Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History

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NOTES

AD 325

The name “Christian” indicates the very idea that a man, by the

knowledge and doctrine of Christ, is distinguished by modesty,

justice, patience, virtuous fortitude, and by a profession of piety

towards the one and only true God. This was all zealously practiced

by the ancient holy men, not just us. They did not, nor do we,

observe circumcision, the Sabbath, abstinence from certain foods,

nor any of the types and symbols Moses delivered because such

things as these do not belong to Christians.11 But they obviously

knew the Christ of God as He appeared to Abraham, communed

with Isaac, spoke to Jacob; and that He communed with Moses and

the prophets after him, has already been shown.

We should plainly see that the first and most ancient religion, that

of the holy men and Abraham, is the very religion lately announced

to all in the doctrines of Christ. Long before Abraham received the

command of circumcision, he received the testimony of

righteousness through faith; as the Word says,

Abraham believed in God, and it was counted unto him for

righteousness.

(Genesis 15:6)

Christ, the Word of God, revealed Himself to Abraham, who was

justified, yet not circumcised, and gave him a prophecy regarding

those who in coming Ages should be justified in the same way as

he was. The prophecy was in the following words:

And in you shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.

(Genesis 12:3)

And again

To Abraham, a man of this character, it was said that all the nations

of the earth would be blessed in him. But the very religion of

Abraham has reappeared at the present time, practiced in deeds

more efficacious than words, by Christians alone throughout the

world. Everyone should be able to acknowledge that we Christians

practice one and the same lifestyle and have the same religion as

those ancient holy men. It is obvious that the perfect religion

committed to us by the teaching of Christ is not new and strange. It

is truly the original religion.

Everyone knows the names of the twelve Apostles of our Savior

from the Gospels, but there is no list of the seventy disciples.20 The

Barnabas who Paul wrote about in Galatians [2:1, 9, 13] and who is

mentioned in Acts was said to be one of the seventy. In Clement’s

fifth book of his Hypotyposes, he states that Sosthenes, who wrote

to the Corinthians [1 Corinthians 1:1] with Paul, was one of the

seventy as was Cephas, a man who had the same name as the

apostle Peter, and the one whom Paul says, “When Cephas came to

Antioch I withstood him to his face.21” [Galatians 2:11] Matthias,

also, who took the place of Judas, and the other one [Justus] who

was honored by being made a candidate with him [Acts 1:23], were

like-wise of the seventy. They say that Thaddeus also was one of

them, of whom I shall presently relate an account which has come

down to us.