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Kirchengeschichte (BKV)
23. Kap. Das Leben des Apostels Johannes.
Damals1 lebte noch in Asien der Apostel und Evangelist Johannes, den Jesus liebte,2 und leitete die dortigen Gemeinden, nachdem er nach dem Tode des Domitian von der Insel zurückgekehrt war, auf die man ihn verbannt hatte. Die Tatsache, daß Johannes in den Tagen des Trajan3 noch am Leben war, wird durch zwei Zeugen genügend bestätigt. Dieselben dürften glaubwürdig sein, da sie für die kirchliche Orthodoxie eingetreten sind. Es sind Irenäus und Klemens von Alexandrien. Der erstere schreibt im zweiten Buche seiner Schrift „Gegen die Häresien“ wörtlich also:4 „Alle Presbyter, welche in Asien mit Johannes, dem Jünger des Herrn, beisammen gewesen waren, bezeugen, daß Johannes so gelehrt habe. Denn er lebte noch bei ihnen bis zu den Zeiten Trajans.“ Im dritten Buche des gleichen Werkes gibt Irenäus denselben Gedanken also wieder:5 „Auch die von Paulus gegründete Kirche in Ephesus, in welcher Johannes bis zu den Zeiten Trajans lebte, ist eine wahrheitsgemäße Zeugin der apostolischen Überlieferung.“ In seiner Schrift „Welcher Reiche wird selig werden?“ macht Klemens die gleiche Zeitangabe und erzählt noch eine Geschichte, welche besonders für diejenigen bestimmt ist, die das Schöne und Nützliche gerne hören. Nimm auch des Klemens Schrift zur Hand! Dort liesest du:6 „Vernimm ein Geschichtchen! Doch nein, kein Geschichtchen, sondern wirkliche Geschichte. Sie handelt von Johannes, dem Apostel. Sie ist der Tradition entnommen und steht historisch fest.7 Als S. 127 Johannes nach dem Tode des Tyrannen von der Insel Patmos nach Ephesus zurückgekehrt war, besuchte er auf Wunsch auch die umliegenden Gegenden, um entweder Bischöfe einzusetzen oder ganze Gemeinden einzurichten oder aus den vom Geiste bezeichneten Männern einen einheitlichen Klerus aufzustellen. Nachdem er nun nach Ankunft in einer nicht ferngelegenen Stadt, deren Namen einige wissen wollen, zunächst die Brüder getröstet hatte, erblickte er schließlich einen jungen Menschen von schönem Körperbau, vornehmer Haltung und feurigem Gemüte. Das Auge auf den Bischof gerichtet, sagte Johannes: ‚Diesen Menschen empfehle ich dir von ganzem Herzen und rufe die Gemeinde und Christus zu Zeugen an.’ Der Bischof nahm den jungen Menschen zu sich und versprach alles; Johannes aber wiederholte seine Worte unter Anrufung der gleichen Zeugen. Sodann kehrte dieser nach Ephesus zurück; der Presbyter8 aber nahm den ihm empfohlenen Jüngling in sein Haus auf, erzog ihn, beschützte ihn, pflegte ihn und erteilte ihm schließlich die Taufe. Sodann ließ er in seiner großen Sorgfalt und Wachsamkeit etwas nach, da er ihm das letzte Schutzmittel, das Siegel des Herrn, gespendet hatte. Der Jüngling, zu früh die Freiheit genießend, geriet in die verderbliche Gesellschaft einiger müßiger, liederlicher und an das Böse gewöhnter Altersgenossen. Zunächst gewannen sie ihn durch reiche Schmaußereien, dann nahmen sie ihn auch mit, wenn sie nachts auf Diebstahl ausgingen; schließlich verlangten sie von ihm noch Schlimmeres. Der Jüngling gewöhnte sich allmählich an diese Dinge, und lebhaft wie er war, wandte er sich gleich einem wilden, feurigen Pferde vom rechten Wege ab, biß in die Zügel und stürzte ungestüm in den Abgrund. Da er den Glauben an die Erlösung in Gott endgültig aufgegeben hatte, sann er nicht mehr nur auf kleine Sünden. Er verlangte, da er nun doch verloren sei, nach großen Vergehen und nach dem S. 128 gleichen Schicksal, das