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we have urged our brother and companion Irenaeus to deliver this, and we exhort you to hold him in esteem, as a zealot for the covenant of Christ. For if we knew that position could confer righteousness on anyone, we would have commended him first of all as a presbyter of the church, which indeed he is.” 5.4.3 Why must I enumerate the list of martyrs in the letter mentioned, separately those who were perfected by the severing of the head, and separately those who were cast to the beasts for food, and again those who fell asleep in prison, and the number of the confessors who were still surviving then? For whoever wishes can easily learn these things most fully by taking the document into his hands, which itself has also been included by us in our collection of the martyrs, as I have said. But such were the events in the time of Antoninus. 5.5.1 The story goes that his brother, Marcus Aurelius Caesar, when arrayed in battle against the Germans and Sarmatians, was in a great strait, as his army was oppressed by thirst; but the soldiers of the so-called Melitene legion, which through faith has been constituted from that time to the present, knelt on the ground in the battle line against the enemy, according to our customary practice of prayer, and turned to supplications to God. 5.5.2 While this sight appeared strange to the enemies, the story goes that something else even stranger immediately befell them: a thunderbolt driving the enemy into flight and destruction, but a shower of rain upon the army that had invoked the Deity, reviving the whole of it when it was on the very point of perishing from thirst. 5.5.3 The story is reported by writers far from our faith who have been concerned with the history of the times mentioned, and it has also been declared by our own people. But the pagan historians, being strangers to the faith, have recorded the miracle, but have not acknowledged that this happened because of the prayers of our people; whereas our people, as friends of the truth, have handed down the event in a simple and artless manner. 5.5.4 Among these would be Apollinarius, who says that from that time the legion which had performed the miracle through prayer received from the emperor a title appropriate to the event, being called in the Roman tongue the Thundering Legion. 5.5.5 A trustworthy witness to these things would be Tertullian, who addressed a defense of the faith to the Roman senate, which we have also mentioned before, confirming the story with greater and clearer proof; 5.5.6 for he too writes, saying that letters of the most prudent emperor Marcus are still extant in which he himself testifies that his army in Germany, being on the point of perishing from lack of water, was saved by the prayers of the Christians. And he says that he also threatened death to those who attempted to accuse us; 5.5.7 to which the man mentioned adds these words: “What sort of laws are these, then, which, impious, unjust, and cruel, are directed against us alone? Laws which Vespasian did not observe, although he conquered the Jews; which Trajan in part made void, by forbidding Christians to be sought out; which neither Hadrian, though a busybody in all curious matters, nor the one called Pius, ratified.” But let anyone regard these matters as he may wish; 5.5.8 but let us proceed to the sequence of what follows. When Pothinus, at the full age of ninety years, had been perfected with the martyrs in Gaul, Irenaeus succeeded to the episcopate of the community in Lyons over which Pothinus had presided. We have learned that he had been a hearer of Polycarp in his youth. 5.5.9 This man, in the third book of his work Against Heresies, sets out the succession of the bishops in Rome, and stops the catalogue at Eleutherus, whose times are under our review, as if indeed the work was being diligently composed by him during his time, writing as follows: 5.6.1 “The blessed apostles, therefore, having founded and built up the church, committed the ministry of the episcopate to Linus,

