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Theophilus, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine — source fragments

Theophilus, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine

Salutation / Introduction

About this work

Author: Theophilus, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine

Theophilus, Bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine.

[a

.

d

.

180

.

]

When

Eusebius

says

that

the

churches

of

“

all

Asia

”

concurred

in

the

Ephesine

use

concerning

the

Paschal

,

he

evidently

means

Asia

Minor

,

as

in

the

Scriptures

and

elsewhere

.

Throughout

“

the

rest

of

the

world

,

”

he

testifies

,

however

,

that

such

was

not

the

use

.

The

Palestinian

bishops

,

after

the

Jewish

downfall

,

seem

to

have

been

the

first

to

comprehend

the

propriety

of

adopting

the

more

Catholic

usage

;

and

our

author

presided

over

a

council

in

Cæsarea

,

of

which

he

was

bishop

,

assisted

by

Narcissus

,

bishop

of

Jerusalem

,

with

Cassius

of

Tyre

and

Clarus

of

Ptolemais

,

which

confirmed

it

.

It

is

to

be

noted

,

that

Alexandria

is

cited

by

Theophilus

as

authority

for

this

custom

;

and

it

is

not

quite

correct

to

say

that

the

Western

usage

prevailed

at

Nicæa

,

for

it

was

the

general

use

,

save

only

in

Asia

Minor

and

churches

which

were

colonies

of

the

same

.

This

fact

has

been

overlooked

,

and

is

very

important

,

in

history

.

From His Epistle on the Question of the Passover, Written in the Name of the Synod of Cæsarea.

Endeavour also to send abroad copies of our epistle among all the churches, so that those who easily deceive their own souls may not be able to lay the blame on us. We would have you know, too, that in Alexandria also they observe the festival on the same day as ourselves. For the Paschal letters are sent from us to them, and from them to us: so that we observe the holy day in unison and together.

Notes

1
See (Polycrates) p. 773, supra, and Eusebius, H. E., book v. cap. xxiii., etc., pp. 222–226.
2
In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 25.
3
[Note, the authority of Alexandria is quoted, not that of Rome.]