den anderen drohte. Er gründete mit Hilfe seiner Altersgenossen eine Räuberbande, von welcher er gerne als der Gewalttätigste, Blutdürstigste und Schlimmste den Hauptmann machte. Nach einiger Zeit wurde Johannes aus irgendeinem Anlaß wieder (in die Stadt) gerufen. Nachdem er die Geschäfte, derentwegen er gekommen war, erledigt hatte, sagte er: ‚Wohlan, o Bischof, gib mir zurück, was ich dir anvertraut habe! Ich und Christus haben es dir übertragen, wofür die Kirche, der du vorstehst, Zeuge ist. Der Bischof erschrak zunächst, da er meinte, er sei wegen Gelder, die er nicht (anvertraut) erhalten hatte, angeklagt worden. Einerseits konnte er, da er ja (kein Geld) erhalten hatte, (den Worten) nicht glauben, anderseits durfte er aber auch dem Johannes nicht mißtrauisch begegnen. Als aber dieser erklärte: ‚Den Jüngling fordere ich zurück und die Seele des Bruders’, seufzte der Greis tief auf, weinte und sprach: ‚Er ist gestorben’. ‚Wie kam dies, und welchen Todes ist er gestorben?’ Der Bischof antwortete: ‚Er ist für Gott tot. Denn er ist ein schlimmer, verkommener Mensch und sogar ein Räuber geworden. Den Berg9 hat er nun gegen die Kirche eingetauscht und sich gleichgesinnten Kampfnaturen zugesellt.’ Da zerriß der Apostel sein Gewand, schlug sich unter lautem Klagen an den Kopf und rief: ‚Ich habe dich als Wächter über die Seele des Bruders zurückgelassen. Doch stelle man mir nun ein Pferd und einen Wegführer zur Verfügung!’ Und wie er war, ritt er von der Kirche weg zur Stadt hinaus. Als Johannes in den Bereich der Räuber gekommen war, wurde er von ihren Vorposten angehalten. Er floh nicht, noch bat er um Schonung, sondern rief: ‚Ich bin gekommen, weil ich euch wollte. Führet mich zu eurem Hauptmann!’ Dieser empfing ihn erst, nachdem er sich bewaffnet hatte. Als er aber in dem Ankömmling den Johannes erkannte, wandte er sich scheu zur Flucht. Johannes aber, sein hohes Alter vergessend, lief ihm S. 129 eiligst nach und schrie: ‚Mein Sohn, warum fliehst du vor mir, deinem Vater, einem wehrlosen Greise? Erbarme dich meiner, o Sohn! Fürchte dich nicht! Immer noch bleibt dir die Hoffnung auf das Leben. Ich will für dich bei Christus eintreten. Wenn es notwendig ist, gehe ich gerne für dich in den Tod, wie der Herr für uns in den Tod gegangen ist. Für dich will ich mein Leben hingeben. Halte! Glaube! Christus hat mich gesandt.’ Als der Räuber diese Worte hörte, blieb er zunächst mit gesenktem Blicke stehen. Dann warf er die Waffen weg und vergoß zitternd bittere Tränen. Er umarmte den Greis, der vor ihm stand, entschuldigte sich, so gut er konnte, unter Seufzern und empfing durch seine Tränen eine zweite Taufe. Nur seine rechte Hand hielt er verborgen, Johannes aber verbürgte sich unter Eid dafür, daß er für ihn beim Erlöser Verzeihung erlangt habe, drang mit Bitten in ihn, fiel vor ihm auf die Knie nieder und küßte ihm die rechte Hand, um zu zeigen, daß sie durch seine Reue gereinigt wäre. Dann führte er ihn zur Kirche zurück. In ständigen Gebeten flehte er um Begnadigung, durch andauerndes Fasten machte er sich zu seinem Kampfgenossen, und durch zahlreiche gewinnende Worte besänftigte er sein Gemüt. Er verließ ihn, wie man erzählt, nicht eher, als bis er ihn der Kirche wiedergegeben und ein herrliches Beispiel wahrer Buße, ein schönes Denkmal der Wiedergeburt, ein Siegeszeichen der sichtbaren Auferstehung aufgestellt hatte.“
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The Church History of Eusebius
Chapter XXIII.--Narrative Concerning John the Apostle.
