A Source Book for Ancient Church History
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Title: A Source Book for Ancient Church History
Author: Joseph Cullen Ayer
Release date: April 2, 2008 [eBook #24979]
Most recently updated: June 20, 2020
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SOURCE BOOK FOR ANCIENT CHURCH HISTORY ***
*A Source Book for Ancient Church History*
*From the Apostolic Age to the Close of the Conciliar Period*
*by Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D.*
Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Divinity School of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia
New York
Charles Scribner’s Sons
1913
CONTENTS
Errata.
Preface.
General Bibliographical Note
The First Division Of Ancient Christianity: The Church Under The Heathen
Empire: To A. D. 324
Period I. The Apostolic Age: To Circa A. D. 100
§ 1. The Neronian Persecution
§ 2. The Death of Peter and Paul
§ 3. The Death of the Apostle John
§ 4. The Persecution under Domitian
Period II. The Post-Apostolic Age: A. D. 100-A. D. 140
§ 5. Christianity and Judaism
§ 6. The Extension of Christianity
§ 7. Relation of the Roman State to Christianity
§ 8. Martyrdom and the Desire for Martyrdom
§ 9. The Position of the Roman Community of Christians in the Church
§ 10. Chiliastic Expectations
§ 11. The Church and the World
§ 12. Theological Ideas
§ 13. Worship in the Post-Apostolic Period
§ 14. Church Organization
§ 15. Church Discipline
§ 16. Moral Ideas in the Post-Apostolic Period
Period III. The Critical Period: A. D. 140 to A. D. 200
Chapter I. The Church In Relation To The Empire And Heathen Culture
§ 17. The Extension of Christianity
§ 18. Heathen Religious Feeling and Culture in Relation to
Christianity
§ 19. The Attitude of the Roman Government toward Christians, A.
D. 138 to A. D. 192
§ 20. The Literary Defence of Christianity
Chapter II. The Internal Crisis: The Gnostic And Other Heretical
Sects
§ 21. The Earlier Gnostics: Gnosticism in General
§ 22. The Greater Gnostic Systems: Basilides and Valentinus
§ 23. Marcion
§ 24. Encratites
§ 25. Montanism
Chapter III. The Defence Against Heresy
§ 26. The Beginnings of Councils as a Defence against Heresy
§ 27. The Apostolic Tradition and the Episcopate
§ 28. The Canon or the Authoritative New Testament Writings
§ 29. The Apostles’ Creed
§ 30. Later Gnosticism
§ 31. The Results of the Crisis
Chapter IV. The Beginnings Of Catholic Theology
§ 32. The Apologetic Conception of Christianity
(A) The Logos Doctrine
(B) The Doctrine of the Trinity
(C) Moralistic Christianity
(D) Argument from Hebrew Prophecy
§ 33. The Asia Minor Conception of Christianity
Period IV. The Age Of The Consolidation Of The Church: 200 to 324 A. D.
Chapter I. The Political And Religious Conditions Of The Empire
§ 34. State and Church under Septimius Severus and Caracalla
§ 35. Religious Syncretism in the Third Century
§ 36. The Religious Policy of the Emperors from Heliogabalus to
Philip the Arabian, 217-249
§ 37. The Extension of the Church at the Middle of the Third
Century
Chapter II. The Internal Development Of The Church In Doctrine,
Custom, And Constitution
§ 38. The Easter Controversy and the Separation of the Churches
of Asia Minor from the Western Churches
§ 39. The Religion of the West: Its Moral and Juristic Character
§ 40. The Monarchian Controversies
(A) Dynamistic Monarchianism
(B) Modalistic Monarchianism
§ 41. Later Montanism and the Consequences of its Exclusion from
the Church
§ 42. The Penitential Discipline
§ 43. The Catechetical School of Alexandria: Clement and Origen
§ 44. Neo-Platonism
Chapter III. The First General Persecution And Its Consequences
§ 45. The Decian-Valerian Persecution
§ 46. Effects of the Persecution upon the Inner Life of the
Church
Chapter IV. The Period Of Peace For The Church: A. D. 260 To A. D.
303
§ 47. The Chiliastic Controversy
§ 48. Theology of the Second Half of the Third Century under the
Influence of Origen
§ 49. The Development of the Cultus
§ 50. The Episcopate in the Church
§ 51. The Unity of the Church and the See of Rome
§ 52. Controversy over Baptism by Heretics
§ 53. The Beginnings of Monasticism
§ 54. Manichæanism
Chapter V. The Last Great Persecution
§ 55. The Reorganization of the Empire by Diocletian
§ 56. The Diocletian Persecution
§ 57. Rise of Schisms in Consequence of the Diocletian
Persecution
The Second Division Of Ancient Christianity: The Church Under The
Christian Empire: From 312 To Circa 750
Period I: The Imperial State Church Of The Undivided Empire, Or Until
The Death Of Theodosius The Great, 395
Chapter I. The Church And Empire Under Constantine
§ 58. The Empire under Constantine and His Sons
§ 59. Favor Shown the Church by Constantine
§ 60. The Repression of Heathenism under Constantine
§ 61. The Donatist Schism under Constantine
§ 62. Constantine’s Endeavors to Bring about the Unity of the
Church by Means of General Synods: The Councils of Arles and
Nicæa
Chapter II. The Arian Controversy Until The Extinction Of The
Dynasty Of Constantine
§ 63. The Outbreak of the Arian Controversy and the Council of
Nicæa, A. D. 325
§ 64. The Beginnings of the Eusebian Reaction under Constantine
§ 65. The Victory of the Anti-Nicene Party in the East
§ 66. Collapse of the Anti-Nicene Middle Party; the Renewal of
Arianism; the Rise of the Homoousian Party
§ 67. The Policy of the Sons of Constantine Toward Heathenism and
Donatism
§ 68. Julian the Apostate
Chapter III. The Triumph Of The New Nicene Orthodoxy Over Heterodoxy
And Heathenism
§ 69. The Emperors from Jovian to Theodosius and Their Policy
toward Heathenism and Arianism
§ 70. The Dogmatic Parties and Their Mutual Relations
§ 71. The Emperor Theodosius and the Triumph of the New Nicene
Orthodoxy at the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381
Chapter IV. The Empire And The Imperial State Church
§ 72. The Constitution of the State Church
(A) The Ecumenical Council
(B) The Hierarchical Organization
§ 73. Sole Authority of the State Church
§ 74. The Position of the State Church in the Social Order of the
Empire
§ 75. Social Significance of the State Church
§ 76. Popular Piety and the Reception of Heathenism in the Church
§ 77. The Extension of Monasticism Throughout the Empire
§ 78. Celibacy of the Clergy and the Regulation of Clerical
Marriage
Period II. The Church From The Permanent Division Of The Empire Until
The Collapse Of The Western Empire And The First Schism Between The
East And The West, Or Until About A. D. 500
Chapter I. The Church At The Beginning Of The Permanent Separation
Of The Two Parts Of The Roman Empire
§ 79. The Empire of the Dynasty of Theodosius.
§ 80. The Extension of the Church about the Beginning of the
Fifth Century
Chapter II. The Church Of The Western Empire In The Fifth Century
§ 81. The Western Church Toward the End of the Fourth Century
§ 82. Augustine’s Life and Place in the Western Church
§ 83. Augustine and the Donatist Schism
§ 84. The Pelagian Controversy
§ 85. Semi-Pelagian Controversy
§ 86. The Roman Church as the Centre of the Catholic Roman
Element of the West
Chapter III. The Church In The Eastern Empire.
§ 87. The First Origenistic Controversy and the Triumph of
Traditionalism
§ 88. The Christological Problem and the Theological Tendencies
§ 89. The Nestorian Controversy; the Council of Ephesus A. D.
431.
§ 90. The Eutychian Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon A.
D. 451
§ 91. Results of the Decision of Chalcedon: the Rise of Schisms
from the Monophysite Controversy
§ 92. The Church of Italy under the Ostrogoths and during the
first Schism between Rome and the Eastern Church
Period III. The Dissolution Of The Imperial State Church And The
Transition To The Middle Ages: From The Beginning Of The Sixth Century
To The Latter Part Of The Eighth
Chapter I. The Church In The Eastern Empire
§ 93. The Age of Justinian
§ 94. The Byzantine State Church under Justinian
§ 95. The Definitive Type of Religion in the East: Dionysius the
Areopagite
Chapter II. The Transition To The Middle Ages. The Foundation Of The
Germanic National Churches
§ 96. The Celtic Church in the British Isles
§ 97. The Conversion of the Franks. The Establishment of
Catholicism in the Germanic Kingdoms
§ 98. The State Church in the Germanic Kingdoms
§ 99. Gregory the Great and the Roman Church in the Second Half
of the Sixth Century
§ 100. The Foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Church
Chapter III. The Foundation Of The Ecclesiastical Institutions Of
The Middle Ages
§ 101. Foundation of the Mediæval Diocesan and Parochial
Constitution
§ 102. Western Piety and Thought in the Period of the Conversion
of the Barbarians
§ 103. The Foundation of the Mediæval Penitential System
§ 104. The New Monasticism and the Rule of Benedict of Nursia
§ 105. Foundation of Mediæval Culture and Schools
Chapter IV. The Revolution In The Ecclesiastical And Political
Situation Due To The Rise Of Islam And The Doctrinal Disputes In The
Eastern Church
§ 106. The Rise and Extension of Islam
§ 107. The Monothelete Controversy and the Sixth General Council,
Constantinople A. D. 681
§ 108. Rome, Constantinople, and the Lombard State Church in the
Seventh Century
§ 109. Rome, Constantinople, and the Lombards in the Period of
the First Iconoclastic Controversy; the Seventh General Council,
Nicæa, A. D. 787
Index
Footnotes
ERRATA.
[Transcriber’s Note: These corrections have already been applied to the
text in this e-book.]
Page 55, line 26. Lucian, of Samosata, does, etc.: omit commas.
Page 65, lines 20, 21, 25, 27, 31, 34, 35, 36. For, Ptolomæus: read,
Ptolemæus.
Page 77, line 27. For, Ptolomæus: read, Ptolemæus.
Page 77, line 28. Panarion, Italics. [_Panarion_ is the title of the
book.]
Page 93, line 34. For, Ptolomæus: read, Ptolemæus.
Page 95, lines 9, 11. For, Ptolomæus: read, Ptolemæus.
Page 110, line 11. Insert after V, 24: (given below, § 38).
Page 128, line 12. For, and to use it: read, and use it.
Page 245, line 16. Transpose so as to read: Were the sacraments they
administered to be regarded, then,
Page 267, line 20. For, are: read, art.
Page 273, line 1. For, is: read, are.
Page 282, line 29. For, exemptions from the clergy: read, exemptions of
the clergy.
Page 283, line 24. For, V. _supra_, 58 _f._: read, V. _supra_ § 58, _f._
Page 299, line 18. For, Constantinople: read, Alexandria.
Page 306, line 14. Add: And in the Holy Ghost. [This should stand as a
sentence by itself, although there is no complete sentence.]
Page 316, line 6. For, _desensus_: read, _descensus_.
Page 337, line 6. For, 368: read, 378.
Page 361, note. Omit all after: Council of Chalcedon in 451; changing
comma to period.
Page 402, line 19. For, Milcoe: read, Mileve.
Page 579, line 24. Insert comma after: common faith.
Page 594, line 22. For, will: read, wilt.
Page 603, line 31. For, rivalries: read, rivalry.
Page 627, line 28. For, days: read, days’.
Page 697, line 1. For, ἀσπασμον: read ἀσπασμὸν.
Page 705, col. 2, lines 29, 30. For, Ptolomæus: read, Ptolemæus.
PREFACE.
The value of the source-book has long been recognized in the teaching of
general history. In ecclesiastical history quite as much use can be made
of the same aid in instruction. It is hoped that the present book may
supply a want increasingly felt by teachers employing modern methods in
teaching ecclesiastical history. It has grown out of classroom work, and
is addressed primarily to those who are teaching and studying the history
of the Christian Church in universities and seminaries. But it is hoped
that it may serve the constantly increasing number interested in the early
history of Christianity.
In the arrangement of the selected illustrative material, a chronological
analysis and grouping of topics has been followed, according to the lines
of treatment employed by K. Müller, F. Loofs, Von Schubert in his edition
of Moeller’s text-book, and by Hergenröther to some extent. The whole
history of ancient Christianity has accordingly been divided into
comparatively brief periods and subdivided into chapters and sections.
These divisions are connected and introduced by brief analyses and
characterizations, with some indications of additional source material
available in English.
A bibliography originally prepared for each chapter and section has been
omitted. When the practical question arose of either reducing the amount
of source material to admit a bibliography, or of making the book too
expensive for general use by students, the main purpose of the book
determined the only way of avoiding two unsatisfactory solutions of the
problem, and the bibliography has been omitted. In this there may be less
loss than at first appears. The student of ecclesiastical history is
fortunately provided with ample bibliographical material for the ancient
Church in the universally available theological and other encyclopædias
which have very recently appeared or are in course of publication, and in
the recent works on patristics. Possibly the time has come when, in place
of duplicating bibliographies, reliance in such matters upon the work of
others may not be regarded as mortal sin against the ethics of
scholarship. A list of works has been given in the General Bibliographical
Note, which the student is expected to consult and to which the instructor
should encourage him to go for further information and bibliographical
material.
The book presupposes the use of a text-book of Church history, such as
those by Cheetham, Kurtz, Moeller, Funk, or Duchesne, and a history of
doctrine, such as those of Seeberg, Bethune-Baker, Fisher, or Tixeront.
Readings in more elaborate treatises, special monographs, and secular
history may well be left to the direction of the instructor.
The translations, with a few exceptions which are noted, are referred for
the sake of convenience to the _Patrology_ of Migne or Mansi’s _Concilia_.
Although use has been freely made of the aid offered by existing
translations, especially those of the _Ante-Nicene_ and _Post-Nicene
Fathers_, yet all translations have been revised in accordance with the
best critical texts available. The aim in the revision has been accuracy
and closeness to the original without too gross violation of the English
idiom, and with exactness in the rendering of ecclesiastical and
theological technical terms. Originality is hardly to be expected in such
a work as this.
An author may not be conscious of any attempt to make his selection of
texts illustrate or support any particular phase of Christian belief or
ecclesiastical polity, and his one aim may be to treat the matter
objectively and to render his book useful to all, yet he ought not to
flatter himself that in either respect he has been entirely successful. In
ecclesiastical history, no more than in any other branch of history, is it
possible for an author who is really absorbed in his work to eliminate
completely the personal equation. He should be glad to be informed of any
instance in which he may have unwittingly failed in impartiality, that
when occasion presented he might correct it. The day has gone by in which
ecclesiastical history can not be treated save as a branch of polemical
theology or as an apologetic for any particular phase of Christian belief
or practice. It has at last become possible to teach the history of the
Christian Church, for many centuries the greatest institution of Western
Europe, in colleges and universities in conjunction with other historical
courses.
This volume has been prepared at the suggestion of the American Society of
Church History, and valuable suggestions have been gained from the
discussions of that society. To Professor W. W. Rockwell, of Union
Theological Seminary, New York, Professor F. A. Christie, of Meadville
Theological School, the late Professor Samuel Macauley Jackson, of New
York, and Professor Ephraim Emerton, of Harvard University, I have also
been indebted for advice. The first two named were members with me of a
committee on a _Source-Book for Church History_ appointed several years
ago by the American Society of Church History.
That the book now presented to the public may be of service to the teacher
and student of ecclesiastical history is my sincere wish. It may easily
happen that no one else would make just the same selection of sources here
made. But it is probable that the principal documents, those on which the
majority would agree and which are most needed by the teacher in his work,
are included among those presented. There are, no doubt, slips and defects
in a book written at intervals in a teacher’s work. With the kind
co-operation of those who detect them, they may be corrected when an
opportunity occurs.
JOSEPH CULLEN AYER, JR.
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Under each period special collections of available sources are to be
found. The student is not given any bibliography of works bearing on the
topics, but is referred to the following accessible works of reference of
recent date for additional information and bibliographies:
_The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopædia of Religious Knowledge_, edited by S.
M. Jackson, New York, 1908-12.
_The Catholic Encyclopædia_, New York, 1907-12.
_The Encyclopædia Britannica_, eleventh edition, Cambridge, 1910.
_The Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, edited by J. Hastings,
Edinburgh and New York, 1908 ff. (In course of publication.)
For the patristic writers, their lives, works, editions, and other
bibliographical matter, see:
G. Krüger, _History of Early Christian Literature in the First Three
Centuries_, English translation by C. R. Gillett, New York, 1897. Cited as
Krüger.
B. Bardenhewer, _Patrologie_, Freiburg-i.-B., 1911, English translation of
second edition (1901) by T. J. Shahan, St. Louis, 1908. Cited as
Bardenhewer.
In addition to the encyclopædias the following are indispensable, and
should be consulted:
Smith and Wace, _Dictionary of Christian Biography_, Literature, Sects and
Doctrines, London, 1877-87. (The Condensed Edition of 1911 by no means
takes the place of this standard work.) Cited DCB.
Smith and Cheetham, _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, London,
1875-80. Cited DCA.
Advanced students and those capable of using French and German are
referred to the following, which have admirable and authoritative articles
and ample bibliographies:
_Realencyclopædie für protestantische Theologie_, edited by A. Hauck,
Leipsic, 1896 _ff._ Two supplementary volumes appeared in 1913. Cited PRE.
_Kirchenlexicon oder Encyclopædie der katholischen Theologie und ihrer
Hilfswissenschaften_, second edition, by J. Hergenröther und F. Kaulen,
Freiburg-i.-B., 1882-1901. Cited KL.
_Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique_, edited by A. Vacant and E.
Mangenot, Paris, 1903 _ff._
_Dictionnaire d’Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie_, edited by F.
Cabrol, 1903 _ff._
_Dictionnaire d’Histoire et de Géographie Ecclesiastiques_; edited by A.
Baudrillart, A. Vogt, and U. Roziès, Paris, 1909 _ff._
Collections of sources in the original languages, easily procured and to
be consulted for texts and to some extent for bibliographies:
C. Mirbt, _Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttums und des römischen
Katholizismus_, third edition, Tübingen, 1911. Cited as Mirbt.
C. Kirch, S. J., _Enchiridion fontium historiæ ecclesiasticæ antiquæ_.
Freiburg-i.-B., 1910. Cited as Kirch.
H. Denziger, _Enchiridion symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de
rebus fidei et morum_, eleventh edition, edited by Clemens Bannwart, S.
J., Freiburg-i.-B., 1911. Cited as Denziger.
A. Hahn. _Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der alten Kirche_,
third edition, Breslau, 1897. Cited as Hahn.
G. Krüger. _Sammlung ausgewählter kirchen und dogmengeschichtlicher
Quellenschriften_, Freiburg-i.-B.
Of this useful collection especially important are the following of more
general application:
E. Preuschen, _Analecta: Kürzere Texte zur Geschichte der alten Kirche und
des Kanons_, second edition, 1909-10.
F. Lauchert, _Die Kanones der wichtigsten altkirchlichen Concilien nebst
den apostolischen Kanones_.
R. Knopf, _Ausgewählte Märtyreracten_. Cited as Knopf.
Other volumes are cited in connection with topics.
H. T. Bruns, _Canones apostolorum et conciliorum sæculorum IV, V, VI,
VII_, Berlin, 1839. Cited as Bruns.
Although not source-books, yet of very great value for the sources they
contain should be mentioned:
J. C. L. Gieseler, _A Text-Book of Church History_, English translation,
New York, 1857.
K. R. Hagenbach, _A History of Christian Doctrines_, English translation,
Edinburgh, 1883-85.
C. J. Hefele, _Conciliengeschichte_, Freiburg-i.-B., 1855-70. Second
edition, 1873 _et seq._ A new French translation with admirable
supplementary notes has just appeared. The English translation (_History
of the Councils_), Edinburgh, 1876-95, extends only through the eighth
century. Cited as Hefele.
