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to be deemed worthy of the throne of the parish there, a cousin, as they say, of the Savior, for Hegesippus relates that Clopas was the brother of Joseph. And in addition to these things, that Vespasian, after the capture of Jerusalem, commanded all those of the family of David to be sought out, so that no one of the royal tribe might be left among the Jews, and that a very great persecution was again inflicted upon the Jews from this cause. And after Vespasian had reigned for ten years, his son Titus succeeds him as emperor; in the second year of whose reign Linus, bishop of the church of the Romans, having held the ministry for twelve years, hands it over to Anencletus. But Domitian his brother succeeds Titus, who had reigned for two years and the same number of months. In the fourth year, then, of Domitian, Annianus, the first of the parish of Alexandria, having completed twenty-two years, dies, and Abilius, the second, succeeds him. And in the twelfth year of the same reign Clement succeeds Anencletus, who had been bishop of the church of the Romans for twelve years, whom the apostle, writing to the Philippians, teaches was his fellow-worker, saying: “with Clement also, and with my other fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life.” Of this man, therefore, there is extant one acknowledged epistle, great and wonderful, which he composed as from the church of the Romans to that of the Corinthians, a sedition having at that time occurred in Corinth. And this we have known to have been publicly read in common in very many churches both from of old and in our own time. And that indeed in the time indicated the sedition of the Corinthians was stirred up, Hegesippus is a trustworthy witness. And indeed Domitian, having shown great cruelty toward many, and having killed a not small number of nobles and illustrious men at Rome without any reasonable trial, and having punished countless other notable men with banishment beyond the frontier and the confiscation of their property without cause, at last constituted himself the successor of Nero's hatred and war against God. He was, then, the second to stir up the persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had devised nothing wicked against us. In this persecution, tradition holds that the apostle and evangelist John, while still living, was condemned to live on the island of Patmos on account of his testimony for the divine Word. 3.18.2 At any rate, Irenaeus, writing concerning the number of the name of Antichrist mentioned in the so-called Apocalypse of John, in these very words in the fifth of his books Against Heresies says these things concerning John: 3.18.3 “For if it had been necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been spoken by him who also saw the apocalypse. For it was not seen a long time ago, but almost in our own generation, toward the end of Domitian's reign.” 3.18.4 To such a degree, then, at the times indicated, did the teaching of our faith shine, that even writers far from our doctrine did not hesitate in their histories to hand down the persecution and the martyrdoms in it, who also marked the time with precision, in the fifteenth year of Domitian, relating that, along with many others, Flavia Domitilla, the niece of Flavius Clemens, one of the consuls in Rome at that time, on account of her testimony for Christ, was given over for punishment to the island of Pontia. 3.19.1 And when the same Domitian had commanded those of the family of David to be slain, an ancient tradition holds that some of the heretics accused the descendants of Jude (this one being the brother of the Savior according to the flesh) as being of the family of David and as being related to Christ himself. And Hegesippus explains these things word for word, speaking thus: “There still survived of the family of the Lord the grandsons of Jude, who was called his brother according to the flesh; whom

