Peter in Rome and Eusebius

[Steven Avery]

In terms of Philo in Rome, Pierre Allix says no.

The Judgement of the Ancient Jewish Church Against the Unitarians in the Controversy Upon the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of Our Blessed Saviour (1821)
Pierre Allix
http://books.google.com/books?id=BtsRAA ... g=RA2-PA65

With a key factor the belief that Peter could not be in Rome early, only at the time of Nero.

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Interesting are the reports of Philo being baptized, some are in Armenian, and also in the Acts of John (apparently translations vary).

baptism of Philo - Acts of John (c. 180 AD) - Acts Johannis

Philo Christianus: The Debris of a Legend (1973)
J. Edgar Brunis
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1509353?se ... b_contents

Philo’s conversion is assumed by Eusebius, although he does not attribute it to Peter’s preaching, as we might expect from the account of their meeting already seen. There is an account of Philo’s baptism in the Acta Johannis of Pseudo-Prochorus:

We went, then, towards the race-course, and lo ! there was a Jew, Philo by name, renowned for his skill in the law according to the Letter. When accordingly he saw John, he began to draw him out through the books of Moses and the prophets. John then interpreted (them) to him according to the spirit . . . . . they therefore separated from one another in disagreement. (At this point in the narrative John heals someone stricken with a raging fever.) Philo, now, having seen what John did, ran up to grasp his hand and said: Teacher ! John answered: What is it, lawyer ? Philo replied: What is love? And John said: God is love, and whoever has love possesses God. So Philo (said) to him: If God is love and whoever has love possesses God, manifest then the love of God and come into the house and let us eat bread and drink water together so that God may be with us. (John enters and cures Philo’s wife [sic] of leprosy and receives her into the Church. Philo then asks pardon for his anti-Christian diatribes.) And (John) instructed him and baptized him in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. And he remained with him that whole day.9

9 Th. Zahn, Acta Joannis [Erlangen, 1880], 110-12. A curiously neglected legend about Philo which not even Harnacx alludes to.

[Steven Avery]

Here is the Photius section.
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photi ... otheca.htm

105. [Philo Judaeus, Censure of Gaius and Censure of Flaccus]

Read, also, his two tractates, Censure of Gaius1 and Censure of Flaccus2 in which, more than in his other writings, he shows vigour of expression and beauty of language. But he frequently errs by changing his ideas and in describing other things in a manner at variance with Jewish philosophy. He flourished in the times of the emperor Gaius, to whom he states that he sent a deputation on behalf of his own people, while Agrippa was king of Judaea. He was the author of numerous treatises on various subjects, ethical discussions, and commentaries on the Old Testament, mostly consisting of forced allegorical explanations. I believe that it was from him that all the allegorical interpretation of Scripture originated in the Church. It is said that he was converted to Christianity, but afterwards abandoned it in a fit of anger and indignation. Before this, during the reign of the emperor Claudius, he had visited Rome, where he met St. Peter, chief of the apostles, and became intimate with him, which explains why he thought the disciples of St. Mark the evangelist, who was a disciple of St. Peter, worthy of praise, of whom he says that they led a contemplative life amongst the Jews. He calls their dwellings monasteries, and declares that they always led an ascetic life, practising fasting, prayer, and poverty.

Philo came of an Alexandrian priestly family. He was so admired amongst the Greeks for his power of eloquence that it was a common saying amongst them : "Either Plato philonizes or Philo platonizes."

1 Roman emperor A.D. 37-41, more commonly known as Caligula.
2 Avillius F., governor of Egypt, and persecutor of the Jews.

[Germanicus_C]

What strikes me is that all the persons Elymas/Etoimus/Atomus/Magus/Saul can have a connection with the great Philosophy school of Tarsus.
With a lot of attention for the Stoic School and the Jewish Philosophy. Synchretic philosophy?
Tarsus is less than 1 day boat trip from Cyprus...
Josephus mentions the Pharisees as followers of the Stoa...

https://ancient-anatolia.blogspot.com/2 ... -soli.html