Ancient Christian Audiobooks

The Church History (Greek: Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία; Latin: Historia Ecclesiastica or Historia Ecclesiae) of Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea was a 4th-century pioneer work giving a chronological account of the development of Early Christianity from the 1st century to the 4th century. It was written in Koine Greek, and survives also in Latin, Syriac and Armenian manuscripts. 00:00:00 Chapter 1. The Plan of the Work. 00:05:12 Chapter 2. Summary View of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. 00:23:30 Chapter 3. The Name Jesus and also the Name Christ were known from the Beginning, and were honored by the Inspired Prophets. 00:35:34 Chapter 4. The Religion Proclaimed by Him to All Nations Was Neither New Nor Strange. 00:43:36 Chapter 5. The Time of his Appearance among Men. 00:47:11 Chapter 6. About the Time of Christ, in accordance with Prophecy, the Rulers who had governed the Jewish Nation in Regular Succession from the Days of Antiquity came to an End, and Herod, the First Foreigner, Became King. 00:53:23 Chapter 7. The Alleged Discrepancy in the Gospels in regard to the Genealogy of Christ. 01:04:04 Chapter 8. The Cruelty of Herod toward the Infants, and the Manner of his Death. 01:12:34 Chapter 9. The Times of Pilate. 01:14:27 Chapter 10. The High Priests of the Jews under whom Christ taught. 01:17:38 Chapter 11. Testimonies in Regard to John the Baptist and Christ. 01:22:00 Chapter 12. The Disciples of our Saviour. 01:24:15 Chapter 13. Narrative concerning the Prince of the Edessenes.

Hilary of Poitiers / Hilarius Pictaviensis / Malleus Arianorum DE SYNODIS Hilary had been in exile about three years and had corresponded with the Western bishops. From several quarters letters had now ceased to arrive, and the fear came that the bishops did not care to write to one whose convictions were different to their own. Great was his joy when, at the end of the year 358, he received a letter which not only explained that the innocent cause of their silence was ignorance of his address, but also that they had persistently refused communion with Saturninus and condemned the Blasphemia. Early in 359 he dispatched to them the Liber de Synodis. It is a double letter, addressed to Western bishops, but containing passages intended for Orientals, into whose hands the letter would doubtless come in time. Hilary had recognized that the orthodox of the West had kept aloof from the orthodox of the East, firstly from ignorance of events, secondly from misunderstanding of the word ὁμοούσιος, and thirdly from the feelings of distrust then prevalent. These facts determined the contents of his letter.

"..At this same period also, Alexander, illustrious for his apostolical gifts, governed the church of Constantinople It was at this time that Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, perceiving that Arius, enslaved by the lust of power, was assembling those who had been taken captive by his blasphemous doctrines, and was holding private meetings, communicated an account of his heresy by letter to the rulers of the principal churches. That the authenticity of my history may not be suspected, I shall now insert in my narrative the letter which he wrote to his namesake.. " The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret.

Some of the first rumblings of Arian Hersey that would lead up to the Council of Nicea. Arius was a mere presbyter from the region of Alexandria and his view was spreading more and more to the point where the local Bishop (Patriarch) of the city, Alexander, was forced to intervene.. initially by writing these letters of warning and also to get affirmations of faith from the surrounding churches.

Dionysius I of Rome (D.), 3rd c., initially a Roman presbyter, 259/260-267/268, and then successor of Bishop Sixtus II, reorganized the Roman community, which had been greatly weakened by persecution. In 262, as a result of complaints from Alexandrian presbyters about the Origenist type of christology represented by Dionysius of Alexandria, Dionyius of Rome held a synod in Rome that condemned Sabellianism and subordinationism. (Dictionary of Early Christian Literature, p. 183)

Aristides the Athenian (also Saint Aristides or Marcianus Aristides; Greek: Ἀριστείδης Μαρκιανός) a Christian apologist living at Athens in the second century. According to Eusebius, the Emperor Hadrian, during his stay in Greece (123-127), caused himself to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. A persecution of the local Christians followed, due probably, to an outburst of pagan zeal, aroused by the Emperor's act. Two apologies for Christianity were composed on the occasion, that of Quadratus and that of Aristides which the author presented to Hadrian, at Athens, in 126 (Eusebius, Church History IV.3.3, and Chron. II, 166). St. Jerome, in his work Illustrious Men 20, calls him philosophus eloquentissimus, and, in his letter to Magnus (no. LXX), says of the "Apologeticum" that it was contextum philosophorum sententiis, and was later imitated by St. Justin Martyr. He says, further (De vir ill., loc. cit.), that the "Apology" was extant in his time, and highly thought of. Eusebius (loc. cit.), in the fourth century, states that it had a wide circulation among Christians.

