A D . .

64 TO T HE P E A CE OF TH E CH U R CH I N TH E FO URTH
CE NT U R Y

A NA R RA T I ON MA INL Y B A SE D UP O N C ON TE MP O R A R Y

RE CORD S A ND REMA INS

BY

D E AN OF G O U C E T E R
L S

NE W YO R K : E P D UTT O N
. . CO .

LO N D O N : C A SS E LL C O MP A NY L I MI TE D
,
 To th e Dea r Me m or y o f Vi ctor i a , is dedi

th is ch r on i cl e descr i bi ng th e b u il ding
ca ted up o
f
th e str on
g fou n dation stor e
ys of th e f aith of , whi ch

f or six ty - ou rf f
even t u l y ea r s th e g r ea t E ng li sh

Qu een was th e i llu str i ou s a nd p iou s De en der f .

E ng land

m
m d
H is

kl aje tg th e K ing f h as g r aciously th is
J
s o app rove

D edica tion, wh ich th e late Queen f

o
g lorious e ory a ccep ted only a few
day s b efore sh e fel l asleep .
 CO NT E NT S

INTR O D U C T I O N .

AG P E
M ni f t ti on O f th Sup rnatu l in th hi t y f th
a es a e e l y Ch u ch D i vi i n
ra e s or o e ear r s o

O f Ch u ch h i to y in to tw cti n b y th E di ct O f C n t ntine S u c
m
m
r s r o se o s e o s a o r es

Of Ch i ti n t n gth M t i l f c n t uctin g th n ti ve W i t
m
r s a s re a er a s or o s r e a rra r

in g of D i c ip l e
s A p tl O f th ei i
s edi te
s or ucc os E u bi u
es r a s essor s se s
E l y h e ti c S il nc
ar f R re n l it sti R ep o ts Of t i l
e e o A ct o a er a r r a s s

i M y i y C i F i I d nti ty of C h i

m
; or
P n f t U n t f h ti n th
v ass o s o a ar rs o r s a e r s

ti n P c ti c e T h e f oun d ti n O f th at U ni ty Th e C non of th e New

a ra a o a

Testa ent

C H A PT E R I .

m
F I R ST STAGE S .

S E CT IO N I T H B E G I NN I N G S C H R I S TI AN I T Y Reco ds f A D 6 2 First

mm
. E 0F : r ro . .

se cti n Of th A ct f th A p tl
o e Ch i ti ani ty in th e t p l ace ex
s o e os es : r s rs

c l u i l y H b w E x t n i n t S a ari tan and G ntil S c n d

s ve e re e s o cti no s e es e o se o

Of th e A cts ch act f th T av l D cu nt A uth nti city Of th e

: ar er o e r e o e

e

w k S E C T I O N II T J w I N R O M E Po i ti n O f th J w in th
m
or . . 1! I E E : s o e e s e

C pi tal und th e t C a a Th P culia P op le Th Gh etto

a er rs es rs e e r e e

Ch i tians b f Ne Th H ou h ol d of Caesar P p ni a G aecina

r s e ore ro e

se o o r

T h e C h ri s ti an l k ed up n a a J w i h
s oo ct o s e s se

C H AP TE R II .

N ER O .

S E CTI O N I TH P E R SE CUT I O N NE R O C har cte of Ne o ei gn Th e

m
. E 0F : a r r s r

g at r N o ch g th C h i ti n w ith causin g th Ob di ence

m
re e er ar es e r s a s e re e

to G ov n nt a p a t f th Ch i ti n t ach i ng P ibl u c Of th e
m
er e r o e r s a e oss e so r es

a ccu ti n A tti tud f th h i t i an T citus New f

sa o e o f th in di ct
e s or a or o e

nt Th e xh ibi ti n in th Vati c n G d en S ECT ION I I E FFE C T S

m m mmm
e e o e a ar s. .

O F T H E PE R S E CU T I O N NE R O C h an ge in th e p iti on O f Ch i ti ns
0F : os r s a

C h isti ni ty b co
r a ci p e O d iu hu
es ni g n i C h i ti an
a r e er se a e er s r s

re adin t di A ttitud
ess o f th e Re n l it ti Th p cuti n c n
e o o a era e erse o o

tin n d Fi st E pi tl Of S P te Th A p o cal yp
e r s e . e r e se 40
 C ONTE NTS .

C H A PTE R III .

T H E C H U R C H I N R O M E A F T E R N ER O

m m m
.

AG P E
A tti tud t C h i ti ni ty f V p i n an d Ti tu P ecuti n i n cti v R e

m m m m
e o r s a o es as a s ers o a e

n w d p
e ecuti n und D itian R n pi c pat f C l nt
erse o er o o a e s o e o e e

I na u on C l nt C l nt l ette t th C inth ian C l nt s

m m

re e s e e e e s r o e or s e e

p n li ty H i t n t wa d G v n nt H i d ct inal t ach ing

m m m
er so a s o e o r s o er e s o r e

M SS O f C l . nt l tte and p ay E x i t nc e f Fo
e e

Of P y
s e r r er s e o r s ra er

C te y f D o i till a B a i li ca Of C l e nt
e e r o 60 s e

C H A PT E R I V .

8 J O H N A ND P O Y CAR
L P

m
. .

S ECT ION S J O H N J oh n i d Of g lic i Resi

m
I . . : S . th e th r th e reat A posto tr o

d ence at Pat os R etu n to E p f ences in th e Mu ato i n r h esus R e er r r a

f g ent Refe ence by I enaeus S ECT ION II S I O L Y CA P A

m

ra r s r . .
-
. R :

di cipl e Of J oh n L ette of Ign atius t Pol y carp L ette o f I enaeu to

m
s r o r r s

Fl o i nu W id esp e d in u nc e O f P l yc a p l ol y ca p at R o e

mm

r s r ath e e o r r :

E ste Day cont ov e sy H i c on d nati on O f h e i es W i tin g s of

a r r r s e res r

Pol y ca p S to y of h is
r ty d o A u th n ti ci ty of th e cc ount
r ar r e a 76

C H A PT E R V .

I G NA T I U S 0 F AN T IOC H .

Wh at w e know O f I gnatiu ch i y in th e v n l tt L if nd d at f h i
m m
s, e se e e er s e a e o s

d ath Th e ph us Th e An ti och ene A ct A e t f I gn tius

m m
e o or s rr s o a ,

nd j u n y t R o e S t y at S y n A t T A t Ph il ip i

m m m
a o r e o p a r a r oas

A cc unt o f h is a ty d A nti ch n A ct H i vn

m mm
o in th r r o e o e e s s se e

l ett C nd n ati n O f D c ti s I n i st nc n th th f ld i ni t y
er s o e o o e s e e o e ree o s r

in th C h u ch L tt t th R o an D i
e r f a ty d e E ff ct o f
er o e s es re or r r o e s

thi s l tt e er 94

C H A PT E R V I .

T R AJ AN AN D H A DR I AN

m
.

S ECT ION I PL I N Y AN D T R A A N G n l l ck f auth ntic c d Plin y

mm m
. J : e er a a o e r e or s

th e Y un g H i a cc un t of p n l ti
o er i p d up on C h i ti ans H is
s o e a es ose r s

e x a inati n and j cti n of g av ch g again t th e B n fit e

o re e o r e ar es s e e s r

ul tin g f th i i R ep l y f T R i n not p
s p ro on j n
e r re p r ess o ra a e ress o , er se

p l i cy E vid nc O f th l tt p gr

m m
c uti n o hi ,
s o a t th f e e e e ers s o e ro ess o

Ch i ti ni ty S ECT ION I I H AD R I AN F I RST P E R I D L tt of S i l

m
r s a . . : O : e er

va n u G an ian u R c ip t f H d i an D i c u
s r s g nt f i nf
es r o a r s o ra e e o or ers

Ch a act Of th E p Ch ang e in h i l t y S ECT ION I l I

m m
r er e eror s a er ears . .

H AD R I A N T H E T R A G ED Y : T H E J w s Th l t J w i h w E x t or E z e as e s ar er

inati n Of J udaising C h i ti ni ty Th J w n t p c ut d af t wa d
o r s a e e s o erse e er r s
T h e al in pi d by C h i ti ni ty S ECT ION I V C H R I S T I A N L IFE
ar s re r s a . .
-

U N D E R H AD R IA N AS P R ESE N TE D Y EA RL Y C H R I ST I A N A O L O G I ST S B P :

Quad tu A i tid A cc unt Of th C h i ti an gi v n b y A i tid

ra s r s es o e r s s e r s es

F tu in h i A p l gy Th L tt t D i g n tu
S ECT ION V "

m m m
m
ea res s o o e e er o o e s . .

T H E P E R SECUT ION I N T H E L A S T Y EA R S O F H AD R I A N C h n g in H d i an : a e a r

s
-
h ar acte m Ma ty d of S Sy
r h r C r nt on th
o d or osa o e s e r e co r 1 07
p .
 C ONTE NTS . xi

C HA P TE R VII .

T H E RE V IV AL OF A AN IS M
m m
P G .

AG E
P
S CT ION M A N R E L I G ION Pagani an effecti ve rival to Chri
I TH E R O

m m
E . : s s

l i ty a a li gi n C h an g b tw n th e ti es f Ci ce
mm
tiani ty I ts

m
rea s re o e e ee o ro

Of M c u l i u F S c c i D v i Ch a act of th
m
an d a u s A r epti re s t ot s n ro o e o r er e

p ri itive f C uptin g i nu nc f G ce~Re ultin g c pti ci

m
or orr e e o ree s s e s .

S ECT ION I I TH A U G USTAN A WA K E N . E I p o tance attach d t Re I

N
G : r e o

ligion b y A u gu tu H i t ati n of t l d i u l H rac e an d

m
m
s s p a n t s res or
a o e es r o

O vi d T h e E thi c Of th e G gi c R li g i u a p ct of th E n id
s eor s e o s s e s e

e

f V i g il G n al u a y f A u gustu

mm
I n uen in uen e Th e

ce o r e er s r o s c

suc f A u gu tus
c essors o S ECT ION I I I T H DE I I C A T IO N O F T H E E M
s . . E F

D i vin h n u p id t nati nal h e e Th e fa il y L a e

m
PER OR S : e o o rs a o o ro s r s

J ul i u C a d i d A u gu tu d i d A s oci ati n of th e I p ri al

m
s esar e e s s e e s o e

D eity w i th Ro an D eity o G ni u G nuin acc p tanc f th e d i ca r e s e e e e o e

ti on N t el y n o q u i v al e
ern t o f c an ani sat i on S
e ECT ION I V S ACE R o . .

D O T AL C O RP O RAT ION S R v i val f n ci nt ac d tal c rp o ati on Th

m m
: e o a e s er o o r s e

A v l B oth
r a S ECT ION V AD M I SS ION O F F O R E I G N D E IT I ES AM ON G T H E
r ers . .

O L D G O D S O F R O ME E l y x p l e O i ntal x pl es Ch istianity
m
: ar e a s r e e a r

ex cl u d d a it lf i nt l ant S ECT ION VI TH P H IL O S O P H E R S

m
al n o e e s se o er . . E

AND T H E P A G A N R D ct in of th e U ni ty f God Cl ai f th
m
VAL E vI : o r e o o e

p hi l p hoso t u p c
ers t S no Oc D ir r esn f Ch i tian E thic s
e e e a er e ce ro r s

E pi ct tu T h St i c n t di ctl y in uen c d by Ch i ti nity Stoi ci

e s e o s o re e r s a s

n t dir ct d to th
o e p oo and l w l y C nt a t w i th Chri tianity
e e r o o r s s

C HA PTE R V III .

THE C H R IS T I AN S U N DER T H E AN T O N I N E S , A D . . 1 38 TO A D . . 1 80 .

ii
Pos t on O f C h i ti
gro w ing w se Th e f eeli n g o f th e An tonin es towar ds
r s an s or

Ch i sti an i ty Th e A p ol o gy Of Justi n A cti v i ty of Ch ristian p op agan da

r

r

Th e sec on d A pol g y Of Justin Inc eased sev e i ty un d e Ma cus

m

o r r r r

A u el i us L tte s and
r Medi tati on s of Marcus A u eli us W o sh ip of
e r r r

th e Pag an D eiti es D ev el op ent of anti C h isti an p oli c y - r 1 76

C H A PTE R IX .

A C HA T ER OF M A TY RD O M S
P R .

S ECT ION I I N .C S ECT ION I I A N E XAM P L E O F A S T A TE T R I AL

TR O D U TO R r . .

O F A CCUSE D C H R I ST I AN S N R O ME Th A ct f S F li cit I nt

m

I : e s o . e as er

g ti n b f th c u t E x cuti n D i c v i t bu i l f th

m
ro a o e or e e o r e o s o er es as o r a o ese

ty S ECT ION I I I T P R I S ON L I FE E O R E A MA R T YR D O M T h
mm
ar rs . HE B F : e

P i n f S P p tu D
ass o o f P p tu
. ern d S tu u Th
e a f r ea s o er e a a a r s e ev e o

ty d I n th n A uth hi p f th i n S ECT ION I V

mm
ar r o P e are a ors o e ass o . .

MA R TY R S L ON S AN D V I E NN E ( i 0F A Y Th G ll i c Ch u ch c rca . D . e a r
G ul n d A i Min t Of Ch i tian t L y n Th ty d

mm
a a A s a or rres r s s a o s e ar r o .

S EC ION V R O ME N T H E L ATTE R Y EAR S O F MAR CUS Th A ct Of

T . I : e

s

S C ci l i
. S t y f h
e a ty d H bu i l p l
or o er ar r o er r a - ace 1 90
xii C ONTE NTS .

PA G E
C H A PT E R X .

A F T ER T H E AN T O N I N E S .

S ECT ION I
re i gn f C
L e d
o

a
.
CE

ers
m
m
A T T H E C L O SE O F T H E S EC ON D C EN TU RY Th
R I STI ANI TY

du Th p secuti n t M d u Th e S cill it n
o o

e
s e

Of th C h u ch in A i Min A soci ti n of A i n and G lli c

r
er ty
s a.
o a

or
a a

s
ra

a o s a
a m :

ar

a
e

rs

Ch u ch I n us Th C n n f S c iptu W itings f I n u
m
m
r es re ae e a o o r re r o re ae s

Mul tip l i c ti n f C h i ti ns T tull i n bs v ti ons S ECT ION II

m

a o o r s a er a s o er a . .

S E E R US A N D C A R ACALL A Pe tin x succ d C

V d u S v us a
: r a ee s o o s e er c

u i I p i l p w C c S v u L ni ty Of hi O p ning

m
q s
re th e h er at f o er ara er o e er s e s e

y L t h h n I n p t du t th gg si e d n c f
ears a er ars ess ar e o e a res v e a e o

C h i ti n xt i t T tulli n D C naMiliti Re ulting p

m m
r s a e re s s er aip e oro s s roscr

ti n f C h i sti ni ty E p eci ll y b out A l x n d i S i gn of th p

o o r a s a e u a e a r a s e ers c

ti n in th n C t c b Th c ti on in N th A f i c
m
o R e o a
pe a a o s e rse u or r a

C l i ng y
os i S v u C
ears O call Th e P ph y g eniti Th ext nsi n
e er s ara a or ro e e o

n ci ti z n h i p S ECT ION I I I F R O M C A R AC ALL A T O D EC I US

m m
of R o a e s . . :

E l g bal u A l x nd S ve us P ce nj yed by th C h i ti n
a a s e a er e r ea e o e r s a s

M i in us n w p ecuti n P p ul ity t w d C h i ti ni ty
m m
ax re e s ni ers o o ar a os o ar s r s a
Th elde G di n Th y un g e G di n Ph i l ip th A b i n

mm
e r or a s e o r or a -
e ra a

T diti n O f hi C h i ti nity Th ecul g

ra o s r s Th e A v l B th h ood
a e s ar a es r a ro er

C p o i e betwe n Ch i ti n ity and oi ci l Pag ni

ro s e r s a a a s

C H AP TE R X I .

C A T A CO M S OF R O M E
m
TH E B .

S EC TION
mm
m
I O
. RI
I N O F T H E C AT A C O M B S : I nt oducto y Care of all Ro ans
G

for th eir d ead B uri al cl ubs Fi st Ch ri sti an c e eteri es O ri gin of th e

r

m
r

m
r

Cataco b E xtent of th e gall eri es Suitab il i ty for ex cavati on

m
ter
Buri al Of artyr s Use of C ataco bs for oth er p urp oses S ECT ION I I
m
. .

H I S T O R Y O F T H E CA TA CO ME S : Fi st p eri o d R e ain s of th e rst p eriod r

S econ d p er i o d Callistus E arthi n g u Th i rd p e i od Da asu s

m
p r

Fourth p eri od Raidin g O f th e B a bari ans Translati on of reli cs R e r

discov er y Of th e C ataco bs S ECT I ON I I I A R T O F T H E CA T A CO ME S : .

Value as a record Ch ri sti an id ea of D eath Th e O ran te Th e

G ood Sh eph erd Th e Fi sh Inscriptions Ch ang es after th e E di ct

-

of Mil an 26 3

C H A PTE R X II .

I NN ER IF E OF T H E C H U R C H L .

S ECT ION I .
R O ME H I O L Y T S A N D C
: L ib
PP l ch ool s
U A L L I ST U S : era an d a uste re s
H ipp ol yt us R ef utati on of H eresies S e iousne s of th e di p ute

m
m

m
r s s

C ee of C ll istu Ca ee of H ip pol y tus R co ds of H i ppol ytus Th e

m
ar r a s r r e r

Pap l C yp t Read i si on of P en i tents to C o

a r uni on E pi scop l
s a

di ga y Cel ibac y Ma iage of laves w i th th e f ee Th e P trip ssian

rr s r a a

or S ab ell i n h e esy Rel ati on of th e Fi rst and S econd Persons of th e

a r
 C O NTE NT S . xii i
AG
P E
Trini ty T each in g as to th e Th i rd Trinity S ECT ION II Person of th e . .

C AR T H A G E : T E R TU LL I A N : C ar eer of T ertulli C h ri stians in th e S tate an

m mm mm
serv i ce Pag an i tes A usteri ty of Tertull ian s v i ew s S er vi c e in th e

m
r

A r y C o pro i se or n o c o p ro i se G enerall y l iberal atti tud e of th e

m
C h ur ch Force O f Pagan is R elax ati on O f di scipl ine Montanus
m
Montanis A dh esi on of T ertull i an S ECT ION TI L AL E X A N D RI A :
m m
m
.

C L EME N T A N D O RI G E N : A l ex and i a Pan taen us C l e ent R i se of r

O i g en Quarr el w i th B i sh o p D e et i u s I
r en se l i terary outp ut of r

O ri g en H is c ath o li c i ty H is sp ec ul ati v e ten d en ci e s 29 0

C H A P TE R XI I I .

F RO M DE CI U S T O D IOC L E T I AN
m
.

S ECT ION CA T HA G E
I . C P R I A N C th g Th
R i g in l h
: I f L ti n

: ar a e e or a o e o a

Ch i ti ni ty C h ct f C yp i n H i v i w n th E pi c p t
m m
r s a ara er o r a s e s o e s o a e

Th D ci n p cuti n A p t y f C h i ti n A b l uti n b y
e e a erse o o s as o r s a s so o

ty P bl Of th L p i T h p l gu t C th g D v ti n
m

m m
ar rs ro e e a s e a e a ar a e e o o

f Ch i ti n P cuti n O f G l lu V l i n T h q u ti n Of
mm
o r s a s erse o a s a er a e es o re

b pti i n g S t ph n Of R P cuti n f V l i n B h nt O f
m
a s e e o e erse o o a er a a s e

C yp i n E di ct O f 25 8 A t O f C yp i n T i l nd ty d

m
r a rres r a r a a ar r o .

S ECT ION I I R O M E F b i n bi h p n d
. ty C n l i u Th N
a a ,
s o a ar r or e s e ov a

ti n chi
a M ty
s f th
s n i S t p h n S i x tu St L u nc
ar rs o e ar e ar a e e s . a re e

A cc i n f G lh nu S ECT ION I I I T R O MA N E MP E R O R S
'

m
ess o o a e s . . HE :

G lli nu Th Th i ty T y nt C l u diu G thi u A u li n H i

m m m
a e s e r ra s a s o c s re a s

P g an d v ti n P
a cuti n f C h i ti n In t g nu P b u
e o o er se o o r s a s err e ro s

C a nd h i
s a n T t nt f C h i ti n M ni h wis
s so s r ea e o r s a s a c 341

C H A PT E R X I V .

D IOC L E T I AN .

S ECT ION I .

n ection b etw een I m

F I R S T P E R IO D D IO C L ET IA N AN D MA I MI N : I ncreasing con
r a
:

p e i l nd E ccl esi sti cal hi to y C h aracte of D iocl e

ti an H is p ol i c y of D i v i i on of th c E p i e Maxi ian T ol erati on of s
a a

m mm r
s
R

r
A

C h i ti n ity in th e E ast H o tili ty of Ma i i n Th e sto y O f th e

mm
r s a s x a r

T h eban L g ion [ ts uth en ti ci ty T h e C oun ci l f I llib e is P g n

m
e -
a o r a a

Monoth ei Porph y y S ECT ION I I S EC ON D P E RIO D T H D I v I D D

m
s r . . : E E

E MP I R E Th e ul tip li cati n Of E pe o s C onstanti ne Chl o us nd

: o r r r ,
a

G al e iu Th e E di ct O f P secuti on I t
r s
ppl i c ti on in th e A y er s a a r

O ri gi n of th e pe secuti on Th e sec on d E di ct n d its O i gi n Th e G

m
r t ,
a r rea

P e ecuti on Not en f c ed b y C on st n ti u s Th s c ed b ook s an d th

rs or a e a r e

T adito e C uelty of th e Pe s cuti on Th e T i u ph f D i ocl etian

m m
r r s r r e r o

R enew ed p e ec uti on S ECT ION III R E E W o T H E P E R SECUT ION

m m
rs . . vI r :

Th e poli c y f C on t nti us b ec o e d o in an t in th e W est S ev i ti es Of

o s a s er

th e D i oc l eti an pe ecu ti n C o putati on of th e v i cti s S ECT ION I V

m
rs o . .

A UT H O R I T I ES E useb i u L actantiu s : A c ts of th e Ma ty s
s Th e r r

Cat co b sa 396
 xiv
C H A PT E R X V .

m
CO NS T A NT I NE T H E G R E A T

cl m x mD
AG
.

P E

S ECT ION I T H E R I SE
m
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m
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m
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Of x m
o s a s o s a e ro a e a a

Max i an d L ici ni n s R o
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ian

m
,
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A nd Of Gal erius E c l cu h is D di t T o e ati on Perse ti on

of r Ma i in ai a
W
A airs in th e C c g estB l on stanti ne ar h es a ai n t Ma s x entiuS att e

B g S ECT ION
Mil v ian id ON STAN T IN E I I T H E CoNv E R S I O N C

Em
of th e r e . . or

E l Of C
y y ea s g cc u O f
n stanti n e Pa an a c v h is Of
i on S to y
xm
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v cc u Eu b u C c
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xm
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Of th e i to y E e t n M i i n
vc ff c D r E c Of l
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th o w of Ma i D S ECT ION
in i a F T E R T H E I CT
TI L A ED ILAN M

m Em C c ml E m
r a :
. or

C u c bu l g D u
h h r C uc C
i di n i p tes in th e h h h i stian e i ati on
l g l s r r s

A no l u
o s p o i ti n of th e
a p e o onstantin e b
s o es s pe o r r e o o e r r 439

C H A PTE R X V I .

m
F R O M P A GAN IS M TO CH R I STI A NI TY .

S ECT ION I T H C H AN G E Th la nt of th P gan D i t s f th cul

. E : e e e a s s r es o e

tu d cl P pul acc pt nc O f Ch i tianity L a g l y du t th

m
re asses o ar e a e r s r e e o e

p ecuti n S ECT ION I I T Y I C A L S TU D I ES P ud nti u nd h is

m
ers o s
. . P : r e s a

p P i S t p h non Paul i nu O f Nol H i p t y H i p ai

m
th
oe e er e a s a s oe r s r ses

Of S F li x S M ti n f T u P pe Da a us Th g l i c ti n of
. e . ar o o rs o s e or a o

th e a ty s Vig il ntiu an d A u gu ti n
r r a s s e

C H A PTE R XVII .

A F T ER T H E P E A C E OF T H E C H U R C H .

m
S ECT ION I C H R I ST IANI T Y AN D T H E FA LL O F T H E E M P I R E A cc ptanc f
m r s
.

Ch i ti an ity Supp d d li i n g ff ct S ci ty nl y ch ng d it
ose

li gi u f ul a Jnu n Of th e a na A i an i E xt v agan ci
e ora s e e s o e

m o
: e

a e
e o

m
re o s or e
e ce re r s ra es

T h e B a b a i n d c nt A u gu ti n O i u S l ian S l uta y in

m
r r a es e s e ro s s a v a r

f th g t C h u ch S ECT ION I I T MON AST I C D

m
u nc e e o n e rea r e . .
~ HE E v E LOP

ME N T Ch y t St A nth ny Th M nk O f th Th b aid Un ni
m
: r sos o . o e o s e e a

u app v l O f th F th T h Rul O f A ugu tin Th A c ti c

o s ro a e a ers e e s e e s e s

Th R ul Of B i l Th e
e e v i c f M n ti ci C n clu i n
as ser es o o as s o s o 494

AP PENDICES .

A
. T A B L ES O MA N E M P E R O R S A N D B I S H O S O F R O ME
or R P 5 21
B T
. P R ESEN CE
HE S P ETE R A T R O ME or .
5 24
C O N T H E AUT H E N T I C I T Y O F T H E S E E N E I S T L E S A N D A CTS OF

. V P

MA RT Y D O M S I G N AT I US
R or .

D . NO T E S O N T H E P ASS ION
- S P E R P ETUA or .
537
E E S E I S T H E H I ST O R I A N A N D L
. U B U N S ,
A CTA TI U . .

F E A RL Y H E R ES I ES O F T H E
.
5 45
G . E XT RA CT S F R O M L
-
N AN D A CTA T I US
E A R L Y CH R I ST I A NI TY A ND
PA GA NI SM .

I N T R O DU C T I O N .

T h asb een j u stly said th at i f ever th ere was a m ani festa

ti on O f th e S u p ern atural it was in th e c ondi ti on O f th ings

m
,

out O f wh ich arose th e New T estam en t We h ave onl y to .

tak e u p th e E pistl es of S Pau l and we nd h i

.
,
su rro u nd ed ,

p en etrated p erm eated wi th th e S u p ern atu ral I t is as it w ere

,
.

th e v ery atm osp h ere wh ic h h e b reath es H e d oes n o t assert .

m
it h e h ad n o n eed to assert
,

NO th ough tful C h ristian sch olar w ou ld b e p rep ared to

th at as th e m
qu esti on th is statem en t I t is h o wev er gen erall y assu ed
.
,

en wh o h ad b een p erson all y asso ci ate d wi th

th e D ivin e Fo u nd er O f C h ri sti ani ty p assed aw ay O p en m ani

,

festations o f th e S u p ern atu ral b ec am e rarer an d rarer u n til

th ey c eased al tog eth er A fter th e l ast y ears O f th e rst
.

c en tu ry a d ate u su ally gi ven for th e d eath O f S J oh n th e

,
.
,

l ast surviv or of th e A p ostolic b and few if any au th en tic , , ,

in stanc es of th at o p en m anifestati on can b e addu c ed But .

th e story of th e ri se and p rogress O f C h ri sti ani ty d uring th e

28 0 years wh ich el ap sed b etw een th e A sc en si on m orning in

m
,

A D
. 3 3 and th e P eac e O f th e C h u rch sec u red by th e fam ou s
.
,

E dic t O f C on stan tine in A D 3 1 3 a

y .b e em p h atic ally l o ok ed
.
,

u p on as th e story of a p eri od on th e wh ol e p erm eated wi th

th e S u p ern atu ral
.

O u tward m anifestation s o f th e S u p ern atu ral no d ou b t

Pro f . S anday : m
B a pton c ures
Le t ,
No . V II .
2 E A R LY CH R I S T IA NI T Y A ND PA GA N I SM .

soo n c eased ; b u t a spiri t n o t b el onging to th e ordin ary

c ou rse O f th ings still dw el t in th e c om p ani es O f Ch ristian s
a S pi ri t w h ic h g av e th e fo ll o w ers o f a S p eci al

Th e Nam e

wisd om a sp eci al p o w er O f b rav e end uranc e o f suffering in th e

,

p resenc e O f w orld wid e Opp osi tion an d h atred in th e p resence

-
,

of ang ry j eal o u sy and sh arp d read of th e new unkn own

p ower growrng u p .

I n spi te of th i s d eterm in ed en m i ty on th e p art O f th e

w orld in wh ich th ey liv ed and m ov ed an enm ity w h ich ,

frequ en tly am ed u p in th e form O f bi tter p ersec u ti on th ese ,

Ch ri sti an s for by th at n am e at a v ery early d ate th e

foll owers O f J esu s C h ri st were c all ed ou rish ed in a strange
fash i on ; th eir n u m b ers c on tin u ed as y ear followed y ear ar
v ell ousl
y to increase Th ei r recru its it is tru e w ere d rawn
.
,

, ,
,
m
l argely from th e stratu m c om p osed o f th e l ower cl asses O f
R oman so ci ety b u t th ey by no m ean s c on si sted en ti rely
,

o f p erson s d rawn fro m th at stratu m T h eir c onv erts w ere to

.

b e fo u nd in al l cl asses in th e I m p eri al h ou seh old on th e P al a

,

m
tin e in l ordly p atrici an fam i l i es am ong sen ators and l awy ers
, , ,

so ldi ers and m erch an ts as well as th e vast sl av e popula

,

ti on . Th ey in cl u d ed en and w o m en O f all ranks O f all ,

ag es . O ne sing ular ch arac teristic feature was c omm on to th em

all th ey n ev er resi sted th ei r O pp ressors th eir p ersec u tors ,
.

T h ey w ere ev er th e m ost l oy al O f su bj e c ts c o nspi racy reb elli on , ,

di sc on ten t wi th th e establi sh ed state o f th ings th ough th e

establi sh ed state O f th ing s was as a ru l e ab sol u tely ini m ic al
, ,

to th ei r v ery ex i stenc e w ere si m ply u nkn o wn am ong th em

du ring th e wh ole p eri od O f 28 0 years O f wh ich we are writing

m
.

Th ei r li fe th ei r b rav e p atien t p ersi stenc e th ei r m arv ell ou s

, ,

m
end u ranc e d u ring th es e 28 0 y ears tell u s th at so ething ,

su p ern atu ral dw el t am ong th em in spi red th em bl essed th em :

, ,

so eth i ng
, term ed in th e p h raseol ogy O f th e Ch ri sti an s th e

H oly S piri t wh ich did n ot b el ong to th is w orld wh ich
,

h ad n ev er as far as we kn ow b een m ani fested to th e sam e

, ,

e x ten t b efo re in an s o ci ety and c ertainly h as n ev er b een

y ,

m anifested sinc e .

A fter th i s rst p eri od th e I mp erial Gov ernm en t g av e up

distru sting O pp osing p ersec u ting th ese C h ri sti an s I t wen t
, ,
.
 INTR OD U C TI ON . 3

furth er Th e Em pire soon ad op ted as th e S tate R eligi on
.

th e c reed O f th e l ong p ersec u ted sec t th e c reed wh ic h d u ring ,

th ose 28 0 y ears sh e h ad c h o sen to reg ard as a p ernici ou s

su p ersti ti on p osi tiv ely ini m ic al to th e S tate
,
Th u s th e .

H i story O f th e C h ri sti an Ch u rch falls naturall y into two

great divisi on s : th e rst fro m its fou nd ati o n A D 3 3 to . .

A D
. . 3 1 3 th e d ate O f th e E dic t O f th e E m p eror C on stan tin e
, ,

wh ich gav e p eac e to th e C h u rch ; th e sec ond from A D 3 1 3 . .

to th e p resen t ti m e .

Th e rst di vi si on e m b rac es th e ch ronicl e O f th e p rol ong ed

years O f stru ggl e wh en Ch risti ani ty n ot only was n ot th e
,

religi on O f th e civil i sed w orld b ut was th e religion Of a ,

sec t at rst c o m p arativ ely sm all an d ch i ey p o w erful o win g

to its earn estn ess and its u ni ty th ou gh th e n u m b ers O f th e ,

b ody scattered all ov er th e E m pire w ere after a tim e c on sid er

a bl e . All th ro ugh th i s p eri o d it was p osi tively an ill eg al

m
religi on p roscrib ed as su ch by th e laws O f th e R om an
,

E m pire . Th e n erv ou s w ords of th e fam ou s Carth agini an

teach er T ertu lli an ( cir ca A D ad m i rably su . . u p th e
p osi ti on O f C h ri sti an s all th rough th at tim e Non licet esse

m

vos I
( t is n o t l awfu l to b e

Th e sec ond divi si on O f th e H i story of th e C h u rch co

prises th e wh ol e p eri od reach ing from A D 3 1 3 to th e . .

p resen t day Not only did th e E dict O f C on stan tin e in

.

A D
. . 3 1 3 m ak e C h ri sti ani ty a l aw fu l religi on b ut a few , ,

years l ater it b ec am e th e religion of th e S tate th e fav ou red

, ,

cul t th e c u l t p rofessed by th e E m p eror

, .

A great gu l f n aturally sep arates th ese two divi si on s : for

goo d or for evil A D 3 1 3 m arks th e p arting of th e w ays
,
. . .

I n th e se c ond p eri o d th e c ondi ti on s wh ic h c ol our ed th e

story O f ' th e Ch u rch in th e rst are c o m pl etely ch ang ed .

Wi th th e second p eri od th e p resen t work d oes not p rofess

to d eal I t is virtu ally c on ned to th e rst p eri od th at of
.
,

stress an d storm wh en th e c onfessi on of th e N am e was
,

si m ply i ll eg al wh en its c on fessors w ere li abl e to th e gravest

,

p en al ties to i m prison m ent c on sc ation ev en to d eath T h ese

, , ,
.

p en al ti es w ere not al ways e x ac ted it is tru e b ut th e Ch ris , ,

ti an p rofessor was still li abl e to th em R o ugh ly sp eaking .

,
4 E AR L Y CH R I S TI A NI T Y A ND PA GA NI S M .

ab o u t h al f O f th e 28 0 years were tim es of bi tter rel en tl ess ,

p ersec u tio n ; b u t even du ring th e p eri od s o f stilln ess wh en ,

th e p en al ti es referred to ab o v e w ere n o t g en erally enforc ed

, , ,

th e sw ord of th e L aw was ever h ang ing su sp end ed o v er th e

h eads O f C h ri stian s an d th e c ord on wh ich th e sw ord
,

h u ng was ind eed a slend er o n e

m
A t any h ou r th e c ap ric e
.
,

o f an E m p eror th e fan atic al z eal o f a p rovinci al g ov ern or

, ,

th e u n reasoning fury O f a ob e x ci ted by p assi on,

greed , ,

j eal o u sy u n ex pl ained u n easin ess m igh t c all d own on th e

, ,

h ead s O f th e C h ri sti an s resid en t in th e ci ty or p rovinc e

th e ex ec u ti on O f a l aw w h ich p ron ou nc ed th em d ang erou s
to th e S tate en em i es O f R om e
, Th e story of th ese early
.

years is one ind eed O f surp assing in terest for it d esc rib es ,

h o w th e C h u rch O f Ch rist in th e fa c e of trem end ou s O pp o si

ti on wi th all th e forc es of th e civilised w orld p erp etu ally
,

arrayed ag ain st it S lowly su rely won its way ; u sing in its

, ,

q u i et steady p rogress n o earth ly arm s n ev er resisting by ,

forc e th e will O f th e d omin an t p ower rep resen ted by th e

Gov ern m en t ; its m em b ers only in c om p aratively rare c ases
c om plying wi th th e su mm on s to give u p th eir p rofessi on of
faith c on stan tly p referring to su b m i t to any p en al ti es even
, ,

to d eath rath er th an d eny th e N am e O f th e Fo u nd er

,
th e ,

Nam e th ey l oved b etter th an life .

Fo llowing a p rac tic e v ery differen t from th at u su al am ong

p rofessors O f any of th e p ersecu ted form s o f religi on b efore
th ei r ti m e or ev en am ong p ro fessors o f a p ersec u ted religi o n
,

after th eir ti m e th e C h ri sti an s th rou gh o u t th ese y ears al th ou gh

, ,

c on sciou s O f th eir n u m b ers th eir organisati on and th eir

m
,

p ower n ev er took u p arm s again st th eir p ersec u tors ; th ese

,

h ated d espised ou tl aw ed
,
en c on tin u ed
,
to b e th e m ost
l oyal and p eac efu l su bj ec ts O f th e great w o rld wid e E m pire -
.

I t is th i s strang e p ow er of p assiv e resistanc e to wh ich we ,

h av e all u d ed ab ov e and O f wh ich we sh all sp eak ag ain

, ,

w h ich is o ne O f th e p rincip al evidenc es of a sp ecial su p er

n atu ral assistanc e b eing v ou ch safed to th em .

Wh en we c om e to wri te in d etail of th e inn er life of th e

Ch urch by wh ich n am e th e C h risti an sect from th e earli est
,

d ays O f its ex istenc e styled i tself we sh all see wh at were th e

,
 IN TR OD UC TI ON . 5

sure h op es wh ich liv ed in th e c omm u ni ty fro m th e b eginning ;

h o p es whi ch in spired th e m to liv e th e li fe wh ich seem ed so
wh ich g av e th em c o u rage

m
s trang e to th ei r c o n tem p orari es ; ,

in th e m id st o f so m any an d great p erils seren ely and ,

c al m ly to fac e th e l oss O f ev ery th ing dear to an ev en to ,

w elc om e d eath . Bri ey th eir ad ored Fo u nd er w h om th ey

, ,

ju stly l ook ed up on as Divin e h ad su ppli ed th em wi th in forma

,

i
to n re sp ec tin g w h at w o u ld c o m e after d eath a q u esti o n

alw ay s O f su rp assing in terest and o n e wh ich in th e rst and

,

sec o nd c en tu ri es seem s to h av e esp eci ally agi tated th e th ou gh ts

m
o f th e R o m an w o rld .

Th e C h ri sti an in p ossessi o n O f th i s in form ati on was freed

fro m all d read o f th e h ereafter ; for h i to die was to ,

m
d ep art and b e wi th C h rist ; th is was far b etter th an to
rem ain o n h ere ev en u nd er th e ci rc u m stanc es o f a h appy

earth ly envi ro n en t Th e n o bl e th e ill u stri o u s by bi rth

.
,

or by fortu n e ,
was freed fro m all fear an d d read O f th e
Caesar w h ose arbi trary and fatal p ower was so O ften a
th reatenin g sp ec tre to th e w eal th y R om an n o bl e Th e sl av e .
,

a m em b er of th e en orm o u s sad ey e d c aste as-

a Ch ri sti an ,

b e cam e at o nc e th e freed m an of th e All m igh ty C h ri st ; v ery -

sh ort ind eed w ou ld b e h is p eri o d of slav ery it w oul d ,

term in ate wi th this b ri ef life Death to th e C h ri sti an sl av e

.

and a life O f
signi e d i mm edi ate freed o m ; jy
o and p eac e

too b eau tiful for h u m an pen to d esc rib e w ou ld at onc e

foll ow di ssol u ti on To all fai th ful Ch ri sti an s b ond or free
.
, ,

p atrici an or pl eb ei an rich or p oor th e religi on O f J esu s

, ,

assu red a bli ssfu l restful endl ess imm ortal i ty

, , .

Th e m eetin g s tog eth er O f th e p eople wh o h ad em b rac ed

th e fai th O f J esu s wh eth er h eld in som e q u i et u pp er c h am b er
in a street O f R om e o r A n ti o ch O f E ph esu s or C arth age or

m
, ,

by som e secl ud ed riv er sid e or in th e dim ly lit c orrid or O f

,

th ose C em eteri es en h av e c om e to c all th e C atac om b s ,

wh ere th eir d ead w ere l aid to sl eep b en eath O ld R om e m u st

h av e b een strang ely j oy o u s ; th e g ath erings wh ere th e h O pes ,

th e j oys ,
th e rew ard s O f th e R ed eem er were di sc u ssed in
term s O f q u i et b u t i m p assi o n ed en th u si asm m u st h av e b een ,

ind eed in spirin g I t w as at th ese th at th ey g ath ered th eir

.
6 E A RLY CH RI S TI A NI T Y A ND PA GA NI S M .

c o u rag e th ei r b rav e p atienc e th eir sure h op e O f a bl essed

, , ,

blissful i mm ortali ty .

Of su ch m eetings ag ain and ag ain rep e ated we c atch , ,

S igh t in th e well kn own w ords O f P liny th e R om an provincial

-
,

Go v ern o r in th e w ri tings o f su ch teach ers as Ju stin Martyr

m
,

and T ertu lli an in a few O f th e b est au th en ticated A c ts O f

,

Martyrs ; m ore vividly p erh ap s still in th e arvell ou sly pre

serv ed p assag es and c h am b ers O f th e n etw o rk O f c em eteri es

( term ed c atac om b s) b en eath th e A ppi an and o th er road s

h ard by R om e : w h ere m any a di m and fad ed p ain ting tell s
u s h o w th ese C h ri sti an s d u ring n early th ree c en tu ries et
tog eth er and reh earsed th ei r gl ori o u s h op es th ei r h appy ou t
,

,
,
m
l ook th eir d eath less fai th
, .

I t will b e seen as we p ro c eed in th i s ou r w ork h ow we

, ,

h av e no l ack o f m aterial o u t of wh ich to c on stru c t th e

w ondrou s story of C h risti ani ty in th e rst second and th ird , ,

c en tu ri es .

T h ese m ateri al s ou t O f wh ich o ur acc o un t O f th e l aying

o f th e early stori es of C h ri sti ani ty is c on stru c ted are m any ,

and v ari ou s ; m ore am ple ind eed by far th an th e ordin ary

stu d en t o f C h u rch H i story g u esses O nly for one sh ort .

p eri o d are th ey c om p arativ ely sp eaking sc an ty and ev en

, , ,

for th at sh ort p eri od au th ori tativ e d ata do n o t by any m ean s

fail u s .

Fo r th e rst ev en tfu l y ears th at is from ab ou t A D 3 0 , ,

. .

to A D 3 3
. . th e m ateri al s are am pl e
,
Th ey are m ainly th e .

Gosp el s and th e early ch ap ters of th e A c ts O f th e A p ostl es .

From A D 3 3 th e A c ts and th e E pi stl es o f th e New T esta

. .

m en t c arry on th e story u ntil th e d eath s O f SS P eter an d .

Pau l cir ca A D 6 7 ; wh il e th e testim ony O f S J oh n in h is Gosp el

. . .
,

R evelati on and E pi stl es wri tten after th e d eath s of S P au l

, ,
.

and S P eter tells us m u ch c onc erning th e ch arac ter Of th e

.
,

teach ing O f th e g reat su rviv or O f th e origin al c om p ani on s and

disciples O f J esu s u p to th e v ery end o f th e rst c en tu ry .

Th u s u n til th e cl ose of th e rst c en tu ry th e testi m ony

,

O f th e Bo ok s O f th e New Testam en t is ever at h and su pply ,

ing us wi th m ateri als w h ich en abl e u s to fram e a fairly

e x h au stiv e acc ou n t O f th e l aying of th e early stori es O f th e
 m
I N TR OD UCTI ON .

C h ri sti an C h urch ; for a traditi on wh ich a

y b e said to b e

u nvarying relates h ow S J oh n liv ed and taugh t and wro te .

at E p h esu s u n til th e year o f o u r L ord 9 9 or 1 00 .

I n addi ti on to th e in spi red c om p osi ti o n s O f S J oh n we .

,

p ossess a few wri tings pu t out in th e l ast d ecad e O f th e rst

m
c en tu ry an d in th e early years O f th e sec ond c en tu ry by
en wh o w ere di scipl es O f th e A p ostl es ; su c h as th e E pi stl e

o f C l em en t O f R o m e a l e tter a dd ressed ab o u t A D 9 6 to th e
, . .
,

C h u rch O f C o rin th and u niversally rec eived by sch olars as

ab s ol u tely au th en tic ; th e E pi stl e O f B arn ab as wh ich c ann o t
b e d ated m u ch l ater ; th e sev en fam ou s E pi stl es O f I gn ati u s
O f A n tio ch b el onging to th e year 1 07 now in wh at is
, , ,

gen erally kn own as th e Vossian R ec en sion after l o ng con ,

trov ersy a cc ep ted as indi sp u tably g en u in e ; th e E pi stl e O f

P olyc arp O f S m yrn a sent cir ca A D 1 08 ; th e L etter to . .

Diognetus th e r st p art of wh ic h was e vid en tly pu t ou t

,

early in th e se c ond c en tu ry Th e rec en tly di sc ov ered treati se

.

kn own as th e T each ing of th e A p ostl es by an u nkn own ,

wri ter b el ongs to th e sam e v ery early p erio d Th e A p ol ogy

,
.

o f Ari stid es p resen ted to H ad rian l ately b rough t to ligh t

,

, ,

was c om p osed cir ca Th e S h eph erd O f

A D 1 24 1 3 0 . . .

Herm as was wri tten a few years l ater Th e wri tings ( O f .

som e c on sid erabl e l eng th ) o f Ju stin Martyr m u st b e rou ghl y

dated A D 1 4 5 1 5 0 th e v aried w orks O f I ren aeu s A D 1 7 0 1 8 0

. .
, . .
-

or som ewh at earli er ; an d it m u st b e b o rn e in m ind th at

th ese early Ch ri sti an au th ors w ere cl osely c on n ec ted on e

wi th th e o th er C lem en t O f R om e was th e discipl e O f P eter
.

and p rob ably O f P a u l ; I gn ati u s was a p u pil o f th e A p o stl es ;

P olyc arp th e fri end O f I gnati u s was a h earer of S J ohn

, ,
.

th e A p ostl e ; I ren aeu s tells us h ow wh en y o u ng h e sat at , ,

th e feet O f P olyc arp T h u s an u nb rok en ch ain of w ri ters

.

an d teach ers link s th e ag e o f S J oh n wi th th e latter years

.

O f th e sec ond c en tu ry and th e earli er years o f th e th ird

c en tu ry ; wh en th ere arose a gro u p O f fam o u s C h risti an
teac h ers m any o f wh ose v ol u m in ou s w ri ting s are p reserv ed
,

to u s in so p erfe c t a form th at th e m ost am pl e m ateri als

are p resen t to o u r h and fo r a h i story O f th e stru ggl es and

an x i eti es O f th i s ti m e l asting from th e d ays

,
o f I ren aeu s O f
8 E AR L Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NI S M '
.

L yon s ( cir ca u n til th e m iddl e O f th e thi rd

A D
. . 1 70
c en tury T h i s grou p of teach ers in clu des Cl em en t O f Al ex andria
.

( cir ca A D .H ipp oly tus of R om e (A D 201 gen erally qu oted

. . .
,

as B i sh o p O f P ortu s rtu ll i an O f C arth ag e

) T e ( cir ca A D
, . .

O rigen O f A l ex and ri a ( ci rca A D and C yp ri an of C arth ag e . .

( cir ca A D . We give th e rou gh d ates assign ed as th e

.

c en tral p oin ts in th e p eri o ds O f in flu enc e O f th ese great

C h risti an teach ers ; an inu enc e O f c ou rse u su ally ex tend , ,

ing for som e years b efore an d after th e year n am ed .

Th u s al th ough th e list O f tru stw orth y c on tem p orary au th ori

,

ti es for o ur h i story for som e sev en ty y ears after th e d eath of

,

S J oh n is no t a l ong one still in th e p rovid enc e of God

.
, , ,

en ou gh of su ch wri tings h as b een p reserv ed to enabl e us

to form from th em a reli abl e story O f th e w ork and p rogress
O f C h ristianity d u ring th at all i m p ortan t p eri od Wi th great -
.

forc e a m od ern sch olar of th e h igh est rank * th u s lu ci dl y

su m s u p th e reason s wh y th is p reci ou s li st of w ritin gs
b etw een A D 1 00 and A D 1 7 0 is no t l ong er
. . T i m e h as
. . .

pressed wi th a h eavy h and u p on su ch li teratu re as th e early

C h u rch produ c ed Th e u ni qu e p ositi on of th e A p ostl es and
.

E vang elists m igh t sh i eld th ei r w ri tings from its rav ag es b ut ,

th e li teratu re O f th e su cc eeding g en erati on h ad n o su ch

i mm u ni ty I t was too d esu l to ry in form to o v ag u e in
.
,

d o ctrin e to sati sfy th e requ i rem en ts o f m ore literary circl es

,

an d a m ore d og m atic a e
g H enc e wh il e A th an asi u s B asil
.
,

and Ch rysostom J erom e Augustin e and A m b rose w ere

, ,

widely read and frequ en tly tran sc rib ed c om p aratively li ttle ,

atten ti o n was p aid to th o se w ri tings o f th e rst an d sec o nd

c en tu ries wh ich w ere not inclu d ed in th e sacred C an on .

Th e li terary rem ain s of th e p ri mitiv e age O f Ch ri sti ani ty ,

wh ich to ou rselves are O f p ric eless v alu e w ere suffered to ,

p eri sh fro m n egl ec t a few fragm en ts h ere and th ere alon e

,

esc aping th e g en eral fate .

H ow m u ch we h ave l ost O f th ese p reci ou s early w orks

from wh ich we m igh t h av e drawn SO m u ch we l earn from ,

th e referenc es and q u otati ons O f E u sebi u s Bi sh op of C aesarea

m
,

Bi
Part 1 , S
sh o

. m m
p L i gh tfoot of Durh a
C l e ent of R o e .
: Th e A p ostol ic F ath ers, Vol . S ecti on 1,
 INTR OD UC TION . 9

in the rst half of the fourth century in his invaluable ,

Ecclesiastical History A catal ogue of some of the writings .

belonging to the sec ond century quoted by this eminent

sch olar and c ompiler writings which were available in his ,

day but now have vanished is sufcient to indicate to us ,

something of the extent of our loss .

1 P apia s the friend of P olycarp on the very verge o f

.
, ,

the rst age early in the sec o nd century wrote an E x posi

, ,

tion in ve B ook s of the O racles of the Lord .

2 H eg esipp u s ab o ut the middle of the sec o nd century

.
, ,

put ou t an Ecclesiastical Hist o ry in ve B o oks

.

3 Di on ysiu s Bish o p of C o rinth also in the middle of

.
, ,

the sec o nd century wrote many letters ; Eusebius especiall y ,

makes menti o n of his inspired industry
.

4 Mel ito Bishop of Sardis ; Cl a u diu s A p oll in a r is Bish op

.
, ,

of Hierap olis These two once famous teachers sh ortly after

.
,

A D
. 1 5 0 were the auth o rs of many w o rks on Scriptural
.
,

interpretati ons controversial di vinity ecclesiastical o rder and

, , ,

other subj ects .

5 P ol ycr a tes Bishop of Ephesus

.
,

6 Th eop h ilu s Bish o p o f A nti o ch

. as writers were wel l , ,

kn o wn in the last quarter o f the second century when Eusebius

wr o te and used their works .

But except for a few me agre fragments all this voluminous

, ,

l iterature qu o ted and referred to by writers such as Irenaeus ,

sec o nd century Clement of A lexandria and O rigen third , ,

century Eusebius of Caesarea fo urth century has been

, , ,

bl o tted o u t * has vanished ; largely n o doubt owing to the

,

causes ab ove detailed .

Very early in the Hist o ry of Christianity we catch sight

o f teachers and schools o f th ought growing up outside the

the last tw o de c des of the n in eteenth c entu y th e rese ches of s ch ola s

In a r ar r

in anc ient li b a i es h ave brou ght to li g ht seve al of the e ly w o ks of the se c on d

r r r ar r

c ent u y n otably T he T eachin g of the A postles w i tten in the ea ly yea s

m

r , , r r r

of the se c on d c e ntu y ; T he A p ol og y of A istides i a A D 1 3 0 1 4 0 ; The

r

r , c rc . .
-

D i tessa on a H r ony of the fo u Gospels by T atian ci a A D 1 7 5 the so

mm m
a r , a r rc .
, ,
.

called A p ocalypse of S P ete of the st ye a s of the se c on d c entu y ; and

. r,

r r r

the ao called G ospel of S P ete

-
w A D 1 60 We y h ope ti e goes
. r,

ez r e . . . a ,
as

on that othe pie c es of th is van ished early lite ature w ill c o e to li ght
, r r .
10 EA R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

Christi an c ommunities c o mm only classed as heretics and

heretical but for the m ost part utterly alien fr o m the Gospel
,

o f Jesus Christ although they seem to have intr o duced the

,

name of Christ into their strange and o ften purely fanciful

systems . They may be r o ughly divided int o two gre at
divisi ons ,
the one Judaising and the o ther Gn o stic The .

Judaising Heretics m o re or less denied the reality o f Christ s

su fferings curi ously imagining that the Christ of the G ospel

,

was o nly a phant om appearance The o ther the Gnostic

.
,

Heretics under different names seem to have intr o duced

, ,

s ome Christi an elements in t o phil o s ophical systems of a

different m ostly of an O riental o rigin
,
.

The tares grew well nigh as rapidly as did the wheat

-
,

and as Christians were multiplied and began to be numbered

by th ousands in the different c ountries o f the Roman Empire ,

so these heretical b o dies numbered als o their th ousands .

The term Gn ostic is apparently of later origin and in the ,

sec ond and third centuries the heretics were generally named
after the leaders of the special scho ol to which they bel onged ,

such as Valentinians and Marci onites the names o f two o f ,

the m o re conspicuous sch o ols These Gnostics appeared

.

certainly as early as the cl o se of the rst century and before ,

the mid dl e of the sec ond century were bey ond d oubt widely
spread ; all thr o ugh that century ( the sec o nd) and the rst
half o f the third they evidently o ccupied a conspicuous
,

p osition o wing to their numbers their o rganisation and

, , ,

their learning A fter the rst half of the third century the
.

early heretical schools appe ar gradually to have withered

away and their place was lled by new and quite different
,

sch o ols of false teaching .

H ow numer ous and formidable in the early days o f

Christianity were these heretical gr oups we see fro m the ,

prominence g iven to the refutati o n o f their strange and

per v erted tenets in the fragments o f primitive Christian
literature which have come down to us ; n o t ably in the w orks
o f Iren aeus of Lyons ( sec o nd h alf o f the second century ) ,

o f Clement o f A lexandria Tertulli an o f Carthage and O rigen

,

o f A lexandria end f sec nd century and beginning of third

( o o
 INTR OD UC TIO N . 11

century ) and of Hipp olytus o f P ortus and of Rome wh o

, ,

might als o be dated as writing cir ca A D 200 . . .

In the ranks of these numerous and widely spread

heretical scho ols of thought were not a few sch olars and
thinkers and even v oluminous writers from wh o se w o rks
, ,

we might have h oped to derive much knowledge of the

fr o m
teaching the li fe and the hist ory of the early Christians
, ,

wh ose ranks they had o riginally sprung in part and

with wh o m they were pleased to class themselves ; but all
,
,

their original works writings hist ories exp ositi ons o f the, , ,

sacred bo oks have disappeared It is believed th at only one

,
.

* o f these strange early dissenters from the

or tw o pr o ducti o ns

Catholic faith have c o me down to us Al l our knowledge .

,

a las ! of these o nce famous sch o ols is derived fr o m treatises

o f their bitter o pp o nents put ou t by Christian te a chers such , ,

as Iren aeus Hipp olytus Tertull ian Clement of Al exandria

, , , ,

and O rigen ; for example O rigen ( rst half of third century ) ,

gives us some fo rty eight extracts ( some of considerable -

length ) from the great Valentinian exposit o r H eracl eon .

From Pagan writers the comp iler o f early Christian ,

Hist ory gets compar atively little assistance A few sh ort .

passages in Tacitus and Suet onius and in the well known -

letters of Pliny the Yo unger and the Emper or Traj an are

alm ost the s olitary exceptions .

For a l ong peri o d Christianity was little kn o wn to the

maj ority of Roman li terary men It was by many mistaken .

for a Jewish sect ; the religi o n of the Jew was despised

generally and when not despised was feared and dreaded
, ,

as a pernicious superstiti o n ; and when t owards the middle

and sec ond half of the sec ond century the religi on of the ,

Christians owing to the increasing numbers the e arnestness and

, ,

the intense reality of the faith of the Christian c ommunities

in all parts of the Empire compelled a certain recognition ,

fro m the G o vernment and the Emperor a studied s ilence ,

o n the part of Pagan writers and thinkers was evidently

T he
(edited by P ete n
pl of V le nti n us i
f
B e l in

7r 0 7 t5

m
m

an d the
r
a

a
the i ddle f the se c n d c ent u y
,
e: a

e c ently dis cove ed H y n of the

r ,
c rca

r
m o

r

o

m r

S ul pe h ps the w o k f B d n
o ,

r a r o ar esa es .
12 EA RL Y CHRISTIANIT Y AND PA GA NISM .

ob serve d They w ould not d escrib e the pr ogress of afreligion ,

o r discuss the curi o us pr o blem o f its mighty influence : o ver

so many s o uls To the thoughtful R o man phil os opher its

.

steady advance boded n o g o od to R o me ; in his eyes it was

rather a menace to the enduring pr osperity of the Empire .

A g oo d example of this singular studied reticence is the

s olit ary menti on by the great and g oo d Emper or Marcus ,

A D
. . 1 6 1 1 8 0 of his Christian subj ects ; where he alludes to
,

their fearlessness in the presence of death to their ready ,

will ingness to die But the Emper or s menti o n is a de

.

reciator o ne and is c o l o ured to o evidently by the feelings

p y ,

o f di slike and even dread with w hi ch he regarded these

people who professed a faith he was unable perhaps cared ,

n ot to understand
,
.

Such a c ompilati o n as that on whi ch we are at present

engaged must incl ude not only the rec ord of the principal
hist orical facts c onnected with the Christians wh o lived in
the rst three centuries but must embrace als o much th at ,

belongs to their private life The effect of that faith for .

,

which the Christians of the days of persecution gave up

so much up on the every day life of its professors must be
,
-
,

dwelt upon at some length We p ossess materials of the .

highest value for this special part of our work on the every
day life of the Christians .

Fr o m the remains of s ome of the early writers such as ,

Hermas Justin Martyr Hipp olytus Clement of Al exandria

, , , ,

Minucius Felix Tertullian O rigen Cypri an we draw much

, , , ,

o f o u r kn o wledge here These o ften take u s int o what we

.

may term the every day life of the Christians wh o lived in

-

the rst sec o nd and third centuries ; they describe often

, ,

vivi dly and gr aphically the difculties and temptations the ,

hin drances and persecuti ons to which the Christian was ,

exp osed But besides these writings we possess s ome o ther

.

and m ost imp o rtant mem o randa to which we may refer for
such particul ars These are the special accounts of martyrs
.
,

and of men and w omen wh o suffered for the faith which they
pr ofessed Now these preci ous mem o randa are divided int o
.

two classes The rst of these the A cts
. pr operly so ,

 INTR 0D UCTI0N 13

m
called are largely copies o f the o fcial rep orts ( the p r oc s
,

v erb a u x ) of the pr o ceedin gs o f the R o man Court o f Justice

befo re which the accused Christian was su moned and by ,

which the accused was condemned Such copies of reports .

,

bearing as they do a purely o f cial character were sold by ,

the ofcials of the Cour t of Justice to friends of the accused

m
,

and were preserved by them or m o st probably by the ,

Min isters of the Church of which the conde n ed were

members as a memorial of those pers o ns wh o in wi tnessing
, ,

a g o od co nfession sealed for the m ost part by the sacrice

of their lives did h o nour by their go o d and n oble example
,

to the c ongr egati o n t o which they had bel o nged .

A few admirable specimens of such o f cial reports the ,

genuineness of w hi ch is undisputed are amongst o thers , , ,

the A cts of S Justin ( Martyr ) of S Cyprian and of the

.
, .
,

Scill itan martyrs O nly however a few of such ofcial

.
, ,

rep orts m ost precious relics indeed have come down to us

, , .

The sec ond class als o comm o nly known as A cts of the
,

M artyrs but more properly design ated as the Passions of
,

Martyr s are very numerous
,
.

These are s o mething more than dry ofcial reports o f

the interrogati ons of the Court of Justice and pr ofess to ,

give at length the story o f portions of the life especially ,

o f the imprisonment trial and death of the confess ors o r

, ,

martyrs .Many of the details of these Passi ons of the

Martyrs
are impr obable deal largely with supernatural
,

incidents c onnected with the confessor wh ose passion

fo rms the subj ect of the narrative and are evidently the ,

work largely of narrators or comp ilers of the lives writing

, ,

in many c ases l ong after the events happened which they

professed to relate as eye witnesses ; only a very few of these
-

passi ons bear the stamp of genuin eness and have come ,

unh armed thr ough the crucible of criticism A m o ng these

m
.

few ackn o wledged genuine contemporary Passi ons are The

Letter of the Church of Smyrna to the Ph il o elians which

relates the Martyrd o m of S Polycarp ; The Letter o f the .

Churches of Lyons and Vienne which tells the St ory o f the ,

Martyrs of A D 1 7 7 . .The Passion of S Perpetua and her

.
l4 EARL Y CHRISTIA NIT Y AND PA GA NISM .

Companions There are besides these a few m ore such
.

reliques which are generally accepted as genuine But while .

we must set aside th e actual authority of the gre at maj ority

of these narratives as being mainly c ompilati ons of a period
m o re or less removed fr om the time when the events rel ated
were s aid to have taken place recent disc overies o f ar ob aso
,

l ogists such as th o se of D e R o ssi and his successors at R ome

, ,

have nevertheless sh own us that in the case of many of

these so called spuri o us passions a large substructure of
-

truth existed and that the general character o f the recital

,

was often based on events which really t ook pl a ce Hence .

o ur views of much o f wh at has been regarded as spuri o us

and bel onging to r om ance rather than to history require , ,

in the light of this l ate investigation by sch olars c onsiderable ,

modication and rec onstruction The importance of these late.

disc overies for our c onceptions of the life led by the Christians
roughly between A D 3 4 and 3 1 3 will be discussed later
. .
,
.

In such a hist o ry as that on which we are now engaged ,

n o thing perhaps is so striking as the fact dem o nstrated by ,

abundant evidence drawn fro m all quarters of the R oman

Empire during these 28 0 years of the on en ess the i den ti ty , , ,

of the faith which lived in the c ountless scattered c ongrega

ti ons of Christians in such di fferent nati onal centres as Rome
and C orinth Ephesus and A nti o ch A lexandria Carthage
, , , ,

and Lyons ; of the on en ess o f the faith which inspired

n obles and slaves s oldiers and traders men and w omen
, , ,

old and young alike to live changed lives to undergo

, ,

unheard of dangers to brave frightful perils to endure

, ,

t ortures to disregard death

, .

Fr o m the beginning the faith was one abs olutely change ,

less in its essenti al features We read it e x pressed in clear

.

emphatic language in the writings of Peter and Paul wh o ,

passed aw ay by vi olent de ath in the sixties of the rst

century and in the G ospel A p o calypse and Letters of J ohn

, , , ,

wh o survived till the last years of the same century ;

and these h ad learned it fr om the Master Himself We .

nd the fundament al d o ctrines o f the faith in the letters

o f disciples and pupils in the Epistles of Clement of R o me
, ,
 INTR OD UC TI ON . 15

of Ignatius of A nti o ch of P olycarp o f Smyrna in the , ,

ap ol o gies and writings of their y o unger c ontemp oraries and

success o rs such as A ristides the apologist before the tribunal
, ,

o f the Emper o r Hadrian ; Justin Martyr the sch olarly Greek ; ,

and in the next generati o n Irenaeus Bishop of Ly ons in ,

Gaul It is repe ated by Hippolytus of R o me by Clement

.
,

o f A lexandria and Tertullian of A frican Carthage wh o wrote

, ,

and preached and taught scarcely a hundred years after

the A postles of the M aster had passed away The same .

faith was again reiterated by the great teachers of the rst

half of the third century by O rigen of A lexandria and ,

Cyprian of Carthage A fter eighteen centuries the s ame .

preci ous changeless traditi on is the heritage o f the Christian

Church in all its essential features alike in M o sc ow and
, ,

C o nst antinople in R o me and in L ond on , .

And the centre of all early Catho l ic teaching was Jesus

Christ His w o rk for men His love for men His bl oo d which
, , ,

He shed for men .

Critics wh o imagine that the lofty concepti ons of later

ages on the subj ect of the pre existence of Jesus Christ of -
,

His D ivinity of His being Very Go d of Very Go d were

, ,

evoked by the A rian controversies of the fourth century ,

are strangely ignorant o f the letter and s pir it of the te aching

o f primitive Chr istianity Indeed the language used by .
,

such writers as Clement of R o me and Ignatius of A ntioch

the rst of wh o m was the disciple o f Paul and Peter and ,

the latter a sch olar of the A p ostles and even by Hipp olytus
nearly a century later in expressing their belief in ou r ,

L ord s D ivinity while lacking the precisi o n of the termin ology

,

determined by the great Church C o uncils of the fourth

century was o ccasi onall y so strong as almost to verge up on
,

m
*
Patripassianism .

P t p i n w e f ep c h g iven t the nd of the se c nd

m

a ri n ass a as a a o r ro a a e o

c entu y t th se the l g i n s w h o w ith out c e f ul den iti n f the s le i g in l

m m
r o o o o a ,
ar o o o or a

P incip lity f the F the cl i ed the P len y G odhe d fo the S n the

r a o a r, a ar a r o

R edee e The e cc u te the l g i ns of th t g w he n the i w

m
r . or a ra o o a a a e a r as

c ha g ed with spe c ul tive c nt ve sies d e w an awf ul c on clusi n th t the

m m
r a o ro r ,
r o a

l o se n d s o e wh t st tlin g ph seol gy used n w nd g in w ith ut due

o a a ar ra o o a a a o

c n side ti n sse ted th t the F the the ne p i y p inc iple ust h ve

o ra o ,
a r a a r, o r ar r ,
a

s uffe ed n the c oss

r o r .
16 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NISM .

Irenaeus Bish o p of Lyo ns in Gaul a great teacher of the

, ,

last qu arter o f the sec ond century many of whose writings ,

are preserved to us singles ou t Clement of R ome s Letter

,

to the C orinthians as transmitting in its fulness the

Christianity taught by the A p ostles m o re especially by S ,
.

Peter and S Paul . This letter exhibits the belief of his

.

Church ( that of R ome ) as to the true interpretati o n o f the

A p ost olic rec o rds To Clement as to the mass of dev o ut
.
,

Christians of all ages Jesus Christ is no t a dead man whose

,

mem ory is reverently cherished by men or whose precepts ,

are c arefu lly observed but an ever living ever active

, ,

Presence wh o enters into all the circumstances of their

,

A similar concepti on of Jesus Christ is found in P olycarp

and Ignatius . The d o ctrine of the H oly Trinity is als o
plainly taught in each of these very early writers as are ,

the d o ctrines of the A t onement and Mediati o n of Christ .

m
There is absolutely a perfect acc ord in the teaching respect
ing these great fundamental d o ctrines of the Cath olic Church
in all the writings of the pri itive fathers .

To give examples of the remarkable unity in the teaching

o f the rst ages o f Christi anity A general agreement from

very early times to keep h oly the rst day of the week in
c ommem o rati on of the Resurrecti on o f the L ord was c omm o n
to all the Churches The two great Sacraments in stituted
.

by J esus Christ B aptism and the L o rd s Supper we nd
, ,

repeatedly menti oned in the earliest writings as a necessary

part of Christian life The m o st careful pr ovision for the
.

due administration of these Sacraments was made in all the

Churches witho ut excepti on .

With a few mino r di fferences the g overnment and ad ,

ministr ati on of the inner life o f all the Christian Churches

was the same .Before the middle of the sec ond century
each Church or o rganised Christian c ommunity had its three
o rders o f ministers its bish o p
,
its presbyters and its deac o ns ;
, ,

while very early in th at century ( the sec ond ) it is clear that

m m
the episc opal ofce was universally established in all the
B ish p L i gh tf t Cl nt f R
o V l
oo i Vi P 3 98
: e e o o e, o . o
, '
 INTR OD UC TION . 17

churches ; indeed Episcopacy is so inseparably interwo ven ,

with all the traditio ns and beliefs o f men li ke Irenaeus and

Tertu lli an wh ose writings are spread o ver the last thirty
,

years of the second century and the rst twenty of the

third that they betray no knowledge of a time when it was
,

not The repeated and ample testim ony of Ignatius here
.

takes us back to the time of S J o hn and although the .

,

estimate of the authority of episc opacy seems to have varied

as time went on in different Christian centres hist orical ,

testim ony is unanimous as to its existence even in the rst

century There was no divergence here in the vari ous
.

Churches in the question of government .

Lastly it is perfectly clear whence the Cath ol ic T Church

,

of the earliest days derived her faith and drew her teaching .

O ne v o ice proceeds from the Christian c ommunities of each

o f the r eat centres of the ancient Church fr o m A nti o ch and
g ,

A lexandria from Smyrna and from R ome in the utterances

, ,

o f Ignatius and Barna b as of P olycarp an d Clement The more , .

famous early teachers it is true appeale d rarely to written , ,

w o rds for they had h ea r d the living v oice of the Apostles

,

o f the L ord Bu t their teaching is based entirely up o n those

.

discourses and actions of the Lord which we nd recorded in

the G ospels and up on n o oth er s It is als o evident that at
, .

least the great maj ority o f the Epistles of S Paul S James .

,
. .

S Peter and S John contained in ou r New Testament

m m
.
, .

B ish p L i g ht f ot D issertati on the C h isti an M ini st y in Co

the te ch i c l se e it ssum
o o : on r r entary

b ut the m iddle the se c d c e tu y O i g i l y it m e t sim

T he e x p essi
1

C th li c is used he er on

aed o

r in n a ns a

of ply u ve s l
ni

T he e liest e xt t e x m
a o on n r . r na l an r a ,

ge e l the esu e c ti is p ke

e ly d te
R the C th li c n of at an

te m its te ch i c l the l i c l se se the C th l c

n ra ; so rr on S o ar a as a o ,

the g e e l esu e cti ple the use the

d c um
of of

the f m lette d essed by

i R

M ty d mP ly c p
. e. n ra ,
rr on . ar an a

is the
P hil m
in i Ch ur c in

m el u m
r n a o og a n ,
a o

e t
of a dr

gm
of in

the ve y e ly f m
ar r o o ar ,
a o n or r a

the C hu ch y the C h c h S (circa We

C lem
r of rn a to ur of o i A D . .

it g s Mu t i e t the C

these w iti g s the te m

nd ain

m
a in r ar a ou ra or an F ra n on anon,

e t e x d i t w ds the th t c e tu the se c d
he eti c l c m m
an d in en d of (

disti g uished f m
n of Al an r a o ar a n ry on ) .

I n e s the th d x p st li c l y C Ch urch and a l

si m
r n r a th ol ic an or o o o o a

des c e ded C hu c hn se ct i
r ,
as u ities n ro ar an an d r a o n .

Cath ol ic ply is th d x pp sed he eti c l the t d c e tu y In hi r

p ssed i t c m m
or o o as o o to r a . n r ,

cg . the w iti g s
in al l T e tu li O i g e the w d
r n its te ch i c l se se
of r l an and r n, or in n a n

h ad a n o o on u se .

C
l8 EA R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

Can on were kn o wn to them ; and upon these Epistles an d

n o oth er s and upon the w ords and acts of the L ord ab o ve
,

referred to they b ased their teaching and fo rmulated their

,

creed ; a changeless teach ing and a creed which fro m the ,

rst days has been the herit age of the Cath olic Church .

Thus in its strange grand unity the Christian Church ,

in each o f its imp ortant centres in A sia A frica and Eur ope , , ,

during the last decade of the rst and the early decades of
the sec ond century taught the same faith t old the same
, ,

w ondro us st o ry basing faith and story up o n the same

,

traditi ons o ral and w ritten the traditi ons enshrined in the ,

Go spels and Epistles o f the New Testament .

Just the rst little gr oup of A postolic men Clement , ,

Ign atius and P olycarp o mitted to quote fro m the w r itten

, ,

rec ords by name because they had heard with their ears
,

the w o rds of the G o spels and the teachin g of the Epistles

fro m the lips o f the A postles of the L ord But by the next .

generati o n o f teachers made up o f men wh o had n ot been

,

privileged to hear the v o ices o f Peter Paul and John while , , ,

identically the same faith was taught and in alm ost the
same w ords the w r itten traditi ons of these same men were
,

quoted and with ever gre ater circumstantiality as the years

,

o f the sec ond cent ury w o re on We w ould instance Papias .

,

Justin Iren aeus Clement Tertullian the Christian teachers

, , , ,

at Hierap olis and at Rome at Ly ons A lexandria and , ,

C arthage never varyin g in the great essenti al d o ctrines

, ,

never suggesting any n ovel d o ctrine o nly qu o ting from the ,

same original rec ords with ever greater accuracy and care
as time advanced teaching the same fundamental truths as
,

did the Ap ost olic Fathers Clement P olycarp and Ignatius , , ,

.

The e arliest versions int o which the b oo ks of the New

Testament were translated fr o m the o riginal Greek in which

they were rst written the Syriac and the o ld Latin b o th
, ,

translati ons certainly made in the second century tell the ,

same st ory of the unity of Cath olic Christend om in the all

imp ort ant m atter of the R ecor ds of primitive Christi anity ,

received and ackn owledg ed by the Christian Churches o f the

East and the West The witness of these earliest translati o ns
.
 INTR O D UC TIO N 19

is most weighty for whil e they exhibit the books contained

,

*
in what is termed the New Testament Canon they sancti o n ,

no A pocryphal b ooks whatever They speak here of the .

un ity of the primitive Church with the voice of very early ,

Christend o m a v o ice none can gainsay or dispute

,
.

This wonderful unity of the early Church in its estimate

of the D ivinity o f the F o under o f His ever presence among ,
-

each company of those wh o believed in Him and of His ,

support of each in dividual member ; in the gr eat d o ctrines

c o nnected with the Founder in the worship of the Church , ,

in the government of the Church in its acknowledgment of ,

the one primitive tradition of the F o under s teaching oral

and written ; is one of the secrets of its enorm ous power ,

'

which no o pp osition no persecuti on ever a ected or touched

, , .

That unity immeasurably helped to secure th e eventual

triumph of the Church in the rst quarter of the fo urth

m
century .

m
T he issi ons of on o the of these ea liest ve sion s to include c e tain
m
o

of the E pistles n t ably th t of S

e r o

J es the H eb e w s nd the A p ocalypse

r r r r

m m m

,
o a . a ,
r , a

of S J ohn
. issi n s wing to l l nd othe spe ci l e s ns do not a t
,
o o o oca a r a r a o , ec

the g e t g u ent C bin ed w ith the o i ginal G eek these ancient ve sions
m m
r a ar . o r r ,
r

p cti c ll y ep esent the New T est ent S c iptu es j ust s w e n w possess

ra a r r a r r ,
a o

the as they w e e e d th ou ghout the w h ole of C h isten d t owa ds th e cl ose

, r r a r r o r

of the se c ond ce ntu y of the C h isti n E a

r r a r .
 20

CHAPTER 1 .

F IR S T S TA GE S .

S E CT I O N I .
TH E BE GI NN I N GS OF C H R I ST I A N ITY .

O UR recital in detail of the events c onnected with the rise

and pr ogress of Christianity begins with the year of our
Lord 6 2 In that year the writer o f the A cts of the
.

A p ostles lays down his pen and for the hist ory of the ,

Ch urch of Christ in the years imme di ately foll owing that

date we are dependent as far as regards inspired s ources , ,

on scattered n o tices which we gather mainly fro m the

Past o ral Epistles o f S Paul fr o m the two Epistles of S
.
, .

Peter especially the rst fro m the writings of S J oh n his

, , .

G ospel and Epistles bel onging to the last years of the century
, ,

* and
and his A p o calypse fr o m certain o ther writ ings included
in the New Testament Can on such as the Epistle to the ,

Hebrews .

But after A D 6 2 when the memoirs of the A cts of

. .
,

the Apostles were cl osed we p ossess n o contin u ous chr onicle ,

by an inspired writer such as we nd in the rst three ,

Gospels and in the A cts of the Church s foundati on w ork

,

, ,

and pro gress . The task of the c ompil er really begins fr om

that year ( A D . when we believe that S Paul was released
. .

from his R oman impris o nment and for a peri o d of s o me ,

ve or six m ore ye ars resumed his missi onary lab ours O f .

th o se lab ours we p ossess little or no trustworthy inform a

ti on Traditi on is unanim ous in asserting that the appeal
which the A p ostle made in the C ourt H ouse at Caesarea to
The d te of this w k (A D 6 8 7 0) is dis cussed bel ow p 5 8
a or . .
, . .
 FIRS T S TA GE S . 21

the Emper o r terminated successfully ; that he was acquitted

o f the charges laid again st him by hi s Jewish enemies and ,

that after his acquittal he agai n resumed his old work and ,

in the language o f his disciple Clement wh o was after ,

wards Bishop of the R o man Church preached the G o spel

m
in the East and West instructin g the whole world ( i e the ,
.

m
Roman Empire ) in righte ousness ; tr avelling even to the
extre i ty of the West befo re his martyrd om This martyr .

do acc ording to un ivers al traditi on t ook place at Rome

, ,

ab out A D 6 7 8 We shal l presently relate the terrible

. . .

c alamities which b efel the R o man Christians between A D . .

6 2 3 and A D 6 7 8
-
It was no d oubt in the course of
. . .

these dread events that the great teacher laid d o wn his

own life .

But up to A D 6 2 the D ivine st ory shrined in the New . .

Testament Can on relates the beginnin g of Chr istianity Th e .

Synoptical G ospels known as S Matthew S Mark and S .

,
.
, .

Luke speak of the rst three years : these are too sacred
for or dinary analys is They deal wi th o nly one life but .
,

it is that of the D ivine F ounder of the religion whi ch all

the w orld is by degrees to embrace not r apidl y as men
*
c ount years but surely each succeeding decade enrolling
, ,

fresh recruits for the Chr istian army Then the A cts o f .

the A postles speaks of the pr ogress of the religi on after
the rst three years ; it tells of the A scensi on m orning and
after The two termin i of the A cts
. are A D 3 3 and
. .

A D 62
. It is a wonderful b oo k inspir ed by the D ivine
.

Wisd om ; but differing from the G ospels it d o es not defy

, ,

analysis for the persons who se acts are related in it are
,

mere m ortals ; men many of them highly blessed owing to , ,

the w ork entrusted to them but men of lik e passions with ,

o urselves

m
.

num the o ow of the A s c ens i on of ou L o d the C h isti an C hurc h

On rr

bered a f e w hu nd eds c ert ai nly not a th us and Three thousan d then

r r r

m m
r o .
,

ve th ousan d w e e a dded by the p eachin g of P ete af te the st P ente c ost

,
r r r r r .

T he n u be g adually inc e ased I t h as been ou ghl y co puted that thr ee

r r r . r

hun d ed years fter C h ist ab out tw o pe s on s in eve y th ee hun d ed of the

r a r r r r r

p opulati on of th e gl obe w ere Ch ristian Now in A D 1 9 01 the p oporti on is . . . r

s aid to be ove two in s even r .

22 EA R L Y CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GANISM .

The A cts t akes up the story on the m orr ow of the

.

Resu rrecti o n of the L o rd on the morr ow of the wonderful

event which was really the c ommencement of Christianity .

A t the rock t omb o f Jo seph of A rimath aea in the eyes of ,

the friends and foes of Jesus the strange career of the Great
,

Master appeared to be closed for ever In spite o f the .

w o rds of the crucied Teacher no o ne appeared to have ,

even dreamed of a resurrecti on of the l oved or hated Jesus ;

seemingly all was at an end .

The Evangelists in their closing chapters the auth or of ,

the
A cts in his beau tiful mem oir serene and unim ,

p assi oned tell the true story of their disapp ointment dis
, ,

illusi o n c o wardice despair which passed int o intense j oyful

, , ,

surprise They c o nceal n o thing

. .

A gain the a st onishment vexati on dismay of the San

, , ,

b edrim and of the Jewi sh rulers is p ortrayed with the same

quiet and passi onless truthfulness The g o verning b ody of .

the Hebrew pe o ple had wo rked their will up o n the Teacher

they hated They had done Him to death His foll owers
. .
,

wh o m they l ooked up o n as pers ons of humble o rigi n of ,

m
little learning and of no particul ar ability were dispersed ;
, ,

they could afford to treat such men and women with con
te ptu ous neglect The inuential men in the Sanhedrim
.

knew o f Peter and J ohn they were acquainted with the

,

Maries but they did no t care to secure their pers ons they
,

were not w o rth a second thought ; they w ould quietly dis

appear int o the mass of the pe ople whence they came no w ,

that their Leader was gone These able and unscrupul ous
.

pers ons A nnas Caiap h as and the o thers j udged and judged
, , , , ,

c orrectly that the wh ole movement centred in the pers o n

,

o f Jesus ; and now th at He was out o f the way surely the

m o vement had collapsed was stamped out crushed ex
, , ,

tinguish ed and for ever !

When the startling intelligence was brough t to the San
b edrim chiefs that the gr o up of despised and illiterate
Galil aeans of wh o m they had expected never to hear again
, ,

were teaching and even prea ching with splendid el o quence

hard by the sacred Temple and were p ositively making ,
 FIR S T S TA G E S . 23

surprise and dis ay m m

c nverts by th usands great indeed must have been their
o o

S o eth i n g had evidently happened

which h ad changed these timoro us saddened men int o fear
.
,
*

less pre achers of a c o ndemned religi o n and a dead Master .

What had transformed illiterate shermen and peasants int o

impassioned el o quent and even learned teachers and preachers ?
, ,

It was the Resurrecti o n of Jesus which had effected the

former ; it was the illapse o f the Spirit in the D ivine Breath
of Pentecost which produced the latter startling phenomen o n .

Fr o m the morro w o f the Resurrection and after Pentecost

the o ppositi o n of the Sa nhedrim and of the rulers of the
Jews to the new sect of Christi ans ( we use the well known -

appell ati on th ough it belongs to a s o mewhat later date) was

,

tful and uncertain ; n ow sh owing itself chiey in measures

of extreme severity and harshness no w paying apparently ,

little heed to the vas t devel opin g power Evidently fro m .

the A cts narrative various feelings perplexity and s ome , ,

awe as well as j eal o usy and hate were at w ork among the
, ,

Sanhedrim and the inuential Jews A t all events the .

,

tful O ppositi o n pr o duced little if any eect on the fortunes

'

o f the fast growing community o f bel ievers in the crucie d

and risen Jesus The main interest in the st ory of the

.

A cts is concentrated upon the development of the Church

or c o mmu nity o f Christians .

For a c o nsiderable period it remained a strictly H eb r ew

Church ; but gradually and partly through supernatural ,

agencies the c onsci ousness of their w orld wide missi o n came

,
-

to the Christian leaders For several years after the Pentecost.

miracle the commanding pers onality of Peter gave him the

rst place in the c o mmunity With him h owever we nd .
, ,

c onstantly associated John the D isciple whom Jesus especially ,

l oved It was to Peter that the revelati on which worked

.
,

so mighty an inuence on the C h ristian religi o n came th e

m m
,

The w ite f the A cts enti n s the n u be s th ee th usan d n d

m m m
r r o o r r o a

subseq uently ve th ous n d w h j oin ed the nks f the believe s in J esus f

mm
a o ra o r o

N eth f te s e f the bu ni ng n d vi n g d d esses of P ete t J e us al e

az ar a r o o r a o a r r a r .

T he c pile n eve ind ul g es in ove c l u ed pi c tu es T he n tive is

o r r r- o o r r . arra

s c upul usly u n e oti n l

r o o a .
 24 EA RL Y CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

revelati on which Isai ah centuries before had pl ainly fore

shad owed in his striking words : I t is a light thing th at

th ou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jac ob ,

and to rest o re the preserved of Israel : I will als o give thee

for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be My salv ati o n ,

unt o the end of the e arth ( Isaiah xlix . .

Christi anity during its rst ye ars of existence made extra

o rdinary and rapid pr ogress but exclusively in the Jew i sh ,

w o rld . It was n o t indeed by any me ans conned to , ,

Jerusalem or to Palestine ; for it numbered am o ng its c onverts

Jews dwelling in such centres as A ntioch and pr obably at
R ome ; but it was as it has been well termed an expanded
, ,

Jud aism It was preached by Jews and was address ed to

.
,

Jews ; it was limited nati onal exclusive But all this , , .

,

app arently after some three years was ch ang ed the b order
, , ,

land of Samaria between Judaism and he athend om being

, ,

then included in the great Christian fold Peter and J ohn ,

*
o n the Samaritan missi on still representing the A post olic

m
,

C ollege .

But a far m ore i p o rtant devel opment of Christian work

was entrusted in the rst place to the fam ous A p ost olic
le ader : the Church of Jesus must bec ome a wo rld wide -

Church .

A D ivine revelati on c ontained in a striking vision discl osed

to Peter that all the rights and privileges o f the Christian
Church might be o ught to be offered to the wh ole heathen
, ,

w orld In the R oman city of C aesarea t ook place the baptism

.

and a dmissi o n of the heathen s oldier the R oman C ornelius ; ,

the old barrier between the Jew and the Gentile was broken
down ; henceforth in the Christian c ommunity there was no
distinction between the Jew the child of the ch osen pe ople , ,

and the Gentile o f the gre at w orld which lay outside the ol d
ch armed circle of the Children of Israel .

This acti on of Peter in admitting the great Gentile w orld

t s lth u h u ck w le g ed by the g e ui e J e w s cl i m
int o th e Christian c ommunity was formally appro ved at
S m m ed
J ew s but e m
Th e a ari an , a o g na no d n n , a to
be J e w s , and in y espe cts lived like J e w s They
an r s c c ely be cl ssied . can ar a ,

h ow ever , as , ph ti c lly they w e e

a he the
a id l te s r n ot a n or o a r .
 FIR S T S TA GE S 25

m
Jerusalem by a Council of A postles and Brethren some eight ,

or nine years after the rst Pentec o st .

The rst great secti o n o f the A cts of the A postles a
y

be said to be cl osed by this all imp ortant development of -

Christian work Fr om this ep o ch the chief w ork in the n ow

.
,

Widely extended Church passes into o ther hands than th o se

o f Peter .A master mind appears on the stage and a trained ,

and cultured Jewish sch olar o ccupies the chief place in the
w ork of preaching Jesus to the vast w o rld which lay o utside
the Holy Land Paul a Jew of Tarsus an important pers onage
.
, ,

in the o f ci al w orld o f Jerusalem is the pro minent person ,

hencefo rth in the book of the A cts : his missi o n j ourneys
,

which extended thr ough the p opulo us districts of A sia Minor

and Greece the opp o siti o n he met with his strik in g successes
, , ,

his rst arrest by the Roman Government at the instigation

o f the Jews and his subsequent arrival at R o me ll up most
, ,

of the remainder the larger half indeed of the inspired , ,

b o ok of the A cts The time o ccupied in the A cts recital

.

c overs abou t thirty years perhaps scarcely so much ,

The .

foll owin g table of the rough dates of s o me of the principal

events o f these thirty years will give an idea of the time
taken up by these early endeav o urs devel opments changes , ,

in the Christian Church But it must be b orne in mind that

.

the exa ct chr o n o l ogy of this peri o d especially in the earlier ,

p ortion is somewhat uncertain

, .

Ch r on ol og y f
o th e A cts .

A D . .

The public Ministry o f Jesus Christ 30

The Crucixi o n and Resurrecti o n of Jesus 33
The rst Pentec o st and its 33
Preaching of Peter and J ohn to the Samaritans 3 5 6
Baptism and formal admission of the R o man cen

m
turion C ornelius to the Christian Church by ,

Peter appro ved by Council o f Ap ostles and

m
,

Brethren at Jerusale 4 1 2
Fir st issi on a r y jou r n ey of Paul to Cyprus ,

Pamphyli a Pisidia Lycaonia , , 4 5 6

26 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

Paul s missi onary w ork am ong the Gentiles form

A D . .

ally approved by a C ouncil o f A p ostles and

Elders at Jerusalem 4 9 5 0
Paul s secon d jowrn ey in G al atia Lyca o nia Mace

, ,

d onia A ttica (A thens )

, , 5 1 4
Paul s th i rd jou r n ey in Gal atia Pro c onsular A sia

( Ephesus ) Maced o nia C o rinth,

A chaia , ,

Paul s arrest at Jerusalem impris o nment at Caesarea

, ,

j ourney to Rome 58 9 -

Paul s R o man impris o nment acquittal and release ;

cl ose of A c ts
6 03

Such is the A cts of the A p ostles a bo ok c ompiled acc ording ,

to the univers al tradition of Christianity by Luke an intimate ,

friend and a compani on of Paul and received am ong the ,

inspired b o oks of the New Testament by all the Churches

at a very early date Its extreme imp ortance as a hist ory .

o f the Church during the thirty ye ars which foll o wed the
Resurrecti on of the L o rd Jesus cann o t be overrated It is .

penetrated permeated with the supernatural acc oun ts of

,

miracles revelati o ns visi ons supernatural appearances of the

, , ,

L ord and o ccasi o nally o f Beings n o t bel ong ing to this wo rld
,

o f o urs Beings called angels

,
like g olden threads run thr ough ,

the wh ole tapestry of the work of the A cts They c ann o t
.

be separated fro m it They form a necessary part of it . .

The writer is intensely anxious to give a true picture of

the t i me N o thing is c oncealed or veiled The weaknesses
. .
,

doubts fears mistakes o f the human actors are faithfully

, ,

rec orded Well nigh a third o f these early pages of Christian

.
-

history are filled with the acc ount of the missi on ary tr avels
of that great teacher wh o was entrusted by the H o ly Spirit

to carry the rst mess age of the Gospel o f Jesus Christ to

the Gentile w orld These j ourneys bey ond the fr ontiers of
.

the Land o f Pr o mise are dwelt up o n with c onsiderable det ail .

The manner o f recepti o n of the D ivine mess age in imp ortant

centres such as in Ephesus in the Pisidian A nti o ch in
, , ,

A thens C o rinth Thessal onic a Rome is described with m ore

, , , ,

o r less fulness .
 FIR S T S TA GE S . 27

This weighty section of the earliest Chri stian hist ory the

Travel D ocument as it has been termed has been w oven

into the gener al story by the writer o f the A cts little
,

changed evidently fro m the o riginal d o cument c omp o sed no

doubt by S Paul himself o r written under his imme di ate
.
,

in uence .The great space all o tted in the A cts to this

Travel D ocument is an indication of the vast imp ortance
attached by the early Christians to the movements which
o pened the port al s o f the Church to the world lying outside

the sacred and hithert o rigidly g uarded encl osure of the

m
Chosen Pe ople .

We have fo und that in the rst years Christianity was

but an exp an ded Ju da is preached by Jews and addressed
,

to Jews . The Christian Church of the rst d ays was a

purely Hebrew Church The Messiah was a Jew of the
.

purest race ; His disciples were earnest we should say even , ,

b igoted Jews ; for several years n o Gentile seems to have been

admitted int o the sacred circle of A postles and their disciples .

Even after the breaking d own o f the immemorial wall which

surrounded the earliest Chr istian Church as it had d one the
Jewish Synag ogue we nd Paul the A postle of the Gentil es
,

telling his won dr ous st ory r st in the syn agog ues of cities
such as Ephesus Corinth and Pisidi an A nti o ch It was from
, ,
.

these Jewish centres that he seems certainl y for a l ong ,

while to have gathered his converts for the main part

, .

The religi ous rev olution inaugurated by Peter and

developed by Paul Barnabas and their immediate foll owers
, ,

was of tremendous imp o rt For the Church of Jesus Christ

.

to become the Church of the world a th o us and religi ous

fences must be br oken down numberless prej udices of ,

c o nvention and traditi o n m ust be sacriced numberless ,

cherished safeguards whi ch had hithert o been the life o f

the nati o n must be abandoned N o wonder that so large a .

p ortion of the A cts is c onsecrated fir stly to the recital
telling of the revelati o n to Peter which directed that all
privileges of the C h ristian converts should be offered to the

wh ole heathen world an d secon dly to the fam ous Travel
,

D ocument of Paul relating h ow the command c ontained in
,
28 E A R L Y CHRIS TIA NI T Y AND P A G A NISM .

the revelati o n to Peter was carried int o effect by Paul and

his comp ani o ns .

This b ook which contains the hist o ry of the Catholic

,

Church during the thirty years which foll owed the Resur
recti on of the Lord was as we have said received int o the
, , ,

Can on of H oly Scripture from the earliest times Its .

authenticity and genuineness have never been disputed It .

is c ont ained in the o ldest versi o n made in the sec ond cen
tury viz the Pesch itta Syriac a revisi o n of the old Syriac
, .
-

versi on pr obably made and used within the A p ost olic age
,

and in the O ld Latin made and used certainl y befo re

,

A D 1 70
. . The great Christian writers wh o ourished t owards
.

the end o f the sec o nd century Iren aeus ( a b earer o f P olyc arp )
,

in Gaul Clement of Al exandria and Tertullian of C arthage

, , ,

frequently and expressly qu o te this bo ok It is not too .

much to say th at fr o m the close of the rst century onwards

the Ca th olic Church has ever with ou t a dissentient voice , ,

accepted as inspired the testim ony of the A cts of the

Ap ostles .

S E CT I O N II .
TH E JE W IN R OM E .

IN less than two years after the acquittal of Paul and his
subsequent dep arture from R ome on his last l ong missi onary
j ourney the terrible persecuti o n directed by the Emperor
,

Ner o against the Christian c ommunity at R ome began The .

date of this awful cal amity was A u gust A D 6 4 With more ,

. . .

or less severity this persecuti o n lasted s o me four years .

Before telling the dark st ory of the Neronic persecution ,

which to a certain extent determined the h ostile relations

th at wi th intervals of partial quiet w ere hencefo rward to
, ,

exist between the Christian sect and the Imperial G overn

ment fo r nearly two centuries and a h alf it will be well ,

to give s o me description o f the Roman Christian community ,

which at the early date of A D 6 4 was numer ous en ough . .

and of su fcient imp ortance to attract the h ostile n otice of

th e Emper o r Ner o and his advisers .

We have already dwelt on the fact that in the rst days

o f Christianity the Church o f Jesus Christ was purely a
 FIR S T S TA G E S . 29

Je wi sh community The D ivine Founder in His earthly

.

relati onships was a Hebre w of the Hebrews His disciples .

,

their c onverts the rst Christian c o mmunities were Jews ;

, ,

to the or di nary Roman citizen Ch ristians were simply a ,

Jewish sect .

R o me fr o m the year A D 3 3 o nwards was m ore than the

,
. .
,

capital of the civilised w o rld ; more than merely the seat

civil ilitary literary

, ,
m
o f the Government o f the Roman Empire ; it was the centre

o f all its life To take a modern

comp arison Rome in the rst and second centuries of the
,
, .

Christian era was all that L ondon and Paris Berlin and ,

Vienna St Petersburg m o dern R o me and New Y ork to

, .
, ,

gether are to the civilised w orld of the twentieth century

, .

In this great centre of pe oples the Jew for a c onsiderable ,

period had been a well kn o wn pers onage A s early as 1 3 8 -

.

B C
. .there was a Jewish c olony in Rome In 5 8 B 0 we . . .

c o me upon a curi ous reference to the presence and inuence

o f this people in the reat metr op olis Cicero w as pleadin g
g .

in the F o rum for one Flaccus who had incurred the enmity ,

of the Jews of R o me by fo rbidding the sen di ng o f the sacred

tribute to Jerusalem ; and fr o m time to time in the course

of his pleading we read h ow the great lawyer l o wered his
,

voice in o rder that what he said might not be heard by the

crowd of Jews thr onging the fo rum : You kn ow said the
,

fam ous advocate how numerous they ( th e Jews ) are and

,

,

how united and what commanding inuence they exert

, ,

sometimes turbulently in the public assemblies ; to offend

m

the Jews is a matter of the gravest import .

Julius C aesar in his day of supreme p o wer

,
arkedly ,

c ourted these stranger residents and best owed on them a ,

successi o n of favours While he lived these Jews were

.

am o ng his m ost steadfast adherents and after the D ictat or s ,

murder they sh owed their attachment by gathering r ound

his funeral pyre on the Campus Martius weeping and utter ,

ing l oud cries of lamentati o n by night as by day The .

Emper o r A ugustus ( 27 B C to A D 1 4) contin ued the favours

. . . .

sh own to them by the rst and g reatest of the C aesars .

A fter the death of Augus tus the inuence which these for ,
30 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND P A GA NIS M .

the m ost part p oo r stranger folk gradu ally acquired in

, ,

R oman s o ciety evoked c onsiderable j e al ousy dislike and , ,

suspici o n ; an d an anti Jewish feeling s omewhat of the -

,

character o f the modern Juden h etz e ( hatred of the Jews ) -

,

so comm o n a feature in the nineteenth century in many o f

the C o ntinental cities of Europe suggested str ong measures ,

of repressi o n on the art o f the G o vernment In A D 19

p . . .
,

under the Emperor Tiberius they were summ arily expelled ,

fr o m the city and a similar decree in A D 4 9 again banished

,
. .

them fr om R o me Y et these expulsions had bu t little

.

permanent effect The Jews were too deeply rooted to be

.

m
er adicated perm anently and very s oo n after e ach banishment
,

they seem to have returned to the metro p olis in greater

nu bers than ever .

Wha t n ow was the secret o f their power o f their inu ,

ence ? The questi o n has been often asked it is being asked ,

still The Jews were not a S pecially beautiful race if physical

.
,

beauty is in the question They h ave rarely been singled .

o u t as speci ally winning writers or pr o fo und thinkers o r far ,

seeing st atesmen ; they have numbered in their ranks but

few s oldiers or sail ors o f pre eminent skill or c onspicu ous -
,

val o ur th o ugh perhaps an average number of each and all

,

of these h ave never been wanting in the Jewish race No .

imp ortant historian however far above all rac e partiality o r

,
-

fav o ur w ould dream of speaking of them as a l ovable pe ople

m
, ,

as a pe o ple likely to call o u t feelings of enthusiasm or ad

iration The feeling the Jew has ev oked has been rather

m
.

dislike no t unmixed with envy a t their strange prosperity ,

particul arly in c ommercial matters important and uni por

t ant and their vast unexplained p ower in the vari ous centres
,

where any c onsiderable numbers of them have settled What .

then was their secret ? The answer is fo und in the O ld

Testament st ory For some reason unkn o wn to men the
.

Eternal Go d Whose ways are n o t o ur ways ages before the ,

C aesars ruled in R ome o ver the w orld ch ose them as His ,

peculiar pe ople and in Spite of their faults and many sh ort

,

c o min gs the blessing o f the Etern al God h as ever rested on

,

them A gain and again they forfeited through their faults

.
 FIR ST STA G E S . 31

and repeated disobedience the p ositi o n among men they

might have occupied ; the awful deed o f the century o f
which we are writing c onsummated at Jerusalem in the ,

ye ar o f grace 3 3 was the cr o wning sin ; henceforth they were

,

the people under the D ivine curse But the immem orial .

blessing was still theirs ; the blessing which has preserved

them as a separate pe ople powerful even under circumstances ,

o f the deepest degradation and O ppressi o n Changeless in .

the midst of change the Jew is with us still Is it then a

,
.

b aseless dream which sees fo r this strange deathl ess race a

glo rious fut ure when they shall l o ok on Him Who m they
,

pierced as their Messiah Friend Redeemer God ? , , ,

But at no peri o d in their l ong drawn ou t wonderful -

,

hist o ry does it seem that the Jews exercised a greater and

m ore peculiar an inuence than in the society of R o me the ,

w o rld capital in the rst century of the Christian era The

-
.

Jewish Sabbath for instance is frequently alluded to by the

, ,

poets of that age ; curiously enough this exclusively national ,

o bservance fo und favour even in fcertain Pagan circles Not .

a few among the higher ranks in the Roman world became

in greater or less degree c onverts to Judaism under the ,

general appellati o n of proselytes o f the gate P o pp aea the

.
,

p owerful mistress of Nero was prob ably one o f them as was , ,

Fuscus A ristius the friend of the poet H orace to take well

, ,

known instances But the inuence of the Jews of Rome

.

extended far beyond the circle of professed pr oselytes In a .

m
restless imm oral age the fervour the rigid mora lity the
, , ,

intense earnestness of the Hebrew c ol o ny impressed Roman

s o ciety and gave the a m o ral inuence quite disprop ortioned
*
to their actual numbers .

m m ml d
m
(P is
H istoire des Persecutions chap i Tout

Al ar : ol i ar ,
v . .
, . .
,

on de en h aill on s est an i d un e vie inten se il t av aill e et c el a d ej a est

m m

ce ,
r ,

un e ori ginali t au ilieu de l a pl ebe oisive de R o e I 1 p rop ag e sa eli g i on

m m m
. r

par t ous les oye n s ; ses en diants et ses so cie es n e negl ig ent pas l occasion de

m
r r

di e un ot de leur l oi a l o eill e de l a at one dont elles s olli citent l au on e

r

r r

.

I l p ie et il tu die ses livr es s aints dan s R o e q ui n a as de th ol o g ie et qui n e

m m

r e
p
p ie pas S es S ynagog ues defendu es ave c en e g ie c on t e les int usi on s s ont

m
r . r r r

des p oints de rallie ent p ou l a p opul ati on is ae l ite de ch aque qu a tier

r r r

p a t out s y re connaissen t les senti e nts d un i on de frate nit de is ri c orde

r

,
r ,
 32 EA R L Y CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

Bu t the number of Jews wh o made up the R oman Jewish

c ol ony was n o t inc onsid erable Ab out the middle o f the .

rst century they have been computed as am ounting to

between twenty and thirty thousand or even m ore They ,
.

were m ostly very poor the few richer members of the col ony ,

and there were a few d oubtless very wealthy members

, ,

studi o usly c o ncealing their riches .

A modern writer in a brilliant and vi v id w ord picture has

p rov e en tsm
painted the Ghett o or Jewish quarter of m o dern R ome before
the Gh etto was swept away to m ake room for recent i
.
v

It is an accurate descripti o n of a city settle

,

m
ment of the changeless pe ople and with singularly little ,

alterati o n would admirably describe a Jewish quarter in the

Imperial R o me of the rst century The old R oman .

Ghetto was a l ow lying space encl osed within a circuit of a -

few hundred yards in which four or ve thous and human ,

b eings were permanently cr owded t ogether in dwellings cen

turies ol d built up o n ancient drains and vaults that were
,

c onstantly exposed to the inundati ons of the river (the

Tiber) and always reeking with its undried slime ; a little
,

pal e faced eager eyed pe ople grubbing and gr ovelling in

-
,
-
,

m asses of fo ul rags for s ome tiny scrap richer than the

rest and w orthy to be s old again ; a pe ople wh ose many
w o men h aggard l ow speaking dishevelled toiled half d oubled
, ,
-
, ,
-

t ogether up on the darning and piecing and sm oo thing of

ol d cl o thes wh ose many little children huddled themselves
,

int o corners to teach one an o ther to count ; a pe ople o f

sellers wh o s old n o thing that was no t old or dam aged and ,

wh o had n o thing that they w ould not sell ; a pe ople

cl o thed in r ags living am ong rags thriving on rags a people
, , ,

strangely pr oof agains t pestilence gathering rags from the ,

city to their dens when the ch o lera was raging o utside the
Ghett o s gates and rags were cheap yet never sickening of

mm
,

d un e c de petites g e s
un it g gn e n p in a l sueu de on f ont

m m
m

o n ,
ou l on a so a a r s r ,

se c u t ses p uv es
n l n vit e n t e i l in du n de d un e e e
m

n l n

o o o r a r , o o r so o o ,

pens e el i gieuse T elle est c ette t n g e p opul ti n j uive tt y n te ct

m
r . ra a o , a ra a re

pu gn nte i nt i g nte t pieuse i che n h ill n s t puiss nte d ns a is e e E lle

a , r a e ,
r e a o e a a s r .

p ssede n f c e
o u le in c nn ue de l ntiquit
e or ora o

a .

 FIRS T STA G E S . 33

the plague themselves ; a pe ople never idle sleeping little , ,

eating sparingly lab ourin g for small gain amid d irt and
,

stench and dampness til l Friday night came at last and , ,

the old crier s melanch oly v o ice ran through the darkeni ng

alleys : The S abbath has begu n and al l at once the rags

were go ne the gh ostly ol d cl o thes that s wung like hanged
,

men by the neck in the do o rways of the cavernous sh ops

, ,

i tted away int o the utter dark n ess within ; the ol d bits of
iron and brass went rattling out o f sight like spectres chains ;

the ho ok nosed antiquary drew in his cracked old sh ow

-

case ; the greasy fri er of sh and artichokes extin guished hi s

little ch arcoal re of coals ; the slipshod darning w omen half -
,

blind with six days w o rk folded the half patched c oats and ,
-

tr o users and t ook their rickety ol d rush b o tt o med chairs

,
-

ind oo rs with them .

Then on the morro w in the rich synagogue with its ,

tapestries its g old and its gilding the thin dark men were
, , , ,

t ogether in their hats and long c o ats and the sealed b ooks ,

of Moses were b o rne befo re their eyes and held up to the

n orth and south and eas t and west and all the men together ,

lifted up their arms and cried al o ud to the God of their

fathers .

But when the Sabbath was o ver they went back to their
rags and their patched clothes and to their old ir on and ,

their antiquities and t o iled on patiently again lo okin g for

, ,

the coming o f the Messiah .

A nd there were astr o l ogers and diviners and magicians
and witches and crystal g azers am ong them to whom great -
,

l adies came on foo t thi ckly veiled and walkin g delicately

, ,

amidst the rags and men too who were m ore ashamed o f
, , ,

themselves and slu nk in at nightfall to ask the Jews con

,

cerning the future even in o ur time as in Juv enal s and in

J uv enal s day as in Saul s o f

Into the midst of thi s busy active teeming p opulation of , ,

Roman Jews fell the seeds of the G ospel message at a very

An g el
Fro
o,
m
1 898
the
.
A ce R o am
mm I or talis of Ma i on
r wf d
Cra or (v ol . S ant .

D
 m
34 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

early date perhaps even as early as A D 3 3 b orne by some . .

o f th o se strangers o f Ro e mentioned by the writer of th e

A cts of the A p ostles when he tells the st o ry of Pentec ost

and its marvel and particularises the nati onality o f the rst
,

hearers of S Paul at Jerusalem These strangers of Rome
. .

o n their return to their Italian home w ould probably have

t old the wo ndrous sto ry they had he ard in Jerusalem and ,

so in the Imperial City n o d oubt sprang up at a very early

d ate in the Jewish c olony a little band o f men ever rapidly ,

increasing wh o believed in the Risen Jesus

,
.

R oman Catholic wr iters c o nsider that s ome ten years after

the rst Pentecost the Jewish Christian Church at R ome
w as visited by the great A p ostle Peter himself who after ,

that date roughly gi ven as A D 4 2 resided in R ome until

, . .
,

A D . 4 9 in which year the Emper o r Claudius banished the

.
,

Jews from the city Peter of c ourse left R ome with the .
, ,

rest of his fellow countryme n These writers c onsider that-

the A postle did not return to the capital before A D 6 2 and . .

,

that it is highly pr obable that the two Ap ostles met in

R ome shortly before the spri ng of A D 6 3 the date usually . .
,

m
assigned for the acquitt al o f Paul and his release fro m his
l ong imprisonment Paul then acc o rding to their the ory .
, ,

went forth again j ourneying westwards resu i ng his mis , ,

sio nar travels Peter rem aining in Rome Paul returned to

y , .

the city it is generally assumed in A D 6 7 and in that year

, , . .
, ,

or the following with his brother A p ostle Peter suffered, ,

martyrdo m * .

The questi ons however of the durati on o f S Peter s , ,

.

ministry at R ome a nd o f the authenticity of the earli er visit

, ,

cir ca A D 42 3 alth ough o f the deepest interest on many

. .
,

acc o unts to the student o f e arly Christian rec o rds are n ot of ,

vital imp ortance O f the highest imp ortance h owever is the

.
, ,

c onditi o n of the R o man c ommunity at the ep o ch of the

persecuti o n of Nero which began in the middle of the year ,

64 This terrible experience of the Church of the metr op olis

m
.

Ro
E
m
m
w
c e and
,

pi e i
r
T he s
c rca
o e h t ve x ed questi on as to the p esenc e and w o k of S P ete at
. .
a

A D 4 2 is dis c ussed at s o
,
r

e le ngth in A ppe ndi x B

r

m
espe i lly of the ea lie visit f the A p ostle to the c apital of the o
r

.
r . r
 FIRS T S TA GES . 35

we are ab out to relate with s ome detail It was no mere .

passing cl o ud ; its dre ad results were far reaching It may be -

.

said with o ut exaggerati o n to have largely determined the

p o siti o n of Christi ans in the Empire for a peri o d roughly of
two hundred and fty years .

There is no d o ubt whatever tha t the Church o f Rome in

A D
. . 6 4 was a c o nsiderable and even in s ome respects an
inuential c o mmunity The l anguage of Tacitus who was by
.
,

no means kindly disposed to the growin g sect is decisive as to ,

its numbers Had the Christians of R ome no t been a well

.

kn own and s omewh a t inuential b ody Ner o would never have ,

th ought it w orth his whil e to turn his attenti on to them ,

and to make the sect his scapegoat in the matter of the

great re o f which he was suspected to have been the
,

c ontriver
.

We p ossess no denite rec o rds o f the R o man Church o f

this early period .

to the R om ans written fr o C orinth cir ca A D 5 8 and in his m

The salutations o f S Paul in his Epistle .

m
. .
, ,

Epistle to the Philippians written during his R oman impris o n

,

ment cir ca A D 6 1 2 help us to fo r our c o ncepti o n o f the

. .
,

c ommunity Besides these contemp or ary references to the

.

state of Christianity at R ome in the years 5 8 6 2 we possess ,

a strik ing incident connected with the year 5 7 related by

* a
Tacitus n incident upon which D e Rossi s later discoveries

in the Catacombs thr o w c onsiderable light .

What now do these references Christi an and Pagan tell

us ? That the R oman Christian c ommunity was made up of
very different elements ; was of a comp osite character ; that
in it the maj ority were certainly p oor includin g not a few ,

slaves and freedmen in its ranks ; but that there were on its roll s
the names of some high b orn pers onages Varied nati onalities
-
.

als o were represented in this great typical e arly Christian

c ommunity The Jew and the Pagan by birth and training
.
, ,

st oo d side by side The Greek and the O riental as wel l as

.
,

the Italian and the R oman b orn h ad each at s o me time -

,

durin g the peri o d covered by the A cts o f the A p ostles

received fr o m the lips of a Peter or Paul or J ohn or perhaps ,

S e pp 3 7 3 S e . , .
36 EA R L Y C HRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

had heard and welcomed through the medium o f an Evangelist

unknown to fame the message of life ,
.

When Paul wrote to the Roman Christians from C orinth

in A D 5 8 although he had never been at R ome he evidently
. .
, ,

knew well many of the members of its c o mmunity The l o ng .

list of salut ati ons addressed to individuals of vari ous nation

al ities and to persons of different ranks tells us this ; while

h ouseh olds even are included in these greetin gs of the

travelled A p ostle The references in h is epistle written .

from R ome to the Philippians cir ca A D 6 1 2 are even m ore . .

suggestive especially the well known greeting fro m

, the -

members of C aesar s h ousehold ( Phil iv The d omus
. .

Caesaris

d o mus A ugusta ( the h ouseh old of Caesar ) wh o
,

sent their salutations to Philippi were presumably earlier

converts who did not owe their kn owledge of Christ to

S P aul s teaching at R o me The h ouseh old of Caesar in
.

.

the rst century o f the Christian era occupied a large and

c onspicu o us place in the life o f Rome It included pers o ns .

of exalted rank and of the highest c o nsidera tion as well as ,

a great crowd of slaves and freedmen The m ost elab orately .

m
o rganised o f m o dern roy al establishments would give o nly a

faint ide a of the multiplicity and variety of the o fces in

the palace of the C aesars The depart ents in the h ouseh old .

were divided and sub divided the ofces were numberless -

, .

The tasters for instance c onstituted a separate class of

, ,

servants under their o wn chief ; even the pet dog had a

functi onary assigned to him The aggregate of Imperi al re .

sidences o n o r near the Pal atine formed a sma ll city in itself ;

but these were not the only palaces even in R ome M ore .

over the country h o uses and estates of the Imperial family

,

all c ontributed to swell the numbers o f the d o mus Au gusta .

But besides the househo ld i n its m o re restricted sense ,

the Emper or had in his empl oy a c ountless number of

ofcials clerks and servants o f every degree required for the
, ,

w ork of the several departments civil and military which , ,

m m
were all concentrated in him as head o f the State * A nd .

*
B ish op L i ght f o ot : Cle ent f
o Ro e, v ol . i .
, pp . 25 6 , an d En . to P hil ,

pp . 1 6 7 70 -
.
 F IR S T S TA GE S . 37

this vast h o usehold of C aesar was made up of all nation

ali ties as well as being c o mposed o f al l s o rts and con di ti o ns

of en There were R omans of course am ong them and

.
, , ,

Itali ans by birth but perhaps the greater number were ,

Greeks Egyptians and O rientals includ ing a fair prop orti o n

, , ,

of Jews .

It was in to this great Imperial h ousehold that Christianity

at a very early date penetrated It was fr o m s ome am ong .

thi s mighty mixed h ouse of Caesar that the greetings contain ed

in the P h ilippian Epistle were sent by P aul But it must .

be remembered that the Faith which was livin g am ong

them was a p o wer h ow real events s oon showed b efor e ,

the gr eat Gentile A p ostle had arrived in Rome as a closely

guarded pris oner .

It is no baseless th ought that the presence the l ong ,

continued presence acc ord ing to the immem orial traditi on , ,

of such a one as Peter had helped to fan the ame of

devotion which Paul found burning so brightly when as a ,

m
pris oner he was l o dged in or near the gre at Praet orian barracks
,

or camp o utside th e wall to the n o rth east of the city hard -

,

by the m o dern Via N o entana * .

Thus the synag ogues of the thirty or m ore th ou sandT o f

the Je wish residents in R o me the vast mixed multitude of ,

the dwellers in the metrop olis of the w o rld including the ,

househ old of Caesar suppli ed their quot a to the ever ,

ro w ing c ompany of a d h erents to the new faith

g .

But besides these were some few perh aps but still enough ,

to gi ve a powerful inuence to the strange community o ut

of the mighty and exclusive Patrician o rder wh o had no

special c onnecti on with the h ouse of C aes ar There is a
.

well known story in Tacitus f of a great lady one P o mp oni a

-

Graecina the wife of Plautus the general wh o conquered

m m m
, ,

m
Th e site of th e P to i n b ack o c p is w ell k nown t the odern
r r a arr r a o

E n glish travelle I t is a little to the s outh of the Po ts Pia nd the present

m
r . r . a

E nglish E b assy (A D . . .

1 M an y e p rob bly w hen the adhe en ts an d less st i c t c onve ts of the

mm m
'
or a ,
r r r

J e w s a e t aken int o account su c h as P oselytes of the G ate T hese w ere very

r ,
r .

n u e ous in the R
r e of the st c e ntu y
o r r .

I A / .
,
38 EA RL Y CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANISM .

Britain un der the Emper or Claudius In the year 5 8 .

P omp oni a was accused o f having embraced a fo reign super

stitio n The matter was referred in acc ordance with R oman
.
,

cust om to a D omestic C ourt in which her husband sat as

, ,

chief judge The n oble lady was adj udged inn o cent
. She .

lived afterwards we read to a great age but in c ontinu ous

, , ,

sadness N 0 one h owever interfered with her any more

.
, , ,

pr o tected as she was by her stainless character and exalted

rank .

m
For a l o ng whil e the strange superstiti o n in which
this e in ent pers o n was accused of sharing was supp osed
by many students to have been Christianity but later ,

disc overies h ave converted the supposition int o what is alm ost
a certainty In the c ourse of his exhaustive investigations
.

into the netw o rk o f subterranean c orrid ors dev o ted to the

burial o f the dead Christi ans ar ound the Catac omb of
Call istu s D e R o ssi has shown that the o ldest p orti o n o f
,

that v ast cemetery on the A ppi an Way kn own as the ,

Cemetery o f Lucina belongs to the rst century ,

In this .

ancient burial place a sepulchral inscripti on bel onging to

name Po ponius Graecinus m

the cl o se o f the sec ond century has been found with the
other neighb ouring m onuments
bear the names of the same Po ponian H ouse It is clear

m .

fr om the char acter o f the dec ora ti ons o f the sepulchral

chambers that the crypt was c onstructed in the rst instance
by some Christi an lady of high rank before the cl ose of the
*
rst century for her p oorer br ther and sister Christians
o .

D e R o ssi c onsiders that the name Lucina which bel ongs
,

to this divisi on o f the Cat ac o mb of Cal listus is only a n o ther ,

n ame of Pomp onia Graecina herself ; the name Lucina no t

being found in R o man hist o ry the fam ous arch ae ol ogi st ,

c onsiders it highly prob able that it was assumed by P omp onia

m m
Graecin a in acc o rdance with early Christian phrase o l ogy which
sp oke o f b ap tis as an enlightening Be this

,

m m
m m
m
h ow it a
y the str ange disc o very of the c onnecti o n of the

mm
,

T his pi us c ust w c n p cti c e in the C h isti n c uni on

m m
o o as a o o ra r a o

f the st n d se c n d c e ntu ies it th b g inning f the en us n t

m m
o r a nd t o r , a o e e s o or o e

w o k f Ch isti n c e ete ies

r o r c t c bs ben e th the subu bs f ol d R e
a r or a a o a r o o

ust be tt ibuted This is e x pl i n d in det il in the ch pte whi ch is dev t d

a r . a e a a r o e

t the C t c
o bs (p a a o .
 m
FIR S T STA GE S . 39

Po onian
f amily with the ancient cemetery is a str o ng
p
c onrmati on o f the surmise long entertained by sch olars ,

that P omp o ni a was a Christian .

No d oubt she was an example of o ther pers ons o f high

rank wh o had accepted the easy y oke and light burden of
Christ in that age of inquiry and fervent longings after the
n obler and better life O nly a few years later as we shall
.
,

see hi story tells us of yet n obler converts For before th at

, .

m
rst century had r un its c o urse the religi on of Jesus had ,

fo und its way int o the famil y o f the C aesars The A theism .

for which the Emper o r Do itian s cousin Flavius Clemens

, ,

suffered death in A D 9 5 and for which his wife D omitill a

. .
,

was banished was d oubtless o nl y a name for Christianity

, .

Such were the materials out of which the Roman com

mu ni ty of Christians was composed With the exception of .

the faithful wh o came from the household of Caesar th e
,

same elements made up the c o mmun ities o f the Church of

the rst days in th o se o ther important centres we hear of in

the A cts Corinth Ephesus An tioch and other less p opulou s
, , , ,

cities such as Philippi Thessalonica C ol osse But the com

, , , .

munity of R ome in the year 6 23 was undoubtedly the larges t

and m ost inuential There the two A postles who durin g
.
,

the thirty years which followed the A scensi o n and the miracl e
o f Pentec o st occupy unquestionably the rst place in the
,

story of the Church for a considerable time had resided and

,

had taught There Christianity had evidently made a rm

.

l o dgment and c ounted its adherents pr obably by thous ands

, .

A p art fro m the h o stil ity of s ome of the Jews wh o as we , ,

have said had in the capital a large and p owerful col o ny

,

numbering at least some thirty th o usand probably many

more the Christian sect practised its simple rites and quietly ,

multiplied its c onverts without o pp ositi on The Imperial .

Government whil e quite aware of their existence ch ose to

, ,

regard them as a Jewish sect and the Jewish religi on was ,

at the time we kn ow legally rec ognised by the R oman

, ,

p o wer .
 40

CH A PTER II .

N E RO .

S E CT I O N I .
TH E PE R E S C UTI O N OF N E RO .

AT this time A D 6 23 the reigning Emperor was the in

,
. .
,

fam ous Nero one of the strangest and most inc o mprehensible
,

tyrants wh o has ever occupied a perfectly irresp o nsible p osition

o f well nigh b o un dless au th ority The pitiful hist orian in .
,

attempting the imp o ss ible task o f explainin g the gr owth and

devel o pment of the character of this inhuman m aster of the
w o rld dwells on the fo olish partiality of his evil mother
, ,

wh o thr ough a series o f bl o ody intrigues gain ed at last the

*
Imperial purple for her beautiful boy .

This m o ther Agr ippina is painted by Tacitus in the

, ,

darkest c ol o urs as a woman o f daring schemes of reckless

, ,

cr uelty a princess wh o su ffered no scruple ever to stand in

,

the way of her merciless and shameless intrigues Nero was .

but seventeen years o l d when thanks to her successful plot

m
,

ting he became the uncontrolled ma ster of the world Bent

, .

on selsh pleasure he regarded his ighty empire as existing

,

o nly to supply material for his evil passi o ns A s years p assed .

he grew m ore cruel m ore vain In the gratic ati o n of his

,
-
.

passi o ns and lusts he spared n one ; his m o ther his wife his , ,

intim ate friends and c ompani ons some of them the noblest ,

by birth and fo rtune of the R o man p atricians were all in ,

turn murdered by his o rders To his dis ordered fancy the .

,

circus with its games games m any o f them of the most

, ,

The e ly busts of N e sh ow h w di ffe ent he w s bef e vi c e nd in

m
ar ro o r a or a

dul g n
e ch n g ed hi be utiful f e tu es i nt o the he vy l w e in g f c e of the l te
ce a s a a r a ,
o r a a r

po t its w ith w hi ch w e
r ra now f ili are a ar .
 NER O . 41

degraded ch aracter cruel bl oo dy pandering to the l owest

, , ,

passions of the people were the centre of R oman life The .

wh o le w orld he l o oked on as o nly existin g to minister to the

evil ple asures o f R ome For sever al ye ars he was ad ored by
.

the mixed cr o wds of vari ous n ati onalities which c o mp osed the
pe ople of the Queen City ; these irresponsible masses rej oiced
in the wicked tyrant wh o fro m day to day amused them by
the strange and w onderful spect acles o f the circus and the
amphitheatre The p opulace l o ved him the s oldiers of the
.
,

all p owerful Praetori an gu ard who m he attered bribed and

-
, , ,

caj oled for a l ong peri o d supp orted and upheld him For
,
.

his treachery cruelty and faithlessness affected the mercenary

, ,

s oldiers and the p o pulace but li ttle It was o nly the gre at .
,

the rich the n oble wh o trembled for their l ives The irre
,
.

sp onsible m ass of the people the hir e l in g Praet orian guards , ,

delighted in a m aster wh o m ade their lives a perpetual h oli day ,

wh o amused them with spectacles that in the w orld had never

been matched before so br il liant so attr active but of a char
, , ,

acter calculated o nly to debase and to l ower the ign or ant

crowds wh o thr o nged the vast theatres where the marvell ous
and awful games were playe d O ften as many as fty th ou
s and or even m o re of this degr aded p opul ace w ould assem b le
, ,

in o ne of the great circus buil din gs to l o o k h o ur after h our , ,

on scenes where cruelty o bscenity and vice were ide al ised ;

, ,

at times the l ord o f the R omans deigned to j oin in the shameful

sp orts as chari o teer as singer as buffo o n and w o uld receive

m
, , , ,

with graticati o n the n o isy an d tumultuous applause o f the

delighted th o usands who hailed hi as Emperor and even ,

worshipped him as divin e .

Under Nero the wh ole t o ne o f Roman society fr o m its ,

apex d o wn to the l o west r anks was c orrupted The terms ,

.

h onour truth l oyalty purity patri o tism l ost their signica

, , , ,

ti on I t was the gl orication o f shame and dishon our

. It .

was o nl y in the last ye ars of his wicked reign when the ,

en orm ous p ower of the Praet orian Praefecture was entrusted

to Tigellinus on e o f the wickedest o f the human race after
,

m o ther wife and well nigh all his friends h ad been mur
, ,

dered ; when the vast treasures of the Imperial family had

42 EA RL Y CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

been heedlessly squ andered; and darker and ever darker ex pe

dients to replenish an exh austed exchequer were res orted
to that the cup o f wickedness of the Emper o r Ner o was
lled the le g i ons o f the pr ovinces rev olted and the tyrant
, ,

found himsel f even in the Rome which he had so basely

,

attered and c orrupted with out a friend Then the end , .

c ame and Nero escaped the pen alty of his n ameless crimes
,

by self murder ; but even the supreme h our o f the infam o us

-

*
Empero r w as marred by c owardice and unmanly fear .

It was in the July of the year 6 4 a mem or able date ,

never forgo tten th at the terr i ble re br oke ou t which

,

reduced m ore than half of R o me to ashes ; it began am ong

the shops ll ed with wares which easily fel l a prey to the ,

ames l o cated in the immediate neighb ourh oo d o f the

,

great circus hard by the Palatine Hill For six days and .

seven nights the re raged ; wh ole districts lled with the

woo den houses o f the p oorer inhabitants o f the city were
swept aw ay ; but besides these numberless palaces and ,

important buildings were c onsumed .

O f the fo urteen regi o ns of O ld R ome four only remained ,

uninj ured by the ames Three were u tterly destroyed .

,

wh ile the o ther seven were lled with wreckage with the ,

blackened walls of h ouses which h ad been burnt ; but the

irreparable l oss to the R o man pe ople after all was the utter

m
destruction o f th ose m ore preci ous monuments of their past
gl ori ous hist o ry on which every true R oman was accus
,

to ed to gaze with patri o tic venerati on The cruel ames

m
m
.

mm m
of N e o
R e nanhis A n ti h i t ( ch ap i ) g ives a vivid epi g a ati c des c ipti on
in
Q u n se g u e u
c r s

l ng e de f u de j o c isse t d cteu e tu d
. v . r r

m
m

m
r : o r a o ,
r e a r, r v e

l t oute puissan c e et ch g de g ouve ne l e on de I l n it pas l a n oi e

m

m mm
a ,
ar r r . av a r

ch an c et d D iti n cc n t it p s n on plus u n e x t av gan t co e Cal ig ul e

m
e o a ,
a a r a

c t it nu E pe eu d op nu l n e t e bl nt dev ant l e p arte e et l

m m

a r r ra , o a r a rr e

f is ant t e ble
a r c es idi c ules p a u e nt d ab o d che Ne on sse in n sifs l
r r r r

r z r a z o e ,
e

sin g e s ob e
quelque te ps t g da l a p se qu on lui av it pp ise l
m

m m
s rv a , e ar o a a r : a

c uaut ne se d cl a che lui q u pp e l a o t d A g ippin elle l en ah it bien

m

m
r ar z a r s r r e, v

vite t oute e n tie Ch que nn e i n tenan t est qu e pa ses c i es

mmm m m
r. a a a ar r r

N e on p cl e Ch que j ou que t oute ve tu st nu en s n g e que l g lant

m
r ro a a r r e o , s a

h e est c elui qui est f an c t qui v ue a c pl ete i pudeu que l

mm m
o r ,
e a o s o r, e

g l n t h o e est c el ui qui sait buse de t out t out pe d e t ut d pense Un

a a a r , r r ,
o e r .

h o e ve tueu x est p u lui nu hyp c ite

r oc f ut un
r onst e o r e r .

 NER O . 43

m
spared few indeed of these When the re gradually after
.
,

the dread week died away o nly bl ackened shapeless ruins

, , ,

st ood on the i memori al sites of the Temple of Luna the ,

work of Servius Tullius the A ra Maxima which the A rcadian

, ,

m
Evander had raised in hon our of Hercules the ancient Temple ,

o f Jupiter St at o r o rig inally built after the v o w o f R o mulus ;

,

the little royal home of N u a Pompil ius the houses of ,

the ancient captains and generals ad orned with the sp oils ,

o f conquered peoples indeed well nigh all that the reverent

,

love of the great people held dear and preci ous h ad dis ,

appeared in this awful cal amity Such a l oss was simply .

irreparable R o me might be rebuilt on a gr and scale

.
,

but the o ld Rome of the kings and the Republic was gone
for ever .

The darkest suspici o ns were entert ained as to the mys

terious o rigin o f this o verwhelming calamity Men s th oughts
.

naturally were turned to the half insane master o f the R o man

world ; was he n o t the author of the tremend ous re ? It I

was kn own that he had fo r a l ong time viewed with dislike

the t o rtu ous narrow streets the piles o f squalid ancient
, , ,

buil dings which formed so large a p orti on of the metr opolis

o f the Empire
; that he h ad fo rmed plans of a great rec o n
structi on o n a vastly enlarged scale of the mighty capital ;
, ,

that he had dreamed of the new en orm ous pal a ce surr ounded ,

by immense gardens and pl easaunces which s o on ar ose under ,

the hist o ric name of Nero s G olden H o use

Had not the

.

evil dreamer wh o exercised such irresp o nsible p ower in the

m
,

R o man w orld ch osen this method sudden sharp and swift

, , , , ,

of cle aring aw ay ol d R ome and thus aking r o o m for

,

the c arrying ou t of his grandi ose c oncepti ons of the new

c apital of the w o rld 7 The truth of this will never be
known Seri ous hist orians chronicle the suspici ons which lled
.

men s minds ; they tell us h ow the marvell ous p opularity

m
which the wicked Emper or h ad hi thert o enj oyed am o ng the
asses of the pe ople was gravely shaken by the tremend o us

calamity of whi ch he was more than suspected to have been

the auth or A ll kinds of sinister rum o urs were in the air ;
.

it was said n o string ent and effective measures h ad been

44 EA R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NISM .

a d opted by the G o vernment to st ay the pr ogress of the

ames Men even said that the Emperor s sl aves had been
.

detected with t orches and inamm able m a teri al helping to

spread the re The o nly plea that the friends o f N ero were
.

m
able to advance when that dark accusati on ga thered strength
and fo rce was that when the re br oke o ut the Empero r
was at A ntiu far away fr o m Rome and that he o nly
, ,

arrived on the scene o f des ola ti on on the third day of the

great re .

A t all events when all was over Nero found himself

,

generally suspected as the author o f the tremend ous nati onal

calamity It was in vain that he pr ovided temporary dwellings
.

for the tens o f thousands o f the homeless and ruined p o or ;

that he threw o pen the Campus Martius and even his own
vast gardens fo r them erecting te p orary shelter for them to
l o dge in supplying these h omeless o nes at a n ominal cost
,
,
m
with foo d A ll these mea sures were of no avail the Emperor
.
-
,

so lately the id o l of the masses as we have said found himself , ,

at once unp o pular even h ated as the c ontriver of the awful

, ,

crime .

It was then that the dark mind of Nero c onceived the

idea of diverting the suspici ons o f the pe o ple fro m himself ,

and of thr owing the burden o f the crime up on o thers wh o

w ould be p owerless to defend themselves His p olice pre .

tended that they had disc o vered that th e Chr istia n scct had
red Rome .

What now were his reas ons for xing up on this harm
less inn o cent c omparatively speaking little known group o f
, ,

Christians as his scapego at ? Wh at induced the bloody half ,

insane tyrant to ch oose out the p oor Christian c o mmunity

for his ; shameful c owardly purpose and to accuse such a
, ,

l oyal quiet peace l oving c ompany of the awful crime which

, ,
-

had resulted in the destruction of more th an half the

metrop olis o f the w orld ? What had th ey d one to excite his
wrath ? Never a w ord had been u ttered by the l eaders of
the Christian sect which could be c onstrued into treas o n
against himself o r even int o disc ontent with the Imperial
G overnmen t For the Christian sect all thr ough the ages o f
.
 mt
F ro a B us u
fo nd at h
At
NE RO
ens, now
.

t h
in th e B ri is u
Muse m
.
 NE RO . 45

persecuti on were n o t only a peace lov ing body they -

remained ever among the mos t l oyal subj ects of the Pagan
E mper o r wh o proscribed the religion they loved better than
life and wh o all owed them to be d one to death unless they
,

ch o se to purchase life by denying the Name they believed
in with so intense a faith Fr o m the days of Ner o in the .

sixties to the days of D i o cletian when the sands of the third ,

century were fast running ou t the loyalty o f the Christians ,

was never called in questio n In their ranks no conspirator .

against the laws and G o vernment of the Empire was ever

kn own to exist .

It was so fr om the rst In what we may term the State

.

papers which c ontain und oubtedly the ofcial pr on o uncements

,

o f the h o noured chiefs of the earlies t Christian c o mmunities

Peter P aul and J oh n we nd the m ost s olemn charges to

, .
,

the believers under all circumstances to maintain a strict ,

unswerving l oyalty to the C aesar and to the R o man G overn ,

ment of which the Caesar was the representative The ch arges .

are even perempt ory in their directness So Paul wr o te to .

the brethren at Rome from C orinth in the year 5 8 :

L et every soul b e subject unto th e h ig h er po wers

th e powers
Wh osoev er th erefore resi steth th e power
m m
th at b e are ord ai ned o f God .

resi steth th e o rd i nance of Go d and t h ey th at resi st sh all recei v e to

,

m m m
t h e sel ves d a nati on For rul ers are not a terror to g ood work s b ut
.
,

to th e e v il H e b eareth not th e sword in v ai n for h e is th e ,

m
i ni st er of God a rev eng er to execute wrath upon h i t h at d oeth evil
,
.

Wh erefor ye ust need s b e subject

m m m
al so for co nsci ence sak e

R end er th erefore to all t h ei r d ues trib ute to wh o tribute is due ; fear

,

to wh o fear ; h onour to wh o h onour Ro a n s x iii 1 7

. . .

In truth a very noble denition of authority a sublime i deal ,

of l oyalty was thus set before the little c ongregati ons of the
,

rising sect So Peter too in his rst epistle an epistle

.
, ,

received with respect and reverence in all the Churches as an

inspired pron ouncement from the very beginning wr iting fro m
Rome under the shadow of that fearful persecution we are
,

going to relate in detail repeats with even greater emphasis

m m
,

his bro ther Paul s directions :

for

D earl y b el ov ed

sub i t y oursel v es to every ord i nance of an
th e L ord s sak e, wh eth er it b e to th e k i ng as supre e, o r unto m
 m
E A RL Y CHR IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M

m m
46

g o v ernors as unto th e hi th at are

m
m
sent by
for th e puni sh ent of

m m
ev il d oers, and for th e prai se o f th e t h at do w ell : fo r so is th e will

m
o f God, t h at w i t h wel l d oi ng y e ay put to sil en ce th e i no rance of
-

g
fooli sh en ; as free, b ut not usi ng y ou r li b erty for a cl ok e o f ali ci ous

ness, b u t as th e serv ants o f God H ono ur all en L o v e th e b roth erh ood

. .
.

Fear God H onour th e k i ng
. 1 S P eter ii 1 3 1 7 . . . .

What Paul wr o te in a peri o d of c omparative quietness in

A D 5 8 Peter repeats a few years l a ter ci r ca A D 6 5 6 in the
. .
, , . .
,

d ays o f o ne o f the mo st cruel persecuti ons that perh aps ever

weighed up on the Church ; while J ohn wh o after Peter and , ,

P aul h ad passed away s omewhere ab o ut A D 6 78 was regarded

, . .
,

by the Church as its m ost h on o ured and inuential le ader ,

in his G o spel pro bably put o u t in the latter years of the

.

rst century when giving the acc oun t of the trial o f Jesus
Christ befo re Pilate qu o tes one of the sayings of his Master
,

addressed to the R o man magistrate ; in which the L o rd clearly

st ates that the p ower of the Imperial ruler was given him
fr o m ab o ve that is fr o m Go d ( S J ohn xix ,
thus . .

emphasising s ome quarter of a century later the w ords and

, ,

charges o f Peter and Paul o rdering the Christian c ommunities ,

to be l oyal and o bedient to the c o nstituted p o wers of the

State and to the S overeign wh o wielded this a u thority as the

,

chief of cer of the State because such p owers were given ,

fr o m ab ove .

This spirit of unswerving obedience and perfect loyalty

which we nd in the ofci al writings of Peter Paul and , ,

J ohn lived in the Church all thr ough the three c enturies
,

o f the o ppressi o n It was ever its guiding principle of acti on

.

in all its relati o ns with the Empire .

Thus we c ome again to the questi on : Wh at then pro

y o ked the rst cruel persecuti on ? What determined Nero
to pr oscribe so loyal and harmless a sect ? It has been
suggested n or is the suggesti o n by any means b aseless that
, ,

the pr o scripti o n of the Christians by the Emper or was in

c o nsequence o f a dark accusati on thr o wn out by the Jews .

Not impr obably the rst idea o f Ner o and his advisers was
to fasten the crime up o n the Jews themselves Their l oyalty .

to the State was ever ques ti onable The c o nditi o n of the .

 NER O . 47

Hebrew m o ther country was j ust then restless and uneasy

-
.

The threatenin gs o f the great revolt which culminated in ,

the J ewish war and destructio n of Jerusalem in A D 7 0 were . .

,

alre ady plainly manifest I t is indeed highly pr obable that

.

to avert the suspici o n o f many a R oman wh o too readily

l o oked on the Jewish c ol ony as the auth ors of the great
calamity the Jews themselves suggested to the Emperor
,

that in the hated Christian sect he w ould nd the true

auth ors of the re of R ome Nor were the Jews with out .

friends at C o urt who were able and wi lli ng to press h ome

,

the false and evil accusatio n P o pp aea the beautiful Empress

.
, ,

at that time high in the fav o ur of Ner o who had taken ,

her fr o m her husb and was deeply interested in the Hebre w

,

religi on ; some even think she had absolutely j o ined the

ranks of the chosen pe ople and had bec o me a Pr oselyte

of the Gate O ther friends too of the Jews besides the
.
, , ,

ro i ate Empress were in the inn er circle o f Nero

p g , .

But still the historian of C h risti anity is l o th to charge

the Jews with this crime o f a false accusati on which led ,

in the case of the Christians to su ch fearful c onsequences .

It is p ossible certainl y that other reas ons may have induced

, ,

Ner o to turn his th o ughts to the foll owers of Jesus of

Nazareth .In the year 6 4 it is clear that they were no
secret or inconsiderable community and it is likely that ,

they were already l oo ked up on by many of the superstiti ous

and j e alous R omans with dislike and even with hatred .

Christianity was beginning to make rapid pr ogress Its .

v o t aries while l oy al to the S tate and the magistrates made

, ,

n o secret of their dislike and c ontempt for the D eities wh o se

shrines were the o bj ect o f such in tense venerati on These .

c onsiderati ons w ould at least suggest to Nero that in this

sect he w ould easil y nd an o bj ect of p opular hatred .

The Imperi al o rder went forth It was ab o ut the middle .

of the year 6 4 The rst martyr ol ogy of the Church was

.

written by no fervid Christian by no e cclesiastical hist orian

,

living years after the dre ad events happened o f which he

was the perhaps partial chr oni cler it was c ompil ed by n o
admirer o f martyrdom too anxi ous it may be to draw a great
,
48 EA RL Y CHR IS TIA NIT Y AND PA GA NISM

less on and to p oint to a n oble example of faith and fortitude

, .

The teller of the st ory of the m artyrs of Nero was a R oman ,

a Pagan a sch olarly and el o quent admirer of R ome and of

,

her immem ori al traditi ons ; and withal one wh o lived only
a little m ore than half a century after the date at which
the mem o rable events he rel ated t o ok place N 0 one .

certainly can suspect the Pagan hist orian Tacitus of ex aggera

ti on . He tells the st ory with his usu al cold brilliancy of
style ; but no one can charge him with undue parti ali ty
for the su fferers wh ose fate he so graphicall y depicts In .

his eyes the hapless victims deserved the severest punish

ment th ough even for them guilty th ough they were the
, , ,

punishment meted ou t was perhaps too cruel the suffering s ,

excessive They excited pity Tacitus tells us ; the h orr ors

.
,

which accompanied their punishment gave rise to a suspici o n

that this great multitude of c ondemned ones wh o died thus
were rather the victims o f the cruelty of an individual
Ner than merely ordinary f
f enders against the State *
( o ) o .

The result of Nero s pr oscripti o n was the immediate arrest

o f many prominent and well known members o f the Christian -

c ommunity These Tacitus s ays confessed ; but their con

.
, ,

fession was evidently n ot their share in the burning of Rome ,

n ot that they h ad been incendi aries but simply that they

m
,

were Christians ; for the huge multitude of Christians ( ingen s

u l ti tu do) wh o as the investigati on of the G overnment
,

br o adened out were subsequently arrested were presently

, ,

c onvicted on the general ch arge n ot of ring the great city , ,

but simply of hatred aga inst

The pro cedure
seems to have been terribly simple Ner o in tense ly anxi ous .
,

to divert fr o m himself the in dignati o n which it was evident

had been universally aroused against him as the auth or of
the conagration which had destroyed a great part o f R ome ,

and p articularly its cherished m onuments of the past used for ,

his purp ose the popul ar dislike of the new sect of Christians
m vissi m pl m m
e x em
.

orieb atur , t qu m
Un de q uan qua
dve sus
publi c sed m m u ius m a r sontes et no a a eritos iseratio

O di hum
an a n on u tilitate a in s v itia n ab su eren tur .

T c itus
a xv: A nn , . 44 .

l

i e e is o su t T citus
an g n r xv con v icti n .
a A nn , . 44 .
 NER O . 49

Many were sought o ut They were well known and easily .

found They at o nce confessed that they were Christians

. .

Then on the informati on elicited at their trial perhaps ,

too on the evidence o f writings and papers seized in their

h ouses many m o re were inv olved in their fate A ll pretence

, .

o f their c o nnecti o n with the late tremend o us re was probably

s oo n aband oned and they were condemned simply on their,

c onfessi o n that they were Christians Their punishment was .

turned int o an amusement to di vert the general p opulace ,

and thus Nero th ought he w ould regain some of his l o st

p opularity His endish desire no d oubt was partly success
.

ful For the games were on a stupendous sc ale and were

.
,

accompani ed by scenes hitherto unknown even to the plea

sure l o ving crowd accustomed to applaud these cruel and
-

degrading spectacles .

The scene of this theat ri cal massacre was the Imperial

garden on the o ther side o f the Tiber on the Vatican Hill ,
.

The spot is well known and is now o ccupied by the mighty ,

pile o f St Peter s the Vatican Palace and the great square

.

, ,

immediately in fro nt o f the chief Church of Christendom and

the vast palace of the P o pes .

Whether the awful and blo o dy drama in the Vatican

m
Gardens lasted m o re than one day is not made certain by
*
the brief th ough graphic picture of Tacitus En ormous .

destructi o n of human life we kn o w fro m o ther a phi ,

theatre recitals c oul d be c o mpassed in a long day s pro ,

ceedin s especially under an Emper r like Ner w h o had

g , o o ,

all the res ources o f the R oman world at his disp osition .