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προετρεψάμεθα τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν καὶ κοινωνὸν Εἰρηναῖον διακομίσαι, καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν ἔχειν σε αὐτὸν ἐν παραθέσει, ζηλωτὴν ὄντα τῆς διαθήκης Χριστοῦ. εἰ γὰρ ᾔδειμεν τόπον τινὶ δικαιοσύνην περιποιεῖσθαι, ὡς πρεσβύτερον ἐκκλησίας, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐπ' αὐτῷ, ἐν πρώτοις ἂν παρεθέμεθα». 5.4.3 τί δεῖ καταλέγειν τὸν ἐν τῇ δηλωθείσῃ γραφῇ τῶν μαρτύρων κατάλογον, ἰδίᾳ μὲν τῶν ἀποτμήσει κεφαλῆς τετελειωμένων, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τῶν θηρσὶν εἰς βορὰν παραβεβλημένων, καὶ αὖθις τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς εἱρκτῆς κεκοιμημένων, τόν τε ἀριθμὸν τῶν εἰς ἔτι τότε περιόντων ὁμολογητῶν; ὅτῳ γὰρ φίλον, καὶ ταῦτα ῥᾴδιον πληρέστατα διαγνῶναι μετὰ χεῖρας ἀναλαβόντι τὸ σύγγραμμα, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ τῇ τῶν μαρτύρων συναγωγῇ πρὸς ἡμῶν, ὡς γοῦν ἔφην, κατείλεκται. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἐπ' Ἀντωνίνου τοιαῦτα· 5.5.1 τούτου δὴ ἀδελφὸν Μάρκον Αὐρήλιον Καίσαρα λόγος ἔχει Γερμανοῖς καὶ Σαρμάταις ἀντιπαραταττόμενον μάχῃ, δίψει πιεζομένης αὐτοῦ τῆς στρατιᾶς, ἐν ἀμηχανίᾳ γενέσθαι· τοὺς δ' ἐπὶ τῆς Μελιτηνῆς οὕτω καλουμένης λεγεῶνος στρατιώτας διὰ πίστεως ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ εἰς δεῦρο συνεστώσης ἐν τῇ πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους παρατάξει γόνυ θέντας ἐπὶ γῆν κατὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἡμῖν τῶν εὐχῶν ἔθος ἐπὶ τὰς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἱκεσίας τραπέσθαι, 5.5.2 παραδόξου δὲ τοῖς πολεμίοις τοῦ τοιούτου δὴ θεάματος φανέντος, ἄλλο τι λόγος ἔχει παραδοξότερον ἐπικαταλαβεῖν αὐτίκα, σκηπτὸν μὲν εἰς φυγὴν καὶ ἀπώλειαν συνελαύνοντα τοὺς πολεμίους, ὄμβρον δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν τὸ θεῖον παρακεκληκότων στρατιάν, πᾶσαν αὐτὴν ἐκ τοῦ δίψους μέλλουσαν ὅσον οὔπω διαφθείρεσθαι ἀνακτώμενον. 5.5.3 ἡ δ' ἱστορία φέρεται μὲν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς πόρρω τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγου συγγραφεῦσιν οἷς μέλον γέγονεν τῆς κατὰ τοὺς δηλουμένους γραφῆς, δεδήλωται δὲ καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἡμετέρων. ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ἔξωθεν ἱστορικοῖς, ἅτε τῆς πίστεως ἀνοικείοις, τέθειται μὲν τὸ παράδοξον, οὐ μὴν καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἡμετέρων εὐχαῖς τοῦθ' ὡμολογήθη γεγονέναι· τοῖς δέ γε ἡμετέροις, ἅτε ἀληθείας φίλοις, ἁπλῷ καὶ ἀκακοήθει τρόπῳ τὸ πραχθὲν παραδέδοται. 5.5.4 τούτων δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ Ἀπολινάριος, ἐξ ἐκείνου φήσας τὴν δι' εὐχῆς τὸ παράδοξον πεποιηκυῖαν λεγεῶνα οἰκείαν τῷ γεγονότι πρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως εἰληφέναι προσηγορίαν, κεραυνοβόλον τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἐπικληθεῖσαν φωνῇ. 5.5.5 μάρτυς δὲ τούτων γένοιτ' ἂν ἀξιόχρεως ὁ Τερτυλλιανός, τὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν τῇ συγκλήτῳ προσφωνήσας ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως ἀπολογίαν, ἧς καὶ πρόσθεν ἐμνημονεύσαμεν, τήν τε ἱστορίαν βεβαιῶν σὺν ἀποδείξει μείζονι καὶ ἐναργεστέρᾳ· 5.5.6 γράφει δ' οὖν καὶ αὐτός, λέγων Μάρκου τοῦ συνετωτάτου βασιλέως ἐπιστολὰς εἰς ἔτι νῦν φέρεσθαι ἐν αἷς αὐτὸς μαρτυρεῖ ἐν Γερμανίᾳ ὕδατος ἀπορίᾳ μέλλοντα αὐτοῦ τὸν στρατὸν διαφθείρεσθαι ταῖς τῶν Χριστιανῶν εὐχαῖς σεσῶσθαι, τοῦτον δέ φησιν καὶ θάνατον ἀπειλῆσαι τοῖς κατηγορεῖν ἡμῶν ἐπιχειροῦσιν· 5.5.7 οἷς ὁ δηλωθεὶς ἀνὴρ καὶ ταῦτα προσεπιλέγει· «ποταποὶ οὖν οἱ νόμοι οὗτοι, οἳ καθ' ἡμῶν μόνων ἕπονται ἀσεβεῖς, ἄδικοι, ὠμοί; οὓς οὔτε Οὐεσπασιανὸς ἐφύλαξεν, καίτοι γε Ἰουδαίους νικήσας, οὓς Τραϊανὸς ἐκ μέρους ἐξουθένησεν, κωλύων ἐκζητεῖσθαι Χριστιανούς, οὓς οὔτε Ἁδριανός, καίτοι γε πάντα τὰ περίεργα πολυπραγμονῶν, οὔτε ὁ Εὐσεβὴς ἐπικληθεὶς ἐπεκύρωσεν». ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὅπῃ τις ἐθέλοι, τιθέσθω· 5.5.8 μετίωμεν δ' ἡμεῖς ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἑξῆς ἀκολουθίαν. Ποθεινοῦ δὴ ἐφ' ὅλοις ζωῆς ἔτεσιν ἐνενήκοντα σὺν τοῖς ἐπὶ Γαλλίας μαρτυρήσασιν τελειωθέντος, Εἰρηναῖος τῆς κατὰ Λούγδουνον ἧς ὁ Ποθεινὸς ἡγεῖτο παροικίας τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν διαδέχεται· Πολυκάρπου δὲ τοῦτον ἀκουστὴν γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν νέαν ἐμανθάνομεν ἡλικίαν. 5.5.9 οὗτος τῶν ἐπὶ Ῥώμης τὴν διαδοχὴν ἐπισκόπων ἐν τρίτῃ συντάξει τῶν πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις παραθέμενος, εἰς Ἐλεύθερον, οὗ τὰ κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους ἡμῖν ἐξετάζεται, ὡς ἂν δὴ κατ' αὐτὸν σπουδαζομένης αὐτῷ τῆς γραφῆς, τὸν κατάλογον ἵστησι, γράφων ὧδε· 5.6.1 «θεμελιώσαντες οὖν καὶ οἰκοδομήσαντες οἱ μακάριοι ἀπόστολοι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, Λίνῳ τὴν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς λειτουργίαν