Methodius of Olympus

Bishop in Lycia (of Olympus, by Jerome's account) who died a martyr in the last persecution. He was the first great critic of Origen, and defended the bodily resurrection. His Banquet of the Ten Virgins (Symposium), modelled on Plato's dialogue, praises consecrated virginity. In its eighth discourse the virgin Thekla reads the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12 as the Church, who brings forth Christ in the baptised. Some writings printed under his name, among them the oration on Simeon and Anna, are later works.