FORGOTTEN

CHAPTERS

in the History of the Apostolic

Church
 Table of Contents:

Legend of the Emerald Vernicle 3

Tertius the Scribe 29
Artist in Residence 44
Paul & the NT Canon 69
St. Thomas & the “Soter Megas” Mystery 90
Forgotten Christian Queens of the East 108
The Secret Mission of Mark 167
Jucundus & the “Chrestians” 201
Women of Influence 211
Paul & the Politarchs 235
The Enigma of the Beloved Disciple 249
The Lost Kings of Pontus 276
The Serpent & the Brazen Bull 291

2
LEGEND of the
EMERALD VERNICLE

Part 1: From Philadelphia to Rostoc

At the end of the 19th century, John Sartain of Philadelphia, one of the
most eminent of American engravers, reproduced the image – “Our
Saviour”1 – with the following legend:
"The only true likeness of Our Saviour, taken from one cut on an emerald by
command of Tiberius Caesar, and was given (sic) from the treasury of
Constantinople by the Emperor of the Turks to Pope Innocent VIII., for the
redemption of his brother, taken as captive of the Christians."
It was an adaptation of an earlier image made by famous Biblical
publisher Samuel Bagster of Paternoster Row, reproductions of which
could be found in shop windows throughout Victorian-era London. These,

1
[first published by Richard De Forest, Rochester, NY, and L.W. Carr, Detroit, Michigan] According to the American Magazine, he “follows exactly the style and
contour of the striking Greek profile, but he has so idealized, refined and softened it with loving tenderness, that it may be considered as in great measure an original
conception” [vol. vii, p.146]
3
in turn, were based on an antique tapestry of the EMERALD VERNICLE
in the Earl of Warwick’s personal possession.

While the idea of an eyewitness portrait of Christ excites the imagination,

is there even the possibility of any substance to this legend? Could such a
portrait been made in the time of Tiberius and survived the ages? Critics
were quick to point out the similarity to Raphael’s rendering of Christ in
his sketch of the “Miraculous draught of Fish” – and dismissed it as a
fraud. BUT, the historical trail does not end there.

Another striking profile on oak panel takes us back to a copy almost

contemporary with the appearance of the Vernicle in Europe with the
following inscription:
“THIS PRESENT FIGURE IS THE SIMILITUDE OF OUR LORDE IHV
OUR SAVIOUR IMPRINTED IN AMIRALD [emerald] BY THE
PREDECESSORS OF THE GRETE TURKE AND SENT TO POPE
INNOSENT THE VIII AT THE COST OF THE GREAT TURKE FOR A
TOKEN FOR THIS CAUSE TO REDEME HIS BROTHER THAT WAS
TAKEN PRISONER”2

2
Oil on prepared oak panel with gilding, 27.5 x 26 cms (10¾ x 10¼ ins) with extensive capital lettered script below (sic): note: the abbreviation “IHV”is a religious
shorthand for the Greek derivative “iesus” – Jesus OR alternatively“in hoc [signum] vincis” meaning in this sign thou shalt overcome. Nothing is known of this artist,
believed to have been working in the reign of King Henry Vll (r. 1485-1509). It is very similar to another image also on oak panel, in the collection of Michael Hall, a
New York collector, although there are slight differences in the wording of the texts. http://www.caltongallery.co.uk/Artist.aspx?id=Artist.CHRIST
4
Bronze medallion replicas of the Emerald Vernicle continued to appear
throughout the 15th & 16th centuries, often adding later elements, such as a
cross-nimbus. Another imitation of the Emerald Vernicle from the 1400’s
(an engraved Rock-Crystal in the Sommerville collection) shows that the
artist could not resist adding a halo out of reverence for Christ. Depictions
of Christ from the Byzantine-era on never omitted the halo, suggesting
that the original [on which more faithful copies were based] had to be
earlier than the 4th century.

In 1489, in consideration of a yearly stipend of 40,000 ducats and a gift of

the Holy Lance, Pope Innocent VIII did consent to favor Bajazet II (1481–
1512) by detaining the Sultan's brother Zizim in close confinement in the
Vatican. If the Turkish Emperor had merely grabbed any Byzantine
plasma of Christ - as was sometimes suggested3 - it would have been
consistent with the Byzantine iconic archetype. Note, however Christ’s
depiction on coins from Justinian II’s time: based on the centuries-long
consistency of Byzantine iconography (with full-frontal view and
additional cross/halo/nimbus), the Vernicle image is clearly no Byzantine
plasma.

However, another painting on an oak panel from the van Eyck school in
the Kaiser Friedrich Museum at Berlin, representing Christ in the form of
the Vernicle, is from before 1441! How? Scholars like Wilhelm von Bode
felt a common original the most likely solution.4

3
e.g., “The gem was probably a plasma of the early Byzantine school” A Dictionary of Christian antiquities by William Smith, Samuel Cheetham [1893] Page 718
4
Wilhelm von Bode Amtliche Berichte aus den koniglichen Kunstsammlungen, March 191 1, p. 127) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_von_Bode
5
Consider another example: a painting on panel traditionally reported to
have been found in the old nunnery of St. Bridget, at Douglas, Isle of Man,
with this inscription:
“This Present figure is ye f’imilituded of our lord and Saviour Iesus Christ
imprinted in Amaralde By the Predef’rs of ye greate Turke and fent to the
Pope ’cente the eigh for this cause for a token To redeine his brother it Was
taken prifoner”5

5
C.W. King “The Emerald Vernicle of the Vatican” Archeological Journal vol 27, p. 181ff
6
Note: this image, although older, is less accurate and adds a nimbus not in
the original. Paleography and spelling of the inscription again point to the
15th century, but this ancient inscription is painted over the original
picture [ibid]. The style of the portrait itself is datable to the Italian School
of the 14th century, 100 years prior to the exchange with Pope Innocent
VIII!6
6
“But, as I am informed, this writing, ancient as it is, presents every appearance of having been painted over the original painting, that is, upon the lower part of the
bust, obliterated for the purpose. There is consequently proof positive that the picture must be at least three hundred years old, and in all probability very much older: in
fact, everything in its appearance would warrant us to refer it to the Italian school of the fourteenth century” [ibid]
7
What model did these artists use, that was correctly identified later by the
inscriber as the image of the Emerald Vernicle? This all points to another
replica of the image in Europe much prior to 15th century.

In the year 1812, a peasant in the county of Cork, in Ireland, was digging
potatoes, accompanied by his daughter, who picked them up as they were
thrown above the ground. Among them she found, encrusted with clay,
what she thought to be a large button, and handing it to her father, he
rubbed the edge on the sleeve of his coat, and in a short time it became
bright, like gold. As the place where the potatoes were planted had been
the site of a very ancient monastery, from the first introduction of
Christianity into Ireland, but of which even the ruins had long since
disappeared, it was imagined that this medal had been brought into Ireland
by some of the religious community at a very early period, and as such,
was an object of great interest.
8
About this time an almost identical medal came into the possession of
Robert Walsh, obtained from a Polish Jew, at Rostoc, in Germany; and
upon comparing it with that found in Ireland, it appeared to be an exact
counterpart, and struck from the same die.7 According to Walsh, “finally,
that the date was indicated by the Hebrew letter aleph on the obverse,
representing the numeral I, and indicated that it was struck in the first year
after the resurrection.” It had on it the inscription: “The Messiah has
reigned; he came in peace, and being made the light of man he lives.”8

A century earlier, scholar and clergyman Henry Rowlands documented

the discovery of a distinct Hebrew amulet during the excavation of an
ancient Druid site on the Isle of Anglesy.9 Although the Hebrew
inscription is different, (“Jesus the Nazarene, Messiah, YHWH [and] Man,
One”), the profile image is obviously derived from the same archetype.

7
Rev Robert Walsh, LLD, AN ESSAY ON ANCIENT COINS, MEDALS AND GEMS [2nd Ed, London, 1828] p.4f
8
Theseus Ambrosius Albonesius (1469-1540), (the great reviver of learning in Rome who inaugurated Syriac studies in Europe) first described a similar ancient coin in
the time of Pope Julius II (1443 – 1513); in a book published in 1539 [Introductio in Chaldaicam linguam, Syriacam, atque Armenicam, et decern alias linguas (Pavia,
1539)] he speaks of the forms of the “'Samaritan' letters used by coin-engravers in their inscriptions, such as, when I was at Rome in the happier days of Pope Julius II,
and in the time of Leo X his successor, I remember to have seen on bronze coins ; and last year an image of our Saviour cast in bronze, with Samaritan letters, was
shown to me by a lady, of most holy reputation, . . . Messias rex venit in pace, Deus homo factus est, vel incarnatus est’’ [fol. 21 verso ff]
9
Mona Antiqua Restaurata [Dublin 1723], describing a find around 1702, “Being found among the ruins of the chief Druids, resident in Anglesea, it is not improbable
that the curious relic belonged to some Christian connected with Bran the Blessed, who was one of the hostages of Caractacus at Rome from A.D. 52 to 59, at which
time the apostle Paul was preaching the gospel of Christ at Rome. In two years afterwards, A.D. 61, the Roman General Suetonius extirpated all the Druids in the
island”
9
The Emerald itself disappeared with the 1527 ‘Sack of Rome,’10 but given
the multiple examples of this image in coins, amulets, and paintings
circulating independent of the Vernicle, this common archetype must be
ancient indeed.

Part 2: From the Catacombs to Constantinople

Towards the end of the 16th century, Bosio discovered the "cemetery of
Domitilla, Nereus, and Achilleus, near Santa Petronilla” mentioned in the
ancient pilgrim itineraries. \

10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_(1527)
10
 \
The Acta Martyrum state that Flavia Domitilla, niece of Flavius Clemens,
was buried in the 1st-century at Terracina. Her bodyguards [or cubicularii],
Nereus and Achilleus, were martyred for converting to Christianity11 along
with their Lady. Their 1st-century cemetery was also identified by a
broken inscription in marble, reconstructed as the:

11
Damasus erected this inscription in honor of Nereus and Achilleus: Militiae nomen dederant saevumque gerebant / Officium pariter spectantes jussa tyranni /
Praeceptis pulsante metu servire parati. Mira fides rerum subito posuere furorem / Conversi fugiunt, ducis impia castra relinquunt / Projiciunt clypeos, phaleras telaque
cruenta / Confessi gaudent Christi portare triumphos / Credite per Damasum possit quid gloria Christi. - “They became soldiers, and held a cruel office, in like manner
awaiting the commands of the tyrant, ready to obey his orders impelled by fear. O wonderful faith! they suddenly abandoned the military service. Having become
converted, they fly, they leave the impious camps of their leader, they throw away their shields, their decorations and their bloody weapons. Having confessed the faith,
they rejoice to bear the triumphs of Christ. Believe from Damasus what the glory of Christ can accomplish.” [Carm. 25, col. 399, 400, P. L. 13]. These martyrs were
probably Pretorian soldiers, who, having fled from Rome, were with Domitilla, daughter of Plautilla, in the island of Pontia, and were martyred under Domitian, at
Terracina near by. They are said to have been converted and baptized under the Apostles, and are annually commemorated by the Church on the 12th of May. They
must have been important persons. St Paul mentions Nereus and his sister in his epistle to the Romans 16:15. He labored much with the Pretorian soldiers. Thus the
story o the catacombs confirms the testimony of the epistle, and that in turn confirms eclessiastical tradition. The catacombs of Rome: and a history of the tombs of the
apostles Peter and ... - Page 36ff & notes by John Harvey Treat - History - 1907
11
On the ceiling of one of its niches can be found a fresco of a medallion-
bust of Christ. As Bayliss summarizes:
“It is old amongst even these antiquities, for the wall upon which it is
painted has been cut through to the destruction of the picture of
which it formed a part in order to find a place of burial near to a
martyr's grave. This could scarcely have been done within living
memory of those who caused the picture to be painted and yet the
hands which destroyed the other figures were careful to leave
untouched the face of Christ. Its great antiquity is evidenced also by
the absence of all symbol. As in the Callistine portrait there is not
even an aureole. The Likeness is most striking”12

An interesting detail is Christ’s “ponytail.” This is a detail which was not

otherwise present in an image of Christ, and which only came to be known
at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1920s, Hugo Gressman showed
that this was a custom that was frequent among the Jews in antiquity,13
12
Rex Regum: By Wyke Bayliss [Published by G. Bell and sons, 1898], p.47
“Jewish Life in Ancient Rome” in Jewish Studies in Memory of Israel Abrahams [Jewish Institute of Religion, NY 1927]
13

12
and Daniel-Rops [Jesus and His Times - 1956] states that, except for
festive days, the Jews used to wear this pony-tail, plaited and pinned round
their head under their headgear.14

Though the Vernicle image was forgotten as soon as the eye-witness

generation died out, another catacomb copy exists [now in Vatican
Museum, Rex Regnum, p.51; Heaphy, p.49], again without any
nimbus/halo/cross symbology, confirming the existence of this older
archetype. What is remarkable is that the painting is a copy of an even
earlier mosaic!

But there is a trail that can be picked up in the history of the Caesars at
Rome. Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, commonly called
Alexander Severus, was Roman emperor during the early 3rd century (11
March 222–235) According to Lampridius in the Historia Augusta:
14
Jesus and His times, Henri Daniel-Rops [Published by Dutton, 1954]
13
 “in the early morning hours he would worship in the sanctuary of his
Lares, in which he kept statues of the deified emperors — of whom,
however, only the best had been selected — and also of certain holy
souls, among them [were statues of] Apollonius and, according to a
contemporary writer, Christ, Abraham, Orpheus, and others of this
same character and, besides, the portraits of his ancestors” [Alex Sev
29.2]
His lararium also contained a statue of his deified namesake, Alexander
the Great [31.5]; Marcus Aurelius had had a similar chapel, in which he
kept statues of his teachers [Marc. iii.5 ]. St. Chrysostom says that there
were Christians in his day who wore brass coins or medals of Alexander
the Great [upon whom Severus Alexander modeled himself] on their heads
or attached to their feet, and valued them highly as charms; and there is
evidence that traces of this superstition still remained in Smyrna even as
late as the beginning of the last century. And there is a medal with the
head of Alexander the Great, clad in lion's skin, on one side, and an ass
with her foal on the other side, with the amazing inscription DN IHY XPS
DEI FILIUS = "Our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God”

It has been suggested that this coin or medal was produced some time
between 231 and 235, when the style on the coins of the Emperor
Alexander Severus was IMP ALEXANDER PIUS AUG. In 221 he had
taken the names of M. Aur. Alexander, and in 222, M. Aur. Severus
Alexander. But by 231, he had dropped all these names excepting that of
“Alexander.”
14
We also learn Severus Alexander did not intend to limit his syncretistic
devotion to private worship:
“He also wished to build a temple to Christ and give him a place
among the gods — a measure, which, they say, was also considered
by Hadrian. . . . Alexander, however, was prevented from carrying out
this purpose, because those who examined the sacred victims ascertained
that if he did, all men would become Christians and the other temples
would of necessity be abandoned.” [43.6f]

Hadrian, Roman Emperor from the early 2nd-century, also had a

documented familiarity with Christ & Christianity.15 His freedman
Phlegon documented Christ’s miracles in his history, according to Origen
[Contra Celsus 14]. In Hadrian’s Rescript to the Proconsul of Asia, he
wrote Christians had to be tried on a case-by-case basis, on the merits of
the charge, and not merely because they were Christians [Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History IV:IX]

As a devout pagan who built and re-built many temples throughout the
Roman Empire, Hadrian’s plan to build multiple temples to Christ would
be perfectly in character. Hadrian was also an avid collector of gems and
religious amulets. Among his prized possessions were engraved
emeralds of Medusa [now in the Devonshire collection], as well as
imperial iconic images of himself, his wife Sabina, and a third engraved
emerald of them facing one another. Hadrian would certainly have prized
such an amulet of Christ.

Interestingly, the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius (who had no great

affinity for Christianity) would later sell Hadrian’s great collection of
gem’s in a public auction in order to raise funds for his Marcomannic wars

15
A letter ascribed in the Augustan History to the Emperor Hadrian refers to the worship of Serapis by residents of Egypt who described themselves as Christians, and
Christian worship by those claiming to worship Serapis, suggesting a great confusion of the cults and practices: The land of Egypt, the praises of which you have been
recounting to me, my dear Servianus, I have found to be wholly light-minded, unstable, and blown about by every breath of rumour. There those who worship Serapis
are, in fact, Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are, in fact, devotees of Serapis. There is no chief of the Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no
Christian presbyter, who is not an astrologer, a soothsayer, or an anointer. Even the Patriarch himself, when he comes to Egypt, is forced by some to worship Serapis, by
others to worship Christ. (Augustan History, Firmus et al. 8)
15
[J. Capitolinus M.Aurelius 17]. It would have been at this point that the
Emerald Vernicle left Rome en route to Constantinople.

In fact, a head of Christ engraved on a precious stone is documented

among the treasures at St. Sophia in Constantinople as early as the 10th
century: Archbishop Anthony of Novgorod described the treasures of
Constantinople in AD 1200, including a large silver dish used for Divine
service, given by Olga, the grand duchess, to the Patriarch, two centuries
before.

"The wise Olga," who ruled the Rus during the minority of her son
Svyatoslav (945-957), was actually baptised at Constantinople by the
Patriarch Polyeuktes, in the presence of the Emperor Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, who has left us an account of the ceremony; but it was
not till the eighth year of the reign of her grandson, Vladimir (980-1015),
that the Rus were formally received into the Orthodox Eastern Church.
Anthony of Novgorod reports that set in the dish was a precious stone,
with the effigy of Christ chased thereon, from which impressions were
taken.16

Italian-type of
similarly designed
11th-century Paten
with central Vernicle
image [but of
forward-facing
Byzantine design]
at Basilica San
Marco

16
Antonius Novgorodensis, Liber qui dicitur Peregrinus. Latin version of extracts in P. E. D. Riant, Exuviae, ii (1878), p. 219 : ' Discus sacrificii magnus argenteus, ab
Olga Russica, magna ducissa, quae ilium donavit pontifici in usus sacrificii, quando in caesaream urbem venit, ut baptizaretur disco illo Olgae lapis quidam pretiosus
est, coelatam exhibens Christi effigiem, cuius signacula impressa desumuntur ad quasvis gratias obtinendas ; desuper autem discus margaritis ornatus est.' [Another
version for magna . . . bapt. gives donatus, quae C. P. ad tributum percipiendum verier at.]
16
Thus, the emerald sent by Bajazet to Rome in or about 1492 was at least as
old as the tenth century, if identical with Olga's. We learn from Tertullian
that Hadrian and Alexander were not the first Caesars to include Christ in
the pantheon of Roman “gods”

PART 3: The Pilate-Tiberius Connection

The 1st-century Roman satirist Juvenal once pictured Tiberius Caesar on

the isle of Capri surrounded by “his Chaldean herd” [10.71] – i.e. his
‘spiritual advisors’ trained in Eastern astrology. Tiberius’ keen interest in
the supernatural is noted by a number of 1st-century writers, consistent
with the interest he would have taken in the case of Christ, as reported by
Pilate. Tertullian tells us as much:
“In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun
at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware
that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an
eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in
your archives Then, when His body was taken down from the cross
and placed in a sepulcher the Jews in their eager watchfulness
surrounded it with a large military guard, lest, as He had predicted
His resurrection from the dead on the third day, His disciples might
remove by stealth His body, and deceive even the incredulous. But,
lo, on the third day there a was a sudden shock of earthquake, and the
stone which sealed the sepulchre was rolled away, and the guard fled
off in terror: without a single disciple near, the grave was found
empty of all but the clothes of the buried One. But nevertheless, the
leaders of the Jews, whom it nearly concerned both to spread abroad
a lie, and keep back a people tributary and submissive to them from
the faith, gave it out that the body of Christ had been stolen by His
followers.17 . . . , He was encompassed with a cloud and taken up to
heaven,—a fact more certain far than the assertions of your Proculi
17
Tertullian adds “For the Lord, you see, did not go forth into the public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered from their error; that faith also, destined to a great
reward, might hold its ground in difficulty. But He spent forty days with some of His disciples down in Galilee, a region of Judea, instructing them in the doctrines they
were to teach to others. Thereafter, having given them commission to preach the gospel through the world”
17
 concerning Romulus.18 All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now
in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to
the reigning Cæsar, who was at the time Tiberius.” [Apolog. 21]

According to Tertullian, Tiberius submitted Pilate’s detailed report [and

explanation of the worldwide supernatural phenomena] to Senate, with a
proposal to recognize Christ’s divinity:
“Tiberius accordingly, in whose days the Christian name made its
entry into the world, having himself received intelligence from
Palestine of events which had clearly shown the truth of Christ’s
divinity, brought the matter before the senate, with his own decision
in favour of Christ. The senate, because it had not given the
approval itself, rejected his proposal. Cæsar held to his opinion,
threatening wrath against all accusers of the Christians.19 Consult
your histories” [Apology 5]

The dedicatees of Tertullian’s Apologeticum, the Romani imperii

antistites, who could consult the Senate's official records, would easily
have been able to give the lie to Tertullian's words, if false.20 We known
from the Apology of Apollonius, the Christian senator was sentenced to
death under Commodus in183-185 "on the basis of a senatus consultum"
(Eus. HE 5.21.4).21

Tertullian does not specify the date of this senatus consultum, but is given
in Eusebius' Chronicon, in Jerome's version (176-77 Helm) and in
Chronicon Paschale 430 as two years after the date of the crucifixion.
18
[Proculus was a Roman senator who affirmed that Romulus had appeared to him after his death]
19
The narrative of Tertullian implies, and that of Orosius more distinctly asserts, that the emperor protected the followers of Jesus by an edict. Improbable as this may
appear, Philo, who lived at the time, not only asserts the same thing, but has copied at least the substance of that edict. It is to this effect: "All nations, though prejudiced
against the Jews, have been careful not to abolish the Jewish rites; and the same caution was taken in the reign of Tiberius; though indeed the Jews in Italy have been
distressed by the machinations of Sejanus. For after his death the emperor became sensible that the accusations alleged against the Jews in Italy were lying calumnies,
the mere inventions of Sejanus, who was eager to devour a nation that alone or chiefly would, he knew, be likely to oppose his impious designs and measures. And to
the constituted authorities in every place, Tiberius sent orders not to molest, in their respective cities, the men of that nation, excepting the guilty only, who were few,
and not to suppress any of their institutions, but to regard as a trust committed to their care, both the people themselves, and their laws, which like oil on troubled water
dispose them to order and stability." Philo, vol. ii. B. 569. [as cited by John Jones]
20
Vitellius' commentarii [cited by Tertullian in De anima, 46] are probably among the pagan sources from which the apologist derived his information. On the reaction
to Pilate’s report by Tiberius and the senate Cp. Paulus Orosius, Hist adv Pagan lib.7. c.4. "Tiberius proposed to the senate that Christ should be made a God, with his
own vote in his favour. The senate, moved with indignation that it had not been, as was usual, proposed to them to determine respecting the reception of his religion,
rejected his deification, and decreed by an edict, that the Christians should be banished from the city, especially as Sejanus, praefect of Tiberius, most obstinately
resisted the reception of their faith. Yet Tiberius threatened with death the accusers of the Christians by an edict."
21
The Acts of Apollonius, 171 Lazzati, record that the prefect of the praetorium, Tigidius Perennis, was willing to acquit Apollonius, but "the senatus consultum says
that it is not licit to be Christian"; this formula,    , closely corresponds to Tertullians' non licet esse vos, direct consequence of the s.c. of
AD 35.
18
Tiberius probably learned of Jesus and the first Christians from Pilate’s
report, as well known to Justin (I Apol. 35; 48), et al.22 Why would Pilate
submit such detailed report, with supporting eikon? To break down this
question into more specific issues:
1) What was the nature of Pilate’s relationship with Tiberius?
2) What would motivate him to commission such an icon for
Tiberius?
3) What would Tiberius’ interest be in such an icon?

Pilate carefully guarded his special status as an amicus Caesaris23 [or

“friend of Caesar” John 19:12].
In fact, one of the first things Pilate did as praefect was build and dedicate
a temple for the cultic worship of Tiberius in Caesarea, know as the
Tiberieum. The inscription is in a block of limestone 82 x 68 x 20 cm.
Discovered in 1961 and reconstructed as follows:

[DIS AUGUSTI]S
TIBERIEUM
[. . . . PO]NTIUS
PILATUS
[. . .PRAEF]ECTUS
IUDA[EA]E
[. .FECIT
D]E[DICAVIT]

22
See also Fragment 64 [Harnack] of Porphry, found in Macarius of Magnesia's Apocriticus (II 14) from Porphyry’s polemic against Christianity: “Il senatoconsulto del
35 contro i cristiani in un frammento porfiriano” by Sordi, Marta ; Ramelli, Ilaria in Aevum 78.1 (2004)
23
A. N. Sherwin-White Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1963): 47n. Compare Herod Agrippa’s usage of the title
“friend of Caesar” on his own coins (http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA47/47429KL.pdfb). It became an official title by the time of Vespasian.
19
As early as 1955, numismatist F.A. Banks24 suggested that Pilate had
functioned as Tiberius’ personal priest and soothsayer. The lituus
[diviner’s rod] and the simpulum [ritual ladle] that identify his coins were
implements used by the Roman cultic priesthood.

In these coins of Pilate, we see he carefully avoids “offensive” images, but

still manages to encode his devotion to the cult of Caesar. As a priest and
ambassador of the imperial cult of Tiberius and the empress Julia, the
prætorium in Jerusalem would have served as the Tiberieum for the

24
Coins of Bible Days (New York: Sanford J. Durst 1955); re-iterated by D. Hendin Guide to Biblical Coins (New York: Amphora 1996); cf J-P Fontanille & S.L.
Gosline The Coins of Pontius Pilate (Warren Center PA: Shangri-La 2001)
20
Roman troops stationed there. Tertullian says [Apolog. 16] that the entire
religion of the Roman camp consisted almost entirely in “worshipping the
ensigns, in swearing by the ensigns, and in preferring the ensigns before
all the [other] gods."

Devotee of the imperial cult,

being crowned by “Victory” as
he pours a libation offering in
worship on the altar dedicated
the “divine” Tiberius Caesar.
Found at the Valkhof, Nijmegen
(Noviomagus), The Netherlands (Germania
Inferior).

21
The Greek inscription on the coin below [Pilate, year 29] reads on the
front TIBEPIOY KAICAPOC (“of Emperor Tiberius”). The reverse
inscription is IOYLIA KAICAPOC which translates “to Empress Julia”.
We see the drooping sheaf of wheat in honor of Julia as the goddess Ops:

Pilate’s devotion extended

to responsibility for the cult
of the worship of empress
Julia Livia as well. A first
century cult statue
represents her as the
goddess Ops, with a sheaf
of wheat and cornucopia.
In an aureus [struck in AD
36] Julia is the goddess
Pax, with Tiberius on the
obverse.

22
At a critical juncture, Pilate decided to bring these iconophors of the
Emperor to the Praetorium in Jerusalem. Isho’dad of Merv, the great
Syrian exegete of the 9th century, comments on Matt 24.15:
“because the Jews called out at the Passover, ‘We have no king but
Caesar!’ [John 19] therefore Pilate in the night introduced into the
Temple the image of Caesar . . . . and required of them, that ‘if that
word of yours be true, worship his image like the rest of the nations
of his Empire.’ Because of this an insurrection began, and
commotions, and never ceased, until the burning and complete
destruction.”
The praetorium of Pilate (where this incident took place) was rebuilt as a
museum/basilica commemorating the trial of Christ. It included
monumental frescoes of scenes from the trial, with the Imperial
iconophors on prominent display. These served as the model for
depictions in the Rossano codex, the Rabbula Codex, et al.25 Sculptures
from the 5th century church of San Marco affirm the presence of these
iconophors at the trial of Christ. Flanking Pilate’s throne in the top scene
are two square imperial standards bearing images of the Roman emperor
Tiberius. History records that Pilate’s open display of imperial imagery
offended his Jewish subjects and got him in trouble with Rome.

25
A painting of the trial was seen centuries later in a chapel at the praetorium. A mediaeval successor to the 5th century praetorium we have been considering. The first
Hagia Sophia probably succumbed to the Persians in 614 or 638; after the attack of 614 a certain indefatigable Thomas claimed to have found 369 bodies in Hagia
Sophia (C. Clermont-Ganneau, "The Taking of Jerusalem by the Persians, A.D. 614," PEFQ, I898, pp. 43f.; cf. P. P. Peeters "La Prise de Jerusalem par les Perses,"
Milanges de l'Universite Sainte-Josephe, ix, I923, pp. 7ff.). In 638 Sophronius, bishop of Jerusalem, opened the gates of the city to the Caliph Omar and in his threnody
for the holy places, we may see Hagia Sophia's epitaph (Anacreontics, xx, P.G., 87ter, 382I, lines 73ff.). But a Jerusalem liturgy of the 7th or 8th century speaks of a
Sophia Nea whose restoration was celebrated on September 21 (C. Kekelidge, A Jerusalem Liturgy of the VII Century, Tiflis, 1912, in Russian for which see Abel,
Revue biblique, N.S. II, 1914, pp. 453ff. dating it first half 8th century), a date which is also recorded in a Georgian version of the Jerusalem Typikon (Abel, Rev. bibl.,
33, 1924, p. 613; for ed. of text with tr. see G. Garitte, Calendrier Palestino-Georgien du Sinaiticus 34, Brussels, I958, pp. 296f. and 335). A 7th century Armenian
lectionary (F. Coneybeare and A. MacLean, Rituale Armenorum, Oxford, 1905, pp. 52off.) places the new praetorium near Sion church where an Armenian visitor of
about 660 saw the "Palace of Pilate, called Kappata (i.e. the lithostroton of John I9:I3), and the stone on which Christ stood before Pilate. On it are seen his footprints to
this day." (R. N. Bain, "Armenian Description of the Holy Places in the Seventh Century," Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly, I896, p. 348.) John of Wurzburg
reported about 116o- 1170 that he came upon this chapel, located in front of Sion church and toward the north, containing a picture with these inscriptions: Sanctus
sanctorum damnatur voce reorum Proservis bellum patitur atque flagellum. Haec bona crux Christi Simoni subvenit iste Non vehit hanc gratis, quae dat bona cunctis
beatis. John of Wiirzburg, Descriptio Terrae Sanctae, in Tobler, Descr. Terrae Sanctae, Leipzig, 1874, p. 140. Epiphanius of Jerusalem (12th cent.?), who saw the
witness rock, located the praetorium near Sion church, for he says of a small structure marking Peter's denial that it is "near the apse of Holy Sion, or rather of the
praetorium" (Enarratio Syriae, P.G., I20, 26I). About a decade after John of Wurzburg copied out the inscriptions of that painting, a miniaturist in Damietta set down on
folio 8zv of copte 13 (Paris, Bibl. Nat.) a Christ or Barabbas scene which could also be titled, "Sanctus sanctorum damnatur voce reorum." Christ is paired with
Barabbas in the center; both are bound and look to the left where a rather Islamic Pilate sits in judgment on a cushioned throne, flanked by guards and attended by a
servant bearing water. The right portion of the miniature is occupied by a compact crowd of Jews with arms upraised also looking at Pilate. Stylistic affinities between
the miniatures of this manuscript and those of the Rabula and Rossano Gospels have been discussed by Buchthal (" 'Hellenistic' Miniatures in Early Islamic
Manuscripts," Ars Islamica, VII, 2, I940, pp. I32f.), but a recent study of copte 13 shows that the striking feature of some half dozen miniatures in this manuscript is a
specific visual reference to holy places in Palestine and Jerusalem (Shenouda, "The Miniatures of the Paris MS 'Copte I3'," doctoral diss., I956, Princeton University). It
may be that the Syriac Gospels from Zagba, the Greek Gospels from Syria-Palestine, and the Coptic Gospels from Damietta describe a triangle whose center of gravity
is to be sought among the holy places of Jerusalem.
23
Moses of Khorene (Armenian historian of the 5th cent) preserves the
Emperor’s correspondence from the Archives of Edessa: Tiberius to
Abgar—
“your kind letter has been read to me, and I wish that thanks should
be given to you from me. Though we had already heard several
persons relate these facts, Pilate has officially informed us of the
miracles of Jesus. He has certified to us that after His resurrection
from the dead He was acknowledged by many to be God.”
When John informs us that Pilate “was more awe-stricken than before”
[John 19:7-8, William’s] from learning that Christ was charged with
claiming to be the “son of God” – it was a truly religious fear, albeit a
superstitious one, perfectly in character for a priest of Caesar. Pilate so
effectively communicated this reverential fear to Tiberius in his report that
the emperor became convicted of the same.

Again, could Pilate have failed to make and give an iconophor of Jesus to
Tiberius along with his report? When the Senate’s decision forbade the
public worship of Christ, Tiberius would have resorted to a private token,
and commissioned court gem-engraver Dioscurides (or a pupil) to make a
cameo based on Pilate’s iconophor. We find later examples of this practice
among the nobility. Compare the example of a crudely engraved gem
(possibly as early as the 1st century26) from Constanza on the Black Sea,
and it is not the sole example of its kind. Such gems may have been worn
or carried secretly for private devotion at a time when larger
representations would not have been advisable.

26
See support that the gem was engraved before AD 40 in the chapter “Jucundus & the Chrestians of Rome”
24
 Cameo of Tiberius in ring, as personal token of
devotion to his cult27

In fact, we have direct historic testimony of the Christ-Icon commissioned

by Pilate that would have served as the models for the Emerald Vernicle.
Irenaeus reports that, around AD 150, there
“arose Marcellina, who came to Rome under [the episcopate of]
Anicetus, and, holding these doctrines, she led multitudes astray.
They style themselves Gnostics. They also possess images, some of
them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material;
while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at
that time when Jesus lived among them” [Adv Haer 1.25.628]
We can even trace the steps of how the image was made and its voyage
from Judaea to Rome in the reign of Tiberius . . .

27
"Ring with intaglio portrait of Emperor Tiberius [Roman] (1994.230.7)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1994.230.7 (September 2008) Source: Ring with intaglio portrait of Emperor Tiberius [Roman] (1994.230.7) | Heilbrunn
Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
28
See also Augustine, Hær., c. vii, Epiphanius, Hær., xxvii. sec. 2, Hippolytus Refutation 7.21
25
TERTIUS the SCRIBE

As with most people in official positions in the Roman & Jewish world,
the Apostles regularly employed scribes when dictating “official” church
documents – e.g. apostolic epistles meant to be read in local
congregations. Often, the apostle would countersign the dictated document
as a sign of authenticity:
1Co 16:21 The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.
2Th 3:17 The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the
token in every epistle: so I write.
Phm 1:19 I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it:
albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own
self besides.
Sometimes, the scribe would be identified in the colophon: [an inscription
placed usually at the end of a book, giving facts about its publication]:
Col 4:18 The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my
bonds. Grace be with you. Amen. [manuscript colophon: Written
from Rome to Colossians by Tychicus and Onesimus]
More rarely the scribe is identified in the body of the letter itself:
1Pet 5:12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I
have written briefly, . . . .

The Silas of Acts [15-18] is generally identified with the Silvanus of the
epistles [1Cor 1:19, 1Thess 1:1, 2Thess 1:1, 1Pet 5:12], as it was common
for prominent Jews with significant dealings in the Gentile world to adopt
similar sounding names in the target community. Silas [Hebrew ‫ שלש‬for
"third (officer)”] would be know in the Greek-speaking world as
“Silvanus.” We know this name was current among Jews in Rome at the
time from contemporary inscriptions.

26
Silas/Silvanus was probably a professional scribe, fluent in multiple
languages. His proficiency is used by scholars to explain the superior
Greek of 1 Peter versus the “rougher” style of 2 Peter, written without his
assistance. As a professional amanuensis, he would have had to have been
fluent in Latin as well, and use an appropriate Latin name, as Saul became
“Paul” [Acts 13:9], and the disciple Jesus became “Justus” [Col 4:11], and
John became “Mark” [Acts 12:12]. Silas could have used a name with the
same meaning as his Hebrew name [“third”]: TERTIUS

With this equation, we then have the identity of an otherwise mysterious

figure in the New Testament: the scribe for the epistle to the Romans
Rom 16:22 I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.
With this identification,29 a whole new avenue of inquiry opens up to help
us identify the role of his family in the early Church: Rom 16:23 identifies
Quartus as a “brother.” So the brothers Tertius [“third”] and Quartus
[“fourth”; cp. Acts 20:4 Secundus – “second”30] are eager to give their
greeting to their acquaintances back in Rome. In Rom 16:2, we find
Quartus associated with Erastus, the Roman “chamberlain” of the city of
Corinth. We have here the picture of a prominent Jewish family in Rome,
in positions of power through out the Roman Empire, as their affairs took
them.

1st century Pavement inscription in Corinth: "Erastus, Commissioner of Public

Works"31

29
CLARKE on Rom 16:21 “Some eminent commentators suppose Tertius to be the same with Silas—the companion of St. Paul”; GILL on Rom 16:21 “it may be
thought, as it is by some, that this man was the same with Silas, who was a constant companion of the apostle; and the Hebrew word vlv is the same as Tertius; he also
is numbered among the seventy disciples, and said to be bishop of Iconium”; ISBE: “Some identify him with Silas, owing to the fact that shalish is the Hebrew for
"third (officer)," as tertius is the Latin” [“Tertius” S. F. Hunter]; Lightfoot, JB Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae v.IV, 172 “and perhaps Silas to the Jews was Tertius to
the Romans, Rom. xvi. 23, from [heb] Shalosh,three”; “More probable than this conjecture is the theory that Silas is the same person as Tertius mentioned in Romans
xvi. 22, for Silas and Tertius have in their respective tongues the same signification” ECLECTIC REVIEW. MDCCCXLVI. JANUARY—JUNE. [London 1846] p.53
[review of The Literary History of the New Testament. 8vo. pp. 608. London : Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley. 1845]
30
“The corresponding name of Primus occurs in an inscription from the Catacombs now in the Lateran Museum, as belonging to an exorcist, and might seem, to supply
the missing link; ….the Latin form of their names suggests that they had been originally Roman Jews, an inference confirmed by the fact that both Tertius and Quartus
send salutations to their brethren in the imperial city (Rom. xvi. 22, 23)” A New Testament commentary for English readers, by various writers, ed. by C.J. Ellicott,
Charles John Ellicott (bp. of Gloucester) 1884, p. [Cf. Giovanni Battista de Rossi, James Spencer Northcote Roma sotterranea Volumes 2-3, (Longmans, Green, 1879),
p. 119]
31
That Erastus was a civic functionary [oikonomos of the city" (Rom 16.23)] is significant in itself, but it is not clear precisely what position Erastus filled and its level
of importance (Paul is speaking in Greek and the positions in the Roman colony of Corinth would usually be expressed in Latin). The fact that Paul singles out Erastus
in mentioning an occupation suggests that the position is one of relatively high status (cf. Theissen 1980.75-76). Mason's (1974:71) study of Greek equivalents of Latin
27
We find Silas [identified as a Roman citizen in Acts 16:37] among the
“chief men” sent as part of an Apostolic envoy from Jerusalem to the
multi-cultural & polyglot church in Antioch in Acts 15:22. As a Roman
citizen of Jerusalem, prominent in the Jewish community, we would
expect Tertius to assume an official position commensurate with his
specialized skills: perhaps a liaison between the Præfect and the
Sanhedrin? WAS TERTIUS ORIGINALLY PILATE’S SCRIBE?

We have strong reason to believe the answer is YES. What would being
Pilate’s scribe – or tabellarius32 - entail? An official court tabellarius
would have had a number of duties. In formal poetic Latin, this word
retained its original meaning of someone who writes a tablet, or carries it
after it is written. In capital cases, the tabellarius could also have the
gruesome responsibility of inscribing the titulus damnationes – the placard
that would be affixed to the crucifix of the condemned. They might even
be charged with carrying it to the cross and affixing it themselves.33

terms shows that the term oikonomos could be used to describe a number of positions, including treasurer (dispensator), overseer (vilicus) or even aedile [as in the
Corinthian inscription above]
32
Literally, a letter-carrier. As the Romans had no public post, they were obliged to employ special messengers, who were called Tabellarii, to convey their letters
(tabellae, litterae) when they had not an opportunity of sending them otherwise. (Cic. Phil. ii. 31 ; Cic. ad Fam. xii 12, xiv. 22.); alternately, tabularius: compare acta
militaria, contained an account of the duties, numbers, and expences of each legion (Veget. ii. 19), and were probably preserved in the military treasury founded by
Augustus (Suet. Aug. 49 ; Tac. Ann. i. 78 ; Dion Cass. Iv. 25.) The soldiers, who drew up these acta, are frequently mentioned in inscriptions and ancient writers under
various titles, as, librarius legionis ; actuarius or actarius legionis; tabularius castrensis; From the codex Justin.: “The blind may testamentate”; l the law before
Justinian made no distinction between testators who were blind and those having sight. But to avoid error and fraud which might readily occur in the testaments of the
blind and to effect greater certainty, the Emperor Justinian prescribed the following form for their testaments :2—" The Emperor Justin to Demosthenes Praefectus
Praetorio: —" After mature deliberation we hereby determine that the blind, whether they have become so in consequence of sickness or injury, or were born blind, can
only make their last wills orally and in the presence of seven witnesses, which must also be observed in other testaments, and a tabularius; when these witnesses are
assembled together, then the blind person must first make known to them that he called them to him because he desired to testamentate orally. Thereupon he must
especially name the heirs and their several stations, in order that no doubt may arise by mentioning their names alone, so that the part or parts which they shall have, as
also which the legatees and fideicommissa shall have, and all what the laws require respecting the disposition by last will, shall be clearly and certainly expressed. If all
of this be at the one and the same place and time properly discussed and thereupon written down by the tabularius in his own hand, in the view of the seven witnesses
mentioned, and by the witnesses subscribed by their own hands, and by them as well as by the tabularius sub-sealed, such a last will shall be fully valid. And the same
shall be the case if there be no institution of heirs therein, but only legacies and fideicommissa, formed in brief like a codicil; but as human weakness, disturbed by
thinking of death, cannot immediately recall everything to the memory, hence the blind are at liberty to have their last wills written either in the form of a testament or a
codicil by whom they choose. This writing, after the witnesses and a tabularius have been called together and assembled in a place, and after the purpose of their
assemblage has been made known, must be read aloud by the tabularius to the testator and the witnesses. After the contents have been made known, the blind person
must declare aloud that he acknowledges it as his last will, and that the writing expresses his will in accordance with his mind, all the witnesses must subscribe it at the
end, and as has been mentioned, it must be sub-sealed by the witnesses and the tabalarius ; and as there is not a sufficient number of tabularii in all places whose
services can be had, we order that where a tabularius is not to be had an eighth witness be added, and that which above has been committed to the tabularius shall be
fully done by this eighth witness, and grant permission to those who desire to declare a last will in this manner, subscribed and sub-sealed last will according to the
above form, to give for safe keeping to such one of the witnesses as he desires. In this manner we hope to effect that the right of the blind to testamentate will further
continue to remain, but in no respect to leave room for fraud where all is seen by so many eyes and perceived by so many senses, and moreover entrusted to many hands
for security."
33
http://www.nazarenus.com/2-5-verdict.htm
28
They would have acted much as a modern “court reporter” – transcribing
the testimony tachygraphically onto wax tablets using a metal stylus, as
accurately depicted in this ancient manuscript illumination above, from the
Rossano codex. The official court tabellarius would then draw up the
official report on scrolls [depicted at his feet] under the supervision of the
præfect [Pilate], which would then be sent to Rome for review and
archiving.

Tertius would thus have formed an official member of the “crucifixion

party” - and as such was an eyewitness to the events recorded in the
Gospel account, including the confession of the centurion [Matt 27:45].
The final duty of the tabellarius was to convey the tabellae and/or literae

29
to their official destinations, not merely as messengers, but as a
representative of the given authority (as Paul requested in Acts 9:1-2).

Scroll-box (scrinium or
capsa), for transportation
of documents [after a
fresco at Herculaneum,
i.e., before AD 79]. Note
that each roll is furnished
with an identifying ticket
(titulus).

Just as courtroom artists are employed today we have reason to believe

that in this exceptional trial, an official portrait [eikon] of the condemned
was made to accompany the report. This portrait would have served as the
model for the legendary “EMERALD VERNICLE” – an object having a
much better chance of survival [durable, portable, valuable] during the
multiple sacks of Rome. The original portrait and report would have been
lost, as were the Roman archives themselves, but not before copies were
made.Also, sketches of the crucifixion (with involved personages
identified), would have been included for clarification of the incidents
described.

That such acta existed is well known. For example, it is possible from the
Oxyrhynchus Papyri,34 to document a complete legal action from initial
petition in AD 304 (No. 2187)35 to notice of judgment (No. 1880) in AD
420. One of the earliest still begins: "From the minutes of Tiberius
Claudius Pasion, strategus. .... In court, Pesouris vs. Saraeus" in AD 49.36
A. Haseloff collected evidence that early acta were indeed illustrated
(L'Arte, x, 1907, p. 469)

34
Published in multiple volumes by Grenfell and Hunt [London, beginning in 1898]
35
ibid, vol. 18 [1941], pp.136ff; #1880 in vol. 16 [1924], p. 78
36
ibid, No. 37 in Vol. 1 [1898], p.79
30
Tertius would be entrusted with these illustrations as well, and been the
head of a military envoy ensuring that Pilate’s report reached Emperor
Tiberius, (just as when Paul had a military escort with the report of his
situation in Acts 23:23-25 ). When Tertius and his entourage reached
Rome in AD 35, they would have been housed in the Domus Tiberiana –
the Emperor’s palace on Palatine Hill.37
There, a general director called Procurator Bibliothecarum Augusti38
managed the archives with two subordinates, one for Greek books, one for
the Latin. Aulus Gellius, who lived AD 117-180, speaks of "sitting with a
party of friends in the library of the palace of Tiberius” [Noctes Atticæ, v.
21. 9]. This library also contained the public records [Vopiscus, Hist. Aug.
Script., ii. 637]

After a sculpture found at Neumagen near Trèves, among the ruins of a fortified camp attributed to
Constantine the Great.39 Two divisions, full of rolls, are shown, from which the librarian is selecting
one. The ends of the rolls are furnished with identifying tituli for indexing
The military escort would have been housed in the servants quarter; these
quarters were sealed shortly afterward by new construction when
37
It is first mentioned in the accounts of the assassination of Galba (Tac. Hist. I.27 (Otho) . . . per Tiberianam domum in Velabrum, inde ad miliarium aureum sub aede
Saturni pergit, cf. III.84; Suet. Otho 6; Vitell. 15 cum (Vitellius) . . . incendium (on the Capitol) e Tiberiana prospiceret domo inter epulas; Plut. Galba 24), and must
have been destroyed, not in the fire of Nero, but in that of 80 A.D. (Suet. Tit. 8; Hieron. a. Abr. 2096), for we are told that Vespasian ὀλίγα ἐν τῷ Παλατίῷ ᾤκει
[Cass. Dio LXV.10.4. Josephus speaks of τὰ ἄνω βασιλεῖα (B. Jud. VII.5.4)] (which, if this palace, as well as the domus Transitoria, had been destroyed, he could not
have done at all), and, as the construction and the brickstamps show, have been rebuilt under Domitian. Remains of an earlier house, in •opus reticulatum, may be seen
on the north side of the hill facing the Capitol, in and under the later substructions. The domus Tiberiana is mentioned in Hist. Aug. Pius 10; Marcus 6; Verus 2, 6, as
the residence of the emperors at that time (for the only evidence of reconstruction, see above) and its library is spoken of by Fronto ad M. Caes. iv.5, p68, Naber, and
Gellius XIII.20.1 (from whom is probably taken the false statement in Hist. Aug. Prob. 2: usus autem sum praecipue libris ex bibliotheca Ulpia — item ex domo
Tiberiana: v. Forum Traianum). Cf. also CIL VI.8653-5 for inscriptions of slaves attached to it p194(8655a (= XIV.4120.3 = xv.7142), and 8656 should probably be
added: the latter, which mentions domus Palatina, belonging probably to the time of Tiberius). It is also mentioned in the Notitia (Reg. X, Domum Augustianam et
Tiberianam). See HJ 64, 76-79; ZA 178, 189-198 see Marucchi, Di alcuni graffiti del Palatino (1898); cf. Forum Romain et Palatin, 1903, 378-380; BC 1895, 195-196;
AL 954. [Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby): A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press, 1929]
38
The title is found in the Columbaria; see Middleton, Ancient Rome, i. 186
39
“This cut is given in Antiquitatum et Annalium Trevirensium libri XXV. Auctoribus RR. PP. Soc. Jesu P. Christophoro Browero, et P. Jacobo Masenio. 2 v. fol.
Leodii, 1670. It is headed: Schema voluminum in bibliothecam (sic) ordine olim digestorum Noviomagi in loco Castrorum Constantini M. hodiedum in lapide reperto
excisum. See also C. G. Schwarz, De Ornamentis Librorum, 4to, Lips. 1756, pp. 86, 172, 231, and Tab. II., fig. 4. I learnt this reference from Sir E. M. Thompson's
Handbook of Greek and Latin Palæography, ed. 2, 1894, p. 57, note. The Director of the Museum at Trèves informs me that all the antiquities discovered at Neumagen
were destroyed in the seventeenth century.” http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26378/26378-h/26378-h.htm
31
Caligula became emperor [AD 37].40 In the 1800’s, archeologists began
systematically exploring the palace and discovered those very servant
quarters. Orazio Marucchi41 discovered a graffito scrawled by one of the
servants there:
“On the ground floor, below the Loggia, some rooms can be seen
which most probably were used as quarters for the soldiers or slaves
of the Palace. In fact on the walls can be read some graffiti
inscriptions, which are very obscene and have been published by
Zangmeister.42 Midst these inscriptions, there are also some letters
written by another hand, and there is also a roughly executed design
which has not yet been explained. Beams can be seen in the shape of
a cross and some figures with ladders and hammers. Being the first to
study this scene, in Jan. 1898, I believed with many others, at that
moment, that this was a crucifixion scene, and it was coupled with
what then seemed to be the word CRESTVS, traced below a hammer,
of the same form as that in the metaphorical sketch . . . . Neither does
this rough drawing represent, as some say, a gymnastic show, nor a
naval or military manoeuvre, but it shows signs of a violent scene.
We may suspect that it represented a punishment, perhaps even that
of crucifixion, to which some soldier or slave had been condemned.
In this hypothesis we can suppose with every likelihood that by this
rough drawing is meant an imprecation against some one to whom
the punishment of the cross was augured. This opinion is
strengthened by the fact that midst the other inscriptions traced above
and sideways can be read a cruel death imprecation addressed to a
rival and twice repeated in the following way: ILLVM . SECRETIS .
MONTIBVS • VRSVS . EDAT. . . . In the inner part of this room

40
Caligula extended the palace towards the north-east (Suet. Cal. 22: partem Palatii ad Forum usque promovit, atque aede Castoris et Pollucis in vestibulum
transfigurata, consistens saepe inter fratres deos, medium adorandum se adeuntibus exhibebat; cf. Cass. Dio LIX.28; Josephus xix.11 (71) certainly refers to the Basilica
Iulia (q.v.)), and thus made it into so imposing an edifice as to excite Pliny's remark bis vidimus urbem totam cingi domibus Gai et Neronis (NH XXXVI.111).
41
American Ecclesiastical Review - Page 303 by Catholic University of America – 1898 At the present writing Professor Marucchi, the leading archeologist in Rome, is
still engaged in deciphering the details of the inscription. The age and rude manner of the incised letters leave some doubt as to the reading of the word Chrestus which
might be Crescens and the word Pilatus which may read Piletus; The Biblical World - Page 348 by JSTOR (Organization) - 1898 IN the American Ecclesiastical
Review, Professor Prinzivalli, of Rome, gives an account of the discovery, by Professor Marucchi, of a graffito, or "scratch," upon the walls of the old palace of the
emperor Tiberius in Rome. This new graffito seems to have been the work of a soldier, since the vaulted room in which it was found was apparently a guard room. It
represents the crucifixion, the cross being in the shape of a T, to the top of which an inscription, represented as being made by soldiers, would be fixed. On one side of
Jesus is one of the thieves, fastened to a stake, while in another part the nails are seen prepared. Over the person upon the cross (who is not yet nailed, but only tied) is a
word that, though somewhat indistinct, may be restored Chrestus, the very name used by Suetonius and Tacitus. The entire inscription has not yet been deciphered, but
one word is either Pilatus or Piletus, and it would also seem as if it contained the statement that Jesus was scourged although a man who had benefited his people.
42
C.I.L. IV. 1645; cf. BUECHELER, Anth. Lat. I. 939, 943, 954
32
 there are also many other inscriptions done with a pointed instrument,
they are the names of soldiers or of slaves”43
Once exposed, the graffito began to quickly deteriorate, but not before a
few independent sketches could be made:

Although Marucchi backed off of his initial reading after a scholarly

backlash, other scholars and eyewitnesses (like Prinzivalli and Krause44)
still championed it. Other eyewitnesses reported:
“It represents the scene of the Crucifixion, Calvary and the Redeemer
(nudus, as the inscription explains), and raised by means of cords
upon a beam (palus). Palus was the term used at the time to designate
the cross, its shape being that of the Greek T. The inscription,
subsequently fastened above it, gave to the sacred wood the true form
of a cross. Indeed, on examining this rough graffito, we discern in the
lower portion the figures of soldiers preparing a rather large
inscription . . . At the Redeemer's side, on a beam (palus), is fastened
one of the two thieves. In another part the nails, with which Jesus is
to be pierced, are seen ready at hand. The name of each person
represented in the graffito is given, and over the one who is to be
nailed to the cross is written the word CHRESTUS. We know that it
43
The Roman Forum and the Palatine According to the Latest Discoveries [1902] - Page 365f
44
Verhandlungen der Berliner anthropologischen Gesellschaft, 19 March 1898; see sketches above.
33
 was by this name — our inscription was in all probability written by
a pagan soldier, who had served in Jerusalem and who may have
been present at the Crucifixion. So far it has not been possible to
decipher the entire inscription, for the letters are rudely cut, as though
with the point of a short sword. In the list of names we have that of
Pilate and other known Romans. Furthermore, the inscription states
that Jesus was scourged . . . , and that, although condemned to be
crucified, He was a man who greatly benefited His people”45

The Daily Chronicle

The Guardian

“A correspondent of the Guardian sends the following description of the

sketch to that paper: ‘There was represented a cross, against which were
leaning two ladders, one on either side, at the foot was a Roman soldier
dragging his prisoner towards the ladder; another cross, likewise with a
ladder, is on the spectator's left, but the third is wanting. A long beam runs
along the top, which seems to have been used to steady the crosses.
Several Roman soldiers are on the scene. Above are four or five lines in
Old Latin, badly written, the words not divided from one another.’”46
Two of the most clearly identified characters in the scene are none other
than Tertius [getting in position to affix the titulus] and “Pilatus”
overseeing the affair:
45
American Ecclesiastical Review - Page 304-5 by Catholic University of America – 1898, citing Prof. Prinzivalli
46
The Antiquary March 1898 [vol 34, p. 65]
34
Was this graffito a parody of the original sketch included in Tertius’
report? [Original observers could make out the traces of a middle cross,
later effaced47]. There is evidence in the New Testament that such a sketch
survived outside the walls of the palace of the Emperor. We know Silas
[aka Tertius] accompanied Paul in his preaching in Galatia (Acts 15:41-
16:8). Even in Galatia, Tertius continued his function as a tabellarius, but
this time, of the apostles:
Acts 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them
the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders
which were at Jerusalem

As they delivered these apostolic decrees, freeing Gentiles from Mosaic

obligations, they emphasized that it was Christ’s crucifixion that bought
this freedom. As nowhere else, Paul emphasized the crucifixion of Christ
in Galatia (Gal 2:20, 3:1, 5:11, 5:24, 6:12, 6:14). Were the Judaizers in
Galatia somehow suppressing the historicity of Jesus as “Christ
crucified”?

47
“A POSSIBLE CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATION OF THE CRUCIFIXION.” Methodist Magazine, Volume 47 1898. p.474; “The "Graffito" on the
Palatine” The Critic, vol. 29 Good Literature Pub. Co., 1898,p. 253, citing eyewitness correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle.
35
Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not
obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set
forth [] as crucified among you?
 “vividly portrayed” [Weymouth’s]
 “portrayed as in a picture” [Murdock’s]
 “old verb, to write beforehand, to set forth by public proclamation, to
placard, to post up” [Robertson’s Commentary]
The language is usually interpreted figuratively, but why not literally?
Tertius’ report and accompanying sketches were a visual aid and public
proof - an integral part of Paul’s preaching of the Gospel in Galatia. We
have evidence that Paul continued to make use of these copies of Pilate’s
report, as in 1Tim 6:13 -
“I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things,
and before Christ Jesus, who before48 Pontius Pilate witnessed a
good confession”
Was Pilate’s report among the scrolls that Paul was so urgent to retrieve?
2Tim 4:13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou
comest, bring with thee, and the scrolls, but especially the
parchments.
Did Paul want to use them as part of his defense before Nero? We know
that according to the Acts of Peter and Paul, Peter also appealed to
Pilate’s report during his trial before Nero.

Before Pontius Pilate (epi pontiou peilatou). Not "in the time of," but "in the presence of." Witnessed (marturhsantov). Note marturew, not
48

omologew as in verse #12: Christ gave his evidence as a witness. Paul already knew some of the facts that would later appear in John 18.
36
Domitilla Catacomb fresco depicting St.
Paul with scroll and capsa of collected
documents

If Tertius was the “courtroom

reporter” for Christ’s trial, do we
have any evidence for the identity
of the “courtroom artist” who
would have made the official
portrait of Christ, the portrait that
served as the model for the
EMERALD VERNICLE?

37
Artist in Residence

PART 1:

In the history of the “Miraculous icon of Theotokos” in the Church of the

Assumption of the Virgin, the final chapter is believed to have occurred
during the German occupation of Smolensk in 1941, when the icon was
destroyed along with the Church by fire. Prior to that, the icon was said to
have been brought to Russia after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Up
to that point, it had resided in the Monastery of the Panaghia Hodegetria49
in Constantinople.

The Monastery was founded especially to house this particular icon by the
daughter of Emperor Arcadius, Saint Pulcheria (399-453) in the 5th
century. When it was sent to Pulcheria, she took a vow of chastity as a
token of thanksgiving for the honor of being entrusted with the icon
Before then, it was said to have been brought back from the Holy Land by
Eudocia, the Empress of Theodosius II (408-50). The icon was double-
sided, with the crucifixion of Jesus on the other side, and was "perhaps
the most prominent cult object in Byzantium."50 Is it possible this double-
sided icon with a depiction of “Christ crucified” was executed by the same
artist at Christ’s trial and crucifixion – the artist whose portrait served as
the model for the EMERALD VERNICLE?

49
The Hodegetria (Greek: Οδηγήτρια, literally: "She who shows the way") refers to iconography depicting the Theotokos holding the Child Jesus on her side while
pointing at Him as the source of salvation for mankind.
50
Cormack, Robin Painting the Soul; Icons, Death Masks and Shrouds (Reaktion Books: London, 1997), p.58
38
 Ivory “diptych” Panel of
Empress Pulcheria
“Gaurdians” of the Hodegetria
Copies of the Hodegetria began to circulate from a very early time, as
shown by the 4th-century version from Tsilkani, Georgia, and the 3rd-
century image at the Ste. Maria Francesca, of which only the head and
hands survive.

