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Paul stands on a step with both arms raised, preaching to a crowd of Athenians in robes before a round temple.

Raphael, St Paul Preaching in Athens, 1515. Public domain.

The Great Cloud of Witnesses, era 1 of 10 · Church history · Featured Study

The Apostolic Age

The generation of the apostles, from the feast of Pentecost to the reign of Trajan.

Span
About AD 30 to 100
Boundary
It closes with the death of John at Ephesus, where Schaff's first period ends.
Label
Schaff's first period, applied by Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, volume 1

A believer of AD 60 had no New Testament, only the Scriptures read aloud and the memory of people who had seen Jesus.

Acts 1:8 BSB
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Summary

About AD 30 the followers of Jesus began to preach Him as risen in Jerusalem. Within seventy years churches met in houses from Judea to Asia, Greece and Rome. They read the apostles' letters aloud when they met. Acts tells the story from inside up to Paul's arrival at Rome. Roman and Jewish writers add what Acts leaves out.

  • Gentiles could join the church as Gentiles, so Jews and Gentiles became one body.
  • Under Nero, Rome punished the Christians of the city as a body.
  • Historians from Harnack to Pervo differ on the dates of Acts, 1 Clement and the Didache.

The Era's Own Voice: Rome Writes to Corinth

1 Clement, chapter 5, in the Ante-Nicene Fathers of 1885.

About AD 96 the church at Rome wrote to the church at Corinth, which had removed its own elders from office. The letter, which we call 1 Clement, asks Corinth to take them back. To show where envy leads, it holds up Peter and Paul as examples of "our own generation," and of Paul it says this. Dionysius of Corinth and Eusebius later reported that churches read the letter in their meetings.

“But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the church] have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles... Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience.”

Clement of Rome · Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 5 · on 2 Timothy 4:6 to 8The Apostolic Age

The date of about 96 is Lightfoot's, from the letter's place at the close of Domitian's reign. L. L. Welborn allows any year from 80 to 140.

The Five Turning Points

Five dated events, each with the record that holds it.

The age turns on five dated events.

  1. About AD 30Pentecost in JerusalemThe first public preaching of the risen Jesus took place in a city crowded for a feast.Acts 2
  2. Between about AD 46 and 52The council at JerusalemIts letter went out to the Gentile believers of Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.Acts 15
  3. About AD 51 to 52Paul before Gallio at CorinthA Roman record names the official before whom Paul stood.The Delphi letter of Claudius, SIG3 801D
  4. AD 64The fire at RomeTacitus traces the name Christians to Christus, executed under Pontius Pilate.Tacitus, Annals 15.44
  5. AD 70The temple burnsJosephus dates the burning to the tenth of Lous, the day of the Babylonian burning.Josephus, Jewish War 6.4.5

The five turning points in order.

The Story From Jerusalem to Ephesus

Acts 2 to 28, with Suetonius, Tacitus, Josephus and Eusebius beside it.

Luke tells of the ascension and then of Pentecost, when about three thousand were baptized in one day (Acts 2:41). The believers met in the temple courts and broke bread in their houses (Acts 2:46).

Stephen was stoned outside the city while a young man named Saul held the garments of those who threw the stones (Acts 7:58). Those who fled carried the message as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch (Acts 11:19).

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

It is the hinge between the church of Jerusalem and the mission beyond it.

Acts 8:4BSB

At Caesarea Peter baptized the household of Cornelius, a Roman officer (Acts 10). At Antioch believers preached to Greeks as well (Acts 11:20). Saul went out from Antioch with Barnabas to Cyprus and the towns of Galatia, beginning in each synagogue (Acts 13 and 14).

The churches met in houses. Paul's letters greet the church in the house of Priscilla and Aquila (Romans 16:5) and in the house of Philemon (Philemon 1:2).

and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

It shows the movement known by a name of its own outside Judea.

Acts 11:26BSB

The Gentiles raised one question that could have split the church: must a Greek be circumcised to follow Israel's Messiah? At Jerusalem Peter told of Cornelius, and Paul and Barnabas told what God had done among the nations. James the brother of Jesus gave the ruling (Acts 15:6 to 21).

Paul then crossed to Macedonia and Greece (Acts 16 to 18). At Corinth he met Priscilla and Aquila, who had left Rome when Claudius ordered the Jews out (Acts 18:2). Suetonius writes that Claudius expelled them for disturbances "at the instigation of Chrestus." Orosius, four centuries later, gives the year as Claudius's ninth, about 49, and he alone gives it.

