Rome and the East
next sentence Eusebius gives the death of the bishop Demetrianus at Anti-
och, and his succession by Paul; a later legend, too readily believed, relates
that Demetrianus was in fact carried into captivity by Shapur.^125 Jerome’s
Chronicleplaces the election of Paul in .^126 Paul’s heretical tendencies were
evidently not long in showing themselves, for a synod convened to consider
them some three or four years later. The approximate date can be confidently
established: among the bishops invited was Dionysius of Alexandria, who
excused himself on the grounds of age and feebleness, and wrote a letter ex-
posing Paul’s errors, but then ‘‘at that time [he] died, in the twelfth year of
Gallienus’’ (/ or /).^127 There is no reason to doubt that the synod
took place in about . The upshot of the synod was a promise by Paul, not
fulfilled, to abandon his errors.^128
The date of the decisive synod is more difficult to establish. InHE, , ,
Eusebius records together the death of Gallienus (), the reign of Claudius,
and the accession of Aurelian (). He then passes on, with the expression
‘‘at that [i.e., time],’’ to the affair of Paul (, , ). Various converging items
of evidence combine, however, to suggest that the synod in fact took place
over the winter of /.^129 Jerome’sChronicle^130 places the deposition of Paul
in the year before the nd Olympiad (), and this date is reflected also
in Zonaras, who makes the episode approximately contemporary with the
death of Gallienus.^131 In the declaration against Nestorius posted up at Con-
stantinople in /, Eusebius, the later bishop of Dorylaeum, referred to the
excommunication of Paul years before^132 —so, if taken precisely, /.
The letter of the synod itself contains two clues. It is addressed to Diony-
sius, bishop of Rome, who died on or December .^133 It may be that
. The tale is given in the ArabicChronicle of Seert(Patr. Or. IV, –). See Bardy
(n. ), ff., and Downey (n. ), , and M. L. Chaumont, ‘‘Les Sassanides et la christiani-
sation de l’Empire iranien au IIIesiècle de notre ère,’’Rev. Hist. Rel. (): . There
is not the slightest reason to prefer such a source to the plain statement of Eusebius.
. Jerome,Chron., ed. Helm, .
. Euseb.,HE, , ; , (cf. , ). For the problem of Gallienus’ regnal years, see
E. Manni, ‘‘Note di epigrafia gallieniana,’’Epigraphica (): .
. Euseb.,HE, , .
. See Loofs (n. ), ff.; Bardy (n. ), –.
. Ed. Helm, .
. Zon. , .
. See de Riedmatten (n. ), , . For the text, see E. Schwartz,Acta Concilio-
rumI.., para. (p. ).
. See O. Bardenwehr,Geschichte der altkirchlichen LiteraturII (), –; cf. C. H.
Turner (n. ), –; L. Duchesne (n. ), .