Florinus had previously held that God was the author of evil, which sentiment Irenæus opposed in a treatise, now lost, called _περὶ μοναρχίας_ - *On the Sole Sovereignty* or *That God is not the Author of Evil* This interesting extract we also owe to Eusebius, who took it from the work De Ogdoade, written after this former friend of Irenæus had lapsed to Valentinianism.

The Philippics (Latin: Philippicae, singular Philippica) are a series of 14 speeches composed by Cicero in 44 and 43 BC, condemning Mark Antony. Cicero likened these speeches to those of Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedon; both Demosthenes’ and Cicero's speeches became known as Philippics. Cicero's Second Philippic is styled after Demosthenes' De Corona ('On the Crown'). The speeches were delivered in the aftermath of the assassination of Julius Caesar, during a power struggle between Caesar's supporters and his assassins.

Hilary of Poitiers / Hilarius Pictaviensis / Malleus Arianorum DE TRINITATE LIBER XII Ignorance of prophetic diction and unskilfulness in interpreting Scripture has led them into a perversion of the point and meaning of the passage, "The Lord created Me for a beginning of His ways for His works. " ( Proverbs 8:22 ) They labour to establish from it that Christ is created, rather than born, as God, and hence partakes the nature of created beings, though He excel them in the manner of His creation, and has no glory of Divine birth but only the powers of a transcendent creature. We in reply, without importing any new considerations or preconceived opinions, will make this very passage of Wisdom display its own true meaning and object. We will show that the fact that He was created for the beginning of the ways of God and for His works, cannot be twisted into evidence concerning the Divine and eternal birth, because creation for these purposes and birth from everlasting are two entirely different things. Where birth is meant, there birth, and nothing but birth, is spoken of; where creation is mentioned, the cause of that creation is first named. There is a Wisdom born before all things, and again there is a wisdom created for particular purposes; the Wisdom which is from everlasting is one, the wisdom which has come into existence during the lapse of time is another. Having thus concluded that we must reject the word 'creation' from our confession of faith in God the Only-begotten, we proceed to lay down the teachings of reason and of piety concerning the Holy Spirit, that the reader, whose convictions have been established by patient and earnest study of the preceding books, may be provided with a complete presentation of the faith. This end will be attained when the blasphemies of heretical teaching on this theme also have been swept away, and the mystery, pure and undefiled, of the Trinity which regenerates us has been fixed in terms of saving precision on the authority of Apostles and Evangelists. Men will no longer dare, on the strength of mere human reasoning, to rank among creatures that Divine Spirit, Whom we receive as the pledge of immortality and source of fellowship with the sinless nature of God.