If the wh ole were c o mprised as seems probable in one , ,

day s l ong perform ance it is clear that the hideous games ,

were pr olonged far into night It began wit h a long and .

pathetic processi on o f the condemned made up o f all ages

m
,

m
pe se cuti on ; C le en t of Ro e end o f C e nt
,

m m
S uet onius a c onte p o ary of Tacitus gi ves too a b ie f accou nt of the gre at
m
r

T e tullian end of C ent

,
r

m
r r .
,
.
,

on g othe C h isti an w i te s e fe to it ; b ut by fa the ost g aphi c pi c ture

m m
a r r r r r r r r
,

of the awf ul su f feri n g s o f the C h istians t R o e in the N eron i c pe rse c uti on is

m mmm
r a

th at pai nted b y T c itus H e is e ph ati cally ene y th ou gh he was of the

a .
,

C h isti n se c t the st a ty olog ist and his testi on y co i ng f o su ch a

r a
, r r r , ,
r

qua te is espe c ially c onclusive

r r, .
50 EA RL Y CHRISTIA NIT Y AND P A GA NISM .

and of b o th sexes round th e great amphitheatre erected and ,

enlarged for the sho w This was foll owed by the Venatio .

or hunting scene a spectacle in which wild beasts li o ns , ,

tigers wild bulls w olves and dogs bore a pr o minent part ;

, , ,

to add to the h o rr o rs of the scene s o me of the victims would ,

be p artially cl o thed in skins of different animals to whet the ,

fero city of the d ogs and o ther beasts specially trained for

m
ghting By a strange renement of cruelty the Roman
ob
.

in the c o urse of these savage games was regaled wi th

s ome dramatic spectacles the scenery o f which was drawn ,
,

fro m well kn o wn mythol ogical legends

-
A Hercules was .

carried to the funeral pyr e and then burnt alive amid the ,

frantic applause of the spectators ; an Icarus was made to

y and then fall and be dashe d to death The hand o f a
, .

Mutius Sc aev ol a was held in the burning brazier till the limb
o f the t o rtured su fferer was c o nsumed ; a Pasiphae was g o red
by a bull ; a Pr ometheus was chained to the r o ck where he
underwent his terrible punishment ; a Marsyas was ayed

alive ; an Ixi on was t ortured o n his wheel ; an A ctaeo n was

actually t orn by his d ogs This dread realism formed part .

o f the cruel amusements of Ner o s sho w in his Vatican

Gardens To these pieces of real s orrowful tragedy were added

.

o n this occasi o n o ther scenes out o f the legendary hist o ry of

the past so degrading and dem oralising that the hist o rian
,

*
must pass them ver in silence
o A t last nigh t threw its .
,

pitiful veil over the bloo dstained arena D uring the l ong .

h ours o f the Italian summer day the erce excited multitude , , ,

numbering many th ousands had been gazin g o n these u n ,

heard of tortures and watching the dying agonies o f the

-
,

cr owd of the rst Christian martyrs of vari ous ranks and

o rders slaves an d freedmen
,
s oldiers and traders m ostly p oor , ,

folk but here and there one of higher rank and standing
m m m
, ,

C le ent of Ro e w itin g s o e few yea s af te the d ead sh ow p ts of

m

m m
,
r r r r ,
ar

whi ch he p ob bly w itnessed tells us h ow u nt o these en of h oly lives was

m m

mm
r a ,

gathe ed v st ultitude of the ele ct w h o th ou gh any indi gn ities and t o tures

r a a
, ,
r r ,

bein g the vi cti s of j e l ousy set b ave e xa ple a ong ou selves

a ,
Wo e n a r r

bei ng pe se c uted afte they h ad su ffe ed c uel an d unh oly i nsults safely
m m
r r r r

r each ed the g o l in the rac e of F aith an d

a e c eived a noble rewa d f eeble th ou g h , r r ,

they w e e in b ody S C le ent of R o e : E p i t to C 6

r .

. s . or . .
 NER O . 51

s ome old men o thers in the prime and vig our of life tender
, ,

girls women of varied ages s ome even children in years ; but

, ,

all as it seems enduring the n ameless ago nies with calm

, , ,

brave patience asking for n o mercy offering n o recant ati o n

, ,

of their faith in the Name for which they were su ffering ,

s o me even smiling in their pain B ut th e night which .

foll owed that August day so mem orable in the Christian ,

annals brought in its train no merciful s ilence into the grim

,

garden of death and h orro r where Nero was entertain ing his ,

Roman people The games still went on but the spectacle on

.
,

whi ch the crowds were invited to gaze was changed The .

broad arena was strewn with fresh sand bl o ttin g out the dark ,

stains left by the l ong drawn ou t tragedy of the day Perfumes

- -
.

were plentifull y sprinkl ed to freshen the heavy bl o od pois oned ,

-

atm osphere and the arena was lit up for the concluding acts of
,

the Imperial drama Here however the Emper or had devised a

.
, ,

new and o rigin al spectacle to delight the erce cro wd who se

applause he so l o ved to ev oke The prin cipal amusement o f .

the night was to consist in chariot racing in whi ch the L ord ,

of the World himsel f was to bear a leadin g part ; for Ner o

was a skil ful and courage ous chari o teer and it was his habit ,

now and again to show himself in this g uise to hi s pe ople ,

c o ming d own from his g old and iv ory thr one into the aren a .

A nd as the t orches plentift scattered o n that vast arena

, ,

gradually amed up the bystanders were amazed and it , ,

m
seems fr o m Tacitus words were even struck with h orr or at

m
the sight and for the rst time in that day o f death and
,

c arnage pitied as they gazed ; for ev er y tor ch w as a h u a n

,

b eing i paled or crucied on a sharp stake or cross

,
The .

t orches quickly ared up for every human form was ,

swathed in a tunic steeped in oil or in some inammable liquid ,

.

Such was the ghastly illumin ati o n of the arena on that

never to b eforg o tten night of the late summer of the year
- -

6 4 when the chari o t races were run

,
It was a n o vel form of .

lighting the amphitheatre and we have no rec ord th at it ,

m m m
was ever repeated * It seems to have been too shocking

m
mm m
m
.

r
m
This nne of bu ning c i in ls li ve thus bed in wh t w s te ed the
tun i ca lest w n t un c
o
a

a,

r

n but
as

w e e the l ivin g t o ches used as the illu in ti n s

r
r

o
r

nl y on this one
o e
a

ble cc si n
o ,
a

a
o

o
,

.
ro a

ora
a r

o a o
 m
52 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA GANISM .

even for that dem o r alised and blo o dthirsty populace whose ,

chief delight whose supre e pleasure was in those sanguinary

, ,

and impure spectacles so o ften pr o vi ded for the pe o ple by the

*
Emper ors o f the rst second and third centuries , ,
.

The number o f vi ctims s acriced in this persecuti o n o f

m
Nero is uncertain ; it was und oubtedly very large Clement .

m
o f R ome writing befo re the cl o se of the rst century
,
describes ,

the as a gre at multitude Tacitus a very few years later .
, ,

uses a similar expression (i ng en s u l titu do) ; and when it is

remembered what vast numbers o n different occasi ons were r

devo ted to the public butcheries in the arena for the amuse
ment o f the p opulace it may be assumed without exaggerati o n ,

that the Christian victims wh o were massacred at th at ghastly

festival we have been describing probably numbered many
hundreds .

S E CT I O N II E FF E CTS OF
. TH E PE R S E C UTI O N OF N E R O .

NE R o s games in the Vatican Gardens of A D 6 4 evidently

, . .
,

left a pro found impressi on on the R oman world The .

spectat ors were used to these pitiless exhibiti o ns The crowds .

wh o thr o nged the amphithe atre had o ften seen men die ; but
they h ad never seen men die like tho se Christians who in ,

scenes of unexampled h orror by the s word under the teeth , ,

o f wil d bea sts o r in the ames passed to their rest The , , .

mem ory of the scene evidently was still fresh in Seneca s

mind when a year or two later he wr o te to Lucilius urging

, ,

him to bear up bravely under sickn ess and b o d ily pai n

These hu n t o ches see
bef e they slowly i cke ed out Ju
or

m a

r
r

so
mhdesvec ibesb theed m c
v enal
to a

r
urn for
:
a on sider ble ti e
a m ,

mt
,

m
m m

Taeda
t u
m
Qua stantes arden q u i xo g uttore f

m whe
, an ,

Et lat u edi a sul cu diducit arena .

"

Sa tir es 1, 155 1 57-

. Co pa e
efe e nc e to this pe se c uti on C le r , too , for r r r ,
.
,

T e tul li an A p l 5 ( n he e fe s to offi c i l e c o ds ) also A d N t

m m
Ad C . 6 or. ,
r ,
o . r r a r r , . a .
,

vii 6 01 nd S p i 1 5 ; E usebius H E 1 1 22 25 et c ; L actan tius D

mm m
,
a cor a ce, , . .
, , .
,
e
.
, ,

M t P 2 ; T c itus A nn x v 4 4 S uet onius N 1 6

m
or e ut uersec or ,
a , , .
,
ero, .

1 I n the bl ody n v l g
'
es g iven by the E pe o C l u di us in A 5 2 on
o a a a r r a . D .

L ake F u inus can y a n in etee n th ousan d

, as c onde ned c i in als f u ght s r o

t og ethe T acitus A nn x ii 5 6
r .
, , . .
 NER O . 53

What he wrote
,

are y our su fferings c o mpared with the
,

ames and the cross and the rack and the nameless t ortures
, , ,

that I have watched men endure without shrin kin g with o ut , ,

a c o mplaint without a gr o an ? A nd as if all this quie t

,

endurance and brave patience was no t su cient I have seen ,

these victims even smile in their great

mm
We have dwelt in some detail on this rst mem o rable
m
m

wholesale martyrdom under Nero for it was the co ,

en ce ent o f a new era in the Christian l ife Up to A D 6 4 . . .

the professi on o f the new faith was m ade in quiet and co ,

arativ el spe aking in secret Up to that date throughout the

p y ,
.
,

Empire in the eyes o f all m ag is trates the disciples of Jesu s

, ,

were more or less included am ong th e Jews who enj oyed ,

tolerati on and in some quarters even fav our But hence

,
.

m
forth the Christians o ccupied a new p ositi o n They bel o nged .

m
from this time to a proscribed sec t Hitherto their existence .

had indeed been kn o wn to any including of c ourse the

, , , , ,

p olice and agistrates ; but p oli tically speaking it had been , ,

ignored No w however the actio n of Nero when he s ought

.
, , ,

for victims on whom he could cast the o dium of being

the incendiaries on the o ccasi on of the great re which
had des olated Rome completely changed the situation A s ,

Christian writers universall y ai r it was the wicked E per or

who rst dragged the Christian b o dy int o publicity wh o rst
m ,

,
m .

drew the sword of the State against them wh o gave th e ,

signal for the l ong drawn out persecuti o n o f Christians whi ch -

las ted ab out two centuries and a hal f D uring th at tim e .

there were no doubt intervals even l ong intervals when , ,

persecution slept ; but only to awaken to fresh vi olence .

Fr o m the day of the Neronic games of A D 6 4 the sw ord . .

,

drawn by Nero ever hung over the heads of the c ondemned '

sect until the hour of the Christi ans triumph some two

hundred and fty years later when the peace o f the Church ,

was at last g uaranteed by the Edict o f C onstantine A D 3 1 3 ,

. . .

We will rapidly sum up the positi on o f Christians in

the Empire .

S en e ca : E p 7 8 T he e is little doubt but that S ene ca

. . r was r ef e rri n g t the o

s c enes he h d wit nessed in the Vati c n G a den s A D 6 4

a a r , . . .
54 EA RL Y CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

Until A D 6 4 the R om an o fcials had on the wh ole

m
. .
, ,

tre ated the Christians with in di fference o r even with fav our ,

mingled with contempt as exemplied several times in the ,

treatment of Paul when br ought befo re the Imperial agis

tr ates If they acted harshly either they were inuenced

.
,

by the enmity o f inuential Jews or they punished the

Christians as being c onnected with disturbances which were

m
due in part to their presence and acti o ns .

But in A D 6 4 a ye ar afte r Paul s acquitt al fro m the

. .
,

charges b rought against h i as related in the A cts Ner o
,

began a bitter persecuti o n against the sect for the sake o f

diverting p o pul ar attenti o n in the matter of the burning o f
R ome It was s oo n seen that they had had no real hand
.

in that terrible crime ; but in substituting the charge of

hatred for mankind the Empero r in fact intro duced the

principle o f punishing Christians for their Christi anity His .

example became inevitably the guide fo r all o fcials in the

m m
,

*
pr ovinces as well as at Ro me The general persecuti on o f .

Christians was established as a p er a n en t p oli ce easu r e ,

directed against a sect c o nsidered danger o us to the public

s afety No edict or formal law at that early period was
.

p assed bu t the precedent o f Rome was quoted in every c ase

,

when a Christi an was accused The attitude o f the State .

t owards the sect gradually in the c ourse o f a few years , ,

bec ame settled No proo f of de finite c ri mes c ommitted by

.

the Christians was required A n acknowledgment of the .

N ame al one sufficed for c ondemnati on ; as is sh own by the

well kn own c orresp ondence of the pro c onsul Pliny with the
-

Emper or Tr aj an which we shall presently again refer to in

,

detail some fty years later in A D 1 1 2

,
The action of . . .

Ner o in augur ated a new era in the relati o n o f the Empire

t o wards Christianity says Suetonius ; and Tacitus does no t ,

disagree .

O n the o ther hand the acti o n o f Nero am ong the Chris ,

ti ans themselves had a far re aching e ffect It gave them a -

.

m mm
new and mighty p ower o r rather it revealed to them what a ,

P f ess R s y Th Ch h in th R n E p i b ef
ro or a a D: 1 70 e urc e o a re ore A . .
,

ch p x i
a . .
 NER 0 . 55

p ower they p ossessed an abs olute fearlessness o f death .

P ossibly this was unsuspected before the N eronic persecu

tion .A hist o rian of rare skill no friend indeed to the
*
,

religi o n o f Jesus d o es no t hesitate to style the day of Ner o s

,

bl o ody games in his gardens of the Vatican the m ost

s olemn day in the Christian st ory after the Crucixio n on

G olgotha The expressi on is a rhet o rical one but th o ugh
.
,

exaggerated it has a basis of truth ,

With the ex cep .

ti on o f the pr o minent and militant leaders Stephen and ,

S James wh o were victims of Jewish j eal ousy we have no

.
, ,

rec ords of Christians during the rst thirty years which

followed the Resurrecti o n and A scensi on of the F o under of
the religion laying d own their lives for the Name ; nor
do es it appear that in any of the c o mmun ities o f the
followers o f Jesus was the dr ead alternative of death or
denial ever put befo re them in that rst peri o d
The N eronic persecution presenting that alternative
have c ome upon the R o man Church a c ommunity pr ob ably
ust
,
.

m
numbering several th ousands with startl ing suddenness ; ,

revealing what apparently was before unkn own o r at least

ignored the repulsi o n with which the Christians were generally
regarded by the great w orld lying outside the little circle

mm
wh o happened to kn ow s omethi ng ab o ut them They were .

charged says Tacitus with hatred of the w o rld (i e the

, ,

. .

R oman w orld ) odiu/ h u an i g en er is in Profess or Ramsay s

, .

words wit h bein g enemies to the cust o ms and laws which

,

regulated civilised ( i e Roman) s o ciety

m
The Christians so
. . .
,

said their enemies were bent on destr oying civilisati o n and

, ,

civilisation must in self defence destroy th e f -
.

Thus put to the test the events of the summer o f the ,

year 6 4 showed what was the secret of the Christians
strength dem onstrated the intensity of their c o nvicti o ns ;
,

y oung and ol d slave and free the trader and the p a trician
, ,

b orn alike pro ved that while ready and will ing to l ive
'

quiet homely lives as loyal true citizens as faithful ser

, ,

vants o f the Emperor to them to depart [to die ] and

m

,

R en n H i t
m
L A nt h i t c h p
mm

ig in a Ch i ti ni

d

a : s oz r c es or es e r s a s c ec r s a .
.
,
'

fP of s o Ra
r Th Ch u h i n th R
e s r n E pi ch p
sav rc e o a r e, a . xi
56 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

to be with Christ was far better In the Vatican
Gardens of Nero began as it has been well said that , ,

marvell o us epic of martyrdom which amazed and con

founded a sceptical th ough superstitious w o rld for two

centuries and a half .

O ut of this passi on for martyrd o m sprang the enn obling

enfranchisement of w o man and the elevation of the vast ,

slave cl ass from the p o siti on of h opeless and dem o ralising

degradation .For in the many and striking scenes o f
martyrd om the w oman and the slave pl ayed again and
,

again an heroic and even a leading part What had taken .

place at R o me when Nero was Empero r was repeated on a

smaller scale before less distinguished and less numerous
audiences again and again in fam o us provincial centres ,

such as Smyrna Carthage Ly ons Caesarea now in gr oups

, , , , ,

now singly When the supreme h our o f trial struck

.

and the Christian had to ch o ose between death and life

life being the guerd on o ffered for the simple renouncement

of Christ very rarely indeed was hesitati o n sh own ; the

guerd o n was at o nce rej ected The c ontempt of Christians .

for de a th puzzle d irritated disturbed the P agan writers and

, ,

philos ophers as much as the m agistrates They were utterly .

at a l oss to c o mprehend the secret p ower which inspired

this w o nderful sect A s much as p o ssible they av o id all
.

allusi o n to Christi ans ; whenever a enti o n of them o ccurs

irritati on and surprise are plainly visible The one reference *
m .

made to them by the great Emper o r M arcus A urelius is a

curt and angry all usi o n to their c o ntemp t for death This .

strange readiness to die for their belief was the characteristic

feature which especially struck the R om an mind So ready .
,

so e ager were the Christians to give up dear life that we

nd that their great teachers were now and again obliged
to curb and even to restrain what had p o sitively bec ome a
to o passionate desire fo r m artyrdom .

The example o f the rst martyrs of R ome was foll owed

with a curi ous persistency alike in Syria and A sia in A fric a
, ,

and in Gaul whenever indeed in the c o urse o f these two

, , ,

M a c us A u elius M dit ti n x i 3
r r : e a o s, . .
 NER O . 57

centuries and a hal f they were challenged to deny the

Name The number of waverers was c omparatively sm all

. .

The rst persecution begun at R o me with the Vatican ,

Games of 6 4 but s o o n as we have n o ted spreading through

, , ,

the Provinces c o ntinued to press heavily on the Christian

,

congregations until the death of the Emper or Ner o in 6 8 *

.

The martyrd o m of SS Peter and Paul according to an .

, _

immem orial tradition took place in the year 6 7 8 S Peter . .
,

pr obably as we have seen was at R o me in A D 6 4 but was

, , . .
,

no t one of the victims on that o ccasi on S Paul was absent . .

m
fr om the capital in 6 4 but returned a year or two later , ,

probably with the idea o f gathering together and strengthening

the scattered and deci ated Roman c ongregati ons Traditi o n .

spe aks of the two great Christian leaders perishing at or

about the same date befo re the tyrant s d ownfall and death ,

in 6 8 .

Two of the m ost ancient Christian documents which by ,

the consent of the wh ole Christian Church have been placed

in the canon of inspired b ooks were pr o b ably written under ,

the shad ow of this rst great calamity They c ontain many .

and und oubted references to persecution These d o cuments .

are the First Epistle of S Peter and the A p o calypse of S J ohn . .

( the Revelati on ) The letter of S Peter dated fr o m R ome

. .
,

( for well nigh all sch olars are now agreed th a t under the mystic
name of Babylon which occurs in the salutati on at the cl o se
o f the letter 1 Peter v 1 3 R ome is si gnied ) is a writing .
,

addressed to O riental Christians bidding them take c our age ,

in view of the grave trials which lay immediately before them .

No bo ok with the excepti on of the A p o calypse of S J o hn

,
.
,

is so evidently marked with references to trial and su ffering

as is this First Epistle of S Peter A nd the references are . .

evidently to no s olit ary burst of persecution h o wever terrible , ,

but to a systematic pr oscripti on to which all Christians ,

dwelling in different parts of the Roman w orld were liable

m m m
.

.
Ne o R

o
r
C h isti n s uppl icii c rtib us ffecit ac p
in i s p a i p e e ution
c a
r

r
c
,
o

i i i pe
rs c it
a
e

cf ls T e t ulli n A p l 5 ; nd L t ntius D M t P u 1 1
a a ,
r

O sius A d P g
a

e ex ru c ar

o ,
o

a
s

m ac a
s

rav
a

,
o

ro

e or
a

.
v.

er ,
a .
er

,
and
o

H ist ,
n es pro
vii 5 ;
.

see too
S uet oni us N 1 6,
ero, .
58 EA R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

The A p ocalypse o f S John was als o evidently written .

under the dark shad o w o f persecution The o nly questi on .

is whether the persecuti on referred to therein is that suffered

by the Church in the days o f Nero or that endured s ome ,

twenty ye ars l ater under D omiti an If the rst then the .

,

writing would date from ci rca A D 6 8 ; if the sec o nd the . .

,

A p o c alypse would have ; been put out cir ca A D 9 0 The . . .

witness o f Iren aeus wh o wrote ab out a century l ater cir ca

, ,

A D 1 7 08 0 and wh o gives the later date is o f course a very

. .
, ,

weighty one The general th ough n o t the universal con

.
, ,

sensus o f m o dern scholars h o wever prefers the earlier date , , .

In the w o rds of Pr o fess or S anday : A part from details I

,

question if any other date ts so well with the c o nditi ons

implied in the A p o calypse as that between the death of
Ner o ( A D 6 8 ) and the destructi o n o f Jerusalem ( A D
. . on . .

all hands there were wars and rumours o f wars It migh t .

well seem as if the crash o f empires was a t prelude to the

crash of a w orld Never was the expectati on of the approaching
.

end so keen never were men s minds so highly strung
,

there were n o su ch tremendo us issues no such clash of ,

o pp o sing forces no such intense expectati o n o f the end under

,

D omitian The background seems inadequate

m
. .

With strange p ath os John the bel oved the survivor o f, ,

the Ap o stolic band in his inspired utterance expresses the ind

,

of the Christian Church after the rst terrible persecution The .

ery trial had d one its w ork ; henceforth we see the Church
braced up ready to suffer and to b e strong in the face of the
, ,

m ost deadly persecution H ow grandly o ver all ech o es the

.

v o ice which b orrows its tones straight from the prophets o f

the older c ovenant : Righte ous art Th ou which art and

,

which wast Th ou Holy O ne because Th ou didst thus judge

, ,

ea O L o rd Go d the A lmighty true and righte o us are

y , ,

Thy j udgments Whenever it is Christians are being per

.

,

secu ted ; the Empire is making its hand heavy up on them ;

they are as incap able o f offering resistance as a child A nd .

yet the prophet s g aze hardly seems to dwell up on the

su fferings of himself and his pe ople They are a scho ol o f .

steadfastness and c ourage Be thou faithful unt o death and .

,
 NER O . 59

I will give thee the crown of life is the chief moral to

,

be drawn fr o m them Bu t the prophet l ook s away bey o nd

.

the persecution to the fate o f the persecuto rs The .

central feature of the A p o calypse is its intense longing for

the advent o f Chris t and His kingd om with its condent
,

assertio n of the ultimate victory o f good o ver evil and of ,

the dawning of a state of blissful perfection where sorrow

and sighing shall ee
The confusion and disorder which foll owed immediately
upon Nero s death were speedily closed by the accessio n of

Vespasian to supreme power

m
.

Prof ess or S anday B a pt on L e ctur e V I I

: .
 60

CH APTER III .

TH E CHURCH I N R O ME A FTE R N E R O .

W H A T now was the c onditi on of the Christian Ch urch during

the reigns of Vespasian and Titus that is from A D 6 8 (the , , . .

date of the death of Nero ) to A D 8 1 ? Tha t the Christians . .

were harried by a persecuti on under D omitian wh o succeeded ,

his bro ther Titus as Emper or in the year 8 1 reigning until ,

A D 9 6 is universall y accepted as certain ; whereas Christian *

. .
,

and pr o fane hist ori ans alike as a rule represent the period , ,

covered by the reigns of Vespasian aud Titus as a time o f

stillness for the harassed religion Recent investigations how .
,

ever p oint to a s omewhat different c onclusi on

,
.

A n imp ortant passage fr o m Sulpicius Severus a Chris ,

tian writer of the fourth century has in late years been , , ,

critically examined with the result that the passage in ,

questi on is j udged to have been based up on an extract from

a l ost writing of Tacitus The w o rds of Sulpicius Severus .

tell us of a Council of War held by Titus after the c apture

o f Jerusalem in A D 70 In the council Titus is rep orted
. . .

to have expressed the view that the Temple of Jerusalem

o ught to be destroyed in o rder that the religi ons of the
Jews and o f the Christians might be m ore c ompletely ex tir
pated The Christians had arisen fro m am ongst the Jews
.
,

and when the r o ot was t orn up the stem w ould easily be

destr oye d t This p oints to the policy o f stern repressi on
-
,

inaugurated by Ner o being c ontin ued for political reas ons

m m
,

C o p a e h ow eve as n e x c epti on here H il ary of P oitie s ( i

r ,
r, a iddle of ,
r c rca

f ou th c entu y ) w h o nks V esp asi an as a pe se c ut or of the Chu ch bet w een N e o

m m m
r r ,
ra ,
r r ,
r

and D e c ius C nt A i n
, o ra r a/ os .

1 C o p
'
ar e P of ess o Ra s ay Thr Ch u h in th e R
r n E np i,
c h ap e rc o a 7

7 6, .
 THE C H UR C H IN R OME AF TER NER O . 61

by Titus and his father Vespasian There is a passage of .

Suet onius ( Vespasian 1 5 ) where it is said that Vespasian

never in the death of any o ne [t ook pleasure and in the ,

case of] merited punishment he wept and even

The passage is mutilated bu t it seems pr o bable that the ,

reference here is to punishments which accordin g to the ,

precedent of Nero were inicted up o n Christians Such men

,
.

as Vespasia n and Titus would hate to inict cruel punishment

upon quiet subj ects o f the Empire as they were c o nsci ous ,

the Christians were ; but it had been already decided by the

G overnment to treat the Christian sect as enemies o f the
public weal and in thi s decisi o n the great princes of the
,

Flavian House concurred agreeing in the c onclusi o n c o me to ,

in the reign of Nero that the peculiar tenets o f the Chr istians
were inimical to the well being of the State as then con -

stituted .

Reasoning further from the famous c orresp ondence o f the

Emperor Traj an with the pr o c o nsul Pliny fro m which we ,

gather that a practically xed pro cedure h ad l ong been

established in the treatment of the new sect of Christians ,

it would seem o n the wh ole unlikely that the Christians

enj oyed any period of real quietness directly after the death
o f Nero

m
That there was no active pr oscription is pr ob able
.
,

b ut that they practised their religi o n under circumstances

.

In Do itian s

o f difficulty and

m
danger is alm ost certain
day h o wever the persecuti o n became once more active and
, , ,

we shall have to chronicle a i dst the crowd o f unknown

su fferers the fate of certain n o table victims wh o were subj ected
to the severest penalties and in s o me cases were even put ,

to death .

To return to the important Church in Rome which ,

had su ffered so griev o usly at the cruel hands o f Nero O n .

the death of the two A postles Peter and Paul cir ca A D ,

. .

6 7 6 8 the government of the Church o f the capital o f the

m m
,

m m m m N eque c d uju qu unq u [l t tu est t] j ustis uppli ii inl i

vit eti

t in g
ae e c s a

S e ( s ys P f ess o R s y) ll the bvi us

a ae a s

m e s

c s acr

mm
a , a u it e e . o a ro r a a o o

g p w ith the si n g le w d l t tu
a but n g t the be g inning l o ks f w d
or ee a s, e ue a o or ar

n e c ess ily t t f l l w in g Th Ch u h in th R x ii 2

ar o e o on E pi . e rc e o a re, . .
62 EA RL Y CHR IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM .

Empire came int o the hands of Linus the same pr obably ,

wh o sends greeting to Tim o thy o n the eve of S Paul s

.

martyrd o m ( 2 Tim iv O f this episc opate of Linus we

. .

know n o thing ; even traditi on is alm ost silent here The .

Liber Ponticalis in which many ancient and s ome fairly
,

trustw orthy traditi ons are emb o died onl y tells us that this ,

Linus issued a directi o n for w omen to appear in church

with their heads covered Fr om the lists of the early
.

R oman successi on we nd that Lin us presided over the

R o man community s ome twelve years A veil of silence .
,

to o rests o ver the episc opate o f his success o r A nen cl etu s or

, ,

Cletus The durati on of his rule is als o given in the Eusebian

.

Catalogue as twelve years Clement of Rome wh o foll owed .

,

him lived through the reign of D omitian in whose days the

, ,

fury of persecuti on aw oke again Clement survived the .

tyrant dying in the third year of the reign of the Emperor

,

Traj an the year that cl osed the rst century Ecclesiastical

, .

writers spe ak o f the pr o scripti on of Christi ans in the reign

m
of D omitian as the second persecuti on of the Church .

A lth ough the p olicy of the Empire in the days of Vespasian

and Titus and in the early peri o d o f Do itian s reign had
,

been adverse to the existence of Christianity the practical ,

rule of action was that the oi cial s o f the Government

,

sh ould not in any c ase seek out these religious offenders

.

It was true that a Christian was a criminal wh o deserved

death bu t the magistrate might shut his eyes to his existence
,

until s ome no torious act on the part of the Christian or the

info rmati on of an o fcious accuser c ompelled him to open them .

But this unwill ingness to proceed against the sect only

gave them partial pr o tecti on The ill will of an Emperor
.
-

or even o f a Provincial G o vern or at any m oment might

unsheathe the sw ord o f the Law never quite hidden in its ,

scabbard ; and the defenceless Christians would nd them

selves at o nce exp osed to the severest penalties If the .

Emperor was h ostile the persecuti on bec ame general ; if

,

merely the Provincial Magistrate was ill disposed to the -

sect the persecution was generally c o nned to the district

,

o ver which his auth o rity extended .

 THE CH URCH IN R OME A FTER NER O . 63

This second severe attack differed in s ome respects fr om

the Neronic persecuti on Under D omitian there was no
.

massacre o f cr owds of unresisting men and w omen as in the

amphitheatre games of Ner o Individual Christians s o me
.
,

o f them o f the highest rank even am o ng the Emperor s

o wn kinsfolk were arrested and put to death ; but alth ough

, ,

there was no wh olesale butchery the number of sufferers ,

in the c o urse of the active persecuti o n under him was very

considerable The Church was c onstantly harassed ; n o
.

Christian was safe fro m the c onsequences of the report of

an infamous informer ; and in m ost cases death speedily , ,

foll owed the arrest Flavius Clemens the c ousin of the

.
,

Emperor was am ong the victims wh o perish ed ; D omitilla

, ,

his wife among the banished D omitilla h owever lived to

, .
, ,

return to R ome after the tyrant s death

.

We p o ssess n o rec o rds which give us any details respect

ing the state of the Church in R o me during the period o f
c omparative quietness between the persecutions by Nero
and D omitian The Letter of Clement h owever a little
.
, ,

more than a quarter of a century after Ner o s death gives

us imp ortant informati o n respectin g the p ositi o n of the

Church of the Capital ; while recent arch aeological disc o veries
also thro w a strong sidelight on the positi o n of Christians
at R ome and incidental menti o n o f individu al Christians in
,

c ontemporary writers assists us in our c onception of the

m
pr ogress of the Church during that quarter o f a century .

A lth ough for the time seriously weakened by the severe

easures o f A D 6 4 and disheartened by the deaths o f
. .
,

Peter and Paul the Church in Rome gradu ally rec o vered
,

from the calamity It had made too rm a l odgment in

.

the great city to be permanently inj ured and it emerged ,

fr om the ery tri al puried and strengthened Its con .

verts too as we have seen were drawn fro m all ranks

, , ,

and orders ; by no means was the Christian community

only c omposed of slaves or freedmen or of pers ons bel onging ,

to the plebeian trading classes It numbered many wealthy .

R omans some of them of the highest rank

,
.

A bout the year 9 2 we nd Clement o ccupying the position

64 EA RL Y C HRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM .

of Bish op of the Christian c ommunity at R ome Now no .

,

o ne o utside the A p o st olic ra nks o ccupies so prominent a place

in early Christi an st o ry as d o es this Clement wh o in the , ,

v ari o us lists of the R o man successi o n which fro m the middle

o f the sec o nd century onwards h ave c ome d own to us gener ,

ally appears as the third in successi on fro m St Peter When . .

this Clement succeeded to the government of the R o man

Church the reig n of D omitian was m ore than half o ver
, .

The durati o n of his episcopate is given in the lists as nine

ye ars His death occurred then in the last year of the rst
.
, ,

century when the Emperor Trajan was rei gning

, .

Clement with out d oubt was the m ost pr ominent gure

, ,

in the o urishing Church o f the metr op olis of the w orld in

the age which succeeded the rem oval by de ath of Peter a n d
of Paul ; and evidently wielded an extra o rdinary authority in

the Church n ot only in Italy but in distant c ountries more

, ,

o r less c o nnected with Italy and with R o me H o w great was .

the inuence of the Church of R ome in other and rem o te

centres we sh all sh ow presently .

We may put aside as mythical the vari ous details con

n ected with Clement which appear in the singular e arly

ro mance generally known as The Clementines This .

curi ous religious r omance dates from about the mid dl e of

the sec ond century Its unkn own auth or seems to have
.

wanted a hero for his st ory and no m ore imp osing name ,

th an that of the famous R oman bish o p wh o was at o nce a ,

great Church administrat or and a writer c ould be found for ,

his pu rp o se This very early w ork pr obably suggested a

.

*
similar use of Clement s name to later writers
.

D ismissing these vari ous ap o cryphal c omp ositi o ns as un

hist orical what do we kn ow certainly ab out this famous
,

Church leader ? Now I r en aeu s writing A D 1 7 5 or a few , . .

,

years later h ad spent s ome time in the metrop olis when

, ,

the mem o ry o f Clement was still fresh He tells us A dv

m m m
. .

C o pa e B ishop Li ghtfoot s A p t li F th Cl nt f R ( ol
m m

r os o c a ers, e e o o e v .

i
. pp 1 00
, .
,
on the auth o ship f the C le e ntine H o ilies and R cogni
r o e

ti ns the E pistles to V i g in s the S e c ond E pistle to the C orinthians the

o ,

r ,

,

A p ost oli c al C onstituti on s et c

.
,
 THE CH UR CH IN R OME A FTER NER O . 65

Haer iii 3 3 ) that the founders o f the R oman Church are
,
.
,

the gl ori o us A postles Peter and Paul ; they c o mmitted it

to the charge of Linus wh o is menti oned in the Epistle to ,

Timothy ( 2 Tim iv The next in succession to Linus

. .

was A nencl etus After A nencl etus fo ll o wed Clement

. who ,

als o had seen the blessed A postles and h ad c onversed with ,

them and had the pre aching of the A p ostles stil l ringing in
,

his ears and their tradi ti o n before his eyes

,
He was not
al one in this for many still remained at this time who h ad
, ,

been taught by the A postles In the time of Clement .

,

continues Irenaeus a feud o f no small magnitude ar o se

,

am ong the brethren in Corin th and the Church in R ome ,

sent a m ost exhaustive letter to the C orinthians ,

thinking to bring them to peace and quickening their faith , ,

and declar ing the tradition which they had so lately received

fr om the A postle .

It is this Letter to the Corinthians to which Iren aeus ,

refers which c onstitutes the real imp ortance of Clement s

,

l ife and w o rk to us There were o ther Bish ops of R o me .

immediately preceding and succeeding Clement ; but fr o m

n one of them do we in herit a l ong and weighty d o cument
like this issuin g fr om the heart of the Church only a quarter
,

o f a century after the passin g away of Peter and Pa ul datin g ,

fro m a time when John was still living and teaching at

Ephesus ; a document which not only bears in itself ample
pr o ofs of its genu ineness but is testied to by ancient and ,

trustw orthy auth orities in the most p ositive and decisive

language .

That it was in the hands of P olycarp Bishop of Smyrna , ,

is perfectly clear fr o m the l ong li st o f p arallel passages many ,

o f them copied verbatim by P olycarp fr o m Clement in his ,

Epistle to the Philippians cir ca A D 1 08 1 0 Iren aeus cir ca . .

-
.
,

A D. 1 7 08 0 we have already qu o ted as referring expressly to

.
,

it ascribing to it a positio n of very high imp ort ance because

, ,

it rec ords the tradition al interpretati on of A p ost olic teachin g ,

which was the standard o f truth in the great church of

R ome fr om the earliest times Dion ysiu s of C orinth cir ca .
,

A D. 1 7 0 relates h ow this epistle was read in church publicly

.
,

F
 m
66 EA RL Y C HRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

on the L ord s day Cle en t of A l exa n dr ia before the close

.
,

o f the sec o nd century qu o tes this epistle frequently and with

,

great respect Or ig en a few years later

.
,
quotes several ,

passages fro m Clement s letter and holds his testim ony in

h onour C o ming d own the stream of time the hist orian

.
,

E u sebi u s to wh o se patient industry we owe so much o f our

,

kn owledge of the Church of the Age of the Persecuti ons

,

writing in the rst h alf of the fourth century calls Clement s ,

epistle great and m arvell ous and dwells on its h avin g the

m

,

testim ony of antiquity to its genuineness Besides the ab ove .
,

Clement is qu o ted by name by Cy r il of Jer u sa l e

m
cir ca ,

A D
. .347 ; B a si l of Caesa r ea cir ca A D 3 7 5 ; E p ip h a n i u s
,
. .
,

cir ca A D 3 7 5 ;
. Jer o e cir ca A D 3 7 5 4 1 0 ; and by R u n u s
.
,
. .
,

cir ca A D
. . 41 0 .

Sohighly was this letter of Clement o f Rome held in

hon our that it was frequently read publicly in churches
o ther than that of C o rinth to which it was addressed , .

E u seb i u s tells us that it was the cust om to do so in very

many churches both formerly and in his own t ime (H F iii
, . . .

This epistle o f Clement which was so widely kn own and ,

highly v alued from the end of the rst century onwards for
m ore than three hundred years is a d o cument written in ,

Greek It is s omewh at longer than St Paul s Epistle to the
. .

R om ans and incident all y am ong o ther and less important

, ,

p oin ts gives much informati on respecting the position which

,

Rome o ccupied t owards o ther Churches ; up on the attitude

which the Christian Church was directed to assume t owards
the Emper or and the G overnment of the Empire ; and up on
the fundamental d o ctrines which were the groundwo rk o f the
dogmatic teachin g of the l arge and i p ortant Christian co
munity of the capital in the last years of the rst century
m m
.

A nd yet highly valued and prized as was this letter of

,

Clement the Bish op of Rome the eminent teachers wh o ,

made use of it and the Churches wh o even introduced it int o

,

the public teaching o f the c ongreg ati on evidently placed it ,

o n a l o wer and very di f feren t level fr om the writings of such

men as Paul and Peter wh ose letters at a very early period
,

were received as abs olutely auth oritative .

 THE CH URCH IN R OME A FTER NER O . 67

Who now was this Clement wh o was then so widely

, ,

kn o wn and hon oured ? O rigen wh o wro te in the rst half ,

o f the third century and wh ose profound scholarship and

,

literary power place him very high as a witness w ithout any ,

doub t identies him with the Clement menti oned by S Paul .

writing to the Phil ippians (iv 3 ) as am ong the fell ow .

lab ourers wh ose names are in the B o ok of Life Th is .

identicati on is a d opted by the hist orian Eusebi us and by ,

n o t a few early writers ; and alth ough m o dern critics c o nsider

it as s o mewhat precari ous all seri ous sch olars agree in accepting ,

the very early c o nstant and de ni te traditi on that he was the

disciple o f one or b o th o f the gre at A postles Peter and Paul ,

wh ose names are so cl osely c o nnected with the foundati o n of

the R oman Church .

D ismissing as unl ikely the the ory maintained by s o me

that Clement the Bish op was iden tical with Flavius Clemens ,

the c ousin of D o mitian it seems on the wh ole most probable

,

tha t the famous Bish op was a man of Jewish descent perhaps ,

a free dman belonging to the h ousehold of F l avius Clemens ,

the Emperor s ; c ousin wh o suffered martyr dom in the course

"

o f the persecuti o n o f D o mitian .

Very vivid is the light thr own upon the in ner l ife of the
Chur ch of R ome in the last deca de of the rst century by
the letter of the Bish op the genuineness and au thenticity of ,

which as we have seen is undoubted In the rst place it

, , .
,

tells us what was th e p ositi on of th e Ch ur ch of th e cap ita l

tow a r ds oth er Ch u r ch es Now the obj ect of the letter was
.

to induce the rul ers o f the Church o f C o rinth to put an end

at once to a spirit of facti o n and insub ordination to their
o fcial rul ers which had arisen lately in the c ommunity
there The danger to the wel l bein g an d pr osperity o f the
.
-

Church was evidently very great and the t o ne ad opted by ,

the Chur ch of R ome in the letter of Clement was urgent ,

alm o st imperi o us Th e rec o gnition of the ascendancy of the

.

Church of R ome * is implied in the fact already n o ted that

m m
, ,

The l s c en d nc y of the Chu c h (not the B ish p ) of R e B ish p

m mm mm
ora a a r o o ,
o

L ig ht f t w el l c n side s t h ve been the hi st i c l f un d ti n f the un do ubted

oo o r o a or a o a o o

p i c y f R e a p i c y w hi ch evidently e x isted in p i i tive ti es

r a o o ,
r a r .
68 EA R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NISM .

this letter was for a long peri od c o nstantly read in the public
services o f the Ch u rch of C orinth

m m
.

I n the sec o nd place very cle arly is th e a tti tu de a dop ted b y ,

Ch r i stia n s tow a r ds th e r ei
g n in g E p er or a n d th e Gov er n en t

set fo rward in Clement s letter

.

The Christians in R ome had had experience of the first

and one o f the most terrible persecutions to which the
foll o wers of Jesus were ever exp osed They had then passed .

through a l ong perio d when the swo rd o f proscripti o n was

ever threatening if not actually drawn in the reigns of , ,

m
Vespasian and Titus and in the earlier years of D omitian , .

They had very lately g o ne thr ough a renewed peri o d of bitter

trial during the l atter p orti o n of Do itian s reign But in
.

the letter of Clement which accurately reected the mind ,

and p olicy o f the Christian Church o f the metr o p olis in the

cl osing ye ars o f the rst century no t an angry word is ,

written n o t a hint of resistance to the p o wers that be is

,

ever whispered A fter referring to the vict o ries o f persecu

.

ti on after o penly stating that at the hour of writing the

,

letter the Christian c ommunity was exp osed to s ome dire

penalties after penning the sad sentence
,
We are struggling ,

o n the same arena the same c o nict awaits us and you , ,

Clement wr o te the following n oble prayer for Ruler and

G overnor : Guide our steps to walk in holiness and righte ous

ness and simpleness of heart and to do such things as are ,

g o o d and well ple asing in Thy sight and in the sight o f ,

o ur rulers Give conc ord and peace to us and to all th a t

.

dwell on the earth that we may be saved ; while we

render o bedience to Thine A lmighty and m ost excellent
N ame and to o ur Rulers and G o vern ors upon the earth
, .

Th ou O L ord and Master hast given them the p ower o f

, ,

s o vereignty thr ough Thine excellent and unspeak able might

, ,

that we kno wing the gl o ry and h on our which Th ou hast

,

given them may submi t ourselves unto them in n o thing

, ,

resisting Thy
C le R o mm The est of this ost beauti f ul p ayer in m
m
Ep 1 7. . : , , ,
r r

the litu gy at the end f the E pistle lately e c ove ed is w ell w th e ding and
r o ,
r r ,
or r a

p nde ing ove r as it evide ntly e e cts ;perfe c tly the i nd of C h istians t owa ds
o r , r r r
 THE CH URCH I N R OME A F TE R NER O . 69

This expressi o n of quiet l oyalty to the Empero r and the

Magistrates of the Empire on the part of the imp ort ant R o man
c ommunity at such an early peri o d while a cruel persecuti o n ,

was actually going on v o iced by so eminent a Christian ,

leader as Clement the Bish op of Rome is of great imp ort

, ,

ance ; and after the af rmati ons respecting d o ctrines which ,

we shall presently deal with is perhaps the most interesting ,

discl o sure respecting the inner life o f the primitive Church

in this great letter The principle o f unswerving loyalty
.

to the chief o f the State and of unc ompl aining sub ,

mission to the harshest Imperial decrees here laid d own ,

so sublimely in this weighty utterance of the R oman Ch urch

cir ca A D 9 6 passed in t o the unwritten law of the Church

. .
, .

It is dwelt up o n by o ther fam ous Christians in writing s

which have come down to us pro bably about a century ,

after the death o f Clement notably by the el o quent Gartha ,

gini an the ol ogian Tertullian .

Loyal obedience to the constituted p o wer of the Empire

was pressed h o me in the m o st emphatic terms by th e
A p ostles Peter and Paul ; and the ir disciple Clement when ,

he became head of the great Church they founded reiterate d ,

the charge given by th ose inspired followers o f the Master .

But in the inner life of the very early Christian Church

, ,

o f still greater importance is the testim ony afforded by

Clement s writings to the fundamental doctr in es taught in

the Christian Church of R ome a quarter of a century afte r

the deaths of Peter and Paul Irenaeus quotes Clement s .

letter as passing on to o ther Churches the tradition which

he Clement had lately received from the A p o stles
, ,
.

Very denite was the teachin g on the A tonement and

Mediation of Christ The spirit of Clement was deeply tinged
.

with the th oughts and the very language of the Epistle to

the Hebrews ; constantly he speaks o f the bl oo d of

Christ wi th reference to ransom del iverance etc H e
,

,

.

emphatically believed in the pre existence of Christ and

m
-
,

thei pe se c ut o s in th e st c entu y I t w a the o del up on w hi ch the Christi an s

r r r r r . s

o de ed thei
r r beh avi o u to the S tate du in g the se cond nd t hi rd and the e a ly
r r r a r

yea s of the f ou th c ent u y

r r r .
70 EA RL Y C HRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM .

refers explicitly to His Resurrection The d o ctrine of the .

H oly Trinity is clearly emphasised We c ome up on the .

foll owing pass ages for instance in our letter :,

A s Go d ,

liveth and Jesus Christ liveth and the H oly Ghost (Wh o ,

are ) the faith and h o pe of the Elect (c and Have .

we no t one God and one Christ and one Spirit o f Grace that
was shed upon us ( c .

The D ivinity o f Christ is even asserted by Clement in

terms which the m ore guarded the ol ogi ans of the fourt h
century wo uld have shrunk fro m using fo r fear o f being ,

*
charged with Patripassian errors .

These are o nly grea t landmarks in Clement s fam ous
writing ; but the letter sh ows h ow deeply saturated was the
writer with the d o ctrin al teaching o f the m ore imp ortant
E pistles o f Paul to the R omans and Corinthians as well as ,

with the Cath olic truths set ou t in several o f the smaller

Epistles n otably in that to the Ephesi ans He was equally
,
.

at h o me too with Peter s rst and weightier Epistle and

,

a ls o with that o f J ames ; the Epistle to the Hebrews its ,

thoughts and even its langu age were evidently so familiar ,

to Clement that many ancient sch olars attributed the auth o r

ship o f that great letter to him To sum up he is a .
,

p owerful witness to the unity to the on en ess of the teaching ,

o f the primitive Church ; never divided as some m o dern ,

critics l o ve to assert into sch ools o f which the h o noured

,

n ames o f Peter and Paul and James were respectively the

watchwords .

The witness o f the letter of Clement to the inner life

o f the Christian c o mmunity of R o me at the end o f the rst

century has been w onderfully enriched by an unexpected

disc overy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century .

The Epistle of S Clement of Rome was rst published .

T he p ss g e efe ed t cc u s in the se c nd se c ti n of the lette w hen if

m
a a r o o o r,

m
rr r o

the e din g delibe tely p ef e ed by B ish p L i ghtf t (w ith H n c k ) be d pted

r a ra r rr o oo ar a a o

C le ent w oul d be spe ki n g f the su ffe ing s f G d b ) the

m

a w onp
o r o o a a a ra ,

n te c ede nt t bei n g This lang u g e is f un d n t u nf equently in

mm m

a b o aG dro o . a o o r

e ly w i te s g I gn tius seve l ti es ; in M elit f S dis in T ti n nd in

ar r r ,
e . . a ,
ra o o ar ,
a a ,
a

the T est ent of the XI I P t i chs and in v i us pl ces in Te tul li n w ith

a . a r ar ,

ar o a r a ,

whi ch A c ts xx 28 y be c p ed
. a o ar .

FA CS I MI L E M CO D E X

OF A PA G E F RO A,

m
CO NT A I NI NG A PO RT I O N O F 00 . xv r
. A ND xv n ,
. E TC , O F T HE E PI S T L E OF CL E M E NT .

Presented to C h l
ar es I . b y th e Pa t h
riarc ,
Cyril L ucar ; n ow in th e B ri tis h Museu .
 THE CH UR CH IN R OME A F TE R NE R O . 71

about two centuries and a half ago from a precious MS .

presented to King Charles I by Cyril Lucar Patriarch .

, ,

rst of A lexandria and subsequently of C o nstantin ople and ,

brought to England in the year 1 6 28 It is n ow in the .

British Museum and is known as A It c ontained origi nally
, .

the O ld and New Testaments but has been mutilated The , .

MS was written as far back as the fo urth century or

.
,

possibly a little later in the fth century The letter o f .

*
Clement st ands at the end of the New Testament in ,

this MS which until the last few years was the only exi st
.
,

ing MS of our letter and j ust at the end a p age was wa nting
.
, .

In the year 1 8 7 5 the letter was published by Bryennios ,

Metr opolitan of Serrae fr o m a MS lately disc o vered in the , .

library o f the H oly Sepulchre in Constantin ople In this .

MS the long lost page existed Very sh ortly after a Syrian

. .

MS was unearthed also contain ing the letter with the

.
,

lost p age We therefore n ow possess the wh ole of Clement s

.

writing .

The rec o vered page contains a beautiful and striking

prayer of considerable length occupying ab o ve seventy lin es ,

o f an ordinary o ctavo page It is a kin d of li tany o penin g .

,

with an elab orate inv o cation of God ; then c omes an inter

cessi o n for wanderers hungry o nes captives etc These
, , , .

intercessions are foll owed by a general confessi on of sins

and prayer for pard o n and D ivine help It is in the c ourse .

of this long litany and prayer that the remarkable sentences

occur to which reference has been already made which ,

in dicate the attitude assumed by the su ffering and persecuted

Christians towards the Emper o r and his G overnment .

Bishop Lightfo ot of D urham draws the following con

cl usion s from this prayer o f Clement :

What then shall we say of this litany ? Has S Clement in .

trodu ced int o his epistle a p o rtion of a xed form of w o rds

then in use in the Roman Chur ch He thus answers
his questi o n : There was at this time no auth oritative

but
The e i
as
r se c nd lette f C le e nt f ll owin g the st in the MS
s a

it is not c nside ed by s ch ol s
o
o

r
r o

w itin g f Cl e ent w e h ave not

m
ar as a
o

r o

m r

,
.
,

n oti ced it he e r .
 72 E A RLY CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND PA GANISM .

written liturgy in use in the Church of R ome but the .

prayers were m o died at the discreti on of the o fciating

minister Under the dictati on of habit and experience h ow
.
,

ever these prayers were gradually assuming a xed form

, .

A s the chief p ast or of the R oman Church would be the

m
main instrument in thus moulding the liturgy the prayers
without actually being written d own w ould assu e in his
in d a x ity as time went on When therefore at the .
,

,
,

m ,
,

cl ose of his epistle he asks his readers to fall on their knees ,

and lay down their j ealousies and disputes at the footst ool
o f gr a ce his langu ag e naturally runs int o those measured
,

cadences which his ministrati ons in the Church h ad rendered

habitu al with him when dealing with such a subj ect .

It has all the appearance of a xed

The deducti o n which must be drawn fr o m the presence

of this mem ory of what was evidently a public liturgy is

,

th a t before the end of the rst century there were xed

forms of pr ayer ; if not written certainly c ommitted to ,

memory and used in the religious assemblies of the Church

,

in Rome Befo re Clement the disciple of Peter and Paul

.
, ,

had passed aw ay the R o man Church with its wide alms

, ,

giving by no means c onned to the members of the

metrop olitan Church its government its forms of service
, , ,

its auth oritative teaching in all fundamental articles of

d o ctrine evidently h ad alrea dy been c arefully o rg anised
, .

The especially reverent care for the b o dies of the faithful

departed was a great feature am ong the Christi ans o f the
rst three centuries We sh all a little later discuss and
.

illustr ate this anxi ous s olicitude o f Christians for their dead ,

when we c ome to speak o f the cemeteries or c a tac ombs .

Already h owever in the days of Clement s episc op ate and

, ,

even earlier we have pro ofs o f this care and s olicitude

,
.

Late investigations have cle arly identied the catac ombs

m
m
Nor is it onl y in the l tely e c ove ed p ag e of the lette of Cle en t m
mm
a r r r

that e o ies of a w ell k n wn nd often epeated litu g y a e dis c e n ible

r - o a r r r r .

I n v a i o us p o ti on s f the w iti n g bits of s ole n p aye s evi dently used in

m
m m m
m
r r o r ,
r r

the c on g e gati on
r w oven int o the t pest y of this
are st n cient lette of
a r o a r

the B ish op and co unity of Ro e to the C o inthi an Christi an c o unity r .

 THE CH URC H IN R OME AF T E R NER O . 73

on the Via A rdeatina hard by the well kn own A ppi an Way

,
-
,

as the cemetery of D o mitilla This cemetery was made up on .

and beneath the est ate of Flavia D o mitilla the kinsw oman ,

o f D o mitian wh ose husband the former c onsul su ffered for

, , ,

his faith in the D omitian persecuti o n when D omitilla herself ,

was banished The cemetery in questi on was one of the

.

earliest prepared by wealthy R o m an Christians for the recep

ti o n of the de a d members of their own family as well as to ,

pro vide a resting place for the remains of po orer members of

the Church A m ong the various pieces of identicati o n o f
.

the cemetery is the character of the ad o rnment of its

sepulchral chambers which bel ong unmistakably to the rst
,

century . The cemetery of D omitilla however is not the , ,

only one which clearly belongs to this very early t ime .

The st ory of Clement after he passed away came to be

invested with a mythic al dignity which is with out exampl e
in the ante Nicene Church The events of his life have been
-
.

so strangely involved in c o nsequence of the religious r o mances

which bear his name ( the Clementines etc ab ove referred ,
.
,

to) that for the m o st part they must remain in inextricable

confusi no
*
. We have endeav o ured to disentangle something ,

separatin g some cle ar facts fro m the merely legendary and ,

to present mainly drawn fr o m his own w o rds j ust a few

, ,

m
really hist orical rec ords of this rst century leader of the -

Church of the metr op olis and of his work ,

.

A striking hist orical m o nu ent of Clement has recently

been br ought to light It was a custom of very e arly date
.

in the Church to build over the tomb of a s aint or martyr a

little memorial chapel or oratory This o ratory is frequently .

styled the Mem ori a

Now Jer ome writing cir ca A D 3 9 2

,
. .
,

tells us h ow a Church or Basilica erected at R om e at the

foot of the Coeli an Hi ll protects ( custodit) the Mem oria

of Clement It was from Jerome s w ords no very recent

.
, ,

erecti on ( He was writin g at the close of the fourth century )

. .

Constantly during the centuries which foll owed the death of

Jero me we come up o n mentions of this church or b asilica o f
,

m
Clement . Late excavati ons thr o w much light up o n this
B i h p West c tt of D u h on the C non ( ch p i se cti on
s o o r a , a a . .
,
74 E A RL Y C HRIS TIANIT Y AND P A G A NISM .

venerable relic of the famous pupil of the A p ostles Peter and

Paul It was found that three distinct buil dings existed ;
.

o n e erected o ver the o ther Beneath the present church is .

an earlier basilica in which the o rigin al c olumns are no w

standing This was the church o f which Jer ome writes in
.

the fourth century It was built in the h oll o w between the

.

C oelian and Esquili ne Hills A fter the utter ruin of large .

porti ons o f the city caused by the st orming of R ome by

,

R obert Guiscard in the year 1 08 4 the dip or h ollo w between ,

the two h ills w as in part gradually lled up by the deb r is

, ,

o f the ruins of that quarter o f the city which especi all y ,

suffered in that crushing calamity A s time went on over .

,

the ol d basilica which was buried bene ath the deb r is in

,

questi on ar ose the new church which is still st anding
,

,
.

The n ew basilica th ough it was s o mewh at sm aller cl osely

, ,

followed the lines of the ol d church of the age of Constantine ,

that o f which Jerome writes Much o f the st one and marble .

m
furniture which had not perished was br ought up and pl aced
in the present church which re tains m ore o f the det ails of
,

pri itive church architecture ( o f the fourth century ) than

m
any o ther building in R ome D irectly underneath these two .

churches was found a third and yet l o wer buil ding ( the dis
cov ery was in 1 8 5 8 This l owest edice was partly co
posed of mas onry dating b ack to the regal or republican
peri o d But wh at was o f the highest interest in this third
.

building was a chamber which the fam o us arch ae ol ogist D e

,

R ossi wh ose researches have thr own so much light up on the

,

Church of the rst three centuries believes to have been the ,

o riginal Mem ori a o f Clement To the west of this chamber

.
,

with its w o nderful traditi ons was found an other l ong vaulted ,

chapel with an altar and o ther remains sh owin g that it was

, ,

o nce used for the worship o f Mithr as a divinity wh o became , ,

towards the end o f the sec o nd and during the third century ,

a fav ourite and fashi o nable obj ect of w orship in R ome and

its neighb ourh o o d D e R ossi thinks that this chapel was
.

o nce a p art o f the o riginal h o use o f Clement ; that it was

c onsc ated in one of the earlier persecuti ons and dev o ted to
the p opular rites o f Mithras ; and that s ome time after the ,
 THE C H UR CH IN R OME A F TE R NER O . 75

peace of the Church ( A D it was restored to the Church . .

when a basili ca ( the one sp o ken of by Jer ome ) was erected

mm

over the o riginal little Memoria of Clement .

Clement passe d away cir ca A D 1 00 dying it wo uld seem . .

, , ,

a nat ural death We do no t he ar anythi ng o f his artrydo

.

till ab out three centuries l ater .

The A cts o f Clement are evidently ctiti ous and were ,

pr obably written not earlier than the end of the fourth

century In these he is related to have been banished to
.

the Chers o nese where he s uffered martyrd om In the ninth

,
.

century his bones were strangely disc overed br ought back to ,

Rome and dep osited in the basil ica bearing his name That
, .

such a translation o f his supp osed remain s t ook place in

the ponticate of A dr ian II ( A D 8 6 7 8 7 2) is apparently h o w . . .

,

ever an authentic rec o rd

, .

What then was the Mem oria ,
spoken of by Jero me
,

centuries before ? Was it a chapel erected actuall y over ,

Clement s remains or was it simply a little oratory c om ,
a

memorative of the great Bish op ? The former woul d seem

m ore probable ; in which case the rst basilica of Clement
was no doubt bu il t over hi s actual t omb

m mm
.

m
The w o d M e i s eti es lte n tes w ith C nf essi n y bein g
m m m

mm m

mm m
r or a o a r a o o ar ,

used t denote the s ll o at o y ch pel buil t ove the t o b f ty o s int

m
o a r r or a r o a ar r r a .

Je o e s w d p e cise he e N inis e j u e ( i C le e nt ) e o i u que

mm m

r or s are r r : o . e
. r a s

h die R o e st u t e cclesi u t dit

o a ex r A c hu c h e e c ted t R
c a e p ese ves
a c s o .

r r a o r r

t this d y (o p ote c ts t thi s d y ) the

o a r e o i l ch pel buil t in his n e ( Vi
r o a r a a a .

r .

itl ustr .
,
 76

CH A PTER IV .

S . JOH N A ND P O LYC ARP .

S E CT I O N I .

S . JOH N .

AMO N G the rst leaders of the Christian communities there

were three teachers o f c o mmanding personal ity e a ch of the ,

three having his o wn peculi ar characteristic features Two .

of these S Peter and S John had been with the L o rd during

, . .
,

the whole of His public ministry and had especially enj oyed ,

His friendship and c ondence The third S Paul although

.
, .
,

n ot His compani o n during the three years of His publi c

ministry had been singled ou t by the Holy Spir it shortly
,

a fter the Resurrecti on and set apart for a peculiar and

,

imp ortant work a w o rk which he carried out during many

ye ars of unresting t o il with c o nspicu ous devoti o n and singular
success.

The career of two of these great teachers was cl osed as ,

we have seen ab ut the year 6 7 8 in the course of the
o , ,

persecution of Nero The c onnecti on of Peter and Paul with

.

the Roman c ongregati o n was very cl ose There in the .

,

metr op olis they had spent a c onsiderable time ; the R oman

,

Church in an especi al way h ad been their care Peter was .

the tradition al fo under o f the Church of R ome whil e the ,

longest and m ost imp ortant of Paul s letters was addressed

to the R oman Christians R ome was the scene o f the cl ose

.

o f their devoted l ives While they lived there is no d oubt

.

that the great capital of the Empire was the centre of the

m
fast gr owing religi o n o f Jesus .

Peter and Paul passed away h owever if not together at , , ,

all events at very nearly the same Lti e and in the same ,
 S JOHN
. A ND P O L Y C A RP . 77

m
ery trial ; and after their death the headquarters o f
,

Christendo for a c o nsiderable period was shifted to another

centre .
,

The fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple

o f the two

m
( A D
. . some three or four years after the death
A po stles for ever put an end to any claim of the H oly
,

City with its undying me ories to be in any sense a

, ,

Christian centre We must seek hencefo rth another spiritual

.

capital .

When Peter and Paul were dead it was natural that the
eyes of Christians in d ifferent parts of the R oman w orld
sh ould be turned to the disciple wh o al ong with them had , ,

been ever looked upon as a special deposit o ry of the

Lord s teaching ; in s ome respects less pr ominent than the
two who had sealed their l ong and faithful witness by a
death o f pain and agony but in o thers even their superior , .

John was s o me years younger than Peter and Paul of a ,

nature m ore retiring more contemplative But he ll ed a,

.

place never o ccupied by th ose two grea t teachers ; for when

Jesus li ved on earth it was well kn o wn that John was the

D isciple whom the Master l oved The memory of that .

l ove was ever the peculiar title to honour of the third of

i

the great trio wh o were the ackn owledged leaders of the

Church of the rst days ; and when Peter and Paul were
no l o nger on earth J o hn became indisputably the central
gure to whom all the Brethren lo oked for guidance and
,

teaching .

A t the ep o ch of the cat astrophe of Jerusalem A D 7 0 , . .

,

John was in the Island of Patmos banished and probably ,

a pris o ner But the banishment and c onnement s o on came

.

to an end when the period of comparative stillness set in

after the death of the tyrant Nero ; for after A D 7 0 we . .

nd the loved Apostle residing at Ephesus which seems ,

to have been his headquarters during the thirty years which

sti ll remained for him to live and work among men Ephesus .

therefore and the region of A sia Minor ro un d th at imp ortant

,

city must be regarded as for many years the spiritual centre

,

o f Christend om .
 78 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

O thers too o f great reputati on am o ng the Christian

, ,

c o mmunity were attracted to A sia Minor ; they pr obably

selected this p opul ous and fam ous district as their h ome in
o rder to be ne ar J o hn A m ong these trustworthy traditi on .
,

specially menti ons two br o ther A postles friends of J ohn in ,

his y o uth and like him o riginally shermen o f Beths aida

, , , ,

A ndrew and Philip * We learn als o fr o m the same ancient

.

autho rity of two o ther pers onal disciples of Christ in these

parts A ristion and a second J ohn with wh o m Papias had ,

talked respecting the human life of the Lord and the earliest
days of the Church .

In the city of Ephesus and its neighbourh oo d for s o me ,

thirty years after the deaths of Peter and Paul and the
fall of J erusalem (A D 7 0) S J ohn li ved dying in extreme . . .
,

ol d age ab o ut the last year of the rst century when the ,

Emperor Traj an was reigning In this fam ous centre he .

gathered round him many disciples ordaining bishops and ,

presbyters Fr o m very e arly n o tices we possess some

,

authentic traditi ons respecting his busy active life ; indeed , ,

the traditions of S J ohn owing n o d oubt to the great .

,

pro l ongati o n o f his life after the Church was rmly estab
l ish ed and in part organised and to his xed residence in ,

the midst o f a large Christian community are m ore con ,

sistent and trustworthy than th ose which rel ate to the later
life of any o ther of the A p ostles .

It was in this period th at he revised his A p o calypse ,

written in the rst instance pr o b ably between A D 6 8 and 7 0 . .

while in exile at Patmos It is some such revisi on or .

redaction by the A p ostle himself to which Irenaeus m ost

o f Do m
likely refers when he menti ons s omewh a t vaguely the end
itian s reign as the peri o d when the visi o n was seen

It was too in this long time of c omparative stillness when

, , ,
.

mm
he dwelt at Ephesus that the fourth G ospel was put ou t ,

m
M enti oned the M u to ian F g ent on the C anon an authenti c pie c e
in ra

d ating f o i A D 1 7 0 This is qu oted at s o e length a little f the on

r ra

m
r c rca . . . ar r .

P pi s spe c i ally alludes to P hilip and his d u ghte s esidin g at H ie apolis

m
a a a r r r .

S ee E ns H E iii 3 9 v 24 Papi as w as a c o p ani on of P oly ca p and

m
. r ,
. .
, , . .

lived and w ote e arly in the se cond c entu y S o e thi nk w ith I enaeus that
r r .
,
r ,

he was hi sel f a b earer of S J ohn . .

 S JO HN A ND P O L Y CA R P
. 79

in the fo rm in which we now p o ssess it The w ords of the .

ancient Murat orian Can o n ( cir ca A D 1 7 0) give the original . .

traditi o n of h ow the rst draft of that Gospel was suggested .

The exact phrase o logy of this venerable fragment of early

Christian literature is peculiarly interesting .

The fourth G ospel is ( the work ) of John one of the

,

di sciples Being exhorted by his fellow disciples and Bish ops

.
-
,

he said : Fast with me to day for three days and l et us

-
,

relate to one an o ther what shall have been revealed to each .

The same night it was revealed to A ndrew one of the ,

A p ostles th a t J ohn sh o uld write down everything in his

,

o wn name and all sh o uld certify

The n arrative p orti o n of the G ospel and the great the o ,

logical truths enshrined in it had doubtless o ften formed ,

part of S John s teaching in public and in private

. The

.

G o spel accor di ng to S John arrange d as we now have it .

, ,

emb o dying as it d o es a summary of the great A postle s
teaching respe cting the Pers o n and O f ce of the L ord was ,

the result of much t oil and th ought and was the gr eat ,

monument of the prol onged life at Ephesus .

The Muratorian fragment ab o ve referred to proceeds to

quote John s o wn words in his rst Epistle : What we hav e

seen with our eyes and heard with our e ars and our hands ,

have handled these things we have written unto you
,
He .

thus declares himself to be not only an eye witness and a -

b earer but also a recorder of all the wonderful things of the

,

*
L o rd in o rder .

A ny pers onal memories of S John at this peri o d are of .

rare interest Three of these are preserved to us in un

.

doubtedly authentic documents Iren aeus writing in the last .

,

quarter of the sec ond century gives us s o me of his mem ories

m m mm
,

M urat o ian F ag ent w as dis c ove ed in the A b osi an L ibra y at

m

Th e r r r r r

M il n M S of the w o ks of C h ys ost o of g e at antiquity I t is utilated at

in a

m
a . r r r .

the beginni n g and th e end and is an un skilful t anslati on of a lette f o a l ost

m
, r r r

G eek o i g in l I t is pie c e f the hi ghest i p o t an c e I ts date is sh own by a

m m
r r a . a o r .

m
r e f e e n c e to P o e Pins ust be pl ac ed ci c A D 1 7 0 I nte nal eviden c e
m m
m
r
p an d r a . . . r

f ul ly con s its c lai to thi s hi g h antiquity and s ch ola s g ene lly e g a d it as

r r ra r r

a su y of the opin i on of the Weste n Chu c h on the N e w T est ent C anon

ar r r a

shortly afte the iddle of the se con d c entu y

r r .
80 E A R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NISM

of his ol d master P olyc arp P olycarp it must be remem .

,

bered was a he arer and disciple o f S J ohn

,
He relates . .

h ow P olycarp used to describe to his pupils his interc ourse

with J ohn and with the rest of th ose wh o had seen the
,

L o rd and h ow he wo uld relate his very words *

, .

A n o ther of these mem ories o f S J ohn is als o given us .

by Irenaeus speaking again o f his old master P olycarp

, .

There are th o se who have heard him (P olycarp ) tell h ow

J o hn the disciple of the L ord when he went to t ake a

m
,

bath at Ephesus and when he saw Cerinth us [the fam o us ,

heretical teacher ] within rushed away fr o the r o om with ,

o ut bathing with the wo rds Let us ee lest the ro om

,

sh ould fall in for Cerinth us the e nemy of the truth is

, , ,

within T The old ery spirit o f the
.

Son o f Thunder
,

B oanerges as the L ord o nce termed him and his brother

,

l ong years before still lived evidently in the ol d man John , .

O ne m ore striking mem ory o f S J ohn s life at Ephesus .

is preserved to us by Clement o f Alexandria wh o also ,

wr o te ab out the end of the same century ( the sec ond ) It .

is too l ong for qu o tati o n but it gives a graphic descripti o n ,

of a y oung c onvert to Christianity wh o h ad fallen away ,

had taken to evil c ourses and had become a r obber J ohn ,

.

seeks him out in the midst of the r obber h orde and ,

with t ouching repr oaches wins him back again tell ing the ,

ap o state h o w he had fo und pard o n for him in his prayers

at the hands of Christ Clement relates the story em .
,

ph atically prefacin g it with the w o rds : Listen to a story

that is n o cti on but a re al hist ory handed d own and care ,

fully preserved respectin g the A p ostle J oh n 1 , .

S E CT I O N II .
S . P O LYC A RP .

I MME D I ATE LY after the death of S J ohn at the cl ose o f the .

,

rst century we gather s ome weighty materials for the

,

hist ory of the Church in the writings und oubtedly authentic , ,

L ette f I en eus t Fl orinu s usebius v (S ee p

mlex
r o r a o . E ,
H . E , . 20 . . 8 3 infra .
)
1

I en us A d H
r ae iii ,
v . acr .
, . 3 .

I S ee E usebius , H . E .
, iii . 23 . C le . A .
, Quis dives sala , 42 .
 S JOHN A ND P OL YCA RP
. 81

which we p ossess of two eminent Christian teachers both ,

younger c o ntemp oraries o f the A p ostle .

The elder of these Ignatius Bish op of An tioch we leave

, , ,

for the m o ment since his famous letters are well nigh all that
,

we p ossess of his hist ory .

The other P olycarp Bishop of Smyrna and disciple of

, ,

J o hn o ccupies in the annals of early Christianity a peculiar

,

and c o mmanding p osition This he o wes partly to his long .

and distinguished career partly to the Mem ories preserve d ,

to us by his great disciple Iren aeus Bis h o p of Lyons in Gaul ,

and by o thers ; partly o f course als o to his own interesting

m
, , ,

Epistle to the Ph ilippians and to the letter written after his ,

death by his S yrnaean ock to the Church of Philomelium ,

c ontaining details of his martyrd o m ; both of which pieces

are c o nsidered by all serious critics as und o ubtedly genuine .

P olycarp was b o rn ab o ut the year 6 97 0 He e v idently .

bel onged to a Christian family and was brought up in that ,

district of A sia M inor where the inuence of S J ohn was .

param oun t but where o ther eminent Christian leaders besides

, ,

S J ohn were residing men who had personall y known the

.
,

Lord When S John died P olycarp was o nly ab o ut thirty

. .
,

years old Iren aeus tell s us he received his appointment as

.

Bishop of the imp ortant congregation of Smyrna fr om A postles

and o ther writers e g Tertullian n ot much later than Iren aeus
, . .
, ,

say distinctly that he was appointed to his resp onsible o fce

by S J ohn h imself
. .

m
A t an early peri o d of his public career (cir ca A D 1 07 . .

Ignatius Bish op of A ntioch on his j ourney to his Roman

, ,

martyrdo writes to P olycarp already Bish op of Smyrna

, ,
.

The spirit of this letter one of the no w generall y ackn ow

ledged genuine Ignatian e pistles is what we sh o uld expect
from an ol d man writing to a younger one wh o was h olding
a p osition of great responsibili ty and had proved himself , ,

in spite of his c omparative yo uth to be worthy of his high ,

and dangero us p ost but who yet evidently in the eyes of

, ,

the martyr had faul ts which he might correct

, .

He charges his y ounger friend in the foll o wing language

Vindicate thine o fce in all diligence whether in things ,

G
82 EARL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NISM .

carnal or in things spiritual Have a care for unity , than

.

m
which n othin g is better Sustain all men even as the L ord
.
,

sustaineth thee Su ffer all men in love as als o thou d ost

.
,

A sk for ore wisdom than thou hast The time

requireth thee as pil o ts require win ds or as a storm t ossed
, ,
-

mariner a haven so that it may nd God

,
Be s ober as
God s athlete

stand rm as an anvil under the stroke of
a hammer It bec omes a great athlete to endure blows and
.

to c onquer .

O f the circle of disciples and pupils wh o m S J ohn durin g .

his long residence at Ephesus gathered round him P olycarp ,

was the most illustrious Indeed after the passing away of

.
,

the l oved A p o stle at an advanced age he was perhaps one

, ,

of the m o st important pers o ns in the Church .

Long years afterwards it was the delight of the Bishop

of Smyrna to relate to his disciples and hearers what he
had heard fro m eye witnesses of the L ord s earthly life ; and
-

especially he seems to h ave l o ved to dwell on his friendship

and interc o urse with J ohn the beloved Before P olyc arp .

died even unbelievers had c o me to l oo k upon the venerable

Bish op of Smyrna as the Father of Christi ans .

Iren aeus on e of the ablest of the Christian writers of the

,

sec ond century wh o became Bish op of Ly ons in A D 1 7 7

, . . ,

received his early instructi o n at the hands of P olycarp and ,

in a p assage in one of his writings of singular interest gives ,

us a picture of his great master It o ccurs in a letter to an .

old c o mrade and fell o w pupil o ne Fl orinu s wh o in later

, ,

li fe had bec ome unh appil y fam ous as a heretical leader .

Irenaeus is remonstrating with his old friend after his falling

away in the foll owing terms : These O pini ons Fl orinus
, ,

that I may spe ak with out h arshness are no t of s ound j udg ,

ment ; these O pinions are no t in harmony with the Church ,

but involve those adopting them in the greatest impiety

these opinions the elders before us who were als o ,

disciples of the A p ostles did no t hand down to thee For

,
.

I saw thee when I was still a y outh in Lower A sia in

, ,

company with Polycarp while thou wast faring prosper ously

,

in the r oyal court and endeavouring to stand well with him

,
 S JOHN A ND P OL Y CA R P
. . 83

( Polycarp ) F o r I
. distinctly remember the incidents o f that
time better than events of recent occurrence ; for the less ons
received in childho o d gr o wing with the growth of the soul , ,

became identied with it ; so that I can describe the very

place in which the blessed Polycarp used to sit when he
disc oursed and his g o ings ou t and his c omings in and his
, ,

manner of life and his pers onal appearance and the di s

, ,

c o urses which he held before the people and h ow he would ,

describe his interc ourse with J ohn and with the rest who
had seen the L o rd and h ow he w oul d relate their w ords , ,

And whatsoever thin gs he had heard from them ab out the

L ord and about His miracles and ab out His teaching Poly
, ,

carp as having received these fro m eye witnesses of the

,
-

m
life o f the Word wo ul d rel ate alt ogether in accordance with
,

the Scripture To these ( discourses ) I c ould listen at the

.

ti e with attenti o n by G o d s mercy which was bestowed ,

upon me noting them d own not on paper bu t in my heart ;

, , ,

and by the grace of Go d I c o nstantly ruminate up on them ,

faithfully A nd I can testify in the sight of Go d that if

.
,

the blessed and A p ostoli c elder had heard anything of this

kind ( allu di ng here to the heresy of F l orin us he was
writing ab out ) he would have cried ou t and st opped his

,

ears and said after his wont O go od God for what times
, , ,

hast Thou kept me that I should endure such thin gs ? ,

and would even have ed from the place where he was

sitting or standing when he heard such wo rds A nd indeed
, .

this can be shown from his letters which he wr ote to the

neighbouring Churches for their conrmation or to certain ,

o f the brethren for their warning and

Far and wide extended the work of this great early

teacher of Christianity The ourishing and powerful Church .

o f Gaul which we shall have to speak of later as one of

,

the most s orely tried by persecuti on was the daughter of ,

the A sian Church where Polycarp for so many years exerc ised
so pred ominant an in uence Iren aeus wh o m we have j ust .
,

qu o ted became Bish op of the important Gallican see of

,

Lyons in A D 1 7 7 in successi on to the aged P o thin us wh o

. .
, ,

E usebius H E v 20 , .
, . .
849 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NI S M
.

su ffered martyrd o m in the persecuti o n which raged in the

Churches of Lyons and Vienne when Marcus A ntoninus
was Emper o r The circular letter from G aul giving the
.

graphic account o f the martyrdom of the saints o f Ly ons

and Vienne so well known to students o f early Christian
,

literature was addressed to the brethren in Phrygia and

,

A sia and sh ows h ow cl ose was the link which b ound the
,

m
two distant c ountries t ogether Christian Gaul when it sent .
,

the pathetic recital of the sufferings of its martyrs in the

arena was assured it writes of the deep sy pathy o f the
, , ,

o lder Christian c o mmunities .

The vener ati o n of Christians for Polycarp was unb ounded .

His A p o st olic training his venerable age his lo ng h o urs spent

, ,

in prayer his pers o nal holiness all combined to secure him

, ,

this reverence By the heathen as we have n o ticed he was

.
, ,

regarded as the Father of the Christians They si ngled him

.

o ut as the one man who had dethro ned their go ds and ,

ro bbed them of the sacrices and the adorati on of their

m
w orshippers M o re especially did he seem gifted with a
.

singul ar prescience It was even believed that n o thing which

.

he foreto ld ever failed of accomplishment ; but far m ore i

portant to the Church than his predicti ons o f the future
were his mem ories o f the p ast In him one single link con .

n ected the earthly life o f Christ with the cl o se o f the sec o nd

century th o ugh ve or six generati o ns had intervened S

,
. .

J ohn P olyc ar p Iren aeus this was the successi on which

, ,

guaranteed the c ontinuity of the Evangelical rec ord and of

the A p ostolic teaching The l ong life o f S J ohn foll owed . .
,

by the l ong life of P olycarp had secured this ,

Far on in his busy beautiful life P olyc arp then ackn ow, , ,

ledged as Iren aeus tells us as the m ost venerable pers o n age

, ,

in Christend om paid a visit to R o me There were m any

,
.

s ubj ects of inform ati on o n which it was desirable that one

who h ad been a pupil of S John sh ould c onfer with A nicetus .
,

th e h on o ured chief of the gre a t c ommunity o f Christians

resident in the metrop olis of the Empire .

O ne o f these subj ects especially exercised the minds of

B ish op Li ghtf ot I gn tiu nd P ly p ol i 1 pp 4 7 3 4
o : a s a o car ,
v . .
, .
-
.
 S JO HN A ND P OL Y CA RP
. . 85

believers Christians were curi ously di vided on the questi on as

.

to the correct time when the Easter festival should be cele

b rated Two opini ons were held ; the one for which P o lycar p
.
,

pleaded the practice of S John and of other A p o stles with .

wh om in his early days he had been ass o ciated maintained

, , ,

that the Paschal Supper the evenin g befo re the Passi on of

the Lord sh ould be cele b rated after the Jewish cust o m on
,

the fourteenth day of the rst ( Jewish ) month ( Nis an ) ; and

three days later w ith ou t r eg a r d to th e da y of th e w eek the
, ,

feast of the Resurrecti o n was kept R ome and o ther Western .

Churches h owever held it unla wful to in terrupt the fast o f

, ,

the H oly Week or to celebrate the Resurrection on any ,

m
o ther day than the rst day o f th e week Their Easter con .

sequently was always on a Sunday The A siatic or qua r to .

deci a n practice as it was termed was advo cated by P olyc ar p

, ,

o n the authority o f S John and o f the A postles wh o in their .

,

later lives had lived in A sia Min or That of R o me was ad .

v ocated by A nicetus Bish p f R me the auth ority of

( o o o ) o n

S Peter and S Paul wh o had lived and taught l ong in the

. .
,

great metr op olis Ag ain and again this curi ous divergence .

of opini on on the questi o n as to the day on which the great

Church festival should be kept cropped up and divided the ,

*
Church .

P olycarp however without yielding the p oint did no t

, , ,

all o w the di fference in ritualistic usage for an instant to

interfere with his c o rdial relations with A nicetus and the
Roman Church A nd A nicetus foll owed his c onciliat ory ex
.

ample and allowed P o lycarp in t o ken of an unbr o ken friend ,

ship to celebrate the Euch arist in hi s place

, .

Very different however was the pr o cedure of the great , ,

m
Th e quar to deciJ e w ish p cti c e m i t ed by P ly c p the a n ain and

m
an, or ra o ar o r

disti g uished h isti le de s t bly by P ly c tes B ish p

n C r an phesus
a his r ,
no a o ra ,
o of E ,
in
c t ve sy w ith V i ct B ish p e lly give up by
the s m
on ro r or, o of Ro (circa A D . . w as na n

a de cisi the C u ci
on of N i ce ow hi c h uled th t ste sh uld be
n l of a A D . . 3 25 , r a E a r o

kept on on e and e th u gh ut the Ch isti w lda the day d y ro o r an or ,

v iz . on S un a ,

the st the w eek B ut the c y cle by wh ch the ste f estiv l

day be
m
r of . i E a r a w as to
c l c ul ted
a a g eed p he c e the dis c ep c y
w as n ot a r the the ste
u on ; n r an in da te of E a r

festiv l whi ch
a , the p i ts disputed bet w ee the C hu c h
w as o n e of e o n n r of Ro an d

the c ie t B itish C hu ch
an n r r .
86 EA R L Y CHR I S TIANIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

m
A sian Bish op the pupil of S J ohn during his R o man visit
,
.
, ,

when graver questi ons respecting fundamental d o ctrine were

br oug h t before h i He c ould and did place on one side as
.
, ,

c omparatively unimp ortant divergence in ritual and in mere ,

O bserv ances
fo r which divergence be it n o ted evidence on , ,

b o th sides was alleged These things th ought the aged

.
,

disciple of the A p ostles should never be allowed to interfere

,

with the l oving interc ommuni on of the Christian Bro ther

h o od But when h er esy which affected the Person and Wo rk
.

o f the L o rd was in questi on P olyc arp c ould and did sho w , , ,

himself the stern unc ompromising teacher of the truth Let

, .

us listen again to Iren aeus acc ount o f P olycarp here in his

o wn vivid and s oul inspiring langu age : -

A nd so it was with
P olycarp als o wh o was n o t o nly taught by Ap ostles and lived
,

in familiar interc ourse with many that had seen Christ bu t ,

als o received his appointment in A si a from A p ostles as ,

Bish o p of the Church o f Smyrna ; wh o m we too have seen

in our e arly years ; for he survived l ong and departed this ,

life at a very great age by a glori ous and m ost n otable

martyrd o m ; having ever taught th ose very things which he
had le arnt fr om the A p ostles which the Church hands d own , ,

and which al one are true To this testim ony is b orne by all .
,

the Churches in A sia and by the success ors up to the present

,

time ( cir ca A D 1 7 0 8 0) of P olycarp wh o was a much
,
. .
,

m ore trustw o rthy and s afe witness of th e truth th an Valen

tinus o r Marcion ( famous Gnostic teachers ) and all such

wr ong minded men He als o ( Polycarp ) when on a visit to
-
.

R o me in the days of A nicetus converted many to the Church ,

o f Go d fr o m fo ll owing the aforenamed heretics by preaching ,

that which he had received from the A p ostles that d o ctrin e ,

and that o nly which was h anded d own by the Church as the

truth .

Here Iren eus tells the story o f the horror o f S John

( a .

when he met at the bath at Ephesus the Gn ostic Cerinth us ) .

Y ea and P olycarp himself also when Marci o n o n one

, , ,

o ccasi o n c o nfr o nted him and said : Do you rec o gnise me ?

P olycarp replied Y es yes ; I recognise the rst b orn of Satan

,

,
-
.

So great c are did the A p ostles and their disciples take not to
 S JOHN
. A ND P O L Y CA RP . 87

hold any communicati o n even by word with any of those

wh o falsify the truth A s Paul als o s aid A man that is a
.
,

heretic after a rst and sec o nd adm oniti on av o id knowing

, , ,

that such an one is perverted and sinneth being self ,

c o ndemned .

Rome in the middle of the second century was the

, ,

c o mm on rendezvous of Christian teachers o rth o d o x and ,

heretical from all countries ; and Irenaeus here tells us h ow

,

Polycarp in the c o urse of his mem orable R oman visit met

, ,

with the eminent leaders of the widespread Gnostic heresy ,

and what he th o ught o f them .

A s a writer this great early Christian leader was in n o way

remarkable P olycarp was clearly inferi o r here to Clement o f
.

Rome or to Ignatius We p ossess of his writings but one

.

epistle of und oubted authenticity addressed by him to the ,

Phil ippian Church The sc anty reliques of o ur early Christian

.

literature include n o theological tr ea tise by him He was .

rather a man of acti o n than o f c ontempl ation ; a great org aniser ;

a devoted past o r ; an unwearied shepherd o f an ever gr o wing -

and often s orely harassed ock These were Polycarp s titles .

to hon our The o ne solitary epistle o f his which has come

.

down to us possesses the highest value as an und oubted

d o cument of very early Christian literature but as a literary ,

producti on it d o es not rank high It is remarkable fro m the .

number of its qu o tati ons from A postles writings Short as it is

.
,

it contains striking coincidences with or plain references to , ,

as many as some twenty or m ore passages fr o m the writings o f

Paul and Peter and o ther d o cuments now included in our
New Testament C anon S Paul especially is qu o ted and
. .

referred to P olycarp menti o ns him by name placing

.
,

himself on a much lower level than the revered A p o stle

of the Gentiles His words here are specially interesting as
.

an indicati o n of the exalted estimate formed b y the resp onsible ,

Christian chiefs of the sec o nd generati o n of the o riginal band ,

o f A p o stles am ong wh om Paul is reck o ned Polycarp is

,
.

ap ologising for writing an ofci al letter at all to the Ph ilippian

Church ; he onlv ventured to do it he says on their special , ,

I en eus A d H iii 3 4
r a , v
. aer .
,
.
- .
88 E A RL Y C HRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

invitati on For neither am I
. he goes on to say nor is

, ,

any other like me able to foll ow the wisd o m of the blessed ,

and gl ori ous Paul wh o when he came among you ( the ,

Philippi ans ) taught face to face with the men of that day

,

the w ord which c oncerneth truth carefully and surely ; wh o ,

also when he was absent wrote a letter to yo u into which if

, , ,

o u l ook diligently ye sh all be able to be bu ilded up unt o

y ,

the faith given to you which is the m o ther o f us ,

Very emphatically and simply does P olycarp in this little

letter a ffi rm the great Evangelical truth of the work of Jesus

Christ Let us
. he says

hold fast by our h ope
, ,

which is Jesus Christ Wh o t ook up our si ns in His own b o dy ,

o n the tree .

With great force he expresses his views of the G o dhead

of the Lord Jesus T wi ce t near the close of the letter he '

speaks o f Jesus as Go d The sec ond reference is a striking .

o ne . May He grant unto you a lot and po rti on am ong
His saints and to us with you
,
who shall believe on our
L ord and God Jesus Christ and on His Father that raised ,

Him fr o m the dead .

This eminent Christian teacher of the Church o f the

early and middle years of the sec o nd century in s o me o f ,

the c o ncluding w ords o f his epistle sh ows us like Clement , , ,

wh o wr o te fr o m R ome s o me twelve or fo urteen years before ,

h ow an unswerving l oyalty to the R o man G overnment was

enj oined up on Christian c ongrega ti ons ; alth ough part of the
s ame letter treated of victims o f the Imperial p olicy of the ,

martyr ed Paul and Ignatius and o ther less kn own sufferers ; ,

while in the end the writer of the loyal w ords himself oin ed

the s ame noble army Pray wr o te Polycarp ( c for .

,
.

kings and p o wers and princes and for them that persecute
, , ,

ou and h a te
y y ou .

This s ole surviving letter of Polycarp to the Philippian

Church must have been written as early as A D 1 08 1 0 . . .

The end of th at earnest usef ul life so l ong pro tracted came , , ,

at last very so on after P olycarp returned from R ome cir ca

, ,

P ly c p
o ar , P h il .
,
3 .
1
'
P ol y ca p
r , Ph il .
,
12
.
 S JO HN
. A ND P O L Y CA R P . 89

A D
. . O ne o f those many persecuti ons s o me of them ,

general some o f them conned to certain localities which

, ,

harassed Christians m ore or less all thr ough the rst and
second centuries was raging in the populous district of ,

A sia Minor of which Smyrna was a principal centre The .

Christians of Proc onsular A sia had markedly increased in

number by the middle of the second century In that .

Pr ovi nce owing no doubt to th e inuence of the scho ol of

,

S J ohn of which as we have seen P olycarp was the m o st

.
, , ,

distinguished representative some writers even c onsider that ,

by the middle of the sec o nd century well nigh hal f the

p opulati on 1 was Christian '

Fierce and unc o ntrollable .

j eal ousy o f the Christi ans was however now and again , ,

excited am ong the Pagan inhabitants am ong the many ,

especially wh o lived by the w o rship at the heathen shrines

priests tradesmen craftsmen and others connected with the
, , ,

widespread network partly p olitical partly religi ous of the , , ,

ancient id olatrous cult Such interested pers ons pr obably .

,

very numerous easily fomented a popular di sturbance and

, ,

forced the Roman magistracy o ften against their w il l to , ,

take acti o n against the o bnoxi ous Christians ; to set in

fo rce the State edicts which tre a ted the members of the
Christian c ommunity as enemies of the State and as liable ,

to the severest punishment Such a state of things prevailed .

at Smyrna cir ca A D 1 5 7 when the inhabitants of A sia . .

,

Min o r were celebrating the great anniversary festival in

that city A vig orous persecuti o n of the Christians began
. .

Eleven o f the m ore pr o minent were c o ndemned to the wild

beasts and suffered in the public arena The passi ons of the
,
.

easil y excited p opulace were stirred up by the bl oo dy sight ,

and the

m
cry ar ose D eath to the A theists Let search be
,

.

made for Polycarp their chief .

m
The st ory o f the events which followed is told in si ple
I n o de to c o plete o u pi c t u e of the life of t hi s gre at e a ly le ade of the

m m
r r r r r r

Ch risti an s fo w hi ch w e p ossess su ch c onside able authenti c det ail s w e h ave p assed

,
r r ,

ove a l on g an d i p o tan t st et c h of ti e to whi c h w e sh l l of c ou se eturn

m
r . r r a r r
, .

B ut P oly carp e li f e e x tended int o the fties of the se con d c entu y

r .

1 So R enan L E g l i Ch ti nn p 4 3 2 T his esti ate is h ow eve p rob bly

: se r e e, . .
, r, a

fa too hi g h
r .
90 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

mm
pathetic language in a letter written immediately after the
tragedy by the Church of Smyrna to the Church o f Phil o
eliu ,
a sm all t o wn with an earnest and devoted con
re ation o f believers situated s o me two hundred mil es or
g g ,

m ore to the east of Smyrna on the b orders o f the Provin ce

o f Pr o c onsul ar A sia n o t far fr o m Pisidi an A nti o ch
, .

The letter of the Church of Smyrna to the Christians

o f Phil omelium is of und oubted authenticity What has .

been well termed the feverish and restless criticism of

late d ays has failed to shake the general c o ndence o f

scholars in its genuineness O ne of the leading critics * of a .

scho ol bitterly h ostile to Christianity d o es no t hesitate to

accept it and describes it in characteristic l anguage : This
,

beautiful piece c onstitutes the m ost ancient example known

o f all the A cts of Martyrd om It was the model which was

.

imitated and which furnished the pr ocedure and the

,

essential p arts of this species o f c omp ositi on

m
.

P o lycarp we foll o w the recital in the letter to the Philo .

eliansm wh en these blo o dy games were being played in th e

Smyrna aren a had retired into the c ountry at some distance

,

fro m the city His whereabouts was discl osed to the

.

Imperial p olice wh o proceeded to arrest the ag ed Bish op

, .

The ol d man might even then have esc aped but he dis ,

dained to y saying simply ,
God s will be d one His ,

.

guards evidently sympathised with him He had l ong been .

a well known and venerated personage in Smyrna They .

did n ot hurry him but granted his request to be all owed,

to pray befo re acc ompanying them Fo r two h o urs so says .

,

the recital in the letter he talked with God remembering , ,

in that s olemn moment all who had ever c ome in his way ,

small and grea t high and l ow The o ffici als after he had
,
.
,

nished his l ong prayer seated the old man on an ass and , ,

so br o ught him to the city There the c aptain of the p olice .

and his father met him and taking P olycarp into their ,

c arriag e tried to prevail upon him to ackn owledge Caes ar

,

as Lord and to o ffer incense at his shrine but he refused

, ,
.

They conducted him into the the atre where the games
R en n L E g li Ch ti nn c h xxi ii pp 4 6 23

a : sc rc e c, . .
,
. .
 S JOHN A ND P OL YCA RP
. . 91

m
were being held but the c o mbats with wild beasts were over
,
.

A great uproar arose as the ol d man was led in

A voice which some th ought c ame fro ab o ve cried ou t
, , ,

P olycarp be str ong and pl ay the man

,
But he needed .

no such reminder D eath had no terrors for the aged .

Christian athl ete The solemn m oment to hi

. was an
intense joy and delight Ve ry urgently the pro c onsul who .
,

was e vidently l o th to pr o ceed to extreme measures in the

c ase of one so l o ved and venerated urged him to avail ,

himself of the easy meth o d of deliverance pr o vided by the

R oman Government ; all he had to do said the magistrate , ,

was to say A way with the A theists and to swear by the
, ,

Genius o f C aesar .

Polycarp l o oking up away from the shrieking mul titude

, ,

and the ensigns of Imperial Rome s olemnly replied Y es , ,

,

away with A theists Then the proc onsul th ought he had .

yielded . Swe ar as I have t old you Polycarp by the genius

, , ,

o f the Emper o r and revile Christ and I will at once set

, ,

y ou free Revile
. Chr ist ? replied

the brave old Bish o p .

Eighty and six years have I served Him and He hath ,

d one me no wrong H ow can I say evil things of my K ing .

wh o saved me ?
Then the proconsul perhaps reluctantly ann ounced that , ,

P olycarp had c onfessed himself a Christian The concourse .

present sh outed To the li o ns with him ,
The president of .

the games the A siarch Phili p said that would be imp ossible

m
, , ,

m

for the wild beasts part of the great sh ow was over The .

crowd cried Then burn hi , .

With cruel rapidity the ene i es of the Christians coll ected

the materi als for the re ; quickly the death pyre was heaped -

up and P olycarp throwin g aside his cloak and girdl e all owed
, , ,

himself to be b ound to the stake Then the old man .

prayed and his w ords were words of praise and thanksgivin g

, ,

and the wo o d was lighted and presently blazed up .

There is little if anything of the marvellous and super

natural in the t ouchin g simple story Some have th ought ,
.

a D ivin e interp ositi on was visible in the acti on of the high

wind which w afted the ames aside leavin g the martyr in
, ,
92 E AR L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM .

the midst while the re like the bellying sail of a ship

, , ,

arched itself ar o und him But such a phen o men on * inv olves
.

no miracle ; the like has been seen in other scenes of burning .

The v oice bidding Polycarp be strong and play the man

when he appeared before the assembly of the people in the

stadium no d oubt pro ceeded fro m one of the bystanders
, .

The d ove which app arently issued from the wounded side
o f the martyr can als o be explained A bird hastily ying .

acr o ss in the immediate neighb ourho o d of the su fferer in the ,

heated imagin ation of the bystanders could easil y be con

m
stru ed as a miracul o us sign The sweet scent as of incense
.
, ,

which was said to have issued from the burning pyre was ,

pr obably the perfume of so e of the w oo d which was piled

up round the stake ; especially as we read h ow the h o stile
Jews and other enemies of the Christian hastily gathered
together timber and wood fr om different w orkshops and
baths in the city .

Indeed the c omparative absence of the supernatural in

,

the narrative very different from many other rec ords of the
,

death of early Christian martyrs or even o f the passi ons o f ,

m ore recent sufferers for religi on is in itself a strong argu ,

ment for the genuineness o f the document .

The sufferings of the noble victim were not pro tracted

when the o fcials saw that the re fr om one cause or o ther , ,

m
failed to do its work the ofcer of the arena wh ose special
, ,

duty it was to despatch wounded and dying beasts was sum ,

oned to c o mplete the w ork ; he pierced the ol d man

with a dagger in a mortal place and death Speedily followed ,
.

The Christians the st ory go es on to say were anxious to

, ,

secure the hall o wed remains o f their sainted Bish op but the ,

Jews prevented them ; and the centuri on in c o mmand to ,

prevent a tumult all o wed the body to be c onsumed in the

,

tardy ames of the pyre The b ones however were after

.
, ,

wards care fully c ol lected and reverently interred by the

,

brethren
m m m
.

S o ethin g of si il a kind is elated to h ave t aken pl ac e at the b u

m mm m
a r r

ing of S av on ol a at F l o en c e an d of B ish op H o pe at G l o u c este

ar r w hen the o r r,

w in d fo a sho t pac e o f ti e ble w aside the a es f

r r S the vi cti ro .
 S JO HN
. A ND P OL YCA RP . 93

m
The letter which c ontained this simple true acc ount was
,

written to the Ph il o elians who had asked for the details

,

o f the death of the great Christian teacher whom they l o ved .

They were directed to circulate it am ong other and m ore

distant c ongregati ons
.

This martyrdom of P olycarp and of the o ther Christians

at the games of Smyrna must be dated cir ca A D 1 5 7 . .

when the Emperor A nto ninus Pius was reigning ; and is a

go o d instance of the deadly perils to which the worshippers
o f Jesus were constantly exposed ,
even under the rule of the
wisest and m ost b enecent of R oman Emper ors during the
,

rst three centuries of their existence as a religious sect .

 94

CH A PTER V .

I GNA TI U S OF A NTI O C H .

STR I CTLY speaking our account of Ignatius sh oul d have,

preceded that of P olycarp We have dwelt rst up on the .

l ife st ory of the Bish o p of Smyrna mainly because thr ough

the references of c ontemp oraries we have been enabled to
trace the whole pr ol o nged career of one who was in his early
days directly c onnected with S John . .

Very d ifferent h owever are our materials for any picture

, ,

o f the c areer o f Ignatius Bish op of A nti o ch Here we have ,

.

scarcely anything fr om the very scanty references of con

temp oraries to help us The few tra di ti ons bel ong to a later .

age and are untrustw orthy Ignatius like others who lived .
,

in the age immediately foll owing the times when the A p ostles
taught w o uld have been to us but the shadow of a great
,

name had it not been for a little c oll ection of epistles of his
,

which have come down the stream o f time ; a little packet so ,

to speak of letters which in the form we n ow use the m ost

, , , ,

trustworthy scholars dare to pronounce abs olutely genuine .

*
These letters seven in number but by no me ans long
, , ,

are o f intense interest They give us c onsiderable insight .

int o the c onstitution of the Christian Church a very few

years after the death of S J ohn Their date is clear cir ca . .
,

A D . 1 07 1 0
. They als o give us the opinions of a gre at and
.

responsible teacher wh o learned his less ons from the lips of

,

The wh le seven t ken t g ethe not equ l in bul k t S P ul s tw

m

o a o r are a o . a o

E pistles t the C i nthi n s by seve l c h apte s O n the questi on f thei nu

m
o or a ra r . o r

d ubted g enui ne ness see A ppen di x C in thi s volu e ; w he e the questi n of thei
m
m
o ,
r o r

authenti c ity is dis c ussed t s e length nd the esults of the l ng d wn out

a o , a r o ra

cont ove sy espe c ting thei g en uinen ess

r r r su ised r are ar .
 IGNA TIUS OF A NTIO CH . 95

A postles on some of the m ore imp ortant of the fundamental

,

Chr isti an d o ctrines ; telling us exactly what the disciples o f

Jesus thought of the Master and said of the Master in the , ,

rst years of the second century .

Written under the shad ow of death the burning yet care ,

m
fully weighed w ords of the writer show us also what an
earnest Christian of that early age thought of de ath To one
like Ignatius death see ed a friend which would bring hi
,

at once int o the c o mpany of his ad ored L ord These epistles .

.

m,

apart fro m their inestimable value as a very e arly piece of

doctrinal teaching lay bare to us the th o ughts of a martyr
,

before his p assi on His w ords the true expressi o n of his

.
,

heart have br ought to th ousands of devo ted foll o wers o f the

,

Master comfort enc ouragement condence ; not o nly in the

, ,

awfu l s cenes so c o mmon in the centuries of persecuti on but ,

als o in c o untless inst ances to harassed souls in the ages o f

comp arative quiet which foll owed the rst two hundred and
eighty years of storm and stres s for the Christian c o mmunities .

His martyrd om we can place with some certainty between

A D . 1 07 and A D 1 1 0
. Fr o m expressi ons in his letters it
. . .
,

w o uld seem that he was an old or at least an elderly man , ,

when he was condemned This w o uld give cir ca A D 4 0 as . . .

the date of hi s birth He represents himself apparently as

n o t b o rn of C h ristian parentage but as having been converted ,

to Christianity in mature l ife The earliest traditi ons unite .

in representing Ignatius as the second of the An tiochene

Bish o ps Th at he was a disciple o f on e of the great A p ostles
.

all early traditions tell us one menti o ning S Peter an o ther , .

,

S J ohn a third S Paul as his master

.
,
That he was an
. .

A post olic man or in o ther w ords a pupil o f the A postles

, ,

seems alm ost indisputable That for a lengthened peri o d .

he presided o ver the in uential and numerous c o ngregation

o f the great Syrian capital An tioch is equall y certain

By Syrian writers to the name Ignatius is added the ,

appellati o n Nurono which s ome have supp osed referred to ,

the t own N ora or Nura in Sar di nia Ignatius Nuraniensis ,

but there is n o thing anywhere related which would give

c olour to the supp ositi on tha t he was a native of Sardinia The .
96 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GANIS M .

appell ati on pr obably c o mes fr om the Syrian w ord Nuro

,

ame and he w ould have received the name from his

m
or ,

passi onate dev o tion to the Redeemer his he art being all ,

aa e for Go d .

The term h o wever by whi ch Ignatius is best kn own

, , ,

and which he u ses himself in his letters is Th eoph orus ,

,

the Go db o rne ; o r if the Greek word be differently accented , ,

the Go d be arer This name or appellation has given rise to

-
.

the fav ourite and beautiful st o ry th at Ignatius was the very

child wh om our L ord t oo k in His arms ( S M ark ix 3 6 . .

But the striking legend was utterly unkn own in early times .

Eusebius for instance wh o has much to say of the M artyr

, ,

Bish op and his fam ous letters is silent here S Chrys ostom ,
. .

besides denitely tell s us that unlike the A postles Ignatius , ,

had no t seen the Lord A nother interesting explanati on but .

,

little kn own was current This curi ously relates h ow when

,
.
,

his heart was cut into small pieces the name of Christ was ,

inscribed in golden letters on each single piece This fanciful .

legend strangely enough reminds us of Queen Mary s w o rds

th at when she was dead the name of Calais would be read ,

engraven on her he art * The m ost prob able explanati on of the .

name is that the saint himself ad opted it as expressive o f ,

the ideal he ever pr op osed to himself one who w ould bear

God always in his th oughts This assumption o f a special .

designati on in addition to the original name was a c omm on ,

practice of which there are many inst ances

,
.

O f the circumstances of his arrest trial and c ondemnati on , ,

a t A nti o ch cir ca A D 1 07 1 0 we p ossess n o denite informa

. .
,

ti o n bey ond what the saint tells us himself in his letters .

The det ails c o ntained in the A cts of Martyrd o m T cann o t
Cf L i ght f t E pp f I gn i l

mm
*
. oo , . o .
, . .

1 The c e f ul w y h w eve in w hi c h the d tes nd ch onol g i c l n oti c es

m m
'
ar a , o r, a a r o a

given in the A cts of M ty d n g the p in ts whi c h h ve bee n

m

are e ar r o ar a o o a

with s e e s n p essed w hen the the y f n lde nd uthenti c doc u ent

o r a o r ,
or o a o r a a

un de lyi ng the A c ts in thei p esen t f is dv nc ed T he A nti chene

m m
r r r or a a . o

A cts b ve e fe ed t h ow eve the nly A cts f w hi ch ny ple f

a o r rr o are, r, o or a a o

g enui neness n be dv nc ed M ny e inent s ch l s of an lde g en e ti n

m
ca a a . a o ar o r ra o ,

su ch U she
as P e s n L e cle c nd in u wn ti e A ll d
r, ar o , pe su ded r , a o r o ar ,
are r a

at le st
a f b sis f t ut h un de lying the ; see h w eve the c nc lusion s
o a a o r r ,
o r, o

arr ived t in A ppendi x C

a .
 IGNA TI US OF A NTIO CH . 97

be received as authentic contemp orary history A perse .

cu tion which d o es n o t appear to ha ve been general

,
a erce ,

onslaught on the Christian c ommuni ty of A ntio ch had ,

broken o ut pro bably thr ough some special accusati ons of

,

info rmers ; Ignatius the chief past o r of the Church was

, ,

charged with professing and teaching Christianity ; and on

c o nfessing at once that he was a Christian was c o ndemned
by the pr ovincial magistrate to the wild beasts and with ,

other criminals was reserved for the Imperial games at Rome .

These bl o ody sports in the reign of the Emper or Traj an

were on a vast scale and included mimic b attles with re al
,

blo o dshed by sea and land c ombats of men with wild

, ,

beasts and o the r h orrible diversions in which the Roman

,

p op ul ace evidently delighted such as th ose menti oned in

,

the acc ount ab o ve given of Nero s games in the Vatican

Gardens .A c onsiderable supply o f victims was required

for these inhuman exhibitions To meet this need the pro
.

v incial govern o rs were required to send up to Rome fr om

time to time criminals who had been convicted of a
c apital o ffence ; to play ght and suffer in on e of the
, ,

eno rmous amphitheatres and to be included in the great

,

cr owd of guilty and inn o cent men and women wh o on

high festival occasi ons were called for to make sp ort for

the pe ople .

Ignatius was one of these victims No successful general .

ever j o urneyed Romewards lo oking forward to being the pu n

cipal gure in one o f those pr o ud triumphs with which the

Empire was wont to hon our her successful captains m ore

j oyfully than did Ignatius in that painful j o urney of his
from A nti o ch to Rome l ooking forward to being in the eyes ,

of his br o ther Christians the chief sufferer in the blood

,

stained Imperial games His onl y fear was lest s ome ill
.

advised powerful friend of the Christians sh ould use his

in uence at the last moment and rescue him from the ,

martyr s death for which he so passi onately l onged

.

It was a l ong j ourney from Syrian A n ti o ch to R o me .

Under the cust o dy of a little comp any of ten s oldiers he ,

m ost pr obably embarked at Seleucia for some Cilician or

H
 m
98 EA R L Y C HRISTIA NITY A ND P A GA NISM .

Pa h
p y l ian harb o ur and from there travelled across the
,

districts of A sia Minor to the Western C oast

A t Philadelphia his esc ort m ade a halt to which he ,

especially refers in his letters to the Church Fro m this .

city he was taken to Smyrna where again a stay was made ,

of s ome c onsiderable durati on There the prisoner was .

warmly and a ffectionately welc omed by the Bish op Polycarp ,

.

Thither also there came to visit him delegates fro m Ephesus

and its Church headed by the Bish op O nesimus and from
, ,

the Christian c ommunities of the cities o f Tralles and

M agnesia .

Fro m Smyrna the martyr wrote four o f the fam o us

m
epistles which we still p o ssess ; to the Churches of Ephesus ,

Magnesia and Tralles and one which as we shall see was

, , ,

especi ally prized by the early Church to the Roman co ,

munity .

A fter Smyrna the next lengthy halt was at A lexandria

,

m
Troas. A t Tr oas the condemned Bish op wrote three m ore
letters . O f these letters two were addressed to the com
,

unities he had visited in his painful j ourney the Christians

o f Philadelphia and Smyrn a ; and the third fro m which we ,

have already quoted was specially written to P olycarp the

, ,

Bishop of Smyrna When this letter was written he was

.

ab out to sail to Neap olis on the European coast Fr o m

,
.

Neap olis he was taken another stage of his long j ourney to ,

Philippi But after the letters written by Ignatius at

.

Troas we have n o thing fro m his pen ; what little m ore we

learn o f the saint comes from another s ource .

While at Philippi he had directed the brethren there to

write a letter to his o wn Church of A nti o ch with news of ,

their c aptive Bishop The Philippian Church wr o te to P oly

.

carp o f Smyrna requesting that their letter written acc ord ,

ing to the martyr s directi o n sh o uld be c o nveyed to A nti o ch

.
,

Po lycarp s reply to the Philippians already referred to is

, ,

the s olitary letter which we p ossess of the great Bish op of

Smyrna In it he asks for any further informati on they
.

might possess respecting the fate o f Ignatius ; but we have

n o record of their reply .
 IGNA TI US O F A NTIO C H . 99

So far for the celebrated j ourney o f Ignatius fr om A ntioch

to R ome we have authoritative evidence The genu ineness .

o f the seven letters of the martyr and o f the subsequent

letter of P olycarp to the Philippians is now placed beyond
dispute . That Ignatius was taken fr o m Philippi to Rome ,

that he su f fered death exposed to wild beasts in that en o rmous

,

amphitheatre whose vast ruins are so well known under the

,

name of the Col osseum erected by the Imperial Flavian ,

H o use expressly for the bl oody games in which the R omans

delighted there is no doubt Tradition is unanim ous here
,
.
,
.

It wi ll however be specially interesting to see what the

, ,

Anti o chene A cts of Martyrdom relate concerning the last

hours of the martyr .

In the A ppendix C the genuineness of the existing form

o f the A cts is discussed Bishop Lightfo o t wh ile rej ecting

.
,

( c o ntrary to the opinions of some sch olars) these A cts as a

genuine contemporary piece considers that a residuum of a ,

true tradition is possibly preserved in them s ome earlier ,

d o cument being embodied in the recital especially in those ,

parts which pro fess to be related by eye witnesses These -

.

eye witnesses tell us how a fav o urable wind carried the ship
-

in which Ignatius was sailing past Pute oli to the harbour of

the Romans ( O stia) too quickly for these eye witnesses who -
, ,

to use their own words were mourn ing o ver the separati o n,

which must s oon c o me between ourselves and this righteous

man while he had his wish ful lled ; for he was eager to
,
'

depart fro m the world quickly that he might h asten to ,

j oin the Lord wh o m he loved Wherefore as he landed at .

th e port of the Romans j ust when the unholy sp orts were

nearin g a cl o se the s oldiers were vexed at the sl o w pace

, ,

while the Bish op gladly obeyed them as they hurried him

m
forward .

The witnesses of the end set ou t from the port at break

of day and as the d o ings o f the holy artyr had already

,

been rumo ured abr o ad we were met by the brethren wh o , ,

were lled at once with fear and joy with joy because they ,

were v ouchsafed the meeting with the Go d bearer ; with

-

fear because so goo d a man was on the way to execution .

1 00 E A RLY C HRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

A nd s ome o f them he Ignatius als o charged to h old their

, ,

peace when in the fervour of their zeal they said that they
,

w ould stay the pe ople fro m seeking the death of the righteous
man Having recognised these at once by the Spirit and
.
,

having saluted all of them he asked them to sh o w their ,

genuine l ove and disc oursed at greater length than in his

,

epistle and persu aded them no t to grudge one wh o was

,

hastening to meet his L ord ; and then all the brethren falling ,

o n their knees he made entreaty to the Son of Go d for the

,

Churches for the staying of the persecuti ons and for the
, ,

m
l ove of the brethren one to ano ther and was led away ,

pro mptly into the amphitheatre Then forthwith he was put .

into the arena in o bedience to the previous order of C sar

( the Emper o r Traj a n ) j ust as the sports were drawing to a

close whereupon he was thr own by these godless men to

savage beasts and so the desire of the h oly martyr Igna tius
,

was fullled forthwith that he might no t be burdens ome

to any of the brethren by the c ollectio n of his reliques ,

a cc o rding as he had already in his epistle expressed his

desire that his o wn martyrd o m might be for only the ,

tougher part of his holy relics were left and only these were ,

carried back to A ntioch and laid in a sarc oph agus .

No w these things happened on the 1 3 th before the K alends

o f January when Sura and Sen eci o for the second time were
,

consuls am ong the R omans .

Having with tears beheld these things with our own
eyes and having watched all night l ong in the h ouse and
, ,

having o ften and ag ain entreated the Lord with supplic ati on
o n our knees to c o nrm the faith o f us weak men after what

had passed when we had fall en asleep for a while s ome of

, ,

us suddenly beheld the blessed Ignatius standing by and

embracing us while by o thers again he was seen praying o ver
,

us and by o thers dropp ing with sweat as if he were c ome

, ,

fr o m a hard struggle and were standing by the L ord s side

,

with much b oldness and unutterable gl ory A nd being lled .

with j oy at the sight and c omparing the visions of our dreams ,

after singing hymns to God the Giver of go o d things and , ,

landing the h oly man we have signied unto you b o th the

,
 IGNA TI US O F ANTIO CH . 1 01

day and the time that we may gather ourselves together at

,

the seas o n of the martyrdom and hold c ommuni o n with the

athl ete and valiant martyr of Christ wh o trampled the devil ,

under foo t and acc omp l ished the race of his Christian dev o
,

ti on in Christ Jesus o ur L ord through Whom and with , ,

Whom is the gl ory and power with the Father with the
, ,

H oly Spirit for ever and ever,

.

But we must dwell for a brief space upon th ose seven

authentic letters which c ome to us as a breath fr o m the

very heart o f the early Christian Church telling u s s o me ,

thing of the hopes which inspired of the fears which per ,

p l ex ed o f the faith which strengthened and encour aged the

,

little c ommunities of Christi ans in the years which imme ,

diately succeeded the passing of S J ohn the last and
.
, ,

perhaps the greatest of the A post olic band Th ose seven , .

letters which have come down to us in so w onderful a

,

manner through the eighteen hundred years of st orm and

stress thr ough the age of persecuti on thr o ugh the yet l onger
, ,

ages of war and confusi on what were they ?

The wh ole seven taken t ogether as we have said are , ,

barely as long as the two Epistles to the C orinthi ans of S .

P aul They are each of them with the excep ti o n of that

.
, ,

written to the Ephesi ans which is of s ome length but little , ,

thin gs after all They cann ot be termed tre atises on any

.

denite subj ect ; they are not reas oned ou t they bear ,

evidently the m arks o f haste and hurry But their passionate .

expressi ons full o f love anxi ous care burning faith spring
, , , ,

m
evidently fr o m the heart of the wr i ter and that writer no ,

ordin ary man He was we see clearly one l ong accus

.
, ,

to ed to rule to o rganise and to teach ,

His the ological ,
.

system to use a later term was a denite one His mind

, , .

was fully made up on the questions of the great fundamental

d o ctrines of Christi anity as we should expect in one wh o ,

had been the pupil of Ap ostles trained by Peter or Paul ,

or J ohn n o t impr o bably a b earer of each o f these disciples

m
,

o f the L ord .

m
There is a certain sa eness in ve of the seven epistles ,

A cts of M a ty d f S I gn atius (the so c lled A n ti c hen e A cts ) 5 6 7

r r o o .
-
a o , , , .
1 02 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NI SI I .

vi z those written to the Ephesians Magnesians Trallians

.

Philadelphians and S yrnaeans That addressed to P olycarp

,

is as might be expected m ore personal in its character

,
m .

,
.
, , ,

The letter to the R omans is quite d ifferent from the o ther

six It is almost wh olly taken up with th o ughts c onnected
.

with his martyrd om In many respects i t is the m ost

.

remarkable and interesting of the seven and has enj oyed ,

by far the widest pop ularity .

To g o a little farther into detail in the ve ab o ve ,

alluded to as being cast s omewhat in the same m ould

the Churches addressed are s olemnly warned to beware o f
heresy of false d octrine
,
A nd the special error which .
,

evidently gave the great teacher uneasiness lest the pure

faith of the communiti es should be endangered was a ,

strange wandering fr om the original Evangelic teaching

respecting the Person of Christ In theol ogical language .

the heresy against which Ignatius warns his readers is termed

"
"
D ocetism a heresy which questi on ed the reality of Christ s
,

humanity of His actual birth and life and death in the

,

esh maintaining that the b ody with which Christ seemed

,

to be cl o thed was a phant o m and that all his acti ons were ,

o nly in appearances .

D o cetism is a danger which has l ong passed aw ay ;

to us it is but the sh ad o w of smoke is the dream o f a

,

dream ; yet all the writings which have c ome to us fr om
th e teachers o f the sec o nd century show us that in th o se

early d ays this curi ous error c o nstituted a very real peril to
Christianity Strong anti D o cetic s tatements are repe ated
.
-

in similar lang u age in ve of the epistles such as Jesus ,

Christ wh o was truly b orn and ate and drank

. was ,

truly persecuted under Pontius Pil ate was truly crucied ,

and died in the sight of th o se in heaven and th o se on e arth ,

,

and th ose under the earth more over was truly raised fro m , ,

the death But if it were as certain persons wh o are

.
, ,

g o dless that is unbeli evers say that He su ffered o nly in

, , ,

semblance why am I in bonds ? and why als o do I

desire to ght with wild beas ts ? So I die in vain ! Truly
then I lie against the Lord Shun ye therefore those .
, ,
 IGNA TI US O F A NTIO CH . 1 03

vile offshoots that gender a deadly fruit where o f if a man ,

taste forthwith he dieth For these men are n o t the .

Father s planting E
( p to the. Trallians 9 1 0 .
, , ,

An d again I kn ow and believe that He was in the

,

esh even after th e Resurrection ; and when He came to

Peter and his company He said unto them Lay hold and ,

handle me and see that I am not a dem o n with o ut a body

m
, ,

and straightway they touched him and they beli eved .

( E p to the S yrnaeans
.
,

m
But besides the r ea li ty of the Passion of the Lord on ,

which in view of the heretical suggestions of the D oceti c

,

teachers Ignatius laid so uch stress the great Bishop in

, , ,

ve of his seven letters was peculiarly urgent in pressing ,

home the supreme necessity for ecclesiastical o rder which he ,

considered as the great bulwark against d o ctrinal errors .

N o ne of the emin ent Church teachers in any age has so

persis tently advocated the auth ority of the threefold ministry
as has Ignatius In the eyes of the Martyr Bish op of
.
-

An tioch wh o was the rst auth oritative mouthpiece of the

,

Church after the passing away o f S J ohn the threefold .

,

ministry of bishops priests an d deacons was to use the

, , ,

words of his latest sch ol arly bi ographer the husk the shell , , ,

whi ch pr otects the precious kernel of the truth S o repeated .

and so urgent were his charges here that it is diffi cult in a ,

brief summary to select fro m the letters even the more telli ng .

It becometh you he writes to the Ephesians

,
to run in ,

harmony with the mind of the bish op for your h o n o ur

able presbytery which is w orthy of God is attuned to the
, ,

bishop even as its strings to a lyr e
, .

To the Magnesians : A s the L o rd did n o thing without

the Father ( being un ited with Him ) either by Himself or ,

by the A postles so neither do you anything without the

,

bish o p and the presbyters .

To the Philadelphians : I cried out when I was among ,

m
y ou I
, spake with a loud
(

voice with God s o w n v o ice Give

,

ou heed to the bish o p and the presbytery and the deac o ns
y , .

To the S yrnsean s : Let th at be held a valid Eucharist

,

whi ch is under the bish op or one to wh o m he shall have ,

 E A R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NISM .

c ommitted it It is no t lawful apart from the bishop either

.
, ,

to baptise or to h old a l ove feast ; but whats oever he shall

,
-

approve this is well pleasing also to Go d tha t everything

, ,

which you shall do may be safe and vali d .

A nd these we must remember are o nly a few qu otations

, ,

fro m a number of like sayings in the letters Well might .

reformers like C alvin wh o n o d oubt largely o wing to the

, ,

force of circumstances had a d opted Presbyteri anism and , , ,

later our English Milt on impugn the authenticity of the

, ,

Ign atian letters This they did as is well kn own in langu age
.
, ,

o f reckless invective ; for if the seven fam ous Ign atian epistles

were a ccepted as genuine it would foll o w that the form of

m
,

m
Church g overnment ad opted by the advo cates of Presby
terianis was abs olutely at varian ce with the Church order
generally rec o gnised ci r ca A D 1 001 0 and so str ongly co . .
,

mended by one of the m ost h on o ured and revered o f the

Church tea chers and leaders o f that age .

O f the genuineness and authenticity of the seven letters ,

from which the ab ove qu o tati ons are taken and in which ,

m any similar p assages to th ose quoted above o ccur there is

, ,

n o l ong er any r o om for d oubt .

But among the seven there is one letter in which neither

is heresy c ombated nor the necessity of ecclesiastical o rder
,

enj o ined In the epistle to the Romans the writer had in

.

mind an o ther o bj ect his c oming martyrdom It is c ol oured .

with his h opes his fears his o utl ook His h opes are all
, ,
.

centred in the gl o ri ous agony which lay before him ; his fe ars

m
are summ ed up in a strange nerv o us dre ad that he might ,

never owing to s ome mist aken k indness of friends or thr ough

, ,

the pity of his enemies atta in to that g oal of m artyrd o he ,

so passi o nately longed to reach ; his gaze was directed al one

to the o ther w o rld where he would meet his l oved Lord face
,

to face .

It was indeed a strange w onderful letter

, ,
He l o oked ,
.

forward to the supreme h our of the arena feeling that the ,

gre at example he h oped to set w ould be a help to the c ause

he l oved with his wh ole s oul If only they w ould keep silence .

and leave him alon e to die he w ould be a w ord of Go d

, ,
 I GNA TI US OF A NTI O CH . 1 05

instead of a mere cry He shrank from no suffering fully
.
,

realising what lay b efo re him in that dread arena Let me .

,

was his passionate utterance be given to the wild beasts ; ,

for thr ough them can I attain unt o Go d I am God s wheat

.
,

and I am gro und by the t ee th of wild beasts that I may be ,

found the pure bread ( of Christ ) ; rather entice the wild

beasts that they may bec o me my sepulch re and may leave
, ,

no part o f my body behin d It is go od for me to die

.

for Jesus Christ rather than to reign o ver the farthest bounds
o f the earth Him I seek Wh o died on our behal f Him I
.
,

desire Wh o r ose ag ain ( for our sakes ) Curious indeed was

, ,

m
his fear lest his Roman friends thr o ugh a mistaken kindness , ,

a too ofciou s zeal should obtain a reversal o f his a wful

m
,

sentence To Ignatius death was life and li fe as we co

.
, ,

onl ot h inder me

y understand it was death D o,
n he .
,

pleaded ,
from living ( as he understood living)

do not ,

desire my death suffer me to receive the pure light ;

,

when I am c ome thither then I shall be a man : let me ,

be an imitat or of the Passi on of my God Never shall .

I nd an opportunity such as this to attain unt o God .

I dread your very l ove lest it do me an inj ury ,

C ome .

re and cross and grapplings with wild beasts cuttings and ,

m anglings wrenchings of bones hacking of limbs crush ings

, , ,

of my wh ole body come cruel tortures o f the devils to assail

,

me only be it mine to attain unt o Jesus Christ Much .

m ore like this is to be found in this strange letter It is all .

o ne passi o nate l o nging cry fo r martyr d o m .

Very striking was the eec t of this epistle o f I gn atius

to the R o mans It crystallised in words so to speak the
.
, ,

spiri t of the early Church in the face of death that spirit ,

which so dismayed disturbed made anxi ous great Pagan

, ,

statesmen like the Emperor Marcus Men realised that the .

fe elin g which despised death the feelin g so stri k ingly and ,

so early v o iced by I natius was th o r o ughly earnest was very

g , ,

real and genuine This intense c onviction that death was

.

life that death would unite them for ever to their L o rd

, ,

was the victo ry which overcame the w orld which eventuall y ,

swept away the ol d Pagan cult and which after two centuries , ,
1 06 EARL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GANISM .

and a half o f combat enthr oned Christianity as the w orld s

,

religi o n .

A lthough it is clear that the seven letters of Ignatius

enj oyed fr om early times a wide popularity this epistle to ,

the R o mans which preached martyrdom for the faith as

,

the true life as the pure light as the perfect discipleship

, , ,

which exalted the martyr s cr own as a better prize th an even

the kingd oms of the world in this respect excelle d them all
, .

mm
It appe ars to have been even circulated as a separate tractate .

I t has been happily termed a s ort of Martyr s Manua a

c a de of martyrs in subsequent ages In the earliest

m
ecu .

authentic contemp orary rec ords of martyrd om that we p ossess ,

as for inst ance in the letter to the Ph ilo elians written from ,

Smyrna immediately after the death of its gre at Bish op P oly

carp cir ca A D 1 5 7 in the pathetic story evidently c ompiled
, . .
, ,

by a c ontemporary of the persecutions at Lyons and Vienne

, ,

in the Passi o n of Perpetua and F elicitas at Carthage in the ,

m
A cts o f the Scillitan Martyrs its reecti o n is clearly seen
,
.

It was one of those pieces of early Christian literature which

i pressed itself with strange p ower on the th ought of the
Church of the age o f persecuti on ; and the secret of its
widespread inuence must be largely sought and found in its
l anguage true as it was p assionate the faithful ech o of the
, ,

spirit which lived in that early Church and was ever ,

whispering that for the Christian to live was Christ but

,

to die was g ain ; that while for a Christian teacher to
abide in the esh was perhaps needful for the brethren ,

yet to depart and be with Christ was far better .
 1 07

CH APTER VI .

TRA JA N A ND H A DR I A N .

S E CT I O N I P
. LI NY A ND TRA JA N .

IN c ompleting our picture of Polycarp we have anticipated ,

a somewhat distant date ; since hi s life was a long one and ,

stretched fr o m the days of the A postles well into the middle

o f the second century The m aterials for our picture were
.

no t numer ous nor abu n dant but they sufced for our pur
, ,

pose and what is of the highest imp ortance were abs olutely
, ,

authentic .

No w however we must retrace our steps and see what

, , ,

we can gather respecting the fortunes of the Church between

the year of Ignatius martyrdom cir ca A D 1 07 1 0 and the

,
. .
-

date of Polycarp s death cir ca A D 1 5 7

, . . .

A nything lik e a consecutive and detailed history of the

Church during the age of persecution especially during the ,

rst and seco nd centuries is impossible There are no con

,
.

temp orary annals no chronicles of events to assist us in such

,

a work .

What we do p o ssess are a few contempor ary writings of

unimpeach able genuineness and a few c ontemporary notes ,

from Pagan writers O ut of these we construct our story ; b ut

.

the writings which have c o me down to us are after all bu t

few and fragmentary and the notices tful t ouching only
, ,

certain years and affecting onl y certain localities

, Still .
,

there are enough of these ashes of light amidst the dark

ness which shrouds the early years of the Church s existence

for us to fo rm some conception of the marve ll ously rapid

pr ogress of the superhuman courage and end urance of the ,
1 08 E AR LY CHRIS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

widespread quiet inuence of the disciples of Jesus of

,

N azareth in those far back years of the rst and sec ond
centuries .

In quite the early part of the second century when the ,

memory o f S John who had o nly p assed away s ome dozen

.
,

years before was still fresh and vivi d ; in the comp aratively
,

early days of Polycarp s l ong episcop ate at Smyrna j ust

after the l ong drawn o ut tragedy o f Ignatius had been played

in the cities o f Pr o c onsular A sia and in Rome ; an o ther and
a strong light is ashed upon the then conditi on of Chris
tianity. A light from a very different s o urce ; proceeding
fr om no treasured letters o f a martyred Christian leader from ,

no fragment of the c orresp ondence of an early Christian

bishop which has survived the wear and tear o f eighteen
centuries from no preci ous mem ories preserved to us by an
,

Iren aeus or gathered up by the pi o us and sch olarly care o f

,

an Eusebius but from the very heart of the Imperial Pagan

,

G overnment of the day

In the ye ar 1 1 2 the younger Pliny ll ed the imp ortant
post of propraet o r or govern or of the large pr ovince of
Bithynia P ontus - This wide district r oughly spe aking in
.
, ,

cluded the c ountries o f modern A sia Min or fr om the c oasts ,

which lie opp osite to C onstantin ople to a point s ome eighty

or more miles beyond Sin ope on the Black S ea and stretched ,

far int o the interi o r to the b orders of Pr o c onsular A sia and

Galatia .Pliny was a n oble R oman of high character a ,

statesman and l awyer of great reputati on wh o enj oyed the ,

c ondence and friendship of the Emper or Traj an the m aster ,

of the R om an w orld Trajan wh ose p olicy to a great degree

.
,

determined the relations between Christianity and the Empire

during well nigh the wh ole of the sec o nd century ranks high ,

on the list o f the g oo d and great Emper o rs no t a l o ng l i st ,

alas ! This p owerful sovereign in many respects has been

the obj ect of exaggerated praise fo r his life was sadly stained
,

by not a few d ark crimes and by shameless imm orality as ,

well as by his l o ve of war and foreign c onquest But the .

sharp c ontrast which o n the wh ole his wise and far seeing
, ,
-

administration presented to the tyrannical and wicked rule

Fro mt
a B us u
fo nd i n th e Ca m
T RAJ A N .

t h Mu
pag na, no w in th e B ri is seum .
 TRAJA N A ND HADRIAN . 1 09

of many of his predecessors and su ccessors has won him ,

unstinted adulation n o t o nly from Pagan but from Christian

writers It cannot be denied however that his g overnment
.
, ,

o f the vast R o man world was j ust and his measures moderate ,

and generally tending to stil lness at h o me .

The reply of such an Emperor to his fr iend the Propraetor

Pliny on the attitude to be observed by the G overnment
towards Christians crystallising as it did the Imperial policy
,

for a l ong period is of the highest imp ortance to any history

,

which deals with the early st o ry of the Church .

A s omewhat perplexing question had arisen in Pliny s

provin ce The propraet or felt that the decisi on once for all
.

o f the p o ints at issue would have far reaching consequences ; -

and therefore he wrote for instructions to his friend and

master Traj an wh o m he regarded and rightly as a very
, , , ,

able and far sighted administrat o r

-
O ur knowledge of the .

transacti on is derived fro m a v olume in which the corre

*
s ondence of Plin y with Traj an is preserved
p .

We learn from the letter of Plin y to the Emperor that

the new religion ( Christianity ) had spread so widely in his
province of Bithynia that not merely in the cities bu t als o
, ,

in the vil lages and rural districts the temples were well ,

nigh deserted and the trades connecte d with the elab o rate
system o f sacrice were being rapidly ruined It was evident .

in Pliny s mind that the wonderful progress of the new
religion bade fair sooner or later to upset the existing
conditions of Roman s o ciety O ught no t then s ome severe .
, ,

check to be at once imposed upon a society which threatened

to brin g ab o ut such disturbing in uences ? Fr om Pliny s

letter we see that the grave matter which he referred to

the Emperor had already passed thr ough two stages The .

rst stage had included a number of accusations directed

evidently against the more pr ominent adherents of the faith .

P lin y E p i t d T f 9 6 9 7 T his correspon denc e h as been p onounc ed

: s . a ra .
, .
r

m
by th e un iversal ve di c t of s ch ola s and c iti c s as un d oubtedly g en uin e T he
m
r r r .

M S c ontaining it w as only b rou ght to li ght i

.
A D 1 5 00 I t c ont ain s c rca . . . a

un ique pi c ture of p ovin c ial ad i nistrati on in the E pi e ea ly in the se cond

r r r

centu ry .
1 10 EA RL Y CHRISTIA NIT Y A ND P A GANIS M .

The accused appear all with o ut exception to have b oldly

c onfessed their faith and these the propraetor in accordance
, ,

with the acknowledged and universal precedents o f R o man

pr ocedure in the case of Christi anity at once c ondemned to ,

de ath if they were provincials ; those wh o were R oman

citizens he sent to R ome for the Emperor s nal decisi on

But there was a second stage A further devel opment of .

the matter had taken place in which decision on the part ,

of the propraetor was no t so e asy o r simple a matter .

Emb oldened probably by the success of their rst informa

ti on the informers thro ugh the instrumentality of an
, ,

anonymous writing den ounced to the R oman g overnor a

,

very large number of o ther persons alleged to be Christians .

Further trials were the result of this informati on In .

this second group of trials dieren t fr o m the rst group,

( when the accused doubtless were pr o minent Chris tians rm

and steadfast in their faith ) there were some wh o entirely

,

denied that they had ever been Christi ans at all ; others o f
the accused terried at the thought of death forthwith
, ,

recanted offered incense before the st atue of Traj an the

,

Emper or and reviled Christ

,
.

Pliny hesitated whether or no t he sh ould let such

repentant persons go s oo t free withou t punishment and -
,

referred the question to the Emper or But before the refer .

ence was sent to Rome the propraetor caused a searching inquiry

to be made into the peculiar life led by these Christians
wh o were so widely hated Had the pers o ns for instance
.
, ,

who h ad so readily when thre a tened with death abj ured

the religi on been guilty in the exercise of their peculiar rites
, ,

o f any o f the secret crimes with which their enemies so

freely charged them such as child murder c annibalism
,
-
, ,

and divers dark offences against morality ? Such o ffences

as these had they been committed surely demanded s ome
, ,

punishment ( short perhaps of de ath ) even th ough the

m
, , ,

offender h ad repented Th ose wh o rec anted were strictly

.

examin ed and two ,

i n istr oe wh o o ccupied some official
,

p ositi on (deac onesses n o d oubt ) am ong the Christians being

, ,

slaves were interrogated under t o rture

,
.
 T RA JA N A ND HADRIA N . 1 11

The results of these inquiries Pliny transmitted to th e

Emper o r t ogether with his opini on He ( Pliny ) was satis
, .

ed that these secret charges o f wickedness were abs olutely

withou t foundation He reported that the lives led by the
.

pr ofess ors o f the unlawful religion were innocent and simple .

He transmitted too in his rep ort a fairly accurate though

, , ,

s omewhat meagre o utline of Christian w orship and life

which he had gathered in the c ourse of his searching
inquiries The v o taries o f the unlawful religi o n were in
.

the habit o f meeting before sunrise on a certain day when ,

they used to sing hymns t ogether in praise of Christ as God .

They had the cust o m to o of binding themselves by a , ,

s olemn oath ( Sacramentum ) or undertaking never to commit

theft adultery or any breach of trust and subsequently after
, , ,

m
m
the religi ous service was ended they w o uld gather together
for an innocent repast He c oncludes that this Christianity
.

was n othing m ore than a superstitio prava i o dica a ,

kind o f superstiti ous w orship u tterly un R o man ; hurtful to ,

-

the State in that it inculcated a w o rship h ostile to that

which was sancti oned by the Government and formed an ,

integral part of the life led by the loyal citiz ens of the
*
Empire .

Pliny besides p o inted ou t that in c onsequence o f his

energetic ( persecuting ) measures a great impr o vement had
already taken place in the pr ovinces The g ods o f Rome .

were n ow being again w o rshipped by crowds wh o had

deserted their s anctuaries as was sh o wn too by a marked , , ,

improvement alre ady noticeable in the sale of the fo dder

, ,

for the beasts kept for sacrice at the heathen altars and ,

thus a grave inj ury to lawful trades and industries which

were under the patronage of the S tate was in pro cess o f
being remedied .

The answer o f Traj an with o ut replying formally to each of ,

Pliny s references gives a general summary of the p olicy which

he desired should be pursued in the relations of the Empi re

m
T he R o n eligi on the wo ship f the gods of R e h s been cc u tely
m m m m
m
a r ,
r o o ,
a a ra

des c ibed
r the e xp essi n f R o n p at i otis the b n d of Ro n u ni ty nd
as

r o o a r ,
o a , a

the pled g e of Ro n p ospe ity a r r .

112 E A R L Y CHR I S TIANIT Y A ND P A GANISM .

to the Christian sect First the Emper or c onrms Pliny s

.

view o f the precedents heret o fore foll o wed by the State ;

in the c ase o f the a ccused persisting in styling himself a
Christian after due warning the extreme penalty of death ,

would foll ow In th e vari ous instances suggested by Pliny

.

which might be ple aded as supplying extenuating circum

stance such as y o uth or sex a free hand was left to the
, ,

magistrate Penitence rec antati on willing public c ompli

.
, ,

ance with the rites o f the Roman religi on were in all

m
,

cases to be deemed su fcient A n accused Christian thus .

purged ust at once be set at liberty No d oubt the .

Emperor was here largely inuenced by Pliny s strongly

expressed c onviction of the inn o cence of the Christian life

and the harmless nature of the rites practised by the sect .

Then foll ows a very merciful directi on which plainly ,

sh ows tha t the great Emperor was person ally averse to any
new harsh persecuting measures being devised against his
Christi an subj ects if by any me ans these c o uld be av o ided
,
.

Th e go vern o r of a province was n o t to search fo r Christians ,

nor to entertain any an onym ous accusations O nly in the .

event of a formal accuser c oming publicly forward must the

charge be formally investigated ; but in the case o f the charge
being proven ( and no recantation bein g forthc oming) the ,

full penalty must in acc ordance with R oman precedent be

, ,

inicted .

Briey to sum up the signicati on of the R oman precedent

upon which Pliny acted in the case of his death sentences :
The acti on of Nero A D 6 4 8 rst determined the relati ons
,
. .
,

o f the Empire to wards Christiani ty Fro m tha t date the .

pro fession of the religi o n of Jesus Christ was illegal and ,

its v o t aries were liable to the penalty of death Under .

Vesp asi an the precedent o f Ner o was again c onsidered and ,

c o nrmed in a m ore denite shape The c orresp ondence of .

Pliny with Traj an j ust dwelt up on marks a third stage and

, ,

sh ows us h ow in A D 1 1 2 1 3 the questi o n of the relati ons

. .

o f Christianity and the Empire was again under c onsidera

ti on It was o nce m ore as we shall see c onsidered by the
.
, ,

Emper o r Hadrian a few years later ; wh o h owever scarcely , ,

 TRAJA N A ND HADR IAN . 1 13

altered the line of c o nduct to be pursued by the magistrates

*
as laid d own by Traj an .

The State c orresp ondence of the Empe ror Traj an and his
friend and sub ordinate the Pr opraet or Pliny p ossesses for the ,

sch olar a peculiar importance as it sh o ws what in A D 1 1 2 , . .

were the exact relations between the Imperial G o vernmen t

and the Christian Church ; indicating too the vie w which , ,

an upright statesmen and lawyer h ad formed o f the sect .

which in so marvell ous a manner h ad taken such rapid ro o t

in the c omplex society of the Empire a view apparently
pa rtly end orsed by a wise and able E perorrl For the
general student it is of yet greater interest for it en ables
m ,
'

him o n the evidence of a Pagan o fcial o f the highest char

,

acter and ability to fo rm an estimate of the great numbers ,

and general inuence in an imp ortant pr ovince of the Empire

m
Ch u m m P f ess m
s y c h pte s
p ire xiv Ra ix

mm
Th e rch and th e R o an E . ro or a ,
a r . .
;
w he e the I pe i al el ti n
r n r in r nd a n o n s w ith Ch isti ity the st
r se c d c e tu ies
a r a o r ar e

dis c ussed t s e len gth

m
a o .

1 P f ess s y (I b id ch p x nd in the c u se of long and

m mm
'
R ro or a a .
,
a . . a o r a

e h ustive n lysis f P lin y s lette nd the E pe s n s w e su gg ests th t

x a a a o

r a r or

a r, a

P liny s intenti n in c onsulting the E pe o evidently in v lved s ethi ng

o e r r o o or

th n a desi e t s c e t in T j n s vie w s Th g ve n
a r o a f B y th in i
r a nd ra a

. e o r or o a a

P ntus w ished nd h ped th t th S tate p li c y t w ds the C h isti ns sh ul d

m
o a o a e o o ar r a o

be e c nside ed nd he w ent he c uld w ith ut di e c tly su gg estin g

m
r o r f ,
a as ar as o o r

it to the E pe A ttenti on is espe c ially c lled to the st ik in g di ff e en c e in

ror . a r r

the c l u of the l tte p t f Plin y s lette f th t bse v ble in the st

m

o o r a r ar o r ro a o r a r

p t T he ttitude of the w ite is c h nged ; the st p t be g ins w ith di e c t

m
ar . a r r a r ar r

c n de n ti n b ut thi p sses int questi n w hi c h v i tu lly sks S h uld he

mm

o a o s a o a o r a a ,
o
,

pu nish C h isti ns t ll ? I t see s s th u gh the w ite is desi ous t h ve

m

r a a a a o r r r o a

the p li c y ch ng ed nd yet sh in ks f see ing in ny w y t sugg est ch ng e

m
o a a r ro a a o a a .

This s c c ely veiled benev olent w ish n the p t f P li ny evidently sp n g f

ar o ar o ra ro

the esults of the se a ching e x in ti on he h d c n du c ted in t o the li f e and ch cte

m
r r a a a o ara r

of the ccused Ch isti ns

m
a r a .

The lette of P lin y it is c le e x e c ised c n side ble i n ue nc e n the E pe o

mm
r ar, r o ra o r r,
,

w h o w hile cle ly e g di ng the p s c ipti n

, ar f C h isti n s
r f u n d en t l
ar ro r o o r a as a a a

p inc iple f I pe i l p ol i c y w hi ch he di d n t ch se t lte still in his eply

r o r a o oo o a r, r

in u g ted p oli c y ilde in p c ti c e th t th t bef e pu sued t w ds the

m
a ura a r ra a a or r o ar

Ch isti n s
m m
r a .

R s y w ith g e t f c e d w ells n the ple s n t th u ght th t P li ny s n ble

a a r a or o a a o a

o ,

lth u gh c uti us ple din g f the Ch isti ns e n tin g f o hi sense f w h t

m m
a o a o a or r a a a r s o a
,

j ust nd i ght w the delibe te w k of ne wh se l i fe g ives us ne

m
w as a r ,
as ra or o o a r

c nc epti n th n ny othe of the ch c te f the R o n g entle n u nde th

o o a a r ara r o a a r e

E pi e
r .
1 1 4: E A RL Y CHRIS TIA NITY A ND PA GA NI S I lI .

of a sect of relig i onists wh o m th e o fci al o f wh ose testim ony ,

he was availing himself dis trusted and s omewh at disliked

,
.