The earliest evidence for the identity of the artist is the inscription
discovered in a catacomb near the church of Sta. Maria in via lata, in
Rome; referred to by Alban Butler as "very ancient," it is given in
Aringhi's Roma Subterranea [1651], and referenced by Lorinus in his Act.
Apost [1605]:
39
 ORATORIUM QUONDam S. PAULI APOST.
LUCAE EVANGELISTAE ET MaRTIALIS MarTIR IN QUO ET
IMaGO MaRIAE VIRGINIS REPERTA SlSTEBAT, VNA Ex VII. A. B.
LUCA DEPICTIS
Oratory of St. Paul Apostle, Luke the Evangelist and Martial Martyr, wherein was discovered an image of the
51
Virgin Mary - one of the seven painted by Luke

The legend which makes Luke a painter is much more ancient than is
sometimes realized. Nicephorus Callistus’ Ecclesiastical History [begun
after 1317; ii.43] is by no means the earliest testimony. Symeon
Metaphrastes also reports St. Luke’s proficiency with the brush, and the
Menology of the Emperor Basil II, (drawn up in AD 980), certifies St.
Luke as painting the portrait of the Virgin. St. John of Damascus (645-
749) gives a detailed description of the Theotokos based on the Lucan icon
he saw, and Theodorus Lector in 518 documents the history of the arrival
of the Hodegetria at Constantinople from Jerusalem a century earlier
(Collectan. i.7, Migne, Patr. Gr. Ixxxvi. 165)52

The tradition also has support from the Saint Thomas Christians of India
who claim to still have one of the Theotokos icons that St Luke painted,
and which Thomas brought to India. Father H. Hosten in his book
Antiquities notes the following "The picture at the mount is one of the

51
Roma subterranea nouissima By Paulus Aringhus [1659] (lib. iv. cap. 46. n. 10); In actus Apostolorum commentaria etc By Joannes Lorinus [Antonii Hierat, 1621]
"Where once preached St Paul the Apostle, Luke the Evangelist, Martial the Martyr, and was found a representation of the blessed Virgin Mary - being one of the seven
painted by the blessed St. Luke - were presented, "
52
Other Greeks quoted by F. Gretzer, in De imag. non manuf. et a S. Luca pic [c. 18-19] Alban Butler, in a note, refers to Jos. .Assemani in Calend. Univers, ad 18 Oct.
(tome 5, p. 306.)
40
oldest, and, therefore, one of the most venerable Christian paintings to be
had in India.”53
Later Byzantine-style copies, however, are but a pale reflection of the
artistry that Roman-era portrait artists were capable of capturing. This is
nowhere more evident than in the anonymous masterpieces of the north
African Fayyum funerary masks. They had already mastered capturing the
individual personality of the subject. Even in miniatures, nuances were
captured with artistic virtuosity:

Roman-era gold-glass portrait of the deceased embedded in catacomb niche.

Considering the tradition of Luke’s artistic skills, and the specific

references to a portrait of Christ and the Crucifixion, could Luke have
been the painter Pilate commissioned to make the Icon for Tiberius?

Interestingly, Theophylact of Bulgaria (1055-1107), in the praefatio to his

Explanations on the Gospel of Luke, states Luke went to Jerusalem
specifically to study Law! Moreover, he puts Luke in Jerusalem exactly at
the time of the Passion, identifying him as the person accompanying
Cleophas on the road to Emmaus.54 Shelemon of Basrah (the 13th century
compiler the ancient traditions of the Syrian church in a volume called the
Book of the Bee), also noted: “The companion of Cleopas, when they were

53
HOSTEN (Rev. H.) Antiquities from San Thome and Mylapore. With a foreword by PJ Thomas, etc. [Mylapore, 1936]
54
The Explanation by Blessed Theophylact of the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke By Theophylactus, Blessed Theophylact, of Ochrida Archbishop of Ochrida
Theophylactus, translated by Christopher Stade, Published by Chrysostom Press, 1997
41
going to Emmaus, was Luke the Evangelist” (c. 45). The Greek Menology
affirms the same in a tradition going back to at least the 4th-century.
The 2nd-century Muratori Canon preserves the following tradition: “After
the ascension of Christ, Luke the physician, whom Paul had taken along
with him as a legal expert [quasi ut juris studiosum], wrote down in his
own name [the Gospel] in accordance with [Paul's] opinion.” Speculation
that this was a mis-transcription led to innumerable conjectural
emendations,55 all to avoid the obvious meaning of the text. The original
reading is confirmed by the Latin text of Chromatius (4th-century), bishop
of Aquileia, who writes: “Luke too…because he was most educated in
the law, by all means as one who was a companion of Paul in everything”
[Prologue, §§ 1-3].56 In the illuminations accompanying the Gospels texts
in 10th century Codex Egberti below, Luke is identified by name as the
disciple accompanying Cleopas

55
The text gives “quasi ut juris studiosum,” which the Anti-Nicene Library emends to “quasi et virtutis studiosum,” ="as one devoted to virtue,” has been proposed.
Bunsen read “itineris socium” ="as his companion in the way” etc
56
The Latin text used is that of R.ÉTAIX and J. LEMAIRE, CCSL 9A (1974). Tractatus lxi in euangelium Matthei, (CPL 218), also in PL 20, cl. 327. This is the
author's prologue to a series of sermons
42
Luke points out at Acts 11:26 that: “the disciples were called Christians57
first in Antioch.” This is significant because this is a Latinate term [the
formation of the word being Latin, then transliterated to Greek] implying
it was a term conferred upon them in a Roman legal context, a name
assigned to them as a party in a class-action suit.

Did Luke gain his legal reputation defending Christians in a Roman court
at Antioch? Note the words of James “the Just” in his epistle: “Do not the
rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment–seats? Do
not they blaspheme that worthy Name by the which ye are called?”
[James 2:6-7]

This would imply that Paul made his acquaintance at Antioch [Acts 11:26-
26] and there recruited him for his apostolic mission. It would then follow
that Luke formed part of the original embassy of believers from the

57
The –ianus/-iani ending-form means a “partisan of” or “devotee of” a person or party, members that formed a guild to promote a political or religious agenda; for
example Caesariani were devotees of the “Cult of the Emperor” – or the Herodiani who promoted the idea of the Herods as Messiah. Byzantine chronographer, John
Malalas (X, 252), relates that as Peter went to Rome, and passed through the great city of Antioch, it happened that Evodus (sic), the bishop and patriarch, died, and
Ignatius succeeded him; he attributes to Evodius the invention of the name Christian. Perhaps the earliest occurrence of Christian as a self-designation is in Didache
12:4 [written by Evodius?]
43
Jerusalem Church that formed the nucleus of the church-plant at Antioch
[Acts 11:19-20]. There are a number of confirmations to this fact:
1) In ecclesiastical tradition, Luke is known as “Luke the
Antiochean” [i.e., a founding member of the Church at Antioch]
2) Augustine reveals that Luke was among those original founders in
his quotation of Acts 11:27-28 from the “Old Latin” textual tradition.
Finally, Luke identifies himself among the “prophets and teachers” at
Antioch [Acts 13:1] by his Latin name:
3) “Lucius of Cyrene” - closely associated with “Simeon that was called
Niger” – i.e. Simon of Cyrene [Matt 27:32]. Ephrem the Syrian (306-373)
identified this very Lucius with Luke the evangelist.58

How does this background help contextualize Luke’s relationship with

“Theophilus”? After all, Luke’s stated goal in both his Gospel and Acts is
to satisfy an inquiry made by a certain “Theophilus” - who would be the
patron and publisher of Luke’s written works.

Luke himself provides us the clues to the identity this Theophilus

1) The title  Ramsay holds to be a title like "Your
Excellency" - held by an appointed Roman official. Tertullus the
lawyer addresses Felix by this title [Acts 23:26, 24:3], as does Paul
when addressing Festus [Acts 26:25]. Theophylact (Argum. in Luc.)
says that he was a Roman governor [hgemwn], a person of senatorial
rank []; Oecumenius59 (ad Act. Apost. i. 1) similarly
affirms that he was a governor [].

58
Origen, iv. 686, on Rom. xvi. 21, mentions the view that Luke was the Lucius there referred to. This view was known also in another form, namely, that the Luke
supposed to be mentioned in Romans, i.e. the Lucius who became bishop of Laodicea in Syria (Dorotheus on the 70 disciples; Chronicon Paschale, Bonn ed. ii. 126).
Modern scholars (Wettstein, N.T. ii. 532 ; Bengel, Gnomon on Luke i. 1, 3, ed. Stuttgart, 1860, pp. 204, 205) also identified of Luke with Lucius of Cyrene (Acts xiii.
1), explaining thus the tradition that he was an Antiochian. The biggest so-called objection is the claim that Paul says Luke was a gentile in Col 4:10-14. In spite of
Luke indicating his non-gentile status in Acts 21 and Paul telling us Lucius was one of his “kinsmen” in Rom 16:21, Paul is interpreted to deny this in his letter to
Colossians. Paul lists those with him “who are of the circumcision” in verse 10-11. This is contrasted by juxtaposition with Epaphras ministry as “one of you” in verses
12-13. Luke passes along a greeting in verse 14. Did Paul really mean to exclude Luke from being Jewish by these verses? That would be a stretch, to say the least.
Luke is not even mentioned in the immediate context, one way or the other. The key is the technical usage of the term “of the circumcision” as used throughout Acts
and letters of Paul. [Compare Acts 10:45, 11:2, Gal 2:12, Phil 3:5, Titus and 1:2] It refers to the Hebrew-speaking Jews in Jerusalem, in contrast to the Greek-speaking
Jews; the conflict began in Acts 6 and reaches a peak in Acts 15. Paul is pointing out to the Colossians those “of the circumcision” who were spiritually mature enough
to break out of the box and serve the gentile community with him. Luke, however, being a Greek-speaking Jew and thrown into ministry among the gentiles in Antioch,
was never in that box.
59
Œcumenius, Bishop of Trikka (now Trikkala) in Thessaly about 990 (according to Cave, Scriptorum eccles. hist. liter., II (Basle, 1745), 112 ). He is the reputed
author of commentaries on books of the New Testament. A manuscript of the tenth or eleventh century containing a commentary on the Apocalypse attributes it to him.
The work consists of a prologue and then a slightly modified version of the commentary of Andrew of Cæsarea (6th cent.). It would seem then that Œcumenius copied
Andrew of Cæsarea and was himself copied by Theophylactus
44
Our second clues is that for a significant period, Theophilus must have
been
2) a denizen of Jerusalem. This becomes evident when we see Luke
give details that would only have significance for someone who had
lived there; Details like the “the gate . . . which is called Beautiful,”
[Acts 3:2] and “the porch that is called Solomon’s” [Acts 3:11]
suggest specific familiarity with the Temple.

Thirdly, between the time that Luke published his Gospel and Acts, there
is a change in Theophilus’ status:
3) Theophilus has relinquished his title, and consequently, his
governorship; comparing Luke 1:3 and Acts 1:1, we note that Luke
no longer addresses him as “excellency”

Lastly, 4) there is a major change in venue. John Kilgallen of the

Pontifical Biblical Institute notes:
“This attention to Theophilus, it is suggested, makes necessary a
story that geographically and chronologically arrives and finishes at
the place where Theophilus and his community are; it is to them the
story is written (Luke 1:4). . . . This strongly suggests Luke’s
satisfaction that he has told a story which finally arrives where
Theophilus is. That Luke stops his work at Rome… indicates
Theophilus and his church are there”60
Do we know any historical figure who satisfies these four criteria, and was
known as “Theophilus”?

In the 1700’s, Theodore de Hase61 argued that he was none other than
Theophilus ben Annas, High Priest from AD 37-41. Josephus stated: "It is
said that the elder Ananus [=Annas, John 18:13] was extremely fortunate.
For he had five sons, all of whom, after he himself had previously enjoyed
the office for a very long period, became high priests of God - a thing that
had never happened to any other of our high priests." (Antiquities XX.9.1)

60
http://www.biblicalstudies.ru/NT/07.pdf
61
Bibliotheca Historico-philologico-theologica By Theodor Hase, Friedrich Adolph Lampe [Published by Samuelem Schoonwald, 1725]
45
As a Sadducee of the High Priestly clan he would have been a “senator”
[] on the Sanhedrin [compare Joseph of Arimathaea the
 at Luke 23:50-51]. Colophons of MSS of the Gospels
sometimes say Theophilus was a disciple of Luke (H. von Soden, Die
Schriften des NT, Berlin, 1902, i.319), sometimes that he was a man of
senatorial rank (p. 324)

Lucius Vitellius, the legate of Syria who took control of Judaea & Samaria
after Pilate was dismissed, appointed Theophilus High Priest (Josephus,
Ant xviii.5§3), who in effect became the acting “governor” [or ] of
the area, in absence of direct Roman oversight.62

Theophilus inherited the fallout of two crises that had precipitated in the
Sanhedrin during his predecessors’ time:
1) Luke’s account of the early church informs us that “a great
company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). This
mass conversion to the Nazorean movement probably resulted in the
reprisals to which Josephus refers, when a large number of priests
were deprived of their temple subsidy and even starved to death (Ant
20.8.8).

The next scandal to result was:

2) Gamaliel’s star pupil Saul [cp Acts 5:34 and 22:3] had abandoned
his commission as an apostle of the Sanhedrin [Acts 9:1-2] to become
instead an “apostle of Jesus Christ” [1Cor 1:1]. Saul’s return to
Jerusalem for a mere 15 day [Gal 1:18] near the start of Theophilus’
governorship [Acts 9:26-30] nearly resulted in lynch-mob action.

62
See Lardner on the evidence for the lack of direct oversight of Judea-Samaria after Pilate. Without waiting for the aged emperor to name a replacement, Vitellius sent
his colleague Marcellus to oversee Judea & Samaria; with Tiberius' ensuing death, it was never official, and Theophilus remained the de facto governor. In response to
the magnificent welcome given Vitellius at Jerusalem he cancelled all taxes on that city's commerce in agricultural goods and allowed Judean priests custody of their
own vestments.
46
It is probably at this point that Theophilus asks Luke to start an official
inquiry,63 him having been there during the transition from Pilate’s
prefecture. Significantly, it is only at this point that hostilities towards the
Nazorean movement is called off [Acts 9:31], pending the publication of
Luke’s report.

Luke may have stretched out his inquiry as long as possible, to allow the
Jerusalem Church to function for as long as possible without an official
ban. In fact, according to Euthymius, Theophylact and most of the Greek
manuscript colophons agree that Luke’s gospel was published seven
years64 after Theophilus had been replaced by Herod Agrippa, who then
began his own persecution against the Church [Acts 12:1].

By that time, Theophilus had already been “catechized” in the faith [Luke
1:4, where “instructed” is the technical word ], if not yet
baptized. As we have seen, the setting for the writing and publication of
Acts is very distinct, and marks a shift in Luke and Theophilus’
relationship. As Hackett noted, “The manner in which the book terminates
favors the supposition that [Theophilus] may have lived at Rome, or in
Italy.”65

When did Theophilus move to Rome?

Late in the reign of Claudius, the legate of Syria Quadratus had to settle an
incendiary conflict between the provinces of Judaea and Samaria. After
some summary executions, and the conflict still unresolved, he ordered
“the principal men, both of the Samaritans and of the Jews” be sent to
Rome to argue their case before Caesar [Josephus Ant xx.6.1-2; BJ ii.12.3-
6; Zonaras vi.15; Tacitus Annals xii.45, 54]
63
See Luke 1:1 πεπληρωφορημενων: The verb is rare outside of the LXX and the N.T. Papyri examples occur for finishing off a legal matter or a financial matter in
full. Deissmann (Light from the Ancient East, pp. 86f.)
64
In Theophylact’s Preface, the exact year of publication is preserved, affirmed by the Letter of the 3 Patriarchs, as well as the consistent testimony of manuscript
colophons [E.g. http://alpha.reltech.org:8083/cgi-bin/Ebind2html/BibleMSS/F13?seq=365], all three of which state that the gospel was published 15 years after the
Ascension; Euthymius says : “He was a hearer of Christ, and, as some say, one of his seventy disciples, as well as Mark. He was afterwards very intimate with Paul. He
wrote his gospel, with Paul's permission, fifieen years after our Lord's Ascension” In both the Monarchian and the Anti-Marcionite Prologues, Luke is identified as
writing his account while in Achaea (i.e., modern Greece as opposed to Macedonia). The window for Luke’s ministry and publishing activity in Achaia would be 43 to
48 AD
65
A Commentary on the Original Text of the Acts of the Apostles By Horatio Balch Hackett [J. P. Jewett and company, 1852] p. 23
47
It would have been at this point that Theophilus “emigrated” from Judaea
to Rome – under threat of execution. In fact, Claudius was ready to rule
against the Jewish embassy until Herod Agrippa II prevailed upon the
Empress Agrippina to side with the Jews. The entire Samaritan embassy
was then executed instead.

Intrigued by the machinations of the imperial court, Theophilus apparently

stayed on at Rome through the transition to the reign of Nero. We know
this because Seneca, the consul suffectus at the time, addressed a letter to
Theophilus and Paul at Rome! Theophilus had apparently taken a special
interest in the case of the former Sanhedrin apostle he first knew as
“Saul.”

Bust of Seneca, consul suffectus, at the height of his powers

Theophilus once again called upon the legal assistance of Luke, and
commissioned him to draw up an official history of the roots of the
Christian movement and the missionary activity of Paul from reports,
depositions and his own eyewitness testimony.
48
PART 2:

Luke is more familiarly know as the “beloved Physician” from Paul’s

reference to     [Col 4:14], a word signifying healer,
and not restricted to physician, in the moder sense; he was surgeon,
physician, and dispenser of medicines, combined in the same person.
Ultimately, Luke used his multiple professional connections to further
evangelism at a personal level, and not only with Theophilus.

Funerary engravings, depicting the tools of a physician in the Roman era

In the book Acts we note the clear implication that the writer practiced
medicine in Malta:
"And it was so that the father of Publius lay sick of fever66 and
dysentery:67 unto whom Paul entered in68 and prayed, and laying his
hands on him healed him. And when this was done, the rest also
which had diseases in the island came and were cured: who also
honored us with many honors." [28:8-10]
It is to be noted that Luke employs “healed” [], and a different
Greek word for "were cured" [], a word that was common
66
Robertson’s: Of fever (puretoiv). Instrumental case, and plural "fevers" medical term for intermittent attacks of fever (Demosthenes, Lucian, medical writers).
67
Dysentery (dusenteriw). Instrumental case also. Late form of the older dusenteria and only here in N.T. Our very word dysentery. Another medical term of
which Luke uses so many. Hippocrates often mentions these two diseases together.
68
at the request of Publius; the Ethiopic version adds, "and he entreated him to put his hand upon him"; that is, Publius asked this favour of the apostle for his father,
having heard of the affair of the viper, from whence he concluded there was something divine and extraordinary in him
49
for medical cases. Here the Author recognizes a probable objection that
Luke, like Paul, may have cured by prayer and not by medical treatment.
Against this, he uses the precise definition of Publius's illness, which is
paralleled often in Greek medical works, but never in Greek literature
proper.
The natural implication
is that Luke practiced
medicine here in Malta,
while Paul healed by
miraculous power. The
medical missionary and
the preacher were at
work side by side.
Accordingly, when the
invalids came in
numbers, medical advice
was employed to
supplement the faith-
cure, and the physician
Luke became prominent.
Hence the people
“honored”-a, word
often applied to payment
for professional services,
or an honorarium] not
"Paul," but "us."
Detail of early 4th cent69 ivory
diptych, illustrating Paul & Luke’s
ministry on the Isle of Malta
Paul gives us another clue among his salutations o the church at Rome:
“Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.” [Rom
16:9]
‘This piece was considered by Mr. Marriott to date from "not later than the close of the 4th century, and there are many grounds for ascribing it to a considerably
69

earlier date." The figures are admirably designed and as skilfully carved, with the draperies arranged in natural folds, and the features very cleverly individualized,
especially those of St. Peter and Linus, the latter of whom bears considerable resemblance to Martin Luther. Figured, Denon, Monuments des Arts du Dessin, t. I. pl. 38;
photograph in Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum.’ [John Obadiah Westwood A descriptive catalogue of the fictile ivories in the South Kensington museum, G. E. Eyre
and W. Spottiswoode, printer to the Queen, 1876, p.49]
50
Urbanus [a Latin adjective from urbs, city (city-bred)], whose name
appears on some inscription as belonging to the imperial household in
Rome, appears to have been a surveyor of the buildings of the palace.70
The ‘our’ (as opposed to ‘my,’ Rom 16:3) suggests that all Christian
workers at Rome had a common helper in Urbanus. We learn a little of his
family in another inscription:

71

Urban, freedman of the noble Lyde, chief steward,

gives to his brother Hermas and to his father Cilica.

His brother Hermas [Rom 16:14] identifies himself as a freedman of

Rhoda [Shepherd, Vis. 1.1], one of the former maids of the high priest [cp.
Mark 14:36 & Acts 12:13] that converted to Christianity and moved to
Rome, where Luke identifies her by name to Theophilus [also residing at
Rome], as a mutual acquaintance. 72

In Rom 16:9, Urbanus is juxtaposed with “Stachys the beloved,”

[honoured with the same epithet as that which St. Paul uses of St. Luke] –
a rare Greek name also found among the inscriptions73 of the imperial
household of Rome.

What is noticeable is that here also there is the coincidence of profession,

for Stachys was a medicus [physician] attached to the household. This by
itself would be interesting enough. But the Epistle to the Romans was
written three years before St. Paul arrived at Rome, and written from
70
TI . CLAUDI URBANI. SER . MENSORIS . AEDIFICIORUM (Murat. p. 924. 8)
71
Murat. 920. I
72
There are several Talmudic references to physicians; in m.Sheqalim ii 1, it is said that there was a physician at the temple to attend to the priests. A physician was
appointed in every city (TB Gittin 12b) who was required to have a license from the local authorities (TB Babha’ Bathra’ 21a).
73
In another he is associated with Epaphroditus (C.I.L. 8607). Compare Phil 2:25, 4:18.
51
Corinth. He must therefore have known "Stachys the beloved" at some
earlier period of his ministry, as he must have known the others to whom
he sends messages which imply close personal acquaintance. The
conclusion is that all of them, Stachys included, must have been among
those who came with Aquila and Priscilla to Corinth when Claudius
commanded all Jews (and therefore all the believers in Christ identified
with them) to depart from Rome (Acts xviii. 2).

This network of professional connections was essential for commerce in

the Roman world where the law [preserved by a Roman jurist for the
Digest] forbade any dignity or social aspiration for either physicians,
merchants or day laborers. Of old, they all ranked on the same social
plane. They compensated for this by forming labor and trade unions [Latin
collegia, Greek scholae74] that allowed for letters of introduction and
reciprocity from city to city. A good example of this is to be found in the
case of Tyrannus at Ephesus:
Act 19:9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but
spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them,
and separated the disciples, disputing daily75 in the school [σχολη] of
one Tyrannus. 10 And this continued by the space of two years; so
that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus,
both Jews and Greeks.

We know from inscriptions in the columbarium of Livia, that Tyrannus

was a prominent physician attached to the imperial household:

74
The Greek word scholae as applied to the catacombs were genuine schools of discussion, and instruction, each with its own little membership; each with its own
common table and food supply, and each with a row of seats. They were secret and generally neat, built of stone hewn smooth, often carved, and had a center table. De
Rossi has dug out the one presided over by St. Peter, and it has an inscription that Peter made the table with his own hands. [Roma Sotter. I, p.182 VIA CORNELIA]
75
Cod Bezae adds "from the fifth hour to the tenth" [+OL.gig, and SyrHarc.marg]: Paul taught after the usual work of the lecture-room was concluded, "after business
hours."Doubtless he himself began to work (20:34, ICor 4.12) before sunrise and continued at his trade till closing time, an hour before noon. His hours of work are
defined by himself, 1Thess 2:9, "ye remember our labour and toil, working day and night"; there, as often in ancient literature, the hours before daybreak are called
"night."Public life in the Ionian cities ended regularly at the fifth hour; a regulation at Attaleia in Lydia declared public distribution of oil should be "from the first to the
fifth hour" [an inscription. Bulletin de Corresp. Hellen., 1887, p. 400]
52
More than this,Tyrannus was an important quinquennal, under the reign of
Caligula, and who had for a long time been the president of a combination
of many collegia at Rome, and working under the consent and pecuniary
aid of Tiberius, was overseer of the splendid architectural construction,
and when it was at last finished, he dedicated it to his successor one
“Tiberius Claudius Veteranus, an old freedman of Augustus Tiberius, the
emperor."76

His network of scholae extended to Ephesus, where we encounter his

name on a dedicatory inscription of a harbor building, where among
others, the fishermen’s guild met.77

76
Gorius, (Antonius Franciscus), Monumentum sive Columbarium Libertorum et servorum Liviae Augustae et Caesarum, detectum in Via Appia. [Roma, 1728] p.65
77
(IvE 20) a certain "Klodios Tyrannos" as a prominent member of the guild who contributed to its construction. [Fieger, Michael.Im Schatten der Artemis: Glaube and
Ungehorsam in Ephesus (Bern: Peter Lang, 1998).]
53
Inscriptions reveal that the guild of physicians in Ephesus held regular
competitions in both medical theory and practice (IEph 1161-67). One
grave-inscription reveals that a chief-physician named Julius (perhaps a
Jew himself) also had close connections with the local group of Jews, who
regularly took care of the family grave (CIJ 745 = IEph 1677). It is easy to
understand the favor curried by the apostle Paul with Tyrannus [including
pro bono use of his facilities] in light of letters of recommendation from
Luke and Stachys.

We see a similar acceptance when Paul first disembarks on the Italian

Peninsula:
Acts 28:15 And from thence, when the brethren had heard of us,
they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns.
Whom when Paul saw, he gave thanks to God and took courage.78

78
Compare Ephrem Syrus [Comm Acts, 28:30]: 'Luke in turn recorded also about the works and labor of his hands, which he gave as the hire of his house for a two
year's space; and how he ceased not to converse about Christ with Jews and gentiles, who came out from and went in to him. Similary, during his last journey to Rome,
tradition also suggests the role of Luke in acquiring facililties for Paul’s ministry; “Now there were awaiting Paul at Rome Luke from Galatia, and Titus from Dalmatia:
whom when Paul saw he was glad: and hired a grange outside Rome, wherein with the brethren he taught the word of truth” [Martyr. Pauli 1] ' “The epilogue of MP
lacks many of the motifs of later martyr stories: the divine transparency of the dead body; a luxury burial with balm; the strengthening of enkrateia; the beginnings of
the cult of the saint; the miracles of punishment” [J. Bolyki “Events after the martyrdom: missionary transformation of an apocalyptical metaphor in Martyrium Pauli”
p.99]
54
Names and professions were often heredity in this social stratum, and we
see a number of New Testament figures that Luke and Paul mention that
were probably from the Empire-wide guild of physicians.
2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present
world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens [short for Crescentis]
to Galatia,79 Titus unto Dalmatia.
Among the old Roman clan of Caesenni,80 we find:

His fame as a physician may have been proverbial, such that an arena-
fighter with the same name was jokingly called a "doctor to nighttime
girls, morning girls, and all the rest".81

Yet another example can be found in the book of Acts:

Acts 20:9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named
Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long
preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down82 from the third
loft, and was taken up dead.
Even the ironic details of Eutychus’s [“good fortune”] misfortune gain
new relevance in light of the recurrence of the family name & profession
among the funerary inscriptions:

79
Epiphanius {Contra Haeres 51}, instead of Galatia, reads Gallia, or France; and so does Eusebius {Hist. Eccl 3.4} and the Ethiopic version; and Jerom asserts,
{Catalog. Script. Eccles. sect. 13}, that Crescens preached in France
80
See The travels of the learned Father Montfaucon from Paris thro' Italy [E. Curll, 1712], pp.304ff.
81
“Cresce[n]s retiarius puparum nocturnarum mattinarum aliarum ser[.]atinus [..] medicus." Translation in Jacobelli, Luciana (2003). Gladiators at Pompeii [Rome:
"L'Erma" di Bretschneider], p.49.
82
Hobart (Medical Language of St. Luke) points out that Luke shows a physician’s interest in the causes of the drowsiness of Eutychus (the heat, the crowd, the smell of
the lamps, the late hour, the long discourse). The people considered him dead and this was also Luke’s medical assessment.
55
We can imagine Luke remembering his days as a medical student, as the
young Eutychus,83 pursuing the family career, and trying to stay awake
after a day of studies, while Paul’s lectures goes long.

As Paul continued his profession as a “tentmaker”84 thru-out his

missionary career, so Luke continued his medico-legal practice, in
addition to being the first Christian historian. We can even see his
professional impact on the next generation of physicians. In fact, Galen
the world-renowned physician of 2nd-century Rome often refers to the
medical practices of 1st-century physician, “Lucius of Tarsus” [because of
his intimate association with “Paul of Tarsus”] (De Compos. Medicam.
Sec. Loc. ix. 5. vol. xiii. p. 295].

Galen’s writings seem even to be inspired by Luke, as in the verbal

parallels between Luke’s preface and Galen’s dedications to some of his
works [Prognat. ii. 13, Theriac. ad Pisónem 1 (xiv.210)]. According to
Galen, “Lucius of Tarsus” had had been tutor three of the greatest
physician in the Roman Empire in the late 1st century - specifically,
Archigenes,85 Asclepiades Pharmacion,86 and Criton of Heraclea in
Caria.87 This last example is most interestings because like his elder, Luke,
Criton not only wrote on medical topics, but an important historical work,
Getica, quoted by Joannes Lydus, Suidas and other Byzantine writers.88
83
Codex Bezae in 20:4 replaces the name Tychicus (Tuchikos) with Eutychus (Eutuchos), thereby making the lad one of Paul's sailing companions from Achaea,
making Eutychus one of those associated with Luke in Philippi [cp. Acts 20:5-6]
84
Ac 18:3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. Σκηνοποιοι - perhaps they were of
the same occupation with Menedemus the philosopher, who was skhnorrafov, "a sewer of tents" {Laert. Vit. Philosoph. l. 2. p. 172 } Acts 21:34 “You yourselves
know. For such things as were needful for me and them that are with me, these hands have furnished.” While in Ephesus Paul wrote to Corinth: "We toil, working with
our own hands" (1Co 4:12).
85
An eminent ancient Greek physician mentioned late in the 1 st-century by Juvenal (vi. 236, xiii. 98, xiv. 252.) was a native of Apamea in Syria, (ap. Galen, ibid. iii. 1.
vol. xii. p. 623.) Also a pupil of Agathinus, whose life he once saved; and he died at the age either of sixty-three or eighty-three. (Suidas, under 'Αρχιγ; Eudoc. Violar..)
86
A work on Pharmacy, in ten books, of which the former five treated external remedies, and the latter five books were devoted to internal remedies (Galen vol. xiii. pp.
648, 746, 846, 850, 852, 1)57, 969), lived about the end of the first century after Christ, as he quotes Andromachus, Dioscorides, and Scribonius Largus
87
Galen, ibid. v. 3. vol. xii. p. 828; wrote the medical treatise Cosmetics
88
Lucius of Tarsus is also quoted by later Christian is medical formulae are several times quoted by Sicamus Aëtius Amidenus (iii 4. 42, p. 604, iv. 2. 3, p. 685, iv. 3. 3,
9, 14, pp. 740, 745, 762, 763), et al. Caeliua Aurelianus (De Mort Chron. ii. 1, 7, pp. 365, 386, iv. 3, p. 522; 5th cent), he wrote a work on chronic diseases (Tardae
Passiones) consisting of at least four books
56
 St.Luke: Historian, Physician, Artist, Jurist
After the two-year long inquiry [Acts 28:30], Paul’s case was ultimately
dismissed [1Tim 4:17], and he was freed - and free - to continue his
missionary activity. Paul continued to retain Luke as a partner in
evangelism, benefiting from his expertise in medicine [Col 4:14], and in
jurisprudence [2Tim 4:11], and his two historical works, which as an
apostle, he recognized not merely as accurate, but inspired on a par with
the Hebrew scripture [1Tim 5:18]. In fact, Paul was a major force behind
the entire canonization process, as we shall see….

57
PAUL & the NT Canon
At Cairo in 1930, a discovery came to light that would have the potential
for shaking the foundations of Biblical scholarship regarding the letters of
Paul – or, as academia refers to it, the Pauline Corpus. In the 1800’s,
German “higher critic” Ferdinand Baur of Tübingen89 had convinced
much of English scholarship that there were only 4 authentic letters of
Paul: Romans, I&II Corinthians, and Galatians. The rest (plus the book of
Acts) were late 2nd-century forgeries, when the Pauline Corpus as we
know it today was assembled.

Even before this, others had questioned the authorship of Hebrews and the
Pastoral Epistles [Titus, I&II Timothy]. Marcionites schismatics rejected
the latter based on theological objections, and by AD 200, North African
Christianity had already forgotten who authored Hebrews: Tertullian
attributed it to Barnabas (on Modesty 20); Origen heard that it might have
been written by either Clement of Rome, or Luke the evangelist [in
Eusebius Eccl Hist 6.25.11-14]

Papyrus leaves of a codex containing the letters of Paul first came to light
in 1930 among the wares of a native antiquities vendor in Cairo, Egypt.
These were immediately purchased by a private collector, Chester Beatty
of London. Soon after, other parts of the manuscript were acquired by the
University of Michigan, and more by Beatty. Because of its fragmented
nature, however, most scholars missed the significance of the find, even
after paleographer F. G. KENYON published the text90 in 1934, dating it
to the third century.

89
His investigation of the Pauline epistles and the Acts of the Apostles were published in 1845 under the title Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi, sein Leben und Wirken,
seine Briefe und seine Lehre. In this he contends that only the Epistle to Galatians, First and Second Epistle to the Corinthians and Epistle to the Romans are genuinely
Pauline, and that the Paul of the Acts of the Apostles is a different person from the Paul of these genuine Epistles, the author being a Paulinist who, with an eye to the
different parties in the Church, is at pains to represent Peter as far as possible as a Paulinist and Paul as far as possible as a Petrinist. Cp.
http://www.depts.drew.edu/jhc/detering.html
90
F.G. Kenyon, The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri. III.1 Pauline Epistles and Revelation. Text, London: E. Walker, 1934; F. G. KENYON, "A Third Century Papyrus
COdex of the Epistles of St. Paul, edited by Henry A. Sanders. University of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Series, Vol. XXVIII Ann Arbor, 1936", American Journal
of Philology 57 (1936) 93
58
The examination revealed that the codex was not only prepared by a
professional scribe (including notations for page number, paragraph
breaks, stichometry, diacritics, punctuations, nomina sacra & other
abbreviations), but also had secondary marks for sense-division, showing
it was used for public reading in an ecclesiastical setting.

The papyrus manuscript was listed as “Papyrus 46” [or P46 for short] by
New Testament textual critics, and slowly attracted scholarly attention. In
the intervening decades, new paleographical findings and methods were
discovered, making a more precise dating possible. In 1988, Young Kyu
Kim, a scholar from Göttingen University and Professor of Anyang
Graduate School of Theology, redated P46 to before the reign of Domitian
(AD 81-96),91 with support from papyrologist Jose O’Callaghan, who first
identified the papyrus-scroll fragment 7Q5 as the Gospel of Mark.

91
Biblica Magazine, Vol. 69, No. 2, 1988: "Palaeographical Dating of p46 to the Later First Century," Young Kyu KIM
59
This assessment, however, was dismissed in 1992 by textual critic Bruce
Metzger.92 In 1995, C.P. Thiede, the papyrologist who redated P64/67 to
before AD 70,93 challenged Metzger’s dismissal, still leaving the issue
unsettled at large.94 In 1996, B.W. Griffin admitted Metzger’s dismissal
was based on a priori reasoning rather than paleographical consideration;
still, he affirmed the date to be around AD 200, in spite of Traianos
Gagos’ (Archivist of the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection
holding P64) conclusion that it could date as early as AD 12595In 1998,
textual critic S.R. Pickering attempted to refute Kim’s date, supporting the
conventional dating, around AD 200.96 In 2001,97 and again in 2005,98 P.
Comfort looked at Metzger and Skeats’ dismissal, and admitted that none
of their objections were “insurmountable.” Comfort’s paleographical
analysis preferred a date around AD 150, but a first-century date could not
be excluded.99 More recently, Karl Jaroš published his magisterial [5163
pages] review of New Testament papyri in 2006, and concluded that P46
could be dated as early as AD 75.100
Why would scholars deny a Pauline Corpus in the first century? We have
a number of clear allusions to the Pauline Corpus circulating in the second
century:
 1) The Epitaph of Abericius
 2) The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs
 3) The Canon of Marcion

92
B. Metzger The Text of the New Testament [NY, Oxford UP 1992]: p. 265-66
93
C.P. Thiede “Papyrus Magdalen 17 (Gregory-Aland p64), a reappraisal” Zeitschriftfur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 105 (1995), p.17-18
94
Rekindling the Word: In Search of Gospel Truth By Carsten PeterThiede [Published by Gracewing Publishing, 1995] p. 10
95
http://www.biblical-data.org/P-46%20Oct%201997.pdf footnote 22
96
S. R. Pickering, "The Dating Of The Chester Beatty-Michigan Codex Of The Pauline Epistles (P46)" in T. W. Hillard, R. A. Kearsley, C. E. V. Nixon and A. M.
Nobbs (eds.), Ancient History In A Modern University: Volume II (Early Christianity, Late Antiquity And Beyond), 1998, Ancient History Documentary Research
Centre, Macquarie University, NSW Australia and William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids (Michigan)/Cambridge (UK), pp. 216-227.
97
Comfort, Philip W and Barrett, David P (2001) 'The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts', Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers
Incorporated, Pages 204-206
98
Encountering the Manuscripts: An Introduction to New Testament Paleography & Textual Criticism By Philip Wesley Comfort, Philip Comfort Published by B&H
Publishing Group, 2005; p.136ff
99
Comfort notes that [Ulrich] Wilckens also accepts an earlier dating of P46 [ibid p.31] The dating of U. Wilcken was assigned on the basis of one leaf (fol 86r) as
follows: "Ja, die Unzialschrift konnte ich mir schon in II. Jahrh. vorstellen, doch weist die kursive Zeile mit der Stichenzalung vielleicht doch schon auf das III. Jahrh.
hin, aber mit einem alteren Eindruck als Taf. I" (Archiv fur Papyrusforschung 11 [1935] 113).
100
K. Jaroš (Das Neue Testament nach den ältesten griechischen Handschriften, 2006). Cf., Die ältesten griechischen Handschriften des Neuen TestamentsKöln :
Böhlau, 2014. Pace Pasquale Orsini & Willy Clarysse diatribe, “Early New Testament Manuscripts and Their Dates: A Critique of Theological
Palaeography,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 88 (2012): 443-74.
60
Avircius Marcellus, the Phrygian bishop of the second century, who
traveled through the Christian world, “holding ‘Paul’ in his hands,”
according to his own epitaph, or as Sir William Ramsay noted:
 “I have always understood the epitaph in the sense that the bishop
carried in his hands his own copy of the letters of Paul, and in my
translation I tried to bring this out clearly”101

Front, side, and reconstructed views of Epitaph of Abericius

The Passio Sanctorum Scilitanorum is in brief legal form, beginning with

the date [July 17, AD 180] and the names of the accused, and giving the
actual dialogue between them and their judge. It closes with their
sentencing (based on "obstinate" persistence in an illicit cult), and with the
proclamation by the herald of the names of the offenders, and their
penalty. In this trial at Carthage, the following exchange is recorded:
 Saturninus the proconsul: What are the things in your chest
[satchel]?
 Speratus: Books and epistles of Paul, a just man.
Here we have evidence of the Pauline Corpus circulating in Northern
Africa before AD 180.102 Around AD 140, the heretic Marcion published
a truncated and censored version of the Pauline Corpus, known as the
Apostolikon [see Tertullian’s Against Marcion] in Asia Minor.

101
“The translation which is printed in my article on the subject in the " Expositor," 1889, p. 255, and repeated in Lady Ramsay's " Everyday Life in Turkey," p. 184, is :
"I followed, holding Paul in my hands ". That meaning seems inevitable”
102
The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament: the James Sprunt lectures delivered at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia By
William Mitchell Ramsay [Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 1915] p. 312f
61
These considerations alone rule-out a late 2nd-century date for the Corpus,
but is there any evidence of a collection in the first century? Besides P46
itself, there remain three “controversial” sources that confirm this early
date for the collection.
 1) 2Pet 3:15 “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is
salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the
wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his
epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things
hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own
destruction.”
This remarkable passage has the Apostle Peter writing the churches of
Northern Turkey [cp 1Pet 1:1&2Pet 3:1] just before his martyrdom [2Pet
1:14], referring to a collection of Paul’s epistle as “scripture.” Some
scholars, by circular reasoning, proceed to use this detail to “prove” 2
Peter was written even later in the 2nd-century than the Pauline Corpus!
Liberal scholar J.A.T. Robinson showed that this conclusion was not only
circular, but absolutely false, dating 2 Peter as early as AD 61.103 If
Robinson and Kim and Jaroš are correct, this would necessitate the
collection and canonization of Paul’s letters within his own lifetime.
“Twelve Apostles”
Sarcophagus ca. 5th
century: Relief
depicting Paul
receiving scroll of
the [New] “Law” from
the ascended Christ,
symbolizing the
divine inspiration of
his writings

Is there any direct evidence of this? Consider Paul’s own words:

103
John A.T. Robinson "Arthur Thomas”(1919-1983) Anglican Bishop of Woolwich, Dean of Trinity College; Redating New Testament (1976)
62
  2) 2Tim 4:13 “The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou
comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the
parchments.”
Many commentators have noticed the implication of Paul’s own
involvement in the canonization process in these verses,104 but the full
force of the statement has not been appreciated: Paul is trying to retrieve a
collection of documents he had previously put together in preparation for
his FIRST defense before Nero [see 2Tim 4:16], which he needed again in
his 2nd trial.

We have previously suggested that this collection included the Acta Pilati
[to which he previously referred, 1Tim 6:13], and to Luke’s account of his
ministry in the Acts of the Apostles and Luke’s Gospel [to which Paul
referred, 1Tim 5:18=Luke 10:7], as well his letters. The judicial context of
the Pastoral Epistles is confirmed by Paul’s plea for aid from “Zenas the
lawyer” [Tit 3:13]. Besides these implicit references, is there direct
testimony of Paul’s use of his own epistles during his first imprisonment at
Rome?

We find just such evidence in many medieval manuscripts of the works of

Roman philosopher Seneca, which include copies of short letters between
Seneca and Paul, including the following statement:
 “We were much delighted with your book of many Epistles, which
you have written to some cities and chief towns of provinces, and
contain wonderful instructions for moral conduct” Seneca to Paul,
1:4
The setting of these letters is Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, when
Seneca was still, consul suffectus (Ulpian, Digest xxxvi. 1).105 The Passion
of Paul by pseudo-Linus mentions how Seneca frequently conversed and
104
Some would try to claim that these references are proof of a clumsy pseudepigraphical attempt to add an heir of authenticity, again an instance of circular reasoning.
The authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles have been ably demonstrate multiple times against recurring attacks.
105
The Church in Rome in the First Century By George Edmundson [1913 ] p. 113; H. W. Kamp, “Seneca's Consulship,” Classical Journal v.29 1933/1934; In AD 57
Seneca was consul suffectus Marta Sordi notes: “Of course, he had felt the desire to go to Rome for some time now. According to the Acts, it had taken shape when
Paul was in Ephesus, and is expressed in his letter to the Romans, which according to the chronology that I have re-examined, would be around 53-54, not 57 as it has
been generally maintained. Among the Roman personages he names are Narcissus, a 'liberto' of Claudius who died in 54, and Aristobulus who was sent in the same
year to govern Little Armenia. . . . Generally, the two years has been interpreted as referring to Paul's imprisonment, whereas it simply refers to Felix's tenure in office,
which, according to Roman documents, was in 53-54. This means that Paul was tried under Felix's successor, Porcius Festus, in the first half of 55. But by virtue of his
Roman citizenship, Paul appealed to Caesar, and was therefore ordered transferred to Rome, where he arrived at the start of 56, not after the year 60, as has been
generally accepted.”
63
corresponded with Paul, admired him much, and read some of his writings
to Nero,106 just as mentioned in the letters. Both Jerome (de Viris
Illustribus 12), and Augustine (Epistle 153.4 ad Macedonium) attest to
their wide circulation and acceptance by the 4th century, while Tertullian
already refers to him as “ever our Seneca” (De anima 20.1) around AD
200.

With the dawning of the “Age of Reason” in Europe, these letters between
Paul and Seneca were also dismissed by scholars as 4th century forgeries
of the most inept kind. At the same time, we are told by one of the greatest
scholars of that age (J.B. Lightfoot), that this inept forger, three centuries
after the fact, managed to lace the correspondence with these accurate
details:
“He has read part of Seneca and is aware of the philosopher's
relations with Lucilius; he is acquainted with the story of Castor and
Pollux appearing to one Vatinius (or Vatienus); he can talk glibly of
the gardens of Sallust; he is acquainted with the character of Caligula
whom he properly calls Gaius Caesar; he is even aware of the Jewish
sympathies of the empress Poppaea and makes her regard St Paul as a
renegade; and lastly, he seems to have had before him some account
of the Neronian fire and persecution which is no longer extant, for he
speaks of 'Christians and Jews' being punished as the authors of the
conflagration and mentions that 'a hundred and thirty-two houses and
six insult were burnt in six days.’ Moreover I believe he attempts,
though he succeeds ill in the attempt, to make a difference in the
styles of Seneca and St Paul, the writing of the latter being more
ponderous.”107
Contrarily, Marta Sordi notes:
“One of Seneca's letters at this time refers to the hostility of the
'domina' [the female master] against Paul for having 'abandoned the
faith of his fathers'. It's an important detail because Poppea was a

106
Chronographer John Malalas says that Nero made honest inquiries about the new religion, and that, at first, he showed himself rather favorable towards it; a fact not
improbable, if we take into consideration the circumstances of Paul's appeal, his absolution, and his relations with Seneca, and with the converts de domo Caesaris, "of
the house of Caesar."
107
Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians By Joseph Barber Lightfoot [1896], p.330f
64
 'Judaistic' influence and was hostile to Christian - this we know from
Flavius Joseph and Tacitus, though the Christians of the second and
third centuries did not. Besides, everything about what took place in
the imperial court is always treated with great circumspection, as if
the letter writers were careful lest the letters fall into the wrong
hands. A counterfeiter would never have known to take such
precautions.”
Further, she notes:
“Then, there is the question of style. Poor Latin, full of Hellenisms, a
sign that the mother tongue of whoever wrote it was Greek,
distinguishes the letters from Paul, not those from Seneca, who in one
letter, reproaches Paul good-naturedly for his deficient Latin and
gives him some advice on how to improve it.”
One might ask - by applying the scholar’s tool of “Occam’s Razor” –
which is simpler to believe:
 1) This late forger lavished all this detail on a forgery with admittedly
no polemical thrust or doctrinal agenda for the sheer exercise of
doing it?, OR
 2) This modest interchange is actually what it claims to be?
In a congress entitled "Seneca and the Christians" organized by the
Catholic University of Milano in 2006, new evidence was presented and
12 out of 14 participants argued for their authenticity.108 Presumably the
108
MILAN, OCT 14 (ZENIT).- RENEWED DEBATE OVER ALLEGED LETTERS BETWEEN SENECA AND ST. PAUL - New Findings Could Support Letters’
Authenticity “I like the letters you have written to the Galatians, the Corinthians and the Acheans. But, you must watch the style, lest in some way its brilliance fails
to measure up to the sublimity of the thought.” Could it really be Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, who wrote these lines to St. Paul, in a benevolent attempt to simplify
the Apostle’s prose? There are manuscripts of letters that could have been exchanged between the Apostle and the pagan philosopher between 58-64 A.D, during Paul’s
stay in Rome, under house-arrest, while awaiting trial. These letters were known as early as the 4th century. St. Jerome quotes them for the first time. St. Augustine
alludes to them but, until the present, this correspondence has been considered apocryphal. Maria Grazia Mara, professor emeritus of the History of Christianity in the
Roman University “La Sapienza,” affirmed that “precisely around the 4th century, the forged letters reflected an ongoing debate: the need for Christians to improve
their writing, so that the roughness of the Latin translations of the Scriptures would not be considered vulgar to educated pagans,”. Currently, in a congress entitled
“Seneca and the Christians,” organized by the Catholic University of Milan, experts are debating whether it is a simply a forgery created to stir controversy, or an
authentic letter of Seneca to St. Paul. Participants in the congress include those who believe in the authenticity of the letters—at least 12 out of 14 --, who are offering
with new arguments to support their claims. “Research carried out by Ilaria Ramelli, one of my students, is inclining me toward belief in their authenticity,” Marta
Sordi, said. Sordi is professor of Ancient History at the Catholic University of Milan. “Examination of the texts reveals that in the letters allegedly written by Paul,
Greek sayings are more copious than in Seneca’s letters,” Sordi said. “For example, Paul says ‘sophist’ instead of ‘sapiens’; and for ‘incoherence’ he uses the word
‘aporia.’ This is obviously true, given the fact that Paul spoke Greek, the universal language of the Mediterranean, and not Latin.” “As regards Seneca,” Sordi
continued, when he wishes to express “’fear of God,’ he writes the word ‘deorum’ (of the gods). A Christian forger would never have used that expression but, instead,
‘timor Dei’ (fear of God).” Other proposed proofs include “an inscription that was found in Ostia. It is the funerary dedication by someone called Marco Anneo Paulo to
his own son, called Paulopetrus. Obviously, they were converts, if they called themselves by the names of the two first apostles. And they are members of Lucius Anneo
Seneca’s family, given that they have the same surname—Anneo. Perhaps “libertos” (freed slaves) of Seneca. In any case, the inscription of Ostia—the place where
Paul was martyred --, confirms the presence of Christians, perhaps converted by Paul himself, among those who associated with Seneca.” But the new evidence doesn’t
end here. “In the fifth letter, the alleged Seneca writes to the alleged Paul, alluding with reservation to a certain ‘lady’ who was indignant with Paul ‘because he has left
the ancient worship and converted others.’ The unidentified lady can only be Poppea, Nero’s wife. We know that the empress was pro-Jewish, and her hostility toward
Paul might have been suggested by the Jewish atmosphere surrounding her that tried to influence Nero himself. A dangerous hostility, and that is why Seneca only
alludes to the lady but does not give her name.” “However, a 4th century forger would have no reason to be so reluctant,” Sordi insisted. No doubt the two letters are
false,” Sordi admitted. The last one, in which Paul speaks to Seneca as though to a convert, and the twelfth, where the alleged Seneca writes about the fire in Rome ...
although the date is wrong.” “In fact, St. Jerome, who believed in the authenticity of these letters, was unaware of this one, dated 64 (A.D.), Sordi explained. When
asked if history coincides with the letters, Maria Grazia Mara continues to disbelieve. “If Seneca was that close to the faith, as it seems from the letters, the first
65
letters were held by the descendants of Seneca's family and then brought
forth after Constantine, when it was safe to publish them. L.H. Herrmann
has shown that Seneca already knew the basic events of the founding of
Christianity in the time of Caligula, by his reference to a crucified foreign
king in his essay On Wrath 1.1.3109 Seneca may have visited Jerusalem
during his stay in Egypt with his uncle, who was præfectus at the time.110
He was in Rome at the time Claudius expelled the Jews on account of
“Chrestus” [Suet. vita Claudia]

In Nero’s time, as his teacher and council, Seneca would have been
familiar with Claudia Acte, Nero’s spurned paramour [Tacitus, Annals
XIII.12], who (Christian tradition affirms) became a believer and was among
those who greeted the Church at Philippi [Phil 4:22]111

Seneca may even have been an eyewitness to Peter’s martyrdom [compare

Seneca, “Dial. Ad Marcia” in Moral Essays 6.20.3 with Origen (via

Christians would have ‘exploited’ his figure for propaganda ...,” Mara said. And she does not see differences in social classes as an obstacle for people to get to know
one another. “They could very easily have known one another. There is no lack of examples of contacts between Christians of a very modest social level and converts
belonging to the elite,” Mara said. Sordi added: “As evident in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was very enterprising in making himself known at higher levels. In
Ephesus, he befriended Exarchs, powerful dignitaries adept at the imperial cult. Cyprus’ consul, a very wealthy industrialist, called him to hear him speak. And in
Corinth, Paul met the consul of Acaya, Anneo Novato Gallione, who was Seneca’s brother.” Arguments both for and against the authenticity of the letters continue to
surface but, as one scholar suggested ‘off the record’ during a coffee break in the formal academic proceedings: “whether or not Paul and Seneca were friends during
their lifetime, we’d like to think that they are now.” ZE99101303 ; See also Léon HERRMAN Séneque et les premiers chrétiens (CollLat 167; Brüssel: Latomus 1979);
Joel SCHMIDT L'apotre et le philosophe: Saint Paul et Sénkque, une amitié spirituelle? (Paris: Albin Michel 2000); Paul BERRY, Correspondence between Paul and
Seneca, A.D. 61-65 (Ancient Near Eastem Texts and Studies 12; Lealiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press 1999)
109
L.H. Herrmann Chrestus (Bruxelles: Latomus, 1970): 41-43
110
Sejanus, Gaetulicus, and Seneca” Zeph Stewart The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 74, No. 1 (1953), pp. 70-85
111
In one of his earliest works, Adv. Oppugn. Vitæ Monast. i. § 3. t. i. p. 59. D. St. Chrys. relates that Nero cast St. Paul into prison, and in the end beheaded him, in his
rage at the loss of a favorite concubine, converted by him to the faith. St. Chrysostom (Hom. in Acta xlvi. in Migne, Patr. Gk. lx. 325): “He is said to have saluted both
Nero’s cupbearer and his concubine:” Among the inscriptions at Olbia are two tombstones, one of an imperial freedwoman,' the other of a freedman of Acte, the
concubine of Nero; a similar tombstone was also found at Carales, and tiles bearing her name have been found in several parts of the island, but especially at Olbia,
where in building a modern house in 1881 about one thousand were discovered. Pais (op. cit. 89 sqq.) attributes to Olbia an inscription now in the Campo Santo at Pisa,
an epistyle bearing the words "Cereri sacrum Claudia Aug. lib. Acte," and made of Sardinian (?) granite. In any case it is clear that Acte must have had considerable
property in the island (Corp. Inscr. Lat. x. 7980). Some of her slaves seem to have possessed the Christian faith. The epitaph of Acte was discovered at Velitrae [CIL X
6599]
66
Eusebius, Eccl Hist 3:1)] There is even more direct evidence of Paul’s
relationship with Seneca. Junius Annaeus Gallio was the son of Seneca
the rhetorician and brother of Seneca the philosopher, and was the Roman
governor of Achaia (in present-day Greece). An inscription naming Gallio
found at Delphi112 says that he was a 'friend of Caesar', and dates his
governorship to AD 51 or 52:

Until the discovery of Claudius’ letter inscribed at Delphi, mentioning

Gallio by name, Luke was the sole source for the statement that Gallio was
proconsul in Achaia at this very time; Seneca just mentions his being in
Achaia where he caught a local fever (Seneca Ep. Mor. 104. 1)

Paul was tried and judged in Corinth by this very proconsul, brother of
Seneca! In Rome he was handed over to Afranius Burro, præfect of the
prætorium, and intimate friend of Seneca. We know that the presence of
this prisoner created a profound sensation among the members of the
prætorium and imperial household. His case must have been overseen by
112
Assembled from nine fragments found at Delphi during the late 19th century, the "Gallio inscription" was unrecognised until 1905-7. Seneca had an elder brother
Lucius Annaeus Novatus, who adopted the name of his patron Junius Gallio. Seneca writes a flattering portrait of his brother in Natural Questions, IV and dedicates to
him three books on anger management ("De Ira"). Gallio is mentioned by Tacitus (Annals, xv 73) in the wake of the abortive plot against Nero. Gallio is also mentioned
by the historian Dio Cassius (155-235 AD): "Lucius Junius Gallius, the brother of Seneca, ... remarked that Claudius had been raised to heaven with a hook." – 61.35.
Seneca himself confirms that his brother spent time in Achaia: "I remembered master Gallio's words, when he began to develop a fever in Achaia and took ship at once,
insisting that the disease was not of the body but of the place." (Epistulae Morales 104). Pliny the Elder (Natural History, 31.33) also confirms Gallio took a voyage for
the good of his health, placing it "at the close of his consulship",
67
the philosopher himself, who was consul suffectus at the time. But there
is even tangible evidence of Paul’s impact on the family of Seneca.

The well-known fresco from Herculaneum in the Naples Museum, representing a butterfly in a chariot
driving a griffon, understood as suggesting the relation of Seneca as consul suffectus to Nero, the
butterfly as the symbol of the soul standing for such control as could be exercised through the higher
impulses upon the savage nature of the emperor.
An inscription was discovered at Ostia, in January, 1867. The tomb
inscription is a pagan father’s dedication to his departed son, both from the
ANNEUS clan, with an invocation to the infernal gods, Diis Manibus [or
rather Deus Maximus, as Christians reinterpreted the old “D.M.” funerary
convention]. We note that the son, however, has adopted the names Paul
and Peter, in remembrance of the two apostles.

This inscription from the late 1st- or early 2nd-century, belonging to the
family of Anneus Seneca the philosopher, shows the popularity these
apostolic names enjoyed within this family, explicable only by direct
contact and conversion within the clan.
68
The profound implication of this conclusion, and Seneca’s statement about
the collection of Paul’s epistles, would be that the Canonization of New
Testament texts was not left to the next generation of believers to figure
out on their own, by some vague “discernment” process – it was a 1st-
century APOSTOLIC activity, as seen in the Jerusalem Council of Acts
15. That the apostle Paul would take the initiative to collect, share, and
circulate his own writings for the edification of believers (and for Gospel
work among “non-believers”), is consistent with the fact the Paul was
already directing local churches to read his letters aloud at gatherings [Col
4:16, 1Th 5:27]

Paul may even have promoted the codex-format among Christians as more
practical for a collection of writings, rather than scrolls. Martial’s Epigram
1.2 (AD 84-86), refers to codex copies of his work suitable for travellers;
he also mentions a number of Latin and Greek classics already circulating
in this format in his own day [Homer Epigram 14:184; Virgil 14:186;
Cicero 14:188; Livy 14:190; Ovid 14:192] In fact, Paul uses a technical
Latinate term at 2Tim 4:13 for a parchment note-book in codex format,
especially used in a lecture setting.

Was this the exemplar Paul commissioned, and used as the archetype for
P46? Oecumenius says that Luke went from Rome to preach in Africa; the
Apostolic Constitutions [4.4(46)] inform us that Luke even ordained
Avilius [Latin for the Hebrew Abel] the 2nd bishop of Alexandria, after
their 1st bishop Annanius [Latin for the Hebrew Hananiah] was martyred.
Did Luke take the archetype of P46 with him to Egypt from Rome? [2Tim
4:11]

One of the more remarkable aspects of the P46 codex is that it not only
contains Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, it actually gives it the prominence of
being the 2nd epistle in the collection, right after Romans! Clearly the
scribe had no doubt as to the Pauline origin & authority of Hebrews.

69
Interestingly, Clement of Alexandria preserves the following tradition:
“the Epistle to the Hebrews is the work of Paul, and that it was
written to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language113; but that Luke
translated it carefully and published it for the Greeks; the words, Paul
the Apostle, were probably not prefixed, because, in sending it to the
Hebrews, who were prejudiced and suspicious of him, he wisely did
not wish to repel them at the very beginning by giving his name.”
[Hypotyposes, via Eusebius Eccl Hist 6.14][cp Col 4:14 & 2Tim
4:11]114
This would explain Origen’s [mis]understanding of Luke’s involvement in
the composition of Hebrews.