Hilary of Poitiers / Hilarius Pictaviensis / Malleus Arianorum DE TRINITATE LIBER XI And so — for not even the glory of the Resurrection has opened the eyes of these lost men and kept them within the manifest bounds of the faith— they have forged a weapon for their blasphemy out of a pretended reverence, and even perverted the revelation of a mystery into an insult to God. From the words, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God ( John 20:17 ) they argue that since that Father is ours as much as His, and that God also ours and His, His own confession that He shares with us in that relation to the Father and to God excludes Him from true Divinity, and subordinates Him to God the Creator Whose creature and inferior He is, as we are, although He has received the adoption of a Son. Nay more, we must not suppose that He possesses any of the characters of the Divine nature, since the Apostle says, But when He says, all things are put in subjection, this is except Him Who did subject all things unto Him, for when all things shall have been subjected unto Him, then shall also He Himself be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him, that God may be all in all. ( 1 Corinthians 15:27-28 ) For, so they say, subjection is evidence of want of power in the subject and of its possession by the sovereign. The eleventh book is employed in a reverent discussion of this argument; it proves from these very words of the Apostle not only that subjection is no evidence of want of power in Christ but that it actually is a sign of His true Divinity as God the Son; that the fact that His Father and God is also our Father and God is an infinite advantage to us and no degradation to Him, since He Who has been born as Man and suffered all the afflictions of our flesh has gone up on high to our God and Father, to receive His glory as Man our Representative. In this treatise we have followed the course which we know is pursued in every branch of education. First come easy lessons and a familiarity, slowly attained by practice, with the groundwork of the subject; then the student may make proof, in the business of life, of the training which he has received. Thus the soldier, when he is perfect in his exercises, can go out to battle; the advocate ventures into the conflicts of the courts when he is versed in the pleadings of the school of rhetoric; the sailor who has learned to navigate his ship in the land-locked harbour of his home may be trusted amid the storms of open seas and distant climes. Such has been our proceeding in this most serious and difficult science in which the whole faith is taught. First came simple instruction for the untaught believer in the birth, the name, the Divinity, the true Divinity of Christ; since then we have quietly and steadily advanced till our readers can demolish every plea of the heretics; and now at last we have pitted them against the adversary in the present great and glorious conflict. The mind of men is powerless with the ordinary resources of unaided reason to grasp the idea of an eternal birth, but they attain by study of things Divine to the apprehension of mysteries which lie beyond the range of common thought. They can explode that paradox concerning the Lord Jesus, which derives all its strength and semblance of cogency from a purblind pagan philosophy: the paradox which asserts, There was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was born, and He was made out of nothing; as though His birth were proof that He had previously been non-existent and at a given moment came into being, and God the Only-begotten could thus be subjected to the conception of time, as if the faith itself [by conferring the title of 'Son'] and the very nature of birth proved that there was a time when He was not. Accordingly they argue that He was born out of nothing, on the ground that birth implies the grant of being to that which previously had no being. We proclaim in answer, on the evidence of Apostles and Evangelists, that the Father is eternal and the Son eternal, and demonstrate that the Son is God of all with an absolute, not a limited, pre-existence; that these bold assaults of their blasphemous logic — He was born out of nothing, and He was not before He was born— are powerless against Him; that His eternity is consistent with sonship, and His sonship with eternity; that there was in Him no unique exemption from birth but a birth from everlasting, for, while birth implies a Father, Divinity is inseparable from eternity.

Hilary of Poitiers / Hilarius Pictaviensis / Malleus Arianorum DE TRINITATE LIBER X The purpose of the tenth book is one in harmony with the faith. For since, in the folly which passes with them for wisdom, the heretics have twisted some of the circumstances and utterances of the Passion into an insolent contradiction of the Divine nature and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am compelled to prove that this is a blasphemous misinterpretation, and that these things were put on record by the Lord Himself as evidences of His true and absolute majesty. In their parody of the faith they deceive themselves with words such as, My soul is sorrowful even unto death. ( Matthew 26:38 ) He, they think, must be far removed from the blissful and passionless life of God, over Whose soul brooded this crushing fear of an impending woe, Who under the pressure of suffering even humbled Himself to pray, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me , and assuredly bore the appearance of fearing to endure the trials from which He prayed for release; Whose whole nature was so overwhelmed by agony that in those moments on the Cross He cried, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me ? Forced by the bitterness of His pain to complain that He was forsaken: Who, destitute of the Father's help, gave up the ghost with the words, Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit. ( Luke 23:46 ) The fear, they say, which beset Him at the moment of expiring made Him entrust His Spirit to the care of God the Father: the very hopelessness of His own condition forced Him to commit His Soul to the keeping of Another. Their folly being as great as their blasphemy, they fail to mark that Christ's words, spoken under similar circumstances, are always consistent; they cleave to the letter and ignore the purpose of His words. There is the widest difference between My soul is sorrowful even unto death ( Matthew 26:38 ), and Henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power ( Matthew 26:64 ); so also between Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away, from Me , and The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it ( John 18:11 ) ? and further between My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me ( Matthew 27:46 )? and Verily I say unto you, Today shall you be with Me in Paradise ( Luke 23:43 ), and between Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit , and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do ; and their narrow minds, unable to grasp the Divine meaning, plunge into blasphemy in the attempt at explanation. There is a broad distinction between anxiety and a mind at ease, between haste and the prayer for delay, between words of anguish and words of encouragement, between despair for self and confident entreaty for others; and the heretics display their impiety by ignoring the assertions of Deity and the Divine nature of Christ, which account for the one class of His words, while they concentrate their attention upon the deeds and words which refer only to His ministry on earth. I have therefore set out all the elements contained in the mystery of the Soul and Body of the Lord Jesus Christ; all have been sought out, none suppressed. Next, casting the calm light of reason upon the question, I have referred each of His sayings to the class to which its meaning attaches it, and so have shown that He had also a confidence which never wavered, a will which never faltered, an assurance which never murmured, that, when He commended His own soul to the Father, in this was involved a prayer for the pardon of others. Thus a complete presentment of the teaching of the Gospel interprets and confirms all (and not some only) of the words of Christ.