\Ve have alre ady seen h ow in It aly and especi ally in ,

Rome at a yet earlier d ate in the year 6 4 the number o f

, ,

Christians was very c onsiderable ; so larg e th at T acitus speaks

o f the Christi an victims o f Ner o as a great multitude We
.

kn ow to o fr om the letters of Clement to the C orinthi ans

, ,

h o w th a t s orely tried R o man community decimated by per ,

s ecution had ag ain befo re the rst century cl osed bec o me a

,

gre at power am ong the Christi ans We d welt on the ourish .

ing churches of the p opul ous and we althy Pr o c onsular A si a ,

when we spoke of the seven letters o f Ignatius and the w ork

o f P olycarp ; and n ow we le arn incident ally fr o m the c o rre

s on den ce o f a well kn o wn pr o vinci al g vern o r with the

p o
-

Empero r Traj an that Christi anity before the years 1 1 2 1 3

, , ,

had penetrated int o the m ore rem o te districts of northern

A si a Min o r ; and th at the religi on of Jesus in the provinces
o f Bithynia and P o ntus had t aken such a h old o n the m asses

o f the p o pulati o n in the vill ages and rur al districts as well ,

as in the cities that the temples of the R oman g ods were

,

alm ost deserted and the sacrici al ritual in their s acred

,

shrines was interrupted to such an extent as to interfere

gravely with the traders wh o depended largely on the sale
,

o f victims pr ovided for the numer o us Pag an sacri ces .

Thus fr om these chance n o tices we can gather s ome idea

as to the progress Christianity had made at le ast in th ose
c ountries which b ordered up on or were adj acent to the
Mediterrane an Sea in the eighty ye ars which foll owed the
rst pre aching of the Resurrecti on of the L o rd Jesus by the
A p o stles in Jerus alem the city where His de adl y enemies
,

were the ruling p ower .

S E CTI O N II .
H A D R I A N : F I R ST PE R IO D .

S OME twelve years after the fam ous rescript o f Tr aj an to the

Pr o c onsul Pliny o n the subj ect o f the tre atment of Christians
form ally accused before a State tribun al an other rescript was ,

issued from the Imperial chancery by Traj an s success or in

 TRAJA N A ND HADR IA N . 115

the Empire H adr ian on the same subj ect The evidence for
, ,
.

the genuineness of thi s sec ond rescript has been c arefully

sifted and the o pini o n of m ost c ompetent sch ol ars
,
* is
practicall y unanim o us in pro n o uncing it an authentic d o cu
ment It is qu o ted in full by Justin Martyr in his rst
.

A p ol ogy addressed ci rca A D 1 40 5 to the Emper or A nt on inus . .
-

Pius ; and it is menti oned by Melit o Bish o p of S ardis in , ,

his A p ol ogy addressed to Marcus Aurelius some thir ty years

later
.

The o ccasi o n which call ed forth H adrian s rescript was a

letter addressed to the Emper or by Silvanus Granianu s pro ,

consul of A si a d welling up on the inj ustice o f yi eldin g to

,

popul ar clam our and c o ndemning Christi ans wh o were g u ilty

of no crime simply bec ause they were Christians on the

m
, ,

informati o n o f irresp o nsible and prej udiced informers ; s imilar

rem onstrances see to h av e been made by o ther provincial
g o v ern ors to Hadrian The letter of Granianus w as w r itten
.

cir ca A D 1 23 4 and the Emper o r s rep ly was sent in the

. .
,

foll owing ye ar to Minu cius F undanus wh o had succeeded ,

Granianu s in the g o vernment of the pr ovince o f A si a It .

w ould seem on rst th oughts th at there was sc arcely o cc asi o n

for any pr o vin cial g o vern o r to c onsult the Emper o r anew on
a questi on which h ad been denitely settled ab o ut twelve
years befo re by Traj an s rescript addressed to Pliny But in

truth the situati o n h ad c onsiderably changed in th e interval .

The Christian c o mmu ni ties were steadily increasing ; p opular

j eal ousy an d disc o ntent h ad gr own to o ; and in s ome
districts the p opular unrest h ad evidently attained to dis
turb ing pr o p orti ons It is clear als o that s ome o f the more
.
, ,

j ust and gener o us am ong the R om an m agistrates were g rieved

a t h aving to yield to a popular clam o ur which c all ed up o n

them to persecute and to h arry innocent l aw abidin g pers ons ,

-
.

Hence their fresh inquiries addressed to the Emper o r to

le rn his will in the matter The Emper or H drian wh ose
a a .

character wil l be presently briey discussed the O lympian

m
m m
od wh o r o amed o ver the Empire l ooking int o every religi o n
g ,

So Mo se L i ght f
n, oo t , s y
Ra a ,
Al la d
r ,
wh o all a gr ee as to its abs olute
g enuineness .
1 16 E A R L Y C HRISTIA NIT Y AND PA GA NISM .

initiated int o vari ous mysteries was quite alive to the fact ,

o a
that the State religi n w s pr bably a sham
o * and l ooked ,

a t as a religi o n was a failure ; but he knew als o that it was

the keystone of the Imperial p olicy and he c ould not or , ,

w ould not face the task of altering it He leaves the

,
.

religi ous questi on quite o pen and lets the religious sects ,

ght it ou t for him to watch In this ordinance about a .

religion he never alludes to the ide a of religi on No other

, .

pers on c ould have written such a rescript and without any ,

evidence we might have identied it as Hadrian s
.

The Imperial document followed pretty cl osely the rescrip t

o f Traj an but it changed s ome of the directi o ns and the
, ,

changes were on the lines suggested by the pr oc onsul to

wh ose query it was the formal reply S o far it impro ved the .

p osition of the Christians It required in the case of a .

,

Christian prosecu ti on denite evidence and further it ordered

, ,

that if the prosecutor failed to pr ove his case he sh ould be

exp osed to severe punishment The wh ole rescript was .

studi ously vague le aving much to the magistrate s discretion

,

.

The o riginal principle h o wever was still left in Hadrian s

, ,

rescript viz that if the govern or was satised that the accused
,
.

m
was a Christian his plain duty was at o nce to direct his
,

executio n .

Still the disc ourage ent o f mere p opular clamour and ,

the severe penalty to which an informer might be subj ected

if his accusati on c ould n ot be clearly proven for a time ,

made the p ositi on of the foll owers of Jesus in the Empire

more t olerable especially in th ose pr ovinces where a just
,

and gener ou s govern or b ore sway It seems pr obable that at .

o ne period o f Hadrian s reign the m ind of the Empero r was

somewhat inuenced in their fav our But the gleam of .

Imperial fav our was as we shall see bu t transit ory

, ,
.

It will be wo rth while to give a brief sketch of the career

and char acter of this m aster of the R oman w orld fro m

epithet ( sh a
. m
m m
P of R say Th Ch u h nd th R n E p i
a ,
e rc ch ap xiv This
a

in the o p ini on o f the w ite of this hist o y is too st on g

e o mm a re, . .

m m

a r r r , r

a on e . I t is d oubt f ul i f the E pe o s wh o foll ow ed A u g ustus l ooked up on the

r r

reli g ion of Ro e as a sha

T his is dis cussed l ater in Ch pte V
.

a r .
 TRAJAN A ND HADR IA N . 117

A D
. . 117 twenty one o f th ose moment ous years
to A D . . 1 38 ; -

when the foundation stories o f the Christian Church were

being laid in all the provinces of the Empire by the early
builders with much anxiety often in su ffering but always , ,

in sure hope Hadrian in many respects was a typical

.

R om an of the highest class ; and his c onduct towards the

Christian sect which in his days had already expanded into
,

a s o mewhat imp ortant c o mmunity in the Empire was a ,

fair example of the general policy o f the Imperial chancery

in its dealings with Christi ans all thr o ugh those years of
the sec o nd century when a kindly well disposed Emperor ,
-

was on the throne How quickly with ou t apparent pr ov o .

,

cati o n the benevolent kin dly feeling which showed itself

, ,

in a partial tolerati o n o f an unlawful religion which it ,

must be remembered Christi anity ever was could change ,

for the w orse is shown in the h arsh persecuting p olicy which

,

br oke o u t in the cl o sing ye ars of this Emper or s reign

.

H adrian a fav ourite and highly trusted relation of

,

Traj an was o nly formally ad opted as his successor to the

,

Empire in the last hours of the great Emper or s life ; and

s o me even d oubt if this formal ad opti on was no t rather th e

w ork of Traj an s w ife the Empress Pl o tina than of Traj an

, ,

himself .

There was no real oppositi on however to his succession , , ,

and his reign was singul arly free fr o m all plots and rebellions .

We except of course the great Jewish revolt which happened

, ,

far o n in the peaceful and prosperous reign Hadrian was .

an exceptionally brilliant genius ; c o mparatively little has

come d o wn to us fro m Pag an chronicles respecting his inner
life but we are t old that he was at o nce p ainter and sculpt or
, ,

musician p o et and grammarian

, The number of cities
, .

which bear his name in different pro vin ces of the Empire
dem onstrate the truth o f the asserti o n that he was an
enthusiastic builder ; an antiquarian too wh o prided himself , ,

o n his genius for research A fter makin g all all owances for .

the to o attering estimate o f his abil ities which n aturally ,

w ould be made by the contemp o r aries of an all p owe rful -

s overeign there is no d oubt of the real powers of the Emperor

,
118 E ARL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM

m
Hadrian p owers which h e l o ved to exercise generally fo r
,

the public weal His government was di stinguished by

.

innumerable acts of public unicence ; countless cities

were b eau tied and ad orned by such w orks o f utility as
a queducts and b aths Hist o ry rel ates h ow o ther gre a t .

princes in di fferent ages spent a c onsiderable p orti on of

their lives in travel But while the distant foreign expedi .

ti ons of Alexander the Great and C aesar of Charlemagne

m
,

and Saint L ouis of Charles V and the great Napole on, .

,

were s olely for the purp oses o f war the E per or Hadrian ,

is perhaps the s olitary ex ample recorded in history of a

, ,

s overeign spending fteen years in visiting his vast d omini ons

solely in the interests of peace Mem orials o f this strange .

reign o f Imperial travel can be traced in Britain Gaul , ,

A frica Egypt and th o se wide pr ovinces of A si a which in

, ,

the great days of Italian supremacy were under the rule

o f R o me .

His character was made up of strange and startling con

trasts Usually alm ost an ascetic in the rig oro us plainness
.

o f his private rep asts he was fam ous too in that age of , , ,

self indulgence and luxury for the wild excesses of his public
-

A gain he prided himself on his k n owledge of

m
banquets .
,

phil os ophy and his p owers of philos ophic argument and yet ,

we nd h i dabbling in o ccult and hidden mysteries lling ,

the positi o n o f high P onti ff as well as of an A rval br other ,

o f o ne who was initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis and

the secrets of the life to c ome * .

Hadrian was the author and inspirer o f much wise and

benev olent legislati on ; m ore especially the sad l ot of the vast

H d i n is c edited w e e w itten by h i
a r a r
-

, m
I f the w ell kn wn lines n the f te f the s ul fte de th w ith whi c h
mm
o

in his l ast d ys he h d g the ed

r r
o a o o a

a
r

,
a

a a r

m
su ely but little c f t f
r his E leusin i n te che s
o or ro a a r

m
.

A i ul v gul b l d l
n a, a a, an u a

C h p q c p i o es os es ue or or s

Qu b ib i i 1 ae nu nc a s n 0 03.

Pall idul a frig ida nudul a

l
Nec ut so es, dab is jocos .

Yet he on ce w as ve y r n ar e th ose wh o c ould h ve g iven a an an swe r to h is

question .
 m
HA DR IA N .

In th e B ritish Museu .
 TRAJA N AND HA DR IA N . 1 19

slav e class the c u rse of R o m e w as sensibly am eliorated by

, ,

his w ise and m erc iful la w s ; yet the so v ereign s p ri vate life

w as disgu red w ith sha m eless e v en w ith na m eless i mm orality

, , .

A ga i n it is diffic u lt to p rono u nce whether o r no m ercy or

,

cru elty w ere the s p ecial feat ures of H adrian s co mp le x character

.

The assassination of p ro m inent p ersonages w ho m ight hav e

p ro v ed form idable co mp etitors for the pu rp le at the o u tset
o f his reign shoc k ed and dis m ayed R o m e and at rst fears ,

w ere entertained in the m etro p olis that the age of the

tyranny of a N ero or a D o m itian w as abo u t to be re p eated .

B u t m any years of a co mp arati v ely gentle and j u st r u le

follo w ed this rst b u rst o f rec k less bloodshed and the early ,

cr u elties w hich disgu red the beginnings of his r u le w ere

in ti m e forgotten Then in the last years of his brilliant
.

reig n the cr u el s p irit see m ed once m ore to a w ak en in the

failing Emp eror cir ca A D 1 3 4 5 or a little earlier
, . .
,
The .

shoc k o f the J ew ish w ar and its dreadfu l slau ghter ; fail u re

o f strength acco mp anied w ith e v er increasing p a in and
,

w eariness hav e been p leaded as e x c u ses for this changed

and so mbre s p irit w hich o v ershado wed the three or fo u r
years p receding the E mp eror s death A long list of p ro

.

scri tio ns in w hich so m e f the noblest of the R o m ans

p o

p erished a m ong who m so m e of his o wn k insfol k w ere incl u ded

, ,

alar m ed and dist u rbed the pu blic m ind ; no one w as safe

fro m the j ealo u s s u s p icions of the sic k tyrant to whose ,

insane and baseless terrors the highest and the lo w est in

their t u rn w o u ld fall v icti m s I t w as a m elancholy close
.

to a v ery brill iant and generally p ros p ero u s ru le H is m any .

good deeds w ere co mp letely forgotten in the gloo my reign

o f terror o f the closing years and he p assed aw ay a m idst
,

m
the e x ecrations of the p eo p le o v er w ho m he had long r u led
w isely and w ell The S enate e v en w rote pu blicly to conde m n
.

his e m ory and w o uld have indignantly refused to grant

,

hi m the u s u al p osth um o u s div ine hono u rs p aid to a dead

E mp eror had not the de voted p iety of his ado p ted s uccessor
, ,

k no w n in history as A ntonin u s P iu s disar m ed their w rath , ,

and ind u ced the m v ery rel u ctantly to gi v e hi m his p lace

am o ng the gods of R o m e .
1 20 E A R LY CHRIS TIANITY AND PA GANISM .

I t w as d u ring this m elancholy p eriod that his cond u ct

to wards the Christians co mp letely changed and the bitter ,

p ersec u tion of w hich w e shall p resently s p eak w as directed

again st those q u iet and e v er loyal s u bj ects o f the E mp ire ;
adding not a fe w to the long list of m artyrs and confessors
o f the faith so m e of whose na m es hav e b een p reser v ed in
,

the Ch u rch s M artyrologies

.

S E CTION III H A D RIAN . : TH E T RAGED Y OF TH E J EWS .

IT was in the reign of H adrian that the nal e x p atriation

o f the J e w s fro m J er u sale m and its neighbo u rhood too k
p lace u nder circ um stances acco mp anied w i th the m ost aw fu l
,

bloodshed .

The story of the J e w s for a h u ndred years after the

tragedy of G olgotha is one of the saddest in history Th ee
n .

ti m es the p assionate hatred of the race am ed o u t in Op en

re v olt again st their R o m an conqu erors and o pp ressors The .

n umbers who p erished in these J e w ish w ars are p ossibly

e x aggerated b u t there is no do u bt that they mu st be co u nted
,

at least by tens of tho u sands .

The great and cro wni ng victory of Titu s and the destr u ction
o f the Te mp le and p art o f the city in A D 7 0 w ith its frightfu l . .
,

carnage did not p ro v e s u f cient to break the stu bborn s p irit

,

o f resistance I n the reign of Traj an a grav e re v olt too k

.

p lace and s p read o ver Cyp ru s p art of Egy p t and N orth

, , ,

A frica This w as got u nder ; b u t a far m ore form idable

.

rebelli on stain ed the latter years of the co mp arati v ely p eacefu l

p eriod o f H adrian w ith literal torrents of b lood The scene
o f this last ins u rrection w as J u daea and es p ecially the i
m ediate neighbo u rhood of the desecrated holy city I n this
,
.

.
m
re v olt or rebellion the danger to the E mp ire w as considered
so gra v e that H adrian s umm oned fro m distant B ritain Ju liu s
S e v eru s w ho w as re pu ted to be the ablest of his generals

m
, ,

and app ointed hi m as co mm ander of the R o m an army o f

J udaea The erce w ar a w ar n o t erely waged for national
.

inde p endence b u t fu rther e m bittered by the b u rning desire

,
 TR AJAN AND HA DR IAN . 1 21

to resc u e their holiest H ebre w sanct u ary fro m P agan dese

cration w as p rotracted for a considerable p eriod I n its .

cou rse fty strongholds w ere stor m ed nine h u ndred and

, ,

eighty v e ci ties and v illages w ere ra z ed to the gro u nd v e

-
,

h u ndred and eighty tho u sand p ersons are said to ha v e p erished

by the s w ord by fam in e or by p estilence S o say the chroniclers
, , .

o f this deadly str u ggle w ho hav e p robably so m e what ex ag

,

gerated the n um bers o f cities ra z ed and strongholds destroye d .

What re m ained of the holy city already p artially o v erthro w n,

by Tit u s w as le v elled to the gro u nd The site of the Te mp le

, .

w as sy m bolically so w n w ith salt and a ne w P agan city arose,

on the site of the lo v ed Z ion u nder the ne w na m e of E lia

, ,

with its R o m an theatre its baths and its t emp les ; the im age
, ,

o f the E mp eror being erected side by side w ith that of

Jup iter Capitol inus The J e w w as forbidden e ver to enter
.

the ne w P agan city ; only once a year w as he s u ffered to

co m e near that he m ight w ee p and m o u rn o v er the gra v e
,

of his v anished ho p es I n the J e w ish litu rgies the m e m ory

.

o f their last and cr u shing desolation w as p reser ved by sole m n

p rayers w hen on the anni versary of the v ictory of H adrian

,

the L ord of H osts w as s upp licated to pu nish this second

N ebu chadne zz ar w ho w as said to ha v e destroyed fo u r h u ndred
,

and eighty synagog u es of the chosen p eo p le .

The res u lt of this nal and co mp lete destru ction of

J er u sale m and desolation o f the H oly L and w as far reaching
, ,
-

m
in its e ffects up on Christianity The last lin k in the connection
.

o f the Ch u rch and the S ynagog u e w as no w snapp ed The lin k .

in q u estion had been the J ewish Christian co mu nity of -

J er u sale m D ating fro m the days of the A p ostles the Ch u rch

.
,

of J er u sale m had e v er been p resided o v er by one w ho w as a

J e w by birth The co mmu nity still e x acted circ um cision fro m

.

its m e m bers ; it observ ed the J e w ish fasts and feasts while ,

at the sam e ti m e it tau ght faithfull y the fu nda m ental Christian

doctrines The Ch u rch of J er u sale m w as res p ected and
.

v enerated thro u gho u t Christendo m as the Ch u rch w hich not

only o w ed its fo u ndation to the A p ostles b u t w as sanctied

m
,

by the blood of the rst m artyr To the J e w ish con v ert it .

w as es p ecially dear as it still p ractised the rites and cere onies

,
1 22 EA R L Y CHRIS TI A NIT Y AND PA GANISM .

of the chosen race B u t after the war of H adrian the J e w o f

.
,

P alestine w as for e v er ban ished fro m the scenes of the old

H ebre w glories and the Christian Ch u rch of the Circ um cision
,

fro m henceforth v irtu ally ceased to e x ist ; w hat re m ained of it

w as soon incorp orated w ith other foreign G entile co mmu nities ,

b u t there w as no longer a J e w ish centre in Christendo m

m
.

A strange ano m aly ho w e v er here p resents itself to the

, ,

historian of the early Christian Ch u rch and one that u st ,

be at all e v ents brie y d welt up on as it tells u s so m ethi ng ,

o f the p osition o f Christians in the second and third cen

tu ries in the P agan w orld of R o m e I t discloses so m ething .

of the feelings generally entertained to wards the m by the

R o m an G o v ern m ent I t hel p s to e x p lain so m e o f the cau ses
.

o f the re p eated p ersec u tions w hich harassed the Ch u rch

d u ring the rst t w o h u ndred and eighty years of its e x istence .

m
The J e w was the bitterest the m ost st u bborn foe the ,

R o m an e v er enco u ntered Three form idable re v olts against

.

the R o m an r u le in the ti es of Titu s Traj an and H adrian , , ,

had to be pu t do wn at an enor m o u s e x p ense of blood and

treasu re : on a s m aller scale for their p o w ers of resistance
had been w el ln i gh sta mp ed o u t the J e w s rose again in

m
rebellion in the co u rse of the reigns of both the A ntonines
and of S epti iu s S e v er u s ; and yet strangely eno u gh w e
ne v er nd the m p re v ented fro m w orshi pp ing in accordance
, ,

w ith their es p ecial tenets d u ring o r after their re p eated ,

and serio u s ins u rrec tions The J e w ish race after all its
.
,

u nheard of cala m ities still contin u ed to e x ist if it did not

-
, ,

o u rish and fe w indeed w ere the R o m an centres of popul a

,

tion in the second and third cent u ries w itho u t a J e w ish

synagog u e Contrary to all the ordinary law s of history its
.

e x traordinary v itality p reser v ed it fro m e x tinction a pp arent ly ,

e v en fro m di m in u tion of its num bers ; for after the fear

ful w ar of e x ter m ination u nder the lie u tenants of H a drian w e
still nd the J ew in s u ch centres as R o m e A le x andria or , ,

Carthage liv ing and trading mu ch as before the tre m endo u s

,

calam ities Nor w as he p ersec u ted

. U nhindered he w ent .
,

to the synagogu e o p enly he p ractised all the O bser v ances of

,

his cherished religion L ater w e e v en nd the Emp eror

.
 TRAJAN AND HA DR IA N . 1 23

S e v eru s s p ecially sanctioning the ass ump tion of mu nici p al

o fces by the J e w s and certainly in their case for m ally
,

dis p ensing w ith the or dinary R o m an religio u s rites which

in v ariably form ed p art o f the cere m onies attached to s u ch o fces .

We ne v er hear o f a Jew being haled before a m agistrate on

acco u nt of the religion w hich it w as w ell k no w n he p rofessed ,

ne ver of his being req u ired to s wear by the G eni u s of C aesar ,

or to scatter grains of incense on the altar of a P agan deity .

O n the other hand the Christian against w ho m no

charge of disloyalty to O wsar w as e v er ad v anced who in ,

R o m e as in the m ost re m ote p ro vinces w as e ver the strict

, ,

law a b iding citi z en who ne v er shared in any rising or

-
,

rebellion against the E mp eror or the constit u ted p o w ers of

the S tat e d u rin g the two h u ndred and eighty years
whi ch follo w ed the R es u rrection of the M aster li ved with ,

a s w ord e v er s u s p ended by a v ery slender strand abo v e his

head in a state o f p erp etu al o u tlaw ry w ith the sentence of
,

conde m nation e v er ready to be lau nched against hi m with ,

the hi deo u s p enalty of a cru el death p re p ared to be e x acted

o f hi m ; a sentence and a p enalty only te mp orarily s u s p ended
at certain p eriods of careless toleration or of tful generosity .

What w as the secret of this strange contrast betw een the

m
beha vio u r o f the R o m an a u thorities in all the p ro v inces of
the great E p ire in the case of the t u rb u lent J e w and their
behavi o u r in the case of the p atient la w abiding Christian ?
,
-
,

The tr u th w as that the I mp erial G o v ern m ent w hen ,

once the H ebre w nationality was destroyed ceased altogether ,

to fear the J ew s They see m ed b u t the p oor re m nant of a

.
'

v anqu ished nation interesting now rather than form idable

, ,

w elco m e al w ays as traders m oney lenders and the lik e u seful

,
-
, ,

es p ecially as the bitter irreconcilable foes of the Christian

, ,

who m the R o m ans di d fear w ith p erha p s an inden ab l e

, , ,

dread .

There is no do u bt whate v er that the do m inant factor in

the strange hatred o f the R o m ans for e verything connected
w ith Christianity w as fear The trader it is tru e often
.
, ,

disli ked the Christian w ith a sor di d anti p athy becau se he ,

s p oiled the v ario u s m ark ets o p en to him in connection with

 1 24 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANI T Y AND PA GA NLS M '
.

the sacrices and rit u al belonging to the gods of R o m e ;

b u t the states m an the serio u s think er w ho in his heart
, ,

not alw ays b u t at ti m es w as to o conscio u s that the religion

,

o f the E mp ir e w as largely u nreal had an u neasy con v iction ,

that in the p roscribed and hated faith there w as real life

and gen u ine p o w er Those w ho w ere acq u ainted w ith so m e
.

thing o f its w ondro u s story w ere w ell a w are ho w rap idly ,

in s p ite of the cr u shing disabilities u nder w hich the m e m bers

o f the p roscribed sect e v er li v ed it had gain ed gro u nd and , ,

w as e v er gaining gro u nd not in R o m e only b u t in m ost

, ,

o f the cities and p ro vinces of the v ast E mp ire .

There w ere m any w ho w ith u nfeigned dis m ay w atched, ,

its q u iet silent on w ard m arch and w ho m ark ed w ell its

, , ,

m ar vello u s and e v er gro w ing infl u ence S carcely a fa m ily .

,

as the second cent ury w aned b u t so m e m e m ber in it ,

belonged to the secret p o w erfu l co mmu nity o f Christians

m
,

and that m e m ber slav e or m istress freedm an or m aster ,

fro m the m o m ent of beco m ing a Christian beca e also at

once the u nresting u ntiring e m issary o f the faith
, No .

threat see m ed to terrify t h ose Christians no pu nishm ent , ,

ho w e v er terrible had any effect on the m tort u re and death

,

w ere w elco m ed rather than sh u nned A s up erh um an energy .

app eared to liv e and w ork in their rank s an energy which ,

ins p ired w ith heroic co u rage m en and w o m en drawn fro m

all classes ages se x es ; a p rincess of the I mp erial ho u se lik e
, ,

D o m itilla in R o m e an aged teacher lik e P olycar p at S myrna

, ,

a slav e girl lik e B landina at Lyons a yo u ng and c u lt u red ,

lady lik e P er p et u a at Carthage in di fferent I mp erial reigns , ,

w ere si m ilarly strengthened by this u nearthly p o w er which

li v ed in the Christian sect .

B efore s u ch a s p irit as that w hich ins p ired the h um blest

v otaries o f the new religion and which as ti m e w ent on , , ,

sho w ed no signs of w eak ness or e x hau stion the gods of ,

R o m e who w ere after all as so m e co u ld not hel p realising

, , ,

b u t a shado wy u nreality mu st s u rely in the end go do wn

, .

A nd the long line o f the great R o m an states m en w ho w e re

p ers u aded that the old S tate religion w ith its i mm e m o rial ,

traditions w as the k eystone o f the I mp erial p olicy the p olicy

, ,
 TRAJAN AND HA DR IA N . 1 25

w hich had b u ilt up and w as the b u l w ar k of R o m e s w orld

w ide E mp ire not u nnatu rally v ie w ed Christianity as the

,

E mp ire s deadlies t foe an ene my which mu st be sta mp ed ou t

, ,

destroyed delenda est Carthago .

This w as the secret reason of the changeless p olicy which

p ersec u ted the Christians who m R o m e fear ed whil e it s p ared ,

and e v en fav o u red the J e ws who m R o m e in its heart despised ,

.

S E CTION IV .
-
CH RI STIAN L I FE U N DE R H A D RIAN AS R E SE NTED
P

B Y E AR L Y CH R I ST IAN A P O L O GI STS .

W E hav e d welt a little on the life and character of the fa m o u s

E mp eror H adrian w ho certainly for the rst si x teen years
,

of his reign v ery gently inter p reted the I mp erial p recedents ,

which w ith o ne consent deter m ined to regard the Christian

co mmu nities as co mp osed of o u tlaw s who had inc u rred the
e x tre m e p enalty o f the R o m an la w S o m e hav e e v en chosen .

to regard H adrian as in one p ortion of his reign p ositi v ely , ,

inclined to fav o u r the w orshi pp ers of J es u s The tendency o f .

his rescri p t to Minucius Fundanus of w hich w e hav e s p o k en , ,

w as certainly in this direction ; for it allo wed a k indly p ro

v incial go v ernor effect u ally to disco u rage any atte mp t at
p ersecu tion .

Enco u raged a pp arently by the bene v olent attitu de of the

, ,

all p o werfu l m aster of the R o m an w orld t w o Christian scholars

-
,

v entu red to app roach the throne and pu blicly to defend the
p ro scribed and dreaded faith The rst of these for m al .

A p ologies for Christianity w as p resented to H adrian at the

ti m e of one of the I mp erial v isits to A thens by Qu adrat u s w ho ,

was som e scholars think the Qu adrat u s distingu ished for his
, ,

*
p ro p hetical gifts referred to by E u sebi u s as a disci p le of the
A p ostles The w ork of Qu adratu s has not co m e do w n to u s
. .

B u t Eu sebi u s has gi v en u s fro m it so m e strik i ng sentences

w hich s u ggest p o w er and originality and see m besides to i mp ly ,

that the w riter had been p ersonally acqu ainted w ith so m e of

H . E ,
iii . 3 7, v . 17 . I f, h ow e ve
r, it is thi s Q uad rat us h e mu t h v
s a e

r ea c h ed a great ag e w h en he p resen ed t h is
Ap l gy
o o

to th e E mp eror .
1 26 EA R L Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND P A GANISM .

those wh o had seen the L ord The p assage is a v ery re m ark able .

one and r u ns as follo w s

,
The w ork s o f o u r S av io u r w ere e v e r

p resent for they w ere real ; [they w ere ] those who w ere healed
, ,

those that w ere raised fro m the dead w ho w ere seen n ot only ,

w hen healed and when raised b u t w ere al w ays p resent They , .

re m ained liv ing a long ti m e no t only whilst o ur L ord w as on ,

earth b u t lik e w ise w hen H e had left the earth so that so m e of

, ,

these hav e also s u rv i v ed e ven to o u r o w n ti m es .

The other ap ologist A ristides E u sebi u s describes as a , ,

m an faithfu lly de v oted to the religion w e p rofess L ik e .

Qu adratu s he has left to p osterity a defence of the faith

, ,

addressed to the E mp eror H adrian Their w ork s says the .

,

historian are also p reser v ed by a great n umber e v en to the

,

,

p resent day (de the rst half of the fo u rth cent u ry) The . . .

A p ology ofA ristides w as for ages a m ong the lost w or k s of early

Christianity and w as only qu ite lately re disco v ered in p art and
,
-

pu blished in an A r m enian v ersion by the learned A r m enians

, ,

o f the L a z arist m onastery at V enice S ince then in the year 1 8 8 9 .

,
,

a S yriac rendering of the w hole te x t o f the long m issing w ork

w as fo u nd in the library of the Con v ent o f S Catherine up on .
,

M o u nt S inai ; and in the last decade of the nineteenth cent u ry

the G ree k te x t w ith v ery sligh t m odications w as fo und to be
e m bedded in th e fa m o u s ro m ance o f SS Baalaa
J osaph at a w riting that dates fro m the si x th
-
,

and
cent u ry or
,

. m
earlier and once enj oyed an e x traordinary p o pu larity Th u s
, .

thank s to the research of m odern scholars one of the m ost ,

interesting of the lost early Christian w ritings has been restored

*
to u s in G ree k and in S yriac and a p ortion of it in A r m enian ,
.

The A p ology of A ristides is o f singu lar interest to the

(M S R d H
C mp
i dC
o A i ti d i th C b idg T t d S di
are

Th e
A mit g R bi ) 1 8 9 3 ; d All d H i t
A p l gyo o of r s es

n e a m r e ex s an tu es

m
r . . ea er arr s an an on r a e o n so n , an ar ,
s .

d P
es i l i iii O th q t i w h th th A p l g y f
erseeut ons,

vo . . . n e u es on e er e

o o

o

A i ti d w dd d t th E p
r s es H di
as a t hi cc
r esse A t i o e eror a r an or o s su essor , n on nu s

Pi m thi t f t l t T d S di pp 6 1 2

m
us so e t
r een t or o ur een an u

m
y ears a er , see ex s es, .
,

an d All d i iii pp 25 3 4 tharF ch c h l p f i g th

,
. . li d t
.
,
e ren s o ar r e err n e ear er a e as

g iv b y E bi
en d J t th l tt d t i th i g f A t i
u se us an ero e o e a er a e n e re n o n on nu s

Pi w hi c h i i t i d i th T t d S di ck d
m
u s, s d by H a n a ne n e ex s an tu es, an arna an

D R e i H di ig d
oss 1 1 7 38 ; A t
. i Pi
a r an cc d d h i m i th
re ne A D .
-
n on nu s us su ee e n e

E pi
.

re .
 TRAJAN AND HA DR IAN . 1 27

historian of early Christianity ; for in the co u rse of his arg um ent

for the tr uth o f the religion o f J es u s the writer lifts the v eil ,

which hangs o v er the inner life ai m ed at and largely follo wed

by those Christian co mmu nities which had s p ru ng into e xistence
in so m any of the i mp ortant cities o f the E mp ire d u ring the
thirty or forty years w hich foll o w ed the death o f S John We . .

w i ll giv e so m e o f the v ery w ords o f A ristides They are at .

once simp le and bea u tifu l and gi v e u s a u niqu e p ict u re o f ,

*
early Chris tian life and cond u ct .

N o w the Christians 0 Kingj by going abo u t and ,

seeking ha v e fo u nd the tr u th
,
They k no w and beli e v e .

in G od the M a k er of H eav en and earth fro m who m

they ha v e recei ved those co mm and m ents which they hav e
engrav ed on their m inds which they k ee p in the h 0 p e and ,

e xp ec tation of the w orld to co m e ; so that on this acco u nt

they do not c o mm it ad u ltery or fornication they do not ,

bear false w itness n or co v et w hat is not theirs they ,

hono u r father and m other they do good to those w ho are ,

their neighbo u rs those w ho grie v e the m they co m fort ,

and m a k e the m their friends and they do good to the m , ,

and they do good to their ene m ies Their w i v es O K ing

m
,
.
,

are pu re as v irgins and their dau ghters m odest and their

, ,

m en abstain fro m all u nl a w fu l w edloc k and fro m all i

pu rity in the h O pe of the reco mp ense that is to co m e in
,

another w orld ; b u t as for their ser v ants and hand m aids

they p ers u ade the m to beco m e Christians fro m the lo v e
that they ha v e to w ards the m ; and when they hav e beco m e so ,

they call the m w itho u t distinction brethren they w al k

in all h um ility and k indness and falsehood is not fo u nd ,

a m ong the m and they lo v e on e another F ro m the w ido w s

,
.

m
they do not t u rn a w ay th eir co u ntenance and they resc u e ,

the orp han fro m hi m w ho does hi m v iolence ; and he w ho

has gi v es to h i wh o has not and when they see the stranger ,

Th e t ct
ex ra s f m th Sy ian v i
ar e t ran s a lt ed
th e Ap l gy ro e r er s on of

o o

pp 4 8 5 0 (ab v ef d t ) C mb i dg 1 8 9 3
.

S T t nd S tudi

m
ee ex s a es, .
-
o e r erre o ,
a r e, .

K in g i th th E mp H ad i an E mp

Th e dd d i a ressse s e th er e ero r r or e eror

An t ni nu P iu I t mu t b m b d th t E u eb i us and Je me b oth e pli c i tly

o s s. s e re e er e a s ro x

t ll us that th e r t f th em H adr ian is add e s d

e s o r s e .
1 28 EA R L Y CHR IS TIANIT Y AND PA G ANISM .

they bring hi m to their d wellings and rej oice o v er hi m as

o ver a tru e brother When one of their p oor p asses a way
fro m the w orld and any one of the m sees hi m then he
, ,

p ro v ides for his b u rial according to his ability ; and if they

hear that any o f their n um ber is i mp risoned or o pp ressed
for the na m e of their M essiah all of the m p ro vide for his ,

needs and if it is p ossible that he m ay be delivered they

, ,

deliv er hi m .

And if there is a m ong the m a m an that is p oor and
needy and they ha v e not ab u ndance of necessaries they fast
, ,

t w o or three days that they m ay s upp ly the needy w ith

their necessary food And they obser v e scrupu lo u sly the
.

co mm and m ents of their M essiah they li v e honestly and ,

soberly as the L ord their G od co mm anded the m E v ery .

m orning and at all ho u rs on acco u nt of the goodness of ,

God to w ard the m they p raise and lau d H i m and o v er

, ,

their food and o v er their drin k they render H i m than k s .

A nd if any righteo u s p erson of their n umber p asses a w ay

fro m the w orld they rej oice and gi v e than ks to G od and
, ,

they follo w his body as if he w ere m o v ing fro m one p lace

,

to another A nd w hen a ch ild is born to any one o f the m

.

they p raise G od and if again it chance to die in its infancy

,

they p raise G od m ight i ly as for one who has p assed thro ugh
the w orld w itho u t sins A nd if again they see that one of
.

their n umber has died in his iniq u ity or in his sins o v er ,

this one they w ee p bitterly and sigh as o v er one w ho is ,

abo u t to go to his pu nish m ent S u ch is the ordinance of .

the law s of the Christians 0 King and s u ch their cond u ct

, , .

A s m en w ho k no w G od they as k fro m H i m p etitions
,

which are p ro p er for H i m to grant and for the m to recei ve ,

and th u s they acco mp lish the co u rse of their li v es A nd .

becau se they ack no wledge the goodnesses of G od to w ards

the m 10 ! on acco u nt of the m there o ws forth the bea u ty
,

that is in the w orld B u t the good deeds which they

.

do they do not p roclai m in the ears of the mu ltitu de and ,

they ta k e care that no one shall p ercei v e the m ; they hide

their gift as he wh o has fo u nd a treas u re and hides it A nd .

they labo u r to beco m e righteo u s as those who e x p ect to

 TRAJAN AND HA DR IA N . 1 29

see their M essiah and to receiv e fro m H i m the p ro m ises

m ade to the m w ith great glory B u t th eir sayings and .

their ordinances O K ing and the glory of their serv ice

, , ,

and the e x p ectation of their reco mp ense of re w ard according

to the doing of each one o f the m which they e xp ect in another ,

w orld tho u art able to k no w fro m their w ritings

, Tru ly .

great and w onderfu l is their teaching to hi m that is w illing ,

to e x a m ine and u nderstand it Tak e no w these writings .

and read in the m and 10 ! you w ill nd that n o t of myself

,

hav e I bro ught these things for ward nor as their adv ocate ,

hav e I said the m b u t as I hav e read in their writings these

, ,

things I r m ly belie v e and those things that are to co m e ,

.

I hav e no do u bt that the w orld stands by reason of

the intercession of Christians The Christians are honest .

and p io u s and the tr u th is set before their eyes and they

, ,

are long s uffer ing and therefore w hile they k no w their

-
,

error ( t e of the G ree ks or P agans ) and are b u ffeted by

. .
, ,

the m the m ore e x ceedingly do they p ity the m as m en

,

w ho are destitu te of kno wledge and in their behalf they ,

o ffer up p rayers that they m ay be t u rned fro m their error .

Tr u ly blessed is the race of Christians m ore than all m en

that are up on the face of the earth The ir teaching is the
ga te w ay o f light ; let all those then a pp roach there u nto who
do not k no w Go d and let the m recei v e incorr up tible w ords
, ,

those ( w ords ) which are so al w ays and fro m eternity ; let

the m therefore antici p ate the dread j u dgm ent which is to
co m e by J es u s th e M essiah up on the w hole race o f m en .

The A p ology of A ristides the p hiloso p her is ended .

I n o u r s k etch of the inner life of the v ery early Ch u rch

( ci r ca as w e thin k A D
,
1 243 0) which w e are dra w ing fro m
, . .

the p ict u re of the life p ainted so v i v idly in this A p ology

o f A ristides w e mu st not o m it the dogm atic references
,
.

These are as w e sho u ld e x p ect in the circum stances ( a

,

P agan so v ereign and his co u rt being addressed by the

a p ologist ) m ost si mp le and ele m entary in character tho u gh
, ,

they incl u de the m ore i mp ortant fu nda m ental doctrines of

Christianity That a creed v ery si milar to th e Ap ostles
.
,

Creed w as c u rrent in these v ery early Christian co mmu nities

, ,
 1 30 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND PA GANISM .

of w hich Aristides w as w riting is e vident ; and this creed ,

can be w itho u t diffic u lty reconstr u cted at any e v ents in large ,

p art fro m the e xp ressions u sed in the Ap ology
,

.

Th e frag m ents of A ristides creed are as follo w s

We b el i ev e in one God
Mak er of H eaven and E arth
, Al m
i
,
g ty, h

A nd in Jesus Ch r st, H is Son, i

Born of th e V r i n ig Mary 1 .

i
H e was p erce b y th e Jews, d
di d
H e e and was b ur e , id
id
Th e th r day H e rose a a n, gi
d di
md
H e ascen e nto h eaven .

H e is ab out to co e to ju g e
.

N othing is said abo u t the sacra m ents bap tis m or the e u charist , .

This o m ission is nat u rally acco u nted for The doc um ent w e .

are citing was si mp ly an a p ology addressed to a P aga n

a u ditor ; whereas in a treatise p robably older than that of

,

A ristides the Dida ch e or Teaching of the A p ostles w ritten
,

,

,

for b eli ever s the t w o great sacram ents in q u estion occup y a

,

p ro m inent p lace I n A ristides ho w e ver the lit u rgical refer

.
, ,

ences are all o f the m ost si mp le character p rayer and than k s ,

gi v in g to G od being alone d w elt up on ; to these se v eral

references occ u r and e v en details as to the natu re o f s u ch
,

p rayers and than k sgi ving are gi v en p rayers for the enem ies
of Christians being e x p ressly m entioned I n close conn ec .

tion w ith these general notices on p rayer stands a reference

to fasting which is allu ded to in the A p ology as a p ractice
,

Tex ts and S tudies Th e A p ology f

o A ristides (S . R d
ea er H i ) pp arr s , .

A i ti d h
1 Th e w ords of thi ti cl f h i c dr s Th C h i t i
es ere on s ar e o s ree are e r s an s

th c k th b gi i g f th i li gi f m J Ch i t wh i m d th
m
en re on e e nn n o e r re on ro esus r s ,
o s na e e

S f G d M t H i gh
on o o d it i i d th t G d c m d w f m h v
os ,
an d f m s sa a o a e o n ro ea en , an ro

a H b w vi gi t k d cl d Him lf w i th h d i d ght f
e re r n oo an a se es ,
an n a au er o an

th dw l t th S f G d T hi i t ght f m th t G p l whi c h li ttl wh il

ere e e on o o . s s au ro a os e a e e

g w
a o p k m g th m b i g p ch d w h i i f y l will d y will
as s o en a on e as e n rea e , ere n e a so r ea ,
e

c m p h d th p w th t i p i t
o re en e (T o l t d f m th Sy i c v i f
er a s u on .

rans a e ro e r a ers on o

th eAp l gy o o .
 TR AJA N AND HA DRIAN . 1 31

obser v ed by the co mmu ni ties for who m the w riter w as p lead

ing S u ch fastin g is not m entioned as ordered or as p art
.

,

o f the r u le of Christian life b u t si mp ly as a bit of genero u s

,

self de nial on the p art of p oor fol k who w ere in the habit
-
,

of fasting for t w o or three days so as by this m eans to be

able to sav e so m ething to p ro v ide for the needs of brethren

p oorer than the m sel v es .

S i m ilar directions on fasting are gi v en in the S i m ili

t u des of H er m as w ritten only a fe w years later in this
,

cent u ry where directions are gi v en that on the day o f a

,

fast only bread and water ( the bare necessaries of life ) are
to be eaten and the a m o u nt thereby sav ed is to be giv en
,

to the needy .

O ne c u rio u s m ar k of the v ery early date of this w riting

o f A ristides has been p ointed o u t in the co mp arati v ely
friendly s p irit with w hich the J e w s are all u ded to They .

are s p o k en of ( in S ection x i v ) as being mu ch nearer the .

tru th than all the p eo p les in that they w orshi p God m ore ,

e x ceedingly and not H is w ork s ; in their co mp assionate
,

lo v e for others etc V ery different indeed was the feeling

,
.
, ,

of Christians to w ards J e w s a fe w years later as w e see for ,

instance in the all u sions to the m in the acco u nt of the

m arty rdo m of P olycar p cir ca A D 1 5 7 where the tone
,
. .
,

ado p ted to w ards the J e ws has beco m e decidedly hostile The .

Ch u rch and the S ynagogue e vidently had no t nally p arted

co mp any when the A p ology of A ristides w as pu t out

.

We p ossess another w riting which also m ay be classed

a m ong what are term ed A p ologetics the w ell k no w n and

,

bea u tifu l L etter to Diognetus

The a u thor is u n kno wn .

I t is e vidently so m e what later than the A p ology of A ristides

so m e critics indeed hav e s u ggested that it w as a treatise

, ,

s upp le m entary to it I t is best p laced bet w een that writing

.

and the rst A p ology of Ju stin M artyr its concl u ding

,

fragm ent being later than the earlier p art This w o u ld date .

it ro u ghly so m e ti m e before the m iddle of the second cent u ry .

The L etter to Diognetus also gi ves u s a fe w m ost

interesting and grap hic p ict u res of the life led by these
Christians of the second centu ry The w riter tells u s ho w .
1 32 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND P A GANISM .

they conform ed to the c usto m s o f th e co u ntry in which they

li v ed in m atters of clothing and of eating and drin k ing and , ,

while in p ossession m any of the m of the rights of citi z ens

, , ,

w ere yet u ni v ersally treated as st rangers They av oided all .

e x cesses they li v ed on earth while their hearts w ere all the

,

ti m e in heav en They s u b m itted to h um an law s and ordin

.

ances obser v ing the m w ith the greatest care ; lo v ing all m en
, ,

tho u gh p ersec u ted by all and conde mned by those w ho k ne w ,

nothing abo u t the m and their li v es ; they w ere e v il s p o k en -

o f pu t to death b u t death m eant to the m eternal l ife ; they

,

w ere hated by the J e w s p ersecu ted by the G ree k s and yet , ,

in s p ite o f all they k e p t ad vancing and mu lti plying day by

day The co mm on m ode of pu nish m ent to which they w ere
.

s u bj ected says the w riter of the letter w as e x p os u re to w ild

, ,

beasts or conde m nation to the am es The e p istle to .

D iognetus w as e vi dently the w or k of a scholar .

S E CTION V .
TH E P E RSE CUTION IN TH E L A ST Y E ARS OF H A D RIAN .

WE hav e already allu ded to the change in the feelings of

H adrian to w ards the Christians in the latter p art of his
reign This change w as p robably occasioned by his bitter
.

resent m ent at the great J e wish rebelli on I t w as long before .

the R o m an w as able to disting u ish acc u rately bet w een the

J e w and the Christian The irreconcilable hatred o f the.

J e ws for the Christians e v entu ally no do u bt e ffected this I n .

J er u sale m H adrian s di sli k e of the Christians w as es p ecially

,

m ar k ed by his desecration of all those p laces v enerated by all

Christians alik e H e lled up the de p ression in the little
.

v alley w hich se p arates G olgotha fro m the H oly S e pu lchre ,

th u s destroying the ancient land m ark s and altering beyond

recognition the ol d as p ect of the v enerated s p ot The ca v e .

of the N ati v ity w as transfor m ed into a grotto sacred to

A donis w hile a consecrated w ood and a te mple of A donis
,

co v ered the holy site of B ethlehe m O n a p ortion of the .

v ast enclos u re of the H oly H o u se of Z ion once the j oy ,

of the w hole earth arose a lordly te mp le dedicated to
,
 TRAJAN AND HA DR IAN . 1 33

Jup iter of the Cap itol The R o m an E mp eror in these sad .

,

latter years of his brilliant life seem s to ha v e tak en a s p ecial ,

interest in dishono u ring and destroying the m ost sacred and

re v ered sanct u aries of that de v oted and qu iet sect to whose
earnest p leadings in his earlier and noble years he had listened
w ith see m ing interest and w hose v otaries he had e ven p ro ,

tected u nder the m antle of his I mp erial p o w er .

F inally at R o m e and u nder the v ery shado w of that ,

enor m o u s and fantastic p alace v il la at Tib u r then al m ost

* -
'

a s u b u rb of the I mp erial city to the erection of w hich

H adrian the E mp eror sic k ali k e in m ind as in body de v oted , ,

the bo u ndless reso u rces of the E mp ir e began that bitter ,

cr u el p ersec u tion of the Christians w hich dark ened his closing

days .

Tradition not v ery co p io u s as far as regards these earlier

,

years of the second cent u ry has p reser v ed for u s a fairly ,

long l ist of Confessors of the F aith w ho s u ffered m artyrdo m

u nder H adrian The great m aj ority of these of co u rse belong
.

to the p eriod co v ered by his closing years The m ost dis .

tinguish ed of the m w as S Teles p h oru s B isho p of R o m e w hose .

, ,

glorio u s m artyrdo m w as m entioned es p ecially by I ren aeu s

( A dv H a er . .
,

B u t the story another e p isode of Christian s u ffering of

for the N a m e which mu st be dated cir ca A D

, . .

m

certainly not long before H adrian s death has obtain ed a ,

far w ider n otoriety than that of the m artyr B isho p of R o m e .

The A cts of S Sy ph orosa r in thi s once w idely

.

read and co mp arati v ely po pu lar class of li teratu re w ere w ell

k no w n and highly estee m ed M odern criticis m dealing

m
m
.

L i

i d i cul vill mb l e 1e r v ep t i t b g i li

m
ense et r e a q ui se d un e our eo s r a s

vc l es c d un t t p i n t E mp e u c l l mb l g d

a e resso ur es ou u ssa re r cc o ossa asse a e e

b ati ents de t o us l es p ay s et de t ou s l es styl esq L y c

av ec son A c d mi e, son a e, son

P ry t
an e, vall e de T emp e son Po ti qu e
sa , r d P c il e
a oe C l d C pe
,
son an a e ano ,

son Th i tre g e c z son T h eat e l at i n ju sq u a

r , r ,

son E ly e t s e E f d t le son n er on a

m asse cap i c ieuse couvrai t une surface de se p t mill m i Al l d H i t

ml

r es ro a ne . ar : s .

d sP
e cuti n
erse i v4
'

o s, . . .

f Ruinart, A eta S incera, thus p ak s e s of th e

A ct s of S Sy.
ph orosa

De
c o u m since itate null us v i detur dub itan di
r r lc
o us .

He gi v es th e y et ear i er d at e
of A D .1 20 for th e m art y d om ; th e l at e
. r r da te h ow
,
ev gi v
er, en a o b v e is no d oub t
th e a ccu ate on e r .
1 34 EA RL Y CHR IS TIANIT Y AND PA G ANISM .

es p ecially w ith internal e v idence has branded the recital

w ith gra v e do u bts res p ecting its gen u ineness ; b u t the
m ore conser v ati v e Sp irit which has lately p re v ailed b y
'

s u bj ecting the A cts to a searching critical e x a m inati on ,

m
has largely dis p osed of these obj ections and has sho wn ,

e ffect u all y that none of the circ um stances connected with

the charge m ade against S Sy ph orosa and her sev en .

sons o r w ith the trials that ens u ed or with the m artyrdo m s

, ,

which closed this stern sad e p isode are any of the m , ,

i mp robable or in any w ay l i able to the i mpu tation o f being

,

u nhistorical ; w hile the disco v eries res u lting fro m recent

researches cond u cted by scientic antiqu arians hav e gone

v ery far to establish the s u bstantial tru th o f the A cts

in q u estion The story is as foll o w s and s upp lies a good

.
,

ill u stration of the m anner in w hich the I mp erial rescri p ts

w ere pu t in action w ith fatal res ults in the case of the
,

acc used Christians .

The j ealo u s and hostile p riests and ofcials o f the Tib u r

te mp les app ear to hav e bro u ght before the sick and s up er

m
stitio us E mp eror an oracu lar m essage co mp laining o f the

m
v e x ation cau sed to the R o m an gods by the daily p rayers of
Sy ph orosa and her sons to the G od o f the Christians .

Sy ph orosa belonged to a res p ected R o m an fa m ily w hich

had already m ade itself notorio u s by its de v oted attachm ent to
the p roscribed religion and had in p ast years in the p ersons of
, ,

t w o distingu ished ofcers of the R o m an arm y contrib u ted ,

its q u ota to the increasing rank s o f the m artyr arm y

m
.

H adrian hi m self cond u cted the j u dicial inqu iry and ,

co mm anded Sy ph orosa the w ido w of one of the soldier

,

m artyrs in qu estion to sacrice to the all p o werfu l national

,
-

gods on p ain of being sacriced herself with her sons The , .

A cts relate that u nd i s m ayed by threats and p roof e v en

, ,

against tortu re the R o m an lady re m ained steadfast and

, ,

w as e v ent u ally thro w n into the ri v er A nio w ith a stone

fastened ro u nd her neck O n the follo win g day her sev en
.

sons w ere sev erally interrogated and o n their p ersistent refu sal
,

to sacrice to the heathen deities w ere pu t to death in ,

v ario u s w ays and w ere interred together in a dee p d u g p it

, .
 TR AJA N AND HA DR IA N . 1 35

These se v en m artyrs ha v e al ways been kno wn as the se p te m

b ioth anati .

The red actor or re v iser of the p resent v ersion of these

A cts of M artyrdo m w hich w e no w p ossess has a pp arently ,

added little if anythi ng to the original recital N o eloqu ent

, ,

o r elaborate disco u rse by w ay of defence is pu t into the m o u ths

of the v icti m s no circ um stances of m iracul o u s a pp ro v al or

,

interp osition are s up eradded to the simp le tru e sto ry V ery .

m
little indeed of the m arv ello u s app ears We are acc u ra tely told .

in the A cts that the p lace w here the bodies of the se v en
brothers w ere laid w as henceforth called A d Sep te B ioth an

a tos (the p lace of the se v en w ho p erished by a violent death) .

A s tim e w ent on the original G ree k na m e by whi ch the s p ot

,

m
w as kno wn in the days of H adrian w hen G ree k w as the ,

fashionable langu age of the E mp ire beca m e the abbre viated ,

L atin app ell ation A d Sep te Fr a tr es and by this nam e the ,

,

s p ot was e v en called all thro u gh the M id dl e A ges .

A n d in o ur own day and ti m e the s p ot has been identi ed

Wi th stri k ing p roof S o m e nine miles fr o m R o m e on the .
,

*
V ia Tib u rtina the re m ains of a basilica b u ilt on to a mu ch
,

s m aller p ile hav e been unearthed a k ind of chap el with three ,

a p ses a v ery ancient form Th e dee p gra v e all u ded to in the

,
.

A cts co u ld clearly be traced The little tri p le ap sidal chap el .

,

m
or m ore p robably the yet earlier and h um bler b uil din g all u ded

to in the A cts w as raised as w as the c u sto m o ver the

, , ,

m
m artyrs grav e Then as ti e w ent on p robably early in the

.
, ,

m

fo u rth cent u ry the li ttle m e m oria or chap el becam e too
,

s m all for the e ver increasing n umber of visitors and p il gri s

to the sacred resting p lace of the children o f Sy ph orosa ; and -

the large basili ca w as b u ilt as w as so often the c u sto m adj oining , ,

the p ri m iti v e m e m ori a 1 The cro wd of p ilgrim w orshi pp ers

A l dy in th v nt nth c ntu y B i th t g t pi n f cat c mb

m
rea e se e ee e r , os o, a rea o eer o a o

ex pl t i n h d n t i c d th main f uin d c hu ch n th p ot whi c h th

ora o s, a o e e re s o a r e r o e s e

p pl f th di tri ct till call d f B si R

m
eo e o e tt f tt s C s S tt n e a se e ra e. . o o, o a o era ea ,

pp 1 05 1 09
-
.

l
vari ab l e an c i en t C h i stian custom Th e o i ginal
.

1 Th i s w as th e t
a os in r . r

t omb of th e saint or ar yr w as ever l eft un dist ur be d an d th e li ttle m emo i a

m t ,
r

or c h ap el o i gin all y b uil t ove th e t omb em i ned untouch d w hi l e to acc omm odate
r r r a e ,

th e in c easi n g numb er of pil gri m s w h o vis i t ed th e sac red sp ot adjoin ing th e c hap el
r ,

a large c h ap el o c h ur c h w as b uil t
r r .
1 36 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND PA GANISM .

asse m bled in the larger basilica co u ld th u s see and v enerate

the to m b in the little b u ilding j oined on to it .

The m e m ory of this early m artyrdo m has th u s been k e p t

ali v e for m ore than se v enteen and a half centu ries and these ,

late di sco v eri es hav e set their seal up on the s u bstantial tr u th

o f the story contained in the A cts H e w o u ld be a rash

.

m an says a m odern scholar of high re pu tation who w o u ld
, ,

v entu re to tear no w fro m the history of H adrian s reign the

blood sta ined p age on w hich this sad record of early Christian
-

life is told .
 1 37

C HAP TE R V II .

TH E R E V I VA L OF P AGANI SM .

S CTE ION I TH E
. ROMAN R E L I GION .

A V E RY imp ortant q u estion arises in the story of the early

str uggles bet w een Chr istianity and P aganis
for an ans w er
w hich p resses
The religion o f J es u s very soon w e hav e
.
m ,

seen m ade a r m lodgm ent ou tside the n um erou s class o f

,

freed m en p etty traders and sla v es

,
I n the rst cent u ry , .

w e nd already p ersons connected w ith the I mp erial co u rt

con v erts to Christianity w hich had e v en m ade its w ay ,

a m ong m e m bers of the I mp erial fa m ily Early in the second .

cent u ry m en of high c u lt u re s u ch as A ris tides and later in , ,

the sam e cent u ry Ju stin Minucius F eli x M eli to of S ardis , , ,

and m any others wrote elaborate treatises in defence of the

ne w faith I n R o m e in E p hes u s in S m yrna in A thens and
.
, , , ,

in co u ntless other imp ortant centres the Christians e v idently ,

for m ed at an early date no inconsiderable p o rtion of the

p o pu lation A t the end of the second centu ry the Christian
.

p eo p le w ere so n um ero u s that Tert u lli an of Carthage wrote ,

so m e what rhetorically p erhap s as follo w s : I f w e Christians ,

w ere to se p arate o u rsel v es fro m you yo u w o u ld be affrighted ,

at yo u r solit u de yo u w o u ld be alar m ed at the silence whi ch

,

w o uld in a w ay rese m ble the p aralysis of a dead w orld
, , .

H o w then ca m e it to p ass that P aga ni s m as it is co mm only

, , ,

u nderstood w as enabled to hold its o w n and e v en to m ak e

,

head against the steady p rogress of s u ch a religion as

*
Christianity P aganis m w ith its silly and m onstro u s fables ,

It see m cl
th t C h i ti ni t y t t w g ene ally ec i ved in th e
s ear a r s a ,
a rs ,
as r r e , os

c i cl w h e it p ch in g nd t e ch in g p n et t d w i th c n id b l f v u
r es re s r ea a a e ra e , o s era e a o r

g owt h f th h o t il f lin g m n g th p p l w a som ew hat l t

.

Th e r o e s e nd
ee a o e eo e s a er, a .

w s due to v i ou
a c i l c u e inju y t c t in t d dome ti c p t i ns
ar s so a a s s, r o er a ra es, s se ara o ,

and th e l ik e ; th d v se f eelin g b in g f st e ed b y int e t d p e n

ese a er s e o r res e rso s .
 1 38 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NI T Y AND PA GA NISM .

w ith its i mm oral D eities ; fables which the learned and

c ultu red of the rst q u arter of the rst cent u ry u tterly dis
belie v ed D eities that at the sam e p eriod w ere o p enly
,

derided by a large m aj ority of all classes and orders of the

ci vilised R o m an w orld 7
A n d y et i t did The serio u s O pp osition of P aganis m re v i v ed
.

and increased steadily as the years of the E mp ire rolled on .

S o m ething mu st ha v e ha pp ened to acco u nt for the stri k ing

change in the p osition w hich P aganis m had co m e to occupy
in the m in ds and hearts of m en at the end of the second
centu ry ; a change which too k p lace ro u ghly bet w een the , ,

beginning of the rst centu ry and the last years of the

second in other w ords in the p eriod which lay bet w een the
, ,

*
accession of A u gu st u s and the death of Co mm od u s the ,

son and s u ccessor of the good and great E mp eror M arc u s

A u reli u s Antonin u s .

I n this cha p ter an ans wer to the q u estion w ill be

atte mp ted and the reasons for the changed p osition of
,

P aganis m brie y discu ssed .

The P agan religion of R o m e reawa k ened fro m w hat ,

see m ed the tor p or of a rap idly ad vancing death w as inex ,

tricab ly m i x ed up w ith the I mp erial G o v ern m ent ; and the

m
highest p ositions in religion w ere lled by the occ up ants of
the p o w erfu l ci vil p osts Th e strange deication of the .

E mp erors of which w e shall s p ea k p resently

,
ade the p ro ,

fession of Christianity which abhorred all idol w orshi p treason ,

-
,

against the S tate .

The reaw ak ened anc i ent c u lt i app ealed to all classes c u l ,

tured and ignorant ali k e I t w as serio u sly s upp orted by the .

w hole w eight of I mp erial au thority and by the p o w erfu l aid ,

o f m en of letters incl u ding historians p oets and p hiloso p hers

, , ,
.

ful l nam of th e g at E mp e o af t h i a dop t i n in 4 4 C b y Ju li us

Th e e re r r er s o B . .

C a a w Cai u Juli u C a a O cta ian us W h ave in th p ent tu d y u ed

es r as s s es r v . e e res s
'

th t i t l e A ug u tu w hi ch h
e s um d and b y w hi c h h e i
s, c mm nl y known wh n
e ass e s o o ,
e

w p ak f h i m Aug u t u w a n am n n h ad b o n b efo
m
e s e o . s s as e o o e r e re .

1 P f

Ram ay sugg t that C h i tiani ty as a ly a th t ime of Hadri n
ro essor s es s r s e r s e a

w as a f ct a in th e l ab u d R n ai an c
or f Pagani Pagani m v n un de
o re e ss e o s . s e e r

H d i an b gan to f el unde th sti mul us f th e op p o iti on of Christiani ty th e

a r e e ,
r e o s ,

p ul e f t u ning li f
s o re r e .

 THE R E VIVAL 0F PA G ANISM . 1 39

I t app ealed w ith its re v i val

,
the ancient tra di tions and of

rit u al to the R o m an p atriot w ho look ed bac k w ith regret

,

to the far p eriod w hen m en li v ed their co mp arati v ely si mp le ,

e v en a u stere w ork a day li ves ; the m en w ho w ere the real

,
- -

m ak ers of R o m e I t app ealed w ith its mysteries its oracles

.
, ,

its dream s to the s up erstitio u s a v ery large class in the

,

R o m e of the E mp ire often incl u din g the E mp eror hi m self

, .

B y its readiness to associate w ith the gods of ol d R o m e

other and strange national deities it a pp ealed to the A siatics , ,

the A fricans and the p ro v incials of G au l alik e R o m e and

, .

E p hes u s Carthage and A le x andria Edessa in the far East

, , ,

L yons in the far West w ere all eq u ally interested in the ,

P agan syste m of religion as it w as u nderstood and p ractised

at the end of the second cent u ry after Christ We mu st
therefore bear in m ind that w hen Christianity in the iddle
o f the second cent u ry w as confronted w ith P aganis m in the
,
,
.

m
for m ado p ted by the R o m an E mp ire u nder the An tonines ,

it w as confronted w ith an ad v ersary by no m eans discredited

or generally disbelie v ed .

I n the p eriod of the Antonines P i u s and M arc u s A D , ,

. .

1 3 8 8 0 the religion of J es u s w as no longer conned to an

,

obsc u re and co mp arati v ely s m all sect F ro m A D 6 4 onw ards . . .

,

it had been neither u nk now n to the G o v ern m ent nor set

a side as o f no i mp ortance The action o f N ero when he .

x ed up on the Christians as the obj ect of his terri b le p er

secu tion the behav io u r of V es p asian the corres p ondence o f
, ,

P liny and Traj an the s u ccessi v e rescri p ts of Trajan and

,

H adrian regu lating the action of the G o vernors in the case

o f acc u sed Christians the p ersec u tion in the later days of
,

H adrian all ser v e to re m ind u s that the R o m an G o v ern m en t

,

bet w een A D 6 4 and A D 1 6 1 the date of the accession of

. . . .
,

the E mp eror M arc u s A u reliu s w as w ell a w are that there ,

e x isted in R o m e and in m ost o f the p ro vin ces o f the E mp ire

a strange and earnest co mmu nity w ho chose to li v e o u tside
the p ale of the religion of R o m e This s ociety o wing to its .
,

p ec u liar tenets w hich in a w ay se p arated its m e m bers fro m

,

the ordinary citiz ens and s u bj ects of R o m e w as e v idently a ,

so u rce of grav e an x iety to the E mp eror and his l ie u tenants .

 1 40 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND PA G ANIS M .

I n the m iddle of the second cent u ry the Christians e v er ,

increasing in n um ber becam e so n um ero u s and cons p ic u o u s ,

a body that the G o v ern m ent w as forced to consider the m a

distinct p o wer in the E mp ire absol u tely o pp osed to the ,

S tate religion w hich w as closely bo u nd up w ith w ell nigh

,
-

all the ofces and ofcial dignities of the E mp ire and was ,

app arently r mly belie ved in by the E mp eror and m ore o r

less by the leading m en of R o m e .

This P aganis m the religion o f R o m e as p rofessed in the

days of M arc u s Au reli u s w as not that see m ingly chil di sh
and discredited c u lt of which Cicero s p eak s in the last
.days of the R e pu blic A great change had p assed o v er
'

R o m e in the p eriod which had elap sed since Cicero w rote .

We w ill therefore brie y rev ie w what had happ ened d u ring

, ,

this p eriod rou ghly comp rehending a cent u ry and three qu arters
,
-
,

in the P agan religio u s w orld .

I n Cicero s letters there is co mp arati v ely s p eak ing little

, ,

m ention of religion I t is tru e that so m e of the sacerdotal .

fu nctions w ere still attached to and w ere p erform ed by ,

holders of certain ofces o f the S tate B u t these o f ce holders

, .
-

w ere generally scep tics and absol u tely indifferent to the ancient ,

w orshi p in w hich they contin u ed to p erform a leading ofcial

,

p art G reat m en becam e au gu rs and p onti ffs at the sam e

.

ti m e that they w ere p raetors or cons u ls B u t the religio u s .

fu nctions which they had to discharge w ere to the m of co m

arativ el li ttle interest Cicero in his w ritings ad m irably
p y .

re p resents the s p irit of his age and ti m e I n so m e of his .

w ork s s p eak ing as a states m an h e a pp ears as tho ug h he

bel ie v ed in the reality o f the c u lt in which he shared I n .

others as for instance in h is treatise o n the N atu re of the

, , ,

G ods he s p ea k s w ith u ndisgu ised conte mp t of the deities
,

of R o m e B u t in his letters of which w e ha v e so amp le a

.
,

collection w e see what w as in the heart o f the great orator

,

and states m an I n his m o m ents of sorro w and sadness

.
,

w hen he m o u rned the loss o f a dear da ughter or grie ved ,

o v er his co u ntry s fort u nes ne v er a w his p er of eternal life

, ,

ne v er a w ord of tru st in those B eings he p rofessed to believ e

in app ears to lighten the so m bre narrati ve A nd w hen the
, .
 THE R E VI VAL 0F PA G ANISM . 1 41

end w as in sight all he co u ld say w as I f w e are a m ong
, ,

the happ y ones w e o u ght to des p ise death ; if a m ong the

,

sad ones w e o u ght to loo k for w ard to it
,
The b lessed ho p es .

o f i mm ortality w hich here and there ill um ine his w rit ings
see m to hav e bro u ght hi m no solid co m fort in his dar k
ho u r H is e xp ressions o f res p ect for the gods of R o m e w ere
.

e v idently written for the pu blic eye ; they co u ld scarcely

hav e been the o u tco m e of his o wn conv ictions .

A nd Cicero s conte mp oraries w ere lik e hi m ; w e nd

a m ong the best and noblest the sa m e contradictory state

m ents o u t w ard p rofessions of belief in w ard u tter indifference
, , .

When w e tak e up the letters of the E mp eror Marc u s

to his friend and m aster F ronto the tho u ght of the gods
, ,

and the ho p e o f the gods m eet u s in e v ery p age The .

S o v ereign and his fr iend can har dl y s u ggest a p roj ect w itho u t

adding : I f the gods p lease When F ronto for instance
.
, ,

hears that V er u s the E mp eror s ado p ted brother has

,

reco v ered fro m a serio u s sickness he writes the follo w ing , ,

e v idently s p eak ing fro m his heart : A t the good ne w s I

w ent at once to the chap el and k nelt at e ve ry altar I

w as in the co u ntry at the ti m e and I u sed to go and p ray
,

at the foot of e v ery tree sacred to the gods .

S entences lik e these occ u r and rec u r in his writings E v ery

m orning I p ray for F a u stina An x iety for the w ife of M arc u s
.
,

the res u lt of the sickn ess o f the dear one w ells up in s u ch ,

w ords as We mu st tru st her w ith the gods

.

I n the ti m e of Cicero the p hiloso p her w as w ell nigh

,
-

al ways a scep tic I n the m iddle of the second cent u ry the

.
,

p hiloso p her or m an of c u ltu re as a r u le w as a pp arently a

r m belie ver in the gods of R o m e ; not a fe w of the m w ere
s up erstitio u s in their beliefs F or instance w e nd the
.
,

p hiloso p her E mp eror M arc u s in his M editations grate fully
than king the gods for having s u ggested in drea m s re m edies
for his m alady .

What no w had bro u ght abo u t this changed state o f

things ? What had ha pp ened since the day w hen Ju li u s,

Caesar had ass um ed so v ereign p o wer in the old R e pu blic ,

so co mp letely to change the state of religio u s belief in

1 42 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND PA GANISM .

R o m e ? For conte mp t u o u s u nbelief had e v idently gi ven

p lace to a real e v en a s up e rstit io u s de v otion in the case o f

m
,

m any to the gods o f the ol d w orshi p

, .

To ans wer this q u estion w e u st rap idly glance o v er th e

p ast story of the old belie f R eligion d u ring the earlier .

ti m es of the K ings and of the R e pu blic had had great

w eight am ong m en and really in u enced the c u sto m s of
,

I taly and R o m e I t w as a creed w hich adored all forces of

.

N at u re ; fear of these deities rather than lo v e characterised

the old I talian de v otion T ullu s H ostiliu s for instance .
, ,

erected a temp le dedicated to F ear The R o m an p easant
.
,

dee p ly s up erstitio u s as he ca m e to his little h u t after his

,

day s toil dreaded lest he sho uld m eet so m e fau n or other
,

s up ernat u ral being in the gloam ing I t w as a si mp le rit u al .

which w as p ractised in early ti m es and th e gods w ere long ,

re p resented by sy m bols rather than by i mages ; Varro s p eak s

regretfu lly of the days w hen there w ere no temp les and no
i m ages in R o m e when the gods w ere adored u nder sym bols
, ,

s u ch as a lance p lanted rm ly in the earth or a stone

anointed w ith oil or a noble tree in the forest B u t this
,
.

p ri m iti v e de v otion w as so m ething real and it p o w erfully ,

in u enced the p eo p le Very early w ere religio u s fu nctio ns

.

associated with the S tate o fficial p ositions and as w e hav e , ,

m entioned w hen a R o m an beca m e p raetor or cons u l at the

,

sa m e ti m e he beca m e au gu r or p ontiff This u nion of sacred .

and p olitical ofces al w ays contin u ed a characteristic featu re

of R o m an go v ern m ent u nder the E mp ire .

F or a long ti m e these high dignities w ere the es p ecial

m
p rerogati ve of the r u ling p atrician class I n the m the p lebeian .

had no share .

The ti e cam e when a change p assed o v er the ol d si mp le

religion of R o m e I t m ay be dated fro m the p eriod of the
.

conqu est of G reece and Greece soon av enged herself on her

,

conqu erors by largely s up erseding the ancient R o m an w ays

w ith Gree k c u lt u re habits tho u ght literat u re G ree k think ers
, , , .

see m ho w e v er to hav e been mu ch str u c k and i mp ressed

, ,

w ith the s p irit o f order pu rity and m orality in R o m an , ,

p ri vate life ; of obedience disci p line and p atriotis m in R o m an

, ,
 THE R E VIVAL O F P A GA NISM
. 1 43

pu blic life The R o m ans attrib u ted the s p irit w hich the
.

G reek s w ondered at and ad m ired in great p art to their ,

religion to their fear of the gods G reat R o m an w riters and

,
.

thin k ers li k e Cicero e v en after the old belief had beco m e

,

w orn o u t re p eat this and tell u s that the R o m ans s u rp assed

, ,

other p eo p le in their dev otion to the gods that R o m e ,

vanqu ished the w orld o win g to her earnest rel igio u s belief ,

that whe n G reece rst ca m e into close contact w ith R o m e ,

R o m e w as the m ost religio u s city of the w orld and that to ,

her dee p and si mp le p iety she o w ed her greatness and her

conq u ests .

I t w as largely o wing to the re v i val of this ancient s p irit

of de v otion and p iety a re v i v al that co mm enced in the days
,

of A u gu st u s reaching p erhap s its highest de v elo pm ent in

,

the days of M arc u s A u reli u s that the P aganis m of the ,

E mp ire w as enabled for so m e t w o cent u ries and a half to

carry on its w ar w ith that Christianity to w hich in the
end it s u cc um bed .

G reece in d u e co u rse a venged herself for h er conqu est in

vario u s w ays ; a m ong others she corr up ted the old si mp licity
,

o f the religion o f the conq u ering p eo p le w h ile teaching the m ,

her o w n fables so m e beau tiful so m e m onstro u s and childish

, , .

There w ere v ery fe w of these legends or fables treating of

the gods c u rrent in R o m e before G ree k c u lt u re w as intro
duced ; and for a ti m e these ne w fables str u c k the older ,

si mp ler c u lt a fatal blo w .

O ther ca u ses too w ere at w or k w hich ser v ed to sa p and

, ,

to i mp air the p o w er of the ancient R o m an belief S trangely .

eno u gh this old religion had been s p ecially the religion o f

,

the p ri v ileged class the p atricians To these alone as w e .

,

ha v e said belonged for a lengthened p eriod the e x cl u si v e

,

right of lling the v ario u s ofces conn ected with the p riest
hood ; and in v ery early days the p lebeians w ere e v en e x
cl u ded fro m sharing at all in the pu blic religiou s rites .

G rad u ally the in u ence and p o w er of the p lebeians o f R o m e

increased rel igio u s eq u ality qu ic kly follo wed civil equ ality and
, ,

w hen the p riestly o fces w ere no longer conned to the

best and noblest in R o m e a m ark ed deterioration was soon ,
1 44 EA R L Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND PA GANISM .

visible a m ong the p ontiffs and au gu rs The old cere m onies .

w ere altered e ven neglected A s ti m e w ent on the Greek

,
.
,

in u ence abo v e referred to becam e m ore and m ore m ark ed .

The G reek dra m a when introd u ced a m ong the R o m ans

, ,

contrib u ted largely to w eak en the p o w er of the ol d religion

a m ong all classes and orders of the p eo p le We nd P la u tu s .
,

p erhap s the oldest of the R o m an G ree k school of p layw rights

-
,

o p enly p arodying the m ost v enerable for mularies of the

ancient faith Enni u s still m ore o p enly m ock ed at the gods
.

and their v otaries To Enni u s R o m e o w es a p o p ul ar transla

.

tion o f the sacred history of E uhe m er u s the obj ect of w hose ,

w or k w as to de m onstrate that all the gods in the rSt instance

had been heroic m en k ings or w arriors who had been e x alted
, ,

after their death by their gratefu l and ad m iring conte m

oraries and descendants into the p osition of deities
p .

A ll these and other m ore s u btle ca u ses had w ell nigh -

destroyed the ol d re v erence for and belief in the obj ects o f

the p ri m iti v e R o m an w orshi p and so it cam e to p ass that
, ,

in the last days of the R e pu blic Cicero who so w ell v oice s, ,

the o p inions of h is day and ti m e often w rites al m ost as a ,

sce p tic in all m atters of religion The cold res p ec t and .

for m al re v erence w hich s u ch m en as he still inc u lcated for

the ancient beliefs and rites belonged rather to S ta te p olicy
, ,

to what they belie v ed w as necessary to the w ell being of the -

R e pu blic than as w e hav e p ointed o u t abo v e to any dee p

, , ,

feeling of real con v iction .

When the R e pu blic gav e p lace to the E mp ire it is not too

m
,

mu ch to say that in R o m e religion w as fast dying ou t M any .

o f the te mp les o f the ost a u gu st a m ong the gods w ere e v en

falling into r u in The sacred p ossessions attached to the m
.

w ere being rap idly alienated The hall o w ed w oods and gro v es
.

w ere often conscated by indiv id u als for p ri vate pu rp oses ; not

a few o f the ancient festi v als w ere neglected ; the chief sacer
dotal dignities w ere frequ ently u nclai m ed ; and V arro did
not hesitate to af r m that the religion of R o m e w as e v en
p erishing not o w ing to the attack s o f its foes b u t becau se o f
, ,

the neglect of its v otaries .

 THE R E VI VAL 0F PA GANISM . 1 45

S E CTION II . TH E AU GUSTAN AWAK E NIN G .

TH E grav e danger to the w ell being of R o m e which w o u ld -

s u rely res u lt fro m the absence o f all rel igio u s belief a m ong th e
p eo p le w as p ercei ved by se veral of the lead ing m en in the
,

p eriod of transition w hich i mm ediately follo w ed the do wnfall

o f the R e pu blic ; b u t it w as the geni u s o f O ctavianus C a esa r
( A u gu stu s ) which recognised the i mp erati v e necessity of religion
as the fo undation storey of any p erm anent G o v ern m ent Th e .

v ery na m e by w hich this greatest of the E mp erors is k no wn

in h istory and which he trans m itted to a long line of I mp erial

m
,

s u ccessors as their p ro u dest title Au g u st u s w as a term

borro w ed fro m the ancient R o an rit u al lang uage where it ,

is u sed as the designation o f a te mp le consecrated w ith

sole m n rites I n ass um ing this se m i sacred title he as it
.
-
, ,

w ere antici p ated the ap otheosis w hich a w aited hi m after

,

death and clai m ed too that while on earth the s up re m e

, ,

m aster o f the R o m an w orld was the re p resentati v e of the

i mm ortal gods I n the co u rse of his reign the occ up ant of
.

the ofce o f P ontife x M a x i mu s died Augu st u s at once too k .

up on hi m se lf the ofce which carried w ith it the headshi p of

,

religion in R o m e I t w as said with j u stice that the ho u se

.

where this great restorer o f the ancient c ul t d w elt on th e

P alatin e du ring his long m o m ento u s reign in so m e res p ects
, ,

rese mbled a te mp le in its for m and s p ecial adorn m ent I t is .

no m ere qu aint fancy w hich traces to the w ork and clai m o f

A u g u st u s the sem i di vine halo which has e v er cro w ned th e
-

m
sacred heads of a long line of Christian E mp erors and K ings ,

w ho m ore or less in di fferent lands ha v e s u cceeded to h is

, ,

p o wer and p osition They li k e h i . tho ugh m any w ith a

, ,

different and better title clai m to reign in so m e m eas u re as

,

the v ice gerent of G od on earth

-
.

B ut it w as not m erely by the ass ump tion of titles and

dignities or by the p ec u liar adorn m ents of his p alace that
A u gu st u s p layed the p art of a religio u s restorer and refor er
H e fo und when he becam e E mp eror m ost o f the ancient
, ,
m .

te mp les falling into r u in and decay I n the restoration of .

K
 m
1 46 EA R L Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND PA GA NISM .

th e old shrines and in the erection and s ump tu o u s adorn ent

o f ne w te mp les he s p ent vast s um s and p ers u aded the ,

re p resentati v es o f the great ho u ses to follo w his e x amp le in

m
this generosity A nd th u s as the years of his p ros p ero us
.
,

r eign roll ed o n th e old w orshi p w as grad u ally restored to far

m
,

ore than its ancient s plendo u r H e neglected nothing which

.

ight thro w l u stre up on the restored religio u s rites O n the .

p riests and v estals he conferred m any p riv ileges and an e x alted

r an k requ iring fro m senators and other disti ngu ished p ersons
,

the sam e m in u te attention to all p o ints of ritu al observance

w hich he w as e v er carefu l to sho w hi m self I t is in dis pu table .

that the w or k of A u gu st u s in a m ar v ello u s w ay infu sed ne w

l ife in to a religion w hich in the last p eriod of the R e pu blic
s ee m ed to be a dying and w orn o u t c u lt ; nor did he -
in his ,

c are for the shattered fanes and bro k en altars and neglected

rites of the discredited gods of R o m e forget to legislate for ,

th e i mp ro v e m ent of the m oral life of his city and E mp i e

'

A u gu st u s as w e hav e said felt that the basis o f all stable

, ,

g o v ern m ent mu st be la id up on the so u nd fo u ndation of

r eligion and up on laws w hich ai m at m orality and pu rity

,
.

Th e great E mp eror w as e mp hatically a great legislator as w ell

a s a restorer o f the ancient religion .

A sing ularly brilliant gro up of w riters adorned the co u rt

o f A u g u st u s The historian the p oet and the p hiloso p her
.
, , ,

e ach w as re p resented ; and the w ork s p rod u ced un der the

s hado w of the E mp eror are a m ong the m ost fa m o u s of the

w ritings of antiqu ity L i vy P ro p erti u s H orace O vid V irgil

.
, , , , ,

to tak e the m ost cons p icu o u s e x a mp les are nam es w hich ,

a pp arently w ill ne v er die while the w orld end u res .

H istorians and p oets all stru c k m ore or less the sam e

n ote the note their I mp erial m aster lo v ed : the glorication
,

o f the o ld si mp le R o m an life and the old si mp le R o m an

,

faith in the gods I t w as to these that the p resent s u rp ass

.

ing grandeu r o f R o m e w as o win g The b u rden o f the song

.

o f the brilliant w riters o f the co u rt o f A u g u st u s w as 0 that

the p resent generati o n o f R o m ans who ha v e entered into the

fr u it of their ancestors toils w o u ld follo w the m in their life

, ,

a n d i m itate the m in their w orshi p

' 2)
.
O nce own ed m
by Ed
A U G UST US

u nd B urk e,
.

n o w in th e Br i ti sh Museu m
.
 THE R E VI VAL OF PA GA NISM . 1 47

I n the case of of these not p erhap s the v ery greatest

two , , ,

o f that i ll u strio u s gro up O v id and H orace w e ha v e so m e do u bt

, ,

as to their sincerity in reall y desiring the refor m s w hich

they ad v ocated ; u ndo u btedly their w ritings are m ore se v ere
than w ere their li v es and e v en in these w ritings a terrible
,

p ict u re of the society in which they li ved and in the e x ,

trav agan ce o f w hich they shared and e v idently delighted is ,

p ainted by the m Th e o ne O vid gi ves u s s k etches of the

.

life of the i mm ortals ; b u t his e vil p ictu res of the life led
by the d w ellers on O ly mpu s are e v idently based on his too
faithfu l m e m ories of the life led by his conte mp oraries and
associates at R o m e The other H orace w itho u t the thin
.

v eil w ith w hich O vid has co v ered his s k etches o p enly draw s ,

p ictu res of R o m an life R o m an ai m s and ho p es ; and they

,

a re too often degrad ing at ti m es ai m less e v en ho p eless

, ,
.

Their advice it mu st be confessed has e ver an insin cere

, ,

ring and their w ords w ere e vidently not s u f cient serio u sly
,

to in u ence society for good I ndeed had w e only the . ,

writings o f the p o pu lar p oets O vid and H orace w e sho u ld

, ,

scarcely hesitate in co m ing to the concl u sion th at the

a tte mp ts o f A u gu st u s at refor m ation i n m orals and his ,

ef forts to restore the ancient w orshi p w ere barren of denite ,

res u lts.

B u t there w as a yet greater w riter standing at Au gu st u s

right hand who leav es a v ery different i mp ression on the

,

st u dent N o one states m an or p oet hel p ed the noble p roj ect

.
, ,

m
o f A u gu st u s li k e V irgil if others m ore or less co u rtier
li k e
; , ,

too k their one fro m that all p o werfu l E mp eror and colo u red
-
,

their w ork s w ith ai m s and as p irations borro w ed fro m h i ,

V irgil w as at least in earnest With his w hole heart and .

so u l he longed to see the p eo p le ret u rn to the old religion ;

he b elie v ed w ith an intense belief that the grande u r o f hi s
c o u ntry w as based up on the si mp le pu re life led by the ,

early m ak ers of the R o m an p o w er .

I n the G eorgics the great e p ic of ru r al life we m eet

w ith e x p ressions which e v idently ca m e fro m the heart of the

g reat p oet . H e p aints as none before hi m had p ainted ,

p erhap s none w ill e v er p aint again; l i ow the strength of a land

1 48 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANI T Y AND PA GA NISM .

lay in its p easants ho w the old r u ral life of I taly p rod u ced
,

that race of hardy soldiers which had m ade R o m e th e

m istress of the w orld The co u ntry life had e ver strengthened
.

the real religio u s feeling which was the tru e fo u ndation of

R o m an great ness I t w as no soft dreamy e xistence in which
.
,

the R o m an conq u erors w ere n u rt u red b u t a hard laborio u s , ,

.

life and in this the gods had ordered that m en sho u ld li v e

,
.

B u t the stern life of r u ral toil w as s weetened and ennobled

b y p rayer Work and p ray w as the concl u sion of the great

.

p oe m ; abo v e all things w orshi p the gods w as the sole m n

charge of the in p ri m is v enerare D eos I t w as a .

sad day for R o m e w hen the city life w ith the articial p lea
s u res o f the theatre and circ u s w as s u bstit u ted for the pu re ,

healthy joys of the w oods and the elds The city life pro .

du ced an enfeebled and deba u ched race of la z y u seless m en , ,

who belie v ed in nothing The old r u ral life on the other .

,

hand Was the m other of a hardy race o f m en who w ere

,

ready to ght and die for their co u ntry who feared th e

m
,

gods and believ ed in the re wards and pu nish m ents of the

i m ortals These m en w ere the m ak ers of R o m e
. .

B u t it w as in the rE neid that V irgil es p ecially hel p ed

A u gu stu s in his effort to bring m en back to the ol d faith The .

fam o us e p ic is before all things a religio u s p oe m The tE n eid .

.

w as for the I talians of the rst years of the E mp ire what the
religio u s e p ic of D ante w as for the m en w ho liv ed thirteen
or fo u rteen h u ndred years later .

E ven m ore than the G eorgics the ZE neid led m en

to lo v e and to re verence the old si mp le m anners and

c u sto m s w ith their all p er v ading religio u s colo u ring w hich
,
-
,

Au gu st u s so longed to reintrod u ce into the articial and

e vil society of his ti m e N e v er w as a m ore enchant.

ing p ict u re drawn than V irgil s s k etch of the ol d K i ng

E v ander li ving his ho m ely life with his brav e simp le m anly
, , , ,

ide as .

We mu st not linger u nd uly o v er the great p oe m which

m
so p o werfully aided the E mp eror in his p lans to m ak e his .

E mp ire better pu rer m ore religio u s ; one p age ho w e v er

, , , ,

u st be gi v en to the s p ecial religio u s colo u ring of the grea t

'
 THE R E VI VAL 0F PA GANISM . 1 49

p atriotic e p ic While the R o m an p oet

. largely bases his
t heology up on the scenery and legendary notices o f the
H o m eric p oe m the gods o f H o m er are p resented in the ,

R o m an p oe m u nder v ery different as p ects V irgil gi v es u s .

a so m e what m ore re v erent idea of the div inities whose

w orshi p he w o u ld fain restore They interfere less o p enly .

i n h um an affairs they d w e ll in a m ore m ysterio u s at m os p here

,
.

They p ity rather than share in m ortal p assions The R o m an .

p oet shrank fro m attrib u ting to the gods anger p assion , ,

j ealo u sy and the li k e

,
The childish and fri v olo u s coarse and .
,

eshl y legends which O v id for instance delights in re tel ling

, , ,
-

in his o wn w in ning and attracti v e m anner ne ver a pp ear ,

i n V irgil s great e p ic

The esti m ate o f di vinity which V irgil .

p ressed up on his readers w as a lofty one The gods w ere .

th e s up re m e refuge for instance of the u nha pp y the sad , , ,

hearted the o pp ressed H is hero a child o f the gods so

, .
, ,

resigned so distru stfu l of hi m self so ready for sacrice of self

, , ,

m
s o s u b m issi v e to the w ill of hea v en is al m ost in character a ,

Christian hero I ndeed in all the Christian ages V irgil has

.
, ,

been ad i red by no t a fe w saintly follo w ers of J es u s of N a z areth ,

a l m ost as a p ioneer of the nobler and pu rer faith D ante .

w ell co mp ares hi m to one w al king in the dark n i ght and

c arrying b u t holding all the w hile behind hi m
,
a b u rning ,

torch w hich ser v ed as a light not for hi m self b u t for those

, ,

*
w ho follo w ed in his w ak e .

As ear t t ine q u t d t c n i d bl e l ngth Vi gil

ly as A D . . 3 25 C on s an o e a o s era e r

s

F urth E cl g u
o v y ly t ti m ny t th di v i ni ty f C h i t F m th t
o e

as a er ear es o o e o r s . ro a

p e i d l l th gh th Mi ddl A g th g t L tin p t w
r o , a ro u g d d in th
e e es, e rea a oe as re ar e e

C h i ti n C h c h s
r s a nd ur p e ch th g h p e h p unc n ci u ly of
a a seer a a r a er , ou r a s o s o s ,

Ch i t
r s Itw
. v n th h b i t in m c unt i in th d m ti c p nt ti n
as e e e a so e o r es, e ra a re r ese a o s

w hic h w cu t m y in th e i t u l f th C h i ti n f t i v l in th n v f g t
ere s o ar r a o e r s a es a e a es o rea

c hu c he t int duc th m p om i n nt p p h t f th O l d T t m nt w h
m
r s, o ro e e ore r e ro e s o e es a e o

p p h t i c t tim ni t th
,

re c i t d b ef th c ng g ti n th i m t f m
e or e e o re a o e r os a ou s ro e es o es o e

c omin g M s i h ; ng w h m
e s a ft M D vid I i h Mi c h nd th f
a o o ,
a er oses, a , sa a , a ,
a o er s o

th p oph t h d b n i nt d c d Vi g i l c m f w d nd w inv i t d
mm
e r e s a ee ro u e ,
r a e or ar , a as e as

P p h t f th G ntil to h h i w i tn t th C h i t in th l ng u g

m
ro e o e e es re earse s e ss o e r s e a a e

o f th w ll k n wn
e E cl gu A f u di l l g nd l t h w S P ul
e -
o o e .

a o s e ee v a e e r e a es o a

p i ng b y N pl in th c u f h i t v l v i it d th t b f Vi gil nd
.
,

ass a es e o rse o s ra e s, s e e o o r a

w p in g v
,

ee th e g v o th dd er d th e d d Wh t w ul d I n t h v m d
ra e, us a resse ea a o o a e a e
1 50 EA RL Y CHR IS TIANIT Y AND PA GANISM .

V irgil m ay be tak en as a typ ical R o m an of the m or e .

serio u s class w ho fro m p atriotic reasons if n ot on dee p er and

, , ,

m ore earnest gro u nds loo k ed with regret on the p ast with its
, ,

m ore a u stere life and its belief in the ru le of the gods ; who
,

gl adly w elco m ed the m eas u res which A u gu st u s too k to bring

abo u t a ne w state o f things in R o m e esp ecially in its m oral ,

and religio u s life The E mp eror had no ally in his p atrioti c

.

w ork so in u ential as the u ni v ersally ad m ired p oet .

The v i vid re p resentation of the life of the so u l after death ,

with its li ving p ictu res of the re wards p ro vided for the good ,

and of the pu nish m ent reser v ed fo r the e v il contained in the ,

S i x th B ook of the ZE neid read and re read as it w as by all

,
-

sorts and conditions of m en strangely affected R o m an society , ,

and directed m en s tho u ghts to the e v er p ressin g q u estions

connected w ith the hereafter .

I n his lifeti m e V irgil had absolu tely no ri v al A ll seriou s .

p ersons e v en if they differed fro m his concl u sions w elco m ed

, ,

and read his v erses They w ere u sed al m ost at once as a

.

te x t boo k in the schools S o great w as his p o pu larity that it

-
.

is e v en related ho w on one occasion when he w as noticed ,

entering the theatre the v ast asse m blage rose as one m an and
,

greeted hi m as it w as the habit to greet Au g ust u s hi m self .

A nd his p o pu larity w as end u ring The in u ence of s u ch p oe m s .

so w idely and generally read and st u died as were the G eorgics

an d the Al neid mu st hav e been enor m o u s and contrib u ted
i
,

not a littl e to the restoration of the ancient faith .

O ne sorro wfu l fact ho w e v er mu st be noticed in this

, , ,

ou r brief s k etch o f the re a w a k ening of the w orshi p o f th e -

old gods o f R o m e I n s p ite o f A ugu stu s p atriotic z eal for

.

th e reform ation of m orality in the face o f the ad m irable law s ,

which w ere pu t o u t to this end in his reign w ith all his ,

of th ee, O th g
ou t reates of th e p toe s, h ad I on ly f o un d th ee ali ve
Th e ol d r hy th m
.

m
.

t di t i y h ym p m
m
of th e ra onar n or oe r un s th us

Ad
t
m
Maronis
it
mm ausol eu

m m
D uc us , fud s uper cu

viv m m
Pia
e rore l acry a
e .

mim

Que te, inq uit, re didisse
Si te u inv eu isse
Poe taru Max s 1
'
 THE R E VI VAL OF PA GANISM 151

a pp arently real lo v e for the m ore a u stere and pu rer life of th e

p ri m it i v e R o m an p eo p le it w as an o p en secret that the p ri vat e
,

life o f the great E mp eror w as terribly stained w ith grav e m oral

irreg ularities ; and later in his reign his o wn sin see m s to hav e
bro u ght its pu nish m ent w hen the disorders disco vered in the
,

I mp erial fam ily in the p ersons of his dau ghter and grand
dau ghter w ere pu nished w ith e xile and e ven in the case of ,

m
so m e of the gu ilty acco mp lices w ith death And a m ong h is .

o w n i mm ediate m inisters friends and co u rtiers there w er e

, , ,

m any S ybarites in their w ay of li v ing ; m any w hose a d ira

tion of the ol d simp le chaste l ife w as conned to their w ord s
and e x p ressions b u t fo u nd little p lace in their daily life
, .

There is no do u bt ho w sadly these things too w ell kno wn ,

in the city and E mp ire m ilitated against the co mp lete s u ccess

,

of the re aw ak ening of religion o f the reform ation of m orals

-
,

in R o m e and the p ro vinces B u t when d u e allo w ance for all

.

these hindrances and dra wback s has been m ade there is no ,

do u bt that the wishes of A u gu stu s so m agni cently v oiced ,

by V irgil es p ecially in the q u estion of the re v i v al of religion

, ,

w ere in a large m eas u re cro w ned w ith s u ccess ; and before th e

long and brilliant reign of the rst great E mp eror w as clos ed ,

the religi on of R o m e p artly based on p ri m iti v e I talian

,

traditions p artly up on the H o m eric p resentation of G ree k

,

rel i gion w ith certain m o dications s u ggested by later p hilo

,

so p hic tho u ght had beco m e once m ore a p o wer in the E mp ire
,
.

The great gods s u ch as the Jup i ter of the Ca p itol the V en u s

, ,

G enetri x the M ars Ultor the Ap ollo of the P alatine w hose

, , ,

s p lendid te mp les reb u ilt or restored do m inated the great city

, ,

w ith their lordly m agnicence w ere no longer the obj ects o f

,

conte mp t and derision as in the latter years of the R e pu blic ;

the rites p erform ed in their shrines by the n um ero u s p riest s
and attendants w ere once m ore shared in by the p eo p le of all
ran k s and orders fro m the senator to the sla ve ; so m e follo w ing
,

th e gorgeo u s and stri k ing ritu al becau se it w as the fashion of

the day set by the E mp eror and his co u rt others w itho u t

, ,

do u bt sharing in the restored and re v i ved w orship with feelings

of gen u ine de v otion and u nfeigned adoration .

A fter the death of the E mp eror Au gu st u s the restorer of ,

 1 52 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y AND P A GA NI SI II .

P aganis m the p eriod co v ered by the reigns of Tiberi u s Caligu la

,
.
, ,

and N ero w ith its u nbridled tyranny its cru elties its rec k
, , ,

less conscations its contemp t for life on the p art o f the

,

r u lers o f the R o m an w orld w as on the whole fav o u rable to

,

the de v elo pm ent o f the newly aw ak ened faith in the gods ;

e s p ecially fa v o u rable to a dee p ened belief in the fu t u re li fe ,

i n re wards and punish m ents after the fret and fe v er of this

p resent e x istence w ere p assed F or m en are e v er ready to .

tu rn to religion in ti m es of stress and danger and sorro w .

S o the trend of e v ents in those bloodstained reigns when ,

h um an life w as held so cheap tended to dra w R o m an society ,

in the direction p ointed out by the reform s of A u gu st us .

S trangely eno u gh tho u gh fro m v ery different m otiv es the

, ,

e v il E mp erors w ho i mm ediately follo w ed Au gu st u s w ere

s olicito u s for the p ros p erity o f religion Tiberi u s w as learned .

in ancient c u sto m s and w atched o v er the ol d Pagan rit u al

,

a nd those w ho w ere in charge o f the elaborate P agan rites ,

c onferring up on the m additional rights and p ri v ileges .

Clau di u s w as s up erstitio u sly de v o u t ; N ero who m ock ed at ,

th e w ork o f Au g u st u s and m ade light o f the gods in his ,

w ay to o w as s up erstitio u s and w as in the habit of an xi o u sly

, , ,

c ons u lting the a u s p ices The nobler s u ccessors of A ugu st u s

.

w ere all of the m an x io u s for the p reser vation of the ancient

r eligion belie ving that the p ros p erity of the E mp ire w as
,

closely lin ked w ith the m aintenance of the w orshi p of the

ods w ho m their fathers w ho laid the fo u ndation o f the
g ,

w orld E mp ire ser ved so z ealo u sly

-
, .

S CTE ION III .

-
TH E DE I FI CATION O F TH E E MPE RORS .

O N E singu lar de v elo pm ent of P aganis m req u ires at least a , ,

brief stu dy A gain and again w hen in R o m e or in the

.
,

p ro v inces a p ersec u tion o f the Ch ristians in the 25 0 years

w as form ally decreed or was s u ddenly e x cited by p o pu lar

,

c la m o u r the acc u sed Christian w as frequ ently p erhap s in

, ,

the m aj ority of cases pu blicly bro u ght in front of the statu e

,

o f the deied E mp eror and challenged if he v al u ed his life , ,

 m
THE RE VI VAL OF PA GANISM . 1 53

to o ffer incense and then to p erfor an act of adoration to

,

the I mp erial p ersonage p ortrayed by the i m age before h i

A gain and again the Christian rm ly refu sed w ith the in
m .

m
,

v ariable res u lt that the life of the bold p rotester ag ainst

this for o f idolatry w as forfeited I do not call the .

E mp eror a god w rote Tertu llian in his fam o u s A p ology
,

(33 th u s p o w erfu lly v oicing the Christian sh u dder at this

e x traordinary de v elo pm ent o f idol w orshi p ; I cannot lie

I hav e b u t one M aster who is too the E mp eror s
, , ,

M aster H i m mu st w e adore if w e w ish H i m to bless C aesar

.
,
.

D o not call hi m G od w ho can do nothing wi tho u t G od s

hel p.

The genesis of thi s c u rio u s c u lt which becam e e ventu ally

,

so p ro m in ent a featu re in the go v ern m ent of I mp erial R o m e ,

w as as follo w s A m ong the nations of antiqu ity it w as a

.

co mm on p ractice for the v ariou s cities to p ay di vin e hono u rs

to their s upp osed fo u nders This local hero w as e v er a
.

fa v o u rite obj ect of adoration a m ong the p eo p le and e v en ,

the m ore c u lt u red citi z ens j oined in the p o pular w orship for
v ario u s ob vio u s reasons I n the East the p eo p le went a
.
,

ste p fu rther and p aid di vine hono u rs to all their so v erei gns
,

w itho u t distinction w itho u t reference to their deserts as

,

fo unders legislators benefactors or conqu erors S o in Egy p t

, , , .

P haraoh w as e v er regarded as di v ine and later in the sa m e ,

co u ntry the P tole m ies w ere carefu l to m aintain their title

to their di vine ran k a m ong m en Greece in its later p eriod
. ,

w hen its ancient liberty w as gone serv ilely i m itated the East
, ,

and w as content to adore its v ario u s m asters un w orthy ,

tyrants tho u gh they too often w ere I n I taly it w as different ;

.

it is tru e that in so m e w ay the I talians chose to regard as

deities the ol d m ythic k ings of L ati um s u ch as Pious F au n u s , , ,

L atin u s ; b u t of the ancient k ings o f R o m e only R o mu l u s ,

a pp ears to hav e recei ved di vine hono u rs We ne v er hear .

e v en o f the re vered N um a o r of any of his royal s u ccessors

be ing regarded as gods in R o m e Yet e v en in R o m e and .

I taly the w ay for the later E mp eror w orshi p w as p rep ared -

by the general c u sto m in fam ily li fe which chose to regard

the de p arted in the light o f p o w erfu l Sp irits ( D ii M anes )

,
154 EA R L Y CHR IS TIANI TY A ND PA GANISM.

s p irits who w ere accessible to the p rayers o f dear ones they

had left on earth and to who m they w ere enabled under
,

certain conditions still to a fford assistance and p rotection .

Th u s the father or head o f the ho u sehold after death often

, , ,

recei ved w orshi p fro m the m e m bers o f his fa m ily The .

L ares , according to p opu lar O p inion w ere the so u ls of ,

ancestors and these L ares w ere v ery co mm only the O bj ect
,

o f fa m ily w orshi p in R o m e .

The S toic p hiloso p hy which O ften acco mm odated itself

to p o pu lar v ie w s endeav o u red to m odify this belief by teach
,

ing that it w as only the so u ls of the good and great who

w ere th u s p ri v ileged fro m their ho m e in the other w orld to
p rotect and assist their k insfolk .

B u t the rst for m ally deied P rince in R o m e w as Juli u s

Caesar No great hero p erha p s e v er cap tu red p o pular o p inion
.

as did the m ighty conqu eror w ho had w on for his nativ e

city and co u ntry s u ch w orld w ide fa m e and p o w er ; and wh o
-
,

thro u gh his m ar v ello u s series of ca mp aigns had m ade R o m e ,

the ca p ital O f an E mp ire hitherto u ndrea m ed of Ju li u s .

C aesar w as so m ething m ore than the greatest of conq u erors

m
.

A s a r uler he was p assionately lo v ed as w ell as gr eatly

ad ired in R o m e and I taly We ha v e already noticed the
.

real and intense de v otion he had a cq u ired a m ong the J e ws ,

that strangest o f foreign colonies in the ca p ital city The .

p athetic circ um stances o f his tragic death serv ed to fan the

am e o f lo v e and de v otion w ith w hich that great m aster
of the R o m an w orld was regarded at R o m e ; and the deica
tion o f Ju liu s C aesar w as the res u lt of an incontrollable
p o pu lar m o v e m ent I t w as no t long before the w orshi p o f
.

the n ew god w as legally established and w ith strange rap idity ,

th e c u lt o f the mu rdered so v ereign s p read thro u gho u t the

R o m an w orld conqu erors and ca u ered alik e agreeing to
,

m
regard Ju liu s C aes ar as a go d .

We p ass by the e fforts o f s m all er m en s u ch as S e x t u s

Po peius and A ntony w ho O btained te mp orary p o w er w hen
,

C aesar had p assed aw ay to w in for the m sel v es am ong their

,

conte mp oraries di vine hono u rs si m ilar to those accorded by

th e no p ul ar lo v e to the great Ju li u s ; and we p a u se at the
 THE R E VI VA L 0F PA G ANISM . 1 55

story of the great r u ler best k no w n as the E mp eror

A u gu st u s .

I n the ser vile eastern p ro vinces after the s u ccessfu l ,

ca mp aign s whi ch w itnessed the r u in of the ho p es of his

co mp etitors for the E mp ire A u gu stu s was q u ickl y selected
,

as a deity ; b u t he only p er m itted this for m o f ad u lation o n

condition O f being associated in the te mp les dedicated to
hi m w ith the goddess R o m a A n umber of s u ch te mp les
.

soon arose in the p rinci p al p ro v inces in hono u r o f A u g u stu s

and R o ma and this e x amp le w as follo wed b ut m ore s p aringly
, , ,

in the west I n I taly this I mp erial c ult w as long disco u raged ;

.

and tho u gh before he p assed a way there w ere te mp les in

his hono u r in m any of the m ore i mp ortant I talian cities ,

R o m e w hile A u gu st u s li v ed w as dishono u red by no e x a mp le

, ,

of this strange i mp io u s attery A fter his death the S enate

,
.

m
at once by a form al decree p rono u nced that the late E mp ero r
, ,

w as hencefor th to be rec k oned a m ong the gods A t h is .

S tate funeral a cere onv of i mp osin g s p lendo u r in the

,

Campu s Martins care was ta k en that an eagle sho u ld be

m
,

seen by the cro w d soaring fro m the b u rn ing p ile as tho u gh ,

bearing the so u l O f the de p arted m onarch to O ly pu s a

theatrical conr m ation of the S enate s decree which see m s

ho we ver to ha v e b een u s u ally o m itted in the case o f the

,

deied s u ccessors o f the rst A u g u st u s .

The a p otheosis of the fo u nder of the long and stately

lin e of the E mp erors o f R o m e altho u gh Augu st u s had to ,

a certain e x tent o u tli ved the w onderful p o pu larity w hich he

enj oyed in his earlier years w as generally w ell recei v ed , .

O u t wardly at all e v ents in R o m e as in the p ro vinces nu , ,

n um bered p rayers fro m all sorts and conditions o f m en w ere

o ffered up on the altars of D i vu s Au gu st u s w hose life
,

,

tho u gh sadly stained w ith p ri v ate v ices had been benecial ,

on the whole to the great E mp ire o v er w hich he had so

long ru led ; b u t it w as after all a strange life to hold up
, ,

to the v eneration and adoration of a w orld !

S o m e scholars who see k to e x p lain this strange and yet
generally p o pu lar for m of idolatry which contin u ed to hold ,

its o wn w ell nigh all thro u gh the p eriod of the E mp ire before
-
1 56 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NI T Y AND P A GA NISM .

the barbarian ood had beco m e so m ething m ore than a

m enace ro u ghly s p eak ing a p eriod e x tending o ver nearly
,

fo u r cent u ries tell u s ho w while R o m e hesitated to p ay

,

di vine hono u r to the li v ing E mp eror as a r ule contenting ,

itself w ith ack no wledging the de p arted so vereign as G od ,

th e p ro vin ces had no s u ch scr uple b u t w orshi pp ed the ,

reigning so vereign as w ell as the deied dead E mp erors ;

and they fu rther e x p lain the p ro v incial c u lt as an act o f
grateful loyalty to the R o m an E mp ire u nder whose m ighty

m
shado w they li v ed in p eace and co p arati v e secu rity
w orshi p of the E p erors in the p ro vinces w as in other
The m .

w ords the w orshi p o f the R om an p o w er in the p erson of the

E mp eror w ho w as the app ointed re p resentati v e O f that
,

p o w er .

This w orshi p of the E mp eror then m ay be tak en as the , ,

sy m bol o f the u nity of the v ast E mp ire m ade up of so m any

nationalities E v ery p ro vince e v ery i mp ortant p ro vincial
.
,

city u s u ally p ossessed its o wn s p ecial deity as for instance

, , , ,

E p hes u s adored D iana ( A rte m is ) ; P erga m os w orshi pp ed

fE scul apius
m Cyz iqua es p ecially hono u red P roser p ine
the p riest or a en of A u gu st u s and R o m e re p resented

Bu t

.

m m
the w hole E mp ire ; and thu s there w as a solidarity of w orshi p
e x tending o ver R o m e and all the o u tlying p ro v inces F lam en .

Div oru

R om , et A u gu sti w as the general title of the
,

p riest of the I mp erial c u lt .

The Christian wh o nat u rally refu sed w ith indignation

,

to o ffer incense at this national altar in a w ay se p arated ,

hi m self fro m the religion of the E mp ire ; and his r ef usal

w as constr u ed by the I mp erial m agistrate as an act of dis
loyalty to the Sup re m e G o v ern m ent and to R o m e .

I t is tru e that in so m e cities there w ere v ario u s te mp les

dedicated to se v eral E mp erors wh o m ore or less had w on ,

o r deser v ed p o pu lar recognition ; as for instance in w ealthy , ,

co mm ercial O stia the p ort o f the cap ital of the w orld

, ,

which p ossessed se v eral distinct I mp erial shrines But
.
,

as a ru le in an ordinary city the m aj esty of the E mp erors

,

collectively w as v enerated in one co mm on I mp erial

te mp le .
 TH E RE VI VAL 0F PA G ANISM . 157

B u t the q u e stion p resses for a m ore direct ans w er : Was

this w orshi p at a te mp le of an E mp eror of R o m e or at a
shrine where p erhap s m any E mpe rors w ere adored in a
, ,

gro up so m e of w ho m w ere m onsters o f cru elty and vice

, ,

so m e of the m p oor c reat u res at best and only a fe w really ,

great and noble a gen u ine e x p ression o f the hearts of the

w orshi pp ers ? O r was it m erely a p iece of hy p ocrisy a co u rtly , ,

attering falsehood re p eated and re p eated again thro u gho u t

,

the v ast R o m an w orld for nigh up on fo u r cent uries ? I n

the latter case the dragging of Christians before s u ch shrines

m
,

the scenes of conscio u s hypocrisy and u ntr u th the requ ir

,

ing the u nder p ain of death and agony to w orshi p there ,

to share in these scenes o f u nreality and p retence w o u ld ,

increase enor m o u sly the cri m e o f o fcial P aganis m .

A p atient st u dy ho w e v er o f this strange I mp erial c u l t

, ,

o n the w hole pu rges it of this dar k stain O f u nreality and

conscio u s hyp ocrisy I t w as rst of all u ndo u btedly in
.
,

the p ro vinces a m ost p o pular form of idolatry

,
M elito .
,

B isho p of S ardis in the last q u arter of the second cent u ry

, ,

for instanc e tells u s in his A p ology that the stat u es of
,

the C aesars w ere m ore v enerated than the i m ages of the

ancient deities This is p artly acco u nted for w hen w e
.

re m e m ber h o w the m aj esty of R o m e

w as closely asso
ciated with the E mp eror and ho w in v enerating the C aesar
, ,

the geni u s or the p o w er of R o m e w as incl u ded in the act of

adoration ; and a feeling of dee p gratit u de to the p o w er or
geni u s of R o m e for the p eace and p ros p erity they enj oyed
u ndo u btedly li v ed a m ong the m aj ority of the p ro v incials .

Their adoration therefore at these I mp erial shrines does

, ,

not app ear to ha v e been m ere hy p ocrisy These w orshi pp er s .

w ere accordin g to the light they p ossessed in m ost instances

, ,

p robably sincere .

I n the case O f the ar m y too a m ong those legion s , ,

stationed in so m any qu arters of the R o m an w orld the ,

w orshi p of the C aesar w as no do u bt a reality These w o u ld .

not e v en need the ass ociation of the geni u s of R o m e to

gi v e the c u lt of the E mp eror a reality A s a ru le the .

soldie ry w hen faithful w ere de v otedly p assionately attached

, , ,
1 58 E A RL Y CH RI S TI ANI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

to their supreme chief ; the wicked Nero almost to the ,

last thre w his glamour ove r the legions

,
.

If anywhere it is in Rome where most of the thought

, ,

leaders of the Empire congregated that we must seek for ,

doubters and scorners when the question of the reality o f

the worship of the Emperors presented itself It was in .

Rome that these deied ones principally lived The little .

nesses the ignoble vices the dark crimes of the magnicent

, ,

C a sar were too well known to the dwellers hard by the

,

s umptuous and stately group of buildings on the Pal atine .

Could the Roman citizens living as they did beneath the ,

shadow o f the Caesar s house acquiesce in the worship o f

these strange gods ?

A nd yet curiously enough there is little outward sign
, ,

even of Rome s repugnance to this worship The apotheosis

.

o f A ugustus appears to have been honestly welcomed as

heartily in Rome as it was in the provinces Even Seneca .
,

p hilosopher and statesman w h o certa inly no w and again ,

had his doubts as to the righteousness of the Imperial cult ,

thus writes of the deication of A ugustus : For us to believe

that he A ugustus is a God no compulsion is necessary
, , , .

Th e younger Pliny again addressed Traj an in these words :

You have deied your ( adoptive ) father ( Nerva) n o t from ,

m
any feeling of vanity or to insult heaven but simply because
, ,

you believe him a God These are surely strong words con
.

r atory of the b on a des the sincerity of Pliny the scholar ,

statesman and of Traj an the great and good Emperor

, .

O ccasionally it is true public opinion at Rome was

, ,

revolted at some glaring and monstrous attempt ma de by

s ome irresponsible C a esar to de ify ridiculous and discreditable

personages ; as when Nero proclaime d Popp aea a goddess or ,

Hadrian insisted on the worship of A ntinous But even .

these insulting promotions of infamous mortals to the rank

o f the deied al though no doubt in Rome at least they
, , ,

weakened the theory of Imperial worship had no permanent ,

e ffect on this most popular cult Indeed as time went on it .

,

rew more genera l It was at its height in the days of

g .

Marcus A urelius in the second half of the second century .

 TH E I
R E V VA L OF PA GANIS M . 1 59

I t has been suggested with great ingenuity that probably

, ,

whil e the masses especiall y in the provinces accepted the

, ,

deied Emperors as genuine gods and addressed their prayers ,

to them as such the more enl ightened especially at Rome

, , ,

regarded them rather in the light of the demi gods or as the -

,

Heroes of Greek worship ; differentiating between the diva s

divine prexed to the name o f the deied C a
esar and the
( ) ,

sacred term Deu s ( God ) ; but this difference in signication

was certainl y not primitive nor do the above quo ted words
,

o f such serious writers as Seneca and the younger Pliny at

all support the ingenious hypothesis in question .

Fol lowin g up this hypothesis to quote a purely Christian ,

usage and to pursue a train of purely Christian ideas the ,

o fcial senatorial decree of deication was in effect a sort o f

canonisation which in the eyes of the more instructed

,

placed the deied Emperor among the saints in blessedness ,

neither more n or less The loftier conception which ranked

.

him as divine and on the same level as the immortal gods ,

was probably held by the uncul tured masses .

But this ingenious suggestion for it is nothing more even , ,

if it be adopted cannot be said to fully explain this worship

,

o f the deied Emperors ; which is and must remain a grave

difculty in any intell igent conception of Paganism The .

cult of the Emperors was a worship which was almost universal

in the period which lies between the death o f Julius C aesar
and the Edict o f Constantine .

For there is no shadow of doubt that the Emperor livin g ,

or dead ,
thus formally honoured by a decree of the Senate ,

became at once in the eyes o f the general Roman world a

m
god in the loftiest sense of the word That some persons .

were utterly incredulous and mocked at the pretentious claim

,

o f the newly elevated Imperial colleague of the i mortals ,

is more than probable ; bu t as a rule these scornful doubts

were veil ed and the whole Roman world may be said to
,

have acquiesced in the worship of each newly deied mem

ber of the Imperial line of princes as the equal of the ,

great gods the obj ects of the reverent worship of their fore
,

fathers
.
1 60 E A RL Y CH R I S TIANI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

S E CT O I N IV .
S A CE R DO TA L CO R PO R A TI O NS .

IT was indeed a wonderful renaissance of the old Roman

religion this work of A ug ustus ; what seemed to be dying out
,

Sprang up again with new and vigorous life A ugustus was .

persua ded that the prosperity of Rome was thus linked with
the maintenance of the ancient cult and as we have seen , ,

his policy was adopted and continued by his successors in

the Empire the Emperor Marcus ( A D 1 6 1 8 0) following out
, . .

the policy with perhaps greater ardour than any of his

predecessors .

Very carefully indeed were the hallowed tra ditions of the

past revived as belonging to the story of the making of Rome
, ,

closely linked in the policy of A ugustus and the Emperors

with the maintenance and further development of Rome s

grandeur and power A mong these hallowed traditions we

.

have not alluded to the ancient sa cer dota l corp or a tion s which
had especially in the latter years of the Republic in a
, ,

measure passed ou t of sight and been su ffered to decay .

A ugustus revived these and re established them if possib l e -

,

giving them more than their ancient position and inuence ;

and these powerful religious corporations then re established ,
-
,

continued to ourish some of them until the time of Con

, ,

stantine when naturally with the fal l o f Paganism they sank

,

into decay and oblivion * O f these brotherhoods we may .

mention as instances the Sal ii and the Luperci To be a

, ,
.

member of o ne o f these corporations was a privi l ege highly

esteemed under the rule of the Pagan Emperors The young
Marcus A urelius for in stance was ad itted into the Salian
,

confraternity when he was only eight years o ld and sub

,
m .

sequently became the president ; and prided himself on his

accurate knowle dge of the ritual which was used when a new
member was admitted to the college .

But o f these sacerdotal col leges that of the A rval Brothers was
the most famous and perhaps the best known The y traced .

their foundation back to the times of Romulus the rst Kin g ,

Th p o b b l d t of th di ol tio n of th A
e r a e a e l B oth e hood w ho wev
e ss u e rva r r as, er,

ea l ie
r i D 244 4 9
r, c rca A . T hi i di scu s d b i e y t th clo e f thi
.
-
. s s ectio n
s e r a e s o s s .
 TH E R E V VA L I 0F PA GA NIS M . 1 61

of Rome Romulus so said the ancient tradition with th e

.
, ,

eleve n sons of A cca Laurentia his nurse had been the rst , ,

A rval Brothers They appear to have been uni ted as a college

.

of priests instituted to pray and sacrice to the gods who

,

presided over the fruits of the elds ; hence their name from ,

a rv a
,
the elds They invoked the blessing of the immortals
.

upon agriculture in accordance with a very old form o f Roma n

,

worship The chief deity invoked was feminine but nameless

.
, ,

po int ing to a period anterior to the introduction o f divinities

with specic functions She is in voked simply as D ea D ia .

.

D uring the Republic whil st always existing as a con ,

fraternity we learn little of these A rval Brothers They had

,
.

noth ing to do apparent ly with the State hence the silence ,

which rests upon them In the renaissance of religion and of .

archaic customs under A ugustus the A rvals received a large

share of Imperial patronage ; this was especially owing to
the b oar antiquity of their foun dation and the mystic reference
of their ceremonies and ritual to agricul ture and that primitiv e
rural life in which the reforming Emperor took so deep an
interest Under the Empire the confraternity numbered among
.

its members many o f the foremost personages in Rome with ,

the Emperor himself at its head It was considered a high .

honour to be one of the ancient corporation and in a list of ,

titles and di gnities proudl y displayed by a powerful Roman

u nder the Empire the fact of being an A rval Brother was
,

never omitted .

Their chief annu al festival l asted three days Careful .

minutes of their proceedings were kept and we learn from ,

these that a most elaborate ceremonial was observed consisting of ,

sacrice and prayer processions and official repasts A special

, ,
.

dr ess too was requir ed the whole ritual being b ased on ancient
, , ,

tradition Late di scoveries have locali sed the site o f the

.

sanctuary where these A rval mysteries were performed It .

seems to have been some few miles from Rome on the righ t
bank of the Tiber as it owed through the Campagna from
,

Rome to O stia .

In the little b ook of the A rval rites which was given to

each brother was the famo us sacred song of the A rval s which ,
1 62 E ARL Y CH R I S TIANI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M
.

h ad come down from remote antiquity and which they repeated ,

without perhaps understanding its archaic phraseology *

.

This fashionable revival of a very ancient gu ild or con

m
fraternity thus introduced into a company or brotherhood
ade up during the Empire of the noblest and most illus
trions of the Romans memories and tra ditional usages handed ,
,

do wn from Romulus an d the earliest of the Kings of Rome .

The A rval Brotherhood w ere besides especial ly bound to

loyal duties in connection with the reigning Emperor and

his Imperial house They so lemnly kept his birthday and
.

the birthdays o f his fami ly ce l ebrating too the memories o f , , ,

an
y victori es in which he had been concerned .

Fragments of marb l e tablets on which the acts of the A rval

Brotherhood are inscribed have been discovered with dates wh ich ,

show its exist ence from the early days of the Empire down
to A D 23 8 Nothing however has been found bearing a l a ter
. . .
, ,

date than this the Emperor Gordian s name being on the

last dated fragment .

I t would seem as though shortly after the death o f

Gordian the confraternity ceased to exist Most probab ly the .

favourable disposition o f the Emperor Phil ip A D 244 to ,

. .

A D 24 9
. . towards Christianity determined him to put an end
,

to the famous Pa gan college in which the reigning Emperor

o ccupied so prominent a osition T
p .

S E CT O I N V TH E
. A D M SS O I I N O F FO R E I GN DE T E S I I A MO NG TH E

O L D G O D S O F R O ME .

m
M I N GL E D with the old gods of Italy were the go ds of the
any nations who had been subj ected to the authority of
Rome The Roman was ever ready to recognise the points
.

o f similarity bet ween the gods of a conquered people and his

o wn ancestral d e ities So Julius Caesar writes of the Gauls :

.

They especially honour Mercury and after him A pollo

m
, ,

Th e S ng

m m o

1 Co p e D e R o si B ll t
'
ar
of th e

di A
Ar
i t th e old st sp eci en ex i ti n g f th p i itiv L ti n ton gu e
e

s

s

h l y i Ch i ti n
s
r

1 869 p 14
u

e m
'
m
val B oth h a co e do wn to u s and schola s co n id e
nd
er s

o
e
s

r c eo o
e a

a r s
,

a
.

a, ,
r

.
,
s

a
r

A ll d H i t i e de P
ar , ution vol ii
s o r s i 2
ers c s, . .
, v . .
 TH E R E V VA L I 0F PA GANIS M
. 1 63

Mars Jupiter and Min erva

, ,
In a l ike spirit long be fore .

,

Caesar during the weary siege o f Veii which l asted ten

, ,

years the besiegers admired the Juno Regina o f Veii who
,

,

m
had inspired the city s splendid resistance ; and Livy relates

how when at length the place fell the captors with al l

, ,

r everence drew near the sacred i age and asked if she were ,

wil l ing to follo w them to Rome O n receiving a sign of .

a cquiescence the idol symbol of the goddess was brought to

,

*
the city of the conquerors .

This spirit of accommodation tended to facilitate the

s ettlement o f the conquered people There were no religious .

a ntipathies to be guarded against In many cases as we .

,

have seen above in the instance of Veii the strange gods ,

o f the conquered were brought to Rome and even a dored

there These introductions of foreign especial ly o f oriental
.
,

gods who had apparently l ittle in common with the ancient

Italian deities began before the days of the Empire

,
We .

read o f the triumvirs after the death of Julius C aesar build

, ,

ing a temple to Isis and Serapis Rapidly the inuence of .

o riental cults increased at Rome Mithras adored in far .

,

d istant Persia became in the early days of the Empire a

,

favourite divinity among the lower classes of the metropolis

o f the world In th e latter days of the A ntonines this
.

eastern cult grew more and more popular In the third .

'

c entury the temples o f Mithras b ecame perhaps the most

sought after and thronged of the many Pagan sanctuaries in
Rome and in the great provincial centres .

It is a debated question whether or no this curious

a dmixture o f oriental cults this gradual associ ation of the ,

deities of Egypt and Syria and Persia with the ancient

worship of Italy and of Rome inj ured or strengthened ,

Pagan ism .

O n the one hand it is c l ear that the in troduction of the

e motional rites of the Syrian divinities the mysteries of ,

Egyptian Isis the strange and picturesque ritual of the

, ,

It th t th e J un o R egin of Veii w s one of th e old I tali n

t
m

is

m
r ue a a a a

d iti e b ut I hav e qu oted thi s s a trik ing an d f ili ar instan ce f th e ecog ni

e s, a s a o r

tio n and adoptio n b y R o e of th e sp ecial d eity of a iv l nd conque ed ci ty r a a r

 m
1 64 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

Persian Mithras to take pro inent examples accorde d ill

, , ,

with th e original design s o f A u gustus so happily set forth ,

by his friend and condant Virgil These eastern forms of .

worship really h ad little in common with the compara tive ly

cal m grave devotion paid to the gods whom A ugustus pro
,

fessed to revere and of whom Virgil sang The emotional

,
.

extravagances of eastern religion were distrusted at heart b y

the old Roman spirit which A ugustus and his friends by ,

their z eal and industry contrived to awake ,

.

O n the other hand it has been ab ly argued that without

this oriental admixture of passion and mystery the ancient ,

Roman cult with its simple ritua l its cold and maj estic
, ,

creed wou l d never have obtained a permanent ho l d on the

,

great cosmopolitan cities over which a Tiberius and a T raj an ,

a Hadrian and a Marcus ruled ; that never withou t this new

element of oriental worship coul d Paganism have he l d its
own for more than two centuries and a h alf against the
transparent truth the quiet earnestness and the sub lime
, ,

teaching o f that Christianity which in the end swept al l

these fal se religions away .

The answer to such interesting and debatab l e questions

tarries ; it will never be fully supplied O ne th ing however .
, ,

is clear Un der the Empire Paganism al lied as it was with

.
,

the maj esty of Rome was a real po wer ; and though the
,

eventual issue of its l ong contest with Christianity was as ,

we see n ow never for an instant do ubtfu l it was a long

, ,

and dead ly struggle and was only won by the brave patience
, ,

the constant en durance o f su ffering the quiet burning , ,

faith of several generations of Christian men and women

,

in many l ands who in countless instances wel comed dea th

,

m
and torture rather than deny their beautiful true cree d .

To a sup er cial observer it seems strange on rst thought , ,

that the Ro an who more than to l erated all religions who ,

even had welcomed the go ds of every nation with whom

he came in contact yet made a stern exception of the
,

re ligion of the Christian and the Christ whom the Christian

,

worshippe d It seems indeed strange how it came to pas s

.
, ,

that in Rome the religious as well as the secular capital

,
 TH E R E V VA L I 0F PA GA NIS M . 1 65

of the world where the gods of all the peoples of the ,

v ast empire possessed special sanctuaries and al tars Christ ,

a l one was proscribed and His votaries a l one were reckoned ,

as outlaws and enemies of the State .

But after all this sin gular position of Ch ristianity in

, ,
/

the Roman Empire this standing al one among all religions ,

as the one proscribed an d forbidden was owing to the ,

conduct of the Christians themselves O ther reli gions eastern .

,

and western were content to dwell together content mutually

, ,

to ackn owledge and respect each other A n d in Rome the .

,

religious capital of the world as we have noticed the , ,

Persian Mithras the Egyptian Isis and the Rom an Jupiter , ,

e ach had their temples their sanctuaries and their altars , ,

side by side The sanctity o f each was acknowledged by

.

the Roman people The worshippers among the citizens .

and dwellers in Rome indi fferently adored at one or other

m
o f these shrines But the Christian was sternl y forbidden .

by the tenets of hi s holy faith to make any such concession .

To h i th e Egyptian Isis the Persian Mithras the Roman

, ,

Jupiter were equally abhorrent They were each and all .

idols In the words of his sacr ed oracles He that sacriceth

.
,

un to any God save unto the Lord o nl y he sha ll be , ,

(Exod xxi i
m
. .

I n th e ov e st udy Ch i ti nity is d w lt u po n b eing th e solita y exa pl e

ab

lig ion n t tol t ed b y th R o n po w

r s

Th e Je w is n t n oti ced h e e ;
a

m e as r

m m
of a re o er a e a er . o r

a ltho u g h th e J ew i h li g io n too o wing to it i nt n ho o o f l l idol t y w o uld

m mm
s re ,
s e se rr r a a r ,

h av e stood o u t id th p l f cul t s ckn o w l dg ed b y R o J udaca g en

m
s e e a e o a e e . s

co n tu eli a n u inu in si gn i s J i h o pi u o u s fo i
o nt e pt fo

m
( h t

m
w

m
t e ce n c e s ra c s c r s r

th e g od s) w ot P li ny (H i t N t co p arativ ely ea ly dat

m
,
r e B ut t
. s . a ,
a a r e

in th e E pi th e Je w i sh li g io n b eca e in volv e d in th g v politi cal c o pli ca

m
mm m
re re e ra e

t io ns w hi ch di t u b ed ll th e el atio n
s r f th e J ew i sh n tio n an d th e E pire
a r s o a .

B efo e A D 7 0 th i e o ial c ed capit l o f th e Je w w a sto ed and c ptu ed

m m
r . . e r sa r a s s r a r

b y Ti tus th e esult f th t J ew i h volt in th e ei g n of Vespasi an T h

mm
o rea s re r e
as g r e .

p opl e ho w ev still st ub b o nly fu d to sub it n d th e lo n g successio n o f

m
e , e r, r re se ,
a

fo i d ab l e u p i in g s w a o nl y lo se d in A D 1 3 6 w h en J usal e ag ain t ak en

m
w

m
r r s s c . .
,
er as ,

and thi ti e d to th e g o un d Th e p eopl w e b an i sh ed an d v a t n u b e s

m m m
. s e raz r . e er ,
s r

p eri h d Afte thi t e ib l p un i h n t i n i ct ed b y th e E p e o r H ad i n

m
s e r s rr e s e r r a ,
.
,

th e J ew s id to h v x i t d o as a lo calis d n atio n H en efo th

m m
y b e a a e e s e n
sao e r e . c r

th e scatt e e d nd i rpov e i sh d p eopl e w e n t f uf ci nt i po tance to b e

a r e re o o s e r

ob j t s of ny l j lo u y o d e d on th e p t of th I p e i al G ov ern en t
m m
ec a rea ea s r r a ar e r .

T h y w e e too few
e r n d too i n i g n i cant No i it unlik ly th at thi poo
a s . r s e s r,

i pov ish ed e n ant in spit of th ei ex cl u iv e reli g io n we e look ed on o ften

er r ,
e r s ,
r
1 66 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA G A NISM .

It was this stern rigid refusal of the Christian to shar e

,

in the common toleration o f religions which excited th e

bitter wrath of all the P agan world ; it was this which
united all the Pagan rel igions against him He was .

the common enemy of them all and to crush him to , ,

destroy him and his excl usive faith was the aim of every ,

serious Pagan Thus the restless persecution of the Christian

.

by the votaries of all the Pagan re ligions in every portion

o f th e world of Rome during the rst three centuries is
largely accounted for .

It was indeed a war to the death and the history of ,

early Christianity chronicles the events o f that long weary ,

c onict and its result .

S E CT O I N VL T H E I
PH L O SO PH E RS A ND THE PA G A N R E V I VA L .

TH E higher teaching in Rome between the days of A ugustus .

and the days of Marcus and his son roughly the period ,

included in th e rst and second centuries is well exemplie d ,

in the works we possess of the later S toic philosophers We

m
.

shall only be able to touch on the fringes of this study ,

and we si ply propose to give a few references to the

wor ds of two of the most distinguished of these teachers ,

Seneca and Epictetus Y et even these b rief references .

.

wil l give u s some insight into the attitude of Paganism

on the side of philosophic teaching in the period of its ,

mortal struggle with Christianity .

Senec a was the tutor and for a time the adviser of th e

Emperor Nero ; his death is dated A D 6 5 Epictetus taught

m
. . .

somewh at later during the re igns of D omitian and Traj an

,

so e pl acing his death as late as the reign of Hadrian A t .

all events he lived we ll into the second century Marcus the

, .
,

Emperor and philosopher wh o in some ways may be looked ,

m
mm
v en w ith f v u on a co unt of th e se vi ces th ey not unf q u ntly nd d as
a o r, c

m
i nfo e s an d pi e ag ainst th fe ed and h t ed Ch i sti ns ;
r r s s, e fo i nst anc in th e
ar
r

m r a
re

as ,
e

r
re

e,
ere ,

m
ty do f Poly ca p t S y n Th en too it u t n ot b ov e looked th t th e
m
ar r o r a r a .
, ,
s e r a

Je w i h li g ion w as neve g g siv I t ly so ug ht f p oselyt e Ve y

m
s re r a res e . rare or r s . r

di e ent w a Ch i sti an ity ;

r s r ong th w o hipp e of J esus ev e y n o e o l
a e rs rs ,
r o e r r ess

w as a issio n a y an active n d e n e t p o elyti e

r ,
a ar s r s s r .
 TH E R E VI VA L OF P A GANI S I II . 1 67

u pon as the pupil o f the great teachers of this late S toi c

school whose words and Meditations we have already touched
,

upon carries us on to 1 8 1 the year of his death

, , .

We have d welt on the great change which undoubtedly

pas s ed over Paganism in the reign of A ugustus and the two
following centuries and on the striking di fference between th e
,

wi thering scepticism of the age of Julius C aesar and the

supers titious devotion which so largely characterised the day s
of Marcus By this s trong current of devotion so to sp eak
.
, ,

the philosopher teachers were largely inuenced ; and thei r

teaching in turn helped especially among the higher ranks ,

o f society to make Paganism in the epoch of its erce struggl e

,

with Christianity something of a reality .

: Their e f
f orts were largely directed to reformi n g the popular

religion and in some way bringin g men s minds to the belief

,

in the unity of God They would persuade men that the many
.

names under which the supreme deity was adored in differen t

lands onl y represented one A lmighty power I t is doubtful .
,

however if this higher teaching ever really penetrated the

,

masses of the people ; and it is more than probable that th e

vast maj ority of ordinary folk until the day of the nal victory ,

o f Christianity continued to understand and to practise religion

,

in the ol d way worshipping Minerva and Venus Vesta and

, ,

Juno Mars and E scul apius as deities especially connected with

, ,

and disposin g the issues of the home and the hearth of peace ,

and war of sickness and health much as their ancestors had

, ,

m
done But there is no doubt that an effort to teach men th e
.

grand Unity of God worshipped under whatever di fferen t ,

names and sy bols was made in the schools o f the grea t ,

phi losophic teachers of the rst second and third centuries ; , ,

helping to give among the more thoughtful at all events a

, ,

renewed reality to a religion which had wel l nigh if not -

,

m
*
entirely lost its power over the hearts of cultured peop l e
, .

Und

d iffe nt n do e th e O n G od Who et e n l po w g iv s
m
er w re a es e a r e se r a er e

li f to ll n d in do i ng thi D iv inity un d it v l tt ib ut es w e do
m m m
e a ,
a a r s er s se era a r a re

th O n E t n l P o w W invok th o ug h th di tion of th lo w G od
m m
e e er a er . e e, r e e a e er s,

th F th
e a f G ods nd
er o n n d th u in v
a io u fo f elig io n th
e , a G d s ar s r s o r e sa e o

w o hi pp d b y
rs ll en
e f diff a n t n ti o n liti S w ot
o M x i us f ere a a es .

o r e a o

M d u to S A ug u tin
a a ia .A ug E p i t l 6 )
s e . s . .
1 68 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

Thus the philosopher the thought leader and teacher in ,

-

Rome the statesman wh o rul ed Rome the patriot who loved

, ,

Rome with a great passion for different reasons and in different,

ways set themselves to restore we might say to reform the

fast dying re l igion of Paganism ; and they were partly success
ful They breathed into its wild legends a new life by giving
.

them a new meaning ; they prolonged its existence for wel l

nigh three hundred years ; they gave it vitality and power to
contend with Christianity all through that period o f struggl e ,

and although in the long run they were defeated and in the ,

end the cause for which they struggled was utterly and for
ever ruined as far as the Roman Empire was concern ed the ,

contest was a long and painful one and for a time as far as , ,

men could see the issue hung in the balance The long batt l e
, .

between Christianity and Pagan ism eventuated in a comp l ete

victory for Christianity because the conict was between truth
,

and falsehood and in the l ong run tru th will ever be victorious
,

o n earth as in Heaven .

It is the fashion to describe the great contest between

Paganism and Christianity as a combat between evil and good ,

as a struggle o f darkness against light Such a general .

presentment may on the whole be accurate but it is easy to ,

e xaggerate It is too al luring a task for the Christian historian

.

and apologist in his desire to magnify the n al victory o f the

cause he j ustly loves to underrate the e fforts ma de by earnest
,
,

s erious men brought u p in the atmosphere o f Paganism and ,

l iving all their lives ami ds t its associations to raise the brother ,

hood of man to a higher and purer level That emin ent and .

devo u t teacher A ugustine acknowledges the noble efforts o f

, ,

the philosophers of th e e arl ier Empire when he writes that

Christianity has found the on ly way which leads to the land

o f peace but the philosopher had seen that b l essed land from
,

afar and had sal uted it
,
.

Now the great teachers o f philosophy in their efforts to ,

reform the old religion were not content with endeavouring

,

to inspire their discipl es with a loftier nobler and truer , ,

conception o f the D ivinity worshipped under so many and

often such grotesque forms but they pressed home besides ,
 THE R E VI VA L 0F P A GA NIS M . 1 69

in the ir teaching a higher and purer moral ity a morality ,

indeed so exalted that many have supposed that they learned

it from the life or from the writings of Christians .

*
To quote a few examples of their moral teaching : Seneca
( c i r ca A D 5 0
6 0) has something
. .very beautiful to say o f
the charity or love which is so distinguishing a feature
in Christian practice The Pagan master would have his .

disciples console and lighten the sufferings of others by that

true sympathy which is often more efficacious than mere
gifts . He would have them tender and gentle even to
sinners even to their enemies He charges them to be
, .

generous to the poor and needy ; he teaches that the son

should be ransomed and restored to the mother that the ,

s l ave and the gladiator should be if possible redeemed that ,

the holy rites of sepulture so precious a privilege in the ,

eyes of the Rom an world should not be denied even to the ,

remain s of a criminal

m
He would have his disciples live .

among their fel lows as though God were ever present and ,

looking on God who was ever with ,

en at once their ,

protector and friend .

Very sublime indeed appears to have b een Seneca s con

ce tion of Go d who must not only be worshipped by men

p , ,

bu t must be loved by them ( col itur et Bitterly

he inveighed again st the popular Epicurean notion that God

o r the gods were indifferent to us and careless o f our woes .

Surely he writes one who could teach th i s was deaf to all

, , ,

the voices or prayers ever going u p was blin d to the han ds ,

clasped in supplication in every part o f the world I T

thi s ily
i ef st udy w e h v e o nly cit e d fr o Seneca an d
m m
m
I n nece ssar br a

E pi ct et us ; b ut th ese w e e o nl y tw st w h o t u g ht in thi s ag e in

m
of th e r o a er s a

th e R o an school of p h ilo sophy Th ey a e th e tw o b est kn o w n b ut it w o uld

m m m
. r ,

i st k e to suppo se th ey stood lon e T h ey a e con spi cu o us nd ill ust io u

m
be a a a . r a r s

ex pl e of th ei school n othing o e
m
a s r ,
r .

1 Th e t eachi n g of Sen eca w s n o do ub t i e su ab ly sup erio to any

"

m
a a r r

thin g w hi ch h ad hith e to p o ceed d f o th e old philo sophi c school s Now

m
r r e r er .
,

h d h e l ea ne d it f o
a r Ch i tian t ea h ? T e t u lli an ( i
r A D
r s 200) w oul d c er s r c rca . .

to su sp ect thi w h en h e w it es Seneca i o ft en one of u s ( Seneca sasp

m
see s r , s e

n o st e ) I t h as b en gued th t Seneca co uld sca cely h av e kn o wn S Pau l

m
r . e ar a r .

in th e esh s S P ul s i sit s to R o e w ere ub quent to th e d at e of Seneca s

, a . a v s se

w rit ing s B u t th e e is littl e do ub t th at a fa as d t a e con ce n ed h e

. r i g ht s r a es r r
1 70 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

Some indeed of the conceptions of the D eity are most

, ,

striking ; it would seem as though the Pagan philosopher

was a student of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah when he teaches ,

that the gods ask not at o ur hands the sacri ces of oxen ,

or the o fferings of gold and si l ver for their temples o r for ,

money contributions to be poured into their treasuries ; what

they require from us is the o ffering of a h eart at once devout
and j us t The immortals need no lofty buildings of stone
.
,

storey reared on storey ; what is required by them of man is

that he should build them an unseen sanctuary in his heart .

Little heed however was paid to such l ofty and purely

, ,

spiritual ideas of worship by the Pagan peoples who in

habited the broad Roman Empire ; and even such earnest
and devout disciples of philosophy as the Emperor Marcus
were little moved by such noble conceptions th ough they ,

emanated from the greatest of the Stoic masters It was .

Marcus who thought in the course of his campaign on the ,

D anube to propitiate the favour of the immortals by throw

,

ing two lions into the great river ! It was the same pious
and devoted servitor of the gods who before the expedition ,

against the Marcomanni brought o ut and exposed the images ,

of the gods for seven days in Rome in accordance with an

ancient Pagan custom ; and on that occasion too vowed to , ,

sacrice in the event of the war being successful such in

, ,

numerable beasts that the famous epigram recorded by ,

A mmianus Marcellinus was written : The white oxen to

h ve m m
t er w h o w e b eliev e p o b ab ly liv ed and taug ht in R o e wh il e
m m
m
a et S . Pe , r ,

Senec a w as in po w e an y y ea s b efo e S Pau l c e to th e capit l

m
r, r B ut r . a a .

w itho u t p n lly co in g in cont ct w ith any g at Ch i ti an t each e su h

m
m m
c

m
erso a a re r s r

Pe t e o Paul th e echo of th ei voi c p h p s so e of thei w iting s ev en

m m m
as r r r e s, er a r r ,
,

i g ht h ve eache d th p hi losoph e Th Chr i sti n co unity of R o e ltho ug h

m
a r e r . e a ,
a

it w poi ntedly i gn o ed b y so an y of th e li w it e s of th e E pi e u t
m
as r e ar er r r r ,
s

h av e b een w ell l nown and c fully w t ch d b y th e G ove n en t N e o

m m
i are a e r . r s

e l ectio n o f th Sect as th e ob j ect of h is i nf o us cusation on th e o cc ion

m

m
as
s e a ac

of th e b u n in g o f R o e tell s u s thi s I t s s to b e b eyond disput e that

m
r . ee

Ch i ti n t e ch i n g o e or l es affect ed and colo u ed if it did n t do o

m m m
r s a a r s r o re ,
,

any o f th e do ct in es n d p ecept r of th e l at a Stoi c school f philo op h y

r s er o s

f o
r nd aft e
a th e iddl e of th e st centu y J e o ev n f s to l ett s
r r r . r e e re er er

w hi h p c e d b et w e n P u l
a ss nd S eneca e T h e l ett s ho w v e
a a in q ue tio n e . er ,
e r, s ar

un l o ub tedl y fo g ies r er .
 TH E R E V VA L I 0F PA G A NIS M . 1 71

Marcus C aesar hail ! A las if you retu rn a conqueror we shall

, ,

al l die E

Bu t while so many o f Seneca s beautiful words possess

the aroma o f evangelical teaching we often come upon some ,

sentence ; some reection which tells us that the writer al

, , ,

though perhaps inspired not unfrequently by some divine

thought whose source must be sought and found in the
words o f the Founder of Christianity or of some on e of His ,

discip l es yet l ived in a very different atmosphere from that

,

b reathed in the communities of Christians ; as for instance , ,

when the Pagan master speaks of the lofty platform occupied

b y on e who in good earnest is virtuous after his exalted
pattern Such a one he arg ues dr aws near the gods and
.
, ,

becomes t h eir equal ( cum dis ex pari v iv it ) and even in
*

certain respects is the superior o f the god (J upiter) 1 Ver y .

