Christian Texts and History • Re: What is the earliest evidence that Nazareth was called Nazareth?

Diocaesarea is a later name of the town known to the Rabbis as Sippori, "the bird", also called Sepphoris. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04798b.htm

In 353 the Jews rebelled again, and the town was destroyed by Emperor Gallus (Socrates, Church History II.33; Sozomen, Church History IV.7). It was soon rebuilt (Theodoret, Church History IV.22). It served as a place of exile for many bishops and monks during the persecution of Valens.

... an interesting anecdote

Hillel Newman, The Bishops of Sepphoris

Christians in Sepphoris under Valens

Following the first attempt of Joseph [of Tiberias], who was appointed comes by Constantine, to establish a foothold for the church in Sepphoris in the first part of the fourth century, there is surprisingly little trace of Christian influence and presence [in Sepphoris] till the late fifth or early sixth century. ... An exception to the relative silence of our written and material sources (subject, of course, to tomorrow’s archaeological discoveries) is the abundance of data concerning the arrival in Sepphoris of a group of exiled Egyptian clerics in the time of the emperor Valens ...

Valens pursued a policy of promoting the Homoian creed and clergy in a battle against Nicene Christology. The conflict came to a head in Alexandria in 373, with the death of the Nicene bishop Athanasius, whose hand-picked successor, Peter, was arrested to clear the way for the assumption of the see by the Homoian bishop Lucius. Peter succeeded in escaping and making his way to Rome, where he enjoyed the protection and patronage of the bishop Damasus. Meanwhile, priests, deacons and monks who opposed Lucius in Alexandria were arrested and exiled to pagan Heliopolis/Baalbek in Syria or sentenced to hard labor in the mines. Subsequently, Lucius struck at the monks of the desert of Nitria, some 60 miles south of Alexandria, and exiled 11 ascetic bishops to Diocaesarea of Palestine, otherwise known as Sepphoris.
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We learn more of the life of the Egyptian bishops in Sepphoris from the Historia Lausiaca of Palladius, in an encomium of his friend Melania the Elder, written more than 40 years after the fact. Melania, he relates, spent half a year on a pilgrimage to visit the holy men of Nitria. Palladius then proceeds to describe the persecution of the Nicene monks and the assistance extended to them by Melania ...
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Statistics: Posted by MrMacSon — Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:28 pm