THE FIRST DIVISION OF ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY: THE CHURCH UNDER THE HEATHEN
EMPIRE: TO A. D. 324
By the accession of Constantine to the sole sovereignty of the Roman
Empire, A. D. 324, ancient Christianity may be conveniently divided into
two great periods. In the first, it was a religion liable to persecution,
suffering severely at times and always struggling to maintain itself; in
the second, it became the religion of the State, and in its turn set about
to repress and persecute the heathen religions. It was no longer without
legal rights; it had the support of the secular rulers and was lavishly
endowed with wealth. The conditions of the Church in these two periods are
so markedly different, and the conditions had such a distinct effect upon
the life and growth of the Christian religion, that the reign of
Constantine is universally recognized as marking a transition from one
historical period to another, although no date which shall mark that
transition is universally accepted. The year 311, the year in which the
Diocletian persecution ceased, has been accepted by many as the dividing
point. The exact date adopted is immaterial.
The principal sources in English for the history of the Christian Church
before A. D. 324 are:
_The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down
to A. D. 325._ American edition, Buffalo and New York, 1885-1896; new
edition, New York, 1896 (a reprint). The collection, cited as ANF,
contains the bulk of the Christian literature of the period, with the
exception of the less important commentaries of Origen.
Eusebius, _Church History_. Translated with Prolegomena and Notes by
Arthur Cushman McGiffert. In _A Select Library of the Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church_. Second series, New York,
1890. The _Church History_ of Eusebius is the foundation of the study of
the history of the Church before A. D. 324, as it contains a vast number
of citations from works now lost. The edition by Professor McGiffert is
the best in English, and is provided with scholarly notes, which serve as
an elaborate commentary on the text. It should be in every library. This
work is cited as Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._ The text used in the extracts given
in this source book is that of Ed. Schwartz, in _Die Griechischen
Christlicher: Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte_. Kleine
Ausgabe, Leipsic, 1908. This text is identical with the larger and less
convenient edition by the same editor.
Period I. The Apostolic Age: To Circa A. D. 100
The period in the Church before the clash with Gnosticism and the rise of
an apologetic literature comprises the apostolic and the post-apostolic
ages. These names have become traditional. The so-called apostolic age, or
to circa 100, is that in which the Apostles lived, though the best
tradition makes John the only surviving Apostle for the last quarter of a
century.
The principal sources for the history of the Church in this period are the
books of the New Testament, and only to a slight degree the works of
contemporaneous Jewish and heathen writers. It is hardly necessary to
reproduce New Testament passages here. The Jewish references of importance
will be found in the works on the life of Christ and of St. Paul. As the
treatment of this period commonly falls under a different branch of study,
New Testament exegesis, it is not necessary in Church history to enter
into any detail. There are, however, a few references to events in this
period which are to be found only outside the New Testament, and are of
importance to the student of Church history. These are the Neronian
persecution (§ 1), the death of the Apostles (§§ 2, 3), and the
persecution under Domitian (§ 4). The paucity of references to
Christianity in the first century is due chiefly to the fact that
Christianity appeared to the men of the times as merely a very small
Oriental religion, struggling for recognition, and contending with many
others coming from the same region. It had not yet made any great advance
either in numbers or social importance.
§ 1. The Neronian Persecution
The Neronian persecution took place A. D. 64. The occasion was the great
fire which destroyed a large part of the city of Rome. To turn public
suspicion from himself as responsible for the fire, Nero attempted to make
the Christians appear as the incendiaries. Many were put to death in
horrible and fantastic ways. It was not, however, a persecution directed
against Christianity as an unlawful religion. It was probably confined to
Rome and at most the immediate vicinity, and there is no evidence that it
was a general persecution.
Additional source material: Lactantius, _De Mortibus Persecutorum_, ch. 2
(ANF, VII); Sulpicius Severus, Chronicon, II. 28 (PNF, ser. II, vol. XI).
(_a_) Tacitus, _Annales_, XV, 44. Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 3:1. Mirbt,
n. 3.
Tacitus (c. 52-c. 117), although not an eye-witness of the
persecution, had exceptionally good opportunities for obtaining
accurate information, and his account is entirely trustworthy. He
is the principal source for the persecution.
Neither by works of benevolence nor the gifts of the prince nor means of
appeasing the gods did the shameful suspicion cease, so that it was not
believed that the fire had been caused by his command. Therefore, to
overcome this rumor, Nero put in his own place as culprits, and punished
with most ingenious cruelty, men whom the common people hated for their
shameful crimes and called Christians. Christ, from whom the name was
derived, had been put to death in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator
Pontius Pilate. The deadly superstition, having been checked for a while,
began to break out again, not only throughout Judea, where this mischief
first arose, but also at Rome, where from all sides all things scandalous
and shameful meet and become fashionable. Therefore, at the beginning,
some were seized who made confessions; then, on their information, a vast
multitude was convicted, not so much of arson as of hatred of the human
race. And they were not only put to death, but subjected to insults, in
that they were either dressed up in the skins of wild beasts and perished
by the cruel mangling of dogs, or else put on crosses to be set on fire,
and, as day declined, to be burned, being used as lights by night. Nero
had thrown open his gardens for that spectacle, and gave a circus play,
mingling with the people dressed in a charioteer’s costume or driving in a
chariot. From this arose, however, toward men who were, indeed, criminals
and deserving extreme penalties, sympathy, on the ground that they were
destroyed not for the public good, but to satisfy the cruelty of an
individual.
(_b_) Clement of Rome, _Ep. ad Corinthios_, I, 5, 6. Funk, _Patres
Apostolici_, 1901. (MSG, 1:218.) Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 3:5.
The work known as the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
was written in the name of the Roman Church about 100. The
occasion was the rise of contentions in the Corinthian Church. The
name of Clement does not appear in the body of the epistle, but
there is no good ground for questioning the traditional ascription
to Clement, since before the end of the second century it was
quoted under his name by several writers. This Clement was
probably the third or fourth bishop of Rome. The epistle was
written soon after the Domitian persecution (A. D. 95), and refers
not only to that but also to an earlier persecution, which was
very probably that under Nero. As the reference is only by way of
illustration, the author gives little detail. The passage
translated is of interest as containing the earliest reference to
the death of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and the language used
regarding Paul has been thought to imply that he labored in parts
beyond Rome.
Ch. 5. But to leave the ancient examples, let us come to the champions who
lived nearest our times; let us take the noble examples of our generation.
On account of jealousy and envy the greatest and most righteous pillars of
the Church were persecuted, and contended even unto death. Let us set
before our eyes the good Apostles: Peter, who on account of unrighteous
jealousy endured not one nor two, but many sufferings, and so, having
borne his testimony, went to his deserved place of glory. On account of
jealousy and strife Paul pointed out the prize of endurance. After he had
been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned,
had been a preacher in the East and in the West, he received the noble
reward of his faith; having taught righteousness unto the whole world, and
having come to the farthest bounds of the West, and having borne witness
before rulers, he thus departed from the world and went unto the holy
place, having become a notable pattern of patient endurance.
Ch. 6. Unto these men who lived lives of holiness was gathered a vast
multitude of the elect, who by many indignities and tortures, being the
victims of jealousy, set the finest examples among us. On account of
jealousy women, when they had been persecuted as Danaïds and Dircæ, and
had suffered cruel and unholy insults, safely reached the goal in the race
of faith and received a noble reward, feeble though they were in body.
§ 2. The Death of Peter and Paul
Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, II, 25. (MSG, 20:207.) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 33.
For an examination of the merits of Eusebius as a historian, see
McGiffert’s edition, PNF, ser. II, vol. I, pp. 45-52; also J. B.
Lightfoot, art. “Eusebius (23) of Caesarea,” in DCB.
The works of Caius have been preserved only in fragments; see
Krüger, § 90. If he was a contemporary of Zephyrinus, he probably
lived during the pontificate of that bishop of Rome, 199-217 A. D.
The Phrygian heresy which Caius combated was Montanism; see below,
§ 25.
Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, was a contemporary of Soter, Bishop
of Rome, 166-174 A. D., whom he mentions in an epistle to the
Roman Church. Of his epistles only fragments have been preserved;
see Krüger, § 55. The following extract from his epistle to the
Roman Church is the earliest explicit statement that Peter and
Paul suffered martyrdom at the same time or that Peter was ever in
Italy. In connection with this extract, that from Clement of Rome
(see § 1, _a_) should be consulted; also Lactantius, _De Mortibus
Persecutorum_, ch. 2 (ANF).
It is therefore recorded that Paul was beheaded at Rome itself, and that
Peter was crucified likewise at the same time. This account of Peter and
Paul is confirmed by the fact that their names are preserved in the
cemeteries of that place even to the present time. It is confirmed no less
by a member of the Church, Caius by name, a contemporary of Zephyrinus,
Bishop of Rome. In carrying on a discussion in writing with Proclus, the
leader of the Phrygian heresy, he says as follows concerning the places
where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid Apostles are laid: “But I am
able to show the trophies of the Apostles. For if you will go to the
Vatican or to the Ostian Way, you will find the trophies of those who laid
the foundations of this church.” And that they two suffered martyrdom at
the same time is stated by Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, corresponding
with the Romans in writing, in the following words: “You have thus by such
admonition bound together the planting of Peter and Paul at Rome and at
Corinth. For both planted in our Corinth and likewise taught us, and in
like manner in Italy they both taught and suffered martyrdom at the same
time.”
§ 3. The Death of the Apostle John
(_a_) Irenæus, _Adversus Hæreses_, II, 22, 5; III, 3, 4. (MSG, 7:785,
854.)
Irenæus was bishop of Lyons soon after 177. He was born in Asia
Minor about 120, and was a disciple of Polycarp (ob. circa 155)
and of other elders who had seen John, the disciple of the Lord.
II, 22, 5. Those in Asia associated with John, the disciple of the Lord,
testify that John delivered it [a tradition regarding the length of
Christ’s ministry] to them. For he remained among them until the time of
Trajan [98-117 A. D.].
III, 3, 4. But the church in Ephesus also, which was founded by Paul, and
where John remained until the time of Trajan, is a faithful witness of the
apostolic tradition.
(_b_) Jerome, _Comm. ad Galat._ (MSL, 26:462.)
The following extract from Jerome’s commentary on Galatians is of
such late date as to be of doubtful value as an authority. There
is, however, nothing improbable in it, and it is in harmony with
other traditions. It is to be taken as a tradition which at any
rate represents the opinion of the fourth century regarding the
Apostle John. _Cf._ Jerome, _De Viris Inlustribus_, ch. 9 (PNF,
ser. II, vol. III, 364).
When the holy Evangelist John had lived to extreme old age in Ephesus, he
could be carried only with difficulty by the hands of the disciples, and
as he was not able to pronounce more words, he was accustomed to say at
every assembly, “Little children, love one another.” At length the
disciples and brethren who were present became tired of hearing always the
same thing and said: “Master, why do you always say this?” Thereupon John
gave an answer worthy of himself: “Because this is the commandment of the
Lord, and if it is observed then is it enough.”
(_c_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 31. (MSG, 20:279.)
Polycrates was bishop of Ephesus and a contemporary of Victor of
Rome (189-199 A. D.). His date cannot be fixed more precisely. The
reference to the “high priest’s mitre” is obscure; see J. B.
Lightfoot, _Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians_, p. 345. A
longer extract from this epistle of Polycrates will be found under
the Easter Controversy (§ 38).
The time of John’s death has been given in a general way,(1) but his
burial-place is indicated by an epistle of Polycrates (who was bishop of
the parish of Ephesus) addressed to Victor of Rome, mentioning him,
together with the Apostle Philip and his daughters, in the following
words: “For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise
again at the last day, at the coming of the Lord, when he shall come with
glory from heaven and seek out all the saints. Among these are Philip, one
of the twelve Apostles, who sleeps at Hierapolis, and his two aged virgin
daughters, and another daughter who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests
at Ephesus; and moreover John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who
reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and being a priest wore the high
priest’s mitre, also sleeps at Ephesus.”
§ 4. The Persecution under Domitian
What is commonly called the persecution under Domitian (81-96) does not
seem to have been a persecution of Christianity as such. The charges of
atheism and superstition may have been due to heathen misunderstanding of
the Christian faith and worship. There is no sufficient ground for
identifying Flavius Clemens with the Clemens who was bishop of Rome. For
bibliography of the persecution under Domitian, see Preuschen, _Analecta_,
second ed., I, 11.
(_a_) Cassius Dio (excerpt. per Xiphilinum), _Hist. Rom._, LXVII, 14 _f._
Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 4:11.
For Cassius Dio, see _Encyc. Brit._, art. “Dio Cassius.”
At that time (95) the road which leads from Sinuessa to Puteoli was paved.
And in the same year Domitian caused Flavius Clemens along with many
others to be put to death, although he was his cousin and had for his wife
Flavia Domitilla, who was also related to him. The charge of atheism was
made against both of them, in consequence of which many others also who
had adopted the customs of the Jews were condemned. Some were put to
death, others lost their property. Domitilla, however, was only banished
to Pandataria.
(_b_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 18. (MSG, 20:252.)
To such a degree did the teaching of our faith flourish at that time(2)
that even those writers who were far from our religion did not hesitate to
mention in their histories the persecutions and martyrdoms which took
place during that time. And they, indeed, accurately indicate the time.
For they record that, in the fifteenth year of Domitian, Flavia Domitilla,
daughter of a sister of Flavius Clemens, who was at that time one of the
consuls of Rome, was exiled with many others to the island of Pontia(3) in
consequence of testimony borne to Christ.
Period II. The Post-Apostolic Age: A. D. 100-A. D. 140
The post-apostolic age, extending from circa 100 to circa 140, is the age
of the beginnings of Gentile Christianity on an extended scale. It is
marked by the rapid spread of Christianity, so that immediately after its
close the Church is found throughout the Roman world, and the Roman
Government is forced to take notice of it and deal with it as a religion
(§§ 6, 7); the decline of the Jewish element in the Church and extreme
hostility of Judaism to the Church (§ 5); the continuance of chiliastic
expectations (§ 10); the beginnings of the passion for martyrdom (§ 8); as
well as the appearance of the forms of organization and worship which
subsequently became greatly elaborated and remained permanently in the
Church (§§ 12-15); as also the appearance of religious and moral ideas
which became dominant in the ancient Church (§§ 11, 12, 16). The
literature of the period upon which the study of the conditions and
thought of the Church of this age must be based is represented principally
by the so-called Apostolic Fathers, a name which is convenient, but
misleading and to be regretted. These are Clement of Rome, Barnabas,
Ignatius, Polycarp, Papias, Hermas; with the writings of these are
commonly included two anonymous books known as the _Didache_, or _Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles_, and the _Epistle to Diognetus_. From all of these
selections are given.(4)
§ 5. Christianity and Judaism
The Christian Church grew up not on Jewish but on Gentile soil. In a very
short time the Gentiles formed the overwhelming majority within the
Church. As they did not become Jews and did not observe the Jewish
ceremonial law, a problem arose as to the place of the Jewish law, which
was accepted without question as of divine authority. One solution is
given by the author of the so-called Epistle of Barnabas, which should be
compared with the solution given by St. Paul in his epistles to the
Galatians and to the Romans. The number of conversions from Judaism
rapidly declined, and very early an extreme hostility toward Christianity
became common among the Jews.
(_a_) Barnabas, _Epistula_, 4, 9.
The epistle attributed to Barnabas is certainly not by the Apostle
of that name. Its date is much disputed, but may be safely placed
within the first century. The author attempts to show the contrast
between Judaism and Christianity by proving that the Jews wholly
misunderstood the Mosaic law and had long since lost any claims
supposed to be derived from the Mosaic covenant. The epistle is
everywhere marked by hostility to Judaism, of which the writer has
but imperfect knowledge. The book was regarded as Holy Scripture
by Clement of Alexandria and by Origen, though with some
hesitation. The position taken by the author was undoubtedly
extreme, and not followed generally by the Church. It was,
however, merely pushing to excess a conviction already prevalent
in the Church, that Christianity and Judaism were distinct
religions. For a saner and more commonly accepted position, see
Justin Martyr, _Apol._, I, 47-53 (ANF, I, 178 _ff._). A
translation of the entire epistle may be found in ANF, I, 137-149.
Ch. 4. It is necessary, therefore, for us who inquire much concerning
present events to seek out those things which are able to save us. Let us
wholly flee, then, from all the works of iniquity, lest the works of
iniquity take hold of us; and let us hate the error of the present times,
that we may set our love on the future. Let us not give indulgence to our
soul, that it should have power to run with sinners and the wicked, that
we become not like them. The final occasion of stumbling approaches,
concerning which it is written as Enoch speaks: For this end the Lord has
cut short the times and the days, that His beloved may hasten and will
come to his inheritance.… (5) Ye ought therefore to understand. And this
also I beg of you, as being one of you and with special love loving you
all more than my own soul, to take heed to yourselves, and not be like
some, adding largely to your sins, and saying: “The covenant is both
theirs and ours.” For it is ours; but they thus finally lost it, after
Moses had already received it.(6)
Ch. 9. … But also circumcision, in which they trusted, has been abrogated.
He declared that circumcision was not of the flesh; but they transgressed
because an evil angel deluded them.(7)… Learn, then, my beloved children,
concerning all things richly, that Abraham, the first who enjoined
circumcision, looking forward in spirit to Jesus, circumcised, the
teaching of the three letters having been received. For the Scripture
saith: “Abraham circumcised eighteen and three hundred men of his
household.” What, then, was the knowledge [_gnosis_] given to him in this?
Learn that he says the eighteen first and then, making a space, the three
hundred. The eighteen are the Iota, ten, and the Eta, eight; and you have
here the name of Jesus. And because the cross was to express the grace in
the letter Tau, he says also, three hundred. He discloses therefore Jesus
in the two letters, and the cross in one. He knows this who has put within
us the engrafted gift of his teaching. No one has learned from me a more
excellent piece of knowledge, but I know that ye are worthy.(8)
(_b_) Justin Martyr, _Dialogus cum Tryphone_, 17. J. C. T. Otto, Corpus
_Apologetarum Christianorum Sæculi Secundi_, third ed.; 1876-81. (MSG,
6:511.)
Justin Martyr was born about 100 in Samaria. He was one of the
first of the Gentiles who had been trained in philosophy to become
a Christian. His influence upon the doctrinal development of the
Church was profound. He died as a martyr between 163 and 168. His
principal works are the two Apologies written in close connection
under Antoninus Pius (138-161), probably about 150, and his
dialogue with Trypho the Jew, which was written after the first
Apology. All translations of Justin Martyr are based upon Otto’s
text, _v. supra_.
For the other nations have not been so guilty of wrong inflicted on us and
on Christ as you have been, who are in fact the authors of the wicked
prejudices against the Just One and against us who hold by Him.(9) For
after you had crucified Him, the only blameless and righteous Man, through
whose stripes there is healing to those who through Him approach the
Father, when you knew that He had risen from the dead and ascended into
heaven, as the prophecies foretold would take place, not only did you not
repent of those things wherein you had done wickedly, but you then
selected and sent out from Jerusalem chosen men through all the world to
say that the atheistical heresy of the Christians had appeared and to
spread abroad those things which all they who know us not speak against
us; so that you are the cause of unrighteousness not only in your own
case, but, in fact, in the case of all other men generally.… Accordingly,
you show great zeal in publishing throughout all the world bitter, dark,
and unjust slanders against the only blameless and righteous Light sent
from God to men.
(_c_) _Martyrdom of Polycarp_, 12, 13.
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, died at Smyrna February 2, 155, at the
age of at least eighty-six, but he was probably nearer one hundred
years old. He was the disciple of John, probably same as the
Apostle John. His epistle was written circa 115, soon after the
death of Ignatius of Antioch. At present it is generally regarded
as genuine, though grave doubts have been entertained in the past.
