Subject: APOLLONIUS 1 THE REAL CHRIST

 =


Apollonius the Nazarene
Part 1:
The Historical Apollonius Versus the Mythical Jesus

By: Dr. R. W. Bernard, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

=A0

In the year 325 A.D. was perpetrated one of the most collosal frauds and =
deceptions in the annals of history. This was the date of the Council of =
Nicea, whose task it was to create a new religion that would be acceptabl=
e to Emperor Constantine, who, at the time, was engaged in the bloody per=
secution of those communists and pacifists of ancient times who were know=
n as early Christians. What made Constantine, in the midst of his inhuman=
 massacre of these defenseless and despised people, suddenly take over th=
eir religion and become its staunchest protagonist, is one of the enigmas=
 of history which has never before been elucidated. On this point, Revill=
e, a Catholic apologist; writes: =


"The acknowledged triumph of Christianity during the reign of Constantine=
 has always been considered one of the unaccountable revolutions and one =
of those historical surprises which, unconnected as they seem to be with =
any phenomena of the past might almost seem miraculous. One longs to find=
 out by what process the human mind passes so rapidly from a contemptuous=
 and utter denial of the teachings of Christianity to an interest and avo=
wed sympathy for the doctrines of the new creed...It was in the fourth ce=
ntury, immediately after the most violent persecutions, that Christianity=
, though embraced and professed by a minority only, succeeded in attainin=
g to a commanding position in matters both social and political." =


Aware that the old religion of Rome was in a state of advanced decay and =
was daily losing its hold on the people, while the persecuted cult of the=
 Essenes, or early Christians, in spite of all the efforts to suppress it=
 through the most bloody and inhuman means, continued to thrive and win t=
he increasing respect of the masses, the Church Fathers, themselves previ=
ously pagans whose hands were stained with the blood of those from whom t=
hey stole their religion, saw that by adopting Christianity (in a revised=
 form) they could take advantage of the popular prestige created by the m=
artyrdom of the early Christian saints, and at the same time win the supp=
ort of Constantine, who, in being converted to the Christian faith, could=
 cover up his own past crimes, gain increased public favor and extend and=
 consolidate his empire. =


In order to make the previously despised cult of the Essenes, or early Ch=
ristians, acceptable to Constantine, emperor of Rome - the Church Fathers=
 had to remove from its teachings certain doctrines which they knew were =
objectionable to him. Chief among these was the prohibition against the u=
se of meats and wines, which was a cardinal doctrine of early Essene Chri=
stianity. It was for this reason that the churchmen at Nicea found it nec=
essary to remove from the Gospels these objectionable doctrines, for they=
 knew that Constantine loved the red meats and flowing wines of his midni=
ght revels too much to be willing to accept a religion which required fro=
m its adherents complete abstinence from these indulgences, as early Esse=
ne Christianity did. To accomplish this, certain "correctors" were appoin=
ted, whose task it was to rewrite the Gospels, omitting all that pertaine=
d to vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol. The Church Fathers had an=
 additional reason to do this - for they t!
!
hemselves had no desire to make such a radical change in their own living=
 habits. =


That the original Gospels were rewritten and altered at the Council of Ni=
cea is indicated by the following statement by Archdeacon Wilberforce, wh=
o writes: =


"Some are not aware that, after the Council of Nicea, A.D. 325, the manus=
cripts of the New Testament were considerably tampered with. Prof. Nestle=
, in his `Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the Greek Testament,' =
tells us that certain scholars, called `correctores,' were appointed by t=
he ecclesiastical authorities, and actually commissioned to correct the t=
ext of the Scripture in the interest of what was considered orthodoxy." =


Commenting on this statement, Rev. G. J. Ouseley, in his "Gospel of the H=
oly Twelve," writes: =


"What these `correctores' did was to cut out of the Gospels with minute c=
are, certain teachings of our Lord which they did not propose to follow -=
- namely, those against the eating of flesh and taking of strong drink --=
 and everything which might serve as an argument against Flesh eating, su=
ch as the accounts of our Lord's interference on several occasions, to sa=
me animals from ill-treatment." =