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

The Gentile mission stood on this ruling from the council onward.

Acts 15:19BSB

At Delphi a letter of Claudius cut in stone names "Gallio my friend and proconsul" in its lines. Its date, the emperor's twenty-sixth acclamation, places Gallio's year at about 51 to 52. That dates Paul's stay at Corinth (Acts 18:11).

Paul carried a gift from the Gentile churches to Jerusalem and was arrested there (Acts 21). After two years in custody at Caesarea he sailed for Rome as a prisoner (Acts 24 to 27). Luke's book stops with him two full years in a rented house at Rome (Acts 28:30).

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews coordinated an attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat.

Luke's title for Gallio, proconsul, is the title the Delphi letter gives him.

Acts 18:12BSB

In Jerusalem, Josephus writes, the high priest Ananus used the time after Festus died and before Albinus arrived to have "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James" stoned. Ananus was removed after three months as high priest. Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius, tells instead of a fall from the temple and a fuller's club.

Fire started at Rome on the nineteenth of July, AD 64. Tacitus says Nero blamed the Christians and that "an immense multitude was convicted". Some were torn by dogs, some nailed to crosses and some burned as lights in Nero's gardens. Tacitus names no apostle.

Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

John's Gospel reads these words as Jesus foretelling Peter's death (John 21:19).

John 21:18BSB

Judea rose against Rome, and the temple burned in AD 70. Eusebius, writing in the fourth century, reports that the Jerusalem church had already left for Pella, warned by a revelation. Craig Koester (1989) holds that the report recalls events of the first century, and Gerd Lüdemann that it does not.

Irenaeus writes that John stayed at Ephesus "until the times of Trajan," and Polycrates, a later bishop of Ephesus, says John fell asleep there. Two later writers quote Papias as saying that John was killed by the Jews.

“Do you see all these things?” He replied. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Matthew sets these words of Jesus at the temple that burned in AD 70.

Matthew 24:2BSB

Acts 15:19, Acts 18:12, John 21:18, Matthew 24:2

Why These Years

The line is a historian's, drawn at the death of John.

Schaff's History of the Christian Church sets its first period "From the Incarnation to the death of St. John," and opens the second at John's death. No event of that year marks the line. Schaff writes that the century's last thirty years lie in darkness lit "only by the writings of John."

  1. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus.

    These are John's own words on where he was in the last years Irenaeus gives him.

    Revelation 1:9BSB

The Meeting That Held Its Shape

It runs from Luke's Jerusalem to Pliny's Bithynia.

Luke names four marks of the first church in Jerusalem. The Didache keeps the same meal with its prayers over the cup and the bread. Aaron Milavec dates it to 50 to 70, and Kurt Niederwimmer to 110 to 120. About 111 to 112 Pliny, writing to Trajan from Bithynia, reported Christians meeting on a fixed day before dawn to address Christ "as to a divinity," in Melmoth's English. Some, he wrote, had left the faith twenty years before.

  1. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

    Luke's four marks are the measure the later witnesses are read against.

    Acts 2:42BSB

The Hard Part: How Peter and Paul Died

The witnesses run from 1 Clement to Origen, through Eusebius.

No one who saw Peter or Paul die wrote about it. 1 Clement, about thirty years later, says each "suffered martyrdom" and names no city. Ignatius wrote to Rome that he did not command them "as Peter and Paul," and Dionysius of Corinth says the two suffered at the same time in Italy. Tertullian, about 205, is the earliest of these witnesses to say plainly that Peter was crucified and Paul beheaded at Rome. Origen's report that Peter asked to hang head downward reaches us only through Eusebius.

The strongest case against the tradition is Otto Zwierlein's. In Petrus in Rom (2009) he argues that the evidence for Peter at Rome begins about 160 to 170. Michael Goulder (2004) held that Peter died in Jerusalem. Markus Bockmuehl (2007) calls Jerome's account of Peter's death at Rome "critical and consensual."

Beyond the Road of Acts

Three regions lie outside the road Acts follows.

Acts and the letters follow a road through Jerusalem, Antioch, Asia, Greece and Rome. The churches of Egypt and of the lands east of the Euphrates have their own page, and the traditions of Thomas in India stand outside this account.

The Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Church of the East

What the Age Handed On

Three things passed to the next church.

The age handed on its writings, from Paul's letters and the four Gospels to Acts and Revelation.

