Theophilus of Antioch

Of Theophilus, whom we have shown to be bishop of the church of Antioch, three elementary treatises addressed to Autolycus are in circulation; also another, entitled Against the Heresy of Hermogenes, in which he uses testimonies from the Revelation of John; and certain other books of his for the instruction of beginners. [a] The heretics, then as much as ever, were spoiling the pure seed of the apostolic teaching like weeds, and the shepherds of the churches everywhere drove them off like wild beasts from the sheep of Christ and kept them out: at one time by warnings and exhortations to the brothers, at another by stripping for the contest against them more openly, in unwritten debates and refutations face to face, and again by setting their opinions right with most exact proofs in written works. [b] That Theophilus too took the field with the others against them is plain from a treatise against Marcion, written by him with no small skill; and this too, with the others we have mentioned, has been preserved to this day. Maximinus, the seventh from the apostles, succeeded him in the church of Antioch. [c]