Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)

2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK

Rí i,R. (ROB) VAN HO UW EL I Is !

of the elders of Jerusalem.25 In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius lists fifteen Jewish overseers, continuing up to Hadrian’s campaign after the Bar Kochba revolt. The list begins with James, the brother of the Lord. Then follow Simeon and Justus, after which one finds another twelve names. The number fifteen seems rather artificial, as Eusebius later lists another fifteen Gentile overseers, for a round total of thirty. Eusebius explanation for the large number, that they each lived for only a short period, is hardly convincing, particularly since it is known that Simeon lived to a very old age.26 It is far more likely that the overseers listed did not succeed each other, but were each other’s contemporaries, sharing the leadership of the church in Jerusalem.

If we regard Simeon and Justus as James’ direct successors, we are left with precisely twelve: Zaccheus, Tobias, Benjamin, John, Matthias, Philip, Seneca, Justus, Levi, Ephres, Joseph and Jude. These twelve men are likely to have formed the college of elders who, together with James, gave leadership to the church of Jerusalem.27

Part III: the bounty of Jerusalem

10. Jerusalem distributes its bounty

In the second book of his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius recounts the events that took place after the ascension of Jesus Christ, giving particular attention to those in the church at Jerusalem. His third book then begins as follows:

Such was the condition of things among the Jews, but the holy Apostles and disciples of our Saviour were scattered throughout the whole world. Thomas, as a tradition relates, obtained by lot Parthia, Andrew Scythia, John Asia (and he stayed there and died in Ephesus), but Peter seems to have preached to the Jews of the Dispersion in Pontus and Galatia and Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia, and at the end he came to Rome and was crucified head downwards, for so he had demanded to suffer. What need be said of Paul, who fulfilled the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyria and afterward was martyred in Rome under Nero? This is stated exactly by Origen in the third volume of his commentary on Genesis (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History III 1,1 -3).

In drawing on this tradition, Eusebius here aims to give an insight into the worldwide spread of the apostolic proclamation. The movement went from Jerusalem to all points of the compass, with Rome becoming the new centre of the world. This tradition, according to which Thomas, Andrew and John were each assigned a region, ought not to be understood as if the apostles, by mutual agreement, divided their areas of labour; rather, it points to a divine appointment of their tasks from heaven (Greek: ei\y))(£V, meaning ‘received by lot’). Eusebius wants to show how the emissaries and disciples of Jesus Christ, through their missionary journeys, gave concrete form to

25 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History IV 5,3; V 12,1-2. Richard Bauckham, Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1990), 70-79 [The Jerusalem Bishops List].

26 According to Hegesippus, Simeon died as a martyr at the age of 120 (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History III 32,3.6)

27 When James advises the gravely ill to call in the ‘elders of the church’ (James 5:14), he probably has the elders of Jerusalem in mind.

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