A Source Book for Ancient Church History Part 3

Justin Martyr, _Dialogus c.u.m Tryphone_, 117. (MSG, 6:676.)

The following pa.s.sage 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, G.o.d, antic.i.p.ating 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 Funda.n.u.s is probably spurious, as is also the Epistle of Antoninus Pius to the Common a.s.sembly of Asia.

Additional source material: The text of the rescripts may be found in Preuschen, _a.n.a.lecta_, I, 6, 7; translations, ANF, I, 186 _f._, and Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._ (ed. McGiffert), IV, 9, and IV, 13.

Plinius Junior, _Epistul_, X, 96, 97. Preuschen, _a.n.a.lecta_, I, 12 _ff._ _Cf._ Mirbt, nn. 14. 15.

Caius Ccilius 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 proprtor 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.ds, but also cursed Christ. They a.s.serted, however, that the amount of their fault or error was this: that they had been accustomed to a.s.semble on a fixed day before daylight and sing by turns [_i.e._, antiphonally] a hymn to Christ as a G.o.d; 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 [_ministr_], and that by torture, what was the truth. I found nothing else than a perverse and excessive superst.i.tion. 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 s.e.xes, are brought into danger; and will be in the future. The contagion of that superst.i.tion 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 mult.i.tude 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d. I am the wheat of G.o.d 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 G.o.d. 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 Lords 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, Irenus and any one else that may have proclaimed similar views.

(_b_) Irenus. _Adv. Hreses_, 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 cl.u.s.ters, and on every cl.u.s.ter 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 cl.u.s.ter, another shall cry out, I am better cl.u.s.ter, 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 gra.s.s 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 c.u.m 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 G.o.d of Abraham and the G.o.d of Isaac and the G.o.d 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