manifestly spurious and entirely untrustworthy, and belongs to the latter part of the fourth century. The true Pionius therefore, who suffered under Decius, and the pseudo-Pionius who wrote that life are to be sharply distinguished." According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, (chapter 22) Gaius transcribed the text of the Martyrdom of Polycarp from the papers of Irenaeus; Socrates (or Isocrates) then transcribed the text from Gaius' copy; then it says Pionius produced his own copy after assembling papers "worn with age". "Ehrman assumes that this is the Pionius of Smyrna who was martyred during the Decian persecution c.250 AD. Kleist disagrees and correlates this Pionius with the author of the Vita Pol. instead. Naturally some scholars have equated all three." Dating Pionius' death In the second century, Asia Minor experienced several regional persecutions from varying causes. Emperor Marcus Aurelius' mandata (mandates) to the provincial governors to impose severe punishments on the sacrilegious were believed by the Bishop of Sardeis to be triggering manhunts. The vast majority of scholars date the "Martyrdom of Polycarp" to this period (c.155-168 AD). In the Historia Ecclesiae 4.14-15, Eusebius gives an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, which is well attested, and other martyrs of the same period, and includes: "... Pionius, who made some excellent apologies for the Christian faith, were likewise burnt." McGiffert says, "Eusebius has fallen into a serious chronological blunder by making these other martyrs contemporaries of Polycarp. We learn from a notice in the document by Ruinart that Pionius ... and the others were put to death during the persecution of Decius in 250 AD and this date is confirmed by external evidence." Possible explanations for this error include a phrase Eusebius repeats in the heading of the document indicating these martyrdoms took place at the same season of the year, while Eusebius may have mistakenly interpreted that to mean at the same time. The Martyrdom of Pionius and his Companions says, "On the second day of the sixth month, on the occasion of a great Sabbath, and on the anniversary of the blessed martyr Polycarp, while the persecution of Decius was still on, there were arrested the presbyter Pionius ... It was Saturday ..." The "sixth month" appears to be a reference to the modern month of March. While the Catholic Encyclopedia says Pionius was arrested on 23 February 250 and killed on 12 March, Monroy says German theologian