Section 247
114Eusebius, HE 1.13.20 (ϰαì ϰατέβη εἰς τòν ᾃδην, ϰαì δɩέσϰɩσε φϱαγμòν τòν ἐξ αἰѽνος μὴ σϰɩσθέντα, ϰαì ἀνήγεɩϱεν νεϰϱούς, ϰαì ϰατέβη μóνος, ἀνέβη δὲ μετὰ πολλοῦ ὄϰλου πϱòς τòν πατέϱα αὐτοῦ). There is a markedly similar passage in the longer (post-Ignatian) recension of the letters of Ignatius (Trail. 9:4): ϰαì ϰατῆλθεν εἰς ᾃδην μóνος, ἀνῆλθεν δó μετὰ πλήθους ϰαì ἔσϰɩσεν τòν ἀπ’ αἰѽνος φϱαγμòν ϰαì τì μεσóτοɩϰον αὐτοῦ ἔλυσεν (“He went down to Hades alone, but ascended with a multitude; and he rent the barrier which had existed from eternity and broke down its intervening wall”). The occurrence of φϱαγμóς and μεσóτοɩϰον together in Pseudo-Ignatius suggests dependence on our Ephesians passage (τò μεσóτοɩϰον τοῦ φϱαγμοῦ λύσας), although the figure is applied differently.
115Josephus, BJ 5.194. Two of these Greek notices have been discovered—one in 1871 (now in the Archaeological Museum, Istanbul) and one in 1934 (now in the Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem). See C. S. Clermont-Ganneau, “Une stèle du Temple de Jèrusalem,” RA 13 (1872), 214-34, 290-96 (cf. CIJ 2.1400); J. H. Iliffe, “The Thanatos Inscription from Herod’s Temple: Fragments of a Second Copy,” QDAP 6 (1938), 1-3.
116The question is asked by M. Dibelius, An die Kolosser, An die Epheser, An Philemon (Tübingen, 31953), p. 69. E. J. Goodspeed sees the Jerusalem temple barrier here, but thinks that its figurative use in this context was suggested by its actual destruction in A.D. 70 (The Meaning of Ephesians[Chicago, 1933], p. 37).