There is evidence to indicate that not only were the original doctrines o=
f early Essene Christianity radically changed at the Council of Nicea and=
 replaced by others entirely different, but that the MAN whose life was a=
n embodiment of the original doctrines was likewise replaced by another m=
an who exemplified the new doctrines. The name of the second man, who was=
 not a vegetarian and who did not prohibit the killing of animals, was Je=
sus Christ, who was put in the place of Apollonius of Tyana, the historic=
al world teacher of the first century. =


The first act of the Church Fathers, after they created their new religio=
n and its messiah, neither of which existed previously, was to burn all b=
ooks they could lay their hands on, especially those written during the f=
irst few centuries, which made no mention of Jesus and which referred to =
Apollonius as the spiritual leader of the first century, realizing as the=
y did that such books, if they were not destroyed, constituted a dangerou=
s menace to the survival of their deception. It was for this reason that =
the churchmen took such great pains to burn the ancient libraries, includ=
ing the famous Alexandrian Library with its 400,000 volumes, which was bu=
rnt to the ground by edict of Theodosius, when a Christian mob destroyed =
the Serapeum where the scrolls and manuscripts were kept. =


However, the churchmen failed to their purpose, for prior to its burning =
which they foresaw, the librarians of the Alexandrian Library had secretl=
y removed from it some of the most precious volumes, which they carried e=
astward for safety. =


Among the works which were thus saved from the flames of the Alexandrian =
Library, the one which has created the most widespread and long-continued=
 discussion was the "Life of Apollonius of Tyana," written by Flavius Phi=
lostratus at the beginning of the third century A.D. As if by irony fate,=
 this book - which of all books burnt in the Alexandrian Library, was one=
 of the most dangerous - was preserved down through the centuries, resist=
ing all attempts to destroy it. The reason why this book was so much drea=
ded by the churchmen was because, while it made no mention whatsoever of =
the existence of Jesus or of Christianity, it presented Apollonius of Tya=
na as the universally acclaimed world teacher of the first century, rever=
enced from one end of the Roman Empire to the other, by everyone, from th=
e lowest slave to the Emperor himself. =


No book ever written has aroused by heated argument over a longer period =
of time than this biography by Philostratus. From the early centuries of =
our era, when Hercules and Eusebius first started it, until the days of B=
lount, Voltaire and the Deists, the controversy raged unabated. For Philo=
stratus, in his book described a character, born in the very year of the =
birth of Christ, who, in every respect, was the equal, if not the superio=
r, of the Christian messiah. =


W. B. Wallace, writing on "The Apollonius of Philostratus," calls Philost=
ratus's biography a "pagan counterblast to the gospel of Galilee, represe=
nting a Greek saviour as an alternative to the Semitic one." (Westminster=
 Review, July-Dec. 1902). Furthermore, the main events of the lives of bo=
th men were so closely parallel that the reader cannot help but conclude =
that if Jesus is not a fictitious imitation of Apollonius, then Apolloniu=
s must be an imitation of him, since it would be highly improbable for tw=
o such similar men to have been born the same year and to have such simil=
ar biographies. =


F. A. Campbell, in his `Apollonius of Tyana,' writes: =


"The birth of Apollonius is assigned to the year 4 B.C. But as everybody =
knows, the current computation of the beginning of the Christian era is i=
ncorrect, and the first year of our Lord ought to be dated four or five y=
ears earlier. If the Apollonian and Christian nativities both belong to t=
he same year, the coincidence is entitled the more attention than it has =
received." =


"Thankful Tyana, like ungrateful Nazareth, had nursed a prophet of blamel=
ess life, of miraculous power, of super-abundant loving-kindness, and of =
heroic virtue. Both Apollonius of Tyana and Jesus of Nazareth were born i=
n the same lustrum, if not the same year. Both Tyana's babe and Bethlehem=
's were said to have sprung from a divine Father and a human mother, and =
both of these holy ones drew their first breath amid gracious portents an=
d supernatural singings. Nor were these the only parallels in the memoirs=
 of the Tyanean and the Nazarene. =