L

diffe rent indeed woul d have been the estimate of his life ,

made by a holy and humble man of heart who formed one

among the congregation of a Peter or of a Clement !
Very s triking again are many o f the thoughts on religion
, ,

of Epictetus who carries on the tradition of the teaching o f

,

the ph ilos0ph ic reformers of Paganism into the next genera

tion when Traj an was on the throne ; perhaps even as late
,

as the days of Hadrian wel l on in the second century Epic ,

.

tetus would have all sorts and conditions o f men pray to the

great God A s for me I am growing old
.

said the sage , , ,

what can I do better than praise God ? I must do this I ,

would have all j oin me here I wou l d say to J upiter i D o

m

.
,

with me what thou willest Take me where thou pleasest I .

,

a thine I belong whol ly to thee

,
Very touchingly in .

words which might well have been used in a chapel or

oratory of the Christians Epictetus thus talks of prayer to

m
,

the Supreme A lmighty Immortal Shut your door ; and .

,

in the solitude o f your cha ber think not that you are ,

alone ; you are not because God is with you Lord

m
.
,

m pCo
1 Co
p
are E p ist 5 9 , 1 4
. .

E p ist 5 3 , l l D e p rov id 6 , 6
m m mp my
ml y i i
'
are . . .

J pit
1 u er w as ve a favo u it e d eity a o ng th e R o
e r r ans ; to hi a su re ac

see s a wa s w ll ng ly to h v e b een acco rd ed

a .
 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

pleaded Epictetus have I ever complain ed o f Thy dealings

,

with me or found fault with Thy Providence ? I have been

,

sick because it was Thy will I have been poor ay and , , ,

joyf u lly because Thou di dst will it

, Wouldst Thou have .

me go hence to day from this glorious world I go hence

-
,

willingly ; I thank Thee for suffering me to be with Thee that ,

I am able to gaz e at Thy works and that I have had power ,

to grasp somewhat of the meaning of Thy government .

Thus these philosophers wh o taught in Rome from th e

days of A ugustus to the days of Marcus and his son en ,

deav oured to lead their disciples to pray to pour ou t their ,

m
hearts to the supreme God The Emperor Marcus A ureli us .

A ntoninus A D 1 6 1 8 0 was their faithful discip l e and will

,
. .
, ,

ingly and from his heart served the im ortals ; carrying

, ,

indeed his religious service often to the verge of immoderat e

,

superstition .

To sum up There was much in the moral teaching of

.

these masters o f the Stoic philosophy of the rst and second

cen turies which resembl ed the precepts of Christianity
There was emphatically so eth ing in their teaching loftier
purer more real than had ever appeared before in the teach
,
m .

ing of any Pagan philosophic school s It is at least high ly .

probable that some echoes of the words o f Jesus and of His

disciples which had been repeated again and again in the
,

Christian communities of Rome and of other great centres

o f thought in the Empire had reached the ears o f men like ,

Seneca Epictetus and other masters of the later Stoic schoo l

, , ,

had strongly inuenced them and to a certain extent ,

h ad coloured their teaching ; more however than this cann ot , ,

be said Neither Seneca Epictetus nor the other philosophers

.
, ,

o f this school were Christians or even in any sense could

, ,

be said to teach Christianity No Christian dogma in any .

form ever appears in their words If they were acquainte d .

with Christian doctrin es they rej ected them app arentl y with ,

o u t examination Marcus the Emperor their most illustrious

.
, ,

disciple evidently might have h ad before him such writings

,

as the A pologies o f Justin It is more than doubtfu l if he

.

ever r e ad them He disliked the Christians as we h ave seen

.
, ,
 TH E R E V VA L I 0F P A GA NI S M . 1 73

with an intense dis like ; and even his sense of justice was n o t
sufcient to induce him to treat the sect with common fair
ness In his eyes the follo wers of Jesus were for reason s
.
,

upon which we have briey dwelt a positive danger to the ,

Empire A n d the attitude of Marcus was no doub t more or

.

l ess the attitude of the masters of that great ph iI O SO ph ic

school o f the later Stoics of which he was so distinguished a
disciple .

We hear l ittle of this school of philosophers after the

* Variou s
passing away of the renowned Emperor in A D 1 8 1 . .

causes were at work which exp lain this rapid waning of its
power and inuence In the reign o f Marcus it had reached .

the highest point it ever touched The great Emperor was .

m
a faithful disciple and his advisers and the men whom he
, ,

chose for the various administrative posts throughout his

vast E pire were l argely selected out of the ranks of its
,

best kno wn professors and followers But after the extinction .

o f the House o f the A ntonines in A D 1 9 3 the inuence of . .

,

Stoicism very rapidly waned .

O ne obvious reason was no d oubt its fai l ure to commend

itself to the mass of the people Cicero somewhat before th e .
,

rise of the new Stoics tells us of the general unpO pul aritV ,

of philosophy with the multitude It never found the key .

to the hearts of the peop l e The Stoic philosophy appealed .

,

and often with power to many o f the cultured and the ,

thoughtful among th e upper c l asses o f Roman society but it ,

never penetrated into the deep stratum which lay beneath

this comparatively small section o f the citizens of Rome .

For instance Marcus the Emperor the greatest and most

, , ,

in uential of the discip l es of the later Stoic philosophers ,

failed completely to induce his people to second his nob l e

and earnest e fforts to do away with the sanguinary and
demora lising games o f the amphitheatre They could not .

m
or would not understand him

m m
.

T h e p h ilo ophi t hs f th e ag of w hi h w e
c eac e w iti ng b y n
er s o ns e, c ar r , o ea

l l b lo n g d to th l t Stoi Th e w in R o e nd in u h l d g ee
mm m
a e e e a er cs . er ere a a c ess e r
,

in oth g e t
er iti oth
r a hool f philo ophi t a hing B ut th Stoi
c es, er sc s o s c e c . e cs

w er ein di p ut b ly b y f th
s a o t p o inent b oth in th e nu b e of th ei dh e nt
ar e s r , r r a re s

a n d in th e g t in u n w hi h th ey ex i d
rea e ce c erc se .
 m
1 74 E AR LY C HR I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M
.

The lofty moral ity the high and severe l ife recom ended
,

by such teachers as Seneca and Epictetu s was utterly un ,

p leasing perhaps incomprehensible to the pleasure l oving

, ,
-
,

thoughtless careless multitude Such teaching often beauti

, .
,

ful and true though somewhat co l d and severe needed some

, ,

thing more to commend itself to the people general ly than

the eloquent words of the Stoic teacher or even th e h igh
examp l e of a Stoic Emperor That so eth ing existed
among the Christians but was utterly wanting outside their
,
.
,

m
c ircle.

Then again the ph il os0ph ic teaching of Seneca Epictetus

m
, , ,

and the other later Stoic masters powerfu l and seemingly ,

heart searching though it often was

-
ade littl e or n o effort ,

to reach the poor and humble dwellings of the struggling

trader or lower still the crowded and squal id homes of th e
, , ,

a rtisans ; sti ll less did it care to speak to the slave though ,

o n e of its great exponents was a s l ave himself Its precepts .

were admirable ; its doctors as we h ave seen now and , ,

again vied even with the Christian teachers in their earnest

desire to persuade the disciples o f th eir school that all men

were brothers and that all alike were deserving of pity help
, ,

a n d comfort ; but they went no further They Spoke to a .

select few only Their words were rarely heard beyond the
.

wall s o f their lecture halls They could tal k beautifully 0] .

the poor the slave and that great army of sufferers who
, ,

make up the rank and le of the inh abitants of a great city

such as Rome ; but they never spoke to these the poor the ,

sl ave and the suerer

,
.

Strangely different indeed was the way of working adopted

by the teachers o f that widespread sect th e u nresting opponents ,

o f Stoic Pagan philosophy .

Unwearied ly the teachers of Christianit y pursued their

propaganda ; they had no public l ecture halls the scenes of

m
,

their instruction were the frequent rel igious meetings of

bel ievers an d enquirers eetings held in poor upper rooms w

bel onging to artisans and little traders ; in chapels attached

to the houses of the great and powerful ; in crypts or catacombs ,

where slept the loved dead of the Christian community .

 TH E R E VI VA L 0F P A GA NI SI II . 1 75

The message was never si lent ; it was spoken with equal fer
vour to the patrician and the slave It recognised no rank it .
,

cared little for human culture Indeed it especially sought .

,

for the outcast the humble the unlearned Never before h ad

, , .

an
y religious teachers taken pa ins and trouble to seek ou t the
poor undistinguished down trodden folk but strange to say
, ,
-
,

it was among su ch that Christianity chose especially to deliver

its beautiful life giving true message
, , .

A n d it was rewarded The ceaseless propaganda among .

the poor and the despised go i ng on as it did year after year

in city and in country in many lands and among many

m
,

nations a propagan da carried on too for the mo st part amidst

, , ,

circu stances of grave danger and ever present peril to the -

un wearie d teachers touched the hearts o f the people ; and

m
the discipl es of the new faith were as the second century ,

grew old counted by thousands and tens o f thousands

,
.

Still though we recognise its especial weakn ess its i

, ,

potence among the masses we must not underrate the ,

a ssistance which the philosophy of the later Stoics rendered

to Paganism in its hour of need It was a real help but it .
,

only helped it among the cu ltur ed classes It did nothing

.
.

to popularise it among the masses of the people O ther .

inuences than philosophy were at work which attached the

people to the ol d Pagan religion which k ept them in vast ,

numbers faithful to th e old gods and to the old idol ritual ,

practised in the stately temp les where their forefathers had

worshipped We have dwelt on some of these inuences
.

al rea dy at some length in uences which put off for a l ong

period the nal ruin of Paganism * .

Anoth e i n u ence th at of Po phy y n d th e t each ers of th e Neo Pl atonic

r ,
r r a -

school in th e seco n d h al f f th thi d and th e e li e y ear s of th e fo u th cent u y

o e r ar r r r ,

i to u ch ed upon l at e (pp 4 09
s r .
,
 1 76

CH A PTER VIII .

TH E CH R I STI A NS U N DE R TH E A N TO N I N E S ,
A D
. . 1 38 TO A D . . 1 80
.

IN the reigns of the A ntonines Pius and Marcus who followe d, ,

Hadrian A D 1 3 8 to A D 1 8 0 despite the generall y wise and

,
. . . .
,

benecial administration of these two princes who justly are ,

deemed the noblest and best of the early lin e of Emperors the ,

situation of the Christian communities in the midst of the

Pagan population of the Empire grew gradually more precarious .

The dangers to which the y were exposed increased in number ,

while the safeguards which the wisdom and understanding of

,

rulers l ike Traj an and Hadrian in the earlier years of his reign
, ,

had provi ded against popular clamour were often more or l ess ,

disregarded or evaded .

O utward ly at all events the spirit o f the rescript of Hadrian

, ,

coloured the letters addressed by A ntoninus Pius to severa l

o f the Greek cities in the provinces o f A chaia and Macedonia ;

where i n he gave orders that mere noisy clamour on the part

o f the people shoul d not be counted as a formal accusation of

the Christians to be taken ofcial account of by the governor .

Letters too bearing on the same points were sent to A thens

, ,

and the Greek cities in general .

A good example of the e ffect of illegal popular clamour in

the case of accused Christians occurs in the history of the
martyr dom of Po lycarp already related in the sketch of the
,

great Bishop s career which took p l ace in A D 1 5 5 when

, . .
,

A ntoninus Pius was reigning We read that the proconsul

.

wished to give the accused Bishop a full er hearing and a

formal trial but that the tumu l t and shouting of the populace
,

induced him to sanction immediate execution .

There appear to have been in the reign of Pius many O I

P ho to Al m an Cook , Ho m
e.

S tt
a ue
MA R C U S
in th e P iaz z a
AU R E L I US
del Caui pidog lio , Ro m
e
.
 TH E CH R IS TIA NS

UND E R TH E A NT ON INE S . 1 77

these popular outbursts of feeling in Greek cities against the

Christians This points clearly to the g radual revival of
.

Paganism wh ich was so prominent a feature in th e reign of

,

Marcus who fO ll O WGd Pius on the throne

,
.

Al though the A ntonines made no ostensible alteration in

the pol icy laid down by their predecessors on the questions
connected with the relations of Christianity and the Empire ,

yet as we have seen the Imperial rescripts were of so general

, ,

a nature that they could be interpreted in a sense favourable

or unfavourable to the religionists to whom they referred ,

according to the disposition of the particular go vernor ; in

which no doubt the supposed bias favourable or otherwise ,

towards the Christian communities of the all powerful reigning ,

-

Emperor at Rome would be an important factor The pro

,
.

consul was certainly likel y to shape his policy closely on the

lines which he judged would be acceptable to the Emperor .

No w the feeling o f the A ntonines was never favourable to the

growing sect and it became more hostile as time advanced The
, .

policy o f A ntoninus Pius may be said to have been generally

indi fferent but the indi fference gradually shaded into dislike
,
,

into a xed idea that Christianity was un Roman ; and in the -

Emperor Marcus this idea became more and more pronounced .

The love of j ustice the hatred o f all oppression and tyranny

, ,

which so strongly characterised the ru l e of the A ntonines to ,

some extent shielded these quiet and scrupulously loyal

sectaries from all open cruelty and high handed acts of -

Oppression ; bu t the evident dislike of the great Emperors ,

especial ly of Marcus and their evident mistrust of the aim

,

and obj ect of Christianity made the profession of the Faith ,

in their reigns very burdensome often very dangerous Hence , .

the roll of martyr s in Rome and the provinces became longer

and longer in the times of the two noblest and most upright
o f the Emperors .

A mong the early Christian writings that we possess in their

entirety the rst A po l ogy of Justin presented to A ntoninu s
,

,

Pius cir ca A D 1 4 5 5 0 holds a conspicuous place It is the work

. .
-

, .

o f a scholar and thinker a man versed in all the learning o f

,

his day and time who had embraced Christianity only when
,

M
1 78 E A RL Y C H R I S TIA NI T Y A ND P A GA NI S I L
I .

he was comparativel y speaking we ll a dvanced in life and had

, , ,

already carefully examined the principal cults practised by

the various peoples inhabiting the v ast Roman Empire The .

rst A pology of Justin was addressed to A ntoninus Pius

,

when that sovereign h ad been reigning some few years In

m
.

the course of his e l aborate and deep l y interesting plea for the
o n e proscribed religion the wri ter among other o ts presses
p , , ,

upon the Emperor the wonderful loyalty to constituted

authority always sho wn by the persecuted sect They never .

hesitate d for instance to pay at once the Imperial taxes The

, , .

only liberty they cl aimed was the l iberty of conscience which

bade them adore one God In everything else they were ready .

to obey with j oy They recognise d the royalty and supremac y

.

o f Rome and were in the habit o f praying that D ivine hel p

,

might be given to the Sovereign Justin p l eads too with .

, ,

great force that the sum of Christian teaching is that nothing

escapes the eye of God that He sees and punishes et ernally ,

the wicke d man the conspirator the self seeker with a punish
, ,
-
,

ment exactly commensurate with his evil deeds ; that th e

same Go d too re wards the virtuous man in proportion to his
, ,

righteous work s Surely such teaching as this h e argues is a

.
, ,

r eal and substantial help to the laws of a good government

like that of Imperial Rome and gives stability to societ y , .

Further he contrasts the pure morals of the Christian sect

,

with the disgraceful examples set by the Pagan gods He .

indignantly repudiates the scanda l ous charges made again st

the Christian worship and paints in a few simple and e l oquent
,

s entences its most sacred portion the solemn Eucharistic ,

service Pious pure peace l oving surel y Christians had the

.
, ,
-

right of protesting before the Emperor against the cr y ing ih

j ustice o f the Roman l aws against their religion ; laws by which
the bearing o f the name of Christian was proscribed and punished
with death In their case no inquiry was necessary whether
.
,

o r not they had committed crimes The mere fact o f their .

being Christians was su fcient to condemn them They were .

j udged and put to death simpl y on account of the Name they

bore whilst on the other hand the mere renouncement o f
, , ,

the Name procured their immediate acqu ittal In the name .

 TH E CH RI S TI A NS UND E R TH E A N TO NINE S . 1 79

of justice and mercy he argued let not Rome j udge and punish
, ,

a word or Name but let her j udge and punish a cts if any such
, ,

be found worthy o f punishment When a Christian is haled .

before Rome s tribunal at once let his life be subj ect to a

rigid examination l et the court inquire careful ly if he has

,

done aught amiss but do no t let the mere name of a Christian

, ,

which embraces so much that is beautiful and good be imputed ,

to him as a crime Let n ot one who has never inj ured any
.
,

who is a loyal subj ect o f the Empire be regarded as a ,

criminal deserving of the severest pu ni shment let the Christian

be given the common privilege which the Roman law gives to
all accused persons It is sure ly onstrous that a Special l aw
.

shou l d exist in the soli tary case o f one only charged with
m
be ing a Christian .

It was some years after the presentation o f his rst

A po l ogy for Christianity that the second of these appeals

that common fairness should be sho wn to the accused

Christians was addressed to the Emperors ( Pius and
Marcus ) and the Senate When Justin wrote his second .

A polog y in o r about the last year of the reign of A ntoninus

Pius things looked very dark for Christianity throughout
,

the Empire The reigning Emperor h ad no sy pathy

.

with the worshippers of Jesus who resolutely s tood aloof ,

m
from all the religions favoured and sanctioned by the
State His adopted son and successor Marcus was known
.
, ,

openly to disl ike them though the reason h as ever been a ,

subj ect o f wonder and inquiry N 0 new rescripts on th e .

Christian question had indeed been put ou t But the ol d .

Imperial directions which issued from the chanceries of Traj an

,

and Hadrian were still in force ; and their vagueness which

, ,

left much to the discretion of the provincial governor ,

was now sadly inimical to Christians when it was under ,

stood that the Emperor himself was personally hosti l e to

the se ct The interpretation now of the o l d rescripts by
.

the provincia l governor was apt to be very di fferent from

the interpre tation of the same Imperial commands when
the reigning Emperor was known to be Opposed to per
secution in any form and when men were conscious that he
,
1 80 E AR LY CH R I S T IA NI T Y A ND PA GA NI SM .

only reluctantly acquiesc ed in extreme measures if the

fact of the accused being a Christian were forced upon
the magistrates and ofcial s o f the Empire .

In the mi ddle of the second century there was alrea dy

an active propagan da o f Christianity carried on in numberless
famil ies by means o f Christian slaves condential servants , ,

teachers o f various arts and accomplishments physicians , ,

and others who had access to the inner life of families It .

is an error to suppose that Pagan society in the second

century had to seek instruction in Christianity secretly in
some little chapel of a wealthy Roman s house or in a

m
sep ul chral crypt of a dark and narrow catacomb That teach .

ing and preaching probably of a high order under the

, ,

charge of some learned and devoted aster was constantly ,

to be found in their most secret and hidd en places was no ,

doubt the case ; but the propaganda of the Faith was by

no means conned to these little centres There were few .

families in Rome after a time that did not count among

their numbers one or more Christians O ften these members .

ll ed only humble positions but their widespread inuence

,

was inca l culable Justin in his second A pology as the
.
,

,

crown of his argument showing the great and lofty in uence

,

of the Faith gives us a striking example o f how Chris

,

tianity inuenced the home life A Roman citi z en and

.

his wife of the middle class but evi dently in goo d circum
,

s tances had been for some time living a disorderly sinful

,

existence ; a life too common in that age of l uxury and

vice when the popu l ar P ag anism was almost powerl ess as
,

a teacher o f th e nobler life o r as an inuence fo r good

, .

Through some o f those quiet powerful in uences of which

,

we have spoken the wife became a Christian and at once ,

her ol d l ife became changed No t so her husband

. He .

went on in his evil ways plunging even deeper into dis

,

gracefu l sin til l at l eh gth the union became insupportable

,

to the wife who applied for a divorce

,
Then the wicked .

husband seeking for the reasons which had in uenced his

,

wife divined that she had become a Christian The Pagan

,

in that age when fairly unprejudiced swiftly app ra ised the

, ,
 CH R I S TIA NS UND E R A N T ON INE S 181
'
TH E

TH E .

purifying inuence Of Christi anity A t once if any marke d .

,

change of life was apparent if any Open opposition to ,

fashionable vice o r sin was made the true cause was forth ,

with suspected SO it happened in the case Of the couple o f

.

Justin s story ; the angry husband at once publ icly charged his

wife wi th being a Christian The Christian woman through .

,

interest or possibly bribes contrived to delay the trial In ,

.

the meantime her husband through some outside per ,

suasion dropped the charge against his wife ; and having

,

learned that one Ptolem aeus had been the instrument of

her conversion made him the object Of accusation
,
This .

charge was pressed and a l though no persecution was ,

raging and no special desire j ust then existed to hunt down

Christians Ptolem aeus was tried and sentenced to death A
, .

bystander in the court named Lucius listening to the

m
,

Roman Prefect s sentence appealed to the judge asking

, ,

hi h ow he could conde mn to death a man convicted o f

n o crime simp l y because he had confessed himself a Chris
,

tian surely such a sentence was unworthy alike Of a pious

Emperor and the sacred Senate ? The Prefect deigned n o
rep ly to the bold inquirer other than Yo u too seem to , , ,

be a Chr istian Y es said Lucius
. I am upon which

, ,

,

open confession Lucius to o was led to immediate capital

punishment A third Christian present in the court red
.
,

by these examples confessed his faith and the three died

, ,

together .

In the course of an argument on the strength of the

attachment of Christians to their Master Jesus and on the ,

numbers and varieties found among the martyr s Of his day ,

Just in beautifully remarks that Socrates ( whom Marcus

revered ) never had a di sciple wh o was willing to die for

him Jesus on the other hand has a crowd of such devoted
.
, ,

witnesses A rtisans men and women drawn from the very

.
,

dregs o f the people ; philosophers too and cultured men , , ,

who were all willing and ready to die for His doctrine The .

power which strengthened these was not from human

wisdom It was the strength o f God
. These martyrs to .
,

whom Justin was specially all uding belonging to all sorts ,

1 82 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

and conditions of men won their crown be it remembered , , ,

in a period Of comparative stil lness .

The events narrated had taken place in the reign of

A ntoninus Pius when persecution was inactive ,
But when .

Pius passed away the nineteen years ( A D 1 6 1 to A D 1 8 0)

,
. . . .

o f the reign o f his successor the nobl est of the Pagan ,

Emperors proved nevertheless the hardest period of trial

,

the followers o f Jesus had as yet experienced More Chris .

tian blood owed under the rule of the Imperial P h i l osopher ,

whose Thoughts or Meditations reveal apparent ly one

o f the tenderest Of consciences than was shed in the shar p ,

but comparativel y brief p ersecutions O f Nero and D omitian ,

or during the long reigns o f Traj an Hadrian and A ntonin us , ,

Pius .

A n ew and harsher interpretation was given to the

Imperial rescripts of Traj an and Hadrian and to the s till ,

earlier precedents o f Vespasian and the Flavian p rinces in ,

the difcu l t questions of procedure against accus ed Christians .

NO doubt too the spirit which prompted the government of

m
, ,

Marcus to persecute emanating as it did from so revered ,

and admired an Emperor not a l ittl e inuence d S epti ius ,

S everus at the c l ose of the century when he issued his sterner

anti Christian rescripts
-
From the accession of Marcus .

onwards whenever an Emperor on the throne was no t

,

favourably incl ined to the followers o f Jesus the persecution ,

o f the Christians assumed a more general as we l l as a more

deadly aspect .

But the e ffect o f these harsher measures the result of ,

this bitter Opposition was very di fferent from what the ,

Imperial Government contemplate d The general proscrip .

tion exercised an enduring and powerful in uence on the

scattered communities It had the e ffect of uniting the per .

se cu ted and harassed Christians more an d ever more close ly

together while it never seriously diminished the number

,

o f Christians ; the new converts being far more numerous

than the martyrs and the l apsed A s the years passed
.

on the Church thus tried became through adversity more

,

strong more bravely patient

,
.
 TH E CH R I S TI A NS UND E R TH E A N T ON INE S . 1 83

Hitherto we have passed over all events however interest ,

ing connected with the secu l ar chronicle Of the Roman

,

worl d unless such events were c l osely connected with the

,

history of Christianity We have dismissed with only a very .

brief notice the careers o f those great men who p l ayed the
part o f Masters of the World in the rst and second cen
turies excepting so far as th eir policy specially affected
,

Christianity ; as was the case with A ugustus who may be ,

said to ha ve rst buil t up that Paganism which for so

long made an effectual stand against the religion o f Jesus ,

and with Hadrian whose name will b e ever connected with ,

the las t great Jewish war

m
.

The Emperor Marcus A urelius however demands a special , ,

study since his pol icy introduces a new and specially u

,

friend ly departure in the re l ations o f the Roman worl d

with the man y Christian communities which more or l ess ,

affect e d Christianity until the hour of its nal triumph

abou t a century and a half after his accession * .

We know much of the inner life of Marcus since we ,

possess a private diary of his revealing to us the inner ,

m
m
most thoughts which guided and inuenced much of his

public life These Thoughts o r Meditations are private

m
.
, ,

oran daj writte n Often hastily without arrangement

e , ,

more Often in the tent when he was with his ar y than

in the pal ace A s a kind O f commentary on this diary

m
.

we have some charming letters addresse d to him by his

friend and teacher Fronto letters co paratively r ecently ,

discovered The intense religiousness of Marcus is striking

. .

Here face to face with Christianity we have a Pagan wh o

, ,

apparent ly believed in the Roman gods rehabi litated by

the pious cal cu l ating care of A ugustus We wi ll give j ust .

a few extracts from Fron to s correspondence The teacher

.

writes without fear to the absol ute master of the world

m
.

dt m
pi o i tio n Marcu s
m
h dly equ i e n oti ce
*
Th e Of V er u s in th e E by

mt omi ht tt i t jooi tiot l olit i

a ss c a re ar r r s .

littl
H e h adi ht i i poli y
e or n o we g in e er n ng c ,
an d di d so w hat O ppo tunel y
e ,
e r

for Ho

hm
e, af er s of in 1 69

m
o m
e e g y ear s n ru e, A D. . .

La sin cerit de ce e n err ga n s a re en fa it un plu p ci eu x

des s r

t
nu en sp y de l

an ti
q u it .

C a ag n L es A ntonius, vol ii i liv e vi
. .
,
r .
,
1 84 E A R L Y C H R I S T IA NI T Y A ND P A GANI SM .

Be careful not to play the C aesar do not plunge into the

waters of Imperial enticements ; keep yourself simple good , ,

serious the friend of j u stice ready for all duties kind

, , , .

H on ou r th e g ods Save men l ife is but short

. There is , .

but one prize to be won in ou r earthly career to have ,

s triven after a holy aim and to have lived a life which has
,

been useful to o thers In all things be a fol l o wer o f (your

.

adoptive father) A n toninus Pius Call to mind his unresting .

love O f work his steady friendships

,
Think o f his piety .
,

never superstitious ( there was perhaps a warning here o f , ,

a danger Fronto suspected ) ; so order your life that the

end wil l nd you as it found him living in the peace Of a ,

good conscience A n d again
. Love all men yes and from ,

, ,

your heart B e patient with the wicked man be sorry for

.
,

him . Y ou never can be quite sure if something hidden

from you cannot be fairly urge d as a plea for h is conduct .

A nd you are you perfectly pure yourself ? Even if you

are free from the faults and errors you condemn is it n o t ,

perhaps from a vanity which preserves you from them ?
In Fronto s advice in Marcus T h oughts or Meditations

,

,

there is much that reminds us of Christianity ; unsuspected

Christian inuences are dimly perceptible Indeed there is .
,

very little in ancient philosophy or teaching at all com

parable to or even resembling the l ofty conceptions which

we meet with continuall y in these Thoughts or Medita

tions and correspondence of Marcus But everywhere in .

,

Meditations and in letters al ike constant references to the ,

gods meet us again and again Y et the good Emperor had .

no xed belief at t imes he even seemed to doub t the very

existence o f the gods whose names were ever on his l ips ,

Longing intensely to believe in a guiding and directing

Power he would in his superstitious anxiety even turn from
,

the ancient gods of Rome to the Eas tern d eities with their ,

corrupt and corrupting rites with their occu l t mysteries ; ,

s y mpathising with all religions save one For to wards .

Christianity he was ever co l d ever hostile : once only he ,

alludes to it in his Meditations and then wi th accents

,

O f petul ant scorn It is difcult to guess the reasons for

.
 TH E CH R I S TI A NS UND E R TH E AN TONINE S . 1 85

this hatred which the great earn est devou t Emperor con , ,

stan tly showed to Christianity The only explanati on possible .

is that Marcus was trained in the school o f Roman statesman

ship which regarded Christianity as utter ly opposed to al l
,

the cherished traditions of Roman government which taught ,

that to be a C h ristian and at the same time a Roman was

simply impossible that the peculiar and exclusive tenets of
,

the sect held them generally aloof from all Ofces in which
they could serve the State and play the part o f good citizens ;
,

that they were in fact as citi z ens diXpnO T O L ( useless ) It '

does no t seem as though the Emperor ever took the pains

to examine the principles of a faith which he thoroughly
distrusted and disliked or ever real ly re ad a weighty
,

document like the second A pology o f Justin which was

addressed to the Emperors or that he ever came in contact,

with any r eally great Christi an personality wh o might have ,

inuenced him at least to give the Christian cause a fair

and patient hearing .

In spite of his unfeigned devotion to the god s O f the O l d

religion in spite Of his earnest piety which it is evident
, , , ,

at times shaded in to strange superstitious notions Marcus ,

had no denite views as to the hereafter ; he never alludes

to elaborate gradations of rewards and punishments such as ,

we n d in the magic pages of A ugustus poet the loved

Virgil but dwells rather on the i de a o f rest in Go d for
,

the soul which as Marcus un derstood it seems to have

, , ,

involved the loss of all personal i dentity .

The modern traveller as he stands on the Palatine in

the midst Of the vast and melancholy ruins of the pal aces
o f the C aesars and looks over the Roman Forum with its
,

immemorial story with its no w shapeless piles O f mighty

,

stones dominated by a few graceful columns by a solitary

, ,

arch or two by a fragment here and there o f a once mighty

,

wall ; as painfully and wearily he reconstructs in imagination

, ,

the matchless group of sacred buildings once crowded

together in that strange square or pl ace for several cen
,

turies the centre o f the world and its eventful story begins
to comprehend something Of the feelings of a Marcus
1 86 E A R L Y C H R I S T IA NI T Y A ND PA CA NI S JII .

A ure l ius A ntoninus wh o gazed day by day on this wondrous

,

scene sti ll in its fair b eauty at the height perhaps Of its

, ,

superb magnicence Those stately temples with their

.
,

go l den roofs gleami ng and ashing beneath the rays Of an

Italian sun were the chief earthl y symbols of the deities
,

whom he h ad been taught to revere as the gods of the men ,

who had been makers of the proud Empire over which he

ru l ed as the inspirers of their great deeds as the Provide n ce
,

of their fortunes as the Immortals who l oved Ho e with a

,

pec ul iar l ove These gorgeous fanes were the representative

.
,

m
sanctuaries O f such deities as Jupiter Of the Capitol Mars ,

the A venger Vesta with her sacr ed re Venus Ju no Saturn

, , , , ,

o r the great Twin Brethren who fought for Rome in her

day o f trial A ll that was great and gl orious in Rome had

.

spru ng h e had been taught from the fact o f the mighty

protection of these venerated Immortals The past the .
,

pres ent the future o f the Empire was bound up in their

,

cu l t . Not only I taly bu t the whole Of the enormo us ,

Roman world in the East and in the West more or l ess

acknowledged their sovereignty and a dored their changele ss

m
maj esty O nly on e strange sect stood al oof from the cos
o olitan
p cro w d
.

o f wors h ippers at these awful

sect comparatively speaking Of yesterday for when his
shrines a ,

great predecessor A ugustus reigne d it existed not a sect

which claimed for the Being it worshippe d not toleration
but solitary supremacy It was verily an enormous a .
,

stupendous claim for it involved regarding the great gods

,

o f Rome as shadows as mere phantoms O f the imagina

m
,

m
tion Well might one like the Emperor Marcus shudder at
.

m
a claim at an assertion which wou l d see
,
to a true patriot
Roman whose heart was all aa e with national pride to
, ,

involve the most daring impiety the most shocking bl asphe y , ,

the most tremendous risks fo r the future of his peop l e .

A nd this sect o f yes terday his ministers wou l d tel l him , ,

was steadily increasing not only in Rome where curious ,

strange faiths abound e d but in all the provinces in th e , ,

home lands of Italy in Greece in Syria far away even in

-
, , ,

the Euphrates valley in Egypt the seat o f mysteries in

, ,
 TH E CH R I S TIA NS UND E R TH E A NT O N INE S . 1 87

North A fr ica with its wealthy sea cities in the vast province -
,

Of prosperous Gaul They would tell him how this hateful

.

m
sect Of Christians was adding daily converts to its extra
ordinary and dangerous belief converts drawn from the ,

freedmen and slaves converts

m
humblest traders fro ,

drawn too from the noblest houses of Rome even from the ,

fami l ie s of those patricians whose exal ted rank gave the

m

perpetual access to the sovereign s inner circle The Chris .

tians when Marcus foll owed his adoptive father Pius on the
,

throne from their great nu bers their unity their organisa

, , ,

tion had become a real power in the State a power with

, ,

which statesmen assure dl y would have sooner or later to

reckon a power which threatened every day to grow more
,

formi dable .

m
An d to the patriot Emperor whose pious nature ever ,

loved to d well on the unseen protection Of the Immortal s ,

in who h e strove with intense earnestness to believe to ,

whom he prayed daily hourly these Christians and their, ,

aggre ssive uncompromising belief for which strangely enough , , ,

they were only too ready to die were abhorrent They , .

constituted in his eyes an ever present danger to Rome -

,

her institutions her ancient rel igion

,
.

The Emperors he had fo ll owed on the thr one mighty ,

sovereigns such as Vespasian and Traj an and Hadrian noble ,

princes such as was his ( adoptive ) father Pius had pronounced

, ,
-

these Christians outlaws had deci ded that the publ ic con
,

fession o f Christianity withou t further investigation into the

,

life Of the accused involved the punishment o f death ; bu t

,

with the pronouncement these Emperors had in some degree ,

protected them from prosecution In view O f the present .

grave peri l to the State its most ch erished institutions and its
, ,

ancient rel igion the Imperial policy must be somewhat changed

, .

The old rescripts of Traj an and his successors which declare d ,

that the profession of Christianity incurred the penalty of

death might remain unaltered ; but the Imperial mantle o f
,

protection which discouraged all persecution hitherto spread ,

over the communities Of Christians must be withdrawn , .

Henceforth the prosecution of Christians must not depend on

1 88 E A RLY C H R I S TI A NI T Y A ND P A GANI S M .

some chance event or information : these dangerous sectaries

must be actively sough t for hunted down and on con , ,

v ictio n summarily dealt with .

The followi ng dry historical records of contemporary

writers referring to and briey chronic l ing the persecutions
o f Christians specially active in the days o f Marcus wi ll be ,

the justication of a portion at least Of the foregoing reections

o n his anti Christian po l icy -
.

Celsus in his writing The True Word ci r ca

, A D , . .

1 7 7 1 8 0 O r possibly a very few years earlier but stil l in the

, ,

same reign speaks o f Christians as being sought ou t for

,

execution Melito Bishop Of Sardis cir ca A D 1 7 0 1 7 1

.
, ,
. .
-
,

writes o f new edicts which di rected that Christians were

to be pursued For such persecution no precedent he .
,

stated existed ,
We have already expressed the opinion
.

that no new edicts were promulgated by Marcus A ntoninu s ,

but that the ol d proced ure was sti ll carried on in the matter
o f Christian prosecutions only with greater harshness and ,

with an evident bias against the rel igion of Jesus The .

new decree all uded to by Melito would if this conclusion ,

be accepted signify fresh instructions or explanations from

,

the Emperor rather than legislation A thenagoras cir ca .

,

m
A D 1 7 7 1 8 0 dwells on the harrying robbery and b itter per
. .
, , ,

secu tio n o f the Christians Fol lowing the argument O f Justin .

Martyr he inveighs against the Christian being conde ne d

,

simply because of the Name no further eviden ce of gui l t
,

being required Theophilus of A ntioch cir ca A D 1 8 0.

, . .
,

also tells us that Christians were sought o ut and hunted

down l ike dogs .

The A cts of Mar tyrs

and records Of martyrdom of
the period some absolutely genuine others translations
, ,

from the original pr oces ver b a u x with little or no addition , ,

Speak to the same e f fect In the A cts of S F elicitas and .

.

her Sons the genuineness Of which will be briefly discussed
,

when we come to speak o f some of the martyrdoms of the

reign the anti Christian policy of Marcus is sad l y evident
,
-
.

In the famous account of the Martyrs o f Lyons and Vienne

in Gaul we read how the Christians of the great Gallic

 TH E CH R I S TI A NS UNDE R TH E A N T ON INE S . 1 89

province were sought out

drawn in the case of the mar tyrdo
the A cta J ustin i .

.

m
A simi l ar inference must be
of Justin related in ,

It was this O i cial hunting do wn this police seeking out

-
,
-

o f Christians which was the n ew feature in the policy of the

,

Emperor Marcus towar ds the sect It does not seem to

.

have been ever practised in the reign Of An toninus Pius ,

and by Traj an and Hadrian it was explicitly forbidden lest ,

the rescripts should be misunderstood by over zealous magis -

tra tes The change introduced by Marcus A urel ius was com
.

p l ete and fundamental .

 1 90

CHA PTER IX .

A CH A P T E R OF MA R T Y R D O MS .

SE CT O I N I
. I NTR O D UCTO R Y .

TH E martyrdoms of the Christians of the age o f persecution an ,

age which lasted roughly 26 0 to 28 0 years form an important ,

chapter in early Christian history if we bear in mind their

terrible fre quency and remember how powerful an inuence these
,

conspicuous and repeate d acts o f suffering even unto death , ,

had upon the Christian life and character It will be worth .

while to devote a short space in our history to a somewhat

detailed relation ( 1 ) of a typical trial in the reign of Marcus
A urelius which preceded the last awful act ; ( 2) of the scenes
which took place in the prison where these captives for th e
religion were held in bondage and waited for the end ; and
( 3 ) of the martyrdom in the public arena where these brave
sol diers of the Faith in pain and agony passed to their

m
rest .

The scenes we have chosen for o ur typical pictures lay

in different famous centres o f the Empire in Ro e in , ,

Carthage and in Lyons The documents from which we

,
.

have drawn the materials for o ur accounts are contemporary ,

and in the opinion Of the great maj ority of serious critics

*
absolutely authentic

m
.

( )
1 The trial scene we have selected for o ur example lay
in Ro e ; it was conducted by an Imperial functionary Of
high rank the Prefect of Rome and the procee dings were
, ,

read and approved by the Emperor Marcus himself who after

m
,

onl y one of th e th
Th e pi eces of w hi h th e auth enti ity a a cont e po y
m
ree c c s rar

r eco r d is qu e tio n d is th e
s e r s t. Th e q uestio n of its au th enti city is di scussed b elo w
a t o e l n g th
s e .
 A CHA P T E R OF MA R T YR D OMS . 1 91

reading them ratied the stern sentences o f the prefect .

The date of the trial in question was cir ca A D 1 6 2 The . . .

source of the document from which we quote was evidently

the p r oces v er b a l of the trial .

( 2) The prison scene we have depicted l ay in Carthage

mthe splendid and weal thy capital of the popu l ous com
ercial province o f North A frica

scene was ci rca A D 202

The date Of this prison
We have appended to this a
. . .
.

very short account Of the martyrdom which follo we d the

scene in prison from the recital of an eye witness as it -
,

forme d part Of the original document describing the prison life .

( 3 ) The other arena scene chosen as a good example Of the ,

usual c l ose of a martyrdom lay in the ourishing province ,

Of Gaul in the important city of Lyons The date of the

, .

events here narrated was ci r ca A D 1 7 7 during the reign . .

,

of the Emperor Marcus A gain it is the record o f eye

.

witnesses who sent to certain Christian communities in

,

dis tant A sia Min or a faithful record of what had been

endured for the Gospel s sake by their brethren in the

Faith in L y ons then the chief city in the populo u s Ga llic

,

provinces o f the \ Vest The intimate relations of the Churches

.

in Gaul with those in A sia Minor have already been noticed .

Thus to sum up the three typical scenes of Christian

, ,

martyrdom are drawn from contemporary and authentic

sources They date from A D 1 6 2 for the trial scene for the
. . .
,

prison scene and its sequel from A D 202 for the arena scene . .
,

from A D 1 7 7 The perio d of these three events chosen as

. . .
,

an example of what was taking place in many other cities ,

is rough ly the middle o f the 28 0 years Of o ur story .

D ifferent great centres o f the Empire have been selected .

The trial was in Rome the prison in Carthage the arena , ,

in Lyons thus illustrating the Observation a lready made

,

that the early scenes Of persecution were common to all

parts o f the Roman Empire .

I N II
S E CT O .
A STA TE T RIA L OF A CCU SE D CH R I STI A N S I N R O ME .

E A RL Y in the reign of Marcus A urelius modern scholars

have placed one o f the more famous scenes o f martyrdom .
 1 92 E A R L Y C H R I S TI A NI T Y A ND PA GA N I SM .

For various reasons the condemnation and passion o f Fel icitas

and her sons have ever been a favourite and popular piece

among martyrologists ; these martyrs have been out of number ,

less similar instances selected as special Obj ects of veneration , .

They occupi e d this position of high esteem in the Church s ~

records certainly as far back as the middle of the fourth

century as we shall presently see
,
.

Similar prosecutions were set on foot in numberl ess

centres Of the Empire at this period A D 1 6 1 1 8 0 ; and as ,
. .

this trial of F el icitas and her sons persons O f high birth , ,

took p l ace at Rome under the very eye o f the Emperor it , ,

wil l certainly serve as a fair example of the proce dure O ur .

recital is based on the Latin text of the A cts of S

.

Felicitas which some critics * suppose to have been based
,

on a Greek original report of the trial There seems no .

reason for doubting however that the Latin text we possess , ,

fairly represents the original notes or p r oces v er b a l T of , ,

m m
mm tance D e R o ssi Ma uech i an d A ll ard
A s, for in s
f T w o u n i t ak b l e
,

k s of th e g enuin enes of th e pi ece a It i

, r , .

m
s a ar s re s

u n d at ed ve th at th e n e of th e g i st t e o p efect is g iv en ; h ence it w o uld

m m m mm m
sa a a ra r r

that th e p es nt v io n o d ctio n g en al l p oduced th e o i g i n l

m
see r e e rs r re a er y re r r a

doc u nt n att e pt havi ng b e n ad e to a pli fy to end e it o e inte esti ng

m
e ,
o e or r r r r

or i nst u ctiv e r ( 2) T h e pl ce o pl ce of int

. en t of th es ty s is not a r a s er e ar r

i ndicat ed in th e A ct s Thi is a k of hi g h ntiq uity as in th e ly d y s

m m m m
. s ar a ,
ear a

g ea t ec ecy at st f O b vio u easo n w a ob ved to th e pl c wh e e th e

m
r s r r ,
or s r s, s ser as a e r

i ns f ny w ell k n o wn co nf sso w e l id A ccu te ode n schol hip h a

m m
r e a O a -
e r er a . ra r ar s s,

ho w eve d et e i n d th e d ate al o st w ith e t i nty nd od n sci en ti c se h

m
r, r e c r a , a er re ar c

h cu io usly li g ht d u po n o e of th e pl f p ul ch e of th e e ty s
m
a s, r , e s aces o se r s ar r .

A co nsid e b l e o unt of co nt ov e y h s i n n th e q ue tio n of th e auth en

m
ra a r rs a ar se o s

ticity o f th e el eb at e d A ct f S F eli it s tt ks th nd R n n

se c A ub
r s o . c a -
a ac e ,
a e a

acc pt A ub s vi w Til l e ont co nsid e s th t th y h av n t l l th e ch ct i ti s

m m
e s e . r a e e o a ara er s c

f g enu i ne A ct s B i shop L i g htfoot in long n ot e in h i app en di x to th eig n

m
O .
,
a s e r

O f Ma u s A u eli us E p of S P oly ca p (A p ) su s up g i nst th

m
t li F th

m
rc r , . . r os o c a ers ,
a a e ,

b ut do es n ot co n id it i p ob b l e th t S F li citas w s e l p e so n n d that sh e
m m
s er r a a . e a a r a r ,
a

ay h av e h d o ns w h w e e ty ed
m
son o a a r s o r ar r .

O n th oth h an d v e y ny ecent schol s aintai n th ei uth en ti ity

m m
e er ,
r a r ar r a c

so D e R o s i B o g h e i s D oul cet M u e h i and oth e s

,
r s Al l d th
,
o st cen t ,
ar c , r . ar ,
e re ,

cept th e (H i t i l P u ti n vol i ch ap n d t an l t s th

m
ac s s o re ( es t ers c o s, . .
,
. a r s a e e a

l eng th w ith copio us n otes in h is hi to y as a v al u b l e g en ui ne pi ce ill u t t d s r a e ,

s ra e

f o
r D R o si an d oth e
e s rs .

O n th e w hol th e b l an e o f vid nce i t o n g ly in f vo u of th i g en l

m
e, a c e e s s r a r e r era

a uth enti city I t i po sib l e th t th ey h v e b e n d ct ed in l t g e b ut p ob b ly

. s s a a e re a a a er a ,
r a

in th e i n th ey a ab solutely a g enui ne pi ece Th ey a e cont in d in th e A ct

a re . r a e a

Si n ce ra of R u ina t r .
 A CH A P T E R 0F MA R T YR D OMS . 1 93

what passed at th e trial Of the heroic mother and her

sons.

F elicitas bel onged as we have said to the higher ranks

, ,

of the so ciety o f the day ; she was a widow fam ous in ,

Christian circles for her earnest and devoted piety The .

high rank and position which she occupie d evid ently gave
her considerable inuence A deputation from among the .

Paga n pontiffs of Rome well aware doubtless o f the hostile ,

feeling Of the Emperor to wards the Christian community ,

approached Marcus and laid an information against Felicitas

,

as belong ing to the u nlawful rel igion They played upon .

the Emperor s well known superstition dwell ing upon the

-
,

wrath of the immortal gods stirred up by this woman s

impiety towards them ; a wrath which they professed to
be unabl e to appease The Sovereign acting upon this .
,

i nformation directed the Prefect of the city to see that she

,

and her sons at once publicly sacriced to the offended

gods . From the name of the Prefect Publius which is , ,

giv en in the A cts we are enabled to date the martyrdom,

cir ca A D
. 1 62
. This year we kno w was spent by the
.
, ,

Emperor Marcus in Rome .

The Prefect Publ ius summoned Felicitas and endeavoure d , ,

rst by gentle words then by threats of a pub lic execution , ,

to induce her to sacrice to the gods F elicitas refused telling .

,

the magistrate that she was conscious o f the ind wel ling o f the
Holy Spirit who would defend her from being overcome
,

by the Evil O ne I am assur ed that wh ile I live I sha ll

.

b e the victor in my contest with you and if you cause me ,

to b e put to death I shall be still more a conqueror .

P ublius then said : Unhappy one if it is pleasant for

,

you to die at l east let y our s ons live
, .

My sons said F elicitas , will surely live if they do ,

not consent to sacrice to idols But if they commi t this .

crime of s acric ing they will die eternall y .

The day following the Prefect took his seat in the Forum ,

a place probably surrounding the Temp l e of Mars Ultor

( The A venger ) and summoned her sons to appear as accused
,

before him .
1 94 EA R L Y CH R IS TIA N I T Y A ND P A GA NI S M .

The rst interrogation Of Felicitas due regar d being h ad ,

to her exalted rank was held apparently in private But

,
.

n ow as she had pr oved contumacious her trial and that o f

, ,

her seven sons was con ducted in the open For um Be
pitiful at least to your sons these gallant young men stil l , ,

in the ower of their youth said the magistrate to the ,

accused Christian lady Felicitas turning to her sons bade .

, ,

them Look up to Heaven where Christ with His saints

,

,

is wait ing for you ght the good ght for your souls and
, ,

show yourselves faithful in the love of Chris t Then the .

Prefect Publius ordered his attendants to strike her say ing , ,

DO you dare in my presence to urge that the comman ds

o f our masters the associated Emperors Marcus and Veru s)
(
shall be set at nought 7 Then commanding th at her sons
,

o ne by one should be placed before him he addressed the ,

eldest Januarius O ffering him a rich and coveted guerdon

, ,

if he complied with the command and sacriced but ,

threatening him with scourging with rods if he refuse d .

Januarius simply answered The wisdom of the Lord wi l l ,

support me and enable me to endure all He was at once .

scourged and led back to prison The second Felix refused . , ,

too saying
,
We adore one God to whom we o ffer the
,

,

sacrice of prayers ; never suppose that you will separate

me or my brothers from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ ;
o ur fa ith wil l never be overcome or be changed by any o f

your threats To the third son Phil ip Publius said
. O ur , , ,

l ord the Emperor A ntoninus commands that you shou l d

sacrice to the all mighty gods Philip repli ed They
-
.

,

are neither gods nor are they all mighty They are but -
.

vain pitiful images and those who shall consent to sacrice

, ,

to them will risk an eternal danger To Silvanus the .
,

fourth son the Prefect spoke as follows :

,
I see you have
agreed with your ill starre d mother to despise the commands -

o f the Princes ( Marcus A ntoninus and his colleague Verus ) ,

and thus to bring about your ruin If repl ied Silvanus .

, ,

we were to fear a temporary death we should be punished ,

wi th an eternal death but as we know well what rewards ,

are prepared for the j ust what punish ents are reserved for ,
 A CH A P T E R OF MAR T YR DOMS . 1 95

s inners we can safely despise the Roman law when it comes

,

in conict with the D ivine law If we treat these idols with .

scorn and serve the Al l mighty God we shall win eternal

,
-
,

life. To the fth of Felicitas sons A lexander the magis trate

, ,

spoke as follows : Think of your tender age be pitiful to

,

y our life still on its threshold act as your sovereign

, ,

A n tonin us would have you act Sacrice to the gods and .

m
become the friend of the The brave youth at
o nce answered I am the servant of Christ I confess it
, ,

openly I love Hi from my heart I am ever adoring Him

, ,
.

Y es I kno w I am young but I have the wisdom of age so

, ,

I adore our God A s for your gods they and the ir worshippers
.
,

alike will perish .

To the sixth son Vitalis the Prefect pu t the following , ,

q uestion : Perhaps you will choose to live and will not ,

prefer dying ? Vitalis in reply asked Who is it wh o ,

really chooses to live ? The one who adores the true God ,

o r he who seeks the protection of a demon Publius

then inquired What demon do you refer to ? ,
Vitalis

quietly answered All the gods of all nations are demons ; ,

s o too are they who worship t h em .

Martial the seventh and last of the accused was thus

, ,

a postrophis ed by the magistrate Yo u are your o wn enemie s ,

,

y ou despise the ordinan ces o f the A ugusti ( Marcus and

Verus ) and you persist in your own destruction
, Oh .

,

c ried Martial if you only knew what punishments were

,

reserved for those who worship idols ! But God stil l restrains
His anger from ( crushing ) yo u and your idol gods A ll who .

do not confess that Christ is the true God will go into .

e tern al re .

The p r oces r er b a l of the trial was forwarded to the

-

Emperor Marcus for his decision

This was probably done .

because o f the high rank of the accused for as a rule ,

h
b esto wed
T is o ffer to
young Ch i stian n ob l e w s a hi g hly coveted distincti on
now and a ai n on p e so ns of
g ank Th e
th e
A i ci A u g usti ( fri en d s
r
r

r .
a

mm

m
o f A ug ustus) po ssessed th e i g ht of access to th e I p e ial p resence and a seat
r r

at hi st ab l e I t w as reckon ed a great dist in ction and w e nd it insc i b ed

.
,
r

a ong th e titl es of h onou on funeral tab l et s r .

1 96 E AR LY CH R I S T IA NI T Y A ND P A GA N ISM .

the magistrate summari ly condemned to death person s wh o

confessed that they were Christians .

The decision of the Emperor does not seem to have

tarried The accused were placed in the hands of the thre e
.

m
Ofcers whose duties consisted in the charge Of the priso ns
and o f the arrangements c onnected with capital punish
ments (Tr iu v ir i cap ita l es )
.
.

Januarius was sentenced to be beaten to death by whi ps

loaded with lead The secon d and third brothers w ere
.

doomed to a somewhat similar fate The fo urth was hurled .

from a height and so died The three remaining broth e rs

, .

and their mother Felicitas were decapitated The punish

, ,
.

ment of J anu ariu s and the second and third Of his nob le
brothers was somewhat unusual in the case Of illustrio us
Romans but this last degradation in death no doubt was
, .

intended as a stern warning to like o ffenders belonging to

the higher ranks of society .

The text of the A cts implies that the executions of

the marty rs were not all carried o ut in the same place I t .

.

is probabl e that the places o f their sepulture were chosen as

near as possibl e to the scenes of the martyrdom The S ta te .
,

as a rule was merciful to the friends of the executed and

,

usually gave up the bodies o f those pu t to death to thei r

friends for burial But in the case of the unpopular Christians
.
,

the violence o f the mobs as we have seen in the case o f ,

Polycarp O f Smyrna sometimes destroyed these sacred relics ;

,

hence the silence in the A cts as to the place of interment

.

But the tra di tion of these sacred spots was faithful ly kep t

m
in the Roman Church and in the list o f the birthdays,

( as the anniversaries o f the day of their deaths were terme d)

of the ore famous martyrs which were kept solemnly in ,

the rst quarter of the fourth century when Miltiades , ,

A D
. .
was Bishop Of Rome we nd four of the wel l ,

known cemeteries ( or catacombs ) specied as the places of

sepulture of F elicitas and her seven sons This ancie nt .

reference is reproduced in the several lists of the catacombs

containing tombs of famous martyrs usually visited by pilgrim s
between the fourth and sev ent h centuries .
 A CH A P T E R OF MA R T YR D O MS . 1 97

Time and the successive ravages by barbarian invaders

,

an d others to which the catacombs have been subj ected ,

have removed all traces of the sepulture o f six of the martyred

sons But a broken portion o f the inscrip tion S A N CT F E L
.

(icitas) has been unearthed in the spot designated by the

ancient documents as the place of the mother s sepulture

leaving no doubt as to the perfect accuracy of the ancient

tradition * .

But a far more striking discov ery ] by D e Rossi in the L

ancient catacomb of Prse tex tatus on the A ppian Way has

shown us the tomb of Januarius scarcely changed though ,

more than seventeen hundred years have passed since the

m
blood stained remain s of the eldest of the martyred seven
-

were tenderly and rever ently laid to rest .

The catacomb of Praetextatu s from any ancient references , ,

was kno wn to be rich in historic memories ; and when part

of it was being carefu lly excavated and the heaps of earth ,

and rub b ish removed a large and carefully decorated cryp t ,

o r cubiculum was uncovered the peculiar masonry and decora ,

tions of which expert s r efe red to the times Of the A ntonines r

scratched in the pl aster o f a fast fading fresco Of the Good

Shepherd on the wall wa s the following uncouth inscription
containing these words and fragments of words :

R E F R I GE R I
mm mRI US MA R T YR E S
MI JA NU A A GA T O PU S F E L I CI SSI M

m
.

( MA Y JA NU A R I US , A GA T O PU S, rs crss us T H E ar r s s R E F R E S H [T H E S O UL O F ] .
)i

A gatopus and Felicissi u s were two martyrs deacons of ,

Pope Sixtus II buried in the catacomb of Praetex tatus A D

.
,
. .

25 8. The friends Of some dead Christian interred at a later

period near the spot had scratched these words some two or
three centuries after invoking the protection of the three famous ,

saints for their dear dead one .

The invocation implied that J anuariu s was buried in this

cubiculum The inference was shown eventually to be absolutel y
.

De Ro i ss ,
B ull . li
c A rch . Ch r ist , 1 8 6 3 , p . 21 ,

4 1 4 9 .

1 4
-
.

i I bl d , . pp . 2, 4 ,
'
and see a s lo All ar d , H ist des Pew
.
,
vol . i .
, h ap
c .
v i .
1 98 E AR LY C H R I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA GANI SM.

correct for in A D 1 8 6 3 as D e Rossi was making furthe r

,
. .

investigation on the spot h e found some frag ents of marble

on which when put together the follo wing i nscription could b e
,
,

m
m
, ,

deciphered It was the work o f Ph il ocal us the artist of Pop e

.
,

D a asus A D 3 6 6 3 8 4 by wh ose reverent care so many of

,
. .
,

the precious martyr tombs of the second and third century

were restored and marked :
B E AT SS I I MO MA RT YR I
I A NVA R I O
DA MA S VS E PI S CO P
FE C T I .

thus localising beyond doubt the site of the sepulchre

where the remains of J anuarius the eldest of the martyred ,

sons of Felicitas were originally deposited

, .

SE CT O I N III .
TH E P R I SO N L FEI B E FO R E A MA R TY R DO M .

FO R ou r sketch of the prison scene in the case of an

accused Christian we have chosen perhaps the most beautiful
,

and graphic o f all the records which have come down to

us Of these martyrdoms : the one contained in what is kno wn
as the Passion Of S Perpetua . .

The circumstances re l ated in the Passion in question

took place cir ca A D 202 3 some forty years later than th e

,
. .
-
,

martyrd om of Felicitas and her s ons The Emperor Severus .

was o n the throne a Sovereign ill disposed to the religion

,
-

of Jesus in whose reign a long and bitter persecution of

,

Christianity raged in most districts of the Empire Th e .

scene O f the martyrdom and of the events which preceded

it was the great city of Carthage the capital o f the provinc e ,

of North A frica .

The piece the authenticity of which is supported by

,

contemporary authorities is general ly received by scholars ,

*
as a genuine martyrology largely the work of the heroine ,

o f the story .

The Passion in the form whic h we now possess is e v idently

See A pp endix D .
 A CH A P TE R 0F MA R T YR D O MS
. 19 9

written by three hands By far the largest part is th e prison .

memoir of Perpetu a herself A sma l l section containin g .

the relation o f S aturus vision in prison claims to have be en

writte n by Saturus* himsel f It is woven into Perpetua s .

narrative A short introduction by the redactor o r original

.
,

editor prefaces the memoir of Perpetua and an account O f the

, ,

martyrdom closes the piece This touching narrative of the .

nal sufferings of the littl e company was written in compliance

with Perpetua s request made shortly before she su ffered

, .

The immediate cause of the outbreak of persecuting fury

at Carthage seems to have been one o f those fre quent popular
d is turbances in large cities excited by Pagan fanatics against
the Christian community .

The little company who made up the actors in the bloody

drama the subj ect o f the
,
Passion consisted of Vivia
,

Perpetua herself a young married lady of good fam ily and

,

position and Saturus ; two slaves Rev ocatus and Felicitas

, ,

and two young men S aturninus and Secundul us , .

The arrest o f this little group o f Christians apparently ,

quite unconnected by any l ink or family bond with each

o ther was due to the accusation Of a del a tor or informer
, , .

They were hearers or pupils of Satu rus and the information ,

was probably laid against them owing to a recent rescrip t

o f the Emperor Severus sternl y forbidding any Christian

m
propaganda The accused at rst were simply conned to
.

their own dwellings They had not when rst arrested .

,

received the rite o f baptis This however after the d anger , ,

of their position was recognised by them was no longer ,

delayed A nd Perpetua we read made a special request at

.
, ,

her baptism for strength to endure su ffering The prayer .

was granted The father o f Perpetua who was a Pagan in

.
, ,

vain entreated his daughter to apostatise The accused were .

soon removed to one O f the common gaols Of Car thage ,

where they were herded together with other prisoners in

close and dark cells .

Per
P er
Satur ns w as
p etua
p et u a and
in th e
h er co m
a

r
t ach e of Ca th g e
e

p anio ns
r

Ch i sti an faith and suffe e d

.
,
r a

r
.

m m mm
H e h ad b een
ar ty do r at
th e
th e
i nst
sa
ruc

e
to
ti
r

e
of

as
200 E A R L Y CH R I S T IA NI T Y A ND PA GA N ISM

It was the custom in Christian communities when an

m
arrest was made Of any of their number at once to sen d ,

deacons to the prison to comfort and assist the capt i ves m

the faith Two deacons Tertius and Po ponius were appointe d
.
, ,

for this duty and they paid the gao l ers to all ow the accused
,

some relaxations from the sterh prison treatment A mong .

other favours Perpetua was all owed to have her chi l d with
,

her She te l l s us in her narrative h o w the prison n ow

.

became a pleasant abode Her brother visited her too and.

,

congratulated her on the privil ege she enj oye d as a su fferer

for the faith s sake and suggested she shou l d ask in prayer

w hat wou l d be the result of her captivity wou l d she be put

to death or set at liberty ? Perpetua praye d earnestly and ,

as an answer to her prayer she related to her brother how

in the night as she slept a vision had been vouchsafed to
h er . She saw a great ladder very steep reaching up to , , ,

Heaven and on the sides Of the ladder were swords and

,

instruments of torture A s l ip or a false step would at once

.

e xpose anyone who shoul d attempt to ascend the steep lad der

rungs to being cut and maime d A t the foot O f the ladder .

c rouched a huge beast which she called a dragon .

Saturus her teacher cl imbed the ladder before her and

, , ,

from the tO p he cal l ed to her : I wi ll support you Perpetua

m
,

but beware of the dragon biting you She answered : He .

will do me no har in the name of Jesus Christ
, Sh e .

fearl essly put her foot on the beast s head and c l imbe d up

safel y .

A t th e top she foun d a vast garden and in the garden a ,

white haired shepherd mi lking his ocks ; around him were

-

gathered many thousands of white robed forms The shepherd -

.

l ooked up and spoke to her : Thou hast we l l come my chil d ; ,

then he gave her a little piece of curd which she received and

ate and those who stood by said A men
,
She awoke with
.

the taste Of someth i ng i n her mouth she coul d not explain ,

but it was very sweet Perpetua knew she had s een her
.

Lord and that He meant her to understand that her

,

Passion was determined upon and that there was n o ,

prospect of release for her .

 A CH A P TE R 0F MA R T YR D OM S . 201

This and her subsequent visions in prison are the only

supernatural incidents in the narrative nor need we question ,

their reality Such dreams were by no means uncommon

.

in these supreme moments of martyrdom Cyprian for .

,

instance among others relates what he saw in a vision when

, ,

his martyr dom was near at hand It is besides by no means .

inconceivable that these visions O f c omfort were vouchsafed

now and again to the faithful witnesses in their bitter trials ;
and indeed what we deem purely natural causes might well
, ,

produce such dreams in the sufferers who in their waking ,

moments had been dwelling on what they had heard or read

Heaven * livin g in a feverish state Of expectation o f death
of , ,

which they looked upon as the sure end o f their trials and
troubles and anguish and at the same time as the gate of ,

Heaven and eternal felicity .

There is no reason to doubt that Perpetua and Satur ns ,

who also tells a strange dream which came to him as he

waited for death truly and faithfull y relate their o wn ex peri
,

ences in the dreary Carthage prison .

The day o f trial drew near The father of Perpetua again .

came to see his daughter in her hard captivity and entreated ,

her as before to have compassion on his white hairs remem ,

bering h ow in times past he had loved her best of all his

chi ldren ; he prayed her not to disgrace him now by dy ing a
public death of shame beseeching her to thin k of her moth er, ,

her brothers her baby boy ,

.

I was very very sorry for him wrote Perpetua and I
, ,

,

tried to comfort him by telling him God would decide the

issue for us all for we belonged not to ourselves but to Him ;
,

but my father left me alone very sad , .

The public trial soon came O ff In the court the Procurator .

H il arianus presided in the room of the pro consul lately -

deceased The A cts of the Passion are very brief here They
. .

simply relate the advice O f the judge to Perpetu a to have

pity on her grey haired father and her baby boy and to
m m m
,

pp en di x D h e e th e i p ession l eft on th ei in ds of uch p o i s s

m
S ee A , w r r r s r e

e co n tain d in th e A po calyp se f S J ohn and in oth e w it ing s su ch as th e

as ar e o .
r r ,
8
Sh ph e d of H e
e r as r i
s r efe e d to
rr .
202 E ARL Y CH R I S TI A NI T Y A ND P A GANI S M .

s acrice for the safety o f the Emperor Perpetua refused . .

Then the magistrate directly asked her whether she was a

Christian .

m

I am a Christian replie d the accused Forthwith th e ,
.

little group was condemned to the wild beas ts and the con ,

de ned ones all j oyfu l went back to their prison

, ,
.

The last scene however was delayed The victims were to be

, , .

reserved for the public games in the A mph itheatre which were
xed for the anniversary Of the C aesar Geta the Empero r ,

Severus son The prison life went on much as before with

.

the doomed companions ; they prayed much together O ne .

day as they were thus prayin g the name of Perpetua s littl e

brother Dino crates su ddenly occurred to her

,
Dinocrates
,
.

had been long dead The child had been afflicte d with a
"
.

m alignant cancer in the face which had proved fatal The ,

.

sudden remembrance of her l ittle brother seemed to Perpetu a

an intimation that she was accounted worthy to intercede for
him ; so she at once prayed long and earnestly to the Lord
for th e dead child In the night she had another vision . .

We relate it in her own touching simple language ,

.

I saw Dinocrates coming out Of a dark place where
there were many others The child s face was sad pale .

, ,

scarred by the fatal cancer which had been the cause of h is

death The death h ad been a sad on e to witness
. .

Between me and my brother lay a gulf ( space ) which
was impossib l e to cross Near Din o crates there stood a .

piscina ( or tank) full of water but the rim of the tank was ,

too high for a chil d to reach Dino crates was thirsty and .
,

kept stretching up to it as though he wished to drink I .

awoke and understood at once that my brother was in

,

suffering .

In the meanwhi l e the captives were removed into another

pri son and the conditions Of their imprisonment became
,

harsher Perpetua however kept on praying at all hours for

.
, ,

Din o crates A s she prayed ( no doubt again whi l e she was

.

s l eeping ) once more she saw her little brother ; but now the
,

terrible cancer scar seemed quite healed ; he appeared to have

been tenderly cared for and seemed quite happy ; the piscina ,
 A CH A P TE R 0F ll I A R T YR D O MS . 203

she had noticed in her rs t vision was lowered and ou t of a ,

golden cup which n ever fai l ed he drank as he pleased I .

saw hi m now p l aying quite happily as children play Then I .

understoo d that he was released from

A s the day o f the deadly combat in the A mphitheatre dre w
nearer and nearer crowds of Christians visited the condemned ,

in the ir prison the guards o n duty freely all owing thes e ,

visitors to pass in and out A mongst others the father o f .

,

Perpetua kep t coming hoping still to in duce his dear daughter ,

to recant .

Perpetua relates another vision before the end c ame ; by

no means an unnatural one c onsider ing the fate that lay

m
before her upon which she was continually broodin g by nigh t
,

and by day She dreamed that the day of the combat had
.

at length arrived and Po oniu s the D eacon who had ofte n

p , , ,

visite d her had arrived to accompany her to the dread scene

,

in the theatre He was arrayed in a white robe He took . .

her to the place o f combat and then left her with the words , ,

Fear not I am here with thee and su ffer with thee

,
She .

describes vivi dl y her ghting with a hideous Egyptian and

his attendants ; she tells how a great form shod with shoes
of gold and silver carrying a green bough on which were ,

golden apples stood by She was the victor in the sore ,

.

Sc hola to w hat th e sp eci l g uilt of th e little b oy co uld h av e

Th e g en e l op ini on ho w v e
rs di ffer
is in cco d th at h e di e d
as

m
a

m
m
b een th t b p ti

m m
. ra ,
e r, a r ,
{Ut ou a s .

T h w hol vi sion is i nt e esti ng p tly f o it b eing an evidenc a to th e t e chin g

m m
e e r ,
ar r e s a

at th t ly p iod of th e i po t nce of b ptis p tly f o th e ef ca cy o f

m
a ear er r a a ar r
,

p ray e off d b y th e living for th d d B ut it ust b e b o n e in i n d b efo e

mm m
r er e e ea . r ,
r

an y ash d ed uctio n a e d wn f o t h i s uth enti c and e ly eco d h w singul ly

m
r s r ra r a ar r r o ar
,

eff ctiv th
e p y e of tho e wh o w e e ab o ut to uff
e e ra rs ty do fo th e F ith
s r s er ar r r a

we er t e ed b y th e Ch u h in tho b itt d y of p s cutio n I t b y no eans

es e rc se er a s er e .

follo w s th t in th e O p ini o n of th e e ly Ch u ch th p y e
a of p e sons liv ing ar r e ra rs r

ev e y d y li v e w o uld b e equ l ly ef ca cio u Th too of th e littl e b oy s

r - a s case a s . e , ,

suf fering is ex ception l s I f he w in t t e of n e in g o w ing t o his h vin g

a . e re a s a s r a

di ed y t unb pti ed as P p et u e idently b li v ed it w n o fault of th e poo

m
e a s ,
er a v e e , as r

little f ll o w T h t p y e ho wev e fo th d ead w e e o ffe ed b y th e ly

e . a ra rs, r, r e r r e ar

Chu ch d u i ng th t th ee c nt u i es is i n disp ut b l e
r r e I nnu erab l e i nscriptio n
rs r e r a . s

on fun e al t b l et b ea wi t n e s h e e as l so do p y s fo un d in th e old st

mm
r a s r s r ,
a ra er e

lit u g ies w e po ssess T h e b l essi ng p yed fo in th e case of th e d ep t d is v g u

m m m
r . ra r ar e a e,

ho wev an d i b t u ed u p in th e b e u tiful and ex p essive w o d

er , s es s ef i a r r ,

r r

ef esh
n t ( f ig
g e riu r i t r ) e re r er a e
c e a .
204 . E A RL Y CH R I S TI A NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

c on ict ; the form that stoo d by gave her the green bo ugh ,

and she left th e A mp hi th eatre with glory A nd I awoke .

,

wrote Perpetua in her story and understood that it was ,

n o t with beasts but against the devil that I was to g ht But .

I knew the victory was m ine .

Woven into the beautiful tapestry o f Perpetua s story

is a short account written by Sa tur ns the Christian teacher , ,

who was also condemned to the wild b easts of a vision ,

he saw when in prison with Perpetua and the others .

The story of his vision is like the recital of the dreams we

h ave been quoting from simple fervid eloquent It reads , , ,
.

true every line o f it It was a striking even a wonderfu l

, .
,

e xperience that of S aturu s We give a few extracts from

, .

h is words We ( Saturus and Perpetua his pupil ) had
.

,

su ffered and were no longer in the esh Four angels seemed .

to h ear us up but we were touched by no hands we ap

, ,

eared to be gently ascending in an eastward direction and

p ,

before us lay a light incomprehensible I said to Perpetua .

,

wh o was at my side This is what the Lord promised us ,

.

We have receive d the promise The four angels still bearing .

us we found ourselves in a vast garden ( viridarium ) of roses

, ,

and of all manner o f owers Four other angels were there .

y et more glorious than the rst four wh o greeted us with ,

honour We found there ( in the garden ) more martyrs known

.

to us who had been burned lately in the course o f the per ,

secu tion and we asked them questions but the angel s sai d
, , ,

Come rst and salute the Lor d .

"
S o we passed on and came to a place the very walls of
which were as it were built of transparent light and the
, , ,

angels who stood before the gate put white garments on us as

we went in and we heard the hymn Holy Ho ly Holy being
, , , , ,

sung ceaselessly and we saw O ne sitting al l in white with

, ,

the face o f a young man Fou r elders wer e sitting on either .

side o f Him and behind were many other elders

, A ll won .

dering with admiration we stood before the Throne ; lifted

up by the four angels we ki ssed Him ; when we had kis se d ,

the Lord the elders bade us go and play ( I te et l a dite the .

Greek v ersion h as go and I said to Perpetua

,
 A CH A P TE R OF MA R T YR D O MS . 205

No w you have what you longed for She replied I was .

glad when I was in the esh I am more glad now , .

O ne of the group the slave Felicitas gave birth to a chi ld

, ,

when in prison In her condition she would not have been

.

al lowed to have been exposed to the w ild beasts and the ,

brave girl was sorely grieved at the possibility of being thus

cut off from witnessin g to death with her companions So

.

they all prayed with intense earnestness for her Three day s .

before the d ay xed for the A mphitheatre rh o w the slave ,

Felicitas was delivered O ne o f the gaolers as she su ffered

,
.
, ,

heard her moaning and said to her , If you cannot bea r ,

these sufferings how wi ll yo u endure the rush of the wild

,

mm

beasts in the arena you scorner of the gods ? , To day
-
,

replied Felicitas I am enduring my own su fferings but the n

, ,

there will be another within e ( my Lord ) who will suffer for

me because I shall suffer for H i
,

.

They were no sombre group of gloomy fanatics this ,

Perpetua and her companions ever with a smile on their ,

li ps and a quiet half humorous reproach for their guards

,
-

wh en they behaved more harshly than usual They had no .

dislike no repugnance to the bright sunny life which pos

,

sessed so fair a setting in that beautiful North A frican sea

board of the old historic Carthaginian land In one of her .

striking prison visions where the heaven life plays so con

,
-

s icu ou s a part Perpetua told her companion in b l iss as he

p , ,

had been her companion in anguish how happy she h ad been ,

o n ear th though she was then far happier in heaven

,
It was .

the intense real ity o f their faith which carried them all

m
through their su fferings which nerved them to meet th e ,

cruellest of deaths It was no weariness of l ife which made

.

the so glad to quit it It was simp ly that they would not .

purchase li fe for an hour at the price of denying the ir Lord ,

who they k n ew would me et His brave confessors after th e

moment o f th e death a gony face to face It was worth whil e , .

to su ffer for th a t .

It was the custom the evening before the A mphitheatr e

games for the condemned to be entertained somewhat liber
ally at the public expense To this gha stly entertainment .
 m
206 E ARLY CH RIS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M
.

this dea th supper any of the public were admitted as

l ookers on -
A crowd of Pagan sightseers assemb l ed in the
.

prison of Carthage where the Christians who were to prove ,

o ne o f the principal sights in the bloody games of the morrow ,

were conne d .

m
They thronged round the table where Perpetua and h er

friends were sitting Is no t to morrow long enough re
.
-
,

onstrated Satu rus for you to feast your eyes upon those
,

y o u hate ? Smi ling on us this evening as curious friends ,

to morro w you will be our deadly enemies
-
He was alluding .

to the erce thirst for the blood o f the victim s which usually
possessed the spec tators of those awful games ( The accuracy .

o f Saturus s onlook here was sadly veried by the behaviour

o f the spectators in the A mphitheatre when Perpetua and the

o thers were exposed to the beasts

) N o w mark well ou r .

countenances that you may know them again at the D ay

,

m

o f Judgment The half playful half earnest words of th e
.
,

Christian teacher who was to die on the day following deeply

i press ed many o f the bystanders some of whom eventual l y ,

became converts to the Fai th they had been taught to hate .

What happened on the morrow is related by another a ,

n ameless Christian friend of Perpetua who was specially asked ,

by her to write down for the edication o f others the story

o f the long looked for death struggle with the wild beasts -
.

It was bound up so to speak in the little volume which

, ,

contained the recital of Perpetua and the short bit by Saturu s ,

the whole under the title of The Passion of Perpetua The .

same hand which wrote the l ittle preface tells us the story
o f what happened in the A mphitheatre He prefaces his .

supplementary recital with considerable solemnity It is an .

admirable piece of composition the work evidentl y of a trained ,

scholar but of a s cholar some think belonging apparently to

, , ,

the Montanist school of Christian though t This however , ,

is by no means proved It has been seriously ascribed to .

Tertullian himself
m m
*

m
.

S P of J A it g e R ob i nson wh int ins th t th w hol ch t e

m
o r . . r a ,
o a a a e e arac r

f th e o po ition po int to T t ul li n its utho ; nd co n id s it

m

o c s s er in th ea as a r a s er

hi gh t d g
es p o b b l th t w h v in th b u tiful M ty do
e ree r a e a g nu i n
e a e e ea

ar r a e e

a dditio n to th hith to cogni ed wo k f th g t

e er st e
re T t s nd r s o e rea a r .

ex s a
 A CH A P TE R OF MA R T YR D OMS . 207

The day of their victory dawned at last and the condemned ,

procession marched from the prison to the theatre as though

the march was to Heaven ; cheerf ul with beaming coun ten ,

a nces excited somewhat

,
but with feelings of joy rather than ,

o f fear : the two women follo wing their companions Perpetua ,

serene but with the gravity of a young matron F elicitas pale

, ,

and weak owing to her recent su ffering A t the A mphitheatr e .

ate the officials wished to vest the men with the dress of
g
the priests of Saturn and the women with the insignia of ,

th e priestesses o f Ceres as the terrible show would ga in in ,

d ramatic pictures queness if the chief actors in it were thus

arrayed But the victims earnestly remonstrated against the
.

inj ustice of such a mocke ry .

Dying o f their own free will because they would have no

part in idolatry they urged it was an illegal act to force them
,

to put on vestments which belonged to rites they abhorred ,

a n d for the refusal to share in which they were about to die .

The tribune in charge listened to them and refrained from ,

t his last hateful insult .

Perpetua kept singing Psalms and spoke not a word The

m
.

men when they passed before the seat o f the Roman

,

agistrate thus apostrophised him ,

Y ou are our Judge ; ,

G od will be yours The people cried out that they should be
.

s courged as a preliminary This cruel request was complied with . .

Then the wild beasts were loosed R ev ocatus and Saturn .

inus were attacked rst by a leopard and eventual ly torn by

a bear *
; Saturns live d longest The beasts at rst re frained
. .

from tearing him ; a wild boar which it was hoped would , ,

c ruell y gore him even turned furiously on his keeper instead

,

o f on the defenceless Christian ; a b ear when his cage was ,

opened sulkily refused to come out

, Satu rus for a brief .
,

moment thus respited in the interval spoke to one Pudens :

m
,

m
Studies f Th e pp
Passion 4 7 5 6 ; Ca b id e
o Sg
odern w rit ers g Mg F eppel an d A ll ar d si ply ugg est that th e na el ess
1 891
. O th er
Perp etua, .

m r ,

m .

m
,
a . r . r ,
s

a u tho of thi s p art of th e Passion b elo ng e d to th e school of T t ulli n

m
. r er a .

On f th e l ittl e co p n y of si Secun dul u h d di ed in p i o n

m
e o a x, s, a r s .

1 A llard b eli ev es thi s soldie to b e id enti l w ith Pu d n s th e tyr w h o

r ca e ar
,

ub seq uen tly suf

s fe ed as a Ch i ti an in ne of th e nu e o us p e se ution s o f th t
r r s o r r c a

r
p e io d
r t C a th ag e
a H i t de P r uti n iii ch ap s .p 1 30 s ers c o s, .
, . . .
208 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA G ANISM .

a soldier on guard wh o moved by his words and conduct

, , ,

m

had been kind and attentive to him i n pri son Be quick .

,

said the fearless Christian and become a believer for th e,

,

leopard ( which was about to be loosed ) will soon kill e
.

Saturns was no doubt referring to conversations which had

taken p l ace in prison and he longed to see the kindly soldier
,

a Christian before his death agony While speaking the .

,

savage beast attac k ed him giving him his death woun d ,

.

Bathed in blood but apparently h ee dless of pain Saturus

, ,

again spoke to Pudens Farewell said the dying sol dier
.
,

"
o f Christ to the soldier of the Emperor ; remember me
.

A nd he asked Pudens for his ring P udens gave it ; S aturus .

m
dipped it in the li fe blood streaming from him and returned
-
,

it The martyr then fainted and was dragged away into

.
,

the spoliariu outside the arena where the victims if not ,

dead were usually despatched

, .

We will turn to Perpetua and her companion Felicitas ,

.

It had been decided to expose them in a net to be tossed

m
and gored by an infuriated cow The crowd touched with a
mo entary feeling o f compassion cried ou t that these su fferers
need not be stripped o f their garments which was the usual
.

,
,

practice Perpetua was attacked rst and tossed in the air

.
,
.

She fell to the ground and in her heavy fall her light gar
ments were all torn and her hair fell about her shoulders
,
.

The su fferer s rst thought was to adjust her torn tunic and

to fasten up her owing hair ; then although sorely hurt she , ,

turned to Felicitas her sister in suffering who too had
,

, , ,

been tossed and raise d her up A gain the crowd was touched
, .

with pity and unwilling to l ook any longer upon the torment s
,

endured by the two brave women insisted on their being ,

removed from the arena In the outer court of the A mphi .

theatre Perpetua found a young Christian named Rusticus ,

who had followed her to the games The martyr was dazed .

with pain and the fearful shock she had experienced and ,

asked when she was to be exposed to the beasts She had .

lost al l remembrance of wha t had happened to her but in a ,

min ute she saw her wounds and the blood streaming and her , ,

torn dress and the horror of her situation all came back to
,
F ro m
an v
T HE

E ngra ing b y G . B .
MA RT YR D MO
Cav al crri in a v
OF

m
ol u
S

e,
.

PE R P E T UA
E ccl esiae
.

Mil itantis Triu m

ph i,

1 5 83 .
 A CH A P TE R 0F MA R T YR D OMS . 209

her ; yet she said to Rusticus Be strong in the Faith ; love ,

o ne another But the pity of the spectators was short lived
. .

Even whil e she was speaking her stammering words o f faith

and love they shrieked again for the condemned wounded
,

ones to be brought back into the arena ; after all they would
see them die !
O nce more the victims were brought back and in the ,

sight of the crowd thirsting for their blood the of cials , ,

whose duty it was to despatch those criminals who had not

been killed ou tright by the beasts proceeded to complete the ,

ghastly work Silent motionless they waited and received

.
, ,

the stroke of the executioner s sword Saturns died rst A

. .

young gladiator who was told off to kill Perpetua trembled ,

at his horrible task and missed his stroke and only wounded
, ,

her in the side ; she cried out but in a moment recovering , ,

herself guided the hand o f her slayer and pressed the point
,

o f the sword on her throat and so died , .

It would seem says the pitying narrator of the scene
, ,

that such a woman could scarcely perish save by the exercise

o f her o wn will and consent .

The writer of the little account which evidently was the ,

work of an eye witness with its harrowing details with nothing

-
, ,

o f the supernatural introduced a simple plain record well , ,

written lucid and brief here breaks into a noble peroration

, ,

only a few lines long beginnin g thus 0 strong and blessed

, ,

martyrs ; O truly call ed and chosen in to the glory of our Lord

Jesus Christ .

If the great Tertu ll ian who lived and wrote at Carthage ,

in the rst years of the third century was no t the author of ,

the little introduction and of the recital of the last scene of

the martyrdom epitomised above he was at l east intimately ,

acquainted with the story ; and in his celebrated treatise D e

Patientia draws the portrait o f a girl martyr seemingly ,

from the life Was he not thinking of her whose one prayer
.

at her baptism had been at the Spirit s bidding for this very

brave patience ? Had he not in view the scene in the A mphi

theatre when the martyrs shake their heads at the Judge
whom God will j udge and the noble picture of Perpetua ,

o
21 0 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

herself the bride of Christ the darl ing of God with her

m
, , ,

bright step and ashing eye s oon to nd hersel f enj oying in ,

the spirit the b eati c vision before the ti e and only re ,

cal led to earth to taste o f pain and to point the clumsy sword ,

o f the executioner to her o wn

S E CT O I N IV .
-
MA RTY R S or L YO NS A ND V E I NN E ,
CI R CA A D . . 1 77 .

WE have already observed that there exists no arranged

and carefully composed history of the early progress of Chris
tianity

m
In the A cts o f the A postles and in most of the Epistles
.
,

of the New Testament are scattered notices o f the rapid ,

spread of the new Faith Fro the scanty reliques of the .

writings o f some of the chief teachers o f the Gospel we catch

glimpses more or less extensive of the progress of the rel igion
, ,

in different great centres especially in Rome and Jerusalem , ,

in Ephesus and Smyrna and in the Syrian A ntioch ; bu t for ,

the rst century and a half after the Passion and A scension
o f the Lord save in Rome Jerusalem and A ntioch and some
, , , ,

o f the great sea board cities of A sia Minor we kno w littl e of

-
,

the story of the propagation o f the Faith That its mission .

aries however were full o f zeal and that their earl y work
, , ,

was often wonderfully successful in other lands and centres ,

we learn from various isolated records of events which have

come down to us some o f these records often bearing the date
o f the last quarter o f the second century .

O f these isolated records one of the most interesting and ,

important reaches us from the province of Gaul It is a .

letter addr essed to use the words of the writer

,
by the ,

servants o f Christ dwell ing at Lyons and Vienne in Gaul

to those brethren in A sia and Phrygia having the same faith
and hope with us The letter is o f unquestioned auth enticityj

m
.

R ob inson
Tex ts
m m
a nd Studies
Ca b rid g e, 1 8 9 1 , p 5 8
,

x
Th e Passion
. .

1 Th e te t of o st of th e o rig inal l ett er is c ontain ed in E useb i us ( H E ,

f S
o . Perp etua . By o
Pr f . J . Ar i
.
tag e

v i , 2,
. . an d is al so in R u nu s L atin v ersio n o f E useb ius H istory

t is
. I
a l so aft erward s referred to in th e w ri ting s of reg o r y of T o ur s, b y A do, G
by B d e e, etc .
 A CH A P TE R OF MA R T YRD O MS . 21 1

an d is of very considerable length I t relates the history of a .

terrible crisis through which the Churches in that popul ous

district had j ust passed and out of which notwithstandin g
, ,

the awful trial to which a large group o f some o f their

prominent members had been subj ecte d they had emerged ,

unconquered and victorious .

The letter was written shortly after A D 1 7 7 when the . .

,

Emperor Marcus was reignin g Up to this time there is .

a bsolutely no record of Christianity in Gaul no sign even that ,

the news o f the religion of Jesus had crossed the A l ps into

th e great Gal l ic provinces ; but this epistle lifts the veil and
breaks the si l ence which had hitherto rested over the Church
o f the provinces o f Southern Gaul and from the detail s ,

c ontained in the communication we nd that a large and

ourishing community must have for many years before
A D. 1 7 7 existed in these parts
. In other words we have .
,

here in this contemporary record the earl iest extant notice

o f Christianity in Gaul and the record in question bears
,

indeed a strikin g testimony to the vitali ty and to the careful

organisation of the Churches in this province .

Lyons the scene o f the persecution spoken o f in the

,

letter was perhaps the most important of the provincial

,

c ities of the Western Roman Empire Its commanding .

s ituation at the j unction of the rivers Sa one and Rhone

designated it as a great commercial emporium and at the ,

time when Marcus was Emperor it was the civil and religious
metropolis of the many cities of the three Gallic provinces .

In common with other famous provincial centres it was ,

e nthusiastically devoted to the worship of Rome and

recognising its connection with Rome and the

Empire as the source of its grandeur its prosperity and ,

s ecur i ty .

Al ongside o f the Pagan popu l ation o f Lyons Vienne and , ,

o ther south Gall ic cities had grown up probably durin g the

, ,

las t half of the second century ourishing communities b e ,

l onging to the new Faith

m
We can in the light of the letter
.

Rom
k See th e r e ar s on thi s d evotion of p rovinci al ci ties to th e w o ship
r of

e an d A u g ustu s
g

h pt e VI I
in C a r .
, 3 .
 21 2 E A RL Y CH R IS TIANI TY A ND PA G A NI SM .

easi ly discern whence came the beginnings o f these Christian

communities Be tween So uthern Gaul and th e sea board of
.

Syria and A sia Minor existed cl ose and frequent co

tion The commercial relations were intimate and there was
.
u nica

,
m
m
-

a constant passing to and fro from cities like Ephesus and

Smyrna to the chief commercial emporium o f Gaul Lyons , .

Thither in the second century the story of the Gospel was

brought from A sia Minor The fact of the Gall ic Christians .

now address ing their brethren in A sia Minor shows how clos e
were the ties which connected the G al lic and A siatic Churches .

The Greek names too of many o f the principal heroes of th e

, ,

story point to the same conclusion .

A mong these heroes Pothinus the aged Bishop of Lyons

, ,
,

was conspicuous Pothinus was more than ninety years old

.

when he suffered Tradition speaks of him as a native o f

.

A sia Minor ; of two o f the sufferers it is incidental ly stated ,

that one was from Pergamos the other a Phrygian whil e

m
, ,

nearly all of them bear Greek names The most prominent .

.

gure in the Church of Lyons and Southern Gaul who i , ,

mediately after the events related in the l etter appears as ,

.

perhaps the most distinguished personal ity in the Catholic

Church was Irenaeus who succeeded the aged martyr Pothinus

m
, ,

as Bishop of Lyons Iren aeus had been a disciple of Polycarp

.
,

and in o ur sketch of the life of the great Bishop o f S yrna .

we have alr eady quoted some of his reminiscences of his

revered master Possibly owing to his absence from Lyons
.
.

at this j uncture Iren aeus in spite of his inuential position

, ,

among the Christians of the province was not one of th e ,

accused whose story the letter contains This letter we will .

brie y summarise .

In the case of the persecution of Lyons the exciting cause ,

was angry popular clamour so common in the earlier years ,

.

o f the growth of the Faith A great festal gathering was .

arranged in the A ugust o f A D 1 7 7 at Lyons the civil and . .

,

religious metropolis of Gaul It was partly commercial ; a .

large fair was being held to which traders came from a dis

of m
tance ; an imposing re ligious ceremony of which the Temp l e
Ro e and A ugustus was the central shrine was par t
,
 A CH A P TE R 0F MA R T YR D O MS . 21 3

of the festival ; and public games in the A mphitheatre as ,

usual of a bloody and cruel nature were to be cel ebrated for ,

th e populace ever greedy of such amusements

,
The cry of .

D eath to the Christians ! was generally hear d The popul ace

.

insisted o n a number of prominent an d well known Christians -

being arrested ; well aware were these turbulent and factious

rioters of the doom which would almost certainly follow such
a rrests .

By no means willingl y it would seem did the Imperial

, ,

magistrates of Lyons yiel d to these popular clamours A s a .

rul e the mob pressed for victims to be sel ected out of the
,

hated sect the magistrates being generally reluctant to satisfy

,

them .
Their reluctance s eems to have proceeded from no
love for Christianity bu t was simply based on reasons of
,

policy Their statesmanlike instin cts tol d them that these

.

persecution s were on the whole dangerous to the establ ished

, ,

s tate o f things in the Empire and rather advanced than ,

retarded the progress of the dangerous and proscribed sect .

If the accused Christians apostatised and publicly sacriced

to the genius of A ugustus and Rome or to any other of

,

the prominent gods of Rome it was wel l Thus a blow was ,

.

undoubtedly struck at Christianity ; it helped to discredit the

dangerous l y advancing religion But if on the other han d .
, ,

the Christians stood rm and resisted alike blandishments

,

a nd threats as was by far the more common result

,
then th e ,

tortures and the horrible scenes which followed enormously

helped the Christian cause The martyr s death was not .

only a victory for the poor brave sufferer ; but was a publ ic
demonstration of the earnestness and steadfastness of the ,

intense sil ent faith which lived among these stubborn adv er
,

s arles o f Paganism and of Imperial idolatry .

The beginning of the Ly ons persecution was unfavourable

for th e accused Ten of the arrested were terror stricken at
.
-

what lay before them and consented to abj ure their faith .

A fresh departure was made in this persecution ; a number of

m
s laves belonging to Christian families were threatened with
torture and thus terrorised charged the Christians with all
, , ,

anner of nameless crimes ; the rage of the populace was

21 4 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

still further in amed by these accusations none of which , ,

ho wever appeared to have been pressed the baselessness of

, ,

such charges being too well known Nothing ho wever was .

, ,

omitte d in this wild tempest of persecution which might

induce recantation ; but with the exception of the ten abov e
mentioned no torments no threats seemed to have moved
, , ,

any of the accused They were scourged and exposed to wild

.

beasts Lions and tigers were not easily procured and the
.
,

cost of importing them would have been too great for a

provincial city even o f the importance of the capital of South
,

Gaul But bulls and dogs and wil d boars were used to gore
.

and injure the su fferers This accounts for the appearance o n .

more than one occasion of several o f the Lyons martyrs in

the A mphitheatre in the course of these games They were .

hurt and torn and bruised but not killed If possible th e ,

.
,

tortures they endured were even greater than those of ex

o sure to the deadly rush o f a lion o r a l eopard
p
A n apparently favourite and horrible device we read o f in
this recital ; a red h o t chair was introduced and the accuse d
-

made to sit on it the fumes of the roasted esh giving fresh

,

pleasure to the j aded passions of the cruel spectators .

The heroism of the Lyons martyrs was not peculiar to

rank or degree or sex or age The same splendid faith
,
.

lived in them all alike A mong their numbers were men of .

good position and fortune D eacons of the Church the saintly , ,

aged Bishop the boy Ponticus only fteen years old the poor
, , ,

young slave girl Blandina This last by her almost super

,
.
,

human endurance of long and protracted agonies spread ove r ,

several days has acquired a peculiar place of eminence even

,

among the tens of thousands who in many lands wi llingl y , ,

and j oyfully gave up their lives rather than deny their Master .

The letter wi th a charming frankness tells us how the Chris

, ,

tian mistress of Blandi n a feared for her l ittle slave girl ; h er

frail body she thought never could endure severe pain and
,

mortal su ffering and in consequence she wou l d be ov ed to

,

recant But Blandina s mistress iscalculated what strength

.

,

m m

the love o f Christ wou l d infuse into the del icate child frame ; -

scourge d burnt torn Blandina uttered no complaint o r moan

, , , ,
 A CH A P TE R OF MA R T YR D O MS . 21 5

o nly repeating again and again I am a Christian The ,

.

savage servants of the arena accustomed to these scenes of

,

blood and torture confessed themselves astonished at the

,

girl s endurance of various punishments any one of which they

, ,

thought would have sufced to kill her In the end she was
,
.

tossed by a bull several times till all consciousness o f su ffer

,

ing was lost and the pure heroic spirit of the child martyr
,
-

had probably left the lacerated body before the sword of the
executioner completed the work of the bull .

But the noble example was never forgotten It was the .

a fter effect o f such scenes as these that the wiser and more

thoughtful of the Roman magistrates dreaded when they ,

hesitated before sanctioning a general and public persecution .

Indeed in the course of the Lyons trials the Imperial

,

magistrate sent a despatch to the Emperor Marcus for special in

structions ; since some o f the accused as we have seen recanted , , ,

while others claimed the privilege of Roman citizenship which ,

would protect them from public exposure in the arena Th e .

answer came at once The Roman citizens if they persisted

.
, ,

were to be simply decapitated while those wh o recanted wer e

,

to be at once set at liberty The others if they still refuse d

.
,

to sacrice were to be exposed to the h orrors of the arena

, .

But as regards those who recanted the tardy Imperial ,

mercy which ordere d their immediate liberation came too

l ate
. In prison the little group who overcome with fear
, , ,

had not been faithful unto death had fallen under the inuence ,

o f the brave confessors the condu ct of these steadfast ones

in prison matched well with their behaviour in court They .

even refused the title of confessors in their beautiful humility ,

deeming themselves unworthy of the high title of honour .

I n the striking words o f the letter of the Church o f Lyons ,

They pleaded for all they accused none they absolved all
, , ,

they bound none they prayed for their bitter foes

,
they ,

arrogated no superiority over the poor backsliders The .

result o f their conduct and loving advice was that scarcely

o ne among those who had recanted was found who would
a ccept the Emperor s clemency
; they well nigh all preferred

-

rather to die with their brave companions .

21 6 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

In the long extract of this letter preserved in Eusebius

(H E V i 2 3 only a very few names of the martyrs

. . .
.
, , , ,

o f Lyons are given just those wh o were especially prom inent ,

in the tragedy Why asks the historian should we here .

, ,

transcribe the list of those martyrs ? Their names he adds , ,

may be learned if the epistle be consulted They are h ow .

,

*
ever given by martyrologists who wrote l ater and no doubt
, ,

copied them from the original document which was still

extant The numbers appear to have been about forty
.

eight The fury o f the people however was not satiated by

.
, ,

the death o f the nob l e victims Their remains were savagely .

burned by the mob and the ashes cast into the Rhone Men .

thought that by this destruction of the poor remains the

hope of the resurrection of the body which had buoyed up ,

these obstinate Christians and had enabled them to meet

death even with j o y would be shown to be mere folly ,
.

The persecution raged on with especial fury in Gaul for

many years but the A cts of Martyrdom tel l ing the story of
,

the fate of many other confessors are not l ike the letter we ,

have been using contemporaneous General tradition however , .

, ,

the authenticity of which we see no reason to doubt places ,

the death of the eminent confessors whose memory is still ,

enshrined in many of the great churches of this part of

m
France in the later years o f the Emperor Marcus ; such as
,

S Benignus of D ij on S Valentine o f Tournus S Marcel of

.
, .
,
.

Chalons S Felix of Sauliers S Sy ph orian of A utun

,
.
, . .

S E CT O I N V .
R O ME IN TH E L A TTE R YE ARS OF MA R CUS .

A FTE R the long extracts from the letter relating the su ffer
ings of the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne in Gaul Eusebius ,

( H E v ii ) wrote as fol l ows : Such were the occurrenc es i

. . .
, .

that befell the Churches o f Christ under the above men -

tion ed Emperor ( Marcus ) from which it is easy to conj ecture ,

what was the probable course of things in the remaining

provinces Now we have already given a typical instance of
.

m
the condition of things with the Christians at Rome at th e
Th M ty olog y of Je o e G g o y of T o u n d A do
e ar r r ,
re r rs, a .
 A CH A P TE R OF MA R TYR D OMS . 21 7

beginning of Marcus reign cir ca A D 1 6 2 in the picture

, . .
,

d rawn from the A cts of the trial and martyrdom of S .

Felicitas and her sons We will dwell for a brief space on .

the position of Christians i n the metropolis of the Roman

w orld some seventeen years later when the reign of Marcus , ,

th e noblest of the Pagan Emperors was drawing to an

'

end circa A D 1 7 7 9

,
. . .

O ur picture here is based upon The A cts of S Ceci l ia
.
,

a document in its present form not older than the fth

c entury containing many man ifest inaccuracies
,
These A cts .

have generally been looked upon b y critics as largely mythical

and not belonging to serious history Late investigations

m
.
,

however and especially the discoveries of D e Rossi in the

ce
t etery of S Callistus in a s trange way conrm in substance
.
,

the accuracy of the recital in these A cts and we can now
,

with some condence restore the A cts of S Cecilia to their
.

primitive form They give us a vivid picture of the condition

.

of Christians of the higher ranks of Rome in the last years

o f Marcus .

The original story which formed the basis of the A cts

w as as follows : Cecilia a girl o f the highest rank was married

, ,

t o a young patrician Valerian wh o with his brother Tib urtiu s

, , , , ,

through her inuence became devoted Christians The State .

policy at this period o f persecution threw every obstacle in

th e way of separate interment for members of the Christian
s ect who had su ffered martyrdom I t was the passionate wish .

o f Christians as we kn ow from the evidence of the Catacombs

, ,

to preserve intact and separate from the heathen dead the

r emains o f their loved friends ; the bodies of martyrs for the

Faith being peculiarly precious in their eyes .

The brothers Tib urtius and Valerian seem to have been

especially zealous in arranging for such interments It was .

a well known loving work of charity among the wealthier

-

members of the Christian community to provide sepulchres

for their poorer brethren Not a few of the more ancient .

cry ts or catacombs were in the rst instance excavated beneath

p
t

t h e gardens of the vil l as of rich Christians Busied in this .

p ious
*

work they were denounced

,
by in formers were arreste d , ,
 21 8 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NIS M .

and o n their refusal to sa crice to the gods were condemned

and behea ded ; and along with them an Imperial o fcer ,

Maximus who was converted by the noble brothers

, .

Cecilia caused the three martyrs to be in terred in a crypt

belonging to her family in the cemetery or catacomb o f
'

Praetex tatus on the A ppian Way Cecilia herself was nex t .

denounced and arrested tried and condemned The magistrate , .

,

out o f consideration for her exalted rank condemned her to ,

die in h er own house in the Trastevere district of the city

*
.

We have many instances under the Emperors of the punish

ment of death in the case of persons of for tune and of high
birth being carried out in the houses of the condemned .

These were of cours e mostly pol itical offenders The sentenc e

, ,
.

was that she should be shut up in the caldarium or room of th e ,

warm bath of the house and that the pipes should b e heated ,

to such a degree as to cause su ffocation .

But after the expiration of a day and night Cecil i a was

found still alive I t needs no special miracle to explain
.

this means o f ventilation in the caldarium having been

,

no doubt arranged by her friends A l ictor was then ap .

pointed to carry out the capital sentence by striking off her

head .

This work seems to have been inei ciently performed and ,

for two days she survived the wounds inicted by the exe
cu tioner and was even able to speak wor ds o f encouragement
,

and consolation to her friends To the bishop of the Roman .

community Urban she is said to have made a present of her

, ,

house as a church It h as been a church ever sin ce and is . ,

n o w the well known basilica of S Cecilia -

Placed in a coin . .

o f cypress wood in the attitude in which she expired she

, ,

was laid in one of the chambers o f her own cemetery on the

A ppian Way .

A s we have observe d there are various inaccuracies in ,

the A cts due to the fth century revision ; but in the

,

main the recital is evidently historical For instance

m m
. , .

hi s is th e w ell kn o wn n e for that po tion of R o

T - a r e s it uat ed on th e r i g ht
b ank of th e T ib e th e old city b eing b uilt on th e l eft b ank
r, . So o n th e T ras t ev e re

side w as th e V ti n sub urb a ca .

 A CH A P TE R OF MA R T YR D O MS . 21 9

*
Urban the Bishop of Rome is stated to have buried the
, ,

noble martyrs in a chamber near his o wn colleagues the bishops .

This is only partly true D e Rossi has indeed found the .

rave of S Cecilia in a sepulchral chamber only separated

g .

b y a slender wall from the famous Papal Crypt where the

bishops of Rome of the third century were burie d But Cecil i a .

was laid there b efor e the Popes o f the third century in th e ,

sepulchral area b e longing to her noble house which area ,

was shortly afterwards made over to the Church and many ,

o f the bishops o f Rome were subsequently buried in it .

In the removal o f a vast number of Christian remains

from the catacombs to the Roman Churches cir ca A D 8 22 ,
. .
,

Pope Paschal translated the body o f S Cecilia to her church .

in the Trastevere district which occupied the site of her

house In the tradition T preserved the martyr s body wrapped
.
,

in the original robe embroidered with gold and still lying in , ,

the same posture was reverently placed with her cypress wood
,

cofn in a white marble sarcophagus beneath the altar o f the

church In the year 1 5 9 9 Cardinal Sfondrati in the course
.
,

of a restoration of the building found two marble sarcophagi ,

beneath the altar In the presence of Cardin al Baroniu s the .

,

well known scholar the expert Bosio and others an examination

-
, , ,

of th e contents of these sarcophagi was made In one of them .

the body o f S Cecilia was found still in the same traditional

.

attitude The sculptor Maderna who was one o f the eye

.
,

witnesses when the sarcophagus was opened has reproduce d ,

in marble the gure o f Cecilia as he says he saw her lying there .

The present altar now stands over the tomb and the beautiful ,

statue of Maderna is beneath it l

date pi scop t e w as A 223 T h e e app e s ho wever
of U rb an

m m

Th e s e a . D . . r ar , ,

to h av e b een anoth e U b an a b ishop of so e place u nkno wn w h o was

m
r r , ,

c o nn ect ed w ith S Cecil i a ily Thi s U b an w as b u i ed in th e

m
nd h e f
. a r a . r r

et e y of P aete tatu s

m
ce r r x .

1 I t is P op e Pas h al wh o t ell s th e to y s w ell as hi s cont e po a y b io g raph e

m m
c s r ,
a r r r,

th e conti nuato of th e L ib r P nti l i E d D uch esne to

r e ii p 5 6 A lla d H i t
o ca s, .
,
. .
, . . r , s .

uti n vol i ii 2 and see N o th cote R S tt r ne ch ap i

m mmm
d P

m
es ers c o s. . .
, v .
, ,
r ,
o a o e ra a, . v .

1 Th e p ese vatio n of th e b ody o f Cecili a is not b y any eans a soli tary

'

r r

e x a pl e of w h t s e t ang e ph eno enon B ut is it not p ob ab l e that

m m
s to b e aa e s r . r

a sk il ful e b al ing took pl ace aft e Cecili a s d eath ? H e exalt ed rank and r

r

g reat wealth and h er hi g h , eput atio n a ong th e R o n Ch i tian w ould at r a r s s.

 2 20 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

In the other sarcophagus the remains of three bodies were

found by Cardina l Sfo ndrati Two of these had manifestly .

been beheaded whilst the skull of the third w as broken and

, ,

the abundant hair upon it had been evident l y thickly matted

with blood It was as though the sufferer had been beaten
.

to death by the leaden scourges not infrequently used as ,

instruments o f capital punishment ; tradition preserved in the ,

L i b er P on ti ca l i s tells us that the three bodies o f the martyrs

, ,

Valerian Cecilia s husband Tib urtius his brother and Maximus

, ,

the Roman ofcer had been translated from the Catacomb of ,

S Praetex tatu s to the church of S Ceci l ia by Pope Paschal

. .
,
.

The plain unvarnished account of the discovery of the

rst resting place of S Cecilia by D e Rossi who spent lo ng
-
.
,

years in his great work of investigating certain of the cata

combs is of course too long for insertion We wi l l giv e
, , ,
.
,

however a summary of it Guided in his search by careful

, .

s tudy o f the ancient Pilgrims Itineraries by notices in the

L ib er P on ti ca l i s and other documents he came upon the , ,

o riginal p l ace of sepulchre of the famous martyr His de .

scription is most exhaustive He has traced the signs .

still existing in that sacred crypt of the veneration of pi lgrims ,

stretching over several centuries A ll these pi eces o f evidence .

D e Rossi s discovery of the place of the o riginal interment :

the account of Pope Paschal s work in connection with the

translation of S Cecilia s body in the early years o f the ninth

.

century the singular con firmation of the detai ls of the work of

Paschal by the re discovery of the two sarcophagi in the Basilica -
,

o f Ceci l ia in the year 1 5 9 9 by Cardina l S fondrati have ,

j usti ed us in citing the A cts of S Cecilia the chief features of
.
,

which accurate in all material points are now fairly establ ished
, , .

From these A cts thus supporte d we have drawn a pic
,

m
*
ture o f a group o f martyrdoms to illustrate the condition of
all ev nt
P op P
e to g g t thi
s

h l t n l t d th
see Th it l f th nding f th b ody w h n
su

i n in th nin th entu y h ll th pp n
es

f m s . e re c a o e o e e

m
e a sc a ra s a e e re a s e c r as a e a eara ce o

b in g
e t u n tiv nd th
a r e u y f th to y f th op n ing f th
arr a e, a e acc rac o e s r o e e o e

sarc oph g u b y Sf nd ti ig ht nt u i l t in th p n
a s o ra f u h n
, e ce r es a er , e r ese ce o s c e as

ni u s B o io nd M d ly b qu tion d
mm
B ar o , n s n , a a er a, ca scar ce e es e .

W h v l dy k n ow l d g d th t th e A ct f S C ili

m

e a e a rea w n w ac e e a s o . ec a, as e o

po e s th
ss s e n t g nu i n
e , nd y t w
ar h v n th t i n
o b t nc th i
e e, a e e a e see a su s a e e r

a curac
c y h as b n v llo u ly on d b y l l th t h inc b n di ov d
ee ar e s c r e a a as s e ee sc ere .
 A CH A P TE R OF MA R TYR D OMS . 221

Christians of the highest rank at Rome in the latter years

of the reign o f the Emperor Marcus .

The death of S Cecilia and her friends closes as far as .

,

any publi c records guide us the tale of deaths for the Faith ,

during the days o f Marcus in the Imperial City There is ,

.

little doubt that the examples we have given of these per

secu tions at the beginning and end of the reign only too
faithfully represent the conditions under which Christian s
lived at Rome all thr ough the reign o f the noblest of th e
Pagan Emperors ; the sword ever suspended above their heads ,

and frequently fallin g now o n representatives of the patrician ,

order like F elicitas and her sons and Cecilia with her husband
, ,

and his brother now on the trader the freedman and th e , ,

slave whose names are unwritten save in the Book of God s

,

.

r ecord of His own .

The number of martyrs at Rome in the variou s seasons

o f persecutions was very great In a corner of the Papa l .

Crypt for instance adj oining the b urial chamber of Cecilia

, , ,

there is a pit of extraordinary depth where a tradition pre , ,

served in one of the ancient itineraries speaks of 8 00 bodies ,

.

of these martyrs being buried together If this tradition be .

a true one it refers probably to a erce onslaught on the,

Christian community in the reign of Marcus ; for the Papa .

Crypt only a few years later became a burying place of ex

traordin ary sanctity mainl y reserved for the bishops o f Rome , ,

mm mm m
and was not used any longer for ordinary interments .

Th e tru

A ct s of S Cecilia as th ey h av

r

co
m
th is that th e onu ents discov e ed in th e Cat aco b s nd in th e T as
m
t ev e e Chu ch al o st enab l e us to esto e th e A ct s to th eir p i i tiv e fo
r

e do wn to u s c nn o t l a
y cl ai
Th e
to any
r r
r

m r
a

r .
r

.
,
e ,
a

hi g h er antiqu ity than th e fth centu y b ut recent di scov e i es have p ov ed th t

m
r ,
r r a

th ey a e un questio nab ly t ue in all th e ch i ef featur es and in an y ev en of th ei

m m
r r r

inut est d et ail s D N o th co te ch p iv in h i acco un t of I nv e tig ations o f D e

m
m

. r . r , a . .
,
s s

R o ssi ; see too D e R ossi R , S tt ,

n ii p 1 4 5 6 1 6 024 4 etc ; B a onius
, o a o er ea , .
,
.
, , . r ,

8 21 1 2 1 9 ; B o io H i t P p 1 5 5 1 7 0
m m mm
A nn E cl . d c e
.
,
a . i n i S C li
, , ,
s ,
s . ass o s . eci ae, . ,

L e ci t des A otes (de S Cecil e) co nt estab l e po u

to ut cc qui el eve de

m
r . r r

l i agin tion ou de l a sci ence hi to riqu e du narrat eu ai e xa t d ns l es

m

a s r, s c a

ci con stan ces at ri ell es q u a aient t ran s i ses a l c i ain du cin q uie e siecl e un e

mm m

r v r v
,

t raditio n p ecise ou d s do cu ents c it ne po uvait ecev oi une pl us clatant e

r e r s, r r

c on r atio n Ra e nt un do cu en t de cette n tu e sub i une p euve

.

r e a r a r

plus concluant e et en est so t i i eux justi , A ll ard Hi t i d P r c uti n r .

,
s o re es e s o s,

vol i ch ap vii 2
. .
, . .
, .
 222

CH A PTER X .

A FTE R TH E A N TO N I N E S .

SE CT O I N I .
CH R I STI A N I TY A T TH E CL O SE OF S E CO ND
CE N TU R Y .

I Twas probably in the rst o r second year following the

martyrdom of S Cecilia that the great Emperor Marcus died
. .

He was followed by his unworthy son Commodus who in , ,

h erited none of his father s noble qualities Indeed he has

.
,

been not unjustly styled a gladiator rather than an emperor .

His historian tells us h ow he publicly engaged in these

inglorious combats more than seven hundred times * Yet .
,

strange to say the general persecution of Christianity whi ch

, ,

raged wel l nigh al l through the nineteen years of Marcus

,
-

reign although by no means ended was much less severe and

, ,

was less general in the evil days of Commodus .

Indeed Commodus had no xed policy With Marc u s

, .

the existence of the Christians constituted a real danger to

the prosperity of the Empire ; they were strangers to the
spirit of Rome and her gods ; not traitors no one could
a ccuse the Christians of treason to the Emperor and his
overnment but standing aloof having no share in the
g ;
a ncient traditions upon which Marcus and those who thought

with him believed that the greatness of Rome was founde d ,

and o n the maintenance of which her future grandeur nay , , ,

her very existence as a world empire depended Therefore the

mm m
-
.
, ,

Co
od i l d eg a d ed passion fo th e A phith eat e w as
m
in h is

mm
u s, s n g u ar and r r r ,

to o t t to
a s r n g c n r as th hi s fa er Ma cu wh o lo ath e d th ese b loody and c o up ti ng
r s, rr

p t l d v o a i us b u t f u itl ess effo rts to do aw ay w ith th e

th m
s ec ac es an d a e r r B ut th e .

ho
fas i too ply oot
n w as dee r ed and not e v en th e al l
, po werfu l w ill of th e E
- pe o r r

could put an end to e .

 A F TE R TH E A NTONINE S . 223

philosopher Emperor all owed even enforced their persecution

, ,

o n principle .

His son Commodus however cared little or nothing fo r

, ,

the ancient Roman traditions So in his time the persecu .

, ,

tion was intermittent ; depending a good deal on the temper

and views of the powerful Imperial lieutenants who ruled in
the name of Rome in the provinces There was too at the .
, ,

headquarters of the Government a p owerful inuence at work

favourable to the religion of Jesus Many of the courtiers .

and o f ce bearers abou t the court were Christians

-
and

m
Marcia who though never bearing the title of Empress was
, , ,

to all intents and purposes the wife of Commodus and who

, ,

possessed vast inuence with the E peror was a firm friend ,

o f Christianity ; possib l y as some be l ieve herself a Christian

, , .

A ll this especially as time went on he l ped the hated and

, ,

dreaded sect ; and so the position o f Christians in the reign

o f this weak and vacillating Emperor gradua lly became far

less pre carious than it had been under the rule of Marcus .

In hi s earlier years however before the palac e inuences

, , ,

and especially the persuasions of Marcia had been able to ,

arrest the bitter persecuting spirit which had for so many

years prevailed we hear of these bloody attacks still harassing
,

Christian communities notably in North A frica

, .

In that great and wealthy province the religion of Jesus ,

had evidently grown up as it had done in Gaul with marvel

, ,

l ous rapidity ; s triking its roots among the population far and
wide We have a b sol utely no records which tell us o f its
.

rst beginn ings n o story o f the laying of the foundation of

,

the Faith ; only at the close o f the second century when ,

Commodus and his immediate successors were reignin g we ,

nd a large and ourishi ng Church established in Carthage

and the country districts a Church already elabo rately
,

organise d The rst mention we come upon of this North

A frican Church is an account o f a persecution to which it .

was subj ected in the rst days o f the reign of Commodus .

This onslaught took place at Madaura We have no .

de tails ; only a few o f the martyrs names are preserved to

us and those not Latin but evidently belonging to men of

, ,
224 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND P A G A NIS M .

m
the Punic race O nly a few days after according to late r
.

investigations in the A ugust of th e same year A D 1 8 0 a

, ,
. .
-

cruel persecution brought the Roman colony of S cilliu in ,

North A frica into some prominence The more distinguished

, .

Christians were brought to Carthage were there formal ly ,

charged with profes sing the proscribed religion and were ,

condemned and put to death solely because they persisted ,

in refusing to swear by the genius of the Emperor The .

Proconsul Saturninus following the policy pursued by so

m
,

many o f the more statesmanlike among the higher magis

tra tes of the Empire endeavoured to procure from them so e ,

thing o f a recantation ; and o ffered the group of Christian

Scillitans a period of delay thirty days to consider if they would , ,

not make up their minds to preserve their lives by the appa

ren tl easy process of swearing by the genius o f the Emperor
y .

They were however steadfas t and in consequence suffered capital

, , ,

punishment O n being summoned to swear by the genius of

.

the Emperor Speratus replied , I do not acknowledge the ,

sovereignty o f this world ; I serve God whom no man hath s een , ,

or can see with these eyes .

In the course of the official examination Speratus being ,

asked what th ings (r es) were preserved in their chest (cap sa ) .

answered The books and the letters of Paul the j ust man
,

.

The books were doubtless the Gospels the well known Christian ,
-

books The A cts end with the words : Thus all were crowned
.

with martyrdom and are reigning with the Father the Son and

m
, , ,

the Holy Spirit through all the ages o f ages The A cts of the
, .

l *
Scil itan artyrs from which these extracts are made are looked ,

upon as an unmistakably genuine piece dating from about the ,

year 1 8 0 The names of the martyrs are given There were

. .

twelve in all The words o f one of them Nartz al us when he

m
.

heard his sentence are worth recording : Hodie martyres in ,

m m

coel o su u s ; D eo gratias .

p il mmm
All d h tw it of thi do u nt D A t s co pt a b n d oit
m
ar us r es

o n nt l plus nci n t l pl u p d l ntiq it Ch ti nn e

s c e :

es

c e

s o r

mm

ar es u e s es a e s, e es s u rs e a u r e .

Hi t d ti n vol i p 4 4 6 Co p l o T t nd Studi in th
m
s . P es ers cu o s, . .
, . . ar e a s ex s a es e

A pp n di x n th S illit n ty do (P i n f S P p tu ) w h e b i d
m
e o e c a ar r ass o o er e a er ,
es es a
.
,

r evi d t x t f th e A t th dito P o f o A it g e R ob in on g iv e n
se e o

c s,

e e r, r e ss r r a s ,
s a

acco unt of th v io u v io n etc of th ese f o A ct

e ar s ers s, .
, a us s .
 A F TE R TH E A N TONINE S . 225

Before summing up the general state o f Christianity at

the close of the second century we would once more return ,

to A sia Minor and briey allude to a few striking personal ities

,

m
who considerably inuenced the Catholic Church in the latter
hal f of the second century .

We have already noticed how pre eminent a ong Christian -

communities this great and important province or more ,

accurately grou p o f provinces appears to have been in

,

literary and not only in literary activity in the latter years

, ,

of the rst and during the rst half of the second century .

This was natural as it had been for long years the home o f
,

S John and of others of the A postles and rst teachers o f

.

C h ristianity Pau l having laid the foundations of the famous

,

churches There had lived and worked and written S John

. .

the beloved A postle A ndrew and Philip of the Twelve and

, ,

at least on e of the famous disciples of Philip the other John ,

the Presbyter A ristion who had kno wn the Lord Papias and
, , ,

Polycarp From A sia Minor once their home had gone forth
.
, ,

into distant Gaul Pothi nus the Martyr Bishop of Lyons and ,
-
,

the famous scho l ar afterwards his successor in the See Iren aeu s
, , .

To churches of A sia Minor ve of the seven ever memorabl e -

epistles of Ignatius had been written and a sixth o f these

m
,

l etters to Po lycar p on e of their bishops

,
This region too as has .
, ,

been accurate ly re arked was the hotbed of heresies and th e ,

arena of controversies A fter the death of Pol ycarp cir ca A D
.
, . .

1 5 7 A sia Minor maintains its literary pre eminence largely owin g

,
-

to the indefatigable activity of a few great Christian scho l ars .

O f these Mel ito Bishop of Sar di s perhaps holds the fore

, , ,

most place His work began before the middle of this century
. .

He a ddresses his apology to Marcus cir ca A D 1 6 9 7 0 and ,

. .
-
,

this Eusebius tell s us was the l a test of his many writ ings
, ,
.

This scholar b ishop during a great part of his life must

, ,

have been a contemporary of S John s disciple Polycarp .
, ,

and likewise of Papias who had conversed with the disciples ,

of Christ He was therefore a link with the past connected

.
,

as he was with those who had seen and talked with th e

A postles of the Lord O f his many writings alas ! only a few
.
,

meagre but precious fragments rema in .

226 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

A nother distinguished
writer o f th is gr e at province ,

Claudius A pollinaris Bis h op of Hierapolis was a contemporary

, ,

o f Mel ito though a somewhat younger man ; h e too a ddresse d

,

an apology to the Emperor Marcus O f his numerous works .

,

only two short extr acts remain A third and once famous .

Church leader was Polycr ates Bishop of Ephesus of whose , ,

letter to Victor of Rome on the date of the keeping of the

Easter Festival Eusebius has preserved a solitary b u t priceless
,

extract A lthough there remain s to u s littl e more than the

.

shadow o f once great names fal l ing on the page of Eusebius ,

we can form from passing notices some idea of the vigour

and activity of the A sia Minor Churches in the last years of
the rst and all through the second century .

From A sia Minor early in the century as we have said , ,

Pothinus went forth to the distant and important province o f

Gaul perhaps the most important of the outlying Govern

ments of Rome A s Pothinus was ninety years old at the .

time of his martyrdom in A D 1 7 7 the tradition which suggests . .

,

that he was sent to Gau l by Polycarp of Smyrna is quite

possible There are however many proofs more trustworthy
.
, , ,

than the comparative l y late tradition connected with Pothinus ,

which link the Churches of Southern Gaul with the Churches

o f A sia Minor and which indisputably tell us that the
,

former were the daughter Churches o f the A sian communities

o f which we have been speaking .

( )
1 Very close from remote times was the commerci al

connection between the Western cities of A sia Minor an d

Southern Gaul It seems therefore natural to assume tha t
.
, ,

the ourishing Christianity of the sea board cities of pro -

consular A sia Smyrna Ephesus etc would follow the usual

, , ,
.
,

channels o f commerce .

( 2) The well known letter to which we have referred at

-
,

some length giving the graphic picture o f the su fferings o f

,

th e Christians o f Lyons and Vienne l n the persecution of

A D 1 7 7 wa s addresse d to the Brethren that are in A sia and
,
. .

Phrygia This shows the closeness o f the ties which connected
.

he Christians in Gaul with the Churches of A sia Minor .

( 3 ) The most prominent Christian in the Gal lic Churches

 A F TE R TH E A NTONINE S . 227

after Pothinus the bishop was Irenaeus who succeeded

, , ,

Pothinus as Bishop o f Lyons A D 1 7 8 Now this Iren aeus . . .

,

we kno w passed at l east his youth in A sia Minor when

, ,

Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna .

m
We have already in o ur sketch of Polycarp quoted Iren aeus
, ,

touching memories o f his master We may thus regard .

I ren us as a link between Gaul and A sia His train ing in .

Smyrna he never forgot alluding to it on various occasions ,

in his writings which have come down to us

,
.

This disciple o f the Smyrna Church in his later life

became the most ill ustrious bishop in Christendom O f his .

career we possess too few detai l s to give any complete picture .

\ Ve hear of him in Rome paying a long ofcial visit to ,

the great Itali an see ; we can faintly trace his busy active
work during a somewhat long tenure of the chief Gallican see
o f Lyons

m
A rather late tradition speaks of him as a most
.

successful and unwearied preacher of the Faith as o ne who ,

rallied round h i in Lyons and the surroundin g districts a

large and inuential Church ; dying as Gregory of Tours tells ,

us a martyr somewhere about A D 1 9 7 ; but over thi s

, ,
. .

martyrdom there hangs a doubt as there is no mention of ,

it by Tertu l lian o r later by Eusebius ,

.

That he lived to the end of the second century is h o w ,

e ver certain Th e traditio n s and teaching o f the A sia Minor

, .

C h urches were faithful ly preserved and taught in these

daughter Churches o f Gaul notably in respect o f the date on ,

which the Easter Festival sho uld be kept Here Iren aeus in .

o pposition to Rome and her bishop followed the practice of ,

m
A sia Minor presumably derived from the teaching o f S John
, . .

But though details concerning the years spent in Gaul

are wanting as far as later ages are concerned I ren u s will
, ,

e ver live in his book written against those many O riental

,

heresies so common in A sia Minor which had naturally found

, ,

their way into the connected communities of South Gaul .

This book a lengthy treatise divided into ve books

,

A gainst Heresies is a great and important work In many

, .

respects it is the weightiest writing of the early Church

which has been pres er ved to us The rst two books contain .
 m
228 E A RL Y CH R I S TIANI T Y A ND P AGA NI S M .

a minute description and a criticis of various notabl e

heretical sects both Gnosti c and Ebionite*
,
the remaining
three are an exposition of the doctrines of Christianity as
they were taught in the latter half of the second century in
all the Catholic Church es From this writing we derive many
.

side lights upon earl y Christian belief and practice notabl y

m
,

a c l ear statement of the position which thoughtful Christian s

occupied in the Roman E pire ; and of the duties and allegi
ance which they owed to the Imperial Government accord
ing to the teaching o f responsib l e leaders like Irenaeus ; whom
we may fairly regard as the depository of the teaching o f
Polycarp and o f those great theol ogians and writers wh o

m
ourished in the second cent ury in the Eastern centres o f
Christianity in A sia Minor In I renee us book we have als o
.

a cl ear state ent of the attit ude of the Catholic Church ,

ci r ca A D 1 9 01 8 0 towards the Canonical writings of the Ne w

. .
,

Testament .

Here it may be safely said that the authority which was

then attribute d by the Christian communities of A sia and
Gaul to the four Gospels the A cts of the A pos tles th e , ,

Epistl es o f S Pau l several of the Catholic Epistles and th e

.
, ,

A pocal ypse falls in n o respect short o f the authority a ttri

,

buted to these books in the fourth or in the nineteenth

century Iren aeus places them o n the same platform as h e
.

places the Canonical books of the O ld Testament citing them ,

as Holy Scripture in th e same way and attributing them to ,

the respe ctive authors whose names they bear .

When Iren ae us wrote in the last quarter o f the secon d

,

century these books o f the New Testament were evidentl y

,

universal ly use d and l ooked upon as absolutely authoritativ e

in the Catholic Church ; and this we shou ld bear in min d , ,

was the recorded practice o f the Church within a hun dred

years of the death o f S John and must have been so for at
.
,

least thirty or forty years before ; for I renceus clearly learned

his bel ief from Polycarp who was himself a discip l e o f S
,
.

John The general reception of the books of the New Testa

.

S ee A p p nd x
e i F .
 A F TE R TH E A NTONINE S . 229

ment Canon was evidently coincident with the days when

men lived who had talked with the A postles of the Lord .

O n the subj ect of the obedience of Christians to the

Imperial authority he bases his teaching o n the words of S
,
.

Paul who is singularly clear in his injunction of the duty

,

of Christians to submit themselves to al l lawful constituted

a uthority ; Iren a eus even quotes our Lord as one who paid
tribute to the Roman o fcials in the Holy L aw Iren aeus .

was a Mil l enarian but so in fact were most of the Christian

, , ,

writers of the second century In very early days Mill enarism .

,

o r Chiliasm was inseparably associated with the Gospel itself

, .

It is found in Justin in Iren aeus in Tertullian ; but although

, ,

Iren aeus considered the Roman Empire as a temporary ar

rangement o f Providence which would presently give pl ace
to the earthly reign of Christ and His own he never for one ,

instant allowed this hope or rather expectation to interfere
, ,

with his teaching o f the inevitable duty of unswerving loyalty

to the existing powers He even dwelt upon the blessings of .

the Roman power as giving peace to the world , .

The germs o f the Creed o f the Catholic Church can be

traced unmistakably in earlier writers notably as we have , ,

observed in the recently discovered A pology o f A ristides

,
-

,

addressed to the Emperor Hadrian well nigh half a century -

before the writing of Iren aeus But it is in this great work .

o f the Bishop o f Lyons that we nd the earliest formulated

creed which may be said to have formed the basis of the

,

Nicene Creed put out after the Peace o f the Church was
,

formally established by Constantine in the rst quarter of the

fourth century .

The fu l l title o f Iren aeus master work is The Refutation

-

and O verthrow of Knowledge falsely so Called It is more .

commonl y known and quoted by the shorter title A gains t ,

Heresies Its ve books were composed and put ou t separ
.

atel y no doubt as the busy active life of the great bishop

, ,

allowed him leisure The composition was probab ly sprea d .

over a number of years The third book was certainly pub .

l ish ed b efor e A D 1 90 The origin al Greek has not as yet

. . .

( A D 1 9 01 ) been found and the work as we now have it exists

. .
, , ,
23 0 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND I A GA NI S M

.

only in a somewhat barbarous Latin version made evidently

in very e arly times since T ertullian early in the third century
,

quotes it The rst book only in the original Greek form

.
, ,

is most ly preserved in the writings of Hippolytus ( earl y third

century ) and in Eusebius O f the other writings of this
.

famous scho l ar bishop we only possess the titles and a few

, ,

precious ex tracts notably the one from the Epistle to Fl orinus

,

( above quoted in our sketch o f Po l ycarp ) for which we are ,

indebted to Eusebius .

\Ve have completed in o ur chronicle o f the early years

,

o f Christianity the last quarter o f the second century We

,
.

have been unable as we stated in o ur earl ier pages to

, ,

present any formal history of the laying o f the foundation

stories of the religion of Jesus of Naz areth ; o ur authentic
materials have been too scattered and disj ointed There are .

a fe w letters some even of considerable length written by

, ,

persons of high authority in the Church ; a few apo l ogies or

defences of the new religion a few absolutely reliable stories ,

o f su fferin gs and death endured for the Faith s sake a few

rare mentions of Christianity by Pagan writers an imperial ,

rescript or two bearing on the relations of Christianity and

the Empire a certain number of inscriptions and religious
,

emblems in the ancient cemeteries of the Christians a few ,

m
later redactions of the A cts and Passions o f martyrs
,

from which with the aid of recent arch aeological discoveries

m
,

in the ce eteries or catacombs of Rome we have disentangled ,

so e trustwor thy information .

But there is no denite or consecutive history What .

materials we possess we have made use of and we have been ,

able from these scattered and disj ointed pieces the authenticity
, ,

o f which is undoubte d to frame a story o f the painful anxious

, ,

growth of a community which has sin ce inuenced the who l e

story of the world which after more than eighteen centuries
,

of exis tence is growing stil l in numbers power and inuence , , ,

whic h will never stop in its so l emn onward march until all ,

the kingdoms of the worl d have become the Kingdom of

Christ and of God .

A s the second century closed the first stage of the great ,

 A F TE R TH E A NTO NI NE S . 231

onward march had b een reached From the beginning of .

the third century o nwards the vast numbers o f th e

,

Christians their elaborate organisation the position and

, ,

commandin g abi l ity o f certain of their members prevented ,

them from any longer doing their work and living their
lives in that comparative silence secrecy and obscurity , ,

which in many respects had hitherto been of such service

to them .

A t the end o f the second century Christianity h ad become

a power in the Roman world In its early homes it even
.

seemed that Christians were to be found in vast numbers in

such districts for instance as pro consular A sia round Ephesus

, ,
-
,

and the neighbouring cities and in Phrygia and in Cappadocia

,
.

In A lexandria an important school for the teaching of Chris

tian ity ourished ; in Italy and Greece there were many
converts In Italy at that time as many as sixty bishops were
.

administering sees large and small The Church of the capita l .

of the Roman world was a powerful and inuential community

numbering its many thousands In South Gaul we have .

already spoken of an important and ourishing Church in

Lyons and the neighbourhoo d We have seen too that in
.
, ,

the wealthy and popu l ous province of pro consular A frica a -

,

Church highly organised and very n umerous existed with its ,

centre at Carthage In the rst years of the third century

.

we read of a Church Synod with some seventy bishops gathering

ro und the Bishop of Carthage Here to o at this period .
, ,

ou ri shed on e of the most famous of the early Christian

writers Tertullian many o f whose brill iant and picturesque
, ,

writings have come down to us From these we gather vas t

.

stores o f information co ncerning the Church commu nities ,

their j oys and sorrows their dangers and persecutions their

, ,

temptations and encouragements O ne or two well known

.
-

passages on the numbers and position of Christians from this

great writer deserve quotation They are beyond question
.

coloured with the exaggeration of the orator and rhetorician :

b u t that they are in the main true and conta in no fancy ,

picture o f the state o f Christianity cir ca A D 1 9 8 201 may . .

-
,

b e fairly assumed ; for his burning words rece ive support from
 23 2 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

similar assertions gleaned from the reliques of other Chris

tian writers These all tell the same story
. .

In the cou rse of his l ong A pology perhaps the best
,

known of his extant writings we come upon the followin g ,

passage which dwells on the numbers and widespread

,

inuence of the followers of Jesus :

If we ( Christians ) desired to play the part o f open enemies

,

would there be any deciency in strength whether of numbers

m
,

o r resources ? We are but of yesterday and we have ,

ll ed every place a ong you cities houses fortresses market , , ,

places the very camp

,
palace senate forum : we have , , ,

l eft nothing to you but the temples o f your gods .

Without arms and raising no banner o f revolt but simply in

, ,

enmity with you we coul d carry o n the contest with you by

,

an ill willed separation only For if such multi tudes of men

-
.

were to break away from you and betake themselves to some ,

remote part of the world why the very loss o f so many cit izens ,

would cover the Empire with shame ; nay in the very for ,

saking vengeance w ould be inicted

, y ou would be
horror struck at the solitude in which you would nd your
-

selves amid such a prevailing silence and that silence as of

m
,

a dead world You would have to seek for subj ects to govern
.
,

you would have ore enemies than ci tizens

A gain in another treatise the same Tertullian speak
, , ,

ing of the state of things at the end o f the second

century thus writes : D ay after day indeed you groan over
,

, ,

the increasing number o f Christians ; your perpetual lament

is that the State is crowded ou t ( by us ) that Christians are ,

in your elds in your camps ,

in your houses ; you ,

mourn over it as a misfortune that both sexes that every ,

a e
g ,
that all sou l s are passing over from y o u to u s
, f .

A nd this strange and marvellous growth o f the new

religion was not conned to the countries occupyi ng the
centre o f the Roman world where the new teaching had ,

taken firm root from the rst days of the preaching o f the
Lord and His A postles countries such as Syria and A sia

1 T er
T er t
t
.

.
,

,
A p olog y 3 7
A d Natioiz es i
(a ddr essed
,
.
to th e ul ers and
r m it t
ag s ra es of th e E m
pire) .
 A F TE R TH E A NTO NINE S . 23 3

Minor Italy and Greece ; bu t it had made a rm lodgment as

, ,

we have seen in great and populous outlying provinces such

, ,

a s in North A frica and in Southern Gaul and oven in lands

more remote than these for we hear o f Christianity in

,

distant Britain ; while Iren aeus writing in the last quarter o f ,

the second century appeals as witnesses against the novelties

, ,

o f the Gnostic heretics to the traditions o f the Churches even

,

o f Spain and Germany .

SE CT O I N II . S E VE RU S A ND CA R A CA L L A .

FR O M o ur pictures o f the inner life of the Christian Church

a bout the close o f the second and earlier years o f the third

c entury ,
we must pass to a rapid survey of the Imperial
history of this period Roughly for the rst 1 5 0 years o f
.
,

its existence the story of Christianity is the story of a

,

s eparate people : o f something apart from the Empire But .

a fter the death of Marcus their numbers and inuence brought

the Christians into daily contact with the Government in

R ome or in one or other of the provinces .

The story o f the Church can no longer be kept quite

s eparate from the story of the Empire .

From the accession o f Commodus to the accession o f Con

s tantine a period of a little more than a hundred years a
, ,

brief account of the political changes of the Government o f

the Empire will be necessary as the lines o f the story of the ,

Church and the lines of the story o f the State cross and re .

c ross each other .

O n the last night of the year 1 9 3 Commodus the u n , ,

worthy son of Marcus A urelius perished in a palace intrigue , ,

assassinated by members of his o wn household ; foremost

among whom was Marcia wh o once loved him and who in , ,

e verything save possessing the o fcial name was Empress ;

, ,

to this Marcia we have already referred as the warm friend

o f the Christian community The conspirators had seen .

many of their friends and companions in the Imperial house

hold put to death owing to the mad caprice of the wicked
,

a nd su spicious Commodus and naturally dreading a like fate

, , ,

d etermined to forestall him .

 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

The conspirators persuaded Pertinax a distinguished senator , ,

to occupy the vac ant throne Their sudden choice was .

speedily ratied by the Senate who r ej oiced to acknowl edge ,

as Emperor one so disting uished He had been a Minis ter .

of Marcus and in the course of a long and busy life had

,

successfully discharged the duties o f many o f the powerful

o fces military and civil of the Empire A fter a reign o f
, ,
.

barel y three months b efore he had had time to justify his

,

m
sudden election Pertinax was murdered in a military revol t
,

of the Praetorian Guards who formed the standing garrison

,

o f Ro e ; with whom the newly elected Emperor was un -

popular owing to his strictness in enforcing discipline

, .

These po werful and insolent guards numbering at thi s ,

time probably not more than some sixteen thousand men ,

but perfectly trained and armed feeling that they were in a ,

way masters of the metropolis positive ly offered the Imperia l ,

purple to the highest bidder A n elderly Senator possessed .

,

of great wealth one Didius J ulianus only known in history

, ,

through the infamous bargain he concluded with the Prae

torian s for a brief period was reckoned among the Roman
,

Emperors The election however of the Roman Guards far

.
, , ,

from being conrmed in the provinces was pronounced null ,

and void by the three po werful armies stationed on the

frontier provinces of the Empire each of which at once ,

sal uted its own general as Emperor of Rome Severus th e .

,

commander of the Pannonian Legions Pannonia with D almati a

was a vast region situate between the D anube and the A driatic
after a contest lasting some three years eventual ly suc
,

c eeded in overcoming his competi tors and was acknowledge d ,

universally as Master of the Roman world A native of North

m
.

A frica Severus was a great and successful soldier and reigned

, ,

fro A D 1 9 3 to A D 21 1 transmitting the Imperial succes

. . . .
,

sion to his sons Caracal l a and Geta ; indeed his family with
, , ,

but a brief interlude occupied the throne until A D 23 5

, . . .

A n eminent and trusted general and owing his positio n ,

solely to his legions he regarded the mighty Empire over

,

which he ruled as his own possession to be held as it had , ,

been won by the power o f the sword ; but in spite of th e

,
 tf
B us ro m
S E VE

th e Pal atine H ill , Ro m

RUS
e,
.

t
no w in th e B ri ish m
Museu .
 A F TE R TH E A N TO NINE S . 23 5

military despotism o f his reign he occupies in the j u dgment ,

of posterity a v ery different position to that ll ed by many

o f the tyrants who had preceded him Though occasionally .

harsh and cruel h e was on the whole a just and impartial

,

sovereign ; and Rome when once he was rmly seated on ,

the throne enj oyed under his military rule a period generally
, , ,

o f internal peace and prosperity * .

We have seen that in the days of Commodus particularly ,

durin g the latter years o f the reign when Marcia the favourite , ,

o f the Emperor exercised great inuence the Christians o f

, ,

the Empire enj oyed a period of comparative stillness Marcia .

if not a Christian herself was very favourably disposed to ,

them and large ly no doubt owing to her inuence with

, , ,

Commodus not a few ou t o f the Christian community o ccu

,

pied positions o f power and inuence at Court For several .

years after the accession of Severus to supreme power this ,

state o f things cont inued and the military Emperor evidently , ,

during the earlier years of his reign looked kin dl y upon th e ,

sect which had been so harshly treated under his great

predecessor Marcus This period of stillness was enj oyed
, .

by the Church until about A D 202 when a great change . .

,

m
for the worse came over her fortunes .

Tertullian who was the contemporary o f Severus ex

, ,

pressly tells us (A p ol 3 5 a d S capu la 4 ) that in the wars

.
, .

of the Succession which Severus waged between A D 1 93 and . .

A D . 1 9 7 no Christian of any note was found among the

.
,

adherents of his competitors Niger and A lbinus the generals , ,

respectively of the formidable Roman armies stationed in

Syr ia and Britain Ind e ed it seems that the general feeling
.
,

and probably the quie t inuence o f the Christians of the

Empire were in favour of Severus during that anxious period .

This would partially at all events account for the evidently

, ,

m
favourable disposition of the stern soldier Emperor towards
m
-

takes o m
m mm
a s
t hi sto i an ho w ev e su in g up th e events of Sev erus eig n
Th e g rea r ,
r,

vi ew of th e effe t of h is ul e A ft er d welli ng on th e i ntrod uct io n

b re c

ili ta y d e potis and th setting viol ently asid an y of th ancien t

r .

m

r ,

m
of

mmmm
a r s ,
e e e

t aditions o f R o e h e co nclu des w ith th e e w o d s P o te ity wh o ex pe i enced th e

m
r s r s r r
, ,

fat al effect of h i
s xi s and e xa pl e j ustly consid e e d h i s th e p incip al
s a ,
r a r

au tho r of th e d ecl i ne o f th e R o pi e D l in nd F ll ch ap v "

an E r
_ . ec e a a , . .
23 6 EA RL Y CHR I S TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

th e Christians during the rst ten years of his reign But .

it must be borne in mind that kind ly as were th e feelings o f

,

Sever us tow ards Christians no change was made in the

,

oppressive laws which existed ; none of the fatal rescripts or

edicts of former Emperors were rescinded or even modied .

But the effect o f the known good will o f the Sovereign was
felt far and wide and the provincial governors and magis
,

trates generally discouraged all persecution and interference

with the widely spread communities of Christians whom the
-
,

Emperor during the rst half of his reign was pleased at

, ,

least to tolerate if not to favour

, .

A t the very end o f the century ( the second ) a change

began to pass over the Emperor s feelings and the policy o f the
government with regard to the Christians materia lly affecting ,

the position of the many communities of the worshippers o f

Jesus o f Na z areth in Rome and in the provinces ; and very
early in the third century the persecution seems to have
become general and even bitter .

It is n o t too m u ch to say that o ne of the reasons which

largely contributed to this persecution was the provocation o f
the extreme and austere party among the Christians them
selves We shall dwell at some length on the teaching o f
.

this school under such masters as Hippolytus o f Rome and

Tertullian o f Carthage .

There was always a large and hostile se ction of the Pagan

population in every great centre o f the E mpire ; a section
made up of men who hated the followers o f Jesus for various
reasons some based o n self interested otives connected with
,
-

trades and industries which su ffered gravely under Christian

m
inuences some o n motives connected with the ancient super
,

stitions of Rome some on purely patriotic fears

,
A very small .

spark would at all times kindle this latent hostility into

a bla z e The actions of the ex tremists among the Christians
.

were often eminently calculated to excite this hostile section

o f the population ; popular tumults often compelled the pro

v incial governors and magistrates to take action against the

Christians when they would willingly have le t them alone .

Such actions of the extreme party are vividly pictured

 A F TER THE A N TO NI NE S . 23 7

by Tertullian in his well known treatise De Cor on et I ll ilitis -

,

The Soldier s The in cident upon which this treatise

is based is a good example o f the imprudent z eal which the

teaching o f the extremists among the Christians had inspired
in many earnest though mistaken men ; a z eal of course , ,

calculated to iname the passions of the already hostile people ,

who looked upon them as enemies of the State and as opposed ,

to all established Roman customs The incident as related by .

