A Scholar's Son in Syrian Laodicea
Apollinaris was born around 310 at Laodicea in Syria, the seaport now called Latakia, not the Laodicea of Phrygia addressed in the book of Revelation. His father, also named Apollinaris, was a grammarian from Alexandria who became a presbyter at Laodicea, and the son served there as a reader. Both were learned in Greek literature. The historians Socrates and Sozomen report that the city's bishop once excommunicated the two for attending a recital by a pagan rhetorician that included a hymn to Dionysus, and later restored them after penance.
The younger Apollinaris became one of the most learned Christians of his century. Jerome, who heard him lecture at Antioch, admired his skill in Scripture even while rejecting his teaching about Christ. He wrote thirty books against the pagan philosopher Porphyry, commentaries on many books of the Bible, and works against the Arians.
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