"Orthodox Christians had been accustomed to affirm boldly the finality of=
 Mary's son; but, like a bolt from the blue, here was Philostratus opposi=
ng himself to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and offering an alternative Me=
ssiah." =


Also it is strange that, though they were both supposed to be the greates=
t men of their age, they did not know of each other's existence. And sinc=
e there is absolutely authentic historical evidence of the existence of A=
pollonius, but not a shred of genuine proof of the existence of Jesus, we=
 must conclude that if one of these figures is fictitious and an imitatio=
n of the other, it is Jesus who is the fiction and Apollonius the histori=
cal personage. Concerning the existence, or rather, the non-existence, of=
 Jesus, Tschendorf writes: =


"Author after author, volume after volume, of the life of Christ may appe=
ar until the archives of the universe are filled, and yet all we have of =
the life of Jesus is to be found in Matthew's gospel. Not a single person=
 specially associated with Jesus impinges history." =


In Taylor's "Diegesis," [1829, Oaknam, England] we read: =


"We have investigated the claims of every document possessing a plausible=
 claim to be investigated which history has preserved of the transactions=
 of the First century and not so much as a single passage, purporting to =
have been written at any time within the first hundred years, can be prod=
uced to show the existence of such a man as Jesus Christ or of such a set=
 of men as could be accounted to be his disciples." =


Commenting on this statement by Taylor, J. M. Roberts, in his "Antiquity =
Unveiled," [1892; Oriental Publishing Co., Philadelphia] writes: =


"On the other hand we have abundant proof that Jesus Christ is founded on=
 the known life of Apollonius of Tyana, the earthly existence of whom has=
 never been questioned, to which is added passages from the lives of vari=
ous personage, and teachings concerning the mythical gods of other lands.=
 The Prometheus of the Greeks was the character which suggested the cruci=
fixion (also the crucifixion of Chrishna in Christosite traditions.) The =
Eleusinian mysteries suggested the "Last Supper" and these together with =
doctrines of ancient sun worship were gathered and represented to be a hi=
story of the events connected with the life of the Christian Jesus. (Prom=
etheus on the crag, suffering for the good of mankind, suggests Jesus on =
the cross, changing Prometheus for Jesus and the Sythian crag for the cro=
ss.) =


"In the first chapter of Matthew the geneology of Jesus is given as the t=
wenty-eighth generation from David down through Joseph to Christ. In the =
third chapter of Luke the same geneology is given as being the forty-thir=
d generation from Christ through Joseph to David. This is a very remarkab=
le oversight on the part of the translators, for if there was anything th=
ey could agree on, it is in regard to the descent of Christ. =


"All the Christians that ever lived or ever will live will find their ide=
al Jesus but a phantom -- a myth. They can chase it as a child would a bu=
tterfly through a meadow on a summer's afternoon, and it will elude their=
 grasp. The Christian Jesus is nothing more than the Chrishna of the Hind=
us." =



No contemporary writers who lived at the time when Jesus is supposed to h=
ave lived make mention of him; though forged allusions to Jesus occur in =
the books of Livy and Josephus. In his "History of the Jews," written in =
the First century, at a time when Jesus would have enjoyed his greatest p=
opularity among the Jews if he had existed, though pages and pages are de=
voted to persons of no importance whatever and who would have been forgot=
ten forever had not Josephus mentioned them, there is not a single mentio=
n of Jesus in the original edition. On this point, Dr. Edmond B. Szekely,=
 in his "Origin of Christianity, writes: =


"There is not a word, or better, there is no longer a word in the works o=
f Flavius Josephus about the Messiah, the Christ crucified by Pontius Pil=
ate, except for a crude interpolation, quite obviously false...The silenc=
e of Josephus is not due to disdain or studied neutrality." =


In an eighth century Slavonic edition of Josephus's book, such an interpo=
lation occurs, referring to a certain Jesus, son of Joseph, and which cov=
ers only a passing paragraph, the brevity of which clearly reveals its fr=
audulent origin, for, if Jesus were mentioned at all, much more space wou=
ld have been devoted to him. And coincident with such interpolations of e=
arly authors, occurred the censorship of all books making reference to Ap=
ollonius, whose name was omitted or abbreviated. (Thus, in the original P=
auline Epistles, which, we have reason to believe, originally had Apollon=
ius as their central figure and were written by him, his name is abbrevia=
ted to "Apollos" and "Pol" (Paul.) =