It is even possible that the circulation of this letter outside of Jerusalem led
to Paul’s martyrdom under Nero. Clement of Rome [ordained by Peter to
be bishop at Rome115], wrote that Paul’s death was “owing to envy” [ad
Cor 5.6]. Whose envy? Commodianus in the 3rd-century states that it was
the Jews who fomented Nero’s persecution of Christians [Carmen 845-
859].116

This makes sense, in light of Hebrews’ powerful demonstration of Christ’s

superiority to the Mosaic Covenant; but why should Nero care about this?
We know from Seneca’s correspondence with Paul that Nero’s wife
became hostile to Paul, considering him a “renegade” from the Jewish
faith; according to Josephus, his wife Poppaea was a “God-fearing”
Jewish sympathizer [Vita 3.16].117 In stark contrast to Claudius, Nero’s
sympathy for Jewish concerns was well known. The Talmud even
113
In 1537, Sebastian Münster published and printed in Basel, Switzerland a copy of Hebrew Matthew which he had obtained from the Jews. Twenty years later, in
1557, a second edition of Munster's Hebrew Matthew was printed, this time also containing the complete Hebrew text of the Letter to the Hebrews in an appendix
[presumably from the same Jewish community?] (A copy is found at the New York Public Library.) Notable is its use of the Tertragrammaton YHWH in citations of
the Old Testament
114
Luke was in Rome with Paul [Col 4:14, Heb 13:24] when this epistle would have been composed. Dr Hoeh suggested that this epistle [in the original Hebrew?] was
circulated by James the Just in Jerusalem [cp/ct Heb 12:22], contributing to this assassination by the priesthood in 62 AD. Is Heb 13:12-14 a plea for the Jerusalem
congregation to flee before its impending destruction? [cp/ct Heb 8:13]
115
Apostolic Constitutions, 1:46 "Concerning the bishops [overseers] who have been ordained in our lifetime, we make known to you that they are these. Of Antioch,
Eudoius, ordained by me, Peter. OF THE CHURCH OF ROME, LINUS, SON OF CLAUDIA, WAS FIRST ORDAINED BY PAUL, AND AFTER LINUS'S DEATH,
CLEMENT (CLEMENS) THE SECOND, ORDAINED BY ME, PETER. – Liber Pontificalis, the Catalogue Liberianus contains this supportive statement: "HE
[PETER] CONSECRATED BLESSED CLEMENT AS BISHOP and committed to him the government of the see and all the church...after he [Peter] had thus disposed
of affairs he received the crown of martyrdom...." "Clement succeeds Linus IN 67 A.D." Tertullian (circa 218) says: "The church of Rome, in like manner, MAKES
CLEMENT TO HAVE BEEN ORDAINED BY PETER" (De Praes. Haer. 32).
116
Confirmed by Acta Petri et Pauli ch 3: Jews appeal to Nero to keep Paul from preaching at Rome; ch 4: Nero agrees; ch. 26: Roman Jews & Latin Christians in great
conflict before “the door of Paul”
117
J. B. Lightfoot, St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians (London, 1869), p. 328. Vide also pp. 268ff, pp.327ff
70
preserves the legend that Nero himself converted to Judaism, and that a
great Rabbi descended from him! [TB Gittin 56a118]

Bronze coin minted in Smyrna, depicting Nero & Poppaea

According to Orosius "Nero first persecuted the Christians at Rome by
torture and death, and he commanded that in all the provinces they should
be tormented with the like persecution. He even attempted to extirpate the
very name, and put to death the most holy apostles of Christ, Peter by
crucifixion, Paul by the sword.” [History vii.7]

Bronze medallion of
Paul & Peter119 found
in Rome, depicting
allegiance to the faith
they preached, rather
than the imperial cult of
Nero & Poppaea
This Empire-wide persecution120 was proved by a contemporaneous
inscription found in Portugal:
“To Nero Claudius Caesar

118
TB Gittin V 56a: Nero becomes a proselyte to Judaism & Rabbi Meir is descended from him; “The Emperor Nero in Talmudic Legend” S. J. Bastomsky The Jewish
Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Apr., 1969), pp. 321-3
119
Epiphanius bears witness to the existence of such early archetypes, while mistakenly denying there historicity: “They also show forth deception by inventing things
according to their fancies. These impostors represent the holy apostle Peter as an elderly man with hair and beard cut short; some represent holy Paul as a man with
receding hair, others as being bald and bearded, and the other apostles are shown having their hair closely cropped”[Letter to the Emperor Theodosius (written between
A.D.379-395)]
120
“In ruinus pagi Marquosiae in Lusitania” Gruter 238, n.9. As to the inscription in Lardner, vi. 623, given from the archaeologist Gruter.See also Sulpicius Severus
Historiae Sacra, ii. 28 speaks of Nero as first endeavouring to extinguish the name of Christians : "The [Christian] religion was forbidden by the enactment of laws
(datis legibus) and by edicts published [edictis propositis], it was lawful for no one openly to be a Christian." Suet Nero 16 Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a
class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition.
71
 Augustus, High Priest
For Clearing the Province
Of Robbers, and those
Who Taught Mankind a New Superstition”
Paul’s prophetic concern for the Church, in light of a persecution that was
on the verge of wiping out the “eyewitness generation” of leadership, led
not only to gathering their written legacy, but insuring a continuity of
pastoral leadership: the Apostolic Constitutions [4.4(46)] report that Paul
made sure to ordain Linus [2Ti 4:21] bishop of Rome before being
martyred.121

Early 4th-century122 Ivory diptych depicting Paul ordaining Linus [carrying codex] bishop of Rome
Paul’s direct contribution to the canonization process ended with his
martyrdom under Nero,123 but this work went on under the surviving
Apostles. How did the canonization of the “New Testament” begin, and
121
Irenaeus--bishop of Lyons about 178 AD--in his defense of orthodox doctrine against the Gnostics "appeals especially to the bishops of Rome, as depositories of the
apostolic tradition." The list of Irenaeus commences with Linus, whom he identifies with the person of this name mentioned by Paul, and whom he states to have been
"entrusted with the office of the bishopric by the apostles ..... With the many possibilities of error, no more can safely be assumed of Linus .... than that he held some
prominent position in the Roman church" (Lightfoot's "Dissertation on the Christian Ministry," in Commentary on Phil, 220 f). Iren. adv. Haeres. l. 3. c. 3. Euseb. Ec.
Hist. l. 3. c. 2, 4. & l. 5. c. 6. This Linus is said to be born at Volterra in Tuscany, and to be of the family of the Moors, whose father was one Herculaneus ["Liber
Pontificalis" ], who sent him at twenty two years of age to Rome, for the sake of his studies; at which time, as is pretended, Peter came thither, by whom he was
converted, and with whom he continued as a fellow helper in the Gospel. He is moreover said to be bishop of Rome ten years, (Platina says eleven, the Liberian
Catalogue shows that it lasted twelve years, four months, and twelve days) three months, and twelve days, and to have suffered martyrdom under Saturninus the
consul, whose daughter he had delivered from a diabolical possession, and was buried in the Vatican. He is reckoned among the seventy disciples of Christ on the lists
122
Lewin's Life and Epp. of St. Paul, Frontispiece, and vol. ii. p. 211
123
S. Paul was executed on the Via Laurentina, near some springs called Aquae Salviae, where a memorial chapel was raised in the 5 th century. Its foundations were
discovered in 1867, under the present church of S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane together with historical inscriptions written in Latin and Armenian. The apocryphal Greek
Acts of S. Paul, edited by Tischendorff, Acta apost. apocrif. p. 1-39. Lipsiae, 1851, assert that the apostle was beheaded near these springs under a stone pine. In 1875,
while the Trappists, were xcavating for the foundations of a water-tank behind the chapel, they found a mass of coins of Nero, together with several pine-cones
fossilized by age, and by the pressure of the earth. As early as AD 200 the burial place of the Apostle in the Via Ostia was marked by a cella memoriæ, near which the
Catacomb of Comodilla was established. Constantine, according to the Liber Pontificalis, transformed it into basilica; it also asserts [ I.178], that Constantine placed the
body of S. Paul in a coffin of solid bronze; in 386 Theodosius began the erection of a much larger and more beautiful basilica, but the work including the mosaics was
not completed till the pontificate of St. Leo the Great. The Christian poet Prudentius describes the splendours of the monument in a few, expressive lines.

72
progress? All of it had to be done with great circumspection, some of it in
secret, as the early Church navigated its ambiguous status with the laws
of the Roman Empire. For example, Marks gospel was the out of a “secret
mission” as it were, a while the Apostle Thomas pursued a mission
beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. . . .

POSTSCRIPT
According to tradition, Paul's body was buried two miles away from the place of his martyrdom, in the
sepulchral area along the Ostiense Way, owned by a Christian woman named Lucina. Upon it was erected a
tropaeum which quickly became a place of veneration: Gaius, the Presbyter, "who lived when Zephyrinus was
bishop of Rome [AD 199-217]", as quoted by Eusebius reporting that "I can point out the tropaia of the
Apostles [Peter and Paul]; for if you go to the Vatican or the Ostian Way, you will find the tropaia of those who
founded this Church".

During the 4th century, Paul's remains were moved into a sarcophagus, except for the head, which according to
church tradition rests at the Lateran. Paul's tomb is below a marble tombstone in the Basilica's crypt, at 1.37
meters below the altar. The tombstone bears the Latin inscription PAULO APOSTOLO MART ("to Paul the
apostle and martyr"). The inscribed portion of the tombstone has three holes, two square and one circular. The
circular hole is connected to the tomb by a pipeline, reflecting the Roman custom of pouring perfumes inside
the sarcophagus.

The discovery of the sarcophagus is mentioned in the chronicle of the Benedictine monastery attached to the
Basilica, in regard to the 19th century rebuilding. On 6 December 2006, it was announced that Vatican
archaeologists had confirmed the presence of a white marble sarcophagus beneath the altar perhaps containing
the remains of the Apostle. On 29 June 2009 Pope Benedict XVI announced that carbon 14 dating of bone
fragments in the sarcophagus confirmed a date in the first or second century; "This seems to confirm the
unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul," Benedict announced
at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican's Paoline year in honor of the apostle. With the bone
fragments archaeologists discovered some grains of incense, and pieces of purple linen with gold sequins and
blue linen textiles.

73
St. THOMAS & the
“Soter Megas” Mystery

This story begins with one of the greatest numismatic puzzle of the ages:
the identity of the “Nameless King” who issued the innumerable Soter
Megas coins over a wide geographical area, and over such a long period of
time.124 These coins, from the Indo-Parthian Kingdom of the 1st century
AD, have no name and vary based on the regions in which they were
minted, but share common characteristics, most significantly the
inscription:
Basileu[s] Basileon Sotēr Megas:
"King of Kings, Great Saviour"
While modern scholars have settled on a “solution” that shoehorns a
known king into the already crowded chronology of the region, there
remains no explanation for the unique symbology of the coins, nor the
motivation for leaving them unnamed. We will offer another solution, and
the trail to that discovery begins in one of the most ancient sanctuaries of
Christianity

John of Damascus125 relates the story that in AD 451, the Byzantine

emperor Marcian and his wife wished to make pilgrimage to see the body
of Mary. The Emperor’s intent was to visit the Tomb of Mary;126 He
writes Juvenal of Jerusalem:
“We hear that there is in Jerusalem the first and famous Church of
Mary, Theotokos and ever Virgin, in the garden called Gethsemane
124
“The coins are found in extraordinary abundance, and over a wide stretch of country extending from Peshawar to Mathura. These facts point to great power and a
long reign, . . . It is possible that these coins were struck by more than one ruler, and that the differing types issued from distinct localities. Such rulers might have been
subordinate to a single suzerain.” R.B. Whitehead Catalogue of Indo-Greek Coins, vol I. [Oxford 1914] p. 160f, footnote 2
125
Hom 2 on the Dormition of Mary, citing Euthymius’ History 3.40
126
At the beginning of the fifth century a pilgrim from Armenia visited "the tomb of the Virgin in the valley of Josaphat", and about 431 the "Breviarius de Hierusalem"
mentions in that valley "the basilica of Holy Mary, which contains her sepulchre". St. Gregory of Tours, St. Modestus, St. Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem, St.
Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople, St. Andrew Bishop of Crete all attest to the same tradition.
74
Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, replies:
“from an ancient and most true tradition we have received, that at the
time of her glorious falling asleep, all the holy Apostles . . . came
together at Jerusalem.... the Apostles, who were present, opened the
coffin; but the body, pure and every way to be praised, they could not
at all find.”127

Historian Nicephorus Callistus also quotes Juvenal,128 who tells us this

gathering occurred in the reign of Claudius. Eusebius’ Chronicon specifies
AD 48. What else occurred during this meeting of all Apostles at
127
According to Bagatti and Manns, all these apocrypha might derive from a Jewish-Christian milieu and depend on a unique document not later than the second cent.
AD. See B. Bagatti - M. Piccirillo - A. Prodromo, New Discoveries at the Tomb of Virgin Mary in Gethsemane, Collectio Minor 17 (Jerusalem: SBF, 1975), 57-58
128
Juvenal refers to Dionysius Areopagita [Ac 17:34] as a source [see his Ep ad Titus], see also Joannis liber de Dormitione Mariae (third to fourth century,
[ps]Ignatius missa S. Joanni 1&2, and late 3rd century Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary's Repose),
75
Jerusalem in AD 48? The famous Council, as recorded by Luke in Acts
15.

While Luke focuses on the theological aspect of the meeting [which

differentiated Christianity from Judaism], history reveals a number of
other things were on the agenda. Before the passing of Mary, John the
“beloved disciple” was still caring for Mary [John 19:27], and could not
embark on apostolic ministry [Acts 1:8] until then.

Up until that point, the Apostles were only using Matthew’s Hebrew
gospel for local evangelism. For world-wide [Matt 28:19] evangelism, the
need for a Greek gospel was apparent. Indeed, Epiphanius says, “Matthew
wrote first, and Mark soon after, being a companion of Peter at Rome”
[Panarion 51.6]

According to manuscript colophons and the ancient Chronicon’s, the

Gospel of Luke and the Greek version of Matthew were both published
and approved in AD 48. Nicephorus Callistus states that Matthew was
published fifteen years after the Ascension [AD 33, i.e. referring to the
Greek version].

More controversially, Constantine Simonides claimed to have found a first

century copy of Matthew whose colophon also stated that the Greek
version was executed 15 years after the Ascension.129 Theophylact130 also
dates Luke being published 15 years post-Ascension.

With these tools in hand, the apostles divided the known world into
regions to be covered by the 12 apostles [Matt 28:19], and the 72
evangelists [Luke 10]. Unanimous Church tradition tells of Indo-Parthia
being allotted to the Apostle Thomas.131

129
Fac-similes of Certain Portions of the Gospel of St. Matthew (London: Trübner 1861):
130
praef ad Lukas, Epist of the Three Patriarchs; also, MSS Colophons
131
Thomas [Aramaic for “the Twin”], who was also called "Didymus" [Greek for "Twin"] (compare #Joh 11:16; 20:24; 21:2; two Paris MSS. cited by Cotelier [Apost.
Const. lib. ii. 63, note] speak of St. Thomas and his sister Lysia, and add that Antioch was the native place of the Apostle), is referred to in detail by the Gospel of John
alone. His election to the Twelve is recorded in #Mt 10:3; Mr 3:18; Lu 6:15; Ac 1:13. According to the "Genealogies of the Twelve Apostles" (compare Budge, The
Contendings of the Apostles, II, 50), Thomas was of the house of Asher
76
 “Meanwhile the holy apostles and disciples of our Saviour were
dispersed throughout the world. Parthia, according to tradition, was
allotted to Thomas as his field of labor. . . . These facts are related by
Origen in the third volume of his commentary on Genesis” [Eusebius
EH 3.1]

5th century mosaic at Ravenna depicting John 20:27 “Then saith he to Thomas, ‘Reach hither thy
finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not
faithless, but believing’.”

Parthia controlled critical trade routes through the Persian Sea and the Silk
Road, Rome’s connections to the Far East. As the superpower to their
eastern border that they were never able to completely conquer, relations
always remained tense at best.

SO, how does an itinerant Jewish teacher find safe passage into enemy
territory to preach the Gospel? According to the apocryphal Acts of
Thomas, he sells himself into slavery to Indian King Gundaphar through
his buying agent Abbanes [1.2].

For centuries, scholars dismissed the Acta Thomae as a purely legendary

and fanciful work, a “Christian novella” of the 3rd century. Astonishingly,
in 1834 an explorer turned up a hoard of ancient coins in Afghanistan’s
77
Kabul Valley,132 many of which bore the picture and name (some of them
stamped in Greek and old Indian script) of the otherwise unknown
Gundaphar in various spellings. Within a few decades, “Gundaphar” coins
were found from Bactria to the Punjab, all dated to the first century A.D.

At the end of the 19th century, a stone tablet was uncovered in ruins near
Peshawar inscribed with lines from an Indo-Bactrian language.133
According to orientalist historian Samuel Moffett, the inscription
“not only named King Gundaphar, but it dated him squarely in the
early first century A.D.”
How does a 3rd century Christian “novelist” happen to correctly name this
first century king of India, otherwise unknown in Roman territories, and
soon forgotten in his own? The Acta Thomae further specify that Thomas
sold himself into slavery as a carpenter. As a matter of fact, in the first
century, carpenters and craftsmem were in high demand in the east, and
Greeks carpenters were even employed in building the Chola-palace in
India. According to the first century writer Pliny the Elder and the author
of Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Kerala could be reached in 40 days'
time from the Egyptian coast going with the SW Monsoon winds.134 The
Sangam works Puranaooru and Akananooru speak of the Roman vessels
and the Roman gold that used to come to the Kerala ports of the great
Chera kings.
According to the Acts of Thomas, after arriving at the king’s court and a
cycle of preaching accompanied by various miracles, King Gundaphar and
his brother Gad implore the apostle Thomas to baptize them. The Opus
Imperfectum in Matthaeum [an ancient Greek commentary on Matthew,
preserving 2nd cent traditions135] relates that the Magi of Matthew 2 were
baptized by St. Thomas!

132
General Alexander Cunningham reported (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol.xxiii. 1854 pp.679-712)
133
Takhth-i-Bahi Inscription, 17" long and 14.5" broad, "In the twenty-sixth year of the great King Gudaphara in the year three and one hundred, in the month of
Vaishakh, on the fifth day"
134
“Navigation to the Far East under the Roman Empire” Wilfred H. Schoff Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 37, (1917), pp. 240-249
135
Pseudo-Chrysostom (P.G., LVI, 644); cf Brent Landau Dissertation The Sages and the Star-Child: An Introduction to the Revelation of the Magi, An Ancient
Christian Apocryphon [Harvard University; Dissertation Advisor: Professor François Bovon] Defended: Spring 2008; Abstract: This study analyzes a poorly-known
ancient Christian apocryphal writing, termed the Revelation of the Magi. This document purports to be the personal testimony of the biblical Magi on the coming of
Christ, and is the longest and most complex narrative devoted to the Magi surviving from antiquity. ...The second chapter compares the Syriac text with a much shorter
version of the narrative contained in the Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, an Arian commentary on the Gospel of Matthew from the fifth century. It concludes that the
Opus is a witness to a Greek version of this apocryphon, basically equivalent to the received Syriac. The third chapter attempts to trace the prehistory of the text prior to
its fifth-century form, and argues that the earliest form of the text was a pseudepigraphon, written from the putative perspective of the Magi themselves. This text,
78
Tertullian (Adv Marcion III.xiii) says the Magi were “well-nigh kings”
(fere reges). In fact, the name of Gundaphar when translated into
Armenian is "Gastaphar", which in Western languages becomes
"Gaspard“ or “Caspar” - head Magi according to Church tradition.

The three lead Magi identified by name in 5th century mosaic at Ravenna

Ancient traditions maintain that the Magi were in fact from Persia. In
writing of them, St. John Chrysostom (c. 345-407) said, "The Incarnate
Word on coming to the world gave to Persia, in the persons of the Magi,
the first manifestations of His mercy and light... so that the Jews
themselves learn from the mouths of Persians of the birth of their
Messiah."

Similarly, Clement of Alexandria (Strom I.xv), Diodorus of Tarsus, Cyril

of Alexandria (In Isa xlix.12), Juvencus [Hist Evang I.259], Prudentius
[Catherm. 12.25], and others affirm their trek began in Persia. Classical
scholars have calculated such a journey would have taken approximately
nine months136 – no casual undertaking.

which was composed in the late second or early third century, was redacted in the third or fourth century to include a third-person account of the Apostle Judas
Thomas’ conversion of the Magi.
136
See EDWARD GRESWELL’s Dissertations . . . HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS [Oxford UP 1837] Vol 2, p.138ff and footnotes for voluminous classical references
and the geography, topography, and logistics
79
The Cave of Treasures, an ancient Syriac work traditionally ascribed to
Ephrem Syrus of the 4th century, describes the geopolitical impact of the
Magi’s visit:
“the Magi having made ready to go up, the kingdom of the mighty
men of war [Rome] was perturbed and terrified, and there was with
the Magi so mighty a following that all the cities of the East were in
dismay before them, and Jerusalem also”137
The “so mighty a following” alluded to in the Cave of Treasures is
clarified in the Aucar Raze, a 13th century commentary on the entire Bible
by Bar-Hebraeus, one of the most learned and versatile men of the Syriac
Orthodox Church. According to him, a military retinue of a 1000 men
escorted this royal entourage. He even records a transcription of their
dialogue in the court of Herod, as preserved in the Persian archives.138

Earlier, in the AD 600’s, Jacob of Edessa gave even more details:

“The Magi were from Persia, but they were not 3, as portrayed by
artists for the people, as derived from the ‘3-ness’ of the gifts of gold,
myrrh and frankincense, but rather twelve, as can be seen in many
traditions. Those who came were princes and well-respected persons
from the country of Persia. Many people, more than a 1000 men,
accompanied them, so that Jerusalem became very excited when they
arrived.” [Letter to John the Stylite139]

The Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum agrees with Jacob of Edessa, [as

well as later Syriac, Arabic, and Armenian tradition] that the Magi were
12 in number, representing one of the two chambers of the Parthian
government [as Strabo says XI.ix.3140]. As Jacob of Edessa points out, the
137
The Georgian Chronicle 4, confirms the effect on the “cities of the East” when the Magi & their military escort made their way towards Jerusalem: “In the first year
of [Aderk's] reign, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea. News came to the Jews of Mtskheta that kings had come from Persia and captured Jerusalem; and the
Jews mourned. But after two years they heard that [those kings] had not come to capture Jerusalem but to bring gifts to a child born of a virgin; and they rejoiced
exceedingly.”
138
See John Gill on Matthew 2: “An Eastern writer, who affirms {m} what I have now mentioned, relates {n} the following speech as spoke by the wise men to Herod,
when in conversation with him, about this matter: "A certain person, say they, of great note with us, in a book which he composed, warned us in it, mentioning these
things; a child that shall descend from heaven, will be born in Palestine, whom the greatest part of the world shall serve, and the sign of his appearance shall be this; ye
shall see a strange star, which shall direct you where he is; when ye shall see this, take gold, myrrh and frankincense, and go and offer them to him, and worship him,
and then return, lest a great calamity befall you. Now the star has appeared unto us, and we are come to perform what was commanded us." {m} Abulpharag [Bar
Hebraeus]. Hist. Dynast. p. 54. {n} lb. p. 70.
139
Cf E. Balicka-Witakowska, "Remarks on the Decoration and Iconography of the Syriac Gospels, British Library, Add. 7174", in R. Lavenant (ed.), Symposium
Syriacum VII (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256; Rome 1998) esp. 646-649
140
“the Council of the Parthians, according to Poseidonius, consists of two groups, one that of kinsmen [of the King, i.e. nobility] and the other that of wise men and
Magi, from both of which groups the kings were appointed.” [It appears that the kings were chosen from the first group by the members of the second]
80
convention of depicting 3 Magi alone was based on the artistic expediency
of portraying the 3 gifts, but was by no means consistent.

Roman archeologist and catacomb expert, Horace Marucchi studied these

depictions and noted some of the earliest depictions showed two, or four;
two Phrygian-capped Magi can also be seen on this gilded-glass depiction
from the “Cabinet Zschilli” [Leclercq, Manuel II, p. 487] Besides a fresco
of four Magi in the catacomb of Domitilla,141 six Magi are shown on a
krater from the reign of Valentinus [c. AD 364] in Bithynian marble, now
at the Palazzo Massimo.142

In addition to this depiction of six magi, Marucchi observed an example of

an ancient vase in the Kircherian Museum at the Collegio Romano
portraying eight Magi.143

What we know of the Magi from ancient Classical sources matches what
we know of Gundaphar as well. Cicero observed that no man could be a
king of the Persians before he understood the discipline and knowledge of
the Magi. Apuleius {Apolog. p. 204} says, that "Magus," in the Persian
language, is the same as "priest.”144 According to Ammianus, they also
studied astrology and astronomy (xxiii.6, 32), which explains why
Gundaphar chose the astronomical symbol for Mercury as his personal
motif on all his coins.

Church Fathers from Theophylact in the 11th century to Origen in the 3rd
agree that the Persian Magi were aware of the prophecy of a Star
141
The Arch Mosaic of the S. Maria Maggiore Basilica from the 5th century may also have originally been composed with 4 matching Magi.
142
Geschichte der christlichen Kunst by Franz Xavier Kraus p.153 [Freiburg 1896]
143
O. Marucchi, Eléments d'archéologie chrétienne [Paris 1899, I 197]
144
Compare the magoi, "Magi," a nation of the Medes mentioned by Herodotus {Clio sive l. 1. c. 101}.
81
associated with the appearance of a world-savior through the gentile
prophet Balaam [Numb 24:17]145

Late 1st-century Catacomb depiction of Balaam pointing out “Star of Bethlehem” over Madonna &
Child

His fame among the Gentiles was confirmed by the recent discovery of an
ancient inscription about Balaam in an extra-biblical context. Balaam
came from Pethor, identified with Pitru of Assyrian texts, later controlled
by the Parthians. An ancient text found at Deir Alla, Jordan in 1967,
written in Aramaic, begins with the title “Warnings from the Book of
Balaam the son of Beor - He was a seer of the gods.” The inscription is
datable to ca. 840-760 BC.146

Other historical details of the Acta Thomae have been confirmed by

archeology and numismatics. In his Coins of the Sakas, Cunningham
remarked that “as the name of Orthagnes is written in Arian characters as
Gurdana or Gadana, beginning with the letter G, it seems not improbable
145
Contra Celsum, i. 59, 60; also In Numeros Homilia xiii. 7, xv. 4: which makes them descendants of Balaam; Jerome in Isa. xix : Basil, Hom, xxv : Diodorus, apud
Photius, Bibl. Codex 223. Bar Hebraeus confirms that Zoroaster acquired this prophecy from Balaam
146
Jo Ann Hackett, The Balaam Text from Deir ʿAllā. (Harvard Semitic Monographs 31) 1980, released 1984; J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, Aramaic Texts from
Deir 'Alla Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui 19 (Leiden) 1976.
82
that he is the king's brother mentioned in the Legend of St. Thomas under
the name of Gad” [p. 121].

In the nepotistic administrative style of the time, Gondophares did indeed

appoint viceroys: his brother Orthagnes in Afghanistan and his nephew
Abdagases [Labdanes in the Thomas apocrypha & Magi lists147], in
Sasan.

While much of the preaching in the Acta Thomae is considered gnostic

fabrication, certain themes recur with historic significance and resonance.
The orthodox “Descent of Christ into Hell” is taught [cp Eph 4.9], just as
later affirmed by the Apostles’ Creed. So too is the “Harrowing of Hell,”
while still preaching the punishment of hell awaiting those who reject the
Gospel [cp 2Thess 2.8], as later affirmed by the Athanasian Creed.
Thomas’ preaching in the Acta Thomae is especially orthodox when it
comes to the Trinity, especially in the baptismal liturgy [cp Matt 28.19],
and the sign of the Cross.

In fact, the impact of Thomas’ preaching was so powerful, [according to

his report back to James in Jerusalem preserved in the Clementine
Recognition 9.29] that:
“In short, among the Parthians — as Thomas, who is preaching the
Gospel amongst them, has written to us — not many now are
addicted to polygamy; nor among the Medes do many throw their
dead to dogs; nor are the Persians pleased with intercourse with their
mothers, or incestuous marriages with their daughters; nor do the
Susian women practice the adulteries that were allowed them”148
Many of his themes were specific to his Indo-Parthian audience. Thomas
repeats and emphasizes Christ’s role as king, and even more specifically,

147
Abdagases is called Labdanes in the Johannine Dormition of Mary as the nephew of the king to whom Thomas is sent, or Larvandad and Zarwandad in Syrian Magi
list.
148
Compare Eusebius’ Praeparatio Evangelica 5.27 “For it was the time of Tiberius, in which our Saviour, making His sojourn among men, is recorded to have been
ridding human life from daemons of every kind: so that there were some of them now kneeling before Him and beseeching Him not to deliver them over to the Tartarus
that awaited them. . . . You have therefore the date of the overthrow of the daemons, of which there was no record at any other time; just as you had the abolition of
human sacrifice among the Gentiles as not having occurred until after the preaching of the doctrine of the Gospel had reached all mankind. Let then these refutations
from recent history suffice.
83
“King of Kings” [41,86,170], in the face of arrogant claims of Parthian
rulers to this title.

In spite of regional rulers using ‘SOTER’ [‘savior’] as an inherited and

royal title, Thomas preached Christ’s exclusive role as savior, and more
specifically, the “perfect Savior” [10], and even “savior of kings and
princes”! [139].

Could the simple solution to the “Soter Megas” mystery be the most
obvious one? Could Gundaphar have recognized Thomas as the royal
emissary of the true “King of Kings” and the “Great Savior” he had
brought gifts to 50 years before?

Having been baptized by Thomas, Gundaphar would have renounced his

claims to such titles and issue this commemorative currency throughout
his realm in honor of Christ. Let’s re-examine the coins in this light:
 1) In many examples of the coin, the “Soter Megas” as the rider is
clearing upholding a Cross as a sign of triumph
 2) We see Gundaphar has eliminated his personal astrological symbol
and created a unique one. We can decode it from Christian
symbolism in the catacombs, where the trident cryptically stands for
the Cross & the Trinity

84
  3) The “Soter Megas” is depicted in imagery that anticipates Rev 19
[Christ returning on a horse with His Cross going before him], but is
really based on Daniel and Isaiah. He is a young, beardless “Son of
Man” approaching the “Ancient of Days” - helmeted with salvation,
but ruling with a “Rod of Iron”

While the “Soter Megas” is depicted as a “man of war” [Exod 15:3]
according to traditional Persian fashion, it is interesting that the depiction
of the plaited ponytail may be historical.149

We have already noted this feature on the 1st/2nd century catacomb fresco
of Christ.150

Another depiction of Christ on a sarcophagus from the early 3rd century of

Christ healing of the women with an issue of blood [Matt 9.20ff]. A
plaited ponytail is draped over his left shoulder:

149
In 1920, Gressman, [Jewish Life in Ancient Rome, in Jewish Studies in Memory of Israel Abrahams. New York, 1927] showed that this was a custom that was
frequent among the Jews in antiquity, and Henri Daniel-Rops [Jesus and His Times Dutton 1956] states that, except for festive days, the Jews used to wear this pony-
tail plaited and pinned round their head under their headgear
150
Epiphanius bears witness to the existence of such early archetypes, while mistakenly denying there historicity: “Moreover, they are deceiving, who represent the
likeness of [biblical] saints in various forms according to their fancy, sometimes showing the same persons as old men, sometimes as youths, intruding into things
which they have not seen. For they paint the Savior with long hair, and this by guessing because He is called a Nazarene, and Nazarenes wear long hair. They are in
error if they try to attach stereotypes to Him, because the Savior drank wine, whereas the Nazarenes [the Nazarites] did not.”[Letter to the Emperor Theodosius (written
between A.D.379-395)]
85
 Bosio’s pre-reconstruction sketch; Josef Wilpert’s photograph, highlighting area of reconstruction

What makes this depiction unique is that it was copied from a statue
dedicated to Christ in the first century. The woman herself erected the
statue in gratitude of her healing, according to Eusebius [Hist Eccl
vii.18.2] who saw it: “For there stands upon an elevated stone, by the gates
of her house, a brazen image”151 The anti-Christian emperor Julian the
Apostate had it defaced c. AD 350

These coins remain an ongoing testimony to the broad impact of Thomas’

apostolic missionary work in the Indo-Parthian region. The Acts of
Thomas state he even reached the city of King Mazdai152 of Southern
India. 19th century scholar C.M. Whish noted in connection with the
settlement of the Jews in Malabar, that “the Jews themselves say that Mar
Thomas, the Apostle, arrived in India in the year of our Lord 52”153

The Acta Thomae go on to report that as a result of converting Mazdai's

wife Tertia and a noble lady, Mygdonia, he was condemned to death. He
was slain with spears by four soldiers on a mountain outside the city.154
151
Also, in his Chronicon: "This woman, healed by touching the fringe of Christ's garment, was not ungrateful for the cure, but erected a bronze image of the Saviour,
with herself kneeling at his feet, with her hands extended. At the foot of this statue grew a strange plant, which, when it reached up to the fringe of Christ's garment,
acquired miraculous virtues, and was capable of healing all manner of diseases" Photius has preserved a passage of Asterius (Bib, Cod. 271), bishop of Amasia, who
lived in the beginning of the fifth century, who says that this emblem of the gratitude of the woman remained uninjured for many years; but that Maximin, enraged at
the devotion of the faithful for this statue, ordered it to be removed. However, it was not broken. According to Macarius Magnes, her name was Berenice [=Veronica],
an aristocrat originally from Edessa, and affirms the notoriety of the story and the statue even to his day [Apocriticus 1.7]. Under Constantine it was replaced within the
enclosure of a church; but Julian the Apostate had it broken to pieces and his own statue erected on the pedestal.
152
“The second of these names gives us an Indian form, Vasudeva, and it is known that a king of this name was reigning, contemporaneously with Gundaphorus, at
Mathara on the Jumna.” Arthur Lloyd The creed of half Japan: historical sketches of Japanese Buddhism [E. P. Dutton & company, 1912], p. 74
153
[F.A. D’Cruz St. Thomas, the Apostle, in India (Madras 1922 ) p. 57
154
The "Preaching of Thomas" (compare Budge, II, 319) relates still more fantastic adventures of Thomas in India, and the "Martyrdom of Thomas in India" states that
on his departure toward Macedonia he was put to death as a sorcerer.
86
All the martyrologies of the Latin, Greek, and Syriac tradition affirm his
martyrdom by the lance. India as the scene of the Apostle's labours is
affirmed by Gregory Nazianzen. (Orat. xxxiii. 11; Patrol. Gr. xxxvi. 27).
Sophronius, in an Appendix to the De Viris Illustribus of Jerome, says,that
St. Thomas preached the Gospel to the "Parthians Medes, Persians,
Carmanians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Magians," and that he died at
Calamina in India; and Nicephorus records it as a commonly received fact,
that the Apostle Thomas founded Churches in Ethiopia, in Parthia, and
even in Taproban (the island of Sri Lanka).155

He was buried in a tomb in which the ancient kings were buried. But later,
while King Mazdai was still living, the bones of the Apostle were secretly
removed by one of the brethren and were taken away to “the West”:
according to Dionysius Bar Salibi,
“James, the brother of our Lord, is buried in Jerusalem, and James,
son of Zebedee, is in the west, . . . . ; Peter and Paul are in Rome, and
John, son of Zebedee is buried in Ephesus, where also is the
Theotokos. The Apostle Thomas was buried in India, and his
bones were transferred to Edessa.” [Against the Melchites 6]

Dionysius correctly preserves that James bar Zebedee was buried in the
west [i.e., Spain], but misinterprets that as “Rome.” That the Theotokos
was buried in Ephesus suggests the less than supernatural explanation that
her remains were not found in their original tomb in Jerusalem because
they were moved to Ephesus.

According to the Latin Passio of Thomas (see Lipsius, I, 144) the

transference of his remains took place under Alexander Severus after his
victory over Ardasir (AD 233). Bar-Hebraeus (d. 1286) records that the
155
We note the presence of a Metropolitan of Persia and the great India, "among the signatories of the Council of Nicaea”; in the narrative of Cosmas Indicopleustes,
who visited India in the 6th century, and tells us, “In the island of Ceylon in further India, where the Indian Ocean is, there is a church of Christians, with both
clergymen and believers. In Malabar, in like manner, where the pepper grows .... and in the place called Calliana, there is also a bishop, ordained and sent from Persia "
(Topographia Christiana, lib. iii; Patrol. Gr. Ixxxviii. 169; cf. lib. xi. ib. 446). “In A.D. 78 there is a Pallava king reigning at Mailapur and its neighbourhood, and
Ceylon tells of another king, named Shdlivahana,1 who was a Takshakaputra, "son of a carpenter," i.e. a Christian—a follower of Christ, or a follower of Thomas the
Carpenter. [citing J.R.A.S., vol. xvii.]… The Pallavas, or Parthians, seem to have carried on an extensive commerce both with the West and the East. It seems probable
that Gondopharus and Vasdeo were both Parthians and if so, the Pallava king at Mailapur may have been Vasdeo” Arthur Lloyd The creed of half Japan: historical
sketches of Japanese Buddhism [E. P. Dutton & company, 1912], p. 74

87
coffin was later brought to Edessa under Bishop Eulogitis (end of the
fourth century). The well-known fact that the Relics [the Bones] of the
Apostle were then at Edessa, a fact which Chrysostom himself attests
elsewhere {Homily 26 on Ep to Hebrews}. They were later transferred to
the smalled Greek isle of Chios before being transferred to Ortona.

Before his martyrdom however, the apostle Thomas made sure to

commission one of the 72 disciples for a special mission to the Royal
House of Edessa….

88
Forgotten Christian
Queens of the East
PART 1:
One of the more interesting figures of 1st-century Jerusalem was Helena,
queen of Adiabene156 (now part of northern Iraq). Josephus wrote that
Helena built three palaces in the Lower City of Jerusalem (one for herself,
one for her son and one for her mother-in-law; Wars 4.9.11; 5.6.1), after
emigrating there upon becoming a proselyte to Judaism.157

156
In Kiddushin 72a the Biblical Chebar is identified with Adiabene (compare TB Yebamot 16b et seq., Yalqut Daniel 1064); The Books of Kings and The First Book of
Chronicles recount that Tiglath-Pileser III who ruled 745–727 BC as King of Assyria, captured Israelites from east of the Jordan. A portion of these captives were
deported to the banks of the Chebar. The Book of Kings further relates how Israelite captives from Samaria were then settled near Gozan (Tell Halaf) on the Chebar
river's banks by Shalmaneser V who reigned from 727 to 722 BC, as son and successor of Tiglath-Pileser III, (2 Kings 17:6, 18:11). In TJ Megillah i.71b, however with
Riphath.[Genesis x. 3; compare also Genesis Rabba xxxvii. Riphath (ree-fath)- a crusher, Gomer's second son (Gen. 10:3, 1 Chronicles 1:6), supposed by Josephus to
have been the ancestor of the Paphlagonians. Pliny calls Riphath Riphaci and mentions a group of mountains named after him, the Riphæan range. Melo calls him
Riphaces, and Solinus: Piphlataci.] In the Targum to Jeremiah li.27, Ararat, Mini, and Ashkenaz are paraphrased by Kordu, Harmini, and Hadayab, i.e., Corduene,
Armenia, and Adiabene; while in Ezekiel xxvii. 23 Harran, Caneh, and Eden are interpreted by the Aramaic translator as "Harwan, Nisibis, and Adiabene”
157
"Her son [Izates] having gone to war, Helena made a vow that if he should return safe, she would become a Nazarite for the space of seven years. She fulfilled her
vow, and at the end of seven years went to Palestine. The Hillelites told her that she must observe her vow anew, and she therefore lived as a Nazarite for seven more
years. At the end of the second seven years she became impure, and she had to repeat her Nazariteship, thus being a Nazarite for twenty-one years. R. Judah said she
was a Nazarite for fourteen years only" (Nazir 19b). Josephus (BJ preface, § 2) refers to the "Adiabenoi" as Jews. Josephus knew several, and in BJ ii. 19, § 2 mentions
a Kenedeus and a Monobaz as aiding bravely in the defense of Jerusalem against the Romans, and "the sons and brethren of Izates the king . . . were bound . . . and led
to Rome, in order to make them hostages for their country's fidelity to the Romans“ (BJ vi. 6, § 4). The Talmud states (TB Men. 32b) that the followers of Monobaz (TJ
Meg. Iv. fin) were accustomed to fix the mezuzah upon a staff, and to set the staff upright in any inn in which they happened to pass the night (Tosef Meg. iv. [iii.] 30;
TJ Meg. iv. 75c). "R. Judah said: 'The booth [erected for the Feast of Tabernacles] of Queen Helena in Lydda was higher than twenty ells. The rabbis used to go in and
out and make no remark about it'" (Suk. 2b)
89
In December 2007, the Associated Press released the news of an
archeological discovery just south of the Temple Mount, dated to the
“Second Temple” period – i.e. the time of Christ – the apparent discovery
of one of those palatial homes of Adiabene Royalty.

Why did Helena choose to build in the poorest section of “New

Testament Era” Jerusalem?

A clue can be found when considering the inhabitants of the ancient

neighborhood. Hugh J. Schonfield, a Jewish scholar on Christian Origins,
has argued that this very area was the center of Judeo-Christian work
before AD 70, ministering as the “poor” [Matt 5:3] among the poor [Rom
15:26], in what Schonfield called the Nazorean Quarter of ancient
Jerusalem.158 Is there a connection between this palace and the Jerusalem
Church? The next clue is found in a related tomb, just outside the
northern gate of ancient Jerusalem’s “Third Wall”

For centuries, it was misidentified as the “Tombs of the Kings” – even

though it was described by the Greek geographer Pausanias as the second
most beautiful tomb in the world (after the tomb of Mausolus, one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world).

158
The Jesus Party: By Hugh J. Schonfield. [Macmillan, 1974] p.56,59
90
 “The Hebrews have a grave, that of Helen, a native woman, in the
city of Jerusalem, which the Roman Emperor razed to the ground.
There is a contrivance in the grave whereby the door, which like all
the grave is of stone, does not open until the year brings back the
same day and the same hour. Then the mechanism, unaided, opens
the door, which, after a short interval, shuts itself. This happens at
that time, but should you at any other try to open the door you cannot
do so; force will not open it, but only break it down” Pausanias
8.16.[5]
Two large stone sarcophagi were found in a part of the tomb that looters
had missed. One was inscribed with “PRINCESS TSADDAH 159

The tomb was identified with Helena by a ceramic fragment bearing the
ancient Hebrew characters HLN' (Helen)160

Helena’s connection with Christianity can also be seen in light of the

history of Christ’s tomb, also outside the walls of Jerusalem, but to the

159
Discovered by F. de Saulcy in 1863 [Recherches sur 1'emplacement veritable du Tombeau d'Helene, Reine d'Adiabene 1869] Its inscription marks it in Hebrew and
Aramaic as containing the body of Queen Saddan, or Saddah, ("C. I. S." ii. 15) Clermont-Ganneau suggested that this Saddan was Helena of Adiabene [Clermont-
Ganneau, Archaeological Researches in Palestine ] Saddah, identified as Helena of Adiabene by Avigad 1956, fig. 21). The skeleton inside was five feet five inches
in length. Two of the eight burial chambers have arcosolia, resting places made of a bench with an arch over it. Some of the arcosolia have triangular niches where oil
lamps were placed to give light during the burial process. “Some believe that the word "tzaddan" in the inscription is a reference to the provisions (tzeda in Hebrew )
that Helena supplied to Jerusalem's poor and to the Jewish kingdom in general” http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/a-royal-return-1.316609
160
[The History of Israel - Page 203 by Giuseppe Ricciotti 1955 ]
91
west. This memorialization of the sepulchre of Christ’s entombment was
NOT a development by “second generation” Judaeo-Christians.

A number of historical and traditional notices have been preserved that

demonstrate the significance of the Tomb site was maintained by the
Apostolic generation of the Jerusalem, before AD 70. As Socrates
Scholasticus noted “Those who embraced the Christian faith, after the
period of His Passion, greatly venerated this tomb” [Historia
Ecclesiasticus, i. 17]

“In the year three hundred and forty-five [of the Seulicied era], in the
month of the latter Tishrin, Marath161 Mary went out from her house,
and went to the sepulchre of Christ: because every day she used to go
and weep there . . . . And the guards went in and said to the priests:
‘Mary comes in the evening and in the morning, and prays there.’
And there was a commotion in Jerusalem on account of Marath
Mary” - Syriac Transitus Mariae

According to a sermon of Cyril [preserved in a Coptic translation]:

“Now the disciples and the multitude of the faithful [After Christ’s
Ascension] were going forth secretly to the tomb by night, praying; so
that many who were troubled by unclean spirits came, that they might
but touch the stone that was at the door of the tomb.”
[Homily on the Dormition162]

161
"Marath" is the Syriac equivalent of 'matron' or 'madonna’ Mary's Getting out from the World and Jesus' Birth and Childhood: Cureton, Documents, 110-12. On the
Transitus Mariae tradition, fifth to eighth cent. AD, see S.C. Mimouni, La tradition grecque de la Dormition et de l'Assomption de Marie (Paris: Cerf, 2003); S.J.
Shoemaker, Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption (Oxford: OUP, 2002); according to E. Testa, "L'origine e lo sviluppo della Dormitio
Mariae" (Aug. 23 [1983]) 249-62, the Transitus Mariae, typical of the literary genre of funeral praise, on the anniversary of a dies natalis (on which see my
"Osservazioni sul concetto di 'giorno natalizio' nel mondo greco e romano" ('Ilu 6 [2001]), 169-81) is composed by three groups of texts produced in different times by
the Church of Jerusalem: Ebionite period (II-IV cent.), period of a faint miaphysisme (IV-V cent.), period of the Henotikon (V-VII cent.). This genre is closely related
to the Apocalypses of the Virgin: S.C. Mimouni, "Les Apocalypses de la Vierge" (Apocrypha 4 [1993]), 101-12. According to M. Clayton, "The transitus Mariae: the
tradition and its origins" (ibid. 10 [1999]), 74-98: the Syriac tradition is very important and has specific features. According to Bagatti and Manns, all these apocrypha
might derive from a Jewish-Christian milieu and depend on a unique document not later than the second cent. AD. Among the Syriac versions we can distinguish the
Transitus a (V cent.); B (V cent.); C (V-VI cent.); D (VI-VII cent.). See B. Bagatti - M. Piccirillo - A. Prodromo, New Discoveries at the Tomb of Virgin Mary in
Gethsemane, Collectio Minor 17 (Jerusalem: SBF, 1975), 57-58; B. Bagatti, Le due redazioni del Transitus Mariae" (Marianum 32 [1970]), 279-87; Id., "Ricerche sulle
tradizioni della morte della Vergine" (Sacra Doctrina 69-70 [1973]), 185-214; S. Mimouni, "Histoire de la recherche relative aux traditions littéraires et topologiques
sur le sort final de Marie" (Marianum 149 [1996]), 168-71. Id., "De l’Ascension du Christ à l’Assomption de la Vierge," in Marie, edd. D. Iogna-Prat, E. Palazzo, D.
Russo (Paris: Beauchesne, 1996).
162
Coptic Apocryphal Gospels By Forbes Robinson [University Press 1896] Sahidic Fragments, V [p.179ff]
92
 4th-century163 Ivory carving depicting Constantinian edicule enshrining the Tomb of Christ

To continue with what Socrates Scholasticus was saying:

“Those who embraced the Christian faith, after the period of His
Passion, greatly venerated this tomb; but [then] those who hated
Christianity, having covered the spot with a mound of earth….”
[Historia Ecclesiasticus, i. 17]

This is confirmed by Eusebius, when he writes:

“This cave of salvation did certain ungodly and impious persons
determine to hide from the eyes of men, foolishly imagining that they
would in some such way as this conceal the truth. Having expended
much labor in bringing in earth from outside, they covered up the
whole place” Life of Constantine, iii, 26

PAULINUS OF NOLA reported the Jews of Jerusalem purposefully hid

the Tomb and implements of the Crucifixion (Ep. to Severus)164
163
“These British Museum panels have been assigned by the Museum authorities to the fifth century, but there can be little doubt that they should be classed with the
other fourth century works they so closely resemble.” [W. R. Lethaby, “EARLY CHRISTIAN ART” in The Cambridge Medieval History - Volume 1 - Page 604, 1911]
164
in P.L., LXI, 326-328; relying on information from Rufinus and Melania, ca. AD 397
93
Archeological evidence of this controversy was preserved in Israel as
Claudius’ “Nazareth Decree.” His ensuing expulsion of Jews from Rome,
mentioned in passing by Suetonius, is given context by ancient
documents, both Christian & Jewish. ALEXANDER MONACHUS
reported:
“Now, after the Lord had ascended into heaven, and exceeding great
miracles were wrought in His name by the holy apostles, the high
priests were again filled with rage, saying, ‘What shall we do to these
men? for that indeed signs and wonders have been wrought by the
disciples of Jesus in His name is manifest to all, and we cannot deny
it, But that it spread not to future generations, come, let us hide the
place of his entombment. For if the people see the sepulchre empty,
they will all believe on him.’ Then they ordered the sepulchre and the
place of the skull, in which the Holy Cross had stood, to be covered
over, endeavoring to cast these proofs of salvation into oblivion, for
seeing that the city was soon to be laid waste and burned with fire,
God permitted the life giving wood (of the Cross) and the site of the
glorious resurrection to be hidden for a little while, lest during such
great disorder these places should be burned by either Jew or Gentile:
this glory was in due time to be revealed.” De inventione Sanctae
Crucis. [PG 87:4016-4088]
Note that, just as they could not deny the miracles publicly performed by
the Apostles in the midst of the people of Jerusalem [Acts 4:16-17],
neither could they deny the testimony of “Empty Tomb” [and the “stone
rolled away” that had become the cornerstone of faith, Acts 4:11] as proof
of the resurrection [Acts 4:1-2]. What the Temple Hierarchy could not
deny, they chose simply to suppress [Acts 4:18], and actually bury.

How exactly would it be that “this glory [i.e., the Tomb & the Cross] was
in due time to be revealed” as Alexander says? As Cyril of Alexandria put
it: “It is narrated that at different periods [kata kairous] the wood of
the Cross was found still bearing the nails” [PG lxxii.272] – and we have
a clue as to the earliest period of this recovery of the site of the Tomb:

94
  “And the priests went to the judge, and said to him: ‘My lord, send
and command Mary that she go not to pray at the sepulchre and at
Golgotha.’ And while they were deliberating, lo! letters came from
Abgar, the king of the city of Edessa, . . . . Addæus the apostle, one
of the seventy-two apostles, had gone down and built a church at
Edessa, and had cured the disease with which Abgar the king was
afflicted—for Abgar the king loved Jesus Christ, and was constantly
inquiring about Him” - Syriac Transitus Mariae
Two other sources also record the correspondence between Emperor
Tiberius and King Agbar of Edessa, and furnish us clues to the connection
with the Tomb of Christ: 1) Moses Khorenatsi,165 the “Father of Armenian
History” and 2) The Doctrine of Addai, a seminal document of Syrian
ecclesiastical history.

As with many classical sources, 19th-century scholarship relegated Moses

Khorenatsi’s History of Armenia to the bin of pseudepigrapha. However,
21st-century scholarship has begun to rehabilitate many of these sources,
Moses’ History included. Among others, scholar Adam Becker
demonstrated that Moses - in the 5th century - derived information from
the archives of Edessa, where a "School of the Armenians" is attested by
the “Acts of the Ephesian Council” called Latrocinium.166

Moses actually claims his sources to be from the archives of Edessa;

specifically: "Lebubna son of Apcshadar, who gathered all these facts of
Abgar's and Sanatruk's time and put them in the archives of Edessa" (PH
165
In the first paragraph of this History the author identifies himself as Moses (Movses) Khorenats'i. As with many other Old Testament names, that of Moses was
popular in Christian Armenia, though more so in clerical and ecclesiastical circles than among the lay nobility. Khorenats'i means "from Khoren" or "Khorean," but no
such town or village is otherwise attested. [1] Moses nowhere gives any precise information about his origins or his later career, save that he had been engaged in
translating (III 65), but he does describe at some length his training as a scholar. Moses wishes to convey a certain picture to his readers. He claims to have been active
in the circle of pupils around Mesrop (the inventor of the Armenian alphabet) and Sahak the patriarch in the early fifth century. After the ecumenical council of Ephesus
(431) various Greek texts, including the Scriptures, were brought by young Armenian scholars from the Byzantine empire to Armenia. Sahak and Mesrop made a
revised version of the Armenian Bible based on these texts, but their work being "deficient," they sent Moses to Alexandria to study rhetoric (III 61). After studying in
this now Christian city for an unspecified length of time, Moses made a grand tour to Rome (being blown to Italy while making for Greece), Athens, and Byzantium (III
62). Although he was looking forward to a gay time in the capital as a bold young man fond of dancing (III 68), the deaths of Sahak and Mesrop (in 439 and 440,
respectively), cut short his travels and brought him back to Armenia. There he grew old as a scholar and translator, living under foreign domination (I 22). Moses makes
no explicit reference to events after 440, except to bewail in general terms the hard times that had befallen Armenia (III 68). The only possible reference to Moses
Khorenats'i in the early literature is in a letter attributed to Lazar P'arpets'i, writing about 500 A.D. He mentions a "philosopher" Moses, dead by then, whose words
"dispelled ignorance." [Lazar, Patmut'iwn, p. 202. But whether this letter was written by the historical Lazar is not certain. The text of his History in the printed editions
is not entirely that of the original; see Sanspeur, REA 1973-1974] This Moses had incurred the enmity of the monks and had suffered expulsion like Lazar himself. But
there is no suggestion in Lazar that this Moses had composed any historical works. [The identification of Moses Khorenats'i with Moses the philosopher is upheld by
Hasrat'yan, Lraber 1969, and Polarean, Hay Grolner, among others.]
166
Devotional Study (Ph.D. Princeton: Univ., 2004), 256-57; see also Traina, G. Il complesso di Trimalcione. Movsês Xorenacci e le origini del pensiero storico
armeno. Venezia: Casa Editrice Armena, 1991; —. "Materiali per un commento a Movsês Xorenacci, Patmutciwn Hayocc." I. Muséon 108 (1995): 179-333; II. Muséon
111 (1998): 95-138; —. "Le gentes d'Oriente fra identità e integrazione." AntTard 9 (2001): 71-80.
95
2. 36).167 In fact, Moses states that he visited Edessa and its archives
himself (PH 3. 62)

He reports that (according to his Armenian and Syrian sources) the

“Greeks” [Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora] who had an audience
with Christ during the Feast of Tabernacles [John 12:20] prior to His
crucifixion were representatives from King Agbar’s court in Eddessa
[II.xxx-xxxi]168

According to Moses, King Agbar’s confidant & courier, Anan [i.e.

Hananiah] was sent to back to Jerusalem with a letter requesting healing
from Jesus for an ailment that had plagued him for 7 years after a stay in
Persia [ibid]. Jesus then dictates a letter of response to Thomas for
Hananiah to take back to Edessa [II.xxxii]. Acting as regional director of
this area, Thomas appoints Thaddeus [Addai in Syriac], one of the 72
disciples [Luke 10:1; see Eus Ecc.Hist. 1.12.3ff], to take this message
back to Edessa, and evangelize the kingdom [II.xxxiii]

According to Moses, King Abgar is healed and proceeds to write Tiberius,

King Nerseh of Assyria, and King Ardaches of Persia (Nerseh’s father),
telling each of them about the Crucified & Risen Christ [ibid]. Finally,
Moses reveals that

167
He may have derived the information directly from Labûbna or perhaps through Mar Abas Katina, a Syriac writer, probably author of a chronicle, of the fourth cent.
AD. He is mentioned by Moses and perhaps Jerome: so Traina, "Materiali I," 293 n. 70; Id., Il complesso, 62 pays attention to Moses' autobiographical statement that he
visited Edessa
168
Thomas Ardzrouni, an Armenian historian of the tenth cent., affirms Abgar's evoys belonged to the group of Gentiles who asked Philip to present them to Jesus
according to John 12:20-22. González thinks that Thomas surely derived these data from ancient sources. González, Leyenda, 76 n. 19. In Acts 2:5 we read that in AD
30 in Jerusalem there were many Jews coming from everywhere, also from Mesopotamia and Cappadocia (ibid. 2:9-12): it is very probable that Jews from Osrhoene
too (in Mesopotamia, near Cappadocia) visited Jerusalem in AD 30 and then, back home, related what they saw and heard. For the importance of these Jews who
listened to Peter's first preaching in Jerusalem in relation to the early spread of Christianity see C.P. Thiede, Ein Fisch für den römischen Kaiser (München:
Luchterhand, 1998), 120 and passim. J.A.T. Robinson [Twelve New Testament Studies. London: SCM Press Ltd., 1962. pp.107-125] notes: “They are Greek-speaking
Jews, of whom it is specifically stated that they had ‘come up to worship at the feast’ (12.20) and there is no suggestion that they are merely ‘God fearers’ or even that
they had once been Gentiles. All that we can deduce with certainty is that they spoke Greek rather than Aramaic (and hence presumably the approach through Philip,
with his Hellenistic name and place of origin (12.21) ), and that they were in Jerusalem for a specifically Jewish reason. In fact, the Evangelist has already at an earlier
point (7.35) equated the term ‘the Greeks’ with ‘the Dispersion among the Greeks’, that is, Greek-speaking Diaspora Judaism.7 [‘The words m» e„j Diaspor¦n
tîn `Ell»nwn mšllei poreÚesqai kaˆ did£skein toÝj “Ellhnaj; are unfortunately ambiguous. ‘The Diaspora of the Greeks’ could mean ‘the
Greek-speaking Diaspora’ (i.e. Jews) and ‘the Greeks’ be an abbreviated way of referring to the same group. Or it could mean ‘the Diaspora resident among the
Greeks’, in which case ‘the Greeks’ would be Gentiles. H. Windisch comes down in favour of the latter in TWNT (art. “Ellhn) II, 506. But K. L. Schmidt, ibid. (art.
diaspora) II, 102, insists on leaving both possibilities open (cf. H. J. Cadbury in The Beginnings of Christianity v (1933), 72 f.). The decision between them can in fact
only be made in the light of the Johannine context as a whole. As there is no other reference in the Gospel or the Epistles to a Gentile mission, the probability would
seem to be in favour of the first interpretation.] Cf. the letter of R. Gamaliel I (TJ. Sanh. 18d) ‘to our brethren, the sons of the diaspora of Babylon, the Sons of the
diaspora of Media, the sons of the diaspora of the Greeks, and all the rest of the dispersed of Israel’ (quoted A. Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes (1930), p. 198). It is
to be observed that the phrase ‘the diaspora of the Greeks’ (where the parallels would lead us to expect ‘the diaspora of Greece’) is exactly that which John also uses in
7.35.
96
 “the first of Abgar’s wives, named Helena [of Adiabene]…[her]
tomb, a truly remarkable one, is still to be seen before the gate of
Jerusalem” [II.xxxv].
Josephus informs us that among the Edessan Royals that emigrated to
Jerusalem after conversion was Grapte [BJ 4.9.11]. According to
Hermas169 [see Rom 16.4], Grapte was a “women’s ministry” leader at
the time Clement was serving in Rome [Phil 4:3], when he wrote Visions
[2.4]170

At Naples the catacombs of St. Januarius preserve paintings belonging to

the best period of early Christian art. “The earliest frescos are in a pure
classical style, and evidently belong to the 1st century of the Christian
era.”171 One of the earliest is this depiction of an allegory from Hermas’
Visions 3, with Christ building his Church through his servants.

169
Origen and some later writers identify Hermas of Rom 16.4 as the author of The Pastor of Hermas [ad Rom x.31], who identifies himself as a contemporary of
Clement, before Clement is ordained bishop of Rome [J.A.T. Robinson, Redating suggests ca AD 85, but this reference would suggest a Neronian date] Edmundson
argued that its attribution to the bishop's brother in the Muratorian fragment arises from a sheer blunder. [The Church in Rome, 208-15; It identifies Hermas, the author
of The Shepherd, as the brother of Pius I, bishop of Rome; The Liberian Catalogue of Popes, a record that was later used in the writing of the Liber Pontificalis, states in
a portion under the heading of 235 & A poem written against Marcion from the 3rd or 4th century, referred to as "Pseudo-Tertullian" both repeat this misattribution] “It
is on the face of it highly unlikely that one who tells us he was a foster-child sold into slavery in Rome (Vis.1.1.1), probably from Arcadia in Greece (Sim.9.1.4), [Cf.
J.A.T. Robinson, Barnabas, Hermas and the Didache, 1920, 27f.] should have had a brother in Rome called Pius who was head of the church there at the time but
whom he never mentions, despite several references to his family” [Robinson Redating] Irenaeus, who resided in Rome less than twenty years after the death of Pius,
quotes the opening sentence of the first Mandate of the Shepherd as 'scripture', [Adv. haer.4.34.2.] which would scarcely be likely if it was known to have been
composed within living memory. Not much later Tertullian [De pudic. 20.] strongly disparages Hermas in contrast with Hebrews and it seems improbable that he would
not have deployed against it the argument of its late composition. Allusions to past sufferings correspond closely with the records of the Neronian persecution
(Vis.3.2.1; Sim.8; 9.19.1; 9.28).
170
References to Grapte’s descendents in Israel can be found in P. Yadin 7
171
Monuments of early Christian art : sculptures and catacomb paintings : illustrative notes, collected in order to promote the reproduction of remains of art belonging
to the early centuries of the Christian era by Appell, Johann Wilhelm (London : G. E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode 1872) p. 66
97
Was this inspired by the actual building activities of Helen, Grapte, and
other “forgotten Christian queens”?