The martyrdom was written by some member of the church at Smyrna
for that body to send to the church at Philomelium in Phrygia, and
must have been composed soon after the death of the aged bishop.
It is probably the finest of all the ancient martyrdoms and should
be read in its entirety. Translation in the ANF, I, 37-45.
Ch. 12. The whole multitude both of the heathen and the Jews who dwelt at
Smyrna cried out with uncontrollable fury and in loud voice: “This is the
teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians and the overthrower of our
gods, who teaches many neither to sacrifice nor to worship.” Saying these
things, they cried out and demanded of Philip, the Asiarch, to let a lion
loose upon Polycarp. But he said he could not do this, since the sports
with beasts had ended. Then it pleased them to cry out with one consent
that he should burn Polycarp alive.…
Ch. 13. These things were carried into effect more rapidly than they were
spoken, and the multitude immediately gathered together wood and fagots
out of the shops and baths, and the Jews especially, as was their custom,
assisted them eagerly in it.
§ 6. The Extension of Christianity
It is impossible to determine with accuracy even the principal places to
which Christianity had spread in the first half of the second century.
Ancient writers were not infrequently led astray by their own rhetoric in
dealing with this topic.
Justin Martyr, _Dialogus cum Tryphone_, 117. (MSG, 6:676.)
The following passage is of significance as bearing not only upon
the extent to which Christianity had spread, after making due
allowance for rhetoric, but also upon the conception of the
eucharist and its relation to the ancient sacrifices held, by some
Christians at least, in the first half of the second century.
_Cf._ ch. 41 of the same work, _v. infra_, §§ 12 _f._
Therefore, as to all sacrifices offered in His name, which Jesus Christ
commanded to be offered, _i.e._, in the eucharist of the bread and cup,
and which are offered by Christians in all places throughout the world,
God, anticipating them, testified that they are well-pleasing to Him; but
He rejects those presented by you and by those priests of yours, saying:
And your sacrifices I will not accept at your hands; for from the rising
of the sun unto the going down of the same my name is great among the
Gentiles (He says), but ye have profaned it.(10) But since you deceive
yourselves, both you and your teachers, when you interpret what was said
as if the Word spoke of those of your nation who were in the dispersion,
and that it said that their prayers and sacrifices offered in every place
are pure and well-pleasing, you should know that you are speaking falsely
and are trying to cheat yourselves in every way; for, in the first place,
not even yet does your nation extend from the rising to the setting sun,
for there are nations among which none of your race ever dwelt. For there
is not a single race of men, whether among barbarians or Greeks, or by
whatever name they may be called, of those who live in wagons or are
called nomads or of herdsmen living in tents, among whom prayers and
thanksgivings are not offered through the name of the crucified Jesus to
the Father and Maker of all things. For, furthermore, at that time, when
the prophet Malachi said this, your dispersion over the whole earth, as
you are now, had not taken place, as is evident from the Scriptures.
§ 7. Relation of the Roman State to Christianity
The procedure of the Roman Government against the Christians first took a
definite form with the rescript of Trajan addressed to Pliny circa A. D.
111-113, but there is no formal imperial edict extant before Decius on the
question of the Christian religion. In an addition to the rescript of
Trajan addressed to Pliny there is a letter of Hadrian on the Christians
(_Ep. ad Servianum_) which is of interest as giving the opinion of that
Emperor, but the rescript addressed to Minucius Fundanus is probably
spurious, as is also the Epistle of Antoninus Pius to the Common Assembly
of Asia.
Additional source material: The text of the rescripts may be found in
Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, §§ 6, 7; translations, ANF, I, 186 _f._, and
Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._ (ed. McGiffert), IV, 9, and IV, 13.
Plinius Junior, _Epistulæ_, X, 96, 97. Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, 12 _ff._
_Cf._ Mirbt, nn. 14. 15.
Caius Cæcilius Secundus is commonly known as Pliny the Younger, to
distinguish him from his uncle, Pliny the Naturalist, whose wealth
he inherited and whose name he seems to have borne. He was
proprætor of Bithynia under Trajan (98-117), with whom he stood on
terms of friendship and even intimacy. His letter to the Emperor
requesting advice as to the right mode of dealing with Christians
was written between 111 and 113.
This correspondence is of the first importance, as it is
unimpeachable evidence as to the spread of Christianity in the
province in which Pliny was placed, to the customs of the
Christians in their worship, and to the method of dealing with the
new religion, which was followed for a long time with little
change. It established the policy that Christianity, as such, was
not to be punished as a crime, that the State did not feel called
upon to seek out Christians, that it would not act upon anonymous
accusations, but that when proper accusations were brought, the
general laws, which Christians had violated on account of their
faith, should be executed. Christianity was not to be treated as a
crime. The mere renunciation of Christianity, coupled with the
proof of renunciation involved in offering sacrifice, enabled the
accused to escape punishment.
Ep. 96. It is my custom, my lord, to refer to you all questions about
which I have doubts. Who, indeed, can better direct me in hesitation, or
enlighten me in ignorance? In the examination of Christians I have never
taken part; therefore I do not know what crime is usually punished or
investigated or to what extent. So I have no little uncertainty whether
there is any distinction of age, or whether the weaker offenders fare in
no respect otherwise than the stronger; whether pardon is granted on
repentance, or whether when one has been a Christian there is no gain to
him in that he has ceased to be such; whether the mere name, if it is
without crimes, or crimes connected with the name are punished. Meanwhile
I have taken this course with those who were accused before me as
Christians: I have asked them whether they were Christians. Those who
confessed I asked a second and a third time, threatening punishment. Those
who persisted I ordered led away to execution. For I did not doubt that,
whatever it was they admitted, obstinacy and unbending perversity
certainly deserve to be punished. There were others of the like insanity,
but because they were Roman citizens I noted them down to be sent to Rome.
Soon after this, as it often happens, because the matter was taken notice
of, the crime became wide-spread and many cases arose. An unsigned paper
was presented containing the names of many. But these denied that they
were or had been Christians, and I thought it right to let them go, since
at my dictation they prayed to the gods and made supplication with incense
and wine to your statue, which I had ordered to be brought into the court
for the purpose, together with the images of the gods, and in addition to
this they cursed Christ, none of which things, it is said, those who are
really Christians can be made to do. Others who were named by an informer
said that they were Christians, and soon afterward denied it, saying,
indeed, that they had been, but had ceased to be Christians, some three
years ago, some many years, and one even twenty years ago. All these also
not only worshipped your statue and the images of the gods, but also
cursed Christ. They asserted, however, that the amount of their fault or
error was this: that they had been accustomed to assemble on a fixed day
before daylight and sing by turns [_i.e._, antiphonally] a hymn to Christ
as a god; and that they bound themselves with an oath, not for any crime,
but to commit neither theft, nor robbery, nor adultery, not to break their
word and not to deny a deposit when demanded; after these things were
done, it was their custom to depart and meet together again to take food,
but ordinary and harmless food; and they said that even this had ceased
after my edict was issued, by which, according to your commands, I had
forbidden the existence of clubs. On this account I believed it the more
necessary to find out from two maid-servants, who were called deaconesses
[_ministræ_], and that by torture, what was the truth. I found nothing
else than a perverse and excessive superstition. I therefore adjourned the
examination and hastened to consult you. The matter seemed to me to be
worth deliberation, especially on account of the number of those in
danger. For many of every age, every rank, and even of both sexes, are
brought into danger; and will be in the future. The contagion of that
superstition has penetrated not only the cities but also the villages and
country places; and yet it seems possible to stop it and set it right. At
any rate, it is certain enough that the temples, deserted until quite
recently, begin to be frequented, that the ceremonies of religion, long
disused, are restored, and that fodder for the victims comes to market,
whereas buyers of it were until now very few. From this it may easily be
supposed what a multitude of men can be reclaimed if there be a place of
repentance.
Ep. 97 (_Trajan to Pliny_). You have followed, my dear Secundus, the
proper course of procedure in examining the cases of those who were
accused to you as Christians. For, indeed, nothing can be laid down as a
general law which contains anything like a definite rule of action. They
are not to be sought out. If they are accused and convicted, they are to
be punished, yet on this condition, that he who denies that he is a
Christian and makes the fact evident by an act, that is, by worshipping
our gods, shall obtain pardon on his repentance, however much suspected as
to the past. Papers, however, which are presented anonymously ought not to
be admitted in any accusation. For they are a very bad example and
unworthy of our times.
§ 8. Martyrdom and the Desire for Martyrdom
Ignatius of Antioch, _Ep. ad Romanos_, 4.
Ignatius was bishop of Antioch in the opening years of the second
century. According to tradition, he suffered martyrdom in Rome
under Trajan, circa 117. Having been sent from Antioch to Rome by
command of the Emperor, on his way he addressed letters to various
churches in Asia, exhorting them to seek unity and avoid heresy by
close union with the local bishop. His aim seems to have been
practical, to promote the welfare of the Christian communities
rather than the exaltation of the episcopal office itself. Doubts
have arisen as to the authenticity of these epistles on account of
the frequent references to the episcopate and to heresy. Further
difficulty has been caused by the fact that the epistles of
Ignatius appear in three forms or recensions, a longer Greek
recension forming a group of thirteen epistles, a short Greek of
seven epistles, and a still shorter Syriac version of only three.
After much fluctuation of opinion, due to the general
reconstruction of the history of the whole period, which has gone
through various marked changes, the opinion of scholars has been
steadily settling upon the short Greek recension of seven epistles
as authentic, especially since the critical re-examination of the
whole question by Zahn and Lightfoot.
I write to all the churches and impress on all, that I shall willingly die
for God unless ye hinder me. I beseech you not to show unseasonable
good-will toward me.(11) Permit me to be the food of wild beasts, through
whom it will be granted me to attain unto God. I am the wheat of God and I
am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread
of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb and
leave nothing of my body, so that when I have fallen asleep I may be
burdensome to no one. Then I shall be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ,
when the world sees not my body. Entreat Christ for me, that by these
instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God. Not as Peter and Paul(12)
do I issue commandments unto you. They were Apostles, I a condemned man;
they were free, I even until now a slave.(13) But if I suffer, I shall be
the freedman of Jesus Christ, and shall rise again free in Him. And now,
being in bonds, I learn not to desire anything.
§ 9. The Position of the Roman Community of Christians in the Church
The Roman Church took very early a leading place in the Christian Church,
even before the rise of the Petrine tradition, and its importance was
generally recognized. Its charity was very widely known and extolled. It
was a part of its care for Christians everywhere, a care which found
expression later in the obligation of maintaining the faith in the great
theological controversies. On the position of the Roman Church in this
period, see the address of the Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans (ANF, I,
73), as also the relation of Polycarp to the Roman Church in connection
with the question of the date of Easter (see § 38, below).
Dionysius of Corinth, “Epistle to the Roman Church,” in Eusebius, _Hist.
Ec._, IV, 23. (MSG, 20:388.) For text, see Kirch, n. 49 _f._
Moreover, there is still current an Epistle of Dionysius to the Romans,
addressed to Soter, bishop at that time. But there is nothing like quoting
its words in which, in approval of the custom of the Romans maintained
until the persecution in our own time, he writes as follows: “For you have
from the beginning this custom of doing good in different ways to all the
brethren, and of sending supplies to many churches in all the cities, in
this way refreshing the poverty of those in need, and helping brethren in
the mines with the supplies which you have sent from the beginning,
maintaining as Romans the customs of the Romans handed down from the
fathers, which your blessed bishop Soter has not only kept up, but also
increased, helping the saints with the abundant supply he sends from time
to time, and with blessed words exhorting, as a loving father his
children, the brethren who come up to the city.” In this same epistle he
also mentions the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, showing that from
the first it was read by ancient custom before the Church. He says,
therefore: “To-day, then, being the Lord’s day we kept holy; in which we
read your letter; for reading it we shall always have admonition, as also
from the former one written to us through Clement.” Moreover, the same
writer speaks of his own epistles as having been falsified, as follows:
“For when the brethren asked me to write letters, I wrote them. And these
the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, taking away some things
and adding others. For them there is woe in store. So it is not marvellous
that some have tried to falsify even the dominical scriptures [_i.e._, the
Holy Scriptures], when they have conspired against writings of another
sort.”
§ 10. Chiliastic Expectations
Primitive Christianity was marked by great chiliastic enthusiasm, traces
of which may be found in the New Testament. By chiliasm, strictly
speaking, is meant the belief that Christ was to return to earth and reign
visibly for one thousand years. That return was commonly placed in the
immediate future. With that reign was connected the bodily resurrection of
the saints. This belief, in somewhat varying form, was one of the great
ethical motives in apostolic and post-apostolic times. It was a part of
the fundamental principles of Montanism. It disappeared with the rise of a
“scientific theology” such as that of Alexandria, the exclusion of
Montanism, and the changed conception of the relation of the Church and
the world, due to the lapse of time and the establishment of Christianity
as the religion of the State. From the fourth century it ceased to be a
living doctrine.
(_a_) Papias, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 39. (MSG, 20: 300.)
Papias, from whom two selections have been taken, was bishop of
Hierapolis in Phrygia during the first part of the second century.
He was, therefore, an elder contemporary of Justin Martyr. His
work, _The Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord_, has perished,
with the exception of a few fragments. The comments of Eusebius in
introducing the quotations of Papias are characteristic of the
change that had come over the Church since the post-apostolic
period. That Papias was not to be regarded as a man of small power
simply because he held chiliastic ideas is sufficiently refuted by
the fact that Justin Martyr falls but little behind Papias in
extravagance of expression.
“I shall not hesitate, also, to set in order for you with my
interpretations whatsoever things I have ever learned carefully from the
elders and carefully remembered, guaranteeing the truth of them.… For I
did not think that what was to be gotten from the books would profit me as
much as what came from the living and abiding voice.…” The same writer
gives also other accounts which he says came to him through unwritten
traditions, certain strange parables and teachings of the Saviour and some
other more mythical things. Among these he says that there will be a
period of some thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, when the
kingdom of Christ will be set up in a material form on this very earth. I
suppose he got these ideas through a misunderstanding of the apostolic
accounts, not perceiving that the things said by them were spoken
mystically in figures. For he appears to have been of very limited
understanding, as one can see from his discourses, though so many of the
Church Fathers after him adopted a like opinion, urging in their support
the antiquity of the man; as, for instance, Irenæus and any one else that
may have proclaimed similar views.
(_b_) Irenæus. _Adv. Hæreses_, V, 33. (MSG, 7:1213.)
The elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, relate that they heard
from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to those times, and say:
“The days will come in which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand
branches, and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each twig ten
thousand shoots, and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and
on every cluster ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will
yield five-and-twenty metretes of wine. And when any one of the saints
shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, ‘I am better cluster,
take me; bless the Lord through me.’ In like manner [the Lord declared]
that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear
would produce ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds
of clear, pure, fine flour; and that all other fruit-bearing trees, and
seeds and grass would produce similar proportions, and that all animals
feeding [only] on the productions of the earth would [in those days]
become peaceful and harmonious with each other and be in perfect
subjection to men.” And these things are borne witness to in writing by
Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth
book; for there were five books compiled by him. And he says in addition:
“Now these things are credible to believers.”
(_c_) Justin Martyr, _Dialogus cum Tryphone_, 80 _f._ (MSG, 6:665.)
Ch. 80. Although you have fallen in with some who are called Christians,
but who do not admit this truth [the resurrection] and venture to
blaspheme the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob,(14) and who say that there is no resurrection of the dead and that
their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven, be careful not to regard
them as Christians.… But I and whoever are on all points right-minded
Christians know that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a
thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and
enlarged as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and the others declare.
Ch. 81. And, further, a certain man with us, named John, one of the
Apostles of Christ, predicted by a revelation that was made to him that
those who believed in our Christ would spend a thousand years in
Jerusalem, and thereafter the general, or to speak briefly, the eternal
resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place.
§ 11. The Church and the World
So long as chiliastic expectations were the basis of the Christian’s hope
and his judgment of the order of this present world, the Christian felt
that he was but a stranger and sojourner in the world, and that his real
home was the kingdom of Christ, soon to be established here on earth. With
such a view the Christian would naturally define his relation to the world
as being in it, yet not of it. As time passed, the opinion became more
common that the kingdom of Christ was not a future world-order to be set
up on His return, but the Church here on earth. This thought, which is the
key to the _City of God_ by St. Augustine, was not to be found in the
first century and a half of the Church.
_Ep. ad Diognetum_, 5, 6.
The Epistle to Diognetus is one of the choicest pieces of
ante-Nicene literature. Although it is commonly included among the
Apostolic Fathers, the date is uncertain, it is anonymous, and the
reason for its inclusion is not clear. The weight of opinion is in
favor of an early date. It was preserved in but one manuscript,
which was unfortunately destroyed in 1870. The main themes of the
epistle are the faith and manners of the Christians, and an
attempt to explain the late appearance of Christianity in the
world. The work, therefore, is of the nature of an apology, and
should be compared with _The Apology of Aristides_. A translation
of the epistle may be found in ANF, I, 23.
Ch. 5. The Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country,
nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit
cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life
which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they
follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of
inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates
of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian
cities, according as the lot of each of them has been determined, and
following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the
rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and
confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries,
but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with
others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign country
is to them as their native land, and every land of their birth as a land
of strangers. They marry as do all; they beget children; but they do not
commit abortion. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are
in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days
on earth, but they are the citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed
laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all
men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are
put to death and restored to life. They are poor, yet they make many rich;
they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all. They are
dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are
evil-spoken of, and yet are justified. They are reviled and bless; they
are insulted and repay insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished
as evil-doers. When punished they rejoice as if quickened into life; they
are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks;
yet those who hate them are unable to assign a reason for their hatred.
Ch. 6. What the soul is in the body, that the Christians are in the world.
The soul is spread through all the members of the body, and Christians
through the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, but is not
of the body; so Christians dwell in the world, but they are not of the
world. The invisible soul is guarded in the visible body; so Christians
are known as existing in the world, but their religion remains invisible.
The flesh hates the soul and wages war on it, though it has received no
wrong, because it is forbidden to indulge in pleasures; so the world hates
Christians, though it receives no wrong from them, because they are
opposed to its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh which hates it, and it
loves the members; so Christians love those who hate them. The soul is
enclosed in the body, yet itself holds the body together; so the
Christians are kept in the world as in a prison-house, yet they themselves
hold the world together. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle;
so Christians sojourn amid corruptible things, looking for the
incorruptibility in the heavens. The soul when hardly treated in the
matter of meats and drinks is improved; so Christians when punished
increase more and more daily. In so great an office has God appointed
them, which it is not lawful for them to decline.
§ 12. Theological Ideas
In the post-apostolic period are to be traced the beginnings of
distinctive forms of religious and ethical ideas as distinguished from
mere repetition of New Testament phrases. The most influential writer was
Ignatius of Antioch, the founder, or earliest representative, of what may
be called the Asia Minor theology, which is to be traced through Irenæus,
Methodius, and Athanasius to the other great theologians of the Nicene
period, becoming the distinctive Eastern type of piety. It probably
persisted in Asia Minor after Ignatius. Among its characteristic features
was the thought of redemption as the imparting to man of incorruptibility
through the incarnation and the sacraments.
(_a_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Ephesios_, 18 _ff._
The Epistle to the Ephesians is doctrinally the most important of
the writings of Ignatius. In the passage that follows there is a
remarkable anticipation of a part of the Apostles’ Creed (_cf._
Hahn. § 1). The whole passage contains in brief the fundamental
point of the writer’s teachings.
Ch. 18. My spirit is an offering(15) of the cross, which is a
stumbling-block to unbelievers, but to us salvation and life eternal.
“Where is the wise man? where the disputer?” [I Cor. 1:20.] Where is the
boasting of those called prudent? For our God, Jesus Christ, was,
according to the dispensation of God, conceived in the womb of Mary of the
seed of David, but of the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by
His passion He might purify the water.
