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and many of them were put to death. That ruler himself passed away and was followed by another Caesar. During the latter’s reign a famine and plague struck. In the same period Matthew set down and explained his Gospel in Hebrew at Jerusalem, and John the Evangelist rendered it from Hebrew into Greek.
He further relates: In the ninth year of that emperor’s rule, Mark the Evangelist was in Alexandria inviting people to believe in the Messiah. He was the first person to be made Patriarch of Alexandria, and he appointed alongside him twelve presbyters, instructing them that when the patriarch died they should choose one from among the twel—
مِنْهُمْ خَلْقٌ كَثِيرَةٌ، وَأَنَّهُ مَاتَ هَذَا وَوَلِيَ بَعْدَهُ قَيْصَرُ آخَرُ، وَفِي زَمَنِهِ وَقَعَ جُوعٌ وَوَبَاءٌ وَفِي زَمَنِهِ كَتَبَ
" مَتَّى "
وَبَيَّنَ إِنْجِيلَهُ بِالْعِبْرَانِيَّةِ فِي بَيْتِ الْمَقْدِسِ، وَفَسَّرَهُ مِنَ الْعِبْرَانِيَّةِ إِلَى الرُّومِيَّةِ
" يُوحَنَّا "
صَاحِبُ الْإِنْجِيلِ.
قَالَ:
وَفِي تِسْعِ سِنِينَ مِنْ مُلْكِهِ كَانَ
" مُرْقُسُ "
صَاحِبُ الْإِنْجِيلِ بِمَدِينَةِ الْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةِ يَدْعُو النَّاسَ إِلَى الْإِيمَانِ بِالْمَسِيحِ، وَأَنَّهُ أَوَّلُ شَخْصٍ جُعِلَ بَطْرِيَرْكًا عَلَى الْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةِ، وَأَنَّهُ صَيَّرَ مَعَهُ اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ قِسِّيسًا وَأَمَرَهُمْ إِذَا مَاتَ الْبَطْرِيَرْكُ أَنْ يَخْتَارُوا وَاحِدًا مِنْ الِاثْنَيْ