Josephus records her conversion to Judaism, and the influence of

“Ananias” [=Hananiah] on the conversion of her son Izates [Ant 20.2],
who reigned as a contemporary of King Abgar;172 but the peculiar form of
“Judaism” espoused by Ananias and Helen does NOT require
circumcision!173 [compare Ant 20.2.3-4 and Acts 15].

What Josephus is so reticent to say about one of Jerusalem’s most

illustrious citizens is that she was a convert to Judaic Christianity, as
affirmed by Moses Khorenatsi, and confirmed independently in Latin
tradition by Paulus Orosius (Historiarum adversum paganos vii.6.12), et
al.174 Both Josephus and the Talmud175 testify to the great measure of
Helen’s largess in supporting the famine-stricken denizens of Jerusalem
[cp. Acts 11:28], but omit the Apostolic instigation of her efforts [cp. Acts
11:29, etc], as attested by Moses & Orosius. The Talmud preserves a story
where Helen’s son uses the very words of Christ & the Apostles as the
justification for this generosity that was judged too prodigal by some:
My fathers, "laid up treasure on earth, but I have laid up treasure in
heaven,"176 [Matt 19:21] according to Ps 85:11. My fathers laid up
treasures, which do not bring forth fruit; but I have laid up treasures,
which bring forth fruit [James 3:18], according to Isa 3:10. My
fathers gathered in a place, where the hand rules, (where thieves
break through and steal [Matt 6:20]) but I have gathered in a place
where the hand of man does not rule, according to Ps 97:2. My
172
These became proselytes in the times of Claudius Caesar, Ganz Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 15. 2. & Juchasin, fol. 141. 1 On king Izates, see Tacit. Annal. l. 12. c.
13, 14. The Talmud speaks also of important presents which the queen gave to the Temple at Jerusalem (Yoma 37a): "Helena had a golden candlestick [ ] made over
the door of the Temple," to which statement is added (ib. 37b; Tosef. 82) that when the sun rose its rays were reflected from the candlestick and everybody knew that it
was the time for reading the Shema'. She also made a golden plate on which was written the passage of the Pentateuch (Num. v. 19-22) which the high priest read when
a wife suspected of infidelity was brought before him (Yoma l.c.).
173
Eleazar of Ant 20.2.4 is clearly a Pharisee of the “circumcision party” [Acts 15:1.5] who convinces Izates to go ahead with his circumcision
174
7.6.12 Eodem anno imperii eius fames grauissima per Syriam facta est, quam etiam prophetae praenuntiauerant; sed Christianorum necessitatibus apud
Hierosolymam conuectis ab Aegypto frumentis Helena Adiabenorum regina conuersa ad fidem Christi largissime ministrauit; But that both the intercourse reported by
Eusebius between Christ and this king, and the report of this picture being brought to him, have been received as a matter of unquestionable truth throughout the Syrian
speaking Church we know from no less an authority than Gregorius Abulpharius [Bar-Hebraeus, Hist. Dynast]
175
TB Baba Bathra 11a Monobaz the king bestowed his goods liberally upon the poor, and had these words spoken to him by his kinsmen and friends: "Your ancestors
increased both their own riches and those that were left to them by their fathers; but you waste both your own and those of your ancestors." To whom he answered, "My
fathers laid up wealth on earth; I lay up mine in heaven. . . My fathers laid up treasure that bears no fruit; but I lay up such as bear fruit. . . They scraped together for this
world, I for the world to come. . . " [Monobaz also noted that where his predecessors stored up goods, things could be stolen; but where he stored them up, nothing
could be stolen. His predecessors gathered a wealth of money, but he gathered a wealth of souls, as it is written, "He that winneth souls is wise" (Proverbs 11:30)]
compare Matt 6:25
176
Mymvb ytzng ynaw Urab wzng
98
 fathers gathered mammon [cp Luke 6:9-13], but I have gathered
souls, [James 5:20] according to Pr 11:30. My fathers gathered for
others, but I have gathered,177 for myself, according to De 24:13. My
fathers gathered in this world, but I have gathered "for the world to
come".” [TJ Peah 15.2, cp TB Bava Bathra 11a]

God alone knows how many lives were spared starvation, and as a result,
how many souls were saved by Helen’s relief efforts;178 we can appreciate
how each conversion was an individual spared the judgment of the Zealot
movement in AD 70.

Recontruction of “Lower City” – the OT “City Archeology of royal palaces of

of David” – at the time of Christ Adiabene discovered in the
“lower city”

The Christian context at work in the Royal Court of Edessa (as a result of
the missionary work of Thaddeus/Addai) is critical for understanding the
correspondence between Agbar and Tiberius, especially in our third
source, the Doctrine of Addai. When a 5th century copy of this work was
“discovered” among the British Museum’s collection of Syriac
manuscripts, it was hailed as the source behind the Abgar traditions related
177
ymuel
178
Compare her story with Tabitha’s [Act 9:36-42] in light of 1Pet 2:12
99
in the early 4th century by Eusebius [Ecc Hist 1.13], and the Pilgrim Egeria
[Peregrinatio 19.9], as well as the later Greek Acts of Thaddeus.

Initially, conservative scholars felt that it was on the whole exactly what it
claimed to be: an authentic first century document drawn from the royal
archives of the city of Edessa, with some interpolation from the 2nd
century.179

Modern assessments have swung to the other extreme, advocating

fabrication from whole cloth in the 5th century (after Eusebius & Egeria),
even a forgery by Rabbula, the bishop of Edessa himself! The truth is, as
usual, most likely somewhere in between: it was probably composed in the
2nd century, incorporating official 1st century documents.180 Realizing that
a number of historical incidentals reported are verifiable - details of no
significance in the 2nd- (much less 5th-) century - Ramelli has determined
specifically the historicity of the exchange of letters between Abgar and
Tiberius about Jesus.181

One of the first revelations we are given is:

“[Hananiah] went forth from Edessa on the fourteenth day of Adar,
and entered Jerusalem on the twelfth day of Nisan, on the fourth day
of the week. And he found Christ at the house of Gamaliel, a chief of
the Jews.”

The Jewish Bereshit Rabba attests that Gamaliel maintained close

relations with the kings of Adiabene, and the great Byzantine scholar
Photius informs us that Gamaliel was actually baptized by the apostle
179
E.g., Fr. Alishan[1] and Rev. Phillips[2] concurred that the Doctrine of Addai was a 1st century document with 2nd century interpolations [1] Laboubnia, Lettre
d'Abgar (Venice 1868): "Notre opinion est qu'il est en grande partie rédigé par Laboubnia, Archiviste d'Edesse, contemporain d'Abgar et des disciples de notre
Sauveur.” [2] “I am inclined to this opinion; for if we except certain interpolations, the whole history seems to be consistent with itself, as if it issued from the pen of
one and the same individual.” The Doctrine of Addai (London 1876): Preface
180
Han J.W. Drijvers, “The Image of Edessa in the Syriac Tradition,” in H.L. Kessler & G. Wolf (eds.), The Holy Face and the Paradox of Representation (Villa
Spelman Colloquia, Florence, 1996, vol. 6; Bologna: Nuova Alfa, 1998), pp. 13-31. A seeming proof of great antiquity may be found in the last sentence of the “Jesus’”
letter, which promises Abgar that no enemy shall have dominion over his town forever and ever. This sentence, which is contained in the Ephesian Inscription, as well
as in the Doctrine of Addai, is discreetly omitted by Eusebius, who thus shows that he is aware of the sack of Edessa by Lusius Quietus in 116 (Cassius Dio, LXVIII,
18, 21). Some very late authorities make Addai gain the honour of martyrdom, but the peaceful end here given to him is one of the indications that a real historical
element is contained in our main document. He himself, after discipling the country round Mozul, returned to Edessa, where, twenty-two years after the commencement
of his mission, he received the crown of martyrdom from Maan, the son of Abgarus, who was attached to the old superstition. This is the account of Gregory Bar
Hebrseus, ii.391; and it agrees best with the chronology. But Maris Bar Salomon [Book of the Bee] makes him to have died in peace, while Abgarus was yet reigning
181
HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES Vol. 9, No. 1 January 2006 “Possible historical traces in the Doctrina Addai” Ilaria Ramelli [Revised version of a
paper delivered at the SBL International Meeting, Groningen, July 26 2004, Ancient Near East section] http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol6No2/HV6N2Griffith.html
100
Peter and John at the same time as Nicodemus.182 Gamaliel is referred to
as a “chief of the people” and a “secret disciple” (similar in nature to
Nicodemus) in Clementine Recognitions 1.55-72.

The connection of Adiabene, Edessa, and Jerusalem via Christian

evangelism is also affirmed in the Acts of Mari, a continuation of the
Doctrine of Addai.183 It state that Aggaeus [i.e., Haggai, a Jewish convert
of Thaddeus] and Mari evangelized Adiabene and became its first bishops.
In fact, the ancient eucharistic liturgy of the area - still in use today - is
named The Anaphora of Addai and Mari. Bishop Sarhad Yawsip Jammo
recently analyzed this ancient liturgy from an historiographical perspective
and demonstrated it to be
“a eucharistic prayer that preserves the mark of the apostolic era . . .
. It shows as well the originality of its liturgical usages as being in
direct connection with Jerusalem, independently of Antioch.
Therefore, the attribution to Addai and Mari, the Apostles of the East,
is not to be considered a mere honorary title”184

After Addai’s successful life-long evangelization of the region, his

successor Haggai fell into the hands of Agbar’s son, Ma’nu, who
apostasized back into native Edessan paganism. Ma’nu became jealous of
his people’s adoration of Christ – adoration that used to be reserved for the
king; finally, Ma’nu had Haggai assassinated as he was praying in church,
hacking his legs and leaving him to bleed to death.185

182
Photius Cod. 171, quoting Presbyter Eustratius of Constantinople about A.D. 582; by the 5th century, his reputation was so secure among Christians that the
discovery of his relics became an occasion for a feast, one still noted in the Anglican Breviary. Compare Augustine Hom 120 John (on 19:39) See
http://www.westernorthodox.com/kalendar/0803.htm; also, the Coptic Synaxarion which dates the discovery in the 4th century
http://www.mycopticchurch.com/saints/Synaxarium.asp?m=1&d=15
183
According to tradition, Mari (‘Mar’ corresponds to ‘St’) was one of the 70 (72) apostles who evangelized what is today Iraq. The story of his missionary journey
starts off from Edessa, since Mari is described as having been commissioned to go and preach ‘in the region of Babel (Babylon)’ by Addai (Thaddaeus), also one of the
70, who, according to Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, I.13), had been sent by Thomas after the death of Jesus to Edessa (modern Urfa in southeast Turkey), where he
healed and converted the local king, Abgar the Black. According to his Acts, Mari’s travels take him first to Nisibis and then to such places as Erbil, Shahgird (to the
east of Kerkuk), and Seleucia-Ctesiphon (to the south of Baghdad), which in due course was to become the seat of the Catholicos of the Church of the East in the
Persian Empire. He ended his life at Dur Qunni, a little further south, and it was evidently a monastery there that was responsible for circulating the interesting narrative
that comes down to us
184
http://www.kaldu.org/3_chaldean_culture/TheAnaphora_ApostlesAddai_Mari.html
185
In compliance with the injunctions of the dying Mari, a prelate for the East was demanded at Jerusalem. [So says Amrou. But Bar Hebraeus (.ii.395) will have him
to have been consecrated at Antioch] Abres, who is said to have been a kinsman of S. Joseph, was selected for that purpose by Symeon ben Cleopas. During his
episcopate of sixteen years he is said to have consecrated a large number of bishops, and to have been greatly beloved for his charity.
101
Perhaps the most controversial part of the Doctrine of Addai is the
“Protonike Legend” – put into the mouth of Thaddeus during his Gospel
preaching. It circulated independent of the Doctrina, and is also attested in
the Armenian Synaxarion of Ter-Israel. The story itself is centered around
the controversy of the Tomb of Christ

Protonike, “wife” of Claudius, meets James in Jerusalem, "administrator

and prefect" of the church; she asks him to show her the site where Jesus
was crucified, and his grave, but James reports they were under the control
the Jews, not allowing the Christians to see them: He says, "They
persecute us, that we not preach or proclaim in the name of the Messiah
[cp. Acts 4:17-18, etc]. Often also they confine us in prison [cp. Acts 22:4,
etc]." But, with James' help, “Protonike” recovers the site of the Tomb and
finds the Cross of Christ, which revives her dead daughter. When she
returns to Rome, informing Claudius of what had happened, he then
"commanded all the Jews to leave the country of Italy” [cp Acts 18:2]

Here is the one document that explicitly states what all the lines of
available evidence have converged upon: the “Chrestus controversy”
spoken of by Suetonius that resulted in the expulsion of Jews [Acts 18:2]
was centered on the desecration of the Tomb of Christ. ALMOST every
detail of the “Protonike Legend” has independent confirmation, except for
ONE: the heroine’s name.
 1) The Jewish Hierarchy WAS in control of the Sepulchre [Acts
13:29, “Gospel of Peter”, Transitu Mariae, etc]
 2) The Tomb WAS desecrated and hidden from Christians [Paulinus
of Nola, Alexander Monachus, etc]
 3) James WAS the “bishop” of Jerusalem at this time. [Gal 1:19, Acts
21:18, Hegesippus, etc]
 4) Claudius DID expel the Jews [Suetonius, Orosius, etc]
 5) A chapel WAS built on the site when Christians regained access to
the Tomb [witness the “Dominus ibimus” graffito of pilgrims,186 etc]
186
Evidence of pre-Hadrianic pilgrimages to the Tomb by Latin speaking Christians has come to light: “If the ex-voto painting of a boat (with the inscription: Domine
ibimus) in the Armenian excavation of the Holy Sepulchre has indeed, according to recent studies, been pre-Hadrianic, then there could be some truth to the information
that one of the Jewish bishops of Jerusalem, Juda Kyriakos, had rebuilt the Golgotha.” – Archeologist Bargil Pixner http://www.centuryone.org/pixner-q-a.html; cf
102
We will suggest that “Protonike” is actually a fictitious character created
out of a composite of HISTORICAL personages: “the forgotten Christian
queens of the East.” Our confirmation of at least one of these personages
comes from a little recognized version of this very story from a JEWISH
source & perspective.

The Toledoth Yeshu is a blasphemous parody of the Gospels and Book of

Acts circulated in various forms within the Jewish community for
centuries. German scholar Samuel Krauss analyzed the available medieval
texts and determined they went back to a common source from c. AD
500187 Jewish scholar H.J. Schonfield was able to trace the tradition back
to a written source from c. AD 150. Schonfield went further and stated this
was, in turn based on first century written sources: Hebrew versions of the
Gospel and Acts that circulated among Judeo-Christians, attested to by
Jerome and Epiphanius as still extant in the 4th century.188

In the Toledoth version of the “Protonike” story, the protagonist who acts
as a third-party mediator between the Jews and followers of Christ is
named “Queen Helen”! In one of the earliest of extant manuscripts of this

Biblical Archaeological Review May/June 1990 http://www.centuryone.org/apostles.html; & Dan Bahat, "Does the Holy Sepulchre Church Mark the Burial of Jesus?"
BAR, May/June 1986
187
Das Leben Jesu nach jüdischen Quellen By Samuel Krauss, Published by S. Calvary, 1902
188
According to the Hebrews: By Hugh Joseph Schonfield [Published by Duckworth, 1937] 272 pages. Epiphanius says [Panarion 30.3,6] “that he had been informed
of a Hebrew translation of John's Gospel [sic, for Apocalypse of John”], and another of the Acts of the Apostles, preserved at Tiberias, by some Jewish believers, who
had seen them, and who had been converted by them to Christianity."
103
tradition [Cairo Genizah fragments, T-S NS 164.26], “Queen Helen” -
prompted by the Sages of the Sanhedrin – sends horsemen to arrest Jesus
in Galilee. With the people's support, Jesus resists them and demonstrates
miraculous powers by reviving the dead. The Queen is convinced, and
rejects the charge of witchcraft, made by the Sages.

The Toldoth Yeshu recension of Wagenseil189 has no doubt who this Helen
was: she
“was the wife . . . , who held the sovereignty after the death of her
husband. She is called by another name Oleina, and had a son, King
Monobazus”

As with “Protonike”, Helen forces the local Jewish authorities to release

the gravesite:
“Thereupon she said to them: ‘In this grave ye buried him; where is he
therefore?’ . . . . The queen said: ‘If ye show me not Jeschu, I will give
you no peace and no escape.’ They answered her: ‘Give us an
appointed time and terms.’ When she had granted them an appointed
time, all Israel remained lamenting in fasting and prayer, and the
apostates [i.e., Christian’s] found occasion to say: ‘Ye have slain God’s
anointed!’ ” [cp Acts 2:23, 4:27, etc]
Neither in Josephus, Moses of Chorene, nor in the Toledoth Yeshu is there
any connection of this Helen with the emperor Claudius, or any mention
of a dead daughter. Who is the other historical figure upon whom the
“Protonike Legend” could be based?

189
Tela ignea Satanæ..By Johann Christoph Wagenseil, Published by excudit Joh. Henricus Schönnerstædt, 1681
104
Forgotten Christian
Queens of the East
PART 2
A discovery by some workmen on Via Salaria in 1578 gave the first
impetus to that great work of excavation which has resulted in our own
day in the restoration of the catacombs and of their history at least to the
knowledge and piety of the visitor. At about the second mile from the gate
they came on a subterranean gallery, intact, and rich with inscriptions,
paintings, and sarcophagi: one of these inscriptions recorded, Paolina
santa riposante fra i beati.

105
From that date the studious began to have access to the catacombs. The
Dominican Alfonso Ciacconio, the Flemish Philip de Winghe, began to
study the pictures, and to take exact copies of them, until in 1592 de
Winghe died. These copies were finally found by Monsignor Wilpert in
the early years of the 20th century. In 1591, an ornate ancient sarcophagus
was discovered beneath the floor of the basilica of St Peter.190 Although
subsequently damaged and restored, de Winghe made on-the-spot
sketches, and Wilpert carefully points out the re-worked areas

The sarcophagus is made of Greek marble. The curtain at entrances of

many buildings, and their architectural style is consistent with early 3rd
century.

190
now in the Lateran Museum, inv. no. 176, The archaeology of difference: gender, ethnicity, class and the "other" in ... - Page 346 by Eric M. Meyers, Douglas R.
Edwards, C. Thomas McCollough - 2007
106
 Late-2nd/early-3rd depiction of veiled buildings at Dura Europos

De Rossi remarks that the grace and refinement of the faces of our Lord
and the Apostles would incline us to ascribe this work to the age of
Septimius Severus, rather than to that of Constantine.191 Friedrich Sickler,
Almanach aus Rom. [1810 pp. 173f], actually assigns to it that date
(reigned from AD 193 to AD 211).

191
[Roma sotterranea: or, An account of the Roman catacombs especially of the ... - by Giovanni Battista de Rossi, James Spencer Northcote, William-R. Brownlow -
1879 Page 256 ]
107
According to an ingenious hypothesis of Bottari [Sculpture e Pitture Sagre
1737], and adopted by de Rossi, the depiction of the woman and Christ is
an eye-witness copy of a famous sculpture from Paneas [now Banyas, the
Caesarea-Philippi of the Bible] of the woman with a bleeding disorder
being healed. The image does not match traditional depictions. The
attitude of the figures, and the accessories of the representation, deserve
careful attention. Our Lord is not here the young and beardless man
ordinarily represented on other early sarcophagi. His features are of a very
marked character, and remind us in many ways of the descriptions we
have read by Nicephorus and others. But the grouping of the whole scene
reminds us still more closely of the statue which Eusebius tells us was set
up by the grateful famous Haemorrhoissa herself at the doors of her house
in Paneas (or Caesarea Philippi) as an everlasting token of gratitude for the
wonderful favour which she had received.

Reconstruction of buildings [apud Wilpert] with Berenice’s house [front & center]
According to John Francis Wilson, in his work Caesarea Philippi [2004:
p.95ff], the building depictions are contemporary image of Panaeas,
including the woman’s house converted into Basilica. Excavations at
Banias have revealed a large basilica constructed directly over structures
dating from the Herodian and Roman periods, located directly in the

108
centre of the city, its atrium opening directly on to the Cardo Maximus,
which would have been lined with votive altars to a panoply of daemons.
As a cultic center at the head of sacred waters, Panaeas’ attraction as a spa
retreat for the rich & ill, would have drawn many practitioners of the
healing arts, both Jewish & Gentile. When Mark tells us how she
“had suffered many things from many physicians; and had spent all
that she had, and was nothing the better, but rather worse” [5:26],
the Talmudic references make this easy to envision:
Rabbi Jochanan says: "Take of gum Alexandria, of alum, and of
crocus hortensis, the weight of a zuzee each; let them be bruised
together, and given in wine to the woman that hath an issue of blood.
But if this fail, Take of Persian onions nine logs, boil them in wine,
and give it to her to drink: and say, Arise from thy flux. But should
this fail, Set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a
cup of wine in her hand; and let somebody come behind and affright
her, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this do no good, Take a
handful of cummin and a handful of crocus, and a handful of faenu-
greek; let these be boiled, and given her to drink, and say, Arise from
thy flux. But should this also fail, Dig seven trenches, and burn in
them some cuttings of vines not yet circumcised (vines not four years
old;) and let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let her be led
from this trench and set down over that, and let her be removed from
that, and set down over another: and in each removal say unto her,
Arise from thy flux" [TB Shabb. fol. 110]

Her gratitude would have been effusive, and [in the habit of Gentiles]
tangible. We have eyewitness reports of the sculpture’s existence as late as
the 6th century.192

192
John Malalas [variant text]: “Berenice the sick woman of yore set up in the midst of her own city of Paenada (Paneas) a monument in bronze adorned with gold and
silver. It is still standing in the city of Paenada. Not long ago it was taken from the place where it stood in the middle of the city and placed in a house of prayer. One
Batho, a converted Jew, found it mentioned in a book which contained an account of all those who reigned over Judea.” De imaginibus Oratio 3 (Migne, PG 94, 1369 -
74); Ailes 1898, pp 125 - 126 in John Francis Wilsons Caesarea Philippi: Banias the Lost City of Pan; a little guide-book to Palestine was written in pretty barbarous
Latin by Theodosius, a priest, apparently of North Africa, between 520 - 530. It is the result of personal observation, being arranged according to tours from Jerusalem,
— first from the east gate to Jericho and the Jordan, then northward to Paneas, where “Marosa” the woman healed of the issue of blood lived, whose amber statue
[statua electrina] of the Lord still stood in the memorial church she had erected.
109
 Bust of Julian the Apostate [r 361-363]
Before then, the sculpture’s checkered past included an episode wherein
Roman emperor Jullian “the Apostate” incited an impious frenzy to pull
down this statue from its pediment, and to drag it through the midst
of the streets with ropes fastened round its feet; afterwards they broke
in pieces the rest of the body, while some persons, indignant at the whole
proceeding, secretly obtained possession of the head, which had become,
detached from the neck as it was dragged along, and they preserved it
as far as was possible. This transaction Philostorgius [l.7, c.3] declared
that he witnessed with his own eyes.193
H.J. Schonfield identified a Jewish account of this incident embedded in
the Toledoth Yeshu Ha Nossri,194 describing the local Jewish population’s
involvement (a community that continued for centuries). Sozomen
reported the outcome:
Having heard that at Cæsarea Philippi, otherwise called Paneas, a city
of Phœnicia, there was a celebrated statue of Christ which had been
erected by a woman whom the Lord had cured of a flow of blood
193
EPITOME by Photius Myriobiblion, Cod. 40
194
According to the Hebrews: a new translation of the Jewish life of Jesus (- Page 224 by Hugh Joseph Schonfield - 1937
110
 Julian commanded it to be taken down and a statue of himself erected
in its place; but a violent fire from heaven fell upon it and broke off
the parts contiguous to the breast; the head and neck were thrown
prostrate, and it was transfixed to the ground with the face
downwards at the point where the fracture of the bust was; and it has
stood in that fashion from that day until now, full of the rust of the
lightning. [Ecc Hist 5.21]

Berenice had no doubt heard of Jesus’ ministry and healing from the Jews
of Paneas, and of His residence at Capernaum [Matt 4:13].

Phillip the Tetrach [Luke 3:1] – icon on coinage [BAR 36:02, Mar/Apr 2010]

The Byzantine chronographer John Malalas transcribes a local Jewish

account195 of Berenice's transaction in Paneas:
In his grief, King Herod’s son Philip came from Judea, and a certain
wealthy woman, living in the city of Paneas, called Bernice,
approached him, wishing to set up a statue to Jesus, for she had been
healed by him. As she did not dare to do this without imperial
permission, she addressed a petition to King Herod, asking to set up a
golden statue to the Saviour Christ in that city. The petition ran as
follows:

“This document was found in the city of Paneas in the house of a man called Bassus, a Jew who had become a Christian” – Malalas. Cf his De imaginibus Oratio 3
195

(Migne, PG 94, 1369 - 74)

111
 • To the august toparch Herod [Philip], lawgiver to Jews and
Hellenes, king of Trachonitis, a petition and request from Bernice,
a dignitary of the city of Paneas. Justice and benevolence and all
other virtues crown your highness's sacred head. Thus, since I
know this, I have come with every good hope that I shall obtain my
requests. My words as they progress will reveal to you what
foundation there is for this present preamble. From my childhood
I have been smitten with the affliction of an internal haemorrhage;
I spent all my livelihood and wealth on doctors but found no cure.
When I heard of the cures that Christ performs with His miracles,
He who raises the dead, restores the blind to sight, drives demons
out of mortals, and heals with a word all those wasting away from
disease, I too ran to Him as to God. I noticed the crowd
surrounding him and I was afraid to tell Him of my incurable
disease in case he should recoil from the pollution of my affliction
and be angry with me and the violence of the disease should strike
me even more. I reasoned to myself that, if I were able to touch the
fringe of His garment, I would certainly be healed. I touched Him,
and the flow of blood was stopped and immediately I was healed.
He, however, as though He knew in advance my heart's purpose,
cried out, Who touched Me? For power has gone out of Me. I went
white with terror and lamented, thinking that the disease would
return to me with greater force, and I fell before Him covering the
ground with tears. I told Him of my boldness. Out of His goodness
He took pity on me and confirmed my cure, saying, Be of good
courage, My daughter, your faith has saved you. Go your way in
peace. So, your august highness, grant your suppliant this worthy
petition.
When King Herod heard the contents of this petition, he was amazed
by the miracle and, fearing the mystery of the cure, said, This cure,
woman, which was worked on you, is worthy of a greater statue. Go
then and set up whatever kind of statue you wish to Him, honouring
by the offering Him who healed you. Immediately, Bernice, who had
formerly suffered from a haemorrhage, set up in the middle of her
112
 city of Paneas a statue of beaten bronze, mixing it with gold and
silver, to the Lord God.196 This statue remains in the city of Paneas to
the present day, having been moved not many years ago from the
place where it stood in the middle of the city to a holy place, a house
of prayer.

We learn from Macarius Magnes, writing at the beginning of the 4th-

century,197 that the woman’s identity was Berenice, “an honoured ruler of
the great city of Edessa” before she erected the statue in Panaeas
[Apocriticus i.7].
As a resident of Edessa himself,198 Macarius gives us another connection
between the House of Abgar & Adiabene and the mysterious “Protonike”
figure.

In fact, at an early date, “Berenice” [pherenike in Greek] became

corrupted as Prouneikos (which is a Greek masculine word signifying
"bearing burdens”; Latin feminine, Prunice), by the early 2nd-century
Valentian heretics.199 In Syriac tradition, Prouneikos became further
corrupted to Protonike.

In Latin tradition, she became famous as “Veronica”200 [a direct

Latinization of Berenice]. In the Acta Pilati, when the indictment of Christ
is made public [John 11:57, TB Sanh 43a], Veronica travels to Jerusalem
to give a deposition in favor of Jesus, but her testimony is rejected by the
Sanhedrin.201 She stays on to witness the crucifixion of Christ, whence the
legendary episode of “Veronica’s Veil.”

196
A Nabataean inscription from Si’ in the Temple of Dushara mentions the erection of a statue "in the year 33 of our lord Philip" [PUAES, IV A, No. 101; de Vogue,
Temple de Jerusalem pp. 31-38, pls. 2, 3, 4]
197
T. W. CRAFER, D.D, THE APOCRITICUS OF MACARIUS MAGNES [The Macmillan Company. New York 1919], p.31
198
Ibid., p. xv, xxi
199
Irenaeus Adv.Haer. I,3.3; 29.4; 30.7, Origen Contra Celsum, 6.35
200
Modern scholarships perpetuates the Folk etymology attributing its origin to the words for true (Latin: vera) and image (Greek: eikon). The Encyclopaedia
Britannica says this about the legend: “It is interesting to note that the fanciful derivation of the name Veronica from the words Vera Icon (eikon) "true image" dates
back to the "Otia Imperialia" (iii 25) of Gervase of Tilbury (fl 1211), who says: "Est ergo Veronica pictura Domini vera."”
201
Gospel of Nicodemus, Part 1 [1st Greek form], chap 7 [cf. Jos. Ant., iv. 8, § 15, TB Sanh 57b, etc]
113
The legend continues that, after his Crucifixion, Veronica (Berenice)
traveled with “Volusianus”202 to Rome itself at the height of the
controversy, to again testify before Emperor Tiberius.203 Tertullian,
Lactantius, Severus, and many others affirm that Pilate’s report was filed
under the official date of Tiberius’ reign,
“Rubellius Geminus and Rufius Geminus being consuls, in the month
of March, in the season of the Passover, on the eighth day before the
calends of April [March 25th].”204
We now from the Chronicon’s of Eusebius and Jerome,205 this report did
not reach Rome intil two years late, when Sejanus would have been consul
suffectus. Sejanus’ involvement in the affair is confirmed by Latin
historian Paulus Orosius:
"Tiberius proposed to the senate that Christ should be made a God,
with his own vote in his favour. The senate, moved with indignation
that it had not been, as was usual, proposed to them to determine
respecting the reception of his religion, rejected his deification, and
decreed by an edict, that the Christians should be banished from the
city, especially as Sejanus, praefect of Tiberius, most obstinately
202
Apud Jacob deVoraigne’s Legenda Aurea; Lucius Volusius Saturninus was imperial legate under Tiberius [Tacitus, Annals 13.30; 14.56; Pliny, Natural History
7.12, 48; 11.38[90]; ]
203
See Dom Etienne Darley Fragments d'anciens manuscrits d'Aquitaine, d'après des manuscrits du XIII° siècle Féret et fils, 1906 & Les actes du Sauveur. La lettre de
Pilate. Les missions de Volusien, de Nathan. La Vindicte: leurs origines et leurs transformations Librairie Alphonse Picard & Fils, 1919
204
Tert. ad versus Judaeos Liber, c. 8,6; Hippolytus Fourth Book on Daniel 23,3 & Paschal Cycle, init; De Mort. Persec. apud Baluzii Lactantius of 1515 & Div.Inst
4.10; Sulpicius Severus, Chronica, ii. 27; Augustine, De civ, Dei xviii. 64; Tiro Prosper of Aquitaine, Epitoma Chronicon, et al
205
Eusebius' Chronicon, in Jerome's version (176-77 Helm Eusebius Werke) and in Chron. Pasch. 430
114
 resisted the reception of their faith. Yet Tiberius threatened with
death the accusers of the Christians by an edict."206
The narrative of Tertullian implies, and that of Orosius more distinctly
asserts, that the emperor protected the followers of Jesus by an edict.
Improbable as this may appear, Philo, who lived at the time, not only
asserts the same thing, but has copied at least the substance of that edict. It
is to this effect:
"All nations, though prejudiced against the Jews, have been careful
not to abolish the Jewish rites; and the same caution was taken in the
reign of Tiberius; though indeed the Jews in Italy have been
distressed by the machinations of Sejanus. For after his death the
emperor became sensible that the accusations alleged against the
Jews in Italy were lying calumnies, the mere inventions of Sejanus,
who was eager to devour a nation that alone or chiefly would, he
knew, be likely to oppose his impious designs and measures. And to
the constituted authorities in every place, Tiberius sent orders not to
molest, in their respective cities, the men of that nation, excepting the
guilty only, who were few, and not to suppress any of their
institutions, but to regard as a trust committed to their care, both the
people themselves, and their laws, which like oil on troubled water
inure them to order and stability”207
Veronica/Berenice’s testimony before Caesar [as a dignitary of a strategic
Roman client state in an unstable region] would have had a profound
impact, re-inforcing Tiberius’ religious inclinations. His execution of
Sejanus, dismissal of Caiaphas & Pilate, and putting Judaea under the
auspices of the Syrian legate, was a sweeping geopolitical “shake-up” of
the region designed, in-part, to protect the Jesus-followers.

While we can see how “Pheronike” contributed to the “Protonike legend,”

one of the most specific references in the legend still unaccounted for is
the connection to the emperor Claudius. To understand this connection

206
Pavli Orisii Historiarvm adversvm paganos libri VI, lib.7. c.4, l. 6-8
207
Philo, vol. ii. B. 569, as translated by John Jones Ecclesiastical researches [Oxford University 1812], pp 255f
115
with the “forgotten Christian queens of the East,” we must return to the
catacombs of Rome….

116
Forgotten Christian
Queens of the East
PART 3:
When an ancient Roman died, the rites lasted several days and often
featured hired mourners and professional dancers. Almost all Romans
were cremated, and their ashes placed in a columbarium (i.e., a deep
vaulted crypt which served as repository of the ashes of members of a
Roman family or guild208). In the columbarium of the liberti of empress
Livia, discovered in 1726, amazingly, almost all the names to whom Paul
and Tertius sent greetings in Romans 16 can be found. This is consistent
with the fact that when Paul later reached Rome, he could write back to
Philippi “All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s
household” [Php 4:22].

Among those inscriptions discovered [and preserved by Gruter209] are:

AMPLIATVS, and VRBANVS. Question: would those to whom Paul wrote
“Greet Ampliatus my beloved in the Lord; Salute Urbanus, our helper in
Christ” [Rom 16:8-9] subject themselves to a Pagan funeral and
cremation? Proof that Christians [even though memorialized by such
inscriptions] were buried and preserved according to their own rites, was
discovered in 1880, when a vault in the Catacomb of Domitilla was
uncovered: its builder and first owner is named, and in the interior is a
dedication by “Aurel. Ampliatus” [a descendant of the founder] to his
wife.210
208
LANCIANI: Columbaria are a specialty of Rome and the Campagna, and are found nowhere else, not even in the colonies or settlements originating directly from the
city. They begin to appear some twenty years before Christ, under the rule of Augustus and the premiership of Mæcenas. Inasmuch as the Campus Esquilinus, which,
up to their time, had been used for the burial of artisans, laborers, servants, slaves, and freedmen, was suppressed in consequence of the sanitary reforms described by
Horace,[121] and was buried under an embankment of pure earth, and converted into a public park; as, moreover, the disappearance of the said cemetery was followed
closely by the appearance of columbaria, I believe one fact to be a consequence of the other, and both to be part of the same hygienic reform.
209
Gruter, Inscrip. p.1070, n.1
210
de Rossi, Bull di archeol. crist. 1880, p. 171 ; 1881, p. 57 (1883, p. 121 ; 1886, p. 59 other Ampliati
117
The original founder’s inscription is clearly from the 1st century,211 which
combined with the beauty and elegance of the tomb is considered
paradoxical: this name was only used by slaves or freedmen in the 1st
cent. Clearly, this tomb was built for him, to honor the memory of a man
considered insignificant by society, but recognized as great among fellow
Christians.

Returning to the inscriptions in the columbarium of Livia Augusta, we

find another set recorded by Gruter: TRIPHANES, TRIPHVSA.212 Does
Church tradition record anything beyond these passing Biblical
references? Specifically, what more can we learn of “Tryphaena and

211
“The crypt of Ampliatus — another of the historic centres of this great catacomb, is situated in the middle of the area or district originally occupied by the tombs of
the Christian members of the Imperial Flavian House. The decorations of the sepulchral chambers here and the style of inscriptions belong to the first century and first
half of the second. In one of the carefully decorated crypts of the Flavian family is an arched tomb with the word " Ampliatus " graven on marble in characters which
belong to a very early period.” The Early Christians in Rome By Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones 1911, p. 240ff
212
Gruter, Inscrip. p.656, n.1
118
Tryphosa” [Rom 16:12]? Note the entry for November 10th in the ancient
Roman Martyrology:
At Iconium in Lycaonia, the holy women Tryphenna and Tryphosa,
who profited by the preaching of blessed Paul and the example of
Thecla to make great progress in Christian perfection.213
What is the connection between Tryphaena, Tryhposa, Iconium, and
THECLA? The Church Fathers preserve a number of historical traditions
about Thecla. Gregory of Nyssa writes in the 4th cent (Homily 14 in Cant)
that she undertook the sacrifice of herself, by giving death to the flesh [Gal
5:24], practicing great austerities, extinguishing in herself all earthly
affections, so that nothing seemed to remain living in her but reason and
spirit: the whole world seemed dead to her as she was to the world [Gal
6:14].

Around AD 280,214 Methodius, Bishop of Olympus, wrote a manual of

Christian doctrine in the form of a dramatic philosophical dialogue called
the Symposium. St. Thecla is featured as one of the characters, from which
we learn that she was well versed in profane philosophy, and various
branches of literature, of eloquent yet modest discourse. He says that she
received her instruction in divine and evangelical knowledge from St.
Paul, and was eminent for her skill in sacred science.

We learn from an ancient homily given around AD 300, that her

aristocratic family saw an alteration in her conduct without knowing why,
plied her with the strong arguments and tender persuasion, to fulfill her
engagement to marry; her affianced pressed her with flatteries and
213
http://www.breviary.net/martyrology/mart11/mart1110.htm Icónii, in Lycaónia, sanctárum mulíerum Tryphénnæ et Tryphósæ, quæ, beáti Pauli prædicatióne et
exémplo Theclæ, in Christiána disciplína plúrimum profecérunt.; Her name is given with various topographical comments (Nicomedia, Seleucia, Asia) on several days
in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Thus Thecla is mentioned in this martyrology on 22 February, 25 February, 12 September, 23 September, and 17 November
("Mart. Hieron.". ed. de Rossi-Duchesne, 24, 36, 120, 124, 144). It seems certain that on all these dates, and probably also on 20 and 21 December, the same St. Thecla,
the pupil of St. Paul, is meant. In Bede's Martyrology (cf. Quentin, "Martyrologes historiques du moyen âge", 93) her name is mentioned with a brief notice taken from
the Acts on 23 September, the same date as that on which her feast is given in the present Roman Martyrology. The Greek Church celebrates her feast on 24 September
and gives her the title of "Protomartyr among women and equal to the Apostles" (cf. Nilles, "Calendarium utriusque ecclesiae", I, 283 sq.). See bibliography of
APOCRYPHA; HOLZHEY, Die Thecla-Akten, ihre Verbreitung u. Beurteilung in der Kirche (Munich, 1905)
214
St. Methodius, the Symposium trns By T. C. Lawler, Walter J. Burghardt [p.12 for date of composition] Newman Press, 1958; Summary from The lives of the fathers,
martyrs, and other principal saints. ed. by F.C. Husenbeth. [With] The history of the blessed virgin Mary, by the abbé Orsini, tr. by F.C. Husenbeth By Alban Butler,
Mary, Mathieu Orsini Published by , 1857 [p. ]; P.Mich. 1317, Hamburg Pap.bil.1 [Codex contains the Acta Pauli and Ecclesiastes (326) in Greek in two different
hands, and Song of Songs, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes in Coptic] ca AD 300; 1Corinthians 15:32 and 2 Timothy 4:17 Paul in Antioch (PHeid 1-6), AThe, Paul in
Myra (PHeid 28-35), Paul in Sidon (PHeid 35-9), Paul in Ephesus (PH 1-5), Paul in Philippi (PHeid,including the letter of the Corinthians to Paul and his response,
3Cor), Paul in Corinth (PH 6-7; PHeid 44-3, 51-2), his journey from Corinth to Italy (PH 7-8), and MP.; 3 Cor is very similar to the texts of Rom and Gal.; Hermogenes
(AThe 1, 2 Tim 1.15) and Demas (AThe 1, Col 4.14, 2 Tim 4.10 and Phlm 24), but Artemas at Titus 3.12 may not be the same as Artemon (Paul's journey from Corinth
to Italy). MP 1 mentions Luke who travelled through Gallia (in the Latin text 'Gallilia') to Rome and Titus who came fiom Dalmatia to Rome (2 Tim 4.10)
119
caresses, her servants entreated her with tears, her friends and neighbors
exhorted her, and finally the civil magistrates were employed in attempt to
bring her to the desired compliance.215 At length, she finds an opportunity
to escape, finds Paul, and joins him in evangelistic ministry.

From these references alone, we fail to find a connection with either

Tryphaena or Tryphosa. For that we must turn to an ancient text known as
the Acts of Paul & Thecla. Although rejected in the 5th century as non-
canonical, it was recognized as historical until the 19th century; from then
on, it was dismissed as a Christian fable from the late 2nd century. Before
the 6th century, however, its impact was broad and profound. For example,
in the walls of an ancient Christian cave-grotto, high above Ephesus in
Turkey, is a Byzantine-style painting of a scene from the Acts of Paul &
Thecla, dated to the 500’s A.D

Depicted is a scene of Theocleia trying to dissuade Thecla from listening

to Paul’s preaching,216 already mentioned by Macarius Magnes shortly
after AD 300:

215
The Armenian Apology and Acts of Apollonius, and Other Monuments of Early Christianity By F. C. Conybeare [p. 57,60], New York : Macmillan, 1896.
216
Cf: Early CHRISTIAN IVORY.— Mr. G. Schlumberger has presented to the Acad. d. Insc. a very ancient Christian ivory. The sculptured front represents an apostle
preaching before a crowd of auditors in the costumes of that period. It is perhaps Saint Paul preaching to the Gentiles. These persons are grouped under the gate of a
miniature town of which the principal edifices very different in form are figured in relief, peopled with little spectators who are listening to the preaching of the saint
from their windows and balconies. This ivory, which very probably adorned some bishop's chair, possesses still further interest in the peculiar disposition of the
edifices, the apparently intentional irregularity with which they are arranged side by side, the lack of symmetry, the strongly characterized variety in their forms and the
presence of a huge central portico semi-circular in shape. All these circumstances go to prove that the artist wished to represent a particular city, and probably a well-
known city at that. Mr. Duchesne thinks that the body of a young man half-falling from an open window, points to the story of Iconium and the young man who fell
from the window while asleep. He sees also in the figures of a young woman and her mother on the other side of the ivory a reference to the legend of Thecla,
the young girl of Iconium who was so absorbed by the preaching of St. Paul that her mother could not drag her from the window. — Chronique des Arts, 1893,
No. 12.
120
 “Success in such a warfare may be plainly seen in the deaths of the
martyrs. They were able to leave all those that were dear, and take up
their cross and follow Christ. This is what is meant by the "sword,"
[Matt 10:34] which cuts relations from each other [Matt:10:35], as it
cut Thecla from Theocleia.” [Apocriticus ii.7]
Similarly, a 4th century Ivory Panel in British Museum depicting Thecla
overhearing Paul’s teaching in the courtyard below.217

In fact, the depiction of Paul in both these incidences is taken directly

from the description preserved in the Acts of Thekla: “a man of small
stature, bald-headed, somewhat bow-legged, with meeting eyebrows and a
rather long nose, full of grace.” This written description was validated by
Boldetti’s discovery of a bronze medallion in the 1st century Catacomb of
Domitilla, and confirmed by de Rossi’s further discovery of identical
plaster impressions of the apostles Paul & Peter.218

217
The Critical Review of Theological & Philosophical Literature [v.XIV] Stewart Dingwall Fordyce Salmond [T. & T. Clark, 1904] p.310: “In this connexion we may
notice an ivory carving (c. 292, in Dalton's Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities in the British Museum) of the late fourth or early fifth century. One of the three
panels represents two scenes in St. Paul's life. In the first scene Thecla appears leaning her left elbow on a wall. On the right St. Paul is seated and holds an open roll in
both hands. In the second scene a man stands in the act of throwing a large stone and St. Paul has fallen to the ground, and raises his right hand in self-defence. This
seems to me to be an illustration of two scenes in the Acts of Paul, which would thus appear to have contained the story of the stoning of the Apostle at Lystra” [J. H.
Wilkinson]
218
The oldest representation of Paul and Peter extant is probably that on a bronze plate preserved in the Vatican Library. This medallion is about three inches in
diameter; it is cut with a die or with a hammer, and finished with a chisel. De Rossi says : "It is certainly a work of a classical type, and of style rather Greek than
Roman. In order to determine with more or less exactness the date of so rare and unique a monument of the likenesses of the Apostles, one would be obliged to produce
some similar bronze-work of Pagan art” Buonarroti gives a representation of a medal of M. Aurelius and L. Verus with busts of the two emperors in exactly the same
attitudes as the Apostles here, with the consular date of a.d. 162, but inferior in style to the medallion under consideration. Boldetti himself extracted this bronze from
121
As Lanciani noted,
“There is no doubt, for instance, that the likenesses of SS. Peter and
Paul have been carefully preserved in Rome ever since their lifetime,
and that they were familiar to everyone, even to school-children.
These portraits have come down to us by scores. They are painted in
the cubiculi of the catacombs, engraved in gold leaf in the so-called
vetri cemeteriali,219 cast in bronze, hammered in silver or copper, and
designed in mosaic. The type never varies: Peter's face is full and
strong, with short curly hair and beard, while S. Paul appears more
wiry and thin, slightly bald, with a long pointed beard. The antiquity
and the genuineness of both types cannot be doubted.” [Pagan &
Christian Rome1899, p.212]

The martyrdom of Thecla is frequently referred to in the earliest Acts of

the Martyrs. St. Eugenius, a martyr of Trebizond under Diocletian (284-
305), couples Thecla with David and Daniel in his prayers. The exordium
of the Acts of Polyeuctes [d. 259] refers to Thecla and Perpetua, and there

the Catacomb of Domitilla, and that De Rossi has seen the impressions of similar medallions in the plaster of loculi.” This medallion also confirms the traditions
preserved by Nicephorus about the appearance of the two apostles. Also Jerome Ep ad Gal 1.18
219
vetri cemeteriali: Garrucci: Vetri adornati di figure in oro. — Swoboda, quoted by De Waal in the Römische Quartalschrift, 1888, p. 135. — Armellini: ibidem,
1888, p. 130. — De Rossi: Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1864, p. —;º 1887, p. 130. http://keur.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/wetenschappers/11/584/c1.pdf
122
were certainly many virgin martyrs who drew their first inspiration from
the same source. Eugenia at Rome in the reign of Commodus (180-192) is
reported in the Acts of her martyrdom to have taken Thecla as her model
after reading the text:
“Now it chanced that there fell into her hands the History of the holy
Apostle Paul and of the blessed Virgin Thekla, and as she read it in
secret, day after day, she wept, the more because she was subject to
heathen parents. But when she went on reading day by day the
History of the holy Thekla, it occurred to her to imitate her conduct.”
[ch ii]220

When were the Acts of Paul & Thecla recorded? Jerome, says that the
presbyter who wrote the History of Paul and Thecla was deposed by John
(apud Johannem) the Apostle.221 Ceresa-Gastaldo has shown that Jerome’s
“care for the chronology is constant and fundamental”; from this he was
able to deduce from the De viri illustribus and Chronicon that the “History
of Paul” (incorporating the earlier Acts of Paul and Thecla) was originally
published between AD 68-98.222

So why did modern scholars dismiss such an early work and place it
in the late 2nd-century?

Precisely because it contains an abundance of topical, topographical,223

and historical details for which these scholars had no external

220
Further, “revolving in her innermost mind the life of the blessed Thekla….‘Do we find even in these such truth as is set forth in this divine book about God?’ . . .
‘How apt is this testimony to the holy book [ch. iii]; “in emulation and after the example of my teacher Thekla, fleeing from what is destructible and fleeting I was
resolved to attain to the good things of heaven.” [ch xv]; Christians throughout the ages would make pilgrimages to holy sites connected with the Apostolic Age,
including Thecla’s tomb. Egeria, a pilgrim of the 4th century, records the following: Only three nights from Tarsus, in Isauria, is the martyr shrine of Saint Thecla.
Since it was so close we were pleased to travel there… Around the holy church there is a tremendous number of cells for men and women… There are a great many
cells on that hill, and in the middle a great wall around the martyrium itself, which is very beautiful… I arrived at the martyrium, and we had a prayer there and read
the whole Acts of Holy Thecla… - Egeria; She records four-step liturgy consisting of an arrival prayer, a reading of the entire Acts of Thecla, prayer and the Eucharist,
and departure
221
in his Catalogus Script. Eccl. ch:7 (written about the year 392)
222
Studia Patristica 15 (1984) 55-68. Affirmed by A. Hilhorst [“Tertullian on the Acts of Paul” , p.159f], S. Reinach, Cultes, mythes et religions IV (Paris, 1912) 229-
51 ('Thekla’), esp. 242,and Theodor Zahn, [Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen 1877, p.1307], cf. W. Rordorf, 'Tradition et composition dans les Actes de Thecle',
Theologische Zeitschrift 41 (1985) 272-83, esp. 276, reprinted in his Liturgie, foi et vie des premiers Chretiens (Paris, 1986*) 457-68.The historical context for the
composition of the Martyrium Pauli included in the “Acts of Paul” [along with the Acta Theclae, and other extracanonical episodes] by this “presbyter of Asia” is only
applicable in the era of the Neronian persecution was shown by W. Rordorf, [“Die neronische Christenverfolgung im Spiegel der Apokryphen Paulusakten”, New Test.
Stud. 28 (1981-82) 365-74]
223
One of the great, early monuments of New Testament scholarship was Conybeare & Howson’s Life & Epistles of Paul [1868], which dismissed the Acts of Thecla
thusly: “St. Paul is said to have gone from Antioch to Iconium (as in the Acts), and Onesiphorus…to have gone with his family to meet him on the royal road, which
leads to Lystra….[But] Lystra is on the contrary side of Iconium from Antioch. On the whole, the mythical character of the narrative, whatever basis of truth it may
have, is very apparent.” But this very statement of the route taken by Onesiphorus is now a clinching proof of the authenticity of these Acts. Ramsay discovered the old
military road of Augustus ran from Antioch of Pisidia to Lystra direct, and threw off half-way a footpath to Iconium, which lay off it many miles to the east. This was
123
corroboration, including the details of Thecla’s royal patroness, “Queen
Tryphaena”

Sir William Ramsay, a renowned British archaeologist and atheist, son of

an atheist, with his expertise in the history and archeology of Asia Minor,
began documenting all the Christian inscriptions abundant in the area.
When cross-correlating his work and topography with the Acts of the
Apostles, he discovered the incidental historical and geographical details
matched those of the mid 1st-century; this was clearly not the fanciful
work of a 2nd-century writer, as he had been taught and assumed it to be.

He then applied his acumen to the early New Testament-era apocrypha,

especially those that related to the history and topography of Asia Minor,
including the Acts of Thecla. Piecing together the emerging evidence,
Ramsay was able to give the following account:
“Queen Tryphaena was daughter of Polemon, king of part of
Lycaonia and Cilicia, and also of Pontus. She married Cotys, king of
Thrace, and became mother of three kings. . . . In AD 50 she was
nearly sixty. This, suits the Acta perfectly well. . . . Tryphaena was
cousin once removed of the Emperor Claudius. The apocrypha
refers to this very relationship to the Caesar.”224

We know from an inscription in Cyzicus that Tryphaena possessed a

generous civic spirit.225

so in S. Paul’s day. But after AD 73, a new road was made from Antioch to Lystra passing through Iconium. The Acts of Thecla preserve an incidental detail of the old
footpath and crossroads, long since forgotten.
224
The Church in the Roman Empire before A.D. 170 (New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons 1893), p.385
225
“A thank offering to Poseidon of the Isthmus (dedicated) after the restoration of the long-choked portion of the channels and of the lagoon at her own charges, and of
the surrounding (quays ?) at the expense of herself and her son Rhoemetalces, King of Thrace, and in the name of his brothers, Polemo King of Pontus and Cotys, (by)
Antonia Tryphaena, daughter and mother of kings, herself a queen” After the death of Augustus in 14, Tryphaena ordered and financially commissioned at her expense
the restoration of Cyzicus. The city’s restoration included works completed on its harbors and canals. She did this as a thanks offering to the memory of Augustus.
Sometime after the Cyzicus’ restorations were completed, [Inscription de Cyzique en l'honneur d'Antonia Tryphaena Salomon Reinach S Bulletin de Correspondance
Hellénique Year 1882 Volume 6 Issue 6 pp. 612-616] Rhescuporis II wanted to claim Cotys’ section of the Thracian Kingdom for himself to rule as one kingdom.
Cotys refused to give in the demands of his uncle. The political disagreement between Rhescuporis and Cotys, led Cotys to be captured and killed by his uncle. After
the murder of Cotys, Tryphaena fled with her family to Cyzicus in 18. Roman Emperor Tiberius in 18 had opened a murder investigation into Cotys’ death. Tiberius put
Rhescuporis II on trial in the Roman Senate and invited Tryphaena to attend the trial. During the trial Tryphaena accused Rhescuporis II of killing her husband and
forcing him to exile himself from his own kingdom. Tiberius found Rhescuporis II guilty and sent him to live in exile in Alexandria, Egypt. On his way to Egypt
Rhescuporis II tried to escape and was killed by Roman soldiers. Tiberius returned the whole Thracian Kingdom to Tryphaena and Tiberius appointed Tryphaena and
Cotys’ first child Rhoemetalces III to rule with his mother. The son of Rhescuporis II, Rhoemetalces II was spared by Tiberius and allowed him to return to Thrace.
124
 Tryphaena Inscription from Cyzicus

She had lost a husband and (according to the Acts of Thecla) a daughter to
death. She lost her sons to their political careers as they focused on
independent control of their vassal states.226 She reigned as a lonely
widow in mourning, with her retinue of servants (mentioned at times in
the Acts of Thecla) as her only companions.

Coin from Co-regency of Polemon II & Queen Tryphaena

226
One daughter, Pythodoris II, and Rhoemetalces II became the new Roman Client Rulers of Thrace from 38 until 46, when she was possibly murdered alongside her
husband, when Rhoemetalces II was murdered by insurgents
125
He justly concludes that the basis of the story must be a document almost
contemporary with Paul, written before the memory of Tryphaena (and her
kinship with Claudius) had time to die out.
"Our knowledge of the dynasty rests almost wholly on the evidence of
inscriptions and coins; in literature there occurs hardly any reference to
it. It left no mark on the history of the world, and had no place in the
memory of posterity" – Ramsay.

Ramsay was convinced that Thecla’s Acts was indeed a 1st-century

document, but corrupted by anachronisms that crept into the Greek text,
e.g:
1) Obvious confusion of Pisidian Antioch [correct] with Syrian
Antioch [fallacious].
2) Hence, Alexander’s title of “Syriach” is incorrect
3) Names like Lectra, Falconilla, and Proconsul Castellius are
inappropriate in a 1st-century context
4) and most critical to our study, Queen Tryphaena is made to say
“There is no one to help me; neither child, for she is dead, nor
kinsman” - when in fact she had 3 sons, and powerful connections
Enter F.C. Conybeare, Oxford professor of Armenian Studies, who
translated a series of ancient Church documents in the Armenian language,
made available in 1874. He notes:
“Now in the ancient Armenian language there exists a version of
these Acta, which was made from a still earlier Syriac version at the
beginning of the fifth century; from this older text we find that, with a
single exception, all the matters conjectured by Professor Ramsay to
be interpolations of the second century VANISH.”227

Thecla’s story is set during Paul’s first missionary journey, specifically,

when, upon leaving Antioch, he took the “Royal Road that leads to
Lystra” [i.e., the new military road built by Augustus to connect his
227
THE ARMENIAN APOLOGY AND ACTS OF APOLLOnIUS AND OTHER MONUMENTS OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY EDITED WITH A GENERAL PREFACE
INTRODUCTIONS NOTES ETC. BY F. C. CONYBEARE M.A [SECOND EDITION WITH AN APPENDIX SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. NEW YORK:
MACMILLAN & CO. 1896] p.55; found in a repertory of select martyrdoms, written in the ancient Armenian tongue, and Published at the Armenian monastery of San
Lazaro, in Venice, in the year 1874. In connection with the Armenian version it is interesting to note that in the Armenian convent of Edschmiadzin, in the province of
Ararat, there is built into the wall of the conventual church an old Greek bas-relief of Paul and Thekla which must belong to the fifth century at latest.
126
colonies] until he came to the place where the branch route to Iconium
diverges. The Latin correctly gives the name via regalis, and the Syriac
alone gives the full description of the spot, “where the roads meet on the
highway which goes to Lystra.”

Acts 13:51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and
came unto Iconium. . . .

14:3 Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord,
which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs
and wonders to be done by their hands.

