Beccles.
145. _[Greek: Kolobodaktylos.]_--In the seventh book of Origen's
_Philosophumena_, chap. xxx., speaking of Marcion, the writer says:
"When therefore Marcion, or any of his currish followers, barks at
the Demiurgus, bringing forward these arguments about the
opposition of good and evil, they must be told that neither the
Apostle Paul, nor Mark [Greek: ho kolobodaktylos] (_i.e._ the
stump-fingered), promulgated any such doctrines; for nothing of
the kind is found written in the Gospel according to Mark."
Is this epithet of Mark the Evangelist mentioned by any other of the
fathers, or is it known how it originated? It is also to be remarked
that Luke, not Mark, according to the received opinion, was the
evangelist whose authority Marcion admitted, and whose text he tampered
with to suit his own views. Is Origen supported in his account of the
matter by any other writer?