Ch. 19. And the virginity of Mary was hidden from the Prince of this
World, and her bringing forth, and likewise the death of the Lord; three
mysteries of shouting, which were wrought in silence of God. How, then,
was He manifested to the world? A star shone forth from heaven above all
other stars, and its light was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men
with astonishment, but all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon,
formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above
them all. And there was agitation whence this novelty, so unlike to
everything else. Hence every kind of magic was destroyed and every bond of
wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed and the old kingdom
abolished, for God had been manifested in human form for the renewal of
eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by
God. Henceforth all things were in a state of tumult because He meditated
the abolition of death.
Ch. 20. … Especially [will I write again] if the Lord make known to me
that ye all, man by man, through grace given to each, agree in one faith
and in Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David according to the
flesh, the Son of Man and the Son of God, so that ye obey the bishop and
the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one bread, which is the
medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent dying, but which is
life forever in Jesus Christ.
(_b_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Smyrnæos_, 7.
The following passage may be regarded as a parallel to part of the
preceding extract from the same writer’s Epistle to the Ephesians.
They abstain from the eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not
that the eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which
suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up
again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, die while
disputing. But it were better for them to love it, that they also may rise
again. It is fitting, therefore, that ye should keep aloof from such
persons, and not speak of them either in private or public, but to give
heed to the prophets and, above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion
has been revealed to us and the resurrection fully proved. But avoid all
divisions as the beginning of evils.
(_c_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Trallianos_, 9, 10.
The heresy which the writer fears is that known as Docetism, which
denied the reality of the body of Jesus. Reference is made to it
in the New Testament, I John 4:2. It was based upon the same
philosophical idea as much of the later Gnostic speculation, that
matter is essentially evil, and therefore a pure spirit could not
be united to a real body composed of matter. See J. B. Lightfoot,
_Apostolic Fathers_, pt. II, vol. II, p. 173 _ff._
Ch. 9. Be ye therefore deaf when any one speaks to you apart from Jesus
Christ, who was of the race of David, who was born of Mary, who was truly
born and ate and drank, who was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, who
was truly crucified and died while those in heaven and those on earth and
those under the earth looked on; who, also, was truly raised from the
dead, His Father having raised Him, who in like fashion will raise us who
believe in Him; His Father, I say, will raise us in Christ Jesus, apart
from whom we have not true life.
Ch. 10. But if it were as certain persons who are godless, that is,
unbelievers, say, that He only appeared to suffer, they themselves being
only in appearance, why am I bound? And why, also, do I desire to fight
with wild beasts? I therefore die in vain. Truly, then, I lie against the
Lord.
§ 13. Worship in the Post-Apostolic Period
The worship of the Christian Church in the earliest period centred in the
eucharist. There are references to this in the New Testament (_cf._ Acts
2:42; 20:7; I Cor. 10:16). How far the agape was connected with the
eucharist is uncertain.
Additional source material: See Pliny’s letter to Trajan (_v.
supra_, § 7); the selections from Ignatius already given (_v.
supra_, § 12) and the _Didache_ (_v. infra_, § 14, _a_).
Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 61:65-67. (MSG, 6:428 _ff._) _Cf._ Mirbt, n.
18.
The _First Apology_ of Justin Martyr was written probably about
150. As Justin’s work is dated, and is of indisputable
authenticity, his account of the early worship of the Christians
is of the very first importance. It should be noted, however,
that, inasmuch as he is writing for non-Christians, he uses no
technical terms in his description, and therefore nothing can be
determined as to the exact significance of the titles he applies
to the presiding officer at the eucharist. The following passage
is of importance, also, as a witness to the custom of reading, in
the course of Christian public worship, books that appear to be
the Gospels. Irenæus, thirty years later, limits the number of the
Gospels to four, _v. infra_, § 28. On the eucharist, _v. infra_, §
33.
Ch. 61. But I will explain the manner in which we who have been made new
through Christ have also dedicated ourselves to God, lest by passing it
over I should seem in any way to be unfair in my explanation. As many as
are persuaded and believe that the things are true which are taught and
said by us, and promise that they are able to live accordingly, they are
taught to pray and with fasting to ask God forgiveness of their former
sins, while we pray and fast with them. Thereupon they are brought by us
to where there is water, and are born again in the same manner of a new
birth as we, also, ourselves were born again. For in the name of God the
Father and Lord of all, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy
Spirit, they then receive the washing in the water. For Christ said:
“Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
But that it is impossible for those once born to enter into the wombs of
their mothers is manifest to all.… And this washing is called
enlightenment, because those who learn these things have their
understandings enlightened. But, also, in the name of Jesus Christ who was
crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit who by
the prophets foretold all things pertaining to Jesus, he who is
illuminated is washed.
Ch. 65. But after we have thus washed him who is persuaded and has
assented, we bring him to those who are called the brethren, to where they
are gathered together, making earnest prayer in common for ourselves and
for him who is enlightened, and for all others everywhere, that we may be
accounted worthy, after we have learned the truth, by our works also to be
found right livers and keepers of the commandments, that we may be saved
with the eternal salvation. We salute each other with a kiss when we
conclude our prayers. Thereupon to the president of the brethren bread and
a cup of water and wine are brought, and he takes it and offers up praise
and glory to the Father of the universe through the name of the Son and
the Holy Spirit, and gives thanks at length that we have been accounted
worthy of these things from Him; and when he has ended the prayers and
thanksgiving the whole people present assent, saying “Amen.” Now the word
Amen in the Hebrew language signifies, So be it. Then after the president
has given thanks and all the people have assented, those who are called by
us deacons give to each one of those present to partake of the bread and
of the wine and water for which thanks have been given, and for those not
present they take away a portion.
Ch. 66. And this food is called by us eucharist, and it is not lawful for
any man to partake of it but him who believes the things taught by us to
be true, and has been washed with the washing which is for the remission
of sins and unto a new birth, and is so living as Christ commanded. For
not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but just as
Jesus Christ our Saviour, being made flesh through the word of God, had
for our salvation both flesh and blood, so, also, we are taught that the
food for which thanks are given by the word of prayer which is from Him,
and from which by conversion our flesh and blood are nourished, is the
flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the Apostles in the
memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, thus delivered what
was commanded them: that Jesus took bread and gave thanks and said, This
do in remembrance of Me, this is My body; and that He likewise took the
cup, and when He had given thanks, said, This is My blood, and gave only
to them. And this the evil demons imitating, commanded it to be done also
in the mysteries of Mithras; for that bread and a cup of water are set
forth with certain explanations in the ceremonial of initiation, you
either know or can learn.
Ch. 67. But we afterward always remind one another of these things, and
those among us who are wealthy help all who are in want, and we always
remain together. And for all things we eat we bless the Maker of all
things through His Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. And on
the day called the Day of the Sun there is a gathering in one place of us
all who live in cities or in the country, and the memoirs of the Apostles
or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time allows. Then,
when the reader has ceased, the president gives by word of mouth his
admonition and exhortation to imitate these excellent things. Afterward we
all rise at once and offer prayers; and as I said, when we have ceased to
pray, bread is brought and wine and water, and the president likewise
offers up prayers and thanksgivings as he has the ability, and the people
assent, saying “Amen.” The distribution to each and the partaking of that
for which thanks were given then take place; and to those not present a
portion is sent by the hands of the deacons. Those who are well-to-do and
willing give, every one giving what he will, according to his own
judgment, and the collection is deposited with the president, and he
assists orphans and widows, and those who through sickness or any other
cause are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers that are
sojourning, and, in short, he has the care of all that are in need. Now we
all hold our common meeting on the Day of the Sun, because it is the first
day on which God, having changed the darkness and matter, created the
world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.
For on the day before Saturn’s they crucified Him; and on the day after
Saturn’s, which is the Day of the Sun, having appeared to his Apostles and
disciples, He taught them these things which we have offered you for
consideration.
§ 14. Church Organization
No subject in Church history has been more hotly discussed than the
organization of the primitive Christian Church. Each of several Christian
confessions have attempted to justify a polity which it regarded as _de
fide_ by appeal to the organization of the Church of the primitive ages.
Since it has been seen that the admission of the principle of development
does not invalidate claims for divine warrant for a polity, the
acrimonious debate has been somewhat stilled. There seems to have been in
the Church several forms of organization, and to some extent the various
contentions of conflicting creeds and polities have been therein
justified. The ultimately universal form, episcopacy, may in some parts of
the Church be traced to the end of the apostolic age, but it seems not to
have been universally diffused at that time. Since Christian communities
sprang up without official propaganda, at least in many instances, and
were due to the work of independent Christian believers moving about in
the Empire, this variety of organization was what might have been
expected, especially as the significance of the organization was first
felt chiefly in connection with the danger from heresy. That various
external influences affected the development is also highly probable.
(_a_) Clement of Rome, _Ep. ad Corinthios_, I, 42, 44.
Ch. 42. The Apostles have preached the Gospel to us from the Lord Jesus
Christ; Jesus Christ was sent forth from God. Christ, therefore, was from
God, and the Apostles from Christ. Both these appointments, then, came
about in an orderly way, by the will of God. Having, therefore, received
their orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and established in the word of God, with full assurance of
the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at
hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed
their first-fruits, having proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and
deacons of those who should afterward believe. Nor was this a new thing;
for, indeed, many ages before it was written concerning bishops and
deacons. For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place: “I will appoint
their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.”(16)
Ch. 44. Our Apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there
would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate.(17) For this
cause, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect foreknowledge of
this, they appointed those already mentioned, and afterward gave
instructions that when these should fall asleep other approved men should
succeed them in their ministry. We are of the opinion, therefore, that
those appointed by them, or afterward by other eminent men, with the
consent of the whole Church, and who have blamelessly served the flock of
Christ in lowliness of mind, peaceably, and with all modesty, and for a
long time have borne a good report with all—these men we consider to be
unjustly thrust out of their ministrations.(18) For it will be no light
sin for us, if we thrust out those who have offered the gifts of the
bishop’s office blamelessly and holily. Blessed are those presbyters who
have gone before seeing their departure was fruitful and ripe; for they
have no fear lest any one should remove them from their appointed place.
For we see that ye have displaced certain persons, though they were living
honorably, from the ministration which had been honored by them
blamelessly.
(_b_) _Didache_, 7-15.
The _Didache_ is a very early manual of the instruction for
Christian converts. It consists of two quite distinct parts, viz.,
a brief account of the moral law (chapters 1-6). which appears to
be based upon a Jewish original to which the name of _The Two
Ways_ has been given, and a somewhat longer account of the various
rites of the Church and the regulations governing its
organization. Its date is in the first half of the second century
and belongs more probably to the first quarter than to the second.
It is a document of first-class importance, especially in the part
bearing on the organization of the Church, which is here given.
The extensive literature on the subject may be found in Krüger.
_op. cit._, § 21.
Ch. 7. But concerning baptism, thus shall ye baptize. Having first recited
all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit in living [_i.e._, running] water. But if thou hast not
living water, then baptize in any other water; and if thou art not able in
cold, in warm. But if thou hast neither, pour water upon the head thrice
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But
before baptism let him that baptizeth and him that is baptized fast, and
any others also who are able; and thou shalt order him that is baptized to
fast a day or two before.
Ch. 8. And let not your fastings be with the hypocrites. For they fast on
the second and the fifth days of the week; but do ye keep your fast on the
fourth and on the preparation [_i.e._, the sixth day]. Neither pray ye as
the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray ye: Our
Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will
be done, as in heaven, so also on earth; give us this day our daily(19)
bread; and forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors; and lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One; for Thine is the
power and the glory forever.(20) Three times in the day pray ye so.
Ch. 9. But as regards the eucharist [thanksgiving], give ye thanks thus.
First, as regards the cup: We give Thee thanks, O our Father, for the holy
vine of David, Thy Son, which Thou madest known unto us through Jesus, Thy
Son; Thine is the glory forever. Then as regards the breaking [_i.e._, of
the bread]: We give thanks to Thee, O our Father, for the life and
knowledge which thou madest known unto us through Jesus, Thy Son; Thine is
the glory forever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains
and being gathered together became one, so may Thy Church be gathered
together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the
glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. But let no one
eat or drink of this eucharist [thanksgiving] but they that have been
baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord hath
said: Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.
Ch. 10. After ye are satisfied give thanks thus: We give Thee thanks, Holy
Father, for Thy holy name, which Thou hast made to tabernacle in our
hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which Thou hast
made known unto us through Thy Son Jesus; Thine is the glory forever.
Thou, Almighty Master, created all things for Thy name’s sake, and gave
food and drink unto men for enjoyment, that they might render thanks to
Thee; but bestowed upon us spiritual food and drink and eternal life
through Thy Son. Before all things we give Thee thanks that Thou art
powerful; Thine is the glory forever. Remember, Lord, Thy Church to
deliver it from all evil and to perfect it in Thy love; and gather it
together from the four winds—even the Church which has been
sanctified—into Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it; for Thine is
the power and the glory forever. May grace come and may this world pass
away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any one is holy let him come; if any
one is not, let him repent. Maran Atha. Amen. But permit the prophets to
offer thanksgiving as much as they will.
Ch. 11. Whosoever, therefore, shall come and teach you all these things
that have been said receive him; but if the teacher himself be perverted
and teach a different doctrine to the destruction thereof, hear him not;
but if to the increase of righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, receive
him as the Lord.
But concerning the apostles and prophets, so do ye according to the
ordinance of the Gospel: Let every apostle coming to you be received as
the Lord; but he shall not abide more than a single day, or if there be
need, a second likewise; but if he abide three days, he is a false
prophet. And when he departs, let not the apostle receive anything save
bread until he find shelter; but if he ask money, he is a false prophet.
And any prophet speaking in the Spirit ye shall not try, neither discern;
for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin shall not be forgiven. Yet
not every one that speaketh in the Spirit is a prophet, but only if he
have the ways of the Lord. From his ways, therefore, the false prophet and
the [true] prophet shall be recognized. And no prophet when he ordereth a
table in the Spirit shall eat of it; otherwise he is a false prophet.(21)
And every prophet teaching the truth, if he doeth not what he teacheth, is
a false prophet. And every prophet approved and found true, working unto a
worldly mystery of the Church,(22) and yet teacheth not to do what he
himself doeth, shall not be judged before you; he hath his judgment in the
presence of God; for in like manner also did the ancient prophets. And
whosoever shall say in the Spirit, Give me silver or anything else, do not
listen to him; but if he say to give on behalf of others who are in want,
let no one judge him.
Ch. 12. But let every one coming in the name of the Lord be received; and
when ye have tested him ye shall know him, for ye shall have understanding
on the right hand and on the left. If the comer is a traveller, assist him
as ye are able; but let him not stay with you but for two or three days,
if it be necessary. But if he wishes to settle with you, being a
craftsman, let him work and eat. But if he has no craft, according to your
wisdom provide how without idleness he shall live as a Christian among
you. If he will not do this, he is trafficking upon Christ. Beware of such
men.
Ch. 13. But every true prophet desiring to settle among you is worthy of
his food. In like manner, a true teacher is also worthy, like the workman,
of his food. Every first-fruit, then, of the produce of the wine-vat and
of the threshing-floor, of thy oxen and of thy sheep, thou shalt take and
give as the first-fruit to the prophets; for they are your chief priests.
But if ye have not a prophet, give them to the poor. If thou makest bread,
take the first-fruit and give according to the commandment. In like
manner, when thou openest a jar of wine or oil, take the first-fruit and
give to the prophets; yea, and of money and raiment and every possession
take the first-fruit, as shall seem good to thee, and give according to
the commandment.
Ch. 14. And on the Lord’s day gather yourselves together and break bread
and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice
may be pure. And let no man having a dispute with his fellow join your
assembly until they have been reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be
defiled; for this is the sacrifice spoken of by the Lord: In every place
and at every time offer me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great king, saith
the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations. [Mal. 1:11, 14.]
Ch. 15. Appoint [_i.e._, lay hands on], therefore, for yourselves bishops
and deacons worthy of the Lord, men meek, not lovers of money, truthful,
and approved; for they also render you the service of prophets and
teachers. Despise them not, therefore, for they are your honored ones
together with the prophets and teachers.
(_c_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Trallianos_, 2, 3.
For Ignatius, see § 8.
Ch. 2. For since ye are subject to the bishop as Jesus Christ, ye appear
to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ,
who died for us, in order that by believing in His death ye may escape
death. It is therefore necessary that just as ye indeed do, so without the
bishop ye should do nothing, but should also be subject to the presbytery,
as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ, our Hope, living in whom we shall be
found [_i.e._, at the last]. It is right, also, that the deacons, being
[ministers] of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, should in every respect be
well-pleasing to all. For they are not the ministers of meats and drinks,
but servants of the Church of God. It is necessary, therefore, that they
guard themselves from all grounds of accusation as they would from fire.
Ch. 3. In like manner, let all reverence the deacons as Jesus Christ, as
also the bishop, who is a type of the Father, and the presbyters as the
sanhedrim of God and the assembly of the Apostles. Apart from these there
is no Church.
(_d_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Smyrnæos_, 8.
See that ye follow the bishop as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the
presbyters as ye would the Apostles; and reverence the deacons as a
commandment of God. Without the bishop let no one do any of those things
connected with the Church. Let that be deemed a proper eucharist which is
administered either by the bishop or by him to whom he has intrusted it.
Wherever the bishop shall appear there let also the multitude be, even as
wherever Jesus Christ is there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful
without the bishop either to baptize or to make an agape. But whatsoever
he shall approve that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is
done may be secure and valid.
§ 15. Church Discipline
The Church was the company of the saints. How far, then, could the Church
tolerate in its midst those who had committed serious offences against the
moral law? A case had occurred in the Corinthian church about which St.
Paul had given some instructions to the Christians of that city (_cf._ I
Cor. 5:3-5; II Cor. 13:10). There was the idea current that sins after
baptism admitted of no pardon and involved permanent exclusion from the
Church (_cf._ Heb. 10:26). A distinction was also made as to sins whereby
some were regarded as “sins unto death” and not admitting of pardon (_cf._
I John 5:16). In principle, the exclusion from the Church of those who had
committed gross sins was recognized, but as the Church grew it soon became
a serious question as to the extent to which this strict discipline could
be enforced. We find, therefore, a well-defined movement toward relaxing
this rigor of the law. The beginning appears in Hermas, who admits the
possibility of one repentance after baptism. A special problem was
presented from the first by the difference between the conceptions of
marriage held by the Christians and by the heathen. The Church very early
took the position that marriage in some sense was indissoluble, that so
long as both parties to a marriage lived, neither could marry again, but
after the death of one party the surviving spouse could remarry, although
this second marriage was looked upon with some disfavor. Both the idea of
a second repentance and the idea of the indissolubility of marriage are
expressed in the following extract from Hermas:
Hermas, _Pastor_, Man. IV, I, 3.
Hermas wrote in the second century. Opinions have varied as to his
date, some putting him near the beginning, some near the middle of
the century. The weight of opinion seems to be that he lived
shortly before 150. His work entitled _The Pastor_ is in the form
of revelations, and was therefore thought to partake of an
inspiration similar to that of Holy Scripture. This naturally gave
it a place among Scriptures for a while and accounts for the great
popularity of the work in the early Church. It is the best example
of an extensive apocalyptic literature which flourished in the
Church in the first two centuries.
Ch. 1. If the husband should not take her back [_i.e._, the penitent wife
who has committed adultery] he sins, and brings a great sin upon himself;
for he ought to take back her who has sinned and repented; but not
frequently; for there is but one repentance to the servants of God
[_i.e._, after becoming the servants of God]. On account of her repentance
[_i.e._, because she may repent, and therefore should be taken back] the
husband ought not to marry. This treatment applies to the woman and to the
man.
