Irenaeus
was a priest of the Church of Lyons during the last quarter of the 2nd
century. He wrote Against Heresies,
which is one of the primary sources of information about the different early Christian
sects. There was no one source of Christian
authority or orthodoxy in existence at that time. The doctrines that would
become the primary doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church would began to be
created after 325 CE, over a century after Irenaeus. A single Christian canon
of Scripture did not exist either. This is a period of history that is
basically unknown to most Christians. Read what he wrote about a Christian group led by Cerinthus at http://fromonejesus.blogspot.com/2013/09/early-christian-sects-cerinthus.html
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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