Methodius.

        From the latter half of the third century and perhaps the beginning of the fourth we possess several writings from a certain Methodius, perhaps (but by no means certainly) bishop of Olympus in Lycia and a martyr in 311. He is significant as one of the first Christian opponents of Porphyry (whose fifteen books against the Christians appeared about 270) and as an early critic of some of Origen's doctrines. He defended the resurrection of the body and denied that the world was eternal. In spite of his criticisms, he owed much to Origen, especially regarding allegorical exegesis of the Bible. His Banquet, or Treatise on Chastity consists of discourses on virginity by ten Christian virgins; it is partly modeled after the Banquet, or Symposium, of Plato and contains many Platonic quotations and allusions. Methodius' other works, often in dialogue form, have been preserved primarily in Slavonic versions, along with fragments in Greek and sometimes also in Syriac and Armenian. These include On Free Will, On Life and Rational Activity, Aglaophon or Treatise on the Resurrection of the Body, On Jewish Foods and the Red Heifer, To Sistellius on Leprosy, On the Leech and the Verse “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God” (exegesis of Proverbs xxx. 15 and Psalm xviii. 1), On Creatures, Against Porphyry, and On Martyrs. Most of Methodius' literary output seems to be lost. He was obviously very prolific and his writings, especially the Banquet, show us that Christian literary culture was not confined to Alexandria.

        Oddly enough, Eusebius did not mention Methodius in his extant works (although according to Jerome he did so in the sixth book which he added to Pamphilus' Apology for Origen);[88] in the Praeparatio Evangelica he ascribes a long quotation from On Free Will to “Maximus.”[89]