"But it is not possible that the Gospels
can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For since there are
four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds,
while the church has been scattered throughout the world, and since the
'pillar and ground' of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life,
it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing incorruption
on every side, and vivifying human afresh. From this fact, it is evident
that the Logos, the fashioner demiourgos
of all, he that sits on the cherubim and holds all things together,
when he was manifested to humanity, gave us the gospel under four forms
but bound together by one spirit."
-- "church father" Iranaeus in Against Heresies, 180 CE, 3.11.8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irenaeus
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