It handed on a chain of teachers. Irenaeus writes that Polycarp was taught by apostles, and as a boy Irenaeus heard Polycarp tell of his time with John.

It handed on the cost. James the son of Zebedee died by Herod's sword and James the brother of Jesus by stoning. 1 Clement, Ignatius and Dionysius of Corinth witness to the deaths of Peter and Paul.

  1. Guard the treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

    Paul's charge to Timothy names the task of guarding what was handed on.

    2 Timothy 1:14BSB

The dated line11 dated moments, each with its witness

The dated line of the Apostolic Age.

YearMomentWitness and how firm the date is
About AD 30Pentecost in JerusalemActs 2. Luke gives no year, so the year is reckoned.
Not givenStephen stoned, the church scatteredActs 7 and 8. Luke gives no year.
Not givenJames son of Zebedee killedActs 12:2, under Herod Agrippa I. Luke gives no year.
About AD 46The famine under ClaudiusF. F. Bruce counts it a fixed point. The year is approximate.
Between about AD 46 and 52The council at JerusalemActs 15. The year inside the window is argued.
About AD 49Claudius expels the Jews from RomeOrosius alone gives the year. Cassius Dio reports a ban on meetings instead.
About AD 51 to 52Paul before GallioThe Delphi letter, dated 52 in its edition. Firm within a year.
After Festus diedJames the brother of Jesus stonedJosephus gives the gap between governors. The year is reckoned, not stated.
AD 64The fire at RomeTacitus gives the day and the consuls. Firm.
After the fire of AD 64Peter and Paul die at RomeTacitus gives the persecution after the fire, Jerome a later year. The year is not known.
AD 70The temple burnsJosephus gives the day. Firm.

About AD 51 to 52, After Festus died, AD 64, After the fire of AD 64, AD 70

How the Age Has Been Taught

Writers from the second century to the fourth, each with what he did with the apostles' story.

Irenaeus (died 202)
Against Heresies Book III, Chapter 14, Section 1

How this text has been taught

“But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and his fellow-labourer in the Gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a matter of boasting, but as bound to do so by the truth itself.”

on Acts 20:5The Martyrs' Church

About this saying1 paragraph

About 180 Irenaeus wrote Against Heresies, and at 3.14.1 he reads the "we" of Acts as Luke's own presence beside Paul.

Tertullian (died 220)
Prescription against Heretics, Chapter 36

How this text has been taught

“Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of apostles themselves). How happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood! Where Peter endures a passion like his Lord's!”

on John 21:18 to 19The Martyrs' Church

About this saying1 paragraph

About 205 Tertullian wrote The Prescription Against Heretics, and in chapter 36 he sends his readers to Rome as the church whose apostles taught and died there.

Eusebius of Caesarea (died 339)
Church History (Book III), Chapter 1

How this text has been taught

“Peter appears to have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion. And at last, having come to Rome, he was crucified head-downwards; for he had requested that he might suffer in this way.”

on John 21:18 to 19The Fathers & the Creeds

About this saying1 paragraph

About 325 Eusebius wrote The Church History, and in book 3 he keeps Origen's report of Peter's death, which survives nowhere else.

Jerome (died 420)
De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men), Section 1

How this text has been taught

“Simon Peter the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion — the believers in circumcision, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia — pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth, year of Nero.”

on John 21:18 to 19The Fathers & the Creeds

About this saying1 paragraph

Late in the fourth century Jerome wrote Lives of Illustrious Men, and he opens the book with Peter.

Eusebius of Caesarea, Jerome

In Their Own Words

Clement of Rome (died 99)
First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 32

Justified by faith

“And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

on Ephesians 2:8The Apostolic Age

About this saying1 paragraph

Late in the first century, Clement wrote from Rome to Corinth on what ground believers are justified.

Didache (died 100)
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, chapter 1

The way of life

“There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.”

on Jeremiah 21:8The Apostolic Age

About this saying1 paragraph

The Didache, a church manual of the first or second century, opens its teaching with two ways.

Ignatius of Antioch (died 108)
The Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, chapter 8

The bishop and the church

“Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”

on 1 Corinthians 12:27The Martyrs' Church

About this saying1 paragraph

On the road to Rome, after his trial at Antioch, which ANF dates to 107, Ignatius wrote from Troas to the church at Smyrna about the bishop and the church.