Ch. 3. And I said to him: “I should like to continue my questions.” “Speak
on,” said he. And I said: “I have heard, sir, from some teachers that
there is no other repentance than that when we descend into the water and
receive remission of our former sins.” He said to me: “Thou hast well
heard, for so it is. For he who has received remission of his sins ought
to sin no more, but to live in purity. Since, however, you inquire
diligently into all things, I will point out this also to you, not as
giving occasion for error to those who are to believe, or have lately
believed, in the Lord. For those who have now believed and those who are
to believe have not repentance of their sins, but they have remission of
their former sins. For to those who have been called before these days the
Lord has set repentance. For the Lord, who knows the heart and foreknows
all things, knew the weakness of men and the manifold wiles of the devil,
that he would inflict some evil on the servants of God and would act
wickedly against them. The Lord, therefore, being merciful, has had mercy
on the works of His hands and has set repentance for them; and has
intrusted to me the power over this repentance. And therefore I say unto
you,” he said, “that if after that great and holy calling any one is
tempted by the devil and sins, he has one repentance. But if thereupon he
should sin and then repent, to such a man his repentance is of no benefit;
for with difficulty will he live.”(23)
§ 16. Moral Ideas in the Post-Apostolic Period
Christians were convinced that their religion made the highest possible
moral demands upon them. They were to live in the world, but remain
uncontaminated by it (_cf._ _supra_, § 11). This belief even candid
heathen were sometimes forced to admit (_cf._ Pliny’s correspondence with
Trajan, _supra_, § 7). The morality of the Christians and the loftiness of
their ethical code were common features in the apologies which began to
appear in the post-apostolic period (_cf. The Apology of Aristides,
infra_, § 20, _a_). Christianity was a revealed code of morals, by the
observance of which men might escape the fires of hell and obtain the
bliss of immortality (_a_) (_cf. infra_, § 30). At the same time there was
developed a tendency toward asceticism, by which a higher excellence might
be obtained than the law required of ordinary Christians (_b__, __c_).
This higher morality was not without its compensations; superior merit was
recognized by God, and was accordingly rewarded; it might even be applied
to offset sins committed (_d__, __e_). This last idea is to be traced to
the book of Tobit (cf. also James 5:20; I Peter 4:8). The fuller
development is to be found in the theology of Tertullian and Cyprian (v.
_infra_, § 39).
(_a_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 10, 12. (MSG, 6:339, 342.)
Ch. 10. We have received by tradition that God does not need man’s
material offerings, since we see that He himself provides all things. And
we have been taught, have been convinced, and do believe that He accepts
only those who imitate the virtues which reside in Him, temperance and
justice and philanthropy, and as many virtues as are peculiar to a God who
is called by no given name. And we have been taught that He in the
beginning, since He is good, did for man’s sake create all things out of
unformed matter; and if men by their works show themselves worthy of His
design, they are deemed worthy, for so we have received, of reigning in
company with Him, having become incorruptible and incapable of suffering.
For as in the beginning He created us when we were not, so we consider
that, in like manner, those who choose what is pleasing to Him are, on
account of their choice, deemed worthy of incorruption and of fellowship
with Him. For the coming into being at first was not in our power; and in
order that we may follow those things which please Him, choosing them by
means of the rational faculties with which He has himself endowed us, He
both persuades us and leads us to faith.…
Ch. 12. And more than all other men are we your helpers and allies in
promoting peace; for we are of the opinion that it is impossible for the
wicked, or the covetous, or the conspirator, or the virtuous to escape the
notice of God, and that each man goes to eternal punishment or salvation
according to the deserts of his actions. For if all men knew this, no one
would choose wickedness, even for a little time, knowing that he goes to
the eternal punishment of fire; but he would in every respect restrain
himself and adorn himself with virtue, that he might obtain the good gifts
of God and escape punishment. For those who, on account of the laws and
punishments you impose, endeavor when they offend to escape detection,
offend thinking that it is possible to escape your detection, since you
are but men; but if they learned and were convinced that it is not
possible that anything, whether actually done or only intended, should
escape the notice of God, they would live decently in every respect, on
account of the penalties threatened, as even you yourselves will admit.
(_b_) _Didache_, 6. _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 13.
See that no one cause thee to err from this way of the teaching, since
apart from God it teacheth thee. For if thou art able to bear all the yoke
of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if thou art not able, do what thou
art able. And concerning foods, bear what thou art able; but against that
which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly on thy guard; for it is the
service of dead gods.
(_c_) Hermas, _Pastor_, Man. IV, 4.
And again I asked him, saying: “Sir, since you have been so patient with
me, will you show me this also?” “Speak,” said he. And I said: “If a wife
or husband die, and the widow or widower marry, does he or she commit
sin?” “There is no sin in marrying again,” said he; “but if they remain
unmarried, they gain greater honor and glory with the Lord; but if they
marry, they do not sin. Guard, therefore, your chastity and purity and you
will live to God. What commandments I now give you, and what I am to give
you, keep from henceforth, yea, from the very day when you were intrusted
to me, and I will dwell in your house. And your former sins will be
forgiven, if you keep my commandments. And to all there is forgiveness if
they keep these my commandments and walk in this chastity.”
(_d_) Clement of Rome, _Ep. ad Corinthios_, II, 4, 16.
Ch. 4. Let us, then, not call Him Lord, for that will not save us. For He
saith: “Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but he
that worketh righteousness.” Wherefore, brethren, let us confess Him by
our works, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, or speaking
evil of one another, or cherishing envy; but by being continent,
compassionate, and good. We ought also to sympathize with one another, and
not be avaricious. By such works let us confess Him, and not by those that
are of an opposite kind. And it is not fitting that we should fear men,
but rather God. For this reason, if we should do such things, the Lord
hath said: “Even though ye were gathered together to me in my very bosom,
yet if ye were not to keep my commandments, I would cast you off, and say
unto you. Depart from me; I know you not, whence ye are, ye workers of
iniquity.”(24)
Ch. 16. So then, brethren, having received no small occasion to repent,
while we have opportunity, let us turn to God, who called us while we yet
have One to receive us. For if we renounce these indulgences and conquer
the soul by not fulfilling its wicked desires, we shall be partakers of
the mercy of Jesus. Know ye not that the day of judgment draweth nigh like
a burning oven, and certain of the heavens and all the earth will melt,
like lead melting in fire; and then will appear the hidden and manifest
deeds of men? Good, then, are alms as repentance from sin; better is
fasting than prayer, and alms than both; “charity covereth a multitude of
sins,” and prayer out of a good conscience delivereth from death. Blessed
is every one that shall be found complete in these; for alms lighten the
burden of sin.
(_e_) Hermas, _Pastor_, Sim. V, 3.
“If you do anything good beyond the commandment of God, you will gain for
yourself more abundant glory, and will be more honored before God than you
would otherwise be. If, therefore, you keep the commandments of God and do
these services, you will have joy if you observe them according to my
commandment.” I said unto him: “Sir, whatsoever you command me I will
observe; for I know that you are with me.” “I will be with you,” he said,
“because you have such a desire for doing good; I will be with all those,”
he said, “who have such a desire. This fasting,” he continued, “is very
good, provided the commandments of the Lord be observed. Thus, then, shall
you observe the fast which you intend to keep. First of all, be on your
guard against every evil word and every evil desire, and purify your heart
from all the vanities of this world. If you guard against these things,
your fasting will be perfect. But do thus: having fulfilled what is
written, during the day on which you fast you will taste nothing but bread
and water; and having reckoned up the price of the dishes of that day
which you intended to have eaten, you will give it to a widow, an orphan,
or to some one in want, and thus you will be humble-minded, so that he who
has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul and pray to
the Lord for you. If you observe fasting as I have commanded you, your
sacrifice will be acceptable to God, and this fasting will be written
down; and the service thus performed is noble and sacred and acceptable to
the Lord.”
Period III. The Critical Period: A. D. 140 to A. D. 200
The interval between the close of the post-apostolic age and the end of
the second century, or from about 140 to 200, may be called the Critical
Period of Ancient Christianity. In this period there grew up conceptions
of Christianity which were felt by the Church, as a whole, to be
fundamentally opposed to its essential spirit and to constitute a serious
menace to the Christian faith as it had been commonly received. These
conceptions, which grew up both alongside of, and within the Church, have
been grouped under the term Gnosticism, a generic term including many
widely divergent types of teaching and various interpretations of
Christian doctrine in the light of Oriental speculation. There were also
reactionary and reformatory movements which were generally felt to be out
of harmony with the development upon which Christian thought and life had
already entered; such were Montanism and Marcionism. To overcome these
tendencies and movements the Christian churches in the various parts of
the Roman Empire were forced, on the one hand, to develop more completely
such ecclesiastical institutions as would defend what was commonly
regarded as the received faith, and, on the other hand, to pass from a
condition in which the various Christian communities existed in isolated
autonomy to some form of organization whereby the spiritual unity of the
Church might become visible and better able to strengthen the several
members of that Church in dealing with theological and administrative
problems. The Church, accordingly, acquired in the Critical Period the
fundamental form of its creed, as an authoritative expression of belief;
the episcopate, as a universally recognized essential of Church
organization and a defence of tradition; and its canon of Holy Scripture,
at least in fundamentals, as the authoritative primitive witness to the
essential teachings of the Church. It also laid the foundations of the
conciliar system, and the bonds of corporate unity between the scattered
communities of the Church were defined and recognized. At the same time,
the Church developed in its conflict with heathenism an apologetic
literature, and in its conflict with heresy a polemical literature, in
which are to be found the beginnings of its theology or scientific
statement of Christian truth. Of this theology two lines of development
are to be traced: one a utilization of Greek philosophy which arose from
the Logos doctrine of the Apologists, and the other a realistic doctrine
of redemption which grew out of the Asia Minor type of Christian teaching,
traces of which are to be found in Ignatius of Antioch.
Chapter I. The Church In Relation To The Empire And Heathen Culture
In the course of the second century the Church spread rapidly into all
parts of the Empire, and even beyond. It became so prominent that the
relation of the Church to heathen thought and institutions underwent a
marked change. Persecutions of Christians became more frequent, and
thereby the popular conviction was deepened that Christians were
malefactors. To some extent men of letters began to notice the new faith
and attack it. In opposition to persecution and criticism, the Church
developed an active apologetic or defence of Christianity and Christians
against heathen aspersions.
§ 17. The Extension of Christianity
Under the head of Extension of Christianity are to be placed only such
texts as may be regarded as evidence for the presence of the Church in a
well-defined locality. It is apparent that the evidence must be
incomplete, for many places must have received the Christian faith which
were unknown to the writers whose works we have or which they had no
occasion to mention. Rhetorical overstatement of the extension of the
Church was a natural temptation in view of the rapid spread of
Christianity. Each text needs to be scrutinized and its merits assessed.
It should, however, be borne in mind that the existence of a
well-established church in any locality is in most cases sufficient reason
for believing that Christianity had already been there for some time. In
this way valid historical reasoning carries the date of the extension of
the Church to a locality somewhat further back than does the date of the
appearance of a document which testifies to the existence of Christianity
in a definite place at a definite time.
(_a_) Tertullian, _Adv. Judæos_, 7. (MSL, 2:649.)
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (circa 160-circa 220 A. D.)
is the most important ante-Nicene Latin ecclesiastical writer. He
has been justly regarded as the founder of Latin theology and the
Christian Latin style. His work is divided into two periods by his
adherence (between 202 and 207 A. D.) to the Montanistic sect.
The treatise _Adversus Judæos_ probably belongs to Tertullian’s
pre-Montanist period, though formerly placed among his Montanist
writings (see Krüger, § 85, 6). For Geographical references, see
W. Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography_.
Upon whom else have all nations believed but upon the Christ who has
already come? For whom have the other nations believed—Parthians, Medes,
Elamites, and they who inhabit Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia,
and those dwelling in Pontus and Asia, and Pamphylia, sojourners in Egypt,
and inhabitants of the region of Africa which is beyond Cyrene, Romans and
sojourners, yes, and in Jerusalem, Jews and other nations;(25) as now the
varied races of the Gætulians, and manifold confines of the Moors, all the
limits of Spain, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the places of
the Britons inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ, and of
the Sarmatians and Dacians, and Germans and Scythians, and of many remote
nations and provinces and many islands unknown to us and which we can
hardly enumerate? In all of these places the name of Christ, who has
already come, now reigns.
(_b_) Tertullian, _Apologeticus adversus Gentes pro Christianis_, 37.
(MSL, 1:525.)
The date of this work is 197 A. D.
We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you—cities,
islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camps, tribes,
companies, palace, Senate, and Forum. We have left you only the temples.
(_c_) Irenæus, _Adv. Hæreses_, I, 10, 3. (MSG, 7:551 _f._) For text, see
Kirch, § 91.
Since the Church has received this preaching and this faith, as we have
said, the Church, although it is scattered throughout the whole world,
diligently guards it as if it dwelt in one house; and likewise it believes
these things as if it had one soul and one heart, and harmoniously it
preaches, teaches, and believes these things as if possessing one mouth.
For although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of
the tradition is one and the same. For the churches which have been
founded in Germany have not believed nor handed down anything different,
nor have those among the Iberians, nor those among the Gauls, nor those in
the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have
been established in the central regions(26) of the world.
(_d_) Bardesanes, _De Fato_. F. Nau, _Bardesane l’astrologue; le livre des
lois des pays_, Paris. 1899.
Bardesanes (154-222 A. D.) was the great Christian teacher of
Edessa. He lived at the court of Abgar IX (179-214), whom,
according to a doubtful tradition, he is said to have converted.
The entire book may be found well translated by B. P. Pratten,
ANF, VIII. 723-734.
In Syria and Edessa men used to part with their manhood in honor of
Tharatha,(27) but when King Abgar became a believer he commanded that
every one that did so should have his hand cut off, and from that day
until now no one does so in the country of Edessa.
And what shall we say of the new race of us Christians, whom Christ at His
advent planted in every country and in every region? For, lo, wherever we
are, we are called after the one name of Christ—namely, Christians. On one
day, the first day of the week, we assemble ourselves together, and on the
days of the readings(28) we abstain from sustenance. The brethren who are
in Gaul do not take males for wives, nor those in Parthia two wives; nor
do those in Judea circumcise themselves; nor do those of our sisters who
are among the Geli consort with strangers; nor do those of our brethren
who are in Persia take their daughters for wives; nor do those who are in
Media abandon their dead or bury them alive or give them as food to the
dogs; nor do those who are in Edessa kill their wives who commit adultery,
nor their sisters, but they withdraw from them, and give them over to the
judgment of God; nor do those who are in Hatra stone thieves to death; but
wherever they are, and in whatever place they are found, the laws of the
several countries do not hinder them from obeying the law of their Christ;
nor does the Fate of the celestial governors(29) compel them to make use
of the things which they regard as impure.
(_e_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 10. (MSG, 20:455.)
Missions in the extreme East.
They say that Pantænus displayed such zeal for the divine word that he was
appointed a herald of the Gospel of Christ to the nations of the East and
was sent as far as India.(30) For indeed there were still many evangelists
of the word who sought earnestly to use their inspired zeal, after the
example of the Apostles, for the increase and building up of the divine
word. Pantænus was one of these, and he is said to have gone to India. The
report is that among persons in that country who knew of Christ he found
the Gospel according to Matthew, which had anticipated his own arrival.
For Bartholomew, one of the Apostles, had preached to them and left them
the writing of Matthew in the Hebrew language, and they had preserved it
till that time.
§ 18. Heathen Religious Feeling and Culture in Relation to Christianity
The Christian religion in the course of the latter part of the second
century began to attract the attention of heathen writers; it became an
object of literary attack. The principal literary opponent of Christianity
was Celsus, who subjected the Christian traditions and customs to a
searching criticism to prove that they were absurd, unscientific, and
false. Lucian of Samosata, does not seem to have attacked Christianity
from any philosophical or religious interest, but treated it as an object
of derision, making sport of it. There were also in circulation
innumerable heathen calumnies, many of the most abominable character.
These have been preserved only by Christian writers. It was chiefly in
reference to these calumnies that the Christian apologists wrote. The
answer to Celsus made by Origen belongs to a later period, though Celsus
represents the best philosophical criticism of Christianity of the latter
part of the second century.
(_a_) Celsus, _The True Word_, in Origen, _Contra Celsum_. (MSG, 11:651
_ff._)
The work of Celsus against Christianity, or _The True Word_,
written about 178, is lost, but it has been so incorporated in the
elaborate reply of Origen that it can be reconstructed without
much difficulty. This Theodor Keim has done. The following
extracts from Origen’s _Contra Celsum_ are quotations from Celsus
or references to his criticism of Christianity. For Origen, _v.
infra_, § 43, _b_.
I, 1. (MSG, 11:651.) Wishing to throw discredit upon Christianity, the
first point Celsus brings forward is that the Christians have entered
secretly into associations with each other which are forbidden by the
laws; saying that “of associations some are public, others again secret;
and the former are permitted by the laws; the latter are prohibited by the
laws.”
I, 4. (MSG, 11:661.) Let us notice, also, how he thinks to cast discredit
upon our system of morals as neither venerable nor a new branch of
instruction, inasmuch as it is common to other philosophers.
I, 9. (MSG, 11:672.) He says that “Certain of them do not wish either to
give or to receive reasons for those things to which they hold; saying,
‘Do not examine, only believe and your faith will save you!’ ”; and he
alleges that such also say: “The wisdom of this life is bad, but
foolishness is a good thing.”
I, 38. (MSG, 11:733.) He admits somehow the miracles which Jesus wrought
and by means of which He induced the multitude to follow Him as the
Christ. He wishes to throw discredit on them, as having been done not by
divine power, but by help of magic, for he says: “That he [Jesus], having
been brought up secretly and having served for hire in Egypt, and then
coming to the knowledge of certain miraculous powers, returned from
thence, and by means of those powers proclaimed himself a god.”
II, 55. (MSG, 11:884.) “Come, now, let us grant to you that these things
[the prediction made by Christ of His resurrection] were said. Yet how
many others are there who have used such wonders to deceive their simple
hearers, and who made gain of their deception? Such was the case, they
say, with Zalmoxis in Scythia, the slave of Pythagoras; and with
Pythagoras himself in Italy.… But the point to be considered is, whether
any one who was really dead ever rose with a veritable body. Or do you
imagine the statements of others not only are myths, but appear as such,
but you have discovered a becoming and credible termination of your drama,
the voice from the cross when he breathed his last, the earthquake and the
darkness? that while living he was of no help to himself, but when dead he
rose again, and showed the marks of his punishment and his hands as they
had been. Who saw this? A frantic woman, as you state, and, if any other,
perhaps one of those who were engaged in the same delusion, who, owing to
a peculiar state of mind, had either dreamed so, or with a wandering fancy
had imagined things in accordance with his own wishes, which has happened
in the case of very many; or, which is most probable, there was some one
who desired to impress the others with this portent, and by such a
falsehood to furnish an occasion to other jugglers.”
II, 63. (MSG, 11:896.) “If Jesus desired to show that his power was really
divine, he ought to have appeared to those who had ill-treated him, and to
him who had condemned him, and to all men universally.”
III, 59. (MSG, 11:997.) “That I bring no heavier charge than what truth
requires, let any one judge from the following. Those who invite to
participation in other mysteries make proclamation as follows: ‘Every one
who has clean hands and a prudent tongue’; others again thus: ‘He who is
pure from every pollution, and whose soul is conscious of no evil, and who
has lived well and justly.’ Such is the proclamation made by those who
promise purification from sins. But let us hear whom the Christians
invite. ‘Whoever,’ they say, ‘is a sinner, whoever is devoid of
understanding, whoever is a child,’ and, to speak generally, ‘whoever is
unfortunate, him will the kingdom of God receive.’ Do you not call him a
sinner, then, who is unjust and a thief and a house-breaker and a
poisoner, a committer of sacrilege and a robber of the dead? Whom else
would a man invite if he were issuing a proclamation for an assembly of
robbers?”
