beside him to interpret his Greek into Syriac, so that thewhole congregation may know what is being said. Also, as thereadings from scripture in the church have to be in Greek, a Syriacinterpreter is always present for the benefit of the people, that they may miss nothing of the lessons. Indeed, in the case of the Latins here[in Jerusalem], i.e. people who know neither Greek nor Syriac, thatthey should be put out, the bishop expounds to them by themselves.There are other brethren and sisters, Graeco-Latins, who expound to them in Latin Phoenicia in the wider sense of the term (cp. subscript,Nicea), but as distinguished from Syria. That an ecclesiasticalprovince of this name existed in 231-232 A.D. is proved by Jerome, ep. xxx. 4: "Damnatur Origenes a Demetrio episeopo exceptis Palaestinae etArabiae et Phoenicis atque Achaiae sacerdotibus."

The metropolitan position of Tyre, that was the leading cityin the East for manufactures and trade, made it theecclesiastical head of the province; but it is questionable if this pre-eminence obtained as early as the second century,for at the Palestinian synod on the Easter controversyCassius, the bishop of Tyre, and Clarus, the bishop of Ptolemais, still took counsel with the bishops of Aelia andof Caesarea (Eus., ME., v. 25), to whom they wereaccordingly, it may be, subordinate. On the other hand,Marinus of Tyre is mentioned in a letter of Dionysius of Alexandria (ibid., vii. 5. 1) in such a way as to make hismetropolitan dignity extremely probable. Martyrs in Tyre,during the great persecution, are noted by Eusebius, viii. 7.1 (viii. 8), viii. 13. 3 (bishop Tyrannion), Mart. Pal., v. I

(vii. 1). Origen died at Tyre and was buried there. It iscurious also to note that the learned Antiochene priestDorotheus, the teacher of Eusebius, was appointed by theemperor (Diocletian, or one of his immediate predecessors) to be the director of the purple-dying trade in Tyre (Eus., H.E., vii. 32). A particularly libellous edict issued by theemperor Daza against the Christians, is preserved byEusebius (ix. 7), who copied it from the pillar in Tyre onwhich it was cut, and the historian's work reaches its climax in the great speech upon the reconstruction of the church atTyre, "by far the most beautiful in all Phoenicia" (x. 4). Thespeech is dedicated to Paulinus, bishop of Tyre, in whosehonour indeed the whole of the tenth book of its history iswritten. Unfortunately we get no information whatever, from this long address, upon the Christian community atTyre.

In the pseudo-Clementine Homilies, the island of Aradus

(xii. 1), Orthosia (xii. I), and Paltus (xiii. 1), the frontier-town between Syria and Phoenicia, are all mentioned.Whether Christians existed there at that date is uncertain.

In Sidon the presbyter Zenobius (Eus.. H.K., viii. 13. 8) died during the great persecution, as did some Christians atDamascus (ix. 5).

Eleven bishops. but no chor-episcopi, were present at thecouncil of Nicea from Phoenicia; namely, the bishops of Tyre, Ptolemais, Damascus, Sidon, Tripolis, Paneas,Berytus, Palmyra, Alasus,1 Emesa, and Antaradus.2

Already (under Palestine) I have noted that JewishChristians also resided in Paneas on which town (see, too.Eus., H.E., viii. 17. 18) Tripolis is mentioned even beforethe council of Nicea (in Mart. Pal., iii., where a Christiannamed Dionysius comes from Tripolis); the Apostolic Constitution (vii. 46) affirm that Marthones was bishop of this town as early as the apostolic age; while, previous tothe council of Nicea, Hellanicus, the local bishop, opposedArius (Theodoret, H.E., i. 4), though Gregory, bishop of Berytus, sided with him (loc. cit.; for Berytus see also Mart. Pal. iv.).

1. Where is this town to be sought for?

2. he last-named is not quite certain (see Gelzer, loc. cit, p. lxv. f.).Probably a twelfth still falls to be added, if the ®x of some MSS. isgenuine, and if we may identify it. with Thelsea near Damascus (ltin,.