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τῆς αὐτόθι παροικίας θρόνου ἄξιον εἶναι δοκιμάσαι, ἀνεψιόν, ὥς γέ φασι, γεγονότα τοῦ σωτῆρος τὸν γὰρ οὖν Κλωπᾶν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ὑπάρχειν Ἡγήσιππος ἱστορεῖ. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις Οὐεσπασιανὸν μετὰ τὴν τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ἅλωσιν πάντας τοὺς ἀπὸ γένους ∆αυίδ, ὡς μὴ περιλειφθείη τις παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλικῆς φυλῆς, ἀναζητεῖσθαι προστάξαι, μέγιστόν τε Ἰουδαίοις αὖθις ἐκ ταύτης διωγμὸν ἐπαρτηθῆναι τῆς αἰτίας. Ἐπὶ δέκα δὲ τὸν Οὐεσπασιανὸν ἔτεσιν βασιλεύσαντα αὐτοκράτωρ Τίτος ὁ παῖς διαδέχεται· οὗ κατὰ δεύτερον ἔτος τῆς βασιλείας Λίνος ἐπίσκοπος τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίας δυοκαίδεκα τὴν λειτουργίαν ἐνιαυτοῖς κατασχών, Ἀνεγκλήτῳ ταύτην παραδίδωσιν. Τίτον δὲ ∆ομετιανὸς ἀδελφὸς διαδέχεται, δύο ἔτεσι καὶ μησὶ τοῖς ἴσοις βασιλεύσαντα. τετάρτῳ μὲν οὖν ἔτει ∆ομετιανοῦ τῆς κατ' Ἀλεξάνδρειαν παροικίας ὁ πρῶτος Ἀννιανὸς δύο πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι ἀποπλήσας ἔτη, τελευτᾷ, διαδέχεται δ' αὐτὸν δεύτερος Ἀβίλιος. ∆ωδεκάτῳ δὲ ἔτει τῆς αὐτῆς ἡγεμονίας τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίας Ἀνέγκλητον ἔτεσιν ἐπισκοπεύσαντα δεκαδύο διαδέχεται Κλήμης, ὃν συνεργὸν ἑαυτοῦ γενέσθαι Φιλιππησίοις ἐπιστέλλων ὁ ἀπόστολος διδάσκει, λέγων· «μετὰ καὶ Κλήμεντος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν συνεργῶν μου, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα ἐν βίβλῳ ζωῆς». Τούτου δὴ οὖν ὁμολογουμένη μία ἐπιστολὴ φέρεται, μεγάλη τε καὶ θαυμασία, ἣν ὡς ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίας τῇ Κορινθίων διετυπώσατο, στάσεως τηνικάδε κατὰ τὴν Κόρινθον γενομένης. ταύτην δὲ καὶ ἐν πλείσταις ἐκκλησίαις ἐπὶ τοῦ κοινοῦ δεδημοσιευμένην πάλαι τε καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἔγνωμεν. καὶ ὅτι γε κατὰ τὸν δηλούμενον τὰ τῆς Κορινθίων κεκίνητο στάσεως, ἀξιόχρεως μάρτυς ὁ Ἡγήσιππος. Πολλήν γε μὴν εἰς πολλοὺς ἐπιδειξάμενος ὁ ∆ομετιανὸς ὠμότητα οὐκ ὀλίγον τε τῶν ἐπὶ Ῥώμης εὐπατριδῶν τε καὶ ἐπισήμων ἀνδρῶν πλῆθος οὐ μετ' εὐλόγου κρίσεως κτείνας μυρίους τε ἄλλους ἐπιφανεῖς ἄνδρας ταῖς ὑπὲρ τὴν ἐνορίαν ζημιώσας φυγαῖς καὶ ταῖς τῶν οὐσιῶν ἀποβολαῖς ἀναιτίως, τελευτῶν τῆς Νέρωνος θεοεχθρίας τε καὶ θεομαχίας διάδοχον ἑαυτὸν κατεστήσατο. δεύτερος δῆτα τὸν καθ' ἡμῶν ἀνεκίνει διωγμόν, καίπερ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῷ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ μηδὲν καθ' ἡμῶν ἄτοπον ἐπινοήσαντος. Ἐν τούτῳ κατέχει λόγος τὸν ἀπόστολον ἅμα καὶ εὐαγγελιστὴν Ἰωάννην ἔτι τῷ βίῳ ἐνδιατρίβοντα, τῆς εἰς τὸν θεῖον λόγον ἕνεκεν μαρτυρίας Πάτμον οἰκεῖν καταδικασθῆναι τὴν νῆσον. 3.18.2 γράφων γέ τοι ὁ Εἰρηναῖος περὶ τῆς ψήφου τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἀντί χριστον προσηγορίας φερομένης ἐν τῇ Ἰωάννου λεγομένῃ Ἀποκαλύψει, αὐταῖς συλλαβαῖς ἐν πέμπτῳ τῶν πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ Ἰωάννου φησίν· 3.18.3 «εἰ δὲ ἔδει ἀναφανδὸν ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ κηρύττεσθαι τοὔνομα αὐτοῦ, δι' ἐκείνου ἂν ἐρρέθη τοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν ἑορακότος. οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸ πολλοῦ χρόνου ἑωράθη, ἀλλὰ σχεδὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας γενεᾶς, πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς ∆ομετιανοῦ ἀρχῆς». 3.18.4 εἰς τοσοῦτον δὲ ἄρα κατὰ τοὺς δηλουμένους ἡ τῆς ἡμετέρας πίστεως διέλαμπεν διδασκαλία, ὡς καὶ τοὺς ἄποθεν τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγου συγγραφεῖς μὴ ἀποκνῆσαι ταῖς αὐτῶν ἱστορίαις τόν τε διωγμὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ μαρτύρια παραδοῦναι, οἵ γε καὶ τὸν καιρὸν ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς ἐπεσημήναντο, ἐν ἔτει πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ ∆ομετιανοῦ μετὰ πλείστων ἑτέρων καὶ Φλαυίαν ∆ομέτιλλαν ἱστορήσαντες, ἐξ ἀδελφῆς γεγονυῖαν Φλαυίου Κλήμεντος, ἑνὸς τῶν τηνικάδε ἐπὶ Ῥώμης ὑπάτων, τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν μαρτυρίας ἕνεκεν εἰς νῆσον Ποντίαν κατὰ τιμωρίαν δεδόσθαι. 3.19.1 Τοῦ δ' αὐτοῦ ∆ομετιανοῦ τοὺς ἀπὸ γένους ∆αυὶδ ἀναιρεῖσθαι προστάξαντος, παλαιὸς κατέχει λόγος τῶν αἱρετικῶν τινας κατηγορῆσαι τῶν ἀπογόνων Ἰούδα τοῦτον δ' εἶναι ἀδελφὸν κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ σωτῆρος ὡς ἀπὸ γένους τυγχανόντων ∆αυὶδ καὶ ὡς αὐτοῦ συγγένειαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ φερόντων. ταῦτα δὲ δηλοῖ κατὰ λέξιν ὧδέ πως λέγων ὁ Ἡγήσιππος· «Ἔτι δὲ περιῆσαν οἱ ἀπὸ γένους τοῦ κυρίου υἱωνοὶ Ἰούδα τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα λεγομένου αὐτοῦ ἀδελφοῦ· οὓς