VII, 18. (MSG, 11:1445.) “Will they not again make this reflection: If the
prophets of the God of the Jews foretold that he who should come was the
son of this same God, how could he command them through Moses to gather
wealth, to rule, to fill the earth, to put to the sword their enemies from
youth up, and to destroy them utterly, which, indeed, he himself did in
the eyes of the Jews, as Moses says, threatening them, moreover, that if
they did not obey his commands he would treat them as his open enemies;
whilst, on the other hand, his son, the man of Nazareth, promulgating laws
in opposition to these, declares that no one comes to the Father who is
rich or who loves power or seeks after wisdom or glory; that men ought to
be no more careful in providing food than the ravens: that they were to be
in less concern about their raiment than the lilies; that to him who has
smitten them once they should offer opportunity to smite again? Is it
Moses or Jesus who lies? Did the Father when he sent Jesus forget the
things he commanded Moses? Or did he change his mind and, condemning his
own laws, send forth a messenger with the opposite instructions?”
V, 14. (MSG, 11:1201.) “It is folly for them to suppose that when God, as
if he were a cook, introduces the fire, all the rest of the human race
will be burnt up, while they alone will remain, not only those who are
alive, but also those who have been dead long since, which latter will
arise from the earth clothed with the self-same flesh as during life; the
hope, to speak plainly, of worms. For what sort of human soul is it that
would still long for a body gone to corruption? For this reason, also,
this opinion of yours is not shared by some of the Christians,(31) and
they pronounce it exceedingly vile and loathsome and impossible; for what
kind of body is that which, after being completely corrupted, can return
to its original nature, and to that self-same first condition which it
left? Having nothing to reply, they betake themselves to a most absurd
refuge—that all things are possible to God. But God cannot do things which
are disgraceful, nor does he wish things contrary to his nature; nor, if
in accordance with your wickedness you desire something shameful, would
God be able to do it; nor must you believe at once that it will be done.
For God is the author, not of inordinate desires nor of a nature
disordered and confused, but of what is upright and just. For the soul,
indeed, he might be able to provide everlasting life; but dead bodies, on
the other hand, are, as Heraclitus observes, more worthless than dung. So,
then, God neither will nor can declare contrary to reason that the flesh
is eternal, which is full of those things which it is not honorable to
mention. For he is the reason of all things that exist, and therefore can
do nothing either contrary to reason or contrary to himself.”
(_b_) Lucian of Samosata, _De morte Peregrini Protei_, § 11 _ff._
Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, 20 _ff._
Ch. 11. About this time he made himself proficient in the marvellous
wisdom of the Christians by associating around Palestine with their
priests and scribes. And would you believe it? In a short time he
convinced them that they were mere children and himself alone a prophet,
master of ceremonies, head of the synagogue, and everything. He explained
and interpreted some of their books, and he himself also wrote many, so
they came to look upon him almost as a God, made him their law-giver and
chose him as their patron.… At all events, they still worship that
enchanter [mage] who was crucified in Palestine for introducing among men
this new religious sect.
Ch. 12. Then Proteus was, on this account, seized and thrown into prison,
and this very circumstance procured for him during his subsequent career
no small renown and the reputation for wonderful powers and the glory
which he loved. When, then, he had been put in bonds, the Christians
looked upon these things as a misfortune and in their efforts to secure
his release did everything in their power. When this proved impracticable,
other assistance of every sort was rendered him, not occasionally, but
with zeal. From earliest dawn old women, widows, and orphan children were
to be seen waiting beside the prison, and men of rank among them slept
with him in the prison, having bribed the prison guards. Then they were
accustomed to bring in all kinds of viands, and they read their sacred
Scriptures together, and the most excellent Peregrinus (for such was still
his name) was styled by them a New Socrates.
Ch. 13. Certain came even from the cities of Asia, sent by the Christians
at the common charge, to assist and plead for him and comfort him. They
exhibit extraordinary activity whenever any such thing occurs affecting
their common interest. In short, they are lavish of everything. And what
is more, on the pretext of his imprisonment, many contributions of money
came from them to Peregrinus at that time, and he made no little income
out of it. These poor men have persuaded themselves that they are going to
be immortal and live forever; they both despise death and voluntarily
devote themselves to it; at least most of them do so. Moreover, their
law-giver persuaded them that they were all brethren, and that when once
they come out and reject the Greek gods, they should then worship that
crucified sophist and live according to his laws. Therefore they despise
all things and hold everything in common, having received such ideas from
others, without any sufficient basis for their faith. If, then, any
impostor or trickster who knows how to manage things came among them, he
soon grew rich, imposing on these foolish folk.
Ch. 14. Peregrinus was, however, set at liberty by the governor of Syria
at that time, a lover of philosophy, who understood his folly and knew
that he would willingly have suffered death that by it he might have
acquired glory. Thinking him, however, not worthy of so honorable an end,
he let him go.…
Ch. 16. A second time he left his country to wander about, having the
Christians as a sufficient source of supplies, and he was cared for by
them most ungrudgingly. Thus he was supported for some time; at length,
having offended them in some way—he was seen, I believe, eating food
forbidden among them—he was reduced to want, and he thought that he would
have to demand his property back from the city;(32) and having obtained a
process in the name of the Emperor, he expected to recover it. But the
city sent messengers to him, and nothing was done; but he was to remain
where he was, and to this he agreed for once.
(_c_) Minucius Felix, _Octavius_, VIII, 3-10. (MSL. 3:267 _ff._)
The following passage is taken from an apologetic dialogue
entitled _Octavius_. Although it was composed by a Christian, it
probably represents the current heathen conceptions of
Christianity and its morals, especially its assemblies, where the
worst excesses were supposed to take place. In the dialogue the
passage is put into the mouth of the disputant who represents the
heathen objection to the new faith. The date is difficult to
determine probably it was the last third of the second century.
Ch. 8. … Is it not lamentable that men of a reprobate, unlawful, and
dangerous faction should rage against the gods? From the lowest dregs, the
more ignorant and women, credulous and yielding on account of the
heedlessness of their sex, gathered and established a vast and wicked
conspiracy, bound together by nightly meetings and solemn feasts and
inhuman meats—not by any sacred rites, but by such as require expiation.
It is a people skulking and shunning the light; in public silent, but in
corners loquacious. They despise the temples as charnel-houses; they
reject the gods; they deride sacred things. While they are wretched
themselves, if allowed they pity the priests; while they are half naked
themselves, they despise honors and purple robes. O wonderful folly and
incredible effrontery! They despise present torments, but fear those that
are uncertain and in the future. While they fear to die after death, for
the present life they do not fear to die. In such manner does a deceitful
hope soothe their fear with the solace of resuscitation.
Ch. 9. And now, as wickeder things are advancing more successfully and
abandoned manners are creeping on day by day, those foul shrines of an
impious assembly are increasing throughout the whole world. Assuredly this
confederacy should be rooted out and execrated. They know one another by
secret marks and signs. They love one another almost before they know one
another. Everywhere, also, there is mingled among them a certain religion
of lust; and promiscuously they call one another brother and sister, so
that even a not unusual debauchery might, by the employment of those
sacred names, become incestuous. It is thus that their vain and insane
superstition glories in crimes. Nor, concerning these matters, would
intelligent report speak of things unless there was the highest degree of
truth, and varied crimes of the worst character called, from a sense of
decency, for an apology. I hear that they adore the head of an ass, that
basest of creatures, consecrated by I know not what silly persuasion—a
worthy and appropriate religion for such morals. Some say that they
worship the genitalia of their pontiff and priest, and adore the nature,
as it were, of their parent. I know not whether these things be false;
certainly suspicion has place in the case of secret and nocturnal rites;
and he who explains their ceremonies by reference to a man punished by
extreme suffering for wickedness, and to the deadly wood of the cross,
bestows fitting altars upon reprobate and wicked men, that they may
worship what they deserve. Now the story of their initiation of young
novices is as detestable as it is well known. An infant covered with meal,
so as to deceive the unwary, is placed before him who is to be defiled
with their rites; this infant is slain with dark and secret wounds by the
young novice, who has been induced to strike harmless blows, as it were,
on the surface of the meal. Thirstily—O horror!—they lick up its blood;
eagerly they divide its limbs. By this victim they are confederated, with
the consciousness of this wickedness they are pledged to a mutual silence.
These sacred rites are more foul than any sort of sacrilege. And of their
banqueting it is well known what is said everywhere; even the speech of
our Cirtensian(33) testifies to it. On a solemn day they assemble at a
banquet with all their children, their sisters and mothers, people of
every sex and age. There, after much feasting, when the sense of
fellowship has waxed warm and the fervor of incestuous lust has grown hot
with drunkenness, a dog that has been tied to a chandelier is provoked to
rush and spring about by throwing a piece of offal beyond the length of
the line by which he is bound; and thus the light, as if conscious, is
overturned and extinguished in shameless darkness, while unions of
abominable lust involve them by the uncertainty of chance. Although if all
are not in fact, yet all are in their conscience, equally incestuous;
since whatever might happen by the act of the individuals is sought for by
the will of all.
Ch. 10. I purposely pass over many things, for there are too many, all of
which, or the greater part of them, the obscurity of their vile religion
declares to be true. For why do they endeavor with such pains to conceal
and cloak whatever they worship, since honorable things always rejoice in
publicity, but crimes are kept secret? Why have they no altars, no
temples, no acknowledged images? Why do they never speak openly, never
congregate freely, unless it be for the reason that what they adore and
conceal is either worthy of punishment or is something to be ashamed of?
Moreover, whence or who is he, or where is the one God, solitary and
desolate, whom no free people, no kingdoms, and not even Roman
superstition have known? The sole, miserable nationality of the Jews
worshipped one God, and one peculiar to itself; but they worshipped him
openly, with temples, with altars, with victims, and with ceremonies; and
he has so little force or power that he is enslaved together with his own
special nation to the Roman deities. But the Christians, moreover, what
wonders, what monstrosities, do they feign, that he who is their God, whom
they can neither show nor see, inquires diligently into the conduct of
all, the acts of all, and even into their words and secret thoughts. They
would have him running about everywhere, and everywhere present,
troublesome, even shamelessly inquisitive, since he is present at
everything that is done, and wanders about in all places. When he is
occupied with the whole, he cannot give attention to particulars; or when
occupied with particulars, he is not enough for the whole. Is it because
they threaten the whole earth, the world itself and all its stars, with a
conflagration, that they are meditating its destruction? As if either the
natural and eternal order constituted by the divine laws would be
disturbed, or, when the league of the elements has been broken up and the
heavenly structure dissolved, that fabric in which it is contained and
bound together would be overthrown!
§ 19. The Attitude of the Roman Government toward Christians, A. D. 138 to
A. D. 192
No general persecution of the Christians was undertaken by the Roman
Government during the second century, though Christians were not
infrequently put to death under the existing laws. These laws, however,
were by no means uniformly carried out. The most sanguinary persecutions
were generally occasioned by mob violence and may be compared to modern
lynchings. At Lyons and Vienne, in Gaul, there was much suffering in 177.
The letter from the churches of these cities to the Christians in Asia and
Phrygia, Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 1 (PNF, ser. I, vol. I, 211), and the
_Martyrdom of Polycarp_ (ANF, I, 37) are among the finest pieces of
literature in this period and should be read by every student. Under
Commodus (180-193), Marcia seems to have aided the Christians suffering
persecution. The _Martyrdom of Justin_ may be found ANF, I, 303, appended
to his works. The doubtful rescript of Hadrian and the certainly spurious
rescript of Antoninus Pius may be found in the Appendix to Justin Martyr’s
works (ANF, I, 186), and in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 9 and 13. For a
discussion of their genuineness, see McGiffert’s notes to Eusebius, _Hist.
Ec._ The original texts may be found in Preuschen’s _Analecta_, I, § 6
_f_.
(_a_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_. II. 2. (MSG, 6:445.)
The martyrdom of Ptolemæus.
A certain woman had been converted to Christianity by Ptolemæus.
Her dissolute husband, who had deserted her some time before, was
divorced by her on account of his profligacy. In revenge he
attempted to injure her, but she sought and obtained the
protection of the imperial courts. The husband thereupon turned
his attack upon Ptolemæus. According to Ruinart, the martyrdom
took place in 166. See DCB, arts. “Ptolemæus” and “Justin Martyr.”
This and the following martyrdoms illustrate the procedure of the
courts in dealing with Christians.
Since he was no longer able to prosecute her, he directed his assaults
against a certain Ptolemæus whom Urbicus punished, and who had been the
teacher of the woman in the Christian doctrines. And he did this in the
following way: He persuaded a centurion, his friend, who had cast
Ptolemæus into prison, to take Ptolemæus and interrogate him only as to
whether he were a Christian. And Ptolemæus, being a lover of the truth,
and not of deceitful or false disposition, when he confessed himself to be
a Christian, was thrown in chains by the centurion and for a long time was
punished in prison. At last, when he was brought to Urbicus, he was asked
this one question only: whether he was a Christian. And again, conscious
of the noble things that were his through the teaching of Christ, he
confessed his discipleship in the divine virtue. For he who denies
anything either denies it because he condemns the thing itself or he
avoids confession because he knows his own unworthiness or alienation from
it; neither of which cases is that of a true Christian. And when Urbicus
ordered him to be led away to punishment, a certain Lucius, who was also
himself a Christian, seeing the unreasonable judgment, said to Urbicus:
“What is the ground of this judgment? Why have you punished this man: not
as an adulterer, nor fornicator, nor as one guilty of murder, theft, or
robbery, nor convicted of any crime at all, but who has only confessed
that he is called by the name of Christian? You do not judge, O Urbicus,
as becomes the Emperor Pius, nor the philosopher, the son of Cæsar, nor
the sacred Senate.” And he, replying nothing else to Lucius, said: “You
also seem to me to be such an one.” And when Lucius answered, “Most
certainly I am,” he then ordered him also to be led away. And he professed
his thanks, since he knew that he was going to be delivered from such
wicked rulers and was going to the Father and King of the heavens. And
still a third came forward and was condemned to be punished.
(_b_) _Passion of the Scilitan Martyrs._
Text: J. A. Robinson, _Text and Studies_, I, 2, 112-116,
Cambridge, 1891; reprinted in R. Knopf, _Ausgewählte
Märtyreracten_, 34 _ff._, Tübingen, 1901.
The date of this martyrdom is July 17, 180 A.D. Scili, the place
of residence of these martyrs, was a small city in northwestern
Proconsular Africa. For an account of ancient martyrologies, see
Krüger, §§ 104 _ff._
When Præsens, for the second time, and Claudianus were consuls, on the
seventeenth day of July, and when Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata,
Secunda, and Vestia were brought into the judgment-hall at Carthage, the
proconsul Saturninus said: Ye can win the indulgence of our lord the
Emperor if ye return to a sound mind.
Speratus said: We have never done ill; we have not lent ourselves to
wrong; we have never spoken ill; but when we have received ill we have
given thanks, because we pay heed to our Emperor.
Saturninus, the proconsul, said: We, too, are religious, and our religion
is simple; and we swear by the genius of our lord the Emperor, and pray
for his welfare, which also ye, too, ought to do.
Speratus said: If thou wilt peaceably lend me thine ears, I will tell thee
the mystery of simplicity.
Saturninus said: I will not lend my ears to thee, when thou beginnest to
speak evil things of our sacred rites; but rather do thou swear by the
genius of our lord the Emperor.
Speratus said: The empire of this world I know not; but rather I serve
that God whom no man hath seen nor with these eyes can see. [I Tim. 6:16.]
I have committed no theft; but if I have bought anything I pay the tax;
because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations.
Saturninus, the proconsul, said to the rest: Cease to be of this
persuasion.
Speratus said: It is an ill persuasion to do murder, to bear false
witness.
Saturninus, the proconsul, said: Be not partakers of this folly.
Cittinus said: We have none other to fear except only our Lord God, who is
in heaven.
Donata said: Honor to Cæsar as Cæsar, but fear to God. [_Cf._ Rom. 13:7.]
Vestia said: I am a Christian.
Secunda said: What I am that I wish to be.
Saturninus, the proconsul, said to Speratus: Dost thou persist in being a
Christian?
Speratus said: I am a Christian. And with him they all agreed.
Saturninus, the proconsul, said: Will ye have a space to consider?
Speratus said: In a matter so just there is no considering.
Saturninus, the proconsul, said: What are the things in your chest?
Speratus said: Books and epistles of Paul, a just man.
Saturninus, the proconsul, said: Have a delay of thirty days and bethink
yourselves.
Speratus said a second time: I am a Christian. And with him all agreed.
Saturninus, the proconsul, read out the decree from the tablet: Speratus,
Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, Vestia, Secunda, and the rest who have
confessed that they live according to the Christian rite because an
opportunity has been offered them of returning to the custom of the Romans
and they have obstinately persisted, it is determined shall be put to the
sword.
Speratus said: We give thanks to God.
Nartzalus said: To-day we are martyrs in heaven; thanks be to God.
Saturninus, the proconsul, ordered it to be proclaimed by the herald:
Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Lætatius,
Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata, and Secunda I have ordered to be
executed.
They all said: Thanks be to God.
And so they all at one time were crowned with martyrdom; and they reign
with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, forever and ever. Amen.
(_c_) Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium Hæresium_, X, 7. (MSG, 16:3382.)
Hippolytus, a Greek writer of the West, lived at Rome in the time
of Zephyrinus (198-217) and until shortly after A. D. 235. He
appears to have been consecrated bishop of a schismatical party in
Rome. Of his numerous works many have been lost in whole or in
part. The _Philosophumena, or the Refutation of All Heresies_, was
lost, with the exception of the first book, until 1842, and was
then published among the works of Origen. It is of importance as
giving much material for the study of Gnosticism. It may be found
as a whole translated in ANF, V.
But after a time, when other martyrs were there [_i.e._, in the mines in
Sardinia], Marcia, the pious concubine of Commodus, wishing to perform
some good deed, called before her the blessed Victor [193?-202], at that
time bishop of the Church, and inquired of him what martyrs were in
Sardinia. And he delivered to her the names of all, but did not give the
name of Callistus, knowing what things had been attempted by him. Marcia,
having obtained her request from Commodus, hands the letter of
emancipation to Hyacinthus, a certain eunuch rather advanced in life [or a
presbyter], who, receiving it, sailed away to Sardinia. He delivered the
letter to the person who at that time was governor of the territory, and
he released the martyrs, with the exception of Callistus.
§ 20. The Literary Defence of Christianity
In reply to the attacks made upon Christianity, the apologists defended
their religion along three lines: It was philosophically justified; it was
true; it did not favor immorality, but, on the contrary, inculcated
virtue. The philosophical defence, or justification, of Christianity was
most brilliantly undertaken by Justin Martyr, who employed the current
philosophical conception of the Logos. The general proof of Christianity
was chiefly based upon the argument from the fulfilment of prophecy. All
apologists undertook to show that the heathen calumnies against the
Christians were false, that the heathen religions were replete with
obscene tales of the gods, and that the worship of idols was absurd.
(_a_) Aristides, _Apology_, 2, 13, 15, 16. Ed. J. R. Harris and J. A.
Robinson, _Texts and Studies_, I, 1, Cambridge, 1891.
The _Apology_ of Aristides was long lost, but was found in a
Syriac version in 1889. It was then found that much of the Greek
original had been incorporated in the _Life of Barlaam and
Josaphat_, a popular religious romance of the Middle Ages; see the
introduction to the parallel translations by D. H. McKay in ANF,
vol. IX, 259-279. This work of Aristides may be as early as 125;
if so, it disputes with the similar work of Quadratus the honor of
being the first Christian apology. A large part of it is taken up
with a statement of the contradictions and absurdities of the
mythology of the Greeks and Barbarians. Of this statement, ch. 13,
quoted below, is the conclusion. Then, after a short passage
regarding the Jews, the author passes to an exposition of the
faith of Christians and a statement regarding their high morality.