Polycarp of Smyrna (died 155)
Epistle to the Philippians 8

Patience after Christ

“Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, ‘who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,’ ‘who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,’ but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer for His name's sake, let us glorify Him. For He has set us this example in Himself, and we have believed that such is the case.”

on 1 Peter 2:21The Martyrs' Church

About this saying1 paragraph

Soon after Ignatius passed on toward Rome, early in the second century, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, wrote to the church at Philippi and sent it the letters of Ignatius.

Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna

Where the Dates Are Argued

Four questions of the age, each with its holders on both sides.

When was Acts written?1 paragraph

Adolf von Harnack (1911) held that Luke wrote Acts while Paul was still alive. Richard Pervo, in Dating Acts (2006), argues for a date in the second century, holding that its author knew the later writings of Josephus.

Is the "we" of Acts an eyewitness's?1 paragraph

From Acts 16:10 the narrative says "we." Irenaeus read it as Luke at Paul's side. Ernst Haenchen, as F. F. Bruce's review states his view, read it as a device to make the record vivid.

Is Galatians 2 the council of Acts 15?1 paragraph

J. B. Lightfoot's Galatians identifies Paul's second visit to Jerusalem with the council, and Bruce calls this the majority opinion. Bruce himself (1969) asked whether it was the famine visit of Acts 11:30 instead.

Were all the books written before AD 70?1 paragraph

J. A. T. Robinson's Redating the New Testament (1976) tested how far the whole New Testament could be dated before AD 70. W. G. Kümmel judged 2 Peter later than Peter, since it draws on Jude.

Books to Read Next

Five free editions and one modern study.

The Church History
Eusebius of Caesarea, translated by A. C. McGiffert · 1890

McGiffert added his own notes to his English of 1890.

Read it free at CCEL

The Apostolic Fathers
J. B. Lightfoot, completed by J. R. Harmer · 1891

Lightfoot gives 1 Clement, Ignatius and the fragments of Papias in one English volume.

Read it free at the Internet Archive

History of the Christian Church, volume 1
Philip Schaff · 1882

Schaff's first volume, in the edition of 1882, covers the apostolic church from its sources.

Read it free at CCEL

The Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War
Flavius Josephus, translated by William Whiston · 1737

Whiston's English of 1737 is free to read in full.

Read it free at Project Gutenberg

The Date of the Acts and of the Synoptic Gospels
Adolf von Harnack · 1911

Harnack sets out the early date of Acts at full length.

Read it free at the Internet Archive

Redating the New Testament
John A. T. Robinson · 1976

It is a modern study, in print.

In print: find it wherever books are sold.

What the First Generation Left

The witnesses of Acts 1:8 carried their message from Jerusalem to Rome within one lifetime, and at least four of their leaders died for it. Their writings and the men they taught passed to the church of the next age.

The line through this page

The verse first, then 12 links to other pages, in order of date.

  1. Acts 1:8

    This is the key verse of the page.

  2. This page

    The Apostolic Age

  3. The first century, as Eusebius reports the tradition, disputed

    The Apostolic Age to The Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Church of the East

    The tradition says Mark founded the church of Alexandria.

  4. Before John's death; Irenaeus wrote it down about 180, approximate

    The Apostolic Age to The Martyrs' Church

  5. The first century, as Irenaeus reports it about 180, disputed

    The Apostolic Age to The Roman Catholic Church

    Irenaeus then names Linus, Anacletus and Clement as the first bishops of Rome after the apostles.

  6. Before Pamphilus died in the persecution, about 309, approximate

    The Martyrs' Church to The Fathers & the Creeds

    Eusebius studied under Pamphilus, a presbyter of Caesarea who died in the persecution, and called him "my dearest friend."

  7. In or shortly before 318, approximate

    The Fathers & the Creeds to The Eastern Orthodox Church

    In Robertson's English of 1885 he says of the Word, “For He was made man that we might be made God.”

  8. In the emperor's fourteenth year, which Bede's editor gives as 596, approximate

    The Fathers & the Creeds to The Long Middle

    Gregory sent the monk Augustine and others to the English, and Bede reports that they landed in Kent nearly forty strong.

  9. About 1173, as the chronicle of Laon gives it, approximate

    The Long Middle to The Waldensians

    Walter Map saw the followers of Valdes at Rome in 1179 and wrote that they were called after him, the Valdesii.

  10. February 1520

    The Long Middle to The Reformation

    In February 1520 Luther wrote to Spalatin that he had held the opinions of John Huss unawares: "in short, we are all Hussites without knowing it."

