GEROCLES SOSSIANUS. – Antichristian writer. Born in the second half of the 3rd century; he was prefect of Phoenicia, Bithynia, and Lower Egypt. A bitter enemy of the Christians, he was part of the council that urged Diocletian to persecute them. 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 Φιλαλόγησι, in which he displayed a certain knowledge of Christian sources. The work is lost, but its contents are known from the refutations written by Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea. In it, G., borrowing arguments from Porphyry, attacked Holy Scripture, accusing it of lies and contradictions, the Apostles of being deceivers and ignoramuses, and in particular the person of Jesus Christ, against whom he sought to set the legendary Apollonius of Tyana.