Ant., 196. 2).

3. This passage at any rate leads us to infer that Christians existed there,whether the well-known statue (see above, vol. i. p. 145) really was astatue of Christ, or was merely taken to represent him. Vol ii.

Eusebius (viii. 13) calls Silvanus, at the period of the greatpersecution, bishop, not of Emesa but of "the churchesround Emesa".1 Emsa then resembled Gaza; owing to thefanaticism of the inhabitants, Christians were unable toreside within the town itself, and had to quarter themselvesin the adjoining villages. Anatolius, the successor ofSilvanus, was the first to take up his abode within the town.With regard to Heliopolis we have this definiteinformation, that the town acquired its first church and bishop, thanks to Constantine, after 825 A.D. (cp. VitaConstant., iii. 58, and Socrat., i. 18). The Mart. Syriacummentions one martyr. Lucius, at Heliopolis. Christians alsowere deported (Mart. Pal., xiii. 2) by Daza to Lebanon for penal servitude.

1. 1 In ix. 6 he is simply called bishop, and he is said to have been martyred by Daza after an episcopate of forty years.

2. 2 Eusebius strongly emphasizes the unprecedented fact of a church being founded and a bishop being appointed at Heliopolis itself. Then lie proceeds: ' In his zealous care to have as many as possible won over to the doctrine of the gospel, the emperor gave generousdonations for the support of the poor at this place also, so as even thusto stir them up to receive the truths of salvation. He, too, might almost have said with the apostle, 'Whether in pretence or in truth, let Christ anyhow be proclaimed.'" How tenaciously paganism maintained itself,however, in Heliopolis (which was still a predominantly pagan town in the sixth century) is shown by Sehultze, op. ci!., ii. pp. 250 f. On the local situation towards the close of the fourth century, see the notice of Peter of Alexandria (Theod., H.E., iv. 19): ' In Heliopolis no inhabitant will so much as listen to the name of Christ, for they are all idolaters. -. . The devil's ways of pleasure are in full vogue there . . . .The governor of the city himself is one of the leading idolaters' (cp.Sozom., vii. 15). As lute as 57 the pagans were still in the majority atHeliopolis, but shortly before the irruption of Islam the local church had got the upper hand.

One martyrdom makes it plain that there were Christians atByblus. --Further, and finally, we have to recall aninteresting inscription, dated in the year 318-319 A.D. (630 of the Seleuc. era), which was discovered at Deir Ali(Lebaba), about three miles south of Damascus, by Le Biasand Waddington:

"The meeting-house of the Marcionists, in the villageof Lebaba, of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Erected by the forethought of Paul a presbyter-In the year 630."2

Thus there was a Marcionite community near Damascus inthe year 318 (319) A.D. (Already, p. 260, we have found aMarcionite bishop in Palestine about the same period.)

We have no information in detail upon the diffusion and density of the Christian population throughout Phoenicia.More general and satisfactory notices are to hand withregard to Syria, a province with which Phoenicia was atthat time very closely bound up, for the Phoenician tonguehad long ago been dislodged by Syriac.3 From the state of matters which still obtained in the second half of the sixth century, however, it is perfectly plain that Christianity got afirm footing only on the seaboard, while the inland districtof Phoenicia remained entirely pagan in the main. Yet it was but recently, not earlier than the third century, thatthese Phoenician-Hellenic cults had undergone a powerful revival.

1. Insc. Grec. et Latines, iii. 1870, No. 2558, p. 582; cp. Harnack in Zeitscher. f. iviss Theol. (1876), pp. 10 f.
2. [i.c. of the Seleucid era.]
3. On Constantine's destruction of the temple of Aphrodite in Aphak_, in the Lebanon, see Vita Constant., iii. 55.

