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Vie Manichees. Sect. I. 269
Chalcedoii, whose works he much commends, (whose time
however is not now certainly known,) says, that, speakingof
others who had opposed the same sect before him, he
names'* Hegemoniiis, who wrote the disputations of Archelaus
with Mani; Titus, George of Laodicea, Serapion of
Thnuiis, and Diodorus, whose work against the Manichees
consisted of five-and-twenty books: this work of Diodorus
of Tarsus is in Ebedjesu's' Catalogue, and therefore must
liave been translated into Syriac. And Photius in his own
work against the Manichees, or Paulicians, mentions" Cyril
bishop of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Titus of Bostra, Serapion
of Thmuis, Alexander of Lycopolis, the twenty books of
Heraclean bishop of Chalcedon, upon whom he again
bestows great commendations :
but we have now nothing' of
that work remaining beside the extracts made by Photius.
2. The piece of Alexander just mentioned, written in
Greek, who was of Lycus, a city of Thebais in Egypt, is
still in^ being". Fabricius supposeth that'" he was at first
a heathen and Manichee, afterwards a catholic christian.
CavC thinks he was originally a heathen, next a Manichee,
in the end a catholic : he says that he is a very ancient
writer, probably of the fourth century. Photius, as before
cited, calls himy archbishop of Cyropolis: but Beausobre
argues that^ he was a mere heathen or pagan philosopher,
as he calls him. Tillemont likewise says, that ' by'' his
' book he appears to have been a pagan philosopher, who,
' observing that some of his fellow disciples emlDraced the
* opinion of the Manichees, wrote this piece to confute it by
' natural and philosophical reasons. He speaks with some
' respect of Jesus Christ, and prefers the doctrine of the
' churches [thej are his own words] to that of Mani : but
' it may be perceived by those very places that he is by
' no means a christian.' I do not choose to enter at present
the reader,
into any debate about the character of this writer :
if he pleaseth, may consult the work itself, and the modern
to Avhom I have referred : I shall only say that the Manichees
were christians. If ever Alexander was a Manichee
» Cod. 85. p. 204. ' Vid. Assem. Bib. Or. T. 3. P. i. p. 29.
" Ph. contr. Manich. 1. i. cap. xi. " Ap. Combefis. Auct. Nov.
" Alexandri Lycopolitae ex Ethnico Manichaei, atque inde ad ecclesiam
reducti, liber.—Videtur scripsisse saeculo quarto. Fabr. Bib. Gr. T. v. p. 290.
" Erat quidem primum cultu Gentilis, deinde ad Manichaeos, in Egyptum
recens delates, se contulit. Tandem ejurata haeresi, ad catholicorum castra
transiit. Cav. Diss, de Scriptor. incertaa .Sltatis.
y Phot, contr. Manich. ubi supra.
^ Beaus. Hist, de Manich. T, i. p. 236.
= Tiilem. T, iv. Les Manicheens, Art. 16. fin.