The Letter to Titus and Apostolic Succession in Crete

Abstract

Eusebius, in his Historia ecclesiastica, describes a series of letters written in the second century between Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, and two Cretan bishops—Philip of Gortyn and Pinytus of Knossos. Throughout these texts, Eusebius and Dionysius situate Dionysius in the succession of the apostles. There is no corresponding attempt, however, to connect the Cretan bishops to the apostles even though the letter to Titus would have supplied such a connection. In this article, I examine the correspondence between Dionysius and the Cretan bishops alongside the letter to Titus, arguing that—given Eusebius’s aim of establishing apostolic succession, Dionysius’s emphasis on his connection to the apostles, Pinytus’s disagreement with Dionysius, and the broader relevance of the letter to Titus to these exchanges—the absence of any reference to Titus is striking. In this light, I provide possible interpretations of this absence. One possibility is that Titus was not considered authoritative in this period. A second possibility is that Titus was not yet written. A third, unlikely possibility is that Titus simply did not fit with the rhetorical goals of these writers. This absence cautions against definitive statements regarding the status of Titus in the period.