1. At that time the apostle and evangelist John, the one whom Jesus loved, was still living in Asia, and governing the churches of that region, having returned after the death of Domitian from his exile on the island. 1
2. And that he was still alive at that time 2 may be established by the testimony of two witnesses. They should be trustworthy who have maintained the orthodoxy of the Church; and such indeed were Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria. 3
3. The former in the second book of his work Against Heresies, writes as follows: 4 "And all the elders that associated with John the disciple of the Lord in Asia bear witness that John delivered it to them. For he remained among them until the time of Trajan." 5
4. And in the third book of the same work he attests the same thing in the following words: 6 "But the church in Ephesus also, which was founded by Paul, and where John remained until the time of Trajan, is a faithful witness of the apostolic tradition."
5. Clement likewise in his book entitled What Rich Man can be saved? 7 indicates the time, 8 and subjoins a narrative which is most attractive to those that enjoy hearing what is beautiful and profitable. Take and read the account which runs as follows: 9
6. "Listen to a tale, which is not a mere tale, but a narrative 10 concerning John the apostle, which has been handed down and treasured up in memory. For when, after the tyrant's death, 11 he returned from the isle of Patmos to Ephesus, he went away upon their invitation to the neighboring territories of the Gentiles, to appoint bishops in some places, in other places to set in order whole churches, elsewhere to choose to the ministry some one 12 of those that were pointed out by the Spirit.
7. When he had come to one of the cities not far away (the name of which is given by some 13 ), and had consoled the brethren in other matters, he finally turned to the bishop that had been appointed, and seeing a youth of powerful physique, of pleasing appearance, and of ardent temperament, he said, This one I commit to thee in all earnestness in the presence of the Church and with Christ as witness.' And when the bishop had accepted the charge and had promised all, he repeated the same injunction with an appeal to the same witnesses, and then departed for Ephesus.
8. But the presbyter 14 taking home the youth committed to him, reared, kept, cherished, and finally baptized 15 him. After this he relaxed his stricter care and watchfulness, with the idea that in putting upon him the seal of the Lord 16 he had given him a perfect protection.
9. But some youths of his own age, idle and dissolute, and accustomed to evil practices, corrupted him when he was thus prematurely freed from restraint. At first they enticed him by costly entertainments; then, when they went forth at night for robbery, they took him with them, and finally they demanded that he should unite with them in some greater crime.
10. He gradually became accustomed to such practices, and on account of the positiveness of his character, 17 leaving the right path, and taking the bit in his teeth like a hard-mouthed and powerful horse, he rushed the more violently down into the depths.
11. And finally despairing of salvation in God, he no longer meditated what was insignificant, but having committed some great crime, since he was now lost once for all, he expected to suffer a like fate with the rest. Taking them, therefore, and forming a band of robbers, he became a bold bandit-chief, the most violent, most bloody, most cruel of them all.
12. Time passed, and some necessity having arisen, they sent for John. But he, when he had set in order the other matters on account of which he had come, said, Come, O bishop, restore us the deposit which both I and Christ committed to thee, the church, over which thou presidest, being witness.'
13. But the bishop was at first confounded, thinking that he was falsely charged in regard to money which he had not received, and he could neither believe the accusation respecting what he had not, nor could he disbelieve John. But when he said, I demand the young man and the soul of the brother,' the old man, groaning deeply and at the same time bursting into tears, said, He is dead.' How and what kind of death?' He is dead to God,' he said; for he turned wicked and abandoned, and at last a robber. And now, instead of the church, he haunts the mountain with a band like himself.'