,

Tertullian was as follows , .

The Emperors Severus and his son Caracalla who had ,

been associated with him in the Imperial dign ity in the

year 1 9 8 had directed a largesse to be distributed to th e
soldiers in one of the North A frican mil itary centres O n .

such occasions it was customary for the soldiers to appear
with crowns o f laurel on their heads the largesse being given ,

to celebrate some successful feat o f arms lately performed in

o ne o r other of the frontier wars which were ever being ,

carried on O n this particular occasion the soldiers laurel

.
,

cro wned were marching past
,
O ne of them so writes .

,

Tertullian in admir ing language more a soldier o f God ,

,

more steadfast than the rest of his b reth ren r who had ,

imagined that they could serve two masters marched past , ,

his head uncovered the useless laurel crown in his hand ,

-
.

Thus nobly conspicuous all began to mark him o ut j eering , ,

at him from a distance railing at him near at hand The ,

.

murmur is wafted to the Tribune He puts at once the .

question to him Why are you so different from others in

,

your attire ? The soldier answers that he had no liberty to

wear the crown with the rest and on being pressed for his ,

reasons he declared I am a Christian

, ,

.

The offender was conducted to the Prefects and eventually ,

taken to prison where to quote Tertullian s words crowned

, ,

Th e
.

( r i gin a lly
o
xact d at f thi r y an d l qu n t writing f T tullian i m u ch
e

di pu t d T h F nch ch l ar A ll ar d giv
s e e re
e

th
o

s
s

t p r b a bl d at
o

gg t d by Gibb n ) A ll ar d a cr ib th t r a t i A d N ti n t
su es e o
e

1 98
.
e o

e s as

s
e

es
e m os

e
o

e
o

se
er

e e, A D

a
s

o
. .

es o

th e sam p r i d nd th w ll ~kn wn A p l g y t ab ut th y a 200 201

e e o , a e e o o o o o e e r -
.

f Th w r d f T r tulli an vid n tly i m ply t h a t a n um b r f th

e o s o e l g iona i
e e e o ese e r es

w C hr i tian
er e s s .
28 8 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

more worthily with the white crown o f martyrdom he awaited

the largesse of Christ ( t e a artyr s death )
In a ne peroration the great Christian writer bids Chris
. . m
.
,

tians keep for God what is His own untainted He wil l

,
.

crown it if He choose Nay then He does ch o ose H e even

'

.
, ,

calls us to it To him who conquers He says I will give

.
,

you a crown o f life Then after picturing the glorious

.
,

crowned ones described in S John s grand A pocalyptic Vision

,
.

he says to Christian s L ook at those crowns ; inhale those ,

odours ; why should you condemn to a little chaplet or to ,

a leaf twined coronal * the brow which has been destined for
-

a diadem ? For Jesus Christ has made us kings to God and

His Father What have you in common with a ower which
.

m

is to die ?
Such acts as that related above by Tertullian were doubt
less o f no uncommon occurrence under the ery unco ,

promising teachings o f this extreme school ; and were emi

n en tl tted to excite the fury of the Pagan populace and
y ,

gravely to inuence the procedure of the Imperial magistrates

in their dealings with Christians .

Statesmen might well argue that it was impossible to

ignore such overt acts of contumely directed against all that

m
Rome pri z ed and held dear It availed little that the great
aj ority of Christians gravely disapproved such exaggerated
and useless mani festations as the one related and praised so
.

very emphatically in the De Cor on et Mi li tis of Tertullian, .

The few irreconcil eab l es were to o often regarded as fair

examples of the many ; and there is little doubt that the
teaching o f the extremists and its disastrous results were , ,

among the causes wh ch led to the bitter persecution that

a ring f th f t al l au l cr w n w v id n t ly r gard d by
m
*
Th e w e o ese es ,
or re o s, as e e e e

T r t ulli an an d h i t rn x cl iv ch l f th u gh t
e s s e p b li
, e w t id l
us e s oo o o as a u c co ces on o o

w h ip I n h i tr ang th u gh l qu n t t r a t i n th Cr w n h h w t h at
m
ors . s s e o e o e e se o e o e s o s

p a t riarch p r ph t n A p t l pr ach r f th e G p l v w r a crown

m
no or o e , o os e or e e o os e e er o e .

Th n ly cr wn d O n w h c uld b c i t d w C h ri t an d H i di a d m w
e o o e e o o e e as s ,
s o as co

p o d f t h rn H i r a d r h a d f ul l p r i i n to b e crown d
se o o s . s e H w ! On
e s e ss o e as e as

th e th
o han d h h w h w th R man h a t h n d ei t i s w r al w a y r p e n t d
er e s o s o e o e e e e e s e r se e

as w ea i ng cr wn H i n t anc Sa t u rn J upi ter Jun A p ll B ac c hu an d

r o s . e s es , ,
o, o o, s,

H erc ul (P C n ch p vii an d i x )

es . : or o a, a s. . .
 A FTER THE A NTONINE S . 23 0

broke out after the close of the second century and weighed so ,

heavily o n the Christian communities generally throughout

the E mpire during the ensuing years .

But although a section a party numerically small it is

true had by their conduct gravely compromised the whole body
o f Christians and had made themselves painfully conspicuous
,

by their determined refusal to conform even in non essential

m
-

particulars with the time honoured customs of the State

-
,

still it does not see that this unwise conduct this obstinate ,

behaviour o f the extremists was the only cause of the ,

change in the policy o f the Emperor Severus in his dealings

with his Christian subj ects I t was evidently something
.

deeper something more far reaching ; somethin g which fre

,
-

quently affected the Emperor and the statesmen who were

m
at the head of public a ffairs at this j uncture .

It was the rapidly increasing numbers o f the Christians ,

drawn from all sorts and conditions o f en in the army ,

and in civil professions th eir perfect organisation their

, ,

strange and unexplained unity which struck with fears for ,

the present and still more with apprehensions for the future
, ,

the minds o f Severus and the Pagan statesmen of his time ;

who were persuaded that the weal of Rome depended u pon
the strict maintenance of the traditional uses and customs
which had helped to build up the great Empire Tertullian .

gravely no t boastingly notices this enormous and unexampled

, ,

increase in the numbers o f the Christian subj ects o f the

Empire when he speaks of the universal cry complaining
that the State was literally occupied crowded ou t by these
e
,

folk
.

Severus and his advisers felt that a n ew policy must be

adopted without delay towards these strange enemies who
had grown up in their midst who had effected a lodge ,

ment in every city in every village even in the unconquered

, ,

army o f Rome in the crowded h omes of the poor in the

, ,

lu x urious vill as and palaces o f the rich in the Senate and , ,

in the very household o f the Emperor whose numbers were

m mT r
,

O b sessa v ociferan tu r civ itate : e t , A p ol
. . 1 .
 EA R L Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND P A GA NISAI .

multiplying with such alarming rapidity and whose powe r ,

and inuence undou b tedly were daily increasing .

The ol d edicts and rescripts proscribing this strange

religion as interpreted by the magistrates of the E mpire
, ,

were m anifestly insu fcient adequately to check the rapid

increase of the converts to the new religion .

There is abundant testimony to the fact that a terrible

and general persecution raged in the earliest years o f the
third century and probably continued without intermission
,

all through the remainder of the reign of Severus who ,

died at York A D 21 1 Eusebius writing in the rst half

. . .
,

of the fourth century thus begins the sixth book of his ,

E cclesiastical History : A nd when Severus raised a persecu

tion against the Churches there were everywhere in all the ,

Churches glorious martyrdoms o f the champions for religion

m
,

b u t especially were they numerous at A lexandria ; to which

city as to the noblest stadiu
,
of God were brought the ,

most eminent champions from th e Thebais and from all

Egypt that by invincible patience under various torments
,

and divers sorts o f death they might obtain from God a ,

glorious crown A nd again he writes a little further on
.

( H E vi at that time many thousands were crowned

. . .

*
with martyrdom Sulpicius Severus specially mentions this
.

as a time of severe trial styling it the sixt h persecution The , .

references in th e words o f Tertullian a contemporary writer ,

and teacher to the bitter sufferings of Christians at this period

,

are innumerable .

There is however some diversity o f opinion among

, ,

scholars as to whether a new and more rigorous legislation

/
was adopted by the State in its dealings with the now
numero us and powerful sect or whether the ol d machin e ry ,

o f the earlier edicts and rescripts was made more e f fective .

Those who favour the former vie w refer to the words of

S partianu s on e of the writers of the A ugustan H istory T
, ,

S ul pi c i u S v r w a w i t r f S u t h r n Ga ul ( A qui t ain ) w h
m m
s e e us as r e o o e e o

uri h d n p c i a lly k n wn a d v t d di cipl an d

m
o s e D 3 6 5 4 25 ; h
c

ca i A . .
e s es e o as e o e s e

a d i r f th fa u B i h p f T u r S M a r t in
m
re o e o s s o o o s, . .

1 T hi hi t ry w th w r k f f r
s s o p rh a p as o y of i wr i t r
e o It o ou , or e s, as s e .sa ,
s x e s .

c nta i n bi gr phi
o s f th e R man E p r
o a es f r m H a d ri an t C in w h
o o e or s o o ar us, o
 A F TER THE A NT O NINE S . 24 1

who in his account of Severus progress through Palestine in

,

the year 2202 mentions that among many other laws which the ,

Emperor promulgated was o ne which forbade under grave

penalties that anyone should become a Jew and the same l aw ,

was to be enforced in the case of Spartianus

gives no further details here but his words apparently ,

o int to some fresh and sterner legislation ; and as the cruel

p
persecution of the Christians immediately followed it may ,

be presumed that the persecution was embittered by some

fresh l egisl ation T .

w as a in at d in hi campa i gn a gain t D i ocl ti an D 28 5 Th liv s of th

a ss ss e s s e A . . . e e e

E mp r r b f r H ad r i an h a v not c m e d own to
e o s e o e T Sp ti nu e tt i e o us . o ar a s ar a r

bu t d ll th bi graphi in th c ll ct i n p t A l x an d r S v u T hi w rk
e a e o es e o e o u o e e e er s . s o

w s w i tt n i n th t im f D i cl t i an an d C n t an tin that i t arly

m m
a r e e es y o o e o s e, s o sa e

i n th four th c n t ur y T h a u t h r i ncludi ng Sp ti nu w r p r ob ably

m
e e . e o s, ar a s, e e

lib rari an c tar i t m i n n t p r n Sp ti n

s or se r e es t r f r t hi
o e e e so s . ar a u s se e s o e e o

se lf b in g a mb r f D i cl t i an h u h ld Th bi graphi mak n
as e e e o o e

s o se o . ese o es e o

pr t n i n t
e e s o li t rar y m r i t b ut
o x t rem ly v aluabl
e a r p rt r y f
e , are e e e as e e o o

fa t c s T h y r c r d am ng t t h r in t re t ing d tail man y I mp ria l di ct

. e e o o s o e e s e s e e s,

r es r c ipt t A a w h l t h y a pp a t b g en rall y fa i t h f ul an d fr fr m
s, e c . s o e e e r o e e ee o

an y impu ta t i n f unfa irn s Th nam of th t h r thr wri t rs of th

o o es . e es e o e ee e e

A u g u tan H i t r y J liu Tr b lliu Polli an d Fl a viu

s C pit lin u
s o are u s a o s, e e s o, s

V pi u
o sc Th s
.c nn c t i n b t w en th es f u wr it r i unk n wn T h
e o e o e e e o r e s s o . e

L iv wr i t t n by Sp ti nu
es,

e f orma lly d di ca t d i n th
e arr t p a t toa s, ar e e e s r

D i cl ti an in th l a t ter t C n t antin
mm m
o e ,
e o o s e.

I n i tin re P l tini plu ri ma jura fund it Jud

e a aes i ub g ra vi
s av , e os
a er s

p oe na tui t i d
ve ti d Ch
,
i ti i n iet Sp ti nu s S
e a u 17e r s i s sa x .

ar a : ever s, .

1 Al lar d H i t i
'

d P ti
,
ii
s o re ch ap xi c n ider th e
es ers ci i ooi s .
,
. .
, o s s

w rd of Sp ti n u a b v
o s q u ted a v r y b i f r um f n di c t f S v r u
ar a s o e o e r e s o a e o e e s,

an d t h at th w rd C h r i t i n o i p e s a d ubl n t b c m

m m
e o s i s a s er o ss s o e se se, v z .
, o e o e

or t b e ma d
o C h i t i an an d t ma k C h ri t i an
e r s T hu th di t ma d
s

o e s s .

s e e c e

i t t th am ti m c ri i na l t b Ch i ti n p ly t t h Ch i ti n

m
a e s e e o e a r s a r ose e or o a e a r s a

p r osely t ( l e n v t i ur t l

es co Ther Fr n h ssech l ar c n ids e es e e c s o o s er s

t h a t S v eru an d h i a dvi
e s di a y d t th rapid i ncr a s f C h i t i an
ser s, s e a e e se o r s s

in all par t f th E m pir an d r c gni ing t h a t th ex i t i ng l a w w r t t ally

s o e e, e o s e s s e e o

i na d qu at t t y th r pid an d al arm i ng p r p agan d a f th n w r li gi n

m
e e o s a e a o o e e e o ,

f r am d t hi n w di ct t w hi c h Sp ti nu r f r whi c h tr u ck h arply a t all

e s e e o ar a s e e s, s s

a tt p t t p r ly t i
e s o w ll a t all n w c on v rt t th Fa i t h A gain t
ose se as e as e e s o e . s

s u c h th magi tra t w r a uth r i d t nc t p r oc d w i th u t wa i t i ng fo

e s es e e o se a o e o ee ,
o r

an y d n i t ac u a t i n w hi ch w th l d w y of p c du r aga i n t C h r i t ian
m
e e c s o , as e o a ro e e s s s

i n ac cord anc w i t h th r cript f th E mp r r Trajan Pr f r R am a y

e e es o e e o . o esso s

on th e t h r h an d ( Ch u h i n th B w n E pi o e f ll win g rc e o za
'

re
,
o o

N u mann c on id r s th at n p r f ex i t th at th E mp r S v r
e ,
s e vr i u do oo s s e ero e e us e e ss e

an y di ct n th e ubj c t an d t h a t th e E mp r in qu t i n did n m t h an
e o s e ,
er o es o o or e

an w r by r c ip t qu t i n n th matt r f h w t d al w it h Ch i t ian
s e es r es o s o e e o o o e r s s

a ddr d t hi m by p r o v inc ia l g v rn r
esse o S u ch an wer by r cr ipt f r m n o e o s. s es o a

Q
 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

A lexandria the great and world renowned capital of Egypt

,
-
,

is especially noted by Eusebius in the above quoted passage as a

centre of this persecution For some time it had been a famous .

home of Christian teaching and the persecution there was ,

evidently especiall y hard It seems probable that Severus who .

,

about A D 202 spent some time in this great Egyptian city was
. .
,

disturbed and alarmed at the inuence exercised by the

brilliant and popular teaching of Clement the head of the ,

famous Catechetical School o f that city whose lectures were ,

attended by vast numbers including not only Christian students ,

but distinguished Pagans of both sexes Hence many martyrs .

su ffered at this time in A lexandria al though the teaching of ,

m
Clement while exalting the value of the witness o f these
,

su fferers for the Faith discouraged all presumptuous daring on

,

the part of Christians and counselled the rather to avoid

,

than court danger .

In Rome and Italy documents such as A cts and Passions

of martyrs connected with the persecution o f Sever us are

almost entirely wanting The destruction of the Christian .

archives including any memoranda of p r oc s v er b a u x of trials

,

and the like which could be discovered in the time of the

o f D iocletian a

terror destruction of course naturally , ,

more vigorously carried on at Rome the seat of the Govern ,

ment than in any other centre accounts for this * But recent
, .

archaeological investigations in the great catacombs o f the

A ppian Way partly supply the want of these lost documents .

The corridors and funereal chambers of the important

catacomb over which Callistus the D eacon was appointed by
Pope Z ephyrinus and which apparently was largely his design
,

and to this day bears his name show that so eth ing had
rudely and suddenly interrupted the regular plan of the
,
m
decorative and o ther works which were proceeding in that
famous subterranean cemetery Evidently new entrances and .
,

E mp eror mark edly ho til e to Chr i sti an i ty as w as Sever us evid ently in th e l a st

s ,

h al f of h is rei gn would naturally h a ve th e effect of enc ouragi ng per sec u t i on

, .

T hi s ani mu s on th e p art of th e E mp eror as w e h a ve seen h a d cl arly , ,

e

i n uenced th e p ersec uti on of C hr i sti an s in th e rei gn of th e E m p ro M arcu s e r .

So D e R os i C ompare L B i b li th d ll de A p t li 1 8 8 4 p 22 an d
s . a o eca e a se os o ca, , .
,

D e O ig ine B ib l i th w edi A p tol iece 1 8 8 6 p x vi

r o ee s s os xx i , ,
. .
, .
 AF TER THE A NTONINE S . 243

new passages were at that time contrived opening into neigh

b ouring sandpits ; narrow stairs were devised the ol d communi ,

cation and ights of steps were partly destroyed or concealed .

Clearly these arrangements were made to facilitate escape for

the harassed Christians who might be tracked into the sacred

m
places used especially in times o f persecution as meetin g
,

chapels for worship and for the celebration of the Eucharist

,
.

It appears that at this particular period when the i ,

portant catacomb generally known as that of S Calli stus was in .

process of being made and decorated * interments were not ,

forbidden but anything like assemblies of Christians for

,

religious worship was strictly interdicted Everything points .

to a vigorous persecution going o n at Rome D riven fr om .

their customary meeting places in the city the harassed ,

communities no doubt assembled secretly in these crypts and

sepulchral chambers which were more or less arranged for
,

this purpose Tracked by the police of the Emperor into

.

these gloomy refuges they sought to render them compara

,

tiv ely safe by blocking up some o f the corridors by destroying ,

the usual stair cases of approach and by providing secret means

,

o f egress when so tracked .

In the great pro consular province of North A frica ample

m
-
,

written materials are extant bearin g testimony to the ravages

of the sa e terrible persecution of the C hristian citiz ens of
Carthage and other North A frican centres .

Tertullian writing of this troublous time expressly speaks

, ,

o f such raids as o f common occurrence and refers to them ,

thus : We Christians are daily harassed tracked o ut sur , ,

prised in our most secret assemblies A nd again : You.

(the Government ) are in the habit o f making raids upon us

in our meetings and assemblies ( A d Na ti on es 1 7 and

, ,

A p olog ia , and in his writings we possess many vivid

pictures of the trials and sufferin gs o f the followers of Jesus
of Na z areth during these sad years .

To this time the rst years of the third century must be

, ,

Th e
of th e w a ll s an d ob t ruc t i on i n th e c orr id or
s s m
identi ty of th e ma sonr y of th e n ew ly d evi sed sec r et ap p r ach es an d
an d ch a b e s w it h th e o i gin al
r

w ork whi ch b el ng s to th e early y ears of th e thir d c entur y h as b een establi shed

o
,
,
o

r
,

.
 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM
'

24A .

attributed the events so pathetically related with intimate

details in The Passion o f S

.

l n the wide district generally known as A sia Minor where , ,

as we have had already occasion to remark the number o f ,

men and women who professed the Faith of Jesus from the
earliest times was very great the victims o f the persecution ,

o f Severus were numerous but details are lacking The troubles ,

.

o f Christians in these provinces especially were not a little

m
increased by the rise and progress of the heresy known as
that o f Montanus The extravagance of these Montanists
.
,

their resolute refusal to conform in any way to Roman custo s

and practices which they associated with idolatry and their
, ,

habit of positively courting martyrdom seemed often seriously ,

to affect the position o f the quiet earnest Christian folk , ,

and to bring them into useless conict with the Imperial

au th o rities T
In the last years of his reign so disastrous a period for ,

his Christian subj ects the great soldier Emperor especially ,

-

devoted himself to the metropolis of the world After some .

seventeen centuries of wear and tear of devastation and ,

invasion in Rome mighty ruins bearing the name o f Severus

,

are among the more prominent features even in the city of

ruins His great arch still dominates one end of the storied
.

forum while a vast and shapeless pile of remains on the

,

south o f the hill of Imperial palaces marks the site of the

gorgeous house of Severus looking over the sad Campagna to
O stia and the sea .

His building work in Rome was enormous ; palaces baths , ,

temples huge granaries such as even Rome herself with her

, ,

magni cent re cord had never seen before signalised th e ,

closing period of his career It was as regards noble build .

,

ings the most brilliant period the world capital had known
,
-
.

A nd while new stately temples were rising and ancient fanes ,

See p 23 7

m
. sup ra .

t T h e posi ti onan d t n t f th M ntan i t i n wh o ran k s w r g r a du ally

e e s o e o s s, se e e

i nclud d an y f th m r ri g r u s an d a c eti c f th Ch ri t i an f th at ti m wh
e o e o e o o s o e s s o e o

f d t h ar i n th e li f an d pu r u i t s of th e ordinar y c i t i n of th e E m pi r
r e use o s e e s z e s e, are

d e crib d i n Ch ap ter XI I p 3 26
s e .
, .

.
 A F TER THE A NTONINE S .
24 5

were being magni cently restored while the g randest palace ,

among all that marvellous group of palaces was bein g erected

on that hill where the divine C aesar dwelt overlooking the ,

immemorial Forum the centre of all Pagan worship the , ,

Christians of the Roman community as irreconcil able enemies ,

o f the State were being hunted down as they gathered in

,

silence and in secret for prayer and praise in the sombre

corridors and sepulchral chambers of their cemeteries beneath
the vineyards and gardens j ust outside Rome A s we have .

a lready noticed much o f the work o f destruction carried o u t

,

with the hop e o f concealing these meeting places in the great -

cemetery beneath the gardens which fringe the A ppian Way ,

dates from the period of this persecution .

History relates one more campaign undertaken by Severus

in the far north of distant Britain where the wild moun ,

taineers of Caledonia persistently refused to recognise the

maj esty of Rome Probably the worn out Emperor under
.
-

took the conduct of thi s last war in person in order to re

move from the seductive pleasures of the capital his two
sons Caracall a and Geta But the fatigue o f the war was too
, .

much for the toil worn soldier ; for on his return from a suc
-

cessful campaign in Caledonia he expired at York leaving ,

m
the tremendous inheritance o f the Empire to his unworthy
sons .

A mong the many tragedies which stain ed the I perial

purple the story of the brother E mperors the sons and suc
,
-
,

cessors o f Severus stands ou t conspicuously Caracalla and

, .

Geta hated each other and the Roman world was soon
r ,

appalled at hearing that the younger brother Geta had , ,

been assassinated at his brother s s uggestion in his mother s

arms .

The fears which were entertained by Severus that his

sons would prove themselves unworthy of their great inherit
ance when he too k them from Rome on his last campaign
,

into Britain were unhappily too well founded

,
L ittle is .

known o f the younger who was foully murdered as we have , ,

said in A D 21 2 the year following Severus death ; but the

, . .
,

elder Caracalla ranks among the vilest of the Emperors

, , .
246 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM

In cold blooded cruelty he even surpassed Nero and

-

D omitian It is said that above twenty thou sand persons o f

.

both sexes some of them of the highest rank were put to

, ,

death early in his fatal reign under the vague charge o f

having been friends o f the murdered Geta Gi b bon does not .

hesitate to style him the common enemy of m ankind .

The year after the death of Geta Caracal la left Rome ,

never to return to it and spent the remaining four or ve ,

years o f his life in moving about through the various provinces

o f his immense Empire ; and in the course o f his imperial
progresses every province was by turn the scene o f his

rapine and cruelty He perished by an assassin s dagger .

in A D 21 7 universally feared and execrated

. .
, .

Historians have noted as a curious fact that in the long

line o f the masters of the greatest Empire the world has
ever seen those princes wh o were born so to speak in the
, , ,

*
purple with perhaps one or two exceptions were detestable
, ,

tyrants whil e the wiser and better Emperors were all of them
,

raised to the throne by adoption or by election A mong .

the rst C aesars from Julius to Nero a family connection, ,

more or less close existed ; and with the exception of ,

A ugustus they were all crime stained tyrants

,
The wise -
.

Vespasian was el ected but of his two sons Titus died all ,

too soon and D omitian was a monster o f vice Nerva

,
.
,

Traj an Hadrian the two A ntonines between whom no blood

, , ,

relationship existed were on the whole great and generally ,

loved princes But unfortunately Marcus A urelius A ntoninus

.
,

was followed by his son the execrable Commodus A fter ,

.

Commodus came the elected Severus who although a
, ,

mi litary despot takes rank among the eminent Emperors,

o f Rome ; but he was succeeded by his wretched son

Caracalla wh o as we have seen too well maintained the
, , ,

unvarying tradition of the character o f the prin ces born in

the Roman purple .

The question aris es how came it to pass that in the ,

r nch hi tori an n ot i c thi fact i n

Th e F e s es s th e u ccessi on of th e R oman
s

E mpir b ing di ff r n t t u m od rn x p ri nc
e, a s e e e o o r e e e e e. I n R om C est 1 el ec ti n
e,

o

qui a uv c t l h dit q ui p d C ham p agny

s e,

es
'

ere er .

: L e A nt niu i 1
s o s, . .
 AF TE R THE A NT ONINE S . 24 7
I

Roman Empire in the matter of the succession to the throne

,

a completely different experience presents itself from tha t

which we are accustomed to in medi aeval and modern
times ?
Now it is in an hereditary throne that people nd the
greatest security for the maintenance of internal peace and
prosperity The idea of an elected sovereign is well nigh
.

impossible ; the experiment would be by universal opinion , ,

t o o ha z ardous * Many o f the reasons for this curiously

.

different experience are not hard to nd The Roman Empire .

was made up of various nationalities ; a loyal attachment

to an Italian family or dynasty natural enough in Italy , ,

would nd no place in Gaul in North A frica or in Syria

m
.
, ,

But a deeper reason existed in the antecedents of the

sovereigns of the Ro an world The elected was chosen .

for some distinguishing qualities for some conspicuous ,

abilities ; in many cases he had been a soldier and when ,

called to rule was usually long past the age of youthful

passion and prejudice Train ed generally in the stern
.

discipline of a Roman place of arms he brought with him ,

to the throne the virtues peculiar to the camp courage ,

m
e ndurance self restraint and the habit of commanding
,
-
,
The .

born in the purple on the other hand was brought up , ,

in the often enervating at osphere of a Pagan court sur ,

rounded from you th with obsequious atterers unaccustomed ,

to self denial or self restraint

-
The Roman Prince b orn
-
.

in the purple unlike the Prince o f medi aeval and modern
,

times lacked in any education which he received that

,

Ch r i stia n training which since the religion o f Jesus has b e ,

come the religion of the Western world forms so marked ,

a feature in the education o f a Prince born to an hereditary

throne .

The general persecution which weighed so heavily on

I n th e W t n w rld th e great P w r of E ngl an d G rman R u i a
es er o o e s , e y , ss ,

I ta ly an d A u stri a H un gary h a e a d opted g n rally th p rin c ipl e f an h er ditary

,
- v e e e o e

v r i gn F rance i n lat y r an d in th e n w w rld th U ni t d S tat h a v

m
so e e .
, e ea s, e o , e e es, e

a l on e ch s n an ot h er f orm f g v rnm nt a ltog th r Th e v a t maj ity f

o e o o e e e e . s or o

th e l e ssi p r t ant c u n t ri s
o H oll n d an d B l giu m h a v e f ll w d th
o e a e o o e e

sam e x m pl e i n p r f rr ing an h reditary overei gn

e a e e e s .
248 EA RL Y C HRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

the followers of Jesus in the latter half o f the reign of

Severus continued but more languidly during the early
, , ,

portion at least o f his successor Caracalla s rule Probably ,

,
.

the deeper political or patriotic reasons which moved Severus

and his advisers to persecute were absent from the counsels
of the more careless Caracalla This Emperor is however .
, ,

generally no w credited with the passing of an edict which

had far reaching consequences in the Empire and which
-
,

evidently affected adversely certain of the Christian subj ects

o f Rome The edict to which we refer extended the privileges
.

and reSponsib ilities of the citi z enship of Rome to dwellers

in the provinces carrying therewith a great increase in the
,

*
taxation to which provincials who previously did not possess
, ,

the rights of Roman citi z ens were n ow liable It was for , .

this reason that this far reaching edict was passed -

.

It curiously affected accused Christians who when charged , ,

with the crime of Christianity had not infrequently pleaded
,

before the provincial magistrates their Roman citiz enship and ,

claimed the right of appeal to the supreme Imperial tribunal

o f Rome as in fact we see S Paul did (A cts of the A postles
, , ,
.

xxii .25 9 xxiii 27 xxv 1 0 ,

This right of appeal was
.
,
.

also claimed by the Bithynian Christians when accused before

Pliny the pro praetor by the martyr A ttalus at Lyon s in the
-
,

persecution in the days of the E mperor Marcus etc But , .

after the edict o f Caracalla we nd in the various A cts o f the

martyrs no more instances o f such appeals .

The new edict gave a provincial official if ill disposed to ,

-

Christianity increased power ; for his decision in the case of

,

accused Christians was henceforth n a l N0 Christian could .

any more plead the special right of citi z enship as a reason

for appeal in cases of condemnation
m
.

I t w as d oub t w ith th e vi ew o f i ng th I p i l rev en u e th a t thi

no ra si e er a s

ch an ge in th e c on st i t u t i on of th e E m pi re was ma d e Wh en th e p r i v il g of . e e

th e R o man c i t i en hi p w s so i n d e n i tely m ul t i pli ed

z s th e v a lu e natura lly
a ,

b cam e pr a ti cally n il A c i t i en of R m e was li able to a p ec i al h ea vy t a x

m
e c . z o s

on l gac i s
e en d i n h e ri t anc e
a on th e act of man u m i ssi on of sl a v e
s, etc S u ch a s, .

tax i p sed on pr vi nc i a l (fo a R oman c i t i en th ey w ould h encefor t h b e li a bl )

o o s r s z s e

w o u ld f c o ur se l a r g ely incr a e th e rev en u e rec eipt s ; b ut i n th e l ong r un i t

o e s

w o uld serv to u n d erm in e th e ol d fo u n dati on s on w hi ch th e E mpi re w s built up

e a .
 AF TER TH E A NT ONINE S . 249

E TI O N
S C III .
FR O M CA R A CA L L A TO DE CI U S ,
A D . . 21 1 TO A D . . 24 9 .

G R A D U A L L Y the long drawn out persecution ceased A fter .

the year 21 2 we nd no more records of martyrdoms in the

reign of Caracalla and no w for a long while the Church,

enj oyed an almost unbroken peace This period of still ness .

is said to have lasted some thirty seven years unin terrupted

m
-
,

save by the short ou tbreak of persecution under the r ule of

the Emperor Max i inus .

Caracalla was assassinated by a centurion in a military

intrigue A D 21 7 and for a few months the throne o f the
,
. .
,

Empire was occupied by an ambitious soldier Macrinus who had , ,

lled the ofce of Pr aetorian Prefect He too perished in an .

, ,

obscure mil itary sedition probably fomented by a palace ,

intrigue withou t leaving any trace of his short reign behind

,

him The palace intrigues under the guidance o f Julia Maesa

.
,

( the sister o f the Empress Julia D omna the widow of Severus ) , ,

with the assistance o f the legionaries of the Syrian army ,

procured the succession to the Empire for Elagabalus her ,

grandson The close connection of the new Emperor with

.

the great Severus seems to have disarmed any serious oppo

sition and Elagabalus was quietly ackn owledged Emperor
,

A D
. .21 8 Elagabalus had been brought up and trained as
.

chief priest of the Sun god of Emesa in Syria and during his -
,

reign of four years seems to have rated his position and

privileges as a Syrian Pontiff higher than any titles of Imperial
maj esty His sorry distinction among the long line of Roman
.

Emperors was his exaggerated devotion to his O riental god .

m
His reign was disgraced by nameless infamies and by his ,

wild extravagances he o ffended and shocked all that was

serious and patriotic in the E pire His one notable act

Th e p c i a lly sh oc k ed at th e act i on of thi s di ssolute an d

Roman w as s e

fanati ca l E mp eror p riest wh o b ri nging th e sacre d bl ack st on e of E mesa u n der

-
, , ,

w hi c h f orm th e sun w a w or shi p ped w i t h a ll p ossibl e sol emn i ty to R om

s , p o e, r

ceeded to gr oup ro un d t hi s stran g e o bjec t o f O ri en ta l w or ship a ll th a t w as m ost

h oly an d v en era ted in a R oman s ey es su c h as th e acred e of Vesta an d

m

, s r ,

th e shi eld o f M ar s w i t h th e vi w as L a p idius sa y s

s , R omana s
e ,
r ,

e sting uere r eli g i on e

x s .
25 0 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

was the association in the supreme power of his cousin ,

A lexander Severus ; o f whom however he soon became j ealous , , ,

and would have destroyed him had he not himself fallen in

one of those military seditions which were too common in

the powerful and turbulent army of Rome Elagabalus had .

reigned for about four years when he was assassinated .

The Christian in the reign o f Elagabalus was not merely

tolerated he was even looked on with favour The Christian
, .

religi on coming from the East was regarded with special

, ,

reverence by this fanatical A siatic devotee The God of the .

Jew and the Christian he even deigned to admit into the

most sacred shrine o f his Sun god -
.

When E lagabalus ( A D 21 8 to A D 222) fell hi s cousin . . .

, ,

whom history knows as A lexander Severus was at once recog ,

nised as sole Emperor D uring his reign of thirteen years .

2 to A D 23 5 ) the still ness enj oyed by the worshippers

( A D. 22 . . .

o f Jesus in the days o f his unworthy predecessor and cous in re ,

mained unbroken The favour sho wn to them by the half .

cra z y Emperor priest was continued for more worthy reasons

-
.

It was a quiet time indeed such as had never yet been ex ,

erienced by the Christians Historians are unanimous in

p .

the praise of the great nephew of the wife of Severus None

* -
.

o f the Emperors who in succession sat o n the throne of the

rst great C aesar have a fairer record than he Surrounded .

by wise and prudent ministers his whole thoughts during , ,

his too short life were devoted to correct the abuses which
-
,

disgured the Imperial administration and to restore the ,

glories and felicity o f the age o f the noble A ntonines ; while

every endeavour was made though with only partial success ,

Tabl e sh ow in g fam il y c onn cti n of A lex an d r S v er u s w i th e o e e th e E mp eror

S v r us
e e
B assran u s

A D
. . 1 9 321 1 . Snv s a u s ( E mp .
) ! J l u i a D omn a J uli a Maesa

m M am
m
A D 21 1 ~ Caracalla (E m p ) G et ( a E mp ) Soe ias a a
c

m
. .
. .

21 7 .

A D.
.
21 3 222 . E l agab al u l xan d r s A e e Sev erus (E p
.
)
(E p) . A D
. . 22223 5 .
 AF TER THE A NT ONINE S . 25 1

it must be confessed to re introduce something of the ancient

,
-

discipline and Spirit into the mighty army which had come
to regard itself as the maker and unmaker of the sovereigns

m
o f Rome .

The beautiful character of this Emperor had been formed

with exceeding care by his mother Ma aea the niece as we , ,

have said of the Empress Julia D omna

,
Mam asa some .

believe to have been a Christian ; she certainly was strongly

m
inuenced by the words and writings of the greatest living
Christian teacher O rigen Eusebius ( H E vi 21 ) thus writes
,
. . .
, .

of this prin cess : Ma aea the Emperor s mother a woman

,

di stinguished for her piety and reli gion when the fame of ,

m
O rigen had now been everywhere spread abroad so that it ,

also reached her ears was very eager both to be honoured ,

with the sig ht of this an and to make trial of his ski ll in

m
,

divine things so greatly extolled Therefore when staying .

,

at A lexandria she sent for hi ,

With her he ( O rigen )
stayed some time exhibiting innumerable matters cal culated
,

to promote the glory o f the L ord and to evince the excell ence ,

o f di v ine instr uction .

An d yet it woul d be an error to imagine that this amiable

and earnest A lexander Severus was a Christian He too .
, ,

following the example o f such eminent Emperors and states

men as A ugustus and Marcus was rmly persuaded that the ,

stabili ty o f the Roman Empire in large measure rested upon

the maintenance of the ancient traditions ; and these were
inextricably mingled with the ol d worship So we nd A lex .

*
ander Severus and his ministers very early in the reign
sending back to its original home in Syrian Emesa the ,

m
black stone which was said to have fallen from heaven with ,

its gorgeous setting of gems which represented the Sun god ; ,

-

and replacing in their ancient shri nes the statues and i

memorial emblems o f the old gods of Rome whi ch had been ,

mm
moved therefrom by Elagabalus .

Thr u g h th i n u nc e f M am a h is th r th e y outhf ul E m p ror fr om

o e e o , o e , e ,

th t w u r un ded by a c un cil of i t n S nat r di ting ui h d f th ir

m
e rs , as s r o o s x ee e o s, s s e or e

e xp i nce an d p at i t i m O f t h s th e m t m i n en t w as Ul pian u th gr at
er e r o s . e e os e s e e

J ur i t w h o af t rwar d p r i h ed i n a m ili tar y ut m o t u nf rtunat ly fo th

s , e s e s e e
,
s o e r e

E mpir e .
25 2 EA R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

The young Emperor so his historians tell us in the

, ,

private chapel o f his pal ace among the images of his deied,

Imperial predecessors placed statues o f others w h o he con

,

sidered had wo n a right to adoration A braham and Jesus .

Christ were among these O ne fact certainly remains un

.

challenged ; during the years of A lexander Severus rule

the Christian lived unmolested For nigh two hundred .

years his position in the Empire had been as Tertullian ,

curtly puts it non licet esse v os ( it is not lawful to be
,

y )
o u The historian of A lexander Severus sums up their
.
*

position under that Prince thus : Christianos esse passus

est ( He su ffered men to be Christians ) But although any .

thing like a Stat e persecution was unheard of in this time ,

it is certain that the followers of Jesus were still occasionally

exposed to the danger of popular fury which ever and again , ,

owing to the causes whether commercial domestic or patriotic

, , , ,

on which we have dwelt broke ou t against them ,

.

It was in one of these tumultuous risings no doubt that

the notorious Bishop o f Rome Call istus perished He will , ,
.

come before us presently as the determined opponent of the

ascetic or rigourist party in the Church of Rome Call istus .

was a great organiser and was one o f those wh o larg el y

,

increased and planned o ut that vast Necropo li s known as

the Catacombs beneath the suburbs of Rome to one of ,

which under the A ppian Way he has bequ eathed his name
, ,

His death apparently took place in a popular uprising

against the Christians in A D 222 3 . . .

But the Christians o f the Empire before many years had ,

passed experienced a much ruder awakening from their

,

dreams of peace and quiet than was occasioned by such ,

m
temporary outbursts o f popular fanaticism In the year .

23 5 the Roman world was astonished and dismayed to hear

that the young Emperor and his mother Ma aea after some , ,

thirteen years of wise and temperate rule had been basely ,

assassinated in o ne of those disastrous military revolts of ,

too frequent occurrence in the Roman armies while present ,

m
with the army of Germany in its camp ; and that the chief
f th wr i t r f th e A u g u tan H i t r y

L p idi n a r u s, o e o e e s o s s o .
 m
A F TER THE AN TONINE S . 25 3

conspirator Max i inus a rude bu t reno wned soldier of

, ,

mm
barbarian extraction his father being a Goth and his mother ,

an Al an had been selected Emperor by the legi onaries

m
.

co pos
g this great frontier army .

The reign of Max r i nus lasted less than three years ; the
soldier who in the subordinate p osition of tribune o f a
,

legion had won a high reputation for hi s admirable p owers

o f discipline and military administration as Master o f the ,

Roman world showed himself a monster o f c ruelty and

oppression He was dreaded and feared by all ranks and
.

orders but as long as the army who admired the rough

, ,

commander whom they had advanced to the throne main ,

tained their all egiance he could defy in safety the hatred ,

and dread o f the rest of the E mpire Through an insane .

j ealousy o f his murdered predecessor whose grace and learn ,

m
ing formed a strange contrast to his o wn rough coarse ,

manners and lack of education he hunted down proscribed

m
, , ,

and banished all who were in any way associated with hi .

Hence apparently Max i inu s hatred of Christians whom

A lexander Severus certainly tolerated if he did not absolutely ,

favour them For there is no doubt that in the reign of

m
.
,

the late E mperor there were many Christians in the Imperial ,

household Ma aea his mother being a Christian in all but

*

m
, , ,

the name .

The persecution was directed rst against the more pro i

nent members of the Church O ne of the earliest o f cial .

documents of the Roman Church the so called L iberian ,

-

Catalog ue of A D 3 5 4 whi ch reproduces in its earlier part
. .
,

a yet more ancient document tells us how A t this time ,

mentioni g the Consuls of A D Pontianus the Bishop

( n 23 5 ) . .

of Rome and Hippolytus the Presbyter were transported

into the unhealthy Island o f Sardin ia Pontianus when .
,

banished resigned his position to A nteros and the L ib er

, ,

E u sebiu s
( S ev eru s)

w a su cc eed ed by M i inu
wo rd
v e y d e ni te h ere
s
s Th e E m p eror Al e x an d er
ar e r

w h o i n am e d w i th h ate aga in st
th e H o u se of A l e x an d er c on si st ing of m n y b eli v ers ra i sed a p er sec u t i on
,
ax m a
s,
.

e
,

, .

E usebiu s H E vi 28 Th e H ou e of C sar th e D om us A u gu sti i n all

,
.
, . .

s ae ,

,

its w id e r eachi n g si gn i cati on h a b een f ul ly di sc u ssed a b ov e

-
See p 3 6
,
s . . .
25 4 EARL Y CHRIS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

P on ti ca listells us how he was tortured and scourged in

his exile and died Th e bodies o f Pontianus and Hippo .

lytus were eventually brought back to Rome

m
A nteros only .

lived a short time after his elevation .

The persecution of Max i in u s was by no means conned

to Rome ; for O rigen relates h o w great were the su fferings
endured by the Christians of Cappadocia We have records .
,

too telling of sufferings endured at A lexan dria and in other

,

parts o f the Empire O rigen s treatise The E xhortation

m
.
, ,

addressed to martyrs ( H or pewr ucdc s i; Ma r zi tov ) was wr itten

p
'
c
p p ,

during the persecution o f Max i inus

m
.

O ne peculiar feature of this bitter feeling displayed by

the Emperor Max i inu s agains t the followers o f Jesus seems
to have been the unchaining of the evil passions of the
populace among whom as we have seen many ill wishers
, , ,
-

to Christianity were always found a hostile element never ,

difcult to arouse O rigen gives us a vivid picture o f how

.

this spirit of enmity was stirred up at this time Several .

disastrous shocks of earthquake had been experienced The .

great teacher is no doubt alluding to pro consular A sia and -

the neighbouring provinces o f A sia Minor The Pagan foes .

o f the Gospel o f the L ord Jesus spread abroad the rumour

that all such unforeseen calamities as earthquakes pestilences , ,

famines and even wars were the outcome of Christian teach

,

ing which urged the abandonment o f the worship o f the

,

gods who by means of the earthquake the famine etc

, , ,
.
,

avenged their insulted maj esty In this persecution of the .

Christians O rigen alludes especially to the burning of their

churches *

m
.

Happily the su fferings of the Church in the evil reign o f

Max i inus continued bu t a short time D uring the two to .

three years of his rule he never visited Rome ; his cruelty ,

however and extraordinary avarice stirre d up bitter animosity

,

in all parts of the Empire The temples were stripped of much .

of their wealth and the very statues of the gods were melted
m
m
,

ri g n C O nt y n S
e ,
ol l tth w 28
e Th chu r c h
ar o .whi h thi wr it r
. a e , . e es c s e

t ll u w r bur n d t thi t i m n d ub t h a d b en r c t d i n th l ng p r i d
e s s e e e a s e o o e e e e e o e o

o f c mp ara ti e
o t i ll n w hi c h h a d f ll ow d th e d a t h f th e r t S everu s
v s ess o e e o s .
 A F TER THE A NTONI NE S . 25 5

do wn m uch of this sacrilegious plunder was distributed among

the soldiers The Empero r was generally looked upon by all
.

outside the camps of the legionaries as a common enemy

of humanity In the great pro consular province o f North
.
-

A frica the universal discontent rst took shape in the

,

form of a rebellion against the unworthy and hated Maxi

minus and Gordian the Pro consul an illustrious and wealthy
, ,
-
,

senator was salut ed as Emperor

,
With this Gordian who .
,

was over eighty years of age his son was associated Rome ,
.

and the Senate rati ed the election of pro consular A frica -

.

For the forces at the

m
Their reign was ho wever brief , , .

disposal of the Gordians were defeated by a band o f

legionaries faithf ul to Max i inus and Gordian and his son ,

perished : the son in battle the father by his own hand ,

after the defeat .

The elder Gordian was an admirable example of a Roman

grand seigneur D escended on his father s side from the

.

Gracchi on h is mother s from the Emperor Traj an he owned

,

on e o f those vast estates situate in Italy and Sicily in A frica ,

and A sia which have never fallen to the lot of any private
,

indi vi dual save to the members o f these patrician houses o f

the earlier days of the Empire Besides his stately Roman .

palace with its ancient trophies and gorgeous decoration ,

once the dwelling of the great Pompey his villa on the road ,

to Praeneste was celebrated fo r its splendour among a host

o f similar beautiful houses It contained we read besides.
, ,

baths of rare magni cence and si z e three stately halls each , ,

o f a hundred feet in length and a mig h ty portico resting on , ,

two hundred columns of rare and costly marbles This great .

noble was at once a writer and philosopher a student o f ,

m
Plato and an imitator and passionate admirer of Virgil the
, ,

patriot poet who sang the immortal glories and virtues o f

immemorial Rome This e i nent patrician spent his life in
.

the enj oyment of the most pure and lofty tastes ; and yet
he thought it a righteo us act to use his well nigh countless -

revenues in entertaining the people when he lled the o fces ,

of aedile or of consul by repeated shows month after month

, , ,

o f the shameful amphitheatre games ; thos e games which

25 6 E A RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NI S JII .

inamed the min ds o f the populace with a passion for

blood and lust and tau ght them to disregard human
,

su fferings and to hold cheap human life and happiness

games in which three hundred to a thousand gladiators
fought ! Such were the strange contrasts which lled the

lives of the noblest and most cultured o f the Masters of the

world of the men who for two hundred and eighty years
fought the life and death battle with that quiet unresisting ,

sect who followed Jesus of Naz areth who counted it the ,

highest honour to die for His Name and then to lie in

those long corridors of death adorned with the rough paint
ings of the Good Shepherd and the symbols of a redeemed ,

so ul an d of a blessed Paradise Home

m
'

But although the revolt of North A frica ended with the

defeat and death of the Gordians father and son the Ro an , ,

Senators powerless in the face of the mighty armies of the

,

Emperor though they seemed to be inch ed not from their ,

determination to dethrone the detested soldier tyrant Maxi -

minus and immediately invested two of the most worthy

,

members of their au g ust body with the Imperial purple .

These were Maximus and Balb inus patricians and men ,

of consular dignity With these two they associated a third

.
,

m
a scion of the Gordian family o ut o f respect for the memory ,

of the princes who had j ust laid down their lives for the
State The Emperor Max i inus hearing of this revolt against
.
,

his authority hurried from the banks of the distant D anube to

,

m
meet the forces raised by the Emperors chosen by the Senate .

For a brief time the issue of the war was doubtful b u t ,

happily for the fate of Ro e the cruel tyrant was mur

dered as he was besieging the frontier city o f A quileia by his ,

o wn soldiers ( A D The joy of the Roman world at the fall

. .

of the cruel and avaricious soldier was universal bu t alas Maxi , ,

mus and Bal b inus soon perished assassinated by some soldiers ,

in a military tumult at Rome The boy Gordian however .

, ,

who by the Senate had been associated with them in the

m
, ,

purple survived and was universally acknowle dged Emperor

, , .

With the fall of the tyrant Max i inus the persecution of

the Christians ceased .
 A F TER THE A NTO NINE S . 25 7

m D uring the ve or six years when the boy Gordian was

no inall y Empe ror ( he was only nineteen years old when he

m
in turn was murdered) the Chris tians were not interfered with
,
.

After a period of some confusion in the Government an able

.
,

and dist inguished minister Ti esith eus came into power as , ,

Praetorian Prefect and th e young Emperor Gordi an married

,

h is daughter ; but once more the overbearing intrigues o f the

not without the gravest suspicion that his end had been
m
all powerful army put an end to the anticipation of a wis e
and b enecent rul e Ti esith eus the minister died suddenly
.
, , ,

hastened by poison and the year foll owing Gordian th e

,

Emperor was cruelly murdered with the consent if not by ,

the direct command of Philip a s u ccess ful and popula r

, ,

general whom the arbitrary will of the soldiery had raised

,

to the throne .

Again and again the historian of the Roman Empire has

to relate the sudden advent to supreme power of a military
chief who by his success in war and his skill in attaching to
,

his person the affection o f the sol di ers had won the devotion ,

and support of the legionaries under his command The great .

Roman armies mostly stationed in the frontier provinces

, ,

were composed of men drawn not onl y from the variou s

provinces of the Empire b u t also largely recruited from the
,

barbarian hordes beyond the borders This great mass o f .

trained soldiers was bound by but slender ties to the Senate ,

who stil l wielded a nominal superintendence over the Govern

ment the ancient time honoured traditions of Rome exercised
-

but li ttle inuence over these armed and powerful mercenaries .

Now it is the army of Germany now the legionaries of Gaul ,

and Britain now the soldiers of the force guarding the frontiers
,

o f distant A sia whom we nd by their tumultuous electio n

,

exalting to the throne of the Empire some favourite general .

In this partic ul ar instance the army of A sia chose an ,

Emperor known in history as Philip the A rabian who pos ,

sesses in our story o f the fortunes of the early Church a

peculiar in terest for he is said to have been the rst Christian
,

Emperor Philip s reign lasted from A D 24 4 to A D 24 9
. . . . . .

L ittle is known of the early years of this Philip an A rab ,

R
 m
25 8 EA R L Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

m
by birth We he ar of him rst in command of the Ro an
.

force in the Persian campaign undertaken in the days of the

y ounger Gordian When Ti esith eus the father in.law of ,
- -

m
the Emperor died Philip received from the young Emperor
, ,

th e appointment of Pr aetorian Prefect and in the obscure ,

intrigues which followed the death of Ti esith eus * Philip ,

was saluted Emperor by the army Gordian meeting Wi th the ,

tragic fate so sadly common in the case of the sovereigns

not in favour with the turbulent legionaries In this murder

m
.

Philip was apparently deeply implicated .

I mediately after his accession the new military sovereign ,

having concluded a peace with the Persians set out for Rome , ,

passing A ntioch on his way A strange story is told of a .

s cene which in the course of his j ourney took place in the

, ,

Syrian capital .

Th e Emperor we read was a Christian and on the Easter

, , ,

E v e of the year 244 he presented himself at the church at

the hour of prayer The Bishop of A ntioch Bab ylas who .
, ,

subsequently received the honours of saintship sternly refused ,

a dmission to the sovereign till he should have gone through

th e appointed discipline o f a penitent for some grave crime

which he had committed Most probably this crime was his .

c omplicity in the murder of Go rdian The story is told by .

Euse b ius (H E VI who speaks of the many crimes

. . .

which he had committed and adds that the Emperor is said ,

to have obeyed willingly and to have exhibited a genuine ,

a nd religious disposition in regard to his fears o f God .

Chrysostom repeats the story with more details commenting ,

o n the conduct o f Bishop Bab l as who he says acted like a

y ,

good shepherd who drives away the scabby sheep lest it

should infect the ock T This same B ab yl as afterwards

m
.

Thi s in r is th e l d in ibb n ch a p vii

iste w h o is sty e Mis ith eus G o , . .

g n rally acc p d
Twi esith eus is n ow m r cc rat nam te th e u

it m
e e e as o e a e e .

C n id abl d ub t
1
"
o s er n t rt ai n d by m hi t ri an
e o is uth
e e e so e s o s as to th e tr of

thi t rang t y ut r m mb r d h a
b ut ld f rma lly by b t t it is to

h ry t m
s s e s or s e e e e e o
,

E biu
use ri ing i n
s, w qu ar r
t f u r t h c n u r y an d r a t d by
th e r st te of th e o e t , epe e

C i th m r
sos o t il b u t i t h m c nf u i n
w o e de a x ac a t a t
s, w so e o s o as to th e e t d e,

th e end of am c n y
th e s f u rth I t
e hu i m r b abl th a C ry t m
e tur (th e o ) . is t s p o e t h sos o

anerel
y c pied from E u sebiu
o s. We n d i t l a t er ,
to ld i n th e Ch ron . Pasch .
,
 A F TER THE A NT ONINE S . 25 9

suffered martyrdom in the course of the persecution of the

Emperor D ecius .

O rosius the Christian historian ( Century

,
speaks o f
Philip as the rst Christian Emperor and dwell s on his ,

devotion to the Church ; be that how it may there is no ,

doubt that the Christian Church during his reign enj oyed a
time o f perfect quietness and was absolu tely free from all ,

persecution .

In his reign the secular games were celebrated at Rome

with extraordin ary pomp for the fth time since the famous

m
,

representation by A ugustus A D 1 7 when Horace wrote his , . .

,

well known Car en Secu l a r e

-
The occasion in the days .
,

o f Philip was the accompli shment of the full period o f a

,

*
thousand years from the foundation by Romulus O rosius .
,

who wrote about a century and a half after the days of

Philip saw the hand of Providence in the fact of a Christian
,

Emperor of Rome being chosen to preside r over so e or

a ble a celebration .

m
m
It is however very doubtful if Phil ip ever publicly declared
, ,

himself a Christian for the secular games which were , ,

celebrated in the year 24 8 were accompanied with an ,

e laborate Pagan ritual Mystic sacrices were o ffered during .

three nights on the bank of the Tiber and a chorus of ,

noble youths and virgins prayed in their religious hymns to

the immortal gods to maintain the virtue the happiness , ,

w h ere it is sta te d Philip s Em p ress w as lik ew i se r ep ell ed from th e c hu rc h by

th e B i sh op A ll ar d H i t i
. d P uti n ( ol ii c h a p
,
s o re accep ts th e stor y
es ers c o s v . .
, .

a s g en ui n e as d oes a pp ar en t ly R enan
, M e A l (p 5 8 6 Note
, , wh o c i t s ,
ar ar e .
,
e

th c on du ct of B ab yl as on thi s o ccasi on as a p r oof of th e i m p or tan t posi ti on h eld by

e

B i h op s i n th e t hi r d c en tu r y
s B i sh op L i g h tf oot (I gn tius v ol i p 4 01 ) a t som e
. a , . .
, .

i n g th r epeats th e i nc id ent an d qu ot es th e au t h or i ti es fo i t b ut g iv es no o pi n i on
e , r ,

as to th e a u th en t i c i t y o oth erw i se of th e ev en t in qu esti on

r .

O r osi u s a C h r i sti an wr i ter b orn i n S p a i n t th e c lose of th e f ou r th c entu r y

m m
, ,
a ,

w s a pupil of S A ug u sti n e an d a fr i en d of S Jerom e

a . H is m ost c el eb ra ted . .

w or k H i to i u
~
,
s d sus P g n
r ar l ib i p t
a w as u n d er ta k en at th e su gg est i on of
ver a a os r se e ,

A u g u tin e s I t h ad o nc e a w id e c i rc ul ati on an d w as tran sl a t ed an d slig h t ly

.
,

a b rid ged by K i ng A lfred of E ngl an d w h ose ren der ing of th e work is st ill
m
,

e x tant

m m
.

1 Nil dubiu m est qui n Philippus b ujn e tantae dev otionis gratia et h on orem

ad
. Ch ristu et E ccl esia reportarit. ( O rosius H ist , .
26 0 EA RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

and the Empire of the Roman people There is no con .

temporary record showing that the Christian Emperor

in any way declined to share in these ancient Pagan rites
The framework o f Roman society in the days o f Phili p
evidently remained unchanged in its exclusively Pagan
character ; on the buildi ngs and on the coins o f the period
the E mperor is still styled the Chief Pontiff of the old
religion .

O nly one circumstance in the public life of Philip seems

to point to any public acknowledgment of his profession
of Christianity The A rval Brotherhood one o f the most
.
*
,

anc ient and distinguished of the Pagan sacred coll eges ,

ap pears to have suddenly come to an end in this reign .

A fter the times of Gordi an we nd no mention on any

tablet of the acts and ceremoni es of the A rvals There is .

still in existence a long series ( some sixty seven tablets in -

all ) of memoranda o f the proceedings of this religious college

drawn up by themselves and engraved on stone or marble
tablets beginning in A D 1 4 and extending to the time of
, . .

Gordian ; but then they cease Among the t welve noble .

personages who formed this exclusive Pagan brotherhood

during the time of the Empire the Emperor himself seems ,

to have been always included Since after an almost .

,

immemorial history ( for they date back to the legendary

period of Romulus ) the A rvals eviden tly had come to an
,

end in the reign o f Philip it seems at least a probable , , ,

m
conclusion to draw that Philip himself put an end to
this importan t Pagan association The share which he as .
,

E peror and head o f the order would have to take as each , ,

year came round in the strange idolatrous rites of the

,

Arvals before the harvest would b e emi nently distasteful to

,

one who had accepted the teaching of Christianity .

We have thus in the sketch o f the life of the rst

,

repu ted Christian Emperor in which he appears now a

devou t and even a penitent member of the Christian com
An acc unt of th e fam ou P gan acr d confrate n i t y h s been al rea dy g iv n
o s a s e r a e .

w i t h som d et a il s r p cting t h ei r p ec uli ar ri t s an d th e x alt d ran k f th

e es e e ,
e e o e

m mb ers S e p 1 6 1
e . e . .
m
AF TER THE A NT ONI NE S . 26 1

unity now a worshipper and a Chief Ponti ff of th e

, ,

o l d gods o f Rome a notable but evidently not an unusual

example of the extreme difficulty in which a high ofcial o f

the Empire who was a Christian in the middle of the
, ,

third century was placed ,

.

Such a man in the course o f his duties found himse lf

mixed up with positively hemmed in by Pagan rites of
, ,

an immemorial antiquity which it was di ffi cult even , ,

dangerous to ignore ; for such an ignoring wo uld signi fy a

,

breaking off abruptly with all the s toried past of Rome a ,

m
past very dear and precious to not a few patriotic and serious
Romans .

Some possibly many like Philip see to have adopted a

, , ,

middle course complying with certain of the more prominent

,

ofcial requirements of Paganism and generally ignoring the ,

l ess public functions when deeply coloured with idolatrous

rites and customs Such men professed Christianity which
.
,

they felt was true but continued to hold their o fcial position
, ,

making such concession to old customs as they deem ed

necessary .

It may not have been nay it certainly was not the noblest
, , ,

choice of life but we have simply to deal with history

,
and ,

to relate what actually happened .

A t all events while Philip reigned the vast body of

, ,

Christians in the Empire were unmolested and as a con ,

s equence of the stil lness they enj oyed their numb ers rapidly ,

increased .

The reign o f Philip like the reign o f so many of his

,

predecessors was cut short in a military revolt The succes

, .

s ive murders o f a line of Emperors had e ffectually destroyed

all feeling of loyalty in the Empire and a su dden revolt of one ,

o f the greater armies at any moment might make or unmake

the sovereign of the Roman world .

Such an uprising took place the year following the cele

bration of the secular games in the army of M oesia a v ast , ,

province on the D anube roughly corresponding with the ,

modern states of Bulgaria and Servia Strangely enough .

,

Philip seems to have been unnerved at the intell igence of

26 2 EA RL Y CH RIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM.

the military revolt in qu estion He appointed D ecius an .

,

able a dministrator of Senat o rial rank to restore order among ,

the M essian legionaries But his emissary was saluted by the

.

revolted army as Emperor In the short war that followed .

Phili p perished it is uncertain whether in battle or by assas

sin ation and D ecius was at once acknowledged as sovereign

I n his ro om in the autumn of the y ear 24 9

, .

O rosius suggests that the Christianity of Philip had raised

up many enemies among the Pagan party and that h is ,

sudden fall must partly at least be attributed to his marked

, ,

*
favour towards the dreaded religion
m m hilipp
.

T ill e ont, H ist . des E p er eurs, v ol . iii hares in thi s conclu si on of

.
, s

O rosi w e h
u s, h n wr i t
e e s, L a foi de P e fut malh eu r eu se d evant l es h omm es
et h ur u
e d vant D i u
e se e e .

 SE C TI O N I O R I G I N O F TH E CATA COMB S
. .

IT is now t i me to give some details of the inner life of the

Church from the first years of the third century onwards
,
.

In this picture the w onderful city of the dead usually

, ,

kno w n as the Catacombs of Rome requires a somewhat ,

detailed mention We must paint with some care those vas t

.

underground cemeteries which lie beneath the suburbs of

Rome with their endless streets of tombs and their countles s
, ,

chapels adorned with paintings inscriptions and roughly

, , ,

sculptured designs al l throwing light upon the doctrines

, ,

belief hopes and onl ook s o f the Christians o f the rst days
,
.

A nd this seems to be the place in our history marked

o u t for this special study For in the very earliest years of .

i
the th rd century ci ca A D 202 3 these cemeteries some of
r
,
. .
, ,

which in their beginnings date back to the reign of D omitian ,

and even o f Nero assumed a new and more prom inent place
,

in the great Roman community .

Z ephyrinus Bishop of Rome A D 20221 8 forma lly placed

, , . .
,

th e great cemetery which lay beneath the vineyards fringing the

,

A ppian Way under the special charge of his dea con the
, ,

famous Callistus ; who in the end became himself Bishop of

the Church in Rome and by whose name the ceme tery which
, ,

was greatly enlarged and adorned by him became generally ,

kno wn Thus in the earliest years of the third century this

.
,

great city of the dead passed out of private hands out of ,

the control of individual members of the churches becomin g ,

par t of the public property of the Christian community ; and

26 4 EA RL Y CHRISTIA NITY A ND PA GANISM .

m m
the general superintendence o f th ese vast cemeteries and of all
the mighty n etwo rk o f eeting ro o s an d chapels contained
in them was henceforth vested in an important functionary of
,

th e Roman congregation

m
.

Care for the dead was a distinguishing feature of the early

Christian Church O f this marked characteristic the Ro an
.
,

Catacombs form perhaps the most conspicuous example .

In the course of the third centu ry this sacred possession

o f the Church was enormously developed ; its dark corridors
and sepulchral chambers were the scenes of some of the
more striking events of the Christian sto ry in Rome in the
days when persecution weighed heavily on the Church .

From the earliest period of the existence of the Roman

comm u nity of Ch ristians as far back probably as the days
,

o f the A postles the disciples o f Jesus loved to adorn the city

,

of their loved dead with paintings inscriptions or carved

, ,

devices Many of these are still to be seen in spite of the

.
,

ravages of time the havoc of persecu tion the plundering of

, ,

barbaric raiders in later days the well meant but well nigh
,
- -

e qually destructive operati ons of bishops o f Rome in the

seventh and eighth centuries who removed many thousand,

bodies of martyrs and others to places they deemed more

s ecure and possesse d o f a greater sanctity Some of these .

c orridors and chapels are uncovered each year The paintings .

,

scul ptured devices and inscriptions marred and defaced though

,

they are constitute a simple and absolutely authoritative piece

,

o f testimony to the faith and the hope o f the believers which

m
,

g ave them courage to en dure all their su f

f erings in the two
centuries and a half which elapsed between the artyr dom
o f S Peter and S Paul and the epoch o f the triumph o f the
. .

Church under Constantine .

Even the Pagans of Rome paid much attention to the

remains of their dead the ashes preserved in a funeral urn
,

when the body had been consumed on the pyre The wealthy .

Romans loved to erect tombs o n the borders o f the highways .

The ruins of a long apparently interminable line of more or

, ,

less stately sepulchral buildings are still to be seen on the A ppian ,

Way and other great roads outside Rome Rou n d the chapel .
 m
m m
TH E CA TA UO JLI B S OF R OME . 265

( cal l a ) w hich n oet infrequently must have

or i ce been an i
portant building were gardens carefull y tended In the chapel ,
.

the ashes of the dead were preserved in a funeral urn T hese .

roads so lined with sepulchral buildings were the po pul ar

, ,

and fashionable resort o f th e Roman world and the living ,

looked forward to the ti m e when they too would rest in , ,

these well known spots in the midst of familiar sights and

-
,

sounds It was a strange and fanciful conception of a future

.

state to be spent at all events for a time apparently in a , ,

dreamy semi conscious state, Sometimes these wealthy

-
.

m
Romans woul d build such a sepulchre in the garden surro unding
their vill as We find inscriptions on their tombs to this e ffect :
.

In sarcO ph ago in h ortulis n ostris secessi us ( We are

in retirement in a sarcophagus in o ur o wn In
m

or

a ell ul is meis secessi I in retirement in my o wn little

(

g a

domain
The poor who made up the vast maj ority of the Roman
,

world of course made no pretensions to this luxury in dea th

,
.

But they too from the small merchant or trader down to

, ,

the slave made provision if it were p ossible for the ir ashes
, , ,

.

There were a number o f associations and guilds to use the
,

medi aeval term among the less wealthy Romans the large ,

maj ority of which were really burial societies whose r a iso n ,

'

d etr c was the provision of a tting burial place for the ashes

'

o f the members They were commonly designated by a .

religious title such as The Society of the Cu ltor es ( wor

, ,

shippers ) o f Jove Hercules D iana etc Sometimes however , , , .
, ,

they were named after their founder or his famil y Some of .

these death guilds were comparatively wealthy many of them ,

e xtremely poor Their primary obj ect was to erect a Co l um.

barium a buildin
g so arranged as to receive a number of
,

funeral urns each containin g the ashes of a departed member

,

o f the guild In some cases when the expense cou ld be

.
,

afforded a sacerdos ,
or chaplain was provided for the , ,

Columbarium whose duty it was to perform the Pagan funeral

,

rites for each departed member of the guil d No t infrequently .

a wealthy person came forward as patron and pious ly assiste d

these poor communities in the erection and maintenance of
 m
26 6 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

th eir Columbarium so etimes even arranging and main

,

taining a garden round the bui l ding where the funeral urns
were deposited and where on certain days the co nfraternity
,

woul d meet and enj oy a common eal together The cost

of securing a niche with funeral rites in one of these Colum
m .

baria varied considerably A very small sum indeed was.

necessary in the case of the members of the poorer associations .

In some cases three hundred or even two hundred s esterces

, , ,

( rather less than 2 sterling) is mentioned as the amount

paid for this privilege .

The same desire to provide tting resting places for thei r -

dead was even more pronounced among the Christians But .

whereas among the Pagan subj ects of the Empire the body
was burned and only a handful of ashes representing the ,

departed was careful ly preserved in a little vase and deposited

,

often though not always in a separate sepulchre in the

, ,

case of the rich or in a building (Columbarium ) adapted to

,

hold very many such little vases in the case of the poor ;
among the Christians the body of the dead was never burned ,

but was reverently wrapped in c l oths more or less costly" ,

and so interred .

By the Roman law land that was used for the purpose s
,

of burial was especial ly protected In this protection of the .

State the Christian places of interment shared The spot .

where a body was buried became at once in the technical ,

language of the law re l igious and was inalienable secure
,

, ,

for ever from disturbance A special ritual consecration

.
,

which such a spot usually received in the case of the

Pagans threw a peculiar veil of protection over the garden
,

and any e n closure around the tomb or tombs or Colum

barium Such ritual consecration of course was never sought
.
, ,

by the Christians as it involved certain idolatrous ceremonies ;

,

bu t this disadvantage was usually made good to them in

their case by some dee d of gift or testament on the part of
the proprietor Thus from very early times the graves and
.

the grou n ds immediately surrounding them set apart fo r ,

burying the dead belonging to the Chris tians were placed ,

under the protection of the l aw .

 TH E CA TA CO MB S 0F R OME 26 7

.

m From the earl y days of the formation of Christian co rn

unities the believers in Jesus shrank from sharing their
l ast resting places with Pagans Their aversion to the usual
.

custom o f burning the dead was an additional reason for

desiring separate p l aces of interment .

In tracing the story o f Christian interment th e Roman ,

Chris tian community may be taken as typical In the rst .

century several Christians o f fortune arranging in the gardens ,

of their villas or in some pleasaunce or vineyard belonging

to them in the immediate neighbourhood o f the city a
,
-
,

tomb for the burial o f members of their house including ,

freedmen and slaves would dig a few small sepu l chral

,

chambers beneath or close to the family burying place They

, ,
.

were thus enabled to o ffer to certain poorer brethren the

hospitality o f the tomb as it has been termed ; the peculiar

,

nature of the soil of the country around Rome being especially

favourable for such excavations This was the begi nning of
.

that vast system of underground corridors and chambers for

the rece ption of the Christian dead n ow known as the Roman
Catacombs There is an admirable example o f such an early
.

~
arrangement for the interment of the Christian dead which
still e x ists about two miles from Rome on the Via A rdeatina ,

near the A ppian Way It is known as the Cemetery of

.

D omi tilla The original family tomb erected probably before

.
,

the o wner was converted to Christianity was evidently a ,

gracious and ornate buil ding Behind it beneath the.

,

vines and gardens of the proprietor there is a crypt of ,

considerable si z e with long corridors and chambers ar

,

ranged for a number of the dead much of the masonry and ,

ornamentation be l onging to the last quarter of the rst

century.

There are other crypts or cemeteries on all sides of Rome ,

evidently excavated on a similar p l an with gardens and ,

v ineyards surro u nding the tomb o f some great and noble

m
Roman co nverted to Christianity and arranged for the ,

reception of the many poor brethren who bel onged to the

com unities of Christians in the rst and second centuries .

A s for instance the cemeteries of S Priscilla on th e Via

, .
268 E A RL Y CH R S T A I I NITY A ND PA GANISM .

Sal aria ; S Lucina on the O stian Way ; S Praetex tatus on

. .

the A ppian Way and several others ; where the masonry and
,

decoration of the corridors and sepulchral chambers indicate

their date as bet ween A D 1 6 0 or even earlier and A D 200
. .
, ,
. . .

These early cemeteries with their time faded frescoes their

,
-
, ,

broken partly ruined ttings supply much information

, , ,

respecting the ritual and faith of the Roman congregations

during the century and a half upon which we have been
dwell ing and the countless l ocu li the narrow closed up
, ,
-

shelves where the dead were lai d give us some idea o f the ,

great numbers of the believers .

The modern name of Catacombs was unknown to those

Christian commun ities who with enormous pains and labour ,

and with no little skill planned and excavated these resting

,

p laces for their loved de ad ; nor was it heard o f for several

centuries after these cemeteries had ceased to be used as
places of interment The term catacomb is derived from

the Greek words x a

.

Ka

rct ren the latter word signifying a ,

hollow or valley ( cf cwm combe ) The district on the A ppian

.
,
.

Way near the well known tomb of Cecilia Metel la where th e

m
-
,

ancient little basilica o f S Sebastian now stands seems to .

,

h ave been originally known as a d ca ta cu b a s ( The

m
In the earlier par t o f the ninth century partly owing to ,

the repeated barbarian raids in the course of which these ,

ce eteries had been several times visited and pill aged partly

m
,

owing to the destructive anxiety of certain of the Popes of

Rome who had removed many of the bodies of the

m
, ost
prominent saints and martyrs from their original resting
places to what they deemed the ore secure custody of
certain o f the Roman churches the famous subt erranean ,

cemeteries gradually ceased to be an obj ect of inte rest and

o f pilgrim age and became in time forgotten
, A l l through .

the Mid dle A ges howeve r the on e cemetery o f S Sebastian

, ,
.

remained still an obj ect o f reverence and subsequently of

pi lgrimage no doubt owing to a persistent tradition that the
,

bodies o f S Peter and S Paul had reposed in the smaller

. .
'

crypt beneath the church for a period o f years The crypt .

an d littl e cemetery beneath S Sebastian from th e dist rict .

,
 TH E OA TA COMB S
O F R OME . 26 9

in

mm
which the church was situated was kno wn generally as
Coe eteriu ad Catacumbas
Thus throu g h the Middle A ges among the shrines and many
.

,
,

obj ects of sacred interest which pilgrims to Rome from distant

lands loved to visit the crypt or cemetery of S Sebastian
,
.

ad catacumbas still maintained a prominent position .

Gradually the appellation of ad catacumbas came to be

used for other similar underground crypts not only in Rom e ,

and the neighbourhood but in other cities ; for instance , ,

we nd the term used at Naples as early as the n inth century .

O n the re dis cove ry of the gr

-
eat underground City of the
D ead at Rome late in the sixteenth century the popular
, ,

m
name of the catacombs was adopted for a ll the s ubterranean
cemeteries But it must be borne in mind that it is after all
.

a curious i snomer and was utterly unknown in its present

,

ge neral signi cation in ancient times .

The extent of this vast system of subterranean corridors

and sepulc h ral chambers has been the subj ect o f much spee n
lation . Their most scientic explorer and historian D e ,

Rossi enumerates as many as forty three distinct ceme

,
-

teries in the suburbs of Rome ; this list he has largely

constructed out o f ancient itineraries
and other trustworthy
records Many of these cemeteries he h as succ eeded in
.

identifying and some he has partially investigated but only

, ,

partially for even in the case of the best kn own large portions
, ,

are still earthed up
This earthing up was the work
.

of Christians during bitter persecutions probably mainly ,

carried out in the troublous periods of the third and the

early years of the fourth century In some cases however .
, ,

little o r noth ing has been done by way of exploration by

modern men of science the work of excavating being difcult
,
-

dangerous and very costly Thus anythi ng like an accurate

, .
,

estimate of thei r extent is as yet impossible Various cal .

cul a tion s have been made by experts gi v ing from ve to ,

eight hundred miles as the probable extent of the gallerie s

lined with the remains of the dead The number of inter .

ments is also a matter of d ispute : some scholars consider

Th ese a e full y ex p l i n d on p 28 1
r a e . .
270 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

that as many as six mil lions of Christians sleep their last

sleep on the shelves of the dark corri dors and in the sepulchral
chambers leading ou t of them while others put the number ,

m
m
so low as two milli ons When however it is remembered.
, ,

that in many of the catacombs there are three or four or

more galleries one excavated beneath the other co
,
unicat ,

ing by means of short flights of steps ; that in each gallery

there are ve or six tiers of shelves ; that on many of the
shelves two three or even four bodies have been laid one
, ,

alongside the other ; that in the most thoroughly explored

catacomb that of S Call istus with its adj acent cemeteries
,
.
, ,

m
there are some thirty seven or forty miles of galleries ; the
-

smal ler numbers woul d scarcely seem an adequate estimate .

The soil of the country which lies i mediately roun d ,

Rome was peculiarly adapted for these vast works of excava

,

tion most of the early Christian Roman Cata combs being

,

hollowed out o f a volcanic stratum technically kno wn as

the red tufa granulare

This tufa was easily worked .
,

besides being of sufcient consistency to admit o f excavation

into gal leries and chambers with out any danger of coll apse ,

its porous nature always allowed any water quickly to drain

o ff from it thus leaving the corridors
,
where the bodies were ,

usuall y laid o n shelves specially arranged for this purpose ,

dry and fairly wholesome The shelves were dug o ut of the.

tufa o f the side walls and when the dead had been laid on
,

them the openings were hermetically closed with thick p l aster ,

o r more commonly with s l abs of stone o r marble o n which ,

the name o f the inmate was sometimes engraved ; in some

cases with a little carved picture and a few words expressive
of love and faith and hope These shelves were ranged one .

a bove the other and have been compared not inaptly to

, , ,

the berths in a ship s cabin Each shel f contained one or

.

more bodies according to its depth This was the usual .

a rrangement o f the corridors The sepulchral chambers o f .

,

which there are a great number leading out of the corridors ,

vary much in size and usually contain one or more tombs

,

of reater importance
g .

Thus it was that the foll owers of Christ in the Roman

 TH E CA TA COMB S OF R OME . 27 1

m
community were enabled to bury their dead by themselves
without the dele ent of heathen rites ; avoiding too the
necessity of cremation generally adopted by the Romans of
, ,
,

the Empire Cremation was sin gularly abhorrent to the early

.

Christians who were deeply imbued with the feelings of the

,

Synagogue out of which in early years not a few of them had , ,

come To these devoted followers of Jesus such a sepulture as

.

that provided in the catacombs which lay beneath the gardens

of the city suburbs was inexpressibly dear for it recall ed
, ,

with a s trange accuracy the loved memory o f the temporary

resting place of their Lord
-
In the place where He was .

crucied was a garden and in the garden a new sepulchre ,

there laid they Jesus .

A s time went on there were probably but few chambers

o r corri dors of these catacombs which were no t hallowed by

containing one or more of the bodies of martyrs for the

Faith more or less distinguished
,
The merciful laws of .

Rome peculiarly facilitated this practice ; for the bodies of

those who had suffered capital punishment were as a rule , ,

given up to the friends who might desire reverently to inter

their remains Even the ashes of those who had been burned
.

by public sentence were allowed to be coll ected by those

who loved the dead for subsequent interment Very rarely
,
.
,

and then only in cases of treason against the State was this ,

last kindly o fce n o t allowed by the laws of Rome ever ,

tender and respectful to the dead It will be remembered .

h o w readily Pilate gave up the body of the cr u cied Lord to

His friends This gracious and humane custom of Rome in
.

the case of the dead who had suffered the extreme penalty
of the law explains the well authenticated presence of so
,

many bo dies of more or less distinguished martyrs in the

various subterranean cemeteries around Rome To cite a few .

well known instances

-
In the cemetery of S D omitilla we
. .

nd traces of the sepulture of S Nereus and S A chi lles ; . .

in the Vatican crypt along with other illustrious martyred

,

m
dead lie the remains of S Peter * ; in the closed catacomb
, .

th e m
pp en di x B at th e end of this volu e w il l b e foun d a short accoun t of
In A
.
,

T o b of S Pet er and al so D ei s pl an of th e p art of th e Vati ca n C ypt w h e e

,

r

,

r ,
r
27 2 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

m
beneath the basilica of S Paul outside the walls a u ni versal
.
,

tradition te lls us is the sepulchre o f the martyred apostle o f

,

the Gentiles ; in the cemetery of S Callistus w e nd traces

m
.

of the sepulture of many Ro an b ishops of the third century ,

several o f who we kno w were martyrs ; in the same great

cemetery the original tomb of the virgin martyr S Cecilia , .
,

is no w well kno wn ; in the catacomb of S Praetex tatus rece nt .

,

discoverers have found the graves of S J anuarius and o f .

m
several other historic martyrs In the cemetery o f S .
.

A gnes was the tomb of the virgin saint ; in the O strian

cemetery the tomb of S E erentiana the martyr foster .
,

sister of S A gnes has been identied quite lately Very

.
, .

many other similar exampl es might be quoted ; and these

hallowed graves are by no means merely traditional sites b ut ,

portions of tablets wit h inscriptions more or less perfect

, ,

stil l remain thus conrming very ancient traditions which for

,

so long a time have designated these spots as peculiarl y sacre d

The question has been raised whether these enormous

m
cemeteries of the Christian dead were ever used by the com
u nities of Rome as p l aces of re l igious assembly o r even of

refuge in times when persecution was especiall y active There

,

is little doubt that all through the second and third centuries
religious services more or less frequent were held in certain
, ,

of the larger sepulchral chambers on special days particularly ,

on the anniversary of the dead who slept in the chambers

in question It is also certain that in times of danger many
.

a hunted Christian probably whole congregations fo un d a

temporary hiding place in the sombre labyrinths of one or
other of these subterranean buryin g p l aces -
.

I N II H I STO R Y
SE CT O . O F TH E CA TA CO M S B .

WE can best divide the eventful story of the Catacombs of

Rome into four periods

m m
The First extending from cir ca A D
. . 50 to cir ca A D . . 202 .

th e re i a ns o f t po tl p
th e g rea A s e resu ab lie ly
D rei w as c
. le k of th e w o ks of S
r r .

Pe t er s

in th e ponticates of Paul V and U rb an V I ; h is
. I I . plan w as pub l i sh ed in
A D
. . 1 635 .
 TH E CA TA COMB S OF R O ME . 27 3

The Second extending from cir ca A D 202 to cir ca A D 3 1 3 . . . . .

The Third extending from cir ca A D 3 1 3 to ci rca A D 4 1 0 . . . . .

The Four th extending from ci r ca A D 4 1 0 to cir ca A D 8 1 7 . . . . .

A fter the last mentioned date A D 8 1 7 the ca tacombs

-
,
. .
,

became gradually forgotten and were ignored for a long ,

period extendin g over some seven hundre d and sixty years

, ,

when a chance discovery by some la b ourers of a cemetery

lying beneath a vineyard on the Via Salaria in A D 1 5 7 8 in . .
,

th e reign o f our Queen Elizabeth brought before men s notice

once more this wonderful City o f the D ead ; and since that
date the interest of schol ars and explorers has to some extent , ,

been aroused and tful and intermittent exploration works

,

have been undertaken in what has been popularly though ,

somewhat inaccurately termed Roma sotterranea ,

inaccurate

-

because no crypt or catacomb was ever excavated beneath the

city proper .

The First Period ci r ca A D 5 0 to A D 202 witnessed the

. . . .

devoted and generous conduct of some of the wealthier brethren ,

who provided graves and exercised what we have termed

,

the hospitality o f the tomb in the case of their poorer

companions in one common Faith by providing places of
interment in crypts and catacombs excavated in the vicinity ,

o f their o wn family burying places beneath their gardens and ,

vineyards These crypts as time went on and the numbers

.
,

of the Christians kept increasing developed insensibly ; more ,

and more corridors and sepulchral chambers were perpetually

bein g excavated and when the limits of the property of the
,

original donor o f the cemetery were reached passages and ,

chambers were dug on a lower level beneath the rst level ; ,

thus four ve and in some i nstances six storeys o f these

, , , ,

corridors underlie the garden o r vineyard which was originall y

devoted to this generous and pious use In this way a .
,

cemetery during the rst hundred and seventy years which

,

followed the A scension of the Master would gradually grow ,

into that strange labyrinth of passages and chambers lle d

with the dead which we are in the habit of styling a catacomb
, .

Several well known cemeteries bel ong to this rst period The
-
.

dates can be determined with fair accuracy partly from the ,

S
274 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

inscriptions found on some o f the slabs which seal the shelves

on which the dead sleep partly from the special styl e and
,

execution of the decorated portions .

A mo ng the best known catacombs which belong to this

-

early period ( the rst and second centuries ) foremost must ,

be reckoned the crypt of the Vatican where a very ancient ,

tradition tell s us the remains of S Peter were laid and cl ose .

,

to S Peter a long line o f martyred bishops of Rome who

.

succeeded him reaching to Pope Victor who was buried in

, ,

the Vatican cemetery A D 202 The successors o f Victor were

. . .

interred in another place of which we shall presently speak

, .

But there are no remains properly so called of this most ,

-
,

ancient Vatican cemetery it havin g been destroyed at an

,

early date probably in the fourth century to make room for

, ,

the foundations o f the mighty basilica of S Peter . .

The present crypt o f S Peter however with the Confes .

, ,

sion ar o f the great A postle occupies a portion o f the site

y ,

o f the ancient Vatican crypt But an authentic record is .

preserved of what was seen in A D 1 6 26 when the works in . .

,

connection with the foundations of the enormous bronze

baldachino which now overshadows the High A ltar o f
S Peter s were being arranged ; and he nce there is little
.

doubt that the great A postle s remains are still in the spot

assigned to them by immemorial tradition .

A nother most ancient crypt which a probably accurate

tradition poin ts to as the resting place of S Paul has also -
.

been in great part destroyed to make room for the foundations ,

of the basilica o f S Paul outside the walls
.
,

Some portions .

mm
of this ancient cemetery still exist bu t in a ruinous condition , .

These portions are known as the cemetery of S Lu cina or .

S Co
. o dill a .

m
But although it is impossible for the present to in vestigate
,

closel y these hallowed crypts of the Vatican and S Pau l fu or i .

a r os we have in perfect condition still other cemeteries of

,

well nigh an equal antiquity The most notorious of these

- .

are bordering on the A ppian Way the catacomb of S D omitil la

, , .
,

the kinswoman as some maintain of Vespasian with its

, , ,

beautiful painted decorations equal in artistic excellence to ,

 m
TH E CA TA CO MB S OF R OME . 27 5

many of the Pompeian remains ; the cataco b of S Praetex tatus .

,

with its touching memories of various martyrs buried there as

early as A D 1 6 2 ; the catacomb of S Lucina j oined by under
. . .
,

ground corridors with the great cemetery known as that o f

S Callistus O n another side of the city on the Salarian Way
. .
, ,

lies the once famous cemetery now general ly known as the O strian
Catacomb but in early times usually styled the cemetery o f
,

the Fountain of Peter where an ancient tradition relates,

that S Peter used to baptise and to relate his memories of the

.

Saviour memories no w ensh rined in the Gospel of S Mark .

To this little list of very ancient cemeteries must be added

the catacomb of S Priscilla on the New Salarian Way pos
.
, ,

sessing traditions which connect it with the A postles in the

middle o f the rst century It was said to have been excavated .

in a garden belongin g to Pudens the disciple of S Pau l The ,

.

character of certain decorations stil l visible in thi s most ancient ,

catacomb full y bears out the tradition of its being in part at

, ,

least contemporary with the A postles

, .

The Second Period of the story o f the catacombs may be

reckoned as extending from cir ca A D 202 to A D 3 1 3 the . . . .
,

date when the Peace of the Church was sealed by the famou s
e di ct of the Emperor Constantine It was in this second .

period that the catacombs reached their full development .

We have seen that in this third century the Christians

enj oyed long seasons of comparative stil ln ess after the time
of Severus Then it was that the Church we are speaking
.

especially of the Roman Christian community not only very

largely multiplied its numbers but elaborately organised itself ,
.

In this work o f organisation the construction and management ,

m
of the cemeteries where the Christian dead were reverently

laid to rest and which undoubtedly were used even in times

, ,

of

quie tness for any solemn gatherings occupied a
, ,

prominent place .

A t the close of the second century it is probable that

the Church in Rome numbered some souls It is .

evident that with such numbers dwellin g in the Imperial

m
city numbers too ever increasin g the primitive arrange
, ,

ments for the anagement of the cemeteries so precio us in ,

27 6 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM .

the eyes of the early Church would have to be recast So ,

.

we nd in the time of Pope Zephyrinus about the year 202 , ,

that Call istus the archdeacon who subsequently succeeded

m
,

Zephyrinus to the see o f Rome was specially entrusted with ,

the government of the clergy and w as set ov er th e ce eter y
,

.

The words are from Hippolytus one of the most learned ,

Christian writers of that age From this time (A D 202) . . .

onward the mighty and ever growing subterranean necropolis

evidently passed ou t o f the private hands o f the original
donors and their descendants and became the property of ,

the Church which henceforward undertook its development

, ,

management and supervision Callistus greatly enlarged if

, .
,

he did not construct the important cemetery known by his

,

name arranging in it a special sepulchral chamber for the

,

bishops of Rome in which from this date onward unti l

, ,

the Peace of the Church some 1 1 1 years later most of the ,

Roman Pontiffs were interred The discovery and iden ti .

cation of this crypt or sepulchral chamber o f the third century

'

popes has been one of th e most interesting nds of that

great scholar in the catacomb l ore D e Rossi , .

D uring the years of comparati v e still ness in the rst

half of the third century the cemeteries at Rome were

wonderfully developed In many of them elaborate works
.

or ornamentation were carried out ; oratories memorial ,

cell ae dwellings for the Fossores and other ofcials of

,

the Church were buil t above ground No attempts at con

, .

ceal en t or secrecy were made But as the century wore .

,

on ,
darker days succeeded ; the persecutions revived and
even gre w in intensity as time advanced The e ffect o f .

the troublous times on the works connected with the great

underground cemeteries of Rome was very marked The .

regular and el aborate plan of the ever growing corridors and -

galleries was changed A curious labyrinth of passages

.

succeeded to the well arranged system of straight corridors

with their many highly decorated chambers often arranged
for meetings and special worship ; secret approaches were
contrived ; hidden stairs were constructed Many of the .

cemeteries were in part earthed up to prevent desecration .
 TH E CA TA CO MB S OF R OME . 277

The staircases leading to and from the many corridors were

in many instances destroyed The buildings which in quieter .

times had been erected at or hard by the entrances to the

cemeteries were abandoned and often pu lled down The .

years which preceded the nal Peace of the Church appear

to have been especiall y a time of havoc and destruction .

Miles upon miles of corridors and sepulchral chambers were

closed up and lled with earth and deb r is the approaches ,

to them being concealed and destroyed and no human eye ,

has looked upon them since that terrible time A n d in our .

days the pilgrim to the Eternal City wh o is curious to ,

trace ou t the work o f the early Christian communities o f

Rome as he wanders through these strange streets of the
,

dead which are now partially opened is constantly stopped

, ,

in this or that corridor by vast p iles of earth and rubbish

which have never been cleared away A work o f complete .

re excavation
- intensely interesting and valuable to the arch ae ~
,

ologist and historian would be enormo usly costly and in , ,

many cases not a little dangerous and would require extreme

, ,

caution A little is being done in this direction it is true

.
,

but progress here is s l ow .

The next the Third Period in the story of the catacombs

, ,

lasted from A D 3 1 3 the date of the nal Peace of the Church

. .
, ,

until A D the year of the raid of A laric the Visigoth

. .
,

when Rome was sacked .

A fter A D 3 1 3 the position o f Christianity in the Roman

. .

world was completely changed There was no longer any .

necessity for the catacombs Privacy complete separateness .

, ,

comparative secrecy were no longer requisite for interment

o f the Christian dead Al l rites whether fo r the living or .
,

the dead after A D 3 1 3 might be freely performed in the

, . .
,

light of day Paganism was vanquished and in all its

.
,

varied forms was a fast dying religion The Roman world .

,

outwardly at least was largel y Christian from the Emperor , ,

and his court downward through all the grades of society .

*
tho ug h thi s p e iod li es o ut sid th e a ea of th is w o k a few w ord
Al
on th e sub eq uen t hi sto y of th ese w o n d e fu l ce

pl ete o ur sk et ch
s

.
r

et e i es is ne cessa y to co
r ~
e

r
r

m r
r ,

r m s
 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND P A G A NISM .

m
A fter the date o f the Peace of the Church A D 3 1 3 we only ,
. .
,

nd records of four or v e fresh subterranean cemeteries

being excavated and these of small size and of li ttle i
,

portance A s the fourth century advanced the number of

.
,

interments in any o f th e catacombs grew fe wer and fewer ,

and before the century cl osed had virtual ly ceased Many .

basilicas or churches of various sizes were erected over the

ancient cemeteries and the dead were usually laid in open
,

areas around these sacred build ings .

D uring this century the fourth a deep reverence began to

, ,

grow up in men s minds for the burie d cemeteries o f the

past It was in these dark corridors and lightless chambers

.

that their Christian forefathers had been laid to sleep the ,

brave pioneers of the Faith men who had confessed their belief ,

in Christ under c ircumstances of extraordinary difculty and

noble company o f artyrs men and women who had posi

tiv ely laid do wn their lives for the Faith
m
often of extreme danger There too slept not a few o f the

Those catacombs
.

,
, ,

.
,

which in one or other of their sepu l chral chambers held

, ,

the graves o f the more conspicuous o f these confessors were ,

the especial obj ects of reverence among the Christians of the

m m

new age of Peace
This no t unnatural feeling of tender
.

homage was voiced by Pope Da asu s who ruled the Church ,

o f Rome from A D 3 6 6 to A D 3 8 4
. D a asus will ever be
. . . .

remembered in the annal s of the Church for his countless

works of skilful and reverent restoration of portions o f the
wrecked and desecrated catacombs which had suffered so
severely in the later persecutions Many were the ruined .

tombs of the most conspicuous saints and martyrs restored

by him To this day fragments of the beautifu ll y engraved
.

s l abs the work of his chief artist Ph il o calus are constantly

, , ,

comin g to light and assisting scholars like D e Rossi to identify

m
especially sacred spots in these too often ruined cemeteries
Pope Da asus no t only restored and put in order many o f
the shrines and sepulchral chambers but he rebuilt the
,

,
,
.

destroyed staircases in many p laces and rendered it possibl e

for the pi lgrims from far distant countries in his own day
and for several generations following to visit spots famous
 TH E CA TA COMB S OF R OME . 27 9

for deeds of endurance and patient bravery on the part of

kno wn and unknown martyrs .

m
A n enormous extent however of earthed up and other , ,
-

wise wrecked corridors and chambers remained untouched

b y Pope Da asu s and indeed have never been touched by
,

mortal hand since the troubled days of persecution .

The Fourth Period in the story we reckon from A D 4 1 0 . .

,

the date of the raid of the Visigoth Al aric This was the .

rst barbarian occupation of the Imperial City and this ,

fourth period covers some four hundred years closing ,

about A D 8 1 7 when owing to events which we shall very

. .
, ,

m
briey sketch publi c interest in the catacombs altogether
,

passed away .

O ne striking result of Pope Da asus loving work of

restoration in the more famous spots in the great underground

cemeteries was to bring prominently before the eyes of the
various strangers and pilgrims many from distant countries , ,

to the immemorial city th e memory of the brave Confessors ,

of the Faith which the world of Rome no w generall y acknow

ledge d The restored shrines of the catacombs in fact became
.

the principal obj ects of pilgrimage ; guides and itineraries for

visiting them were composed Fragments o f some of these have .

come down the stream of time to us and have proved o f ,

the greatest service to D e Rossi and other scholars of our

day.

The hallowed sites however were grievously interfered , ,

with even reckless ly injured and in many cases ried of

, ,

their contents in the course of the successive raids and

,

invasions to which Rome and Italy were subjected by barbarian

enemies A mong the more destructive of these we would
.

spec ify the raids of A laric the Visigoth in A D 4 1 0 ; that o f . .

Vitiges another Gothic Chieftain in A D 5 3 7 who apparently

, ,
. .
,

singled out the catacombs as especial ly the obj ect of his

passion for destruction ; and lastly that of A stolph us the
Lombard in A D 7 5 6 . . .

It was of course the hope of coming upon gold and

, ,

gems which stimulated the various hordes of barbarian raiders

to ransack the catacombs knowing as they did how precious , , ,
28 0 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

these ancient shrines were in the eyes o f the Christians

m

But strangely enough in so e instances and in the case o f

, , ,

the Lombard A stol ph u s th e idea of procuring the sacred ,

relics of the remains of the dead either for themselves or ,

for the more sordid purpose of selling them seems to have ,

been the motive .

Some of the bishops of Rome too unconsciously o f co urse , , ,

in attempting to rep air the mischief done by barbarian

spoilers irreparabl y inj ured the old paintings and sculptured

m
,

work by overlay ing them with their new designs and orna
mentations and in the ninth century these prelates co
p l e ted the work of havoc and spoliation b y translating a vast

number of remains from those portions of the catacombs

which were sti l l open to various churches in Rome The y ,
.

pleaded as the excuse for this strange act of sacrilege the

greater safety o f the churches in times of confusion and
pillage There is for instance an inscription in the ancient
.
, ,

church of S Prassede which tells how in A D 8 1 7 two

.
, . .
,

thousand three hundred bodies were remove d to this church

from the catacombs by Pope Paschal I Vast numbers of .

bodies were removed at this period from their original resting

places in the ancient subterranean cemeteries to the churches
of S Silvestro S Martino and the Santi Quattro Coronati
.
, .
,
.

A mong these strange translations of remains of the dead from

the catacombs we read of tw en ty w ag on l oa ds of bones
being removed to the Pantheon These wholesale removals .
,

or translations on the part of the bishops o f Rome ; th e

,

destructive work of ransacking and pill aging repeated b y

successive hordes of raiding barbarians Goth Van dal , , ,

and Lombard ; are more than sufficient to account for the

innumerable empty and ruined graves which tier upon tier , ,

line the corridors and sepulchral chambers on all sides in

the various catacombs into which the modern pilgrim and
student is able now to penetrate There still remains however . , ,

an enormous burying ground l y ing beneath the suburbs o f ,

the immemorial city yet covered up securely protected by

, ,

masses of earth and deb r i s .

The catacombs avai l able for the visits of strangers and

 TH E CA TA COMB S OF R OME . 28 1

pilgrims bein g thus before the years of the ninth cen turv ,

had run their course stripped and desolate lost in the eyes , ,

of the many visitors to the Eternal City their peculiar charm .

The precious reli cs of saints and martyrs even the remains of ,

the rank and le of the Christian dead had largely disap ,

eared So it came to pass that the special int erest being

p .
,

gone the very existence o f the catacombs was gradually for

,

gotten Besides for some two hundred years manki nd

.
, ,

harassed by perpetual wars by anarchy and confusion was , ,

too wretched to devote much time to pil grimages An d .

,

when in quieter times the old fervour and zeal for visiting
sacred shrines and holy places awoke again the catacombs of ,

Rome once so cherished and revered had ceased to be

, ,

even a memory
A dense cloud settled do wn upon them .

a cloud which never lifted for some seven hundred years .

The chance discovery of some labourers digging in a vine

yard ih the Via Salaria in the year 1 5 7 8 to which we have , ,

already alluded brought to light one o f the ancient cemeteries

, ,

with its c urious paint ings its strange sculptures its pathetic , ,

inscriptions its seem ingly endless corridors lined with ( mostly )

, ,

empty graves The world o f Rome then came to know that

.

a marvellous unexplored City o f the D ead lay beneath its

*
feet ; ol d records were investigated ancient itineraries and ,

pilgrim guides were searched into and the forgotten story o f ,

th e pas t once more was read and studied .

of R o m
Of
mth ese I tin e a i es o lo cal g uid e b ook s to th e Sanctuaries of th e City
e w h e e th e cat aco bs
r r r

entu y a e d esc ib ed

m
r th y i t d in th e enth as e ex s e e s v c r r r

w e po ssess seve l ; p erh p s th e old est is a MS b o un d up accid entally w ith th e

ra a .

w o rk s o f A l cuin Ch l e g n e s Min i st er of E d ucation ; int ernal evid en ce ho w s

m

,
ar a s

that thi s I tine a y w as w it ten on th e spot i A D 6 25 6 3 8 This g uid e

r r r , c rca . . .

mm
b ook w s co pl et d b f e th e w hol e al e t ranslatio ns of th e b od ies b y ce t in of
a e e or s r a

th e Pop es h ad b g un e .

A n oth e I tine a y is contain ed in th e w o k s of W il lia of Mal esb u y

mm m

r r r r r ,

w h o w ot e at th e en d of th e el ev enth cen t ur y o b eg i nning of th e twelfth

r B ut th e r .

I tin e a y is plainl y Copi d f o a do cu nt written so e fo u o e cent u ies

r r

e r e r r v r

earl ie

m
r .

A MS at E insi ed el n ( Sw it erl n d ) p ub li sh e d b y Mab ill on in 1 6 8 5 co ntains

m
. z a , ,

an oth e f th ese cu io u s an cient g uid e b ook

r o r to R o e T h e d at e is i A D 75 0 - s . c r ca . . .

T h ese I tine a i es o g u id e b ook s to th e R o e of th e sev enth and ei ghth

m

r r , r -

c entur i e h av e b e n of th e g eat st assistance to D e R o i an d h is fello w schola s in

s, e r e ss - r

th ei exh austiv e w o k of ex plo tio n nd identi catio n of th e c t co b s

r r ra a a a .
28 2 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

We have already spoken of the nd of A D 1 5 7 8 and
. .

what sprang from it ; an d thus a new chapter bearing on the

story of the early Church when Christianit y was a for ,

bi dden rel igion was added to the somewhat scanty material

,

o u t of which the tapestry of such a history as this is woven .

It is a chapter written on marble and o n stone its genuine

ness no lynx eyed critic wil l ever dare to questio n
-
.

SE CT O I N III .
-
A RT O F TH E CA TA CO M S B .

TH E present state of grim desol ation which the accessible

portions o f the catacombs exhibit by no means gives an ,

accurate idea of their appearance when they were in daily

use .

The intermi nable corridors were then neatly nished and ,

in some cases adorned with elaborate ornamentation The

,
.

graves with their many tiers which now so often are yawn ,

ing and ghastly apertures some quite empty some still con -
,

taining a few mouldering bones were then al l hermetical ly

sealed In many cases though evidently not in all the
.
, ,

covering slabs were inscribed with the names of the tenants

and often in addition with a few pathetic words expressive ,

of Faith Hop e and Love ; some too were adorned with

, , , ,

rough though striking emblems of the Faith such as the ,

'

monogram of Christ and the palm branch Leading ou t o f .

these miles and mil es of g rave lin ed corridors are a vast -

number of compartments of various sizes the mortuary chambers ,

evidently of the more wealthy and important members

o f the Christian congregations of Rome These were often .

more or less richly decorated The roofs are often pa inte d ; .

the sepulchres are adorned with both paintings and carved

work in marble and stone The marble work has well nigh .
-

all disappeared ; but the pain tings on the tombs the wal ls , ,

and the roofs of the chambers in many ca ses remain though , ,

sadly dis gured and faded ; and these symbolic ornaments .

can still in many instances be deciphered by experts and

, ,

scholars These dim blurred paintings these remains of

.
, ,
 TH E CA TA CO MB S OF R OME . 283

m
inscriptions enormously enhance the importance of the
,

vast ce eteries as a piece o f history and as a record of the

theological beli ef of the Roman Christians during the two and
,

a half centuries which immediately foll owed the A scension of

the Blessed Redeemer For these painted and car v ed records
.

date in some instances from the days o f the A postles ; they

carry o n the story of the belief of the C h ristian community
o f Rome all through the second and t hi rd and the early years

of the fourth centuries of o ur era .

It is intensely interesting I t is even of the greatest .

importance to us to be enabled thus to catch sight of the

Christian tone of mind of Christian thoughts hopes and ex
, ,

ectations durin g the long drawn ou t period of danger and

p
often of bitter persecution a period which can never be

m
repeated N 0 written records however well attested of this
.
, ,

momentous time can be co mpared with these for n o ,

redactor o f a later age has touched them up corrected the , ,

read into them the thoughts of a later gene ration The men .

o f the rst second and third centuries painted their thoughts

, ,

on the ceilings and walls o f these sacred chambers o f the ir

dead and carved them on the marble and plaster slabs that
,

covered up the graves Their work remain s to this day

.
,

though sadly dis figured ; and we can th ere still read the
simple true story of their belief their faith their sublime

m
, , ,

hope.

When any restorer such as Da asus in the fourth and

, ,

the Popes o f the sixth se v enth and eighth centuries h as

, , ,

meddled wi th and added fresh enrichment to the ol d works ,

the hand of the restorer is at once plainly visible The

.

s tyle and execution directly betray the period ; no mis take

possible .

We will give a few of the leadin g features of the story of

the paintings and inscriptions which unmistakab ly belong to
the artists o f the rst three centuries First and most .

prom inent in all the paintings in the inscriptions and carvings

, ,

is the thought of Death But it is no sombre idea of death

.

it is death as a fr iend A gain and again the early Christian

.

artist pictures the spirit of the Christian when released from

28 4 E AR L Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

the body nding itself in a garden the garden of the

Blessed In these gl oomy usually lightl ess crypts it seems
.
-

, ,

a strange but exquisite conce ption th i s constant reproduction ,

of the garden imagery In the cemetery o f D omitil la one of .

,

the earliest of the Christian burying places we nd a beautiful ,

representation o f a vine mingled with owers twin ing over

the wall s and ceilings .

In these most ancient galleries of Christian art we nd a

considerable variety of subj ects chosen by the artist or sculptor .

But there are two gures which appear again and again They .

are to be met with in the frescoes which adorn the most

ancient sepulchres sepulchres which must date from A posto lic
times ; for instance amidst the charming confusion of vines ,

and owers of the D omiti lla and Lucina cemeteries of the

rs t century They are reprb duced too very frequently in
.
, ,

the rougher and less artistic paintings of the catacombs of

the third century These are the familiar gures kno wn .

as the O ran te and the Good Shepherd

The name
.

usually given to the rst of these tel ls its story : it is the

praying one In almost all cases the gure is in the same

.

attitude ; the gaze directed upwards the arms outstretched as ,

though in prayer The O rante is evidently asking God for .

somethin g or else thanking God for some mercy already

,

received In the vast maj ority of cases the O rante is drawn
.

as a female gure but there are exceptions when the praying ,

one is pictured as a man The attitude o f the gure is .

always the same only the dress is varied What now does , .

this favourite gure represent ? The B l essed Virgin has been

often pressed upon the student as its subj ect but absolutely ,

without any so l id basis for the hypothesis The Church has .

been suggested but such a vague and impersonal reference

m m m
,

m t m
l xp io
Ro ity d
m
for th e C of th e Dea w as Coe eteriu

om
I n e th e u sua e ress n

t y l pi pl N o th i it d h o d Afr
T is w

m
(ce e er ) ,
a s ee ng ace . I n r ca w as er e area . r

lo d p t I t ly y lo liti tho h vo t
m
w as in ar s of In th e fa uri e

m
a s u se s e a . an ca es, ug ,

na e w as d hi o d H ortu s, d il
a i t g ar en . T s w r w e n d u se at M an , for n s an ce, an d

lo oth pl od Go p l J oh We b er th e w in th e S

tom N o do t
at Sa na an d er aces . re e r s e of . n :

N pl h i d d
m

in th e H e w as w as g ar den, and in th e g ar

m
ow ace w ere cr u c e a en a

n ew b vo it pp ll tio
.

d ubppl d to th e fa ur e a e a n of

g ar en ,

a ie th e
res ti pl
ng -
d d to h
ace of oy th eJ oh odea ,
is a uc i ng e r of S .

n s w r s .
 TH E CA TA COMB S OF R O ME . 28 5

would convey little to the devout mourner or worshipper of

the rst three centuries Better far and in its way more
.
,

probable and suggestive is the theory which nds in this well

,

known gure a symboli cal representation of the soul of the

dead one lying in the rock tomb within praying for D ivine .
,

help and refreshment in the n e w and changed condition of

existence after death or else possibly interceding as a blesse d
, , ,

and pardoned spirit for those still on earth For we nd .

among the catacomb inscriptions many entreaties for such

prayers addressed to the soul o f the departed by those left
behind still to struggle and to toil on earth ; such as Live ,

in peace and pray for us ; May your soul be happy in God ;

pray for your sister The O rante is pictured in various
.

combinations now alone now in the company of the Good ,

Shepherd .

The O rante gure as the symbol of the soul of the
departed surviving the art of the very early ages reappears
, ,

occasionally in medi aeval times but in a somewhat altered ,

form as a small and delicate gure emerging from the corpse .

A well known representation of the death of the Blessed

-

Virgi n for instance sho ws our Lord standing close by the

, ,

form of the dead Mother and holding in His arms as o ne , ,

would a l ittle child her soul robed and crowned under the
, ,

form of a tiny graceful gure This was a no t uncommon .

subj ect for sculpture ih wood and stone in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries .

The other gure whi ch we nd so often repeated in the

m
catacombs is the gracious form of our Lord represented as ,

the Good Shepherd This may be considered as the
.

favourite picture in the Roman City of the D ead I nnu er .

a b le examples occur on the ceilings o f the numerous

sepulchred chambers leading out of the corridors on the ,

slabs of marble stone and plaster which close up the graves

, , ,

or as forming the centre of the decorations which encircle

th e more important tombs .

It belongs this gure of the Good Shepherd to no one

, ,

period to no special subterranean cemetery but it is found

, ,

again and again on the tombs of all catacombs alike of the

28 6 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NITY A ND P A CA NI S llI .

rst century and o f the third The beautiful and touching .

gure now appears as the watchful and loving Shepherd

tenderly caring for His sheep ; now is drawn or carved
bearing a sheep wounded or wearied on His shoulders not ,

unfrequently even with a goat in His arms a particular

reminder that the lost as men would to o often style their

,

brothers and sisters are still the obj ect of their Master s
,

love and pity The last is a strangely winning feature o f

.

the catacomb teaching '

.

Included in what may be described as the Pastoral group

of sepulchral gures a group we nd so often repeated in
,

one form o r other are sheep and lambs now feeding close
, ,

to now simply gazing at the Good Shepherd ; some seemingly

, ,

careless more however attentive to the voice and gestures

, , ,

o f the Shepherd The milk pail found in certain of these

.
-

pastoral pictures sometimes standing between the lambs

,
,

sometimes borne by them has been with great probability , , ,

interpreted as a Eucharistic symbol of the heavenly food

provided by the Shepherd .

O n the slabs of stone or marble or cement which close

the graves where no space exists as in the larger tombs
,

for the gures o f the Shepherd or the sheep o r on the ,

decorated ceilings of the sepulchral chambers where the

more important graves are found is often engraved a little ,

palm branch symbol of the victory over the grave ; often

,

also a dove or a pair of doves takes the place o f the O rante ,

as the symbol of the soul freed from the body O ther .

symbols of the Faith are graven o n many of the slabs such ,

as a ship at anchor and especially a Fish in various forms

, ,

this last being a mystic representation of the Saviour o f ,

*
whose titles the initials are the Greek letters which spell
the word 2x6 ? ( sh ) These are some of the more striking
.

and favourite subj ects The catalogue could however be .

, ,

greatly enlarged .

The inscriptions carved on the tombs claim a few words

even in so brie f a study of this important but littl e known
J e u s Ch i t G od
s r s th e Son Sa i v o ur .

I nao s Xpw r b s @ eb s '

b
s E wr hp
.
 TH E CA TA CO MB S OF R O ME . 28 7

chapter of early Christian history Besides the name of the .

departed on many o f the slabs covering the graves we nd ,

innumerable simple expressions of love and perfect faith and

condence as to the state of peace and blissful rest enj oyed

by the Christian dead such as She sleeps ; A urelia our
,

,

very sweet daughter refresh thyself among the holy spirits ;
,

In peace ; Everlasting rest of happiness ; Breaking

the bonds of the body he rej oices among the stars ; Rest
,

ing well in peace ; Call ed away by angels ; Thou restest

in peace incomparable wife ;
,
He wen t to God ; Be

refreshed with the souls of the righteous ; Thou dost

repose for ever from care Pretiosa went to her rest a ,

handmaid of God and Christ ; He sleeps but lives ;

To the most sweet and innocent Julia ; Her mother hoping ;

The sleeping place o f A urel ia Martina ; She dep arted ,

desiring to ascend to the Eternal Light of Heaven ; Here

sleeps in the sleep of peace the sweet and innocent Sev erianus ,

whose spirit is received into the light of the Lord ; Refrain

from tears my sweet daughter and husband ; believe that

,

it is forbidden to weep fo r one who lives in God These
are j ust a few of the inscriptions gathered almost haphazard ;
but they seem to show how deep was the spirit of calm j oy
breathed by these Christians o f Rome in the early days ;
they indicate h ow general was their intense Faith their ,

serene hope D eath was indeed welcomed in these Christian

.
, ,

communities as a friend .

These men and women when they carved their brief ,

messages of hope and trust upon the graves of their loved

dead never dreamed of handing on to coming generations
,

any special teaching respecting dogma The voices of the .

serious disputes which arose after th e date of the Peace of

the Church ( A D 3 1 3 ) were not au dible here where the
. .

Christians of the rst ages so often wept and prayed Bu t .

from the simple catacomb epitaphs we gather how rmly

they held to the great truth of the Godhead of the Redeemer ,

a truth for which as we have seen from the p r oces v er b a u cc

,

of the martyrdoms already quoted in this history they gladly ,

died
. We come often upon expressions such as : In the
28 8 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GANIS M .

Lord God Christ ; Sacred to the great God Christ ; such

an epitaph as : Mayest tho u l ive in the Holy Spirit tells

,

m
us tha t the Roman Christians taught too the belief in the , ,

Third Person of the Blessed Trinity .

m
O n the whole we gather fro studies in the catacombs ,

that the hearts and minds of the disciples of the Lord during
those rst three centuries were so aa e with love for the
Lord Jesus so lled with His engrossing personality that
, ,

m
there was little place for anyone or anything which did not
bear directly upon His Person and His redemptive work .

Hence the co p a r ativ e rarity of any pictured representations

of the blessed Virgin * and the disciples o f the Lord With .

these early members of the Church of Rome Christ was all

in all The circumstances of their life their precariou s
.
,

tenure of that life the frequent bitter persecutions the xed , ,

idea that death was after all to be earnestly desir ed as the , , ,

entrance to the true l ife coloured all their thoughts and , ,

inspired their art what we have termed the art of the

catacombs They loved to thin k of their Lord as the Good
.

Shepherd and of themselves as His sheep gathered out of the

,

world ; and they rej oiced to think of their future eternal

home under the imagery of a garden where the Good Shep ,

herd would welcome and tenderly care for His o wn .

Very marked was the change in Christian art in the age

which immediately foll owed the Peace and the triumph o f
the Church in A D 3 1 3 In the basilicas which speedily arose
. . .

over or in the immediate neighbourhood of the catacombs

after the rst victory of the Church under the inuence o f
the Emperor Constantine the sacred pictures and sculptures ,

were no longer conned to what has been graphically termed

the alphabet of early Christian art th e gure of the Good
m
,

Th e V r

m
i gi n and Child a e d eli neated in a ce t in nu b e of i nstances b ut
r

lly w ith th e acco p any in g g u es of th e Mag i o W i se Men w ith th ei

r a r ,

m
g en era r r r

o ff i ng s and in th ese i nstance th e H oly Child is th cent al g u e of th e g o up

m
er s e r r r .

B ut th e pi ct ur es aft e all a e few in n u b er Ce tain sac ed H eb ew sub j ect

se ,
r ,
r . r r r s

e n ot u nf equ ent su ch as D ni el in th e lio n s den ; th e t e pt tion of Su an n

m m
m

ar r a a s a
,

th t i al o f th e th ee chi ld en in th e furn ace J o nah nd th e g eat sh ; th e l att e

m
e r r r a r r

b i ng b y f
e th e f vo u it e Sub j ect
ar o ng th e H b w e o i es doub tl ess o wing
a r a e re r ,

to th e efe ence ad e to it b y ou L o d
r r r r .
Ph oto Ma ria m
'

Ro m e.

m
,

m m
G RO U P OF T HE B L E SS E D IN PA R ADI S E .

Fro a Fresco in th e Ce t
e ery of S . Sot er (T h ird C ent ury) Th e t o bs are o f t d t th
la er a e an

th e F resco of th e B l esse d .
"
 Ph o t o Al ma rl at b oo k , Ho m e

mm
.

T HE G OO D S H E PH E R D
m
.

Fro a s al l Marb l e Stt a ue o f th e Secon d Tl d C t y

or ur en ur ,
no w in th e L at e ran . It h as th e

f t l d t ty p f C t p d

c h a ra c te r si tic ea ures o f th e o es e o a aco b S h e h er .

 TH E CA TA CO MB S OF R O ME . 28 9

Shepherd the sheep the lambs the goats the quiet garden
, , , ,

o f the Blessed ,
the O rante the dove the sh all these
, ,

images and symbols in large measure pass ou t of sight In .

the grander paintin gs in the rich mosaics produced in the

,

new era of the Church s victory the visions of the A pocalypse

, ,

the mystic revelation o f S John rather than the Gospel

.
,

story supply the imagery The Good Shepherd is replaced

, .

by the noble and gracious gure o f the Christ in glory o f the ,

Christ as Judge and King It is ever the triumphant Chris t

.

rather than the Shepherd Christ who is now depicted It

-
.

is the Lamb of the A pocalypse the Lamb as it had been

slain the Lamb bearing the Passion marks stil l ; but now
,

represented as crowned with glory and enthroned adored by ,

all that is greatest and noblest in Heaven as on earth .

 29 0

CH A PTER XII .

I NN E R I
L FE OF TH E CH U R CH .

SE CT O I N I R O ME I
H PPO L Y TU S A ND CA LL I ST U S
.
; .

A FTE R the death o f Clement about the last year o f the ,

rst century for nearly a hundred years we hear little of the

,

Church of the Metropolis o f the Empire The shadow and ; ,

onl y the shadow o f the names of its bishops falls upon the
,

page of the historian Eusebius Even tradition is well nigh .

-

silent as to their life story Brief mentions are made of a

.

visit of Polycarp in the middle o f the century when the ,

veteran Bishop of Smyrna conferred with A nicetus of Rome ,

o f a residence in Rome of Iren a eus the famous Gallic scholar ,

and writer subsequently Bishop o f Lyons O f the duration of

, .

this visit we know nothing These scanty references together

.

with the A cts o f S Fel icitas and her sons which tell us

.
,

something of the trials and sufferings of Christians in the

days o f Marcus are the best authenticated notices connected
,

with the Church in Rome that we possess But that the .

Church in Rome du ring this period was growing in numbers ,

was perfecting its organisation was planning and gradual ly ,

excavating its mighty City of the D ead beneath the suburbs

o f the Metropolis is cl e ar from what we nd in contemporary
,

writings dating from early in the third century

,
.

In the last years o f the second century began the famous

disputes conc erning church discipline on which we are

,

about to dwel l at some l ength ; disputes which more or less

affected the whole of the Catho l ic Church and determined in ,

great measure the attitude which the Christian communities

everywhere were to assume in their relations with the society
 INNE R I
L FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 29 1

of the Empire A bout this time the close o f the second

.
,

century the Roman community possessed perhaps the pro

,

foundest scho l ar and t hi nker in Christendom This was .

Hippolytus generally styled Bishop o f Portus

,
.

Hippo lytus seriously disagreed wi th the policy o f the

Bishop and governing body of the Roman community in the
matter of Church discip l ine ; and his Opposition here gravely
affected tha t al l important question dai ly pressing with greater
-
,

insistence upon the fast growing body o f Christians of the ,

general relations o f Christianity to the society of the Empire .

The Roman theologian was supported in his austere views by

another writer and teacher of the highest rank in another
powerful Christian community This was Tertullian of .

Carthage These two eminent men the Roman and the

.
,

A frican were by no means alone in their contention respecting

,

the alleged laxity of discipl ine prevailing in the Church in

those days a laxity which included certain concessions to the
,

Pagan society around them .

The severer and more austere polic y o f Hippolytus Ter ,

tullian and their school was nall y rej ected by the Church
,

o f Rome ; and the v iews o f Zephyrinus and Callistus suc ,

cessiv el
y Bishops of the Church o f the Metropolis in the ,

end prevailed and determined generally the attitude of the

,

Catholic Church to the Empire .

But the powerful advocacy o f these two eminent dissidents ,

as contained in their many writings some of which have come ,

down to us altho ugh it failed to inuence the policy of Rome

,

and the maj ority of the Churches was by no means thrown ,

away These men have left their impress upon the Church
.
,

and their noble if at times curiousl y exaggerated views have

, ,

in all ages strongly inuenced and coloured the lives o f not

a few devoted toilers for God .

This section o f our history will be devoted to the great

dispute which had so far reaching an inuence upon the
-

future o f Christianity .

We l earn much respecting the inner life of the Church

in Rome as it existed in the reign of the Emperor Severus ,

in the last years of the second and early years of the third
29 2 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

century from one o f those strange nds which now and
,

again so marvellousl y assist the chroniclers o f the early

days o f Christianity .

In the year 1 8 4 2 an anonymous MS of the fourteenth .

centur y was brought by a l earned Greek in the employment

o f the French Government to Paris from a monastic library

o n Mount A thos O n examination it was found to contain

.

the continuation of a fragment entitled P h il osop hu en a

printed in the Benedictine edition of O rigen s work s and gener

,
m ,

ally considered as o ne of his writings Certain scho l ars however .

, ,

had a lready questioned O rigen s au thorship of the fragment

.

The University of O xford printed the ne wly discovered MS .

,

and it was at once seen to be a literary treasure of rare

val ue Schol ars pronounced it to be n ot a work o f O rigen
.
, ,

but a long lost writing of Hippolytus a famous writer and ,

teacher o f th e closing years of the second and earlier years

of the third century I t was of considerable length and was
.
,

divided into ten books the second and third o f which were ,

still missing Its titl e was The Refutation o f all Heresies
.

.

Books V and X are perhaps the most important as a piece

. .
, , ,

o f history and contain an interesting and valuable account

,

of the early heresies composed by a great scholar who may

, ,

be termed a contemporary witness of many of the things

abou t which he was writing The value o f such a testimony
can scarcely be over esti ated ; for Hippolytus was a well
-

known and often q u oted teacher and a disciple of Iren aeus

m .

,
.

The tenth book of the Refutation is a summary of the

whole work and contains besides an exposition o f the learned

,

writer s own religious Opinions A s we have sai d Hippolytus

.
,

and his works were ver y widely known and highly esteemed
in ancient times To give a few instances out of a long
.

catena of patristic references Eusebius and Jerome in the ,

fourth century speak o f him E piph aniu s ( fourth century ) in ,

his great work o n Heresies largely borrowed from him and ,

Photius ( ninth century ) in his marvellous epitome of ancient

Greek literature describes with some detail a yet earlier and
,

shorter work o f Hippolytus on heresies He has been well .

described as one who l inked together the learning and

 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 29 3

tradition of the East the original home of Christianity

,

with the marvellous practical energy of the West the scene ,

of his

own life s labours He was besides in his time as ,

far as we know the most learned man in the Western

,

Church .

For our present work the importance of the comparatively

recently discovered writing of the great scholar Hippolytus
consists not in his elaborate and learned history of the many
heresies more or less connected though many of them but ,

remotely with Christianity but with the strong side light

, ,
-

which his great treatise throws upon the inner life of the
Italian Church with which he was especially connected .

He d well s with pecul iar insistence upon a bitter feud

which apparently raged for some years in the Roman com
munity and in his description of it he incidental ly shows us
,

how far reaching was the in uence o f Christia nity on Roman

-

society before the second century had yet run its course .

It is of course saddening for those who fondly picture to

, ,

themselves the Church of the rst and second centuries as

a Church of saints without spot o r wrin kle to hear of bitter
, ,

enmities and erce wranglings in the very centre of her

blessed activities ; to be compelled slowly and painfully to
disentangle th e confused threads of the over coloured narrative -

o f o ne o f the principal disputants But the truth must be .

told and it must be confessed that in the laying of the early

,

storeys o f Christianity light ever alternated with darkness .

Then as now human p assions j ealousies short sightedness

, , , , ,

sadly interfered with the bui lding o f the City o f Go d I t .

was a strange sight indeed under the very shadow o f the,

sword o f persecution which then hung over the Churches o f

God ready to fall at any moment ! A ll through this eventful
,

s tory the sp eci a t incidents related o f this or that individual

,

teacher or confessor of this or that lonely commu ni ty

,

incidents on whose authenticity no shadow of doubt rests

have been onl y examples or instances of what was taking place

in many another Christian centre So also here what was taking.

,

place on the larger and more prominent stage of Imperial

Rome no doubt often took place in less public and notorious
29 4 E ARL Y CH R IS TIANIT Y A ND PA GA NI SM .

centres The troubles o f Rome of which Hippolytus tells us

.
,

were not pecu l iar to the g reat Church of the capital .

The story of these Roman dissensions grievous though ,

they doubtless were to the sorel y tried Christian persecute d

ones is very suggestive for us who read it after al l these cen
,

turies o f anxiety and disappointment of bafed hopes and ,

weary expectations but on the whole of real progress Firs t ,

.

and foremost it reminds us that our Lord and Master has

ever worked on earth with poor and often faulty instruments ,

and yet that these in the long run do His work as then so , , ,

n ow With no uncertain voice it tells those among us often

.

disappointed and discouraged at the grave cleavages and sharp

i
strifes which still d vide Christian folk on earth which se t ,

church against church communion against communion fami ly , ,

against family that it was ever so from the very beginnin g

, ,

when the sharp dissension between Paul and Barnabas separated

men who had seen the Lord and even h ea r d His voice ; that ,

it was so in the days of Hippolytus so near as we have seen , , ,

to the men who had l earned their lessons from a Polycarp

and a John A nd it tel l s us too singularly enough as far
.
, ,

as we can judge from the ve ry wor ds o f Hippo lytus himself ,

that Hippolytus the most learned of living Ch ri stian teachers

, ,

was on the whole in the wrong *

, ,
.

The story of the feud is as follows ( we give it from Hip

ol tu s o wn narrative contained in his r e cently discovered

p y ,

Refutation of all Heresies Book IX Chap VI I ) In the , .

, . .

reign of the Emperor Commodus Marcus son and successor ,

there lived in Rome a Christian slave named Callistus His .

m aster was one Carpophorus also a Christian and an o fcial , ,

in the Imperial palace A pparently Callistus was an able .

business man for Carpophorus entrusted him wit h money

, ,

and set him up in business as a money changer and banker -

.

m m
In this call ing he evidently for a time was successful ; for many
Y t ev n h e eod e n hol e differ F i n t n D n Mil n f
r sc ars er . or s a ce , ea a o

S P ul ( L tin Ch i ti nity B ook Ch p ll y f i hi to i n

m m
. a s a r s
g n
a , a . a e er a a r s r a
,

o n id H ippolyt w n th w hol in th i g ht nd th t h i dv y
m
c s ers us as o e e e r , a a s a ersar

C l li tu w
a s an b itio
s i nt i g
as T hi
a i n nt hol us n d thi nk in
r u er . s e e sc ar a er

thi c s to h v lo t i g ht f th g t q tion po n w hi h thi

ase see s a e s s n o e rea u es s u c s co

t entio n w lly b d in w hi h H ippolyt w l ly in o

as r ea ase , c us as c ear err r .
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 29 5

Christians and others were in the habit of depositing money

with him Then came on a period of dii cul ty and Call istus
.
,

lost all his capital and fearful o f his master s anger attempted,

to y ; but was arrested at Portus and brought back to Rome

m
.

The angry Carpophorus at once dispatched his unl ucky slave to

the pistrinu

or prison where refr actory slaves were sent
,

for punis h ment by their masters H ow terrible was the fate .

o f a s l ave thus punished we learn from a weird description by

a contemporary writer A puleius Y e gods ! what men I saw, .

there their white skin cut about with the l ashes of a whip
, ,

and marked as if with paint ; their gashed backs hung over

with the tatters o f their j ackets rather than covered ; some ,

of them wore only a small girdle round their loins in all o f ,

them their naked body could be seen through their rags .

They were branded on their foreheads their he ads were half ,

shorn on their feet they wore iron rings their pallor was
, ,

hideous their eyelids were as it were eaten away by the

,

smoke and vapour of the dark atmosphere so that they ,

scarcely had the use of their eyes any more A fter a time .

Carpophorus had him released on the prayer of some pitiful

Christian who persuaded him that some of the lost money
,

cou l d be recovered by Callistus from parties who were in debt

to him These parties were Jews who evidently indignant
.
, ,

with Callistus when he tried to collect his debts accuse d him ,

to the Prefect of the City alleging that he h ad made a tumul t ,

and had disturbed them in their synagogue The Prefect too .

,

readily believing any accusation against a Christian condemned ,

the unh appy Call istus to the unheal thy mines of Sardi ni a .

From these mines he was eventually released with many other ,

Christian su fferers owing to the good o f ces o f Marcia the

, ,

favourite o f Commodus who was kindly disposed to the

m
,

Christians possibly a Christian herself Callistus then d welt .

at An tiu where he was assisted by Victor who was Bishop

, ,

of Rome A D 1 9 2 202

,
. . .

This sad tal e of slavery misfortune and suffering is related ,

by Hippolytus who it must be remembere d was Call is tus

, , ,

bitter foe Much apparently is omitted for there was evi

.
, , ,

den tl y something in the sl ave s life very stri king something

,
29 6 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NISM .

that marked him out as especially capabl e and able more ,

sinned against than si nning ; for we nd the next Bishop of

Rome Z eph y rinus who succeeded Pope Victor in A D 202
,

sending for Callistu s from A n tiu

,

and conferring on him

high and responsi b le ofce in the Christian community o f
m ,
. .
,

Rome .

Pope Zephyrinus to his own great misfortune writes,

,

Hippo lytus appointed Call istus over the cemetery
,
and
,

m
entrusted him besides with the direction and supervision o f
the Roman clergy Zephyrinus too is depicted by Hippolytus
.
, ,

as a an of little education ignorant o f ecclesiastical law and , ,

even covetous Upon the death of Zephyrinus Callistus was

.
,

elected by the clergy Bishop o f Rome A D 21 9 Hippo lytus , . . .

thus curiousl y writes of the great promotion o f the former

slave who had suffered so much and such grievous things in
,

his earlier life : He believed that on Zephyrinus death he

( Cal listus) had attaine d the goal at which he had aime d

No .

doubt by his wise administration of the cemetery and the

burial of Christians and by his skill and tact in the direction
,

and superv ision of the clergy to which the late Pope had
appointed him he h ad won the respect and love of at least
,

the maj ority o f the numerous body consisting o f presbyters ,

deacons and the inferior orders of sub deacons and others

,
-

*
who made up the ofcial ranks of the Roman Church Such .

is the strange and somewhat painful story with which Hip

ol tu s prefaces his account of the grave differences which

m
p y
arose between the ne wly elected Bishop of Rome Callistu s , ,

and himself O ne point ore however must be briey touched

.
, ,

upon before we dwell upon these differences the recital of ,

which throws so much light upon the practice and teaching of

the Church at the beginning of the third century What .

ofce or position was it which this Hippolytus held in the

Catholic Church ?
Dr .

lation upon a w ell k no wn su

l
D ol ing er ( H ipp oly tus
m
m m
ing h is cal u
a nd

y of th e nu b e of cl e g y nd h u ch
Callis tas, h p
c a s . ii
. b as c

mm
m m m
- ar r r a c r

d ep end nt g iven b y Co neli u A D 25 0 E useb i u H E vi 4 3 consi ders

m
a s r s, . . . s, .
, .
,

that th e o gani ed Ch u ch of R o e b out thi s ti n u b e ed so fty tho u and

r s r a e r e s

so ul s. Thi s ca l cul ation of Co n eli us w s ad e so e ft een y ea

r aft e th e a rs r

death of H ippoly tu s .
 INNE R L FE I OF TH E CH UR CH .
29 7

He describes himself as a bishop ; he is also general ly

so styled by all the ancients who refer to his teachings and

writings as for instance by Eusebius and Jerome
,
But .

strange to say no o ne among the comparatively early writers

mentions his diocese A mong the Greek and O riental Churches
.

a common tradition existed that Hippolytus was Bishop of

Rome . But then the earliest Eastern author who can be
quoted here wrote at Constantinople cir ca A D 5 8 2 that is . .
,

to say late in the sixth century and Hippolytus lived in ,

the rst quarter of the third century In the seventh and .

eighth centuries this opinion was apparently a common one

in the Eastern Church .

A still more general tradition placed the see of this

famous writer at Portus a harbour situated on the right arm ,

o f the Tiber which eventually superseded the more ancien t

,

O s tia as the harbour of Rome th e port o f O stia becoming

m
,

gradually blocked with sand ; bu t here again the tradition

whic h made h i Bishop o f Portus is an O riental one and ,

does not appear in any writing earlier than cir ca A D 6 3 0 . . .

The testimony of Eusebius who wrote much earlier , ,

ci r ca A D 3 25
. is interesting Eusebius who ourished within
.
,
.
,

some eighty years of Hippolytus death simply confesses his

ignorance Hippolytus he says

. was a bishop somewhere , ,

o r other Jerome writing about half a century later than
.
,

Eusebius confesses that he has not been able to nd o ut

,

the city of which he was bishop A mong eminent modern .

scholars D ol linger at considerable leng th argues that he

, , ,

was a schismatical Bishop of Rome in fact the rst anti Pope ,

-
.

Bishop Lightfoot with considerable ingenuity maintained that

, ,

he never held any denite see but was simply bishop in ,

charge of the various shifting nationalities represented in

the busy Roman harbour of Portus and was appointed to ,

the charge by Pope Victor who preceded Zephyrinus in the ,

see o f Rome .

The question of the site of his bishoprick which has been ,

much debated will pr obably never be denitely answered

,

no w
. Rome however it is certain was the scene of his
, ,

activities for many years This would t in with either of .

29 8 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

the above mentioned hypotheses o f the German and the

English scholars Rou nd the complete life story of th is
.

great theologian and writer however rest clouds of u ncertainty

, ,

and doubt What is absolutel y certain is that during a

.

considerable portion o f his life he was the Roman l eader of

the par ty of rigorous unbending severity in open opposition ,

to the policy of the Catholic Churc h which al l owed to

Christian converts a certain l iberty in their actions and ,

encouraged them to share to a considerab l e extent in the

, ,

public life around them The rst friend and patron o f

.

Hippolytus was Pope Victor whose rule was coterminous

m
,

with the last decade of the second century Zephyrinus .

succeeded Victor and during his reign over the Ro an Church

,

o f nearly seventeen years Callistus appears to have been

his adviser and minister The approximate dates of the
.

Popes or Bishops of Rome of the period are as follow :

A JD .

Pop e Vi ctor 1 92
Z eph y rinus 202
Callistus 21 9
222
U rb an
Pont ianus 23 0
A nteros 23 5
Fab ianus
25 0
Cornelius 25 1
L ucius 25 2

D uring the pon ticates o f Zephyrinus and Call istu s A D 202 ,

. .

222 the dead ly feud we are abou t to speak of raged between

,

the great scho l ar Hippo lytus and the two Popes large ly ,

on questions connected with disc ipline a l though questions ,

o n the Trinitarian doctrine also divided them for a time .

D urin g the pon ti cate of Urban wh o succeeded Callistus,

as Bishop of Rome we hear no more of the feud

,
It is .

possible after the passi ng away of the two men Zephyrinus

,

and Call istus that Hippolytus cease d from active opposition

,

to the recognise d po l icy o f the Church and devoted himse l f ,

exclusively to his scholarly work This pon ticate of Urban

.
,
Ph o to Al m a r: Coo k , Ro m e.

A Mai b l e
and
S tatue
t
Wi h o u t
a tt ib t d
r

th e h ea
u e

d ,
to
near
8 .H I PPO LYT U S

m
.

o mm
mt
th e T h ird C e nt u ry ; f u nd in 1 5 5 1
,td
th e C e et ery o f H i pp ol y t us ( R o e) ,
uch

a l is
u tila e
of
,

w h o se
w ork s I S l l I S Cl l l ) ed o n th e ch ai r . No w in th e L atcran .
 I NNE R L FE I OF TH E CH UR CH . 299

A D
. . was a time generally speaking of perfect still
223 23 0 ,

ness for the Church The Emperor A lexander Severus was .

reigning and though no t a convert himself was ever most favour

,

ably disposed to Christianity In this period Hippolytus .

,

then an old man put ou t his most famous works one o f , ,

which the Refutation of all Heresies we have been speaking
,

,

o f as l ate ly re discovered and which as thro wing a ood o f

-
,

l ight upon the organisation and teaching o f this early

period has been well described as having laid these latest
generations o f Christians under the deepest debt o f gratitude * .

A t length the long l aborious and troubled life of the great , ,

scholar was closed by banishment and death A bout the year .

23 0 Urban was succeeded by Pontianus as Bishop o f Rome

m m
.

In A D 23 5 A lexander Severus was murdered and was succeeded

. .
,

by the E peror Max i inus a erce rough soldier who reversed , , ,

the policy of A lexander Severus and during his brief tenure ,

o f the Imperial power bitterly persecuted the Christians .

Pope Pontianus was bani shed to the unhealthy island of

Sardinia With Pontianus Hippoly tus was also sent to the
.

dread Sardin ia mines and there both Pope and scholar , ,

according to some accounts died very soon O f the circum ,

.

stances of their death we know nothing for certain Their .

bodies were however brought back to Rome Pope Pontianus

, ,
.

was laid in the Papal Crypt a chamber of the cemetery of ,

Callistu s o n the A ppian Way and Hippolytus was buried in ,

another Christian cemetery on the Tiburtine Way no t very far ,

from the famous Pr aetorian Camp hard by the spot where ,

subsequentl y arose the great basilica of S Laurence . .

The exact dates are a little confused A n ancient tradition .

,

however tells us that the two martyrs were deposited in their

,

several resting places on the se l f same day viz the Ides o f

- -
,
.

A ugust A D 23 6 and this traditional date is the one gener

, . .
,

ally accepted .

In the year 1 5 5 1 a mutilated statue was discovered in

the place where originally the sanctuary of Hippolytus had
been built The head of the statue was missing and there
.
,

m m
was no name to identify it but on the back and sides of the ,

B i hop L ightfoo t Cl nt f R
s vol ii p 4 3 7 ,
e e o o e, . .
,
. .
3 00 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

chair in which the gure sits was engrave d a list of writings

, , ,

known to have been the works of Hippolytus O n o ne si de

of the chair is inscribed a cal endar for determining the Paschal

fu ll moon No doubt rests upon the universally received
.

assumption that the statue is a gure of Hippolytus It is .

considered to be the oldest marbl e statu e o f Christian work

manship and probably bel ongs to the rst hal f of the thir d
,

century We have no knowledge of any similar mark o f

.

respect ever paid to any bishop or eminent teacher in the

*
rst few centuries .

Testimonies from ancient writers to the widespread inu

ence of Hippolytus and his works have been already briey
referred to A fter his death he was the recipient for a long
.

period and in vari ous lands of many posthumous honours

besides the dignity of saintship in the Church where he
laboured for so many years ; a dignity which however he

m
, ,

shares with not a few whose claims to it are perhaps some

what questionable Po pe Da asus A D 3 6 6 3 8 4 the great

m
. . .
, ,

restorer o f the Roman sanctuaries found a small chapel con ,

taining the remains o f the e inent writer and scholar which ,

he enlarged and b eau tied In the last years o f the fourth .

or ver y early in the fth century the Spanish Christian poet , ,

Prudentius devoted some two hundred and forty six l ines in

,
-

his series of fourteen poems in honour of various martyrs

( the P eri S te
p h a n dn l ib er ) exclusive l y to Hippolytus But .

when Prudentius wrote legendary history had al ready gathere d

,

thickly round the memory of the schol ar martyr and the -

,

details he gives us are quite unreliable Historic ally the .

,

only val ue of Prudentius poem is to show how magnicently

the shrine o f Hippolytus was adorned in his Prudentius days ,

end o f the fourth century The cu l t o f the famous teacher .

was then evidentl y at its zenith .

In the barbarian raids o f the following centuries the shrine

and basil ica of Hippolytus seems to have suffered severely .

Pope Paul between A D 7 5 7 and A D 7 6 8 amongst other

. . . .
,

precious relics is said to have transl ated the remains of

Museu m
T hi s l t d statue is no w in a p o in ent po sition in
ce eb ra e

th e h ead an d u pp e p art whi ch w e e u til at ed h av e b een

r , r
r m
m ,
r es
th e
to ed
r
La
.
te an
r
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 01

Hippolytus to the Church of S Silvestro in Capite (so called .

from the head o f S John the Baptist which has ever been
.
,

its most precious Curiously enough another transl a ,

tion o f the body of Hippolytus is related to have taken place

under Pope Leo IV A D 8 4 7 5 5 to the Church of the Quattro
.
, . .
,

Coronati o n the C oelian ; and yet a third translation of the

honoured remains under Pope Honorius III cir ca A D 1 21 6 .
,
. .
,

to the neighbouring basilica o f S Laurentius is chronicled in .

trustworthy records These stories of successive translations

.
,

and of different churches each possessing the body o f the

m
,

saint are probably due to the not uncommon practice of

,

calli ng any li b or portion of the saint the bod y a custom

responsible for not a little confusion in many cases .

These successive mentions of the translation o f the remains ,

or more probably portions of the remains of Hippolytus in , ,

different ages to important Roman churches by no means

exhaust our records of the enduring respect shown by the
Catholic Church to the memory o f one of the earliest and
greatest of her theologians .

In the pon ticate of Siricius A D 3 8 49 8 ano ther memori a ,

. .
,

o r chapel o f the holy mart y r Hippolytus is kn own to have

been erected among the buildings o f the famous church and

monastery o f S Pudentiana In Portus the harbour o f Rome
. .
, ,

with which important maritime centre the name of the great

scholar as we have mentioned already is closely connected
, ,

as bishop the tower of an ancient church bearing his honoured

,

name can still be seen rising above the desolate and lonely
Campagna .

Beyond the connes of Italy even we can nd traces of

the ancient reverence paid to the famous Italian scholar In .

A rles the ancient city of Southern Gaul there is a church

, ,

o f great antiquity dedicated to him Nor is this the only .

relic of the honours shown him in the Gallic province ; for in

the north among the sacred treasures o f the royal and il lus
,

trions abbey of S D enis close to Paris for a long period

.
, ,

m
portions of the body o f Hippolytus were venerated under the

y ea
r s re m
T h e w ri terli eves th t thi fa o us eli c of th e B ap tist
be a

ov ed to th e Vati can fo g eat e secu ity r r

s

r
r

r .
h as b een of late
3 02 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NIS M .

name of S Bilt Even in distant Cologne on the Rhine the

.

Chu rch of S Ursula clai s to possess other relics

.

We are brought into very close touch with this far back
.

m ,

.
,

time when Hippolytus and Callistu s lived by the recent dis ,

cov eries of D e Rossi in the catacomb named after the latter .

It will be remembered that Pope Zephyrinus appointed his

friend and adviser Calli stus over the Cemetery Now we
.

learn from the L i b er P on ti ca lis and from various other

sources that the earl iest successors of S Peter with rare .
,

exceptions were laid near the body of the blessed Peter in

,

the Vatican crypt But very early in the third century a .

special chamber was prepared evidently with extraordinary ,

care by Callistus under the direction of Zephyrinus ; and in

,

this sacred chamber a long line of Popes were laid to rest .

D e Rossi in the course of his excavations in that catacomb

, ,

came upon an exceptional number o f graf ti * or rough

inscriptions carved by early pilgrims to these shrines ; and

recognised at once that he was on the threshol d of a very
special sanctuary o f the ancient Church This was the Papal .

crypt on which for many centuries no eye had looked It .

was in a state of utter ruin and disorder ; but the remains of

beautiful and costly work were there traces o f the reverent ,

care with which several generations o f the ancient Ch urch

had adorned the sacred chamber A few partly shattered .

gravestones found among the ruins and the broken deb r is

revealed to the great scholar the cause o f this evidently

long continued veneration on the part of the pi lgrims o f
early times .

O n these scarred and mutilated slabs each of which had ,

once closed the niche where a body had been laid D e Rossi ,

found the historic names of Popes A nteros and Fabianus of ,

Lucius and Eutychianus successively Bishops of Rome O n

m m
.
,

ea ly
r
T
s
s

r

mm m
h e e g a ffiti a e littl e o e th an ro ug h scrib b ling s of na es of the e

vi ito s ; o eti es th e na es a e acco panied w ith a few w o d of

r s
r

p ay e fo tho e th y loved b e t Th ey f nci ed did th ese pilg i s that a p y e

r

r m m r s
s

m m m
r r r s e s . a ,
r ,
ra r

carv ed in su h a place h d b y th e sep ul ch e of a saintly p e on such as a

c ar r rs ,

a ty r w o u ld b e p culi ly ef c io us
r, T h e p sen ce of a nu b e o f th se
e ar ac . re r e

an i ent pil g i
c g af tiron th e w all s is a su e i n d e x th at a sp ci ally h all o w ed
r r e

sh in is clo se b y
r e .
Ph o to : A nders o n, Ro m e .

m
T HE PA PA L C R YPT , AS F I RST D I S CO V E RE D 3v DE RO S S I .