  11. 1532

    The Waldensians to The Reformed and Presbyterian Churches

    Farel and Saulnier came from Switzerland.

  12. 25 June 1530

    The Reformation to The Lutheran Churches

    On 25 June 1530 the Lutheran princes presented their confession to Charles V at Augsburg.

  13. January 1525; the sources print the month and not the day, approximate

    The Reformation to The Anabaptists

    In January 1525 some of Zwingli's own followers in Zurich baptized one another as believers.

  14. January 1525

    The Anabaptists to The Anabaptist Churches Today

    The movement began in Zurich in January 1525, when believers baptized one another on their confession of faith.

The rooms of this era

This era has one room: the revivals.

The revivals of this era

There is 1 page on the revivals of this era.

Sources

Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.

  1. The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible (read 2026)
  2. Clement of Rome, 1 Clement (about AD 96), chapters 1, 5, 6, 32, 42, 44 and 47, translated by Roberts and Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1 (1885)
  3. J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, part 1 (1890), on the date of 1 Clement; and Lightfoot and Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers (1891), the fragments of Papias.
  4. L. L. Welborn, "Clement, First Epistle of," Anchor Bible Dictionary volume 1 (1992), page 1060.
  5. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Romans 4.3 (the shorter recension), Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1 (1885)
  6. The Didache, chapters 1 and 7 to 13, translated by M. B. Riddle, Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 7 (1886), with Riddle's introductory notice.
  7. Eusebius of Caesarea, The Church History (about AD 325), books 2 to 5, translated by A. C. McGiffert, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 1 (1890)
  8. Irenaeus, Against Heresies (about AD 180), 3.1.1, 3.3.3 to 4, 3.14.1 and 5.30.3, Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1 (1885)
  9. Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics 36, translated by Peter Holmes, and Scorpiace 15 (about AD 205), translated by S. Thelwall, Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 3.
  10. Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men 1 and 5, and the Chronicle, the persecution under Nero.
  11. Tacitus, Annals 15.41 and 15.44, translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb, with the Loeb translation (1937)
  12. Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Claudius 25.4 and Nero 16.2, translated by J. C. Rolfe, Loeb (1914)
  13. Orosius, Histories Against the Pagans 7.6.15 (Latin)
  14. Cassius Dio, Roman History 60.6.6, translated by E. Cary, Loeb.
  15. Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.1 and The Jewish War 6.4.5, translated by William Whiston (1737)
  16. Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96 (about AD 111), Latin, with the English of Melmoth revised by Bosanquet.
  17. The letter of Claudius to Delphi naming Gallio, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, third edition, 801D, dated AD 52 in the PHI edition.
  18. F. F. Bruce, "Galatian Problems 1," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 51.2 (1969), pages 292 to 309.
  19. J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1870 edition), introduction.
  20. Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, volume 1 (first published 1858; read in the edition of 1882), General Introduction.
  21. Adolf von Harnack, The Date of the Acts and of the Synoptic Gospels (1911)
  22. Richard I. Pervo, Dating Acts (2006), the publisher's summary.
  23. Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles (1971), as F. F. Bruce's review in the Epworth Review 8.3 states his view.
  24. John A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament (1976), his words as a review quotes them.
  25. W. G. Kümmel, Introduction to the New Testament, pages 430 to 434, on 2 Peter.
  26. Otto Zwierlein, Petrus in Rom (2009), his English summary.
  27. Michael Goulder, "Did Peter ever go to Rome?," Scottish Journal of Theology 57.4 (2004), pages 377 to 396, the abstract.
  28. Markus Bockmuehl, "Peter's death in Rome? Back to front and upside down," Scottish Journal of Theology 60 (2007), the abstract.
  29. Craig R. Koester, "The Origin and Significance of the Flight to Pella Tradition," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51 (1989), pages 90 to 106, with Gerd Lüdemann's reading as Koester states it.
  30. Polycrates of Ephesus, letter to Victor, in Eusebius, The Church History 5.24.3.
  31. Aaron Milavec, The Didache: Faith, Hope and Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50 to 70 C.E. (2003), its title.
  32. Kurt Niederwimmer, The Didache, Hermeneia (1998), as T. Schreiner's review states his date.
  33. Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 8, shorter recension (ANF 1, 1885), and the editor's note dating his trial at Antioch to 107.
  34. Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians 8 and 13 (ANF 1, 1885); ANF names him bishop of Smyrna.

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