14. But the Apostle rent his clothes, and beating his head with great lamentation, he said, A fine guard I left for a brother's soul! But let a horse be brought me, and let some one show me the way.' He rode away from the church just as he was, and coming to the place, he was taken prisoner by the robbers' outpost.
15. He, however, neither fled nor made entreaty, but cried out, For this did I come; lead me to your captain.'
16. The latter, meanwhile, was waiting, armed as he was. But when he recognized John approaching, he turned in shame to flee.
17. But John, forgetting his age, pursued him with all his might, crying out, Why, my son, dost thou flee from me, thine own father, unarmed, aged? Pity me, my son; fear not; thou hast still hope of life. I will give account to Christ for thee. If need be, I will willingly endure thy death as the Lord suffered death for us. For thee will I give up my life. Stand, believe; Christ hath sent me.'
18. And he, when he heard, first stopped and looked down; then he threw away his arms, and then trembled and wept bitterly. And when the old man approached, he embraced him, making confession with lamentations as he was able, baptizing himself a second time with tears, and concealing only his right hand.
19. But John, pledging himself, and assuring him on oath that he would find forgiveness with the Saviour, besought him, fell upon his knees, kissed his right hand itself as if now purified by repentance, and led him back to the church. And making intercession for him with copious prayers, and struggling together with him in continual fastings, and subduing his mind by various utterances, he did not depart, as they say, until he had restored him to the church, furnishing a great example of true repentance and a great proof of regeneration, a trophy of a visible resurrection."
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See chap. 1, note 6, and chap. 18, note 1. ↩
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That is, at the beginning of the reign of Trajan. ↩
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The test of a man's trustworthiness in Eusebius' mind--and not in his alone--was his orthodoxy. Irenaeus has always been looked upon as orthodox, and so was Clement, in the early Church, which reckoned him among the saints. His name, however, was omitted in the Martyrology issued by Clement VIII., on the ground that his orthodoxy was open to suspicion. ↩
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Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. II. 22. 5. ↩
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It is in this immediate connection that Irenaeus makes the extraordinary assertion, founding it upon the testimony of those who were with John in Asia, that Christ lived to the age of forty or fifty years. A statement occurring in connection with such a palpably false report might well fall under suspicion; but the fact of John's continuance at Ephesus until the time of Trajan is supported by other passages, and there is no reason to doubt it (cf. chap. 1, note 6). Irenaeus himself repeats the statement as a well-known fact, in III. 3, 4 (quoted just below). It may also be said that the opinion as to Christ's age is founded upon subjective grounds (cf. the preceding paragraph of Irenaeus) and upon a mistaken interpretation of John viii. 56, 57, rather than upon external testimony, and that the testimony (which itself may have been only the result of a subjective opinion) is dragged in only for the sake of confirming a view already adopted. Such a fact as John's own presence in Ephesus at a certain period could hardly be subject to such uncertainty and to the influence of dogmatic prepossessions. It is significant of Eusebius' method that he omits entirely Irenaeus' statement as to the length of Christ's ministry, with which he did not agree (as shown by his account in Bk. I. chap. 10), while extracting from his statement the single fact which he wishes here to establish. The falsity of the context he must have recognized, and yet, in his respect for Irenaeus, the great maintainer of sound doctrine, he nowhere refers to it. The information which John is said, in this passage, to have conveyed to the "presbyters of Asia" is that Christ lived to old age. The whole passage affords an instance of how much of error may be contained in what, to all appearances, should be a very trustworthy tradition. Internal evidence must come to the support of external, and with all its alleged uncertainty and subjectivity, must play a great part in the determination of the truth of history. ↩
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Adv. Haer. III. 3, 4. ↩
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tis ho sozomenos plousios: Quis Dives salvetur. This able and interesting little treatise upon the proper use of wealth is still extant, and is found in the various editions of Clement's works; English translation in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (Am. ed.), II. p. 591-604. The sound common sense of the book, and its freedom from undue asceticism are conspicuous, and furnish a pleasing contrast to most of the writings of that age. ↩
