The Hebrew Bishops of Jerusalem

I have nowhere found the dates of the bishops of Jerusalem preserved in writing, for report has it that they were all very short-lived. But I have learned this much from written sources: until the siege of the Jews under Hadrian there had been fifteen bishops there in succession. All of them, they say, were Hebrews by origin who had received the knowledge of Christ in all sincerity, so that those able to judge such things approved them as worthy of the bishop’s ministry. For at that time their whole church was made up of believing Hebrews, from the apostles down to the siege that took place then, when the Jews revolted against the Romans once more and were conquered in no small wars. [a]

Since the bishops of the circumcision came to an end at that time, it is right to list them now from the first. The first, then, was James, who was called the brother of the Lord; after him the second was Symeon; the third, Justus; the fourth, Zacchaeus; the fifth, Tobias; the sixth, Benjamin; the seventh, John; the eighth, Matthias; the ninth, Philip; the tenth, Zenecas; the eleventh, Justus; the twelfth, Levi; the thirteenth, Ephres; the fourteenth, Joseph; and last of all the fifteenth, Judas. [b] These are the bishops of the city of Jerusalem from the apostles down to the time we are describing, all of them of the circumcision.

When the reign was already in its twelfth year, Telesphorus, seventh from the apostles, succeeded Xystus, who had completed ten years as bishop of the Romans. A year and some months later Eumenes, sixth in line, succeeded to the leadership of the church of the Alexandrians, his predecessor having lasted eleven years. [d]