The Statue at Caesarea Philippi

Since I have come to mention this city, I do not think it right to pass over a story that deserves to be remembered by those who come after us as well. They say that the woman with the flow of blood, who, as we learn from the holy Gospels, found release from her suffering through our Savior, came from this place. Her house, they say, is shown in the city, and remarkable memorials of the Savior’s kindness to her remain there. [a] For on a high stone by the gates of her house there stands a bronze figure of a woman, down on one knee, her hands stretched out in front of her like someone pleading. Facing it is another figure of the same material, a man standing upright, decently clothed in a double cloak and holding out his hand to the woman. At his feet, on the monument itself, grows a strange kind of plant, which climbs as high as the hem of the bronze cloak and is a remedy for every kind of disease. [c] They said that this statue bore the likeness of Jesus. It has lasted down to our own time, so that we saw it with our own eyes when we stayed in the city. [d]

Nor is it any wonder that Gentiles who long ago were helped by our Savior should have done this. For we have learned that likenesses of his apostles Paul and Peter, and indeed of Christ himself, are preserved in colored paintings. It seems that the people of old were in the habit, following a pagan custom of their own, of honoring in this way, without distinction, those they regarded as their saviors. [e]