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598 Credibility of the Gospel Histoiy.
made by Pliotius. Beside that history, as he himself informs
us, he wrote an" encomium of Eunomius, and^ a book against
Porphyry in defence of the christian religion. Philostorgius
was undoubtedly a man of a great deal of knowledge and
learning, and Photins conunends his'*' style; nevertheless,
he may be said to be remarkably credulous. In his brief
account of Philostorgius's history Photius observes, that'' he
extols Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theophilus the Indian, and
many others, as eminent for miracles, as well as for piety
of life and conversation.
I apprehend it may be worth the while to take notice of
some other instances of credulity and superstition in this
learned and zealous Arian.
He highly commends, as Photius^ says, Constantius, and
says, that he built the church at Constantinople, which is
called, and really is, great ; and that he brought from Achaia
the apostle Andrew, and placed him in the church he had
built, called also the church of the apostles ; near to which
he set his father's tomb. He also translated from the
same Achaia, Luke the evangelist, and to the same temple.
Finally, in like manner he caused to be brought the apostle
Timothy from Ephesus in
venerable church.
Ionia, to the same celebrated and
So writes Philostorgius, with manifest signs of approba-
tion. And I suppose these to be some^ of the very first
translations of reliques. But they are mentioned by some
other writers m a different order. For the author of the
Paschal Chronicle first'' mentions the translation of the
reliques of Timothy in 356, and then the reliques of Luke
and Andrew in the next year. And he says of those last,
that'' by order of the emperor Constantius, the reliques of
those holy apostles were brought to Constantinople, with
much care and veneration, with singing of psalms and
hymns, and were deposited in the church of the holy apostles.
St. Jerom's manner of speaking leads us to consider
this as a very early iiistance*^ of this kind of translations.
It is our author who says, that'^ Lucian after his martyrdom
was brought by a dolphin to the bay of Nicomedia :
" L. iii. c. 21. ' L. x. c. 10. * Cod. 40.
" E)/ Tipareioic St Kai ftuj) 'Evaiftiov rov 'NiKo/j.t^Seiag iccu Gto^iXov
Tov IvSov, Kui aXKsQ kXhovciq. Cod. 40. p. 30.
" Philost. 1. iii. c. 2.
et Basnage, Hist, de I'Eglise, liv. 19. ch. iv. n. vi.
^ Chr. Pasch. p. 293. B. " Ibid.
'^ Vid. Basnage, ann. 35G. n. xi. &c.
*= Sacrilegus fuit Constantius imperator, qui sanctasreliquias Andrea;, Lucae,
Timothci tianstulit Constantinopolim ?—Adv. Vig. p. 283. in.
L. ii. c. 12.