That Apollos (conceded by no less an authority than the Encyclopedia Brit=
annica to be an abbreviation of Apollonius) was the real author of the Ep=
istle to the Hebrews, falsely attributed to Paul, was the opinion of Mart=
in Luther and other eminent scholars. =


And if Apollonius wrote some of the so-called Pauline Epistles, there is =
a possibility that he may have written others, AND, IN FACT, ALL). =


Plutarch, the eminent biographer, who lived between 46 and 120 A. D. woul=
d certainly have made mention of Jesus if he had existed, since he wrote =
when Jesus's fame would have been at its height. Yet in the voluminous wo=
rks of Plutarch, not a single reference to any such man as Jesus can be f=
ound. Although Plutarch's miscellaneous writings make mention of or allud=
e with unerring certainty to nearly every religious and ethical opinion o=
f his time, he is absolutely silent on the subject of Christianity and co=
ncerning the existence of Jesus. Though he knew the utmost detail of the =
lives of great men who lived centuries ago, we could hardly believe that =
Plutarch could have been entirely unaware of the existence of such a grea=
t man as Jesus who lived only a few years previously. This is all the mor=
e surprising because the provinces of Bithynia and Pontus, where Plutarch=
 lived, were only a few day's journey from Boetia, where, if we may belie=
ve Christian writers, the proselytes of Ch!
!
ristianity were swarming at the time. =


But while Plutarch belonged to a different race and was born after his al=
leged crucifixion, Philo, a Jew, who lived at exactly the same time in th=
e first part of the first century, and who visited the Essenes and wrote =
about them, should, and above all others, have made mention of Jesus, who=
, if he had lived, would undoubtedly have been the leader of this sect. Y=
et not one word is found in Philo's writings concerning the existence of =
Jesus, any more than is there one word in the original edition of the "Hi=
story of the Jews" of Josephus. Nor did any other writer in the first cen=
tury mention Jesus. They did not because he did not yet exist. He was fir=
st born three centuries later, created by the churchmen at Nicea, in thei=
r effort to find an alternative messiah, more pleasing to Constantine and=
 the Romans, to be put in the place of Apollonius. =


That the early Christians themselves, and not only the Pagans, were ignor=
ant of the existence of any such man as Jesus, has been clearly proven by=
 the catacomb researches of Eisler, a student of early Christian archaeol=
ogy. In his work, "Orpheus the Fisher," Eisler shows that no representati=
ons can be found among the catacomb inscriptions that depict Jesus, the c=
ross or the crucifixion. Instead, a Greek figure is represented as the le=
ader of the sect, a vegetarian and friend of animals, depicted either und=
er the fig - of Orpheus playing his lyre and surrounded by friendly anima=
ls, or as the Good Shepherd (Hermes) carrying a lamb around his neck. The=
se representations obviously refer to Apollonius whose cardinal teachings=
 consisted of vegetarianism and the abolition of animal sacrifices. Eisle=
r's findings were further verified by Lundy, who, in his "Monumental Chri=
stianity," a work on early Christian archaeology, likewise reports the en=
tire absence of any reference in the catac!
!
omb inscriptions to Jesus or a crucified saviour, in whose place is found=
 the familiar Greek figures of Orpheus and the Good Shepherd, who are rep=
resented as friends of animals. =


The closest original that can be found of the Jesus of the New Testament =
is a rabbi named Jehoshua Ben Pandira, who lived about a century B. C. In=
 his "Life of Jehoshua," Dr. Franz Hartman states that this illegitimate =
child of a Jewish maiden, Stada, and a Roman soldier, Pandira, who is men=
tioned in the Talmud, was the original Jesus. He was referred to as a rab=
bi of not very great importance, who studied the mysteries in Egypt, and =
who was put to death by stoning after an attempted crucifixion. =