Hilary of Poitiers / Hilarius Pictaviensis / Malleus Arianorum DE TRINITATE LIBER III "...the third book makes further progress, sure though slow. Citing the greatest instances of His power, it brings within the range of faith's understanding that saying, in itself beyond our comprehension, I in the Father and the Father in Me (John 10:38), which Christ utters concerning Himself. "

Hilary of Poitiers / Hilarius Pictaviensis / Malleus Arianorum DE TRINITATE LIBER II " Thus, after the present first book, the second expounds the mystery of the Divine birth, that those who shall be baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost may know the true Names, and not be perplexed about their sense but accurately informed as to fact and meaning, and so receive full assurance that in the words which are used they have the true Names, and that those Names involve the truth. After this short and simple discourse concerning the Trinity, the third book makes further progress, sure though slow. "

Hilary of Poitiers / Hilarius Pictaviensis / Malleus Arianorum c. 310 – c. 367 was Bishop of Poitiers and a Doctor of the Church. Born in that city and belonging to a noble and very probably pagan family, he was instructed in all the branches of profane learning, but, having also taken up the study of Holy Scripture and finding there the truth which he sought so ardently, he renounced idolatry and was baptized. BOOK I " ..first, I have so laid out the plan of the whole work as to consult the advantage of the reader by the logical order in which its books are arranged. It has been my resolve to publish no half-finished and ill-considered treatise, lest its disorderly array should resemble the confused clamour of a mob of peasants. And since no one can scale a precipice unless there be jutting ledges to aid his progress to the summit, I have here set down in order the primary outlines of our ascent leading our difficult course of argument up the easiest path; not cutting steps in the face of the rock, but levelling it to a gentle slope, that so the traveller, almost without a sense of effort may reach the heights."

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (Latin: On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, sometimes just On the Ruin of Britain) is a work written in Latin by the 6th-century AD British cleric St Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of Gildas' contemporaries, both secular and religious, whom he blames for the dire state of affairs in sub-Roman Britain. It is one of the most important sources for the history of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, as it is the only significant source for the period written by a near contemporary of the people and events described. PART IV The writer's feelings with respect to the princes so severely censured in the preceding part. Motives as to intending attack upon the clergy 00:03:03 Charges against wicked and reprobate priests 00:12:16 Defects of those acknowledged to be blameless in their lives when compared with examples from the Old Testament ,the New Testament, and Church history 00:12:35 Comparison with Old Testament examples 00:23:36 Compared with New Testament examples 00:25:58 Compared with examples furnished by Church History 00:31:44 Quotations of incriminatory passages directed against "lazy and unworthy priests'" from the Old Testament 01:06:12 Quotations from the New Testament 01:30:35 Quotations from the Ordinal or Service Book used in the consecration of priests or ministers (deacons?) 01:36:18 Conclusion

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (Latin: On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, sometimes just On the Ruin of Britain) is a work written in Latin by the 6th-century AD British cleric St Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of Gildas' contemporaries, both secular and religious, whom he blames for the dire state of affairs in sub-Roman Britain. It is one of the most important sources for the history of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, as it is the only significant source for the period written by a near contemporary of the people and events described. PART III. Quotations from Scripture, made consecutively in the order of books, denouncing wicked Princes.

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (Latin: On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, sometimes just On the Ruin of Britain) is a work written in Latin by the 6th-century AD British cleric St Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of Gildas' contemporaries, both secular and religious, whom he blames for the dire state of affairs in sub-Roman Britain. It is one of the most important sources for the history of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, as it is the only significant source for the period written by a near contemporary of the people and events described. PART II. General Denunciation of Princes and Judges. 00:00 Denunciation of the Five Princes. 02:08 Constantius of Damnonia. 08:21 Vortiporius, prince of the Demetae (Dyfed). 10:28 Cuneglasus. 13:31 Maglocunus insularis draco. Maelgwn of Anglesey (?) 27:21 Reasons for Introducing Words of the Holy Prophets (sancti vates).

