[3] The Latin version attributes the Acts to Polycrates of Ephesus (c. 130–196); however, the Greek original has no such attestation, thus indicating that such an ascription of authorship was a later addition.
[11] The Acts tell how Paul had consecrated Timothy as bishop during Nero's reign on the occasion of a visit to Ephesus which they made together.
[12] In this "devilish and abominable festival," as Photius calls it[13] men with masks on their faces and with clubs in their hands went about "assaulting without restraint free men and respectable women, perpetrating murders of no common sort and shedding endless blood in the best parts of the city, as if they were performing a religious duty.
[15] As Klauck describes it, Timothy "attempts to put an end to the wild and violent goings-on but himself falls victim to the orgies.
[17] Usener explains this odd situation as being due perhaps to the material having come originally from an earlier history of the Ephesian church.
Some followers of the disciples of the Lord, not knowing how to put in order certain papyri which were written in different languages and put together in random fashion by these disciples and which dealt with the miracles of the Lord Jesus which had taken place in their time, came to the city of Ephesus and by common consent brought them (the papyri) to John the renowned theologian.