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according to what is stated in the Acts, was first entrusted with the episcopate of the parish of Athens. 4.23.4 And another of his letters is extant, to the Nicomedians, in which, fighting against the heresy of Marcion, he defends the rule of truth. 4.23.5 And writing to the church of the parish of Gortyna along with the other parishes in Crete, he commends Philip their bishop, since the church under him was testified to for its many good deeds, and he warns them to be on their guard against the perversion of the heretics. 4.23.6 And writing to the church of the parish of Amastris along with those throughout Pontus, he mentions Bacchylides and Elpistus, as having urged him to write, and he sets out expositions of the divine Scriptures, and mentions Palmas by name as their bishop; and he gives them much advice concerning marriage and chastity, and commands them to receive those who return from any fall, whether it be a sin or 4.23.7 heretical error. Among these is another letter to the Cnosians, in which he exhorts Pinytus, bishop of the parish, not to lay upon the brethren a heavy and compulsory burden in regard to chastity, but to have regard for the weakness of the majority. 4.23.8 To which Pinytus, in his reply, admires and commends Dionysius, but exhorts him in turn to provide stronger food sometime, and to nourish the people under him with more perfect writings, so that they might not, by dwelling continually on milky words, grow old in a state of childishness; through which letter also the orthodoxy of Pinytus in the faith, and his care for the welfare of his subjects, his learning and his understanding in divine things, are shown as through a most accurate image. 4.23.9 There is also extant an epistle of Dionysius to the Romans, addressed to Soter, who was then bishop; from which it is not unfitting to quote the words in which, commending the custom of the Romans which has been preserved down to the persecution in our own days, he writes as follows: 4.23.10 ‘For from the beginning it has been your custom to do good to all the brethren in various ways, and to send supplies to many churches in every city, here refreshing the poverty of the needy, and ministering to the brethren in the mines with the supplies which you have sent from the beginning, you Romans keeping the custom of your fathers, which your blessed bishop Soter has not only preserved, but has also increased, by ministering the bounty which is sent to the saints, and by exhorting with blessed words the brethren who come up to him, as a loving father his children.’ 4.23.11 In this same epistle he also mentions Clement's to the Corinthians, showing that from the beginning it had been the custom to read it in the church; for he says: ‘Today we have passed the Lord's holy day, in which we have read your epistle, from which we shall always be able to draw advice when we read it, as also from the former one written to us through Clement.’ 4.23.12 And the same author also says the following about his own epistles, how they were corrupted: ‘For I wrote epistles at the request of the brethren. And these the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, taking away some things and adding others; for whom a woe is reserved. It is not surprising, then, if some have attempted to corrupt the Lord’s writings, when they have conspired against those which are not of such importance.’ 4.23.13 And another epistle of Dionysius is extant besides these, which he wrote to Chrysophora, a most faithful sister, in which he writes what is suitable, and imparted to her also the proper spiritual food. And so much for Dionysius; 4.24.1 Of Theophilus, whom we have shown to be bishop of the church of Antioch, three elementary works addressed to Autolycus are extant, and another with the title, Against the heresy of Hermogenes, in which he makes use of testimonies from the Apocalypse of John. And certain other catechetical books of his are extant. But it is not amiss to speak also of the heretics, then, like tares

