Apollinaris, Claudius

APOLLINARIS, a-pel"li-nê´ris (APOLLINARIUS), CLAUDIUS: Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia. He was a contemporary of Melito, and flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180), occupying a prominent position as an apologist and an opponent of Montanism, which took its rise in the ecclesiastical province to which he belonged. He was a prolific writer, but of his numerous works, still much read in the time of Eusebius, only a few, and of these little more than the titles, are known. Eusebius (Hist. eccl., iv, 27) mentions an apology addressed to the emperor; since the story of the “thundering legion” seems to have been told in this, it can not have been written before 171, though Eusebius, in his Chronicon, assigns it to 170. The same historian mentions an apology against the Greeks in five books, two books “Concerning Truth,” and a letter against the Montanists, which is also referred to by Serapion, bishop of Antioch, in his letter to Caricus and Pontius. This, according to Eusebius, was written later than the apologetic works mentioned above, and contained a report of the proceedings of a synod held against the Montanists, with a list of signatures of the members of the synod. Photius also names a treatise “On Piety.” The Chronicon Paschale (ed. Dindorf, i, 13) preserves two fragments of a work on the Passover, all that has been preserved of the work of Apollinaris; these have been questioned, but without good reason. Two books against the Jews and one against the Severians have been erroneously attributed to him. In the catenæ numerous fragments are found with the name of Apollinaris attached to them, which have never been carefully examined; but it is probable that most, if not all, belong to the younger Apollinaris of Laodicea.

(A. Harnack.)

Bibliography: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Grœca, vii (1801), 160-162; ANF, viii, 772-773; Harnack, Litteratur, i, 243-246; idem, TU, i (1882), 232-239.