Ce t
e ery of S . Cal listus (T h ird C ent ury) .
Ph oto Ma ri a ni ,
ho m e.

T HE PA PA L C R Y PT
IN T HE T I ME OF PO P E D A MA S U S ( F O U RT H C E NT U RY) .

d
A ccor ing to De R ossi s R est

t
o ra i o n.
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 03

the stones of A nteros Fabianus and Eutychianus the title , ,

E pisco pus ( Bishop ) foll owed the name and the yet prouder ,

title o f martyr was added to the name of Fabian A nteros .

m
and Fabianus were contemporaries of Hippolytus D e Rossi .

has no doubt that these four broken stones w ere th e o r ig in a l

to b ston es o f the third century Popes whose names the y

*
bear .In this chamber o f undying memories it is recorded

that Zephyrinus also was buried ; not so Callistus who was ,

interred in a cemetery in the Trastevere quarter near the ,

spot where he suffered martyrdom in a popular tumult .

Urban wh o succeeded Callistus Pontianus A nteros Fabianus

, , , , ,

Lu cius Eutychianus and probably others were all buried

, , ,

in this sacred chamber The graves of other famous third .

century Popes have been identied in di erent parts of the

vast subterranean area occupied by the great cemetery or
catacomb o f the A ppian
The ch a rg es which Hippolytus brings against the acts of
Pope Cal listus during his government of th e see of Rome
are specially important and interesting to the Church
historian ; for they as it has been said give many particulars , ,

respecting the inner l ife of the Christian Church in the rst

years of the third century .

Within the same decade as Hippolytus i e the closing years ,

. .

o f the second and the opening years o f the third centuries the ,

brilli ant and eloquent Tertullian at great length and with ,

much detail in his A pol ogy and in various other treatises

and studies covers much of the same ground and makes

,

very similar charges against the current Church policy of the

age Tertullian s pictures to which we shall presently revert
.

, ,

m
are drawn from Christian life in Carthage and the wealthy
and populous pro consulate o f North A frica Hippo lytus o f -
.
,

course founds his strictures on the government and manage ent

,

of the Christian Church in his age and time on his o wn ,

he e hi sto i c l sl ab s carefully rep aired h av e b een eplaced on th e w all s of

T

m
s r a r
, ,

th e Pap l C ypt

m
a r .

f H ippolyt u s w ho se b ody w s al so b ou g ht b ck to R o e w ith th at of

m m
'

,
a r a

P onti n u s w as b u i d w e h av e en in an oth e ce et e y on th e T ib u rti n e Way

m
a , r e as se r r ,
, ,

on th e sa e d y th t P o nti anu s al so B i shop of R o

a a e w as l aid in th e Pap al C ypt
, ,
r

of th e ce et y of Call istu
er s .
3 04 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

personal experiences of the great Christian community at Rome

and in the immediate neighbourhood of the Imperial city .

O ne o f the leading accusations of Hippo lytus charged the

Bishop of Rome Callistu s with being the rst who had
, ,

publicly proclaimed the principle of the possibility of the

Church granting absolution of a l l sins even of the gravest ,

character The arrangements which Cal l istus had made on

.

the subj ect of absolution were evidently not transitory but

lasting as Hippolytus s peaks of them as still in force cir ca
,

23 0 some seven years after the Bishop s death

A D
. .
, .

The ques tion of a reconciliation of sinners with the Church

had already been mooted in the Roman community ; the pre
decessor of Call istus Pope Zephyrinus having mitigated the
, ,

original strict pe nance discipline by declaring that even those

wh o had been guilty of the grave sins o f adultery and idolatry
might again be admitt e d to communion after performing
public penance It appears that a further movement in the
.

direction of leniency took place after the D ecian persecution ,

cir ca A D 24 9 and the principle of not shutting ou t from

. .
,

communion for ever those who had lapsed in the days o f

trial was admitted .

From letters written from Rome to Cyprian of Carthage ,

ci r ca A D 25 0 we nd that the severe di scipline o f earlier

. .
,

days h ad been considerably modied in accordance with the ,

policy so hateful to Hippolyt us and Tertullian and the school

o f the Rigorists Callistu s however and in a measure his
.
, ,

predecessor and friend Pope Zephyrinus were probably the , ,

rst who publ icly urged this ; the principle which was
eventually endorsed by Cyprian was rst formally recognised
at Rome and a hope of re admission to the Church was held
,
-

o u t even to thos e who had sinned most grievously .

But even before Callistus and the Roman community

publ icly afrmed the Church s willingness to receive back

into her fol d grievous sinners if they repented this mi lder ,

discipline had foun d advocates ; for we nd D ionysius of

Corinth cir ca A D 1 6 9 writing to Christian communities in
,
. .
,

Pontus urging that all who had in any way been regarded as
,

heretical or had committed any crime whatever o ught to

, ,
 I NNE R L IF E OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 05

be received again into the fold if they turned again to the

Church thus gravely condem nin g the idea o f perpetual
,

excommunication .

In this as in other matters as we shall see Callistus and , ,

the Roman Church adopted a liberal and g enerous pol icy ,

bu t one which was by no means universally foll owed ; since

from the canons of the Counci l o f Elvira ( I ll ib eris) a very ,

importan t assembly held scarcely eighty years after Call istus

death we see that the Spanish Church still held to the

,
*

principle of perpetual excommunication in the case of certain

grievous sins .

Hippolytus further charges Call istus with sanctioning the

m
ordination of men who had been married twice or thrice to
the higher ranks among the clergy incl uding here bishops , ,

priests and deacons The words o f S Paul in 1 Ti iii 2 1 2

,
. . . .
,

and Titus i 6 have been in all ages variously understood

.
, .

O rigen however cir ca A D 23 0 writes that it was the rule

, ,
. .
,

that a bishop a presbyter and a deacon ( and he adds a widow

, , ,

referring of course to the office bearing widows of 1 Tim v
, , . .

3 1 0 should not when ordained have married a second time

) , , .

m
Tertulli an s express reference to the custom in the same period

tells us that this was generally the ecclesia stical rule But .

Tertull ian s words that exceptions had been

it is clear fro
not infrequently made especially in cases where the second ,

marriage had been concluded before baptism .

D r D olli nger ( H ipp ol y tu s a n d Ca ll ista s chap

. in , .

the course of a lengthy dissertation on the disputed question ,

weightily remarks with reference to these charges brought

by Hippolytus and Tertul lian against the practice of the
Catholic Church of the time that the difference was evidently

m
,

made between second marriages contracted before and after

baptism and that several were ade bishops in spite o f the
,

doubl e marriages b ecause it was thought their stain might be ,

overlooked as something belonging to the heathen period of

their life This concession was not however recognised by
.
, ,

stricter teachers like Hippolytus and Tertullian the latter of ,

Th e e x t d t f thi Coun il
ac a e o s c is di sp ut ed . T h t a usua lly gi ven is 3 023 ;
b ut th e t r ue d t i p ob b ly a f w y
a e s r a e ear s ea li e r r .

U
3 06 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM

.

whom asks contemptuously : Being a digamist dost tho u

baptise ? Being a digamist dost thou make the o ffering ?
(De E x h or ta ti on e Ca sti ta ti s ,

But the dispute concerning the propriety o f second mar

riages for the clergy as time went on ,
was submerge d in the ,

far more important and hotl y contested question Was marriage ,

at all to be sanctioned for the cl ergy of the Catholic Church ?

O utside the recognised paramount importance of the need
o f guarding pure and unadulterated the great fundamental
doctrines o f Christianity the necessity o r the non necessity of
,
-

insisting on the celibacy of the clergy has perhaps exercised

the minds of practical theologians more than any other question
in the general administration of the Church From the early .

years of the third cent ury down to o ur o wn day and time the
, ,

question has agitated and disturbed the Church Since the .

period of the Reformation the Western Church has been

formally divided on the question In the Roman Communion .

the decision of the Council of Trent forbidding sternly a ll

clerical marriages is accepted In the Protestant communities .

absolute freedom on the point is conceded A mong the last .

named there is besides no rule written or implied existing

, , , ,

on the subj ect of digamy in the case o f the clergy .

Hippolytus the subj ect of o ur present study was the rst

, ,

( Tertu ll ian probab l y writing a very few years later ) who for
mally inveighed against th e principle of clerical marriages .

His words are ver y strong Callistus

m
he says ordered

m
.
, ,

that if a cleric marrie d he was to remain among the clergy ,

ju st a s if h e h a d co itted n o aen ce D uring the previous .

century and a half nothing formal apparentl y was taught

on this subj ect What little is said in the New Testament
.

distinctly recognises marriage as honourable and legal for all

Christians without distinction for the o fce bearer in the ,
-

Church as well as for the ordinary layman A l one in that .

mystic passage in the A pocalypse ( Rev xiv 4) does any hint . .

appear that a higher exce l lence in the case of celibates was

recognised in the courts of heaven

m
.

In the earl y Christian writings very little respecting mar

ria e appears and when any reference is made it is si ply to
g ,
 m
m
INNE R L FE I OF TH E CH UR CH . 307

repeat the New Testament advice ( as Hermas Co iv ,

. .
,

or to warn men not to boast of any such austere way o f

life an d thus to exalt themselves above others (see Ignatius in
his letter to Polycarp C ,
.

A gain we have in very early times some distinct mentions

o f bishops and presbyters who were married e g by Polycarp ,
.

( early second century ) by Cyprian ( rst h alf o f second ,

century) by Eusebius quoting from what happened in the

, ,

D ecian persecution ( rst half of the third century ) and in ,

the D ioc l etian persecu tion ( some half century later) Clement .

o f A lexandria besides speaks of Peter and Philip the A postles , ,

*
as married There is however no doubt that very soon
.
, ,

an exaggerated esteem for the celibacy of the clergy made

its appearance in the Church This undue reverence for .

the unmarried state can be largely traced to the teaching

o f the Gnostics in the second century and somewhat later ,

to the doctrines of the Montanists Various decrees of early .

Councils opposed or attempted to mitigate these ascetic

innovations O f these the action of the Council of Nice
.
, ,

A D
. .3 25 is the most memorable
, But in Spi te of these .

attempts to relieve the clergy o f the heavy burden which

the sterner and more ascetic teachers such as Hippolytus ,

and Tertu l lian insisted upon imposing upon their brethren

, ,

the principle of clerical celibacy in the \ Vestern Church

steadily gained ground A gain and again in all countries .

in the Wes t ecclesiastical history is never weary of calling

attention to the frequent revolts and numberless evasions
on the part o f the clergy who would not submit to the
harsh law of the Church ; but revolt and evasion though ,

repeated a hundred times were of no avail The responsible ,

'
.

heads of the Church with scarcely an exception followe d

, ,

the lead o f Hippolytus and Tertul li an ; to this long li ne of

noted Church leaders all through the Christian centuries
the principle of clerical celibacy was the keystone o f the

Church s inuence and power The ecclesiastical o r as it .
, ,

m m
was more generally termed the sacerdotal order must know

m
, ,

B ing h Ch A ni ta
a B ook I V Ch p V S c 4 nd 5 enu e t
, r .
,
.
,
a . .
, e s . a ,
ra es

v ious ex pl es and g iv th e ef en e
ar a es r er c s .
 3 08 E ARL Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND P A GA NI S I II .

n either nation nor fami ly I t must be separated from all .

common human sympathies interests affec tions It must , , .

o w n no ties or ob l igations save those of th e Catholic Church .

It was a grand even a magnicent conception but to those

, , ,

who look on the work of the Catho l ic Church from a different

standpoint it was a conception erroneous and mi sleading .

Towards the end of the el eventh century in the course o f ,

the great revival of re ligion which belonged to that period ,

the principle of c l erical c el ibacy was most p ositively enforced

under the authority o f the famous Hil debrand ( Pope
Gregory and from tha t time until the Reformation of
the sixteenth century was sternly and rigi dl y required al l ,

through the Western Churches In the East this principle .

o f clerical celibacy was never presse d with the same in exib l e

ri gour and to this day while forbid ding marriage to her

, ,

bishops her changel ess Church allows her presbyters to

,

*
marry .

A nother of Pope Callis tus actions in the matter o f Church

discipline which had far reaching consequenc es was strange ly

,
-
,

enough vehemently complain ed of and opposed by Hi ppolytus .

The l aws of the Roman Empire it is well k nown , p l aced an ,

insurmountable barrier between freemen and s l aves and the ,

marriage laws whic h forbad any legal union between a free

woman and a s l ave were very stringent S u ch marriages .
,

already forbidden by the Ju l ian and Papian l aw were dec l ared ,

null and void by the Emperors Marcus and Commodus .

Now Callistu s granted ecc lesiastical sanction to such unions

in the case of believers Hippolytus argued that su ch Church .

sanction that such a g ranting of the Church s b l essing to

m
,

m m
H ippolyt u
I n thi s ily b i ef k et ch f an al l i po t nt p i n cipl e of w hi ch
w as p e h p s th
n ecessar r s

st o f i al ex ponent w e h v e n ot ention d
o - r a r ,

m
m
mm
s r a e r c a e
,

M n ti i w h i ch in th e W t did n t ak e its pp a n ce f o th n
m
o as c s es o a e ra or re a
,

a cent u y an d a q u t e afte H ippolyt u h ad p ssed way b i ng so ewh at

m
r ar r r s a a ,
e

ea li e in its d v elop en t in th e E t B ut it w th e t hin g f Mon ti i

m
r r e as . as ea c o as c s ,

w hi h as ti e w en t o n w s g d u lly w o u g ht i n to th e g ne l feelin g l ay

m m
c a ra a r e ra ,

an d cl i c l th t nd e d po ib le th e enfo en t f th e st n l w f celi b acy

m mmmmm
er a , a re re ss rce o er a o

u po n ll th e o f i l an d e po n si b l
a c a i ni t e of li g ion Mo n a ti ci
r s e t s rs re . s s ,
i

u st b e b e ed ad itt ed l o t to its ful l x t ent th e M n i h ean t enet

m
e e r r a s e a c
,

( th e hild
c f G n o stioci s ) of th e i nn t i n ful n e o f al l sex u al in t e co ur se
a e s s ss r a

p a taki ng of th e in ting ni h b l i p u ity f M tt

r ex s a c r o a er .
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 09

unequal marriages was eq uivalent to an invitation to nu

,

chas tit y It is di fcult to understand by what reasoning

.

*
the great ascetic teacher came to suc h a concl usion Its .

e ffect really was in some measure to break down the wall s

which exis ted between slaves and free persons in the Empire .

Henceforth in the Roman Empire there existed a vast society

in whose ever increasing ranks freemen and sl aves were to
-

be equals In the society of the Christian Church the highest

.

ecclesiastical ofces were now and again conferred upon slaves

and fr eed men as was the case with Callistus himself
-
,
.

It seem s from Hippo lytus language that Pope Calli stus

was the rst certainly the rst among Roman bishops who
, ,

ruled that the Church s blessing might be given to these

marriages between the two classes of s l aves and free The .

moment when this great movement in the direction of the

overthrow o f slavery was adopted by the Church was the ,

time of quietness which set in after Severus death when

m
,

for a considerable period the Church was comparatively free

fro persecution That such a startling innovation upon
.

the ancient marriage customs of the Empire was considered

desirable and practical by the rulers o f the Church is a
striking testimony to the rapid progress of the new religion
in all ranks o f Roman society .

It is from Hippo lytus writings that we derive our know

l edge o f the earliest developments of the Sabellian and Patri

assian heres y a heres which gre w up at a very ear l y date
p y ,

in the heart o f the Catholic Church In some of the writings .

o f the earliest Fathers notably in Ignatius we come upon

, ,

expressions dealing with the Persons o f the ever blesse d

Trinit y which wou l d scarcely have been used in the c l ear
cut denitions o f the theology of the next century the age ,

of Councils by men like A thanasius Some of these expres

, .

sions were probably in the rst instance unduly pressed and

, , ,

hence the strange views which were developed into what is

termed Sabellian or Patripassian teaching .

in th e
It
i n d uce m
is
u nio n

ent to set
ss

n d n o l eg iti
a m
po ib l e that h e fea ed th t W he e th e St t e eco gni sed n o validity
a
r

cy in th e o ff p i n g
a

t n u ght th e e ccl esi asti c l b o n d

a a
,
r

th e e w ould b e a p e p etu l
s r

a
,

.
a

r
r

r a
 m
31 0 E A RL Y CH R S T A I I NITY A ND PA GA NIS M .

This Widespread for o f erroneous doctrine arose in the

l ast years o f the second century Its rst public teacher was .

N o tus o f Smyrna A disciple of his one Epigonus brought

.
, ,

the doctrine of No etus to Rome in the ponticate o f Victor ,

1 9 2 202 A longside o f Epigon us Prax eas another able

m
A D
. .
-
.
, ,

teacher of the same school worked for a time in the metrop olis ,
.

When Zephyrinus was Pope A D 202 1 8 Cl eo enes the

m
. .
, , ,

disciple of Epigonus was looked upon as the chief of this ,

school o f thought in Rome ; with Cleo enes the famous

Sab ell iu s was associated This last gave his name to the sect .

o f Sabellians or Patripassians as they came to be called

, .

S ab ell ius was by birth a Libyan o f the Pentapolis who had ,

taken up his abode in Rome Hippoly tus gives us a clear .

description of his curious doctrine E piph anius who died .

,

A D
. . 4 03 and Th eo do ret wh o died A D 4 5 6 both of whom
, ,
. .
,

also discuss it evidentl y main ly derived their knowledge of

,

this heresy from the great Roman theologian o f whom we

are speaking The teaching o f this heretical school was as
.

follows
The one supreme God is originally or in so far as He is

,

called Father invisible passionless immortal uncreate ; but

, , , ,

o n the other side as Son by His o wn will and free sel f

, ,

limitation He became man was born o f the Virgin suffered

m
, , ,

and died and accordingly is called Son only for a certain

,

ti e and only in reference to that which He experienced upon

earth The Son or Christ is therefore the Father veiled in
.
, ,

the esh and we must certainly say that it was the Father
,

H imself who became Man and su ffered 96 .

Hippolytus was an uncompromising opponent of this

Sabellian teaching and his fervid refutation led him into some
,

extreme and somewhat exaggerated statements whic h enabled

his enemies who were many to accuse him o f being ditheistic ;
, ,

that is o f teaching erroneously that al ongside God there was

a second God broug h t into existence v iz the Logos or Son ,
. .

I t was real ly a base l ess charge but the rancour of theol ogical ,

disputes even at that early date led men to se e k o u t and

, ,

m

to nd heresy even in the doctrine of the Church s noblest
Co p e D elli ng H ipp ly t
ar nd C ll i t Ch p I V S c 1
er, o us a a s a s, a . .
,
e . .
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 31 1

teachers A nd indeed Hippolytus courted such accusations

.
, ,

by the bitterness with which he persistently attacked Popes

Zephyrinus and Call istus whom he charged if not with sharing , , ,

at least with sympathi sing with the errors o f Sab ellius .

But Pope Callistus we know excommunicated Sab ellius

as a teacher o f false doctrine There is no doub t that in .

these early disputes the Catholic Church was on the side o f

Cal l istu s and that his teaching and denitions o n the subj ect
,

o f the D ivine Personality of Christ in preference to what was ,

advanced by Hippolytus were main tained in the inuential ,

Roman communities Indeed from Hippoly tus own work it .

,

seems that the teachin g o f Callistus on this abstruse subj ect

avoided two errors that of S ab ellius on the one side who
, ,

confuses the Father with the Son and the exaggerated ex ,

pressions of Hippolytus on the other who while combating ,

the heresy o f Sab elli us occasionally seems to suggest separa

tion of the Logos from God It will be useful however in .
, ,

this little account of an early theological dispute in the

Catholic Church to see what was the doctrine taught by
,

Popes Zephyrinus and Call istus which we maintain was the ,

doctrine of the Catholic Church in the rst half of the third

century on the subj ect of the D ivine Personal ity of the second
,

Person of the Trinity Zephyrinus advised by Call istus came .

, ,

publi c ly before the congregation and made this confession of

faith I k now bu t one G od Jesus Christ and besides Him
,

, ,

I know no one that was born and has su ffered A bout fty .

years later the confession of Pionius and the martyrs o f

Smyr na in the D ecian persecution ( cir ca A D 25 0) was to . .

the same effect We wil l give the words of these famous

.

confessors from the A cts o f their martyrdom * Pionius .

and his companions being asked Whom do you worship as ,

God ? rep l ied The omnipotent Go d who made heaven and
,

earth an d all that they contain whom we know through

, ,

His Word Jesus C h rist Then when A sclepiades one of .
,

Pioniu s companions was interrogated

Whom do you worship

m m
, ,

t
m
y n and his co p n ion s i

Th e of Pioniu s o f S
Ac s D 25 0 is r a, a ,
c rca A . .
,

co n sid ered an hi sto i cal do cu en t of th e hi g h est v al ue

r
(So B i shop L i g ht foot n d . a

Al l a d )
r .
31 2 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M
.

as God ? he answere d Christ The j udge then said ,

.
,

What then is that anothe r ?

, ,
No sai d A sclepiades It
, ,

is the same whom they ( his companions ) had confessed a

littl e whi le before When they were interrogated again at
.

the altar o f the h eathen d eities and again confessed that they
believed in the God who made the world the j udges asked , ,

A re you speaking o f Him who was crucie d ? Pio niu s

replied I speak of Him whom the Father sent for the salva
,

tion of the worl d .

It was thus that the Church of Rome which to use ,

D ollinger s words
by its superior gran deur antiquity and
,

, ,

dignity formed the centre of the whole Christian world to ,

which all dir ec ted their eyes with which al l hel d com ,

munion and intercourse without however asserting * any , , ,

special claim to enforce obedience from other Churches slowly ,

formulated the great doctrinal denitions of the D ivine

Personal ity of Christ which in the next century the age o f , ,

great councils were expressed in the great Catholic creeds

,

and expounded in treatises by Cathol ic theologians such as

A thanasius .

To sum up Hippolytus the learned Roman theologian

, , ,

in the rst instance argued against and combated the ,

Sabellian errors In his zeal to r efute what was undoubte dly

.

fa l se teaching he went into the other extreme an d the Popes ,

Zephyrinus and Call istus viewing his denitions as dangerous , ,

corrected them ; and their exposition of the doctrines of the

m
D ivine Personality of the Son adopted by the Roman Church , ,

was virtual ly i dentical with the language used b v prominent

artyrs of the Faith such as Pionius of Smyrna and his ,

companions about fty years later .

The comparative reticence we have before noticed in early

Christian theology in the matter o f the D ivine Personal ity of
the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity is very marked in
the works o f Hippolytus This great scholar and divine who .
,

taught in Rome roughl y from A D 1 9 0 23 0 gives to this . .

,

m
article of faith exactly the same kind o f testimony as did
Th e a m
hau ghty cl i o f Steph n B i hop of R o e to a g ene al sup e cy in
,

h is co nt ov sy w ith Cyp i n of Ca th ag e w s advan ced b o u t h al f a centu y l t

r er r a r
s

,
a
m
,

a
r re

r
a

a er .
 INNE R I
L FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 313

the yet earlier Christian writers They bear witness to its .

truth but at the same time they dwell but littl e upon it
,
.

Now Hippo lytus has been charged by students of his earlier

long known writings with ascribing no Personality to the Holy
-

Spirit ; and the newly discovered great work we have been

speaking of apparently bears ou t this contention for no ,

mention of the Ho ly S pirit occurs in the summary of doctrine

in his Tenth Book Still that Hippolytus did hold and
.

teach the D ivine Personality of the Third Person is clear

from a passage in his treatise against N o tus o f Smyrna o ne ,

o f the reputed foun ders of the Patripassian heresy These .

words are clear and most denite and run as follows : By ,

means of the incarnate Logos we recognise the Father we ,

believe in the Son and we adore the Holy Ghost
,
A nd .

again he writes : The Father has put al l things under

Christ excepting Himself and the Holy Spirit
, .

SE CT O I N I L CA RTH A GE : TE RTU L L I A N .

T H A N K S to the discovery o f the writing of Hippolytus we ,

have learned mu ch of the inner life and activities o f the

Church in the Metropolis of the Empire cir ca A D 200 225 . . . .

We possess for the same time ample testimony to the inuence

and work o f Christianity in another part o f the Empire in
the teaching of a powerful Christian writer of the great
province of pro consular A frica -
.

A t this period internal dissensions and controversies similar ,

to those which as we have l earned from Hippolytus were then

, ,

agitating the congregations of Rome and central Italy were also ,

disturbing the peace of the Carthaginian and North A frican

communities .

There were evidently in the teeming busy Christian life ,

of the early years of the third century two parties ercely

contending fo r their own special views of government o f ,

organisation and o f discipline Rome and Carthage those

,
-
,

great centres o f population being no doubt representative

,

Churches What was goin g on in these capitals of Italy and

.

North A frica on a smal ler scale was going on in Lyons and

,
314 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NIS M '
.

E phesus in A ntioch
,
and
We will here speak in A lexandria .

some detail o f Tertullians evidence no t only ample and

varied but provided by a great scholar and a conspicuously

,

earnest and able man When we have summarised some o f

.

his testimony we will endeavour to show how it came about

that these grave disputes on Christian disciplin e and organisa
tion arose at this particular j uncture .

Tertul l ian has been accurately described as the contem

orary o f Hippolytus Born somewhere about the mi dd l e
p .

o f the second century in North A frica in his early years ,

he was trained as a Pagan and for some time appears to ,

h a ve been active and even conspicuous as a j urist at Rome .

The date of his conversion to Christianity is uncertain But .

it seems probable that the turning point in his career can

him
be dated between A D 1 9 0 and 1 9 5 . In A D 1 9 7 we nd
.

settl ed at Carthage where he became a presbyter of,

the Church His l itera ry activity as a Christian writer and

.
. . .

teacher lay mainly between A D 1 9 7 and A D 23 0 or there . . . .

abouts In A D 2023 he became persuaded that the Mon

. . .

tanistic preaching in Phrygia was the work o f Go d and from ,

this date more or less his teaching and writings were coloured
wi th some of the Montanistic errors His strong bias in .

favour of an extreme asceticism to be observed by earnest

Christians no doubt largely inuenced his subsequent ad
v o cac
y of those Montanistic doctrines whose austerity was
their central feature .

He was a writer o f rare originali ty and genius a keen ,

observer a vivid word painter but often passionate and

,
-
,

exaggerated in his exhortations and rebukes He ranks .

among Christian schol ars as a profound scholar and thinker ,

an indefatigable and laborious student gifted with splen di d ,

eloquence and intense earnestness It may well be conceived .

that in spite of his grave errors and mistakes his in uence

, ,

upon the Church life o f his day and time was enormous .

His style has been picturesquel y describe d and with some ,

j ustice as D ark and resp l endent as ebony ; and in some
,

respects it is added his life and work had something in
, ,

common with that o f the A postle S Paul . .
 INNE R I
L FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 15

Eviden tly the same feeling was working in Tertullian at

Carthage as actuated Hippolytus in Rome ; a persuasion that
the Church in the persons of its responsible leaders had left
its rst love and was sanctioning a more lax and easy way
,

of living than had been set forth as the pattern life by the

A postles and the teachers o f the rst hundred years o f the

existence of Christianity as a religion and a life .

Many o f the very same innovations in discipline and

conduct which Hippolytus tells u s had been introduced in
the course o f the pon ti cate of Zephyrinus at Rome under
the inuence of his adviser Callistus we nd more or less ,

dwelt upon only with increased elaboration of detail by the

, ,

Carthaginian teacher .

But it is the hard and austere way of life which Tertulli an

and his school prescribed as the only way which a Christian
ought to tread which especially calls for mention here The .

aspect of Christian society was very differen t when Tertulli an

and Hippolytus taught to what it had been a hundred years
before when Ignatius lived and suffered when a Polycarp ,

ruled the Church in Smyrna and an Iren aeus as a young ,

man li stened to his words .

The C hr istian c ommunities in important cities were no

longer largely made up o f the poor or small traders of ,

freed men and o f slaves with a sprinkling o f the nobi l ity

-
, ,

and with perhaps here and there a wealthy patrician and a

senator Such humble folk could we l l busy themselves in
.

their modest avocations could live as it were in retirement

, ,

could separate themselves from public rej oicings in which

idolatrous ceremonies were largel y mixed up could keep ,

aloof from municipal and public affairs But as the second .

century wore on the communities began to inc l ude in their

ro ll of members all sorts and conditions of men from the ,

lowest to the highest Tertullian s own memorable statement

.

al r ea dy quoted was no mere piece of rhetoric but told a

, ,

plain fact . \Ve ( Christians) ll the cities the houses the , ,

fortresses the Senate and the Forum the palace of ,

the Prince we are found among the municipalities among the

, ,

civil servants of the State in th e very camps of the armies

, .

3 16 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA G A NIS M .

New ideals must surely be set forth new rules for the ,

Christian life a di fferent code of restrictions must be laid

,
.

down for such a wi de spread society as that wh ich Tertull ian

,
-

so vividly portrayed What were all these Chris tians to do

.

amidst such environments ? How were they to con duct

themselves in the Senate in the palace of the C aesars in the
Forum where laws were administered in the unicipal councils
where the affairs of the City were discussed and arranged ?
,

,
m ,

It was especially in all public and municipal business so ,

l argely and general ly shared in by the Romans of the Empire

in the provincial cities as well as in the metropolis that these ,

dicul t questions came painfull y to the front It was in .

all the acts of o f cial life that the Christian was so sorely
tried The old Roman religion was apparently inextricably
.

mixed up with public business and Roman religion of course ,

meant idolatry The magistrates were perpetually bound to

.

o ffer sacrices to invoke the aid of the invisible gods to be

, ,

present at ceremonies in which the worship of the genius

m
o f the Emperor and one or other o f the national deities
for ed a regular and necessary part o f the ceremonial A nd
the revival of Paganism under the Empire dating from the ,
.

days o f the great A ugustus accentuated this idol worship ,

-
,

this perpetual association o f religious ceremonies with all sta te

and ofcial proceedings In the second century Christians
.

largely stood al oof for these reasons from al l public du ties

and all public services .

We have seen al ready h ow conspicuously loyal to the

Emperor and the Government we r e the fo l l owers of Jes u s .

By word and act they were the most ob e dient the most ,

su b miss ive of subj ects They pray ed constantly for the

.

C aesar in the closet as in their assem b lies for divine worship ;

,

they obeyed withou t murmur the regulations and ordinances

of his government They were never numbere d among the
.

frequent turb ul ent disturbers of the established ru le ; indeed

they regarded th e maj esty of the Empire as the surest
earthly guarantee of pub l ic peace and security In the .

frequent revolts in the provinces no Christian ever took

part . A mong the follo wers of the various pretenders to
 m
INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 17

Imperial rank who fro time to time arose in di fferen t

parts o f th e E mpire no Christi an was ever found .

In the authentic p r ocs v er b a u x o f the trials of accused

Christians in the A cts and Passions of the Martyrs which
,

are accepted as genuine and undoubted pieces very rarel y ,

if ever is a disloyal word reported to have been u ttere d by

the Christian sufferers in the course o f th e harsh and often
cruel interrogatory O n ly one charge which s eemed to touch
.

the fringe o f disloyalty to the State cou l d not b e answered .

T h ere is no doubt b u t that the fo ll owers of Jesus o f Nazareth

for a considerable period shrank from any sharing in public
duties Imperial and municipal This abstention was a wel l
,
.

kno wn accus ation often thrown in the teeth of the Christian

Romans a nd o ne tha t could not be easily refuted
,
They .

were r eproached with being a u seless folk taking no part ,

How could they as

m
nor share in any pub l ic business .

such a sharing invo lved idolatry in a hundred forms ! I t

was a common ter used for them the useless folk an ,

,

ingenious play upon t h eir name of Christian ciXpna r o z ( A ch restoi)

'
.

or the Useless O nes .

A nd as time went o n the grave difculty increased with

their numbers and the higher social position of the converts

m
.
,

A s the third century dawned a climax was reached and the ,

chiefs of the Christian sect had to face and to solve a for id

able problem .

Two parties seemed to have been formed eac h adopting ,

a d ifferent policy the o ne endeavouring to make it easier

,

fo r the fo l lo wer o f Jesus to bear his part in the ordi nary

life o f a citizen the other uncompromising stern harsh
, , , ,

refusing to make any allowances rigidly rej ecting any i dea ,

of compromise Men like Zephyrinus the Bishop o f Rome

.
, ,

A D 202 21 9
. . and Cal l istus his minister and s ubsequently his
, ,

successor A D 21 9 223 seem to have represented the party

, . .
,

o f moderation an d compromise Hippoly tus of Rome and .

Tertullian of Carthage are types of the more stern and unbending

teachers who pressed upon Christians the duty of a complete
,

and total separation from the ways and pursuits of ordinary

public and civic life .
318 E A RL Y CH R IS TIANI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

We have Spoken Hippolytusof From Tertullian how .

,

ever we can gather still more of the teaching of these

,

uncompromising and in many respects unpractical Christians .

He deal s with wel l nigh all classes of citizens and their o ccu
-

p ations dwel
,
l ing with some detail upon arts and crafts .

Especially in his treatise on Idolatry he naturall y inveighs

,

against the artists who fashioned the idols But in his .

invective he travels beyond the mere fabrication of the

images directly designed for worship in the temples and
shrines and condemns all the ornaments and adornments
,

intended for the houses of the rich if in any way they were ,

connected with the stories and le g ends of the gods The .

artists and architects the very workmen in their service are

, ,

all included in his s weeping condemnation No true Christian .

could be included in their numerous class for fear lest any of ,

their handiwork shou l d be connected with subj ects bearing

upon the popular idolatrous mythology of the Empire Bu t .

the stern purist no t content with his charge to avoid the

,

popular arts and crafts condemns all commerce all trading

, , ,

based as he conceived it to be upon greed and covetousness .

He goes further still in his rigorous catalogue of unl awful

ways of life The ofce of a teacher in a public s chool is
.

one that no Christian ought to hold Such a teacher in the .

course of his instruction will be compelled to expound to

the young the fables of the gods of Rome the attributes o f the ,

deities their genealogies and their supposed powers Curiously

, ,
.

enough in another writing he suffers the young to frequent

these public schools though he forbids the Christian to take
,

any part in the instruction supplied there .

O n the question of amusements he is most severe The .

passion of the Roman of the Empire for games is well known .

The theatre the circus the gl adiatorial games entered into

, , ,

the life of all classes and orders No fol l ower of Jesus must
.

be seen at any such exhibition A ll are alike forbidden

. .

In the tract De Sp ecta cu lis he tells with great force the

story of an exorcist commanding an unclean spirit to quit
the body of a believer and asking the demon how he dared
,

enter into the body of a servant of Go d The evil spirit .

 INNE R I
L FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 31 9

replied I found the servant of God in my o wn home i e
,

, . .

in the theatre .

A yet graver point was decided by this representative

teacher of the purist Christian school of the early years
o f the third century He discusses whether it were possible
.

for a Christian man to undertake any public function or

o f ce connected with the S tate and replies : Y es it would ,

,

be possible to accep t a magistracy if this could be done

without offering sacrices or having anythin g to do with the
,

temples of the gods ; such a position might be accepted if it

did not besides involve condemning accused citizens to prison

and to torture O n the whole Ter tull ian emphatically decided
.

against the possibil ity of a true Christian assuming the responsi

b il ities of a public functionary * .

A mong the stern precepts put ou t by the extreme school ,

of which we are speaking among these forbidden ways of ,

life so eloquently denounced by the great master Tertullian ,

it will be especially interesting to see what he says of the

soldier s career Could a Christian serve in the army of which

.

Rome was so proud whose splendid successes had won her

,

the sovereignty o f the larges t part of the then known worl d ,

whose discipline and courage continued to expand and protect

her enormous frontiers ? Here again Tertullian s warning , ,

words addressed to that inuential section of the Church of

which he was the m ost distinguished teacher incidentally tell ,

us h ow widespread was the Christian sec t at the beginning

m
o f the third century The Roman army cir ca A D 200 was
.
,
. .
,

full of Christians We are of yesterday and we have lled

,

,

m
your camps A long with you we ght ( A p ol

. .

37 , The opening section of the fa ous treatise D c

Co / i d incidentally implies how very numerous were the
r

Christian so l diers serving in the third or A ugustan Legion .

Were all these Christian soldiers of Rome in the wrong ?

Was military duty incompatible with the Christian profession ?
Tertu ll ian decides that such a way of life was wrong for a

p ub l i a
c
Th m
m
Th e e is n othin g that can b e conceiv ed
r
r

m
i s is w ell su ed up in hi s w o d s N ob i s null a es ag i s aliena qua m
o e ali en to a Ch isti an than r
r

r
. m
b eing involv ed in p ub li c du ti es Ap l g i 3 8 o o a, .
3 20 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NI S M .

Christian ; bu t his words here are less violent than the ex

pressions he uses when he inv e ighs against other pursuits .

which he considered were unlawful for the followers o f Jesus .

Shal l it he says be held lawful to make an occupation

, ,

of the swor d when the Lord proclaimed that he who uses

,

the sword shall perish by the sword ? A n d shall the son of

peace take part in the battle when it does not become him

even to sue at law ? ( De Cor on et ,

Bu t h ere again the opinion of the Catholic Church was

against the rigorous school whose opin ions Tertull ian voiced .

A s a whol e the Church of the third century leaned upon the

temperate words o f John the Baptist speaking to the soldiers ,

o f Rome ( S Luke iii .I t referred to the favourable

.

m
j udgment passed upon the centurions o f the great army ( S .

Luke vii 1 1 0 and A cts C h apter

.
, ,
and it remembered ,

the general kindly entions o f soldiers in the Gospel s and

A cts and so never discouraged Christian men from foll owing the
,

standards of the Empire .

In times o f persecution Tertullian expresses very strongly

what in the eyes o f his sch ool was the duty of Christians
anything like evasion conceal ment or ight he considered
,

argued culpable weakn ess Bu t on the other hand the policy .

, ,

o f the Church largely discouraged everything which cou l d be

construed as bravado or useless exposure on the part o f

,

believers Indeed in certain cases money was given by in

.
,

div iduals to the police authorities with a view of staying per

m
secu tions Such acts were most strongly deprecated and con
.

de ned by Tertull ian s school to whom indeed martyrdom

was rather to be courted than shunned

.
, ,

Thus complete separation on the part of the Christian

communities was urgently pressed by the extreme schoo l of
Christian thought To carry into effect their rigorous precepts
.

everything must be given up ; if necessary poverty must be ,

accepte d rank and position forfeited Even the customary

, .

pub lic courtesies must be abandoned ; when for instance a , ,

m
frontier victory of the Emperor and the army in o ne of the ,

perpetual wars which were being waged by the Empire was ,

announced in Ho e or in a provincial city it was the custom ,

 INNE R L I FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 21

to illuminate and to adorn the houses with owers No Chris .

tian must share in this seemingly innocent courtesy to the

Sovereign and his legionaries for such simple rej oicings would ,

seem to imply a homage to the gods o f Rome Thus the gulf .

between the Christian subj ect o f Rome and the ordinary

citizen would be constantly widened and the ill feeling with ,
-

which the votaries of the re ligion of Jesus were generally

regarded among the populace would be constantl y deepened .

Counsels of moderation such as S Paul gave in such ,

.

writings as 1 Cor vii i were explained a way Examples such

.
,
.

as D aniel and Joseph in the O ld Testam ent histor y who lived ,

without giving offence in a court where idol rites formed part -

of the State ceremonies were set aside The separation must ,

.

m
be complete .

In the family life in public life in trade and commerce , , ,

no odi ts v i v cn di was possible in the eyes of this stern and

rigorous school which asserted itself so powerfully in the
,

early years of the third century Fast wrote the great .

,

rhetorician in his ery zeal because fasting will train your ,

body for martyrdom your skin wil l be strengthened to bear ,

the iron nails ; when your b lood is well nigh exhausted you -

will bleed the less beneath the scourge D read so he .

,

apostrophised the Christian women marriage and maternity ; ,

how will children prot you s ince you must leave them as ,

you go to the executioner since their longing and your pra y er ,

must be that God should take them soon to Himself ? A nd
again A ccustom your limbs rather to fetters than to brace
,

lets of gold : on that neck of yours now encircled with chains

of pearls and emeralds leave a spot where the sword of the ,

lictor can fall The age for Christians is no golden age

. .

The robes which the angels are bringing you remember are , ,

the robes of Life in the eyes of these grave ,

m
ascetic teachers was coloured by the thought o f a bitter per
,

secu tion ever close at hand A nd persecution to these zealots .

see ed al ways to be desired rather than to be dreaded

mmm m m m
.

hm
See th e treati ses of T ertu lli an , Dc c z is, 1 2 ; an d A d Uxore , 1 , 5 ; De
Cal Fe ina ru ,
11, 13 . I nthese qu otations th e p a phrase
ra of C p ya ag n ( L es
A ntonius, v iii .
) h as b een ai nly follo w e d .

V
3 22 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

But wiser and more temperate counsel s on the whole pre

vai led in the Church A t Rome the policy of the community
.
,

guided by such bishops and teachers as Zephyrinus and

Call istu s tended to bridge over the chasm which ya wned
,

between the Christians and the Empire ; and the circumstances

o f the time which we shall presently consider aided them in ,

their endeavours The policy of the rigorous school of such

.

earnest and devoted though fanatical men as Hippolytus and

Tertullian found no place in the teaching of the Catholi c
Church A little later but before the middle of the century
.
,

( the third ) we nd such a great and revered bishop as Cyprian

,

of Carthage even withdrawin g himself for a season from the

scene of danger ; although when he judged that the time

was come when an example of fearless courage was needed ,

he returned to his post of danger and duty in the full ,

consciousness that s uch a return in his case involved certain

m
death .

A nd it will be seen on careful examination that the cir

cu stances o f the time were peculiarly favourable for the
development of the policy of the oder a te Christian leaders
who in good earnest sought for a possible oda s o iv eri di for
mm
Christians in the Empire ; for the party of common sense who
longed for an opportunity of doing their duty to the State as
wel l as to God These teachers wished to see their ock good
.

patriots as Well as good Christians No fundamental principle .

,

o f course must be given up no real concession to idolatry

, ,

must be made ; but on the other hand no rash protests must

, ,

be advanced no impossible exclusiveness must be c laime d

m
,

Where it was possibl e the common life of ordinary citizens,

must be shared in and the com on duties o f citizenship must

,

be discharged by the followers of the Cruci ed .

For the rst and second centuries such a rule of life was
impossible D uring this period a well nigh ceasel ess perse
.
-

cu tion o f Christians was maintained by the Government Up .

to the time of Nero the Church grew up in silence and in

profound obscurity From A D 6 4 the date of the cruel N eronic
. . .
,

persecution for well nigh one hundred and thirty years the
,
-
,

attitude of the Government towards the Christian was one o f

 INNE R L I FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 23

persistent hostility D uring these years there was never any

.

real cessation of persecution In some part o r other of the .

Empire it was ever raging ; over the votaries o f the proscribed

religion the sword was ever hangin g suspended The rst .

considerable interval o f general stillness was enj oyed by

Christians from the middle o f th e reign o f Commodus to the
middle o f the reign of Severus roughly from A D 1 8 6 to ,
. .

A D 202 some sixteen years

. .
, Then in A D 202 bitter perse . . .

cu tion began again raging for some n ine years more or less
, ,

in all parts o f the Empire When Severus died in A D 21 1 . . .

,

a long time of stillness set in and for some twenty four years ,
-

m
the Christians enj oyed general immunity from all harrying ;
indeed they were treated even with favour Then the Emperor
, .

Max i inus reigne d bet ween two and three years which were '

again a period of unrest and persecution Then after another .

twelve y ears of stillness a terrible reaction set in the reaction

m
which Christian annal ists pain t in lurid characters under the
well known name of the D ecian persecu tion D ecius was
-
.

Emperor from A D 24 9 to A D 25 1
. . This r esa of the periods
. . .

alternating between persecution and still ness brings us to the

middle of the third century .

Thus it will be seen between A D 1 8 6 and A D 24 9 the . . . .

Christians lived for well nigh fty two out of those sixty three
- - -

years comparatively unmoleste d ; often indeed as we have said , ,

l ooked upon with some favour In the ea r li er years of the .

rst Severus ( A D 1 93 21 1 ) there were Christians not only in

. .

the Imperial palace but also in the Senate ; and during the
,

reign of Al exander Severus ( A D 222 23 5 ) the Imperial house

. .

hold was largely composed of Christians The ins tructions o f .

the great A lexandrian teacher O rigen were welcomed by

persons of the highest importance in Rome as in the provinces .

The Emperor Phil ip ( A D 24 4 24 9 ) was even said to have been

. .

baptised into the Faith and in these qui et years many publ ic
,

fun ctionaries were Openly Christians .

Encouraged by these periods of quiet periods which now ,

and again showed signs of even someth in g more than toleration ,

the responsible leaders of the Catholic Church seein g in this ,

changed aspect of public feeling towards Christianity the

3 24 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NISM

nger of Go d *
sought h ow they co uld in lawful matters
promote the growth o f this kindl ier disposition towards them
displ ayed by the State .

Severus (A D 1 93 some time before the close of the

. .

secon d century published a law enabling the Jews to hold

,

the o f ce of decurion without taking part in any of those

sacred functions which belonged to the ceremonial department
o f the municipal o fce in question if such sacred functions
were repugnant to the principles of their Faith Now there is no .

certain proof it is true of the promul gation of a law setting forth

, ,

such a formal exemption in the case o f the Christians bu t it ,

is clear that such an exemption practically did tacitly exist ,

and that in the third century in such periods of marked stil l ,

ness as characterised the reigns o f A lexander Severus and of

Philip and the earlier years o f the Emperor Valerian the
, ,

Christian believers might hold o fces connected with the

Imperial court or occupy magistracies and appointments
,

belonging to municipalities without being compelled to share ,

in any pub l ic function of an idolatrous character It must .

be remembered moreover that these periods of stillness for

, ,

the Christian population of the Empire occupied considerably

more than half o f the third century O rigen s f testimony is .

very decisive here when he speaks of Christians no t avoiding

or shirking the common public duties of life Tertull ian s

.

words recently quoted although rhetorical are to the same , ,

e ffect .

But the third century was no golden age for Christians ,

although they enj oyed long periods of comparative immunity

from harassing persecution We have already computed .

that during at least twenty v e years bitter persecution raged -

.

This was continued though not throughout the whole Empire , ,

during some ten or eleven years of the fourth century whi l e ,

the nal period of the war of Paganism against its victorious

adversary 1 which lasted some fourteen or fteen years and
, ,

O i gen f ri n t nc , f s to th
or p e iod f
o wing to th di ect i nt po ition f G od ( C nt C l
s a tion f ll p e ution
e, r e er

iii vii i ) ; G od th u
ese r s o

cessa

m o a ers c

m
as e r er s o o ra e sa ,
. s

p ev nting th u tte d st uction of th Ch i ti n p opl

m m
r e e r e r e r s a e e .

r O ig n C nt Cl viii 7 5
J
r e s o ra e sa , . .

i I n th e li y th e p
ear e u tion w
er inl y co nn d to th
ears er s c y as a e e ar .
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 25

is generally known as the D iocletian persecution claimed ,

perhaps more victims than had any o f the previous onslaughts .

I t was the nal attack bu t it was at the same time the

,

most determined and terrible .

It seems strange that these erce persecutions shou l d

have arisen in an age wh ich had witnessed long periods of
stillness showing that there was a possibility of the Pagan
,

Empire and Christianity existing so to speak alongside one , ,

another so long as a spirit of mutual forbearance existed so

, ,

long as a wise toleration was displayed by the Imperial

government of a religion whose professors again and again
had shown themselves the most loyal and peaceful of subj ects
and citizens .

Bu t the truth was Pagani sm was stronger as a creed

,

than later generations have believed Superstition wide spread .

-

and deeply rooted lived on in quarters where it is dii cul t

to credit its existence In the age of the An tonines we have
.

seen that th e best and wises t among the Romans seem

rmly to have beli eved in dreams in oracles in soothsayers
in diviners in all the strange and curious echanism so to
,

speak of the Pagan system It is scarcely possible to doubt

,
.
,

m
,

,
,

that the wisest and best of the Pagan sovereigns the Emperor ,

Marcus A ureli us A ntonin us was a rm believer in thes e

,

strange mysteries of an old and dying religion and was ,

superstitious to an extreme degree A n d if Marcus was an.

earnest believer in these things it is surely not difcult to

,

understand that men far inferior to him in ability and

learning were in th eir day slaves to the same curious and
deep rooted superstitions We have to remember that it was
-
.

an adept in the occult sciences who persuaded the Emperor

Valerian in the middle o f the third century to proscribe
once more the worshippers of Christ while the awful ,

persecution of D iocletian in the rst years of the fourth

century was the result of the pleadings of the men who
inspected the sacred victims o ffered at the shrines of the
ancient deities of Rome .

With this spirit o f superstition still living in the Empire ,

ready ever to break out into open action it is not di cul t ,

3 26 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

to account for the sudden outbreaks of a erce persecution ,

which we shall meet with h ow and again in the last hundred

and thirteen years of our thrillin g story .

In close connection with these troubles in the inner l ife

o f the Church of Rome and in some measure Of the Church
,

Of Carthage also troubles which were doubtless not peculiar

,

to these two most important centres was a heresy which ,

threatened to divide the Church into two Opposing camps

at a most critical period Of her history v iz cir ca A D 1 7 7 . . .

A D 220 when struggling Christianity was carrying on a

. .

l ife and death contest with Paganism This heresy was .

named Montanism after its founder th e Phrygian Montanus

, ,
.

The troubles which as we have seen so gravely disturbed

, ,

the Church of Rome were very real ; they arrayed profound

scholars and theologians of blameless life and Of the highest
reputation such as Hippolytus and Tert ulli an against ex
, ,

p erien ced pre l ates like Zephyrinus and Call istus of Rome ,

who were s upported b y all the organisation and power and , ,

if we may use the later expression by the public Opinion ,

of the Catholic Church .

These troubles arose from the changed conditions notably ,

from the numbers and social position o f the Christians who ,

were now largely recruited from those classes which would

n aturally participate freely in public life Hence the problem : .

Were Christians to come out from the world to aim at

,

the formation o f a little society of exclusive religious devotees ,

o r were they to go on to a world wide mission by more o r -

less adapting themsel ves to Roman society its Ways its laws , , ,

its customs ?
Now the Church face to face with this new and changed
,

position chose the second alternative : to use the graphic

,

language of a modern schol ar She marched through the

,

open door into the Roman State and settled down there ,

for a long career of activity determining to Christianise the

,

State along all its thoroughfares by imparting to it the word

Of the Gospel but at the same time leaving it everything
,

except its gods But to do this the Church in some way
.

had to abandon its O l d discipline and primitive severity its ,

 INNE R L I FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 27

ancient apostolic s implicity A nd although the Christian

.

community and its responsible rulers adopted this altered

pol icy there were in its midst not a few ho ly men Of heart
,

devout scholars and deep theologians who resented bitterly ,

the change of policy and with all their power opposed it

,

and set themselves against it This we have seen in Rome .

when Hippolytus preached and wrote against the movement ,

which he and men who thought like him deemed secular

, , ,

retrograde or to use a modern term Opportun ist ; and in

, , ,

Carthage we have sketched the working of a similar move

ment where Tertull ian with yet greater vehemence and
, ,

ability protested against thi s laxer teaching and practice

, .

The contest between the men who mourned over the decadence
of primitive Christianity and the men Of the new school, ,

was being carried on ercely at Rome and Carthage as the

second century was expiring and was continued in the rst ,

decades of the thir d .

A good many years before these dates there had arisen

in the western districts of pro consular A sia in the province -
,

of Phrygia a sect O f Christians urging a more exacting standard

,

o f moral obligations than was begin n ing to be Observed in

the Catholic Church especially with regard to marriage

, ,

fasting and martyr dom ; and at the same time in the person
, ,

o f its founder Montanus advancin g strange claims to the

, ,

possession Of a special prophetic inspiration in the sense in which ,

m
prophecy was unders tood in apostolic days The headquarters .

o f the sect were the small and little known Phrygian towns

o f Pe u z a and T
p y io n Besides Montanus . himself
women named Prisca and Max i illa seem ever to have
asserted that they were endowed with prophetic g ifts They
only two
m ,

professed to utter the direct commands of the Holy Spirit :

and the principal burden of their revelation was the necessity

o f a more strict and holy life Montanus appeared on the .

scene about the year 1 5 6 when A ntoninus Pius was reigning ;

,

but for some twenty years his movement was conned to

Phrygia and the neighbourin g districts .

A fter A D 1 7 7 Montanism as it was called from its

. .
,

founder began to spread over a much wider area and atten

, ,
3 28 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

tion b ecame gradually attracted to its claims and to its

teaching There is no doubt that the urgen cy with which
.

the Montanists preached the imperative duty o f a severer

l ife won to their ranks in di fferent countries many earnest
Souls who were utterly di ssatised with the laxer discipline

Of the Catholic Church and disapproved Of the new po l icy

,

whi ch was gradually being adopted by the Church Of Rome

and other great communities I t was the ascetic preach ing.

O f the Montanists which at rst wo n them adherents rather

than their peculiar belief i n a new and special outpouring

Of the Ho ly Spirit .

O n the other hand the strange and novel doctrine con

cerning a special and fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit
upon Montanus and his two female friends no doubt
seriously weakened the cause o f the rigorists the party
which set itself to Oppose what they deemed the secularisation
o f the Church b y causing their views to be associate d
with the Montanist heresy There was in fact no neces .
, ,

sary connection Hippolytus for instance one O f the most

.
, ,

earnest Of those who set themselves to denounce the new

m
departure in Church policy in his famous work On ,

Heresies speaks with profound contem pt Of Prisca and
,

Max i illa the Montani stic prophetesses whom as he

m
, , ,

said the Montanists magnied as above the A postles ; and

,

he terms the aj ority of their books as foolish and their ,

arguments as worthy of no consideration

Book VIII 1 2 and X .
,
Tertullian indeed adopte d
.
, ,

the full teaching of Montanism far on in his career as a

teacher but only when he found that the chasm was broaden
,

ing every day between the Old Christianity to which his

soul clung with its primitive severity its resolute refusal to

, ,

share in anything connected with the life so inextricably

mixed up with the Pagan associations around and the new ,

Christianity which more or less accommodated itself to the

l ife Of the Empire

m
.

The Catholic Church however as a Church unswervingly

, , ,

opposed Montanis A pollinaris Bishop of Hierapolis

. an , ,

e minent theol ogian and a voluminous writer of A sia Minor

 I NNE R I
L FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 29

m
m
in the last quarter o f the second century wrote strongly
conde n g their errors Indeed the universal acceptance
by the Catholic Church of the can on O f the New Tes tament
.
,
,

before the close of the second century an acceptance which ,

rigorous ly excluded all other writings from the inspired

volume was su fcient to brand as a deadly heresy any
,

teaching respecting a new outpourin g Of the Holy Spirit ,

no hint of which appears in the i nspired pages .

But as we have remarked Montanism for a compara

, ,

tiv ely brief period was a power ch iey in consequence of

its protest against what may be regarded as secularism in
the Church a departure from the old paths of primitive
,

Christianity Besides its inuence in A sia Minor and A frica

.
,

in Gaul too it evidently had made a lodgment This much

, , .

we learn from the sympathetic le tter addressed to E leu th erus

m
( Bishop Of Rome A D 1 7 6 to A D 1 9 2) by the Galli can con
, . . . .

fe ssors who without expressing a denite Opinion as to the

m
, ,

tr uth of the Montanisti c claims yet considered that co ,

*
munion sho uld be ain tained with the A sian zealots .

In Rome at one time late in the second century accord

, ,

ing to Tertu llian there was clearly a disposition in the ofcial

,

Church if not to recognise the claims of Montanism at leas t

, ,

to consider them favourably Prax eas however who is .

, ,

charged with introducing from A sia the Sabellian heresy

respectin g the doctrine of the Trinity succeeded in inducing ,

the Roman bishop to withhold his l etters of conciliation to

the churches o f A sia and Phrygia on the question The ex .

pressions of the great A frican master here are interesting .

For after the Bishop of Rome [either E l euth erus or Victor ]

had acknowledged the prophetic gifts of Montanus Prisca , ,

and Max i illa and in consequence of the acknowledgment ,

had bestowed his peace on the churches of A sia and Phrygia ,

Mont anu s (and o thers) we e e t ee ed b y an y for th eir g ifts (as th e e w e e any mm

ord s of th e Galli can co nfessors in th ei lett er to E leuth e as w e :
Th e w r

m m r re

m
r s r r

oth e w on de ful po we s of di vine g race g et exh ib it ed even at this ti e in diffe ent

r r r r

ch u ch es) ; th ey c eat e d th e b eli ef w ith

r an y th at th ey al so w e e en d ue d w ith
r r

p oph ecy
r F o th ese th ey n eg ot iat d as it w e e fo th e p
.

r e of th Ch u h e , r , r eac e rc es

w ith E l eu th er us and al so w ith th e b rethren in A sia and Ph y i E useb i us

, g r a :

H E v 3
. . .
, . .
3 30 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

he ( Prax eas) by importunatel y urging false accusations against

,

the prophets themselves and their churches and insisting on ,

m
the authority o f the bishop s predecessors in the see com

pell ed him to recall the pacic letter which he had issued .

( Tertu l l ian,
A dv P r a ea n cap I )
.
,
. .

There is no question bu t that Montanism was the most

dangerous heresy as regards the peace Of the Church whi ch

m
had arisen in the rst century and a half of its existence .

The various Gnostic heresies it is true were more far reaching

, ,
-

and probably affected greater nu bers in the great centres O f

population But the Gnostic heresies as far as we are ao
.
,

u ain ted with them were not Christian were altogether o u t

q ,

side the pale O f the Catholic Church Montanism on the .

,

other hand arose in the heart of Christian communities and

, ,

in its burning advocacy of the old strictness and austerit y of

primitive Christianity awoke deep sympathy in the hearts of

m
,

many o f the most earnest fol lowers of Jesus in spite o f its ,

strange del usion respecting the essage of the new prophecy .

With the exception Of this grave delusion it does not

appear that o n great doctrinal questions there was any real
difference between the Catholics and the Montanists although ,

Hippolytus x 22) charges them with hold

.

ing Patripassian opinions It would be dicul t however

.
, ,

with our present knowledge to brand them o n this account,

with h ol ding any denite error for the language at this ,

period on the subj ect Of the Trin ity was often loose and uh
guarded .

But the views of Montanists on the new prophec y were

amply sufcient to warrant the stern rej ection whi ch the sec t
met with at the hands of Catholi c teachers Montanism after .
,

an existence o f some fty years was gradually stamped ou t

m
, .

It produced no more inspired prophets o r prophetesses when

Montanus Prisca and Max i ill a had passed away ; and after
, ,

the rst deca des Of the third century very l ittle is heard of it .

m
O nly in Phrygia and its neighbourhood the l and of its nativity , ,

did it hold its ground In these districts Montanistic com

.

unities are heard o f as late as the fourth century With .

the exception o f Tertullian no considerable writer or theologian

 INNE R I
L FE OF TH E CH UR CH . 331

appears in its ranks and the adhesion of Tertulli an in his

,

later life was gained no doubt largely owin g to the unco

promising stand O f the Montanistic teaching against the new
m
and laxer policy o f the Church .

SE CT OI N III .
A L E XA N DR I A : CLE ME N T A ND O R I GE N .

T H E R E were two great cities in the Roman Empire of the

second and third centuries Of the Christian era which from ,

their opulence the number of their in habitants and their

,

general commercial importance o ccupied a position only s econd ,

to Rome itself The one was Al exandria the capital of Egyp t

.
, ,

the other Carthage the chief city o f the wealthy and pop ul ous
,

province Of North A frica There is no doubt that in th e .

r st days o f Christiani ty the religion o f Jesus penetrated into

these great centres Of population But it is only in qui te the .

latter years o f the second centu ry that their churches came

to occupy a prominent position .

m
In both these cities at that period arose teachers who
attained extraordin ary prominence among all the leading com
unities of Christians .

Al exandr ia was the empo rium through which the trade

of Egyp t A rabia and far away India largely owed o n its way
.

, ,
-

to the capital and the Western provinces of the Empire In .

the days of the earlier Empe rors it was said to contain as

many as three hundred thousand free inhabitants and an
equal number o f slaves Tradition ascribes to S Mark the
. .

introduction o f Christianity into the E gy ptian capital which ,

subsequent ly became the cradle Of Gnosticism and the centre ,

o f its strange philosophical speculations .

There is however little to show that Christianity spread

, ,

among the native E gyptians in what would now be termed ,

the hinterland of the great city before the latter half of

,

the third century ; we have learned in late years much about

the condition o f Egyp t un der the Empire but all that h as ,

m
come before us serves o nl y to conrm the well known pictur e -

o f the historian of the Decl in e a n d F a ll The progress of .

Christianity was for a long time conned within the li its of

3 32 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

a single city and till the close of the second century the pre
,

decessors of D emetrius ( Bishop of A lexandria A D 1 8 9 ) were ,

. .

the o nl y prelates of the Christian Church The body .

of the natives a peop l e distinguished by a sullen inexibility

,

of temper entertained the new doctrine with coldness and

,

reluctance and even in the time of O rigen it was rare to meet

,

with an Egyptian who h ad sur mounted his early prej udices in

favour O f the sacred animals of his country A s soon indeed .
, ,

as Christianity had moun ted the throne the z eal of those ,

barbarians obeyed the prevailing impulsion ; the cities of Egypt

were lled with bishops and the deserts of the Thebais swarmed ,

with hermits .

In the city of A lexandria existed a catechetical school ,

dating s ome think from the days Of S Mark The school

, , . .
,

after the middle of the second century assumed a position Of ,

considerable importance as a seminary o f Christian instruction ,

and its mastership was held by a succession Of eminent men ,

who spread its fame into distant countries .

The rst of these distin guished teachers was Pantaenus ,

whose teaching work in A lexandria seems to have begun

somewhat before A D 1 8 6 O f this Pantsenus we know little . . .

beyond the high testimony paid him by his pupil and successor ,

Clement who after enumerating the great teachers at whose

, ,

feet he had sat refers to Pantaenus in the following remarkable

,

terms : Wh en I came upon the last ( he was rst in power)

,

having tracked him out concealed in Egypt I found rest He , .

,

the true the Sicilian bee gathering the spoil Of the owers of
, ,

the prophetic and apostolic meadow engendered in the souls ,

Of his hearers a deathless element Of knowledge Well they .

[the te achers whom Clement had listened to ] preserving the

,

tradition o f the blessed doctrine derived directl y from the

holy A postles Peter James John and Paul the son receiving , , ,

it from the father ( but few were like the fathers ) came by ,

God s wil l to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic

seeds r .

E
'
l Ce
"

useb us sai
l m
G ib b on
lx
y th
m
. A
s
,
D ecline
e

at
. S tro
a nd

a a,

Pantae
t

nu w
xv
Fa l l ,
B ook Ch p
al o
s xp as
.

s
a

e
.

ressly m
an d see too E u eb i u
entio ned b y na
s

m l mt
s,

e
H . E
by Ce
, v . 11
en
.
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 33

The second Of the great masters of the A lexandrian school

was the famous Clement whose words have just been quoted , .

Clement s life story beyond the fact of his havin g followed ,

his master Pantsenu s in the headship Of the A lexan dria school

, , ,

is almost a blank save for wha t we gather incidentally from

,

his surviving writings He tells us that h e spent his earlier .

years in search of wisdom that he was the pupil of various ,

eminent teachers but that it was in Pan tsenus teaching that

,

at last he found rest He was driven from his work in the .

school at Al exandria by the persecution of Severus early in

the second century and tradition speaks of his dying abou t

m
,

the year 220 But although the details O f most Of his life
.

are unknown he has left behind h i many writings very con

, ,

siderab l e portions of which we still possess These works of .

his were widely read at the end of the second and through the
third centuries and they exercised a great even a lasting
, , ,

inuence on the Catholic Church .

It was Clement who really introduced into Christian

teaching the study Of heathen philosophy Justin Martyr .
,

about a quarter o f a century earlier had in some measure anti ,

cipated him here in the view that a Christian training by no

means excluded the study of the great masters of antiquity ;

but the reading of Justin was altogether on a much narrower
scale than that of the great A lexandrian master It may be .

generally assumed that prior to Clement Christian teachers , ,

viewed all the great philosophers with dislike and looked on ,

their writings as opposed to Christianity Clement took a .

b roader and truer view Of the great Greek masters and ,

urged that in them might Often be found glimpses Of the

truth ; that in fact the noble Greek philosophy was the
, ,

preparation of the Greeks for the full revelation Of Christ .

It may be said that Clement and his successor and in some ,

respects his disciple the yet greater O rigen did for the schoo l s
, ,

in th e H yp otyp oses (or

p i lly to
I n titutio n
b ov quo t d p
assag e f o
s s h
T is w
m m
o k ho w ever
r , , islo st ; b ut E useb ius
ta w h ich h e b eliev es

m
es ec a refers th e
a e e th e S t - r ro a
,

efe s to th is Pantaenu s

m
r r .

E u seb i u H E
s, v 1 0 al so b ut so ew hat v ag uely sp eak s of Pantaenu ha ving
.
, .
, , ,
s

u n d e t ak en
r ai ssiona y j ou ney to th e nations of th e E ast t av el lin g as far as
r r ,
r

th e
I ndi es nd sub sequently etur ning to Al exand ia
,

a r r .
3 34 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND P A GA NI S JII .

of Christianity what Zephyrinus and Callistus and their fol

lowers did for practical Christianity The latter broadened .

immensely i ts sphere Of action the former did th e same for ,

its sphere o f study thus elevating Christianity from a posi

,

tion which th ere seemed some danger of its occupying ,

as the rel igi on merely of a devoted but narrow and ex

elusive sect and enabling it to become the religion of the
,

world .

Clement has been well represented as seeking the truth

from whatever quarter he cou l d Obtain it believing that all ,

that is good comes from God wherever it be found His ,

.

orthodoxy in deep fundamental questions as far as it went , .

has never been fairly impugned He believed in a personal .

Son of God who was the Reason and Wisdom of God and
, ,

distinctly taught that the Son of God became incarnate .

This true scholar was a voluminous writer His three great .

works The Exhortation to the Heathen ; (2)

The

Instructor or Paedagogus ; ( 3 ) The Stromata or Miscel lanies
l we possess complete or nearly
(

literal y The Tapestry ,

complete They form a series and are the largest and perhaps
.
,

the most valuabl e early Christian remains which have come

down to us dating as they do only a little more than a
, , ,

centur y after S John s death There is a long list o f other

.

.

treatises and works by Clement given us by Eusebius and

Jerome but with the exception of the treatise or more
,

probably the sermon Who is the rich man that is saved ,

and a few fragments these are all lost It is noteworthy ,

.

that all the Books included in the Canon of the O ld Testa

ment save Ruth and the Song of Solomon are quoted as
, ,

authoritative in his extant works In the New Testament .

Canon he re fers to and quotes from all the Books of the

Canon with the exception O f Philemon the second Epistle
, ,

of S . Peter and the Epistle Of S James

, . .

The third Of the famous teachers of th e A lexandrian

Catechetical school was in all respects a more distinguished , ,

theologian and thought leader than either of his eminent

predecessors O rigen holds a unique place among the Christian
.

teachers of the rst three centuries Unlike either Pantsenus .

 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 35

or Clement the s tory of his stormy and chequered career is

,

fairly well known .

Born at A lexandria somewhere about A D 1 8 5 O f Christian . .

,

parents at an early age he was placed u nder the tutelage

,

o f Pan tsenus or Clement His father Leonidas su ffered .

, ,

martyrdom early in the third century and the young O rigen , ,

who had displayed extraordinary talents and powers of work ,

was soon placed by the Bishop Of A lexandria D emetrius

at the head of the ca techetical school in his native city .

But although thus early a prominent teacher he remained ,

still an indefatigable student not only of Christian lore but ,

Of the principal Greek writers He devoted himself besides .

with great ardour to Hebrew studies A n apparently true .

tradition speaks of his ascetic devote d life His fame as a ,

.

teacher and a profound scholar soon spread far beyond

A lexan dria which however remained the principal scene of
, , ,

his literary activities for some twenty eight years though -

,

m
he undertook many j ourneys to Rome Syria A rabia Palestine , , , .

I t was in this period Of his career that he was summoned to

visit Ma aea the mother of A lexander Severus who became
, ,

subsequently Emperor to instruct her in Christianity He

,
.

remained with this illustrious lady some time exhibiting , ,

as Eusebius ( H E vi 21 ) tells us
. innumerable illustra
, .
,

tions Of the glory Of the Lord and Of the excellence of divine ,

instruction .

I t was about A D 228 3 0 that the real troubles of O rigen s

. .

life commenced A bitter feud sprang up between Bishop

.

D emetrius and the world renowned scholar Many students-

.

o f the period somewhat reluctantly see in the hostili ty o f

the bishop a restless j ealousy o f the brill iant writer and
teacher ; they are probably accurate in their conclusions ,

but at the same time O rigen s apologists are compelled to

recognise in him a want of subordination and at times even ,

an ill balanced zeal ; nor can his warmest admirers always

-

defend his theological opinions which not infrequently took ,

the form o f wi ld and somewh at baseless speculations The .

powerful bishop procured his banishment from A l exandria ,

so long his home and even his deposition from the status
,
3 36 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

of a presbyter to which Ofce he had b een ordaine d by the

,

Bishops of Palestine Henceforward we nd O rigen living

.

under the ban of the A lexandrian Church and indeed o f ,

many other important communities inuenced by A lexandria .

He now took up his abode at C aesarea where he organised ,

a school o f divinity the reputation of which under his match

, ,

less teaching was said to rival that Of A lexandria

,
In his .

later years we hear Of him in correspondence with the so

called Christian Emperor Philip and his Empress ,
But i t .

m
was a mournful evening to the li fe of the great and famo u s
scholar and a poor guerdon after all to live on thus con
,

de n ed and viewed with suspicion if not with positive

, ,

dislike by a very considerable portion Of the Catholic Church

, ,

for which he had l aboured for so many long years with such
tireless devotion and conspicuous success He was sub se .

quently arrested and mal treated by the Pagan authorities in

the D ecian persecution ; dying no t long after the persecution
had ceased about the year 25 4 at Tyre where his grave
, , ,

was still pointed out in the Middle A ges .

In some respects O rigen was a fo llower of Clement his ,

teacher and predecessor in the headship O f the catechetical

school inasmuch as he was a profound student Of the great
,

Greek philosophers He even composed an important work

m
.

in ten books o f which only fragments remain in imitation

, ,

o f and bearing the

,
same name as the famo us Str o a ta ,

of Clement D uring a long life of ceaseless work O rigen

.

put out so E piph anius tells us as many as

, ,
volumes ,

but to reach anything like this amaz ing number ( which is

probably greatly exaggerated ) every treatise l arge and small , ,

every homily must have been reckoned as a separate volume .

Jerome too who at one time was a strong admirer of O rigen

, , ,

says He wrote more than any individual could read
,
.

Perhaps the greatest O f his literary achievements and one ,

to which the friends and foes of the great A lexandrian must

unite in awarding unstinting praise was his noble work in ,

criticism He spent l arge portions o f more than twenty

.

years in attempting to provide a complete revision of the

text of the Septuagint (Greek ) version of the O l d Testament
 INNE R L FEI OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 37

Scriptures It is said that his studies in Hebrew were under

.

taken to qualify himself for this task Large sections Of this .

work have been preserved but the bu l k of his notes and ,

texts contained it is said in forty or fty volumes has

, , , ,

perished It is supposed to have been burnt in the library

.

of Ca esarea when that city was ta ken by the A rabs in A D . .

653. This scholarly and careful e ffort in Textual Criticism

was far in advance of anything undertaken in the Christian

Church for centuries after O rigen s death .

Al though the extant works of this mos t eminent teacher

are numerous they bear no comparison to the number o f his
,

lost writings The enormous mass of his compositions may

.

be roughly divi ded as foll o ws :

( )
1 His Textual stu di es perhaps the most important Of,
all ,

Of which we have already spoken .

( 2) His A pologetics O rigen s prin cipal work in this

.

department of theology with which we are acquainted is his

m
, ,

book A gainst Celsus wr itten at C aesarea far on in h is life

, ,

when Philip the so call ed Christian was reigning This i

,
-
,
.

portant composition we possess in its entirety The writing .

in question is considered by many scholars as the great , ,

apologetic work of Christian antiqui ty It bears the mark Of .

O rigen s profound stu dies in ancient philosophies which clearly

col oured much of his more speculative theology It has been .

well said that his argument is most e ffective when he appeals

to the spirit and power of Christiani ty as an evidence ofits truth .

( 3 ) His exegetical labours These extend over the whole .

Of the O ld and the New Testaments and consist of Scholi a , ,

short notes largely grammatical ; Of Homilies or Expositions ; ,

and Of more or less elaborate Commentaries Very few of all .

these have been preserved in the Greek origin als but we ,

m
possess many Latin translations of portions of them
I t is in this department of his vast work that this true
hearted toiler for Go d excited much of the ani osity which
has in al l ages pursued him It was no doubt a dangerous .

principle and o ne that admitted o f much perilous ex agg era

,

tion to afrm that things w ri tten in Holy Scripture which

,

o ffended hi s exegetical sense might be fairly looked upon as ,

w
3 38 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GANISM .

allegories O f this danger however he evidently was sensible

.
, ,

when ( De P r i n cip iis iv i 1 9 ) he wrote the following Wo l ds

, .
, .
'

Let no one suspect that we do not believe any history in

Scripture to be real because we suspect certain events related
,

in it not to have taken place we are mani festly Of

maintained in th e ajor i ty of in sta n ces

o f the
m
Op inion that the truth o f the history may and ought to be
This whole section
D e P r in cip i is deserves careful study by both the
.

friends and foes Of the famous A lexandrian master .

( 4 ) O f his dogmatical writings only one important work

has come down to us the H ept A pxobu or Fundamental
,
'

D octrines and that in the Latin transl ation o f Runu s the
, ,

translator o f which has in many passages taken upon himsel f ,

as we know to alter and improve upon th e original The
,

.

Greek version which O rigen really wrote has perished ; onl y

a few fragments have been preserved It is from these mainly

m
.

that it has been ascertained that Runu s has in various

places altered the original The Str o a ta above referred .
,

to has perishe d save for a few fragments

, , .

In great essentials O rigen was generally a Catholic teach er ;

he held that Christianity was a practical and religious saving
principle and he pressed home to the hearts and heads o f
,

men that simple faith was su fcient for the renewal and
salvation of man Later in times of bitter controversy both
.
, ,

the Catholics and the A rians appealed to his teaching ; but

the inferences Of A rius in respect to his Christology were
distinctly unfair It has been well said that
. a mind so

speculative as that of O rigen and so e ngrossed with the ,

deepest and most difcult problems Of human thought must ,

sometimes have expressed itself in a way liable to be mis

understood I t must too in forming any ju dgment on
.
, ,

O rigen s statements be ever borne in mind that when he

live d and taught no General Council had yet been held to

, ,

formulate in c l ear cut l anguage the teaching Of the Catholic

-

Church upon any Of those great questions o f theology which

conv u l se d the Christian world during the two centuries the ,

fourth and fth which followed the century in which the

,

A lexandrian master thought and wrote .
 INNE R L IF E OF TH E CH UR CH . 3 39

m
There is no doubt that O rigen gave grave offence to serious
theologians in his own day and in subsequent times rather ,

by his isol a ted propositions than by his state ents regarding

great Cathol ic doctrines Some O f these i solated proposition s
.

from their very strangeness and novelty acquired a wide

notoriety and unfortunately it is by these often somewhat wild
, , ,

specul ations that O rigen is best kno wn Those who not .

,

unrighteously condemn these as purely speculative as outside

, ,

if not contrary to Scripture forget the real and massive work ,

of the great master s life a work simply unique in the story

o f Christendom Textual critic grammarian exegete hom ilist

.
, , , ,

Christian apologist teacher of the highest theology O rigen

, ,

was all these From the days o f the divinely taught A postles
.

o f the Lord no Christian scholar had arisen comparable to

him In the long ages which have elapsed since the pass
.

ing of the Great Teacher it would be hard to nd his peer ,
.

A mo ng the most noted o f the speculative propositions

unheard of in those Holy Scriptures which O rigen loved so
well which have been condemned by Catholic Chris
tian ity and are esteemed by many as blots upon the white
,

record o f his blameless scholar life are his curious ,

doctrines respecting the pre existence of souls and his -

,

teaching respecting punishments which he held to be ,

merely corrective being ordained in order that all creatures

,

may be eventually restored to their original perfection NO .

m
con demned soul according to O rigen was without hope
, , ,

although thousands of years of torment might elapse before

the suffering to which the soul was conde ned had wrought
its cleansing e ffect .

There is no doubt however that the unmerited perse

, ,

cution he underwent during the later years Of his l ife which ,

separated him from the communion of his own Church of

Al exandria and O f other inuential churc h es place d him in ,

a false position and opened the door to much Of the sub se

,

quent onslaught on his reputation D uring the latter years .

o f his life O rigen was clearly under the ban of the larger
portion of the Catholic Church unfairly it seems b ut the ,

fact still remains .

340 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

A fte r
his death his orthodoxy rightly o r wrongly was , ,

m
v ery soon widely impugn ed ; but as early as the fourth cen
tury his memory found many able and zealous defen ders ,

amongst the the famous historian Eusebius and even the ,

great A thanasius Nor were these true scholars and divines

.

by any means alone in their generous advocacy o f O rigen s

claim to Catholic reverence .

But after all they were in the minority In the Wes t .

m m
the famous and widely read Vincent o f Lerins in the rst -
,

half Of the fth century spoke Of O rigen as a warning and ,

example in his well known Co on on i tori a

,
pointing o ut
-
,

h o w even the mos t learn e d of Church teachers might

become a mislead ing light Even the school of A lexandria .
,

although perhaps u nconsciously profoundly inuenced by his

, ,

writings repudiated the greatest of her sons and the Church

, ,

o f A ntioch followed suit In the year 5 5 3 Justinian and .

the fth ( E cumenical Council of Constantinople anathematised

the teaching O f O rigen .

In modern times far removed from an age when j ealousies

,

and prej udices unfavourably affected the Church s estimate

of his powers both Romanists and A ngl icans have come to

,

entertain a broader and nobler conception of the greatest

of the Church s scholar writers of the rst three centuries

-
.

They do not attempt to condone his errors bu t they unit e ,

in acknowledging the mighty debt which the Catholic

Church of all ages owes to the great A lexandrian For

m m
.

instance Bishop Bull who wil l ever hold a high p l ace

, , ,

perhaps the highest a ong o u r A nglican divines defends

, ,

his general orthodox y ; whi l e Till e on t the sure footed ,

-

historian Of Por t Royal whos e matchl ess erudition is o ne ,

o f the household wor ds of al l fair min ded Catholics Roman -

,

and A ngl ican al ike whose praise is justly in all the Churches
, ,

dares to say in the face Of ancient condemnation and j ealous

misrepr es entation that although such a man might hold
,

heretical opinions he could not be a heretic since he was

, ,

utterl y free from the spirit which co nstitutes the guilt of

heresy .
 3 41

CH A PTER XIII .

F RO M DE C U S I TO I
D O CL E T A I N .

SE CT O I N I .
CA RTH A GE : C P Y R IA N .

C A RTH A GE in the rst hal f of the third century of the Chris

tian era Herodian tells us was in p opulation and wealth
, ,

the equal of A lexandria and second o nly to Rome The .

great city had a wonde rful history ; it had long disputed the
sovereignty of the Mediterranean seaboard wi th Rome and ,

after a con test which more or less went on for a century

, ,

was completely defeated and in the year 1 4 6

,
was burned
and utterly desolated It was said that in the hour of its

m
.

ruin it contained inh abit ants Under Julius C aesar .

and A ugustus it beca e once more an important and ourish

ing city and a mighty empori um of commerce Its rare beau ty .

gave it an especial distinction among the great homes Of

wealth and industry o f the Old world Faintly we may .

picture to ourselves a material something not wholl y unlike

what Carthage was Scarcel y any city yields so many scenes
. .

The streets gathering themselves in u ni que symmetry to the

feet of sudden steeps and many tinted marble heights or ,

opening full on the glistening quays and the breathless

m
harbours graceful hills about it crowned with shrines and
,

vi l l as the vast lake where navies of commerce and of

pleasure ro de close to the streets severe d by a thread fro ,

the open sea mountain crests in sno w watching from the

,

distance through all and over all that keen light and intense
,

blue of But the city literall y ma tchless for be auty

,

st
re
,
h i shop B enson Cyp i n I nt od uction
Ar c b

r m
and sh ady w oody pl e

s
r a

m
aun ces of th e wealthy n ob l es and
as
Th e b e uti ful g a d ens

t ch ed fo ile o utsid e th e city un a t ch ed even at R o e

,
r .

e ch ant s of Carth ag e m
m .

r
a r
342 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

and weal th has experienced the strangest vicissitudes

,
It .

arose perhaps grander tha n ever during th e Empire after

, ,

its utter destruction in the Punic Wars It was wrecked and .

desolate d again by the Vandal s under Genseric in the year

4 3 9 ; and in the l ast years Of the seventh century whatever

yet remained of Car thage was delivered to the ames by the

conquering Mohammedan A rabs The very ruins of

m
Carthage have perished and the place might be unknown ,

if some broken arches o f an aqueduct did not guide the

footsteps of the inquisitive O f a ter ia l Carthage ,

writes the last scholarly biographer of S Cyprian we have .

,

less k nowledge than Of any great city Carthage has b een .

learnedly rebuilt in the air its temples and streets mapped ,

and raised but all are as visionary as a mirage
,
.

In this magni cent city and in the province O f which it ,

was the centre before the middle of the third century a

,

ourishing branch of the Christian Church existed consisting ,

Of many communities and evidently elaborately organised , .

Sixty six bishops met C y prian the Metropolitan at the

-
, ,

Council held in Carthage in A D 25 3 In the Cyprianic papers . . .

it is said that the names Of as many as a hundred and fty

A frican bishops ocou r T .

A striking fact is noticeable in connection wit h this North

A frican Church It was here not in Rome and Italy that
.
, ,

L a tin Christianity and literature rst arose here that th e ,

earliest O f the Latin versions of the New Testament Scriptures

was made While the Christian Church at Rome was still
.

Greek a Church l argely made up Of foreigners resident in th e

,

great capital in Carthage the Roman and Latin speaking

,

popu l ation was in great measure Christian NO tradition has .

reached us o f the date when the re ligion of Jesus was rst

introduced into this important province Of the Empire .

A ugustine suggests when speaking o f the names by which the ,

two Sacraments were known in A frica Salus and Vita ,

,

G ib b o n
Ca th g e co p e S l m m : h p li Fo a g lo wing pi ct u e O f anci nt
Decline
b b y G u t v F l au b t
and F al l, c a . . r r

m
e

m m m
r a ar a a o, s a e er .

1 A chb i hop B en on : Cyp i n I n t od u ctio n A nd of l l th ese b i hop s n t o e

s s r a
'
r r a , . s o r

th n one pp e to po sses a P unic na e th e v ast aj o ity a e L ati n na e

a a ars s , r r s .
 FR O M DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 3 43

that the names in question must have come through some

A postolic source A mong the listeners to Peter s famous

.

Pentecostal sermon were we read ( A cts ii dwel lers in , .

the parts Of Lyb ia about Cyrene The story of Jesus might .

well have been spread along the A frican coast by these Jews
of Cyrene who had listened to S Peter
, . .

But we have selected Carthage and A lexan dr ia for our

especial study because in the churches of these famous ,

Imperial centres at the most critical moment in the early

,

story Of Christianity when the religion of Jesus was rst ,

brought p u b l icly face to face with Paganism arose the four ,

r eatest earthly makers of Christianity who appeared in the

g ,

rst two hundred and eighty years of stress and storm We .

have dwelt on the A lexandrian masters Clement and O rigen ; ,

we ha v e spoken too already of the Carthaginian master , , , ,

*
Tertullian who taught and wrote in the rst quarter Of the
,

third century The last in order of time of these four great ones
.
,

Cyprian Of Carthage who suffered martyrdom for the Faith in the ,

year 25 8 was in some respects the most eminent of them al l

, .

A s a writer indeed although his literary works are deservedly

, ,

famous and were far reaching in their inuence he was

,
-
,

inferior to the rst three Clement O rigen and Ter tul lian ; , , ,

but he represents a type O f man somewhat different from any

that had as yet appeared among the ranks of the Christian
communities .

He was it is true a great scholar and thinker but at the

, , ,

same time he was what such men usually are not a born , ,

l eader of a wondrously winning personality which aroused the

,

warmest and most affectionate devotion among his contem

o raries ; a devotion which survived him as we see i n the
p ,

references to him and his work again and again in th e writings ,

of A ug ustine in the West and of Gregory N az ianz en in the ,

East To this was added the halo o f a white pure life ; men
.
,

in different lands and of different race believed in his unswerving

integrity Of purpose even when they differed from his views ,
.

b ecau
sc
T tulli n n d h i li fe w o k w
se
er

h i in u n s nd t
a

e
p i lly d welt u po n in Ch pt XI I
a

ce a
s

hing w in p b ly b oun d p w ith th i po t nt

eac

hool of tho g ht w hi h g w up t R o u n d e H ippolytus in th e P n ti at

u c re
- r

a
ere

ere

m
es

se

e
ec a

ara

r
u
a

e m
o
er

r a

c
.

es
,

of Z phy i nu
e rn d C lli tu s s a a s .
3 44 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

In some respects he is justly considered as the founder of

Latin Christianit y D eeply impressed by his trai ni ng and
.

earl ier associations with the maj esty of the Roman strength
and Roman respect of law he bel ieved that the strength of ,

the Church was b ased upon its unity and that this unity ,

depended upon its ackno wledgment o f the abs olute supremacy

o f the bishop who alone could enforce discipline and order

m
,

in matters o f doctrine as well as in life .

Until the ti e of Cyprian the absolute supremacy Of the ,

bishop had been littl e more than a lofty title or at least a , , ,

vague ill dened assumption
,
-
Through his teaching and vast .

in uence it became a substantial and world wide fact

He -
.

added little or nothing to the claims Of the Episcopate put

for ward by men like Ignatius or Iren aeus for with Ignatius
at the beginning of the second century the bishop was the

centre Of Christian unity ; with Iren aeus far on in the same ,

century he was
,
the depository of A postolic tradition

.

Cyprian in his teaching closely fo l lowed these great masters

, ,

but he raised the Episcopate to a higher level and put new ,

force into Old titles of respect With Cyprian the bishop was .
,

the absolute Vice gerent Of Christ in things spiritual
-
He .

was pop ul arly elected i t is true by the commons of Christ s

, ,

Church but was no bishop until he had received consecration

,

through bishops by trans mission from times when the guidance

*
Of the A postles was present in the Church .

From the position of lofty independence to which Cyprian

raised the Episcopate it has never since been deposed His .

theory underlies Catholic Christendom to day Wherever -

.

it has been departed from Church order has gravely su ffered ,

.

Rome resting largely upon traditional statements O f Cyprian

m
, ,

which the great theologian never really advanced has sub se ,

quently overridden the freedo o f the Episco pate by a

usurpation unquestioned in a large portion Of Western
Christendom whil e a reaction against Rome in some O f the
,

countries of North Western Europe has de l iberate ly set aside

-

bishops altogether and the episcopal theory o f Church govern

C
f . B i hop L i g ht foot D i
s ,
sser a t tion on th e C h isti an
r Ministry in E p . to
Ph il ipp ians . A hb i hop B n o n
rc s e s ,
Cyp r ian, h ap x ii
c . .
 FR OM D E CI US TO D IO CL E TIA N . 345

ment From this fatal error has sprung much o f the disorder
.

in doctrines teaching and ecclesiastical organisation which

, ,

so many serious members o f the non episcopal communities -

*
honestly deplore .

We shall dwell with some detail upon the Church o f

Carthage and upon its great chief for much light wil l be ,

thro wn thereby upon the inner life Of the Churc h in his

m
day . Some serious S pecial difculties presented themselves ,

in the heart o f the charmed circle of the Christian com

unities These had to be grapp l ed with and without delay
.
, ,

for they threatened to disturb the Church s governmen t and

gravely to interfere with its discipline and order .

Nothing is known o f Cyprian s early l ife A native most

.

probably o f Carthage we rst hear o f him abou t the year ,

24 6 in th e reign of the Emperor Philip at which date he was

, ,

the foremost advocate in the law courts of Carthage and had ,

j ust j oined the Christian community He was possessed of .

great wealth His villa was magnicent and his gardens

.
,

famed for their beauty In the Christian Church he became .

a deacon then a presbyter and with strange rapidity we nd

, ,

him on the death of the Bi shop o f Carthage D onatus called

, , ,

by the unanimous voice of the community o f believers to

the vacant chief post in the Church O nly ve presby ters .

are related to have b een opposed to th e popular election ,

and these ve for a long period remained in bitter antagonism .

Cyprian at rst decl ined the high ofce thus thrust upon
him bu t the mass o f the Christian population of the great
,

city no inconsiderable portion of the citizens would hear

, ,

o f no refusal Cyprian then consented to accept the important

.

and arduous O f ce This was in the year 248 His great

. .

reputation his wide scholarship his known eloquence and

, ,

high character all designated the new convert as the most

,

tting successor to D onatus .

When Cyprian became chief of the Christian society of

t hing A ng lo C tholi c Co union w hi ch n u b e in

T h e g rea an d far -reac m
m m
m m
- a , rs

its E pi op t a e b s itu t in G eat B itain an d in th e y et gre t e B it ai n

i hop
s O f sees s

m
sc a e r r , a r r

b eyo n d th e o c an h as follo w ed
e is, di b et w en th ese tw o e x t e e
a Th e
r a e a e r s
.

t h eo y of Ang li c n epi cop al g ov e n ent is larg ely th at of Cyp ian

r a s r r .
3 46 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NIS M .

the third city of the Roman Empire only a few months

m
,

remained to the communities of the long period of sti llness ,

o f immunity fro al l p ersecution which with on ly a brief , ,

interruption had l asted some thirty eight years

,
-
.

The unlooked for death o f the Emperor Philip in a military

-

revolt removed from the scene one wh o if no t a Christian , ,

was certainly the friend of the Christians A very different .

S pirit was at once shown by his successor the choice Of the ,

powerful army of Moes1 a which had revolted against Phi lip

, .

The new Emperor D ecius was no ordinary man In the .

A ugustan History he occupies a very honourable place among

the small number of good Emperors who reigned between

A u gustus and D ioc l etian ; and in later times is the subj ect
o f a special panegyric in the brilliant pages of the historian

o f the Decl i n e a n d Fa l l TO D ecius the presence o f the

.

Christians in Rome and in all the provinces their numbers ,

and increasing inuence seemed one of the principal causes

,

of the deterioration Of the Empire ; and early in his reign

he promu lgated a persecuting edict the severest that had ,

yet been issued by the Roman Government The text o f .

the edict has not been preserved but its purport is well known , .

Its intention was evidentl y their extermination throughou t

the Empire TO slay them was Of course considering their
.
,

vast numbers not practicable ; but every possible means was

,

to be adopted to induce the Christians to return to the O fcial

Rel igion Of the Empire Gentle means of persuasion were to

m
.

be used at rst then severe measur es were to be resorted to

, .

The profession O f the hated religion was to be rendered i

possible The edict was far reaching ; its provision affected all
.
-

ranks all ages I t was to run in Rome and the provinces alike
. .

There was no delay in putting ,; the stern decree into

execution Early in the year 25 0 the Christian communities
.

were startled at the news of the martyrdom of Fabian ,

Bishop of Rome O f the other chiefs of the proscribed sec t

.
,

the Bishops Of A ntioch and Jerusalem died soon in prison ,

D ionysius Bishop of A lexandria was only saved by ight

, , ,

O rigen the greatest living Christian teacher was subj ected

, ,

to cruel torture .
 FR O M DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 347

We have chosen to speak more particularly Of Carthage ,

where Cyprian had j ust been e l ected bishop as the repre ,

sentativ e city at this j uncture When the order for persecution

.

arrived in the great North A frican capital the terror was

widespread It affected al l classes in the Christian population
. .

A nyone might be summoned and required at once to sacrice ,

and apparently many were brought to submission .

It is not improbable conside ring the numbers who were

,

called upon in Carthage to declare for Paganism that a
,

general solemn
su
pp l icatio was arranged to which all ,

citizens were summoned and that thus it would be seen at

,

once who would submit and who would resist A t all events .

the immediate result was the imprisonment of a considerable

number o f Christians who were cruelly dealt with con sca
,

tion O f their property rigorous imprisonment and torture

, ,

and in some cases even death quickly following upon the ,

arrest .

Those who were steadfast who endured any loss or ,

suffering sooner than apostatise require no special mention ;

,

they only followed in the steps of the brave confessors wh o

in the successive persecutions for the past 1 8 6 years had by ,

their steadfast endurance been at once the strengt h and the

,

glory Of Christianity But in this D ecian persecution in the

.

sad year 25 0 there were a great number O f Christians whose

courage failed them and wh o to escape the loss o f their
, ,

goods to free themselves from the penalties attached to the

,

profession of their fai th consented to sacrice to burn incense

, , ,

o r strange to say to purchase certicates ( lib el l i ) which O fcial ly

, ,

declared that they h a d sacriced or burnt incense before the

altar of the D ivine Emperor

or some other deity O f
Rome .

It was a novel experience in the story of the Church ,

this quick surrender on the part of Christians this r eady ,
'

denial o f their faith this strange submission to the gods of

,

Rome ; an experience as sad and grievous as it was unique .

We have not to search long before we find the causes of

this falling away Of so many in the rst hour of stern trial .

For some thirty eight years save for the brief interlude o f
-
,
 m
3 48 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA CA NI S M .

tful
m
persecution in the reign o f Maxi inus all persecution
for the Na e s sake had been unknown For the rst time

-

since the dread hour when the Ofcers of Nero laid violent
.
,

hands on the Christians o f Rome the followers Of Jesus had ,

for a l engthened period enj oyed quiet and stillness had ,

been al lowed to worship as they chose had been permitted ,

openly to call themselves by the name of Him they loved .

When the D ecian storm broke over them o nl y very O ld men

cou l d remember the days of severe trial in the early years
o f the century ; indeed to the contemporaries Of Cyprian
,

persecution was rather a tradition than an experience D uring .

the long stillness in many quarters laxity of living had

replaced the ol d gravity and austerity of the Christian life
lived so long amid the stress and storm O f daily peril and
awful risk Church discipline had become in many centres

m
.

sadly relaxed .

The bishops in any instances while enj oying the privileges

,

o f their rank in th e community had become engrossed in

,

th e pleasures and business o f the life in the midst o f which

they lived .Some had devoted themselves to agriculture ,

some to commerce some to banking and even to usury

, .

Not unknown in the Church circles of the middle o f the

third century were even immoral chief pastors Some of the .

Nor th A frican bishops were positively notorious for their

share in the slave trade of the Sahara ! Ignorance to o Of , ,

the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith was not

unknown among the Church leaders Co l d and dark are
.

the Shades which are ung athwart the bright tracts and
around the gl owing lights Of the scenes of this early Church

m
l ife If it were possible for such men to be bishops we can
.

understand how among their proselytes they tolerated the

akers Of idols and the compounders Of incense or among ,

their laity astrologers and theatrical

These gl oomy pictures of the Church of this period are
drawn mainly from the epistles o f Cyprian and the treatises
Of A ugustine Bishop Of Hippo who wrote about a century
, ,

and a half later .

A hb i hop B n so n : Cyp i n i 1 0
rc s e r a , . .
 F R OM D E CI US TO D IO CL E TIA N . 3 49

It is easy to understand how in a Church which contained ,

such unworthy members some of them even bearers of high , ,

Ofce in the congregation would at the rst blast of a vigorous , ,

persecution fall away and for the sa k e of preserving life and

, ,

all that made life pleasant would deny the Name for which ,

their fathers had so gladly die d

Cyprian we read was appalled at the rst rush O f faith
, ,

less members of his ock to the Forum Of Carthage or the

temples of the gods to sacrice and to burn incense at the
heathen altars and so at what seemed an easy concession
, , ,

purchase safety and immunity What happened at Carthage .

was repeated at Rome and A lexandria and in other great ,

centres of the Empire It was even asserted though no doubt .

,

with exaggeration that the maj ority O f the Christians fell

,

away at this awful moment O f trial .

The deserters from the cause were di vided into two classes .

m
Those who sacriced and burnt incense at the altars of the

gods Sacricati and Th uri cati and those who for a sum

, ,

of money large or small

,
purchased fro the Imperial magis ,

trates certicates ( l ib el li ) that they had satised the Ofcials ,

of the State o f their orthodox S tate Paganism These last

.

were generally known as Lib ell atics L i b ella ti ci From the ,

.

accounts we possess of the subsequent trouble in the Christian

Church in dealing with th e se lapsed Christians who wi shed

m
to be received again into commu n ion with the Church a ,

m
great number of these l i b ell i or certicates of Paganism , ,

ust have been issued .

The reaction however soon ca e and was remarka b le

, , , .

Numbers of those who in the rs t moment Of the terror had

fallen away and had consented to sacrice or to purchase ,

safety by means Of a l ib ella s from the State authorities ,

begged to be admitted once more to communion with the

Church they had for a moment denied It was a grave
m
.

Fr o p s ag es efe in g to th e L ap si in th e w iti ng s of Cyp i n

th e
an d A u g u stin e th e e
a s r rr

pp ea to h av e b een two for s of th ese l b ll i ; th e

mmm
r

m r a

m
r a r e a e or

u ual b e in g a c ti cat e i sued b y th e R o an g i st at e to th e Ch i sti an st ting

m m m
s er s a r r ,
a

that th e ecipi ent w as Pagan in th e St t e sense and th e seco n d fo b i ng

r a a , r e

a do c u en t g iv en b y th e Ch isti an hi sel f stati ng th at h e h ad fo

r ally d en ie d ,
r

Ch i st and h ad a dopt ed th e Pag an cul tu

r ,
s.
35 0 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GANISM .

difcu l ty h o w these repentant ones were to be treated Some .

o f them vo l untari ly reapp eared before the Imperial tribunal ,

deed the edict and gladly receive d the punishment of ,

conscation exile or even death ; others in silence and in

, ,

secret renounced their weakness and tried by a life Of peni ,

tence to atone for their sin Many of these availed them .

selves O f a strange privilege claimed by those who had played

m
,

a braver part in the persecution wh o for the Name s sake ,

had suffered the spoi l ing Of their goods had endured i ,

prisonment and torture and no w lay in prison waitin g for ,

death This was the right of at once restoring lapsed
.

persons to all the privileges Of Church communion It is .

not known h o w long this cl aim to a singular power or privilege

had existed ; probably it dated far back and had its origi n ,

in the extraordinary honour ever paid to confessors of the

Faith A ny request made by such brave and constant ones
.

would n o doubt always be reverently listened to But in .

the D ecian persecution when so many fell away the claim , ,

was Obviously liable to gross abuse .

m
This usage prevailed in other centres in Egypt and in
A sia and to a certain extent in Rome ; but it was in Carthage
, , ,

that it was ost apparent * There the confessors in prison .

were literally besieged by crowds of the Lapsi begging for

Letters of Peace and reconci liation There was only one .

in that harassed and half ruined community Of Carthage -

whose voice would be listened to in this hour of confusion

and dismay and he was in exile Th e thoughts of all serious
, .
,

anxious Christians in the North A frican province turned to

Cyprian the Bishop Of Carthage who when the edict o f
, , ,

m
v e y st o ng and e a k b le p ssag e on thi s clai of confesso s to b e ab l e m
m m
A r r r r a a r

to fo g iv e g v e in o ccu in T e tull i n s t eati se D P udi iti C 22 w itt en

m

r ra s rs r a r ,
e c a, .
,
r

a g ood an y y e s b fo e th e D eci n p e secu tion Suppo se now yo u ty

m
ar e r a r . r ar r

b eneath th e w o d w ith h ea d al e dy poi ed fo th e b lo w ; su ppo s h i

s r ,
on th e
r a s r e

o ss w ith b ody l dy o ut st et h ed ; suppo se h i t th e st k e w ith th e lion

mm m
cr ,
a rea r c a a

l eady l et loo s ; on th e axl e t ee w ith th e e l e dy h e p ed in th e ve y

'

a r e - r r a r a a ,
r

t i n ty I y and po s es ion of ty do wh o p its (th e Ch u ch ) to

m
c er a sa s s ar r ,
er r
, ,

c o n do n w hi ch ese v ed fo G od offen es w hi ch not ev en A po stl es

m
O nce e e es ar r r r ,
c

h ve j u d ged con do nab l e ?

a L et it suf ce th e a ty to p urg e h is own r r

s s
.
 F R OM D E CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 35 1

D ecius was put ou t had withdrawn himself for a season ,

from the city and from a temporary retirement watched the

,

storm and helped to guide his harassed Church in its moment

,

of extreme difculty and danger .

The great bishop from hi s retirement was dismayed at

this claim o n the part of the imprisoned confessors h e
viewed it as calculated to destroy all discipline in the Church

m
and as capable Of being used most mischievously and he ,

wrote that as soon as possible a Council of Bishops should

be assembled at Carthage and at Ro e who would examine ,

the whole question of the unhappy Lapsi and devise a
,

wise and gracious method by which those who earnestly

desired it might be restored to communion .

The Opportunity soon came The life and reign o f .

D ecius came to an end in a battle during the campaign

which the Emperor had undertaken against the Goths who ,

were sorely pressing the Empire on its eastern ontier and ,

for some months co nfusion prevailed at Rome .

D uring the months of confusion which followed the death

o f D ecius o n the eld of battle the persecuting edict Of that

Emperor although not cancelled was no longer pressed ; and

, ,

gradually once again a partial stillness was enj oyed by

the harassed Church Cyprian returned to Carthage and .

,

without delay summoned the bishops of his important

province to what is kno wn as Cyprian s First Council of

Carthage The date was A D 25 1

. . . .

The question of the treatment of the Lapsed was carefull y

om
m
mt i po N o th p io i d m
Cyp rian i yp ti tio i v o ly
m
D ec

s re re en t in th s er er secu n of us h as b een ari u s

H e w as d th o ld h v d p v d
m
c en e d u n . r scr be by na e, an d h is ea w u a e e ri e

l d th y po d ho
om
th e Ch rist an s of r Afr ca of th e on e ea er e ssesse , on w se co

di i th y li d dvi id yp ll C rian

m
an ng g en us e re e for a ce and gu an ce . w as w e aw ar e of

th i s, d f h h h k ith
e C u c tio o io th
om y
drew fr scen e of a c

an o r t r s sa e w th e n , c n sc us at

l d th o ld o t vi t o ol t
t x m

m
h is ife, n ot h is ea ,
w u be of s ser ce in
th e err r . H is ab s u e

l d th ho v ho l t h lt th t
N m
fear essn ess of ea , we er , w as s wn s e six ears a er , w en h e fe a

thi ngs o
w er e ttl d tt o d
re se h t e an d pl
in b e er r er, and t a th e grea e a e of th e
B i hop th dyi
of Car o ld t thi h h
m
s ag e ng for th e a e w u b e th e b es n g for th e C ur c .

o t y v t h p k
q i tly m mdomll
So in A D.
. 25 7 - 8 , ab u six ears after th e e en s of w hi c w e are no w s ea in g ,

w h en pth e io ersec utp o l n of h vy th

th e E i ti
er r Va erian l ay ea on Car ag e , r es s ng

al l t ti to y yp
en r ea es i d , C rian u e re a ne to die . H is artyr wi be
p resen tly el ated
r .
352 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

gone into The bishops and pres b yters wh o had sacrice d

. ,

o r who had procured certicates ( l ib el li ) Of comp l iance with

the State comman ds as expressed in the Imperial edict were ,

deposed at once from their functions .

The laity wh o had Ob tained certi cates the class Of ,

L i b ella ti ci genera lly were treated with much consideration , ,

and were generally allowed to return to communio n after a

period o f penance A n inquiry into each case of apostasy
.

was ho wever directe d which determined the period O f

, , ,

penance Those who had actually sacriced were not to be

.

received until the hour of death and then only if they had ,

continued penitent It seems though this is not quite .

,

m
c l ear that in many cases this last severity was subsequently
, \

mitigated or set aside and none were even tually excl uded ,

from returning to co munion with the Church The Roman .

*
Church accepted the wise and on the whole merciful ruling ,

Of Cyprian and his Counci l which indeed was generally ,

followed in all the other great Churches .

This Council Of Cart h age under the inuence Of Cyprian , ,

ignored the interference of the confessors in the matter of

the reconciliation of the Lapsi Such an irregular inter
.

m
ference was considered and rightly a serious danger to any , ,

well ordered system of organisation

-
( The principle of .

merits Of certain saintly persons supp l e en ti ng the in

su fciency Of others curiously reappears in another form , , ,

in the later history of the Church in the edi aeval doctrine

Of

NO grateful praise is ou t Of place for Cyprian s merciful

work in this difcult question o f the restoration Of the

erring It passed into the code which has since regulated
.

the dealings o f the Catholic Church with sinners N 0 sin .

,

however great is beyond the hope of pardon ,

.

The great Bishop of Carthage at this time put o u t several

m
ty in R o e w hi ch p i st ently took far seve vi ew of th e
h ere w
m
m
m m m
T as a
par ers a rer

L p si an d efuse d to ceiv ag i n i nto co un io n any f th e apo st t e

m
a ,
r re e Th
a o a s
. e

h e d of th is p a ty w as one N ov tian w h o b ca a ch i ti cal B i shop of R o

m
a r a ,
e e s s a e.

T hi g v e chi s
s ra its w id sp ead i n uen ce
s n d its lo ng co n tinu n e w ill b e
, e r ,
a a c ,

n ot iced fu th er on wh en th e sto y of th e Ch u ch at R o
r e is el at e d in d et ail
r r r .
 FR O M DE CI US TO D IO CL E TIA N . 353

important treatises on the subj ect Some O f his wise and .

generous conclusions were several times repeated or quoted

by A ugustine writing some century and a half later With
,
.

Cyprian it was clear that no human rig ht exists to eradicate

tares or to break the poorest earthen vessels in pieces
, .

Perfect freedom to becom e good corn or (using another ,

image ) for the earthen vessel to make a golden urn Of itself ,

belongs to every soul It was a gracious and authoritative
.

*
exposition of the Lord s parable Of the tares and one which

the Catholic Church has written for ever in its Rule of Life .

The h O pe of restoration and reconciliation through the

Lamb s precious blood is the priceless inheritance Of every

penitent sinner .

In a passage of the treatise De L ap sis c 1 6 beautiful , .

,

as it is true Cyprian thus inveighs against those stern

,

puritans who would shu t to S inners the blessed door Of

hope The solace Of everlastin g life they steal away uproot
.

,

the tree wr eck the ship ere it enter the haven

they then assail anew the fallen si l encing their sorrows , ,

hushing the sobbing heart disregardin g the weeping eyes , ,

drowning the entreaties of long and intense repentance

toward a deeply offended Lord and all the while it stands
wr itten Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent
, .

The lu ll in the persecution which foll owed the death of the

Emperor D ecius was but of short duration The circumstances .

under which it recommenced under his successor the Emperor ,

Gallus were singular,

.

The plague was no unknown scourge in the early centuries

of the Christian era In the years 6 6 6 7 8 0 this fearful
.
, , ,

malady had appeared and re appeared in the Empire From -

.

the end o f the second century it was ever present in one or

other of the provinces In the middle Of the third century .

the pes t had attained vast proportions and for some twenty ,

years we hear of its ravages in all parts of the Empire It

J om ll m mm
.

i
w r tes
Mone ito
m mq i
m om
S . er e we : ur , ne c a pute us fratre , u a
eri pot t ill
es ,
ut q ui
e, hodi e n ox io deprav atus est dog ate , eras resipiscat, et

defen ders incipiat v er itate p

; an d c ar e h i shop B en on
A rc b s , Cyp rian,
h p iii
c a . .
354 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

s eems to have been a mal ignant class of typhoi d fever ,

m
accompanied by many distressing and dangerous complications ,

very infectious and Often terribly fatal to its countless victims ,

and tending to return ore than once to centres which it

had already desolated In A D 26 1 for instance it made its
. . .
, ,

appearance for the second time in A l exandria and in four

m
,

years we read it had reduced the population of that great

, ,

city by about one hal f In A D 26 2 it is co puted that

-
. .

whi l e it was at its worst in Rome about persons died

daily in th e capital city In the year 25 2 it made its appear.

ance at Carthage where its ravages were terrible The e ffect

, .

of this frightful scourge upon the Pagan citizens of the

Empire seems to have been grievous The worst passions Of .

men were stirred up The sick were uncared for sel sh gre ed
.
,

unbridl ed lust and disorder reigned u nchecked ; physical ,

terror became the dominant feeling in life A city when .

attacked by the fearful malady became a vast charnel house ;

everywhere men only seemed to care for their own safety

m
,

whi l e crime and all manner of wrong doing increase d with -

incredib l e rapidity The ordinary govern ent was paralysed

.

in the presence Of the universal terror .

In striking contrast to the selshness and shameful excesses

Of the Pagan popul ation was the behavi our of the Christian
communities in these dread seasons A wonderful picture for .
,

instance is preserved to us of the courage and devotion O f

,

the believers of A lexandria when the pl ague visited the great

Egyptian centre some nine years l ater than the visitation of
Carthage There under the inuence and example of the
.
,

bishop the celebrated D ionysius the Christians showed a

, ,

noble pattern of self sacrice In their tender care for their

-
.

stricken brother or sister they disregarded all heed of self by

even reckl essly as it seems exposing themselves in their loving
, ,

ministration to the deadly infection The words Of the great .

Bishop D ionysius quoted by Eusebius ( H E vii

, are .
,
.

of singular interest : Indeed the most of our brethren by

,

their excee ding great l ove and brotherly affection n ot sparing ,

themsel ves and adhering to one another were constantly

, ,

watching the sick ministering to their wants without fear

,
 F R OM DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 355

and without cessation and healing them in Christ have , ,

departed most sweet ly with them A n d further o n he adds : .

The best Of our brethren in deed have departed life in this

way some indeed presbyters some deacons and Of the people
, , ,

those that were exceedingly commended S O that this very .

form of death with the piety and ardent faith which aecom
,

anied it appeared to be bu t li ttle inferior to martyrdom

p ,

itself They took up the bodies of the saints with their

.

hands and on their bosoms cl eaned their eyes and cl osed

,

their mout h s carried them on their shoulders and composed

,

their limbs embraced them clung to them and prepared

, , ,

them carefully ( for the gra v e ) with washing and garments ,

and ere long they themselves shared in receiving the same

Ofces those that survived always follo wi ng those before
,

them .

But self sacricing and devoted as were the ministrations

-

o f the members of the Christian commu ni ties Of A lexan dr ia

and other great p l ague stricken centres Of population to their -

brethren in the Faith the teaching and example Of Cyprian ,

when the terrible pestilence was raging at Carthage struck a

new note Of pity Pontius his deacon and biographer tells
.
, ,

us h o w Cyprian urged upon his ock that to help their own

people was after all but an act of slender merit ; the perfect
, ,

Christian must pray for all a l ike must minister to all alike ,

in their great nee d There must be no distinction of person .

,

no inquiry as to creed ; the Pagan and the persecu tor must be

succoured as well as the fellow Christian The believer must -
.

*
live up to his name and his glorious ancestry he must ,

remember that God s sun shines for all and His rain falls on

the elds Of the j ust and the unj ust alike The servant of .

God then must surely follow his Lord s example

, ,

.

Such teach ing had never been heard since the living voice
of Jesus had ceased to speak to men A n d the words of .

Cyprian Of Carthage have never been forgotten His teaching .

here Christlike as it was generous has been followed by every

, ,

Christian nation on the earth and the countless hospitals of ,

Th e t iking
s r w od r s of P o ntius are w o th quo ting h e
r re :

R e sponder s n os
d sect nat lib us a n ostris

( Ponti us , Vi ta Cyp .
,
356 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

the worl d mainl y the outcome o f the devotion and love Of

,

the fol l owers o f Christ minister to all su fferers simp ly

,
.

regard l ess of race or creed .

Y et for their devotion and self sacrice the Christians O f -

Carthage receive d but a sorry guerdon The Emperor Gall us .

,

dismayed at th e progress o f the plague thought to avert the ,

evident anger of the gods of Rome by means O f sol emn public

sacrices throughout the Empire The non attendance Of .
-

Christians at these Pagan celebrations excited the anger O f

the mu l titude who once more fancied that the wrath of the
,

immortal s was evoked by the teaching and practices Of the

mighty sect growing up in their midst who taught men to
shun their al tars Thus it came to pass that the general per
.

secu tion which had died away when D ecius perished

,
amed ,

up anew and the D ecian edict which had never been revoked
, , ,

was again set in force ; while in Carthage where a singularly ,

famous Christian teacher swayed a great commu nity by the

magi c of his words and the spl endid devotion Of his acts the ,

menacing cry was heard To the lions with Cyprian ,

The persecution of Gall us though sharp and general was , ,

but of short duration ; for once more a military revolt put an

end to the Emperor s reign and life A nd the legions who

.
,

made and unmade at their ckle pleasure the lords of the

m
Roman world saluted as Emperor Val erian the Censor who
,

had rst co e into publ ic notice in the reign Of D ecius The

new Sovereign was at rst kindly disposed to his Christian
.
,

subj ects . It is noteworthy that in distinction from the ,

D ecian persecution no Lapsi seemed to have dishonoure d

,

the Name and to have degrade d the profession O f Christians

in the stormy period which closed the reign of Gallus The .

historian Of this anxious period in the Church s early history

woul d be unjust if he did not ascribe to the great Bishop of

Carthage a l arge share in the re awakening Of the Chur ch to -

its imperative duty Of bravely and patiently submitting to any

su ffering rather than deny the Name .

A considerable period of quiet was enj oyed by the bel ievers

in Jesus after the accession Of the Censor Valerian to the
throne A D 25 3
,
. D iony sius Bishop o f A lexandria ( quoted
. .
,
 FR OM DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 35 7

by Eusebius H E vii , . writes thus strongly o f the

.
,
.

favourable disposition Of this Emperor towards Christianity in

the earli er years Of his reign : Kind and frien dly he was

towards the pious ( Christians) For there was never any of .

the Emperors before him so favourably and benevolently

disposed towards them ; no t even those wh o were Openly said
to be Christians received them wi th such extreme courtesy and
friendshi p as did he at the commencement of his reign A ll .

his house was lled with pious persons ; it was indeed a con
re ation e o la ) o f the Lord But the Master and Chief
g g ( x /
c an .

Ruler of the Egyptian Magi Macrianu s ( who became Valerian s

,

chief adviser) persuaded him to abandon this course exhorting

, ,

him to persecute and to slay these pure and holy men .

Before the change in Valerian s policy some two or three

years of quietness remained for Cyprian to impress upon

the men Of his time his theory of Christian unity his grand ,

conception of the work and Ofce of the Catholic Church .

A bout a century and a quarter after the martyrdom of Cyprian ,

o ne of the greatest orators and theologians Of the Catholic

Church Gregory of Naz ianz en somewhile bishop of the
, ,

Metropolitan See Of Constantinople in one of his famou s ,

orations delivered in the capital of the Eastern Empire in

, ,

glowing words thus describes the commanding inuence whic h

Cyprian had acquired in the Church at large the mighty ,

love and devotion he had gained over men s hearts far and

Not over the Church of Carthage al one does h e

m

near :
preside nor yet over the Church Of A frica famous until now
, ,

from him and through h i but over al l the Western Church, ,

nay and almost the Eastern Church itself and over the ,

bounds Of South and North Thus Cyprian becomes

.

our own . The very remembrance of the man is a

san ctication This was the estimate of one of the chi efes t
.

Of Eastern theologians ; while in the West o nl y a very few , ,

m
years later the great A ugustine one Of his passionate admirers
, ,

and followers speaks of him in these terms :

, If my sins

d o n ot disable e I will learn if I can from Cyprian s

,

writings assisted by his prayers with what peace and consola

, ,

tion the Lord governed His Church through him .

35 8 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

It is singular that the name of this most eminent Christian

lead er who was deservedl y held in highest honour in the
,

Churches of his o wn day whose posthumous fame is even ,

greater whose work and inuence have been generally so

,

enduring is connected with the advocacy of one grave error

, ,

an error which has been universally condemned in the Church

of the West .

In the three Councils of Carthage held under the presidency

o f Cyprian in the years o f quietness 25 5 and 25 6 a prominent , ,

question was brought before the assembled bishops of the

Province who numbered in one of their Councils as many
,

m
as eigh ty sev en Was it right to re baptise heretics ?
.
The -

North A frican Church under the direction of their great ,

bishop formall y answered the question in the ar ativ e

, ,

denying the validity of baptism no t only by heretics but

also by schismatics (under schismatics Cyprian included
separatist sects l ike that Of the Novatians ) O n this question .
,

which so seriously agitated the Catholic Church and for a

while divided it into two Opposing camps hangs a most ,

important principl e which owing to the discussions which , ,

arose largely as the result of Cyprian s action has been happi ly

,

settled once for all certainly as far as regards the whole ,

*
Western Church The principle is so weighty a one that
.

it will be worth our while very briey to discuss it .

To insist upon re baptism even though the simple divine -

,

ritu al ] h ad been complied with would imp l y that the grace

L
,

O f the sacrament was gi ven no t by virtue o f the sacrament ,

but by the merit Of him who ministers it Generally speak .

ing the early Church determined aga in st any repetition of

,

baptism This rule was fo l lowed by the maj ority of the early
.

heretics ; re baptism appears to have been practised only

among the followers O f Marcion But Cyprian in his eon

m
.

tention was supported by some weighty precedents and

i portant authorities In the middle of the third century .

dm hi mti l pti m
m G
iddl o k Ch urch h as t ak en j ting h e eti l b ut

m
Th e ree a e c ur se, r e ec r ca

itti
om md d o d im
a n g sc s a ca ba s .

1 Th t to
'

ith
a t is say

w wa er

in th e na e of th e e ve
r b l essed Tr inity ,

as c an e by o ur L r H self .
 F R OM DE CI US TO D IO CL E TIA N . 35 9

the point at issue had n ot been formall y decided nor had ,

any substantial agreement on the subj ect been come to .

But such was the generous breadth O f the man that although ,

he was very denite in his teaching here he never dreamed ,

o f severing the connection o r Of interrupting the communion

which existed between his o wn North A frican Church and

the Churches which he considered to be in error in this
matter .

Cyprian apparently rested on the pronoun cement Of an

important Council Of some seventy A frican and Numidian
bishops under one Of his predecessors A grippinus * ci r ca , ,

A D
. . 21 3 which had settled the use o f the North A frican
,

Church in this particular Tertull ian ever a very weighty .

,

authority with Cyprian as might have been expected from ,

m
the wel l known bias Of his mind had some years before
-
,

m
declared the re baptism Of heretics to be necessary F ur ther
-
.

ael d Cyprian was supported by F ir ilian Bishop of C aesarea

, , ,

the chief see Of Cappadocia Fir il ian s was an important

.

opinion He was no t only the chief bishop of a large and

.

important province but in his day ( the middle o f the third,

century) ranked high am ong the chiefs of Christendom his ,

m
name standing rst in Eusebi us roll Of the great contemporary

Church rulers ( H E . .
,

F ir ilian in his letter on this subj ect alludes to the

, ,

m
Coun cil s of Iconium and Synnada as holding the Cyprianic
theory Of re baptism There were fty bishops attendin g the
-
.

latter of these gatherings Synnada was an i portant Phrygian .

centre In the Greek see Of Al exan dria D ionysius another

.
, ,

bishop of commanding inuen ce in that age was evidently ,

uncertain on the question and his r uling o n di fferent occasions ,

on this point does not appear to have been consistent Th e .

Al exandrian was a broad and tolerant prelate and apparently ,

would have left each community to continue to Observe its

o wn traditional usage .

m
ti m
m S . V incent of L erins it es th at th is B i shop A g ippinus
(circa A D
.

st of all o t al s to r ul e that th ey w h o h ad b een b apti d b y schi s

. 43 0) w r

m
r

m
mm
w as th e r r se

a es u st b e ag ain b apti ed b efo e th ey co uld b eco e Catho lics C

s r o

onitor iu ,
1 6 .
 3 60 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y AND PA GA NIS M .

But on the other hand the Church Of Rome in the person , ,

Of its Bishop Stephen knew its mind Stephen emphatically

, ,
.

condemned the practice of ever re baptising supposing the -

,

divine ritual had been ori ginall y adhered to ; he asserted

that his Church possessed here the apostolic authority of a
distinct tradition ; and according to Fir ilian he even went
so far as to accuse Cyprian in his teaching of the necessity
,

,
m ,

of a re baptism in the cases Of h eretics and schismatics of

-
,

being a false apostle and a treacherous worker .

The conclusion of this Sharp and acrimonious dispute on

a question which though it has l ong ceased to divide Christian
,

m
theologians involved a principle of the highest importance
, ,

has been admirably summed up by one who has made Cyprian

and his work a life study and who while passionately ad i ring -
, ,

the great bishop has no t allowed this admiration for one ,

instant to cloud his j udgment of Cyprian s error How

.

g reat he
,
suggests was the triumph of Stephen Of Rome ! ,

The contention of Cyprian was backed he reminds us by
, ,

an army o f prelates whom he rather restrained than stimulate d , ,

moving as on e man to his direction yet with an independence ,

which threw each upon himself for his argument NO

m
.

Council assembled to support him ( Stephen of Rome ) ;

A lexandria ( D ionysius ) remonstrated Cappadocia ( F ir ilian) ,

denounced His ( Stephen s ) good cause was marred by nu

.

charity passion pretentiousness ; yet he triumphed and in

, , ,

him the Church of Rome triumphed as she deserved For , .

she was not the Church of Rome as modern Europe h as

known her ; she was the l iberal Church then ; the Church
whom the Truth made free ; the representative of secure
latitude charitable comprehensiveness considerate
,

The gr a ce of B ap tis according to Stephen Of Rome w a s of

Ch r ist n ot of th e h u a n b ap tiser or as A ugustine a century
,
m
m ,

,
,

,
,

m
and a half after Stephen accurately puts it Ministers do ,

no t confer the gr ace of the Sacraments but the Holy Spirit ,

confers it through their inistry T .

1
'

Contr a
h hop B enso n Cyp
A rc b is
A u g u sti ne D B p ti
E pi t P n ni ni ii 1 1
s . ar i c
,

a
e

,
,

.
r ian,

.
m
o,
vii i
contr a
. 3 .

D onatistas, lib . iv .
, o . 4 ; and see, too ,
 F R OM DE CI US TO DI0CL E TIA N . 36 1

m
The great principle at stake defended by Stephen and the
Church o f Rome and so hotly discussed in the middle of
,

the third century was re afr ed in the closing century Of

,
-

the medi aeval period by the Council of Constance ( A D 1 4 1 4 . .

when it condemned the error of Wickliffe who asserted ,

that no bishop or priest in mortal sin could either baptise

o r consecrate ( Session VIII ) The Twenty sixth A rticle Of the .
-

m
Church of Engla nd based on the Eighth A rticle of the Con
,

fession Of A ugsburg reiterates the unanimous opin ion of the

,

Western Church when it ai r s that the grace of God s

gif ts is n o t diminished from such as by faith and rightly do

receive the Sacraments mini stered u nto them which be ,

effectual because Of Christ s institution and promise although

they be ministered by evil men .

A s regards Cyprian and his dissension with Stephen Of

m
Rome it was quickly ended for o nl y a few months after
, ,

Cyprian s third Council held at Carthage which again re ,

afr ed his views on the necessity of a new baptism in the

case Of heretics and schismatics the persecution of A D 25 7 ,

. .

burst over the Church in many lands Stephen his adversary .

, ,

appears to have been among the rst victims of the persecution

at Rome Sixtus Stephen s successor in the same sad year
.
,

also won the martyr s crown the circumst ances of his deat h

being singularly touchi ng But the feud between Rome and .

Carthage had already e v idently lost its bitterness for Pontius , ,

m
Cyprian s faithful deacon and biographer styles Sixtus

a ,

good and pacic priest .

It is a strong testi ony to the greatness of Cyprian and

the enduring character Of his work that Rome not always ,

forgiving has thro wn a veil over his contest with Bishop

,

S tephen and in the golden book of Saints has enrolled the

,

great Carthaginian Master and even commemorates hi s memory ,

in the Canon of the Mass * .

j m
m Rm ode o
i t scholar th us cu io usly apolo g ises fo th e g ene o u s
m m
A rn an s r r r

ud g en t h ere of h is Ch ur ch H o w g reat th e g uilt of Cyp ian (in O ppo si ng th e

m
r

B i shop of R o e) h ad b een is know n only to G od H is oth e se vices h is a ty

m
,
. r r , r r

do ,
toned fo it B ut wh o w ould ely on w hat Cyp rian in h is ho u of p assio n
a r . r , r

an d of e o tho u ght of th e P p l Sup re y

rr r, A nd O h ! w h t
a a w arni ng ac ,
a a
3 62 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

The great change which passed over Valerian s policy

towards the Christians after the earlier years Of his reign is

remarkable In spite of the marked favour he had shown
.

them at the beginning of his reign suddenl y in the years , ,

25 7 and 25 8 cruel persecuting edicts were put forth

,
These .

were no doubt suggested by the circumstances of the Empire .

What has been graphically termed The Uprising of the

Nations was being painfully felt The mighty confederacy

m
.

o f Franks was pouring across Gaul and even invading Spain ,

.

The A ll e anni were breaking through the li nes O f defence on

the Rhine and D anube and were even threatening Italy The ,
.

Goths were a terror as far south as Greece ; while in the

East Mesopotamia and Syria were swept across by the Persian
,

conquerors who were soon to defeat and to capture the Roman

,

Emperor himself .

In this period Of distress and general national terror the

chief adviser and minister of Valerian was that Macrianus whom
we have al ready seen noticed b y D ionysius Bishop o f A lex ,

andria as chief O f the Egyptian Magi a distinguished soldier

, ,

and statesman poss essed Of vast wealth who lled the post
, ,

of Chancellor of the Imperial Exchequer To his advice is .

generally attributed Valerian s persecution of the Christians

.

Like earlier statesmen he saw in their attitude towar ds the ,

Pagan re l igion an element Of disruption at a time when the ,

solidarity of the Empire was at stake Hence the rst per .

secutin edict of A D 25 7 O f this edict we do not possess the

g . . .

exact text but it seemingly had two divisions The rst part
,
.

simply required that the Christians should sacrice to the

gods of Rome the second forbade them assembling together
,

or visiting their cemeteries These hallowed p laces were .

m
sequestrated Refusal to sacrice was punished with simpl e
.

exile but any attempt to assemble for wors h ip or to visit

,

the proscribed ce eteries was to be punished with death .

The bishops and clergy were especially marked out for ob ser
vation The edict was put into force generally and with grave
m
.
,

m
h av e not Cyp i an s e it to sh un Cyp i n s oppo sitio n to thi do ct i ne

to u s, wh o r r ,
r a s r .

W p e h ap
e, ig ht n ev e b e allo wed th e O ppo t un ity of ec nti n g Pet e s D
r s, r r r a .

r er

eil ig e Cyp ri an .
 F R OM D E CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 3 63

consequences to the Christian population in such centres as

Rome and A lexandria and Carthage Here however we shall .
, ,

conne ourselves to what took place in the last of these and in

the great province of which it was the capital .

Cyprian natural ly from his widespread reputation as a

, ,

Christian l eader was at once arrested He ma de no e ffort to

, .

escape The p r oces v er b a l of his rst trial has been preserved

.
-
.

It is a piece of the highest value and is reckoned by scholars ,

and critics as Of undoubted authenticity We reproduce it as it .

,

doubtless faithfully represents more or less exactl y what took

place in other important Christian centres in the case of men
o f ra nk who were accused Of being Christians .

The trial was held in the A udience Hall of the Pro consul -

of A frica A spasiu s Paternu s The Roman magistrate began

,
.

by i nforming Cyprian that the most sacred Emperors Valerian

and Gallienus ( the latter had been associated by his father
Valerian in the Imperial digni ty ) had sent him a mandate in
which they directed that persons not following the Roman
rel igi on should at once conform to the State ceremonials In .

consequence of the mandate he should make inquiries as to

how the arrested prisoner styled hims elf .

Cypr i a n in his answer replied : I am a Christian and a

m
, ,

bishop I know no other gods b u t the O ne true God Wh o

.

made heaven and earth the sea and all tha t is in the ,
He ,
.

is the God whom we Christians wholly serve Him we pray .

to ni ght and day for ourselves and for the safety of the
, ,

Emperors .

Th e P r o co n su l : In this purpose then you persevere ?
-

, ,

Cypr ia n : A good purpose formed on the kno wledge O f

,

God cannot possibl y be altered
,
.

Th e P r o con su l (sarcastically) :
-
Will it then be possible

for you in compliance with the commands Of Valerian and

,

Gallienus to go at once into exile to the city Of Curub is

,

Cypr i an : I depart
.

The Pro consul Paternus further requested Cyprian to

-

ive information respecting the Christian presbyters of

g
Carthage This the bishop refused to do adding however
.
, , ,

that the presbyters would be found in their several cities .

 3 64 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

Paternus rej oined that he wou l d have them foun d and then ,

repeated the terms of the Emperor s edict directing that no

assemblies of the Christians were to be held and that they ,

were not to enter into their cemeteries : any who violate d

the last i njunction would be put to death .

Curub is the city to which Cyprian was banished was a

, ,

small remo te town on the sea board about fty miles from
,
-

Carthage situate in a lonely district

,
The apparent levity .

with which Cyprian was treated seems to suggest some doub t

in the Pro consul s mind as to the meaning of the new
-

edict The death however of this important f unctionar y

m
.
, ,

changed the state of affairs and we shortly hear Of the con ,

de nation of nine Numidian bishops many presbyters and , ,

l ay members of both sexes to the mines where great su ffer , ,

ings were endured by these true hearted confessors NO -

.

doubt this severity resulted on the disregard shown Of the

edict forbidding assemblies and prohibiti ng all visits to the
cemeteries ; regulations which would have been deeply felt in
the Christian communities .

In the following year 25 8 another and far severer edict

, ,

was put out in the name Of Valerian and his son It was .

felt by the Imperial Government that if any real effect was

to be produced harsher measures were necessary .

The new edict of A D 25 8 was the severest and most

. .

far reaching l aw that had yet been promulgated against

-

Christianity Three important classes were specially aimed

.

a t ( I ) The Christian clergy bishops priests deacons were , , , ,

no longer to be punished with mere exile but when ,

identied were at once to be put to death ; ( 2) a new law

was promu l gated which struck exclusively at the higher
classes Of Romans so deeply had Christianity permeated the
,

upper stratum Of society in the Empire Senators nobles .

,

( eg r egii v ir i ) and knights who were known to be Chris

,

tians were to be mulcted of all their possessions and

,

deprived of th eir rank Thus degraded they were to be

.

summoned before the tribunals and unless they then and ,

there abjured their faith they were to die ; noble women too , ,

were liable to the conscation of their goods and to exi l e

 FR O M DE CI US TO D IO CL E TIA N . 365

and death (3 ) The numerous Christian members of C aesar s

.

Household incl uding a vast number of publ ic Ofcials
, ,

were to be reduced to the condition of slaves That such .

a far reaching and terribl e edict was deemed necessary

-

by the Pagan Government of Rome in A D 25 8 bears a . .

testimony which none can dispute to the enormous progress

which the religion O f Jesus had made in the upper
classes of society in the Empire in the two hundred
y ears which had elapsed between the reigns Of Nero and
Valerian .

No special mention was made of th e mass Of the people

general ly It w as evidently supposed that such a tre
.

mendons blow aimed at the Christian leaders at the higher ,

classes o f society at the O fcial order Of the Household ,

of C aesar would be suffi cient to stamp out the Obnoxious
,

reli gi on .

The edict of the preceding year which forbade Christians ,

meeting and deprived the followers of Jesus of their ceme

,

teries sti l l remained in force and was Of course Often acted

, ,

upon . Al though we have evidence that terrible sufferings

were endured by the communities of the Brethren in Rome
and in Italy in Egypt and in North A frica in Gaul and
, ,

Spain in Syr ia and A sia Minor it is not probable that the

, ,

sweepin g provisions O f the e dict Of A D 25 8 were ever . .

thoroughly put in force although what was done fell with ,

cruel harshness on uncounted individuals in those various

centres Indeed there was little time to arrange the elaborate
.

machinery necessary for the comp l ete carrying ou t of a

law which would affect so vast a number Of notable and
even powerful personages ; for in less than two years a fresh
edict promulgated in A D 26 0 by Galli enus Valerian s son
,
. .
,

put a sudden end to the persecution .

But in Carthage which we have selected as our exampl e ,

of an important typical Chris tian commu ni ty of the middle

of the third century at the head Of which was placed one ,

Of the greatest of the earthl y members of the Church Of

Chri st the second of Val erian s edi cts was at l east in part
,

put into force and a persecution sanguinary while it lasted

, , ,
3 66 E ARL Y CH R IS TI A NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

*
harassed the believers and gave to Cyprian the crown o f
martyrdom .

A s regards the great bishop we have a perfectl y rel iabl e ,

account of his last days contained in one of his letters in the ,

recital of his faithful deacon Pontius and in the O f cial p r oces , ,

y er b a l Of his interrogation b y the Pro consul The whole story

m
-
.

comes down to us without exaggeration with no improbable ,

admixtur e of the arv ell ous .

We have seen how in the early autumn O f A D 25 7 after ,

. .
,

the rst Imperial edict he was banished to the l ittl e sea ,

coast town of Curub is some ft y miles from Carthage Be , .

~

yond the fact of hi s exile from his city he appears to have ,

been under no restraint and we know he commu nicated freel y ,

with the su ffering confessors who in the course of that year ,

were sent to the mines But al though Cyprian personall y .

,

was treated with consideration he was persuaded that the ,

end for him was near at han d In the A ug ust of the follow .

m
ing year 25 8 the new edict O f Va l erian against the Christians
, ,

was sent out ; and perhaps the same messengers who brought
him the news to l d h i of the martyrdom O f Sixtus and his
four deacons the rst fruits of the persecution at Rome
,
.

The Pro consul Gal eri us Maximus who had succee ded Paternus
-
, ,

in his high O f ce at once summoned Cyprian from Curub is

,

to Carthage There the bishop was permitted to l odge in

.

his own beautiful vill a surrounded by gardens which he h ad ,

sold for the benet Of his ock but which had been re pur ,
-

chased for him by his devoted friends .

The Pro consu l was sufferi ng from sickness and sent for
-
,

Cyprian to Utica But the bishop was determined to die in

.

his own episcopal city and anticipated the summons which , ,

he was well a ware meant dea th by with drawing himsel f into ,

a temporary pl ace Of concealment until the Pro consu l shoul d -

return to Carthage In these last days of a great l ife must

.

be dated his beautiful farewell letter addressed to his presbyters , ,

Af i
P d n ti
f
ru

h i th
eh us

in th mm
ho n n f th c n f thi p e
as c

P i St p h n n x iii
se

7 6 8 7
o tion in P on l
e o

A n d A g ti n d w ll
e s e es o s rsecu r o- c su ar

m
r ca or s e e e er - e a ,
. . u us e e s

upo n it in h i o n w h h p k f th M C ndid

m
f th

mm
3 o6 th
s ser , er e e s ea s o e assa a a o e

t
ar y rs f U ti
O H f th
ca . xpl in thi ing ul
e ur xp ion
er Th y w
e a s s s ar e ress .

e ere

c ll ed M f th i n n d C ndid f o th i ty b i g htn
a b c u
assa e a b se O er u er , a a a r e r ar r r ess .
 F R OM DE CI US T0 DIO CL E TI A N . 367

deacons and people In it he signied his purpose of return

, .

ing to his Carthage home as soon as he heard that the Pro

consu l had arrived in the capital city ; for he said that it
was most tting that a bishop should play the part of a con
fessor in h is o wn city The words that were spoken by a
bishop at that supreme oment should be heard by his own
people who would repeat them again and again He had
.

m .

even asked God that the scene of his martyrdom to which he ,

looked forward might be Carthage Cyprian evidently hoped ,

.
,

perhaps expected that he woul d be speciall y helped in his utter,

an ces in that solemn l ong looked for hour In view of the new - -
.

and awful terror which he foresaw coming upon the communities

of believers the Chief Pastor of Carthage felt there was no
,

occasion for burning words of encouragement to martyrdom ;

he rather inculcated sobriety and calm ; no one of his peop l e
was to give himself up voluntarily no one was to utter erce ,

words of deance ; o nl y after arrest was the accused Christian

to speak and then a higher Power would tell the faithful con
,

fessor how to phrase a noble confession * There was no fear .

in Cyprian s mind that an y Lapsi shrinking from a brave

,

confession would shame the Church of Carthage as had once

, ,

been the case in that sad hour of the D ecian persecution .

Everything turned out as he had foreseen and provided

for ; the Pro consul speedily returned to Carthage and the
-
,

confessor bishop at once appeared in his o wn villa There .

,

without delay he was arrested There was no unmannerly , .

rough treatment of the Christian leader on the part of the

Roman o fcials his high rank his stainless reputation his , ,

vast inuence and pop ul arity in Carthage and the province

m
,

were recognised Bu t the Roman Government had decided .

to make him an example and by striking at so e inent a ,

personage to terrorise his devoted flock The second day

, .

following the arrest saw the end The nal interrogator y .

m mm
took place in an open court with a col onnade running round
Cyp i n
mmmmm m
l wo d h on t in d in h is o b l l tt w N

m m m m m
r a s ca r s, ere c a e e ra e e er, ere ec

q ui qu
s v t u liq u t ul tu f t ib u
a es r ae t u t nl t e
g n til ib u
u ra r s ov a , a ro se e s

o ff t
era A pp h n u
. ni t t ditu l q ui d b t ; i quid
re e s s in n o b i D o i nu
e e ra s o e e s e s s

p itu il l ho
os s l oq u tu q ui n o
a ra n t i g i l uit
a q u p
r, t i Cyp i n s co er a
-
s vo a ro er .

r a :

Ep . 83 .
3 68 E AR L Y CH RIS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

it in the Pr aetorium It was a striking scene in which the .

majesty of Rome was tly represented the Pro consul o f -

A frica being surrounded with his chief ofcial s ; immediately

behind the chair of ofce were the lictors with their rods and
axes ; before the great magistrate stood a tripod with burning
coals a nd a box of incense The prisoner was sip l y charged
,

with sacril ege The p r oces v er b a l was very brief We will

.
.

-
m
translate the A cta P r o con su la r ia -
.

Th e P r o con su l Ga l er iu s : You are Th ascius Cyprianu s

-

Cyp r i a n : I am
.

Th e P r o con su l : Y ou have permitted yourself to b e

-

Pope ( or bishop ) to persons reckoned sacri l egious ?

Cyp r ia n I have
.

Th e P r o con su l : The most sacred Emperor has directed

-

m
that you should sacrice .

Cyp r ia n : I will not sacrice
.

Th e P r o con su l : Think for a mo ent
-

.

Cyp r i a n D o the duty enforced upon yo u ; in so righteous

a question there is no room for reection .

Then after a brief consultation with his Council the ,

Pro consul pronounced j udgment Th e words of Galerius

-
.

were few and measured and admirably expressed the policy ,

and views of the Pagan Government Y our life Cyprian .

, ,

has long been a life of sacrilege ; you have gathered around

you many accomplices in your criminal designs you have
set yourself up as an enemy to the gods of Rome and to
their sacred rites ; nor have the pious and deeply revered
Emperors Valerian and Gallienus been able to bring you
back to their reli gion Therefore as the uphol der of a great .

crime as the standard bearer of the sect I must now make

,
-
,

an example of you in the pre sence of your associates in

guilt The laws ( of the Empire ) must be sealed with your
.

bl ood O ur sentence therefore is that Th asciu s Cyprianus

.
, ,

be put to death with the sword .

Cyprian s only rejoiner was : Thanks be to

Cf A cta p r o
. onsular ia
-c
S Cyp r iani, 2, 3 , 4 , 5 (R uinart) ; P n u s, Vita
. o ti
S . Cypr z a ni, 1 5 , 1 6 , 1 7 , 1 8 ; L e B l ant, L es A otes des Mar tyr s, 23 01 ; A ard, p . ll
H istoire des Perscutions, vol ,
. c a tersiiii iii ;
. hp
A r ch b ish oI ) ens n,
.
-
. B o
 FR O M D E CI US TO DIO CLE TI A N . 36 9

The glorious end was indeed come for the standard

bearer of the Christians as the Pro consul had happil y styled ,
-

him It was a short but triumphal march from the Pr aetorium

.

to the spot whe re the doom was to be accomplished It .

was to be no secret execution .

The arres t o f the loved bis hop and his condemnation were
soon k no wn to a great crowd of Christian fol k The Roman .

Governor wished it to be a great example ; he had his wish .

Guarded closely by a company of the we l l known thir d legion -

,

and followed by a crowd of mourning spectators Cyprian ,

soon reached the spot where the last scene of this memorab l e
tragedy was to be acted Quietly the eminent teacher o f .

the Christians took o ff his upper garments and after praying , ,

a whi le stood upright in his long white linen garment

, .

Then as it seemed he waited to see if any message of God

, ,

came to him to utter ; but there was nothing so he was sil ent , .

The executioner arrived the martyr asked his friends wh o ,

stood near him to rewar d the man with a rich guerdon of

twenty v e p i eces of gold and with the help of two who were
-
,

cl ose to him bound a handkerchief over his own eyes Some .

thing in the appearance of Cyprian unnerved the headsman ,

and he could not strike ; then stepping forward the centurion

in command of the escort took his place determining himself ,

to give the death stroke and with one blow closed the sad ,

scene Ita beatus Cyprianus passus est
. Thus the blessed .

Cyprian su ffered were the simple but pathetic words which

closed the A cta from which we have l argely quoted
, .

The martyrdom of Cyprian at Carthage in A D 25 8 was . .

the signal for a general persecution in North A frica in ,

accordance with the provisions of the two edicts of Valerian .

1n Pro consular A frica there were many victims in Numidia

-
,

even more ; in other parts of the Empire the cruel edicts

against the Christians were carried out with more or less
severity ; in Palestine in C oele Syria in various populous ,
-
,

districts of A sia Minor the communities of the believers

S

at
.

old e
Cyp rian,
r

h is
e e
x i Th
v n th n th
d th nd f o
ea ,
.

a r
e

m
e

A cta P ro
L ife

th ese
-

A ct s

hi ch h av e b een refe ed to w e
con sa lar ia ,

,
w
b y P on ti u s Cyp i an s d eaco n w h o w
r

P on tiu s f eely q u ot es
r

as with h i ,

.
rr ,
er

m
3 70 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M

counted many martyrs In Gaul and Spain the edicts were .

seemingly less rigorously enforced but even in these distant ,

provinces the Church su ffered though no doubt the invasions ,

or raids of the barbarian tribes to a certain extent occupied

the Imperial Government and secured some immunity for ,

the Christian inhabitants In Rome the ill will of the Govern .