Seeking a substitute for Apollonius, the Church fathers seized upon Jehos=
hua, and changing his name to that of the Druid sun god, HESUS, and shift=
ing the date of his birth forward a century, he was transformed into Jesu=
s. On this subject, Manly Hall writes: "It is very possible that the earl=
y Church Fathers, seeking desperately for a concrete human being on which=
 to hang the fabric of their faith, picked Jehoshua Ben Pandira as the ne=
arest parallel to be found among the Jewish rabbins. Armed with this smal=
l fragment of history, they proceeded to correlate the two; building in a=
 little here; and removing same contradictory fragment there, until, lo, =
and behold, the 'King of Kings' is a Nazarene, in spite of the popular op=
inion that nothing good can come out of Nazareth. =


"This Further explains why Helena, the mother of Constantine, within thre=
e hundred years after the death of Jesus, was unable to find in all of Je=
wry any man who had even heard of him. According to the story, she finall=
y came upon one aged man who claimed to have heard that Jesus had lived. =
He took her to an old Roman execution field where the excavation revealed=
 a number of crosses. When the whole matter had been settled to every one=
's satisfaction, Constantine, to show his extreme veneration, had one of =
the passion nails pounded into a bit for his horse. =


"The most perplexing and comparatively unsolved mystery with which the Ch=
ristian theologian is faced is the almost complete lack of historical evi=
dence concerning the life of Christ. If we accept a few palpable forgerie=
s, our knowledge of the life of Christ is based principally upon the acco=
unts given in the Gospels... The gravest doubts exist as to the authorshi=
p of the gospels of the New Testament. The Encyclopedia Brittannica ackno=
wledges not only these doubts, but admits that there is no proof of any k=
ind that the Gospels were written by the men whose names have been affixe=
d to them in more recent time." =


In 1894, there appeared a remarkable book written by J. M. Roberts entitl=
ed "Antiquity Unveiled," in which evidence was presented to prove that no=
 such man as Jesus of Nazareth ever lived, but the name was adopted by th=
e framers of Christianity to cover the identity of Apollonius of Tyana wh=
ose teachings and mode of life they purloined and made use of as a model =
upon which to construct their system." He adds: "The world has the uncont=
rovertible testimony that Christianity is of spurious origin and the most=
 consummate piece of plagiarism in human history." =


In sharp contrast with the scarcity, or rather the absence of information=
 regarding Jesus, is the abundance of reliable historical data available =
concerning Apollonius of Tyana, who, during the first century, enjoyed un=
iversal fame from one end of the Roman empire to the other, being honored=
 by all. More than seventeen temples were dedicated to him in various par=
ts of the empire. Nearly a dozen Roman Emperors held him in awe and rever=
ence. (The Roman emperors; Vespasian, Titus and Nerva, were all, prior to=
 their elevation to the throne, friends and admirers of Apollonius, while=
 Nero and Domitian regarded the philosopher with dismay.) The Emperor Sep=
timus Severus (A.D. 193-211 erected a statue to him in his gallery of dei=
ties in the Pantheon, while his son, Emperor Caracella, honored his memor=
y with a chapel or monument. =


Lampridus, who lived in the third century, further informs us that the Em=
peror Alexander Severus (A. D. 222-235) placed a statue of Apollonius in =
his labarium side by side with one of Orpheus. =


It was the wife of Septimus Severus, the empress Julia Domna who commissi=
oned the philosopher, Philostratus, a member of a circle of writers who c=
ollected around her, to write the life of Apollonius of Tyana, based on m=
anuscripts in her possession, chiefly the memoirs of Apollonius's discipl=
e and traveling companion, Damis, in addition to records preserved in dif=
ferent cities where Apollonius was held in esteem -- from temples whose l=
ong-disused rite he restored, from traditions, from epistles of Apolloniu=
s addressed to kings and sophists and from his letters -- of which the Em=
peror Hadrian had made a collection which he deposited in his palace at A=
ntium. (Julia Domna, known as the philosopher-empress because she was sur=
rounded by men of letters and philosophers and dispensed enlightened patr=
onage to thought and learning, was the daughter of Bassiamus, priest of t=
he sun at Emesa in Syria. Philostratus was a member of a group of famous =
writers and thinkers who gathered around h!
!
er. She was a woman of high intelligence and remarkable purity of charact=
er, living in seclusion and devoting her time to literature and philosoph=
y in her extensive library. As in the case of Sappho, a woman of egually =
exemplary morality, she was falsely defamed by the scribes of the same ch=
urchmen who were later responsible for the brutal murder of Hypatia. Thes=
e three greatest women of antiquity, together with Joan of Arc, the great=
est woman of modern times, were all victims of a criminally jealous male =
clerical fraternity. =


