Sossianus Hierocles was a high official of the emperor Diocletian and an ardent supporter of the persecution of Christians at the beginning of the 4th century. In 303, in order to give propagandistic reasons for the strict repressions towards the followers of the new religion he published a treatise The Lover of Truth in which, among other things, he drew a comparison between Apollonius of Tyana and Christ. From this lost work we know only a few quotations included in the writings of Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea. The antichristian treatise of Hierocles must have been dangerous for the doctrine of the Church and must have put forward Apollonius as a strong rival of Christ, since it provoked both Christian writers to make a polemical reply. In this article we try to show the circumstances of the origin of The Lover of Truth and to present its character and contents.
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Vol. 46 No. 2 (2013)
Published: 2021-01-30
English
Język Polski