It is worthy of notice that the majority of the Phoeniciantowns where Christians or Christian bishops can he traced,lay on the coast; i.e. they were towns with a strong Greekpopulation. In the large pagan cities of worship, Emesa andHeliopolis, on the other hand, Christians were not tolerated.Once we leave out inland localities where Marcionites and Jewish Christians resided, the only places in the interiorwhere Christians can be traced are Damascus, Paneas, andPalmyra. Damascus, the great trading city, was Greek (cp.Mommsen's Röm. Gesch., v. p. 473; Eng. trans., ii. 146), as was Paneas, and in Palmyra, the headquarters of the desert-trade, a strong Greek element also existed (Mommsen. pp.425 f. ; Eng. trans., ii. 96 f.). The national royal house inPalmyra, with its Greek infusion, was well disposedtowards the scanty indigenous Christians of Syria, as maybe inferred from the relations subsisting between Paul ofSamosata and Zenobia, no less than from the policyadopted by home against him.

3. COELE-SYRIA.

In accordance with its tendency towards universaldominion, Christianity streamed from Jerusalem as far as Antioch (Acts xi.), the greatest city of the East and the thirdcity in the Roman empire, ere a few years had passed over its head. It was in Antioch that it got its name, which in allprobability was originally a nickname;1 for Antioch was acity of nicknames and of low-class literature. Here the first Gentile Christian community grew up; for it was adherentsof Jesus drawn from paganism who were called"Christians" (cp. pp. 15 f.). Here Barnabas laboured. Herethe great apostle Paul found his sphere of action, and erelong the Christian community became so important,possessed of such a vigorous self-consciousness and such independent activity, that its repute rivalled that of theJerusalem church itself.2 Between the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch the cardinal question of the GentileChristians was debated; it was the church of Antioch whichtook the most decided step forward in the history of thegospel; and as early as the second century it gave further expression3 to its church consciousness by designating the apostle Peter as its first bishop – although, to judge fromGal. ii. 11 f., it was no glorious role that he had played inAntioch.

According to Theophilus, ad Autol., i. 12, the pagans in Antioch even as late as 180 A.D. took the name "Christian” as a term of ridicule.

In this connection special moment attaches to Acts xi. 27 f. (where thewealthier church of Antioch supports the brethren in Judea), and further, to Acts xiii. 1 At the very outset a certain Nicolaus (aproselyte from Antioch), appears as a guardian of the poor in Jerusalem.

As also by the device of placing a great apostolic synod at Antioch (see the Excursus to Chap. V., Book I.) of that great Eastern missionary and teacher, Bardesanes; cp. Noldeke in Lipsius: Apokr.Apostelgachichlen, ii. 2, pp. 423 f., and Burkitt in the Journal of Theological Studies, i. pp. 280 f. The gnostic Saturninus (Satornil)also belonged to Antioch (cp. Iren., 1. xxiv. I), and other gnostic sectsand schools originated in Syria.

We know next to nothing of the history of Christianity in Coele-Syria during the first three centuries,1 but a wholeseries of data is available for its history in Antioch itself.We possess, for example, the list of the Antiocheneepiscopate,2 and the very names are instructive. Euodius,Ignatius, Heron, Cornelius, Eros, Theophilus. Maximinus,Serapion, Asciepiades, Philetus, Zebinus, Babylas, Fabius,Demetrianus, Paulus, Domnus, Timaus, Cyrillus. Tyrannus -the large majority of these names are Greek, and Greekwas the language of the church. Its fame is established byIgnatius, after Paul. Several features (though they are notmany) in the contemporary situation of the church atAntioch can be made out from the epistles of Ignatius, whoproudly terms it "the church of Syria." He, too, had beenpreceded by other writers, so it was given out-quite erroneously, of course-in a later age. The bishops,Theophilus, Serapion, and Paulus,3 vii. 29), the presbyter Dorotheus (vii. 28), and above all by Lucian.

1. We know that a seat, or the seat, of the sect of the Elkesaites was atApamea, whence the Elkesaite Alcibiades travelled to Rome (Hipp.,Philos., ix 13).
2. Cp. my Chronologie, i. pp. 208 f. and elsewhere.