-

ment was of course conspicuously manifest and we shall give ,

a somewhat detailed account of the harrying to which the

great Christian community in the capital city was subjected
in this period of general gloom and distress .

m
I N 1 1 R O ME
S E CT O . .

m R omm
Tab l e of P op es o r B i hop f s s o Co nte
po rar y

R o e b et ween A D . . 249 an d p o an E er rs .

A D.. 26 0 .

Fab ianus A . D .
( 23 6 ) 25 0 Decius .

Cornelius 25 1 Gallus
L ucius 25 2
Step h en 25 3 Val erian .

Six tus I I . 25 7 3

(or Xy stus)
Diony sius 25 8 Ga ll ienus .

A L T HO U G Howing to the commanding personality o f Cyprian

, ,

Carthage and Pro consular A frica was the chief centre o f

-

interest in the stormy period of the general persecutions

during the reigns of D ecius Gallus and through the latter , ,

years of the reign of Valerian some events o f considerable ,

interes t deserve to be chronicled in the Church of Rome during

those eventful years .

We have in Eusebius (H E v i 4 3 ) a brief summary . .

, .
,

o r catalogue o f the staff o f the Church of Rome at the time

,

o f the D ecian persecution ; the catalogue runs as follows :

There were (besides the bishop ) forty six presbyters seven -

,

deacons seven sub deacons forty two aco lytes ( clerks )

,
-
,
-
,

exorcists readers and j anitors numbering fty two ; widows

, ,
-
,

with the aficted and needy more than fteen hundre d ; all ,

o f whom the goodness o f God doth support and nourish .

The historian then proceeds briey to allude to the l aity o f

the Roman communion as follows : There were others who

 F R OM D E CI US TO D I O CL E T A I N . 371

by the Providence of God wer e wealth y and Opulent together ,

with an innumerable multitude of all people .

Such a bare summary of the numbers of the o fcials

belonging to the congregations of the capital gives us some
idea of the size and importance of the Church of Rome and ,

also some conception o f its elabora te organisation The .

bishop was Fab ianu s who had been elected some fourteen
,

years before in A D 23 8 eighteen years after the death of

. .
,

m
Cal listus
. Tradition says Fabianus was chosen on account of
a dove alighting on his head as the election was proceeding .

He was a prelate of great power and considerable ad ini s

tra tiv e ability .The elaborate and careful organisation of
the community was in great measure his work ; his interest
in the vast network of the subterranean cemeteries wher e ,

so much had been done by Cal listus was sustained and he , ,

is reputed to have done m uch to improve and beautify them .

The head of the Roman Christians in the second quarter of

the third century was an important and inuential personage
in the life of the great city well kno w n to the o fcial world
,

of the capital Tradition too speaks of him as exercising

.
, ,

c onsiderable po wer with D ecius predecessor the Emperor

Philip the friend of the Christians This Bishop Fabianus

, .

was at once marked for destruction by D ecius who put ,

him to death h O ping by this act of crue l tyranny to dis

,

o rganise the commu nity he so dreaded His ock reverently .

laid him to rest in the cryp t of S Callistu s D e Rossi dis . .

covered the fragments of the marble slab which once closed

in the narro w cel l where the body of the m artyred bishop
had been entombed The name Fabianus was deciphered o n
.

the s l ab with the letters annexed telling o f his rank and

, ,

noble martyr end .

We possess the letter addressed by Cyprian of Carthage

to the presbyters and deacons of Rome in which he acknow ,

l e dges their letter containing the particulars of the glorious

close of F ab ianus life and expresses his own j oy that

s o upright a career had been so tl crowned The glory of

y .

such a death said the A frican Master is reected upon his

, ,

Church ; such an example set by the bishop is a strong

3 72 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

incentive to a simil ar brave resistance on the part of his

brethren for their Faith s s ake
.

A fter an interval of a year and some months a del ay ,

occasioned by the severity of the persecution which no ,

doubt prevented any formal assembling of the Faithful in

Rome Corne lius who probably belonged to the well known
, ,
-

patrician fami ly of that name was elected in the room of ,

the martyred F ab ianus The new bishop had passed through .

every order and o f ce in his church and was generally ,

respected and revered His ponticate was short and .

tro ubled ; banishe d not long after his election from Rom e
, ,

to Civita Vecchia he soon died in his exile No doubt his

, .

death was hastened by the harsh treatment experienced by

him in his place of banishment for he is reckoned as a ,

martyr and is spoken of as such by his friend and con

,

temporary Cyprian o f Carthage although no record of a ,

violent death in his case is preserved to us .

.

The body of Cornelius was brought back to his own city

o f Rome and laid not in the historical Papal crypt of the
,

cemetery o f S Callistus where most of his predecessors had

.
,

been buried since the beginning of the third century but in ,

an adj oining catacomb where were the graves o f other Christian

members of that proud patrician house to which he apparently
belonged D e RoSsi has discovered his sepulchre the broken
.

pieces of the marble tablet which once closed u p the deep ,

niche wherein originally was placed a sarcophagus containing

his remains have been pieced together ; and the inscription in
,

Latin graven in Roman characters can be clearly read : Cor

, ,

n el i a s Ma r tyr Ep The Latin tongue was probably used

. .

instead of the ordinary Greek the ofcial language of the ,

Roman Church the i llustrious family to which the bisho p

,

belonged preferring Latin as more tting for a noble Roman s

grave The sarcophagus was probably of somewh at later date

.

than A D 25 3 the remains in the rst instance having been

. .
,

m
apparently at rst laid in a simpler grave .

The tomb of this bishop has been the scene of many a

pilgrimage Pope Da asus in the fourth century restored
.
, ,

the chape l where Cornelius lay and arranged a special staircase ,

Ph o to Anderso n , Ro m e.

m
C H R A L C H A MB E R IN C E ME T E R Y
m C I NA
m
A S E PU L T HE OF LU

C onnected with th e C e t e ery o f S Cal l i s tus,

. t d
res ore b y Po p e Da It
asus . t
co n ains th e t o b of

S C o rnel i us A D
. . .
p Th e t
ain i ng s of S . C ornel ius and S C y
. prian are o f th e t
E igh h C en t ury .
 F R OM DE CI US TO DIO CL E TI A N . 373

for pilgrims It was inj ured by the Lombard invaders in their

.

hunt for treasure or relics In the ninth century Pope Leo III
. .

once more restored it and painted on its dark walls the gures
o f Corne l ius and his friend Cyprian on which picture dim , ,

and s carred by time the twentieth century pilgrim may still

,

g a z e
.

We have described the grave scandals at Carthage which

arose owi ng to the number of Lapsi Christians who in
,

the persecu tion of D ecius coming after the long peace of the
,

Church fell away in the hour of trial ; the same sad falling
,

away was noticeable at Rome and in other great centres of

population The settlement of Cyprian in the all important
.
-

question of reconciling these Lapsi to the Church and of
:

restoring them when thoroughly penitent to communion was

, , ,

followed generally by Rome and by the whole Church But .

at Rome there was a violent opposition to the merciful and

gracious view of a temporary weakness of members of the ock
o f Christ taken by the bishop and the large maj ority of the
rulers of the Christian community Thi s opposition was headed .

by a presbyter of great ability but of eccentric disposition ,

named Novatian .

D uring the vacancy of the see after the martyrdom of

Fabian this Novatian exercised great inuence at Rome He
,
.

seems to have expected to have been chosen bishop although ,

he vehemently protested that he did not desire the position .

A t all events after th e election of Cornelius a schism was

, ,

formed and N ov atian was consecrated to the Episcopate by

,

three obscure Bishops Novatian and his party held that the
.

C h urch had no power of granting absolution to the Lapsi ,

and was bound to exclude them for eve r from commu ni on .

He sent notice of his consecration as schismatical bishop of

Rome to many of the greater churches but his claim was ,

generally ignored His vigorous opinions however on the

.
, ,

subject of the Lapsi found many adherents especially in ,

the West ; and his sentence of lifelong exclusion from all

Church communion which in the rst place had been con
, , ,

ned to those only who had fallen away was subsequently ,

extended to all who after baptism were guilty of any grave

3 74 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NITY A ND PA GA NIS M .

sin . The follo wers of Novatian styled themselves P uritan s

( Cathari ) ; they even went so far as to re baptise proselytes -

from the Church whose l axdiscipline they deemed imperfect

,

and impure O n other points the followers of N ov atian were

.

orthodox .

This schism which rst arose at Rome i n the D ecian per

,

secu tion did not die out for a long time

,
In parts of the east .
,

eg. in Phrygia the N ov atians united with the Montan ists

, .

There was a remnant of them in certain places even as l ate as

th e l atter years of the sixth century .

O n the death of Cornelius in exile Lucius was elected

m
,

Bishop of Rome in A D 25 2 A solitary letter addressed to

. . .

him b y Cyprian is extant Lucius appears to have been i .

mediately banished by the Imperial Government In this .

letter Cyprian consoles the exile by telling him that he h a s

the prayers of the Church of Carthage that the crown he had
already won by a noble confession might be perfected Cyprian
probably m eant by a glorious martyrdom for the Name But .

Luciu s was not cal led to suffer a violent death ; for he was
recalled from his banishment in the beginning of Valerian s

reign and on his return died almost immediately He was

, , , .

laid with his predecessors in the sacred Papal crypt in the

Cal listu s cemetery and the broken slab of marble which once
,

veile d his last resting place has been discovered simp ly bearing
-
,

his name o /ci s graved in Greek characters

, , .

It was during the persecution of Valerian cir ca A D 25 8 , . .

,

when al l assemblies in cemeteries were stern ly forbidden ,

that some of the curious work of earthing up the destruc
,

tion of staircases communicating with the different catacomb

galleries in Rome which has o f l ate years been observed ,

was carrie d out ; and at the same time many secret entrances
and exits we re ski lfully contrived O ne curious and deep ly .

interes ting account of a terrible catacomb scene of martyrdom

deserves special mention Ci r ca A D 25 7 in the course of . . .
,

the Valerian persecution two well known Christians a husband

,
-
,

and wife named Ch rysan th us and D aria were buried ali ve

, ,

in o ne of the cemeteries beneath the Via Sal aria Nova on

the north east o f the city In the course of the following
-
.
 FR OM DE CIUS TO DIO CL E TIA N . 37 5

year disregar ding the stern edict which forba de any such
, ,

gatherings under a death penalty a number of Christians ,

assembled in the labyrinthine recesses o f the great arenaria

( or sand pit ) adj oining the cemetery where the two revered ,

martyrs had met their death This devout company of .

believers were in the act of partaking of the Holy Eucharist ,

when they were surprised by a party of legionaries who ,

were employed in the work of detecting these proscribed

assemblies The legionaries with little difculty closed up
.

the exits of the arenaria and by piling up a great heap o f ,

m
sand and stones literally buried alive the numerous band of
worshippers who thus perished In the following century ,
.

when Pope Da asus was busied in re storing and putting in

order some o f the more celebrated burying places in the
catacombs his o fcials came upon the sad relics of this
,

entombed company of worshippers There lyi ng amidst the .

,

m
remains were the holy vessels which they had taken down
,

with them for the celebration of the sacred communion rite .

Pop e Da asu s would not touch these pathetic memorials

of an age of su ffering He simply set up one of his well .

kno wn inscriptions te lling the story and opened a window ,

in the adj acent wall or rock in order that pi lgrims might see
without disturbing this monument of a gl orious past so unique

of its kind this Christian Pompeii in miniature These
, .

touching relics of su ffering believers whom death had over ,

taken while they were in the very act of prayer were seen ,

by pilgrims in the sixth century when Gregory of Tours wrote *

, .

To return to our list of Roman bishops When Lucius

m
.

R o ssi s w g ood e on t hop th t fu th e inv tig tions ig ht b in g to

De
li ght thi s t ikin g pot p h p th v y w i ndo w it l f w hi h D
t u t d th o ug h w hi h th pil g i o nc g d
s r
a

i ting it w e
s u

t a ol
c n ,
r as

er a

m
o

s
e

e
a

er
r r

mm es

se
a

c a as
r

s o

m mm
s r c e , r c n e r s e az e , ass s ,
as re, a s e

E uch i t l b t d in th thi d nt u y D R o i w o d
ar s ce e ra e C tt pe e r ce r .

e ss
'
s r s ar e :

e e es r

t fo n d p q di ll pli R

m mm m

a n ec es
j o i u e e e d sera sg nd u res re, e e sera r e . o e a s 8a ra e r,

t ii p 6
. .
, . .

ty do f SS Ch y nth us nd D i w hi h p ced d th t iki ng

m m
Th e

m
ar r o . r sa a ar a , c re e e s r

a nd p th ti whola l ty do b ov
e c lat d i u u lly d t d D 28 4 in th
esa e ar r a e re e ,
s s a a e A . .
, e

re i gn f th E p o Nu i n B t hol
o e su h Til l
er r nt n d oth e nd er a . u sc ars, c as e o a r s, a ,

l t A l l d co n id th t thi t g i ev nt b lo ng to th V l i n p cution
a er, ar , s er a s ra c e e s e a er a erse ,
a

q u t e of c nt u y li
ar r ( Of th e ex h ustiv n ot of A ll d H t d P u ~
a e r ear er . . a e e ar ,
zs . es ers c

ti n o vol iii ch ii iii pp 4 6

s, . .
, . .
-
.
, .
376 E A RL Y CH RI S TI A NI T Y A ND PA CA NI S I V
I .

brief career was closed Stephen was elected bishop cir ca , ,

*
A D
. 25 3
. Consi derabl e interest is attached to this ponti
cate owing to the haughty claims made by Stephen to a very

m
,

denite supremacy in the Church These claims were evidently .

resisted by Cyprian and practically ignored by Fir ilian ,

the famous bishop of C aesarea in Cappadocia whose high ,

position among the prel at es of the midd l e of the third century

has been already all uded to ; and the claim of Rome was also
ignored by many other bishops of this period .

It is indisputable that Cyprian who during these troub l ous ,

times occupied the foremost position in the Christian Church ,

accorded to the Roman see a position of inherited prece dency ,

but at the same time resisted her claim to dictate her will to
other and independent churches Stephen ho wever was not .
, ,

content with an acknowledgment of an undened supremacy ,

and there is little doubt that during his ponticate the rela
tions between him and the church of North A frica with its ,

powerful phal anx of bishops were severely strained Nor

m
.
,

were his relations with many of the Eastern bishops by any

eans of a friendly nature although the alleged fact of his ,

positively severing his communion with these oriental prelates

m
is uncertain A fter th e death of Stephen the more concilia
.
,

tory policy of his successor Sixtus II ( Xystus ) seems to have ,

.
,

res tored the har ony between Rome and the provincial
churches which had been seriously imperilled by Stephen s

arbitrary conduct .

The character of Bishop Stephen of Rome has been vari

o usl

m painted Jeremy Taylor s estimate which represents

y .
,

hi as a zeal ous and furious person has perhaps too largely ,

in uenced modern opinion for it has been wel l re ark ed Tb y ,

the latest scholarly student of Cyprian an enthusiastic ad ,

mirer of the great Carthaginian l eader who ever resisted

Stephen s assumption of authority that we must not forget

that Stephen s portrait is made up of traits etched in scr aps

by the pen of an adversary that D ionysius the revered bishop

m
, ,

x tdt
Th e e ac a e is a littl e unce rta in ; so hi to i e s r ans x it in th e s p i ng
r of

th e follo wi n g y ear, A D . . 25 4 .

A h b i hop B o S Cyp ria n, vii

r rc s ens n : . . 3 .
 FR O M D E CI US TO D I O CL E TIA N . 3 77

of A l exandria on the other hand makes grateful mention of

, ,

his ( Stephen s ) liberality to the churches of Syria and A rabia

and that to Vincent o f L erins there oated across two cen

turies a tradition of modesty as well as zeal o f faith as wel l ,

as dignity .

The story o f the long controversy of Stephen with Cyprian

o n the question Should heretics be re baptised ? has been
-
,

to l d with some little detail in the previous section which

dealt with Cyprian It was seemingly an anxious dispute O n . .

the one si de stood the foremost man of the Christian world ,

o ne too wh o was greatly loved as he was universally revered ;

, ,

behind him were councils composed of many bishops The .

Ea stern church sympathised with even if it did not directly ,

m
support him ; A lexandria with her bishop though on the ,

whole neutral was inclined to be with him ,

Stephen o f .

Ro e had few friends ; h is arrogance and want o f charity

alienated many a foreign church ; but his teaching and the
tradition of his metropolitan church triumphed in the long
run and the unanimous voice of the Catholic Church afte r
, ,

the original disputants had pas sed away has pronounced that ,

th e unpopular Stephen was right and the loved Cyprian ,

wrong The issue of this great controversy which for a brief

.
,

season threatened to rend the Church asunder has no do ubt ,

been o ne of the una cknowledged factors which in the coming ,

ages powerfully contributed to consolidate the claim of Rome

,

to being the depository of unerring apostolic authority .

Stephen died in the late summer of A D 25 7 A somewh at . . .

vague tradition says he too won a martyr s cro wn in the

course of Vale rian s persecution He was followed by Sixtus II

. .

( Xystus ) who was a teacher of learning and power and evi

, ,

dently from the kindly reference to him by Pontius Cyprian s

, ,

dear frien d and biographer was a gentle and conci liatory pre ,

late The circumstances of Sixtus death in A D 25 8 are

.

. .

strangel y pathetic .

In deance of the Imperial edict forbidding Christian

meetings the Roman bishop and small companies of believers
,

continued to worship together in the secret recesses of some

o f the less famous cemeteries In one of these the catacomb .
,
3 78 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

of Praetex tatus Sixtus and a band of devoted Christians were

,

s urprised by a company of legionaries When the soldiers .

entered the dark and narro w chapel of the catacomb Sixtus ,

was preaching The bishop and the attendant clergy were at

.

once hurried away and brought before o ne of the city Prefects ,

who was always o n duty at the time deciding the fate of the
many arrested Christians Sixtus was condemned to be b e .

m
h ea ded on the Spot where he was taken O nce more brought .

to the little chapel in the cemetery of Praetex tatus he quietly ,

placed hi self on his rough stone chair and bowing his head , ,

he received the death bl ow ; with him were executed four of

his deacons .

m
Laurence his senior deacon so runs the beautiful story
, , ,

was not present when his chief was arrested but hurried at ,

once to bid h i fare we ll Whither goest thou my father .

, ,

without th v son ? I shall not forsake you replied Sixtus ,
.

Do not mourn me ; yet greater trial s are before thee and ,

th ou wilt foll ow me in three days The prophecy was l iterally .

fullled Laurence was summoned at onc e by the Prefect

.

o f the city and as the condential minister of the martyred

, ,

bishop commanded to give up the treasures which bel onged

,

to the Church These of course l argely consisted in the

m
.
, ,

s acred Eucharistic vessels The deacon asked for a brief .

space to enable h i to coll ect and make a l ist of the Church s

treasures O n the morrow he appeared again before the

.

Prefect fol l owed by a crowd of poor Christian folk who had

,

been he lped by the brethren Here said Laurence are .

,

,

the treasures of the Church for which yo u wer e en qu i r i ng ,
.

The angry magistrate condemned Laurence who thus dared ,

to brave the Roman power to be burned alive Common , .

tradition speaks of him as having been roasted to death on

a gridiron his persecutors hoping that the agonising tortures
,

would induce him to reveal the secre t of the Church s sq osed

treasures Several other mem b ers of the Roman clergy

.

su ffered death with the deacon Laurence These are only

m
.

a fe w notable examp l es o f the many Roman sufferers in

this period of stor and stress the persecution at Rome ,

in A D 25 8 being memorable for its extreme severity But

. . .
 m
S . LA U R E NC E BE F ORE T HE J U DG E .

Fro th e F resco b y Fra A ng el ico in th e C h ap el of 8 . Nich ol as at t

th e Va ican
.
 F R OJlI DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 3 73

no memory of that noble martyr army has been so revered

as has that of Laurence The stately basilica on the Via .

Tiburtina rises over the rst little simple memoria erected

above his tomb ; four other churches in the Eternal City
are dedicated to him ; there is besides scarcely a city in , ,

Christendom but contains a church o r altar bearing his loved

name In Genoa the cathedral in Spain the Escurial preserve
.
, ,

the honoured memory of S Laurence the friend of Bishop .

,

Sixtus deacon and martyr * , .

The campaign in the East A D 26 0 closed the reign of , . .

,

Valerian who had issued the edicts for the bitter persecu
,

tions under whi ch perished Cyprian Sixtus II of Rome his , .

,

deacon Laurence and so many of the noblest Christians

, ,

whose names are unwritten in the Church s martyrology

.

Sapor the Persian king defeated the Imperial forces and

, , ,

captured the Emperor Valerian who never reappeared ,

.

Tradition speaks of unheard of indignities being suffered by -

the hapless Roman Emperor at the hands of the Persian

conqueror Gall ienus his son wh ohad been before associated
.
, ,

in the Empire now reigned alone A t once the persecution ,

.

at Rome and in those provinces where the edicts of Valerian

,

No t only was all harrying of the fol l owers of

m
ran ceased , .

m
Jesus stayed but an Imperial edict restored the conscat ed ,

churches cemeteries and property to the Christian co

, , .

unities This great and sudden change in the fortunes of

.

the Church is attributed to the inuence of S al onina the ,

h e e are no ex tant A ct s of S L au ence ; th e i pl e b eautiful sto y m

m
T r . r s r

b ov e rel ated is onl y b sed u po n an old t aditio n b ut th e t adit io n is as old

m m
a a r ,
r

as S A b o se wh o liv e d w ithi n a h und ed y e rs o f th e ev ent s in q uestio n

. r ,
r a .

S A b o se g iv es it tw ; a v e y few y e s l at e S A ug ust in e qu ot es it in

m m
. r i ce r ar r .

fo u of h is se
r o ns ; P udentius th e Ch istian po et of th e secon d half of th e
r r
,
r

fo u th ent u y adopt s th e sto y th e th e e of on e of h i po e s in th e

o p d m R oml y
r c r , r as s

Peri- S l ep h an n

dm
po itio o hi h
m
Th e L aurence

R o mo m
n ie th e w as an d

ho m
s ccu a ng an c erg a g
p l ib t d o hi h h h d h e h ad th e

m
ef c of fun s,

t omv y q tly
r es on s e one ; as rs eac n c ar
ge th e c u rc
an d i t d
a l h iti
ni s ere ity th e ar
ge c ar es of th e an c un at e an d

ab r a o d l o pl d ov
; h e w as a s t i
m m
ace er th e ce e er es ( or ca ac b s) ; er fr e uen
th e td o rs dd i hop
eac n hi h o Ro i succee e th e b s in h is g f ce . De ss , I nscrip ti ones

Ch r istianw Ur b is Ro iii ll d a) , i . 1 15 ; Ro a Sotterranea , . 46 ; an d A ar , H ist dcs .

Perscutions, iii . 2 .
380 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

Empress o f Gallienus Sal onina was the devoted disciple .

of Plotinus the Neo Plat onic philosopher For more than

m
-
.
,

ha lf a century at intervals the inuence of princesses at

, ,

the Palatine had been arked The teaching of Plotinus .

h ad led the Empress to the borderland o f Christianity and ,

eventually it is probable she became actually a Christian

, ,
.

The Christian inscription which runs round some of Sal onina s

medals A ugusta in pace seems to indicate the conversion
,

,

to Christianity o f the Princess A t all events her inuence .

was exerted in favour o f the Church and the result was ,

the gracious and generous edict we have j ust spoken of .

In Rome and over most o f the West including Ital y Gaul

, , , ,

Spain and Britain the Christians at once enj oyed a perio d

, ,

o f quietness and toleration In the East where the authority .

,

o f Ga ll ienus was largely opposed persecution more or less , ,

severe continued
, .

S E CT O I N III . TH E R O MA N E MPE RO RS .

TH E character of Gal lienus was a strange combination of

brilli ance and incompetence ; rarely accomplished he was ,

utterly neglectful of al l the higher functions of a great

ru ler The awful woes of the vast Empire over which he
.

bore sway touched him bu t lightly Laz y and utterly in .

,

different to all duties civil and military he contented himself , ,

with a life of dissolute pleasure in his splendid capital .

The period of his reign was perhaps th e most disastrous , ,

m
yet chronicled in the many coloured pages of the eventful -

story of Rome \ Ve h ave already brie y noticed the terrible

.

inroads of the barbarians notably of the Goths and A lle anni ,

in the Western Provinc es and o f the Persians in the East , ,

in the latter years of Valerian D uring the dreary period of .

th e reign of his son the vast dominions of Rome seemed to

be rapidly crumbling to pieces Nor were affairs at home .

more promising The A ugustan History tell s us that in this
.

gloomy reign a group of pretenders to the throne mostly ,

soldiers of fo rtune rose and fell in the various provinces o f

,

th e Empire In the pages of that us eful and interesting

. ,
 F R Ol lI DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 3 81

and generally reliable chronicle these rebel claimants to

m
,

what in every instance proved to be a bloody purple

for they all fell in turn victims to their ill placed a bitio n -

are termed the Thirty Tyrants The number is as .

misleading as the appellation A t most these short lived .

-

pretenders only numbered nineteen But their revolts were .

fatal to all settled government and the su fferings of the ,

hapless provincials harried by the formidable barbarian

,

raiders were enormous ly increased by the s tate of perpetual

,

unrest and internal warfare resulting from these continued

and partly successful revolts To add to the general misery .

and desolation between the years 25 0 and 26 5 a furious and

,

fatal plague raged almost continuously in every province

and every city throughout the Empire We have dwelt .

already it will be remembered o n its terrible ravages in

, ,

A lexandria and Carthage The historian o f the Declin e

.

and Fa ll commenting o n the misery of these sad years

, ,

goes so far as to suggest that barbarian invasions inter nal

,

revolt and war and the unchecked pestilence had consumed

, ,

*
in these fatal years the moiety of the human species .

In A D 26 8 the Emperor Gallienus alarmed at length by

. .
, , ,

the presence in the home province of Italy of a formidable

pretender A ureolu s general of the legions of the Upper
, ,

D anube roused himself from his strange indifference and

,

apathy and placing himself at the head of the army o f

,

Rome advanced into north Italy to meet the rebel He .

besieged the pretender in Milan b ut received a mor tal ,

wound in a night attack D ying he nominated as his .

,

successor Claudius one of his general s or at l east C l audius

, , , ,

claimed to have been so nominated This successor of .

Galli enus was unmistakab ly an ofcer o f rare merit and o f

conspicuous ability .

The fortunes of the Empire now brightened Under .

Claudius and his immediate successors men of high genius , ,

o f resolute courage and determination equally able in civil ,

matters and in military command the pressing dangers from ,

foreign and home enemies were warded off a succession o f ,

Gib b on D lin nd F l l ch ap x 3 : ec e a a ,
. . .
382 E A RL Y CH R IS TI A NI T Y A ND PA G A NISM .

splendid victories drove back the swarming hordes of bar

b arians a wise restoration of someth ing of the ancient discip l ine
,

was al so introduced into the legions Claudius A urelian Probus

.
, , ,

and D iocletian who in the next thirty years wore the Imperial
,

purple have deserved ly been styled the restorers of the Roman

,

world But during most of this period of renovation the story

.

o f the Christians is a most gloomy o ne and the pages o f the ,

Christian chronicles are lled with the recitals of terrible

sufferings which the followers of Jesus were called upon to
endure especially in Rome and the home provinces It was
, .

their last trial the last e ffort of Paganism .

Claudius II reigned from A D 26 8 7 0 This Emperor is

. . .
-
.

famous in history for the reforms he inaugurated in the waning

discipline of his Roman armies and for a crushing defeat
,

which he inicted on the Goths in Northern Greece thereby ,

freeing the Empire for a long season from perhaps the most
formidable of the barbarian invaders O wing to this conspicuous .

m
success he has been generally known as Claudius Go th icus It .

is a disputed point among ecclesiastical hi storians whether or

no Christians were persecuted in this short ilitary reign
.

O n the one hand there is no mention of any persecution in

,

the pag es of Eusebius or of the l ess known writers O rosius ,

and Sulpicius Severus O n the other a long sad catalogue o f

.
, ,

su fferings appear in martyrologies and in a few A cts of martyrs

purporting to speak of this reign These pieces are un .

d oubtedly late bu t it is di fcult to conclude that the

,

traditio ns upon which they are based would have specied the
reign of Cl audius as the date of these su fferings if it had been
a time of general quietness for the Church It seems most .

probab l e that the persecution referred to was largely conned

t o Rome and Ital y and that it was owing to popular discontent
,

rather than to any special edict of the Emperor A mong th e .

victims whom the martyrologies mention are the wife and

daughter of the son of the Emperor D ecius who had been ,

a ssociated with his father .

m
Claudius died very shortly after his great victory of the
, ,

plague at Sirmium ; recommending A urelian one o f his most ,

fa ous generals as a tting successor

,
A urelian was a great .
 FR OM DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 383

soldier The son o f a smal l peasant proprietor in the neigh

.

b o urh oo d of Sirmium and of o ne of the inferior priestesses of the

Sirmium temple of Mithras he had passed through all the ,

grades of the military service and was distinguished equally ,

for his dauntless valour and for his consummate military skill .

He rose rapidly in his career Valerian made him Consul A . .

senator of the rst rank adopted him and gave him his
daughter in marriage and the choice of the dyin g Emperor ,

Claudius nominating him his successor was with rare

unanimity generally ratied He reigned scarcely ve years .
,

from A D 27 05 ; but they were years of almost unbroken

. .

tri umph In his successive campaigns the power o f the

.

marauding Goths shattered by the great victory of Claudius

, ,

m
was comp l etely broken The Marcomanni an d other Teuton .

tribes who threatened Italy were routed and the two for ,

idab l e competitors who had assumed sovereign power

Tetricus in the West over Gaul Spain and Britain and , , , ,

Zenobia the all accomplished Palmyrene Qu een in the East

,
-
, ,

over Syria and the adj acent provinces were completely

crushed ; and in A urelian s splendid triumph at Rome in

A D 27 4 Te tricus and Queen Zenobia were the most c o

. .
,
nspicuous
gures in the stately procession of the victorious Emperor .

Nor was A ureli an merely a most successful general ; he was

also a great military reformer His fame and the deep respect .

m
in which he was held enabled him to complete his predecessor

Claudius work of restoring discipline in the great armies
which Rome had to maintain for her defence The ste .

m
though j ust regulations which he published as to the discipline
and conduct of his legions have deservedly won for this great
soldier the ad iration of posterity .

But the Christian subj ects of the Empire found in A urelian

a deadly foe In the long drawn out combat between Paganism
.

and Christianity too often the Christian found his most ,

determined enemy in the person of a really great Emperor ,

such as A urelian rather than in a weak and vacillating prince

,

m
m
la d H i t l P ch ap v Th is l at est h isto ian fol lo ws

iii

m
Al r ,
u ti n
s . ( es ersec o s, .
,
. . r

T ill e ont s co n cl u sion s h e e w h o w it es Claud e fut un c u el p e s cu t eur selo n

r ,
r r r ,

l es a tyr olo g i es et q uel qu es actes q ue n o us en avo ns

r Me i e t iv .

o r s, . .
3 84 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

given up to luxury and se lf indulgence as was Gallienus Nor

-
,
.

is it di fcult to exp l ain this apparently contra dictory experience .

\ Ve have al ready dwel t upon the strength and power of

Paganism The more distinguished men who wore the purple
.

loved Rome and were intensely persuaded that the existence

,

o f the mighty Empire and the continuance o f her sovereign

power depended upon the unity o f the rel igion professed by

the many peop l es who made up the Roman world ; these many
peoples were largely welded together by the ackno wl edgment
of the common religion professed by the E

and the Imperial Magistrates

peror the Senate
This apparent unity as we
.
m ,

,
,

have seen was only broken by the Christian sect which as

, , ,

generation succeeded generation ever growing in num b ers ,

and increasing in inuence absolute ly refused to share in

,

the state cult .

The po l icy of th e State never varied in its view that the

presence of these Christians was a grave and a constant and
increasing danger ; and when a great and patriotic Emperor ,

like Marcus in the second century and A urel ian in the third , ,

w as at the helm of public affairs the head o f the State gave ,

e ffect to the Roman pol icy which however wrongly regarded

, , ,

Christianity as the sleepless enemy of the Empire and essayed ,

by means of a persecution more or less severe to crush the

, ,

ever present and as it seemed to the Roman rulers dangerous

m
-
, ,

Christian sect .

Relying perhaps too uch on the contemptuous indiffer

, ,

ence of some well known classic writers for the popular idol
-

worship of Rome ; d welling too deeply o n the presentment

of this cult in the often shameful but still graceful pictures
painted by some of the best known classic poets of the lives
-

and pursuits o f the Immortals whose magnificent temp l es

,

adorned the historic Forum o f the metropolis and proudly ,

towered over the great thoroughfares of Rome and of the

powerf ul centres of population in the provinces ; posterity
after the long combat between Paganism and Christianity was
over has no t estimated aright the vast power which Roman
,

Paganism exercised over the hearts of men We must be .

all owed to reiterate this point which though of the utmost , ,

 FR OM DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIAN . 385

importance in the great struggle of Christianity with Paganism ,

is too often overlooked or neglected It appears and reappea rs .

,

be it remembered with startling force at different periods of

,

the struggle . We dwelt on it at some length when the

persecuting policy of the noble Emperor Marcus was under
consideration With Marcus and his advisers the persecution
.

of Christians was evidently a matter of conscience So also .

was it with A urelian .

A urelian was something more than a great sol di er His .

mother as we have said was a priestess of Mithras ; and from

, ,

her and from his early training and associatio ns the Emperor
, ,

probably derived those views of rel i gi on which so powerfully

inuenced his li fe during his brief but brilliant reign over
the Roman world To him as to Marcus the religion of
.
, ,

Rome was something more than the ofcial cult the pledge ,

of Roman unity ; it possessed evidently a living reality To .

such a sovereign at once an earnest even a fanatical Pagan

, , ,

and a stern mili tary disciplinarian the Christian who not , ,

o nl y refused to share in the popul ar religion but positively

loathed the obj ects of the popular cult was at once a rebel ,

to constituted authority and a standing menace to the State .

Early in his reign his estimate of the followers of Jesus with ,

m
whose existence and inuence he was evidently well acquainted ,

appeared in hi s words to the Senate on the occasion of a g rave

al ar occasioned by a success in the eld of a formidable
Teuton host of Marcomanni A urelian urged that the Senate

m
.

should at onc e consult the dread Sibylline books a ste p

rarely taken when they hesitated He wrote to the .

thus : Why Conscrip t Fathers do you hesitate ? O ne would

, ,

suppose you assembl ed in a Christian church and not in ,

the temple of al l the gods Take courage I adjure you by

.
,

the holiness of the Pontiffs by the sacredness o f the ,

Rulers help your Prince in his hour of need ! Let the

Sibylli ne books be searched and whatever they suggest let
, ,

it be done A re captive victims from all nations required

.

m
for offerings or merel y strange wil d animals ? A ll these I
,

wil l undertake to produce for there is surely no shame

,

in being conquerors with the I mortals ghting on our

2
3 86 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANISM .

s ide . This is the way in which our fathers went to

The special obj ect of his devotions whom he hoped to ,

see the centre o f the Roman cul t was Mithras around whose , ,

sa cred shrine his earliest memories were grouped The

extraordinary popularity o f the Mithras worship in Rome and in
o ther great centres from the earlier years o f the second century
,

o nwards has been a l ready noticed O riginally a Persian deity

, .
,

Mithras a word which signies the friend was adored as

,

,

the god of th e bright heaven and of the day This worship .

was formally introduced by Traj an cir ca A D 1 00 and ,

. .
,

developed under Commodus cir ca A D 1 90 and though no t , . .

, ,

a t rst was subsequently identied before the time o f A urel ian

,

with that of the sun A s practised in Rome and the West .

,

this worship was accompanied wi th an elaborate and attractive

popular ritual ; Mithras was regarded as at once sun god and
-

m
re god the life giver and the source of purication
-
,
-
Some .

scho l ars consider th e worship of Mithras at Rome as an aecom

odation of the primitive worship o f Nature so admired by ,

A u gustus and Virgil to the growing voices of conscience which

, , ,

u nacknowledged and perhaps unsuspecte d were due to the ,

inuences of Christianity .

A mong the rites and teachings of the cult were many

str an ge customs and doctrines seemingly borrowed from ,

Chris tian worship and teachin g such as baptism redemptio n , ,

m
by blood the oblation of bread and wine the sacred common
, ,

rep ast .

But here in these outward sy bolic ordinances and ritual

Observances the resemblanc e to Christianity ceased
,
Upon .

the votaries of the Persian deity no precepts bearing on the

higher purer life seem to have been incu l cated There was
, .

no self denial no austere virtue no need for purity pressed

-
, ,

h ome to the worshippers at the fashi onable and favourite

m
shrines .

m
This was the deity especiall y adored by A urelian To Mithras .
,

a ong the crowd of Italian and foreign deities adored in

Ro e b e specially ad dressed his prayers When for instance
, .
, ,

H istoria A ug usta Scrip tores, A urelian in Vop iscus 20

.
 FR OM DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIAN . 38 7

Valerian told him he ha d put him forward for the high

digni ty of Consul A urelian already a famous general replied :
, , ,

May the gods and particularly the Sun inuence the Senate
, ,

to think thus favourably of me D ii faciant et deu s ,

certus Sol u t Senatus de me sic

,

A fter the great triumph which celebrated his victories

ov er Z enob ia in the East and Tetricu s in the West A ureli an
'

, , ,

a s an enduring memoria l of his con uests and o f the resto ra

q
tion of the Empire to something of its ancient grandeur ,

e rected on the Quirin al hil l a temple o f Mithras o r the Sun , ,

which he proposed shou l d surpass in its costly magnicence

all the stately shrines o f Rome I t was adorned with the .

spoils of his Eastern c ampaign and its treasury was l led it , ,

is said with gold and gems of an incalculable value In th e

,
.

cella or inmost shrine arose two statues of the Sun god

,

,
-
,

t h e one bearing the Western form of A poll o the other th e ,

Eas tern image of Baal O n some o f the co ins of A urelian .

runs the inscription The Sun Lord of the Roma n Empire
, ,

Sol D om in us Imperi
To the favour of the gods of Rome and especially to the ,

protection of Mithras the sun god whom the Romans had ,

-
,

long admitted into the circle of the immortals they adored ,

A urelian attributed the successful issue of his striking cam

ai ns To such an Emperor the stern exclusiveness of hi s
p g .
,

Christian subj ects who coldly stood al oof from all the gor
,

eous pag eantry with which he honoured the gods who h e

g ,

believed protected with their all powerful aid his successful

,
-

e fforts for the restoration of the Empire was simple di sloyalty ,

.

Such impious men in the eyes of A urelian were a veritabl e

, ,

danger to the unity of the S tate Under such a r uler great .

,

in peace as in war the pop ular disl ike of the Christians gre w
,

in in tensity But the active persecution o f the Christians

.

which marked this reign only seems to have been carried on

in real earnest in the closing months of his life It is clear .

that in the early portions of his reign the edict of Gall ienu s
restoring the ecclesiastical buil dings and cemeteries whi ch ,

had been conscate d by Valerian to the Church was stil l , ,

H i to i A ug u t S ip t
s r es A u l i n in V p i u 14
s a cr ores, re a o sc s, .
3 88 E ARL Y CH RIS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NIS M .

considered to be in force ; for we have an account o f a curiou s

m m
m
petition made to A urel ian again st Paul of Sa osata so e
,

whil e Bishop of A ntioch who had been condemned as a ,

.

heretic by a formal council Paul o f S a osata in spite o f .

,

the decision of the council persisted in retaining possession ,

of the A ntioch church buildings ; and the Emperor as repre ,

senting the civil authorities was appealed to by the Catho l i c ,

Bishop of A ntioch to compel the recalcitrant to give up

these possessions .

It was a singular step based of course upon the edict of , , ,

Gallienus which formally restored to the Church all h er

possessions and it is a striking proof o f the recognised po sitio n
,

o f the Church at this time A urelian declined to gi ve judg .

ment himsel f but referred the case to the Bishops of Italy

, ,

and especially to the Bishop of Rome who were to decide it ,

.

E
( us H E vii
, . . .

The policy however o f A urelian towards the Christians

, ,
.

in the latter portion of his reign as might have been ex ,

cted fr om his kno wn zeal for the worship f the gods

p e o ,

g radua ll y changed That he always disliked and . mistrusted

them is clear as is shown in his words above quoted to the
,

Senate when the question of consulting the Sibylli ne books

,

came before them A nd that this dislike and mistrust ev entu

.

ally passed into open persecution is evident Eusebius ( H E . . .

vii 3 0) thus in a few words describes the change which

.

passed over A urelian s policy towards the Church In the

.

progress of his reign he began to enter tain di fferent views .

concerning us and at length under the inuences of certain

, ,

advisers he went o n to arrange a persecution against us

, .

A n d the rumour of this was now everywhere abroad
The .

formal e di ct the text of which is lost but which L actantius

, ,

characterises as bloody ordering a general persecution was

, ,

not issued till the latter months of A D 27 4 But probably . . .

harsh and severe measures were taken against the worshippers

of Jesus some time before the general edict was promulgated .

For tradition speaks especially of many martyrs having

perished in the well known cities of Gaul in the course of -

the reign of A urelian ; notably in Lyons A uxerre A utun and , , ,

 FR OM DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 3 89

S ens .The passions of these saints unfortunately are of

c omparatively later date ; evidently written o r more accurately ,

re wr itten and redacted

-
long after the events which they ,

p urport to chronicle had taken place ; and therefore they

c annot be used in any sense as authentic pieces of his tory .

That some of them certainly were based on earlier and

probabl y contemporary memoranda is at all events probable

But we can only speak of their evidence as traditionary

.

S imilar passions or acts of martyr s in A urelian s reign

, ,

in different parts of It al y which have come down to us are

l *
e qua ly untrustworthy and can only be referred to by the ,

s erious historian as tradition .

The bloody edict however ordering a general perse

, ,

cu tion which was issued towards the close of A D 27 4 had

, . .
,

b u t a short time to run for the great Pagan Emperor was ,

assassinated in the spring of the following year A D 27 5 , . .

T here were however some seven months of interregnum

, ,

before the election o f A urelian s successor Tacitus during

, ,

which the edict of the late Emperor was no doubt generally , ,

in force .

A fter the death o f A ure lian A D 27 5 the Church historian , . .

,

only needs to touch with a light hand the story of the

n ext nine or ten years Then after A D 28 5 his task will . . .

b ecome heavier as he chronicles the last terrible st ruggle of

Paganism with Christianity A urelian was assassinated by .

a favourite general one Mucapor in a military conspiracy, , ,

a nd for seven months the Empire was without a m as te r It .

says much for the wise policy o f A ure l ian that no rebell ion
or d isturbances in Rome or the provinces seem to have
r uffled the peace o f the State The le gions under the new .

discipline inaugurated by the two last Emperors dut ifully

left the choice of a new master of the Roman world to the
S enate who after some delay nominated an aged and illus
,

Al

l ard
H ist des Pers cations, iii , ch
io

,

p
. 1 1 1 , e a in es at s
di
. v e eng

th i v io v l
.x
t ese . o l th h
pi
m m
li l
m
acts and and

m
ass n s, scu sses er ar us a ues as eces of re ab e

m
history . h hol
Th e F renc sc ii l t
ar , w r t n g in th e a er y ears of th e n ne een centur , i t th y
consid ers so e of th ese pi eces as e b o dyi n g a d e n it e t aditio n or as b ased u po n
r ,

a ncient d ocu en t s .
390 E A RL Y CH R IS TI A NI T Y A ND PA GA NI SM .

trions member of their body Tacitus the obj ect of thei r.

,

choice reluctantly accepted the purple but only survived

, ,

hi s elevation some six or seven months dying in one o f ,

th e frontier camps Th e immed iate cause o f his death is

.

unknown .

m
A famous and successful so l dier Probus was saluted , ,

Emperor by the legion s of A sia as successor to Tacitus and ,

save for the clai to the throne by a brother of the lat e

sovereig n a cl aim soon set aside Probus was generally accepted
, ,

by the Roman world as its master .

His reign A D 27 6 28 2 a period of nearly six years is

,
. .
, ,
.

famous in the annals of the Empire for the vigorous and

successful campaigns against th e barbarian hordes which
were threatening again most o f its fairest provinces .

By far the most conspicuous of his great military successe s

was the clearing of Gaul with its many wealthy cities , ,

of the invaders who were once more sweeping through and

desolating the land and its prosperous towns These savage .

hordes were driven back by Probus into their native wilds and ,

Gaul was for a time but only for a time completely cleared of
them . By the year 28 1 thanks to the unresting energy,

and military skill of this great soldier Emperor the Empire ,

of Rome found itse l f at peace within and without ; and a

triumph notable among the many triumphs of Rome for its
,

S plendour celebrated the return to Italy of the successful

,

commander In the year fol lowing this triumph strange

.
,

to say in the very midst o f his legions who for the most ,

par t idolised their bril liant general he was murdered by ,

m
some discontented soldiers His Praetorian Prefec t Carus was
.

chosen by the victorious soldiers as his successor Tille .

mont ( H istoir e des E p er eu r s t iii ) strikingly writes of , . .

th e condition of the Roman world in this year A D 28 2 as , . .

,

follows : A fter _the unhappy reigns o f Valerian and Gal lienus ,

the Empire which had been gradually raised once more

,

under the rule of Claudius II A ure l ian and Tacitus under .

, , ,

Probus had reach ed a position of grandeur so lofty that its

decadence became almost certai n Carus though a capabl e .
,

soldier and a man of acknowledge d ability seems as an .

,
 m
FR O M DE CI US TO DIO CL E TIAN . 39 1

E peror to have disappoin ted the public expectation Th e

m
writer of his biog raph y in the A ugu stan History ( Vopiscus)

is doubtful whether to classify him among the good or the

e v il sovereigns of Rome He certainl y left behind h i a
.

reputation for cru el austerity

.

O nce more the Empire was threatened on various side s

with barbarians who were emboldened by the news of th e
,

sudden death of the conqueror Probus A fter obtaining some .

marked successes on the western frontier Carus at th e , ,

head of a powerful force marched into A sia and signall y

,

defeated the Persians driving them even from distan t

,

Mesopotamia But in the mids t o f his triumphant Eastern

.

campaign he perished as some say struck by light ni ng in

a terric storm as others perhaps with greater probability
, , ,

suspect assassinated like so many of his predecessors in a

m
,

military conspiracy .

m
The Roman army at once retreated o the scenes of
its victorious progress in Persia Carus had previously .

associa ted in the Empire hi s two sons Carina s and N u erian ,

.

m
The brothers on the death of their father were universall y
, ,

Carinus had been left in Rome

m
acknowledged as Emperors . .

Nu erian had accompanied Carus in his Eastern expedition .

The brothers were very different in character N u erian .

was an accomplished prince a poet and an orator of no , ,

mean capacity ; in quieter times he would at least have been

a respectable if not a distinguished ruler ; but his genial ,

amiable virtues were insufcient for the occupancy o f a

throne where marked military qualities were pre em inently -

necessary . He never returned wi th the army which afte r , ,

the death of Carus abandoning its victorious campaign in

,

di stant Persia retraced its steps westwards A dark mys tery

, .

attended the close of his sho rt reign His father in law A per .
- -
, ,

the Prae torian Prefect was charged with being his murderer
, ,

and was put to death by the h an ds of D iocletian captain ,

of the Imperial bodyguard who was saluted as Emperor , .

Carinus who had been left in Rome during his brief rei gn
, ,

dis p layed all the worst characteristics of the vilest Emperors

wh o had wo rn the p u rple a heartless proigate and a selsh
3 92 E A RL Y CH RIS TIANI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

pleasure lover he u tterly failed as a ruler

-
,
His favouri tes .

m
m
and Ministers he selected from the lowest and ost degraded
o f the peop l e whose passions he attered and amused by the
,

ost gorgeous and extravagant theatrical displays .

Th ese popul ar games already in the reigns o f the great ,

military Emperors who preceded him had been celebrated with ,

an extravagance unknown even in the days of N ero * The .

magnicence of Carinus here surpassed all that Rome had ever

seen .

This i nfamous Emperor in the midst of his guilty pleasure ,

ll ed life at Rome was aroused by the news o f the approach

,

o f D iocletian the choice of the legions of the East at the head

, ,

of the powerful army which had fought in the late Persi an

campaign Carinus under the circumstances of personal pressin g

.
,

danger developed somewhat unexpected courage and capacity

, .

The opposing forces met in M oesia in the D anube country .

A t rst it seemed probable that Carinu s would succeed in

establishing his power and that D iocletian would be driven ,

back ; but the civil war was unexpectedly brou ght to an end by
the assassination of Carinus by one of his own o ffi cers whom
he had foully wronge d Without any further bloodshed the ,

rival Emperor D iocl etian was acknowledged by both the armi es ;

widespread consciousness of his ability and tactfulness secured
a general acquiescence in h is assumption of the throne of the
Empire The date of Carin us death and the accession of
.

D iocletian was the late spring o f the year 28 5 .

D u ring the nine years which elapsed between the death of

A urel ian and the accession of D iocletian we possess but scanty
materials for any accurate picture of the condition of Christians

m
in the Empire The edict of persecution issued towards the end
.

o f A urelian s reign was certainly unrenewed but it is probable

that the state o f unrest so largely augu ented by the strong ,

anti Christian policy of the great A urelian continued

-
,
.

The brief barbarian harassed reigns of Tacitus of Carus and

-

m m
,

Un d er Pr ob us, for in st ance, w e read of as

,

d y in th e R o an
a mm
lionesses three hun d ed b ears and tw o h un r

phi th eat e as w ell as

a
,

r ,
r e
yan

d d l op d
e
h as a

a s b ei n g
r

a far g reat e
m
m
d d lions and s any
un re

ssacred in on e
a

nu b er of l ess co stly
r
a

b east s such as o st i h es st ag
, nd w il d b o ars
r c ,
s, a .
 F R OM DE CI US TO D IO CL E TIA N . 3 93

his two sons the longer but completely war lled period of
,
-

Probus gave li ttle Opportunity to the enemies o f the Christians

,

for developing any organised at tacks on their religio n The acts .

o f mart rdom which have come down to us of this period are

y
few and in their present form are certainly n ot contemporary
,

records The acts o f SS Trophimus and Sab b az ius purport
.

.

to speak of events which took place in A D 28 1 the last year of . .

,

the reign of Probus in the Phrygian A ntioch and relates the

, ,

arrest of certain Christians and the tortures and martyr doms ,

which followed in consequence of the resolute refu sal of the

confessors to sacrice ; but these are reported to have been
brought about not in the course o f any general persecution not
, ,

even on the report of an informer but solely on account of some ,

imprudent exclamation of disgust uttered by the Christians in

uestion at the sight of some of the wild and noisy rites carried
q
on publicly in honour o f some probably local deity A s these .

acts seem probably to have been based on contemporary

memoranda of the scene we can fairly infer that under Probus , ,

at least in A sia Minor there was no general persecution no , ,

m
s pecial encouragement even held ou t to informers but that if ,

the profession of Christianity were brought home to any citiz en ,

the agistrate if hostile to the sect could punish the o ffender

, ,

with torture and death Probably this was the general condition
.

o f Christians in most parts o f the Empire at this period .

The acts and passion ofthe famous soldier martyr Sebastian -

treat of the period covered by the short reign of Carinus The .

s tory is an interesting one and has enj oyed considerable o u

, p p
l arity from very early times but the recital as we have it is , , ,

evidently no t a contemporary record though a wide spread ,

-

tradition points clearly to an historical basis for the story .

Far more reliable as a contemporary piece are the A cts of

the di sputation between A rchelaus Bishop of Mesopotamia and , ,

the heresiarch Manes in the reign of the Emperor Probus .

The chief city of the see of A rchel aus was Carrh ae a city of

m m m
,

Th i pi w hi h co nt in

l o n a o unt of th ed th of M nes w i te d
m m
s ece, c a s a s a cc ea a , as c

b y E piph niu J e o
a s, n d Cy il
r f J u l
e, a Witho ut po itiv ly f ing its
r o er sa e . s e a r

u th nti city th evid n e in f vo u f thi o t an i ent w i ting b ing

m
a e , e e c a nt
r o
po s s c r e a co e r

ar
y e o d i v y st o n g
r c r s er All a d u u lly v y
r . ful in u h r c pt it
,
s a er care s c cases, a ce s as a.

g enuine an d p o b b l y co n t
r a po y w i tin g e rar r .
394 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

O srh oene a district in the north

, west of Mesopotamia In this .

ancient piece we read of the cruel and brutal treatment of a

large company of Christia n pilgrims by the legionaries of the

Roman garrison of Carrh ae In an apparently unprovoke d .

onslaught many Christians were killed more were wounded and ,

severely inj ured and the rest would probably have been sold for
,

slaves but for the charity of a generous Christian named

Marcellus who reli eved and ransomed them at his own
,

charges Such an incidental notice occurring as it does in a

.
,
.

piece of literary importance a positio n undoubtedly occupied ,

by the disputation in questio n tells us h ow slight ingly and ,

cheaply the lives of Christians were estimate d at times by the

great Roman armies of the days o f Probus ( A D 27 6 . .

In the same interesting record is contained the earliest

trust worthy account of Manes the heresiarch the rst teacher ,

of that wide spread and enduring heresy known as Manichaeism

-
.

Manes the founder o f the sect which subsequently bore h is

,

name appears to have been ori ginal ly a slave carefully educated

, ,

by his Persian mistress in all kinds of oriental lore His .

theological system was a curious mixture of some of the Gnosti c

errors a g the two co equal conicting principles o f good and
, .
-

e vi l the eternity o f matter which was regarded as essentially

, ,

ev il all coloured with a certain amount of Christian teaching

,
.

O ne of the marked tenets of the sect was a strong aversion to

the O l d Testament as the work of a wicked spiri t A nother .

was the unreality of the su ffering Christ Cir ca A D 27 7 . . .

,

when Probus was reigning Manes who had some time before , ,

incurred the displeasure of Sapor King of Persia probably , ,

o wing to his success in assembling round him a considerabl e

body of disciples escaped from the prison where he had been
,

conned for several years A pu b lic disputation was arranged

.

bet ween Manes and A rchelaus the Mesopotamian Bishop ,

.

A rchelaus was pronounced by the arbitrators of the disputation

m
v ictorious and the heresiarch we read with di f
,
culty escaped , ,

with his l ife from the indignant bystanders Shortly after wards .

Manes fell again into the hands of the Persians who put hi ,

to death His skin stuffed with stra w was exposed for a long
.
, ,

period o n the w al ls of Ctes iphon .

 FR O M D E CI US TO DIO CL E TIA N . 3 95

But his wild half poetic half rational istic theo ry of Chris
, ,

tianity with its mythic machinery largely derived from th e

, ,

old Gnostic spec ul ations and Gnostic asceticism long su rvived

, ,

its ill fated author

-
. It seems to have possessed a strange
fascination of its own Manichaeism was heard of soon after
.

Manes death in North A frica A littl e more than a century

.

and a quarter later A ugustine tell s us the sect was numerou s

,

in Italy and in A frica and that its poison had affected secretly
,

even some o f the clergy It appeared and reappeared at

.

d ifferent times all through the Christian ages Time which .

,

spread usually a mantle of forgetfulness over most ancient .

e rrors and fancies of the human brain seems to hav e had no,

e ffect here ; for as late as the twelfth century in p arts of

E urope Manichaeism was taught ope nl y and undisguised

,
.

Th e chief seat of these Opinions was the south of France ; a

long drawn out and terrible re li gi ous war scarcely stamped out
the enduring results of the teaching of the half crazed Persian -

e nthusias t .
 3 96

CH A PTER XIV .

I
D O CL E T A I N .

I N
SE CT O I .
-
F I R ST PE RIO D : I
D O CL E T A I N A ND MA XI MI A N .

THE
in the later chapters m
reader of this history cannot fail to have noticed how
ore and ever more in deta il the chi ef
political events of the Empire are dwelt upon In the earlier .

y ears o f Christianity these details were unnecessary F or a .

very considerable period the religion of Jesus was generally

i gnored by the State except when forced upon its notice
,
.

Gradually the position changed In the th ird century cer .

,

t ainly the Church had through the vast numbers of its

m
, ,

members its inuence its wide spread organisation become a

, ,
-
,

power with which states en had to reckon The policy which .

the Imperial Government at di fferent times should elect to

pursue in the case of these numerous dissentients from the
State religion had become an anxious and debatable question ,

a nd we have seen how this policy was constantly changing .

In the next period the close of the third and the beginning of
,

the fourth centuries the great religious question the relations

, ,

o f Paganism and Christianity had become the most pressing , ,

the most momentous o f all questions of State policy Indeed

, .
,

to use the words o f a serious historian of our own day and time ,

it would seem as though the scene of the world drama h ad

been cleared of all other actors only two of importan ce
remained on the stage the Pagan Empire and the Church
, .

m
D iocletian the Emperor whose policy changed the whole
, ,

a spect of the Roman world rst comes before us as avenging

,

th e murder o f the y oung Emperor Nu erian by slayin g ,

his father in l aw A rrius A per the Praetorian Prefect A fter

- -
, , .
 m
DI0CL E TIA N
39 7
"

t h e assassination of Carinus the brother of the slain Nu erian , ,.

this D iocletian a we ll known and popular general who had

, ,

lately ll ed the responsible post of captain o f the Imperial body

guard was acknowledged universal ly as Master of the Roman
,

world .

The son o f slave parents the new Emperor whose talents , ,

.

were undoubted had raised himself through the variou s

,

military grades and had been successively Governor of M oesia

, ,

Consul and Commander of the Imperial guards

, He had .

g iven ample proof of his capacity in the highest military and

civi l posts .

L actantius indeed in some half dozen passages afrms

, ,
-
,
.

*
that as a soldier he was somewhat timid and lacked dar ing .

But as a statesman skilled in the choice o f tt ing instruments

to carry out his pol icy D iocletian was undoubtedly far seeing ,
-

and wise whatever estimate may be formed of the policy

,

itself Unlike many of his predecessors he inaugurated h is

.
,

reign not by murdering or conniving at the murder of the

,

reigni ng Emperor but by slaying the murderer of th e ,

sovereign with his own hand This act may be said to hav e .

won the people to his side .

Firmly seated on the world s throne he resolved to break

up in some degree the u ni ty of the Empire which he
,

felt was becoming a constant peril to all settled government ,

There had been as a rule one Emperor on whom all dep ended
, , ,

and one city which was the centre of the Roman worl d The
successful revolts and assassinations in the thirty or forty
years preceding the accession of D iocletian had been terribly ,

n umerous This danger he sought to avert by multiplying

.

Emperors and by creating various cities which in power and ,

prestige sho ul d rival the immemorial capital By this means

,
.

he proposed to render a successful revolt well nigh impossible - .

and an Imperial assassination useless ; and thus a security

long unknown in the Empire would be provided for the

m
m m
G ib b on ,
hap x ii i refe ring to L actan tius De M tibu
D ecline and F a l l, c . .
,
r

m
or s

m
h ere so ewh at sco rnful ly rej ect s thi s testi o ny H e efe s o nl y
m
Persec ut o , . r r

to two of th ese refe ences of L actantius ; th e e a e ho weve oth er refe ences

r r r ,
r, r .

to th e sa e effect T h e estirr te g iv en ab ove is p rob ab ly accurate

. .
 39 8 E A RL Y CH RIS TIANIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

e xisti ng government He inaugurated his new policy b y

.

associating a partner with him on the throne and subsequently ,

by increasing the number of Imperial partners from two

to four Thus if in one division of the Roman world an
.
,

ambitious general or ofcial proposed to seize the throne by

the murder of its occupant he would probably be deterre d
,

fr om his purpose when he remembered that three m ore

partners in the throne in other parts of the Roman world ,

partners in the Imperial authority closely knit together by

various ties would have to be reckoned with
, .

A gain D iocletian felt that the Empire was so enormou s ,

and so dangerously threatened on all sides by barbaria n

tribes more or less powerful and numerous that the constant ,

presence of an Emperor on or comparatively near a frontier

, ,

'
o f the vast realm was needed for the public security It was .

no t su fficient that the chief of the S tate sho ul d successfully kee p

.
a t bay the Persians on the banks o f the Euphrates when th e ,

Goths or the Al emanni at an enormous distance from the

,

Imperial headquarters on the Euphrates might at any moment ,

m
imperil th e Empire on the banks of the D anube and the Rhine .

His rst choice of a colleague from these points of vie w , ,

w as successful He associated with himself Max i ian Th e

. .

associated Emperor like D iocletian was of l ow birth and
, ,

not an I talian He was merely a rough soldier ; but if he

.

lacked the gifts of a really great general it is certain that ,

he possessed indomitable energy conspicuous bravery and , ,

splendid perseverance His campaigns were generally success

.

ful but he was known as a stern and cruel ruler a curious

, ,

contrast to his more courtly and gentle s tatesman colleague -

,

to whom however though so different in temper and character

, , ,

he was ever loyal and devoted Carrying out the spirit of .

his contemplated change in the admin istration of the Empire ,

D iocletian resided at Nicomedia which became the centre ,

m
o f the government of the East The city was well chosen
.
,

on an arm o f the sea o f Marmora It was a good place of .

ar s in the neighbourhood o f the Black Sea comparatively ,

speaking within easy dis tance both of the Tigris and th e '

l ower D anube the natural highways of approach for some

,
 m
DI0CL E TIA N . 39 9

of the ore formidab l e of the restless enemies o f the Empire

Th is city as his chosen residence and the seat o f his gove
,

ment he lavishly adorned wi th costly buildings such as

, ,
m .

b e tted the capital of the Roman Empire of the East Bu t .

the choice boded ill for the future of the Christians since

m
,

i t was a famous and even a fanatical seat o f Paganism Max i

m
.

ian s metropolis was Mil an in North Italy ; Rome was

thus deserted by the Imperial Court and lost its im emorial

,

rank and much of its prestige whi l e the august Senat e

, ,

which even under the rule o f the roughest military despots

, ,

r etained at least the semblance of its ancient dignity and

privil eges no w sank almost into the position o f th e Municipal
,

Council of a city no longer the ofcial metropolis of the

,

Roman world The associated Emperors assumed respectively

.

the Pagan titles of J ovius and H erculius in vesting them ,

selv es wi th the insignia of the King of the Gods and of ,

the strongest warrior in the ranks of the Immortals an ,

e vil omen for the ir Christian subj ects .

m
A nother strikin g change in the Constitution of the Empire
was carried o ut by the policy of D iocletian The absolute .

asters of the Roman world who had preceded him had

.

veiled their enormous power under the ancient titles belonging

t o the o fcials of the ol d Republic carefully avoiding the ,

t itle of king and r ejecting the kingly ornament o f the diadem ,

t h e ensi gn of royal sovereignty Th e only special title which

.

A ugustus and his successors assumed was that of Imperator
,

which was orig inally a military term denoting the highest

rank in the army D iocletian introduced the magnicent
.

mm
ceremonial of the Persian court assumin g the di adem of a
,

king an orn ament obnoxious to the Roman spirit as an ensign

,

o f royalty The edi v al an d modern idea of royalty in th e

.

n ations of the West was really in tro duced by D i ocletian when ,

the organisation whi ch this sovereign gave to his new

Court attached less honour and dis tinction to rank than to
serv ice s performed towards the members of the Imperial

m

family Th e apologists of the revolution in the ancient
.

Ro an constitution work ed by D iocletian are careful in their

r eiteration that these changes were prompted not by any ,
400 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

love of ostentation or vain show but by a persuasion tha t ,

all this magnicence and adulation would pr omote obedience

and order among the many peoples and nationalities grouped
together under the name of Romans .

What then was the position of Christians now so

, , ,

numerous under this great statesman Emperor and wha t

,
-
,

were the circ umstances which gradually l ed up to tha t

tremendous outburst of systematic persecution with whi ch
this reign will ever be associated ? In the rst place it is
clear that the mind of the Emperor for sev eral years after ,

his accession was not made up as to the pol icy he shoul d

,

adopt towards this large and inue ntial body of his subj ects .

In these earlier years there is no doubt that great inuence

was exercised in the Court of D iocle tian in favour of C h ris
tianity b y a number o f the Palace ofcials who made no ,

secret of their Christian profession A t the head of this .

Christian party were the wife and daughter of the Emperor ,

Prisca and Valeria who were Christians at l east occupying

, ,

the position of catechumens Christian o fcials in the Palace .

were to lerated and w ere possibly regarded with some favou r

,

at rst by D iocletian who even nominated members of the ,

Sect to governorships and important m agistracies in the

provinces dispensin g such Christian nominees from the
,

necessity of sharing in the public sacricial rites as indeed ,

some among his more tolerant predecessors had al ready done .

B ut al ongside this toleration or even favour there seems ,

to have been ins tances early in the reign of D iocl etian when
the sovereign allowed the o ld laws of the State still unrepealed , ,

to be acted upon in the case of open hostil ity on the part of

Christians to Paganism The curious and interesting Passion .

of S Genesius
. the scene of which was laid in Rome belongs
, ,

to the early years of D iocletian If this piece be accepted as .

genuine it indicates that the severest pun ishments were at

m
,

mm m
,

o
ting upon thi s b eautiful pi ece calls att entio n to its si
m m m
Till e ont, c en ,

plicity and app a en t t u thfu lness and co nsid ers it eli b l e n d u th en ti c un e

m G
r r ,
r a a a

piece q ue sa si pli cit en d ai ab le et fait j ug er to ut a fait del e (to iv

m
r . .
,

M oi S enes ) A l l ard P u ti n d D l t n i 1 accept s thi s

res . e . ers c o c z oc ze
, , .

Pas i on of S G enesi us as cont ain ing des detail s p cis et sui sa ent surs

s . r .
 D I O CL E TIA N . 4 01

all events occasionall y still meted out to Christian professors ,

.

Whilst D iocl etian in the rst partition of the Empire

took the Eastern division of the Roman world under his
especial government the Western provinces passed at once
under the rul e of his colleague Maxi ian H erculius
The kindly toleration which perhaps save in a few instances
,

,
,
m .

m
in the beginning of his reign was showed by D iocletian to ,

members of the Christian sect does not appear to have been

the policy o f Max i ian Between the years 28 6 and 29 1 2 .

there was not indeed any general persecution of the Sect

m
but the general testimony of eccl esiastical tradition preserved

in the A cts of Martyrs treati n g of this period tells us that , ,

in the provinces subj ect to Max i ian especially in that vast ,

division of the West known as Gaul much Christian blood ,

was shed and many sufferings were evidentl y en dured

, .

In A D 28 6 a serious revolt broke out in Gaul ; not a

. .

revolt in the ordinary sense of the word as usuall y understoo d

in the Rome of that age of le gi onaries who had chosen some ,

favourite commander to replace the reigni ng Emperor ; b u t

a general uprising of the peasants the descendants of the old ,

Celtic inhabitants of the lan d agains t the oppressions o f the

m
,

Gallo Roman nobl es who had gradually reduced these people

-

m
into a state o f iserable servitude To restore this great .

division o f the Empire once more to a state of law and order

was Max i ian s rst important task It was on his march

.

from Italy to Gaul that the famous bloody episode of the

Theban Legion is said to have taken place
A portion of the army o f Maxi ian on its march had
encamped in the valley o f A gaunu some little di stance
m
m ,
.

from the Leman Lake in the district now known as Valais ,

.

A body of soldiers called in the story The Theban ,

but probably in fact a cohort main ly recruited in the Thebaid

, ,

T h e nu m m mmm
mm
lly gi ven a e e vid ently exag g e at ed We ust e e b er
b ers

m
u sua r r . r

th at E u h e ius acco un t t uth ful tho ug h it ee on th e whol e h ad co to h i

m m

m
c r , r s s e
,

th o ugh two p e on s n eith of th e eye w it n ss s A L egion w o uld e t ainly

m m m
r rs , er - e e . c r

d not e seve l thousan d s I t ust b e b o n e in i n d too th at th e na es of on ly

e ra . r , ,

th ee o f ce s of th e co p ny a e p ese v ed one of who was Mauri ce th e a ty

r r a r r r , , r r

al w y s
a so ciat e d w ith th e d eed of b lood
as .

A A
402 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M

district of Egypt and forming part o f th e Imperial forces ,

happened to be earnest Christians

m
.

This Theban contingent declined to take part in a sol emn

sacricial ceremony arranged by Max i ian who desired to ,

propitiate the gods and to win their assistance in the danger

o us campaign on which he was about to enter The super .

stitio u s Emperor bitterly incensed at this refusal of the ,

Thebaid contingent to share in the sol emn Pagan rites he h ad

arranged treated the refusal not only as an act of special
,

impiety towards the gods of Rome but as a grave infraction ,

o f discipline and condemned the cohort in question to the

,

t errib l e mil itary penalty of decimation * The punishment .

had no e ffect The Christian sol diers stil l resolute ly refused

m
.

to take part in the solemn idolatrous rites arranged by the

Emperor A gain Max i ian decimated the brave soldier con
.
-

fesso rs In spite of the chastisement they sti ll stood rm

.
.

The cruel Emperor upon their reiterate d ref usal ordered a , ,

massacre of the whol e band Under the orders o f their .

captain a devoted Christian named Maurice they o ffered no

, ,

resistance and the whole cohort was cut down

, .

The terrible story comes to us in a letter o f E uch erius ,

Bishop of Lyons A D 4 3 5 5 0 written to a brother bishop o ne , . .

, ,

Sal v ius scarcely a century and a hal f after the martyrdom

, .

The letter o f E uch erius is evidently an au thentic document ;

th e evi dence upon which he bases h is narrative is very de finite .

He had learned the story of the martyrdom from Isaac Bishop

m
,

o f Geneva who received it from Theodorus Bishop from

(

m
,
A D ,
. .

3 4 9 ) o f O cto duru a city only a few miles distant from ,

m
A gaunu Theodorus is a known personal ity in ecc lesiastical
.

history and was present at the Counci l o f A qui l eia in A D

,
. .

881 . He as Till e ont remarks might well have learned the

, ,

particulars o f the dread event from eye witnesses of the scene -

o f carnage

m
.

When E uch eriu s wrote the basilica erected over the grave ,

m
o f these mart rs for the faith was still standing in A gaunu
y ; T
7
Th d t h

m
nt p un i hed d w lot nd v y t nth oldi ft h ving
m m m
"

e e ac e so s re s, a e er e s er, a er a

o g d uff d d pit tion in th p e n f h i o d

m
m
b n
ee sc ur e ,
s ere e ca a e r se ce o s c ra es.

od n n f th e ity f A g unu S in t M u i

1 Th

e er i a e oth e n c o a s a a r ce, a e

the c o nd f th T h eb n oho t
a er I n th e si x th en t u y n d v n
o e li w a c r . c r ,
a e e ear er , e
 D IO CL E TIA N 4 03

numerous pi lgrims from distant lands were still in the habit

of visiting the shrine ; and a tradi tion o f
miracles performed '

in behalf of these devout pilgrim worshippers hung round -

the hall owed spot The one debatab l e poin t in E uch erius .

letter is that he p l aced the massacre of these Christian soldiers

in the period of the great persecution of D iocletian which ,

burst out a few years later than the probable date of the
occurrence .

But such a mistake of a very few years is easily accounted

for It would be natural enough for a non critical writer to
.
-

m
class such an event among the many awful incidents o f the
great persecution which harried the Christians in all parts
o f the Empire so soon after the A au nu tragedy
g .

The au thenticity of the story has been much contested

by critics who have made much of the silence of the eccle
siastical historians Eusebius L actan tius Su l picius Severus , , , ,

and O rosius and of the Christian poet Prudentius ,

Of .

these by far the most conspicuous Eusebius dwells in detail

, , ,

upon the martyrs of the Eastern portion of the Empire alone .

Many scenes of martyr dom in the West are passed over in

his history for reasons to be discussed later L actantius
,
.

again describes the persecutors rather than the persecuted ,

and gives us only a general picture of the persecution in ,

dulging in comparatively few details Sulpicius Severus and .

O rosius do not profess to treat of these events in detail .

The Spanish poet Prudentius largely c o nnes his hymns and

poems to Spanish co nfessors and a few of the more con ,

S icu o u s Roman martyrdoms The silence o f these writers
p .

here cannot in validate the clear simp l e testimony o f Bishop

m
E uch erius supported as it is by a widespread tradition

m
,

m
h v v io
a e

m ar to th e a ty do
u s r eferen ces
f th e T h eb n L g io n
ong st othe in th e M ty olog y of S J e o e S G eg ory of T o urs efe s
s fo inst an ce r r o a e ,

a , r ,

m
a rs ar r . r , . r r r

to it S Mau i c th e chi ef o f ce of th e b an d h as b een e v ho no u ed as th e

m
. . r e, r ,
er r

p t on s in t of th e V l i and v a io us ch u ch es in F ance G e n y I t aly

m
a r a a a s, r r r , r a , ,

Sp in etc h e nci en t oy al H ou e of Savoy th e p e n t ul

mm m m
a , hi n . Th,
ar s a e . e a r s , r se r ers

of I t ly f o v y ea ly ti es a dopt ed M u ice as th e p t on saint of th ei

m
a ,
r er r a r a r r

f o us f ily W h en th Canton of V lai s ceased to fo p a t of th e do i nion

m
a a . e a r r

of th e H o us f S avoy h al f of th e h llo wed eli cs o f th e

e o ty of th e T h eb n
,
a r ar rs a

L gio n w e e t n sl t ed w ith g eat ce e o ny to T u in and d epo si ted in th e

e r ra a r r r

Cath ed al th e e ; thi s w as in A D 1 5 8 1
r r . . .
404 E A RL Y CH R IS TIANI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

which has left its mark deep and broad in the country

m
where the event is re lated to have taken place ,
.

We have therefore treated it as actual history ; with

, ,

Till e ont R uinart an d many other serious writers

, ,
In .

later times A l lard the French scho l ar in his learned and

, ,

exhaustive History of th e Persecutions writing in th e l ast

,

years of the nineteenth century after a l ong and searching

m
,

examination of the evidence for this tragic event unh esi ,

m
tatingly accepts it as an i portant piece o f authentic history ;
considering that the bitter animosity un doubtedl y shown b y
Max i ian to Christianity in Gaul in the years imme diate ly
fol lowing the n au nu trage dy was l argely owing to the
bitter feeling excited in his mind by the Legion s resolute
m

deance of orders ; implying in his view that the Christians

were disloyal to the Empire and its immemorial po l icy .

This animosity was displayed during his residence in Gau l

bet ween 28 6 and 29 2 while D iocletian in the East was still ,

tolerating if not favouring the sect

, ,
.

There are various A cts of Martyrs extant purporting

to treat of this persecution These A cts however are not .

, ,

contemporary and have suffered much from legen dary inter

,

ol atio ns ; but they have a genera l value as proving that

p
the Christians in Gaul did undergo considerable sufferings
fitfully perhaps and with out the promu l gation of any special
, ,

edict . The existing edicts gave handles enough if the

authorities chose to act on them

m
.

The A cts
in question speak o f persecution un der
Max i ian s authority in the districts round Paris (Lutetia )

in the west at Nantes in the north at A miens and Beau ,

vais in the north east at Soissons and Rheims in the south

,
-
,

at A gen and Marseilles The traditional martyrdom of S . .

A lban in Britain belongs to this same date and is usually ,

placed cir ca A D 28 6 . . .

In the Eastern provinces of the Empire during these six ,

years the position of Christians was generally favourabl e

,
.

The inuence of the Pal ace offi cials an d of the wife and ,

daughter of D iocletian no doubt contributed to this po l icy ,

.

Christianity in the districts directly under D iocletian s rule
 DI0CL E TIA N 4 05

was exceptionally strong both in the numbers * and in the ,

position of its votaries A s we have noticed in some o f our .

earlier sections A sia Minor and its weal thy cities from th e ,

l ast quarter o f the rst century onwards was peculiarly the ,

home of the worshippers of Jesus .

We have several times had occasion to dwell upon the fact

that under the Emperors who were not unfavourab l e to Chris
tianity many Christian citi z ens were permitted to ll various
civic ofces every facility being given to them to discharge such
, .

functions wi thou t sharin g in any public ackno wl edgment of th e

religion o f the state ; whi le the policy of the rul ers o f the
Church generally made such a shari ng in publ ic duties easy and
practicable to the members of Christian comm unities The .

Canons o f the well known early Council o f the Church I llib erisT -
,

( Elvira in the province of Spanish Granada) thro w considerable

, ,

light on this point and give us some den ite information ,

respecting the inner life of the Catholic communities at the

time .

In this Council Canons were passed in which the position ,

o f members o f the community occupying various municipal

ofces o f importance is gravely consi dered ; without direct ly

approving the undertaking the duties o f such public functions
the Church distinctly contemplates such cases as not of unfre
quent occurrence and is careful n o t to discourage them by too

m
,

I t iso n ot,

Ch i sti n s in th e E pi e at th p i o d of th
of

m
po i b l e to g ive any ex act cco unt of th e n u b e of
c urse,

b e ki n g o ut of th e l ast nd
ss

o st
a

mm r

m m
r a r e er e r a a

t e i b l of th e p s cutions in A D 3 023 We can o nly g i n pp o x i atio n of

m m
rr e er e . . . ve a a r

T h e tot al pop ul tio n o f th e w hol E pi e t t h i p e iod is g ene al ly

mm m
th e n u b s er . a e r a s r r

esti at d t b out e h und d illions I n th e E ast th e Ch i sti ns w e e d ecidedly

a a a re . r a r

o e n u e o us th n in th e W st and schol s h v e esti at e d th t in th e

m
r r a e , ar a a

p ovince of A si Mi n o and th E t ab o ut a t enth of th e pop ul atio n w Ch is

m m
r s a r e as er e r

ti n ; in th e W e te n p ovi nc b o u t ft e nth O n th w hol it w o uld ee

m
a s s r r es a a e . e e, s

n ot n un e so nab l e uppo itio n to e ti

a r a t e th e Ch i ti n pop ul tio n of th e E p i e
s s s a r s a a r

at th e n d f th e thi d c n t u y at ab o ut ev en to ni n e illio n Th e x p ssions

m m m
e o r e r s s . e re
,

ho weve of T tulli an cit d ab ov (p er e v en llo w i ng fo h eto rical e g g era

e e a r r

m
r, ,
. xa

tio n w o uld s e to qu i e a uch l g e e ti t e

e re r ar r s a

mm
.
,

1 Th x ct d t e o f th e Co un cil of I l li b e i o E lib e is ( E l i a ) h as b een u ch

m
e e a a r s r r v r

di p u t ed ; th t u su lly gi v en is i A D 3 03 4 b ut a so ewh at a li e dat e i

m
s a a c rca . .
, e r r s

o p ob ab l e b efo e th e g e t p e secution Th e p e iod of co p a ativ e q ui tn ss

re r ,
r r a r . r r e e

b t ween A D 28 6 an d D 29 2 and th e g en e al po sition of th e Ch u ch in th e E pi e

e . . A . .
,
r r r ,

b t ts in with th e st at e of thi ng s d e c ib ed in th e Can ons o f this Co uncil

es s r .
4 06 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANISM .

severe penalties For instance if the garlands and insignia o f

.
,

m
priests of the templ e are required to be worn on certain occasions
by the civic functionaries in question these Christian office ,

bearers are to be separated fro communion for two years and ,

durin g their year of ofce are not to enter a church It is .

to be observed that the Christians who undertook municipal

ofces never actually sacriced or gave public games but ,

instea d defrayed the cost o f some work o f public utility s u ch ,

as the building of a bridge or basilica or the making o f a ,

road In some cases the distribution o f a sum of money was

.

substituted for the costly show in the amphitheatre It must .

be borne in mind too that the general temper o f this I llib eris
, ,

Council in which nineteen Bishops and t wenty six priests sat -

,

m
was most austere resembl ing in the strictness of some o f its
,

Canons a Puritan or Novatian rather than a Catholic Council ;

,

which renders the fact of the i position o f these comparatively

light penances still more remarkable Th e formal decisions .

arrive d at in such a Council as that of I llib eris emphatically

show that in the period imm ediate ly preceding the nal terrible
,

persecution the general pol icy of the hea ds of the Church in

,

relation to the State was still that which h ad been laid down by
the Church of Rome in opposition to Tertullian and Hippolytus .

The proceedings of this same famous I llib eris Council

give us various details respecting another phase of the inner
l ife of the Church at the close of the third century Historians .

have been too ready to attribute to the Christian communities

a general spirit of laxity and world l iness at this particular
period basing their unfavourabl e conclusions chie y on some
,

expressions o f Eusebius (H E viii .But the careful .

, .

enumeration of the faults and errors which existed in the

Christian Society of the time as reported in the proceedi ngs
,

of this austere Counci l demonstrate to us how high was the

,

ideal proposed and taught by responsib le Catholic teachers .

Such severity wou l d not have been possible if the o ffenders

particularised had been numerous in the communities or if ,

p ublic Christian opinion h ad in any way countenanc ed such

l axit y in ordinary l ife Indee d the resolute and nobl e stand

.
,

made by the Christians generally in the East and West when

 D IO CL E TIA N . 4 07

the persecution broke o ut in the rst part of the four th century

is a plain contra di ction to an y such supposition

m
.

In the earlier years of D iocletian s reign the Christian

communities apparently for the rst time ventured in any

, ,

cities to b uild important churches and to call in the aid of ,

art to decorate and beautify their homes o f prayer and praise .

O ne of the Canons of the Spanish Council to which we have

*
been referring alludes to this last somewhat novel innovation
in terms of stern reprobatio n
Whilst however in the pro v inces and particularly in the
, , ,

Eastern cities a false sense of security lived in the many

,

communities in Rome a haun t ing sense of the extreme pre

,

cariousness of the position seems to have brooded over the

Church There far more Co nspiCU O U Sly than in any other
.
,

centre o f the Empire Paganism was a visible power with its , ,

splendi d ritual its stately temples its immemorial traditions

, ,
.

There the worship of the immortal s preserved its time

honoured intimate co nnection with the ceremoni als of the
Senate and the chief magistrates of the Empire who were ,

shorn of their ancient po wer but who still prese rved the ,

outward and visible insignia o f their long inherited dignity .

In Rome during the years o f stillness which preceded the

great storm the chiefs of the Christian community instead o f
, ,

erecting and adorning new and large churches as seems to ,

have been the case in many of the provincial centres busied ,

themselves rather in their subterranean city o f the dead T ,

preparing quiet sanctuaries where they might meet for prayer

p ainting s and d eco ation of th e cataco b of co u se dat f o mm mm uch

m m mmm
Th e r s r e r a

ea li e
r p e iod ; b ut w ith a few ex c ptions th e c t co b p ain ti ng w e e f a
r r e se a a s r o

si pl e unob t usiv e ch a cte I t w o uld see th t th e chu ches w hi ch a o s in

m m
r ra r. a r r e

th e l tt e y ea
a of th
r thi d cent u y w e ado ned in
rs e uch o e a b itio us w ay
r r er r a r .

f Much of th e cat o b w o k cco d in g to D e R o i

ac sp eci ally in th e r ,
a r ss ,
e

ad apt atio n of co ido s nd s p ul ch al ch a b e fo w o hip b elo ng to th l a t

m
rr r a e r rs r rs , s e s

q u t e of th e thi d cen t u y and p a ti cul ly to th e e li e d ay s of D io l eti an s

m

ar r r r ,
r ar ar r c

ei g n Al l d ( P vol i hap s i x i ) qu ot es fro

m m

r . e uti n d D i l l i n
ar ers c o c oc e e ,
. .
,
c . . .

L tin Mass o f thi s p e iod a sol e n p y e whi ch vid en tly loo k s fo w d to

m m
a a r ra r e r ar a

ti e of p e il p ob ab ly n e at h an d in w hi ch th e in i t e ing p i e t p ay s G od
m m m
r ,
r ar ,
s r r s r

Hi

m
for a h ear t wh ich w il l continue to serve trul y if qu ietness still s i le s on th e
Ch u rch , b ut w h ich w ill not deny H i if th e day of te p ta tion co es on th e Ch urch

( Si q uies adrideat, te c ol e re , si te ptatio ingruat n on n eg are ) .

 4 08 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M

and communion in those darker times which the y fel t might

and probably wou l d soon come upon them again .

The attitude of Paganism when the last and most formidab l e

attack ever made on Christianity was imminent had greatly ,

changed in the half century which preceded the accession of

D iocl etian We have already cal l ed attention to the silent
.

reformation which had permeated the ol d beliefs There is no .

doubt that the new teaching was in large measure derived

from Christianity whose great inuence had made itsel f felt in
,

all the centres o f the Empire ; a strange and novel monotheism

was gradual ly but surely taking the place of the mul tiplicity
o f objects of worship enshrined in the old college of immortals

The Universal D eity o f the E ast the sun to the ph il os0 ph ic , ,

was the emblem or representative to the vulgar the ,

In some places the sun was worshipped under the name of

A poll o more frequ ently as Mithras
,
the purifying re ; in ,

Egyp t as Serapis in Syria as Baal The many gods of the

,
.

older world were curiously placed in the new Pagan teachin g

on a lower platform and if adored at all were worshipped as
, , ,

subordinate spirits or d aemons It is true that D iocletian clung .

outwardly to the old cult when he adopted the tit le o f J ov ius ,

m
and induced his colleague in the Empire to style himself after
the hero god as H ercul ius But when in the famous scene in
-
.

the camp of the murdered Nu erian he slew the factious

praefect A per it was to the sun god he solemnly appealed
,
-

when he asserted his innocence of the murder before the

assembled army of Rome ; and later we shall see when the ,

ques tion of persecution or no persecution of the Christian

peoples was in the bal ance the same statesman Emperor ,
-

betook himself not to the priests of Jupiter but to the oracle

, ,

o f A pollo the sun god of Miletus for a dvice upon the tre
,
-
,

mendons question at issue .

Nor was this Pagan Monotheism without its effect on

Christianity ; attempts seem seriously to have been made
in various quarters to bring about an understanding between
the two religions and it is said that some Christians here
,

m
and there were induced to make common cause with their
D an Mil
e n H i t f Ch i ti nity Vol I I B ook II
a : s . Ch p I X
o r s a ,
. .
, .
,
a . .
 DIO CL E TIA N 409

Pagan foes and their new presentment o f their cult But .

only a very few were led into the devious paths o f this ne w
Paganism ; the great majority were steadfast to the faith
for which so many o f their fathers had given up life and
all that seems to make life pleasant and dear and for which ,

they too were soon to be called to make a like sacrice .

In line with the Neo Paganism with the religion of the -

,

S tate the cu l t professed by the bu l k of the ofcial classes by

, ,

*
the patrician order and by the vast maj ority o f the people
,

in th e years immediately preceding and during the period ,

of the deadly con ict outwardly at least were ranged the ,

philosophers of the time ; not a very distinguished or powerful

group but one which through their bitter and incisive
, ,

writings against Christianity exercised a not inconsiderable ,

inuence on the side o f Paganism This group of philosophers .

is generally known as the Neo Platonists They had existed -

.

as a school of teachers for some half a century when D iocletian

ascended the throne of the C aesars and their principal repre ,

sen tativ e during D iocletian s reign was Porphyry .

Porphyry and his fellow teachers had really very little

in common with the new Paganism of the day still less ,

were they in sympathy with the older Paganism of the

Empire ; indeed Porphyry is reported to have said that
,

the ol der conceptions of God are such that it is more

impious to share them than it is to slight the images o f

the gods But in spite of such a contemptuous estimate
.

o f the ol d Roman cu l t he supported the cause of every ,

ol d national religion and the ceremonial duties of its adherents

, .

O f Christianity however there is no doubt that he was the

, ,

m
sleepless opponent He professed to admire the moral beauty
.

and the holiness o f the founder of Chris tianity but he con

m
,

de ned with a tireless pen the p e ople who worshipped Him

as their God with what seemed to h i a strange inexplicable

m m We h ave al ready d p ob b lm m
hi t
m
m m
di scusse th e r a e nu b ers of C r s ian s i n th e
pi de
io cl eti n and h is c eag ue and oll it ill d th t
m
E D

v t m
re un r a , w be re e b ere a

w e put th e a b o ut seven to nine

s a n o ut illio pop l tio
s of a u a n nu b erin g
r o ug hl y a h un d e d il lions T h us th e e ress n
r . x p io j o ity

Th e as a r of th e
j
p eopl e is fai ly u tied

r s .
41 0 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

passion of devotion He was a great student of the sacre d .

writings of the O l d and New Testament but with the one ,

obj ect of undermining their testimony and destroying their

enormous and abiding inuence He failed completely as .
,

we shall see in all his e fforts directed against Christianity ;

,

as others have in like manner signal ly fai l ed who in later

ages have been inspired by Porphyry s spirit and have

*
imitated Porphyry s methods
.

Porphyry s example as a writer agains t Christianity was

fol lowe d by other members of the schoo l whose works as , ,

far as we are able to gauge were coloured with an extra ,

or di nary bitterness against the religion of Jesus Ind eed .

,

o ne of the most prominent o f these phil osophic scholars ,

H ierocl es has been by some considered as the prompter of

,

the great persecution .

S E CT O I N 11 .
SE CO N D PE RIO D : TH E D V DE DI I E MP IRE .

TH E ve or six years experience o f the results of dividing

the Imperial dignity and responsibilities had been on the whole

fairly successfu l and during these years no further barbarian ,

invasion of any serious importance had disturbed the Empire ;

but in A D 29 1 threatened raids or revolts on many sides
m
. .

m m
lla d P e uti n d D i l ti n I i 2 ii h s o v e y i nt e esti ng and
*

mm m
A r ,
ers c o c oc e , .
, .
, ,
.
,
a s e r r

su g g estiv e co p i son b etw een th g eat Pa g an philo soph e of th e l ast ag e f

m
ar s e r r o

an d o e w ell kn o w n odern dve se c itics of Ch i ti nity Po phy e

m
Pag ni s a ,
s - a r r r s a . r r

se ait l e R enan du p g n i s e itique p ait d hi ; i1 ai e

m m m
Sa

m
r a a . cr ar er r

q ue l es p oph ti e de D n i el on t t c it es p es co up p ui squ l ne ent l s

m
m m m

r s a r a r , e v e

ont e cco pli es

r a L e n o uv eau T t . en t st pa ticul ie e ent p s es a e r r a s

au c i b l e Co St u ss i1 s effo c de ont e d s o n t adiction des

m m

e f

m
r era ra r e r r e c r s,
.
,

i n ex ctit udes de i nv i se b l nces S l e nt p a foi a de v ue pl us ha di e

a ,
s ra a .

va r s s s r s,

il d evan ce l ecol e d T ub ing u e en e tt an t en l u i e e l s p t end u nt g oni e

m m m

e r r a a s

de S P i e e et de S P ul P 1e o uv ni de l a fo t une qu ont eue de nos

mm m

. rr . a . ar s e r r

j o u s cette ech ch e d s antin o i es ou ce h utaines af atio ns ac o pagn s

r r er e ,
s a r ,
c e

p foi s d h o g s tt n d i a l p o nne de J sus s p de s di scipl t de

m
'
ar a r s a er s ar es es e
'
a e e

u v e on en d co pt d l ff t que l es quin e liv e d P o phy e doiv en t

m
so n oe r ,
se r ra e e e e z r s e r r

p od ui e su l pinion des co nt e po ins Po phy y g e t w o k h e e efe ed to

m
r r r o ra . r r s r a r r r rr ,

h is ft en b ook g ai n t th e Ch i sti ans w as d e t oy ed I t w a co n d e n e d b y

mm
e s a s r ,
s r . s

n e di ct f th e E p o T h eodo i us I I ven th e answ e s to it

m
nd

m
a o A D 448 er r s .
, . .
,
a e r

by en lik e E u seb i u s A pollin i et h av e b e n lo st B ut w e po ess c0pious

,
ar s, c .
,
e . ss

e x t ct f o it in L ctantius A ug ustine J e o
ra s r etc a T hi s fa o us n ti Ch i s, ,
r e, . a - r

ti n philo oph e w s b o n at T y e i A D 23 3 and died i A D 3 03

a s r a r r c rca . . c rca . . .
 m
DIO CL E TIA N 41 1

imperati v ely call ed for the presence of an E peror and an

army on each frontier D iocletian determined in 29 2 to enlarge .

further his plan of government by the association o f two more

sovereign princes under the titl e o f C aesars wh o were attached
in a subordinate capacity to the two senior E perors styl ed
A ugusti

The C aesars were to enj oy the right o f succession
.
,

m ,

to the A ugusti and thus the ever recurring danger of a popular ,

-

or tumultuary election of an Emperor was at least minimised .

The choice of D iocletian fel l on two distinguished soldiers ,

both trained in the military school of A urelian and Probus ;

Gal erius who became attached to his Eastern portion of the

m
,

Empire ; and Constantius surnamed Chl orus ( the pale ) who , ,

assumed the position of the A ssis tant Emperor to Max i ian -

in th e West Galerius was peasant born and had risen to .

-
,

high rank owin g to his military capacity He was rough .

,

cruel ignorant and masterful though at the same time he was

, , ,

ackn owled ged to be an able and successful general Constantius .

Ch l orus on the other hand while a brilliant soldier l oved

, , ,

peace and in his temper and tastes was in most respects the
,

opposite of th e rough and stern Gal erius He was nobly .

born his mother being the ni ece of the famous Emperor

,

Clau dius .

In religious matters Galerius was a fanatical and supersti

tious Pagan while Constantius though attached to the doctrines
, ,

o f the Neo Pagan School of which we have spoken was-

,

in no way opposed to Christianity ; indeed he was ever ,

kindly dispose d to the followers of Jesus perhaps owing to ,

*
the inuence of his rst wife Helena who according to a

m
, , ,

l
d s f ous in Ch i stian hi sto y is g ene ally suppo se d to
m
S He ena , afterwar

m
. a r r ,
r

h av e b een of v e y l ow ex t ction ; sh e is cu ently d esc i b ed s o i g in ally a e v n t

m
r ra rr r a r s r a

A lthou g h th e l aw s o f R o e did no t g iv e th e titl e of wife to a w o an

m
a t an inn .

lo w ly b o n a ied to on in th e hi gh e g ad e of so ci ety still such a un ion b i ng

r rr e r r ,
e

l eg l was eco g n i sed b y th e St te I t w s lawful a riag e to all i nt ent s and

a r a . a a r

p u po se sav e that it did not c y w ith it th e titl e of w ife O n h is el ev tion to

m m
r s, arr . a

th e an k of Cae a one of th e co n ditio n

r ccept e d b y Co n t an ti us w as th at h e sho uld
s r, s a s

a ry th e d aug ht e
r of Ma i i n th e A ug ust u s ; H el ena w as th en
r x ep u di t ed a n d
a r a

divo ce d Con stantine th e G eat how eve th e son f Co nst ntiu s Ch l oru nd
m m m m
r . r ,
r, o a s a

H el n su cc ed ed to th e di gn ity o f h i fath e b eing p efe

e a, e d to th e issue of th e s r, r rre

seco n d i ag e I t w o uld thu s e th t th t

arr . i g e w s d e ed a l eg al se a e rs arr a a e

u nio n O n th e q uestion f th e Ch i ti anity of H el ena Th eodo t w h o w ot e in th e

. o r s ,
re , r
41 2 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

tradition o f authority was al ready a C h ristian during the ,

boyhood o f her son afterwards known as Constantin e the Great

, .

This further partition of the East and West was a fresh

b l o w to the cherished unity of the Empire an d to the matchl ess ,

dignity of the immemorial city which had given its proud

name to the mighty domi ni on Four Emperors each with .
,

m
their army and their cour t ; four capital cities the selecte d
*
,

residences of the four wearers of the Imperial purple ; comp l ete d

the work o f the rst division between D iocletian and Maxi ian ,

and e ffectuall y obscured the oneness o f the grand and imposing

creation of A ugustus and his successors .

No doubt such a division of the great Empire had i ts

advant ages ; it provided a more ready and effective means
of defence against the ever owi ng ti de of barbarian invasion -
,

while to a certain extent it was a safeguar d against the

, ,

constantly recurring revolutio ns to which the State was exposed ,

owing to th e facility with which a turbu l ent and mercenary

soldiery could make and unmake a solitary Emperor But .

in spite of al l the precautions which the statesmanlike foresight

o f the creator o f the new Imperial constitution could devise ,

to use the words of the historian o f the D eclin e a n d Fa ll ,

the political union of the Rom an world was gradually dissolved ,

and a principle of division was introduced which in the course ,

of a few years occasioned the perpetual separation of the

Eastern and Wes tern Empires .

The e ffect of these great cha nges in the government and the
Constitution upon the Christian portion o f the population was
only grad ual ly felt No doubt the kin dly feelings o f the

m
.

newly appointed Wes tern Caesar Constantius to wards Chris , ,

tianity in the provinces i mediate l y u nder his rule con ,

tributed to the quietness general ly e nj oyed by the worshippers

o f Jesus ; and to a certain extent their inuence mo di ed the

e ar ar

m
ly p t of th e fth cen t u y t ell us th at th e p i ncipl s of Ch i ti nity w e e
r ,
s

t ug ht b y h i oth to th b oy Co n t ntine ( th e G e t ) b ut E u b i us wh w ote

r e r s a r

m
a s er e s a r a ,
se ,
o r

b o ut a ent u y e li er th n T h eodo et el at es th at o i g in lly H el ena w s n t

m
a c r ar a r r r a a o a
,

Ch i sti an b u t w as co nv e t ed u h l t un d e th e i n u ence of h e son th e

m mm
r r c a er, r r ,
,

E p e o Con t n tin
r r s a e .

T h se fo u capit al citi es w e e in th e r t instance N i co edia an d S i

e r r iu s ,
r ,

Mil an n d T eves
a r .
 m
DIO CL E TIA N . 413

fi tfulpersecutions to which they were exposed under Max i ian .

In the East on the other hand where the toleration of

, ,

D iocletian had largely contributed to the development of

Christianity and had emboldened the communities to make a
,

more open profession of their faith in such matters as the

building and decorating of their churches a new and hostile ,

in uence had arisen in the person o f the C aesar Gal erius a ,

bigoted and superstitious Pagan A s time advanced the .

ascendancy o f this power ful enemy of Christianity became

more pronounced and D iocletian whose health gradually
, ,

failed under the crushing burdens of government passed more ,

and more under the evi l inuence o f the Pagan Emperor he

h ad created ; and a new policy o f the bitterest persecutio n
was adopted which under the name and authority of D iocletian
, ,

the Seni or and vir tual Chief o f the Emperors extended over ,

a la rge po rtion of the Empire .

The rst famous edict of D iocletian directin g a general

proscription o f Christians was issued early in A D 3 03 But . . .

for several years before this date we are aware that in the
,

army attached to the C aesar Gal erius the Christian soldiers ,

had been subj ected to persecution A t rst the respect and

.

awe with which b e naturally regarded the Senior Emperor ,

who had raised him from a private situation to the purple ,

kept him in check ; and the unfortunate issue of his earl ier
campaign against Persia diminished his inuence But his .

subsequent triumph over the eastern enemies o f the Empire ,

a series of victories which resulted in the annexation of several

important provinces evidently placed Gal erius in a new and
,

more in dependent position ; and he felt himself at liberty to

carry o ut his designs against the hated religion even though
they were contrary to the wishes and in direct opposition
to the policy of D iocletian The victorious campaign against
.

Persia was comp l eted in A D 29 7 8 and between this date

. .
,

and the year 3 02 3 must be placed the various attempts of

Gal erius to eradicate or at least to diminish the growing
, ,

in uence of Christianity in the armies under 11 1 8 command .

The policy pursued seems from Eusebius words ( H E

,

. .
,

viii 1 and
. to have been devised in the hope of more
41 4 E ARL Y CH R I S TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

easily overcoming the scrupl es o f the Christians serving in

m
the armies o f the Emperor ; the advisers o f Gal erius reckone d
that if these were compelled or persuaded to renounce their
,

faith the victory of Paganis

,
over those in civil life who
professed Christianity would be comparatively easy Gal erius .

evidently kne w little o f the history of the Faith in former

years and strangely miscalculated the constancy of Christians '
,

The C aesar began b y metho dically testing the strength of his

sol diers convictions ; requiring the different divisions of the

army to take part in formal and public idolatrous ceremonies ,

and giving notice that if any disobeyed the general s orders

they would forfeit their rank and the various privileges

which many of them as veteran legionaries enj oyed Eusebius .

goes on to tell us that numbers of these legionaries who were ,

soldiers in the kingdom of Christ without hesitancy preferred ,

the confession of th e Name to the apparent glory and

comfort which they enj oyed ; and of these a few exchanged
their honours not only for degradation but even for death .

m
These last however who su ffered this extreme penalty were
, ,

not yet many The great number o f bel ievers found in his
.

army probably deterred Gal erius and caused h i to shrink

from a general attack upon all .

A mong the more prominent o f those few who died fo r

the Faith at this time were the well known martyr ofcers - -

Sergius and Bacchus A general tradition speaks o f these

.

two confessors as originally standing high in the Imperial

favour They attained an extraordinary popularity in early
.

time s many churches erected after the Constantinian Edict

of Peace of A D 3 1 3 were named after them ; among which
. .

the circular shaped basilica o f SS Sergiu s and Bacchus

-
.

erected at Constantinople by Justinian very early in the

sixth century is perhaps the most remarkable Their fame
, , .

extended far beyond the limits of Galerius sphere of inu

ence and we nd even in distant Gaul a church dedicated

,

to their memory as far north as Chartres Two o f the .

A cts o f martyrs o f this period genera l ly accepted as genuine
,

contemporary pieces hav e come down to us viz ,

The A cts ,
.
,

of S Julius and The A cts of SS Marcianus and Nicander

.

. .

 D IO CL E TIA N . 415

The simple details o f their trial and brave constancy are no

doubt accurate pictures o f the su fferings undergone for the
Faith s sake

Seemingly small concessions to the Pagan
.

worship favoured by the Emperor would have procured for

these soldiers life and even high honour but they preferred ,

the martyr s painful death rather than deny their Lord

,
.

Some strange ly pathetic circumstances related in the evidently

circumstantial narrative of the A cts accompanied the trial

scene of N icander His wi fe D aria who was present encouraged

.
, , ,

her husband in his resistance to the Imperial commands O my .

Lord the brave woman is reported to have said take care
, ,

h o w yo u deny our Lord Jesus Christ Look up to heaven .

,

you will surely see Him there in whom you must bel ieve .

He will help you A nd when insul ting words were spoken
.

to this true Christian lady she asked for herself the boon of ,

dying rst for Christ .

The persecution however between A D 29 7 8 and 3 02

, , . .

seems to have been conned strictly to the army There .

m
are records which evidently point to a similar harrying of
Christian soldiers at the same period in the dominion of
Max i ian H ercul ius colleague o f D iocletian especially in
, ,

North A frica and Italy ; and towards the end of the period
the insistence of Gal erius whose inuence over the elder ,

Emperor was gradually increasing prevailed to a cer tain ,

extent with D iocletian who issued similar directions to the,

o f cers of his army insisting upon the duty of sacricing to

,

the gods of Rome But in no case does i t seem that a

.

death penalty was exacted as yet in his armies .

D iocletian was prematurely old He was not sixty when .

his health failed him ; years of toil the cares of government , ,

the restless anxiety of his busy successful life had worn ,

him o u t The gorgeous and elaborate magni cence o f the

.

palace which he had caused to be erected at Salona on the ,

A driatic to wh ich he retired after his abdication in the late

,

spring o f A D 3 05 seems to tell us that he had long meditated

. .
,

his design of quit ting the scenes of his greatness A t all .

events in the last months of A D 3 02 when Galerius visited

, . .
,

him at Nicomedia his health had begun to fail and he was

, ,
41 6 E A RL Y CH R IS TI A NIT Y A ND PA GA NI SllI .

unable to resist the urgent importunities o f his younger

colleague who pressed him to change his tolerant pol icy
, .

Sti ll reluctan t however to assume the r ol e of persecutor

, ,

o f a very numerous sect which reckoned among its numbers ,

his own wife and daughter he summoned a Council to ,

consider the wisdom of adopting the anti Christian policy -

urged on him The opinion o f this Council although some

.
,

what divided seems to have been on the whole adverse to

, , ,

Christianity No doub t the inuence of the younger Emperor

.

coloured the spirit of the resolution of the advis e rs thus

called together D iocl etian in feeble health a world weary
.
, ,
-

man would probably soon disappear from the scene while

, ,

his younger colleague strong and vigorous would at no distant , ,

period no doubt succeed to the supreme authority ; n aturally

his vie ws prevailed It was determined that the oracl e of .

A pollo at Miletus a famous Pagan shrine shou l d be con , ,

sul ted o n this all important question L actan tiu s simply

-
.

tell s us that the reply of the oracle was such as an enemy of

o ur divine religion would give Eusebius in the Life of
.

Constantine adds some curious details .

The oracle s answer was a very singular and ambiguous

pronouncement The god complained of being unable to an

.

nounce what was coming o n the earth owing to th e presence of ,

j ust men who were living in the world The superstitious mind

m
.

of D iocletian was troubled by this reply and he enquired who ,

were th ese ju st en enemies of the god who prevented his speak

,

ing The opinion was unanimous

. They were the Christians . .

This decided the wavering Emperor The C aesar Gal erius the .
,

god A pollo and the Imperial Councillors were evidently of

,

one mind ; and the terribl e persecution was then arranged .

Still D iocletian remembering the past prosperity of his reign was

, ,

loth to proceed to extremities and whi l e ordering a persecution , , ,

forbade that any Christian lives should be sacriced ; the

harrying of the sect was to be conned to deprivation of rank

m mm m
,

Th y fo un d in E
e ar eb iu D Vita C n t ntini l ib ii un duse th s, e o s a ,
. .
,
er e

h di ng Co n t n ti n i di ct d p ovi n i l d f l o ul tu

m m
lt d

m
ea s a e u a r c a es e a s c u or u eoru .

A ft
er Ch p XL VII I th titl
a . f th h pt . n th u Qu od
e A p llini
e o e c a er ru s s : ex o s

orac ul q i b j u to ho in
o, u o e pon spliu d
s n on pot t ota it
es r s sa a s e ere era ,
s

per secutio .
 D IO CL E TIA N . 41 7

privileges and fortune With this modied persecution the

, .

C aesar Gal erius and the Pagan party professed themselves con
tented for the present They had laid their plans skil full y and
.
,

were condent that events wo ul d happen which would speedil y

induce the ailin g D iocletian to adopt a harsher proce dure .

The rst persecuting e di ct was published at Nicome di a in

the names of D iocletian and Gal erius early in the year 3 03 I t .

was drastic in its stern provisions ( 1 ) Al l assemblies of .

Christians were absolutely forbidden ; ( 2) Christian chur ches

were to be destroyed ; ( 3 ) The Sacred Books of the Christians
were to be burned ; ( 4 ) Rank and privi l eges were to be taken
away from all persons professing the religion of the Cruci ed ;
henceforth such noble and privileged citizens of the Empire
were liable to tortur e and lost their right of appeal to any
,

tribunal ; ( 5 ) Those who belonged to the lower grades of society ,

if they persisted in their adherence to the forbidden religion ,

would lose their liberty ; ( 6 ) Christian slaves coul d never receive

their freedom .

The provisions of this sweeping edict were in some respects

even more far reachin g than the anti Christian legislation of the
- -

Emperor Valerian The burning of the sacred books was a novel

.

provision The widely extended regul ations as regards slavery

.

affected classes un touched by any previo us e di ct O n the other .

hand the clergy were not specially named by D iocl etian and
, ,

the extreme penalty o f death was not mentioned This last .

concession was the remnant of the old favour so long sho wn by

the Senior Emperor to the C hr istian sect .

It may wel l be conceived that the provisions of this

terrible law struck the Christian communi ties who had for
several years been in the enj oyment of immunity from all
harassing persecution with dismay and asto ni shment .

Very shortly after the prom ul gation of the rst edict a re ,

broke o ut in the Imperial palace at Nicomedia where the two

Emperors were residing Fifteen days later another re in the
.

palace alarmed D iocletian Eus ebius notices it briey in the

.

foll owing language I know not how it happened but there was

,

a re that broke o ut in the Imperial palace at Nicomedia in those

days which by a false suspicion reported abroad was attributed
,

B B
41 8 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA G A NIS M .

to our brethren as the authors of it ( Eus H E viii .
,
. .
, .

L actan tius ( De Mor tib u s P ar a 1 4 1 5 ) goes into further details

, , ,

and openly charges Gal eriu s wit h having contrived the res ,

and then accusing the Christians as the incendiaries hoping ,

thus to embitter D iocletian against them .

The resul t certainly turned out as Gal erius wished Diocl e .

tian was thoroughly alarmed ; his sick fancy picture d a wide

spread plot on the part o f the harassed Christian communities
to destroy him He no longer trusted his palace o cial s many
.
,

of whom were Christians

m
.

His genu ine terror was no do ubt increased by the hurried

departure from N ico edia of his younger colleague in the Empire
after the second re in the palace ; Gal erius professing to dread
being burned alive in the Imperial residence contestan s fugere
se n e vivus arderet in Lactan tius wor ds
.

Then the great persecution commonly known as D iocl etian s

,

began in real earnest In some particulars the last of these

.

terrible onslaughts of Paganism on Christianity bore a striking

resemblance to the rst The primary reason for the harrying
.

o f Christians under Nero singularly enough was the result o f

the charge brought against the sect of incendiarism The .

current belief that they were the authors of the res which had
partly consumed the Imperial residence at Nicomedia deter
mined D ioc l etian to crush them There was no longer any .

hesitation on his part to proceed to extreme measures ; old and

long trusted palace o fcials were tortured and put to death ,

simply because they professed the feared and hated religion .

The ghastly details of some of these martyrdoms are given at

length by Eusebius These men endured their sufferings and

m
.

met their deaths with the calm courage showed by so many

confessors of the noble army o f artyu s The only recorded
r
.

instances of failure in the moment of bitter trial were the two

princesses Prisca and Valeria the Wife and daughter o f the
, ,

Emperor who both consented to sacrice

, .

O utside the palace walls the same cruel treatment was

meted out to the leading personages in the Christian community
o f D ioc l etian s capita l

The Bishop A n th e ius his presbyters
.

and a number ofhis clergy and their households were put to death
m , ,

,
 DIO OL E TIA N

41 9

nor were the women and children spared The early days of .

the persecution in Nicomedia wi tnessed scenes unparalleled in

any preceding persecution ; some victims were taken out to
sea and drowned others burned and these not in soli tary
, ,

instances but in wh ol e companies The prisons were crowded

, . .

Ne w and fearful forms of punishment were devised for these

m
hap l ess and innocent members o f the Christian communities
N ico edia the beautiful capital of the Eastern Empire of
,

D iocletian w ill ever occupy in the sad yet glorious annals of the
,
.

early story of Christianity a position of prom inence It woul d

m
.
,

ho wever be an exaggerated picture o f Christian constancy which

,

o i tted to record any instances of falling away among the

crowd of sufferers for the Faith ; but generally speaking the , ,

Christians of Nicome di a presented a spectacle of extraordinary

constancy and even of superhuman endurance In other cities .

o f the East the rs t edict and the provis ions of the subsequent

more severe proclamations which followed were carried out with ,

more or less rigour but the instances of defection were often

,

more numerous than at Nicomedia In A ntioch for instance .

, ,

we hear of numbers of Chris tians falli ng away in the hour of

trial
.

A t no period had the wo rshippers o f Jesus been exposed

to so rigorous a persecution as in those earl y years of the
fourth century N o enemy to the Christian sect among the
.

Pagan rulers o f Rome had arisen li ke Gal erius He had .

made the cause of Paganism his own and he hoped nall y ,

to destroy the dangerous and powerful religi on which he so

intensely hated He was an ambitious and self seeking despot
.
-

and probably calculated upon all the inuence o f Paganism

to support him in his intrigues eventually to gain the supreme
power in the Empire D iocletian his patron the founder o f
.
, ,

the new Imperial college o f ru l ers was sick he thought to

m
, , ,

death and Gal erius was well aware of his proj ect of abdi ca
,

tion it was arranged that Max i ian should abdicate at the

same time Gal eriu s inuence with the sick D iocletian would
.

he rightly guessed be su i cient to ensure the nomination of

,

two subordi nate Emperors who would be creatures of his ,

o wn to ll the vacant places in the Imperial tetrarchy

,
O nly .
4 20 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NI S ZII .

one obstacle remained to his obtaining the coveted posi

tion o f supreme lord o f the Roman Empire in the person .
,

of the Western Emperor Constantius Ch lorus ; whose

quiet and unostentatious career however seemed to suggest , ,

that in him would scarcel y be found a formidable com

petitor .

Under such a coming master of the Roman world the

future of Christianity seemed indeed gloomy The erce .

edict of A D 3 03 was rapidly foll owe d under the inspiration

. .
,

of Galerius by other and ye t more terrible anti Christian

m
-
,

laws ; laws which were directed against no o ne special c l ass

or order a ong the communities o f the Church but which ,

in their comprehensive scope affected all clergy laity legion , , ,

aries all classes of the Christian society rich and poor nob l e
, , ,

and servile a like Indeed had they been generally put into
.
,

execution throughout the provinces o f the Empire it is hard ly ,

conceivabl e that Christianity could have survived ; human ly

speaking it seems as though the religion of Jesus was pre
,

served from annihilation by the new Imperial Constitution

arranged years before by D iocletian .

T h e edicts of persecution drafted to use a modern term

m
, ,

by Gal erius ran in the names of the four lords of the Roman
worl d D iocletian and Max i ian Gal eriu s and Constantius
, ,

Ch l oru s In the Eastern Empire there was no question re

.

specting the execution o f the edicts ; here and there a power

f ul pro consu l or pro v incial magistrate sympathising with the
-
,

persecuted sect might and did soften the fury of the pro
,

secu tion ; but generally the sufferings of the members of the

sect who declined to conform to the State religion were very

terribl e In the Eastern countries of Roman Europe incl u d
.
,

ing Greece and the provinces on the D anube the sphere o f

m
,

Gal eriu s special inuence the same may be said ; in Italy

m
,

an d A frica the dominion under Max i

,
ian the Imperial edicts ,

of persecution were of course enforced with ste rigour

, , ,

that Emperor being a cruel and superstitious Pagan B u t in .

the West of the Roman Empire there was a very different

spirit inspiring the Government Far away from D iocl etian .

and Gal erius the vast and wealthy province of Gaul which
, ,
 DIO O L E TIA N
421

*
roughly included it must be remembered modern Franc e
, , ,

S witz erland the Low Countries the Rhenish provinces of the

, ,

modern German Empir e and the island of Britain were all , ,

under the rule o f Constantius Ch l orus .

In thi s great and important di vision of the Empire the ,

edicts emphatical ly were if not ignored at least very imper , ,

fectly put in force ; nothing like a persecution in the grave ,

sense o f the word ever raged there It is scarcely an ex

,
.

aggeration to say that this great and good ruler preserved

Christianity from the most deadly peril to which it had as yet
been exposed .

We have already briey touched upon Constantius family

and early life He was by birth a noble hi s mother being

.
,

the niece of the great mi li tary Emperor Claudius and was a ,

trained soldi er O f the contemporary historians Eusebius tell s

.
,

us that the persecuting edicts were ignored in his provinces ;

L actantiu s slightly modies this statement and represents ,

Constantius as making a show of conformity to the laws of

the Empire in that he ordered the destruction of some
,

churches and even proceeded again st certain professors of the

,

proscribed religion ; but these proceedings seemed to have

been merely a feigned compliance with edicts to which his
name was necessarily appende d and the Chris tians wer e ,

generally left unmolested in his broad provinces whil e their

brethr en were enduring terrible sufferings in Ital y A frica , ,

Spain and in the East of the Empire

,
.

m
The question has b een asked What motive induced Con L ,

stantius to sympathise with the proscribed religion ? Eusebius

seems to have deemed hi a Christian ; in his Life of Con

stantin e (i he represents Constantius Ch l oru s as dedicating

.

to the O ne God wi fe and children his palace and all that , ,

dwelt in it so e ffectively that the frequenters of the palace

,

were much the same as those who made up the congregation

G i b b on D ecl ine
m
hap xiii N ot e 1 4 refe rin g to Till e ont
m m
m
,
a nd F a ll, c .
, ,
r
,

is in doub t w h eth e Spain w s a o n g th p ovin es of Ma i i n o Co nst anti us

m m
r a e r c x a r .

I t see s ho w v w itho ut do ub t th t th e p e ecution d u in g th e y ea 3 034

m
,
e er, a rs r rs

a nd p
ar t of 3 05 w as v y activ e in thi p ovi nce Ma i ian th e efo e ust hav e
er s r . x ,
r r ,

b een sup e e in Sp i n
r a .
422 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NLS M
'
.

of a church and as loving to surround himself with Christian

,

priests and bishops This picture however which paints

.
, ,

Constantius as a Christian seems scarcely accurate ; for Chris

tian writers wh o are never weary o f describing the conversion
,

o f his son afterwards known as Constantine the Great say

, ,

comparatively l ittle of the father ; whereas Pagan writers speak

of him with an enthusiasm which they would scarcely have felt
for a decl ared enemy o f the gods of Rome .

Constantius probabl y belonged to the school a fairly

numerous body in his days of enlightened Pagans who , ,

with out breaking with the popular Pagan ideas had a dim ,

conception of the unity o f God ; he was probably tolerant

o f all forms of belief ; perhaps he had an especial sympathy
with Christianity and encouraged and eve n courted its pro
,

fessors . The pale Emperor whose quiet noble li fe was

, ,

spent in successfully ghting with the enem i es of his country

and in ruling with justice his widespread dominions ; whose
reign accordin g to the testimony o f both Pagan and Christian
,

writers was unstained by cruelty or by crime and who was

, ,

invariably kind and gentle to all his subj ects ; stands ou t a

very nobl e gure among the group of ambitious and per
secu tin
g princes who after D iocletian s division of the Empire

, ,

su ccessivel y lled the various Imperial thrones of the East

and West .

The importance of Constantius policy towards Christianity

in her darkest hour can scarcely be overrated The bitterest .

and most unrelenting persecution was making havoc of the

Church in all the provinces of the East as well as in Ital y ,

and Greece A frica and Spain Successive edicts each sur

,
.
,

passing the l ast in severity were being put fort h by the ,

Imperial Chancery under the direction of Gal erius with the ,

avowed purpose o f u tterly destroying Christianity in the

Roman Empire ; but the knowledge that in Gaul the great ,

province of the West a total ly different policy was being ,

pursued by the power ful and honoured ru l er of that portion

of the Empire l argely neutralised the deadening and numbing
,

inuence o f Galerius work No doubt those magistrates in

.

the persecuted districts who sympathised with Christianity

 DI0 CL E TI A N
.

were encouraged secretly to favour the proscribed sect and , ,

as far as was possible to check persecution ; and as time went

,

on and the power o f Gal erius began to wane the policy of

, ,

Constantius in the \ Vest insensibly inuenced some at least

o f that group o f Imperial rulers who arose in the troublous

times which followed the abdication o f D iocletian .

But it was o nl y in the favoured Wes t in the realm of Con ,

stan tius that the edicts were su f

, fered to slumber In the A siatic .

provinces o f D iocletian destruction and havoc were very

general In many of the to wns the churches which had arisen
.

m
in the long period of quietness were razed to the ground and ,

m
the communities of Christians scattered and cruell y harassed .

In the realm o f Maxi ian ever a bitter foe the edicts of per
, ,

secu tio n were rigorously carried o u t Ho e su ffered severely .

,

and much of the earthing up of the catacombs which modern
exploration has brought to light dates from this sad period ;
the Bishop of Rome Marcellinus thus preventing any dese
, ,

cration of the sacred shrines of the dead Vast numbers o f the .

m
Church s archives and copies of the sacred books were seized

and destroyed in this period .

In North A frica which was included in Max i ian s terri

,

tories the persecution as might have been expected was

, , ,

severe In this province religious life seems to have been all

.

through the earlier centuries peculiarly intense ; it was the

home too o f the schismatic whose card inal error was an
, ,

exaggerated austerity o f life and conduct .

A special feature o f this rst persecution of D iocletian

was the bitterness displayed in the search after the sacred
Christian books Wherever the edicts were rigorously carried
.

out not only were the churches and the buildings connected
,

with the cemeteries of the dead pitilessly destroyed but the ,

communities were required to give up the sacred vessels

used for the Holy Eucharist and also the manuscripts which
,

contain ed the writings of their Teacher and His disciples .

There is no doubt that vast numbers of them were destroyed

a t this time as well as many A cts of Martyrs and other
,

church records an irreparable loss being thus sustained

,
.

M any earnest and devout Christians went to prison and some

4 24 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA G A NISM .

to death rat h er than give up these sacred writings ; others ,

however yiel ded not looking upon such a surrender as a

, ,

vital point In North A frica a few years later the question

.

was ercely raised in the Christian communities whether

those presbyters wh o in the hour of extreme peril had thus
given up the Holy Books and wh o were branded with the ,

opprobrious tit l e of Traditores had not by their weakness ,

forfeited their sacerdotal privileges The charge of yiel ding .

up the sacred books was the immediate occasion of the great

D onatist schism The ranks o f these schismatics were largely
.

rec ruited as might have been expected in North A frica

, , ,

from the inheritors of the peculiarly strict and austere tenets

o f the Novatianists The schism made so wide a cleavage
.

in the Christian communities that the whole question was

subsequently debated at a Council composed of 200 bishops
summoned from al l parts of the Western Empire to A rles
by Constantine in the year 3 1 4 .

The search after and conscation of these various Christian

writings indicates the nature of the persecution and shows ,

how elaborately planned were the proceedings of the enemies

o f the Faith It was no temporary outbreak of Pagan animosity
.
,

but a carefully arranged campaign against the Christian

rel igion which Gal erius and his advisers hoped completely to
,

eradicate .

In Rome so rich in indirect testimonies to the severity

,

of the last persecution an absence of written documents

,

containing reliab l e details is specially noticeable A nd this .

is accounted for by the same reasons we have adduced for the

provinces Indeed in Rome the great seat of Paganism the
.
, , ,

search for and consequent destruction of the sacred writings

and manuscripts of the Christians seems to have been more
thorough and complete than in any other of the important .

centres o f population .

The rs t edict was rapidly followed by a second which ,

was especially aimed at the clergy Eusebius ( H E viii 6 ) . . .

, .

tells us of the numbers who were at once thrust into

prison bishops presbyters and deacons readers and exorcists
, , , .

A third edict was soon after put forth o ffering liberty to

 DI0 CL E TI A N 425

any of these who would consent to sacrice but in the ,

event of their refusing they were to be punished with ex

cruciating tortures The historian seems to imply in the
.
,

words immediately following his brief notice o f these second

and third edicts that the invitation to recant was generally
,

refused as he adds : Who could tell the numbers of those

,

martyrs in every province and particularly in Mauritania , ,

Thebais and Egypt that suffered deat h for their religion ?
, ,

Still Eusebius does not conceal the fact that there were
some who appal l ed at the su fferings which awaited those
,

who were steadfast did recant in the supreme hour of trial

,
.

His words must be quoted : Hence also we shall not make

mention of those who were shaken by the persecution nor ,

of those that su f fered shipwreck in their salvation and of ,

their o wn accord were sunk in the depths of the watery

gul ph . O f the kind o f tortures that were endured he writes : ,

Here was one that was scourged with rods there another ,

tormented with the rack and excruciating scrapings in which , ,

s ome at the time endured the most terrible death ; others ,

again passed through di fferent torments in the struggle .

( H . E viii
.
,
2 .

The closing days of the year 3 03 brought a brief respite

to the sufferings of the persecuted foll owers of Jesus It .

was the twentieth year o f the reign of D iocletian and the ,

Emperor worn out and ill though he was determined to

, ,

m
ce l ebrate the auspicious date with a grand triumph aecom ,

anie d with public games o f great magnicence at Rome

p .

Max i ian his senior partner in the Imperial dignity was

, ,

associated with him o n the great occasion The l ong reign .

o n the whole had been a period of real prosperity for the

m
co l ossal Empire The frontier provinces of the D anube and

m
.

th e Rhine had been generally protected from the raids o f

the barbarian tribes and the ilitary prowess of Max i ian

,

and Constantius Ch l oru s h ad continued the successful work

of the military Emperors Claudius Prob us and A urelian in
maintaining the fading prestige of Rome in the West while ,

the victories of Galerius over the Persian armies secured the

E astern frontiers .
4 26 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND P A G A NIS M .

A frica
and Britain as well as the great frontiers of the Rhine
,

and D anube were each represented in the striking triumph

,

procession whil e the signal victories of Gal eriu s in Persia

,

were conspicuously represented in the stately march al ong the

sacred way and through the time honoured Forum the scene -
,

of so many and such varied Republ ican and Imperial

m
triumphs .

In on e respect the great military display of D iocletian

and Max i ian in the November of A D 3 03 was espe cially . .

remarka b le It was the last of the long series o f Roman

.

triumphs Rome had a lready virtually cease d to be the

.

capital o f the Empire The Imperial visit however to the .

, ,

ol d capital was very short D ioc l etian disliked Rome and .

,

his failing health was his excuse for cutting short his part
in the festivities of the triumph He left suddenl y for Ravenna

m
.

then his illness becoming grave he lived in great retirem ent ;

, ,

slowly j ourneying in a close d litter back to his loved Nico edia ,

which he only reached in the summer of the following year ,

A D
. 3 04
. Seriously ill he was conned to his palace in that
.
,

city for many months ; many supposed him to be dead as in ,

fact he virtually was to all public business .

The ceremonies connected with the triumph o f November ,

A D
. 3 03 were accompanied by a proc l amation o f a general
.
,

amnesty and save in certain special cases all prisoners were

, , ,

re leased throughout the Empire Great numbers of more or .

less undistinguished Christian captives who were awaiting

trial found themselves set at liberty in consequence of the
general pardon But the soun ds of the public rej oicings soon
.

died away and the cruel edicts of persecution being unrepealed

, , ,

m
were once more enforced with rigour ; in the East where
Gal eriu s was now in reality supreme and in the West through ,

out the sphere of Max i ian s inuence ; both these Emperors

being deadly enemies of Christianity .

Nor were the rst three edicts far reaching enough to

satis fy the bitter animosity of these princes for in the spring ,

o f the fo l lowing year 3 04 a fourth and more terrible edict

, ,

was promulgated no dou b t under the special inspiration of

,

Gal erius Eusebius dwel ling especial ly on the Palestinian

.
,
 DIO CL E TI A N .

persecution o f which he was an eye witness thus briey sums

,
-
,

~
u p the purport of th is fresh order of the Imperial Chancery

In the course o f the second year ( A D when the war . .

was bla z ing more vi olently against us when Urbanus was ,

administering the pro vince Imperial letters were sent in which ,

it was d irected that all persons o f every people and city should
sacrice and o ffer libations to idols ( De Mar t P OLL .

.
,

Thus open war was proclaimed not merely against the Churches ,

the ho ly vessels the sacred b ooks and writings an d the

, ,

clergy of all ranks but against all the believers in Jesus, ,

without distinction o f condition o r sex or age , , .

In one of those rare Martyrologies which have come down

to us that of S Sav inus whi ch bears ho wever unmistakable
,
.
, ,

*
traces of a late redaction we have an evi dently genuine

description o f the bitter spirit of animosity against Christianity

which animated the Pagan population o f Rome in the great

m
year of D iocletian s persecution A D 3 04

, . . .

In the spring o f this year in the course o f the annual ,

games in honour o f Ceres the Emperor Max i ian H erculius ,

was present Lou d shou ts appl au di ng the Sovereign were inter

.

ru ted by cries o f the populace clamouring for the destruction

p
o f the Christians The air was full of the persecuting fury of
.

Gal erius and D iocletian which was raging in the East The , .

Roman Pagans longed to see the bloody scenes of Nicomedia

and the oriental centres revived in their o wn city A way .

m
with the Chr istians shouted the populace and we shal l be , ,

happy Let there be no more Christians w as repeated by
.

,

the angry cro wd again and again Maxi ian whose hostility .
,

to the sect was wel l kn own was not slo w to comply w ith the ,

popular desire and soon the persecuting edicts of which we

,

have written above were carried into dread effect at Rome .

Many and various were the de v ices adopted in the course

o f the terrible year 3 04 to compel the Christians to pay even

an involuntary homage to the gods of Rome A t Nicome di a .

,

the residence of the Emperor altars were placed in all the ,

i
g enu neness
cution
De Ro ssi,

of

de D iocl tien,
B ul letti no ( l l A
th e pe
vol i
r a

.
m
.
b
vi
l e to
. 1 .
rch . Crist , 1 8 8 3 ,
th e P assio S .
p
Se ini m
. 1 5 6 , ins
.
i st s u pon
See, too, A l ar
th e
l d
e

,
vid en t
Pers
4 28 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NI S M .

law courts and the suitors with various cases were bidden
,

b efore their cases came o n to o ffer sacrice In Galatia all .

,

articles of food before being allowed to be exposed for sal e

, ,

were formally consecrated to one or other of the gods In .

Rome these strange and hitherto unheard of methods o f

compellin g submission to idolatry were mu l tiplie d Images .

o f the gods were erected in the various markets and incense ,

had to be Sprinkl ed before these by all who wished to buy

and sell The very public fountains th en as now so abundant
.
,

in Rome were guarded and could only be used by those who

, ,

chose to adore the national gods .

The condition of the Christian portion of the Roman

world with the exception of Gaul for the reasons above
,

referred to after the puttin g ou t of this fourth edict of

,

persecution was undoubtedly more serious than it had been

,

at any previous time The greater part of the year 3 04 and .

a consi derabl e portion of 3 05 may b e considered the most

terribl e period o f the long drawn out persecution which began -

in the year 3 03 and did not end till Constantine promulgated

,

at Milan his famous edict in the year 3 1 3 It was the most .

deliberate and caref ully planned attack on the Rel igion of

Jesus that the advocates o f Paganism ever arranged and the ,

Emperor Gal erius the chief instigator of the persecution and

, ,

his advisers had good hopes that the universal terrorism

wou l d in the end everywhere stamp o ut the hate d Chris
, ,

tianity The name of D iocletian appeared stil l as the rst

.

o f the Imperial names on the fourth edict but it is doubtfu l ,

if the state of his health all through that year permitted him
to take any active share in the Government The real author
o f the persecution undoubtedly was Gal erius while Max i

in Italy and A frica then as ever a determined foe to the ,

ian
, ,
.

,
m
sect wi ll ingly carried ou t the provisions of the various edicts
,
.

The passive resistance o f Constantius Ch l orus who a dministered ,

the Gall ic Provinces and who sympathised with Christianity

, ,

was however the great obstacl e to the e ffectual carrying o ut

, ,

o f the Pagan propaganda .

The numbers of the Christians in th e Roman Empire in

the rst years of the fourth century against whom the great ,
 DI0CL E TIA N .

persecution was directed have been variously stated ; we have

computed them it will be remembered as a or ting roughly
,

to between seven and nine millions But this may possibly

,

.
,
mm
be very considerably un der the mark the whole population ,

o f the Empire at this period being reckoned at about one

hundred millions .

m
SE CT O I N III .
-
R E VI E W O F TH E PE RSE CU TI O N .

As the abdication of D iocl etian and Max i ian in the May

of the year 3 05 marks a new departure in the last great
persecution it will be well to take a general view of this
,

supreme e ffort of Paganism again st Christianity .

It is true that the great persecution lasted roughly ten

years But after the rst two years of which we have spoken
.
,

in some detail although it continued to rage it was greatl y

, ,

m
limited in the area of its Operations Between the spring .

o f A D 3 03 when the rst e d

. .
,
i ct was promulgated at Nicomedia ,

and the late spring of A D 3 05 when D iocletian and Max i ian . .

,

ab di cated the persecution was general throughout the whole

,

Empire Even in the great province of Gaul where Constantius

.
,

Ch l orus ruled and in which the Christians enj oyed on the

m
, ,

whole stillness the persecuting edicts were nominall y carried

, ,

o u t ; while throughout the dominions o f D iocletian Max i ian , ,

and Gal eriu s a bitter and harassing war was waged again st
the followers of the Crucied These dominions included .

roughly all the provinces of the East ; the sphere of persecu

tion comprehended Italy Greece Egypt Spain and North , , , ,

A frica in the Western division of the Emp ire .

A fter the abdication o f the two senior Emperors in A D . .

3 05 in the West the power of Constantius Ch l orus was gr eatly

,

augmented Spain was probably added to his sphere o f

.

control and Severus the new C aesar who ruled in Ital y

, , ,

and North A frica contrary to the expectation o f hi s friend

,

and patron Gal eriu s ordered his policy towards the Chr istian
,

m
portion of the pop ul ation r ather after the wishes of Con
s tan tiu s his immediate superior in the Western Empire than
, ,

in accordance with those of Gal erius In his do inions .

,
43 0 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NI S M .

a l though the edicts remained unrepealed and the churches

and cemeteries were not restored to the Christians no open ,

persecution harassed the c ommunities Thus in the matter .

of tol eration and persecution the Empire was divide d .

Eusebius clearl y indicates this cl eavage in the foll o wi ng

l anguage . He tel ls us of an innumerable multitude o f

martyrs noble wrestlers in the cause of piety who su ffered
,

in the Eastern Provinces whil e in the other countries includ

, ,

ing all I taly Sicily and Gaul Spain and Mauritania and
, , , ,

A frica the hostility of the persecution hardly lasted two

,

years ; they were blessed by the interposition and peace of

God Thus in the one part of the Empire peace
was being enj oyed whi lst those brethren who inhabited the
,

other endured innumerable trials (De Ma r t P OLL xiii ) .

, .

O f this second phase of persecution in the East which ,

lasted some eight years l onger we shal l speak again ; of ,

the gen er a l persecution usually known as D iocletian s which

,

went on for about two years we have already gi ven some details
,
.

L actan tiu s in an interesting and instructive passage which

,

deserves to be quoted at length sets forth the spirit in which ,

the hostile edicts were carried into effect by the different

provincial governors and magistrates during these two years
of general persecution I t is impossible to represent in
.

detail everything that took place in all the various districts

of the Roman world Each provincial governor accord i ng
.
,

to his discretion used the special powers ( against the Christians )

,

with which he was armed The timid ones fearful lest

.
,

they should be r eproached with no t carrying out their

orders went farthest in the work ; others followed them
,

and their severe interpretation s o f th e directions for various

reasons ; they were cruel by nature or they were actuated by ,

a special hatred for the just ones ( the Christians ) or they

wished to curry favour w ith the Sovereign and by this ,

means to secure their own promotion In some cases they .

inicted the penalty o f death in a wholesale fashion Here .

the writer quo tes the example of a Phrygian city where a

terrible massacre of Christians o f all ages and sexes was
ordered ( Eusebius too quotes this horrible act H E viii x i )
, , ,
.
, . .
 D IO CL E TIA N . 431

But the most dreaded o f the governors were those who
made fal se professions of kindness The most dangerous and .

m
terrible executioner was he who boasted that he never shed
blood in the province over which he ruled These men could
not endure the thought of the artyrs victory It is i
possible to describe the tortures which these magistrates

.

. m
devised in order to compass their purpose They felt it was .

a combat to the death between them and the Christian s I .

have seen myself in Bithynia the j oy o f one o f their governors

, ,

when a Christian who had held ou t for two years with true
,

courage in the end gave in He was as proud o f the achieve

,
.

ment as though he had subj ugated a barbarian people To .

gain this end every nerve was strained ; they felt their honour
,

was at stake So they inicted on the bodies o f the victims

.

the mos t cruel tortures taking all care that their su fferings
,

stopped short o f death D o they imagine that our b liss is

.

only won by death ? Will not these torments win for us the
glory due to a noble resistance a glory too which will be , , ,

more conspicuous in proportion to the greatness of the

su fferings endured ? But the persecutors are blind The .

greatest care is taken of the tortured ones in order that the

su fferings may be renewed The shattered limbs are care .

fully tended with a view of subj ecting the su fferers to

fresh agonies Was ever anything conceived more gentle
.
,

more humane ? This is the strange humanity which idol

worship breathes into its votaries ! (Div I n st v .
, .
,

It is impossible to compute the number of those who

perished in the two years of general persecution which save ,

in Gaul and the provinces under the rule of Constantius .

raged over the whole Empire and in the following seven or ,

eight years of persecution in the Eastern Provinces The .

computation o f Gibbon is unreliable He suggests that the .

total number of those who perished during the whole period

o f ten years did not exceed two thousand ; and he bases his

calcu l ations largely upon the ninety two martyrs of Palestine -

m m
mentioned particularly by Eusebius but that historian does no t
nd in g (M i v o c ion lly lightly p a ph ed

Till eo nt s re er o res, . c as a s ra ras ,

h s b een g en
a erally fol lo w d e .
432 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

profess to give more than a list of those cases which were

personal ly known to himse l f or were specially interestin g The ,
.

roll of the Palestine martyrs is therefore on every reasonable , ,

supposition only a select list and bears probably the same relation ,

to the who l e number that su ffered as the names o f o fcers in ,

a gazette to the undistinguished victims o f the rank and le .

The persecution was undoubtedly a mighty effort to crush

Christianity More than once the tyrants boasted that they
.

*
had succeeded in the attempt That in such an endeavour .

continued for ten years they accomplished nothing more

than the death o f some two thousand persons is as contrary

to reason as to the testimony of all early writers T .

Besides in his computation evidently made with a desire

, ,

to minimise as much as possible the numbers o f su fferers in

this long con tinued persecution the historian of the Decl in e
.
,

a n d Fa ll disdains to take any account whatever of the

crowds in different countries who were tortured as the con ,

temporary writer L actan tius so graphically in the above quoted

passage tel ls us but were not put to death He omi ts men
,
.

tioning the numberless victims condemned to a lingering death

in prison or in the mines he makes no al lusion whatever to ,

the unspeakab l e misery and wretchedness endured by un

counted numbers of the members of the Christian communi
ties during those long years of the terrorfl
There is no question when al l possib l e deduction is made ,

for the number no inconsiderable one of the Traditores
who gave up the sacred books hoping thus to save their lives ,

and o f those who fell away under threats of torture shame , ,

Tr
th us
ophi es
m
w ere set up

J ovi n M
at Cl uni a in Sp ai n ,
m l
an d e se w he re . O ne of

m
no
th ese
in e
m
ax i i anu s H ercul iu s

m
r un s D iocl etianus e,

n oth p titio h i sti ique d el et a

Ch ristianoru del eto ; nd a a er Su ers ns C r ub ,

p op to Quot d b y D Mah an

m
cul tu de oru r ag a .

e r . , An d see B aronius, A ial .

A .D . 3 04 .

Dr . Mah an ,
o
Pr fess o r of E cc . H ist . in th e G en era lh olo g i al
T e c Se i y nar

New Yo k Ch urch H istory of the F ir st Seven C ntu i ch ap ix Ne w

m
of r : A e r es, . .

Yo k
m
m
r ,
1 892 .

Mil ot p p eci ally

m m
i D ean s on th e D
an in his l in n e ec e and F al l , ch a . xv i, s

adv e t s to th e
r e be d li
e u nfai n s t o f G ib b o n
ra r e s ,
in h is su y of th e l st
ar a

g e
r a t p e s cu t io n
r e q u i etly di i,s i ng

f o t h e s s r a cc u no t al l th e ho ib l e an d rr

ex cr uci ati ng tort u es w hi ch fell sho rt of d eath

r .
 D I O CL E TIA N . 43 3

and conscation of their goods that on the w hole the great ,

mass o f the Christians endured all rather than deny the name
of Jesus and that their noble constancy and brave patience
,

to the end litera lly wearied out the ir persecu tors who gradually ,

became sensible o f the hopelessness o f the task they had set

so deter in ed m
themselves o f exterminating such a sect so numerous and
.
,

SE CT O I N IV .
A U TH O R I TI E S .

As regards the materials in o ur possession for any detail ed

account of the last persecution our contemporary and most ,

valuable pieces are : ( 1 ) The writings of Eusebius the his

torian the Bishop o f C aesarea ( 2) the writings o f L actantius
, ,

afterwards tutor to Constant ine s son Crispus ; ( 3 ) a certain

number of A cts and Passion of Martyrs ; ( 4 ) the testimony

of part of the Catacombs .

1 The writings of Eusebius

. A very considerable portion .

of these have come down to us and in the eighth and ,

ninth books of his Ecclesias tical History and in the

,

short monograph on the Martyrs o f Palestine we have a
,

detailed account of many of the sufferings endured at this

time by the Christians ; an account compiled by a trained
scholar and historian not merely a contemporary but an, ,

eye witness of many o f the terrible scenes * he depicts

-
.

But Eusebius narrative onl y embraces what took p l ace

in on e portion o f the Roman Empire ; he connes his story

to a relation o f the operation of the edicts in the East ,

dwell in g especiall y on Palestine O n what happened in the .

Western Provinces o f Rome he is almost wholly silent The .

reason of this silence has been happily suggested by an

eminent mode rn scholar The Bishop of C aesarea ( Eusebius )
.

,

conscious of the grandeur of this supreme contest between

We hav e in th e te xt
hi sto y d welt v e y l ittl e upo n th e natu e o f th e
mm
of our r r r

fe in g s en d ured T h e e is of cour se an awful rep etition in tho se h a o wi ng

m
suf r . r rr
, ,

m
B ut in A pp en di x G w e h av e g iv en a few ext act s v e b ati f o

m
s enes
c . th e r r r

co nt e po a y hi sto i n s L ctantius and E u seb i us Th e lat te e p eci ally efe s

m
r r r a a . r s r r

to h i s elf an eye w i tness of so e of th ese p ainful scenes T h e ex t ract s in

as - .

question w ill g ive so e idea of th e suffe in g s to whi ch th e Christians were expo sed
r

in th e l ast and g reat est of th e p ersecution s .

CC
434 E AR L Y CH R IS TI A NI T Y A ND PA GANISM .

Christianity and Paganism a contest in which he was playing ,

a not undistinguished part would only speak of what he ,

himself had witnessed o r o f what he had absolutely heard

,

from eye witnesses and he feared to weaken the strength of

-
,

his testimony by dwel l ing on what had taken place in distant

lands far from the scenes of his o wn personal observation .

Thus his story of the D iocletian persecution comparatively

limited as it is in its area of observation differs in its plan ,

from the earlier portions of his ecclesiastical history which ,

more or less embraces the whole scene o f the Christian

struggle with Paganism By forsaking for this memorable
.

period the universal character o f its earlier books the his

torian gives place to the eye
A more competent chronic l er of those scenes of the
great persecution which he describes so graphically and so
touchingly can scarcel y be conceived A n unwearied scholar .

and trained writer Eusebius saw his co religionists hunted

,
-

m
down and tortured ; of these many were his own dearest
friends and fellow students He was present for instance
-
.
, ,

in thea p h ith eatre o f Tyre when his friends and fe l low

Christians were exposed to the fury of the wild beasts He .

m
visited and encouraged the confessors in the unhealthy
mines o f Ph aenos He shared the prison life of his dear
.

master Pa ph ilus at C aesarea Pa ph il us the eminent scholar

and famous expositor o f the Scriptures the defender of the
m ,

great O rigen He was in Egypt when the pers ecution was

.

at its height and when the proscribed Christians endured

,

unspeakable tortures and sufferings .