Another biography of Apollonius was written by Soterichur of Oasis during=
 the reign of Diocletian, but is non-existent, having been destroyed by t=
he Christians together with other ancient writings referring to him. Stil=
l another biography was written by Moeragenes, which was likewise lost. =


Though written in the early part of the third century A.D., Philostratus'=
s biography of Apollonius of Tyana was not permitted to be publish.ed in =
Europe until the year 1501, when Aldus printed the first Latin edition to=
 appear in Europe. This was followed by an Italian and French translation=
, but it was not until 1680 that the first English translation was made b=
y Blount, an English Deist. =


Blount's notes on the book raised such an outcry that, in 1693, the book =
was condemned by the church and its further publication forbidden. (Conce=
rning the effects of Blount's translation; Campbell, in his "Apollonius o=
f Tyana," writes: "Fierce passions were let loose. Sermons, pamphlets and=
 volumes descended upon the presumptious Blount like fireballs and hailst=
ones and his adversaries did not rest until the authorities had forbidden=
 him to print the remaining six books of his translation.") =


In his notes, Blount pointed out that, "we must either admit the truth of=
 the miracles of Apollonius as well as those of Jesus, or, if the former =
were untrue, there would be no better ground to believe in the latter." A=
 century later Blount's notes were translated into French by the Encyclop=
edists. However, a century before Blount - Voltaire, Le Grand d'Aussy, Ca=
stillon and other French Deists wrote to the same effect, considering Apo=
llonius as a far more authentic historical figure than Jesus, and fully h=
is equal in every respect and as worthy of performing miracles if such we=
re possible. (Francis Bacon also spoke of Apollonius in the highest terms=
=2E In Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy" - which some have attributed to B=
acon's authorship - appeared a quotation from Philostratus's biography of=
 Apollonius to which Keats later referred in a footnote in his "Lamia.") =


Blount, however, had translated only the first two books of Philostratus'=
s work (there were eight in all, the remaining six remaining unpublished)=
; and it was not until 1809 that the first complete English version was m=
ade by Edward Herwick. (In his preface of his work entitled "The First Tw=
o Books of Philostratus Concerning the Life of Apollonius to which Tyaneu=
s, written originally in Greek, and now published in English," Blount, in=
 self-protection, and obviously expressing opinions the opposite of what =
he really believed, humbly described his book as "no more than a bare nar=
rative of the life of a philosopher, not of a new Messiah, or any ways in=
 opposition to the old; no, Philostratus does not anywhere so much as men=
tion the name of Christ. And if one Heathen Writer (Heirocles) did make a=
n ill sue of this history, by comparing Apollonius with Christ, what is t=
hat to Philostratus, who never meant nor designed it so, as I can anywher=
e find? However Eusebius hath already conf!
!
uted Hierocles, which confutation I had intended to have annexed to Philo=
stratus as an antidote." =


"The whole translation I have already finished, and had proceeded thus fa=
r as you see in my illustration, when I found the alarm was given in all =
parts what a Dangerous Hook was coming out; such a book as would unmask a=
ll practical atheists, which (they being the greater number of men, might=
 therefore prove of pernicious consequence to the public. Above all, the =
Popish Clergy thought themselves chiefly concerned herein, who are so zea=
lously revengeful and malicious, that I feared it is might fare with me a=
s it did with poor Esop, (who notwithstanding he had broken jests upon se=
veral great kings and potentates without being punished for the same, yet=
 only speaking against the priests of Delphos cost him his life.) =


