ABSTRACT

As a citing author, Eusebius is probably the most reliable one when it comes to the quality of the passages from Porphyry's anti-Christian discourses. The immediate context of each 'fragment' thus contains, as a general rule, the reasons why Eusebius needs to refer to Porphyry. As for Jerome, he is credited with being the author who preserved the most extensive parts of Porphyry's discourses, with the exception of Macarius, who has not been discussed at length here. Upon looking closely at Jerome's Porphyry on the New Testament, it thus becomes evident that he did not preserve much of Against the Christians. While Jerome writes, he seems to experience what Augustine would call 'recollection', that is several sacred passages are reminiscent of Porphyrian attacks, and he mentions them in the course of his composition. Augustine's Porphyry thus becomes a name for the anti-Christian discourse of his time.