The variations in the text of Ac 18'-^ have been examined ver.v carefully by Harnack, who shows that the longer text (usually called the Western, or by Blass ,i) is clearly formed out of the shorter, and suj^gests that it has been modified by an interpolator who objected to the too ^reat prominence ^ven to a woman, and has made the position of PrisciUa less pro- minent. With liis conclusion we may compare the remarks of Ramsay {Church in the Roman Empire, p. 101) on the omission of Damaris in the AVestern text, Ac 173-*.
Prisca is always mentioned with her husband. He is described as a Jew of Pontus, and a tent- maker. St. Paul is a-ssociated with them first at Corinth, whither they had retired after the decree expelling the Jews from Rome. After remaining there about eighteen months, they went with St. Paid to Ephesus, and remained there while he went on to Jerusalem. At Ephesus they were concerned in the instruction of Apollos, and seem to have re- mained throughout St. Paul's residence, their house being used for Christian meetings. Later, probably in consequence of the uproar in the theatre, when there seem to have been considerable riots, they returned to Rome, where again their house was used for Christian worship: and ultimately weagain find them at Epliesus. These numerous changes between Rome, Ephesus, and Corinth have caused difficulty to critics, who have for this and other causes suggested that Ro 16 was really addressed to Ephesus. A sufficient explanation is, however, afl'orded by the nomadic character of the Jewish world in general, of Aquila and Priscilla in par- ticular, and by their occupation as Christian missionaries interested in the spread and support of the Christian Churches. They were evidently persons of prominence in the earl3- Christian com- munity. St. Paul speaks of them with atlection, and saj-s that they had endangered their lives for his sake (Ro 16^).
The above is all that we learn from the New Testament, but the traditions of the Roman Church, where the n.ame Prisca was of con.sider- able importance, suggest the possibility of some interesting discoveries being made. The name occurs in two connexions.
(1) There is a church on the Aventine bearin" the name of St. Prisca which jrivcs a title to one of the Rom.'in cardinals. This churcli bore the name of the TitidiiK St. PrUrae from the 4th to the 8th cent. (Lilier Pontifinli.t, ed. Duchesne, i. 501, 517") ; later, under Leo III. (795-816), it is called the Titulus Aquilae ct Prixcne (ih. ii. 20). There are legendarj' Arti of St. Pri.<!in, dating from the loth cent., in which it is stated that the liody of St. Prisca was translated from the place on the Ostian Way where she had bcHU buricil and trans- ferred to the Church of St. Aquila and Prisca oa
priso:n
PEIYY, PRIVILY
lOS
the .\vt'ntine {Acta Sam-torum, Jan. ii. i). 187). An inscription of the 10th cent. {C. Inn. Christ, u. p. 443) also calls it domus AijuUae scu Priscne.
(2) In the legendary acconnt of Piulens, Puden- ziana, and Praxedis, Priscilla is stated to have Ijeen the mother of Pudens (Ada Sanct. May, iv. 295).
(3) One of the oldest of the catacombs of Rome is the Ccemcterium Priscillae, outside the Porta Solaria, and there seems to he some evidence to connect the name Prisca with the Acilian gens, members of wliich were buried there.
Now it has been noticed that the name Prisca in four out of six places is mentioned before that of her husband. Hort, following out this point, suggests that she was a member of a distinguished Roman family who had married a Jew. This would account both for the prominence given to her, and the connexion of the name with one of the oldest cemeteries. A more plausible suggestion is that both Prisca and Aquila were freedmen of the Acilian or some other gens ; that through them Christianity had reached a distinguished Roman family, whose name they had taken, and that this accounted for the prominence of the name Pri.sca in the early Church. More discovery and investigation are needed, but the point of interest is that the name Prisca in some way or other occupied a prominent position in the Rora. Church.
An intereating su^estion. which has the merit of novelty. bu Ijeen miule by Professor Harnack, tlmt in Priscilla and Ac^ulla we have the authors of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Pnsca and Aquila were, we know, teachers of prominence who had turned Apollos to Christianity ; they belonged to the Intimate circle of SU Paul's friends ; tlicy were close friends of Timothy, and personally received St. Paul. They had for some time been connected with a small ChriHtian community in Rome, and the Epistle to the Hebrews waji clearly, he ar^es, written to Rome, and not to the Church as a whole, but to a small circle within the Churcii. They were with Italian con- nections, but living outside Italy. In the Ejiistle there is a curious interchange of ' We * and ' I.' Lastly, the authorship of Priscilla will explain why the writing is now anonjinous. The Church of the 2nd cent, objected very stronjfly to the prominent position of women in the Apostolic age. This had caused the gradual modification of various passages in the Acts, and the desire to separate this work from the name of Priscilla. The whole argument is as ingenious as Professor Harnack always is, but it does not succeed in being quite convincing.