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He indicates the time only by saying "after the tyrant was dead," which might refer either to Domitian or to Nero. But the mention of John a little below as "an aged man" would seem to point to the end of the century rather than to Nero's time. At any rate, Eusebius understood Clement as referring to Domitian, and in the presence of unanimous tradition for Domitian, and in the absence of any counter-tradition, we can hardly understand him otherwise. ↩
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Quis Dives salvetur, chap. 42. ↩
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muthon ou muthon, alla onta logon. Clement in these words asserts the truth of the story which he relates. We cannot regard it as very strongly corroborated, for no one else records it, and yet we can hardly doubt that Clement gives it in good faith. It may have been an invention of some early Christian, but it is so fully in accord with what we know of John's character that there exists no reason for refusing to believe that at least a groundwork of truth underlies it, even though the story may have gained in the telling of it. It is certainly beautiful, and fully worthy of the "beloved disciple." ↩
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See note 8. ↩
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klero hena ge tina kleroson. Compare the note of Heinichen in his edition of Eusebius, Vol. I. p. 122. Upon the use of the word kleros in the early Church, see Baur's Das Christenthum und die christliche Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte, 2d ed., p. 266 sq., and especially Ritschl's Entstehung der alt-kath. Kirche, 2d ed., p. 388 sq. Ritschl shows that the word kleros was originally used by the Fathers in the general sense of order or rank (Reihe, Rang), and that from this arose its later use to denote church officers as a class,--the clergy. As he remarks, the word is employed in this later specific sense for the first time in this passage of Clement's Quis Dives salvetur. Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Cyprian are the next ones to use it in the same sense. Ritschl remarks in connection with this passage: "Da für eine Wahl der Gemeindebeamten durch das Loos alle sonstigen Beweisen fehlen, und da in dem vorliegenden Satze die Einsetzung von einer Mehrzahl von episkopoi durch den Apostel ohne jede Methode erwähnt wird, so fällt jeder Grund hinweg, dass bei der Wahl einzelner Beamten das Mittel des Loosens angewandt sein sollte, zumal bei dieser Deutung ein Pleonasmus vorausgesetzt würde. Es ist vielmehr zu erklären, dass Johannes an einzelnen Orten mehrere Beamte zugleich eingesetzt, an anderen Orten wo schon ein Collegium bestand, dem Beamtenstande je ein Mitglied eingereiht habe." ↩
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According to Stroth the Chronicon Paschale gives Smyrna as the name of this city, and it has been suggested that Clement withholds the name in order to spare the reputation of Polycarp, who, according to tradition, was appointed bishop of that city by John. ↩
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The same man that is called a bishop just above is here called a presbyter. It is such passages--and they are not uncommon in the early Fathers--that have seemed to many to demonstrate conclusively the original identity of presbyters and bishops, an identity which is maintained by most Presbyterians, and is admitted by many Episcopalians (e.g. by Lightfoot in his essay on the Christian Ministry, printed in his Commentary on Philippians). On the other hand, the passages which reveal a distinction between presbyters and bishops are very early, and are adduced not merely by prelatists, but by such disinterested scholars as Harnack (in his translation of Hatch's Organization of the Early Christian Churches) as proving that there was from the beginning a difference of some sort between a bishop and a presbyter. I cannot enter here into a discussion of the various views in regard to the original relation between bishops and presbyters. I desire simply to suggest a theory of my own, leaving the fuller exposition of it for some future time. My theory is that the word presbuteros was originally employed in the most general sense to indicate any church officer, thus practically equivalent to the hegoumenos of Heb. xiii. 17, and the poimen of Eph. iv. 11. The terms episkopos and di?konos, on the other hand, were employed to designate specific church officers charged with the performance of specific duties. If this were so, we should expect the general term to be used before the particular designations, and this is just what we find in the New Testament. We should expect further that the general term and the specific terms might be used by the same person in the same context, according as he thought of the officers in general or of a particular division of the officers; on the other hand the general term and one of the specific terms could never be coordinated (we could never find "presbyter and bishop," "presbyter and deacon"), but we should expect to find the specific terms thus coordinated ("bishops and deacons"). An examination of the Epistle to the Philippians, of the Pastoral