3. he Apology of pseudo-Melito (Otto's Corp. Apol. ix.), composed about the beginning of the third century, was probably written in Syriac originally (and in Coele-Syria), but it is the one Syriac writing which can be named in this connection. Investigations into the Acts of Thomas have not yet advanced far enough to enable us to arrive at any certain decision upon the question whether they belong to theprovince of Edessa or to that of Western Syria. The overwhelming probability is, however, that they were composed in Syriac, and thatthey belong to Edessa --and in fact to the circle.

All of those mentioned earlier were authors, as was theAntiochene presbyter Geminus (Jerome, de vir. ill., lxiv.).Famous schools of learning were held by the presbyter Malchion (Eus., H.E., The church of Antioch also took its share in the great general controversies, the Montanist, theNovatian, the baptismal, and the Christological, and itmaintained a lively intercourse with other churches. Itmediated between the church at large, which wassubstantially Greek, and the Syriac East, just as the Roman church did between the former and the Latin-speakingWest.1 Further, unless the evidence is totally misleading, itwas the church of Antioch which introduced into the cultus of Greek Christendom its strongly rhetorical element -an element of display and fantasy. Once more, it was in thischurch that the dynamic Christology received its mostpowerful statement, that Arianism arose, and that the ablestschool of exegesis flourished.

It is instructive to observe how Cornelius of Rome plumes himself upon the greatness of Rome, in writing to Fabius of Antioch (Eus., H.E., vi. 43). He had good occasion to doso, in view of Antioch itself.

The central position of the church is depicted in the greatsynods held at Antioch in the middle of the third century.Dionysius of Alexandria (Eus., H.E., vi. 46) wrote toCornelius of Rome that he had been invited to a synod at Antioch (251 A.D.) by Helenus of Tyre and the other bishops of the country, as well as by Firmilian of Cappadocia and Theoktistus, a Palestinianbishop (of Casarea). The outcome of the synod is describedby him in a letter to Stephen of Rome (ibid., vii. 5): " Knowthat all the churches of the East, and even beyond it, whichpreviously were divided, have once more become united.All over, the bishops are harmonious and unanimous,greatly delighted at the unexpected restoration of peaceamong the churches." He then proceeds to enumerate thebishops of Antioch, Caesarea, Aelia. 'l'yre. Laodicea,Tarsus, "and all the churches of Cilicia, besides Firmilian and all Cappadocia --for, to avoid making my letter toolong. I have merely named the most prominent amongthem. Add all Syria and Arabia, with Mesopotamia, Pontus,and Bithynia." Setting aside the two last-named provinces, we may say that this forms a list of the provinces over which the influence of Antioch normally extended.' To the last great synod at Antioch against Paulus, the Antiochenebishop, no fewer than seventy or eighty bishops gatheredfrom all the provinces, from Pontus to Egypt;' for it must be remembered, the Christ-ological crisis, in which their metropolitan was the "heretic' of the hour, was of supreme moment to the church. Unfortunately we know nothing of the seats of these bishops.3

1. This also serves to explain the well-known passage in the sixth canon of Nicea: Likewise with regard to Antioch and throughout the otherprovinces, the churches are to have their due prerogatives secured to them").
2. Eusebius (H. f., vii. 28) speaks of thousands, Athanasius givesseventy (de synod. 43), and Hilarius (de synod. 86), eighty bishops.Basilius Diaconus (fifth century) gives a hundred and eighty.
3. 1 The paper of the Antiochene synod to the bishops of Rome and Alexandria as well as to the whole church (Eus., H.E., vii. 30)mentions, in its address, the names of Helenus (Tarsus), Hymenaus(Jerusalem), Theophilus (?), Theoteknus (Caesarea), Maximus(Bostra), Proclus (?), Nicomas (?), Aelianus (?), Paulus (?), Bolanus(?), Protogenes (?), Hierax (?), Eutychius (?), Theodorus (?),Malchion (presbyter of Antioch), and Lucius (probably also apresbyter of Antioch). Unfortunately, the bishoprics of the majority are unknown.

