faith with complete confidence,
namely, at the beginning of the 3rd century, we hear that a lady of rank
in Alexandria, who was at any rate a Christian, lodged and entertained
in her house Origen, then a young man, and a famous heretic. (See
Euseb., H. E. VI. 2. 13, 14). The lectures on doctrine delivered by this
heretic and the conventicles over which he presided were attended by a
[Greek: murion plethos ou monon hairetikon, alla kai hemetephon]. That
is a very valuable piece of information which shows us a state of things
in Alexandria that would have been impossible in Rome at the same
period. See, besides, Dionys. Alex, in Euseb., H. E. VII. 7.]
[Footnote 305: I must here refrain from proving the last assertion. The
possibility of Asia Minor having had a considerable share, or having led
the way, in the formation of the canon must be left an open question
(cf. what Melito says, and the use made of New Testament writings in the
Epistle of Polycarp). We will, however, be constrained to lay the chief
emphasis on Rome, for it must not be forgotten that Irenaeus had the
closest connection with the Church of that city, as is proved by his
great work, and that he lived there before he came to Gaul. Moreover, it
is a fact deserving of the greatest attention that the Montanists and
their decided opponents in Asia, the so-called Alogi, had no
ecclesiastical _canon_ before them, though they may all have possessed
the universally acknowledged books of the Romish canon, and none other,
in the shape of _books read in the churches_.]
[Footnote 306: See the Prolegg. of Westcott and Hort (these indeed give
an opposite judgment), and cf. Harris, _Codex Bezae. A study of the
so-called Western text of the New Testament_ 1891. An exhaustive study
of the oldest martyrologies has already led to important cases of
agreement between Rome and the East, and promises still further
revelations. See Duchesne, "Les Sources du Martyrologe Hieron." 1885.
Egli, "Altchristliche Studien, Martyrien und Martyrologieen aeltester
Zeit." 1887; the same writer in the "Zeitschrift fuer wissenschaftliche
Theologie", 1891, p. 273 ff.]
[Footnote 307: On the relations between Edessa and Rome see the end of
the Excursus.]
[Footnote 308: See my treatise "Die aeltesten christlichen Datirungen und
die Anfange einer bischoflichen Chronographie in Rom." in the report of
the proceedings of the Royal Prussian Academy of Science, 1892, pp.
617-658. I think I hav
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