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κατὰ τὰ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσιν δεδηλωμένα, πρῶτος τῆς Ἀθήνησι παροικίας τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν 4.23.4 ἐγκεχείριστο. ἄλλη δ' ἐπιστολή τις αὐτοῦ πρὸς Νικομηδέας φέρεται, ἐν ᾗ τὴν Μαρκίωνος αἵρεσιν πολεμῶν τῷ τῆς ἀληθείας 4.23.5 παρίσταται κανόνι. καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ δὲ τῇ παροικούσῃ Γόρτυναν ἅμα ταῖς λοιπαῖς κατὰ Κρήτην παροικίαις ἐπιστείλας, Φίλιππον ἐπίσκοπον αὐτῶν ἀποδέχεται ἅτε δὴ ἐπὶ πλείσταις μαρτυρουμένης ἀνδραγαθίαις τῆς ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἐκκλησίας, τήν τε τῶν 4.23.6 αἱρετικῶν διαστροφὴν ὑπομιμνήσκει φυλάττεσθαι. καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ δὲ τῇ παροικούσῃ Ἄμαστριν ἅμα ταῖς κατὰ Πόντον ἐπιστείλας, Βακχυλίδου μὲν καὶ Ἐλπίστου ὡς ἂν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ γράψαι προτρεψάντων μέμνηται, γραφῶν τε θείων ἐξηγήσεις παρατέθειται, ἐπίσκοπον αὐτῶν ὀνόματι Πάλμαν ὑποσημαίνων· πολλὰ δὲ περὶ γάμου καὶ ἁγνείας τοῖς αὐτοῖς παραινεῖ, καὶ τοὺς ἐξ οἵας δ' οὖν ἀποπτώσεως, εἴτε πλημμελείας εἴτε μὴν 4.23.7 αἱρετικῆς πλάνης, ἐπιστρέφοντας δεξιοῦσθαι προστάττει. ταύταις ἄλλη ἐγκατείλεκται πρὸς Κνωσίους ἐπιστολή, ἐν ᾗ Πινυτὸν τῆς παροικίας ἐπίσκοπον παρακαλεῖ μὴ βαρὺ φορτίον ἐπάναγκες τὸ περὶ ἁγνείας τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐπιτιθέναι, τῆς δὲ τῶν πολλῶν 4.23.8 καταστοχάζεσθαι ἀσθενείας· πρὸς ἣν ὁ Πινυτὸς ἀντιγράφων, θαυμάζει μὲν καὶ ἀποδέχεται τὸν ∆ιονύσιον, ἀντιπαρακαλεῖ δὲ στερροτέρας ἤδη ποτὲ μεταδιδόναι τροφῆς, τελειοτέροις γράμμασιν εἰς αὖθις τὸν παρ' αὐτῷ λαὸν ὑποθρέψαντα, ὡς μὴ διὰ τέλους τοῖς γαλακτώδεσιν ἐνδιατρίβοντες λόγοις τῇ νηπιώδει ἀγωγῇ λάθοιεν καταγηράσαντες· δι' ἧς ἐπιστολῆς καὶ ἡ τοῦ Πινυτοῦ περὶ τὴν πίστιν ὀρθοδοξία τε καὶ φροντὶς τῆς τῶν ὑπηκόων ὠφελείας τό τε λόγιον καὶ ἡ περὶ τὰ θεῖα σύνεσις ὡς δι' 4.23.9 ἀκριβεστάτης ἀναδείκνυται εἰκόνος. ἔτι τοῦ ∆ιονυσίου καὶ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολὴ φέρεται, ἐπισκόπῳ τῷ τότε Σωτῆρι προσφωνοῦσα· ἐξ ἧς οὐδὲν οἷον τὸ καὶ παραθέσθαι λέξεις δι' ὧν τὸ μέχρι τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς διωγμοῦ φυλαχθὲν Ῥωμαίων ἔθος ἀποδεχόμενος ταῦτα γράφει· 4.23.10 «ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὑμῖν ἔθος ἐστὶν τοῦτο, πάντας μὲν ἀδελφοὺς ποικίλως εὐεργετεῖν ἐκκλησίαις τε πολλαῖς ταῖς κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἐφόδια πέμπειν, ὧδε μὲν τὴν τῶν δεομένων πενίαν ἀναψύχοντας, ἐν μετάλλοις δὲ ἀδελφοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν ἐπιχορηγοῦντας δι' ὧν πέμπετε ἀρχῆθεν ἐφοδίων πατροπαράδοτον ἔθος Ῥωμαίων Ῥωμαῖοι φυλάττοντες, ὃ οὐ μόνον διατετήρηκεν ὁ μακάριος ὑμῶν ἐπίσκοπος Σωτήρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ηὔξηκεν, ἐπιχορηγῶν μὲν τὴν διαπεμπομένην δαψίλειαν τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους, λόγοις δὲ μακαρίοις τοὺς ἀνιόντας ἀδελφούς, ὡς τέκνα πατὴρ φιλόστοργος, παρακαλῶν.» 4.23.11 ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ ταύτῃ καὶ τῆς Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους μέμνηται ἐπιστολῆς, δηλῶν ἀνέκαθεν ἐξ ἀρχαίου ἔθους ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν αὐτῆς ποιεῖσθαι· λέγει γοῦν· «τὴν σήμερον οὖν κυριακὴν ἁγίαν ἡμέραν διηγάγομεν, ἐν ᾗ ἀνέγνωμεν ὑμῶν τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ἣν ἕξομεν ἀεί ποτε ἀναγινώσκοντες νουθετεῖσθαι, ὡς καὶ τὴν προτέραν ἡμῖν διὰ Κλήμεντος γραφεῖσαν». 4.23.12 ἔτι δ' ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ περὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἐπιστολῶν ὡς ῥᾳδιουργηθεισῶν ταῦτά φησιν· «ἐπιστολὰς γὰρ ἀδελφῶν ἀξιωσάντων με γράψαι ἔγραψα. καὶ ταύτας οἱ τοῦ διαβόλου ἀπόστολοι ζιζανίων γεγέμικαν, ἃ μὲν ἐξαιροῦντες, ἃ δὲ προστιθέντες· οἷς τὸ οὐαὶ κεῖται. οὐ θαυμαστὸν ἄρα εἰ καὶ τῶν κυριακῶν ῥᾳδιουργῆσαί τινες ἐπιβέβληνται γραφῶν, ὁπότε καὶ ταῖς οὐ τοιαύταις ἐπιβεβουλεύκασιν». 4.23.13 καὶ ἄλλη δέ τις παρὰ ταύτας ἐπιστολὴ τοῦ ∆ιονυσίου φέρεται Χρυσοφόρᾳ πιστοτάτῃ ἀδελφῇ ἐπιστείλαντος, ᾗ τὰ κατάλληλα γράφων, τῆς προσηκούσης καὶ αὐτῇ μετεδίδου λογικῆς τροφῆς. καὶ τὰ μὲν τοῦ ∆ιονυσίου τοσαῦτα· 4.24.1 τοῦ δὲ Θεοφίλου, ὃν τῆς Ἀντιοχέων ἐκκλησίας ἐπίσκοπον δεδηλώκαμεν, τρία τὰ πρὸς Αὐτόλυκον στοιχειώδη φέρεται συγγράμματα, καὶ ἄλλο Πρὸς τὴν αἵρεσιν Ἑρμογένους τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχον, ἐν ᾧ ἐκ τῆς Ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰωάννου κέχρηται μαρτυρίαις. καὶ ἕτερα δέ τινα κατηχητικὰ αὐτοῦ φέρεται βιβλία. τῶν γε μὴν αἱρετικῶν οὐ χεῖρον καὶ τότε ζιζανίων δίκην