Apoloniusz z Tiany. Święty czy szarlatan?
Apollonius of Tyana. A saint or a charlatan?

Summary/Abstract: Krzysztof Gębura’s paper, entitled Apollonios from Tyana. The Saint or the Charlatan, raises the subject of life of the famous pagan, pytagorean philosopher and man who did many miracles. Apollonios from Tyana lived in the Greek territory of the Roman Empire in the first century A.C. The text is divided into three parts. In the first part the sources of knowledge about Appolonios are discussed. Many of them are known from discussions between pagan and Christian intellectuals, who lived after his death. The most important testimony is the biography of Apollonios by Flavius Filostratos connected with the court of widow Iulia Domna, former wife of imperator Septymius Sever, worshipper of Apollonios. The second part of this paper attempts at showing the fantastic life of our philosopher and at picking out the miraculous and true moments of his religious activity, his journey to India, Egypt, Etiopia, Rome and Spain. The third part of the article provides the answer to the question stated in the title. It seems Apollonios of Tyana was not a charlatan but he was the man named theos aner in the pagan sense of this term. He was an eminent pagan holy man, who - throughout his life - holds intellectual discussions with Christians.

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