Although the information which we possess upon theappearance of Paul at Antioch in the role of bishop comesfrom a hostile pen, it throws light on the size and secular conformation of the local Christian community in thesecond half of the third century (Eus., H. K, vii. 30).1 "Atan earlier period he was poor and a beggar. He neither inherited any means from his parents, nor did he make anymoney by any craft or trade whatever; yet he is now inpossession of extravagant wealth, thanks to his iniquitoustransactions, his acts of sacrilege, and his extortionatedemands upon the brethren. For he officiously recommendshimself to people who are wronged, promising to help themfor a consideration. Yet all he does is to cheat them,making a profit for himself, without any service in return, out of litigants who are quite ready to pay money in order to get quit of a troublesome business. Thus he treats pietyas a means of making some profit. He is haughty andpuffed up; he is invested with secular dignities; he wouldrather be called 'ducenarius' [an imperial procurator of the second rank] than 'bishop'; he strides ostentatiously up and down the public squares, reading or dictating letterspublicly in the middle of his walk, and having a numerousretinue who escort him in front and behind. Thus by hisarrogance and insolence our faith wins ill-will and hatred from the public. In the assemblies of the church his inordinate ambition and vainglorious pride make himbehave in an inexplicable fashion, and thus he captivatesthe minds of simple folks till they actually admire him. Hehas a platform and a high throne erected for himself; unlikea disciple of Christ. Also, like secular officials, he has hisprivate cabinet (secretum). He strikes his hand upon histhigh, stamps with his feet upon the platform, and inveighswith insolent insults against those who, instead of breakingout in applause of himself, or waving their handkerchiefslike the audience in a theatre, or shouting aloud andjumping like the men and women of his own company whobehave in this indecent fashion, prefer to listen to himreverently and quietly as befits the house of God. Dead expositors of the word of God are assailed in public withcoarse and vulgar taunts, while the speaker exalts himself in swelling terms as if he were a sophist or juggler and nota bishop. Hymns in praise of our Lord Jesus Christ he putsa stop to, as too recently composed by modem men;whereas he has songs sung to his own praise and glory bywomen in the public congregation on the opening day of the paschal feast, songs which might well make anyaudience shudder. Similar notions are advocated, at hisinstigation, by the bishops of neighbouring localities andtowns who fawn upon him, as well as by the priests in theiraddresses to the people. Thus he will not acknowledge,with us, that the Son of God has come down from heaven... Jesus, he says, is from below. Whereas those who singhymns in his own honour and publicly praise him, assertthat he himself has come down as an angel from heaven;and instead of checking such outbursts, he is even presentin all his arrogance when they are uttered. Furthermore, he has 'virgines subintroductae' of his own, 'lady companions,' as the people of Antioch call them. So have the priests anddeacons of his company, of which, as of all the rest of their pernicious errors, he is perfectly cognisant. But he connivesat them, in order to attach the men to himself, and preventthem, through fear of personal consequences, from daringto challenge his own unrighteous words and deeds.

Even if he should have committed no act of immorality[with regard to the 'virgines'], still he ought to haveeschewed the suspicion of it... He has indeed dismissedone such woman, but he still retains two in the bloom andbeauty of their sex, takes them with him on his travels, andlives meanwhile in sumptuous and luxurious fashion. Such practices make everyone groan and lament in private. Butno one dares to bring him to task, such is their dread of hisauthority and tyranny. Yet for such practices one would,call him to account [i.e. not condemning him outright, norconniving at his actions], if he still held the catholicposition and belonged to our own number."

0. 2 According to Oriental sources of information (cp. Westphal, Unler:.über die (Quellen und die Glaubwurdigkeit der Patriarchalchroniken ken des Mari ibn St/amine, etc., 1901, pp. 62 f.), Demetrianus. Paul's predecessor in the see of Antioch, was exiled to Persia. This tradition,which answers to the general situation and has nothing against it (itwas unknown to me when I wrote my Chronology of Early Christian Literature), proves that about 200 A.D. both the church of Antioch and its bishop possessed some political weight.