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (Latin: On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, sometimes just On the Ruin of Britain) is a work written in Latin by the 6th-century AD British cleric St Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of Gildas' contemporaries, both secular and religious, whom he blames for the dire state of affairs in sub-Roman Britain. It is one of the most important sources for the history of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, as it is the only significant source for the period written by a near contemporary of the people and events described. Part I contains a narrative of British history from the Roman conquest to Gildas' time; it includes references to Ambrosius Aurelianus and the Britons' victory against the Saxons at the Battle of Mons Badonicus. PREFACE. 00:00:00 Motives for writing stated. PART I. Description of Britain, Character of its People; Introductory narrative of events, extending from the First Parthian Peace and the Roman expedition into Britain which followed it, to the writer's own time (A.D. 117-c. 540). Reference to the rise of Christianity under Tiberius, and its progress in Britain inserted. 00:13:18 Description of Britain. De situ. 00:15:37 Character of people. De contumacia. 00:18:32 Subjection by Rome. De subjectione. 00:19:36 Insurrection against Rome. De rebellione. 00:20:46 Second subjection and servitude. Item de subiectione ac diro famulatu. 00:21:43 Rise of Christianity. De religione. 00:22:33 Evangelization of Britain. The Diocletian persecution. De persecutione. 00:23:51 Holy Martyrs. De sanctis martyribus. 00:27:51 Heresies. De diversis haeresibus. 00:28:35 The tyranni, particularly Maxi mus. De tyrannis. 00:30:08 Picts and Scots. De duabus gentibus vastatricibus. 00:30:37 Defence made against them. De defen sione. 00:32:04 Repeated devastation. Itemque vastatione. 00:32:39 Second revenge (by Roman aid). De secunda ultione. 00:36:30 Third devastation by Picts and Scots. Tertiaque vastatione. 00:37:28 The famine. De fame. 00:39:12 Letter to Agitius (Aetius). A.D. 446. De epistolis ad Agitium. 00:40:28 The victory over Picts and Scots. De victoria. 00:41:41 Growth of crimes among the Britons. De sceleribus. 00:44:23 The coming of the enemy suddenly made known. De nuntiatis subito hostibus. 00:46:23 The noted plague. De famosa peste. 00:47:17 Deliberation how to oppose the Picts and Scots. The Saxons invited to aid in their repulsion. De consilio. 00:48:33 The Saxons prove far more cruel than the former enemies. De saeviore multo primis hoste. 00:55:17 The final victory over the Saxons. Siege of Mons Badonicus. De postrema patriae victoria quae temporibus nostris Dei nutu donata est.

The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus (Greek: Πρὸς Διόγνητον Ἐπιστολή) is an example of Christian apologetics, writings defending Christianity against the charges of its critics. The Greek writer and recipient are not otherwise known.

Against the Galileans, meaning against Christians, (Greek: Κατὰ Γαλιλαίων; Latin: Contra Galilaeos) was a Greek polemical essay written by the Roman emperor Julian, commonly known as Julian the Apostate, during his short reign. Despite having been originally written in Greek, it is better known under its Latin name, probably due to its extensive reference in the polemical response Contra Julianum by Cyril of Alexandria. (remains of the 3 books, excerpted from Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum (1923) pp.319-433 and other fragments) FL.CL.IVLIANVS.P.F.AVG - "Julian " - Flavius Claudius Julianus; / Ἰουλιανός / Ioulianos; ( b. 331 – d. 26 June 363 ) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. Julian is traditionally called Julian the Apostate due to his policy of reversing Emperor Constantine's Christianization campaign by restoring traditional religious practices and holy places across the Empire. Julian so despised the Christian faith that he even attempted to reverse his baptism by bathing in a bull’s blood. One ecclesiastical historian describes him as a man “who had made his soul a home of destroying demons.” Julian, wishing to falsify the predictions of Daniel and of Jesus Christ, attempted to rebuild the temple. For this purpose, he assembled the chief among the Jews, and asking them why they neglected the prescribed sacrifices, was answered, that they could not offer any where else but in the temple of Jerusalem. Upon this he ordered them to repair to Jerusalem, to rebuild their temple, and restore their ancient worship, promising them his concurrence in carrying on the work. This filled the Jews with inexpressible joy. Hence flocking to Jerusalem, they began with scorn and triumph to insult over the Christians. The emperor opened his treasures to furnish every thing necessary for the building. The most able workmen were convened from all parts; persons of the greatest distinction were appointed to direct the work; and the emperor's friend, Alipius, was set over the whole, with orders to carry on the work without ceasing, and to spare no expense. Many thousands were employed. But what they had thrown up in the day, was, by repeated earthquakes, the night following cast back again into the trench. When Alipius the next day was earnestly pressing on the work, with the assistance of the governor of the province, there issued, says Ammianus Marcellinus, such horrible balls of fire out of the earth near the foundations, as to render the place inaccessible from time to time to the scorched workmen. And the victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, Alipius, thought proper to abandon, though reluctantly, the enterprise. This great event happened in the beginning of the year 363, and with many very astonishing circumstances is recorded both by Jews and Christians." Gregory of Nazianzus, orat. ii. cont. Julianum; Theodoret, lib. iii. Histor. chap. xx.

