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Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Amazon Kindle Edition, 2014.
Volume 2, Ante-Nicene Christianity A.D. 100-325, “Chapter 13. Ecclesiastical Literature of the Ante-Nicene Age, and Biographical Sketches of the Church Fathers.” sec. 159-204.
§ 193. Opponents of Origen. Methodius.
Schaff has previously shown Origen to be a controversial character. Methodius, an opponent to Origen, is not mentioned at all by Eusebius but is given considerable attention by Photius (Schaff 2014, loc. 22817). Others do mention Methodius favorably as well. Schaff observes that while some early opponents of Origen engaged him based on personal feeling, by the third century Methodius shifted the debate to be one of theological orthodoxy (Schaff 2014, loc. 22822).
Schaff introduces Methodius as “bishop first of Olympus and then of Patara” and identifies him as a martyr of the Diocletian persecution (Schaff 2014, loc. 22827). His most important work, written in the form of a Platonic dialogue, is his Banquet of Ten virgins which describes celibacy as the ideal life (Schaff 2014, loc. 22830). Schaff summarizes the events in the dialogue in brief. The Platonic style is very clear. Methodius wrote several additional dialogues, including On the Resurrection, On Freek Will, and On Things Created (Schaff 2014, loc. 22847).