It is during Paul’s long stay at Iconium that Thecla overhears his

preaching228 and becomes convicted of her own calling to be a minister of
the Gospel, a calling incompatible with her current status as fiance in a
pre-arranged marriage to a wealthy Pagan.229

228
In AThe 5 there is great joy in the house of Onesiphorus over the visit of Paul; they bow their knees, break the bread and Paul proclaims the word of God concerning
continence and the resurrection. After that, like a sermon, come the 13 Beatitudes, many of which display close correspondences with the canonical ones: 1. Word for
word agreement with Matt 5. 2. 'Blessed are they who have kept the flesh pure, for they shall become a temple of God.' This reminds us of 2 Clem 8.6. The word naos
also occurs in 1 Cor 6.19 but in a different context where our bodies are the temple of God. 3. 'Blessed are the continent, for to them will God speak'. Some refer to 1
Cor 7.29, but this text is only of significance regarding Beatitude 5.5. 'Blessed are they who have wives as if they had them not, for they shall be heirs to God'. The first
half of the sentence is reminiscent of 1 Cor 7.29, the second half of Matt 5.5 where the meek will inherit the earth. 7. 'Blessed are they who tremble at the words of God,
for they shall be comforted'. The second half of the sentence refers to Matt 5.4. 8. 'Blessed are they who have received (the) wisdom of Jesus Christ, for they shall be
called sons of the Most High'. Once again, the second half of the sentence is the same as Matt 5.9, except that not theos but hupsistos can be found in AThe. 9. 'Blessed
are they who have kept their baptism secure, for they shall rest with the Father and the Son.' The same thought occurs in 2 Clem 6.9. 11. 'Blessed are they who through
love of God have departed from the form of this world, for they shall judge angels and at the right hand of the Father they shall be blessed'. Cf. 1 Cor 6.3, 'we shall
judge angels'. 12. 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, and shall not see the bitter day of judgement'. The first part of the sentence agrees verbatim with
Matt 5.7, the latter part of the sentence expands on it.
229
Richard Belward Rackham: “With the scene thus made familiar by the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and with the help of the Bezan text, which is here unusually good and
reliable, we can reconstruct the course of events at Iconium. Luke's narrative is very condensed, and the gap in our text between verses 2 and 3 is evident: . . . . At
Iconium there was a colony of Jews with a synagogue. In spite of the separation at Antioch, the apostles according to their custom made a fresh start in a new city, and
in the same way went into the synagogue'. Here they had better success, for a great multitude of the Jews as well as of the Greeks or God-fearing Gentiles believed. The
authorities of the Jews however, the archisynagogos (ruler-of-the-synagogue) and the rulers or presbyters, were not convinced", and they excited persecution against
the just [Bezan: The term used for the Christian party—the just, like the holy, the devout, and the Hebrew Chasidim—would be a sign of the early character of the
narrative]. This they effected by poisoning the minds of the Gentiles outside the synagogue against the Christians. The story of Thecla suggests a means, and perhaps
the apostles were brought before the magistrates on some charge of interference with family life. The magistrates however must have seen at once that there was no
legal case against them; and by a sentence of acquittal or in some other way the Lord gave peace. After persecution we have again a peace, which is a period of
progress. If there had been a public vindication in the law-courts, it must have given Paul and Barnabas a great opportunity. Therefore they worked for a long time
without hindrance. The persecution probably involved a separation from the synagogue, and the apostles taught the Gentiles openly, teaching the whole gospel without
flinching (xiii 46). Their boldness or confidence rested upon the Lord Jesus, and he testified his approval of the gospel they taught, viz. of the offer of his grace to all,
by working signs and wonders through their hands. This also placed them on a level with the other apostles. The apostolic preaching affected the whole city and created
a schism. The citizens were divided into two parties, one held with the Jews, the other clave to the apostles. Legal proceedings having failed, the only resource left for
the Jews was illegal violence. The Jews then and their party in the city, with the complicity of the magistrates, plotted to bring about a public riot and attack on the
apostles which might end in their stoning. But at the first signs of violence, the suspicions of the apostles were aroused : they made their escape, and in accordance with
the Lord's directions left the city. They fled into Lycaonia. This was mainly a country district, and the flight of the apostles thither was the commencement of an active
evangelization which had great effect—the whole population was stirred at the teaching. As Barnabas and Paul could not speak Lycaonian or Phrygian, and the Bezan
text says expressly that they abode in Lystra, we must suppose that the evangelization of the country was the work of disciples who accompanied them from Iconium, or
even Antioch” [Acts of the Apostles (Methuen 1904), pp.228ff]
127
 ...of the saint from their
windows and
balconies.This ivory,
which very probably
adorned some bishop's
chair, possesses still
further interest in the
peculiar disposition of the
edifices, the apparently
intentional irregularity with
which they are arranged
side by side, the lack of
symmetry, the strongly
characterized variety in
their forms and the
presence of a huge
central portico semi-
circular in shape….He
sees also in the figures
of a young woman and
her mother on the other
side of the ivory a
reference to the legend
Mr. G. Schlumberger has presented to the Acad. d. of Thecla, the young girl
Insc. a very ancient Christian ivory. The sculptured of Iconium who was so
front represents an apostle preaching before a absorbed by the
crowd of auditors in the costumes of that period. It is preaching of St. Paul
perhaps Saint Paul preaching to the Gentiles. These that her mother could
persons are grouped under the gate of a miniature not drag her from the
town of which the principal edifices very different in window. — Chronique
form are figured in relief, peopled with little des Arts, 1893, No. 12.
spectators who are listening to the preaching...
Paul is driven out of Iconium [2Tim3:1230], and after escaping, Thecla
joins Paul on his return to Antioch of Pisidia [Acts 14:19], and it is here
that Thecla is offered protection by Queen Tryphaena. While in the

230
“Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.” Miniscule
codex 181 [11th cent] of Paul’s epistles actually references Thecla at this point in the text of 2Timothy.
128
queen’s protective custody, Thecla uses the opportunity to evangelize her,
and her whole household.
“Tryphaena, offered to be security for her appearance at the proper
moment. This kind of confinement (custodia libera privata) was
common. A guarantee (fide-jussor) was required; and ordinarily it
would be difficult to find one in the case of a person condemned to
death. Only exceptional circumstances could have saved Thekla
from the public prison;231 but the details here, though unusual, bear
he stamp of reality and truth.” [Ramsay, p. 400]
Why did Thecla need “protective custody”? Alexander the Galatarch was
in Antioch to prepare a celebration at the stadium for the Cult of Caesar.
As such, he wore a priestly robe and laurel-crown with an emblem of
Caesar’s image. Parading around town, the Galatarch had license to
“honor” unattended women with sexual advances. When he did so with
Thecla, however, she defended her vow of chastity physically, tearing his
ceremonial robe and throwing his crown to the dirt. Unwittingly, Thecla
had committed the capital offence of SACRILEGA against the honor and
“divinity” of Caesar. 232

Ephesian Asiarch with High Priestly Laurel

[Head of Caesar is broken off atop the bust, but reconstructed]

231
Roman law was very severe in the case of a prisoner's escape, and the guard in charge was, strictly, liable to the fate of the escaped prisoner. Hadrian distinguished
(expressly in the case of military guards, and by implication in the case of others) between fault, carelessness, and accident, on the part of the guards, and discriminated
penalties accordingly (Digest., 48, 3, 12).
232
“Mr. G. McN. Rushforth has explained to me the nature of the crown which Alexander as Galatarch was wearing. It was a gold wreath, bearing in front a medallion
of the reigning Augustus. The portrait bust in the Vatican Museum, No. 280, miscalled of the aged Augustus, carries exactly such a wreath as these Armenian Acts
describe, and is probably a portrait of some provincial president of the Caesar-worship under the Antonines (see Bernoulli, Rom. Ikonog., ii. 30, and Lightfoot, Apost.
Fathers, vol. iii. 405 seq.). In tearing such a crown oft the head of the Galatarch, Thekla directly assailed the numen of the reigning emperor. There could be no graver
offence. These provincial dignitaries were at a later time known as coronati simply. These acts are the only ancient writing in which a description of the crown is
given.” F.C. Conybeare, [op cit] p.88; Cf. Suetonius Vita Domitiani, ch. 4 “He presided at the competitions in half-boots, clad in a purple toga in the Greek fashion, and
wearing upon his head a golden crown with figures of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, while by his side sat the priest of Jupiter and the college of the Flaviales, similarly
dressed, except that their crowns bore his image as well”; The definitive study was G.F.Hill’s in Jahreshefte 1899 p.245ff, from whence this picture was taken
129
This gives us a critical clue as to why Luke did not include these episodes
in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul mention’s in his epistles a number of
episodes from his ministry that Luke chose not to record [e.g. 2Cor 11:23-
27233], his goal in Acts, as we have seen, was to document Paul’s work,
and make the case that his ministry (and also Christianity) were perfectly
legal in the context of Roman jurisprudence.

Thecla’s case in Antioch seemed to identify her Christianity with

“sacrilegious” [i.e., illegal] activity. Paul’s hope was that the Gospel
would render Pagan temples derelict from disuse, not destroyed by
vandalism.

Secondly, as we have seen, it was important for Luke to protect the

identity of these influential converts. Though we might think such “big
catches” would be great propaganda for evangelism, it was a life-
threatening proposition for such converts under the reigns of Claudius &
Nero. Unlike a sovereign like King Gundaphar, Queen Tryphaena was
very much beholden to the emperor, especially as a [former] priestess of
the Imperial Cult. Luke is careful to only report on those Roman Officials
who were either tolerant or sympathetic towards the Christian message
[such as Sergius Paulus, Festus, etc], but never of converts for this reason.
Was the revelation of Tryphaena’s name in Asia Minor one of the reason’s
that John deposed the presbyter who composed these Acts?

Some have questioned the historicity of a retired Pontic Queen traveling

all the way to Pisidian Antioch, much less an aristocratic lady attending
the Arena. But inscriptions have confirmed that, not only was Tryphaena a
queen, she was also appointed high-priestess234 for the cult of two
divinized empresses; her attendance at such a Venatio235 would have been
demanded.

233
Also, Clemens Romanus says {Epist ad Corinth 5} that Paul was seven times in bonds; compare 1Cor 15:32, 2Cor2:12; and Rom 15:19; Cf. 2 Cor. xi 25 from which
we learn that his Roman citizenship was either concealed by him, or in the excitement of the moment proved an insufficient protection, on more occasions than that at
Philippi, Acts xvi 23.
234
According to inscriptions, Tryphaena was appointed by Caligula in 38 and served as a priestess in the cult of Julia Drusilla and in 42 was appointed by Claudius to
serve as a priestess in the cult of late Roman Empress Livia Drusilla.
235
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venatio
130
Thecla was sentenced and thrown to the lions as part of the scheduled
ceremonies, entertainment, and “spectacle” of Roman justice. Many
women in the crowd were indignant that Thecla’s act of self-defense could
warrant such a sentence.

Pilgrim’s Ampulla from the 500’s depicting Thecla’s trial at the venatio [L], and St Mena of Alexandria
on the reverse

Moved by her commitment to chastity (and her willingness to abandon

family, wealth, and social status for the same), Tryphaena went beyond
indignation and offered her estate as domicile for “house arrest,” and her
reputation as security. This spared Thecla the notorious abuses of jailers in
public prisons. After a series of such trials, Thecla is miraculously
delivered from the ravages of the arena each time, in a manner similar to
“Daniel in the Lions Den” Her sentence is ultimately commuted, and she
131
is remanded back to the custody of Queen Tryphaena. After converting the
Queen and her household, Thecla rejoins Paul.

Symbolic sarcophagus relief from the early 4th century [pre-Constantinian] in the Basilica S.
Valentinus depicting Paul & Thecla as missionary co-workers236

Meanwhile: “Tryphaena heard that Thecla was on her way to the city of
Iconium, [so] she took much raiment and gold and sent it to Thecla; and
she took the raiment and some of the gold, and sent it to Paul for the
service of ministering to widows.” [cp. Acts 11:29, Rom 15:26]

According the postcript in some versions of the Acts of Thecla, and the 4th-
century Life and Miracles of Thecla, she went on to Seleucia by herself
after Paul’s first missionary journey.237

236
New Symbolism on a Christian Sarcophagus. — Professor O. Marucchi discusses, somewhat briefly, a fragment from the cover of a Christian sarcophagus
discovered in February, 1897, in a wall of the Basilica of S. Valentinus on the Via Flaminia. A phototype of the relief is subjoined. It represents a type of symbolism
hitherto unknown. At the right a fisherman, sitting on the shore, is holding a fish just removed from the hook. Immediately to his right is sailing off to the left a vessel
with two men in it; one of whom is handling a sort of jib, the other is steering and managing the mainsail. Beside the latter figure is inscribed the name PAVLVS. His
features correspond to those traditionally appropriated to portraits of St. Paul, — a broad and bald forehead and long beard (cf. Acta Pauli et Theclae), while St. Peter is
represented with a thick head of hair and a shorter beard. On the side of the vessel is inscribed the name THECLA. The traditional connection between Paul and Thecla
is well known to the student of Christian antiquities. And the symbolism of the relief is plain. In the capture of the fish by the fisherman is portrayed the new birth of the
soul from the waters of baptism (cf. Tert. De Bapt. and Christian art elsewhere) ; in the ship is pictured the course of human life of the baptized person, guided, as was
Thecla, by the doctrine of St. Paul to the harbor of eternal salvation, which was perhaps represented in some way in the lost part of the relief, to the left. The early
mention of the martyr, Thecla, in liturgical and other prayers, is well known (cf. St. Cyprian in his Oral, pro Martyr.). Perhaps, also, the sarcophagus was of a woman
also named Thecla, in which case the symbolism would have a double significance. (B Com. Roma, 1897, pp. 35-11.); “And she rose and left the house of the Lady
Tryphaena, and she put on male attire and took with her many men and handmaidens of the lady” [This example was followed by the example of the Martyr Eugenia]
237
All extant forms of the Acts take her first to Myra [[or Merv according to the Syriac & Armenian]] to rejoin Paul, then back to her home at Iconium, and lastly,
across the hills again to Seleucia, where also the Latin and Syriac versions place her death; according to Photius, & Gregory Nazianzen three-quarters of a century
earlier], she lived there for three years in seclusion attached to her shrine.
132
We can picture Queen Tryphaena making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as
the model for Protonike in the Doctrine of Addai, to present her support to
the Churches of Judaea personally, just as Barnabas [who had also
ministered at Antioch and Iconium] had left her an example [Acts 4:36-
37].

She would have met Queen Helen of Adiabene, and been equally shocked
at the desecration of the Tomb of her Lord. We know [based on Rom
16:14] that Tryphaena did make her way to Rome, and possibly made the
emperor Claudius aware of the circumstances regarding the Tomb of
Christ, as suggested by the Protonike Legend.

When she saw that Claudius would not distinguish between Jews & Judeo-
Christians, was she the one to suggest an expulsion from Rome, rather
than a “pogrom”? We do know from Rom 16:14 that she came to Rome
with Tryphosa. This name is actually a variation of Tryphaena’s own
name, suggesting that she was a servant born and raised in her household,
especially devoted, and beloved. But, they were no longer “Mistress &
Servant” – now they were sisters in Christ.

Having divested herself of wealth & titles for the sake of the Gospel, she
found a new family, and a new identity in Christ, serving the “servants of
Caesar” (as a deaconess along side Tryphosa), in the Church at Rome. The
story of the founding of this community of believers can be recovered
from the clues of Mark’s “secret mission” at Rome.

APPENDIX
One Greek version of the Acts of Thecla ends:

“Certain men of the city, being Greeks by religion, and physicians by

profession,238 sent to her insolent young men to ‘destroy her.’ For they said:
She is a virgin, and serves Artemis, and from this she has virtue in healing.

Perhaps Thecla’s story inspired the Roman author Hyginus, [writing AFTER the Acts of Thecla] who, in writing of the Greek maiden, Agnodice, tells us how the
238

medical profession was legalized for all the free-born women of Athens.
133
 And by the providence of God she entered into the rock alive, and went under
ground.”

As Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons comments:

“So successful were her cures that the Seleucian doctors lost their clientele
and, like the Athenian doctors down on Agnodice, their tempers. (They
claimed that Thecla 's power was due to her chastity, and they resorted to one
of the expedients often used by men to show a woman her place)”239
A Byzantine fresco of The
Defile and Tomb of St. Thekla
in Maaloula, Syria

When she came to the cliffs of

Qallamoun she found herself
trapped and prayed to God for
help. Her prayer was answered
when a narrow cleft was
opened in the rock face,
allowing her to escape to a
small cave high up the cliffs.
The Defile of St. Thekla is
where this event took place
and is located to the left of
Convent of St. Thekla, among
numerous shrines and caves.

The epilogue continues,

“She departed to Rome to see Paul, and found that he had fallen asleep. After
staying there no long time, she rested in a glorious sleep; and she is buried
about two or three stadia from the tomb of her master Paul”

In Rome, a catacomb of St. Thecla, the disciple of Paul, is mention in several

pilgrim itineraries from the 600’s on the Via Ostiensis, not far from the burial place

239 The old-fashioned woman: primitive fancies about the sex - Page 289 (1913)

134
of St. Paul. A church stood on this spot on a hill over the catacomb where the body
of the saint rested. It was re-discovered by Armellini.240

Impression of original inscription:

In another inscription (C.I.L. 207125), the two words IVLIAE TRYPHOSA occur
in what is probably a Christian inscription. Her name occurs again, suggesting
Tryphaena’s servant married the Biblical Fortunatus241

(Gruter, p. 796. 3, comp. ib. p. 1133, 1).

240
Armellini, „Das wieder gefundene Oratorium der H. Thecla an der Via Ostiensis“, Rômische Quartalschrift. 1889 p. 344-353; 1890 p. 259-272; cf. Marucchi, Les
catacombes romaines, Rome, 1903, p. 91 sqq]
241
1Co 16:17 I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied; 1Co 16:24 My love be
with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. [The first epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi by Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus and Timotheus]. It appears
that Fortunatus survived Paul, for he was subsequently the messenger of the church at Corinth to that at Rome, and bore back to the Corinthians the epistle which
Clement of Rome sent to them: “Send back speedily to us in peace and with joy these our messengers to you: Claudius Ephebus and Valerius Bito, with Fortunatus”
[59:1]. His praenomen suggests he was a manumitted servant of Titus Flavius T. f. T. n. Sabinus, the elder brother of Vespasian, was consul suffectus in AD 52, and
praefectus urbi for most of Nero's reign.
135
The Secret Mission
of MARK
PART 1:
In the spring of 1955, archaeologists discovered another cave in the area
of Qumran. Unlike the others, Cave 7 contained fragments written only in
Greek. A fragment of the Septuagint [LXX] version of Exodus and the
Letter of Jeremiah [aka in LXX as “Baruch”] were identified.242 Still
another proved to be fragments of a Greek version of Enoch.243 This cave,
at the edge of the esplanade which extends southward from the ruins and
overlooks the Qumran valley, had a jar with the name "roma" [Hebrew for
Rome] painted on it twice in black.244

Large wide-mouthed earthenware amphora, from Cave 7. On the shoulder, the name Roma [Rome],
in black Hebrew letters
242
This edition appeared in 1962 and is entitled: "Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan III, Les 'Petites Grottes de Qumrân". It is commonly referred to by the
initials DJD III. On pages 142-146 the fragments from Qumran cave 7 are analyzed and deciphered. The larger fragments, such as 7Q5, have a description that includes
details about the size, quality and condition of the papyrus.
243
The Epistle of Barnabas quotes Enoch in Greek [4:3=89:56, 16:5=91.13 as “scripture”]; See Iren Haer 4.16.2; Tertullian argued for the scriptural authority of Enoch
(de cultu feminarum 1.3; cf Tertullian Idolatry 1.15). This status lasted until the 3rd century: Anatolius [appointed Bishop of Laodicea in 269] quotes Enoch 72 in
Eusebius Hist. Eccl. vii. 32. 19; It was only by the 4th century that the Church reversed this and strongly censured those who used it [e.g., Augustine (354-429) strongly
denounces Enoch in De Civ. Dei xv.23.4]
244
[pages 572-3 of the 1956 issue of Revue Biblique; trans E. Muro]
136
Analysis proved the jar was made locally, NOT in Rome – it did not refer
to the origin of the jar, but its contents: the Greek papyrus fragments. Here
among the “Dead Sea Scrolls” were a unique set of manuscripts– NOT of
Essene origin – but originating from a Greek-speaking community of Jews
in Rome, secreted away during the Jewish War of AD 66-73. The first 3
scrolls identified were dated around 100 BC. Another fragment was
written only a few decades before the War – not later than AD 50 [As
originally dated by C.H. Roberts in DJD III (1962)]

This fragment [7Q5] waited until 1972 for identification, when Spanish
papyrologist José O'Callaghan recognized it as a fragment of a scroll copy
of Mark’s Gospel. He buttressed his identification in 1974, adding the
evidence of infrared photography, even though modern scholars insisted
that Mark was written later, circa AD 70245

7Q5 scroll fragment

245
"Papiros neotestamentarios en la cueva 7 de Qumran?", Biblica 53 (1972): 91-100; Los Papiros griegos de la Cueva 7 de Qumran (Madrid 1974)
137
In 1984, a German papyrologist independently re-evaluated the 7Q5
fragment and came to exactly the same conclusion as O’Callaghan246.
Still, academia clung to a late date for Mark’s gospel. Extensive computer
research before 1990 (looking for a match to anything in the body of
Greek literature) produced only one result: Mark 6:52-53247

Forensic analysis ensued that confirmed these results, and in 1992 eminent
Viennese papyrologist Herbert Hunger weighed-in, favoring Marcan
identification of 7Q5, before AD 50248 In 1994, Orsolina Montevecchi,
Honorary President of the International Papyrologists' Association, stated
that the identification of 7Q5 as Mark 6:52-53 was without doubt.249 More
recently, papyrologist Karl Jaroš published his analysis in
Aegyptus:Rivista italiana di Egittologia e di Papirologia, 2008, and
concluded that 7Q5 was indeed a fragment of the Gospel of Mark.250 Still
blissfully oblivious to the evidence, seminaries continue to teach future
bible scholars that Mark was written “circa 70 AD.”

Regardless, how did such an early scroll of Mark’s gospel get from Rome
to Cave 7 of Qumran, along with Septuagint scrolls of the Old Testament,
and the Book of Enoch? FIRST, is there evidence of such a Greek-
speaking Judeo-Christian community in Rome BEFORE AD 50? The
apocryphal Acts of Peter from the second century preserve just such a
tradition

After a great defection of believers to the heresy of Simon Magus, we are

told “a multitude that had been established in the faith all fell away, save
Narcissus the presbyter and two women in the lodging of the Bithynians”
[Acts of Peter 4]

246
C.P. Thiede Biblica 67 (1986): 532-538
247
F. Roarhirsch, Markus in Qumran? (Wuppertal-Zurich 1990): 106-128.
248
“7Q5: Markus 6,52-53 - oder? Die Meinung des Papyrologen” Christen und Chrisliches in Qumran? (Regensburg 1992): 33-56
249
http://members.libreopinion.com/phineas/papyrology_and_the_dating_of__th.htm
250
Zur Textüberlieferung des Markusevangeliums nach der Handschrift P.Chester Beatty I (P45), zu 7Q5 und zum "Geheimen
Markusevangelium", Aegyptus, 88, 2008, pp. 71-113. Reaffirmed in his Die ältesten griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments Köln : Böhlau, 2014
138
Who is this Narcissus? And what is the “lodging of the Bithynians”[i.e.,
those from the Greek city of Bithynia in Asia Minor]? Are these historical
traditions? or merely fanciful legends? Consider other details:
1.Peter’s controversy with Simon Magus in the Acts of Peter is later
detailed by Arnobius [Contra Gentes 2.12] in the AD 305, et al
2. Peter’s crucifixion upside down as recorded in the Acts of Peter is
affirmed by Origen (in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. II.i) in the 3rd century, et
al
3. “Narcissus the Presbyter” as mentioned in the Acts of Peter can be
identified with the one referred to by Paul in Rom 16:11 “Salute
Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of
Narcissus, which are in the Lord.”251
Narcissus was a distinguished freedman, who was secretary of letters to
emperor Claudius [r. AD 41-54]. Juvenal alludes to his wealth and his
influence over Claudius (Satire xiv.330).252 According to Tacitus, he was
put to death by Agrippina, the wife of Claudius [Annals. xii.57]. Servants
of his household [Narcissiani] would have continued to bear his name

4. The Acts of Peter also mention a Roman senator “Marcellus” whom

Peter is able to convert, again usually dismissed as a fictitious
character.
BUT, there was in fact a Roman senator named Marcus Asinius
Marcellus who was prominent and respected during Claudius' and Nero’s
reigns (see Tacitus Annals XII.64 and XIV.40)

But what of the claims in Acts of Peter 10 that Simon Magus had
Marcellus dedicate a statue to him as “god”? The story is actually
confirmed by Justin Martyr in his Apology addressed to the Roman
emperor around AD 150, when he reminds him how the Roman people
Claudius were duped by this charlatan into honoring him as a god:

251
There are some who have suggested that the list of names in Romans 16:3-16 are greetings to believers in Ephesus, not Rome. This idea has been refuted by Peter
Lampe [“The Roman Christians of Romans 16” [in The Romans Debate. Revised and Expanded Edition. Edited by K. P. Donfried. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson 1991]
Pp. 216-230
252
His wife named Claudia Dicaeosyna is found mentioned in the following inscription : D. M. ||CLAVDIAE ||DICAEOSYNAE || TI. CLAVDIVS NARCISSUS LIB.
BID. COIV. || PIENTISSIMAE ||ET FRVGALISSI || B. M. (Orell, Inscript. Lat. Select, vol. i. p. 177.) In another inscription we have : NARCISI.Tl. CLAVDI || BRITANIC
|| I. || SVPRA ||INSVLAS.(Orell. /. c. and No. 2927, p. 505.) His name also occurs in Inscript. No. 4902, vol. ii. p. 414.
139
 “There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto,
who in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome,
did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating
in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you
with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between
the two bridges,253 and bore this inscription, in the language of
Rome:—“Simoni Deo Sancto,”254 “To Simon the holy God.” And
almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship
him, and acknowledge him as the first god” [I Apol 34,35255].

A statue was indeed found on the island in the Tiber was found in 1574
bearing the inscription SEMONI SANCO SANCTO DEO (CIL VI.567), the
very statue re-dedicated to him as an “incarnation” of the old Sabine
diety.256

PONS AEMILIUS AND INSULA TIBERINA [“Island between two bridges”] Etienne du Pérac – 1575

253
This was the title of the Island of Aesculapius, (Plutarch, in Poplic. p. 221. ed. Bryan.)
254
It is very generally supposed that Justin was mistaken in understanding this to have been a statue erected to Simon Magus. This supposition rests on the fact that in
the year 1574, there was dug up in the island of the Tiber a fragment of marble, with the inscription “Semoni Sanco Deo,” etc., being probably the base of a statue
erected to the Sabine deity Semo Sancus. This inscription Justin is supposed to have mistaken for the one he gives above. This has always seemed to us very slight
evidence on which to reject so precise a statement as Justin here makes; a statement which he would scarcely have hazarded in an apology addressed to Rome, where
every person had the means of ascertaining its accuracy. If, as is supposed, he made a mistake, it must have been at once exposed, and other writers would not have so
frequently repeated the story as they have done. See Burton’s Bampton Lectures, p. 374. [See Note in Grabe (1.51), and also mine, at the end.]
255
The dedication of this statue is also affirmed by denizens of Rome, including Irenaeus Adv. Hæreses 1.23.1, Tertullian Apology ch. 13, and Eusebius Hist. eccles.
ii.13, 14; S. Augustine affirms [Haer. i. 6] the involvement of the Senate
256
ANF edito: “The explanation is possibly this: Simon Magus was actually recognised as the God Semo, just as Barnabas and Paul were supposed to be Zeus and
Hermes (Acts xiv. 12.), and were offered divine honours accordingly….See Orelli (No. 1860), Insc., vol. i. 337.
140
 “Semoni Sancus” Inscription in situ on Island of Tiber
[Etching by Giuseppe Vasi]

“….during the progress of

the excavations at S.
Silvestro [al Quirinale], a
statue of Semo Sancus and
a pedestal inscribed with
his name should have
appeared in the antiquarian
market of the city. The
statue, reproduced here
from a heliogravure, is life-
sized, and represents a
nude youth, of archaic
type.” 257

CIL VI 30994

257
Pagan and Christian Rome, by Rodolfo Lanciani [Riverside Press, Cambridge 1893], p. 105f
141
 5. And what of “the lodging of the Bithynians” [Acts of Peter 4]?
Could this be the synagogue of Hellenized Jews in Rome from
whence the scrolls originated? It is identified as a “synagogue” in
Acts of Peter 9.
The Theodotus Inscription shows that culture-specific synagogues were
built in 1st-century Jerusalem with lodging accommodations for such
Hellenized Jews:
“Theodotus, (son) of Vettenus, priest and archisynagôgos, son of an
archisynagôgos, grandson of an archisynagôgos, built the synagogue
for the reading of the law and the teaching of the commandments,
and the guest-chamber and the rooms and the water installations for
lodging for those needing them from abroad, which his fathers, the
elders and Simonides founded”
We know that Peter’s ministry was specifically to the Jewish
commonwealth [Gal 2:7]. We also know that Peter did minister to Greek-
speaking Jews of Bithynia in Asia Minor [1Pet 1:1]. This colony of
Bithynian Jews in Rome was the natural base for his work in that city

What was the threat of Simon Magus that impelled Peter to travel to Rome
and challenge it? The editors of the old Jewish Encyclopedia recognized
that the thrust of Simon’s theology was a Messianic claim [cf Irenæus
(Adv Hær i. 23, § 1)] - targeting Jews - that countered the apostles’
message of the “Crucified Christ”

One of the critical controversies reported in the Acts of Peter is also the
most incredible: Simon Magus’ promise to the people of Rome, in proof
of his divinity, to ascend into the air.
As incredible as the controversy sound, it is affirmed by a number of
Church Fathers and ancient Christian historians;258 more remarkably,
Greek and Roman writers of the time confirm this account: 1st-century
philosopher and historian Dio Chrystostom reported (Orat. xxi.9) that for
some time Nero maintained at his court a man who had pledged himself to

258
In Africa it was known to Arnobius (Contra Gentes 2.12-13); the legates of Pope Liberius speak of it in their letter to Eusebius of Vercellae (355); and Saint Cyril of
Jerusalem [Catech. vi. 14, 15] also alludes to it (347)
142
fly through the air. Suetonius (vita Nero xii.2) also relates that once, at the
games, a man endeavored to fly in Nero's presence.

Giacomo Grimaldi’s sketch of Simon Magus’ Flight and Fall, based on a lost fresco in the Peter Cycle
in the Oratory of Pope John VII (705–707)259

A later authority declares that the aerial battle with Peter took place on a
Sabbath on which the faithful were holding a "proseuche" (synagogal
assembly) and keeping a fast especially on account of their teacher
Simon.260 While it is true that the Christians were as yet little
differentiated from the Jews, and that the "faithful" might equally well
have been Christians, yet the fast (the Romans believed that the Jews
fasted on the Sabbath), i.e., the rest from work, is characteristically
Jewish.

The story of this flight at Rome must have been well known to the Jews,
since the Toledot Yeshu tells of a similar aerial battle that took place
between Jesus and the champion of the Jews;261 and this same legend
shows that the Jews regarded Simon as one of their own number.262 The
editors further note:
“In their opposition to Christianity the Jews may have felt a certain
sympathy with the teachings of Simon,…when he fell wounded to the

259
See http://www.doaks.org/resources/publications/dumbarton-oaks-papers/dop55/dp55ch15.pdf
260
Glycas, "Annales," ed. Bonn, i. 236, 439)
261
Krauss, "Das Leben Jesu nach Jüdischen Quellen," p. 179 et passim)
262
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=798&letter=S
143
 earth, and was taken to Aricia, a small town near Rome where his
grave is yet shown, Jews are alleged to have escorted him thither”263

The mix of Politics and Theology becomes clear: Tiberius vetoed the
senatus consultum that would have criminalized Christianity. Next,
Caligula threatened Jewish & Christian worship by trying to install his
image and institute emperor worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. Then,
Claudius took a “wait and see” attitude to the whole affair, and it was
then that Simon Magus presented himself as wonder-working and
victorious alternative to “Christ crucified.” He appealed to Roman
sensibilities, and was willing to impress and entertain the Senate with
“miracles” on demand, the very thing they criticized Christ for not doing.
Porphyry criticizes Jesus because he appeared to obscure people,264
instead of worthy and authoritative (episêmoi, axiopistoi) characters of
that time (hoi hama) like Pilate or Herod,
"and above all to the Senate and the people of Rome, so that they,
astonished by his wonders, would not make, with unanimous decision
[dogmati koinôi], liable to death, as impious, those who obeyed (or:
were persuaded by) him [...] If he had appeared to worthy and
influential men, thanks to them all would have believed, and no one
of the judges would have punished them as inventors of absurd tales.
For God surely does not like, but an intelligent man does not either,
that many people have to undergo the most serious punishments
owing to him."265

Again, while the Acts of Peter are mostly unhistorical legend, they manage
to preserve certain historical incidentals about this Hellenized Jewish
colony of believers in Rome that gave rise to the scrolls in Qumran Cave
7. These apocryphal Acts only quote the LXX as authoritative scripture.
Most remarkably, they refer to only one New Testament writing:

263
The author of the Philosophumena, who wrote about the year 225, reports the Magician offers to submit to being buried alive, affirming that he would arise on the
third day, as the Christ had risen ; he was buried, but never came forth from his voluntary tomb.
264
This objection was already raised by Celsus, ap. Orig. C. Cels. 2. 59, and it must be ancient, since Tertullian refutes it in Apol. 21.22: Jesus after his resurrection "nec
se in vulgus eduxit, ne inpii errore liberarentur, ut et fides, non mediocri praemio destinata, difficultate constaret.”
265
Porphyrian fragment, F64 Harnack, kept in Macarius of Magnesia's Apocriticus (II 14)
144
 “And Peter entered into the dining-hall and saw that the Gospel was
being read, and he rolled up the scroll and said: ‘Ye men that believe
and hope in Christ, learn in what manner the holy Scripture of our
Lord ought to be declared’” [Acts of Peter 20]
By the end of the 1st-century, Christian writings were written and
preserved in codex-format. 100 years later, the Acts of Peter preserve an
accurate historical detail that the Gospel of Mark was originally written on
a scroll, AND was the only Gospel available for Romans to read in Greek
at the time [the original Hebrew of Matthew’s account had not yet been
translated into Greek]

Most icons and illustrations of the Evangelists depict them either

composing or holding a codex manuscript; icons often visualize certain
historical and traditional elements, such as the Freer Codex showing Mark
as “stump-fingered” [a tradition attested by Hippolytus266 and the Latin
Gospel preface]. Some icons do preserve the accurate detail of Mark
composing on a scroll:

266
Early in the third century Hippolytus ("Philosophumena", VII, xxx) refers to Mark as  , i.e. "stump-fingered"
145
In the Loisel Gospel manuscript [9th century] for example,
Mark is depicted at the Porch of the Temple [in accord with the tradition
that he was a priest prior to conversion]; one of the 4 “living creatures”
dictates the scroll, [depicting “verbal inspiration”]; also, a container of
scrolls [capsa] depicts his role as apostolic scribe and tabellarius. Here we
come tantalizingly close to the image of Mark ready to transport the
scrolls from Rome.

Uniform church tradition recounts that Mark was Peter’s interpreter and
scribe on his first trip to Rome. Jerome’s Chronicon specifies the date of
this mission as AD 42, and Mark’s gospel was based on Peter’s preaching
at Rome. As Epiphanius says, “Matthew wrote first and Mark soon after,
being a companion of Peter at Rome” [Panarion 51.6]. We shall learn,
however, that Luke was not at liberty to record this mission because of
their sensitive and secret nature.

PART 2

In 1941, 11 ossuaries were discovered in an untouched tomb by

archaeologists E. L. Sukenik.267 They came to light through a systematic
survey of tombs in the Kidron Valley, in the Arab village of Silwan. The
burial cave was a single, rock-hewn chamber without niches of any sort,
only benches along three walls, a tomb style characteristic of the First
Temple period (tenth to early sixth century B.C.). However, all the pottery
finds inside, including a distinctive type of Herodian oil lamp, pointed
conclusively to the time of the tomb’s last use: the first century AD,
before the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in the year 70. The inscriptions
in these “bone boxes” were all written in Greek letters except for one in
Hebrew and one bi–lingual (the Greek–Hebrew “Alexander” lid
inscription).

267
Nahman Avigad, “A Depository of Inscribed Ossuaries in the Kidron Valley,” Israel Exploration Journal 12 (1962), pp. 1–12.
146
Four of the names were Hebraic names: Sara, Sabatis, Jacob and Simon,
and, except for Simon, they were names little used in Israel but common
in the Diaspora. The eight Hellenstic names found on the ossuaries:
Arristobola, Philiskos, Damon, Thaliarchos, Dositheus, Mnaso [cp Acts
21:6268], Horea, and Alexander. One of the ossuaries reads “Sara
[daughter] of Simon of Ptolemais” [one of the cities of the Cyrene
Pentapolis].

Dr. Tal Ilan commented: “[T]he name Sara is almost non–existent in

Jewish material from Palestine at the time of the ossuaries ... and was very
popular in Cyrene ... I also believe the name Thaliarchus is much attested
in Cyrene.”269 Returning to the bi-lingual “Alexander” ossuary, the
“front” of the chest has “Alexander [son] of Simon” written in green

268
He had come, probably, with the other Cyprians (Ac 11:20), to Antioch, "preaching the Lord Jesus unto the Grecians," and now he appears settled at Jerusalem.
Solomon, Nestorian bishop of Basra in the 13th century , says he was one of the seventy-two [Luke 10]. Or, Acts 21:6 [Codex Bezae] And after certain days we bade
them farewell, and we go up to Jerusalem from Caesarea; and with us those who led us to him with whom we should lodge. And when they came to a certain
village, we stayed with Nason a certain Cyprian, an old disciple; and going forth thence we came to Jerusalem. And the brethren received us gladly. [In this text it is
plain that from Caesarea to Jerusalem is a two days' journey: and they travelled with him to introduce him to Mnason who was to entertain him for the first night.]
269
Dr. Ilan compiled of Jewish names used in Palestine in classical antiquity, Alexander, documented only 31 times, is shown to be not a very common name at the time
[compared to 237 occurrences of “Simon” for example]. See also Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity, Part 1: Palestine 330 B.C.E.–200 C.E. (Mohr
Siebeck, 2002).
147
chalk, on two lines. The Hebrew inscription on the lid identifies him as
“Alexander [the] Cyrenian”270 The nominative form of a name means, in
essence, that it is just a name. The nominative forms we are dealing with
here (in English transliteration) are Simon and Alexandros.

First, the bones of man named Simon were interred, and his single name—
SIMON—was deeply incised at the center and top of the “back” of the
chest. This was stage one. In stage two, the remains of Alexander, Simon’s
son, were added to the ossuary. Now, to the existing name SIMON the
false start ALE was appended, in shallower and less distinct letters.
Starting over on a new line, the same amateur engraver, using the same
shallow lines, added the proper “Alexander (son) of Simon.” (At the same
time, the existing, previously blank lid would have received its bi–lingual
inscription, seemingly by a more trained hand.)

We have here a list of the interred, in which case the ossuary contained the
remains of both men. In other words, the Family Tomb of “Simon of
Cyrene” [Matt 27:32, Luke 23:26] had been found, including the ossuary
he shared with his son, Alexander [Mark 15:21]. These “bone-boxes”
actually give us an important clue to the context and content of Mark’s
mission.

Cyrene was originally a Greek colony, and Ptolemy I, son of Lagus,

deported large numbers of Jews to this and other cities of Libya (Josephus
C.Apion II. 4). When it was conquered by the Romans, it became a
functionally bilingual community. The ossuaries provide archeological
evidence that not only did some Cyrenian Jew resettle in Jerusalem, but
that they also learned Hebrew. It is only history, however, that can tell us
when and why.

If we look to the ancient traditions of Church history, we find that Bishop

Severus of the 10th century records that for the Jews of Cyrene

270
See Finegan’s The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church. (rev.ed. Princeton UP 1992)
148
 “great troubles came upon them from the two tribes of the Berbers and
Ethiopians, when they were robbed of all their wealth, in the time of
Augustus Caesar [before AD 14] , prince of the Romans. So on account
of the loss of their property, and the trials which had befallen them,
they fled from that province, in their anxiety to save their lives, and
traveled to the land of the Jews [Judaea].” [History of the Patriarchs
1.1]

Bishop Severus records that the Family of John Mark were among those
that fled and resettled in Jerusalem. These transplants retained their own
sense of community and helped form the synagogue of Cyrenians in
Jerusalem. [Acts 6.9]. They were among those baptized on Pentecost [Acts
2:10]. These multi-lingual believers were among the leaders that started
the church plant in Antioch [Acts 11:20]

John Mark, while retaining a special connection with his contemporaries

in the community [like mentioning fellow Cyrenians Alexander and Rufus
in his gospel 15:21], remained in Jerusalem, taking care of his mother and
ministering to the Apostles. [Acts 12:12]
The statement found in the commentaries of Jerome and Bede, and in the
preface which precedes the Gospel in most Mss. of the Vulgate:
"Mark the Evangelist, who exercised the priestly office in Israel, a
Levite by race" [Marcus evangelista … sacerdotium in Israhel agens,
secundum carnem Levita].
In other words, he supported his family by exercising the privilege of his
Levitical birthright in the Temple, participating in the Hebrew liturgy.

Severus informs us of multiple family connections; not only was his father
a brother to Barnabas [cp. Col 4:1], but their cousin was Peter’s wife [cp.
Mark 1:30].271 For Peter and Barnabas, this family history (and his
trilingual abilities) made John Mark an exceptionally trustworthy co-
worker, whereas he still had to prove himself with Paul [cp Acts 15:37-39

The cousin of Barnabas (o aneqiov barnaba). It was used for "nephew" very late, [Robertson’s] The Arabic version calls him here, the "brother’s son of
271

Barnabas": and the Syriac version, hdd rb, "his uncle’s son":
149
and 2Tim 4:11]. In fact, Paul was unaware of Mark’s secret missionary
work when he came along on the latter’s 1st mission as merely an
“attendant” [Acts 13:5, Rotherham’s].

Why this secrecy? Luke’s account in Acts will provide a clue. Even today,
in countries and regions were Christians are persecuted and evangelism is
illegal, missionaries will have to engage in covert efforts to reach the
“lost” [Luke 19:10]. So it was in apostolic times. Christ had disciples in
“high places” that kept their Christianity a secret in order to facilitate
behind-the-scene efforts.

One example is Joseph of Arimathea, called explicitly a “secret disciple”

by John [19:38 Weymouth’s], planning Christ’s burial on behalf of the
Sanhedrin [cp. Acts 13:29]. Luke only reports his role after his death, but
does not mention the role of Nicodemus [John 19:39] who was still alive
and influential as a secret disciple.

While the Apostles remained in Jerusalem, much of the church there was
scattered by the persecution that arose after Stephen’s Martyrdom [Acts
8:1], from AD 35 and lasting until AD 41 [Acts 11:19]. This actually
resulted in the spread of Christianity beyond the confines of Jerusalem and
Judaea. BUT, as Luke consistently points out, this evangelism was “to
none but unto the Jews only” [Acts 11:19]. Luke ONLY documents this
Inter-Jewish evangelism among the early disciples for a very good reason.

1) Jews who did not have Roman citizenship were restricted in their
freedom of movement, assembly, and speech. These were limited to
fellow Jewish communities in the Empire, which were allowed to
regulate their own internal affairs
2) The introduction of a “new god” or religion into the Empire was
strictly forbidden without government approval [e.g., Acts 16:21]. Any

150
 such activity was considered subversive and treated as a capital
offence.272
3) Even Paul, who as a Roman citizen had much greater latitude in these
areas, was careful not to treat Christ as a “new God” [e.g., Acts 17:23]

Nationalist and separatist religions were not tolerated, with two

remarkable exceptions: they involved a hostile relation to the Imperial
unity, and were Druidism,273 and Judaism, which obtained a peculiar
toleration and was allowed to continue as a separatist cult. But even
Druidism was eventually proscribed:
"He [Claudius] utterly abolished the cruel and inhuman religion of
the Druids among the Gauls, which under Augustus had merely been
prohibited to Roman citizens; ..." (Suetonius vita Claud. XXV.5.)
In this atmosphere of religious repression, Christianity had to operate
under the fragile legal framework of “Judaism.”

Luke, from Acts 12 on, focuses on Paul’s ministry for the very purpose of
documenting its LEGAL nature,274 and his mistreatment in spite of being a
Roman citizen
 By way of contrast, Luke documents the origin of the false claims of
Simon Magus in Acts 8
 In Acts 11, he documents the hostility of the Herodian dynasty, and
Peter’s escape from execution.
What transpired in Roman history between these events? The reign of
Caligula [r. AD 37-41]275

Caligula befriended Herod Agrippa and not only restored all the territories
of his grandfather, Herod the Great [that had been divided among the sons

272
Servius on Virgil, Ænead, viii. 181, says, “Care was taken among the Athenians and the Romans, that no one should introduce new religions. It was on this account
that Socrates was condemned, and the Chaldeans or Jews were banished from the city.” Cicero (de Legibus ii. 8) says, “No person shall have any separate gods, or new
ones; nor shall he privately worship any strange gods, unless they be publicly allowed.” Tertullian says, that “there was a decree that no god should be consecrated,
unless approved by the senate.” [Apolog. c. 5. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 2.]
273
Druids were seen as essentially non-Roman: a prescript of Augustus forbade Roman citizens to practice "druidical" rites. Under Tiberius, Pliny reported, the druids
were suppressed—along with diviners and physicians— by a decree of the Senate [Natural History xxx.4], but this had to be renewed by Claudius in 54 – note the
parallels and contrasts with the senatus consultam and Tiberius’ veto in AD 35 regarding Christianity.
274
Paul On Trial: The Book Of Acts As A Defense Of Christianity by John W. Mauck [Nelson 2001] concludes that the Book of Acts was originally a legal brief written
to Theophilus, the chief pretrial fact investigator for the infamous Roman Emperor Nero
275
In a passage of Suetonius’ Vita Caligula [57.4], we learn of a performance before Caligula of a play named Laureolus [“the crowned one”], a farce in which this
robber is crucified upon the stage = a cruel parody of Christian preaching about a leader of the Jews crucified as a “robber”?
151
and Rome], but actually expanded the total area of his kingdom,
approaching the territory under King David. Jews began looking upon
Herod Agrippa as a possible Messiah. According to the Mishnah, the
High Priest allowed Agrippa to fulfill the “messianic” role of reading the
Torah Scroll [m.Sotah 7:8a] to inaugurate the Sabbatical year in the Fall of
AD 41276

Special coins Agrippa had minted for the Sabbatical Year

[His coins minted in Jewish areas had no images, but coins minted in other areas had “graven
images” – demonstrating his duplicity]

In the meantime, Caligula began demanding veneration as a “living God”

and called for the installation of his image in the Temple at Jerusalem. 277
Christians began to see the fulfillment of the “abomination of desolation”
[Matt 24:15] as imminent.

Agrippa appealed to Caligula to stop this attempt, but the only thing that
prevented it was Caligula’s assassination by some of the Praetorian Guard.
Under emperor Claudius, Agrippa reputation and influence grew,
especially in the eastern territories and beyond. Only the Christian’s
continued preaching undermined the legitimacy of his reign, and Herodian
claims of “messiahship.” In AD 42, Agrippa had the apostle James
executed [Acts 12:1-2], with much support from antagonistic Jews.278

276
His coins minted in Jewish areas had no images, but coins minted in other areas had “graven images” – demonstrating his duplicity
277
See Josephus Ant. 18-19 and Philo ad Gaius, & in Flaccum
278
According to the Aethiopic Martyrdom of James (Budge, II, 304-8), James preached to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, and persuaded them to give their first-fruits to
the church instead of to Herod. The accounts of his trial and death are similar to that in Acts 12:1-2. At his martyrdom in Acts 12:1-2, we are told by Clement of
Alexandria [in Hypotyposes 7 via Eusebius Eccl.Hist. II.9.2-3] that the executioner who led James bar Zebedee to judgment, moved by his confession, became a
Christian himself, and they were beheaded together.
152
Christians saw him as a false messianic “anti-Christ” under Gods
impending judgment.

Coin showing Claudius & Agrippa in the “holy of holies” of a temple [2Th 2:4]
The apostle Peter is then captured and sentenced to death, but
miraculously escapes; he then leaves the scene and is not heard from again
until the Jerusalem council of AD 48 in Acts 15. Obviously, he is trying to
get beyond the reach of the Herodian Kingdom, but where does he go?

After giving us a detailed itinerary of Peter’s movements, from Samaria

[Acts 8:14,25], to Lydda [9:32], to Joppa [9:38], to Caesarea [10:24], and
back to Jerusalem [11:2]. Suddenly [and purposefully], Luke becomes
very vague. After debriefing believers on his miraculous escape, all we are
told is: Act 12:17 And he departed, and went “into another place” [eis
eteron topon].279

According to Eusebius’ Chronicon, Jerome’s de viri illus, Paulus Orosius

(Hist. adv. paganos lib. VIII.6), et al, this was Luke’s code-word for
Peter’s mission to Rome in AD 42;280 but Peter did not go alone; both
Clement in the 2nd century and Papias in the 1st century knew “Babylon”
279
Scholars know that Luke made specific use of the Septuagint version of Ezekiel, and this EXACT phrase occurs only in the Septuagint at Ezekiel 12:3 (LXX) . . .
and thou shalt be led into captivity from thy place into another place [eis eteron topon] [For Luke’s use LXX Ezekiel, see M.R. Strom “An Old Testament Background
to Acts 10-23” NTS 32 [1986] pp 289-32] This is Luke’s way of cryptically paralleling Ezekiel’s departure to Babylon and Peter’s departure to “New Babylon” [1Pet
5:13]
280
A large number of early Christian sarcophagi uncovered (now in the Lateran Museum) show scenes of Peter's imprisonment by Herod with his subsequent release by
an angel. The French historian Paul Allard, in his Persecutions of the First Two Centuries, points out that the frequency with which this subject was depicted proves a
CLOSE CONNECTION between this event and the FIRST VISIT OF PETER TO ROME. [Histoire des persécutions pendant les deux premiers siècles By Paul Allard
[V. Lecoffre, 1903] p. 16, and Rome souterraine: By James Spencer Northcote, Giovanni Battista de Rossi, William Robert Bernard Brownlow, William-R. Brownlow,
Paul Allard trans. [Didier et c.ie, 1874] p. 450]
153
was Peter’s cryptogram for Rome281 in 1Pet 5:13, were he states Mark is
with him. Apostolic testimony affirms that Mark was Peter’s aide-de-
camp. The crucial testimony has been recorded by Papias, who quotes his
teacher John as follows:
The Elder would say “Mark, who had indeed been the interpreter
(hermeneutes) of Peter,….” (Eusebius EH 3.39)
Clement of Alexandria specifies:
“Mark, the follower of Peter (while Peter publicly preached the
Gospel at Rome before some of Caesar's noblemen and adduced
many testimonies to Christ), in order that thereby they [the nobles]
might be able to commit to memory what was spoken by Peter, wrote
entirely what is called the Gospel according to Mark.” [From
Cassiodorus’ Latin translation (Adumbrationes) of Clement’s
commentary on 1Pet]

Byzantine Ivory depicting Mark [R] transcribing as Peter [L] preaches in the “CITY of ROME”

281
Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 2.15.2; cf Syncellus’ MS referred to in his Chronicon (just as “Babylon” was a Roman by-word for decadence, used by
contemporaries Petronius [Satyricon 55 in C.P. Thiede Biblica 67 (1986): 532-538] and the 1st cent author of Sibylline Oracles 5.215)
154
Peter and Mark’s mission among “Caesar’s noblemen” – and the resultant
written gospel - would continue the world-upending impact [Acts 17:6] of
the Christ’s message. The next step in the journey to Qumran continues in
underground Rome – literally, underground . . .

PART 3

For centuries, it was commonly known that the first Christian basilicas
were those of St John Lateran and the Old St Peter’s in Rome, from the
early 4th century.282 Amazingly, an underground basilica from the first
century was discovered in 1917 (near the Porta Maggiore in Rome)– it
was identical in design to the Christian-style basilica.283

282
Possibly earlier is the most ancient portions of the basilica of Santa Maria of Cosmedin, built under Dionysius in the 3rd century
283
Walls, vaulted ceilings, pilasters, and apse are all covered with well-preserved stucco reliefs, executed in a bold and rapid style. Among the subjects are mythological
compositions (Apollo and Marsyas, the punishment of the Danaids, Hermes Psychopompus, Hercules and the Hesperids are mentioned), figures of orantes, sacrificial
and ritual objects, and symbols of resurrection and afterlife. In the main chamber all decoration is in white stucco, but the vestibule has a dado of Pompeian red, adorned
with bright figures of flowers and birds, and a ceiling decorated with squares of sapphire blue; “vaulted hall of basilican type, some fourteen meters long and eight
meters wide, with vestibule, apse, and three aisles divided by pillars, built early in the first century AD; the decoration is entirely Greek in spirit, showing no motives
derived from oriental cults or from astrology.” Cumont argues that the building was used by a neo-Pythagorean assembly [La Basilique Pythagoricienne de la Porte
Majeure by Jerome Carcopino], but when was [neo-] Pythagoreanism an illegal “superstition”? American journal of archaeology vols. 22,25
155
Scholars astutely noted that not far from the site was also discovered a
large tomb for the slaves and the freedmen of the gens Statilia. Here was
the secret site of worship for the Roman senator Statilius Taurus and his
confidantes, destroyed in AD 53 when he was sentenced to death for “the
practice of magic" (ceterum magicas superstitiones - Tacitus Annals
xii.59).284 Was he yet another “secret disciple” of Jesus?

Pagan Romans of the time described Christianity as a “superstitio nova et

malefic” (Suet. Nero 16), as a “superstitio prava, immodica” (Pliny Ep
x.96-97), as an “exitiabilis superstitio” (Tacitus Annals xv.44), and as a
“vana et demens superstitio” (Min. Felix Octav 9). We will recall the
Latin inscription in Portugal recording the success of Nero in extirpating
the “new superstition.”285 As such, Christianity became a life-and-death
matter for Roman nobility. Tacitus refers to the aristocrat Pomponia
Graecina, charged with converting to a “foreign superstition” but,
“during the reign of Claudius, she escaped unpunished, and it was
afterwards counted a glory to her” (Annals 23.32).
An inscription bearing her name as ΠΟΜΠΟΝΙΟC ΓΡΗΚΕΙΝΟC was
found in the Christian cemetery of Callixtus. The oldest [1st century] part
of this cemetery is in fact the “Crypt of Lucina,” and in the 19th century,
De Rossi was able to identify Pomponia’s Christian baptismal name with
this very Lucina.286

What had happened after these early years of Claudius reign’s that led to
the active banning of Christianity at Rome? We know Claudius was very
suspicious of Jews to begin with, and worried about an uprising. He even
severely limited Jewish rights of assembly at Rome at the start of his reign
in AD 41:
“As for the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason
of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to
bar them from the city, he did not [at first] drive them out, but

284
“It looks as though the chapel had a short life, and a violent end” [The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy 1983by Paul Lachlan MacKendrick],
p.236
285
[NOVAM GENERI. HUM. SUPER. STITION. ] Johannes Gruter Inscript, p. 238 [see Nathaniel Lardner’s Works v6, p. 623]
286
J.S. Northcote & W.R.Brownlow Roma Sotteranea (London 1879): 82-3, 279-81
156
 ordered them, while continuing their traditional mode of life, not to
hold meetings.” [Dio Cassius Hist 60.6.6]
But he also wrote a warning letter to the Alexandrians in AD 41,
deciphered by Dr. Idris Bell in 1924 and correctly explained by Franz
Cumont and Salomon Reinach. They show that it refers to Jewish itinerant
or fugitive Messianist agitators coming down by boat from Syria because
of the famine of this year whom Alexandrian Jews are forbidden “to invite
or to receive, unless they want to incur the emperor's gravest suspicions”,
as “propagating a certain world-wide pest” [Papyrus Lond. VI.1912, in the
British Museum]. It was in this state of “heightened alert” that Mark &
Peter made their secret mission to Rome itself in AD 42.

Sarcophagus Relief of Claudian Harbor287

In Rome, Peter came into contact with Philo of Alexandria [Eusebius

Eccl.Hist 2.17.1], who had come as part of Jewish embassy to entreat
Caligula not to violate the Temple in Jerusalem. Philo stayed in Rome
during the transition to emperor Claudius, to address these continuing
concerns [2.18.8]. According to Photius:
“during the reign of the emperor Claudius, he had visited Rome,
where he met St. Peter, chief of the apostles, and became friends
with him, which explains why he thought the disciples of St. Mark
the evangelist, who was a disciple of St. Peter, worthy of praise,
saying that they led a contemplative life amongst the Jews.”
[Bibliotheca Cod 105]
Here we learn that Mark conducted two critical missions, both in “hot
zones” – not just Rome, but also among Jews in Alexandria. As stated in
Isidore’s Chronicon:

Note depiction of 200ft lighthouse built in imitation of the Alexandrian Harbor’s Pharos lighthouse
287

157
 “Claudius ruled for fourteen years. With him ruling, the apostle Peter
went to Rome against Simon Magus. Also Mark the Evangelist,
preaching Christ in Alexandria, wrote his gospel.” [69]

Was Claudius’ warning to the Alexandrians about Jewish “itinerants” an

unwitting reaction to Mark’s Christian evangelism? According to Eusebius
[Eccl.Hist 2.17], Philo documented the fruit of Mark’s missionary work in
Alexandria, referring to the Christian commune as the Therapeutae
[meaning ‘God-worshippers’] in his De Vita Contemplativa. Like Luke,
Philo maintained their anonymity, preserving them from persecution, just
as Dionysius Areopagita [Acts 17:34] discretely referred to Christian
monastics as therapeutae288

Clement of Alexandria reports:

“As for Mark, then, during Peter's stay in Rome he wrote an account
of the Lord's doings (ton praxein tou kyriou), . . . .But when Peter
finished witnessing (marturêsantos), Mark came over to Alexandria,
bringing both his own notes (hypomemnata) and those of Peter, from
which he transferred to his former book"289

Mark’s mission, in defiance of the order of the Emperor, was critical to

reach this colony of Jewish disciples of John the Baptist [see Acts 18:24-
25] with the message of Jesus as Christ [cp Acts 19:1-4], fulfilling John’s
prophecy [Mark 1:8]. After establishing deacons, elders, and discipleship
classes [see Philo, Eusebius, & Martyrium Marci290], he ordained a native
of Alexandria, Annianus [a Latinized form of Hananiah], as Bishop [also,
Apost Const vii.45]

Mark and Peter continued to risk their lives to get this message out to
fellow Jews and Gentiles alike, with a sense of urgency [cp 1Cor 9:16]
288
Dionysius Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 6.1, etc
289
From the Mar Saba Clementine ad Theodorus; cf. “Peter also had Mark, whose gospel was composed with Peter narrating and Him writing” Jerome [Ep. 120 ad
Hebid]; cf Origen: “Mark who composed as Peter led him” (EH 6.25.5); Clement uses the word hypomemna in reference to Mark (EH 2.15.1) in this sense, see A. van
den Hoek Vigilae Christianae 50 (1996): 225; B.C. Butler Originality of St Matthew (Cambridge UP, 1951): 167-169; see Richard Simon’s suggestion ("Hist. crit. du
Texte du N.T.", 1689 [!], 107) that the Evangelist may have published both a Roman and an Egyptian edition of the Gospel.
290
See also Martyrologium Romanum (25 April), Epiphanius (Hær li.6); Philo in the D. V. C. mentions young men that serve at table (διακονοῦντες) and a president
(πρόεδρος) who leads in the exposition of the Scriptures
158
based on knowledge of an impending toll on humanity. Not merely lives,
but souls were at stake [Matt 10:28]: the prophetic community at
Jerusalem had been given a revelation of a famine that would eventually
devastate the entire Empire [Acts 11:27-28]

1) Dio Cassius, mentions a severe famine in the first and second year of
the reign of Claudius, which was sorely felt in Rome itself. “There
being a great famine, he not only took care for a present supply, but
provided also for the time to come.” [60.11]
2) In the fourth year of Claudius’ reign, the famine reached Judea: “A
famine did oppress them at the time, and many people died for the
want of what was necessary to procure food. Queen Helena sent
some of her servants to Alexandria with money to buy a great
quantity of corn, and others of them to Cyprus to bring a cargo of
dried figs."291
3) Yet another famine is recorded by Eusebius for the ninth year of the
reign of Claudius. He writes in his Chronicon, “There was a great
famine in Greece, in which a modius of wheat was sold for six
drachmas.”

291
So reports Josephus in Ant. xx.5.2 We learn from Moses Khorenatsi & Orosius that Helena was yet another “secret disciple” of Christ at the time; cp. Ro 15:25 But
now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. 26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are
at Jerusalem. 27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to
minister unto them in carnal things; 1Co 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the
first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come; 2Co 9:1 For as touching the
ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: 2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that
Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many; Ga 2:10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward
to do.
159
 “Famine coins” struck by Claudius Caesar shows a modius grain measure [L]; compare imagery of
Rev 6:5-6292
4) Finally, the devastating famine reached its height in Rome, as
mentioned by Suetonius (Claud. 18), and by Tacitus, (Ann. xii.43),
who says, that “it was so severe, that it was deemed to be a divine
judgment.”
With the death of Herod Agrippa in AD 44 [Act 12:20-23], the Jews lost
their greatest advocate in Rome [Josephus Ant xviii.7.7]. Based on Roman
superstitions of the time, this left Judaism open for being an easy
scapegoat as the cause of this “divine judgment” [Christianity not being
distinguished from Judaism at the time]

Orosius wrote that Claudius finally expelled the Jews from Rome in the 9th
year of his reign, AD 49 [Historiae adv paganos 7.6.15-16293], as reported
by Luke (Acts 18:2) Suetonius ascribes the expulsion of the Jews from
Rome under Claudius to the constant instigation of sedition by
“Chrestus.”294 [Vita Claud 5.25.4]

Claudius finally “discerned” the specific offence against the gods that
needed atoning.
1) Some Jews supported Simon Magus’ claim to be “Christ” [Acts of
Peter 4, et al], while others said Jesus had shown He was “Christ” by
the Resurrection [1Pet 1:3]
2) Some Jews countered that there was no Resurrection, only an empty
tomb because of grave-robbing [Matt 28: 13-15], while others said
the tomb desecration occurred only after the Resurrection
3) From Claudius’ pagan perspective, this was seen as an issue of tomb-
desecration, and blasphemy against the dead, all at the instigation of a
“Chrestus”

292
Re 6:5 (AV) And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair
of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see
thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”
293
Orosius preserves an otherwise lost testimony of Josephus as his source
294
Greeks and Romans understood little or nothing about the import of the word anointed, hence they substituted Chrestus, or "excellent", for Christus or "anointed",
and Chrestians instead of "Christians." Justin Martyr (Apol., I, 4), Clement of Alexandria (Strom., II, iv, 18), Tertullian (Adv. Gentes, II), and Lactantius (Inst. Div., IV,
vii, 5), as well as St. Jerome (In Gal., V, 22), are acquainted with the pagan substitution of Chrestes for Christus, and are careful to explain the new term in a favourable
sense. The pagans made little or no effort to learn anything accurate about Christ and the Christians
160
 4) He responded by expelling all Jews from Rome and publishing an
edict in Galilee known as the “Nazareth Decree”295:
“Edict of Caesar: It satisfies me that
the graves and tombs [that] whoever,
for the cult worship of ancestors,
makes, or of children or household
members, that those [graves and
tombs] remain unmoved throughout
their existence. And if anyone
charges that anyone has either
destroyed them, or in some other
way made off with what was buried
in them, or to another place with
knavish malice took, for the purpose
of doing injury to the buried, or the
doorstone or stones switched, against
that man I order that a trial occur,
just like [a trial] concerning the
gods, for the cult worship of men.”

