Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History, Books I–X

Chapter V.—God sent Rain from Heaven for Marcus Aurelius Cæsar in Answer to the Prayers of our People.

1. It is reported ^{Edition note 1} that Marcus Aurelius Cæsar, brother of Antoninus, ^{Edition note 2} being about to engage in battle with the Germans and Sarmatians, was in great trouble on account of his army suffering from thirst. ^{Edition note 3} But the soldiers of the so-called Melitene legion, ^{Edition note 4} through the faith which has given strength from that time to the present, when they were drawn up before the enemy, kneeled on the ground, as is our custom in prayer, ^{Edition note 5} and engaged in supplications to God.

2. This was indeed a strange sight to the enemy, but it is reported ^{Edition note 6} that a stranger thing immediately followed. The lightning drove the enemy to flight and destruction, but a shower refreshed the army of those who had called on God, all of whom had been on the point of perishing with thirst.

3. This story is related by non-Christian writers who have been pleased to treat the times referred to, and it has also been recorded by our own people. ^{Edition note 7} By those historians who were strangers to the faith, the marvel is mentioned, but it is not acknowledged as an answer to our prayers. But by our own people, as friends of the truth, the occurrence is related in a simple and artless manner.

4. Among these is Apolinarius, ^{Edition note 8} who says that from that time the legion through whose prayers the wonder took place received from the emperor a title appropriate to the event, being called in the language of the Romans the Thundering Legion.

5. Tertullian is a trustworthy witness of these things. In the Apology for the Faith, which he addressed to the Roman Senate, and which work we have already mentioned, ^{Edition note 9} he confirms the history with greater and stronger proofs.

6. He writes ^{Edition note 10} that there are still extant letters ^{Edition note 11} of the most intelligent Emperor Marcus in which he testifies that his army, being on the point of perishing with thirst in Germany, was saved by the prayers of the Christians. And he says also that this emperor threatened death ^{Edition note 12} to those who brought accusation against us.

7. He adds further: ^{Edition note 13}

But let any one treat these things as he chooses; ^{Edition note 18} we must pass on to what followed.

8. Pothinus having died with the other martyrs in Gaul at ninety years of age, ^{Edition note 19} Irenæus succeeded him in the episcopate of the church at Lyons. ^{Edition note 20} We have learned that, in his youth, he was a hearer of Polycarp. ^{Edition note 21}

9. In the third book of his work Against Heresies he has inserted a list of the bishops of Rome, bringing it down as far as Eleutherus (whose times we are now considering), under whom he composed his work. He writes as follows: ^{Edition note 22}