According to tradition of somewhat uncertain value, the Lycus valley was afterwards the scene of missionary work by St. John the apostle and by St. Philip (probably the apostle, though several authorities, especially the later, say he was the deacon). Archippus of Colosse, the ‘ fellow-soldier’ of St. Paul (Philem 3), was said to have been the first bishop of Laodicea (probably a recollection of his ‘ministry, διακονία, in the Lord,’ Col 4), and to have been martyred at Chone (i.e. the later Byzantine representative of Colosse); and Nymphas or ve ha Laodicensis is coupled as an apostle with SORE of Rome in the Greek
enwa, and commemorated on 28th February: cf. Col 4°, Heros is said to have been appa bishop of Hierapolis by St. Philip, Epaphras of Colosse by St. Paul. These traditions, hardly trustworthy in themselves, are at least evidence that the Lycus valley was the scene of steady and
progressive work in the second half of the Ist century. That work was certainly not confined to the valley, but spread up, doubtless, east and
north into Phrygia, and perhaps south towards Cibyra, so that LAopICEA must be taken as the centre and representative of a number of young
* The North-Galatian theory would lengthen the westward
ourney across Phrygia Asiana, and shorten the northward ourney by diverting the route from that country into Galatia,
868 PHRYGIA
-----
Churches (as well as those in Colossw and Hier- apolis; see above, p. 8315). Papias and Apol- linaris, the great bishops of Hierapolis, Sagaris the bishop and martyr of icea, are evidence of the importance of the Lycus valley in Christian history during the 2nd century.
If Laodicea was such a centre of Christian in- fluence, so also we may be sure were Pisidian Antioch and Iconium. trace of this work may be observed in the tradition that Bartholomew was the apostle of the Lycaones. It has been pointed out* that this must mean, not the pene of Lycaonia, whose apostles were Paul and Barnabas, but the tribe of the Lycaones in central Phrygia, west and north-west of Synnada. But far more important and trustworthy evidence is furnished by the Christian inscriptions of Phrygia, which are collected for the central and south-western districts in Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, pt. ii. chs. xii. xvii.t The earliest is the famous epitaph of Avircius Marcellus, presbyter or ἘΠῊΝ of the less famous Hieropolis or Hierapolis in the Glaukos valley about A.D. 192. This document mentions St. Paul in such a way as to suggest that he was regarded with special respect in that district, probably owing to its having been first evangelized by his immediate followers and ministers.
The inscriptions fall into three local groups, differing widely in character. One has its chief centre in Eumenea and Apamea, and probably resulted from the influence of the Lycus valley Churches ; one is strong in the extreme south-east of Phrygia (and in the adjoining northern part of Lycaonia), and evidently sprang from the influence of Iconium and Antioch; the third is seen in the north of Phrygia in the valley of the Tembris or Tembrogius, and seems connected with the Chris- tianity of the Troad (2 Co 21),§ spreading u through Mysia and the province Bithynia. ALi three therefore seem traceable to a Pauline source. The inscriptions of the third BrOup are more akin to the Montanist type, and those of the first to the Orthodox type,|| while those of the second are mostly indifferent, but contain occasional examples like both other classes. The inscriptions of the first two groups throw considerable light on the Christians of the 3rd cent. Already during the 2nd cent., in the Montanist controversy, Phrygia stands out rather as a country where Christians are contending with Christians, than one where missionaries are tryi to convert ᾿Ξ ans; and the inscriptions of the 3rd cent. set
ore us Eumenea as a city which was mainly Christian in the period 250-300, in fact as the first Christian city (one may say with great con- fidence); and, further, they show probably that the prosperity of Eumenea died about the be- ing of the 4th cent. Now Eusebius and ctantius mentioned that a city of Phrygia, whose population was wholly Christian, was de- stroyed by fire in the persecution of Diocletian, A.D. 301-312; and, though there are some slight discrepancies in details between their statements
* Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, pt.
Pontus, and ——— pected ed ah Peer ee
t The other districts will be treated in pt. ill, See Cumont’s sh which may be used ΠΑ bishop. Bice en συμσριγβύτορας
§ Perhaps also with Ac 168, according to a tradition that ean be traced in the interior of Mysia during the 4th or 5th
cent. (see Acta S. Phileteri, 19th May; and Ezpositor, Oct. 1888, p. 264). This tradition perhaps led to the Bezan text In Ac 167 διελθόντες for παριλθόντες ; and, if so, the tradition must be as old as the 2nd cent. (implying that the statement that Mysia was ‘neglected,’ or ‘passed by,’ was regarded at that early date as incorrect in the quarters where the Bezan με ἀπε έτος ;
αὖ one case at least of the most marked northern type scours, Cities and Bishoprics, i. No. 898.
PHRYGIA
and probably some exaggeration in the sweeping conclusion, yet the general truth cannot reasorably be doubted ; and the coincidence with Eumenian history is so striking that the statements may with the highest probability be applied to it. Apamea, its neighbour and fellow in Christian history, also seems to have sunk in importance to an extraordinary degree about the same time. On the very remarkable type of Christianity de- veloped in those cities, see the full discussion in Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, ch. xii.