Even these measures failed to curb the “divine judgment” of the famine:
Eusebius’ Chronicon focuses on the famine in the 10th year of Claudius,
Tacitus on the culmination of the famine in the 11th year (Annals 12.43).
Claudius “realizes” this is not merely Judaism, but a new superstition
already condemned in AD 35, yet still infiltrating the ranks of Roman
nobility – it is then he begins the purges of the Senatorial rank: according
to Suetonius [vita Claud 29] and Seneca [Apocolocyntosis 14], Claudius
put to death 35 senators and between 200-300 knights. Prosecution for the
specific charge of being a Christian is documented as early as AD 50,
according to the original Acts of Paul and Thekla.296 It was at this point
that it became critical to “secret away” any incriminating documents that
might be used as evidence against believers in Rome, like the Gospel of
Mark. Was this what took Mark away from his work with Paul and
Barnabas? [Acts 13:13] Was this what he could not explain to Paul as a
Roman citizen, lest Paul be implicated? [Acts 15:38-39]

295
“Indeed, even a decree of Caesar would hardly be displayed in Galilee until after Antipas' reign ended in AD 44. That means it is possible that Claudius made the
decree.” Alan Millard Discoveries From the Time of Jesus (Chariot Victor 1990)
296
“And Demas and Hermogenes said: Bring him before [Castelius] the governor as one that persuadeth the multitudes with the new doctrine of the Christians”
161
With these scrolls recovered and stored in Jerusalem, they remained there
safely until the assassination of James the Just, brother of Jesus in AD 62
[Josephus Ant 20.9]. After that (between AD 62-66), the Jerusalem Church
began to migrate from there to Pella297 beyond the Jordan, before the
outbreak of the Jewish Revolt. En route, they would have been able to
drop off the scrolls in Qumran Cave 7, just as they were found in 1955.
While the “Jerusalem Church” survived on the other side of the Jordan,
the Gentile church continued to grow throughout the Roman Empire and
beyond.

We have seen that one of Mark’s “secret mission” was critical to reach an
Egyptian colony of John the Baptist’s disciples [see Acts 18:24-25] with
the message of Jesus as Christ [cp Acts 19:1-4], fulfilling John’s
prophecy [Mark 1:8]. But whereas Peter and Mark focused on Roman
nobility, there are clues of an earlier rise of Christianity among the
worker-class at Rome….

297
On the migration to Pella, see Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (I, 36 and 39); Eusebius (EH III:5); Epiphanius (de Mens. et Pond., 15; Haer 29:7 & 30:2,18); 71b
[Shlomo Pines, Jewish Christians According to a New Source, Jerusalem, 1966]; R. H. Smith, Pella," The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy
Land. Ephraim Stern, ed. [New York: Simon and Shuster, 1993], vol 3, 1175.
162
Jucundus & the
“Chrestians”

The Roman historian Tacitus,298 in his Annales of the empire, preserves a

noteworthy entry:
• “Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme
penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our
procurators [sic], Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition,
thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the
first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous
and shameful from every part of the world find their center and
become popular”
Read literally, Christianity spread to Rome itself during the reign of
Tiberius, a reading confirmed by the ancient report preserved in the
Clementine Homilies 1.6-7 that Christianity was being proclaimed at
Rome shortly after Acts 2.299 A confirmation of this early Christian
evangelism at Rome itself was reported by Italian historian Lodovico
Antonio Muratori in the work Novus Thesaurus Veterum Inscriptionum
[vol III. Class. XXIII, Mediolani (Milan) 1739-1742, p. 1668, no. 6], describing a marble
inscription, originally from Rome:

298
Born c. 55AD and deceased during the reign of emperor Trajan [98-117], Tacitus wrote 30 volumes on the lives of the Caesars (about 20 of which still survive),
drawing upon the imperial commentaries of the Roman senate. The Tacitus manuscript has since been published in facsimile. This has shown, according to Harnack
(Mission and Expansion (English translation), I, 413, 414), that "Chrestian" actually was the original reading, though the name "Christ" is correctly given. Harnack
accordingly thinks that the Latin historian intended to correct the popular appellation of circa 64 AD
299
“a certain report, taking its rise in the spring-time, in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, gradually grew everywhere, and ran through the world as truly the good tidings of
God . . . . And then in the same year, in the autumn season, a certain one, standing in a public place, cried and said, ‘Men of Rome, hearken. The Son of God has come
in Judæa’ . . .”
163
A more complete copy of the same inscription fills in significant details . .
.
D. M
300
M. T. DRVSI .
PATERES
PRIMICINIO.301 QVI
VIXIT
ANN. XXXXII. DIES VII
FAVSTVS. ANTONIAE.
DRVSI. IVS EMIT.
IVCVNDI.
CHRESTIANI
OLL[arum]
[CIL VI 24944,]

• “the father of Drusus, dedicated the tomb to his firstborn son, who
lived for 42 years and seven days, and Faustus, [the freedman] of
Antonia [Minor (36 BC – AD 37)302], [the wife303] of [General Nero
Claudius304] Drusus, bought (emit) the right for the urn (with
cremation ashes) to be put in a certain columbarium or other burial
place (jus oll.)305 from Jucundus, the Chrestian.”

300
Prof. Orelli suggests Marcus and Titus/Tiberius; cf. Johann Caspar von Orelli, Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Amplissima Collectio et Illustrandam Romanae
Antiquitatis, vol. II, Fuessli 1828 (Orelli), p. 290.
301
The word “primicinio” seems to be elsewhere unknown; cf. Hugo Schuchardt, Der Vokalismus des Vulgärlateins, Leipzig 1866, p. 397. Primigenius, as Münter
corrects “primicinio” to “patris primigenii” meaning “first born”; cf. Friedrich Münter, Sinnbilder und Kunstvorstellungen der alten Christen, Altona 1825 (Münter
1825), p. 14.
302
E.g. Hermann Lehmann, Claudius und Nero und ihre Zeit, Gotha 1858, p. 5, Münter 1825, p. 14, 1827, p. 411.
303
The genitive form does not indicate which relation these people had to each other. The suggestions are from Dr. Münter (op. cit.), Heinrich Chantraine,
Freigelassene und Sklaven im Dienst der römischen Kaiser: Studien zu ihre Nomenklatur, Wiesbaden 1967 (Chantraine), p. 307.
304
David L. Vagi, Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, Taylor & Francis 2000, p. 134.
305
Münter, Christinden i det hedenske Huus för Constantin den Stores Tider, Det Kongelige danske Videnskabernes Selskabs philosophiske og historiske avhandlinger,
tredie deel, Kjöbenhavn (Copenhagen) 1827 (Münter 1827), p. 411.
164
By internal evidence, it cannot be dated later than AD 37. “Jucundus
Chrestianus” has been interpreted as referring to a Christian person, who
no longer needed the right to put his urn in a certain place (because
Christians did not cremate their dead) and thus sold this right to a
pagan.306

Dr. Johann Sepp concluded that Jucundus (meaning "pleasant, delightful

or agreeable"), was one of the earliest Christian believers in Rome.307 Dr.
Martin Karrer calls the inscription the earliest documentation of the word
Chrestianus,308 a word non-Christians used referring to Christians.309 Here
we find the earliest working-class [freedman, et al] conversion in the
capital of the Roman Empire.

QUESTION: Who evangelized and discipled Jucundus to the Christian

faith? The best candidate for the missionary to Rome so soon after
Pentecost AD 33 is mention in Paul’s epistle to the Romans:
• “Salute Andronicus and Junia,310 my kinsmen, and my
fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were
in Christ before me.” [Rom 16:7]

Inasmuch as Paul was a Tarsian citizen [Ac 22:3311] and his father before
him was a citizen [Acts 22:28], there must have been a body of Jewish
citizens312 at Tarsus constituting the “Tribe” in which they were
enrolled.313 In Romans xvi.7-21, where six persons are called "kinsmen"
306
Münter 1825, p. 14, Münter 1827, p. 411, Sepp, p. 98.
307
Johann Repomuk Sepp, Das Leben Christi, Regensburg 1845 (Sepp), p.98
308
Martin Karrer, Der Gesalbte: dieGrundlagen des Christustitels, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1991 (Karrer), p. 71
309
Justin Martyr (First Apology 4), Clement of Alexandria (Stromata II.4.18), Tertullian (Apologeticum, 3.5, To the Nations II, et al), and Lactantius (Divine Institutes
IV.7), as well as St. Jerome (In Gal., V, 22), are acquainted with the pagan substitution of Chrestes for Christus, and are careful to explain the new term in a favourable
sense; Suetonius, for instance, ascribes the expulsion of the Jews from Rome under Claudius to the constant instigation of sedition by “Chrestus.”
310
Many patristic exegetes understood the second person mentioned in Rom 16:7 to be the wife of Andronicus, such as: Ambrosiaster (c. 339-97); Jerome (c. 342-420);
John Chrysostom (c. 347- 407); Jerome; Theodoret of Cyrrhus (c.393-458); Ps.-Primasius (c. 6th cent.); John Damascene (c. 675-749); Haymo (d. 1244); Hatto (?);
Oecumenius (c. 6th cent.); Lanfranc of Bec (c.1005-89); Bruno the Carthusian (c.1032-1101); Theophylact (c. 11th cent.); Peter Abelard (1079-1142); and Peter
Lombard (c. 1100-1160).. Among these tricultural Jews, the play of a name in one language with a name in another suggests that Junia’s Hebrew name might be
“Johanna” and her Greek name “Theodora” [=meaning in Greek]. See below on the Junia Theodora inscription.s
311
Jerome, iclaims that many Pauline words and phrases were characteristic of Cilicia [the province in which Tarsus existed], and some modern scholars profess to find
traces, in the apostle's rhetoric and in his attitude toward pagan religion and secular learning, of Tarsian influence.
312
The city of Tarsus is frequently mentioned by the Rabbis. There R. Jose ben Jasian boarded a vessel (Eccl. R. vii. 11), and R. Nahum ben Simai lectured (Pesiḳ. R.
15 [ed. Friedmann, p. 78a]). The Rabbis allude to the inhabitants and the language of Tarsus in connection with Bigthan and Teresh (Esth. ii. 21), although the exact
meaning of this passage is not clear. The presence of Jews in Tarsus is further evidenced by inscriptions: one in Rome names a certain Asaphat of Tarsus (Levy, in
"Jahrbuch für die Gesch. der Juden," ii. 287), and an epitaph found at Jaffa was inscribed to the memory of one Judah ben Joseph of the same city (Schürer, Gesch. 3d
ed., iii. 17). Mention is likewise made of one Isaac, elder of the synagogue of the Cappadocians at Tarsus, who was a dealer in linen ("Pal. Explor. Fund, Quarterly
Statement," No. 110, p. 18), proving not only the existence of a Jewish community at Tarsus but also Jewish participation in mercantile pursuits.
313
“There can never have been a single and solitary Jewish citizen of a Greek city: if there was one Jewish citizen, there must have been a group of Jews forming a
Tribe, holding together in virtue of their common Jewish religion; and it may be regarded as practically certain that the synagogue was their Tribal centre, where they
165
by St Paul, the word can hardly mean kinsmen by right of birth and blood
in the ordinary sense ("kinsmen according to the flesh" in Romans ix.3);
There is in this term "kinsmen" an instance of the same strong, deep
feeling for his native city which is found in Acts xxi.39. The word
"kinsman" here means fellow-citizen and fellow-tribesman, for all six
were doubtless Jews and therefore members of the same Tribe in
Tarsus.314

Therefore, Andronicus & Junia were Roman citizens of the “Tribe” of the
Jews at Tarsus, adopting Roman names, usually in honor of the Roman
sponsor of the citizenship. As such, they had unrestricted travel and trade
privileges throughout the Roman Empire, just like Paul. The Apostle Paul,
a Roman citizen, son of a Roman citizen, had a full Roman name,
praenomen and nomen as well as the cognomen “Paulus.” There was no
Roman more popular among the Jews than Julius Caesar, none who
showed them more favor,315 none for whose death they so mourned. Most
likely, the Apostle's father got the Roman citizenship from Julius Caesar

met not only for religious purposes, but also for judging all cases affecting their tribal union and rights. In this way Joseph of Tiberias was dragged to the synagogue
and there flogged [Epiph. Pan. 30], as has just been described.” Sir William Mitchell Ramsay The cities of St. Paul their influence on his life and thought:1908, p.177
314
Ibid., p.442
315
In the civil wars of Rome, Tarsus it took Caesar's aide; Julius Caesar passed through the city in 47 BC on his march from Egypt to Pontus, and was enthusiastically
received. In his honor the name Tarsus was changed to Juliopolis, but this proved no more lasting than Antioch on the Cydnus had been. Cassius temporarily overawed
it and imposed on it a crushing fine, but, after the overthrow of the republican cause at Philippi and the assignment of the East to Antony's administration, Tarsus
received the position of an independent and duty-free state (civitas libera et immunis) and became for some time Antony's place of residence. This privileged status was
confirmed by Augustus after the victory of Actium had made him sole master of the Roman Empire (31 BC). It did not by itself bestow Roman citizenship on the
Tarsians, but doubtless there were many natives of the city to whom Pompey, Caesar, Antony and Augustus granted that honor for themselves and, as a consequence,
for their descendants. [See ISBE, “Tarsus,” sec.5]
166
himself, who visited Tarsus in 47 B.C. In that case he would have taken
the name “Gaius Julius,” and the nomen Julius would necessarily descend
to his son, probably also the praenomen Gaius. From this, we can
reconstruct Paul’s Roman name as: C. Julius Paullus, aka “Saul.” It is
certainly not a coincidence that this nomen occurs along with the
cognomen “Paulus” or “Paula” in the Lycaonian inscriptions, and that no
other Roman nomen is found associated with “Paulus” among them.316
Based on this, we could construct a theoretical name for his fellow-Tarsian
as C. Julius Andronicus. Strabo, writing about 19 AD, tells us (xiv.673
ff) of the enthusiasm of its inhabitants for learning, and especially for
philosophy. In this respect, he says, Tarsus surpasses Athens and
Alexandria and every other university town. It was characterized by the
fact that the student body was composed almost entirely of natives, who,
after finishing their course, usually went abroad to complete their
education and in most cases did not return home. In fact, adds Strabo,
"Rome is full of Tarsians and Alexandrians." And it is there, at Rome,
where we found an amazing inscription from the 1st-century AD on Via
Appia, with a similar namesake:

DIS MANIBVS
C. IVLIVS HERMES VIX[IT] ANN[IS]
M[ENSIBUS]V
DIEB[US] XIIII
C. IVLIVS ANDRONICVS
CONLIBERTVS FEC[IT] BENE
MERENTI DE SE
“To the Shades. Caius Julius
Hermes [cf Rom 16:14] lived thirty-
four years, five months and thirteen
days. Caius Julius Andronicus his
fellow freedman made it for him,
who deserved well of him

316
The frequent conjunction of the names Julius Paullus (or feminine) in Lycaonia gives some ground for this conjecture [The bearing of recent discovery on the
trustworthiness of the New Testament - Page 356 Sir William Mitchell Ramsay]

167
Another inscription commissioned ny Andronicus identifies him not only
as a freedman, but also a “Patron” who freed servants under him. We also
see the pattern of his associates having Latin citizenship names, but Greek
personal names [Hermes, Epagathi].

Returning to Romans 16:7, we find a fuller description Andronicus and

Junias:
“Salute Andronicus and Junia,317 my kinsmen, and my
fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were
in Christ before me.”

This rare term episēmos, "conspicuous, prominent," as applied to

Andronicus and Junia, appears twice in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (14.1;
19.1), both times to denote how prominent Polycarp himslef was as a
Christian leader. The first reference likens him to a "noble ram out of a
great flock," while the latter refers to him as "a notable teacher." The idea
being conveyed is that Polycarp stood out among the other Christian
teachers of his day -- he was very prominent. Their success as missionary
apostles is noted by Chrysostom, who remarks on Rom 16:7:
“To be an apostle is something great. But to be outstanding among
the apostles -- just think what a wonderful song of praise that is!
They were outstanding on the basis of their works and virtuous
actions. Indeed, how great is the wisdom of this woman that she
was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle”

Their success is manifest not only in the conversion of Jucundus and the
beginning of the church at Rome, but also in the spread of the fame and
name of Jesus Christ among pagans at Rome. Consider a sketch of an
ancient amulet:

317
It is tempting to connect Junia with the inscriptions [mid 1 st cent] presenting a Iunia Theodora [a “patroness” of Lycian exiles a Corinth]; at ll. 13, 22, 63, 67, 72 she
is called a Roman, while at l. 17 she is called a citizen of Corinth. It has been suggested that Iunia belonged to the group of Roman business people, or negotiatores,
resident in Corinth. That is, in addition to being a Roman citizen, Theodora was a citizen of Corinth, and also of one or more cities in Lycia since her primary loyalty
was clearly to Lycia. The juxtaposition of a Roman name – Junia – with a Greek [baptismal?] name – Theodora [“gift of God”=Heb “Joanna ” cp Luk 8:3] is
reminiscent of the Julius Andronicus juxtaposition. The praise of Paul and his 'recommendation' of Phoebe have some striking similarities with a Greek inscription from
Corinth dated to 43 AD. That a woman of the mid first century A.D. could possess multiple citizenship is shown by the inscription honouring a female athlete who was
a citizen of Tralles in Caria, and of Corinth
168
This Pagan amulet, written in a
mix of Latin & Greek letters,
invokes the mis-[over]heard
[and misspelled] names of
Jesus Christ, Gabriel, and
Ananiah as a magic charm.
This misspelling of Christ’s
name among Romans evolved
as a result of the oral
preaching of the gospel before
the written Gospels had a
chance to correct the
mishearing. They substituted
Chrestus, or "excellent", for
Christus or "anointed", and
Chrestians instead of
"Christians." There may be an
allusion to this practice in
1Peter 2:3, hoti chrestos ho
kyrios, which may be rendered
“that the Lord is sweet”–or-
“Chrestus is Lord.”
This ancient pagan
amulet incorporates the
same misspelling
/mishearing, but adds
more elements of the
oral gospel: The
crucified “Chrestus”
supported by his 12
Disciples

169
This explains the meaning at Acts 11:26 – “the disciples were called
Christians first in Antioch.” This word is Latinate construction after the
pattern of εροδιανυς (Mt 22:16, ερωδιανοι, followers of Herod), and
χαεσαριανυς,318 a follower of Caesar, where -ianus means a partisan
(religious or political), of the aforementioned individual

This Latinate construction implies a Roman judicial context in Hellenistic

Antioch, where one party in a legal transaction is "called" [χρηματισαι,
Acts 11:26] “Christ-partisans.” Thayers’s lexicon defines chrēmatizo
thusly:
1) to transact business, esp. to manage public affairs….
3) to assume or take to one’s self a name from one’s public business
Byzantine historian John Malalas explains that Evodius, the first bishop of
Antioch (ordained by the apostle Peter319) was the one who coined the
term “Christian.”320 That is, Evodius used the occasion to legally register
the correct name for the followers of CHRIST.

The next reference to the name “Christian” is the ancient Syrian Church
manual Didache 12:6 (perhaps composed by Evodius), dated as early as
AD 40 by Audet.321 The next reference to the correct form “Christian”
occurs in the Apostle Peter’s 1st epistle:
“Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let
him glorify God on this behalf.” [4:16]
This letter, written from Rome during his first mission there, testifies to
the persecutions of Christians during the reign of Claudius (also alluded to
in James 5:10-11), and experienced by Paul as reported in the Acts of
Thecla. We will continue to see more examples.

318
Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 377, gives papyri examples of the genitive καισαρος meaning also "belonging to Caesar" like the common adjective
χαεσαριανυς
319
Eusebius Chronicon,. ann. Abr. 2058; H. E. iii. 22, see also Eusebius’ Quaest. ad Stephanus, ap. Mai, Scr. Vet. i. p. 2.) The episcopate of Evodius has indirect
testimony of Origen, who speaks of Ignatius as the second bishop after Peter (in Luc. Hom. 6, vol. iii. p. 938). The Apostolic Constitutions (vii. 46) also specify Peter
ordaining Evodius first.
320
Malalas, x. p. 252 (325), also relates how Peter, happening to pass through Antioch at the time of the death of Evodius, ordained Ignatius in his room, and how about
the same time Mark was succeeded in the episcopate of Alexandria by his disciple Anianus [c. AD 67], as the learned chronologer Theophilus [of Antioch, c. AD 180]
related.
321
Audet, J-P, La Didache, Instructions des Apôtres J. Gabalda & Co., 1958 ; approved by J.A.T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament, 1976
170
We see in this insulting graffito from Pompeii322 that, by the time of Nero,
the written gospels had circulated widely enough in Italy that the correct
term “Christians” had supplanted the earlier misspelling:

The next important phenomenon to occur within the “Christian

movement” was the mingling of previously isolated strata at communal
gatherings. Luke’s account of the church’s growth makes particular note
of female contributions to the spread of the Gospel across cultural and
social boundaries….

322
C.I.L. iv. No. 679; Tab. xvi. 2,3; cf. de Rossi, Bull, di arch, christ. 1864, pp. 69 ff., 92 ff.
171
Women of Influence

323

In writing to Theophilus, Luke mentions the following regarding the

financing of Christ’s earthy ministry:
“And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and
infirmities, Mary called Magdalene,324 out of whom went seven
devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza325 Herod’s steward,326 and
Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their
substance.” [Luke 8:2-3]

323
So-called Sappho, fourth style fresco; Pompeii, Region VI, Insula occidentalis. A young woman is shown with a pen that is used to enscribe writing on the wax
tablets she is holding, symbolizing her literary interests and eductation. The net in her hair is made of golden threads and typical for the fashion of the Neronian period,
symbolizing her affluence.
324
That Magdalene was the same with Mary the sister of Lazarus Baronius proves at large; for if Mary Magdalene was not the same with Mary the sister of Lazarus,
then either Mary the sister of Lazarus was not present at the crucifixion of Christ, and at his burial, or else she is passed over in silence by the evangelists; both which
are improbable. Magdala was famous, or rather infamous, for whoredom; for which reason the Jews {T.Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 69.1; Echa Rabbati, fol. 52.4} say, it was
destroyed: or else she was so called, because she was tldg, a "tonstrix", or plaiter of women's hair, as the word signifies {Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c.
2, sect.3}; and so we often read of Mary, ayyvn reyv aldgm, "the plaiter of women's hair" {TB Sabbat, fol. 104.2, Chagiga, fol. 4.2, Sanhedrin, fol. 67.1}; She is
said by Jerome [in Mar. 15.40] to be a widow, and so not being bound to an husband, was at leisure to follow Christ.
325
Chuza is a Jewish name, and the name of a family of note among the Jews: hence we read {TB Tasnith, fol. 22.1} of R. Broka the Chuzite; where the gloss is, "for he
was", yazwx ybm, "of the family of Chuzai".
326
The Arabic version calls him his "treasurer"; and the Vulgate Latin, and the Ethiopic versions, his "procurator." We read {TB Sacca, fol. 27.1} of a steward of king
Agrippa's, who was of this same family.
172
Theophilus would have been familiar the names of the Herodian court, but
perhaps surprised at their patronage of a non-Herodian “king of the Jews.”
And it did not end with Christ’s crucifixion:
“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with
the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”
[Acts 1:14]
The marital influence of woman was also, essential in the spread of
Christianity, as Peter acknowledged:
1Pet 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands;
that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be
won by the conversation of the wives.
Paul capitalized on the growing influence of women in the Roman culture,
and specifically, female adherents327 to Judaism:
Acts 17:4 - And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and
Silas; and of the devout [proselytes to Judaism] Greeks a great
multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
Ac 17:12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable
women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
Perhaps the most interesting example of this is the case of “Lydia, a seller
of purple,” [Acts 16:14]. Having come to Philippi, Luke and Paul
encounter this dynamic proselyte to Judaism, a native of Thyatira, and
astute business woman. The Lydians,328 particularly the inhabitants of
Thyatira, were celebrated for their dyeing, in which they inherited the
reputation of the Tyrians.329 Inscriptions to this effect, yet remaining,330
confirm the accuracy of our historian.
The fringes which the Jews wore upon their garments, had on them a
ribband of blue or purple, Num 15:38, for the word there used, is by the
Septuagint rendered "purple"; and the whole fringe was by the Jews called
tlkt, "purple." Hence it is said,

327
In Damascus Josephus (War II. 20, 21) says that a majority of the married women were proselytes. Strabo (VIII. 2) and Juvenal (VI. 542) speak of the addiction of
women to the Jewish religion.
328
Lydia was itself a Macedonian colony (Strabo, XIII. 4).
329
Thyatira (note plural form like Philippi and one of the seven churches of Asia here Rev 2:18) was famous for its purple dyes as old as Homer (Iliad, IV. 141) and had
a guild of dyers (οι βαφεις) as inscriptions show.
330
An epigraph discovered at Mount Athos, and published, Duchesne-Bayet, Memoire sur une Mission au Mount Athos, p. 52, no. 83, shows that Thessalonica honored
Menippos, a purple dyer from Thyateira, with a monument at his grave. According to C.O. Ward [Ancient Lowly, v.2, p.182] “Menippos, an early Christian, is spoken
of in the Apocryphal writings”
173
 "Does not everyone that puts on the ‘purple’ (i.e. the fringes on his
garments) in Jerusalem, make men to wonder? and a little after, the
former saints, or religious men, when they had wove in it (the
garment) three parts, they put on it tlkt, "the purple"{TB
Menachot, fol. 40.1, 2}.
And there were persons who traded in these things, and were called tlkt
yrkwm, "sellers of purple" {TB Pesachim, fol. 50.2}, as here; that is, for
the Tzitzith, or fringes for the borders of the garments, the Jews were very
insistent about the colour, and the dying of it; that it would hold and not
change; and that the ribband be dyed on purpose for that use.

Thus it is probable that Theophilus knew of her and even traded with her
guild for the appropriation of these coveted items in Jerusalem. At her
trading outpost in Philippi, her “house” [οικος] and “household” [οικος,
16:15] were probably the guild-members and guild, that functioned much
like Tyrannus’ “school,” providing an excellent setting for a house church.

But a mystery arises from the fact that Luke apparently does not give her
name at this point, but just a descriptor. It seems probable, as stated in the
article on the country "Lydia" in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, that
Lydia was only applied to her as a secondary name or epithet meaning the
"the Lydian."331 Remembering the legal context in which this is reported,
Luke’s intent was evidently to protect “Lydia” from direct association, but
with enough detail for Theophilus to make the identification. This would
imply connections beyond Philippi, beyond Thyatira – perhaps extending
to Rome itself.

With the ambigious status of Christianity at this point of the Roman

Empire, we can appreciate Luke’s discretion. What clues does the NT give
to her true identity? Paul’s epistles do not mention “Lydia,” but his letter
to the Philippians does mention two influential, strong-minded women in
the congregation there: “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that
they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I intreat thee also, true
331
Cf. Ramsay Paul the Traveler, p.214
174
yokefellow,332 help those women which laboured with me in the gospel,
with Clement333 also” [Php 4:2-3].
Klopper suggests that each of these rival women had church assemblies in
their homes, one a Jewish-Christian church, the other a Gentile-Christian
church. Further more, the connection with Clement implies they all
worked together at Rome. Which is more likely to be “Lydia”?
Syntyche (συντυχην, from συντυγχανω, to meet with and so "pleasant
acquaintance" or "good-luck") is a name known in Lydia and the
Phrygian borderland, consistent with “Lydia’s” background. It also
connects her with Rome via a remarkable inscription on a pagan [!] altar:

Altar dedicated by the priestess

Claudia Syntyche; Roman,
first century AD.
The relief depicts Claudia
Quinta, 334 whose story is told
by Ovid (Fasti 4.247-348),
using an infula (a sacred band)
tied to the ship's rostrum (beak)
to pull the ship Salvia that bears
the image of the Magna
Mater335 which came from
Phrygia in Asia Minor.
[Rome, Museo Montemartini (Capitoline
Museums). Credits: Barbara McManus, 2004]

332
The term "yokefellow" συζυγος— some have understood as a proper name, (Syzygus); the passage would then present a parallel to the play on the name Onesimus in
Phm 11. A very ancient interpretation again (Clem. Alex Strom. iii. p. 535, Potter; Orig. Ro I p. 461, Delarue) takes ‘yokefellow’ to mean St Paul’s wife, in which case,
Paul appeals to his wife to act as a mediator between the two other women, because his wife remained in Philippi when he went on to Rome [cp. 1Cor 9:5-6].
333
ORIGEN [Commentary, John 1:29] identifies the Clement here with the bishop of Rome, and author of the 1 Clement
334
Claudia Quinta was a Roman matron of legendary fame during the time of the Second Punic War when Scipio Africanus and Publius Sempronius were consuls.
Around the year 205 BC the statue of the Cult of the Great Mother (also known as Magna Mater or the Cult of Cybele) was moved from Pessinus to Rome. Scipio
Nassica was given the order to take all the married women of Rome to go and receive the statue when it arrived in port at Ostia Harbor. However before arriving in port
as scheduled the ship carrying the statue ran onto a sandbar at the mouth of the Tiber River and would not proceed any further. The story goes that they then called on
Claudia to come up with a solution to their problem, as she was the other person with Scipio that called the women to the port for the arrival of the statue. Claudia
prayed in front of them and then with confidence she ordered that the ropes be tied to her sash and the men to step aside. Claudia then pulled and pulled until the vessel
started floating again. She towed it out off the sandbar and into port. [Ovid, Fasti, iv.225-344 ; Livy, Ab urbe condita libri xxix.14.5-14 ; Pliny the Elder, Naturalis
historia vii.34-120 ; Solinus, Collectanea rerum memorabilium I.126]

175
The cult Cybele, the "Magna Mater,” the Mother Goddess of Phrygia, was
brought to Rome in 205/4 BCE. The Goddess was served by self-
emasculated priests known as galli, as well as the temple
prostitute/priestess. Until the emperor Claudius, Roman citizens could not
become priests of Cybele. The popularity of the Cybele cult in the city of
Rome, and throughout the empire, is thought to be alluded to in the Book
of Revelation as “the mother of harlots who rides the Beast.”336

Lateral panels
of the altar of
Claudia
Syntyche; A
pedum,
Cymbals, and
Phrygian cap

Before becoming a proselyte to Judaism, acting as a priestess to the

Magna Mater at Rome would have brought into contact with one Rome’s
most influential devotee of the Cult: Tiberius Claudius Narcissus, as
seen below.

MATRONIS SACRVM
PRO SALVTE C[aligula]
CAESARIS
AVGVSTI GERMANICI
NARCISSVS C
CAESARIS.

336
Augustine called her the “harlot goddess” [in Hoseam on 4.14]; Seebass, DNTT, 1.142
176
This monument is traditionally said to have been discovered at Pallanza in
1601, beneath a heap of ruins.337 The Narcissus mentioned is the notorious
freedman338 and favorite of emperors Caligula and Claudius mentioned be
Juvenal, Dion Cassius, Tacitus & Suetonius. The vow to the Cybelian
Matronae “for the health of Caesar” may have been fulfilled on the
occasion of the recovery of Caligula from serious illness soon after his
accession mentioned by the above historians. He was then a favourite, and,
in the general sorrow of the people for his illness, some of his friends, as
we learn from Suetonius [iv. 14] distinguished their loyalty by offering to
expose their lives on the Arena, while others offered to die outright, that
is, they vowed their lives to the infernal deities in exchange for the
Emperor's [iv.27]. When Paul writes to the saints of Rome during the
reign of Claudius, he tells us that a congregation of Christians met in
Narcissus’ house [Rom 16:11], and we have seen that the apocryphal Acts
of Peter suggests that he was not only converted, but was the “presbyter”
of his own house church. This openness to Christianity must have
occurred after Caligula’s reign. The confirmation of this comes from
another curious inscription found in Ferrara:

337
The first mention of the inscription is in Gruter, who gives it on the authority of a correspondent of his, a certain Cantonius. (Pallantice ad Verbanum lacum in D.
Stephani. Cantonius Grutero.) Corpus Inscriptionum. Tom. iii. p. 1,074
338
Hubner, Archaologische Zeitung, Jahrgang xxxiv [1876]
177
We note this dedication to the wife of the famous Narcissus. More
suggestive, is the name and character of the wife, Dicaeosyna,
"righteousness." With one solitary exception, it occurs nowhere in the vast
multitude of records of the Greek and Roman world which the researches
of archaeologists have brought to light. It occupies the foremost position
in the list of personal names in which the influence of the new life of
Christendom may be distinctly traced: Remembering how prominent that
word “righteousness” was in all the teaching of St. Paul, how it forms the
ever-recurring theme of the great argument of the Epistle to the Romans, it
is more than interesting to find it in a household, the head of which bore
the same name as one to whom in that Epistle he sends a Christian
greeting.

The character which he ascribes to her "as most pious, most frugal," (so
opposed to the prevalent tone of female society in Rome), implies she
aspired after righteousness, and proved herself not unworthy of the name
[a post-baptismal christening?] which bore witness that she did so.

We may see in her, an early instance of that true influence for good which
St. Peter had in view when he urged that Christian women should so live
in chastity, so adorn themselves with the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, that even those husbands who obeyed not the word might "without
the word be won by the conversation of their wives" (1 Peter 3.1).

But what [or, rather, who] was the foothold in this house that allowed the
impact of Christianity to be felt so clearly, and so nearly to the palace of
Caesar itself? We will suggest that it was none other than Synteche “the
Lydian.”

In her former life as a priestess of the magna mater, Narcissus would have
procured her services and intercession, as an earthly counterpart of the
matronae. With a vow of celibacy [though not necessarily chastity], her
unmarried status when she converted to Judaism - as we first encounter
178
her in the book of Acts - is thus explicable. Able to amass a small fortune
as a priestess, she invested into the “family business” – much as Eumachia
of Pompeii served as priestess, patroness of the dyers guild, and founder of
that city’s stock exchange.339

After becoming a disciple of Christ, Syntyche goes back to Rome,

working alongside Clement [Phil 4:2-3]. There she can call upon those
acquaintances and devotees of the “great mother,” and witnesses to them
the transformation of her life as a result of a believing on Christ as her
only Lord and Savior. This fell upon fertile ears, as evidenced by the case
of Claudia Dicaeosyna, and others. Still, the utmost discretion was
necessary, with the ever-shifting loyalties and alliances at the court of
Claudius. Agrippina, now Claudius's fourth wife, accused Narcissus of
embezzling funds, and ordered Narcissus' execution within weeks of
Claudius' death in October, 54.
Another important example is Phoebe, the tabellarius for the Corinthian
brethren, whom Paul lauded in his Epistle to the Romans:

339
See Ms. Cleveland, Modern sanitation, vol 7 [Standard Sanitary Mfg. Co., 1909], pp. 186ff
179
 "I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant
[διακονον] of the church which is at Cenchrea: 2 That ye receive her
in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her [παραστητι] in
whatsoever business [πραγματι] she hath need of you: for she hath
been a [εγενηθη] succourer [προστατις] of many, and of myself
also."[Rom 16:1f]
"To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen."
Written to the Romans from Corinthus, and sent by Phoebe servant
[διακονου] of the church at Cenchrea [Rom 16:27]
“Phoebe” occurs on a funerary inscription, the epitaph of Sophia, from the
Mount of Olives in the 4th-century.
“Here lies the slave340 and
bride of Christ SOPHIA,
DEACON , THE SECOND
PHOEBE, who slept in
peace the twenty-first of
the month of March in the
eleventh Indiction…the
Lord God…”

The remarkable aspect of this inscription is Phoebe’s role as almost a

“patron saint” of the female diaconate.341 Pliny, in his celebrated letter to
Trajan, [Ep. 10.96.8, AD 112] says, when speaking of the efforts which he made
to obtain information respecting the opinions and practices of Christians,
“I deemed it necessary to put two maid-servants who are called [by
the Christians] ministrae [i.e, ‘deaconesses’] to the torture, in order to
ascertain what is the truth.”
This ordained role [Acts 6:2-6] for women died out in the ancient church,
but even Apostolical Constitutions distinguish deaconesses from
widows342 and virgins, prescribe their duties, and a form for their
340
A term referencing the apostle Paul’s self-designation [Rom 1:1, Gal 1:1, Tit 1:1], Timothy [Php 1:1, 2Tim 2:24], Epaphras [Col 4:12], the apostle James [Jam 1:1],
the apostle Peter [2Pet 1:1], Jude [1.1], and the apostle John [Rev 1:1]
341
G H R Horsley proposes several parallels in which men are hailed in inscriptions as “new Homer”, “new Themistocles”, “new Theophanes”, and “new Dionysos”,
the last also applied to two emperors, Commodus and Gallienus (Llewelyn et al 1981-84, 4:241).
342
Indeed, the Apostolic Constitutions (III, 6) enjoin the widows to be obedient to the deaconesses. The universal prevalence of baptism by immersion and the anointing
of the whole body which preceded it, rendered it a matter of propriety that in this ceremony the functions of the deacons should be discharged by women. The
Didascalia Apostolorum (III, 12; see Funk, Didascalia, etc., I, 208) explicitly direct that the deaconesses are to perform this function. It is probable that this was the
180
ordination: “Ordain a deaconess who is faithful and holy, for the ministries
toward the women” [Book iii]. The word used here ( προστατις) means,
properly, a patroness/ protectress,343 and was applied by the Greeks to one
who presided over an assembly, or its "president"; to one who became a
patron of others; who aided or defended them in their cause; and
especially one who undertook to manage the cause of strangers and
foreigners before the courts. We get a sense of the importance of this
office from Justin Martyr:
“There is then brought to the president of the brethren τῷ προεστῶτι
τῶν ἀδελφῶν. bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he
taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe,
through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks
at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these
things at His hands….And when the president has given thanks, and
all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us
deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and
wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was
pronounced.” [1 Apol 65]

First century mosaic from the Capella Graeca of the Catacomb of Priscilla, depicting an all-female
Eucharistic Ceremony344

starting point for the intervention of women in many other ritual observances even in the sanctuary. The Apostolic Constitutions expressly attribute to them the duty of
guarding the doors and maintaining order amongst those of their own sex in the church, and they also (II, c. 26) assign to them the office of acting as intermediaries
between the clergy and the women of the congregation. We hear of them presiding over assemblies of women, reading the Epistle and Gospel, distributing the Blessed
Eucharist to nuns, lighting the candles, burning incense in the thuribles, adorning the sanctuary, and anointing the sick (see Hefele-LeClercq, II, 448).
343
In the Roman period, Plutarch understands prostatēs as the equivalent of patronus (Romulus 13) (Millett 1989:33-34).
344
Other catacombs that fall within our period (30[?]—138) are the Capella Graeca in the cemetery of Priscilla, said by tradition to have belonged to Priscilla, the
daughter of the Prudens mentioned by St. Paul in his letters to the Philippians,…. De Rossi assigned it to the first century.” ALEXANDER KEOGH, S. J “THE SOCIAL
POSITION OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS OF ROME” The Ecclesiastical review, Volume 36 [1907], p.632

181
Egenehtheh [εγενηθη] implies to change from one state to another. It is
used over 600 times in the New Testament. It is most often translated
"became," however, in the case of Paul, it is said that he "was made" a
minister. If we choose "was made," this implies that Phoebe was made a
president by some authority outside of herself. If we choose "became" this
implies that Phoebe became a proctectress by her own merits. Who made
Phoebe a president? Was it Paul, the churches, or God? The same Paul
who wrote about Phoebe's being made a president (prostatis) wrote about
his being made a servant (diakonos). Paul said he was made a servant
(diakonos) according to the gift of God's grace [Eph 3:7]. Phoebe
ultimately was made a president, or received the grace to become a
protectoress by God. “Assist” (παραστητι) is used as a legal term, of
presenting culprits or witnesses in a court of justice. Compare “prove” at
Acts 24:13. “Business” (πραγματι) = a matter, question, affair, and
specifically in a forensic sense, a matter at law, case, suit. From this, and
from the term προστατις, we see that Phoebe was going to Rome on legal
business (see Conybeare and Howson). If Phoebe was able to exercise
such influence on either side of the Adriatic sea in the time of Claudius,
we would have expected her to leave a mark on the record of history, and
indeed we find just such evidence. Her role at Rome may be inferred from
an inscription, where one “Julia Phoebe” is associated with Harpocras,345 a
freedman at the court of emperor Claudius:

346

345
Seneca Apocolocyntosis 13.5, cf. Suetonius. Claud. 27-28: libertorum praecipue suspexit . . . et Harpocran, cui lectica per urbem vehendi spectaculaque publice
edendi ius tribuit.

346
Gruter 595,2 = C.I.L. VI 9016: Securitati sacr(um) lulia Phoebe sibi et Ti. Claudio Nardo et Arphocrae [sic] Aug. libertis procurator(ibus) coniugibus suis de;
Arphocrae=Harpocras:
182
Putting it all together, the conclusion seems clear that Phoebe was a pro-
bono advocate of early Christians, both at Corinth and Rome, who would
otherwise have had no legal standing in a Roman court.347 By associating
themselves with the guild(s) Phoebe sponsored, these Christians would
then be under her patronage, even as Tryphaena acted as a surety for
Thecla.

A good parallel to such far-flung associations and interests is that of the

collegium domesticum that met in the house of Sergia Paulina, in which
the surviving inscriptional evidence speaks of the collegium quod est in
domo Sergiae Paullinae348-reminiscent of Paul’s greetings to την
κατ’οίκον αυτων εκκλησίαν (e.g., Rom 16:5). It had its own burial
ground,349 and was identified by classicist M. Sordi as a Christian
“college.”350 Just as Justin Martyr and NT writers used Greek terms for the
organization of the church already attested by Philo, so the inscriptions
from the domo Sergiae Paullinae attest to Latin terms used on the Old
Latin NT translations and Tertullian. The “College” has a treasurer
(arcarius),351 which requires a chest (ark) for donations; and the mention
of the maiores [“elders”] and minores352 among the constituents of the
college which would indicate the priests and laity.

Sergiae’s connection with NT history is through her more famous father,

Sergius Paullus [as demonstrated by Ramsay], proconsul and authority on

347
In the beginning of the 2nd-century, "Ignatius [of Antioch] took it for granted that Christians in Rome had 'the power' to gain him a pardon, 'a fear which
would have been unreasonable had not the church contained members whose riches and repute enabled them to intervene in this way either by bribery or by the exercise
of personal influence.'" [Stark, The Rise of Christianity (Princeton):32]
348
Eg, VI 9149. D(is) M(anibus). | Hilaro aurifici, | collegium quod est in domo Sergiae L(uci) [f(iliae)] Paullinae, item co[nservi] || ex domo eadem i....| vixit ann(is)
XXX p(lus?) .... | curantibus ...; Dorcad . . . ; VI 10260. Colleg[i]um [familiae] \ Serg(iae) [L(uci) f(iliae)] Paulli[nae] | Cerdoni conserv[o] | m(emoriae) c(ausa).
=Grut , 1117,7 ; VI 10261. marble : D(is) M(anibus) | Pardo quae et | Hiarine, | collegium (quod est in domu || Serg(iae) L(uci) f(iliae) Paullinae, item Pyrrus \.
conjugi b(ene) m(erenti) fec(it). VI 10262. Sergio Pio, | Sergia Hesperis ] conjugi b(ene)m(erenti) fecil, ex | collegio quod || est in domo Ser|giae Paullinae; | vixit
annis LXX. VI 10263. marble: D(is) M(anibus). 1 L(ucio) Sergio | Trophimo, [ patri piissimof Sergia |1 Eutychia fil(ia), | ex collegio \ familiae | Serg(iae) Paulinae \
fecit ;
349
“If the shift from private ownership of Christian burial properties to common church ownership began already in the early third century, as apparently witnessed by
Hippolytus, then for nearly a century churches must have shared the ambiguous position of the collegia, operating openly but without proper juridic status as property
owners. As is so often the case in Roman law, magistrates seem to have looked the other way except during times of actual persecution.” [Carolyn Osiek, ch 7 Texts and
Artifacts in Context. Studies of Roman, Jewish and Christian Burials, Berlin, New York (Walter de Gruyter) 2008, Pages 243–272]]. An inscription discovered at Civita
Lavinia quotes the very words of a decree of the Senate on this subject: "It is permitted to those who desire to make a monthly contribution for funeral expenses to form
an association."
350
M. SORDI - M.L. CAVIGLIOLO, Un’antica chiesa domestica di Roma, in “RSCI” 25 (1971), pp. 399ff; M. SORDI, Sergia Paullina e il suo collegium, in “RIL” 113
(1979), pp. 14ff
351
E.g., CIL VI 9148. marble: D(is) M(anibus); Hermeroti arcario, ] v(ixit) a(nnis) XXXIV; collegium| quod est in domu || Sergiae Paullinae | Agathemer et \ Chreste
Arescon fratri piissimo b(ene) m(erenti). Orelli, 2-414
352
CIL VI 10264. marble:. D(is) M(anibus). | Eutychia[e, collegium m[ajorum] | et mino[rum... (qui] | sunt in [domo] || Serg[iae L(uci) f(iliae) Paull[i]na[e].
183
Cyprus [quoted by his younger contemporary, Pliny, in his Naturalis
Historia, books 2 & 18], so impacted by Paul’s teaching on the Christian
faith in Acts Acts of the Apostles 13.353

At the same time that she was patroness to this collegium at Rome, she is
attested as a major landowner in central Asia Minor.354 Additionally,
Ramsay discovered an inscription in honor of her marriage to a certain
Caristanius:

Ramsay calculates that the younger Lucius was governor of Galatia about
AD 72-4 and the marriage of his sister Sergia and Caristanius took place
about the same time. It was their son who erected the inscription in
Pisidain Antioch. His use of Greek [and his subsequent disappearance
from the records of Antioch] led Ramsay to conclude that he was a
Christian, influenced by his mother, Sergia Paulla, who in turn was
influenced by her father, the proconsul of Cyprus.355

353
Sordi: “Paul's mission began with his voyage to Cyprus, where he preached, first of all, as he would always do, to the Jewish community. But then, he is summoned
by the Roman governor of the island, Sergius Paulus whom, according to the Acts, 'believed' [επιστευσεν]- and it is from here on that he changes his Jewish name Saul,
not incidentally taking the name of whom we might call his first illustrious convert. Who became his protector, so that when he landed next in Asia Minor, Paul did not
direct himself to the Hellenized communities along the coast but towards the less civilized interior, where the powerful family of the Pauli had lands and great
influence.” http://freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=7636614; The view according to which it was the conversion of the proconsul that led to use of the
name Paul over Saul, was already known to Origen (Praef. in Ep. ad Rom., Lomm. vi.6f.), and approved of by Jerome (Comm. in Ep. ad Philem., Vallarsi, vii.1.1764 f;
de Vir. Iilust., v)
354
S. Mitchell, Anatolia[1993]: I, 151-2, and II, 7
355
The Bearing of RecentDiscovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament (London, 1920), pp. 150-72. This argument is repeated and conclusion accepted by
Stephen L. Caiger (Archaeology and the New Testament [London, 1939], pp. 142-44) and Egbert C. Hudson (“The Principal Family at Pisidian Antioch”, JNES 15
[1956], pp. 104-06). Cf. PIR, S: 376; PIR, S: 377; Syme, R., “The Sanctuary of Men near Pisidian Antioch”, in Syme, R., Anatolica. Studies in Strabo (Oxford 1995),
pp. 233-234; Levick, B., Roman Colonies in Southern Asia Minor (Oxford 1967), pp. 111-113. See also Christol, M. – Drew-Bear, Th., “Les Sergii Paullii et Antioche”,
in Drew-Bear, Th. – Taslialan, M. – Thomas, Chr. M. (ed.), Actes du Ier Congrès International pour Antioche de Pisidie (Lyon 2002), pp. 177-191.
184
Perhaps the most remarkable testimony of this marriage in Asia Minor
(and the “house church” in Rome), is that Sergia would condescend to
marry someone beneath her social status, but who had an admirable - yea
verily - Godly character.

The family of Sergi Paulli was related by marriage to the gens Acilii
Glabriones, the “noblest among the noble,” as Herodianus356 calls
them (2.3.4). The Glabrio best known in the history of the first century is
Manius Acilius, who was consul along with Trajan in AD 91. He was put
to death by Domitian in the year 95, [as related by Suetonius (Domit. 10),
on charges of “conspiring against the empire”357] in the same purge of
Christianty358 that claimed the lives of other Roman nobles.

It is a remarkable fact that records of these events are found not in church
annals, or calendars, but in passages in the writings of pagan annalists and
historians. Thus, in ecclesiastical documents no mention is made of the
conversion of the two Domitillae, or Flavius Clemens, or Petronilla, all of
whom were relatives of the Flavian emperors. Their fortunes and death are
described only by the Roman historians and biographers of the time of
Domitian.

356
Greek historian, author of a History of the Roman Empire since the Death of Marcus Aurelius, in which he describes the reign of Commodus (180-192), the Year of
the Five Emperors (193), the age of the Severan dynasty (211-235), and the Year of the Six Emperors (238).
357
The expression molitores rerum novarum has a political meaning in the case of Cerealis and Orfitus, both staunch pagans, and a religious and political one in the
case of Glabrio, a convert to the Christian faith, called nova superstitio by Suetonius and Tacitus. Other details of Glabrio's fate are given by Dion Cassius (lxvii. 14),
Juvenal, and Fronto. We are told by these authors that during his consulship, A.D. 91, and before his banishment, he was compelled by Domitian to fight against a lion
and two bears in the amphitheatre adjoining the emperor's villa at Albanum. The amphitheatre is still in existence, and was excavated in 1887.
358
Xiphilinus states that, in the year 95, some members of the imperial family were condemned by Domitian on the charge of atheism, together with other leading
personages who had embraced "the customs and persuasion of the Jews," that is, the Christian faith.
185
 Tablet of Acilius Glabrio359

The NT connection of Manius Acilius is the the Cemetary of Priscillae,

outside the Via Salaria, have resulted in the discovery that as the
Cemetary of Domitillae starts from a burying-place of Domitilla and her
family, it in like manner originates in the burying-place of Acilius Glabrio
and other members of the Acilian gens, as discovered by de Rossi.

The same researches have shown that a name of the females of the Acilian
gens is Priscilla or Prisca. For instance, in one inscription we read

M' ACILIUS V....

c. v.
PRISCILLA . C

Prisca [Acts 18:2] was thus a “freedmen”- at the very least - of a member
of the Acilian gens, as Clemens the Roman bishop was very probably the
freedman of Flavius Clemens. In this cemetery, according to the witness
of the ‘Liberian Calendar,’ of the ‘Itineraries’ and of the ‘Liber

359
In exploring that portion of the Catacombs of Priscilla which lies under the Monte delle Gioie, near the entrance from the Via Salaria, de Rossi observed that the
labyrinth of the galleries converged towards an original crypt, shaped like a Greek Γ (Gamma), and decorated with frescoes. The desire of finding the name and the
history of the first occupants of this noble tomb, whose memory seems to have been so dear to the faithful, led the explorers to carefully sift the earth which filled the
place; and their pains were rewarded by the discovery of a fragment of a marble coffin, inscribed with the letters: ACILIO GLABRIONI FILIO
186
Pontificalis,’360 reposed the bodies of Aquila and Prisca, with many other
saints and martyrs.
Aquila, her husband, was a native of Pontus [Acts 18:2], doubtless one of
the colony of Jews mentioned in Acts 2:9; 1 Peter 1:1, perhaps a convert
of Peter at that first Pentecost of the Church. He probably went to Rome
along with his (newlywed?) wife to pursue a clientship with the Acilian
family, who in turn provided them a domus, and burial rights. That they
were instrumental in the conversion of the family is evident.

In the cemetery of Priscilla there is also an inscription to an imperial

freedman, Praepositus, the tabernaculariorum, who, like Aquila and
Prisca, and even S. Paul himself, carried on the trade of a tentmaker:

In Rome, there are three inscriptions that mention these "teMtmakers"

(tabernacularii). CIL 6:5183b records the inscription on a grave shrine, an
edicula, of one C. lulius Chrysantus [another "kinsmen" of Paul in the
same trade?], who was a member in a tentmakers' guild. Also in CIL
6:9053 and 9053a, we hear of the Roman "collegium tabernaculariorum"
to which freedmen and slave laborers from the imperial household ("ex
domo Caesarum") belong.

When Paul first meet Prisca and Aquila in Ephesus, they were refugees
from the cruel edict of Claudius which expelled all Jews from Rome (Acts
18:2), but with enough means to establish there own domus, large enough
to entertain their own house-church [1 Cor 16:9], and mentor the young,
charismatic evangelist, Apollos.361

See Marucchi, ‘Eléments d’Archéol. Chrét.’ ii. p. 385 for quotations of original spources
360

According to reading of the Codex Bezae at 18:24 "Apollonius", consistent with Luke’s habit of providing the formal name, rather than the shortened, more
361

common form preferred by Paul [1Cor 1:16, etc]. He was "Skillful in the Scriptures", as the Syriac version renders it; or he "knew" them, as the Ethiopic; he had large
187
When the edict was relaxed, they returned to their original domus in
Rome, where they again co-pastored a house-church [Rom 16:3-4]. De
Rossi, Marucchi and others contend that the ancient church of St. Prisca
on the Aventine covers the site of the church in the house of Prisca and
Aquila. In a MS. preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris (Cod.
Lat. 9697, p.78) an account is given of the discovery in 1776 of the ruins
of a Roman house and Christian oratory close to St. Prisca with frescoes
from the 300’s AD.362 Even earlier, in Bianchini’s edition of the Liber
Pontificalis,363 mention is made in the notice of Pope Zephyrinus (198–
217) of a Christian communion ‘glass’364 found ‘intra antiquae ecclesiae
rudera prope S. Priscam.’365

Here is proof that on this spot, a Christian place of worship existed

already considered ancient by the end of the 2nd-century. Other remains of
such 1st-century house-churches have been found beneath great cathedrals
of the 4th-century Rome.
acquaintance with them, and was well versed in them: it is a Jewish way of speaking; so Ahithophel is said to be hrwtb rwbg, "mighty in the law" {T.Hieros.
Sanhedrin, fol. 29.1}; the same is said of the sons of Reuben {Tzeror Hammor, fol. 60. 1}:
362
This ruin was unfortunately destroyed, and the sketches of the find have similarly been lost.
363
P.L. cxxvii. col. 1315
364
The words of the Lib. Pont. itself ‘Et fecit constitutum in ecclesia et patenas vitreas ante sacerdotes in ecclesia, et ministros supportantes, donec episcopus missas
celebraret, ante se sacerdotes adstantes, sic missae celebrarentur,’ are an interesting reference to the rites attending the celebration of the Mass at Rome in early times:
Duchesne, L.P. i. p. 140, makes the comment ‘la mention de patènes de verre est à remarquer; elles n’étaient certainemeut plus en usage à la fin du Ve siècle,’
365
de Rossi, ‘Bull. di Arch. Crist.’ 1867, p. 48.
188
 .

Remains of the 1st-century House of Pudens, discovered in 1870, Remains of House of Pudens, front wall, pierced by modern
associated with Sta. Pudenziana windows. [2Tim 4:21]

These women of influence were, of course, not the only ones to support
and sustain the growth of Christianity at its very beginning. Significant
members, “fathers of the city” East of Rome, were recruited by the Holy
Spirit in equally powerful ways….

189
APPENDIX

Two important monuments help us to trace Sergius’ post-Cyprus career.

After serving his three years, Sergius Paulus returned to Rome, and, we
now find, was appointed a Tiber commissioner under Claudius in AD 47.
The only other record we have of this Christian governor, and that but just
discovered, is another confirmation of the truth of the Bible history.
When Augustus (in the year 27 B.C.) divided the provinces between
himself and the Senate, Cyprus was made one of the Imperial
Provinces (Dio Cassius, liii. 12 ; Strabo, xiv. vi. 6). Later on, finding
that an armed body was not required in this province, he restored it
to the Senate, and received Dalmatia in exchange for it (Dio
Cassius, liv. 4). This fact, mentioned by Dio Cassius, is confirmed
by the medals and inscriptions discovered at Curium and Cittium;
the title of Proconsul is given to Cominius Proclus, Julius Cordus,
and L. Aunus Bassus, who either preceded or immediately followed
him. Eckhel, iii. 84. Akerman, Numism. Illustr., pp. 39, 42. Boeckh,
Corpus Inscript., 2631, 2632.

At first the name of Proconsul was given to the retired consuls,

who, after having fulfilled the duties of their office, were given the
command of an army or province. Under Augustus this title was
granted indiscriminately to all Governors of Senatorial Provinces,
whether or not they had ever held office as Consuls. The term of
office of these magistrates was one year (Dio, liii. 13).

If this date refers to the year of the emperor's reign (cf. C. I. G.

From Soli. On a pedestal of white marble, found in a circular edifice near the small factory of Karavostasi. The above r 2632, 2634),—in this case the emperor Claudius,—then the date of
eading and the following notes are by M. Pierides. the inscription is fixed as 53. The concluding words of the
 is a surname of Gaea. = Custodian of the Public Records.  is, to be a inscription just quoted seem to presuppose that the Paulus in
Censor; but what office a Censor "to the Senate" was does not appear. :   = one of the months of the whose proconsulship Apollonius as censor examined the senate of
Cyprian Calendar, corresponding to April 23 May 23. Soloi, was no longer in office; that, therefore, Paulus governed
Hogarth (Devia Cypria, pp. 113, 115): ' Apollonius to his father . . . son of ... and his mother Artemidora, Cyprus before 53. Now it is true that these two lines and a half are
daughter of ... consecrated the enclosure and this monument according to your own (his parents) command, written in somewhat different characters, i.e. are a later filling out of
. . . having tilled tne offices of clerk of the markets, prefect, town clerk, high priest, and having been in Apollonius' list of offices. But from this it does not follow that
charge of the record office. Erected on the 25th of the month Demarchexusius in the year 13. He also Apollonius and the proconsul Paulus did not hold office until a time
revised the senate by means of assessors in the time of the proconsul Paulus.' subsequent to the date of the original inscription. Since whatever
The Proconsul Paulus may be the Sergius Paulus of the Acts of the Apostles (cap. xiii.), as instances of the suppression Pauline chronology is accepted, it is impossible to date Sergius
of one of two names are not rare Paulus' proconsulship of Cyprus later than 53, it follows that the
supplement to the inscription records a distinction of Apollonius
belonging prior to 53, and forgotten in the original inscription.

190
Paul & the Politarchs
When Paul struck out towards Thessalonica [Acts 17:1], he was aiming at
the capital366 of the second of the four divisions of Macedonia, which
ultimately became the capital of the whole province. It was a strategic
centre for the spread of the Gospel, as Paul later said, for it sounded
(echoed) forth from Thessalonica throughout Macedonia and Achaia
(1Thess 1:8). But the initial outlook was not so rosy….

