Church History

1. Of Theophilus, [1266] whom we have mentioned as bishop of the church of Antioch, [1267] three elementary works addressed to Autolycus are extant; also another writing entitled Against the Heresy of Hermogenes, [1268] in which he makes use of testimonies from the Apocalypse of John, and finally certain other catechetical books. [1269]

2. And as the heretics, no less then than at other times, were like tares, destroying the pure harvest of apostolic teaching, the pastors of the churches everywhere hastened to restrain them as wild beasts from the fold of Christ, at one time by admonitions and exhortations to the brethren, at another time by contending more openly against them in oral discussions and refutations, and again by correcting their opinions with most accurate proofs in written works.

3. And that Theophilus also, with the others, contended against them, is manifest from a certain discourse of no common merit written by him against Marcion. [1270] This work too, with the others of which we have spoken, has been preserved to the present day.

Maximinus, [1271] the seventh from the apostles, succeeded him as bishop of the church of Antioch.