POLICRATES OF EPHESUS. – In a letter of reply to Pope Victor (189–99) and to the Roman Church, he defended the Quartodeciman tradition of the Church in Asia Minor. The defense is based on the fact that the Asian observance is attested by apostles (Philip, John), martyr-bishops, and charismatics (Philip’s virgin daughters and the “eunuch” Melito). To the list of these ten persons is added mention of their tombs.
It may be supposed that Rome had requested, in juridical form, a certain number of witnesses to the truth of the apostolic tradition in Asia Minor and a large number of adherents among the bishops. It is clear that Victor, in his preceding letter, had spoken in connection with the Roman tradition of the Apostles’ tombs in Rome. What is surprising in P.’s reply is the repeated reference to the second coming of Christ. Perhaps a veiled threat lies behind this formulation: namely, that the persons he names would, at the Last Judgment, be witnesses for the prosecution against the representatives of the opposing tradition. This would explain the intensification of the debate that followed. Also interesting in P.’s epistle is his assertion that, besides himself, seven other members of his family had belonged to the episcopate and observed the Asian practice.