For three successive Sabbaths, Paul preached to the Jews of the city at the
only synagogue in town [Acts 17:1], “as was his custom” [Acts 17:2367],
and as his modus operandi mandated [Acts 13:46-47368]. But, as became a
pattern, after little success at the synagogue, he turned to the proselytes369
and Gentiles,370 resorting to a house for teaching and preaching, in this
case belonging to Jason [Acts 17:5].

Luke’s record of the ensuing events also paints a picture of the church’s
struggle to establish itself in the hostile atmosphere of Jewish antagonism,
a pattern of legal interest to those reviewing Paul’s case in Rome. Each
time the Jews could not win public support in open discourse, they
resorted to nuisance suits in local courts, defamation, and disinformation.

As in other instances, Luke peppers his account with legal descriptors, and
the technical language of the court:

366
A “free city” [Pliny Nat Hist 4.10] self-governing, with its own judicial system
367
See, as well Acts 13:5, 13:14, 13:42, 14:1, 18:4, 18:17
368
13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: [cp Rom 1:16] but seeing ye put
it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of evetes rlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, ‘I have set thee to be a
light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.’”
369
Often referred to by Luke as “God-worshippers, ” of “God-fearers” [Acts 10:2, 16:4, 18:7, etc]. It is not to be inferred that all those converted belonged to the higher
classes, for the industrial element was clearly large (1Th 4:11).
370
See Acts 13:43, 17:4, etc. In 1Th 1:9 Paul expressly says that they had "turned to God from idols," proof that this church was mainly Gentile (cf. also #1Th 2:14).
191
 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy [],
took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort [],
and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and
assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the
people. (17:5)
The word  translate the “baser sort,” is by Hesychius explained,
   , “those who transact business in courts of
justice.” The same word is used by the Jews in Hebrew letters to signify
judges; and agorioth shel goyim, signifies “judges of the Gentiles.” Plato (
Protagoras 347 C) calls these αγοραιοι (common word, but in N.T. only
here and 19:38), idlers or good-for-nothing fellows. The Romans called
them subrostrani (“hangers round the rostrum” or subbasilicari).

These were probably a low kind of lawyers, pettifoggers, or attorneys

without principle, who gave advice for a trifle, and fomented disputes and
litigations among the people. The Itala version of the Codex Bezae calls
them quosdam forenses, “certain lawyers.” Today we might call them
“ambulance chasers.”
Acts 17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and
certain brethren unto the rulers of the city (επι τους πολιταρχας),
crying, “These that have turned the world upside down (οι την
οικουμενην αναστατωσαντες) are come hither also; 7 Whom Jason
hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar,
saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
The use of οικουμενην (supply γεν or χωραν, the inhabited earth, present
passive participle of οικεω) means the Roman Empire, since it is a
political charge. The verb αναστατοω (here first aorist active participle)
does not occur in the ancient writers, but is in LXX; in Acts 21:38 it has
an obviously political connotations of sedition.371

How could they make such accusations? That they “are come hither”
intimates to the authorities that they are members of a movement that
371
It occurs also in Harpocration (A.D. 4th cent.) and about 100 B.C. εξαναστατοω is found in a fragment of papyrus (Tebtunis no. 2) and in a Paris Magical Papyrus l.
2243 But in an Egyptian letter of Aug. 4, 41 A.D. (Oxyrhynchus Pap. no. 119, 10) "the bad boy" uses it =" he upsets me" or "he drives me out of my senses" (αναστατοι
με). See Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, pp. 84f.
192
started elsewhere, probably partisans of “Chrestus” already evicted from
Rome by Claudius [as also the Rabbis bringing these charges probably
were!].

These charges were alleged before the πολιταρχας – “politarchs” – of

Thessalonica. Luke is exquisitely sensitive [as a jurist should be] to the
titles of local authorities and adjudicators - more so than even many of his
Roman contemporary.372 The use of this term had occasionally been used
as an argument against the historicity of Acts, but it is now one of the best
attested examples of his accuracy and specificity. The first evidence of the
title is dated to the reign of Perseus [179 BC] in Amphipolis [referred to in
Acts 17:1], where the king with two politarchs honoured Artemis
Tauropolos after a Thracian campaign.373 It remained a distinctly
Macedonian,374 a title claimed mostly by the rulers of Thessalonica, in
particular.

Jason, although distinguished from the politarchs, was obviously a leading

citizen, a man of some means [able to put up the bail for the entire party
(17:9), as well as host Paul’s lectures in his own home], who also incurred
the wrath of the synagogue leaders. Luke does not refer to him after this
372
The most famous example would be how Tacitus referred to Pilate as a “procuraotor” whereas Luke describes himas merely a hegemon [=praefect], and how Luke
was accused of inaccuracy, until Pilate’s title was archeologically proven to be a “preafectus,” and Tacitus’ use of the title of “procuratorus” was actually anachronistic
for the region.
373
Hatzopoulos, Miltiades B. Macedonian Institutions under the Kings. 2 vols. Vol. 2. Epigraphic Appendix. Meletēmata (Kentron Hellēnikēs kai Rōmaikēs
Archaiotētos), 22. Athens 1996, p.135
374
The occurrence in Aeneas Tacticus, Commentarius de toleranda obsidione 26.12 [4th-cent BC, politarchon], is probably an isolated neologism, while a similar, less
specific term, poliarchon, occurs rarely in classical Greek [Pindar Nemean Odes, vii. 125, Euripides Rhesus, vs. 381, Dio Cass. 40.46]; add the occurrence of the title
on an Egyptian papyrus-letter from Oxyrhynchus, belonging to the beginning of the first century, where the writer claims that his correspondent had made some
promise through the 'politarch' Theophilus (P.Oxy. 745), = Theophilus ben Ananus?, aka “Hananeel the Egyptian” (m.Parah iii. 5), Büchler, Das Synedrion in
Jerusalem, p. 97, Vienna, 1902.

193
incident, but we have a tantalizing reference to him by Paul in Rom 16:21
- “Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen [salute you].” This one
reference opens a whole new vista of insights:
1) Jason, as a kinsmen, is Jewish375 [along with Lucius & Sosipater]
2) Jason, as a kinsmen, is a Jew from Tarsus376 [along with Lucius &
Sosipater]
3) Jason “emigrated” from Thessalonica to Corinth with Paul, from
whence Romans was written [along with Lucius & Sosipater].

Extrabiblical tradition supports 2), insamuch as Jason was asserted to be

the “bishop of Tarsus.”377 This line of evidence also demonstrates the
high degree of mobility among the professional class of the empire, able to
establish themselves in multiple cities, and even attain political offices in
their non-native cities of residence. Considering his continued
participation with Paul’s evangelistic efforts, why is there no further
mention of Jason again? Why are the “politarchs” not listed by name,
whereas Luke usually mentions the magistrates involved in such legal
proceedings?378
The answer again appears to be the matter of security regarding converts
to Christianity. Richard Fellows379 has argued for the identification of
Jason and another named member of Paul’s party, Aristarchus:
1) Jason was a supporter of Paul in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-9), and
was arrested for inviting Paul to use his house. He was a Jew and was
with Paul in Achaia just before Paul’s final journey to Jerusalem
(Rom 16:21).
2) Aristarchus was also from Thessalonica and was probably also a
Jew (Col. 4:10-11). He joined Paul in Achaia for the journey to
Jerusalem (Acts 20:4), so was in Greece at the same time as “Jason.”

375
“Jason” would then be Graecized form of the Hebrew “Joshua” (cp. II Macc. 4:7, Jos. Antiq 12.5.1); most appropriate for interacting with Gentiles at Thessalonica,
since Jason was the name of an illustrious king of Thessaly.
376
Sir William Mitchell Ramsay The cities of St. Paul their influence on his life and thought: [1908], p.177.
377
See Fabricii lux Evangelii, p. 115, 116, &c. Some of the ancients make mention of a disputation between Jason, a Hebrew Christian, and Papiscus, an Alexandrian
Jew; Clement, in his Hypotyposeis VI [apud Maximus, in Scholia on the work concerning the Mystical Theology, ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, cap. i.], states
this was written [transcribed?] by Luke, while most ancient writers attribute it to [translated by?] Aristo of Pella.
378
E.g Sergius Paulus [Acts 13:7], Dionysisus [17:34], Gallio [18:2], Felix [23:24], Claudius Lysias [23:26], Festus [24:27], Agrippa & Bernice [25:13], Publius [28:7],
et al.
379
http://members.shaw.ca/rfellows/Site/Aristarchus.html
194
 3) From 1 Thessalonians we deduce that there were few Jews in the
church of Thessalonica, yet Jason and Aristarchus appear to have
been Thessalonian Jewish believers who were in Achaia at the same
time.
From this, it would appear that “Jason” was his DBA [“doing business
as”] name while in Thessalonica, but that his cognomen was Aristarchus.
“Jason” was accused of hosting a political agitator (Paul), so the terms of
his bail may well have been that he stop supporting Paul. It would
therefore not be surprising that Luke would use his AKA name,
Aristarchus, subsequently, so that “Jason” was would not be seen as
having broken the terms of his bail-bond.

In fact, official charges were never accepted or adjudicated by the

Politarchs of Thessalonica; the issue evaporated with the “surety”
posted,380 and the absence of the parties mentioned in the suit:
Acts 17:8 …and the town magistrates, on their hearing this, 9…made
Jason and the other brothers give bond, and then turned them loose.
[Williams’]
Probably the demand was made of Jason that he see to it that Paul and
Silas leave the city never to return. In 1Th 2:17, Paul refers to this in
mentioning his inability to visit the Thessalonians again. This is affirmed
by the Codex Bezae, when it adds at Act 17:15
But they that conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens. But he
passed by381 Thessaly, for he was forbidden to proclaim the word
to them, and receiving a commandment from Paul to Silas and
Timothy that they should come to him with all speed, they departed.
In light of the seriousness of the charges, the dismissal on the part of the
politarchs is remarkably favorable towards Jason. Is there something more
to this affair than appears in Luke’s matter-of-fact account?

380
“When they had taken security” (λαβοντες το ικανον). A Greek idiom=Latin satis accipere, to receive the sufficient (bond), usually money. The idiom λαμβανειν το
ικανον now is found in two inscriptions of the second century A.D. (O. G. I. S. 484, 50 and 629, 101). In Vol. III Oxyrhynchus Papyri no. 294 A.D. 22 the
corresponding phrase δουναι εικανον ("to give security") appears.
381
By sea, from Beroea [17:13-14]. Here Ephrem has 'But the Holy Spirit prevented him from preaching lest they should slay him. And those who conducted Paul led
him as far as Athens and having received from Paul a command to Silas and Timothy.'
195
At Acts 20:4, we are given a remarkable list of those who were
accompanying Paul in his journey back through Asia Minor:
And there accompanied him into Asia
1) Sopater of Berea [in Macedonia]: and of the Thessalonians,
2) Aristarchus and
3) Secundus [men of Macedonia, 19:29]; and
4) Gaius of Derbe and
5) Timothy [of Lystra, 16:1]; and of Asia,
6) Tychicus and
7) Trophimus [men of Ephesus, 21:29]
In Rom 16, we recognize Sopater in “Sosipater” [Rom 16:21], a fellow
Tarsian transplanted to Macedonia, but then serving at Corinth. We have
already identified “Jason” [Rom 16:21] as Aristarchus, who goes on to
become a fellow-prisoner of Paul at Rome [Col 4:10, for violating the
terms of his “surety” at Thessalonica?]. We have thus accounted for
almost all of Paul’s kinsmen, and Macedonian compatriots, except for
“Secundus” & “Lucius.” As God would have it, archaeology has
discovered the inscription, embedded in the Vardar gate of Thessalonica,
that lists the five ruling Politarchs at the time of Paul, which fills in this
gap:

196
 “The Politarchs being SOSIPATER, son of Cleopatra and LUCIUS
Pontius SECUNDUS’ son; Aulus Avius Sabinus Demetrius, son of
Faustus; Demetrius, son of Nicopolis; Zoilus son of Parmenion, son
of Meniscos; GAIUS Agilleius Potitos, as Politarchs; Taurus, also
known as Reglus, son of Ammia as City-Treasurer; and Taurus, also
known as Reglus, son of Taurus, as Gymnasiarch”

Not only do we find examples of accepted multiple aliases at work in

Thessalonica, we find that we can identify at least three382 of the politarchs
as converts to Christianity, and subsequent “fellow-labourers” of Paul. It
also helps to confirm the distinction of “Demas” [short for a “Demetrius”
above] the Thessalonian,383 and the Ephesian Demetrius [Acts 19:24ff,
3John 1:12], as we shall see.

We also see the father-son relationship of Lucius & Sopater as evidenced

in the inscription [the elder Lucius & Jason taking precedence in Paul’s
list at Rom 16:21]. Similarly, Jason never returns to Thessalonica, but his
son apparently remains and goes on to become a politarch there, as shown
in the inscription below:

382
Lucius=Secundus [Rom 16:21=Acts 20:4], Sopater’s father, had probably served as a politarch prior to his son at some point.
383
See Col 4:14, Phm 24 [paired with Aristarchus from Thessalonika], of whom Paul had to write some five years later, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this
present world, and is departed to Thessalonica." 2Ti 4:10.
197
As described by, Prof. E. DeWitt Burton in 1898,
“This inscription is the most recently discovered of all those from
Thessalonica. It was found by Dimitsas in the office of the
Educational Syllogos of Thessalonica, and published for the first time
in his recent volume on Macedonia [Athens, 1898], p. 428, inscr.
368. He dates it conjecturally, on the basis of the writing and the
character of the names, for the early part of the first or second century
of the Roman dominion, that is, apparently between 168 B. C. and the
Christian era. In form it strongly resembles our No. I [the Vardar gate
inscription]. In the number of politarchs, five, it agrees with our No.
II, which is by its own dating definitely assigned to the reign of
Augustus…. It is [ergo] at least before AD 143.”
The mention of an “Aristarchus, son Aristarchus” at Thessalonica in the
first century AD makes the identification obvious. We also have the
suggestive reference to “Theodorus [‘God’s gift’], son of Eutychus,” a
suitable Christian name for the son of that famous convert.384

We later find two of our Thessalonian Politarchs [Gaius and Aristarchus,

Acts 19:29], embroiled in a new controversy on the other side of the
Aegean sea, at Ephesus. While also find a new group of city magistrates
involved [the Asiarchs in Acts 19:31 -  ], whose anonymity
raises similar issues.

These "Asiarchs"385 were ten officers, priests elected by cities in the

province, who presided over public games and festivals, who funded the
celebrations at their own cost, but described as “friends” of Paul [19:31].
This implied conflict-of-interest underlies much of the tension in Luke’s
account. In fact, while this episode in Ephesus is among the most detailed
and vivid in all the book of Acts, it still leaves out details386 not suitable
for his audience, or parties involved. The writer does not profess to be an
eyewitness of the scene, but had abundant opportunity of learning from
384
Recalling that, according to Cod. Bezae, Eutychus accompanied Paul to Troas from Macedonia.
385
The most recent publication of a list of the Asiarch on inscriptions is M. Rosser, Studii Clasice: Bucuresti, Soc. de Studii clasice din RSR 16 (1974) 101-42.
386
E.g., 1Co 15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not?; 2Ti 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord
stood with me, and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the
lion.
198
eyewitnesses all the incidents which he relates in Acts 19, with a multitude
of minute details and local touches.387

Aedicula,
miniature
shrine, of
Cybele [a
variant of
Artemis], in
illustration
of silver
shrines of
Diana of
Ephesus;
found at
Athens, of
the more
common
From Dictionnaire des Antiquites terra-cotta,
“Of the Ephesians." From a Roman coin material.
in the British Museum. A copy of a shrine,
rather than of the temple itself

The description of the “Artemis Shrine”388 trade, the hierarchy and

network of subservient guilds,389 at which Demetrius was the head, are not
the descriptions of a passer-by, but someone enmeshed in the local politics
and economy. Who was Luke’s informant at this point?
In 1877, Woods published his monumental edition of his archeological
discoveries at Ephesus, including this faulty [but correctable] transcription
of one of the inscriptions found there:

387
The text of Cod.Bezae preserves touches that add even more to the sense of immediacy and historicity. For details, see Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire Before
A.D. 170 [1892], chaps. 7,8, and Albert C Clark The primitive text of the Gospels and Acts [Clarendon press, 1914], ch. xi, esp. p.98.
388
Literally naouv argurouv artemidov, "silver Artemis temple[-models]s": in some manuscripts it is added, "like little chests" A Greek and Latin inscription found in
the theatre, tells how a Roman official provided a silver image of Artemis ([Di]anae aidicolam votum dedit / Artamiti euchan naiskon apedWke), which translates as "he
gave a shrine to Artemis (Diana) as a votive offering" which would be displayed in the theatre when civic meetings were held there, as was customary. [Inschriften von
Ephesos, 1.27; Anatolian Studies 15 (1005) 58-59]
389
The account distinguishes the tecnitaiv [artisans] from the laborers [smelters,etc] in this trickle-down economy.
199
 "The Senate [and the People do public
honour] to them that served as
N[eopoioi, [i.e. Temple-wardens]]
during the prytany390 of -------, in the
year of Demetrius: viz.,
"Of the Ephesine Tribe: Demetrius,
son of Menophilos, the son of Tryphon,
of the thousand Boreis:
Thoas, son of Drakontomenes, of the
thousand Oinopes.
"Of the Augustan391 Tribe: Alexander,
etc; Pythion, etc.
"Of the Teian392 Tribe: [Herm]as393….;
Pythodorus….
"Of the Karenaean Tribe: Eusebes:
Tryphon.
"Of the Tribe Euonymoi:394 Heraklitus;
Apellas Glaucias.
"Of the Bembinaean Tribe: [Pr]esbon;
[another name lost]."

Rev. Canon Hicks ably succeeded in identifying Demetrius on this

prominent inscription in the Augusteum of ancient Ephesus.395 As Ramsay
summarized the case:
“But if [Hicks] is right in dating his inscription about AD 50-60, then
the case may be thus stated: Two independent documents mention a
Demetrius in Ephesus about 50-60 A.D. In each case the Demetrius is
a man of a certain standing in the city, influential and presumably
wealthy. In the one case Demetrius is specified as a "silversmith,"
and as evidently a leader in the trade; …. In addition to this, the

390
prytane, or president of the public assembly
391
“perhaps the Roman citizens placed in the Augustan Tribe. This Augustan Tribe was doubtless an older institution [from the time of Julius Caesar?], renamed in
honour of Augustus. It may have contained also the new population introduced when Iconium was made a Hellenized self-governing city out of a mere Anatolian town”
[W.M. Ramsay The Expositor - Page 301– vol 12, 1905]
392
Teian (te'yan), pertaining to Te'os, an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, maritime city of Ionia, on a peninsula between Chytrium and Myonnesus, colonized by
Orchomenian Minyans, Ionians, and Boeotians. The city is situated on a low hilly narrow strip of land connecting two larger areas of land (isthmus). Teos ranked
among twelve cities comprising the Ionian League. It was a member of the Lydian group of the Ionian League
393
In an inscription from the time of Claudius, a man named M. Antonius Hermeias is called a "silversmith," and "temple warden" ( )
[Inschriften von Ephesos, 6, 2212; Horsley, New Documents, 4.7, #1]. The Hermeias inscription, mentioned above, also mentions a "guild of silversmiths"
(  ) in Ephesus, which was commissioned to care for a gravesite. It has been reported that Miltner found the shops of the silversmiths in
his excavations in the agora [P. MacKendrick, The Greek Stones Speak (New York: St. Martin, 1962) 422.].
394
the Athenian colonists; Ephorus, who wrote in the middle of the fourth century, describes these as the five Ephesian Tribes.
395
“Demetrius the Silversmith: an Ephesian Study," Expositor, June 1890, pp 401ff, and ser.IV, vol.ii “postscript” pp 144ff.
200
 official position of the second Demetrius, as member and chairman of
a board of city magistrates, is recorded.”
But we need not stop there. Two more NT figures are named, in the right
place, at the right time. We have Alexander, of the “Augustan tribe,” (i.e.,
Jews freed by Augustus himself who formed there own tribe in Ephesus),
aka “Alexander the Coppersmith”396 [2Tim 4:14, cf].

Whereas Demetrius eventually became a devout disciple of Christ [as

attested by the apostle John himself, 3John 12], Alexander initially
befriended Paul after the Ephesian riot, but then undermined him by
spreading a deviant heresy in his wake.397 Since he had already thus
betrayed Paul by the time he came to Rome ca. AD 58 [1Tim 1:20], Luke
had no compunction about naming him. The name of another of the
Asiarchs listed that Luke chose to suppress was Apelles,398 later affirmed
to be a friend of Paul who had migrated to Rome [Rom 16:10], and who,
unlike some others from Ephesus, was “approved in Christ” [i.e. tested
and proved true].

396
An inscription refers to the "(work place) of Diogenes the coppersmith" ( ) [Inschriften von Ephesos 2.554]. The form - is
equivalent to − (see Horsely, New Documents 4.10).
397
Luke’s description in Acts 19:33 assumes him to already have a reputation of being an eloquent and persuasive speaker among the Jews at Ephesus, a rhetorician for
hire like Tertullus [Acts 24:1]
398
Tradition also relates that Apelles was one the 1st bishops of Smyrna [op.cit.; cf Apos Const. 7.46], again affirming his connection to Roman “Asia.” Horace
[“Serraon.” l. 1. Satyr. 5, prope finem] mentions “Apelles” as a Jewish name. These Jewish Asiarchs obviously officiated their duties in a perfunctory matter, more as
matter of expanding the political influence of Jews in the area.
201
The Enigma of the
Beloved Disciple
Our journey continues at Ephesus, in modern Turkey, when, in the year
1927, Professors Rudolf Egger and Josef Keil of the Austrian
Archeological Institute were excavating the traditional site of the Tomb of
St. John, beneath the Byzantine Basilica of St John the Divine. The
Wanderings of John399 (written in the name Prochorus, Acts 6:5) conclude
with the ancient tradition that John ordered this tomb to be excavated for
himself in the shape of a cross.

399
Ps.-Prochoros a post- Islamic forgery, probably written shortly before A.D. 1088, incorporates large, otherwise lost portions from Leucius's [another supposed friend
and disciple of John] Acts of John', which the late Dr. M. R. James placed about A.D. 150, that is within living memory of Hadrian, when Slavonic MSS of
"Propchorus" say John was still alive [R. Eisler in The Enigma of the Fourth Gospel (Methuen: London 1938): 168]. Recently Bremmer,"Apocryphal Acts" (Leuven:
2001), pp. 158f, confirmed Asia Minor as a place of Acts of John's origin and suggested c. 150 as the date of writing (pp. 153f). Cf. Czachesz, Apostolic Commission,
pp. 117f. Chapters 94-102 and 109 probably were added later, cf. Junod and Kaestli, Acta Iohannis, pp. 700ff and Histoire , p. 4; Lalleman, Acts of John, pp. 59-66 and
266ff; Luttikhuizen, "Gnostic Reading". For the reconstruction of the text, see Czachesz, Apostolic Commission, pp. 91-96;
202
Indeed, underneath the chapel, Professor Joseph Keil found a system of
subterranean vaults arranged in the shaped of a cross. One of these
underground rooms was exactly below the altar.

These very low catacombs were originally accessible through a steep and
narrow passage provided with steps - walled up at a later date. A body was
not found, but immediately under the pavement a large earthenware jar
was discovered built-in with the lid tightly sealed, a piece of leaden tube
leading into it near the bottom, and another piece of leaden tube leading
out of from the top. What was the purpose of this crypt and contrivance?

In The Essene Odyssey,400 Hugh Schonfield puzzled over the inclusion of

one "Yochanan ben Zabda" (=John bar Zebedee!) as the partner of healer
& astronomer Asaph ben Berechiah in the Sefer Refu’ot - “Book of
Medicines”401 - a writing with affinities to the literature of the 1st-century
Qumran sect. This Hebrew medical text claims to be written by the
physician “Asaph ben Berechiah” - sometimes called Asaph ben
Berechiah ha-Yarchoni (“Asaph the astronomer”). In the text is an ancient
version of the Hippocratic Oath for physicians:
 “This is the pact which Asaph ben Berachiah and Yohanan ben
Zabda made with their pupils . . . . Thus did Asaph and Yohanan
exhort and adjure their pupils.”402
Rabbinic Judaism has preserved an independent tradition about “John bar
Zebedee” being a healer and astronomer!

The prologue to the Acts of John by Prochorus, says Zebedee was a priest
from Jerusalem who moved to Capernaum.403 Jerome tells us “John was
of noble birth and known to the high priest” (Ep.127. ad Principia). John
himself tells us that he personallym and by extension, his family, “was

400
The Essene Odyssey: The Mystery of the True Teacher and the Essene Impact on the Shaping of Human Destiny By Hugh Joseph Schonfield Published by Element
Books, 1984
401
Hebrew scholar Muntner studied Asaph's material, its language, sources, healing prescriptions, etc, and came to the conclusion that Asaph could not have lived later
than the sixth century, and probably lived in the Land of Israel. Z. Muntner, Mavo leSefer Assaf haRofe (Jerusalem: Geniza, 1958) 33 (Hebrew).
402
Shlomo Pines, "The Oath of Asaph the Physician and Yohanan Ben Zabda. Its Relation to the Hippocratic Oath and the Doctrina Duarum Viarum of the Didache."
Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanitis 9, 1975: 223-264.
403
[Vat Gr. 654] folio 88-89
203
known [gnwstov] to the High Priest” [John 18:15], or, as in some
manuscripts,404 “related [gnwrimov] to the High Priest.”

This confirmed by the Ethiopic Genealogies of the Twelve Apostles :

"Zebedee was of the house of Levi, and his wife of the house of
Judah. Now, because the father of James loved him greatly he
counted him among the family of his [fore]father Levi, and similarly
because the mother of John loved him greatly, she counted him
among the family of her [fore]father Judah. And they were surnamed
'sons of Thunder,' for they were of both the priestly house and of the
royal house."405
Polycrates of Ephesus (a disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna, who was in turn
a direct disciple of John), goes further:
 “John, moreover, who reclined on the Lord's bosom [John 13:12],
and who became a priest wearing the petalon [Exod. 28:35-36], and a
martyr, and a teacher [], rests at Ephesus”
The technical terms used could imply titles of High Priest and Rabbi.
Hippolytus also referred to John as the “Ephesian High Priest and
Prophet.”406 According to Photius (Cod 121), Hippolytus was a disciple of
Irenaeus, who was also disciple of Polycarp.

Coming from a priestly caste, John would have some rudimentary training
in observational astronomy, since the Temple calendar was set by
observing the solistices, equinoxes, and“new moons” [1Chron 23:31, Psa
104:19, Gen 1:14; Only after the Temple was destroyed was the Festival
calendar based on calculation, rather than observation]. However, the
acute astronomical observations found in the book of Revelation seem to
confirm the Jewish tradition that John had advance training in this science,
under the mentorship of Asaph ben Berechiah.407

404
Codex Purpureus (N) (and presumably Codex Beratinus (F) from the 6th and 5th century respectively as dated by Scrivener); K. Aland Synopsis Quattuor
Evangeliorum. (United Bible Societies 2001): loc.cit.
405
(compare Budge, Contendings of the Apostles, II, 49)
406
Odes on all Scriptures (Cod. Coislianus 195)
407
Eleazar Ḥisma (about 100), a profound mathematician, could "count the drops in the ocean" (TB Hor. 10a), and declared that “ability to compute the solstice and the
calendar is the “dessert [auxiliaries] of wisdom” (Aboth. iii. 18). Among the sciences that Johanan ben Zakkai [c AD 70] mastered was a knowledge of the solstices and
the calendar; i.e., the ability to compute the course of the sun and the moon (TB Suk. 28a). Rabban Gamaliel [Acts 5:34, 22:3] included a chart illustrating the various
phases of the moon (R. H. ii. 8), and a sort of telescope for the calculation of air-line distances (Yer. 'Er. v. 22d; Bab. 'Er. 43b).
204
In fact, the book Revelation seems to have had a ripple effect on Judaic
eschatology from that point forward. Strong parallels with it can be found
in such Jewish works408 as The Words of Gad the Seer, 409 the Perek
Shirah, 410 the Sefer haRazim ,411 the Sefer Elijah,412 and many others. How
do we account for John’s reputation as healer & astronomer among the
Jews, and the impact of his Revelation on their eschatology?

According to Epiphanius,413 besides the Hebrew version of Matthew, a

version “of John is kept in a Hebrew translation in the treasuries of the
Jews414 - namely at Tiberias – and that it is hidden there, as some converts
from Judaism have told us accurately. Even the book of the Acts of the
Apostles translated from Greek into Hebrew is said to be kept there in their
treasuries, so that the Jews who told us this and read it, came in this way to
believe in Christ” [Panarion 30.3]

Schonfield415 argued that Epiphanius’ reference to a writing of John was

actually a Hebrew version of the book of Revelation, citing in support the
Jewish Toledoth Yeshu tradition in the Huldreich recension:
408
On the relationship between the Book of Revelation and Jewish sources, see: M. MacNamara, The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch
(Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1966) 209-217; E. E. Urbach, "Yerushalayim Shel Mata veYerushalayim Shel Maala", Yerushalayim LeDoroteha (Jerusalem: The Israel
Exploration Society, 1969) 156-171 (Hebrew). See also the paper (only in regard to the Qedusha, the Trishagion),M. Bar-Ilan “Major Trends in the Development of the
Qedusha", Daat (Hebrew, in press).
409
http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/gadiscov.html, http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/gadate.html; Bar-Ilan even intimates that Gad was directly influenced by John’s
Revelation.
410
A cosmic hymn to the Creator in which all of Creation, including the winds, clouds, all species of birds, mammals and fish sing praises for their very existence. It
opens with the promise that those who recite it “are assured of a place in the World to Come” and ends with the hope that their study will be transformed into good
deeds that will win heavenly reward. The praises are expressed in the form of scriptural quotations, reflecting the Jewish belief in the interdependence of study and
prayer. This tenth-century work also reflects an acute awareness of the spiritual dimension of nature and the environment.
411
M.Margolith [ed., Jerusalem: Yediot 1966] recovered the work from the Cairo Genizah fragments and dated the work to the earlt centuries of the Christian era.
412
“appeared first in Salonica in 1743, printed in the same volume with several other pieces, and was reprinted by Jellinek in "B. H." iii. 65-68. A critical edition,
according to a Munich manuscript, with translation, explanatory notes, and an attempt to ascertain the date of composition, was published by Moses Buttenwieser ("Die
Hebräische Elias-Apocalypse," etc.). . . . The original apocalypse was written amid the confusion of the year 261, caused by the wars of Sapor I against Rome and his
capture of Valerian; but in its original form it was probably more voluminous. In all probability the author lived in Palestine. During the exciting period of the Perso-
Roman wars waged by Chosroes I. (540-562) or Chosroes II. (604-628), the apocalypse was furnished with the addition mentioned above, in order to make the
prophecies appear to accord with the changed times and conditions, for the outcome of the dispute is that "Kesra" (the Arabic form of "Chosroes") must be the name of
the last Persian king. . . . From this summary will be noticed how closely the picture of the future world given in this apocalypse resembles the Revelation of John”
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1643&letter=A#4791
413
He was born into a Jewish family in the small settlement of Besanduk, near Eleutheropolis, Judaea, but converted to Christianity, and lived as a monk in Egypt, where
he was educated and came into contact with Valentinian groups. Returning to Judaea around 333, when still a young man, he founded a monastery at Ad nearby[1]
which is often mentioned in the polemics of Jerome with Rufinus and John, Bishop of Jerusalem. He was ordained a priest, and lived and studied as superior of the
monastery for thirty years. He became versed in several languages including Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin and was called by Jerome on that account
Pentaglossis ("Five tongued").
414
The later Jewish writings show acquaintance with: 1) The massacre of the Innocents (Wagenseil Confut. Libr.Toldoth 15; Eisenmenger Entdecktes Judenthum 1.116;
Schottgen, Horae Hebraicae 2.667); 2) The flight into Egypt (cf. Josephus Ant XIII, xiii); 3) The stay of Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve (Schottgen, op.cit.
II.696); 4) The call of the disciples (Sanhedrin 43a; Wagenseil, op.cit. 17; Schottgen, loc.cit. 713); 5) His miracles (Origen Contra Celsus II.48; Wagenseil, op. cit. 150;
Gemara Sanhedrin fol. 17); "Schabbath", fol. 104b; Wagenseil, op.cit. 6, 7, 17); 6) His claim to be God (Origen Contra Celsus I.28; cf Eisenmenger, op cit, I.152;
Schottgen, 2.699); 7) His betrayal by Judas and His death (Origen Contra Celsus II, 9, 45, 68, 70; Buxtorf Lex. Chald [Basle, 1639] 1458; Lightfoot Horae Heb 458,
490, 498; Eisenmenger, loc cit 185; Schottgen, 2.699 700; Sanhedrin vi, vii); 8) Celsus questions the Resurrection, while Toledoth reports the empty tomb (Origen
Contra Celsus 2.55, cf. Wagenseil, 19)
415
Schonfield, Hugh, J. (1937) According to the Hebrews, London: Duckworth; citing JJ HULDREICH Sepher Toledoth Jeshua ha-Notsri [Leiden 1705]
205
  “Then said Simon: ‘I am Simon ben Kalpus, uncle of Yeshu. He sent
me to teach you His law for He is the Son of God’ . . . He also wrote
books in the names of disciples of Yeshu, and especially the Book of
John for the men of Ai thought it contained mysteries, . . . . For
instance, he wrote in the Book of John that John saw a beast with
seven heads and 7 horns and 7 crowns, and the name of the beast was
blasphemy and the number of the beast was 666”

Here is literary evidence, in Hebrew, that Jewish communities preserved

knowledge of the book of Revelation, well beyond the Middle Ages. But is
there historical substance behind this recollection? Specifically, do we
have any other knowledge of “Simon ben Kalpus, uncle of Yeshu”?
Eusebius, relying on the record of Hegesippus’ Memoirs [written before
AD 167], states:
 “After the martyrdom of James [“the Just” in AD 62], . . . it is said
that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still
living came together from all directions with those that were related
to the Lord according to the flesh, (for the majority of them also were
still alive) to take counsel as to who was worthy to succeed James.
They all with one consent pronounced Symeon the son of Clopas, of
whom the Gospel also makes mention [John 19:25]; to be worthy of
the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of
the Saviour. For Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of
Joseph” [Eccl. Hist. 3.11, cp 4.22]
This is independent confirmation, not only of the Jerusalem Church under
one “Symeon (son of Clopas, uncle of Jesus)” – but of a second Apostolic
Council at Jerusalem, in AD 62. Beside choosing a successor to James, the
Toledoth Yeshu implies that Symeon approved and published Hebrew
versions of Matthew, Acts, and Revelation, for use in Hebrew-speaking
congregations. This would demand that John’s apocalyptic vision occurred
long before AD 95 (the date usually given).

This, however, was not the only canonizing activity that occurred at this
Council. Origen tells us
206
 “that John collected the written Gospels in his own lifetime in the reign
of Nero and approved those . . .but refused and rejected those which he
perceived were not truthful” (Hom I Luk 9).

Ivory book-cover of an evangel of

St. John in the treasury of
Halberstadt made in Cologne416.
Said to have been added by the
treasurer Albert of Langenburg to
an evangeliary presented by
Charlemagne's son Louis I to
Bishop Haymo of Halberstadt in
A.D. 840. John is dictating his
gospel to Gaius [3John 1]417 with
a chest of NT books between
them, representing those “brought
to him; writings or letters from
brethren who lived in the Pontic
region” [Gospel Preface of
Fortunatus,418 AD 313, based on
the writings of Papias of
Hierapolis, c. AD 90]
Eusebius confirms that Matthew, Mark and Luke were presented to John
and “they say he welcomed them and testified to their truth” (Eccl Hist
3.24.7). The same incident is referred to in the 2nd-cent419 Muratori Canon:
 “The fourth [book] of the Gospels is that of John of the disciples.
When his fellow-disciples and bishops urged, he said: ‘Fast together
with me today for three days and, what shall be revealed to each, let
us tell [it] to each other.’ On that same night it was revealed to
Andrew of the Apostles, that, with all of them reviewing, John should
describe all things in his own name”

416
(Hermes, Der Dom zu Halberstadt, 1896, pp. 132, 136; Molinier, Les Ivoires, p. 171; Beissel, Gesch. d. Evangelienbucher, p. 307; Ad. Goldschmidt,
Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der Zeit der sachs. u. karolingischen Kaiser, Berlin, vol. II, pi. XIV, fig. 44; ibid., fig. 45) Dated by Prof. Goldschmidt about A.D. 1000, and
tentatively attributed to a workshop of Liege. Eisler thinks it more than a century earlier. Comparison of the composition especially the cloud supporting the
Evangelist's symbol, the crouching attitude of the figures, the frame mounted with gems with the miniature representing the Four Evangelists in the Carolingian
evangeliary given by Louis I and his wife Judith to St. Medard of Soissons in 827 (Die Trierer Ada Hs., Leipzig, 1889, t. VI, pi. 23) shows the kind of miniatures which
the Halberstadt Gospel must have contained, and which have influenced the sculpture of this ivory.
417
“The Gospel according to John was dictated by himself the holy John the apostle and beloved, when he [sic] was banished to the island of Patmos, and published by
him in Ephesus through Gaius the beloved and host of the apostles, about whom Paul too writing to the Romans said, ‘Gaius the host of me and the entire church greets
you’.” Pseudo-Athanasius, Synopsis scripturae sacrae (PG 28.432.39-51):
418
“The Gospel of John was revealed and given to the Churches by John whilst he was still alive in his body, as Papias, called the Hierapolitan, the beloved disciple of
John, has reported in his five books of Exegetics . . . [was] brought [to] him writings, or letters, from the brethren who were in the Pontus” [Evangelium lohannis
manifestatum et datum est ecclesiis ab lohanne adhuc in corpore constitute sicut Papias nomine hieropolitanus, discipulus lohannis cams in exegeticis quinque libris
retulit. . . .Is vero scripta vel epistulas ad eum pertulerat afratribus qui in Ponto fuerunt] FORTUNATIAN'S PREFACE TO JOHN [Vg Codd. F.R.N.S.]
419
Composed shortly after Pope Pius I [d. 154 AD, apud Catholic Encyclopedia]; see E. Ferguson “Canon Muratori: Date and Provenance” Studia Patristica 18.2
(1982): 677-683
207
In other words, his fellow Apostles and Disciples felt that New Testament
Canon would be incomplete without John adding his Gospel witness to
that of the other Evangelists.420 The fall-out of this Council and
canonization process was another great schism. According to Hegesippus
[via Eusebius EH 4.22], a certain Thebutis was embittered by not being
chosen as James’ successor, and led a breakaway Judaizing sect from
among the “Party of the Circumcision” [cf Gal 2:12]

Based on the report of Josephus [BJ 6.8.3], we can surmise that when the
“divine directive” came for the Church at Jerusalem to leave the city [AD
62-66421], the followers of Thebutis422 stayed and formed part of the Zealot
resistance in the Jewish War [AD 66-70]. This is confirmed by Tacitus,
who says Titus finally decided to destroy the Temple so that “with the root
[of Judaism] removed, the branch [of Nazoreans] is easily killed,"423
showing some “Judeo-Christians” were left to be captured.

Thebutis424 himself bargained for his own life by betraying his priestly
office and handing over the sacred treasures of the Temple to Titus [BJ
6.8.3]

420
According to the Syriac History of John, Peter and Paul encouraged John to write a gospel from his unique perspective as early as AD 48 [the first Apostolic
Council], J.A.T. Robinson The Priority of John (Meyer Stone Books 1987): 68
421
Eccl. Hist. “The whole body, however, of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the
war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella. Here those that believed in Christ, having removed from Jerusalem, as if holy
men had entirely abandoned the royal city itself, and the whole land of Judea; the divine justice, for their crimes against Christ and his apostles finally overtook them,
totally destroying the whole generation of these evildoers form the earth. (Eusebius, bk. 3, ch. 5.). Also, Epiphanius (see Panarion 29.7.7-8; 30.2.7; De Mens. et Pond.,
xv) and in the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (see Recognitions 1:37 (Syriac version) and 1:39 (Latin version of Rufinus); cp Hom. 2:17). Shlomo Pines wrote: “The
story which relates the flight of the original Christian community from Palestine has an evident counterpart in the departure of that community from Jerusalem to Pella
accounted in Eusebius and in Epiphanius...It is, moreover, an interesting point that Eusebius seems to say or to imply that this appeal was the indirect cause of the action
resulting in the murder committed by the Jews, of James, the brother of Jesus, who was the head of the Christian community of Jerusalem. The hypothesis can at least
be envisaged that the attempts of some members of the Christian community in question to obtain help from the Romans, or arrive at an understanding with them, may
on the whole have worsened the position of this community, and finally rendered it untenable, making flight necessary. Our text seems to indicate that, as a result,
Jewish Christian communities were formed in the Mosul district and in the Jazira (or in Arabia)” [Shlomo Pines, Jewish Christians According to a New Source,
Jerusalem, 1966, p. 21] Compare: “Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost as the priests were going by night into the inner court of the temple...they said that,
in the first place, they felt a quaking and heard a sound as of a multitude saying, ‘Let us remove hence’.” (Josephus, Wars, bk. VI, ch. v, sec. 3) Tacitus, Histories
5.13.1: “The doors of the shrine were suddenly opened, and a voice, greater than that of a human, was heard to say that the gods were departing. Simultaneously there
was the unnatural movement of a departure.”
422
6.8.3. “But now at this time it was that one of the priests, the son of Thebuthus, whose name was Jesus, upon his having security given him, by the oath of Caesar,
that he should be preserved, upon condition that he should deliver to him certain of the precious things that had been reposited in the temple (29) came out of it, and
delivered him from the wall of the holy house two candlesticks, like to those that lay in the holy house, with tables, and cisterns, and vials, all made of solid gold, and
very heavy. He also delivered to him the veils and the garments, with the precious stones, and a great number of other precious vessels that belonged to their sacred
worship. The treasurer of the temple also, whose name was Phineas, was seized on, and showed Titus the coats and girdles of the priests, with a great quantity of purple
and scarlet, which were there reposited for the uses of the veil, as also a great deal of cinnamon and cassia, with a large quantity of other sweet spices, (30) which used
to be mixed together, and offered as incense to God every day. A great many other treasures were also delivered to him, with sacred ornaments of the temple not a few;
which things thus delivered to Titus obtained of him for this man the same pardon that he had allowed to such as deserted of their own accord.”
423
via Sulpicius Severus in his Chronica 2.30.6-7. SeeEric Laupot “TACITUS’ FRAGMENT 2: THE ANTI-ROMAN MOVEMENT OF THE CHRISTIANI AND
THE NAZOREANS” Vigiliae Christianae 54, no. 3 (2000) 233-47
424
Hegesippus calls him “Thebutis” while Josephus calls hims “Jesus” – son of Thebuthus, just as the Gospel writers refer to Caiaphas, whom Josephus calls him
Joseph, son of Caiaphas also known simply as Caiaphas (Greek Καϊάφας) in the New Testament, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest between 18 and 37
AD (CE). In the Mishnah, Parah 3:5 refers to him as Ha-Koph (the monkey), a play on his name for opposing Mishnat Ha-Hasidim. The Babylonian Talmud (Yavamot
15b) gives the family name as Kuppai, while the Jerusalem Talmud (Yevamot 1:6) mentions Nekifi. In 1990, two miles south of present day Jerusalem, 12 ossuaries in
208
 From the Triumphal Arch of Titus, Detail of the Looting of the Temple
By throwing in their lot with any one of the Messianic pretenders involved
in the Jewish Revolt, they were - in essence - supporting an “Anti-Christ.”
[see 1John 2:18,22425] This was the point of John’s multiple warnings to
the Diaspora Jews against such heresies in his Epistles.

The copy of 1 John that was used in the “Old Latin” translation was one
addressed “to the Parthians”426 - probably as a “letter of introduction”
meant to accompanying a copy of John’s Gospel for the Judeo-Christians
converted by St. Thomas. It was both an encouragement and a
warning: Parthians Jews were not to join the Jewish Revolt at the
encouragement of heretics like Thebutis and Cerinthus. The impact of his
letter may have averted the Jewish Revolt turning into an all-out “world
war” between Rome and Parthia

According to the Church Fathers,427 John’s gospel was written to combat

the specific heresies of Cerinthus, an Arch-Judaizer. The best description
of Cerinthus and his teachings is that of Epiphanius (Panarion 28), who

the family tomb of a "Caiaphas" were discovered. One ossuary was inscribed with the full name, in Aramaic of "Joseph, son of Caiaphas", and a second with simply the
family name of "Caiaphas".[1] After examination the bones were reburied on the Mount of Olives.
425
See also John 5:43, 16:2, etc
426
John’s first epistle is addresses 'ad Parthos‘ [to the Parthians”], credibly attested by manuscripts of the Old Latin version, Augustine (Quaest. evang. 2, 39), and
Cassiodorus Senator (Instit. c. 14), as well as a corrupt passage of Clement of Alexandria, i.e., stating that it was intended for the Jewish Christians of Mesopotamia,
i.e. in the Parthian Empire. BEDE, in a prologue to the seven Catholic Epistles, says that ATHANASIUS attests the same.
427
Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, Book I (Chapter XXVI, §1-2) Book III (Chapter II, §1; Ch. III, §4; Ch. XI, §1) Polycarp told the story that John the Evangelist, in
particular, is said to have so detested Cerinthus that he once fled a bathhouse when he found out Cerinthus was inside, yelling "Let us flee, lest the building fall down;
for Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is inside!“ [Irenaeus mentions the anecdote about Polycarp in Adv. Haer., III.3.4]. Cerinthus may be the alleged recipient of the
Apocryphon of James (codex I, text 2 of the Nag Hammadi library), although the name written is largely illegible
209
records that he that he was one of the false apostles who opposed Paul (2
Cor 11:13), and one of the “circumcision party” who rebuked Peter for
eating with Cornelius (Gal 2:12). He was thus another early contemporary
of the apostles.

The Church Fathers also agree that John wrote his Revelation before his
Gospel. For example, the 4th-cent Monarchian Prologue to the Gospel
states: “John the Evangelist . . . wrote this Gospel in Asia, after he had
written the Apocalypse in the Isle of Patmos.” If the Apocalypse was
before the Gospel, when was the latter written?

Tubingen scholar Ferdinand Baur assumed the gospel of John was written
around AD 175,428 that is, almost a century and a half after the events it
recorded. By doing this, the Tubingen school avoided the inconvenience
of dealing with its historical content. Much to the chagrin of higher
criticism and its canons of analysis, a fragment of John’s gospel was found
that was dated from AD 100 to 125.429

Papyrus Fragment from so-called

Papyrus Fragment P52 of John’s “Egerton Gospel”
gospel
428
English trans. The Church History of the First Three Centuries, 2 vols. (London 1878-79)
429
P.W. Comfort and D.P. Barrett, eds. The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts. (Grand Rapids: Baker 1999): 55-56.
210
In Thiede’s reanalysis of early papyri, he noted this fragment has “been
dated to the first quarter of the second century, but could be still older.”430
More recently, Karl Jaroš concluded that P52 could be dated as early as
AD 80.431 If this fragment actually dates from the end of the first century
rather than the beginning of the second, we still have to explain how a
copy of the original got from Ephesus to Egypt in order for this third
generation copy to be made.

More amazingly, the so-called Egerton Gospel is a copy from around AD

100432 of an original text that could be as early as AD 80.433 The text itself
is a Gospel harmony based - in part - on the Gospel of John! Tertullian
gives us evidence that original autograph of John’s Gospel was still
accessible in Ephesus at the beginning of the 3rd century.434

The exact date of the autograph is in fact preserved in many Greek

manuscript coliphons, as well as in Theophylact’s Preface to John, as 32
years after the Ascension, i.e., circa AD 65. This early date makes sense of
the fact that it was written to counteract the heresies of Cerinthus, a kind
of antidote to his MIS-interpretation of John’s Revelation. The Parthian
Jews, immersed in the culture of the Magi, were especially sensitive to the
astronomical connotations of the text, a sensitivity that Cerinthus could
easily exploit.

Eastern Jews correctly understood the imagery of the first horseman of the
Apocalypse as the Parthian mounted archer, but it was spun to mean that
430
Eyewitness to Jesus (Doubleday 1996): 126.
431
K. Jaroš (Das Neue Testament nach den ältesten griechischen Handschriften, 2006). Cf., Die ältesten griechischen Handschriften des Neuen TestamentsKöln :
Böhlau, 2014. Pace Pasquale Orsini & Willy Clarysse diatribe, “Early New Testament Manuscripts and Their Dates: A Critique of Theological
Palaeography,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 88 (2012): 443-74.
432
Skeats and Bell originally dated the copy between 130 and 165 AD (http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/%7Ewie/Egerton/BellSkeat2.html), but admitted the tendency to
post-date Christian papyri and noted that Professor Schubart “remarked that some features of the hand might suggest an even earlier date” (http://www-user.uni-
bremen.de/%7Ewie/Egerton/BellSkeat.html. Eric Turner’s attempt to redate it based on an apostrophe in another fragment of the MS, has been forcefully deconstructed
by Stanley E . Porter ["Recent efforts to Reconstruct Early Christianity on the Basis of its Papyrological Evidence" in Christian Origins and Graeco-Roman
Culture,Eds Stanley Porter and Andrew Pitts, Leiden, Brill, (2013), pp 71–84. Porter argues that it should be dated contemporary with P52 [which Jaroš dates between
AD 80-125]
433
“some such dates as A.D. 80 and 120 suggest themselves” (Bell/Skeat "The New Gospel Fragments" 1935 http://www-user.uni-
bremen.de/%7Ewie/Egerton/BellSkeat2.html)
434
Against Marcion 4.5 & Prescription against Heresies 36.1. The Chronicon Paschale tells us this autograph survived in Ephesus, at least until the seventh century
[Migne Patrologia Graeca (Paris 1866): 92.77c]
211
an all-out war with Parthia would precipitate the Messianic reign, and that
they could participate in that war.

Mounted Parthian archer (London, British Museum)

Cerinthus’ spin on Revelation became so widespread in the East, that
western Christians began to repudiate the book, like Caius435 the Roman
presbyter, who taught Cerinthus himself had written it! Such
interpretations led to a frenzy of Zealot activity when Halley’s Comet
appeared over Jerusalem in AD 66, seen as a fulfillment of Rev 8:10, "The
third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch,436
fell from the sky."
Thus the original Hebrew version of Revelation would have to be prior to
AD 65, according to the previous cited testimony of Church Fathers and
Ecclesiastic tradition. When? A clue is given in Origen: “James the
brother of John was killed with a sword by Herod. And a Roman emperor,
as tradition teaches, banished John into the island Patmos for the
testimony which he bore to the truth.”437 Tertullian of Carthage, speaking
of the sufferings of Peter and Paul at Rome, says: “You have at Rome -

435
Eusebius mentions him several times and tells us (Church History VI.20) that he held a disputation with Proclus a Montanist leader at Rome in the time of Pope
Zephyrinus (199-217), and calls him a learned man and an ecclesiastic. This latter designation need not imply that he was a priest. Several extracts from the dialogue
against Proclus are given by Eusebius (Church History II.25, III.31 and VI.20). Caius is also mentioned by Jerome (de Vir. Ill., 59), Theodoret (Haer. Fab., II, iii), and
Nicephorus Callistus (Hist. Eccl., IV, xii-xx), all of whom derived their information from Eusebius. Photius (Bibl. Cod., 48) gives some additional data drawn from a
marginal note in a manuscript copy of the work on the "Nature of the Universe" in which Caius is said to have been a presbyter of the Roman Church and to have been
elected "Bishop of the Gentiles". Additional light has been thrown on the character of Caius's dialogue against Proclus by Gwynne's publication of some fragments from
the work of Hippolytus "Contra Caium" (Hermathena, VI, p. 397 sq.); from these it seems clear that Caius maintained that the Apocalypse of John was a work of the
Gnostic Cerinthus.
436
Pliny describes a type of comet called "Torch-star (which) resembles glowing torches" (Natural History Book II.XXII.90). Josephus says, "Thus there was a star
resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and (even) a comet, that continued a whole year" (Jewish Wars Book VI, V.3; Whiston, 824)
437
Hom Matt [on 20.23], apud Lardner Credibility (vol 5): p. 415
212
where the Apostle John, after he had been thrown into boiling oiland
received no injury, is banished to an island."438

Fresco in Crypt of St Magnus depicting John being shaved and boiled in oil before Caesar at the
Porta Latina

When was John Bar Zebedee in Rome? Spanish commentators on the

Apocalypse, Bishop Apringius of Beja (AD 531-548), and the Asturian
Abbot Beatus of Liebana (AD 776) read in certain relationes
ecclesiasticae, (i.e., the original preface to Revelation) the following:
“As the traditions of the church have taught, at the time of Caesar
Claudius439 when the famine prevailed which was foretold by the
prophet Agabus in the Acts [11:28], at that time the same Caesar . . .
ordained a persecution for the churches. At that time he ordered John
the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ to be sent into exile. That he has
been deported to Patmos the present scripture [Rev 1.9] also
proves”440
Epiphanius twice affirms the same: “after his return from Patmos which
happened under Claudius Caesar, having lived for a sufficient number of

438
De praescript. 36cf Polycarp [frag Victor of Capua], Jerome adv Jovinus 1.26, Bede, pseudo-Augustine.
439
We know in the Acts of John [c. AD 150], there was only reference made to a ‘king of the Romans’ as in Origen. Greek Vatican Codex 654, folios 145-146, in
Bonnet Acta apostolorum apocrypha, vol 2/1 (repr. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1959): 159-160
440
As cited by R. Eisler in The Enigma of the Fourth Gospel (Methuen: London 1938): 90
213
years in Asia . . . .” In the second place, his source asserts that: “the Holy
Ghost foretold prophetically through the mouth of St. John prophesying
before his demise in the times of Claudius Caesar and, before.” (Panar.
51.12 & 33)

In other words, John was sentenced for preaching in Rome in defiance of

Claudius’ Imperial expulsion and ban of Jews from Rome! The late
Slavonic adaptation of Josephus441 confirms this state of affairs:

 “Claudius again sent his officers to those kingdoms, Cuspius Fadus

and Tiberius Alexander, both of whom kept the people in peace, by
not allowing any departure in anything from the pure laws. But if
notwithstanding anyone did deviate from the word of the Law and
information was laid before the teachers of the Law, they punished or
banished him or sent [him] to Caesar. . . . And henceforth, for the
deeds done by them, they sent them away, some to Caesar, others to
Antioch for a trial of the cause, others to distant lands.”
To summarize thus far, John would have received the vision of the
Apocalypse while in exile during the final year of Claudius’ reign [AD
54]; during the first year of Nero, he would have been released [AD 55442],
gone to Asia Minor and published the Revelation about AD 56.

This date is consistent with the Church fathers teaching that the
Apocalypse was written to combat the heresies of Nicolas443 (Rev 2:6, 15).
That Nicolas, one of the Seven deacons in Acts 6:5, was their founder is
stated by the disciple of Polycarp, Irenaeus (Adv Haer 1.26.3), his disciple
Hippolytus (7.24), as well as pseudo-Tertullian (Adv. omnes Haer. 1) and

441
Sometimes called Slavonic Josephus, the Old Russian adaptation of Josephus’ Wars of the Jews was made sometime at the turn of the previous millennium[N.A.
Meshcherskii dates it to the 11th century [Istorija Iudejskoj vojny Iosifa Flavija v drevne-russkom perevode. (Leningrad: Akademia Nauk SSSR 1958)]] with
manuscripts surviving from the 15th century. It has many divergences from (as well as omissions and additions to) the traditional Greek text. When it was brought to
the attention of western academia, the first round of radical scholars attempted to defend its primary authenticity. Berendts (1906) and famously Eisler (1926) advocated
that it represented a first draft of the Wars of the Jews. While this view has generally been abandoned, others continue to argue for the value of its additional and
alternate traditions. Some scholars have pointed out parallels between Slavonic Josephus and the writings of Qumran that are difficult to explain if it is merely of
medieval origin.[E.g., M. Philonenko “La notice du Josèphe slave sur les esséniens” Semitica 6 (1956): 69-73.] Zeitlin has pointed out parallels with the Hebrew
Josippon that are equally difficult to explain as “Christian” interpolations.["The Christ Passage in Josephus" The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series 18 (1928): 231-
255] Most recently, Nodet has argued that many features unique to the Old Russian are authentically ancient and distinctively Jewish.[Josèphe, l'homme et l'historien,
French translation of Josephus, the Man and Historian, H. St. J. Thackeray, (1929), with annotations and an appendix on the Slavonic version of the War (Paris: Cerf
2000)]
442
This probably why some Syriac manuscripts of Revelation associate the vision with the reign of Nero
443
e.g. Jer deViriIll 9, Monarchian Prologue to John, cf. Iren AdvHaer 3.11.1, Victorinus in Apoc 11:1
214
Epiphanius (Panarion 25). Clement of Alexandria demonstrates that
Nicolas was an early schismatic that was censured by the apostles when
they were still a body (Stromata 3.4), i.e. at the first Apostolic Council in
AD 48.