The Second Apology was written as a supplement to the First Apology of Justin Martyr, on account of certain proceedings which had in the meantime taken place in Rome before Lollius Urbicus as prefect of the city, which must have been between 150 and 157. The Apology is addressed to the Roman Senate and was meant to expose the real reasons behind the recent persecutions of Christians under Urbicus. It also tried to expose the utter irrationality of allegations and propaganda spread against the Christians. Justin Martyr ( Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher. born at Flavia Neapolis, born about A.D. 100, converted to Christianity about A.D. 130, taught and defended the Christian religion in Asia Minor and at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 165. Two "Apologies" bearing his name and his "Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon" have come down to us.

The First Apology was an early work of Christian apologetics addressed by Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and his two adopted sons and future emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. Justin Martyr ( Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher. born at Flavia Neapolis, born about A.D. 100, converted to Christianity about A.D. 130, taught and defended the Christian religion in Asia Minor and at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 165. Two "Apologies" bearing his name and his "Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon" have come down to us.

Eusebius: Church History - Book IV "At this time, when the greatest persecutions were exciting Asia, Polycarp ended his life by martyrdom. But I consider it most important that his death, a written account of which is still extant, should be recorded in this history. There is a letter, written in the name of the church over which he himself presided, to the parishes in Pontus, which relates the events that befell him, in the following words:"

"But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify.... There is also a very powerful Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth. " Irenaeus: Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter 3)

Ignatius of Antioch (/ɪɡˈneɪʃəs/; Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, Ignátios Antiokheías; died c. 108 also known as Ignatius Theophorus (Ἰγνάτιος ὁ Θεοφόρος, Ignátios ho Theophóros, lit. "the God-bearing") From Eusebius Church History (Book III): ...Ignatius, who was chosen bishop of Antioch, second in succession to Peter, and whose fame is still celebrated by a great many. Report says that he was sent from Syria to Rome, and became food for wild beasts on account of his testimony to Christ. And as he made the journey through Asia under the strictest military surveillance, he fortified the parishes in the various cities where he stopped by oral homilies and exhortations, and warned them above all to be especially on their guard against the heresies that were then beginning to prevail, and exhorted them to hold fast to the tradition of the apostles. Moreover, he thought it necessary to attest that tradition in writing, and to give it a fixed form for the sake of greater security. So when he came to Smyrna, where Polycarp was, he wrote an epistle to the church of Ephesus, in which he mentions Onesimus, its pastor; ( 00:00:00 - Letter to Ephesus ) and another to the church of Magnesia, situated upon the Mæander, in which he makes mention again of a bishop Damas; ( 00:21:01 - Letter to Magnesia ) and finally one to the church of Tralles, whose bishop, he states, was at that time Polybius. ( 00:32:08 - Letter to Tralles ) In addition to these he wrote also to the church of Rome, entreating them not to secure his release from martyrdom, and thus rob him of his earnest hope. In confirmation of what has been said it is proper to quote briefly from this epistle. ( 00:42:42 - Letter to Rome ) And when he had left Smyrna he wrote again from Troas to the Philadelphians ( 00:54:38 - Letter to Philadelphia ) and to the church of Smyrna; ( 01:04:49 - Letter to Smyrna ) and particularly to Polycarp, who presided over the latter church. And since he knew him well as an apostolic man, he commended to him, like a true and good shepherd, the flock at Antioch, and besought him to care diligently for it. ( 01:17:27 - Letter to Polycarp )