Ch. 2. [Found only in Syriac.] The Christians trace the beginning of their
religion to Jesus the Messiah; and He is named the Son of the most high
God. And it is said that God came down from heaven and from a Hebrew
virgin assumed and clothed Himself with flesh, and that the Son of God
lived in a daughter of man. This is taught in that Gospel which, as is
related among them, was preached among them a short time ago. And you,
also, if you will read therein, may perceive the power that belongs to it.
This Jesus, therefore, was born of the race of the Hebrews. He had twelve
disciples, that His wonderful plan of salvation might be carried out. But
He himself was pierced by the Jews, and He died and He was buried. And
they say that after three days He rose and was raised to heaven. Thereupon
those twelve disciples went forth into the known parts of the world, and
with all modesty and uprightness taught concerning His greatness. And
therefore also those at the present time who now believe that preaching
are called Christians and they are known.
Ch. 13. When the Greeks made laws they did not perceive that by their laws
they condemned their gods. For if their laws are righteous, their gods are
unrighteous, because they committed transgressions of the law in that they
killed one another, practised sorcery, and committed adultery, robbed,
stole, and lay with males, not to mention their other practices. For if
their gods have done right in doing all this, as they write, then the laws
of the Greeks are unrighteous in not being made according to the will of
their gods. And consequently the whole world has gone astray.
Ch. 15. The Christians, O King, in that they go about and seek the truth,
have found it and, as we have understood from their writings, they have
come much nearer to the truth and correct knowledge than have the other
peoples. They know and trust God, the creator of heaven and earth, in whom
are all things and from whom are all things, in Him who has no other God
beside Him, in Him from whom they have received commandments which they
have engraved upon their minds, commandments which they observe in the
faith and expectation of the world to come. Wherefore they do not commit
adultery or fornication, nor bear false witness, nor covet what is held in
pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honor father and mother and
show kindness to their neighbors. If they are judges, they judge
uprightly. They do not worship idols made in human form. And whatsoever
they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others.
They do not eat of food offered to idols, because they are pure. And their
oppressors they appease and they make friends of them; they do good to
their enemies.… If they see a stranger, they take him to their dwellings
and rejoice over him as over a real brother. For they do not call
themselves brethren after the flesh, but after the Spirit and in God. But
if one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them who sees him
cares for his burial according to his ability. And if they hear that one
of them is imprisoned or oppressed on account of the name of their
Messiah, all of them care for his necessity, and if it is possible to
redeem him, they set him free. And if any one among them is poor and
needy, and they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order
to supply him with the needed food.(34) The precepts of their Messiah they
observe with great care. They live justly and soberly, as the Lord their
God commanded them. Every morning and every hour they acknowledge and
praise God for His lovingkindnesses toward them, and for their food and
drink they give thanks to Him. And if any righteous man among them passes
from this world, they rejoice and thank God and they escort his body as if
he were setting out on a journey from one place to another.…
Ch. 16. … Their words and precepts, O King, and the glory of their worship
and their hope of receiving reward, which they look for in another world,
according to the work of each one, you can learn about from their
writings. It is enough for us to have informed your Majesty in a few words
concerning the conduct and truth of the Christians. For great, indeed, and
wonderful is their doctrine for him who will study it and reflect upon it.
And verily this is a new people, and there is something divine in it.
(_b_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 46. (MSG, 6:398.)
In the following, Justin Martyr states his argument from the
doctrine of the Logos, which was widely accepted in Greek
philosophy and found its counterpart in Christianity in the
Johannine theology (see below, § 32 _A_). With Justin should be
compared Clement of Alexandria (see below, § 43 _a_), who develops
the same idea in showing the relation of Greek philosophy to the
Mosaic dispensation and to the Christian revelation.
We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have
declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men partake; and
those who lived reasonably were Christians, even though they have been
thought atheists; as among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus and those
like them; and among the Barbarians, Abraham and Ananias, and Azarias, and
Misael, and Elias, and many others whose actions and names we now decline
to recount, because we know it would be tedious.
(_c_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, II, 10, 13. (MSG, 6:459, 466.)
Ch. 10. Our doctrines, then, appear to be greater than all human teaching;
because Christ who appeared for our sakes, became the whole rational
being,(35) body and reason and soul. For whatever either law-givers or
philosophers uttered well they elaborated by finding and contemplating
some part of the Logos. But since they did not know the whole of the
Logos, which is Christ, they often contradicted themselves. And those who
by human birth were more ancient than Christ, when they attempted to
consider and prove things by reason, were brought before the tribunals as
impious persons and busybodies. And Socrates, who was more zealous in this
direction than all of them, was accused of the very same crimes as
ourselves. For they said that he was introducing new divinities, and did
not consider those to be gods whom the State recognized. But he cast out
from the State both Homer and the rest of the poets, and taught men to
reject the wicked demons and those who did the things which the poets
related; and he exhorted them to become acquainted with the God who was
unknown to them, by means of the investigation of reason, saying, “That it
is not easy to find the Father and Maker of all, nor, having found Him, is
it safe to declare Him to all.”(36) But these things our Christ did
through His own power. For no one trusted in Socrates so as to die for
this doctrine, but in Christ, who was partially known even by Socrates
(for He was and is the Logos who is in every man, and who foretold the
things that were to come to pass both through the prophets and in His own
person when He was made of like passions and taught these things), not
only philosophers and scholars believed, but also artisans and people
entirely uneducated, despising both glory and fear and death; since He is
the power of the ineffable Father, and not the mere instrument of human
reason.(37)
Ch. 13. … I confess that I both boast and with all my strength strive to
be found a Christian; not because the teachings of Plato are different
from those of Christ, but because they are not in all respects similar, as
neither are those of others, Stoics, poets, and historians. For each man
spoke well in proportion to the share he had of the spermatic divine
Logos, seeing what was related to it. But they who contradict themselves
on the more important points appear not to have possessed the heavenly
wisdom and the knowledge which cannot be spoken against. Whatever things
were rightly said among all men are the property of us Christians. For
next to God we worship and love the Logos, who is from the unbegotten and
ineffable God, since also He became man for our sakes, that, becoming a
partaker of our sufferings, He might also bring us healing. For all the
writers were able to see realities darkly through the sowing of the
implanted Logos that was in them. For the seed of anything and a copy
imparted according to capacity [_i.e._, to receive] is one thing, and
quite another is the thing itself, of which there is the participation and
imitation according to the grace which is from Him.
(_d_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 31, 53. (MSG, 6:375, 406.)
The argument from prophecy.
Ch. 31. There were then among the Jews certain men who were prophets of
God, through whom the prophetic Spirit [context shows that the Logos is
here meant] published beforehand things that were to come to pass before
they happened. And their prophecies, as they were spoken and when they
were uttered, the kings who were among the Jews at the several times
carefully preserved in their possession, when they had been arranged by
the prophets themselves in their own Hebrew language.… They are also in
possession of all Jews throughout the world.… In these books of the
prophets we found Jesus our Christ foretold as coming, born of a virgin,
growing up to manhood, and healing every disease and every sickness, and
raising the dead, and being hated and unrecognized, and crucified, and
dying, and rising again, and ascending into heaven, and both being and
also called the Son of God, and that certain persons should be sent by Him
into every race of men to publish these things, and that rather among the
Gentiles [than among the Jews] men should believe on Him. And He was
predicted before He appeared first 5,000 years before, and again 3,000,
then 2,000 then 1,000, and yet again 800; for according to the succession
of generations prophets after prophets arose.
Ch. 53. Though we have many other prophecies, we forbear to speak, judging
these sufficient for the persuasion of those who have ears capable of
hearing and understanding; and considering also that these persons are
able to see that we do not make assertions, and are unable to produce
proof, like those fables that are told of the reputed sons of Jupiter. For
with what reason should we believe of a crucified man that He is the
first-born of the unbegotten God, and Himself will pass judgment on the
whole human race, unless we found testimonies concerning Him published
before He came and was born as a man, and unless we saw that things had
happened accordingly?
Chapter II. The Internal Crisis: The Gnostic And Other Heretical Sects
In the second century the Church passed through an internal crisis even
more trying than the great persecutions of the following centuries and
with results far more momentous. Of the conditions making possible such a
crisis the most important was absence in the Church of norms of faith
universally acknowledged as binding. Then, again, many had embraced
Christianity without grasping the spirit of the new religion. Nearly all
interpreted the Christian faith more or less according to their earlier
philosophical or religious conceptions; _e.g._, the apologists within the
Church used the philosophical Logos doctrine. In this way arose numerous
interpretations of Christian teaching and perversions of that teaching,
some not at all in harmony with the generally received tradition. These
discordant interpretations or perversions are the heretical movements of
the second century. They varied in every degree of departure from the
generally accepted Christian tradition. Some, like the earlier Gnostics (§
21), and even the greater Gnostic systems (§ 22), at least in their
esoteric teaching, show that their principal inspiration was other than
Christian; others, as the Gnosticism of Marcion (§ 23) and the
enthusiastic sect of the Montanists (§ 25), seem to have built largely
upon exaggerated Christian tenets, contained, indeed, in the New
Testament, but not fully appreciated by the majority of Christians; or
still others, as the Encratites (§ 24), laid undue stress upon what was
generally recognized as an element of Christian morality.
The principal source materials for the history of Gnosticism and other
heresies of this chapter may be found collected and provided with
commentary in Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums_, Leipsic,
1884.
§ 21. The Earlier Gnostics: Gnosticism in General
Gnosticism is a generic name for a vast number of syncretistic religious
systems prevalent, especially in the East, both before and after the
Christian era. For the most part the movement was outside of Christianity,
and was already dying out when Christianity appeared. It derived its
essential features from Persian and Babylonian sources and was markedly
dualistic. As it spread toward the West, it adopted many Western elements,
making use of Christian ideas and terms and Greek philosophical concepts.
Modified by such new matter, it obtained a renewed lease of life. In
proportion as the various schools of Gnosticism became more influenced by
Christian elements, they were more easily confused with Christianity, and
accordingly more dangerous to it. Among such were the greater schools of
Basilides and Valentinus (see next section). The doctrines of Gnosticism
were held by many who were nominally within the Church. The tendency of
the Gnostics and their adherents was to form little coteries and to keep
much of their teaching secret from those who were attracted by their more
popular tenets. The esoteric element seems to have been the so-called
“systems” in which the fanciful and mythological element in Gnosticism
appears. This, as being the most vulnerable part of the Gnostic teaching,
was attacked most bitterly by the opponents of heresy. There are no extant
writings of the earlier Gnostics, Simon, Menander, or Cerinthus. They are
known only from Christian opponents.
Sources for the history of Gnosticism: The leading sources are the Church
Fathers Irenæus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria (all
translated in ANF), Origen (in part only translated in ANF), and
Epiphanius. The accounts of these bitter enemies must necessarily be used
with caution. They contain, however, numerous fragments from Gnostic
writings. The fragments in the ante-Nicene Fathers may be found in A.
Hilgenfeld, _op. cit._, in Greek, with commentary. For the literary
remains of Gnosticism, see Krüger, §§ 22-31. The more accessible are:
_Acts of Thomas_ (best Greek text by Bonnet, Leipsic, 1903, German
translation with excellent commentary in E. Hennecke, _Neutestamentliche
Apokryphen_, Tübingen and Leipsic, 1904); Ptolemæus, _Epistle to Flora_
(in Epiphanius, _Panarion_, Hær. XXXIII); _Hymn of the Soul_, from the
_Acts of Thomas_ (text and English translation by Bevan in _Text and
Studies_, V, 3, Cambridge, 1897, also translated in F. C. Burkitt, _Early
Eastern Christianity_, N. Y., 1904).
(_a_) Tertullian, _De Præscriptione Hæreticorum_, 7. (MSL, 2:21.)
A wide-spread opinion that Gnosticism was fundamentally a
perversion of Christianity finds its most striking expression in
the phrase of Harnack that it was “the acute secularizing or
Hellenizing of Christianity” (_History of Dogma_, English
translation, I, 226). The foundation for this representation is
the later Gnosticism, which took over many Christian and Greek
elements, and the opinion of Tertullian that Gnosticism and Greek
philosophy discussed the same questions and held the same
opinions. (_Cf._ the thesis of Hippolytus in his _Philosophumena,
or the Refutation of All Heresies_; see the Proemium, ANF, V, 9
_f._, and especially bk. VII.) Tertullian, although retaining
unconsciously the impress of his former Stoicism, was violently
opposed to philosophy, and in his denunciation of heresy felt that
it was a powerful argument against the Gnostics to show
similarities between their teaching and the Greek philosophy he so
heartily detested. It is a brilliant work and may be taken as a
fair specimen of Tertullian’s style.
These are the doctrines of men and of demons born of the spirit of this
world’s wisdom, for itching ears; and the Lord, calling this foolishness,
chose the foolish things of this world to the confusion of philosophy
itself. For philosophy is the material of the world’s wisdom, the rash
interpreter of the nature and dispensation of God. Indeed, heresies
themselves are instigated by philosophy. From this source came the eons,
and I know not what infinite forms, and the trinity of man in the system
of Valentinus; he was of Plato’s school. From this source came Marcion’s
better god with all his tranquillity; he came of the Stoics. Then again
the opinion that the soul dies is held by the Epicureans. The denial of
the resurrection of the body is taken from the united schools of all
philosophers. When matter is made equal to God, you have the teaching of
Zeno; and when anything is alleged touching a fiery god, then Heraclitus
comes in. The same subject-matter is discussed over and over again by the
heretics and the philosophers; the same arguments are involved. Whence and
wherefore is evil? Whence and how has come man? Besides these there is the
question which Valentinus has very recently proposed, Whence comes God?
(_b_) Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, I, 23. (MSG, 7:670.)
Simon Magus. For additional source material, see Justin Martyr,
_Apol._ I, 26, 56, _Dial. c. Tryph._, 120; Hippolytus, _Ref._ VI,
72 _f._ The appearance of Simon in the pseudo-Clementine
literature (translated in ANF, VIII), presents an interesting
historical problem. The present condition of investigation is
given in the article “Clementine Literature” by J. V. Bartlett, in
_Encyc. Brit._, eleventh ed.
Simon the Samaritan, that magician of whom Luke, the disciple and follower
of the Apostles, says: “But there was a certain man, Simon by name,” etc.
[Acts 8:9-11, 20, 21, 23.] Since he did not put his faith in God a whit
more, he set himself eagerly to contend against the Apostles, in order
that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and studied with still
greater zeal the whole range of magic art, that he might the better
bewilder the multitude of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of
Claudius Cæsar, by whom also he is said to have been honored with a statue
on account of his magic. This man, then, was glorified by many as a god,
and he taught that it was he himself who appeared among the Jews as the
Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father, while he came to other
nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself as the
loftiest of all powers, that it is he who is over all as the Father, and
he allowed himself to be called whatsoever men might name him.
Now this Simon of Samaria, from whom all heresies derive their origin, has
as the material for his sect the following: Having redeemed from slavery
at Tyre, a city of Phœnicia, a certain woman named Helena,(38) a
prostitute, he was in the habit of carrying her about with him, declaring
that she was the first conception [_Ennœa_] of his mind, the mother of
all, by whom he conceived in his mind to make the angels and archangels.
For this Ennœa, leaping forth from him and comprehending the will of her
father, descended to the lower regions and generated angels and powers, by
whom, also, he declared this world was made. But after she had generated
them she was detained by them through jealousy, because they were
unwilling that they should be regarded as the progeny of any other being.
As to himself, he was wholly unknown to them, but his Ennœa was detained
by those powers and angels who had been produced by her. She suffered all
kinds of contumely from them, so that she could not return upward to her
father, but was even shut up in a human body and for ages passed in
succession from one female body to another, as from one vessel to another
vessel. She was in that Helen on whose account the Trojan War was
undertaken; wherefore also Stesichorus was struck blind, because he cursed
her in his poems; but afterward, when he had repented and written those
verses which are called palinodes, in which he sung her praises, he saw
once more. Thus passing from body to body and suffering insults in every
one of them, she at last became a common prostitute; and she it is who was
the lost sheep.
For this purpose he himself had come, that he might win her first and free
her from chains, and confer salvation upon men by making himself known to
them. For since the angels ruled the world poorly, because each one of
them coveted the principal power, he had come to mend matters and had
descended, been transfigured and assimilated to powers and angels, so that
he might appear among men as man, although he was not a man; and that he
was supposed to have suffered in Judea, although he had not suffered.
Moreover, the prophets inspired by the angels, who were the makers of the
world, pronounced their prophecies; for which reason those who place their
trust in him and Helena no longer regard them, but are free to do what
they will; for men are saved according to his grace, and not according to
their righteous works. For deeds are not righteous in the nature of
things, but by mere accident and just as those angels who made the world
have determined, seeking by such precepts to bring men into bondage. On
this account he promised that the world should be dissolved and that those
who are his should be freed from the rule of them who made the world.
Thus, then, the mystic priests belonging to this sect both live
profligately and practise magical arts, each one to the extent of his
ability. They use exorcisms and incantations, love-potions, also, and
charms, as well as those beings who are called “familiars” [_paredri_] and
"dream senders" [_oniropompi_], and whatever other curious arts can be had
are eagerly pressed into their service.
(_c_) Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, I, 23. (MSG, 7:673.)
The system of Menander. _Cf._ also Eusebius. _Hist. Ec._, III, 26.
The successor of Simon Magus was Menander, a Samaritan by birth, who also
became a perfect adept in magic. He affirms that the first power is
unknown to all, but that he himself is the person who has been sent forth
by the invisible beings as a saviour for the salvation of men. The world
was made by angels, who, as he also, like Simon, says, were produced by
the Ennœa, He gives also, as he affirms, by means of the magic which he
teaches knowledge, so that one may overcome those angels that made the
world. For his disciples obtain the resurrection by the fact that they are
baptized into him, and they can die no more, but remain immortal without
ever growing old.
(_d_) Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, I, 26. (MSG, 7:686.)
The system of Cerinthus. For additional source material, see
Irenæus, III, 3, 4; Hippolytus, _Ref._ VII, 33; X, 21; Eusebius,
_Hist. Ec._, III, 28.
Cerinthus, again, taught in Asia that the world was not made by the
supreme God, but by a power separated and distant from that Ruler
[_principalitate_] who is over the universe, and ignorant of the God who
is above all. He represented Jesus as not having been born of a virgin,
for this seemed impossible to him, but as having been the son of Joseph
and Mary in the same way that all other men are sons, only he was more
righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. After his baptism Christ
descended upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler; and that
then he proclaimed the unknown Father and performed miracles. But at last
Christ departed from Jesus, and then Jesus suffered and rose again, but
Christ remained impassable, since He was a spiritual being.
§ 22. The Greater Gnostic Systems: Basilides and Valentinus
The Gnostic systems having most influence within the Church and effect
upon its development were those of Basilides and Valentinus. Of these
teachers and their followers we have not only the accounts of those
opponents who attacked principally their esoteric and most
characteristically Gnostic tenets, but also fragments and other remains
which give a more favorable impression of the religious and moral value of
the great schools of Gnosticism. In their “systems” of vast theogonies and
cosmologies, in their wild mythological treatment of the most abstract
conceptions and their dualism, the Church writers naturally saw at once
their most vulnerable and most dangerous element.
A. The School of Basilides
The school of Basilides marks the beginning of the distinctively
Hellenistic stadium of Gnosticism. Basilides, its founder, apparently
worked first in the East; circa 120-130 he was at Alexandria. He was the
first important Gnostic writer. Of his Gospel, Commentary on that Gospel
in twenty-four books (_Exegetica_), and his odes only fragments remain of
the second, preserved by Clement of Alexandria and in the _Acta Archelai_
(collected by Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte_, 207-213).
