GEROCLE SOSSIANO

GEROCLE SOSSIANO. - Anti-Christian writer. Born in the second half of the 3rd century; he was prefect of Fenicia, Bitinia, and Basso Egitto. A bitter enemy of the Christians, he was a member of the council that urged Diocleziano to persecution. In his administration he showed himself cruel, subjecting Christians to unheard-of torments.

Around 307 he wrote a pamphlet, in two books, which he hypocritically entitled Φιλαλήθης, in which he expressed a

a certain knowledge of Christian sources. The work is lost, but its content is known from the refutations written by Lattanzio and Eusebio di Cesarea. In it G., borrowing his arguments from Porfirio, inveighed against Holy Scripture, accusing it of falsehoods and contradictions; against the Apostles, whom he judged to be forgers and ignorant; and, in particular, against the person of Gesù Cristo, to whom he claimed to oppose the legendary Apollonio di Tiana.