APOLLONIUS: FRAGMENTS FROM THE BOOK AGAINST THE CATAPHRYGIANS
(As cited by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. Book V, ch. 18)
I.
A But who is this new teacher? His works and his doctrine reveal it clearly. It is he who taught the dissolution of marriages, who prescribed laws for fasting, who named Pepuza and Tymium (small Phrygian villages) Jerusalem, wanting to gather people together there from all sides, who appointed collectors of money, who craftily cloaked the receiving of sordid gifts under the name of "offerings," and who provides salaries to those who preach his word, so that through gluttonous indulgence his doctrine might be strengthened.
II.
A We demonstrate, therefore, that these leading prophetesses, as soon as they were filled with the spirit, abandoned their husbands. How greatly then did they lie, those who called Prisca a virgin! Does it not seem to you that the whole of Scripture forbids a prophet to accept gifts and money? When, therefore, I see the prophetess having accepted both gold and silver and expensive B garments, how shall I not reject her?
III.
Furthermore, Themison, cloaked in specious greed, who did not endure the test of confession, but through wealth and power purchased his release.
(Note: The explanatory passage beginning at (15) and continuing through the footnotes is a historical and critical commentary added by Migne’s editors, not part of the text of Apollonius.)
A he cast off his bonds by means of money; and since, because of this, he ought thereafter to have behaved more modestly and submissively, he dared, as if offering himself as a martyr, to emulate the Apostle by composing a kind of catholic epistle, in order to instruct those who had believed better than he. But he also took up the cause of a new doctrine, and finally spoke impiously against the Lord, the apostles, and the holy Church.
IV
B But that we may not speak of more, let the prophetess answer us concerning Alexander, who calls himself a martyr, with whom she feasts; whom many also worship (20); whose robberies and other crimes, for which he was punished, there is no need for us to recount, but the *opisthodomos* (21) contains them. Which of them, then, forgives the other the sins: the prophet the robberies to the martyr, or the martyr the greed to the prophet? For when the Lord has commanded: "Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor two tunics," they, on the contrary, have sinned grievously regarding the possession of these forbidden things. For we shall demonstrate that those who are called prophets and martyrs by them extort money not only from the rich, C but also from the poor, the orphans, and the widows. And if they have confidence in this, let them stand and be judged regarding these things (22); so that if they are convicted, they may at least cease from sinning in the future. For the acts of a prophet must be examined like fruits; for by the fruit the tree is known.
But that the facts concerning Alexander may be known to all who wish to learn them: he was judged in Ephesus by Aemilius Frontinus, the proconsul of Asia, not on account of the name of Christ, but on account of the robberies which he had perpetrated, of which he was already a transgressor (23). Then, having falsely claimed the name of the Lord, he was released after having deceived the faithful there; but the Church of the place from whence he sprang did not receive him, because he was a robber. And if any desire to know his whole history, the public record office of Asia is at hand; which the prophet pretends to be ignorant of, D though he lived with him for many years. By convincing him, we also convince the prophet of falsehood through him. We are able to show the same regarding many others. But if they have confidence in themselves, let them submit to the test.