[quote] Here's another weird coincidence, from that same article:
An ancient literary text, the first that mentions Longinus, i.e. Ep. 17, 15 of St. Gregory of Nyssa (died ca. 394) reports among other things that, already in the 4th century, Longinus was considered the [bgcolor=#FFFF00]evangelizer of Cappadocia[/bgcolor], as were the other Apostles who were in other regions.
So he's said to be evangelizer of Cappadocia. But then, Casius Longinus also does something special in Cappadocia:
http://www.celtic-casimir.com/webtree/4/4390.htm
Ariobarzanes III Eusebes, King of Cappadocia (51-42BC) 453
General Notes:
killed by Gaius Cassius Longinus
http://www.livius.org/cao-caz/cappadoci ... ocia2.html
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Hi ghost, have to chime in. I'm actually an ardent proponent of the JuliusCaesar-Christ theory, but I haven't been in "propaganda mode" for a long time.
Needless to say, I've done my own research in the past, and the one important thing is to always look at the original sources. Gregorius does not mention him by name, i.e. he doesn't call him Longinus, but only calls him the centurion (ekatóntarchos), known from the gospel. And he isn't called an "evangelizer" in the epistle either. Modern scholars have inferred that this must have been his mission there, but that's not in the source.
Originally it was just the centurio, nameless, which is a scriptural tradition in the gospel that has nothing to do with Cassius Longinus historically. Cassius Longinus originally is the Longinus miles, the soldier who stabs Christ, with his fitting Christian feast day on 15 March. We know his name from the Acta Pilati (first Greek form) and ancient hagiographies, and can also infer it for the Gospel of John, where the lance (logchê) in 19:34 is probably the lectio facilior to logginos (Longinus). The name of this miles (soldier), namely "Longinus", was only later projected onto the centurio, e.g. in second Greek form of the Acta Pilati and by later Christian authors and commentators. You can read a bit about it e.g. in the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum, chapter on the Ides of March.
But the Cappadocia connection is definitely an interesting find, because Gregorius already connects the centurio with the historical "miles", i.e. with Cassius Longinus and his mission in Cappadocia, even if he doesn't mention the name Longinus (yet). Gregorius' epistle then might also work as a terminus a quo for the name "Longinus" being used for the centurio, and not only for the miles.