Eusebius of Caesarea — Church History 26

1. In those days also Melito , bishop of the parish in Sardis , and Apolinarius, bishop of Hierapolis, enjoyed great distinction. Each of them on his own part addressed apologies in behalf of the faith to the above-mentioned emperor of the Romans who was reigning at that time.

2. The following works of these writers have come to our knowledge . Of Melito , the two books On the Passover , and one On the Conduct of Life and the Prophets , the discourse On the Church , and one On the Lord's Day , still further one On the Faith of Man , and one On his Creation , another also On the Obedience of Faith , and one On the Senses ; besides these the work On the Soul and Body , and that On Baptism , and the one On Truth , and On the Creation and Generation of Christ ; his discourse also On Prophecy , and that On Hospitality ; still further, The Key , and the books On the Devil and the Apocalypse of John , and the work On the Corporeality of God , and finally the book addressed to Antoninus .

3. In the books On the Passover he indicates the time at which he wrote, beginning with these words: While Servilius Paulus was proconsul of Asia, at the time when Sagaris suffered martyrdom , there arose in Laodicea a great strife concerning the Passover , which fell according to rule in those days; and these were written.

4. And Clement of Alexandria refers to this work in his own discourse On the Passover , which, he says, he wrote on occasion of Melito's work.