CHAPTER XXVIII

THE DIFFERENT BISHOPS THEN DISTINGUISHED

AMONG these, the most eminent were Firmilianus, bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, Gregory and Athenodorus, brothers and pastors of the churches in Pontus; also Helenus, bishop of the church at Tarsus, and Nicomas, of Iconium; besides Hymenæus, of the church at Jerusalem, and Theotecnus, of the adjacent church at Cæsarea: moreover, Maximinus, who governed the brethren at Bostra with great celebrity. The vast number of others, both presbyters and deacons, that assembled in the said city, for the same cause, one could hardly number, but these were the most distinguished; all, therefore, having convened at different times and frequently, various subjects and questions were agitated at every meeting; the adherents of the Samosatians attempting to conceal and cover over their heterodoxy, but at the same time those on the other side used every effort to unmask and bring to light the heresy, and the blasphemy, of the men against Christ. In the mean time Dionysius died, in the twelfth year of the reign of Gallienus, having presided over the church of Alexandria seventeen years. He was succeeded by Maximinus. But Gallienus reigned fifteen years in all, when he was succeeded by Claudius, who, after the lapse of two years, transferred the government to Aurelian.