I have quoted this passage in extenso, as I think it is extremely important for the spread and the position of thechurch in Antioch at that period. The best established feature in the whole description (for the malicious charges,which are a proof of Antiochene journalism, may be largelyrelegated to the background) is that the bishop had by thistime assumed. or been forced to assume, the customs andforms of a high state-official, a feature which brings outvery clearly the development and importance of the localChristian community. Besides, the relations between Pauland the royal house of Palmyra (Syrian by race), so far asthese are known or may be conjectured.1 show that Christianity already played a political role in Antioch.Furthermore, the authentic document given by Eusebiustells us that Paul refused to admit his condemnation, nordid he evacuate his episcopal residence. Whereupon --Zenobia meanwhile having been conquered by Rome, andthe collateral rule of the house of Palmyra having beenoverthrown in Egypt and throughout the East-the matter was laid before the emperor Aurelian, who ordered (A.D.27) the residence to be handed over to the bishop with whom the Christian bishops of Italy and Rome were inepistolary communion. This forms a conspicuous exampleof the political significance attaching to the church of Antioch.

1. 1. Paul's entrance on his episcopate at Antioch fell at the very period,and probably in the very year, when the Persians captured Antioch. Assoon as the Persians retreated, Gallienus appointed Odaenathus to what was really an independent authority over Palmyra and the East.Paul must have understood admirably how to curry favour with this ruler and his queen Zenobia, for, in spite of his episcopal position, hewas imperial procurator of the second rank in Antioch.

It is impossible to make any statistical calculations as to thedimensions of the church about 320 A.D., but at any ratethere were several churches in the city (Theod., H.E., i. 2),and if the local Christians were in the majority in Julian's reign, their number must have been-very large as early asthe year 320. Diodorus and Chrysostom preached in whatwas substantially a Christian city, as the latter explicitlyattests in several passages. He gives the number of theinhabitants (excluding slaves and children) at 200,000(Hom. in Ignat. 4), the total of members belonging to thechief church being 100,000 (Hom. 85 [86] c. 4.)1 Antioch in early days was always the stronghold of EasternChristianity. and the local church was perfectly consciousof its vocation as the church of the metropolis. The horizonof the Antiochene bishop extended as far as Mesopotamia and Persia. Armenia and Georgia, and he felt himself induty bound to superintend the mission and consolidation of the church throughout these countries. Similarly. herecognized his duties with regard to the defence of the church against heretics. It was from Antioch that the missionary impulse of Chrysostom proceeded. as well asthe vigorous campaign against the heretics waged by thegreat exegetes, Diodorus and Theodoret. Chrysostom andNestorius.

1. Cp. Schultze (op. cit, ii. p. 263): Gibbon (The Decline and Fall, Germ, trans. by Sporachil, ii. p. 219) takes the100,000 to represent the total of the Christians in Antiochitself.

