Tyrannius Rufinus

In his own words on Philemon

• Philemon 1:23

  There are one or two more things on which he wishes condemnation to be passed. One is this: that these men say that the body is a prison, and like a chain round the soul; and that they assert that the soul does not depart, but returns to the place where it originally was. Let me give quotations to show his opinion on this point also.... And in the Commentary on Paul's Epistle to Philemon, at the place where he says "Epaphras my fellow-prisoner greeteth you," some way down he says: "Possibly, however, as some think, a more recondite and mysterious view is set before us, namely, that the two companions had been captured and bound and brought down into this vale of tears." You see how he represents these opinions as things which are held as a kind of esoteric mystery by certain persons, of whom, however, he is one.

  The Apology of Rufinus, Book 1