and removed from the canon in
wide circles in the East.]

[Footnote 223: In the West the Chiliastic hopes were little or not at
all affected by the Montanist struggle. Chiliasm prevailed there in
unimpaired strength as late as the 4th century. In the East, on the
contrary, the apocalyptic expectations were immediately weakened by the
Montanist crisis. But it was philosophical theology that first proved
their mortal enemy. In the rural Churches of Egypt Chiliasm was still
widely prevalent after the middle of the 3rd century; see the
instructive 24th chapter of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Book VII.
"Some of their teachers," says Dionysius, "look on the Law and the
Prophets as nothing, neglect to obey the Gospel, esteem the Epistles of
the Apostles as little worth, but, on the contrary, declare the doctrine
contained in the Revelation of John to be a great and a hidden mystery."
There were even temporary disruptions in the Egyptian Church on account
of Chiliasm (see Chap. 24. 6).]

[Footnote 224: "Lex et prophetae usque ad Johannem" now became the motto.
Churchmen spoke of a "completus numerus prophetarum" (Muratorian
Fragment), and formulated the proposition that the prophets corresponded
to the pre-Christian stage of revelation, but the Apostles to the
Christian; and that in addition to this the apostolic age was also
particularly distinguished by gifts of the Spirit. "Prophets and
Apostles" now replaced "Apostles, prophets, and teachers," as the court
of appeal. Under such circumstances prophecy might still indeed exist;
but it could no longer be of a kind capable of ranking, in the remotest
degree, with the authority of the Apostles in point of importance. Hence
it was driven into a corner, became extinct, or at most served only to
support the measures of the bishops. In order to estimate the great
revolution in the spirit of the times let us compare the utterances of
Irenaeus and Origen about gifts of the Spirit and prophecy. Irenaeus still
expressed himself exactly like Justin (Dial. 39, 81, 82, 88); he says
(II. 32. 4: V. 6. 1): [Greek: kathos kai pollon akouomen adelphon hen te
ekklesia prophetika charismata echonton k.t.l.] Origen on the contrary
(see numerous passages, especially in the treatise c. Cels.), looks back
to a period after which the Spirit's gifts in the Church ceased. It is
also a very characteristic circumstance that along with the
naturalisation of Christianity in the world, the disappearan