[144:1] See above, p. 96 sq.
[145:1] Hær. iv. 27. 1, 3; iv. 30. 1; iv. 31. 1; v. 5. 1; v. 33. 3; v. 36. 1, 2.
[145:2] Ref. Hær. vi. 42, 55, 'The blessed elder Irenæus.' Clement of Alexandria uses the same phrase of Pantænus; Euseb. H.E. vi. 14.
[145:3] H.E. iii. 3; v. 8; vi. 13.
[145:4] Heb. xi. 2.
[146:1] Weiffenbach Das Papias-Fragment (Giessen, 1874) has advocated at great length the view that Papias uses the term as a title of office throughout, p. 34 sq; but he has not succeeded in convincing subsequent writers. His conclusions are opposed by Hilgenfeld Papias von Hierapolis p. 245 sq (in his Zeitschrift, 1875), and by Leimbach Das Papias-Fragment p. 63 sq. Weiffenbach supposes that the elders are distinguished from the Apostles and personal disciples whose sayings Papias sets himself to collect. This view demands such a violent wresting of the grammatical connection in the passage of Papias that it is not likely to find much favour.
[146:2] In illustration of this use, it may be mentioned that in the Letter of the Gallican Churches (Euseb. H.E. v. 1) the term is applied to the Zacharias of Luke i. 5 sq.
[146:3] 1 Tim. v. 1, 2, 17, 19.
[147:1] See above, p. 103 sq.
[147:2] See Clinton, Fast. Rom. II. p. 385.