mountainman

Only the new and official prototype canon (including "The Shepherd, etc") which as a result precipitated the authorship of the "Gnostic Gospels and Acts".

Yes two separate parallel publications in religion and politics.
(1) 300 years of RELIGION: Eusebius's "Historia Ecclesiastica".
(2) 300 years of POLITICS: Unknown author of "Historia Augusta". <<==== Did Eusebius oversee this ?

He was "Pontifex Maximus" and thus in charge of the preservation of the literature.
The historical facts suggest he was also in charge of its destruction and prohibition.

I am inclined to view the historicity of Celsus in the same way as we view the historicity of Aelius Xiphidius. Was there an historical Aelius Xiphidius, a name which appears only in the "Historia Augusta", dedicated to Constantine.