"Wherefore, if the Clergy would have Apollonius esteemed a Rogue and a Ju=
ggler, that being risen from the dead, he is one of the principal fomente=
rs of this Popish Plot; or that there never was any such man as Apolloniu=
s, with all my heart, what they please. For I had much rather have him de=
cried in his reputation than that some grave Cardinal, with his long bear=
d, and his excommunicative 'Ha', should have me burnt for a heretic.") =


Herwick's volume became so rare that in 1907, two London book dealers of =
world-wide reputation searched and even advertised in vain for a copy. Th=
is indicates how well the ecclesiastical suppression of this dreaded book=
 had succeeded. And while today scarcely a person can be found, even amon=
g the most educated, who even heard the name of Apollonius of Tyana, much=
 less knew anything about him, according to Campbell, "There was a day wh=
en the name of Philostratus and Apollonius of Tyana was on every educated=
 Englishman's tongue," even though sectarian prejudice against Apollonius=
 characterizes every writer prior to the nineteenth century. The populari=
ty of Apollonius in ancient times stands in sharp contrast to his almost =
complete oblivion today. =


That Apollonius, a mere man, should rival Jesus, a god, in so many import=
ant respects, in the eyes of the churchmen constituted an important reaso=
n to suppress Philostratus's book, since it tended to belittle the dignit=
y of their savior. That Philostratus composed his "Life of Apollonius of =
Tyana" as a pagan counterblast to the Christian gospels is an opinion whi=
ch has been held by reputable scholars both before and after Blount's day=
=2E (This opinion, which has been widely held by Christian writers, is ev=
idently false, since Christianity as we know it did not exist at the time=
 when Philostratus wrote, for he makes no mention of Jesus or of Christia=
nity. In spite of this fact, the book has always been held with the great=
est suspicion; and, even after the Renaissance, when it was introduced in=
to Europe, Aldus hesitated for a time before he gave the right to publish=
 it, at last resolving to do so, but adding to the text a reply by Eusebi=
us to Hierocles' criticism of Christianity, !
!
in which he opposed the Apollonian to the Christian miracles, thereby, as=
 he expressed it, giving "the antidote with the poison.") =


Thus, the Bishop of Avranches, writing in the seventeenth century, expres=
sed this view as follows: "Philostratus seems to have made it his chief a=
im to deprecate both the Christian faith and Christian doctrine, both of =
which were progressing wonderfully at that time, by the exhibition on the=
 opposite side of that shallow representation of a miraculous science, ho=
liness and virtue. He invented a character in imitation of Christ, and in=
troduced almost all the incidents in the life of Jesus Christ into the hi=
story of Apollonius, in order that the pagans might have no cause to envy=
 the Christians by doing which he inadvertently enhanced the glory of Chr=
ist, for by falsely attributing to another the real character of the Savi=
or, he gave to the latter the praise which is His just due, and indirectl=
y held Him up as the admiration and praise of others." =


Tredwell, in his "Sketch of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana," writes: =


"From the time that disputes began concerning the Christian religion, Chr=
istians have charged Philostratus with having appropriated the events and=
 miracles contained in Matthew's gospel to adorn his life of Apollonius o=
f Tyana, and the pagans have made countercharges of plagiarism against th=
e writer of this gospel. Upon the earlier accounts of Apollonius these ch=
arges have been held to be of sufficient importance to meet with efforts =
of refutation from eminent Christians; even as late as our day, Rev. Albe=
rt Reville did not think it beneath his dignity nor his great learning, t=
o attempt in 1866 a refutation of `this great and monstrous infidel sland=
er.' He attempted to show in a little book bearing the title of `Apolloni=
us the Pagan Christ of the Third Century' (meaning the first century) tha=
t Philostratus had borrowed leading facts from the Gospel of Matthew. Mir=
aculous phenomena were related almost identical with that record by Matth=
ew in his gospel of Jesus Christ. And whil!
!
e Jesus is said to have been casting out devils in Galilee, Apollonius wa=
s, according to a tradition quite as trustworthy, rendering mankind a sim=
ilar service in Greece. Such was the opinion of Catholic writers on the s=
ubject; and, according to Daniel Huet, this statement by the Bishop of Av=
ranches `ever since that time has had great weight with all thoughtful mi=
nds.'" =


*******
 =



MIME-Part not displayed