RHODON, WHO FLOURISHED TOWARD THE END OF THE SECOND CENTURY — FRAGMENTS
From the work against the heresy of Marcion, to Callistio, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., book V, cap. 13.
1... A For this reason they are also in disagreement among themselves, laying claim to an unstable opinion. For from their flock, Apelles, indeed, priding himself on his B way of life and his old age, confesses one principle; but he says that the oracles of the prophets proceeded from an opposing spirit, being persuaded by the utterances of a maiden possessed by a demon by the name of Philumene. But others, just as the sailor Marcion himself, introduce two principles.
A These, following the Pontic Wolf, and being unable to find the division of things any more than he could, turned to rashness and declared two principles of existence, simply and without any demonstration. Others again, being carried away from them as if by a tempest to something worse, posit not only two, but three natures; of which the prime mover and leader is Syneros, as those who profess his teaching say.
Idem Rhodon writes that he had a conversation with Apelles in these words: II. For the old man Apelles, at the beginning of our conversation, was convicted of saying many things wrongly. Wherefore he also asserted that it was not necessary to examine the faith at all, but that each one should remain in that which he had once imbibed. For he declared that those who had placed their hope in the Crucified would be saved, provided only that they were found in good works. B But the most obscure matter of all, he maintained, as we have said, was the question concerning God. For he said there was one principle, as also our religion teaches.
Then, having set forth his whole doctrine, he adds: III. But when I said to him: "Whence comes this demonstration to you, or by what reasoning can you affirm that there is one principle? Tell us, if you please"; then he replied that the prophecies refute themselves, because they have said nothing true at all. For they are inconsistent and false, and contradictory to C themselves. But as to how there is one principle, he confessed that he did not know; but that he was moved and impelled to think so. After this, when I bound him with an oath to speak the truth, he swore, while speaking truly, D that he did not know how there is one unbegotten God, but that he believed it.
Having heard this, I derided and reproached the man, since, although he called himself a teacher, he did not know how to confirm the doctrine taught by him.
B Furthermore, in the same book, which he dedicated to Callistio, the same man admits that he was taught by Tatian in Rome. He relates also that a book of "Questions" had been carefully composed by Tatian, in which, since Tatian had promised that he would explain the obscure and wrapped-up passages of the holy Scriptures, this same Rhodon promises in a separate book that he will publish solutions to Tatian’s "Questions." There is also extant a commentary of his on the Hexaemeron.
MAXIMUS, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM
NOTITIA
(Galland, *Bibliotheca vet. Patrum*, I, Proleg., p. XVII.)
I. It is inquired at what time Maximus flourished. He is thought to have presided over the church of Jerusalem.
II. He wrote on that most repeated question among the heretics: Whence is evil, and concerning that which is made of matter.
1. According to the same principles, under Commodus and Severus, as Jerome is the authority, Maximus flourished, who is called by Eusebius "a man illustrious among Christians." But whether this Maximus performed any rank of duty in the Church must be inquired into; for Jerome is silent concerning this matter, nor does Eusebius speak of it clearly enough in his *History*; so that for this reason someone might rightly ask us why in the inscription of this chapter the same status is attributed to him. But, with Eusebius himself as our guide, we descend into this opinion, to which we know Fabricius also acceded, though without giving any reason. Indeed, in the sixth year of the Emperor Commodus, 185 AD, according to Eusebius in his *Chronicle*, "Triarius Maternus and M. Atilius Bradua being consuls, Maximus is established as the twenty-sixth bishop of Jerusalem." And he is the second of this name among the prelates from the Gentiles.