Epistles, of Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, and of the Didache will show that our expectations are fully realized. This theory explains the fact that so frequently presbyters and bishops seem to be identical (the general and the specific term might of course in many cases be used interchangeably), and also the fact that so frequently they seem to be quite distinct. It explains still further the remarkable fact that while in the first century we never find a distinction in official rank between bishops and presbyters, that distinction appears early in the second. In many churches it must early have become necessary to appoint some of the officers as a special committee to take charge of the economic affairs of the congregation. The members of such a committee might very naturally be given the special name episkopoi (see Hatch's discussion of the use of this word in his work already referred to). In some churches the duties might be of such a character that the bishops would need assistants (to whom it would be natural to give the name di?konos), and such assistants would of course be closely associated with the bishops, as we find them actually associated with them in the second and following centuries (a fact which Hatch has emphasized). Of course where the bishops constituted a special and smaller committee of the general body, entrusted with such important duties, they would naturally acquire especial influence and power, and thus the chairman of the committee--the chairman of the bishops as such, not of the presbyters, though he might be that also--would in time, as a central authority was more and more felt to be necessary, gradually assume the supremacy, retaining his original name episkopos. As the power was thus concentrated in his hands, the committee of bishops as such would cease to be necessary, and he would require only the deacons, who should carry out his directions in economic matters, as we find them doing in the second century. The elevation of the bishop would of course separate him from the other officers in such a way that although still a presbyter (i.e. an officer), he would cease to be called longer by the general name. In the same way the deacons obliged to devote themselves to their specific duties, would cease to have much to do with the more general functions of the other officers, to whom finally the name presbyter--originally a general term--would be confined, and thus become a distinctive name for part of the officers. In their hands would remain the general disciplinary functions which had belonged from the beginning to the entire body of officers as such, and their rank would naturally be second only to that of the bishop, for the deacons as assistants only, not independent officers, could not outrank them (though they struggled hard in the third and fourth centuries to do so). It is of course likely that in a great many churches the simple undivided office would long remain, and that bishops and deacons as specific officers distinguished from the general body would not exist. But after the distinction between the three orders had been sharply drawn in one part of Christendom, it must soon spread throughout the Church and become established even in places where it had not been produced by a natural process of evolution. The Church organization of the second century is thus complete, and its further development need not concern us here, for it is not matter of controversy. Nor is this the place to show how the local church officers gradually assumed the spiritual functions which belonged originally to apostles, prophets, and teachers. The Didache is the document which has shed most light upon that process, and Hernack in his edition of it has done most to make the matter clear. ↩
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ephotise: literally, "enlightened him." The verb photizo was very commonly used among the Fathers, with the meaning "to baptize." See Suicer's Thesaurus, where numerous examples of this use of the word by Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, and others, are given. ↩
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ten sphragida kuriou. The word sphragis was very widely used in the primitive Church to denote baptism. See Suicer's Thesaurus for examples. Gregory Nazianzen, in his Orat. XL., gives the reason for this use of the word: "We call baptism a seal," he says, "because it is a preservative and a sign of ownership." Chrysostom, in his third Homily on 2 Cor. §7, says, "So also art thou thyself made king and priest and prophet in the laver; a king, having dashed to earth all the deeds of wickedness and slain thy sins; a priest, in that thou offerest thyself to God, having sacrificed thy body and being thyself slain also; ...a prophet, knowing what shall be, and being inspired by God, and sealed. For as upon soldiers a seal, so is also the Spirit put upon the faithful. And if thou desert, thou art manifest to all. For the Jews had circumcision for a seal, but we the earnest of the Spirit." (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. XII. p. 293.) ↩
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Literally, "greatness of his nature" (megethos phuseos). ↩