Pergamus

PERGAMUS. Jesus Christ in the Revelations, speaks thus to the Angel, or to the Bishop of Pergamus; I know thy Works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan*‘s* Seat is: And thou holdest fast my Name, and hast not denied my Faith, even in those Days wherein Antipas was my faithful Martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few Things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the Doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a Stumbling-block before the Children of Israel, to eat Things sacrificed to Idols, and to commit Fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the Sword of my Mouth. Some have Lyran. Aureol. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 4. c. 15.thought, that the Angel of Pergamus, mentioned here, was St. Carpus, who suffered Martyrdom at Pergamus, as we learn from Eusebius. But he does not acquaint us that he was then Bishop of this Church. The Roman Martyrology makes him Bishop of Thyatira; but besides, St. Carpus died under the Empire of Decius. Therefore it is not at all credible, that he could be Bishop of Pergamus under Dioclesian.a Now Pergamus was a City of Troas, very considerable in the Time of St. John the Evangelist. ‘Twas at Pergamus, as they say, that Parchment was invented, called thence Pergamena.

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