In contrast to Nicolas, the deacon-betrayer, Orthodox tradition has it that

Prochorus444 the faithful deacon [Acts 6:5] transcribed the Apocalypse as
John dictated. Clement of Alexandria informs us,
“For when, on the tyrant's death, he returned to Ephesus from the isle
of Patmos, he went away, being invited, to the contiguous territories
of the nations,445 here to appoint bishops, there to set in order whole
Churches, there to ordain such as were marked out by the Spirit”
(Quis dives salvetur 42).
This is the same activity of John Bar Zebedee described in the Apostolic
Constitutions, specifically in regard to ordaining Gaius 446 in Antipas’
place. [7.4(46)]

How then are we to explain the testimony of Irenaeus [disciple of

Polycarp, disciple of St. John], and repeated by most Church Fathers?
 “For that [Revelation] was seen no very long time since, but almost
in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign” [AD 96] [Adv.Haer.
5:30:3]
Modern Bible scholar E.L. Martin447 has noted:

444
According to tradition he was a nephew of Stephen, became bishop of Nicomedia (the metropolis of Bithynia, Act 16:7, 1Pe 1:1) and died a martyr at Antioch.
445
3Joh 10 [and 2Joh] show John’s intent to accept such invitations. That St. John took such a voyage Michaelis thinks probable; "for since Corinth [where Gaius
resided at the time] lay almost opposite to Ephesus, and St. John, from his former occupation, before he became an apostle, was accustomed to the sea, it is not
improbable that the journey or voyage which he proposed to make was from Ephesus to Corinth."
446
According to Lucius Dexter’s Chronicle: — "S. John the Theologian wrote from Ephesus to the Spaniard Caius, the son of Caius Malacitanus, the centurion, and
brother of Demetrius, a hospitable man, whose father was afterwards Bishop of Milan. Now Diotrephes hindered the guests who were coming into the Spains for the
sake of pilgrimage. This wicked bishop was afterwards deposed on account of his crimes and his pride. There was a pilgrimage from many other places to the holy
places of Spain from the very times of the Apostles, when Caius Oppius the centurion supported the pilgrims. This Caius was domiciled at Corinth, but of Spanish
descent. He also liberally entertained in his house the blessed Paul when he was returning from Spain, and he invited John when he was going redeuntim into Spain
after his exile. He accompanied John, and was at Rome until the time of Hyginus. After that he went to Milan, and being made Bishop there died in the Lord” [Hyginus
reigned about 138-142; succeeded Pope Telesphorus, who, according to Eusebius (Church History IV.15), died during the first year of the reign of the Emperor
Antonius Pius -- in 138 or 139, therefore. According to the "Liber Pontificalis", Hyginus was a Greek by birth. The further statement that he was previously a
philosopher is probably founded on the similarity of his name with that of two Latin authors. Irenaeus says (Against Heresies III.3) that the Gnostic Valentine came to
Rome in Hyginus's time, remaining there until Anicetus became pontiff. Cerdo, another Gnostic and predecessor of Marcion, also lived at Rome in the reign of
Hyginus; The "Liber Pontificalis" also relates that this pope organized the hierarchy and established the order of ecclesiastical precedence (Hic clerum composuit et
distribuit gradus); according to Duchesne, the writer probably referred to the lower orders of the clergy. Eusebius (Church History IV.16) claims that Hyginus's
pontificate lasted four years. The ancient authorities contain no information as to his having died a martyr. At his death he was buriedon the Vatican Hill, near the tomb
of St. Peter. His feast is celebrated on 11 January]
447
“Ancient Nations in the Middle East - Part 1” By Ernest L. Martin, Ph.D., 1990 [Edited by David Sielaff, August 2005]
http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p900602.htm
215
 “The apostle John actually saw the visionary events recorded in the
Book of Revelation on two different occasions, . . . . The first time he
saw the Revelation was about 56 C.E. ... and the last time he
witnessed it was in the time of Domitian (96 C.E.). It is even attested
in the Book of Revelation itself that John would be given the contents
of the “little scroll” on two different occasions. The first time was
before the destruction of Jerusalem and the second long after
Jerusalem had been destroyed. The angel told John: “And he said
unto me, ‘You must prophesy AGAIN before many peoples, and
nations, and tongues and kings’.” [10:11]

Proof of this is found in 2 Peter. Written around AD 63 prior to his

martyrdom,448 Peter references the Book of Revelation when he writes:
We have also a more sure449 word of prophecy [=Book of Revelation];
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed [alluding to Rev 2:7, etc], as
unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the
day star [alluding to Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16] arise in your heart (2 Pet
1:19)

That John was re-exiled under Emperor Domitian is consistent with the
differing descriptions of circumstances attending each exile, as given by
the Church Fathers: Domitian commands that John drink a cup of
poison,450 survives, and is exiled back to Ephesus, according to Arethas.451

448
Margherita Guarducci, who led the research leading to the rediscovery of Peter’s tomb in its last stages (1963-1968), concludes Peter died on October 13 A.D. 64
during the festivities on the occasion of the “dies imperii” of Emperor Nero. This took place three months after the disastrous fire that destroyed Rome for which the
emperor wished to blame the Christians. This “dies imperii” (regnal day anniversary) was an important one, exactly ten years after Nero acceded to the throne, and it
was ‘as usual’ accompanied by much bloodshed. M. SORDI: The arrest and the sentence of Peter, together with that of the other Christians of Rome, was instead to
take place after the fire of 64: his martyrdom, by crucifixion in the horti neroniani (the gardens of Nero), cannot be separated - as collation of the description of
Clemens Romanus (1Cor 5) and that of Tacitus (Annales XV, 44) reveals - from that of the multitudo ingens (enormous crowd) – poly plethos that Nero offered as
entertainment, along with a circense ludicrum (circus show), to the people of Rome, making available hortos suos (his gardens):
449
The comparative adjective βεβαιότερον (bebaioteron) is the complement to the object τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον (ton profhtikon logon). – “a more-sure prophetic word”
Many scholars prefer to read the construction as saying “we have the prophetic word made more sure,” but such a nuance is unparalleled in object-complement
constructions
450
Acts of John in Rome 11, [regarding the date of which, Marius Heemstra remarks “There seems to be no reason why the first four chapters of the ‘Acts of John in
Rome’ cannot be dated to the second century as well” - The Fiscus Judaicus and the Parting of the Ways, 2010, p 78, n 47]. Also, Abdias Virtutes Iohannis 8.23ff; cf
ps-Melito Passio Iohannis [compare Mat 20:23 with Mar 16:18]
451
Arethas writes: "For after her (John ix. 27) death " (Mary the mother of our Lord), " it is reported that he no longer chose to remain in Judea, but passed over to
Ephesus, where, as we have said, this present Apocalypse also was composed." [Com. in Rev. cap. vii. 4 — 8]. Arethas, in his Commentary, (init. cent. VI), speaks of
Basil as vouching for the “divine inspiration” of the Apocalypse; both Andreas and Arethas testify to Gregory of Nazianzen's belief in the inspiration of the Apocalypse
and its apostolic origin also; Andreas was a contemporary of Gregory, and lived in the same province of Cappadocia, viz. at Caesarea, the capital of the province.
Arethas probably succeeded him.
216
 The presentation of St. John
holding a cup with the serpent
coming coming out in Christian Art
illustrates the report of St.
Isidore:452 “When St. John was in
Rome an attempt was made to kill
him; the poison was put in the
sacramental cup, and when he
took the cup, the poison came
forth in the form of a serpent,
while the assassin, hired by the
Emperor Domitian, fell dead at is
feet.” [Famous Italian Pictures and
Their Story, with Sketch of the
Artists by Frances Maria Stimson
Haberly-Robertson 1912 Page
137]453

John published an expanded Greek version of the Apocalypse at Ephesus,

in light of its renewed relevance during the Domitianic persecution: the
encouragement of the book’s message was now more broadly needed, in
the lingua franca of the Roman Empire.

John’s miraculous survival of both the trial of the boiling oil and the cup
of poison [cp Mark 16:18], led to yet another interpretation of Rev 10:11:
“Jesus saith unto [Peter], ‘If I will that [John] tarry till I come, what
is that to thee? follow thou me’; Then went this saying abroad among
the brethren, that ‘that disciple should not die’.” [John 21:22-23]
These verses, combined with Matt 16:28 [“Verily I say unto you, There be
some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of
man coming in his kingdom”] led to widespread belief that John would be
kept alive in secret to the “end of the age” - to at last “prophesy again”
[Rev 10:11]. Around AD 209, Tertullian dismisses, but documents, this
popular belief (Treatise on the Soul 50), while Hilary of Poitiers454 had no
hesitation on the matter, when introducing some of John’s writings,
452
Of Seville [(fl. AD 600), in De morte sanctorum, on John
453
The story is also known from an Irish (Gaelic) text; see Maíre Herbert and Martin McNamara, Irish Biblical Apocrypha (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1989), 89-91.
Epistle to the Tarsians 3, attributed to Ignatius (died A.D. 107), notes how Peter, James, Paul, and Stephen were killed, but merely notes that “John was banished to
Patmos” with no note of his death in Ignatius' days
454
Hilary of Poitier c. 300 – c. 368, was known as the "Athanasius of the West“, the malleus Arianorum ("hammer against Arianism") , and Doctor of the Divinity of
Christ
217
 “Let John speak to us, while he is waiting, just as he is, for the
coming of the Lord; John, who was left behind and appointed to a
destiny hidden in the counsel of God, for he is not told that he shall
not die, but only that he shall tarry” (On the Trinity 6.39)
Not only did such reports persist, they flourished. According to Photius,
Ephraem of Antioch455 taught that John would join Enoch & Elijah at the
end of the age in preaching against the Antichrist,456 as did ps-Hippolytus
[On Antichrist 21 ], ps-Methodius [Apocalypse 99], Arethas & Andreas
[on Rev 11.3], Symeon Metaphrastes [Life of John 7.2],Theophylact &
Euthymius [on Rev 21.20].

Perhaps the most tenacious form of the tradition is in Russian Orthodoxy.

Anna Ilyinskaya457 writes:
“A spiritual son of the elder Fr. Alexis Mechev, Bishop Stefan
(Nikitin) was convinced that before the end of history, the Church
would be ruled by the Apostle John, who is preserved in some
unattainable place by the Lord for his last service.”

How could such stories be perpetuated if the place and time of John’s
death and entombment are so well known? Late apocryphal tradition [e.g.,
Journeyings of Philip the Apostle], reports continued evangelism by John
& Philip well into the time of Trajan, while Slavonic manuscripts of the
Wanderings of John have him living until the age of Hadrian.458 Whenever
his entombment did occur, we still meet with the following tradition as
late as Augustine
 [Some] “assert that the Apostle John is still living, and maintain that
he is sleeping rather than lying dead in his tomb at Ephesus. Let him
employ as an argument the current report that there the earth is in
sensible commotion, and presents a kind of heaving appearance, and

455
One of the defenders of the Faith of Chalcedon (451) against the Monophysites, b. at Amida in Mesopotamia; d. in 545. He was Count of the East (Comes Orientis)
under Justinian I.
456
Biblio., Cod 229
457
A. Ilyinskaya, The Mystery of Elder Theodosius, Moscow, 1997, p. 198 (in Russian).
458
We find the earliest trace of them in the Acts of John, composed a short time after his death. "The disciples," we read in this apocryphal work, "on returning to the
grave on the morrow, found the Apostle there no longer ; they discovered only his sandals an the earth boiling up" over the spot where he had laid him down to die.
218
 assert whether it be steadfastly or obstinately that this is occasioned
by [John’s] breathing” [Tractate 124 on the Gospel of John]

Russian Orthodoxy preserves the following details:

 “The holy Apostle Philip, who baptized the servant of the Ethiopian
Queen Candace, had four daughters, about whom the Evangelist
Luke remarks that they were prophetesses and virgins. Of them
Hermione459 and Eutychia set off for Asia, seeking the holy John the
Theologian, but did not find him, for the Lord had taken him, as once
he took Enoch and Elijah.” [September Lives of the Saints, Moscow,
1902, 113]
Even today, many wait for the fulfillment of the words spoken by
Theodosius of Minvody, a "catacomb elder" regarded by many as
prophetic in Russian Orthodoxy,460 when he says:
“in the last times the Apostle of love – that was what his disciples
called John the Theologian – will preach in the Caucasus.”461
While the enigma of the Apostle John continues still, (perhaps only to be
resolved at the “end of the age”), we can pick up the trail of the roots of
Christianity in the Caucasus.

459
According to the Acts of The Holy Martyr Hermione, she was a daughter of St. Philip the Deacon (October 11). Wishing to see the holy Apostle John the Theologian,
Hermione with her sister Eutychia went to Asia Minor in search of the saint. During their journey, they learned the saint had died. Continuing on, the sisters met a
disciple of St. Paul named Petronius, and imitating him in everything, they became his disciples. St. Hermione, having mastered the healing arts, rendered help to many
Christians and healed the sick by the power of Christ. During this period, the emperor Trajan (98-117) waged war against the Persians and he came with his army
through the village where the saint lived. When they accused Hermione of being a Christian, he gave orders to bring her to him. At first the emperor, with casual
admonitions, sought to persuade the saint to renounce Christ. When this did not succeed, he commanded that she should be struck on the face for several hours, but she
joyfully endured this suffering. Moreover, she was comforted by a vision of the Lord, in the form of Petronius, sitting upon the throne of judgment. Convincing himself
that she was steadfast in her faith, Trajan sent her away. Hermione later built a hospice in which she took in the sick, treating their infirmities both of body and soul.
Trajan's successor, Hadrian, again commanded that the saint be brought to trial for confessing the Christian Faith. At first, the emperor commanded that she be beaten
mercilessly, then they pierced the soles of her feet with nails, and finally they threw her into a cauldron with boiling tar, lead and sulphurous brimstone. The saint bore
everything, giving thanks to God. And the Lord granted her His mercy: the fire went out, the lead spilled out, and the saint remained unharmed. Hadrian in surprise
went up to the place of torture and touched at the cauldron, to ascertain whether it had cooled. When he touched at the cauldron, he burned the skin on his hand, but
even this did not dissuade the torturer. He gave orders to heat a sort of skillet and put the holy martyr in it naked. Here again another miracle took place. An angel of the
Lord scattered the hot coals and burned many who stood by the fire. The saint stood in the skillet, as though on green grass, singing hymns of praise to the Lord. When
she was removed from the skillet, the holy martyr seemed to be willing to offer sacrifice to the pagan god Hercules. The delighted emperor gave orders to take her off to
the temple. When the saint prayed to God, a loud thunderclap was heard, and all the idols in the pagan temple fell and shattered. In a rage, the emperor ordered that
Hermione be led out of the city and beheaded. Two servants, Theodulus and Theotimos, were entrusted to carry out the execution. Since they were in such a hurry to
execute the saint, not allowing her time for prayer, their hands withered. Then they believed in Jesus Christ and with repentance they fell at the feet of St. Hermione.
They besought her to pray that the Lord would call them to Himself before her. This is what transpired, through her prayers. After this, she also fell asleep in the Lord.
460
http://www.stjohndc.org/Russian/saints/SaintsE/e_TheodCaucs.htm
461
Fomin and Fomina, Russia before the Second Coming, Sergiev Posad, 1998, third edition, vol. II, p. 521
219
POSTSCRIPT

Considering these Jewish traditions about John bar Zebedee, we should not be surprised to read
in the Talmud [as Christian Hebraist Capellus first pointed out in the 17 th-century in his
Spicilegium, on Matt 4:21] of ‫“ – ר 'יעקב בר זבדיה‬R. Jacob bar Zebedee” = James the son of
Zebedee462

In the Hippolytean Chronicle mentioned before, the two sons of Zebedee are described as rich
young men of noble birth, their father Zebedee was from Judaea, a big ship-owner, employing
numerous crafts on the Lake of Tiberias, one of the first citizens of Galilee.463 We are further
told that the claim for them to sit on two thrones to the right and the left of the Saviour is raised
by their mother (Salome) during a visit of Jesus to her house in Galilee. While the sons follow
Jesus, their father Zebedee dies, his Galilean estate is sold and the sons acquire in Jerusalem one
of the houses of the high-priest Caiaphas.464

If all this be true, how do we reconcile this with the common conception of the disciples, based
on Acts 4:13?
 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were
unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that
they had been with Jesus.”

Consider the intrinsic prejudice of the Sanhedrin: “They answered and said unto him, ‘Art thou
also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet’.” [John 7:52]
 Their statement is palpably false: Jonah was of Gathheper, in Galilee465: [2Kings 14:25 &
Jos 19:13] The Prophet Nahum was also a Galilean [Nah 1:1, Jerome states in the
prologue to his commentary on Nahum that the village of Helkesei in Galilee was pointed
out to him as Elkosh] Even Elijah arose out of Galilee [1Kings 17:1, Tishbeh being in the
territory of Naphtali is known from Tobit 1:2]

Acts 4:13 is NOT evidence of the character of the apostles, but of the bigotry of the Sanhedrin.
Consider Mark 14:70: “And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again
to Peter, ‘Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto’.”
"These aristocrats of Jerusalem had a scornful contempt for the rural Galileans" (Bernard). Note
that in the same context, John “the beloved” is not accused of this [John 18:15-16]

This Judaean prejudice against Galileans spilled over into the Gentile world. Christians en
masse became known derisively as “Galileans” – no matter how well educated. Suidas, the
462
Citing TJ Yebamot 9.4. & Maaser Sheni 55.2, Trumot. 45.2, Sheviith 35.1, Bereshith Rabba 31.4. & 36.2Also, he repeats several halakic decisions and homiletic
remarks of Abbahu (Yer. Dem. 23c; Pes. 29d; Pesiḳ, 75b; Sheb. iv. 35a; Niddah ii. 6a). He also repeats halakot in the names of Jeremiah and Jose II. (Kelim. i. 1). Jacob
was a firm believer in the powers of magic. Bread or other eatables found on the road must not be touched, according to him, because such food may have been laid
there for magical purposes (Lev. R. xxxvii.). From the words "And the people spake against God, and against Moses" (Num. xxi. 5) Jacob infers that he who speaks
against his teacher is as though he insulted the majesty of God (Midr. Teh. xxx.).
463
[in a 12th-century manuscript (Gr. 1534) of the Paris National Library], published by Mr. J. Ebersolt
464
In the apocryphon Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea 1.3, we are told that Caiaphas is Judas’ uncle.
465
And the Jews {TJ Succa, 55.1} themselves say, that Jonah, the son of Amittai, was, Nwlwbzm, of "Zebulun," and that his father was of Zebulun, and his mother
was of Asher {Bereshit Rabba, 98. fol. 85.4}; both which tribes were in Galilee:
220
great Byzantine lexicographer noted that followers of Jesus were popularly known as
“Galileans” before the name “Christian” became current.466 The stoic philosopher Epictetus
(writing around 101 AD) commented on the Christian penchant for martyrdom as the “habit” of
the “Galileans” (Discourses 4.7.6). Lucian described the over-educated Paul [Ac 26:24] as a
bald “Galilean” with a big nose [Lucian, Philopatris, 12]. It was the only epithet that Julian the
Apostate would use in reference to Christians467

We find that the Galileans had a pronunciation considered “very corrupt” by Judaeans because
they frequently interchanging ‫ח‬, ‫א ה‬, and ‫ע‬. We read in the Talmud: “the men of Judah,
who were careful of their language, their law was confirmed in their hands; the men of Galilee,
who were not careful of their language, their law was not confirmed in their hands—the men of
Galilee, who do not attend to language” [TB Erubin 53]468

We find that the some of the more aristocratic disciples were prone to the very same prejudices:
 And Nathanael said unto him, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip
saith unto him, “Come and see.” [John 1:46] - as if to say, “just humor me”
Obviously, Nathanael and Philip [as we shall see] considered themselves of a higher class.

Returning to Acts 4:13, consider the forensic context and connotation of the terms used:
“Unlearned” agrammatoi, lexically is -
1) a private person as opposed to a magistrate, ruler, king
2) a common soldier, as opposed to a military officer
3) a writer of prose as opposed to a poetry
As for the term “Ignorant” ( ), Robertson’s Word Pictures notes:
 “Old word. It does not mean "ignorant," but a layman, a man not in office (a private
person), a common soldier and not an officer, a man not skilled in the schools, very much
like ”

Note the Apostle Paul’s usage of these terms, regarding himself:

 “But though I be rude [] in speech [ ], yet not in knowledge
[ ]” 2Cor 11:6
Here, the star pupil of Rabban Gamaliel could speak of himself as  as regards
 [“the faculty of speech, skill and practice in speaking”] while still having  [“the
deeper more perfect and enlarged knowledge, such as belongs to the more advanced”]

This same character is uniformly attributed to the early preachers of Christianity.

1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

466
Entry cristiani; see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14328a.htm
467
[Opera, par. 1. Fragment. p. 557. & par. 2. Ep. 49. p. 203, 204]
468
It continues: “what is reported of them? a Galilean went and said to them, “Naml rma Naml rma,” they said to him “foolish Galilean, rmx, ‘Chamor’ is to
ride upon, or ‘Chamar’ is to drink, or ‘Hamar’ is for clothing, or ‘Immar’ is for hiding for slaughter”.”
221
 Mt 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes.

In context, we can read Acts 4:13 anew:

 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were
unlearned [“Not ordained by a recognized body to a public office”] and ignorant [“Not
trained in public speaking, not ‘poetic’ in speech”] men, they marveled; and they took
knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus”
Compare and contrast this with Paul’s situation before Felix:
 “And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders and with a certain
orator [] named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.” [Acts 24:1,
 - of a forensic orator or advocate]
The employment of a Roman lawyer (Latin orator) was necessary since the Jews were not
familiar with Roman legal procedure and it was the custom in the provinces (Cicero pro Cael.
30). Imagine the consternation of the Sanhedrin at the fact that such “unlearned” and
“ignorant men” with “thick accents” could defend themselves so powerfully, and publicly.
Still, how do we reconcile this view of a noble, rabbinic, even priestly family with the image of
simple Galilean fishermen? We will recall that all the great Rabbis were taught and practiced a
trade: Rabbi Judah taught that, "He that teaches not his son a trade, does the same as if he taught
him to be a thief” [TB Kid. 29a]. Maimonides thought it essential that “the wise generally
practice some of the arts, lest they should be dependent on the charity of others” (on Tract
Talmud. Tors, 1.9). Paul himself put this principle into practice and maintained it during his
apostleship [Acts 18:3, 1Thess 2:9]. Yes, even the priesthood [due to the cyclical nature of the
work, Luke 1:5,8] were obliged to have outside enterprises; in the Talmud, we even read of the
“bazaars of the sons of Annas” [TB Rosh ha’Shannah 31].

Comparing John 19:25 with Matthew 28:56 and Mark 15:40, we identify four women
designated by John; the Syriac Peshitta gives the reading: "His mother and his mother's sister,
and Mary of Cleophas469 and Mary Magdalene." Salome was thus a sister of the Virgin Mary,
and James bar Zebedee and John “the beloved disciple” were first cousins of Christ, and thus an
offshoot of the royal Davidic line. This is one of the reasons Christ entrusted the care of His
mother to the beloved disciple [John 19:26-27]. While Jesus’ brother James oversaw the
Jerusalem Church, and John’s older brother James was evangelizing the Diaspora in Spain,470
John faithfully cared for Mary until her death in AD 48. Only then was John free to pursue the
next phase of His ministry.

469
Hegesippus is quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. l. iii. c. 11, as saying that Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, the husband of the virgin. Theophylact says that Cleopas,
(brother of Joseph, the husband of the virgin,) having died childless, his brother Joseph married his widow, by whom he had four sons, called by the evangelists the
brothers of our Lord, and two daughters, the one named Salome, the other Mary, the daughter of Cleopas, because she was his daughter according to law, though she
was the daughter of Joseph according to nature. He is also listed as one of the Seventy[-two] in the Menologies. That Cleopas in Luke 24:13 is the same as Clopas in
Hegesippus and John 19.25 is shown by the Armenian, Syriac, Coptic, Old Latin , and Vulgate translations of the latter. See Lightfoot (http://philologos.org/__eb-
jbl/brethren.htm)
470
According to the Aethiopic Martyrdom of James (Budge, II, 304-8), James preached to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, and persuaded them to give their first-fruits to
the church instead of to Herod Agrippa, the proximate cause of his martyrdom. The tradition asserting that James the Greater preached the Gospel in Spain, and that his
body was translated to Compostela, claims serious consideration. Strong argument in favour of the authenticity of the sacred relics of Compostela is the Bull of Leo
XIII, "Omnipotens Deus," of 1 November, 1884. According to this tradition St. James the Greater, having preached Christianity in Spain, returned to Judea and was put
to death by order of Herod Agrippa. The Bollandists defended it (see Acta Sanctorum, July, VI and VII, where other sources are given).
222
The Lost Kings of
PONTUS

One of the mysteries in Luke’s account of Acts of the Apostles is the

statement:
“Now when [Paul, et al] had gone throughout Phrygia and the region
of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word
in Asia” [Acts 16:6].
Why?Again, we learn: “After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to
go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not” [Acts 16:7]

If we recall that, according to Ecclesiastic History, after the Apostolic

Council of Acts 15, the “Great Commission” of Matt 28:19-20 was
divided regionally among the Twelve, we recognize these areas must have
been apportioned to specific Apostles. We know from Rev 1-2 that Asia
was in fact the region of the Apostle John’s work.

The Apostle Paul recognized this principle well: “Yea, so have I strived to
preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon
another man’s foundation” [Rom 15:20]. But what of Bithynia? “Peter, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers [] scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” [1Pet 1:1]

But Peter’s work, like Paul’s, was supra-regional – the Diaspora as a

whole. After Peter passed through Asia, it was passed onto John. To
whom did Bithynia’s apostolic care fall? We know Bithynia was
223
sometimes though of as part of “Greater Pontus” – an ancient kingdom
and vassal state of Rome. In fact, Tertullian (Scorpiace 12), and Cyprian
(Testimon. ad Quirin. l.3.36-39), both refer to 1 Peter as simply "the
epistle to the Pontians."

This regions rich history required an especially prepared, as well as

divinely inspired, missionary. Events at the time of the Crucifixion
indicate a special preparation of this region (the whole southern shore of
the Black Sea) by God for receiving the Gospel. Phlegon471 refers to these
event, and according to him:
 “In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, a great eclipse of the
sun occurred at the sixth hour [noon] that excelled every other
before it, turning the day into such darkness that the stars could
be seen in heaven; and the earth quaked in Bithynia, toppling
many buildings in the city of Nicea” (Olympiads, 13)
According to St Nino [died 338], the first witness of the Gospel following
these event in this area was Pilate’s own wife:
“Pilate's wife had requested the grave shroud and believed in Christ.
She went to her home in Pontus. After some time it fell to the
evangelist Luke, who knew what she had done. They say that Peter
had taken with him the veil [John 20:7]” (Georgian Chronicle 8) 472
This is re-affirmed by the “Life of St Nino” [in Moktsevai Kartlisai]:
“The Jews buried Christ, and guarded and sealed His tomb, but He
rose again, as He had said from the beginning. And they found the
linen early in Christ's tomb, whither Pilate and his wife came. When
they found it, Pilate's wife asked for the linen, and went away quickly
to her house in Pontus, and she became a believer in Christ. Some

471
According to Aelius Spartianus, Phlegon was the literary pseudonym of the emperor Hadrian, who reigned from 117-138. In Contra Celsus, Origen states that
Phlegon “ascribed to Jesus a foreknowledge of future events” and “testified that the result corresponded to His prediction.” From the Roman point of view, the most
significant prediction was the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, which was used to show divine approval of their actions. Olympiads survives only in scattered
quotes. This particular passage is preserved in Eusebius’ Chronicon, attested in Armenian, Latin [via Jerome], Syrian, and in the Greek by a quote from George
Syncellus. According to Julius Africanus, Phlegon also specifies that the ‘eclipse’ lasted three hours and occurred during a ‘full moon’; Eusebius, and Jerome, and the
Paschal Chronicle, speak of an eclipse of the sun, and an earthquake, in the fourth year of the two hundred and second olympiad, meaning the eighteenth or nineteenth
year of Tiberius, and the thirty-second or thirty-third year of our Lord, according to the common computation See also John Philopponus. de Mundi Creatione, 1. 2. cap.
21. Maximus, of the seventh century, in his Scholia upon Dionysius the Areopagite, says: ' Phlegon the Gentile chronographer, in the thirteenth book of his
Chronography, at the two hundred and third [sic] olympiad, mentions this eclipse’ John Malalas, in the sixth or seventh century, in his Chronicle, writes to this purpose:
' And the sun was darkened, etc” [lib.10]
472
The Georgian Chronicle [which only exists in an Armenian translation of the twelfth century, published in French by Brosset in Addition* et edaircissements, Pgb.
1851] was begun in the 500’s AD by collating the written records and oral traditions of the region, including the archives of the long-standing Jewish community there.
224
 time afterwards, the linen came into the hands of Luke the
Evangelist, who put it in a place known only to himself.”473

From this incidental detail in the Georgian Chronicle we learn that Pilate
was a native of the critical region we are exploring: Pontus.

Byzantine traditions affirms St. Nino when Theophylact says Pilate was
so-called because he was from Pontus [On Matt 27:1-2], also confirmed
by the Aethiopic translation of his name as Pilate Pontinaeus [a
"Pontinian"]. The temptation to dismiss this as folk-etymology is undercut
but the testimony of other ancient witnesses. Moses Khorenatsi wrote that
Pilate’s father Pontius had aided the Roman general Lucullus by killing
Mithridates of Pontus in 63 BC[2.15]. John Malalas (the 6th century
Byzantine chronographer) goes on to state that this Pontius was also
involved in defeating Tigranes, Mithridates’ ally, in 66 BC. Macarius
Magnes, writing ca. AD 300, corroborates this testimony when he informs
us in passing (as if it were common knowledge), that Pilate was “Greek”
rather than Roman (Apocritica 3.11).

We can imagine the impact of Pilate’s wife and her testimony upon
returning to Pontus; tradition states that she was already a proselyte to
Judaism when Pilate became prefect to Judaea. Greek, Coptic, and
Ethiopian Orthodoxy recognize her conversion to Christianity, and even
her sainthood.474

Procula (the name of Pilate’s wife in ecclesiastical history475) would have

returned to Pontus during the reign of Pythodoris “Philometor” [r. 8 BC-
AD 38].

473
In the 9th-century work Moktsevai Kartlisai (The conversion of Georgia); [see http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f5/v10f504d.html]
474
Origen's second century Homilies on Matthew suggests that she became a Christian; . That she might be a Jewess by proselytism has precedents in the wife of a
previous Roman Governor Saturninus [Josephus Ant 18.3,5] and the wife of Felix was, Acts 24:24; the Greek Church has actually placed her in the Catalogue of Saints.
In the “Slavonic Josephus” [post BJ 2.9.3], it is reported the “wonder-worker” [Jesus] had healed Pilate’s dying wife.
475
Nicephorus Eccl Hist 1.30 relates the tradition that her name Procula, confirmed by MSS of the apocryphal Acts of Pilates [that also describes her as a convert to
Judaism, G.Nico 2], and affirmed by the Ethiopians who call her Abrokla {Ludolph. Lex. Ethiop. p. 541}; The Chronicle of Dexter is the first instance where she is
referred to as Claudia
225
 Athenian honorific inscription for Queen Pythodoris
Epigraphical Museum, Athens (Inventory no. EM 9573)
PHILOMETOR means "mother love" and was a title associated with the
Greek Pharaohs and Queens of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt.
Pythodorida was a friend and contemporary of the Greek geographer
Strabo. Strabo described Pythodorida as a woman of virtuous character,
and considered her to have a great capacity for business. According to
Strabo, Pontus had flourished under Pythodorida’s rule [Geography
12.3.24].

Rhoemetalkes and Pythodoris [r], as co-regents of Thrace,

with Augustus on obverse
Pythodorida was also mother to three remarkable offspring:
 Zenon, also known as Zeno-Artaxias or Artaxias III ,who
became King of Armenia in AD 18
 Marcus Antonius Polemon, AKA, Polemon II of Pontus
 Queen Antonia Tryphaena, converted by Thecla!

Understanding this family’s connections to the royal Egyptian “House of

Ptolemy” founded by Alexander the Great makes sense of the choice of
Apostolic missionary to the region. The Jews of Alexandria had also

226
intermarried with this Royal House, as evidence by the Septuagint
translation of the book of Esther:
“In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemeus and Cleopatra,
Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and Ptolemeus his
son, brought this epistle of Purim, which they said was the same,
and that Lysimachus the son of Ptolemeus, that was in Jerusalem,
had interpreted it” [Est 11:1, LXX]
Such “Ptolemaic” Jews returning to Judaea transcribed their Hellenistic
name variously, as Abtolemus, or Tholomy. In the Talmud, a certain Rabbi
“Ezra b. Abtolemus” arrives, to which another rabbi responds “What
avails his noble birth?” [TB Men 53a]. This “noble” descent was
sometimes the occasion of Messianic aspirations in a Zealot uprising.
Josephus called such Zealot leaders “arch-brigands” and mentioned one
that was captured and slain in AD 44 named “Tholomy” [= Ptolemy;
Antiquities 20.1.1]

Could this Zealot leader been the father of “Bar-Tholomew” [Matt 10:3,
etc], whose name simply means “son of Ptolemy”? The Talmud mentions
a certain Rabbi named “JoNathan son of Abtolemus” [=Ptolemy]
involved in a dispute about leprosy [TB Niddah 19a, cp Luke 5:12-14],
otherwise known as Nathan ben Abtolemus [vide TB Zeb 49b]

That Nathanael Bar-Tholomew476 [cp Matt 10:3 and John 1:45-49] could
have been a respected “Ptolemaic Jew” and Rabbi is consistent with
Dionysius the Areopagite [Acts 17:34] quoting him regarding the “divine
science” [],477 showing training in philosophy and theology.
Nathanael is the first to recognize Jesus as a fellow “Rabbi” [John 1:49]

Unlike the Acts of Thecla or the Acts of Thomas, there are no surviving
accounts of Bartholomew’s work from an early date. HOWEVER, the
persistence of historical memory in ecclesiastic tradition is remarkably

476
Nathanael is called “Bartholomew” in a Syriac dictionary {Bar Bahlui, apud Castell Lex. Polyglott. col. 2437} and identified as such by Bishop Shelemon in the Book
of the Bee
477
“Thus the blessed Bartholomew asserts that the divine science [yeologia, theology] is both vast and minute, and that the Gospel is great and broad, yet concise
and short”(Theol.Mystic. 1.1)
227
strong. Even through a haze of centuries of distortion, the outlines of his
ministry and impact are still discernible. Among the scattered historical
notices, we find that an appendix to Ephraem Syrus’ 4th century
commentary on Tatian’s gospel Diatessaron states: “Bartholomew gave
the gospel of Matthew to the Indians, and was bishop there, and
evangelized in Lycaonia” [App. I.2]

We know Paul and Barnabas ministered powerfully in the Romanized

cities of Lycaonia [Acts 14:6ff], but the ministry of the “12 apostles”
remained specifically towards Jews [Gal 2:9, cp Matt 10:5-6,23] &
Royalty [Mark 13:9478]. A sermon attributed to John Chrysostom On the
12 apostles remarks that Bartholomew preached "temperance to the
Lycaonians" while Phillip went into Phrygia. Nicephorus tells us that in
the distribution of regions, Philip had Syria and Upper Asia assigned to
him, with Bartholomew; and after many conversions, and churches raised
up, they came into Hierapolis of Phrygia.

According to the 4th-century Acts of Phillip,479 Nicanora, the Jewish wife

of the proconsul at Hierapolis, was converted and healed by Philip; her
husband was so enraged, that he caused them, along with Bartholomew, to
be scourged, and the two apostles to be crucified. According to Polycrates
[disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of St. John]:
“Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who sleeps in Hierapolis, and his
two aged virgin daughters, and another daughter480 who lived in the
Holy Spirit and now rests at Ephesus” [Eusebius Ecc Hist 3.31.3]

Note that Polycrates does not refer to Bartholomew’s death there;

Nicephorus affirms he was crucified at Hierapolis, but escaped [Ecc. Hist
2.39]. Is this when Bartholomew went on to “India” - as mentioned
before? According to Socrates Scholasticus, “Matthew was allotted
478
Compare Act 9:15, Rev 10:11
479
The Acts of Philip is most completely represented by a text discovered in 1974 by François Bovon and Bertrand Bouvier in the library of Xenophontos monastery on
Mount Athos in Greece. The manuscript dates from the fourteenth century but its language identifies it as a copy of a fourth century original. [Published by François
Bovon, Bertrand Bouvier and Frédéric Amsler, ''Acta Philippi: Textus vol. I Textus, vol. II Commentarius; in series Corpus christianorum apocryphorum 11-12
(Turnhout: Brepols) 1999]
480
Clement [Strom.III. 6] is the only one to tell us that they afterward married, and he tells us nothing about their husbands. Polycrates states that two of them at least
remained virgins. If so, Clement’s statement can apply at most only to the other two.
228
Ethiopia; and Bartholomew the part of India contiguous to that country.”
[Ecclesiastical History 1:19]

The challenge with these ancient geographical notices is that “India” was a
vague term for exotic foreign lands, including Arabia, India, etc, just as
“Ethiopia” could refer to Abyssinia, Hindu Kush, etc. Symeon
Metaphrastes clarifies by saying Matthew, "went first into Parthia, and
having successfully planted Christianity in those parts, thence traveled to
Ethiopia, that is, the Asiatic Ethiopia, lying near India." For some
centuries this region of the Hindu Kush bordering Scythia and Parthia, and
was known as “White India” of the Nephthalite Huns.

The 10th-century Latin work Historia Certaminis Apostolici by Abdias481

relates that Bartholomew went to "India" and found:
 “Polymius, the king of that country, . . . heard about the demoniac
that had been healed [by Bartholomew], and sent messengers to the
apostle, saying: ‘My daughter is grievously torn; I implore thee,
therefore, as thou hast delivered him who suffered for many years,
so also order my daughter to be set free’”

Who is this “Polymius, king of India” - whose brother Astreges reigns in

an adjoining kingdom? “Abdias” - even though clueless about their true
historical context - preserves their names in corrupted forms: They are
none other than Polemon II, king of SINDIAN482 Bosporus & Pontus, and
his brother Artaxias III, king of adjoining Armenia, siblings of Queen
Tryphaena!

481
This compilation purports to have been translated from Hebrew into Greek by "Eutropius", a disciple of Abdias, and, in the third century, from Greek into Latin by
Julius Africanus, the friend of Origen, or as reported in Legenda Aurea by his disciple .
482
Gutschmid long ago argued that “India” is here confounded with the Sindians, over whom the Bosporian kings of the House of Polemon ruled. But there was also
the ancient concept of the “Indian Bosporus” (Steph. Byz. s. v. “Bosporos”; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 143), where the extremities of Asia and Libya, India and
Aethiopia, were conceived to meet, and where some writers place the Gorgones (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. x. 72.)
229
It is in this context that we can understand the references in Eusebius and
Jerome: Pantaenus (head of the theological school founded by St Mark in
Alexandria) retraced the footsteps of Bartholomew, and when he arrived
in “India,” he found an original copy of the Gospel according to St.
Matthew in Hebrew characters, which Bartholomew had left there.483

He brought that manuscript back to the library at Alexandria, but Isidorus

Hispalensis (De Vita et Obit. Sanct. c. 76), and Nicephorus (Hist. Eccl.
4.32) make clear that Bartholomew was able to dictate copies verbatim to
Jewish scribes of the area, having memorized it in the course of his
preaching. In the Pantheon of Godfrey of Viterbo, [died in 1191], we find
this reference: “Know that Saint Bartholomew wrote thus of this matter
[in] his Hebrew discourse to the Armenians”484 – regarding a legend about
Judas’ 30 denarii. G.F. Hill suggested: “We may perhaps assume that
Godfrey drew from a Latin translation of some legend of Armenian
origin”485

As one “son of Ptolemy” to a king of Ptolemaic descent, Bartholomew’s

favor at the court was sealed when he delivered the king’s daughter from

483
Eus Ecc.Hist 5.10.1; Jerome deViriIll 36, and AdMagnus 4. cp. Pseudo-Hippolytus On the 12 Apostles: “6. Bartholomew, again, preached to the Indians, to whom
he also gave the Gospel according to Matthew, and was crucified with his head downward, and was buried in Allanum, a town of the great Armenia”
484
E. du Meril, Poesies populaires latines du Moyen-Age, 1847, p. 321
485
Medallic Portraits of Christ. By GF Hill, [Oxford University Press, 1920] p.93
230
demon-possession. They were both baptized, and [according to “Abdias”]
Polemon486 was ordained bishop.

Coin of Polemon II, Minted at Trapezus

Bartholomew, in effect, had a royal mandate as he evangelized among all
the Jews of the areas that had been under the House of Polemon [Pontus,
Bosporus, Colchis, Cilicia, Armenia, and Cappadocia], and each of these
regions maintained traditions of Bartholomew’s work there.

We find a remarkable, indirect confirmation of this in the writings of

Josephus:
 Polemon visited, King Agrippa I [= “Herod” of Acts 12] before
AD 44, and there met his daughter Berenice [Josephus Ant 19.8.1],
who would become Queen of Judaea [Acts 25:13].
 Agrippa had arranged her marriage to his brother, Herod of
Calchis, who left her widowed in AD 48.
 Impressed by her wealth and beauty, Polemon married Berenice,
fully converting to Judaism, even to the point of circumcision
[Josephus Ant 20.7.3]
 Josephus tells us that Berenice soon abandoned the marriage, and
Polemon “forsook at once this matrimony, and the Jewish religion”
[ibid]
Considering Josephus’ antipathy towards Christians and the testimony of
tradition, it may be truer to say the Berenice left him because he forsook
Judaism for Christianity.

486
His great maternal aunt was Roman Client Queen Cleopatra Selene II of Mauretania. Through Antony, he was a distant cousin to Roman Client King Ptolemy of
Mauretania and the princesses named Drusilla of Mauretania
231
 Dedicatory Inscription for statute of Berenice, at Athens:
“The Senate of the Areopagites, and the Senate consisting of 1000, and the Commons, erected this
Monument to ‘Julia Berenice, the great Queen’ - Niece to King Julius [Herod] Agrippa, for her
Favour to them when Tiberius Claudius Theogenes governed the City.” [ca AD 61487]

In fact, Paul may imply that Agrippa II had already been informed of the
claims of Christianity by his sister Berenice, when he says before both of
them: “for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from
[Agrippa]; for this thing was not done in a corner” [Acts 26:26]. Agrippa
II replies ironically “Would you so shortly persuade me to become a
Christian?” [Acts 26:28], as if to say “Would you convert me, as easily as
Bartholomew converted Polemon?”488

Coin of Herod Agrippa II,

aka Marcus Julius
Agrippa

At this point, Polemon’s brother Artaxias III, also known as Zeno-

Artaxias, Artaxes or Artashes (13 BC-AD 35) enters the story, as a
487
Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grece, et du Levant: fait aux années 1675 & 1676 By Jacob Spon, George Wheler [Published by R. Alberts, 1724], p. 180f.
Macurdy, Grace H. (1935). "Julia Berenice". The American Journal of Philology 56 (3): 246–253
488
His private life seems to have been anything but creditable. The worst of reports were current at home, as well as in Rome, concerning his relations with his beautiful
but profligate sister Berenice, afterward the mistress of Titus ("Ant." xx. 7, § 3; Juvenal, "Satires," vi. 153). He died childless (100), surviving the downfall of Judea
only a few decades. Josephus, the historian, was indebted to him for numerous corrections and additions. Probably Agrippa gave him these for the purpose of justifying
and defending his own acts ("Vita," § 65; compare Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl." iii. 9). With him the race of Herod ends.
232
prince of the Bosporan Kingdom, Pontus, Cappadocia, and Roman Client
King of Armenia. In the Martyrdom of Bartholomew, we read:
 “And after these things the unbelievers of the Greeks, having come
together to Astreges [=Artaxias] the king, who was the elder
brother of the king who had been baptized, say to him: ‘O king,
thy brother Polymius has become disciple to a certain magician,
who has taken down our temples, and broken our gods to pieces’.”
According to Moses Khorenatsi, when King Abgar returned to Edessa, he:
“finds on the throne of Persia [Armenia] Ardachès [=Artaxias], and the
siblings of Ardachès contending against him” [2.28]. Moreover, Moses
reproduces Abgar’s letter to Artaxias, wherein he writes:
“I know that you have heard of Jesus Christ the Son of God, whom
the Jews have crucified, Jesus who was raised from the dead, and has
sent His disciples through all the world to instruct men. One of His
chief disciples, named Simon, is in your Majesty’s territories.” [2.33]
It is in Artaxias’ domain of Armenia that Bartholomew finally meets with
martyrdom, as Moses [2.36] and the Armenian Acts of Bartholomew
agree.489 In works of art he is generally represented with a large knife, the
instrument of his martyrdom, or, as in Michelangelo's "Last Judgment,"
with his own skin hanging over his arm.

Ironically, Bartholomew managed to not merely save King Polemon’s

“lost soul,” but left a legacy that endures to this day, long after the
memory of these Pontic kings were lost in the mists of history. Pliny the
Younger490 was the specially appointed Roman governor of Bithynia and
489
According to the Armenian Acts of Bartholomew (Lipsius, Apostelgeschichien, ii. 2, p. 94), he went first to Golthon in Armenia, "and in the 29th year of Sanatruk
came back to the hill Artaschu; he next went to Her and Zarevant, and afterwards to Urbianos, where he was martyred. Vardan the chronicler, a native of Pers-Armenia,
writing about 1270, says that Sanatruk murdered St. Bartholomew at Arabion qualaq (i.e. Castellum). In the old Armenian Acts of Bartholomew the place is called
Urbianos qualaq, i.e. Urbian city, a spelling which is natural enough in a translation from Syriac. Moses Khorenatsi, calls it Arebanos qualaq in his Hist. 2.36 The place
of martyrdom of St. Bartholomew has always been venerated by Syrians and Armenians alike at a spot on the east side of the upper Zab, now called Deir. Here is the
'monastery and church of St. Bartholomew, erected on the traditional site of his martyrdom’ Abdias saith, that Astyages, brother to Polymius, caused S. Bartholomew
"by all to bebatted, and afterward to be beheaded"] Nicephorus [ii.Xxxix] adds that S.Bartholomew escaped from death at Hierapolis, in Phrygia; and that, aliquanto
post tempore, Urbanopoli, provincise Cilicise, in Crucem rursus actus, ad unice desideratum Christum migravit.
490
The Chronicon of L. Flavius Dexter records that Titus visited Spain, and that Pliny the younger, was converted to the Faith by Titus [Is Titus converterat ad fidem
Plinium Juniorem, ex Bithynia Pontoque redeuntem, in ínsula Creta ubi jussu Trajani Jovi templum extruxerat. Nee desunt qui putent séptima Sextilis ad Novocomum
esse passum]; Martyrol. Roman, under the 7th of August, 'Novocomi passio sanctorum martyrum Carpophori, Exanthi, Cassii, Secundi, et Licinii, qui in confessione
Christi capite truncati sunt.' This notice may have been the cause of the story about Pliny, the Secundus here mentioned might taken to be a freedman of the family of
Pliny]. The late Acts of Titus ascribed to Zenas [Tit. iii. 13; the Greek Menologies on the festival of SS. Bartholomew and Titus [Aug 25] reference them; Dorotheus of
Tyre makes Zenas to have been one of the " seventy-two" disciples, and subsequently bishop of Diospolis in Palestine (Bibl. Patr. iii. 150)] report that he was
descended from the family of Minos, King of Crete. Titus gave himself to the study of Homer and Philosophy till his twentieth year, when he heard a voice from
heaven, which told him to quit this place and save his soul. Opening Isaiah, his eye fell on 51:1-5. He was then sent to Jerusalem by the pro-consul of Crete to report
upon the reality of the miracles said to be performed by Jesus Christ. He saw our Saviour, and His miracles, and believed ; and became one of the seventy-two. He
witnessed the Passion and Ascension; the Apostles consecrated him, and sent him with Paul, whom he attended to Antioch, to Seleucia and to Crete, where Rutilus, pro-
233
Pontus between AD 110-12; while visiting the coastal region of Pontus (c.
AD 112), Pliny wrote to Trajan regarding accusations against Christians.
He wrote:
“the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this:
they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses
alternately amongst themselves in honour of Christ as god, and also
to bind themselves by oath” (10.96-97 [LCL])
Even today, the nations of Georgia and Armenia remain islands of
Christianity in the midst of a Middle Eastern sea of Islam. Strong
Christian roots remained even in Asia Minor until the Turkish purges that
resulted in the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

consul, was baptized, and Titus appointed Bishop. In the fragment by the lawyer Zenas, Titus is called bishop of Gortyna. In A.D. 64, St. Paul addressed his Epistle to
Titus, and about the same time Dionysius Areopagite also wrote him. He consecrated the second Bishop of Alexandria, and died at the age of 94.
234
The SERPENT & the
BRAZEN BULL

In 1877, English archaeologist John Turtle Wood published his

Discoveries at Ephesus, detailing the uncovering of the Temple of Diana
[Acts 19:34], the find that made him famous. An additional chapter
detailed his discovery of another ancient structure he suggested was the
Tomb of Luke:

Sketches of original archaeological findings

As reconstructed by Wood, the monument evinced a style consistent with

3rd century AD Hellenic architecture:

235
His controversial conclusion as to the identity of the monument rested on
the remarkable door-jambs at the entrance of the structure:

236
 [L] The door-
jamb as
discovered in
situ;
[R] as
reconstructed
by Wood

The side of the jamb had a badly defaced image:

Wood interpreted it thusly: “On the side

of the same door-post there are the
remains of the figure of a man, which
has been almost entirely chopped
away; the nimbus, however, which
encircled or surmounted the head,
having been incised, remains perfect,
and this figure is perhaps of itself
sufficient evidence that this building
was the tomb or shrine of a saint or
martyr”

Without an inscription, the only other clue to the identity of this possible
saint was the image of the bull on the front. Wood suggested St. Luke

237
because of his association with the ‘calf’ of the four living creatures
around God’s throne [Rev 4:6-7] in Christian iconography:

Folio 129v of the St. Augustine

Gospels (Cambridge, Corpus
Christi College, MS 286), Portrait of
Luke associated with the Calf.

The St. Augustine Gospels

(Cambridge, Corpus Christi
College, Lib. MS. 286) is an
illuminated Gospel Book which
probably dates from the 6th
century. It is traditionally
considered to be one of the
volumes brought by St. Augustine
of Canterbury to England in 587.
The book was probably given to St.
Augustine by the pope St. Gregory
the First

Critics were quick to point out two problems with this identification:
1) There is essentially no ancient tradition connecting St. Luke with
Ephesus491
2) The Calf was not associated with Luke in Christian art until the 5th
century492
Additionally, when the Calf of the “four living creatures” is depicted, it
almost always shown with wings, as in Revelation:

491
A much later tradition, pseudo-Dorotheus, has in some versions that Luke died in Ephesus; other versions of pseudo-Dorotheus mention Thebes as his place of death
492
Even then, the Synopsis of Athanasius uniquely associates Mark with the calf, and Luke with the lion
238
 The “Four Living Creatures” of Revelation depicted in the Galla Placidia Mosaic [AD 425-430]

The “Four Living Creatures” of Revelation depicted in the Santa Pudenziana mosaic [c. AD 390]

239
 If not St. Luke, for whom
was this monument raised,
and what is the significant
of the Bull? A clue can be
found in a work by Petrus
Gyllius [Pierre Gilles] and
published published by
Rouille in 1562 entitled De
Constantinopoleos
topographia. In describing
the Forum Tauri, the
"Forum of the Bull" in
Constantinople created by
Constantine the Great,
Gyllius, states it was
probably named after the
according to Bovis Locus
(“The Place of the Bull”),
which was an ancient
sculpture of an Bull,
brought there because of
“imperial taste of
decoration enriched by the
trophies from distant
lands” [II, 123].
The history of this monumental brazen bull is detailed in an anonymous
tract Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai (“Brief Historical Notes”) from the
AD 700’s that concentrates the topography of Constantinople and its
monuments, especially Classical Greek sculpture. In entry XLII (“About
the Bull”), we learn its history ended when Byzantine emperor Heraclius
had it melted down in 622 to pay for new recruits in his war against the
Persians, who had overrun the Holy Land.

240
 Gold coins of Heraclius minted in celebration of his recapture of Jerusalem493

But just before that he used it the last times for its intended purpose:
Heraclius had the reprobate emperor Phocas burned494 in the hollow belly
of the bull, in the same manner that Phocas had used the Bull for many a
public execution. This insidious use of the brazen bull was handed down
from the Roman emperor Julian “the Apostate” [r. 360-363], who was
alleged to have used it in the public martyrdom of Christians at
Constantinople. Even his bronze coins minted at Constantinople
commemorate the “sacred” Bull.495

But Julian did not bring this bull to Constantinople. It was Constantine the
Great’s son, Constans, whose chamberlain Valentinianus arranged the
transportation of the monumental Bull to the Forum [Parastaseis XL.11-
12]. This recasts the Bull’s origin in an entirely new light.

493
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,471434,00.html
494
See also the Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu CX.7 “And next they took the bodies of Phocas and Leontius and Bonosus and they conveyed them to the city of
Constantinople, and they burnt them with fire, and scattered the ashes of their bodies to the winds; for they were detested by all men”
495
The Christian Ephraem of Nisibis castigates Julian for depicting on his coins a ‘bull of paganism’ (Carm. contra Iul. I.16-19).
241
 [ABOVE] Constans, 337-350 A.D. AE 3 Half-Centenionalis, 348-50 A.D. 18mm, 2.21gm, axis: 6:00
Mint of Lugdunum; Obv: DN CONSTANTIVS PF AVG. Diademed draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rx: FEL TEMP REPARATIO. Constans standing left, holding phoenix on globe and labarum, in prow of galley steered by Victory; in
ex: PLG. RIC VIII 96, LRBC 186, Cf. SR 3973, VM 61.

Constans was raised a Christian and became a strong defender of orthodox

Christianity against he Arian heresy. He went as far as to ban all pagan
sacrifice throughout the Roman Empire, so he could not have brought the
Bull to Constantinople for any such purpose.

The answer is given by 11th century Byzantine historian Georgius

Cedrenus, who informs us the Bull was brought from Pergamum, as a
commemoration of its use in the martyrdom of Antipas (Rev 2:13).496

Arethas [around 540497] and Andreas [ca 500498], Greek commentators on

the Apocalypse, had both read the Acts of the martyrdom of Antipas,499
which were summarized by Symeon Metaphrastes, the 9th century
hagiographer.

Metaphrastes wrote that the residents of Pergamos were worshipping

demons who had appeared to them and told them that the power of
Antipas was interfering with their worship. The idolaters captured Antipas
and took him to the governor, who tried to convince Antipas that pagan
496
Compendium Historiarum, i.566
497
According to Cave [H. L. T. i. p. 520] and Mill [Bib. Gr. T. vii. p. 791-792], apud Lardner Works v.3 p.56
498
Chp. 5, Text 29, Comm. 36 “Antipas, whose name had become known as the bravest martyr in Pergamum, whose martyrdom I have read, the Evangelist now
mentioned to point to both their patience and the cruelty [The cruelty is a reference to the martyrdom endured by Antipas of those who had been led astray]
499
Found in a later, interpolated form in the Acta Sanctorum, April 11 (April, tome ii. pp. 2, 4, and 967)
242
worship is older, more popular and therefore more valid. Antipas
countered that God preferred Able’s sacrifice to the worship of his older
brother, Cain. This so angered the governor that he threw Antipas into the
brazen altar.

As P. A. Dutau argued so eruditely,500

the remains discovered in Ephesus are
best explained as the martyrium of St.
Antipas referred to by Arethas501
ornamented with the instrument of his
martyrdom, the Brazen Bull of
Pergamum.
But what was the Religious significance
of this Bull to the pagan worshippers at
Pergamum?

Its history begins in Sicily . . .

Phalaris reigned as tyrant of Acragas (Agrigentum) in Sicily until 554 BC,

and according to Suïdas he succeeded in making himself master of the
whole of the island. His reign was most most [in]famous for his zeal for
justice and hatred of crime which was manifested in the Brazen Bull,502
invented for him by the Athenian bronze-worker Perilaus.

500
Un prétendu tombeau de S. Luc à Ephèse restitué à la mémoire de S. Antipas (Paris, 1883)
501
(M.P.G. t. CVI, p. 536)
Pindar, who lived less than a century afterwards, expressly associates this instrument of torture with the name of the tyrant: “but hostile fame everywhere covers
502

Phalaris, the burner in the brazen bull, him of pitiless heart” [Pythian Ode I]
243
Perilaus designed it for maximum theatricality and pain-filled deterence:
Once the Error! Reference source not found.man was inside the bull a fire would be lit
beneath it in order to roast him to death. In the head of Error! Reference source not
found.the bull, Perilaus put a series of tubes and stops that were designed to

amplify the screams of the victim and make them sound like the roar of a
bull, while the smoke from the roasting flesh would appear through the
nostrils, as if the bull were snorting, as clouds of incense. In horrific irony,
Phalaris had the inventor first test the efficacy of the device on himself; in
even greater irony, Phalaris was executed in his own device [Ovid Ars
Amat. i.653] when overthrown by Telemachus.

However gratuitously cruel the device may appear, this religious

connotation should not be missed. We have here a tradition of human
sacrifice in connection with the worship of the Phoenician Baal such as
prevailed at Rhodes; when misfortune threatened Rhodes the brazen bulls
in his temple bellowed. The Rhodians brought this worship to Gela, which
they founded conjointly with the Cretans, and from Gela it passed to
Agrigentum.

244
Reconstruction of ancient Pergamum, after the findings of 19th century German archaeologists

When we turn to its use in Pergamum, it must be in light of what records

in the book of Revelation:
Rev 2:13 (AV) I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where
Satan's throne [ , throne] is: and thou holdest fast my
name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein
Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where
Satan dwells.
This “throne of Satan” is referred to again:
Rev 13: 1 ¶ (AV) And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast
rise up out of the [Aegean] sea, having seven heads and ten horns,
245
 and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of
blasphemy. 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard,
and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of
a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great
authority.

MS illumination depicting the “old Serpent” [Rev

12:9] hand over his scepter [& throne] to the “beast
from the Sea”

Before the Roman period the royal character of Pergamum had given
strength to its deities, especially Asclepius the "Saviour" and Dionysos
"the Guide" (Kathegemon). The latter was the royal God, and the royal
family was regarded as sprung from him; Asklepios, on the other hand,
was the God of the city Pergamum. Penetrate beneath the Greek
anthropomorphizing of these “gods”, we find that they were worshipped to
a great degree as animal-gods, the God-Serpent and the God-Bull.
Dionysus was strongly linked to the bull. In a cult hymn from Olympia, at
a festival for Hera, Dionysus is also invited to come as a bull, "with bull-
foot raging." "Quite frequently he is portrayed with bull horns, and in
Kyzikos he has a tauromorphic image," Walter Burkert relates, and refers
also to an archaic myth in which Dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and
impiously eaten by the Titans.503

503
Greek Religion, 1985, pp. 64, 132
246
Coin of Pergamum, depicting true Bacchante leading Dionysius depicted as the sacred bull to the altar,
nature of Asclepius from a Bas-relief in the Vatican

Here is the archetypal “earth beast” [Rev 13:11] that works in harmony
with the “serpent-god.” [Rev 13:12]. The relation of the God-Bull to the
God-Serpent in the Anatolian ritual is well known: "the bull, father of
the serpent, and the serpent, of the bull"was a formula of the Phrygian
Mysteries. Asclepius was more closely associated with the serpent in the
Anatolian ritual, rather than the human Asclepius.
Emperor Caracalla,
during his visit to
Pergamum, is
represented as adoring
the Pergamenian deity, a
serpent wreathed round
the sacred tree. Between
the God-Serpent and the
God-Emperor stands the
little figure of
Telesphorus, the
Consummator, a
peculiarly Pergamenian
conception closely
connected with
Asclepius
Nowhere more than in Pergamum was Serpent-worship most forthright
and obvious:
247
On the cistophori,
which were intended to
be the common
coinage in circulation
through the whole
Pergamenian kingdom
after 200 BC, neither
kings nor specifically
Hellenic gods appear,
but only symbols taken
from the cults of
Dionysos and
Asklepios. On the
obverse is the cista
mystica of Dionysos
within a wreath of his
sacred plant the ivy: the
lid of the box is pushed
open by a serpent
which hangs out with
half its length

248
 When Asklepios was
anthropomorphized
from the Serpent into
the “Savior Asclepius”
he becomes an
archetypal Anti-
Christ, pretending to
be benefactor to
humanity, rather than a
requirer of Human
sacrifice.
As Justin Martyr put it,
“Æsculapius, who,
though he was a great
physician, was struck
by a thunderbolt, and
so ascended to
heaven. . . . 22. And in
that we say that
[Christ] made whole
the lame, the paralytic,
and those born blind,
we seem to say what
is very similar to the
deeds purported to
have been done by
Æsculapius” [Apol.
I.21f]

The Acts of Antipas indicate that the demonic instigators of the martyrs
death chose the Bull and human sacrifice for its specific connotations to
the citizens of Pergamum: they chose this way to vindicate the honour of
their god Æsculapius, in opposition to the claims of our Lord Jesus.

249
 The Temple of “Asclepius the Savior” at Pergamon
Where Antipas was roasted in the Brazen Bull

The specific fear inspired by the demons was that the pagan priest and
temple-system would lose followers, wealth and influence to Jesus Christ,
the God Antipas preached; this was no idol/idle threat. Everywhere the
Gospel was preached, Rev 5:12 was fulfilled in Gentile cities:
“Saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and
glory, and blessing’.”

Even then, the pagans of Pergamum were deprived of the satisfaction of

the tortured screams of Antipas; it is recorded that he died in the belly of
the Bull singing hymns of praise and the thanksgiving.

250
That such types of executions were being used against Christians during
the reign of Claudius is also evidenced by the Apostle Paul. Writing to
Corinthians, long before the Neronian persecution, he lists some extreme
experiences of Christians at the time, and about which some boasted:
1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor [Acts
4:32-5:2], and though I give my body to be burned [as Thecla and
Antipas had already experienced], and have not love, it profiteth me
nothing.

The Bull continued to be used in the ensuing centuries as a tool of Human

sacrifice for martyrs in Asia Minor, the stronghold of the “serpent-god” –
but Rev 5:12 continued to be fulfilled. A century and a half later, the
pagan priests at Rome warned Alexander Severus against installing Jesus
Christ in the Pantheon, since their seers foretold that theirs temple would
be abandoned throughout the empire. A century before, the Roman
governor of Pontus & Bithynia reported to emperor Trajan in AD 112 that,
because of the spread of Christianity:

251
 “ many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are
and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has
spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms…. It is
certainly quite clear that the temples, which had been almost
deserted.…and that the established religious rites, [were] long
neglected [as a result].” [Ep. 10.96]
As Tertullian (Apologeticum 50) famously put it, the "blood of the martyrs
is the seed of the Church"....

252