877 Acts xi. 28; Acts xxi. 10, Acts xxi. 11.
878 1 Cor. xii. 28; cf. Eph. iv. 11.
879 A presbyter of the Libyan Pentapolis who taught at Rome in the early years of the third century. He "confounded the persons" of the Trinity and was subsequently accounted a heretic. Cf. Letter XV.
881 Viz. the period between Easter Day and Whitsunday.
882 Called by the Montanists the New Jerusalem.
883 Oeconomos-according to a probable emendation. The text has cenonas.
888 Victuro martyre confarrata. The precise meaning of the words is obscure.
889 Some suppose him to have been a priest of Cybele, but it would be a mistake to lay too much stress on Jerome's words.
890 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
891 Novatian, a Roman presbyter in the middle of the third century, held that the "lapsed," who had failed during the persecutions, could not be readmitted to the church. His sect upheld an extreme moral puritanism, as is shown in the speech of Constantine to their bishop at the Council of Nicaea: "Acesius, you should set up a ladder to heaven, and go up by yourself alone."
895 Matt. xii. 25, Matt. xii. 26.
897 Viz. denial of Christ by Christians.
899 Matt. xxvi. 33-35; Joh. xiii. 38.
901 Viz. Matt. xii. 32, quoted above.
903 For the meaning of these epithets as applied to Origen see Letter XXXIII.
905 Nummus. Sc. Sestertius = 4 cents = 2 pence.
906 Obolus = 3 1-2 cents = 1 penny 3 farthings.
909 These were worn by both Greek and Roman actors.
912 Senatus Matronarum. Comp. Letter XXXIII. 4: "Rome calls together its senate to condemn him."
917 Ps. xxiii. 5, according to the Gallican psalter.
922 Damasus meus sermo erat, or "spoke of none but me."
931 I.e. Paul. See 2. Cor. vi. 9.