We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were partakers; and those who lived reasonably are Christians even though they have been thought atheists; as among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham and Ananias, Azarias, and Missael [the “three holy children,” companions of Daniel, see LXX, Dan. 3:23 _ff._], and Elias [_i.e._, Elijah], and many others whose actions and names we now decline to recount because we know that it would be tedious. (_b_) Theophilus, _Ad Autolycum_, II, 10, 22. (MSG, 6:398.) Theophilus was the sixth bishop of Antioch, from 169 until after 180. His apology, consisting of three books addressed to an otherwise unknown Autolycus, has alone been preserved of his works. Fragments attributed to him are of very doubtful authenticity. The date of the third book must be subsequent to the death of Marcus Aurelius, March 17, 180, which is mentioned. The first and second books may be somewhat earlier. The distinction made in the following between the _Logos endiathetos_ and the _Logos prophorikos_ was subsequently dropped by theologians. Ch. 10. God, then, having His own Logos internal [_endiatheton_] within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own wisdom before all things. Ch. 22. What else is this voice but the Word of God, who is also His Son? Not as the poets and writers of myths talk of the sons of the gods begotten from intercourse with women, but as the Truth expounds, the Word that always exists, residing within [_endiatheton_] the heart of God. For before anything came into existence He had Him for His counsellor, being His own mind and thought. But when God wished to make all that He had determined on, He begat this Word proceeding forth [_prophorikon_], the first-born of all creation, not being Himself emptied of the Word [_i.e._, being without reason], but having begotten Reason and always conversing with His reason. (B) The Doctrine of the Trinity The doctrine of the Trinity followed naturally from the doctrine of the Logos. The fuller discussion belongs to the Monarchian controversies. It is considered here as a position resulting from the general position taken by the apologists. (_V. infra_, § 40.) (_a_) Theophilus, _Ad Autolycum_, II, 15. (MSG, 6:1078.) The following passage is probably the earliest in which the word Trinity, or Trias, is applied to the relation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is usual in Greek theology to use the word Trias as equivalent to the Latin term Trinity. _Cf._ Tertullian, _Adv. Praxean_, 2, for first use of the term Trinity in Latin theology. In like manner, also, the three days, which were before the luminaries(54) are types of the Trinity (Trias) of God, and His Word, and His Wisdom. (_b_) Athenagoras, _Supplicatio_, 10, 12. (MSG, 6:910, 914.)