Outside the gates of Antioch, that "fair city of the Greeks" (see Isaac of Antioch's Carmen 15, ed. Bickell, i. 294),Syriac was the language of the people, and only in theGreek towns of the country was it displaced by Greek. TheSyriac spirit was wedded to it, however, and remained thepredominant factor in religious and in social life. Yet in thedistinctively Syrian world, Christianity operated fromEdessa (see below) rather than from Antioch, unless we arewholly mistaken. The wide districts lying between both cities were consequently evangelized from two centresduring the third century; from Antioch in the West bymeans of a Greek Christian propaganda, and from Edessain the East by means of one which was Syriac Christian.Hence we must infer that the larger towns practicallyadopted the former, while the country towns and villageswent over to the latter. The work of conversion, so it wouldappear, made greater headway in Coele-Syria, however,than in Phoenicia. By about 325 the districts round Antioch seem to have contained a very large number of Christians, and one dated (331) Christian inscription from a suburbanvillage runs as follows: "Christ, have mercy; there is butone God." In Chrysostom's day these Syrian villages appear to have been practically Christian. Lucian, the priest of Antioch, avows in his speech before the magistrate inNicomedia (311 A.D.) that "almost the greater part of theworld now adheres to this Truth, yea whole cities; even if any seems suspect, there is no doubt regarding multitudes of country folk, who are innocent of guile" ("pars paenemundi iam maior huic veritati adstipulatur. urbes integrae,aut si in his aliquid suspectum videtur, contestatur de hisetiam agrestis manus, ignara figmenti"); and although thismay embody impressions which he had just received inBithynia, there was substantially a basis for the statement tobe found in the local circumstances of Syria. The numbersof the clergy in 803 throughout Syria are evident from Eus.,H.E., viii. 6: An enormous number were put in prison atevery place. The prisons, hitherto reserved for murderersand riflers of graves, were now packed everywhere withbishops, priests, deacons, lectors, and exorcists." The dataat our command are as follows:

(1) Acts (xv.) already tells of churches in Syria besides Antioch.

(2) Ignatius, a propos of Antioch (ad Philad. 10), mentions"churches in the neighbourhood" which had already bishops of their own. These certainly included Seleucia, the seaport of Antioch mentioned in Acts xiii. 4.

(3) Apamea was a centre of the Elkesaites (cp. above, vol. i. pp. 71, 465).

(4) Dionys. Alex. (in Eus., H.E., vii. 5) observes that the Roman church frequently sent contributions to the Syrian churches.

(5) The communication of the Antiochene synod of 268 (Eus., vii. 30), mentions, in connection with Antioch,"bishops of the neighbouring country and cities. From Eus., vi. 12, we know that by about 200 A.D. there was a Christian community (and a bishop?) at Rhossus which was gravitating towards Antioch.

(6) Two chor-episcopi from Coele-Syria attended the council of Nicea. In Martyrol. Hieron. (Achelis, Mart. Hieron., p. 168). a martyrdom is noted as having occurred in Syria vico Margaritato," as well as another (p. 177 i) "In Syria provincia regione Apameae vico Aprocavictu." but both these places are unknown.

(7) The number of town-bishops from Coele-Syria who were present at Nicea was, relatively, very considerable representatives were there from Antioch, Seleucia, Laodicea, Apamea. Raphanea. Hierapolis, Germanicia (=Marasch), Samosata. Doliche, Balaneae (cp. Hom. Clem.,

xiii. 1), Gabula, Zeugrna, Larisa, Epiphania, Arethusa,Neoc_Âsarea, Cyrrus, Gindarus, Arbokadama, and Cabbala(= Gaba ?). These towns lay in the most diverse districts of this wide country, on the seaboard, in the valley of theOrontes, in the Euphrates valley, between the Orontes andthe Euphrates, and in the north. Their distribution showsthat Christianity was fairly uniform and fairly strong inSyria about 325,1 as is strikingly proved by the rescript of Daza to Sabinus (Eus., H.E., ix. 9) -for we are to think of the experiences undergone by the churches of SyrianAntioch and Asia Minor, when we read the emperor'swords. "almost all abandoning the worship of the gods andattaching themselves to the Christian people "). Thisremark is not to he taken simply as a rhetorical flourish. For after speaking in one place about the first edict of Diocletian, Eusebius proceeds as follows: Not longafterwards, as some people in the district called Melitene and in other districts throughout Syria, attempted to usurpthe kingdom, a royal decree went forth to the effect that thehead officials of the churches everywhere should be put inprison and chains." viii. 6. 8). Eusebius does not say it in somany words, but the context makes it quite clear that theemperor held the Christians responsible for both of theseoutbreaks (that in Melitene being unknown to history);which shows that the Christians in Melitene and Syria musthave been extremely numerous, otherwise the emperor would never have met revolutionary outbursts (which inSyria and, one may conjecture, in Melitene also, originatedwith the army) with edicts against the Christian clergy.

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