Patristic A.D. 735
“St. Luke points out, that this taxing was either the first of those which comprehended the whole world, for before this very many parts of the earth are often mentioned as having been taxed; or first began at that time when Cyrinus was sent into Syria.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 2:1-5
PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