Additional source material: Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II, 3, 8, 20;
IV, 24, 26 (ANF. II); Hippolytus, _Ref._, VII, 20-27; X, 14 (=VII, 1-15,
X, 10, ANF, V); Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, IV. 7. The account of Hippolytus
differs markedly from that of Irenæus, and his quotations and references
have been the subject of long dispute among scholars.
(_a_) _Acta Archelai_, 55. (MSG, 10:1526.)
The _Acta Archelai_ purport to be an account of a disputation held
in the reign of the Emperor Probus (276-282) by Archelaus, Bishop
of Kaskar in Mesopotamia, with Mani, the founder of Manichæanism.
The work is of uncertain authorship; it belongs to the first part
of the fourth century. It is the most important source for the
Manichæan doctrine (_v. infra_, § 54). It exists only in a Latin
translation probably from a Greek original.
Among the Persians there was also a certain preacher, one Basilides, of
more ancient date, not long after the time of our Apostles. Since he was
of a shrewd disposition himself, and observed that at that time all other
subjects were preoccupied, he determined to affirm that dualism which was
maintained also by Scythianus. And so, since he had nothing to advance
which he might call his own, he brought the sayings of others before his
adversaries. And all his books contain some matters difficult and
extremely harsh. The thirteenth book of his Tractates,(39) however, is
still extant, which begins thus: “In writing the thirteenth book of our
Tractates, the word of salvation furnished us with the necessary and
fruitful word. It illustrates(40) under the figure of a rich [principle]
and a poor [principle], a nature without root and without place and only
supervenes upon things.(41) This is the only topic which the book
contains.” Does it not, then, contain a strange word, as also certain
persons think? Will ye not all be offended with the book itself, of which
this is the beginning? But Basilides, returning to the subject, some five
hundred lines intervening, more or less, says: “Give up this vain and
curious variation, and let us rather find out what inquiries the
Barbarians [_i.e._, the Persians] have instituted concerning good and
evil, and to what opinions they have come on all these subjects. For
certain among them have said that there are for all things two beginnings
[or principles], to which they have referred good and evil, holding these
principles are without beginning and ingenerate; that is to say, that in
the origins of things there were light and darkness, which existed of
themselves, and which were not declared to exist.(42) When these subsisted
by themselves, they each led its own proper mode of life as it willed to
lead, and such as was competent to it. For in the case of all things, what
is proper to it is in amity with it, and nothing seems evil to itself. But
after they came to the knowledge of each other, and after the darkness
contemplated the light, then, as if fired with a passion for something
superior, the darkness rushed to have intercourse with the light.”
(_b_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, IV, 12. (MSG, 8:1289.)
Basilides taught the transmigration of souls as an explanation of
human suffering. _Cf._ Origen in _Ep. ad Rom._, V: “I [Paul], he
says, died [Rom. 7:9], for now sin began to be reckoned unto me.
But Basilides, not noticing that these things ought to be
understood of the natural law, according to impious and foolish
fables turns this apostolic saying into the Pythagorean dogma,
that is, attempts to prove from this word of the Apostle that
souls are transferred from one body to another. For he says that
the Apostle has said, ‘I lived without any law’—_i.e._, before I
came into the body I lived in that sort of body which is not under
the law, _i.e._, of beasts and birds.”
Basilides, in the twenty-third book of the Exegetics, respecting those
that are punished by martyrdom, expresses himself in the following
language: “For I say this, Whosoever fall under the afflictions mentioned,
in consequence of unconsciously transgressing in other matters, are
brought to this good end by the kindness of Him who brings about all
things, though they are accused on other grounds; so that they may not
suffer as condemned for what are acknowledged to be iniquities, nor
reproached as the adulterer or the murderer, but because they are
Christians; which will console them, so that they do not appear to suffer.
And if one who has not sinned at all incur suffering (a rare case), yet
even he will not suffer aught through the machinations of power, but will
suffer as the child which seems not to have sinned would suffer.” Then
further on he adds: “As, then, the child which has not sinned before, nor
actually committed sin, but has in itself that which committed sin, when
subjected to suffering is benefited, reaping the advantage of many
difficulties; so, also, although a perfect man may not have sinned in act,
and yet endures afflictions, he suffers similarly with the child. Having
within him the sinful principle, but not embracing the opportunity of
committing sin, he does not sin; so that it is to be reckoned to him as
not having sinned. For as he who wishes to commit adultery is an
adulterer, although he fails to commit adultery, and he who wishes to
commit murder is a murderer, although he is unable to kill; so, also, if I
see the man without sin, whom I refer to, suffering, though he have done
nothing bad, I should call him bad on account of the wish to sin. For I
will affirm anything rather than call Providence evil.” Then, in
continuation, he says expressly concerning the Lord, as concerning man:
“If, then, passing from all these observations, you were to proceed to put
me to shame by saying, perchance impersonating certain parties, This man
has then sinned, for this man has suffered; if you permit, I will say, He
has not sinned, but was like a child suffering. If you insist more
urgently, I would say, That the man you name is man, but God is righteous,
‘for no one is pure,’ as one said, ‘from pollution.’ ” But the hypothesis
of Basilides says that the soul, having sinned before in another life,
endures punishment in this—the elect soul with honor by martyrdom, the
other purged by appropriate punishment.
(_c_) Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, I, 24:3 _ff._ (MSG, 7:675.)
The system of Basilides, as presented by Irenæus, is dualistic and
emanationist; with it is to be compared the presentation of the
system by Hippolytus in his _Philosophumena_, where it appears as
evolutionary and pantheistic. The trend of present opinion appears
to be that the account given by Irenæus is more correct, or, at
least, is earlier. The following account has all the appearance of
having been taken from an original source (_cf._ Hilgenfeld,
_Ketzergeschichte_, 195, 198). It represents the esoteric and more
distinctively Gnostic teaching of the school.
Ch. 3. Basilides, to appear to have discovered something more sublime and
plausible, gives an immense development to his doctrine. He declares that
in the beginning the Nous was born of the unborn Father, that from him in
turn was born the Logos, then from the Logos the Phronesis, from the
Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis, and from Dynamis and Sophia the powers and
principalities and angels, whom he calls the first; and that by these the
first heaven was made. Then by emanation from these others were formed,
and these created another heaven similar to the first. And in like manner,
when still others had been formed by emanations from these, corresponding
to those who were over them, they framed another third heaven; and from
this third heaven downward there was a fourth succession of descendants;
and so on, in the same manner, they say that other and still other princes
and angels were formed, and three hundred and sixty-five heavens.
Wherefore the year contained the same number of days in conformity with
the number of the heavens.
Ch. 4. The angels occupying the lowest heaven, that, namely, which is
visible to us, created all those things which are in the world, and made
allotments among themselves of the earth, and of those nations which are
upon it. The chief of them is he who is thought to be the God of the Jews.
Inasmuch as he wished to make the other nations subject to his own people,
the Jews, all the other princes resisted and opposed him. Wherefore all
other nations were hostile to his nation. But the unbegotten and nameless
Father, seeing their ruin, sent his own first-begotten Nous, for he it is
who is called Christ, to set free from the power of those who made the
world them that believe in him. He therefore appeared on earth as a man to
the nations of those powers and wrought miracles. Wherefore he did not
himself suffer death, but Simon, a certain Cyrenian, was compelled and
bore the cross in his stead; and this latter was transfigured by him that
he might be thought to be Jesus and was crucified through ignorance and
error; but Jesus himself took the form of Simon and stood by and derided
him. For as he is an incorporeal power and the Nous of the unborn Father,
he transfigured himself at pleasure, and so ascended to him who had sent
him, deriding them, inasmuch as he could not be held, and was invisible to
all. Those, then, who know these things have been freed from the princes
who made the world; so that it is not necessary to confess him who was
crucified, but him who came in the form of a man, and was thought to have
been crucified, and was called Jesus, and was sent by the Father, that by
this dispensation he might destroy the works of the makers of the world.
Therefore, Basilides says that if any one confesses the crucified, he is
still a slave, under the power of those who made our bodies; but whoever
denies him has been freed from these beings and is acquainted with the
dispensation of the unknown Father.
Ch. 5. Salvation is only of the soul, for the body is by nature
corruptible. He says, also, that even the prophecies were derived from
those princes who made the world, but the law was especially given by
their chief, who led the people out of the land of Egypt. He attaches no
importance to meats offered to idols, thinks them of no consequence, but
makes use of them without hesitation. He holds, also, the use of other
things as indifferent, and also every kind of lust. These men,
furthermore, use magic, images, incantations, invocations, and every other
kind of curious arts. Coining also certain names as if they were those of
the angels, they assert that some of these belong to the first, others to
the second, heaven; and then they strive to set forth the names,
principles, angels, powers, of the three hundred and sixty-five imagined
heavens. They also affirm that the name in which the Saviour ascended and
descended is Caulacau.(43)
Ch. 6. He, then, who has learned these things, and known all the angels
and their causes, is rendered invisible and incomprehensible to the angels
and powers, even as Caulacau also was. And as the Son was unknown to all,
so must they also be known by no one; but while they know all and pass
through all, they themselves remain invisible and unknown to all; for “Do
thou,” they say, “know all, but let nobody know thee.” For this reason,
persons of such a persuasion are also ready to recant, yea, rather, it is
impossible that they should suffer on account of a mere name, since they
are alike to all. The multitude, however, cannot understand these matters,
but only one out of a thousand, or two out of ten thousand. They declare
that they are no longer Jews, and that they are not yet Christians; and
that it is not at all fitting to speak openly of their mysteries, but
right to keep them secret by preserving silence.
Ch. 7. They make out the local position of the three hundred and
sixty-five heavens in the same way as do the mathematicians. For,
accepting the theorems of the latter, they have transferred them to their
own style of doctrine. They hold that their chief is Abraxas [or Abrasax];
and on this account that the word contains in itself the numbers amounting
to three hundred and sixty-five.
B. The School of Valentinus
The Valentinians were the most important of all the Gnostics closely
connected with the Church. The school had many adherents scattered
throughout the Roman Empire, its leading teachers were men of culture and
literary ability, and the sect maintained itself a long time. Valentinus
himself was a native of Egypt, and probably educated at Alexandria, where
he may have come under the influence of Basilides. He taught his own
system chiefly at Rome c. 140-c. 160. The great work of Irenæus against
the Gnostics, although having all Gnostics in view, especially deals with
the Valentinians in their various forms, because Irenæus was of the
opinion that he who refutes their system refutes all (_cf. Adv. Hær._, IV,
_præf._, 2). It is difficult to reconstruct with certainty the esoteric
system of Valentinus as distinguished from possibly later developments of
the school, as Irenæus, the principal authority, follows not only
Valentinus, but Ptolomæus and others, in describing the system. The
following selection of sources gives fragments of the letters and other
writings of Valentinus himself as preserved by Clement of Alexandria,
passages from Irenæus bringing out distinctive features of the system, and
the important letter of Ptolemæus to Flora, one of the very few extant
writings of the Gnostics of an early date. It gives a good idea of the
character of the exoteric teaching of the school.
Additional source material: The principal authority for the system
of the Valentinians is Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, Lib. I (ANF), see
also Hippolytus, _Refut._, VI, 24-32 (ANF); “The Hymn of the
Soul,” from the _Acts of Thomas_, trans. by A. A. Bevan, _Texts
and Studies_, III, Cambridge, 1897; _The Fragments of Heracleon_,
trans. by A. E. Burke, _Text and Studies_, I, Cambridge, 1891; see
also ANF, IX, index, p. 526, _s. v., Heracleon_. The _Excerpta
Theodoti_ contained in ANF, VIII, are really the _Excerpta
Prophetica_, another collection, identified with the _Excerpta
Theodoti_ by mistake of the editor of the American edition, A. C.
Coxe (on the _Excerpta_, see Zahn, _History of the Canon of the
New Testament_).
(_a_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, IV, 13. (MSG, 8:1296.)
The following passages appear to be taken from the same homily of
Valentinus. The pneumatics are naturally immortal, but have
assumed mortality to overcome it. Death is the work of the
imperfect Demiurge. The concluding portion, which is very obscure,
does not fit well into the Valentinian system. _Cf._ Hilgenfeld,
_op. cit._, p. 300.
Valentinian in a homily writes in these words: “Ye are originally
immortal, and ye are children of eternal life, and ye desired to have
death distributed to you, that ye may spend and lavish it, and that death
may die in you and by you; for when ye dissolve the world, and are not
yourselves dissolved, ye have dominion over creation and all
corruption.”(44) For he also, similarly with Basilides, supposes a class
saved by nature [_i.e._, the pneumatics, _v. infra_], and that this
different race has come hither to us from above for the abolition of
death, and that the origin of death is the work of the Creator of the
world. Wherefore, also, he thus expounds that Scripture, “No one shall see
the face of God and live” [Ex. 33:20], as if He were the cause of death.
Respecting this God, he makes those allusions, when writing, in these
expressions: “As much as the image is inferior to the living face, so much
is the world inferior to the living Eon. What is, then, the cause of the
image? It is the majesty of the face, which exhibits the figure to the
painter, to be honored by his name; for the form is not found exactly to
the life, but the name supplies what is wanting in that which is formed.
The invisibility of God co-operates also for the sake of the faith of that
which has been fashioned.” For the Demiurge, called God and Father, he
designated the image and prophet of the true God, as the Painter, and
Wisdom, whose image, which is formed, is to the glory of the invisible
One; since the things which proceed from a pair [syzygy] are complements
[_pleromata_], and those which proceed from one are images. But since what
is seen is no part of Him, the soul [_psyche_] comes from what is
intermediate, and is different; and this is the inspiration of the
different spirit. And generally what is breathed into the soul, which is
the image of the spirit [_pneuma_], and in general, what is said of the
Demiurge, who was made according to the image, they say was foretold by a
sensible image in the book of Genesis respecting the origin of man; and
the likeness they transfer to themselves, teaching that the addition of
the different spirit was made, unknown to the Demiurge.
(_b_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II, 20. (MSG, 8:1057.)
According to Basilides, the various passions of the soul were no
original parts of the soul, but appendages to the soul. “They were
in essence certain spirits attached to the rational soul, through
some original perturbation and confusion; and that again, other
bastard and heterogeneous natures of spirits grow onto them, like
that of the wolf, the ape, the lion, and the goat, whose
properties, showing themselves around the soul, they say,
assimilate the lusts of the soul to the likeness of these
animals.” See the whole passage immediately preceding the
following fragment. The fragment can best be understood by
reference to the presentation of the system by W. Bousset in
_Encyc. Brit._, eleventh ed., art. “Basilides.”
Valentinus, too, in a letter to certain people, writes in these very words
respecting the appendages: “There is One good, by whose presence is the
manifestation, which is by the Son, and by Him alone can the heart become
pure, by the expulsion of every evil spirit from the heart; for the
multitude of spirits dwelling in it do not suffer it to be pure; but each
of them performs his own deeds, insulting it oft with unseemly lusts. And
the heart seems to be treated somewhat like a caravansary. For the latter
has holes and ruts made in it, and is often filled with filthy dung; men
living filthily in it, and taking no care for the place as belonging to
others. So fares it with the heart as long as there is no thought taken
for it, being unclean and the abode of demons many. But when the only good
Father visits it, it is sanctified and gleams with light. And he who
possesses such a heart is so blessed that he shall see God.”
(_c_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II. 8. (MSG, 8:972.)
The teaching in the following passage attaches itself to the text,
“The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (_cf._ Prov. 1:7).
Compare with it Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, I, 30:6.
Here the followers of Basilides, interpreting this expression [Prov. 1:7]
say that “the Archon, having heard the speech of the Spirit, who was being
ministered to, was struck with amazement both with the voice and the
vision, having had glad tidings beyond his hopes announced to him; and
that his amazement was called fear, which became the origin of wisdom,
which distinguishes classes, and discriminates, and perfects, and
restores. For not the world alone, but also the election, He that is over
all has set apart and sent forth.”
And Valentinus appears also in an epistle to have adopted such views. For
he writes in these very words: “And as terror fell on the angels at this
creature, because he uttered things greater than proceeds from his
formation, by reason of the being in him who had invisibly communicated a
germ of the supernal essence, and who spoke with free utterance; so, also,
among the tribes of men in the world the works of men became terrors to
those who made them—as, for example, images and statues. And the hands of
all fashion things to bear the image of God; for Adam, formed into the
name of man, inspired the dread attaching to the pre-existing man, as
having his being in him; and they were terror-stricken and speedily marred
the work.”
(_d_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, III, 7. (MSG, 8:1151.)
The Docetism of Valentinus comes out in the following. It is to be
noted that Clement not only does not controvert the position taken
by the Gnostic as to the reality of the bodily functions of Jesus,
but in his own person makes almost the same assertions (_cf.
Strom._, VI, 9). He might indeed call himself, as he does in this
latter passage, a Gnostic in the sense of the true or Christian
Gnostic, but he comes very close to the position of the
non-Christian Gnostic.
Valentinus in an epistle to Agathopous says: “Since He endured all things,
and was continent [_i.e._, self-controlled], Jesus, accordingly, obtained
for Himself divinity. He ate and drank in a peculiar manner, not giving
forth His food. Such was the power of His continence [self-control] that
the food was not corrupted in Him, because He himself was without
corruption.”
(_e_) Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, I, 7, 15; I, 8, 23. (MSG, 7:517, 528.)
The division of mankind into three classes, according to their
nature and consequent capacity for salvation, is characteristic of
the Valentinian Gnosticism. The other Gnostics divided mankind
into two classes: those capable of salvation, or the pneumatics,
or Gnostics, and those who perish in the final destruction of
material existence, or the hylics. Valentinus avails himself of
the notion of the trichotomy of human nature, and gives a place
for the bulk of Christians, those who did not embrace Gnosticism;
_cf._ Irenæus, _ibid._, I, 6. Valentinus remained long within the
Church, accommodating his teaching as far as possible, and in its
exoteric side very fully, to the current teaching of the Church.
The doctrine as to the psychics, capable of a limited salvation,
appears to be a part of this accommodation.
I, 7, 5. The Valentinians conceive of three kinds of men: the pneumatic
[or spiritual], the choic [or material],(45) and the psychic [or animal];
such were Cain, Abel, and Seth. These three natures are no longer in one
person, but in the race. The material goes to destruction. The animal, if
it chooses the better part, finds repose in an intermediate place; but if
it chooses the worse, it, too, goes to the same [destruction]. But they
assert that the spiritual principles, whatever Acamoth has sown, being
disciplined and nourished here from that time until now in righteous
souls, because they were sent forth weak, at last attain perfection and
shall be given as brides(46) to the angels of the Saviour, but their
animal souls necessarily rest forever with the Demiurge in the
intermediate place. And again subdividing the animal souls themselves,
they say that some are by nature good and others are by nature evil. The
good are those who become capable of receiving the seed; the evil by
nature, those who are never able to receive that seed.
I, 8, 23. The parable of the leaven which the woman is said to have hid in
three measures of meal they declare manifests the three kinds of men:
pneumatic, psychic, and the choic, but the leaven denoted the Saviour
himself. Paul also very plainly set forth the choic, the psychic, and the
pneumatic, saying in one place: “As is the earthy [choic] such are they
also that are earthy” [I Cor. 15:48]; and in another place, “He that is
spiritual [pneumatic] judgeth all things” [I Cor. 2:14]. And the passage,
“The animal man receiveth not the things of the spirit” [I Cor. 2:15],
they affirm was spoken concerning the Demiurge, who, being psychic, knew
neither his mother, who was spiritual, nor her seed, nor the Eons in the
pleroma.
(_f_) Irenæus. _Adv. Hær._, I, 1. (MSG, 7:445 _f._)
The following passage appears, from the context, to have been
written with the teaching of Ptolemæus especially in mind. It
should be compared with the account further on in the same book,
I, 11: 1-3. The syzygies are characteristic of the
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