2 The writin gs o f L actantiu s i

. Here too we have the , ,

testimony of a contemporary and of a learned scholar ;

Eusebius even characterises him as the most erudite man
o f his time
.
He had exceptional opportunities of observa
.

tion and o f obtaining accurate information respecting the

public events which happened in the early years of the
fourth century He was invited by D iocletian to take up
.

his residence in Nicomedia about A D 3 01 and later he . .

,

All a d P uti n d Di lti n Vol I I nt oduction

r ers c o e oc e , . . r
,
i
Sect on 3 .

A short acco unt of L actantiu s is g iv en in A pp en dix E .

 DI 0CL E TIA N 43 5

e ntered into the household of Constantine the Great as in

s tructo r o f his son Crispus In his treatise on The D eaths of
.

the greater part of which treats of the events

o f the D ioc l etian persecution we possess a vast number of ,

details of the sufferings endured by the Christian subj ects

o f the Empire Scattered bu t important notices too o f
. , ,

these sufferings are found in his Div inee I nstitutiones
,

from which work we have quoted the remarkable passage

given above ( pp 4 3 1 .

3 A certain number of A cts and Passions of Martyrs of
.

the period which have been prono unced genuine in their main
,

featur es although in many cases they have been evi den tly
,

a mplied or supplemented by revisers a century or two later

than their assumed date can fairly be referred to Considering

,
.

the terrible nature of this last persecution its operations n ot ,

bein g conned to the clergy or to Special persons o r to any class ,

and order but extending to the whole Christian community it

, ,

is at rs t sight some what surprising that many more of these

A cts and Passions relating to so widely extended an onslaught
have not come down to us But the paucity of such A cts and
.

Passions is fairly explaine d when the circumstances of the
persecution are taken into consideration A mong the articles .

o f the edicts it will be remembered were most stringent

, ,

provisions for the sei z ure and destruction of the sacred

writings o f the Christians including many MSS besides ,
.

the Holy Scriptures ; and amongst others no doubt the

m emoranda which bore upon the heroic constancy and
e ndurance of the Christian victims ; such histories and
recitals the leading spirits in the S tate who g uided this
systematic and carefu l ly planned onslaught of P aganism would
-

j ustly view with peculiar abhorrence and dread as eminently ,

c alculated to inspire the sufferers with a noble desire to emulate

the bravery and constancy of those who had already in pain and

agony won their martyr crowns These A cts and Passions .

,

wherever they existed would doubtless b e most carefully

,

s ought for and destroyed w hi le on the other hand the sweeping

,

See A pp endi x E . Th e q ues it on of th e horsh ip

aut of thi s t reatise h ere
is t
discusse d .
43 6 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

nature of the arrests o f the clergy as Christian leaders would

largely tend to diminish th e numbers o f such o f cial e or
anda the very persons whose duty it was to compile or redact
m
m
these records having been mostly deprived of their liberty and ,

either thrown into prison or driven to some distant place of

exile Prudentius the Spanish poet who was born only som e
.
, ,

forty years later dwells on this in graphic an d pathetic words

, ,

when he deplores how the stern spirit o f the persecutor h as

*
silenced those memories of a glorious past

m
.

The public archives th e A cta p r o con su la r ia and the ,

-
,

A cta n n i cip a l i a from which we might have expected much

,

detailed information respecting the events which accompanied

this general Imperial persecution have for the most part dis ,

appeared in the course o f the overwhel ming disasters which

m
overtook the Empire in the fth and fol l owing centuries i
A mong the A cts and Passions connected with the Diocl e

tian persecution A ll ard (P er secu ti on ole Diocl etien To

,
I
, . .
,

i ii iii ) quotes at considerable length pieces treating o f martyr

.
, .
,
.

suffering in Macedonia Pannonia Cilicia Thrace Galatia and , , , , ,

Cappadocia the ample notices of Eusebius being conned to

,

events which took place in Syria Phoenicia Egypt Pontus and , , , ,

especial ly in Palestine .

Comparatively few Roman A cts o f Martyrs belonging to

this time have come down to us A mong these rare A cts .

,

m
most ly genuine in the main features of the story but ,

mutilated and added to by later revisers we wou l d instanc e

m
,

the A cts of the fa ous S A gnes and of her foster sister

.
-

S E erentiana th e main features of which narratives late

.
,

arch aeological discoveries have largely substantiated .

4 A s regards Rome we possess in the Catacombs the most

.
,

enduring memory of this last and most terrible o f the per

secu tio ns The cemeteries were general ly conscated and the
.
,

Christians forbidden to use them or even to enter them To .

O o b soleta ob livio !
v etu statis sil entis

I n identu i st a n o b i s f a et ip m

m
e ting uitu

m m
v r ,
a sa x r .

P u d nti us P i S t p l n n i 7 3

m
ia
'

r e : ei - e , . .

1 Co p e B ois ie w
ar h h as so s e g ood
r, e a k s on thi s poin t
o L n r r ,
a ( ZN

Pag a ni vol i A pp en di x on L e I e s cutions

s e, . . s

r .

 O RENT N LO OA TRONlRNo
S fl l SV

NNVAAEI MENSES NOVED 1E3 QVI N

mm
A

HVNCMGRTK ONSUI VM E SEr vnDEM CLESI M I HDIEUS

ascesf er W

m
NNI W ET

TA
XS

MENSSES\

AVRELI A H H WDOSI A E

gs
a i
B ENI CNI SSI MA EEF ,

lNCOM PARABI LI FEMI NM -

m
CoNNcrI NNOCI NHSSI M Ar
-

DE PO S rr rA rDrc
'

NATAM BI A NA
w
'

Dr
r sn atvxw

mm m
I NS C R I PT I O NS F O U ND IN THE C A T A C O MBS .

R d df
e uce l f
acs n e ro Perret s

C ataco b es ,

Vo l . V
.
,
Pl a t e 1 5 .
 DI O CL E TIA N . 43 7

preserve intact the hallowed graves o f their fathers and ,

especially the resting places o f the more venerated among -

their dead the Roman Christian communities blocked or

,

m
e arthed up many of the galleries where these dead had
-
been
tenderly and reverently deposited A fter the peace o f the .

Church o ne o f the Bishops of Rome Pope Da asu s who

, , ,

presided over the Church o f the great city from A D 3 66 to . .

A D
. 3 8 4 a name held deservedly in the highest honour
.

among the many illustrious men who lle d that high o f ce

devoted himself especially t o r e dis cover many of these tombs

m
,

earthed up in various persecutions O ne most important work

-
.

undertaken by D a asu s was the composition of numberless

inscriptions in honour of the martyrs whose hidd en tombs he
uncovered which inscriptions he caused to be engraved on
,

sla b s of marbl e and stone in peculiarly beautiful and legible

*
characte rs Some of th e inscribed tablets refer to martyrs
.

and famous men of an earlier period to heroes of the older ,

persecutions ; but not a few refer to the victims of the last

period of which we are n ow speakin g The historic value is .
,

o f course very great ; for he wrote

,
in the case of the victims ,

o f the D iocletian persecution of sufferers whose story was tol d ,

him by men who were their contemporaries ; indeed on one ,

tablet we read h o w as a boy he learned the martyrs histor y

, ,

from the lips o f the executioner himself ! Percussor retulit

m
mihi D amaso cum puer esse His are no legendary or .

apocryphal narrations ; they are simp ly the bare re capitulation

o f facts of public notoriety Da asus was born A D 3 05 . . . .

Some of these inscriptions are preserved in the ancient

Roman churches whither they were removed in the seventh
, ,

eighth and ninth centuries when the catacombs were in

, ,

m
process of being ried by foreign invaders Many of them .

have been discovered often broken and mutilated in the , ,

original c ryp ts where Da asus himself placed them and as

m
,

R o i b li v th t ll th b e utiful D
De ss e e es in in
a iption th t h v
a e a a as e scr s a a e

cov d w th e w o k of o n t i t F u iu D iony i u Filoc l us O n

m
be n e re ere ere r e ar s r s s s a .

on f th
e o i n c ib d t b let th t b long ing to Pop E b iu th ti t d ib e
ese s r e a s, a e e u se s, e ar s e scr s

hi elf thu
s P U BI US D I O N Y S I US F I L O CAL US S CR I PS I T DA MA S I S
s:

(si ) PA PPJE CUL T O R A T QUE A MA T O R

c .
4 38 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

m
the excavations slo wly proceed more are being found Th e .

Spanish poet Prudentius wh o was a contemporary of Pope

,

Da asus specially dwelt on the number and reputation o f

,

these tombs of the martyrs which were among the glories

,

o f the Rome o f his day when in o ne o f his famous martyr

,

hymns or poems he wrote that men little guessed how full

Rome was of buried saints how rich was her soi l with holy

m
,

graves *

m m
.

n ot

m mm
Vi f x tab diti
a a es ,
a s

Qu pl n ncti R o sit
a e a sa s a ,

Qu div u b anu ol u
a es r s

Sacris sepul ch i is oreat .

Pei i- Sl ep h an n, ii
'

. 5 41 5 44 .
 43 9

CH A PTER XV .

CO N STA NTI N E TH E GR E A T .

SE CT O I N I .
TH E R I SE O F CO N STA N TI N E .

TH E *
story of the close of the brilliant reign of th e great
Emperor D iocletian is a pathetic one A ll through the closing .

months o f the year 3 04 he lay sick almost unto death in his

palace at Nicomedia In the sprin g A D 3 05 he had partly. . .
,

recovered but when he appeared again in pub l ic he was

,

changed almost beyond recognition His younger colleague .

,

Gal erius came to Nicomedia ostensibly to congratulate him

,

o n his recovery ; but the real obj ect o f his visit was to insist

upon D iocletian at once carrying out his long meditated proj ect -

o f abdication .

With some reluctance the ailing Emperor seems to have

consented to retire ; a step he had evidently long been medi
tating but such resolves are easier to meditate upon than
,

to carry ou t When however the nomination o f the new

.
, ,

C aesars who were to take the place of the abdicating Emperors

, ,

was discussed D iocletian remonstrated vehemently against

,

the objects of Galerius choice These were D aia his nephew

.
, ,

a young man withou t culture and hal f a barbarian and Severus , ,

whom the Emperor characterised as a drunkard and utterly

mm
,

h e see s n o v lid e son for do ub ting th e g ne l accu acy of th e

T er a

d et ail s g iven in th e f o us w iting D M tib u P ut

r a

Th e q u e t io n
e ra

m r

m
a r e or s ersec er z i . s

w h eth er o n o L actantius w s th e u tho of th e pi ece in q uestio n is discu ssed

m
r a a r

in A pp n dix E h ip of thi s co nt e po a y w iti ng do es n ot affect

m
e B ut th u th
. e a ors r r r

T h at Max i i n Dai a an d

m
th e p ob ab ility of th e g en e al tr uth of th e d et ail s

m
r r .

S ev e u w e e i po e d u po n th e w e k an d sufferi ng

m
th e tw o n ew Cae

mm
r s, s sar ,
r s a

E p e o b y th e i p e i o us G al e ius is evid en t ; D i l ti n w ld n

m
r r r r h h n oc e a ou ever ave a as e

the f h i lf n o is it b y any ean ce t i n that h e w o uld th en h av e b di

o se ,
r s r a a

ca ted h ad n ot p essure whi ch h e co uld not re ist

r ,
b een b ro ug ht to b ear u po n h i s , .
 4 40 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NIS M .

unworthy o f the great dignity Gal erius however who evi .

, ,

den tly looked upon them as his creatures upon whom he ,

could depend to carry ou t his will insisted upon their appoint

m
,

ment Using D iocletian s name he had already secured the

.

reluctant acquiescence of Max i ian The strange transaction .

was carried o u t The sick and weary Emperor left the scene
.

with apparent wi llingness ; and Gal erius and his creatures

D aia ( henceforth kno wn as Maximin D aia ) and Severus ,

m
assumed the government o f Italy A frica and the East , , ,

D iocletian retiring to his sumptuous villa at Salona on the

D almatian coast and Max i ian H ercul ius to a luxurious
,

home in Lucania A ll seemed to promise well for Gal erius

.

project o f becoming Master of the Roman worl d

O nly one obstacle remained O ver the vast Western provinces
o f Gaul and Britain sti ll presided the quiet unassu ing and appar
ently unambitious Constantius Ch l orus the friend o f the Chris
.

,
,
m ,

tians Constantius too was in failing health and Gal erius looked
.
, , ,

forward to obtaining at no distant period without a struggle the , ,

important and far reaching provinces over which he r ul ed I t

-
.

was verily a dark outlook for the Christian cause But events .

turned ou t strangely The quiet inuence o f Constantius was far

.

m
greater in the West than Gal erius conceived ; and Severus when ,

he assumed the reins o f government in Italy acting under the

directions o f Constantius who when Max i ian the ol d Emperor
, , ,
,

retired was really supreme in the West at once contrary to the

, ,

wishes of Gal erius gave up persecuting the Christians in Italy

,

and North A frica A period o f quietness for the l ong harassed

.

sect commenced throughout the West of the Empire .

A t the Court of Gal erius in Nicomedia resided a compara

tively young and unknown man of high lineage the eldest son o f

m
,

Constantius Ch l orus afterwards known as Constantine the Great

, .

He seems to have been with D iocletian for some ti e treated by ,

him with distinction and placed in his o wn army as the best

,

training school Probably D ioc l etian looked upon him as the

.

eventual successor o f his father Constantius Ch l orus , .

He was a young ofcer of the highest promise and rapi dl y ,

obtained promotion Gal eriu s evidently feared him and when

.
,

the appointment o f the n ew Cze sars Severus and Maximin D aia , ,

Ph oto Al m a r! Coo k , Ro m e

m
.

C O NS T A NT I NE T HE G R E AT .

S tt
a ue t
in th e Por ico of S
. J oh n L a t eran, Ro e.
 CO NS TA NT I NE TH E G RE A T . 44 1

was made was well aware that men s eyes had been directed to
,

the son o f Constantius as the natural and proper person on whom

the no mination as C aesar o f the West should have falle n Con
s tantine from this time was carefully watched and guarded .

Some months after Gal erius accession to supreme power an

urgent message arrived from Constantius Ch l orus wh o was rapidl y ,

fail ing requiring the immediate presence of his son in Britain

, .

Curious reports were current of the j eal ous hatred entertained by

Gal erius of the brilliant yo ung son of his colleague ; of repeti tions
o f the O ld Testament story o f K ing Saul s behaviour towards

D avid of repeated snares laid for the life of the young man ;
,

and how he escaped them all adding continuall y to his reputa ,

m
tion for courage and ability .

Permission was at length reluctantly given him to leave the

Co urt o f N ico edia in order to visit his father in Gaul This per .

mission was quickly revoked but Constantine was already out of ,

Gal eriu s reach In Britain the dying Emperor commended his

.

son to the legionaries who when Constantius Ch l orus passed

, ,

away at Y ork at once salut ed him as Emperor

, .

When Gal erius received the oicial intelligence o f the death

o f the noble Western Emperor and the accession of the young

Constantine to the vacant Throne his rst impulse was to insult ,

the new Emperor of the West but wiser councils prevail ing he
reluctantly acknowledged Constant ine as C aesar reservin g how , ,

ever the higher rank o f A ugustus for his o wn nominee Severus

, , ,

who was ruling in Italy Constantine made no protest here .

,

being content with the absolute sovereignty which he possessed

o ver Gaul Spain and Britain and paying little heed to the exact
, , ,

ti tle recognised by the elder Emperor in far away Nicomedia .

He at once published an edict so favourable to the Christians ,

m
o f his provinces that the very semblance o f all persecution at

once ceased even in those districts which had been the sphere
o f inuence of the abdicated Max i ian notably in Spain *
, .

Very different however is the story of the fortunes of the

mm m
, ,

h is so e do ub t ab o ut th e ti e w h en th is p rovin e p as ed as pp a
m
T

m
er e c s , a r

ently it did u nd e do in ion of Co n t ntius Chl oru ; p ob b ly thi happ ned

m
,
th r e s a s r a s e

w h n D io cl eti n n d M i ian ab dicat d nd Con st ant ius Ch l oru b ca e on of

e a a ax e a s e e

th e Seni o r E p e o s w i th th e t itl e of A ug ustus

r r , .
44 2 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANISM

Church in the Eastern Provinces of the Empire during th e

years which immediately foll owed the abdication of D iocletian .

In the provinces under th e r ule of Galeriu s the harrying of

the worshippers of Jesus went on with unabated fury whil e ,

in the dominions especially placed under the charge of his

nephew the C ae sar Maximin D aia the pages o f the chronicle r
, ,

rel ating the fortunes o f the Christians are even more stained
with blood . Indeed between the years 3 06 and 3 1 1 3 2
,

this peasant born tyrant so suddenly raised from a position

-
,

of obscurity to a throne stands ou t in ghastly prominenc e

,

as the most cruel and determined of the persecutors The .

roll of his victims was longer even than the death roll o f -

the infamous Gal erius to whom belongs the sad credit of

,

being the original inspirer o f the last and most awful of the
persecutions ; and the atrocities perpetrated in his name and
with his sanction were more terrible than any recorded in the
stories of grievous su ffering to which the Christians had been
previously subjected .

Maximin D aia the relentless persecutor was apparently a

, ,

man of no culture He was a superstitious and b igoted Pagan

. .

He would do nothing until he had consulted an oracle ; his

extraordinary superstition manifested itself in his daily life .

L actantius (De Mor t P er s 3 7 ) tells us how

. .h is custom
,

was daily to sacrice in his palace and that it was an inv en ,

tion o f his to cause all animals used for food to be slaughtered

n o t by cooks but by priests at the altars so that nothing ,

was ever served up unless consecrated and sprinkled with

wine in accordance with the rites of P aganism .

Before the year 3 06 h ad run its course another revolution

in Rome gave a nishing blow to the supremacy o f Gal erius
in the West a supremacy already severely shaken a fe w
,

months earlier by the elevation of Constantine to the thron e

o f his father in Gaul Britain and Spain
, ,
.

The exciting cause of the Roman revolt seems to have

been certain scal measures devised by Gal erius and Sever us
by which a long cherished immunity from taxation was taken
-

from the citizens of Rome This was another blow aime d

.

at the privileges of the immemorial capital The R oman .

 CO NS TA NTINE TH E GRE A T . 4 43

citizens rose and driving out Severus tumultuously pro

,

claimed Max entius the son of the abdicated Maxi ian

,

Max entius desirous to consolidate his

,

m
m
H erculius Emperor
,
.
,

usurped authority summoned from his Lu canian retirement

,

his father Maxi ian who was too ready to resume his old ,

sovereignty Severus made but a feeble resistance and soon

.
,

fell into the hands o f the usurpers ; he was allowed as an

act of mercy to put an end to his life and reign by Opening

m
his veins Thus the early months of A D 3 07 witnessed the
.

co plete di sruption of the tetrarchy arranged by Galerius

I n th e West Constantine Max i ian and Max entius reigned ,
m
. .

over Gaul Spain Britain Italy and North A frica I n th e

, , , , .

E a st Gal erius and Maximin D aia were Sovereigns over Egyp t ,

Syria and A sia Min or Greece and the D anubian frontier

, , ,

provinces But there was no longer any semblance of unity

.

between these ve lords o f the vast Roman Empire The .

poli cy however which Severus had p ur sued in Italy and

, ,

m
North A frica which left the Christians at peace was main
, ,

tain ed by Max entius .

Max i ian on the resumption of his ancient position

, ,

at once sought the alliance and support of Constantine ,

whose weight and ever increasing inuence in the West -

was generally fe l t and acknowledged throughout the Roman

world . He visited him in Gaul bestowed upon him in ,

marriage his daughter Fausta and once more assum , , ,

ing the prerogatives o f the senior Emperor created him ,

A ugustus .

Gal eriu s felt deeply the aron t to his dignity as the

senior A ugustus and was keenly sensible of the fatal blow to
,

his power occasioned by this new development He could .

not quietly acquiesce in the deposition of h is nom inee Severus

m
and the assumption of the Imperial dignity by the ol d
Emperor Max i ian and his son Max entius ; and he deter
min ed by force of arms to assert his authority and to reduce
Rome once more to all egiance He consequently with a

m
.
,

powerful army invaded Italy But the expedition was disas

,
.

trous and ende d in an igno inous retreat Still he refused

,
.

to acknowledge his defeat Claiming the right to nominate to .

44 4 E A RL Y CH RIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GANISM .

the throne left vacant by the death of Severus h e associated ,

Licinius an old friend and former brother inarms in the

,
-
,

Imperial dignity with the su preme title of A ugustus ; assigning

to him as his sphere of inuence Illyricum and the D anubian
, ,

m
frontier which still acknowle dged his (Galerius ) sovereignty
,

.

The position o f the Roman Empire at the close of the v ear

3 07 was as follows I n the West Constantine Max i ian and
.
, ,

Max entius were supreme and were more or less united by

common ties o f interest since Constantine had married
m
the daughter of Max i ian I n th e E a st and in the D anubian
Provinces including Illyricum and Greece Galerius was still
,

.
,

nominally supreme and was acknowle dged as senior Emperor

,

by Licinius and Maximin D aia the former being his devoted ,

friend the latter his nephew who owed him everything Thus
, ,
.

a complete cleavage existed between the West and East The .

cleavage was accentuated by the position of the Christian

sect now a numerous and powerful division o f the p cpu
,

lace . I n th e West mainly owing to the kindly feeling

,

towards the Church felt and showed by Constantine whose ,

inuence was paramount the Christians if not positively , ,

favoured were certainly left unmolested I n the E a st owing

, .
,

to the bitter hatred of Galerius shared emphatically by ,

Maximin D aia the Christians were all through these years

, ,

of danger and revolts cruelly maltreated and ruthlessly

,

persecuted .

m
A n interesting sidelight has been o f late years cast on the
position of the Church in Rome cir ca A D 3 07 8 by the dis ,
. .
,

cov ery of some o f the inscriptions o f Pope D a asus origin ,

ally placed in the Catacombs between A D 3 6 6 and A D 3 8 4 . . . . .

These inscriptions when compared with statements contained

m m
,

in the L ib er P on ti ca l is tell us how sorely the Christian

,

community in Ro e was rent by internal dissensions at the

time But what is perhaps ore important we learn incident
.
,

ally how many Roman Pagans at that time were being enrolled
in the Christian communities No general restitution of the .

cemeteries and church property had as yet been made bu t ,

that they had access to some certainly of the cemeteries is

clear and that the Church in Rome generally was in a po siti o n
,
 m
CO NS TA NTI NE TH E GRE A T . 4 45

which made possible a considerable easure o f re organisation -

is also evident .

The internal troubles to which we refer were owing to

the disputes which so often arose after a period of bitter per
secu tion Some Christians under the terrible pressure of the
.
,

D iocletian persecution of A D 3 03 4 5 had submitted to sacri

. .
-

ce ; in various ways had conformed to the requirements o f

Pagan ritual ; and when the storm was passed were desirous
o f being re admitted to the Church
-
The question of the .

treatment of these Lapsi in time o f persecution had been

frequently agitated notably after the D ecian persecution some

,

half a century before when the authorities of the Church

,

had wisely decided to re admit penitents after a longer or

-

shorter period of penance as the o ffence committed by the

,

Lapsi seemed to require The general principle laid down .

was that whilst real penitence must be shown by those who

had in the hour of extreme peril fallen away the d oor of
, , ,

mercy and pity was not to be closed upon them O n the .

other hand it will be remembered that in former times a

, ,

strong party o f rigorists existed in the Church who ab so ,

l utely refused re admittance to these poor renegades

-
.

In the Roman troubl es of 3 07 8 the Church authorities

were confronted not with the party of rigorists but with a ,

section of the Church who would at once and without penance

receive back again into the community all such Lapsi
.

The dissensions assumed grave proportions and even blood ,

was shed in the regrettable tumults which ensued The reign .

ing Pope or Bishop of Rome was Marcellus who after an

, , ,

interregnum of some three or four years roughly the time of ,

the persecution of D iocleti an had been elected as the successor

o f the Confessor Marcellinus

q u en ce o f these
,

disturbances and died in

m
Marcellus was banished by
Max en tius son of Max i ian the ruling Emperor in conse
exile probably
.

,
,

owing to harsh treatment .

He was succeeded b y Eusebius who after a short ponti , ,

cate likewise died in exile

, The remains of both these .

prelates were brought back to Rome and were buried with ,

all honour in the Catacombs Portions of the sarcophagus of .

446 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NISM .

m
Eusebius have been lately discovered and inscriptions of Pope
Da asus relating to both these prelates have been also found
Pope Eusebius was succeeded by Mil tiades o f whom we shall
,

,
.

have occasion to speak later .

We return to our brief sketch of the confused and dis

turb ed political history o f the period reaching from A D 3 05 . .

m
to 3 1 3 the dates respectively of the abdication of D iocletian
,

and of the promulgation of Constantine s Edict of Milan

.

The alli ance between Max i ian and Max en tius the old ,

Emperor who had abdicated and his ambitious proigate , ,

son was only o f brief duration The father claimed the

, .

supreme power over Italy and A frica maintaining that ,

Max entius owed his throne and position to his own ol d

prestige and military abilities Max entiu s on the other hand
.
, ,

asserted that he had been l egally elected by the Roman Senate

and people independently o f any paternal assistance Max .

imian was driven by his son from Rome and failing to obtain
'

, ,

any assistance from Gal erius took refuge in Gau l where he

, ,

was kindly received by his son in law Constantine and his - -

, ,

daughter the Empress Fausta there he again went through

,

the form of a fresh abdication But the restless old man .

,

taking advantage of the absence of Constantine on a military

expedition against a Frankish raid endeavoured to stir up

m
,

a revolt against him The rising was soon pu t down and

m
.
,

Max i ian was condemned to die He perished by his own .

hands This second period of Max i ian s active life had

.

lasted a little over three years He died unpitied early in .

, ,

the year 3 1 0 generally r egarded as an ambitious and self

,

seeking intriguer .

In the year 3 1 0 Gal erius sickene d of a grave and incurable

malady It seems to have been of the nature of a malignant
.

ulcer which graduall y spread ; the loathsome details of the

,

painful sickness are given by Eusebius (H E viii .

, .

and at yet greater length by L actan tius (De Mor t P ar a .

,

The man y physicians who were summoned to the bedside

o f the suffering Emperor were unable to a fford any rel ief ,

and we read how some o f these were even put to death in

consequence of their failure .
 CO NS TA N TINE TH E G RE A T . 447

The oracles of A pollo and rE scul apius were consulted

in vain .Runus ( H E viii 1 8 ) te lls us how one of the
. .
, .

physicians had the boldness to tell the dy ing tyrant that his
sufferings were beyond the reach o f human aid and that his ,

only hope lay in the God of those Christians whom he

had so cr uelly persecuted .

This may or may not be true ; it is however certain that

, , , ,

Gal erius in his mortal agony endeavoured to make a tardy

, ,

amends for the awful suffering for which he was responsible ;

and in the year 3 1 1 a remarkable Edict o f Toleration was
published in th e j oint names of Gal erius Licinius and , ,

Constantine .

The text of the edict is preserved in the original Latin

form in L actantius ( De Mor t P er s and in a Greek .
,

translation in Eusebius ( H E viii . .

, .

It was a disingenuous docum ent and on the face o f it ,

appeared no trace of the hideous cruelties perpetrated in the

course o f the long drawn out persecution It recounted h o w
-
.

many o f the Christians after the publication o f the edic t

, ,

had submitted to the observance of the ancient institutions ;

but it allowed that great numbers still persisted in their
opinions ; and because it had been seen that at present they
,

neither paid reverence and due adoration to the gods nor ,

yet worshipped their o wn Go d therefore We from our ,

,

wonted clemency in bestowing pardon on all have judged it ,

right to extend our indulgence to these men and to permi t ,

them again to be Christians and to establish the places o f ,

their religious assemblies The Imperial document closed
.

wi th a request for their p rayers in the following words :

Wh erefore it will be the duty o f the Christians in co use ,

u ence of this o u r toleration to pray to their God for ou r

q ,

welfare and for that of the public and for their own that
, , ,

the republic may continue safe in every quarter and that ,

they may live securely in their dwellings .

The Edic t of Toleration was published in the A siatic and

western domin ions of Gal erius in the realm o f Licinius and ,

even in the Western provinces of Constantine The name .

o f Max entius who was not recognised by Galerius doe s no t

, ,
44 8 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

appear in the preamble ; b u t in Italy and A frica the Chu rch

had l ong enj oyed a doubtful and somewhat precarious
toleration ; the name of Maximin D aia Gal erius nephew ,

the most crue l o f the persecuting princes was not appended ,

to the Imperial edict but he did no t venture to oppose it

, ,

and for a time persecution ceased even in his Eastern provinces .

Gal erius expired very shortly after wards .

Eusebius ( H E ix 1 ) graphical ly paints the j oy of

. .
, .

the Christians in the dominions of Gal erius and Maximin ,

and tells us how the prisons were Opened and the mines
cleared of captives how like a ash of light blazing out o f
,

thick darkness in every city one could see congregations

col lected assemblies crowded and the accustomed meetings
, ,

once more held The very roads he tells us were

m

.
, ,

thronged by the noble sol diers of rel i gi on journeyi ng to ,

their own homes singing the praises o f God in hy ns and

,

psalms with bright j oyous countenances
,
.

The dominions of the dead Gal erius were divided by his

two nominees his A sian provinces falling to the l o t o f
,

Maximin D aia while those situated in Europe were ad ded to

,

the realm of Licinius .

The rej oicings of th e long harassed Eastern Christians -

were soon hushed Maximin D aia was a bigoted Pagan

. .

He hated Christianity with an intense hate and although he ,

yielded for the moment to the general impulse of toleration

which proceeded from the sick bed of the dying Gal erius
the Emperor o f the East never s werved from his long
cherished determination to exterminate the Christians from
his widespread dominions In less than six months after .

the promulgation of Galerius Edict o f Toleration his measures

were again in ful l operation and once more the Christian ,

o f the East found hi self an outlaw and proscribed The .

measures adopted were well and skilful ly p l anned The .

Pagan party arranged that petitions and addresses from great

cities such as An tioch should be presented to the Emperor
, ,

against the Christians deprecating the l ate measures of tol era

,

tion and urging al l the old pleas ; such as the anger of

,

the gods against the hated sect and the consequent danger ,
 CO NS TA N TINE TH E GR E A T . 4 49

to the well being o f the Empire owing to their wrath

-
.

Maximin D aia gladly listened to their manufactured requests
,

professing to see in them the irresisti b le voice of pub li c

Opini on O nce more the churches and the cemeteries of the
.

foll owers of Jesus were peremptorily closed and all Christian ,

meetings sternly forbidden ; efforts were made to arouse a real

anti Christian feeling among the people Writings such as
-
.
,

the Spurious A cts of Pilate a composition dat ing only

, ,

from the early years of the fourth century which in the ,

form circulated by the Imperial emissaries set forth the

events O f the Passion of the Lord in a blasphemous parody ,

were scattered broadcast through the cities and villages of

Maxim in D aia s provinces
They were published openly ;.

they were given to the schoolmasters as subj ects of study

for their pupils The very boys says Eusebius had th e
.

,

,

names of Jesus and Pilate and the forged A cts in derision

in their mouths all day ( H E ix 5 The viles t accusa
. .
,
.

tions were formal ly made against the Christians Nothing .

,

indeed was left undone to stir up public opinion against

,

the detested sect .

The great historian gives us (H E ix 7 ) a transcript . .

,
.

o f an Epistle of th e Emperor a kind of State paper which , ,

was engraved on a brass tablet and publi cly set up at Tyre ,

as a specimen of the Emperor s edi cts and pronouncements

in favour of Paganism published at this time The Epistle of .

the Emperor in which he decreed the banishment o f the

,

worshippers of Jesus from the city was in reply to one of ,

those anti Christian petitions addressed to him by the citizens

-

o f which we have spoken above I t has been happily termed .

,

a Pagan sermon or Pastoral a kind of Te Daw n of
,

Paganism su ng on the eve of its nal defeat * A fter a .

wordy preamble dwelling on the happy victory of the human

m
,

mind over the clouds o f delusion a victory which had led ,

to the universal recognition of the provi dence of the i

mortal gods the Emperor expressed his delight and p l easure
,

at the regard and reverence mani fested by the citiz ens ( of

Tyre ) to wards the gods He noticed that their pious petition
.

A ll d P e uti n d D i l ti n ii ch p i
ar : ers c 11 o e oc e , .
,
a . x . .

D D
 m
45 0 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NITY A ND PA GA NIS M .

to hi contained no ordinary request for any local privilege

or advantage bu t dealt only with the question o f the votaries
,

o f an execrable vanity ( th e Christians ) long disregarde d , ,

rising up like a funeral pyre which had been smothered

, ,

once more in mighty ames ( alluding here to the results of

the late Edict of Toleration) Maximin D aia then proceeded

m
.

to congratulate the citiz ens who had been evidently inspired

,

by the supreme and ighty Jupiter to make their petition

to him to free them from the sect they so wisely detested .

Then he dwelt on the gracious kin dness of the gods towards

them refraining as these immortals had done from in icting
,

u pon them the awful calamities which h ad often been the

result of Christian folly and which they might reasonably

,

have expected would have been their fate too In their case . ,

however their piety their sacrices h ad propitiated the divinity

, ,

Of the all powerful and mighty Mars ( the A venger ) Those

-
.

Christians who had abandoned these blind delusions were to

e nj oy quietness and peace Bu t those who still clung to
.

their execrable fol ly were to be driven out and banished far

m
from the city .

Si ilar letters and edicts were sent by Maximin D aia to

al l the provinces in his dominion .

A t the same time a great e ffort was made by the deter

min ed Pagan Emperor to strengthen the cult of the old
gods by the revival of a magn icent and striking ritual ,

not only in the stately fanes of great cities such as A ntioch ,

and Tyre but as far as possible even in the more humble

,

rural sanctuaries .

m
A t rst Maximin D aia seems to have refrained from Open
bloodshed in the case of the harassed Christians contenting ,

himself with banishing mutilating and otherwise al treating

, ,

the worshippers of Jesus ; but soon severer measures were

adopted an d persecution was decreed equalling in its cruel
,

severity that which had prevailed before the Edict of Tolera

tion had been put ou t from the death chamber o f Galerius
O nce more the provinces of the East where Maxi in D aia
was paramount were the scenes of a terrible Christian per
,
,
m .

secu tion .
 CO NS TA NTI NE TH E GR E A T . 45 1

But the end o f all this was nigh at hand .

We turn a gain to the Western Empire where grave ,

p olitical events were occurring which completely changed the

whole aspect o f affairs throughout the Roman world .

The peace of the provinces of the Western Empire seemed

secured by the close connection through marriage ties of
th e three Sovereigns who reigned respectively over Gaul ,

Spain and Britain Italy and North A frica Illyricum and the
, , ,

D anubian provinces Constantine the most powerful of the

m
.
,

three Lords of the West as we have seen was married to , ,

Fausta the daughter of Max i ian while a marriage was

, ,

a rrange d between Licinius the Sovereign of Eastern Europe , ,

and Constantia the half sister o f Constantine

,
-
.

In the vast territories ruled by these three Emperors

th e quiet long enj oyed by the Christians was c ompletel y
ratied by the Edict of Toleration l ately put ou t by the ,

dying Gal erius In Rome Max en tius for reasons unknown

.
,

to us bu t not improba b ly connected with the idea of

,

att aching the powerf ul sect more closely to his Government ,

promulgated an edict which restored the long conscated -

possessions of the Church including the subterranean ceme ,

teries especial ly dear to the community of Rome from the

hallowe d traditions o f a gl orious past .

Miltiades the pope or bishop o f the ancient metropolis who

, ,

had succeeded Eusebius who died in his banishment was , ,

formally reco gn ised by the Imperial Government as the head o f

the Christian community of Rome His rst act was as we .
,

noticed above to inter the remains o f his predecessor Eusebius

,

with reverent care in one o f the sacred chambers which once

more had become the property of the Church .

The peace of the Roman world however was broken by the , ,

ambitious views of the evil Max entius * Jealous of the prestige .

m m m ove ei g ns of I t ly n d th e E ast M entius nd M xi in Dai hav e w n m

m m
m
m m
Th e S r a a , ax a a a, o

a ce tain p o
r inence a o n g th e w ick ed E p e o rs of R o e
r T h ei sh a el es r . r s

i o aliti es w e e even o e no to iou th an tho se i nd ul g ed in b y th i w o t

m m
r r r r s e r rs

p edecesso s on th e th o ne Th e con duct of Ma entius esp ci ally h d li nated ll

r r r . x e a a e a

th e b est and o st erio us of h is R o an sub j ects H e w as uni versall y eg a d ed with

s . r r

d etestatio n and lo athin g .

 45 2 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

and power of Constantine the pretext he alleged for the declara ~

m
,

tion of war against his brother ih law was the treatment of - -

the old Max i ian who had been condemned to die after th e
, ,

failure o f his infamous conspiracy Max en tiu s had previously .

quarrelled with his father and driven him from his domin ions ,

but he chose to regard Constantine s conduct towards the rest

less ol d conspirator as a deadly offence .

Max entius conscious of possessing an army considerably

,

larger than his adversary s and con dent o f success procee ded

, ,

to insult the great Western Emperor by publicly throwing down

the statues erected in his honour in Italy and A frica In view .

o f the coming war Constantine wh o had determin ed even

, , ,

*
with his smaller force to invade Italy had secured the , ,

neutrality of Licinius to whom he had betrothed his siste r ,

Constantia But it was a perilous and dangerous adventure

.
,

and only the consummate generalship of Constantine and the

wonderful celerity of his movements prevented the disaster to
his arms to which Max entiu s condently looked forward T
Without delay the Gall ic Emperor l eading his troops ove r ,

the rugged and inhospitable passes of the Mont Cenis A lps won ,

a series of brilliant victories over the armies o f his adversary

successively at Susa Turin and Verona and reached the neigh
, , ,

b ourh ood of Rome wi th a smal l army o f picked veterans

, ,

ushed with victory and inspired with condence in their

,

m
brave and skilful commander .

In the neighbourhood of the immemorial capital of the

i

Ro an worl d the last stand was made by the sti l l numerou s

armies of Max entius ; the same good fortune which had
a ccompanie d the daring army of invaders all through the
successful campaign again befriended them The disposition of .

the forces of Max entius was incompetent and every error in ,

strategy was turned to account by the consummate generalship of

m m
the Western Emperor The result was a triumphant victory ;.

di sposab le l eg iona i e of Constanti ne w e e co p ut ed t ab out

Th e
b ut th ey we e t ai n d n d w a w o n oldi e s
r s en

en of h is t oop w e e en g g d m m
r a ,

m
r r e a r r s r r s r a e

in d efen din g th e Rhi n e f onti e Ma entiu on th e oth e h n d it i said b y Z osi us

mm
r r . x s r a ,
s ,

h ad w ell ni g h l eg ion i es unde a s in I t ly

m
- ar r r a .

1 T h e question of D ivi ne assi st nce b eing g iv en to th e E p e o Co nstanti ne in

a r r
'

thi s c p aign ag ai n t Ma entius w ill b e p esently di cussed at so e l eng th

a s x r s .
 CO NS TA NTINE TH E GR E A T . 45 3

th e Milv ian Bridge over the Tiber the scene of the nal rout of ,

th e Italian Emperor s forces gave its name to one of the decisive

battles of the world In the headlong ight which ensued

.

Max en tius perished in the waters of the Tiber and the victorious ,

Constantine immediately took possession of Rome where he was ,

received with enthusiasm as a deliverer Indeed there is li ttle .

,

d oubt but that the shamefu l excesses o f Max en tiu s had l argely
affected the loyalty of his subj ects and had contributed in ,

no small degree to the wonderful and rapid success of the

Emperor Constantine in his victorious march from the passes
,

o f the Mont Cenis to the gates of Rome .

The crowning victory of the Milv ian Bridge and the entry
o f Constantine into Rome took place in the O ctober of the
year 3 1 2 .

SE CT O I N 11 .
TH E CO N V E RS I O N O F CO N STA N TI N E .

A MO N G the rulers of the Roman world between A D 3 05 . .

m
and A D 3 1 2 the years which immediately followed the abdi
. .
,

cation of D iocletian one gure occupies a peculiar place, .

Max i ian Galeriu s Maximin D aia Severus Max en tius were

, , , , ,

a l l stained more or less with crimes with Offences o f the ,

ravest complexion against morality with greed selshness

g ,
.
, ,

heartless ambition remorseless cruelty ; nor were they in any

,

way speciall y distinguished as wise or capable Soverei gns O nly .

the son of Constantius Ch l orus Constantine in after days ,

enerally kno wn as the Great has been characterised alike

g
by Pagan as by Christian writers as a wise and good ruler o f
men ; not only a brave and ski l ful general but also a capable ,

and far seeing prince in times of quietness and peace

-
.

Constantine was scarcely twenty years of age when in

3 9 2 his father Constantius Ch l orus was promoted to the high
.

, ,

d ignity of C aesar and was invested with the government of

,

G reater Gaul including distant Britain

,
This great promotion .

o f Constantine s father was however coupled with the under

, ,

m
s tanding that the new C aesar should put away or divorce
Helena the mother of his son and espouse the daughter
, ,

of the A ugustus
(
Max i ian We presently hear of the ap .

aren tl
p y disinherited Constantine as attached to the service of
 45 4 E A RL Y CH RI TJA NI T Y A ND

PA GA NIS M .

D iocletian in whose armies he quickly rose to the conspicuou s

,

station o f a tribune When D iocl eti an resigned th e purp l e .

,

it was the general expectation that the brilliant young

soldier who was then a l ittl e more than thirty years o f age
, ,

would b e appointed C aesar ; but as we have seen Gal eriu s , , ,

who was all powerful in th e State had other views and Con
-
,
'
,

s tan tine was left for the present in a private s tation Shortly .

after the dying Constantius Ch l orus recall ed to his side th e

,

l ong absent son of Hel ena and procured his nomination by

-
,

the army of Britain and Gaul to sovereign rank leaving in ,

hi s charge his chi l dren by his second marriage In spite of .

the ill will of Gal erius Constantine succeede d to the gr e at

-
,

dominions ruled over by his father to which Spain had prob ,

ably been recentl y adde d He thus became Sovere ign R ul e r .

over the Western provinces o f the Empire in A D 3 06 Fo r . . .

the next five or six years his government was characterised by

moderation and rmness The frontiers were protected from .

the raids o f the barbarians and hi s dominion general ly enj oyed ,

quiet and prosperity A lthough all through this period of h is .

life he carefully carried ou t the Pagan Observances required by

the Constitution o f the Empire O f ciating at the dedication of ,

Pagan temples and publicly taking part in the sacricial cere

monies yet his Christian subjects generally enj oyed quietness
, ,

if no t something o f ofcial recognition His great reputation .

as a wise Sovereign and a ski l ful mil itary commander was

well k nown throughout the Roman world and gave him vast ,
,

and widespread inuence .

We have already al l uded to the circumstances which l ed

to the war between Constantine and his brother in law - -
,

Max enti us the Sovereign Of Italy and A frica D uring this

,
.

period the early autumn of A D 3 1 2 took place the event

,
. .
,

which had so far reaching an inuence on the story of the :

worl d his conversion to Christianity .

*
The Pagan writer Zosimus has a strange story referring
Zm t Ghovl mo th l t ppy tly hi to oymitt k G k
o si w as ent f cia of at Co n

m
us a ern , a aren s e ran ,

mh d t l o i hi to y
stantin0 pl e in th e rs a f of th e f cen ur . H is s r ,
wr en in ree

in six ook t t
b B ook I v y
s, y liv
rea s in p o t . er b rie th e es of th e E er rs A u g us us

to D io l ti
c eB ook I Ian ; s .
- I V in . uc g reater e ai c nta n th e s r of th e
 CO NS TA N TINE TH E GRE A T . 45 5

the date to A D 3 26 and attributing it to remorse for the death

. .
,

of his wife and of his eldest son Crispus The Pagan ponti ffs , .
,

on being asked what expiation he woul d make for that j udicial

murder replied that they were aware of none which would
,

atone for such evil deeds Hence on being in formed that .

,

there was no sin however grave which co ul d not be washed , ,

away by the Christian sacraments the Emperor j oyfully ,

embraced a religion in which he could on easy terms obtain , ,

peace But this is all imaginary ; for we have abun dant proof
.

that the Imperial conversion belongs to a much earlier period

than A D 3 26 The famous Edict of Milan was prom ul gated
. . .

in A D 3 1 3 and a number O f historical incidents between

. .
,

A D 3 1 21 3 and A D 3 25 indisputab l y show that all through

m
. . . .

this period the Emperor was an earnest Christian .

L actantius ( De Mor ti b n s P er seeu tor n 44 ) mentions as ,

* the dream of Constantine directing

taking p l ace in A D 3 1 1 . .
,

him t o mark the shields of his legionaries with the sacred

sign of the cross before the decisive battle o f the Mil v ian
Bridge in which Max entius was defeated and slain Eusebius
,
.

(H E ix
. writing b efor e the death of Crispus relates
.
, .
,

how Constant ine invoked the aid of the God of Heaven and
o f His Son Jesus Christ and then by the D ivine assistance ,

defeated the tyrant ( Max entius) ; and the same writer later ,

in his Life of Constantine i 28 29 gives us careful details

, .
,

of the event in question ; details which he says he heard

from the Emperor himself The story is a remarkable one . .

The scene of the wonderful appearance and o f the dream

was somewhere o n the march from Gaul to Italy apparently ,

b efore T Italy was entered and probably in the wild and ,

inhospitable del es of the Mont Cenis pass Constantine .

r m
p eriod f o th e acce ion of Con t anti us and G l e ius t th e d eath of Th eodo si us
a
ss

T h e F ifth n d Si x th t eat of th e y ea s b et ween A D 3 9 5 an d A D 4 1 0

r
s

Th e w o k r
a r

. .
o

. . . r
.

is u n n i sh ed .

L act ntiu app a ently th ou g h an e o n t ed t es th e ev ent b y on e

m
a s, r r rr r , a a

y ea r .

r B oth B oissie ( 1 8 9 8 ) ( vol i h p s ii nd A l l a d

m
J
L n d P g ni r, a c a a s e . .
, c a . .
, a r

leti n vol i x 1 w h o di scus th e q ue tion of th

m
P e uti n d D
ers c o c i oc a , . .
, . s s e

n
co vers oi n at co n id e ab l e l eng th pl ce th e scen e
s r a ly i n th e ca p ai gn of ,
a e r

Co n t antin e b fo
s th e E p e o h ad entered th e I t ali n pl ins
,
e re r r a a .
45 6 E A RL Y CH R IS TIANI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

was horseback and was meditating upon the difculties

on ,

an d dangers o f his daring adventure He thought o f the .

small number o f his legionaries and recalled with a super ,

stitious fear what he had heard o f his adversary Max en tiu s

great devotion to the Pagan gods It m ust be remembered .

that as yet Constantine was a professed Pagan A lone could .

he hope to be victorious if some divinity was on his side .

Then it came into his mind how many of the rulers of

Rome who had trusted in the gods of Rome had perished
, , ,

an d their children and their very memory too had passed , ,

away O nl y one could he remember who h ad prospered

.

his own father Constantius who was a Monotheist Wh o ,

.

was this O ne God who had helped Constantius Ch l orus ? S o

he prayed earnestly in his sore need that the Go d who
had helped his father would manifest Himself to him and
give him protection Then as he prayed came the wonderful .

sign the luminous cross in heaven with the writing ,

Conquer with The heavenly vision was seen so ,

runs the story given in Eusebius not only by Constantine

m
,

bu t by his soldiers That night the Emperor had a remark .

able drea j in which Christ appeared to him and bade

him make at once an ensign under which his legions would
be victorious in the ensuing campaign A round the story .

o f the conversion o f Constantine as related by Eusebius and ,

generally followed by ecclesiastical writers has arisen a war ,

o f diverse opinions ; o ne school o f writers deriding it as belong

ing to the improbable if not to the impossible ; the other school

accepting it as a piece of true history The consequences

m
.

c o ss w e e
r
E useb ius

rt q i
:

ro
ll s
te
-
a ) v m
; b ut Co n st an t ine and h i

s to
k ; th e w o d whi ch acco p ni ed th e
th e

o th e w ord s in Co n st ant in e s o wn na rativ e to E u seb i us we e no do ub t

ry in G
l eg io na i s spok e L ati n
H c
ree r s

s r e
a

m
s r r o
,

vince or H oe v ince
,

s.

1 I t h as b een sug g e t ed th at th e d ea efer e d to

m m
s b y L actantius r r r

(D M t P 4 4 ) w a an app earan ce of Ch i st sub sequ en t to th e one el t d

mm
e or . ers .
, s r r a e

L ife o f Constant ine w hich foll o w d i e diat ely aft e l u i no u

m m
in th e
, th e r e s

pp e ance of th e c o ss in th e h eav ns Th e Co an d g iv en in L tantius

m

a ar r e . ac

vi sio n d i ects th e c o ss sy b ol to b e ked upo n th e shi eld s T h e t

mm
m m
r r ar . rs

vi sio n si ply g av e di re tion as to th e st n d rd o en i g n P ud entius C nt

c a a r s . r , o ra

Sy hu
ac i 486 488 , en tio ns th e c o s
.
-
u po n ,
th e en i g n and al so o n r s
,
s

th e shi eld s of th e l eg iona i es r .

 CONS TA NTINE TH E G RE A T. 45 7

of the conversion of the great Western Emperor have been so

momentous and far reaching that it will be worth our while
-

quietly and dispassionately to see how the matter stands .

It is perfectly clear that before th e campaign which

resulted in the defeat and death of Maxentius and the ,

consequent annexation o f his broad dominions o f Italy and

North Africa to the realm of the Gallic Emperor Constantine ,

was to all intents and purposes a Pagan ruler ; one wh o ,

it is true viewed the Christian sect bene volently possibly

, ,

even favourably but emphatically n ot a Christian and ap

,

arentl
p y with no idea of becoming one .

It is equally clear that during the campaign in question

he changed his mind on the question of Christianity and ,

fought the several battles with Max entius and his lieutenants
avo wedly under the protection of Him on whom the Christian
called with a sacred banner oating above his legions inscribed
,

with the holy symbol an d awful monogram o f Jesus Christ .

Equally c ertain is it that after the crowning victory of the

Milv ian Bridge Constantine made a public profession o f his
,

Christianity asserting it not only in a formal State edict

,

but showing it by his personal interest in the inner life and

m
government o f the Christian Church He was evidently .

intensely in earnest .

S o eth ing then must have happened early in the cam

, ,

ai n
p g against Max en tius which brought about so,
great a

m
change in the opinions and subsequent conduct of the Emperor
Constantine This somethi ng L actantius (De Mor tib u s P er s
.

,

4 4) tells us was a dr ea in which he received a command

to stamp upon the shiel ds of his l egionaries the Sign of the

cross Eusebius in his History (ix
.
,
is still vaguer simply

.
,

stating that he prayed to God and to His Son and Word ,

Jesus Christ and was divinely assisted in the battl e

,
O nly .

in Eusebius later work in his Life o f Constantine appears

, ,

the story of the sign o f the cross in Heaven to l d at some ,

length as it had been related to him by the Emperor himself :

the sign being the response vouchsafed as an answer to earnest ,

an x ious prayer and followed by th e dream which we have

,

rel ated above .

45 8 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

The b on a des of Eusebius here is evident He makes .

no effort to represent his hero in a specially favourable light .

He describes him as anxious about the success of his perilous

adventure and casting abou t for an Immortal who should
,

m
help h i s arms and crown his expedition with victory In .

this perplexity he bethinks him o f the unknown God who

had blessed his father and to h i he turns with earnest ,

prayer answered as he thought by a miraculous sign * , , ,

followed by a dream Victory fo llowed and thus convi nced .

, , ,

he became a devout follower of the Immortal Being who had

b lessed him in his hour of danger and of urgent need The .

very earthiness of the wh ole transaction is a witness O f its

veracity Had Eusebius in v en ted it he had surely made
.
,

it more beautiful and his hero l ess earthly and more spiritualr
The wonderful success of Constantine with his compara ,

tiv ely small force when the numerous l egions of which ,

Max entius was able to dispose are taken into account ap ,

eared to Pagans as well as to Christians as miraculous The

p .

legions of Max entius seemed unaccountably to me l t before

his rapid advance Everything at rst seemed to promise .

a successful resistance The armies of Italy far exceeded in .

numbers the invading force ; they were admirably equipped .

There were several strong fortresses in the invaders track

and above all the Imperial City with its great garrison

mm
, , ,

A s

cl ea an d di ti n ct till it as u
,

m
i g n which as y ears p assed on and h e b rood ed ov e it b eca e ev er o e
m
d th e d nit e pp ea nce el ted in h is na ativ e to
m
r , r

m
r s s e e a ra r a rr

E u seb i us Th e d ea
. is ea y to x pl in ; h is i n d w s full of w h t h e h ad s en
r s e a a a e ,

or th ug h t h e h ad seen of w h at h e h ea d f o
o ,
Ch i sti an lip s b o ut th e c o s nd r r r a r s a

its po w e

m m m
r .

1 T h e b ov ug g tio n c ont i ned in th e t ex t and in th e n ote of co u e b y no

e s es a

a , , rs

e n p ecl u d i cul o u s si g n h avi ng b en seen and

m
b il ty of

m
a s r th e p es ossi i sub se a ra e a

quen t revel tio n in th e ni ght vi sion h ving b een ad e to Con stanti ne Th e f ct of

a a . a

th e c on v e sio n of Co nst n ti n e w s v e y i po t ant one an d t endo us c n e

m
r a a a r r , re o s

to vot a i es of Ch i ti an ity follo w e d B ut th e sil ence of L actantius

m
q u e n ces t h e r r s .
,

a nd o f E u s b i us in h i e li e w iti n g
e ee s to sug g st th t th e su g estio n ab ov e
s ar r
g r ,
s e a

g iv en is th e o e p o b ab l e expl n tio n f th i n cid ent Th e sk tch of th e

m
r r a a o e . e

ch a act of Co n t an ti ne w hi ch follo w in th e t ex t of o u hi to y too suppo t s th e

m
m m mm
r er s ,
s r s r , ,
r

vi w b ov e advo c t ed T h t Con t ntin e ly b li ev ed in th e heav enly vision

e a a . a s a r e

and in th e co n d o f th e d ea e p e ti ng th
a c o ss sy b ol is c t i n
r Th e r s c e r er a .

vi cto y w hi ch follow ed nd th spl en did suc e s of h is dang e o us ca p ai gn in h is

r ,
a e c s r
,

ey es set th e seal of t uth upo n it r .

 CO NS TA NTINE TH E GR E A T . 4 59

and its immemorial prestige was Max en tius stronghol d ,

.

Pagan as well as Christian saw in the unexpected and rapid

, ,

victory of Constantine the hand of some supernatural po wer .

This opinion seems to have gathered strength as time wen t

on. O ne of the panegyrists even wrote as follows : A ll Gaul

speaks of the heavenly armies which were seen in the skie s

in the last decisive battle with their gl itt ering armour and
,

ashing weapons led by the divine Constantius Ch lorus

,

he lping his son in the supreme conict .

It may well be conceived that Constantine himself believed

that he was the chosen minister O f God and that ou t of ,

gratitude for the divine help h e devoted himself to the ser

vice of the D eity who had taken him under His almighty
protection .

The Emperor Constantine who put an end to the long

,

drawn out war between Christianity and Paganism who gave ,

the blessings o f peace to the Church and laid the foundation

m
stories o f its supremacy in the world o f Rome was no ordi ,

nary man Train ed in the hard school of adversity and

.

disappointment he became during his period of exi le fro

, ,

his father s Court a great and dar ing soldier and a skill ed

tactician eventually taking rank with the most famous mili

,

tary Emperors as a consummate general ; as a ruler to o in , ,

times of peace he occupies a distinguished position

,
His
government of Gaul after his accession to power on his father
, ,

Constantius Chl orus death was wise and temperate and his

, ,

praise was in all the countries of the Roman world None .

of the vices which stained the lives o f so many of the mighty

m
Emperors have ever been attributed to him Some critic s
have endeavoured to paint h i as a shrewd opportunist and
to represent his Christianity which c l early dates from the
,
.

epoch upon which we have been d well ing A D 3 1 2 as s imp ly ,

. .
,

a matter o f selsh State policy O thers sketch him as a .

saint of God Both these estimates are probably erroneous

m
. .

His de v otion to Christianity was no mere selsh adoption of

a cult that would secure his interests and further his a
b itio us schemes A ccording to his l ights he was from the
.

rst a devout and earnest believer His whole subsequen t .

460 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND P A GA NI SI I .

c areer his acts his sayings his whole policy plainly sho w
, , , ,

us this But o n the other hand the rst great Christian

.
,
:

Emperor was no i deal saint of God ; no holy and humble

man of heart He was in th e rst instance as we have seen.
, , ,

dra wn to Christianity not by any of the deeper feelings of

the heart towards the great Sacrice not by the exceeding ,

beauty of its moral teaching not by any profound sympathy ,

with a sect which had endured persecution and unheard o f -

trials for the faith with a splendid constancy and an almost

su perhuman endurance ; a sympathy which in that age moved
so many to enthusiasm for Christians and Christianity ; but
simply by a persuasion that the Go d adored by Christians
was more powerful more able and ready to he l p his wor ,

shippers than any of the old deities worshipped in the temples

o f the Empire It was a sorry motive for the great conver
.

sion which had such momentous consequences ; there is little

trace in it o f any o f those nobler and more generous aspira
tions which run like a golden thread through the life story
o f great Christian heroes But such as it was it was intensely .
, ,

rea l absolutely genuine and from the hour o f his fervent

, ,

prayer in the wild savage del es of the A lps when he received , ,

what at least he took for an answer to his prayer Constantine ,

was a fer v ent believer in the doctrines of the religion of Jesus ,

a devoted and all powerfu l friend to the long persecuted and -

*
h arassed sect .

The end was come at last There is not much more to .

be told in our account of the laying o f the foundation stories of

o ur faith The long war between Christian and Pagan which for
.

more than two centuries and a half had been waged so

m m
ercely by the Pagan so quietly but with such surpass ing ,

m
B i i
f Co n t nti n
L fin Z P g
o ss er ,

Ch i ti n ity v y
i vol i h p i w ll ill u t t e t h i ti t
a ( e

l even if b d n o wh t o did nd

a an s e, . .
,
c a . . v .
,

m e s ra s s es a e

m
m
o s a e s r s a ,
er rea ,
ase o s e a s r a

thl y otiv Qu oti ng E u b i Vi t C n t i y

m
9 h V l

m
m
e ar es . se u s, a o s .
,
v .
,
e sa s : ers a

S po po u l ui eco nd Ch ti n

m
n de i i nt au i d P
sa v e , ecr v a l ro e erse, a r, r r a er es r e s

r p n du d n
a E t t i1
s o
a n a d p in d
s ses l lh u q ui nt
a s, b l
r ec e ce e e re es a e rs o acca

l nn e i d l E gl i t ndi q l i (Co n t ntin ) q ui o uv t l y ux a l

m m

es e s e se, a s ue u s a e ,
a er es e a

v ite to uj o t h u x t q u il f it l b onh e d tou s j t s C t

er , a u rs e reu ,
e

a a e ur e s se su e . e

nt u l q l i1 vi nt n l ui p it i efut b l i i tib l et l n
m m m
m
'
ar g u e s r e ue re e sa s cesse, ara rr a e, rr es s e, o

vo t b i n qu il l i
r e b l q u il n t p b oi n d n invoq

u se d ut e po u q e l
e

es as es

e uer

a r r u e

on de enti uiv n ex pl t f ss Ch ti n co e l ui
er s e so e e e se a e r e .
"
 CONS TA N TINE TH E G RE A T . 46 1

bravery by the Christian was virtual ly over when Constantine, ,

the Christian Emperor at the hea d of his conquering legions

, , ,

rode through the streets o f Rome past the immemorial ,

Forum stil l glittering with its hushed and almost deserted

,

temples to the proud palace of the mighty Cze sars which

,

looked over that matchless group o f silent historic s h rines .

Christian in good earnest was the great Gallic Emperor ,

though the charm which had drawn him to the strange cros s
embl em oating over his war worn legionaries and graven -
,

o n their glistening armour was on e which the divine Founde r

,

o f Christianity no doubt watched with a tender regretful ,

sorrow . Y et earth stained though the motives had been

,
-

which had made him a follower of Jesus he w a s a followe r ,

in intense earnes t ; and the late splendid victory of th e

Milv ian Bridge which had given him the mighty dominions
,

of Italy and A frica ruled over by the dead Max en tius had
, ,

set as it were the seal on his fervid belief ; I n h oe sign o

( Crucis ) had he not triumphed !

Very gently did the conqueror use his victory ; littl e
blood was shed the on ly victims seem to ha ve been the son
,

of the fallen Max en tius and jus t a few o f the chief instru
,

ments of the tyranny and evil rule of the late Emperor .

Rome rej oiced at the wise and b enecen t measures of Con

stantine which at once relieved the
,
victims and sufferers o f
the late shameful tyranny ; no t only were the poor and
oppressed Christians the obj ect of the l a rg esse of the gratefu l
Emperor but the many Pagans who had been banished
, ,

impoverished and imprisoned under the late wicked and

,

p roi ate
g Government had cause to bless the day which
witnessed his triumph There was no ostentatious favour .

shown to the long despised and often sorely harassed Church

- -

o f Christ but the exclusive patricians and haughty senators

,

were amaz ed at meeting at the table of the mighty Emperor

poorly dressed unknown men who were freely admitted to
,

the august circle o f the Palatine ministers of the Gospe l

dist inguished probably for their piety and learning
, ,
.

For the rst time in the history of the Empire a subsidy

was granted from the Imperial treasury towards the building
 4 62 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND P A GA NI S JII .

of churches and the historic palace of the L aterani which had

, ,

been the Roman residence of the Empress Fausta was given ,

b y Constant ine to Miltiades the bishop of the Christian com ,

munity in Rome as his residence ; the permanent home for ,

the administration of the see and the site O f the rst Chris ,

*
tian cathedral of the ancient metropol is of the Roman world .

A mong the statues and temples which an admiring and

gratefu l people proceeded to erect to the great Emperor who , ,

although an earnest Christian still maintained with the title ,

o f Pontifex Maximus the old Imperial prerogative which con

s tituted him the supreme head of the Pagan rel igion pro
fesse d by the great maj ority of the in habitants of the
Empire was that superb arch o f triumph under which
,

passed the ol d Via Triu ph alis l eading to the Via Appia

O n that magnicent arch the inscription can still be read
m .

though somewhat mutilated ; bearing the memorable words

which tell of th e universal bel ief of the Pagan world
in the supernatural assistance vouchsafed to Constantine
in the late war with Max entius The inscription runs thus : .

The Senate and the Roman people have dedicated this

A rch o f Triumph to the Emperor C aesar Flavius Con
s tantin e because thanks to the divine inspiration ( I n stin ctn ,

div in i ta tis i) and to the greatness of his genius he with his ,

army has in a just war avenged the Republic

mm
, , .

hi s o
teran ch urch and p ap al p alace Th e ou
m m
T w as th e igin
r of th e fa s La .

L aterani w e e a w ealthy p t i ci an f ily w ho se ho uses an d est at es w e e

m m m m
r . a r a r

o i g inally con scat ed b y N e o T h old f ily p l ace of th e L te ani b eca e

r r . e a a a r

an I p e i al e id nce and it w g iven b y th e E p e o M i i n to h is daug ht e

r r s e ,
as r r ax a r

F austa w h o b eca e
,
w e h av e seen th e w i fe of Co n tan ti ne
,
as Th e rst b sil i a ,
s . a c

w as b uilt un d e P op e S ilv este n d co nse c

r t ed A 3 24 I t w as eb u ilt aft r n r a ra . D . . r e a

e arthquak b y P op e Serg i us I I in A D 9 041 1 nd th n d edi t ed to S J ohn th e

e . . .
,
a e ca .

B pti t Se g iu I l s b silic w s d est oy d b y re in A D 1 3 08 I t w ag ain

m

a s . r s . a a a r e . . . as

b u nt in A D 1 3 6 0 w s reb u ilt b y U b n V si n ce

mm
r . . A D ,
1 3 6 27 0 and h
a r a . . .
,
as

b een adly util t e d b y sub se q uent additio n s an d lte ations A long th e w e t

m
s a a r . s

f o nt still un s th e p o u d in sc iptio n
r r Sac osan ct L teran en sis eccl e i a O n i u
r r r a a s ,

u b i s et o b i s eccl esi ru Mat e et Cap ut Th e Ch apt er o f th L ate n stil l

m
mm

r r a r . e ra

tak e p eceden ce ev en ov er th at of S Pet e

m
s r . r s .

t The w o d w i th th ei skil ful ly v eil ed co p o i se b etween Ch isti anity and

m
i - r r
se r s ,
r

Pag ni s a long u sp ect ed as a l at e inse tio n h v e b y od e n a ch aeolo g i cal inv e ti

,
s r r ,
a r r s

g atio n b ee n sho w n to fo p art of th e o i g i nal insc ip tion put up b y o d e of th e

r r r r r

Senat e .
 CO NS TA NTI NE TH E GRE A T . 463

The completeness of the victory of Constantine and the

consequent incorporation of the territories of Max entius ( Italy
and North A frica ) wit h the vast \Vestern E pire of the conqueror
gave Constantine such an overwhelming preponderance in the
m ,

Roman world that the persecutor Maximin D aia on receipt o f a

, , ,

peremptory letter from the Court o f Constantine deemed it ,

expedient to stay the persecution which for so many weary years

had harassed the Eastern Provinces We have in Eusebius a .

copy of the decree which Maximin D aia issued It was an .

untruthful and hypocritical document but it directed that if any ,

should wish to foll ow their own worship ( al ludin g to his Chris

tia n subj ects ) these should be su ffered to do so This concession .

was however only granted through fear of Constantine The

, ,
.

real sentiments o f Maximin D aia were manifested shortly as ,

we shall presently notice .

Early in A D 3 1 3 Constantin e came to Milan where he had

. .
,

arranged to meet the Emperor Licinius whose dominions ,

extended over the Eastern Prov inces of Europe The marriage .

o f his sister Constantia with Licinius which had been previously

, , ,

arranged was to be celebrated there with much ceremony

,
.

D uring the late war Licinius had maintain ed a positi on o f friendly

neutrality towards Constantine and the relations between the
,

two Emperors now became closer .

The famous Edict of Milan which was put out in the

m
,

earlier months of this memorable year ran in the names o f I ,

the two al l ied E perors The edict was more than a simple
.

Imperial proclamation according a general amnesty to the per

secu ted Christians ; it was more than a mere edict o f to l eration ;

it was intended to be and indeed was generally received as

,

a manifesto of the Imperial clemency in favour of the long

proscribed religion which had been accepted as the true cult
,

by the all powerful Emperor Constantine It certainly left to

- .

al l the citizens of the Empire the free choice to follow that mode

of worship which they might wish but that was no new ,

p ermission The onl y form of worship forbidden during the two

.

h u ndred and eighty years which preceded the putting o ut Of the

Edict of Milan was the Christian and that was now especially
, ,
I

and with much deta il and em ) hasis rronounced to be lawful .

l
 4 64 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA G ANISM .

B u t m ore than this w as contained in the M ilan Edict T he .

second p art of the I mp erial L aw p ro v ided for the restoration to

the Christians of all the p ro p erty conscated in the days of p erse
cu tio n . E v erything w as to be gi v en back ; e ven lands and goods
which had since changed hands by pu rchase w ere to be restored ,

s umm arily to the original Christian p ossessor the S tate reserving ,

to itself the p ow er if it thou ght fit of inde m nifying those p ersons

, ,

who had th u s to m ak e restit u tion I n addition all the pu blic .

,

p laces where Christians u sed to m eet for w orshi p and asse m bly
( ce m eteries w ere here s p ecially all u ded to ) w hich had been ta k en ,

fro m the m by the G o vern m ent w ere at once to be freely restored

m
,

and that w itho u t delay ; th u s tacitly b u t e mp hatically con , ,

de ning the whole pu blic p roced u re follo w ed in the days of the

late p ersecu tion .

Nothing co u ld be m ore co mp lete m ore far reaching m ore ,

-
,

fa v o u rable to the Christians than the p ro visions of the edict .

A nd it mu st b e borne in m ind that this I mp erial L aw ran

throu gho u t the w hole of the E mp ire in E u ro p e and A frica ,

stretching fro m the A tlantic seaboard of Western G a u l to the

coasts of the E u xine and the D an u be frontier and fro m Northern ,

Britain to the M editerranean w ashed p rov in ces of S p ain S o u th

m
-
,

G au l and Italy and so u th w ards o ver North A frica O f this

,
.

enor o u s real m by far the greater p art ack no wledged the r u le

of Constantine .

T he w ording of certain p ortions of the edict is c u rio u s and ,

deser v es a little exa mination It is u ndo u btedly a Christian

.

docum ent ins p ired by a Christian and pu t o u t as w e ha v e

, , ,

noticed abo ve m ainly in the interest of Christians T hey a l on e

,
.

are nam ed in it and in one strik ing p assage the general toleration
,

to be enj oyed by different form s of religion is based up on the

toleration accorded to Christianity B u t one clau se has a strange
.

se m i P agan colo u r A fter gi ving to all the fr ee choice to follo w

-
.

that m ode of w orshi p w hich they m ay w ish it adds that this ,

p ro m ise w as gi ven in order that Whatsoe ver D i vinity and

celestial p o w er m ay exist m ight be p ro p itio u s to u s and to all ,

that li v e u nder o u r G o v ernm ent T he tho u ght that u nderlies
.

these w ords w o u ld see m to be If as is p ossible any p o w er belong

, ,

to the old gods it is w ell by allo w ing m en if they p lease to

, , , ,
 CONS TAN TINE THE GREA T . 46 5

w orshi p the m that the gods in qu estion sho u ld be p ro p itiated

,

by s u ch w orshi p T his s u ggests that the edict so strongly in

.
,

fav o u r of Christianity w as not a v o w edly dr afted by a Christian ;

altho u gh no do u bt in the m ain it w as dictated or at least
, , ,

ins p ired by Constantine hi m self who w e k no w after his for m al

, ,

adhesion to Christianity as E mp eror o f a still P agan E mp ire ,

continu ed to be the ofcial head as P ontifex M axi mu s of the old , ,

religion * .

T he p roceedings at M ilan in the s p ring of A D 3 1 3 for . .

,

e v er m e m orable on acco u nt of the e di ct w hich established

Christianity as a legal religion and w hich signied to the ,

R o m an w orld that the great E mp eror had thro w n in his lot

w ith the long des p ised and o u tlaw ed sect w ere r u dely inter ,

ru ted by in tell igence w hich s umm oned the allied E mp erors

p
Constantine and L icini u s to tak e the eld A raid of Frank ish .

tribes in the R hin eland called for Constantine s p resence once

m ore at the head of his legions on the dist u rbed frontier ,

while a m ost dangero u s ci vil w ar i mp ending requ ired L iciniu s

in Eastern E u ro p e to defend his do minions against the s u dden
in v asion of M axi m in D aia who w ith a p o w erfu l ar m y , , ,

threatened the v ery existence o f hi s E mp ire .

M axi m in D aia as w e ha v e seen w as a bigoted P agan and

, , ,

it is p robable that the late e v ents had ro u sed the P agan p arty
to stri k e this blo w in the ho p e of destroying or at least o f , , ,

w eak ening the p o w erfu l Christian influ ences which bade fair
,

to u nder m ine the old religion It w as w ell nigh the last .

-

serio us effort o f P aganis m A t rst the ar m s of M axi m in D ai a .

w ere s u ccessful and the city of Byzanti um w as in vested and

,

m
cap t u red ; b u t the v ictorio u s m arch was interr up ted by the
rap id ad v ance of L icini u s by whose m ilitary skill the forces ,

of the in v ader altho ugh s up erior in n u bers w ere co mp letely

, ,

ro u ted in a p itched battle near H eraclea M axi m in D aia ed . ,

and ret u rning to his cap ital Nico m edia a beaten and dis
, , ,

graced S o v ereign djed a fe w m onths after by his o w n hand

, .

H e p erished a pp arently u nregrette d ; the ci v il w ar in the

East w as o v er ; and w itho u t fu rther resistance L icini u s w as

dzo Pag a nis

'

E E
m
See B oissier, R w
e, Vol . Ch a
e

p II
(2

.
63

.
Down M ondes
,
11
. A u g ust, 1 8 8 7 , p . 5 28 , and La n
466 E AR L Y CHRIS TIANI T Y A ND PA GANIS M .

ack no wledged E mp eror of the East T h u s before the year 3 1 3 .

,

had r u n its co u rse the p ro v isions o f the Edict of M ilan w hich

, ,

ass u red p eace and p rotection to the Christians w ere recei ved ,

as the I mp erial la w w itho u t fu rther Opp osition thro u gho u t the

whole R o m an w orld .

SE C T I O N III .
A FTE R TH E ED CI T 0F MI L A N .

IT w as a strange ex p erience for the Christian s u bj ects of

the E mp ire to nd the m sel ves not m erely tolerated b u t e v en
fav o u red T he o p en p rofession of belief by Constantine p laced
the long p ersec u ted religion in a ne w light and it is not di fc u lt ,

to concei v e that v ast n um bers of all classes u nder these ne w ,

circ um stances grad u ally j oined the Christian co mmun ities .

L iciniu s the fello w E mp eror of Constantine it is tru e w as no

, , ,

real friend of Christianity ; b u t the p o wer and in u ence o f the

great Western E mp eror fro m A D 3 1 3 to A D 3 21 ens u red the . . . .

freedo m of Christian w orshi p in the East where L icini u s w as

s up re m e A dis pu te and a short w ar betw een the t w o E m
.

ero rs in A D w hich ended in v ictory for the ar m ies of

p . .

Constantin e p laced w ell nigh all the p ro vinces of Eastern

,
-

E u ro p e u nder the Western S o vereign .

In these years mu st be p laced the fo u ndation and in so m e ,

instances the co mp letion of not a fe w of the p ro u d basilicas o f

,

the Constantinian p eriod notably the great ch u rches of S P eter

,
.

o n the Vatican o f S P a u l o n the O stian Way of S

, . L au rence , .
,

of S t A gnes and of the basilica and p alace o f the Bisho p s of

.
,

R o m e in the L ateran G ardens T hese w ere in R o m e ; b u t in

.

n um berless cities of the E mp ire in these years ch u rches were

erected so m e of great m agnicence and s p lendidly adorned
,
.

A m ong these the basilica o f Tyre is m e m orable o w ing to the

detailed p ictu re of this lordly fane contain ed in the inau gu ral
disco u rse p rono u nced at T yre by E u sebiu s ( H E x .
, .

T hat s u ch a m agnicent b u ilding sho uld arise in a city w hich

had s o lately tak en the lead o n the side o f P aganis m in the
last days o f the p ersec u tions of M axi m in D aia ill u strates the

p o w er and o pu lence of the Christian p arty Nor w o u ld the .

Christian orator v ent u re greatly to exaggerate the s p lendo u r of

 CONS TANTINE THE G RE A T . 467

a b u ilding which stood in the m idst of and p ro v o k ed as it ,

w ere a co mp arison w ith te mp les o f high antiqui ty and

,

u nq u estioned T he basilica of Tyre w as only

o ne a m ong the m any stately ch u rches w hich arose in these

early years of the p eace of the Ch u rch in R o m e and in the ,

chief cities o f the E mp ire And the st u dent as he reads the .

,

great historian s d escri p tion of the T yre basilica e v idently o f

v ast p ro p ortions w ith its rich sc u l p tu res its roofs of cedar its
, , ,

p av e m ents of inlaid m arbles its arrange m ents for carefull y ,

ordered servi ces is a m azed at the latent p o wer and reso ur ces
,

of the Christian sect whi ch only needed a fe w years o f ass u red ,

p eace and I mp erial fa v o u r to create s u ch m ighty w ork s and

to de velo p a rit u al so stately and so elaborate .

It has been sorro w fu lly re m ark ed that while Constantine

co u ld gi v e p rotection he co u ld not gi v e p eace to Christianity ,

and its inner life Very early in its days of un l o ck ed for .

p ros p erity the Ch urch w as rent wi th internal dissensions .

T hese rst qu arrels to u s w ho loo k bac k thro u gh the l ong ,

w aste of centu ries see m to hav e s p r u ng fro m see m ingly uh

,

i mp ortant ca u ses T he old q u estions res p ecting the different

.

degrees of g u ilt in c u rred by the L ap si or those who had
,

fallen aw ay in the late p ersec u tion w ere ercely agitated , ,

es p ecially in the p ro vinces of North A frica e v er a frui tful ,

soil for these sad dis pu tes T he v alidity of the election of .

C aecilian Bisho p of Carthage w as called in qu estion by a gro up

, ,

of N um i di an p relates w ho alleged that he h ad be en u nla w ,

fu lly consecrated by a certain Felix Bisho p of A ptunga wh o , , ,

they said had been a tradi tor one who un der p ress ure
,

, ,

had gi v en up to the P agans the sacred boo k s T he m alcontents .

app ealed to th e civil p o w er and the E mp eror relegated the ,

cau se to a co un cil held at the L ateran u nder M iltiades the ,

Bisho p of R o m e T he L ateran Co u ncil decided in fa v o u r of

.

C aecilian T he A frican m alcontents w ere not satised A nd

.
.
,

as a conseq u ence a ri v al bisho p w as set up in Carthage Con

, .

stan tin e in the ho p e of av oi di ng a p erm anent schis m in the

,

m
North A frican p ro v inces s umm oned a co un cil fro m all p arts ,

See D ean Mil an, H istory o f Ch ristianity, B ook I I .

,
Ch ap . IX ; . and
E s biu
u e s, H . E ,
x .
468 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND P A GA NI S I II .

of

which m
the West to m eet at A rles in G a ul T his A rles Co u ncil
et in the year 3 1 4 w as the greatest ecclesiastical ,
.
,

m
asse m bly that had been k no w n n um bering as it did o v er ,

t w o h u ndred bisho p s * P o p e S il vester who had s u cceeded .

,

M iltiades as Bisho p of Ro e w as re p resented at Arles by ,

t w o p riests and two deacons Again the decision w as in fav o u r .

o f the lega l ity of the consecration of C a ecilian T he details .

of this long draw n o u t and dangero u s contro v ersy do not

belong to the sche m e of our history B u t so m e o f the canons .

p assed at A rles mu st be briey noticed as they thro w con ,

siderab l e light o n the connection of the fast gro w ing Chris -

tianity wi th ci v il society in the reign of Constantine at this

p eriod A D 3 1 4 O ne of the m ost re m ark able of these canons
, . . .

forbade u nder p ain of exco mmu nication any Christian to tak e

, ,

p art as an actor in any of the pu blic ga m es so p o pular a m ong

the p eo p le p artic u larising the p arts of charioteer or co m edian
, .

A nother canon of a di fferent co mp lexion s upp orted w ith the

w eight o f the Catholic Ch u rch the d u ty o f Christians to wards ,

the S tate by p rono u ncing the sentence of exco mmu nication

up on any Christian soldier who sho u ld thro u gh any m istak en ,

conscientio u s scrupl e Tdecline to p erfor m his m ilitary d u ties , .

T he in u en ce of the Christian bisho p s and others a m ong

the leading m en at the Co u rt of Constantine d u ring the ten
years of which w e are s p eak ing A D 3 1 3 23 w as very m ark ed ,
. .
,
.

S o m e forty years later in the brief P agan reaction the E mp eror , ,

Ju lian bitterly notices this co mm enting up on Constantine as

m
,

d ci s i n f th i s i p t nt c un ci l wa g in q s ti n d n d C n
m m
Th e e o o or a o s a a ue o e ,
a o

t ntin
s a g d t h in p s n th pp s i ng p t i s t Mil n
e a ree o ear er o 3 1 6 wh e O o ar e a a ,
A D . .
, e re

u p h ld th d ci s i n s f R Th s c h i ti c s w h s tyl d
m m
he e e end A l o o o w e a r es . e s a ,
o ere e

D n t i s ts f t th n ti B i s h p f C th g D n tus th G t w h h d
m

o a a er e a - o o ar a e, o a e r ea , o a
,

b n l c t d by th diss i d nts in th f C ci li n s ti ll d c lin d t s b i t

m
ee e e e e e e roo o ae a ,
e e o u

C th l i c p ty wh int i n d th lid i ty f th l c t i n f C ci li n
m m
t th
o e a o ar , o a a e e va o e e e o o ae a

as B i s h p f C th g in cc d n c w i th th d c is i n s t R
o o ar a e a A l s an d
or a e e e o a o e, r e ,

Mil n Th D n ti st s c h i s l ng d i i d d th Ch u c h f N t h A f ic Th s
m m m m
a . e o a o v e e r o or r a . e e

D n t i s ts w
o a p w f ul and y n e u s s c t f D i ss nt s in cl d i ng in
ere a o er v er u ro e o e er ,
u

th i nk s t n ti it i s i d ny a f u h nd d b i s h p s ! T h y p
m mm
e r ra a o e e, s a ,
as a s o r u re o e ro

f ss d th ct i s h d d n b f th xt us t i ty nd
mm
e e as o er se ar e n a o e e ore e , a e re e a er ,
a
,

i nt i n d th t th t u Chu c h x i st d nl y in th i c uni n

m
a a e a e r e r e e o e r o o .

1 I t
'

w ill b b d t h t
e re b ut c ntu y b f
e th
ere i s q u s ti n h d ba n a o a e r e ore e o a ee

ar g u d by
e th i n n t t c h T
e e t lli n whe t u g h t th t
ea ld i
er if C h
er u i st i n a , o a a a so er , a r a ,

w a ju sti d in c t in
s e cts f ins ub din ti n
er a a o or a o .
 CONS TAN TINE THE GRE A T . 46 9

m
an inno v ator as one who d istu rbed the ancient la w s and
,

up set the old c u sto m s * .

A m ongst the ne w re m ark able law s which w ere pro ul

gated in the E mp ire in these years and w hich w ere directly
attrib u table to Christian in u ences w as the rescri p t d irecting
the celebration of the Christian S abbath ; it w as ca u tio u s ly
w orded and bore no s p ecial all u sion to the p ecu liar sanctity
,

o f the day in the eyes o f the Christian co mmu nities O u t .

o f d eference no do u bt to the v otaries of the ancient religion

, , ,

it w as term ed the day o f the S u n b u t it w as to be gener

,

a lly obser v ed the la w co u rts w ere to be closed and the noise

, ,

and b u stle of pu blic b u siness w ere no longer to distu rb the

re p ose of the holy day T he only legal w ork that m ight be
.

transacted w as that connected w ith the m an um ission of slav es ,

a strange exce p tion and one u ndo u btedly d u e to the ne w

,

s p irit which w as brooding o v er the I mp erial chancery whi ch ,

at this ti m e iss u ed v ar io u s law s bearing on the relief o f the

great slav e class O ther ordinances w ere pu t forth u nder
.

the sam e Christian ins p iration s u ch as the abrogation of the

,

law s ini m ical to celibacy L aw s too dealing with i mm orality

.
, ,

w ere p assed T he pu nish m ent o f cru cixion w as sign icantly

.

abolished O ne m ost i mp ortan t concession app ears at this

.

ti m e gi ving the Ch u rch the fullest p o w er to recei v e the

,

bequ ests o f the p io u s an ordinance which had far reachi ng

,
-

conseq u ences in after ages .

m
B u t altho u gh the E mp eror had acce p ted the gro u nd w or k
,

o f the Christian re v elation and had e v idently resol v ed as far

, ,

as his conce p tion o f i mp erati v e d u ties i mp osed up on h i as

E mp eror allo w ed qu ietly to assist and p ro m ote the interests
,

of the religion w hich he beli e ved to be tru e he resisted any ,

atte mp t m ade by the m ore fav o u red sect to obtain thro u gh

their religi on any u ndu e rights or p ri vileges which if ac kn o w ,

ledged m ight be inim ical to the interests of the S tate T he

, .

ecclesiastical order had obtained thro u gh the I mp erial fav o u r

, ,

an exemp tion fro m the necessity of ser v ing in any of the

b u rdenso m e and costly ofces belonging to the mu nici p alities ;

m
m
of ces which at this ti m e w ere disli k ed and when p ossible , ,

Se A i nus M c ll inu s i 1 0
e a ar e ,
xx . .
4 70 E A R L Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

av oided on the j u st p lea that the d u ties attendant on s u ch

m
,

ofces w ere inco mp atible w ith their religio u s obligations T o .

secu re their exe p tion fro m a hated d u ty m any entered the

clerical order T o re m edy this m anifest ab u se of a p rivilege
.
,

Cons tantine decreed that none w ere to be ad m itted into the

sacred order exce p t on the v acancy of a religio u s charge and ,

then only those whose w ant of fortu ne exe mp ted the m fro m
*
these costly mu nicip al fu nctions .

T he p osition of Constantine in these early years which

s u cceeded the fa m o u s Edict of M ilan w as a so m e what strange
on e H e w as a Christian not m erely in na m e b u t as w e
.
, ,

h av e insisted w as reall y p ers u aded of the tr u th of the

,

great Christian doctrines B u t at the sa m e ti m e he was .

, ,

the s up re m e head of the P agan religion of the E mp ire which ,

certainly for so m e years after A D 3 1 3 w as still p rofessed by . .

the m aj ority o f his s u bj ects Constantine ne v er see m s to hav e .

laid aside the I mp erial ran k of P ontifex M axi mu s or to hav e ,

dis p ensed w ith the ancient P agan titles up on his m edals and

m
coins H is ap ologists w ith so m e j u stice p lead that it w as
.
, ,

his desire to m aintain the pu blic p eace and tranqu il lity which ,

ind u ced h i to p reser ve these ofcial ensigns o f p o w er o v er

w hat w as still the S tate religion H e w as th u s p ossessed of .

the s up re m e au thority in both religions In v ested as he was .

w ith the right o f s up erintending the ancient P agan c u lt he ,

w as enabled to restrict it in v ario u s w ays and grad u ally , ,

w itho u t u sing any v iolent m eas u res to se p arate it fro m the ,

ordinary social life of the citizens of the E mp ire while it ,

continu ed for a while to be the ofcial w orshi p A s early as .

A D 3 1 3 the year of the p rocla m ation o f the Edict of M ilan

. .
, ,

he declined to sanction the celebrati on of the sec u lar gam es ,

the chief P agan festi v al and in the year 3 1 9 w e nd hi m

m m
,

t t s f m m m
cu i n s f
Th e D e

m
d th S n t f th t wn s ; th y s uppl i d th
r o or e

t h i b d y n d h d th i g h t f l c t i ng t h ; nd th r gul t i n s
gi s
e e a es o e o e e e a

m m m
ra e ro e r o , a a e r o e e e u er e e a o

int d u c d by D i c l ti n th D c i n s w d s p n s i b l f th f l l
m m mm m
ro e o e a e nt
e ur o er e a e re o e or e u a ou

f t x ti n i p s d by th I p i l ss ss n t n th t wn nd d i s t i c t A th
m
o a a o o e e er a a e e o e o a r . s e

p y nt g w b u th n s ny b c in s l n t n d d th dis t ic t

m m
a e s re or e r e o e a e a e o ve a e e r ,

b ut th wh l e nu w sti ll x c t d f
o e rev e th eD c u i n s h n c th
as nc e a e ro e e r o e e e o e

c t d fc b c
ov e e o s e n d h t d b u th n
e a e Sa Mil an H i t y f
e v ere a a e r e . ee , s or o

Ch i ti nity B k I I I
r s a Ch p I I
,
oo .
, a . .
 CONS TAN TINE THE GRE A T . 47 1

forbidding all p r iv a te sacricial cere m onies T he pu blic and .

m
ofcial rites see m to ha ve been continu ed b u t they w ere by ,

degrees shorn of their ancient p o mp an d distinction as the

coldness and disli k e of the E mp eror becam e m ore and ore
m ani fest and app aren t T he rap id decay of P aganis m w as
.

witnessed w ith app rehension an d di s m ay by the m ore earnest

o f the still v ery n um ero u s p arty w ho for v ario u s reasons , ,

adhered to the ol d R o m an cul t .

In the year 3 23 a civ il w ar bro k e ou t bet w een the t w o

E mp erors Constant ine and L icini u s
,
T he Eastern E mp eror
.
,

u nder the do minant in u ence of his greater coll eagu e had ,

signe d the Edict of Milan ; b u t i t see m s that L icini u s ne v e r

really fav o u red Chr istiani ty and it w as o nl y wi th a hal f
,

hear te d toleration that he s u ffered the w orshi pp ers of th e

Cru ci ed o p e nl y to p ractise their religion in hi s Eastern
do mini ons I t w as to L icini u s that the ho p es o f the P agan
.

p arty in the E mp ire t u rned when the ra p id decay of their

religion alarm ed and dist u rbed the m .

We hav e seen ho w in A D 3 1 4 discord bet w een the t w o

. .

E mp erors in s p ite o f the m atri m onial conn ection L icini u s

, ,

it will be re m e m bered had m arried Constantine s half sister

,

-
,

Constantia p reci p itate d a bitter ci vil w ar T hi s w ar ended in .

fa v o u r of Constantine and the ter m s of p eace in cl u ded the

,

cession to Constantin e of the large r p ortion of the E u ro p ean

do m in ions of L icini u s A hollo w and u ncertain p eace w hich
.

lasted so m e nine years fro m A D 3 1 4 to A D 3 23 s u cceeded

. . . . .

B u t the m ark ed fa v o u r and enco u rage m ent sho w ed by Con

stan tin e to Christians w as v ie w ed by his Eastern co lleag u e
w ith dislik e and dread Gradu ally the a v ersion of Licini u s
.

to Ch ristiani ty w as m ore and m ore o p e nl y m ani fested S ynods .

o f clergy w ere at rst forbidden in s u ltin g decrees to Christian

,

bisho p s w ere iss u ed ; in so m e of hi s p ro v inces in direc t ,

contrav ention of the E di ct of M ilan Christian ch u rches w ere

,

closed and at length a p artial p ersec u tion w as sanctioned

, .

It w as a nal effort o f P aganis m to assert itself against the

fast gro wing Christianity of the E mp ire O nce m ore a bitter .

ci v il w ar bet ween the East and West blazed forth which ,

ass um ed the as p ect of a contest of religions A gain the .

47 2 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANITY A ND P A G ANIS M
.

s up erior geni u s of Constantine and p robably his better equ i pp ed

,
-

and disci p lined legions enabled hi m after a short str u ggle

, , ,

to v anq u ish his ad v ersary T he ca mp aign w as soon con

.

cl u ded by a nav al v ictory and by the yet m ore decisi v e

battle of H adriano p le in which L icini u s s u ffered a co mplete
,

defeat .

T he de ath of L icini u s w hich qu ick ly follo w ed left Con

stan tin e sole m aster of the East and West T he rst act of

m
.

the conq u eror w as at once to wi thdra w the recently p ro

ul ated anti Christian edicts o f the late E mp eror o f the
g
-

East and to grant to the Eastern follo w ers of the Crucied

,

all the p ri v ileges which his Christian s u bj ects in the West

had been long enj oying T he year 3 23 witnessed what was
.

v irt u ally the close of the long dra wn o u t str u ggle bet w een
Christianity and P aganism .
 47 3

C H A P T E R XVI .

F R OM PA GA N I S M To CH R I ST I A N I T Y .

TI O N
SE C I .
TH E CH A NGE .

TH E tre m endo u s iss u es of the change w hich had p assed

o v er the fortu nes of the Christian religion after A D 3 1 3 . .
,

the date of the Milan Edict w ere p robably foreseen by fe w ,

at the ti m e .

Indeed the grad u al p rogress of e vents had so m e w hat

,

accu sto m ed m en s m inds to the altered p osition of thi ngs

.

We w ill v ery briey reco u nt the p rinci p al ste p s w hich led

up to the ne w p latfor m u pon w hich Christianity fo u nd itself
in A D 3 23 and in the years i mm ediately follo w in g a p latfor m
. . ,

fro m whi ch it ne v er had to recede First the ab d ication o f .

,

D iocletian in A D 3 05 and the readj u st m ent of the I mp erial

. .
,

G o vernm ent pu t a sto p to all acti v e p ersec u tion t h ro u gho u t

,

m ost of the Western p ro vinces S econd the Edict of T olera .

,

tion iss u ed by the dying Galerius in A D 3 1 1 gav e a new . .

as p ect to the p osition o f Christianity in the East ; and ,

altho u gh its m erciful p ro v isions w ere te mp orarily set aside

by Maxim in D aia p ersecu tion w as generall y loo k e d on hence
,

forth as a so m ething abs ol u tely alien to the u ni versal p olicy

o f the R o m an E mp ire T hi rd the v ictorio u s camp aign of
.
,

Constantine u nder the b anner of the cross and the conse ,

q u ent u ni on of the Western E mp ire u nder his sce p tre foll o w ed ,

by the Edict of M ilan for m all y gav e the Christian a legal

,

stat u s thro u gho u t the E mp ir e T he ten years of I mp erial.

fav o u r which follo w ed the edict w itnessed an enor m o u s

in crease in the num bers of the hi therto p ersec u ted sect .

Fo u rth the efforts of the P agan p arty in the East to regain

,

its lost gro u nd w ere co mp letely defeate d by the o v erthro w

4 74 E ARL Y CHR IS TIANI T Y A ND PA GANISM .

an d death o f L icini u s in A D 3 23 and the p eaceabl e s u ccession

. .

o f the E m p eror Constantine to the Eastern throne ; the

whole R o m an w orld being th u s u nited u nder the u ndis pu ted
r ule o f a Christian S o v ereign .

T hese great e v ents had follo w ed one another du ring the

eighteen years which had elap sed since the abdication of
D iocletian and altho u gh to all o u tw ard app earance the w orld
, ,

w as still P agan tho u gh e v ery city see m ed still to re p ose

,

u nder the t u telary gods of the ancient religion the

silent co u rts o f the P agan fanes w ere u ntrodden b u t by a fe w
cas u al w orshi pp ers the altars w ere w itho u t v ictim s ; thin
,

w reaths of s m o k e rose where the air u sed to be clo u ded

w ith the ree k of hecato m bs the p riesthood mu r mu ring in ,

bitter en vy at the throng w hich p assed by the p orticoes of

their te mp les to w ards the Christian
A s regards m any of the great nobles of the E mp ire those ,

who w ere m ore closely associated w ith the E mp eror generall y

ado p ted the re ligion of the S o v ereign and o f the Co u rt ; bu t
for a lengthened p erio d v ery any o f the p atrician ho u ses
and not a fe w a m ong the cu ltu red classes hau ghtily stood
m ,
,

aloof fro m the religion w hich in so m arv ellou s a w ay had

stirred the hearts of the m en and w o m en o f the E mp ire In .

the w ritings o f the P agans o f the last half of the fo u rth

cent u ry a strange silence is obser vable res p ecting the u ndream ed
,

of p rogress o f the sect a c u rio u s reticence on all the circ um

stances attendant on the tre m endo u s v ictory o f Christianity
w hich that cent u ry had w itnessed We search b u t search .
,

in v ain for detailed m entions o f what mu st hav e been

,

upp er m ost in the hearts of these p assionate lo v ers o f the

storied p ast of R o m e in the w ell kno w n and serio u s w ritings -

of the p eriod T he letters of S y mm ach u s the p ro u d and

.
,

w eal thy p atrician in which the life o f the nobles of R o m e

,

is so v i v idly and p ictu resq u ely de p icted are silent So ,

.

are the w riti ngs o f M acrobi u s and the hi stories of A u reli u s

Victor and E utropius who do no t e v en deign to m ention
,

an e v ent so stri k ing as the conv ersion of Constantine This .

m
al m ost u ni v ersal silence is ho w e v er bro k en in the cu rio u s
, ,

Mi l n H i t f Ch i ti ni ty B k II I Ch p t II I
a ,
s . o r s a ,
oo .
,
a er .
 FR OM PA GANIS M TO CHRIS TIANIT Y . 475

L atin translation o f the dialogu e of A scle p i u s pu t ou t abo u t

the m id dl e of this fo u rth cent u ry H ere the increasing c u lt .

o f Christian m artyrs is bitterly inv eighed against and the ,

writer d w ells w ith m o u rnfu l eloq u ence on the fate of the

ancient land O f Egyp t de p ri v ed O f her i mm e m orial deities
, .

O h Egyp t ! Egy p t !
,
he cries no u ght re m ains of thy

beliefs b u t confu sed echoes and a fe w inscri p tions which m ay

bear witness to co m ing generations o f thy ancient p iety .

T he gods w ho once d welt w ith thee hav e gone bac k again

m
into
T he p re v alent silence w as again bro k en a little later by
Ru tiliu s N a atianu s a Gallic gentle m an o f high p osition
, ,

m
wh o v ery early in the fth cent u ry lled disting u ished O ffices
at R o m e and becam e a senator H is w ords m ay fairly be
,
.

tak en as v oicing the extre e dislik e e v en hatred w ith which , ,

v ery m any of the highest class vie w ed the rap id ad v ance of

Christianity H is u ndisgu ised Op inions a pp ear in a gracefu l
.

li ttle p oe m descri p ti v e of a sea tri p fro m R o m e ( O stia p robably )

to S o u th G a ul H e co m es across a Jew no t a lo v ed race
.

m
by any m eans ; b u t his great obj ection to the J e w is based
up on the fact that Christiani ty s p rang fro m a J e w ish root

radix stul titi as he sorro w fully ter m s it S ailing by the .

Isle of Capraria at that ti m e ( cir ca A D 4 1 6 ) largely p eo p led

, . .

dishono u red as he ter m s it w ith Christian m onk s he

, ,

w rites squalet lu cifugis ins u la p lena v iris
,

Very bitterly .

he in v eighs against these p eo p le the m onk s w ho a v oid as , , ,

h e think s the light of day Is there any sense he as k s in

, .
, ,

li ving a w retched life si mp ly for fear of beco m ing u nha pp y ?

A little later he m eets w ith another co mp any of Christian
solitaries a m ong who m he nds a w ealthy and w ell born m an
,
-
,

who has thro w n up his d u ties as a citizen w ho has forsak en ,

friends fa m ily and w ife in order to b u ry hi m self aliv e in the

, ,

se pulchres T he m iserable m an so w rites Ru tilius

.
,
drea m s ,

that H eav en is p leased w ith the sight O f these u ncl ean beings .

T hey lo v ed to tortu re the m sel v es ; they are m ore cr u el e v en

than the offended gods ! I as k the q u estion : has not this
sect ( the Christian) the secret of p oisons m ore deadly than
A ugu s tin e s p ci ll y q u t s thi s p ss g e D e Civi t t D i
e a o e 23
a a . a e e , .
47 6 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANI T Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

any p ossessed by Circe for Circe only bro u ght abo u t a

m

change in the body ; these p eo p le change the v ery so u l .

Ru til iu s detested and loathed onasticis m b u t his conte mp

t u ons scorn for it is deriv ed fro m his intense hatred of
Christianity T o hi m it is only a nat u ral o u tco m e of a
.

religion which debased the so u l .

A m ong the class O f noble w ealthy R o m ans in the p ro v inces ,

as in Italy b u t es p ecially in the great m etro p olis P aganis m died

, ,

v ery slo wly T hese hau ghty descendants o f the ancient

.

p atrician ho u ses and those w ho in the p ro v inces recr u i ted ,

their rank s as w ell as the rhetorician the p anegyrist the

, , ,

p oet the historian v ie w ed the strange tri ump h m arch o f

, ,
-

the Christians which began in real earnest in A D 3 1 3 the, . .

,

date of the M ilan Edict with a sh u ddering disdain ; they ,

w atched w ith a sorro w which refused to be co m forted the

e v er gro w ing neglect O f all the stately i mm e m orial rites and
-

cere m onies o f an historic P aganis m ; they sa w w ith dee p

m
mu rmu ring the conte mp t into which the ancient gods O f
Ro e and the E mp ire had fallen A nd in the roo m O f
those gods who as the translator of the D ialogu e of A scle p i u s
,
.

abo v e referred to has it had w inged their ight a w ay in grief ,

fro m earth to H eav en m en had s u bstit u ted a strange un ,

nat u ral faith in the Crucied a faith which their w iser

-

and m ore far sighted ancestors had p rono u nced u nlawfu l

m
m
-
,

had conde m ned as the ex itiab ilis superstitio O f T acit u s
,

as the superstitio p rav a et i o dica o f P liny ; a s up er

stitio they had ne v er deigned ho w e v er to exa m ine , ,
.

But fo r *
the m the end w as soon to co m e w hen their ,

belie fs w ere to be s w e p t a w ay for e ver in the w ild torrent of

barbarian in v asion while the A rk of the Ch u rch which they , ,

hated and des p is ed oated safe and u nhar m ed on the aw ful ,

m m
ood T he P agan c u lt they lo v ed and ad m ired is only a
.

wh mH w n
w
th o nd w f th ear

w i ti ng l i d (it will b
s ci ty in th i d st f w hic h th s
e e

b d th t w h b n s p king f
as n

m
m
f or e o e e o e e e o

m
o e are r ve e re e ere a e av e ee ea o

th l s t f w d cad s f th f u t h c ntu y ) th f l l w i ng d y b t p gn nt d t s
m m
e a e e e o e o r e r , e o o r u re a a e

sh w 4 1 0 Al ic th G th s ac k nd b u ns R G n s ic
m m m
o : A D . . ar
; 4 5 5 e o s a r o e A D
. . e er

V n d l g in s c k s nd k s h c f R 7 Od c th

m
th e a a a a ; a 4 6 a a e av o o o e A D.
. oa er, e

B n l Ch i ft in
er e cc p i s R e w p in g
a w y th
,
l st
o un nt e f I p i l
o e, s ee a a e a re a o er a

j st y
a e .
Ph oto Al m
a ri Cook , Ro m
e .

m
T HE T E MPL E OF CAS T O R A ND PO L L UX .

W i th th F
e oru ,
l k i g t w d s th C p i t l
oo n o ar e a o .
 FR OM P A GANIS M T O CHR IS TIANI T Y . 47 7

m e m ory s u r vi ving a m ong a handfu l of c u rio u s scholars T he .

Ch urch tho u gh fteen h u ndred m ore changing and change

,

ful years hav e since co m e and gone is w ith u s still the, ,

greatest and m ost end u ring p o w er in the w orld .

B u t w hat of the rank and le of the p o pu lation o f the

E mp ire ? Wh at of the m asses O f the p eo p le ? What o f
the m any m il lions who w ere not of senatorial ran k w ho ,

p ossessed no p alaces in the fashionable qu arters of R o m e ,

or Carthage or A ntioch or M ilan or Lyons

, , ,
who ,

o wned no villas in the hill s ro u nd R o m e o r on the shores

of the c har m ed Itali an and S icilian seas w ho w ere n either
rhetoricians nor p oets p hiloso p hers nor historians the m illions
,

who co u ld not be described as c ul tu red w hat of all these ?

H o w fro m the year 3 1 3 on ward w ere th ese affected to w ards
Christianity
It w ill be re m e m bered ho w again and again in the story
o f Christianity fro m the year 6 4 and e v en earlier in co u nt
, ,

less centres O f p opulation a erce p ersec u tion frequ ently arose

,

o wing to hostile denu nciations by the p o pu lace Very little .

,

a pp arently w as needed at all ti m es to excite the m against

,

a sect w hich fr o m v ario u s reasons w as ind u bitably dislik ed by

the m asses No w it w as the J e ws w ho stirred up the p o pu lar
.

en m ity ; no w it w as the j ealo u s p riests of the P agan c u l t ;

n o t u nfrequ ently it w as the anger o f traders wh o w ere inj u red

by the teachi ng and p ractice of Christianity O ne or other.

o f these classes of a city p o pu lation w o u ld often stir up

their fello w citizens w ho w ere only too ready to force the
,

so m e what rel u ctant m agistrates to harass and p ersecu te

the sect .

B u t after the Edict o f M ilan in A D 3 1 3 p robably at a

. .
,

so m e what earlier date in the Western p ro v inces O f the E mp ire a ,

different s p irit e v idently p re vailed T he e d icts fav o u rable to

.

Christianity see m to ha v e bee n qu ietly recei v ed e v en a pp ro v ed , ,

and in m any p laces p ositi v ely w elco m ed ; and v ast and e v er

increasing num bers of the p o pulation hitherto P agan j oined
the Christian co mmu nities H ere and there it is tru e w e
.
, ,

hear of a p o pu lar de m onstration against the Christians s u ch as ,

too k p lace in Alexandria b u t s u ch te mp orary o u tbreak s wree

,
 m
4 78 EA R L Y CHR IS TIANI TY A ND P A GANIS M
.

pu t do w n w itho u t difcu lty S o eth ing had e v idently ha p.

p ened to bring abo u t this great change in p o pu lar o p inion .

T he con v ersion of Constantine and the Edict O f M ilan ha v e

been u s u ally alleged as the cau ses of the strange an d rap i d
conv ersion of the m asse s o f the E mp ire to the religion of the
Cru cied B u t w itho u t detracting fro m the imp ortance of these
.

e vents w e w o u ld u rge that other and v ery different cau ses w ere
,

at w ork w hich really bro u ght abo u t this w onderfu l and s wift
change in the hearts of the p eo ple .

A stu dy of certain Christian writers and w or kers in the

second half O f the fo u rth cent u ry s u ggests that a dee p i mp ression
w as m ade up on the m asses i e the p eo p le generally of the , . .

R o m an E mp ire by the s u fferings and cond u ct of the Confessors

,

in the great D iocletian p ersec u tion T he i m agery ado p ted by .

P r u de nti u s the S p anish p oet O f the secon d half O f the fo u rth

,

cent u ry w o u ld hav e had absol u tely no m eaning did it no t

,

rep resent a p o pu lar feelin g w hich mu st certainly hav e com e into

existence b efor e the m iddle O f the fo u rth cent u ry T hu s in the .

P er i Step h a n ari i v Christ is s p o k en of as sanctifying a great

-
,
.
,

city lik e S aragossa ( C aesar Au gu sta) ; whole cities are described

as nding shelter and co m fort in the day of the great A ssize
u nder the shado w of the strong p rotection of so m e m artyr
or m artyrs who had been s p ecially hono u red by the d w ellers

therein .

A gain mu ch of the long later life of the once reno w ned and
,

p o pu lar S aint P a u linu s of Nola is tak en up w ith the qu estion

o f p ilgri m ages H e tells u s of early i mp ressions s ta mp ed on
.

his childish m ind by the sight of the cro w ds of p ilgrim s to the

h um ble shrine of S Felix o f Nola ; and as P a u lin u s w as born A D
. . .

3 5 3 Christianity mu st ha v e p er m eated the m asses before the

,

m iddle of the centu ry to ha v e bro u ght s u ch a n um be r ofde v otees

to a h um ble and little kno w n shrine d u ring his childhood No w
-
.

m
Nola w as b u t a co mp arati v ely h um ble instance of m any other
m ore fa m o u s M artyr shrines Within fty years after the p ro
-
.

u l ation o f the M ilan Edict it w o u ld see m as tho u gh

g ,

Christianity had tak en by stor m the hearts of the v ast m aj ority

o f the m asses of the p eo p le .

T his i mp ression is conr m ed by the records of the w ell

 m
FR OM P A G ANIS AI T O CHR IS TIANIT Y . 47 9

k no w n an d elaborate w ork s carried out by P o p e Da asus d u ring

his e p isco p ate at R o m e A 3 66 3 8 4 When Da asus began his
D .
. .

m e m orable pon ticate little m ore than half a cent u ry had elap sed - -
m
since the P eace of the Ch u rch had been p roclaim ed T he w ork s .

O f restoration and reno v ation w o u ld hav e been m eaningless had

they not been designe d for the de v o u t visits of a v ast n um ber o f
Christian p ilgri m s fro m di stant co u ntries to the m any sacred
to m bs of confessors and m artyrs for the Faith who had
s u ffered at R o m e It is O b vio u s that the p assion for p ilgri m age
.

to m artyr shrines had already before the p eriod o f his E p isco p ate
-
, ,

p erm eated the p eo p le not only in R o m e b u t also in far distant

p ro vinces
.

S u rely then w e are not in error w hen w e assert our belief

that Chr istianity v ery early in the fo u rth centu ry certainly ,

fro m the date of the Edict of M il an A D 3 1 3 had gain ed the , . .

,

k ey to the hearts of the p eo p le * Fro m signs no candi d

.

stu dent can safely neglect or p ass o v er it seem s clear that ,

the e v ents connected w ith the last great p ersec u tion largely
contrib u te d to this res u lt Its extent the extre m e se v erity
.
,

o f its edicts the terrible thoro u ghness wi th w hich these edicts

,

w ere carried ou t the n umbers the constancy and bra v e

, ,

p atience of the confessors altho u gh in the Western P ro v inces

,

o f the E mp ire it only lasted a little o v er t w o years mu st ,

hav e m ade an e x traordinary i mp ression on the p eo p le Its .

p rogress w as m ade easy when once the s up re m e G o v ern m ent

of the E mp ire ceased to be hostile to and e v en loo k ed w ith
fav o u r up on the long p ersec u te d religion when once the un ,

law fulness of being a Christian w as done a way with by

I mp erial edicts for m ally sanctioning the p rofession of the
,

Christian c u lt B u t no m ere fav o u r and p atronage o f the

.

E mp eror and the Co u rt co u ld e v er hav e won for Christianity

m
that w ides p read acce p tance a m ong the p eo p le whi ch w as
noticeable e ven before the rst half of the fo u rth cent u ry had
r u n its co u rse So ething m ore w as needed ; that so m ething
.

the p ersec u tion of D iocletian and the cond u ct of the suiferers

in the p ersecu tion in large m eas u re p ro v ided .

TO the natu re o f this re vu lsion of feel ing w itness is borne

S e pp 4 9 4 6 e . .
48 0 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

by the w ritings and the records left by so m e p ro m inent

Christians in the latter hal f of the fo u rth cent u ry T o these .

w e shall now refer in detail .

SE CTI O N 11 .
TYPI CA L S TU D I E S : (a ) P R UDE NT I U S .

WE select then for o u r pu rp ose fo u r distingu ished m en :

P r u denti u s the S p anish p oet S P a u linu s o f Nola so m e while
,

a states m an later an ascetic and a p o pu lar w riter Da asus

,

the fam o u s R o m an bisho p to each of who m reference has

,
, .
,

,
m ,

already been m ade ; and S Martin the lo v ed Bisho p of T o u rs

.
,

in G au l .

O f these P r u den tiu s the S p anish p oet not only Sp eak s

, , ,

for his o wn co u ntry O f S p ain b u t also giv es u s considerable

m
,

inform ation connected w ith other p arts of the E mp ire notably

m
,

in Italy and Ro e P a u l in u s of Nola re p resents largely

.

p o pu lar Op inion in Italy and G au l Da a su s and his w ork .

s p eak for the Christian co mmu nities of the cap ital and for
the v ast num bers O f v isitors and p ilgri m s fro m m any lands
to the sanct u aries of R o m e S Ma r ti n is the re p resentati v e
. .

a r ex cel l en ce o f the v ast p ro v ince of G a u l

p .

T he dates O f the fo u r are as foll o w s

B n Di d or . e .

A D . . A D . .

mm
Prud entius

m
3 48 4 05
Paul inus o f No l a 35 3 43 1
Da asus, Bish op of R o e fro 366 384 *

Martin of Tours 316 4 00

P r u denti u s a pp arently belonged to a Christian fam ily ,

b u t in early and m iddle life religion does not app ear to hav e
mu ch in u enced his life and cond u ct H e w as a la wyer of .

so m e distinction and his career a brill iant and p ros p ero u s

, ,

one c u l m inated in his a pp oint m ent to an i mp ortant p ro v incial

,

go v ernorshi p S o m ethi ng occ u rred in that s u nny s u ccessfu l life

.
,

whi ch determ ined hi m to gi v e up his pu blic career as a

ser vant o f th e S tate R etiring fro m the w orld he resol ved
.
,

to de v ote the e vening of his life to literary pu rs u its de v oting

mp i sc p
,

Th se e eig h teen y ea s ep resent h i s

r r Ro an e o ate .
 FR OM PA G ANIS M TO CHRIS TIANI T Y . 48 1

his p en excl u si vely to the assistance of the religion he fel t

w as so intensely real and tru e H e soon sho wed that he .

m
w as a p oet o f no ordinary p o w er and he consecrated this ,

p o wer to the service o f the Cru cied M aster Who had s um ,

m o u ed h i at a co mp arati v ely late ho u r to H is side .

We hav e still w ith u s se v eral o f his w ork s w hich incl u de ,

m
his dogm atic p oe m s and his collection of hym ns w hich hav e
as their the m e the v ario u s divisions O f the day K ath

e erinon as it is ter m ed ; besides his ans w er to S y mm ach u s
,

the S enator w hen that states m an clai m ed that the altar of

,

Victory Sho u ld be restored to the old p lace w hich it o ccu

p ied w hen the a u gust S enate legislated for a Pagan R o m e .

A S p oe m s tho u gh they belong to so late a date in L atin

,

literat u re they are u n m istak ably the w or k of a m aster ;

,

the A ns wer to S y mm ach u s being besides a p iece O f real

historical i mp ortance .

B u t a m ore s p ecial interest attaches to hi s P er i S te -

a n dn T he Boo k of the M artyrs Cro w ns I t contains

h

p , ( ) .
.

fo u rteen distinct hy m ns or p oe m s se veral of the m O f co n ,

siderab l e length T he the m e o f these p ieces is the p assions

.

of certain once fa m o u s m artyrs the v ario u s circum stance s

-
,

o f their trials the nal v ictories of these hero s u fferers for

,
-

the Faith .

T h is w or k is q u ite original in its character it is fra m ed on n o ,

.

earlier m odel and P r u denti u s m ay be said to ha v e had n o

,

s u bsequ ent i m itator M u ch of it is tak en up with re p rod u ction s

.

o f scenes in P agan Co u rts w hen the Christian hero or heroin e

, ,

as the case m ight be w as acc u sed exa m ined tort u red and then
, , , ,

led o u t to a death of agony which w as end u re d w itho u t in ch ing ,

the bra v e confessor w elco m ing indeed w ith u nfeigned gladnes s

the bitter s u ffering for the L ord s sak e T hese hy m ns attained a

.

wide p o pu larity and so m e O f the m app arently w ere read or s u ng

,

in ch u rches being s u bstit u ted for the p rose A cts and P assions
,

O f M artyrs which w ere freq u ently read on the day when th e

confessor w as es p ecially co mm e m orated .

T hese fer vid and i mp assioned p oe m s or hym ns cannot O f ,

co u rse be recei ved as faithfu l and exact p ictu res of what too k
,

p lace in the D iocletian o r in the yet earlier p ersec u tions ; b u t

F F
4 82 EA RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA GANIS M .

they do re p resent what the p o pu lar i m agination in the years

imm ediately follo w in g the last great trials and s u fferings p ictu red
.

to itself as ha v ing tak en p lace T he basis of the stories was tru e.

,

b u t the p o pu lar fancy added m any a legend to the Si mp le original

facts and these legends w ere u tilised by o u r p oet
, .

It is the halo of glory s u rro u nding these m artyrs that

e s p ecially stri k es the historian We see in these p o pu lar p oe m s.

what a p rofo u nd w hat a lasting i mp ression the s u fferings O f the

, ,

m artyrs had m ade on the p eo p le of the R o m an Emp ire T he saint .

s u fferer m an or w o m an beca m e soon p ositi v ely an obj ect O f so m e

, ,

thi ng m ore than re v erence T heir noble confession their Sp lendid

.
,

co u rage and endu rance for the Faith s sak e so tho u ght the p eo p le

, ,

had w on for the brav e confessor a strange p o w er in H eav en so ,

that whate v er they as k ed at the throne of G od w o u ld be granted

to their p rayers T his P r u dentiu s e v idently held when in his
.
,

i mp assioned v erse he thu s ap ostro p hised one of the saints o f his

hym ns : H ear m e O blessed S p irit I a m u nw orthy that Christ
, .

sho u ld listen to my p rayer for p ardon b u t if tho u w ilt s p eak for ,

m e to the M aster H e w ill s u rely listen to thy v oice ( P er i
,

Step h a n on ii

.
,

T o P r u dentiu s and to those for w ho m he wrote the noble

, ,

ar m y of m artyrs so largely recru ited in the p ersecu tion of the

,

rst years of the centu ry w ere already in the enj oy m ent o f the
,

b eatic v ision o f Go d and their p o w erfu l intercession w as

,

e agerly so u ght by s u fferers alik e in body and in m ind .

T he saint heroes and heroines of P r u denti u s belong to no

o ne land to no solitary nationality b u t in the heart of the p oet
, , ,

his o wn lo v ed S p ain e vidently holds the fore m ost p lace We .

p ossess indeed b u t fe w records of the days of the last

p ersecu tion in S p ain b u t the v i vid and ery v erses tell u s ho w
,

shar p and bitter mu st ha v e been the harrying of Christians ho w ,

n um ero u s the S p anish s u fferers in that dread ti m e No where ,

.

w as the tr u th O f the w ell k no wn saying that the blood of the

m artyrs w as the seed of the Ch u rch m ore cons p icu o u sly
exe mp lied than in S p ain the ho m e o f P r u denti u s ,
.

When our p oet w rote in the second half of the fo u rth centu ry ,

the cu lt of the m artyrs w as w idely s p read thro u gho u t the

co u ntry A lready w ell nigh e very city of i mp ortance boasted
.
-
 FR OM P A GANIS M T O CHR IS TIANI T Y . 48 3

m
what m ay be term ed its p atron saint or saints T h u s E m eri ta .

( M erida ) w as p ro u d of the girl confessor E u lalia to w hose -

,

e m ory the citizens had s p eedily raised a noble ch u rch ; its

interior glittering w ith gold and colo u red w or k and bright w ith ,

v ariegated m osaics and costly m arbles T arragona was styled .

happy ( felix ) T arragona u n d er the p rotection of its saintly

,

bisho p the m artyr Fructu osu s S aragossa ( C aesar Au g u sta) ho w

, .
,

e v er s u r p assed all other cities ih o u r p oet s esti m ate rank ing

, , ,

onl y after R o m e and Carthage S ince it p ossessed the greatest ,

n um ber of m artyrs the p resence of w hose ashes sanctied the

,

*
w hole p lace where Christ reigned indeed as S o v ereign L ord
,
.

Nor was the p rotection in H eav en of these m artyrs only a

p resent hel p to those who so u ght their s u cco u r and intercession
in days of sick ness and in ho u rs of sorro w In the bloody and
,
.

ery daw n of the nal j u dg m ent of the w orld the confessors of ,

the great p ersec u tion w o u ld not only be at hand to s u cco u r

indi vid u als w ho had hono u red and p aid the m ho m age b u t u nder ,

the shado w of their strong p rotection w hole cities w here their ,

m e m ory had been v enerated w o u ld nd shelter and co mfort

,
.

P erhap s the grandest of the m any stri k ing p ictu res p ainted by
P r u dentiu s in this E p ic of M artyrdo m is the one where he ,

describes in h is mu sical and stirring cadences the E p i p hany of

, ,

the awful Ju dge descending in ery clo u ds fro m H ea v en ready to ,

w eigh the p eo p les in H is scales of j u dgm ent ; and there before ,

the Ju dge the S p anish cities p ass each one carrying the relics
, ,

O f the saint and m art r it had long h ono u red and in w hose
y ,

gu ardianshi p it had trusted T

Ch i s t s in t ti h b i t t pl t is

m m m
r u o s a a a s ,

Ch i tu s ub i qu
r s t P i St p h n n i
e es .

er - e a , v.

O nu D u s d t

m
1 e q ati n
ex ra u a u e s cor sc

N b
m
ub e sub nix u s v eni et ru ente,

G ib s q
b mc p
ent u
justa positurus ae uo

d
b mi s
P on ere I ib ra
O r e de agno a ut ex citata
b
O vi a Ch r to prOperanter i it
s
m
Civi ta q u aequ e pretiosa portan s

m
D ona canistris

c mm
.

Sterne te tota s ci
s m
g en ero a san t s
Civ itas e u tu ul is ; deinde
Mox s s
re ur g ente s ani a et artu

T ota sequeris Per i-S tep h an n, iv .

 4 84 E A R L Y CHR IS TIANI T Y A ND PA GANIS M .

S u ch a p oe m w ith its lofty and so u l stirring im agery w ith its -

,

ne w strange beliefs is so m ething m ore than the o u tco m e of the

, ,

ins p iration of a solitary indi vidu al it is e vidently the ex p ression

,

o f a p eo p le s tho u ghts

.

P ru denti u s in m any of his startling and ro u sing v erses is

, ,

e v idently the m o u th p iece of a great mu ltit u de Erroneo u s and .

exaggerated tho u gh mu ch O f his teaching w as e v o k ing as it soon ,

did the w arning v oices of serio u s and res p onsible scholars lik e
the great A u gu stine there is no m istak ing its so u rce of in s p iration
, .

What P ru denti u s w rote and clearly him self belie v ed was witho u t
do u bt the p o pu lar creed of the p eo p le a m ong who m he li v ed ,

and who read and lo v ed the p athetic and so u l stirring lil ts of -

their fav o u rite song m an .

PA UL I N US OF N OL A .

NO R w as this o u tco m e of the last great p ersecu tion this

enthu sias m of the m asses for the Christian artyrs conned to
S pain and her p o pu lar p oet ; p recisely the sa m e de v otion to the
m ,
,

m artyr for the Faith the sa m e c u rio u s tr ust in the sup erh um an
,

efficacy of the m artyr s intercession is cons p icu o u s in the w ritings

of P a u lin u s of Nola who m ay be tak en as the re p resentati ve of

,

p o pu lar feeling in so u thern and central G au l and in Italy .

P au lin u s w as a conte mp orary of P r u denti u s his p oetry being ,

w ritten in the last qu arter of the fo u rth and early years of the
foll o w ing centu ry .

T his P a u linu s s p ent his yo u th and m iddle life in G a u l and

Italy and his later years excl u si v ely in Nola a city o f
, ,

Ca mp ania dying at an ad vanced age Bisho p of Nola abo u t the

, ,

year 4 3 1 .

H e w as the heir of a v ery noble and extre m ely w ealthy fa m ily ;

am ong his ancestors w ere not a fe w p ersons w ho had attained to
the highest dignities in the R o m an E mp ire G au l p ro u dly .

clai m s P aulin u s as one of her sons his father hav ing chosen as
,

his chief residence Bordea u x in which city the yo u ng Pa u linu s

,

w as born H e had for his t u tor the celebrated rhetorician and

.

p oet A u so ni u s who becam e later the t u tor o f G ratian the

, ,

E mp eror Valentinian s son A u soni u s w as extre m ely p ro u d of his

.
 FR O I PA G ANIS M TO CHR IS TIANI T Y . 4 85

pup il P a uli nu s and u sed his great in u ence to p roc u re his Sp eedy
,

ad vance m ent to the Cons u lar dignity and when Pa uli nu s ,

w ithdre w hi m self altogether fro m the w orld determ in ing to ,

app ly his great talents his enorm o u s w ealth and the p restige , ,

o f his e m inent na m e to de v otion and to furthering w hat he

dee m ed the bes t interests of Christianity his w hilo m t u tor ,

w arm ly and affectionately re m onstrated with hi m u rging hi m to ,

gi v e U p his ne wly for m ed p lans of life * It w as abo u t A D 3 8 9

-
. . .

tha t P a u lin u s nally ga v e up the w orld in which he p ro m ised to

p lay so brilliant a p art For so m e thirty v e years or m ore he .
-
,

resided at Nola a s m all Ca mp anian city where a li ttle basilica

, ,

had been erected o ver the to m b of S Felix a m artyred p resbyter .

, ,

w hose m e m ory w as tenderly cherished in that p art of Italy ,

a nd w hose Shrine w as the O bj ect o f the visit o f inn um erable

p i l gri m s T his basilica he reb u ilt at a great cost erecting

.
,

aro u nd it elaborate b u ildings for the entertain m ent of p ilgri m s

to the shrine .

m
D url ng th i s long p eriod o f retire m ent P a u lin u s by no m eans
ga v e up his literary labo u rs b u t he de v oted the m exclu si v ely to ,

religion H e has left behind h i a m ong other w ork s a v alu ab l e

.
, ,

v olum e o f letters and a still m ore interesting collection of p oe m s

, ,

m any of the m o f considerable m erit ; p oe m s w hich he wrote

a nn u all y o n the occasion o f the festi v al o f S
, Felix largely .
,

bearing on the m erits and good O ffices O f the saint to m en b u t ,

c ontain ing m any v i v id p ict u res ill u strati v e of the p o pu lar as p ects

o f Christianity in the latter years O f the fo u rt h and the early

years of the fth centu ry ; of which p oe m s so m e v e tho u sand

lines hav e been p reserved .

T he Sp ecial attraction w hich bro u ght the illu strio u s con v ert
to the shrine of Felix and indu ced hi m to s p end the long pro
tracted a u tum n of his life u nder the Shado w of the Ch u rch

m b qu sti
m d
t h i s f ou s M n of L tt s wh o
h eth e mm
m
I t h as een e on e w r or not a a e er ,

for a ti w eon f th
as ei n u nt i l p e s n g s f th e R n w o l d in th e
O e ore e a r o a e o o a r ,

s c n d h lf
e o f th e fou th c ntu y can b e p p l y te
a o r d a Ch i sti n O n th e
e r , ro er r e r a .

w h l it pp s th t t ll e nt utw dly h p f ss d Ch i sti an i ty I n h i

mm
o e a ear a a a ve s o ar e ro e e r . s

l i ttl o noth i ng i f und w h ic h indi cate s ny e l b lief in th e

m
w k s h ow

m m
or , e ev r, e r s o a r a e

d c t i nes of th F it h M B i ie in h i s t dy L F in l P g ni
m m
o r e a . . o ssii 1 1 r, s u e au a a s e, .
, ,

w ll s
e u u p th s p s i ti on h e of A u ni u s
e o E ide ent l e Ch ti ni s e a
re so :

v r a

g l i s su l ui et n ja ai s p en t jusqu a on a e

s r ,
a e r s .
4 86 E A R L Y CHRIS TIANI T Y A ND PA G ANISM .

which arose o v er the m artyr s to m b is not at rst sight v ery

e v ident .

It app ears ho we v er that w hen a boy he had been tak en to

, ,

the little basilica on the occasion o f the saint s yearly festi val
.

H is child m ind w as i mp ressed w ith what he saw the m iracle s

-
,

w ork ed by the p o w erful intercession of the saint the cro w d of ,

w orshi pp ers w ho thronged the little ch u rch the earnest de v otion ,

of the p ilgri m v isitors T hese things w ere n e v er so he tells us

-
.
,

hi m self forgotten ; and far o n in m iddle life the longing for

, ,

a closer w al k w ith G od grad u ally too k p ossession of hi m ,

absorbing all his tho u ghts colo u ring all h is p roj ects P aulin u s, .

attrib u ted this strange change p assing o ver hi m to the direct

inter v ention and m ediation of the m artyr saint G ratit u de to S -
. .

Felix determ ined hi m to x his p er m anent abode hard by the

to m b where the sacred re m ains rested H enceforth he w o u ld .

w atch o v er the holy s p ot hi m self w o u ld e v en e very m orning ,

p lay the h um ble p art o f s w ee p er of the threshold of the ch u rch ,

which he deter m ined to enlarge and beau tify m a king fresh and ,

a mp le p ro vision for the rece p tion and entertain m ent of the

m any p ilgri m s w ho in e v er increasing num bers frequ ented th e
,
-

holy p lace P au lin u s pu r p ose re m ained unchanged ; for so m e

.

thirty v e years he d welt in the little Camp anian city only

-
,

q u itting it once a year when he u sed to go to R o m e and p ray at

the hall o w ed shrines of the m artyr ap ostles SS P eter and P au l -
. .

In addition to the w ork he carried o u t in the basil ica and shrine

O f Feli x and in the p ilgri m s b u ildings adjacent he b u ilt a s m all
,

m onastery to u se a ter m w hich belonged to a so m e what late r

,

p eriod ; where w ith his w ife who m he ter m ed his Sister

, , ,

an d a fe w li k e m inded friends he led an au stere and self

-
,

m
denying life in which he asserted that he fo u nd a happ ines s
,

and delight u tterly u nk no wn to hi m in his for m er days ,

w hen as a w ealthy p atrician high in the fa v o u r of the E ,

e ror he p layed the p art of an i mp ortant R o m an O fficial of

p ,

the highest rank .

H o w dee p w as the attach m ent felt and the de v otion

sho w n to w ards the m artyr Felix not only by the p oor ,

and sick b u t by trained highly ed u cated m en li k e th e

, ,
-

c u ltu red P au linu s is Sho w n by s u ch an a p ostro p he as th e

,
 FR OM PA G ANIS M T O CHR IS TIANI T Y . 48 7

follo wing : Be k ind and p ro p itio u s to yo u r faithfu l follo wers

,

I hav e been tossed on the w aves o f the sea and on the b ea v

ing w aters of the w orld and I hav e co m e at last to s u ch a
,

q u iet hav en of rest close to thee I ha v e laid up m y bar k ,

and fastened it to thy shore .

O u r cloistered p oet d w ells on the n umber O f p ilgrim s to

the p o pu lar * shrine of the Nola m artyr E very year these .

de v otees gre w m ore n um ero u s T hey ca m e m any of the m .

, ,

fro m distant Italian p ro vinces and cities fro m A pu lia and ,

Calabria fro m Na ples and Capu a fro m L ati um and the

, ,

m etro p olis H e in du lges in so m e rhetorical ex p ressions w hen

.

he m entions the enth u sias m sho w n by citizens and d w ellers

m
in R o m e which sent her tho u sands to little Nola when
,

e ver the anni v ersary festi v al of S Felix ca m e ro u nd T he . .

A pp ian \ Vay he says w as literally hidden by the p ilgri

, ,

cro w d H e d w ells on the m iracles w hich he sa w w ork ed at

.

the shrine of his fav o u rite saint m iracles of healin g es p ecially , ,

o n the p ossessed by e v il s p irits Very k ind w as S Felix

. .

to all p oor fol k hence his widely extended p o pu larity H e

, .

tells u s h o w the gloried m artyr lo v ed to listen to the p rayers

of these h um ble de v otees and did not disdain to grant e v en ,

their c ur io u s requ ests for their sick beasts T hese he says .

, ,

w ere constantly healed as a res ul t of their p etitions .

B u t P au l in u s faith in the p o wer of hi s m artyr saint w ent

-

far beyond these co mp arati vely h um ble m anifestations of

s up ernatu ral p o w ers .

T he early years of the fth cent u ry w itnessed the begin

h ings o f the nal r u in of the R o m an E mp ire in the West .

When the i mm ediate danger of the in v asion of Radagaisu s

the S clav onian and his barbarian host w as a verted by the
, ,

v ictory O f S tilicho the general of H onori u s the ann u al p oe m ,

O f P a u lin u s in hono u r of his sain t co mm ences with a glad

note of tri umph I t w as in tr u th a strange hy m n of thank s
.

gi ving ; the w riter ascribes the great v ictory o f R o m an

civilisation o v er barbaris m to the intercession o f S Felix w ho .
, ,

mty s m
u niting his p rayers to the L ord w ith those of S S P eter and .

l i nus ind ulg s in pl y

Pau e a a on th e ar r

na e O f eli x Fe i lc e b
tuo ti i
p ae ul e N l

r s o a .
48 8 E A R L Y CH RIS TIANIT Y A ND P A G ANIS M .

P aul , had O btained a res p ite for the sorely harassed and -

threatened E mp ire I ts days w ere to be p rolonged in co u se.

u en ce o f the p o w erfu l m ediation o f these saints

q .

T he ascri p tion o f s u ch a m ediatorial influ ence to the

great A p ostles w as a grav e and u tterly baseless inno v ation

m
in the p ri m iti v e teaching contained in the M aster s G os p el

b u t to associate w ith these great ones in s u ch a tre m endo u s ,

res p onsibility a co mp arati vely u nkno w n artyr lik e S Felix

, .

O f N ola w as indeed to ad vance a no v el and a startling clai m ;

that it w as pu t for w ard by one s u bsequ ently so w ell k no wn
and re vered in the Chu rch as S P a u lin u s of Nola is a .

strik ing testi m ony to the exalted and exaggerated p osition to

w hich the m artyrs o f the p ersec u tions had attained at all ,

e v ents in the p o pu lar Christianity o f the day * .

( )
0 S . MA R TI N or T O U RS .

S M A R T I N Bisho p of T o u rs A D 3 1 6 9 7 in the co u rse

.
, ,
. .
,

m
O f the second half of the fo u rth cent u ry attracted enor m o u s
lo v e and v eneration fro m the num ero u s Christian congre
g atio ns of G au l lea v ing behind h i an u ns u
,
r p assed re pu ta
tion fo r de v otion and sy mp athy for bo u ndless charity and ,

k indness to all sorts and conditions of m en ; his bea u tifu l

life story is the chief s u bj ect of the writings of his e m inent
-

scholar disci p l e S ul p ici u s S e v er u s

m
-
S M artin follo w ed the
,
. .

alm ost u ni versal p ractice of his age in p aying extre m e re v er

ence and e v en w orshi p to the re ains of m artyrs for the
Faith O nly before sanctioning these acts of de v otion he
.
,

requ ired solid p roofs that the dead saint to be v enerated w as

in v ery tr u th deser ving of the hono u r w hich the cred u lo u s

m
p eo p le w ere only too ready to o ffer .

sp c t i
d l i s i h mh
It
p
y
ng th e
a

m
p ss i bl y pl d d
ys
o i
p s c ti s i
h s he
c
d i y ss t i s
q t d f md t i s
ea e

st i h
,
x
in e tenuat on of t e e e xt ao r r nar

Mo
a er on

H g

it s m
ow er of of th e to n uen th e

p m
th e art r

i th m
re e er e u on e

in H is ea ng ss t i s b
w t en , t at th e a er on a ov e uo e ro Pr u en u and

Pau li s l pp Nos th t s
h s p m h ym
of in and th e w r in ak u ed a

m
ng

mm
nu a a ear oe ; a er e

p ts lc c
oe

i ti
en e of e h i f i d pi ct s f
x s d
gg era on in t e r erv
a ure O th e u n een w orl . B ut
s s b d s c t i d
m
t e e oe , it u t b e re e ere , w ere of th e n atur e of n ,
a nd on a ne

w i th t d b t ou c d ou t
th e st i t s th y s i t i s c l
ree of th e dev ou and ear ne wr er ; e al o, ear, too
f i hf ll y
a t u s d c d d
r e pre ente ss p pl
th e
red en a

of th e a of th e eo e wh o rea and

istened to th s l i p p l i l s e e g o w ng o u ar l t .
 FR OJI PA GANIS M TO CHR IS TIANI T Y . 489

T he m ost strik ing feat u re of

S M artin s life is the enorm o u s
.

in u ence he e vidently exercised up on the ran k and le of the

p o pul ation in the great G allic p ro vinces .

H e w as no w riter o r scholar li k e the other three who m w e

ha v e here selected to d well on ; he w as si mp ly a m an O f rare
gifts in in s p iring symp athy T he al m ost bo u ndless p o w er which
.

he e vidently obtained o v er the hearts of the inhabitants of G au l

fro m abo u t the year 3 5 3 sho w s u s that a large p ro p ortion of
,

these p ro v incials if not already Christians w ere kin dly dis p osed
, ,

to the sect S M artin is re p resented by his de v oted biogra p her

. .
,

m
S ul p ici u s S e v eru s not as the great m issionary to a P agan
,

p eo ple b u t as co mp leting a w or k already largely d one H e is

, .

S p o k en of as the instr um ent by w hich the r e a in in g P aga n s

of Ga u l es p ecially in the so u thern and m iddle districts w ere

, ,

bro u ght to the confession of the Crucied .

A nd no s m all p ortion of his labo u rs w as de v oted to winning

o v er err ing Christians heretical Christians to the Catholic Faith
, ,
.

When full O f years and hono ur he p assed a w ay in the last year

, ,

o f the cent u ry w e hear of the citizens o f t w o i mp ortant

,

G alli c cities P oitiers and T o ur s w arm ly dis pu tin g the p ossession

, ,

o f the re m ains o f the lo v ed teacher ; and w hen T o u rs s u cceeded

in O btaining the co veted p rize the w hole city is re p resented as ,

c om ing ou t to m eet the body of S M artin together w ith abo u t .

,

two tho u sand m on k s .

( ol) I
DA MA SU S , B S H O P O F R O ME .

OF
m
the e m inent teachers and Christian leaders o f the fo u rth
cent u ry Da asus Bisho p of R o m e ( A D 3 6 6 p erhap s did

m
, , . .

m ore than any other to fu rther the c ul t of the m artyrs P o p e

m
.

Da asus w as a p ro m inent g u re in the Ch u rch life of that

cent u ry which w itnessed the tri u p h of Christianity thro ugho u t
the R o m an E mpire B u t the w ork for which he is best kno w n

m
.

is his elaborate restoration of the cataco mbs which as the ,

resting p lace of so m any m ar tyrs w ere an obj ect to h i of

-
,

s p ecial interest

m
.

It w as no m ere antiq u arian or e v en religio u s zeal for the , ,

w ork s of his fathers in the Faith which ins p ire d P o p e Da asus

 490 E A RL Y CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND PA GANIS M .

u ndertak e so m any and i mp ortant o p e ations in the City ofthe *

to r

Christian D ead ; b u t it was abo v e all an ardent de v otion to the

m artyrs whose re m ains had been de p osited there at different
p eriods It w as the sam e s p irit of lo v ing ad m iration for the
.

heroe s of the Faith an ad m iration which too q u ickl y shaded into

,

de v otion w hich ins p ired the p oe m s O f P a u lin u s of Nola the

, ,

sam e s p irit which li v es along the p ages of the hym ns of

P ru dentiu s o n T he Cro wns of the M artyrs a s p irit w hich m ay ,

be regarded as a re m ark able featu re O f p o pu lar Ch ristianity in

m
the rst years of its tri ump h
D a asu s long and p atient w or k w as a labo u r o f lo v e

i mm ense p ains and care in m any pl acesThe re m o ved the earth

With
.

m
and re o p ened the closed corridors and se pu lchral cha m bers
-
,

which had been earthed up in the days of the D ecian or -

D iocletian p ersec u tions ; b e w idened a v ast n u ber of the

p assages so as to m ak e the m accessible to the cro w ds of
p ilgri m s w ho fro m all land s w andered to R o m e to p ray at these
, , , ,

sacred shrines O f the dead ; an d e v en constru cted m any ights

of stairs leading do wn to the m ore ill u strio u s to m bs In so m e .

m ore s p ecial cases he adorned the cham bers w ith costly m arbles ,

and o p ened shafts to ad m it air and light w hen it w as p racticable , ,

m
to facilitate the p ilgri m v isits In nearly all the cataco m bs .

that ha v e yet been inv estigated traces of these labo u rs of P o p e ,

D a asus hav e been fo u nd and as the exca v ations ad v ance , ,

frag m ents large and s m all O f the bea u tifully ch iselled inscrip
, ,
-

tions of his fa m o u s artist Fil o cal us are constantly being fo u nd ,

.

T he w or k s carried o u t d u ring his Pon ticate ga v e a great

i mp etu s to that p assion for p ilgri m age to the m artyrs shrines

which becam e henceforth a m ark ed and end u ring feat u re in

Christian life .

S o p ersistent and so general had this c ult of the m ar tyrs

f beco m e that grav e alar m w as excited am ong certain of the m ore

p M c l l i nu s B i s h p f R
Po 29 6 3 08 nd h i s d

m
cnS u m mm
m
e ar e ,
o o o e A D . .
, a ea o e v er s

for in s t n c
a t h d p th f u s P p l c yp t in th c t c b f S C l l i tu
e , ear e - u e a o a a r e a a o o . a s s,

dj c nt c h b s T h s w in p t x c t d by P p D
m
nd

m
and th e a a e a er . ue e ere ar e av a e o e a as s a

st d
m
re ore .

1 On
*
f th ins c i p t i n s f P p D
e O e u f und n th t b f S E ty h i
r o o o e a as s, o o e o O . u c us

in th e c t c b f S S b st i n un s
a a o o f ll ws QU E RI T U R I N VE NT US
. e a a ,
r as o o : ,

CO L I TU R
Ph oto Ma ria ni , Ro m
e .

m m m
T HE T O MB O F S E U S E B l US, B SHI O P A ND MA R T YR A D 8 1 0
m
. . .
. ,

A Ch b
a er in th C e t y fSe e er o Cal l istus Th e i n s c i p t i i s Si x th C t y st t i
r on a en ur re ora on of th t
a

p t p by P p D ts w f d th
. .

u u o e a asus, of Wt ll f
rag en ere oun on e oor.
 FR OM PA GANIS M T O
'

CH R I S TI A NI T

tho ughtful Christian theologians A note O f w arning was .

str u c k p erhap s w ith o v er mu ch bitterness by one Vigil antius

,
-
, ,

in who m so m e hav e seen a v ery early p ioneer of L u ther Vigilan .

ti u s born in A qu itaine in S o u thern G a u l abo u t A D 3 7 0 w as a

, , , . .
,

friend p ossibly a pup il of S ul p ici u s S e v er u s of w ho m w e ha v e

, , ,

already s p ok en as the co mp anion and biogra p her of S M artin .

of T o u rs For a ti m e he li v ed in so m e inti m acy w ith P a u lin u s

.

O f Nola and w ith J ero m e H e w as s u bseq u ently ordained and .

beca m e a p resbyter settling in G a u l or p erha p s in S p ain ; , ,

in his later life he w rote a w ork which O btained considerable ,

celebrity against s up erstitio u s p ractices notably against relic

, ,

w orshi p and the vigils in the basilicas O f the m artyrs T he

m
.
,

treatise in q u estion is lost and is only k no w n to u s thro u gh the ,

writing of J ero m e Con tr a Vig ila n ti i t in which w or k the

, ,

great L atin D octor bitterly in v eighs against the o p inions of the

G allic di v ine L argely it w o u ld see m in conseq u ence of this
.
, ,

u nfa v o u rable j u dg m ent of J ero m e Vigilantius ca m e to b e ,

rank ed a m ong heretics B u t the note of alar m which he str u c k .

gi v es u s so m e indication that the exaggerated re v erence for

m artyrs up on which w e hav e been d w elling w as grav ely m isli k ed ,

at least by a section of theol ogical teachers .

B u t a far m ore considerable theologian than Vigil antius w as

also dist u rbed at the rap id gro w th and u ni v ersal p re v alence of
the m artyr c u lt T he great A u g u stine ( A D 3 5 4 4 3 0) bitterly
F
. . .

grie ves o v er the p o pu lar s up erstition which led u ned u cated and
s up erstitio u s cro w ds to k neel in adoration before the to m bs O f
fa m o u s confessors of the Faith H e tak es so m e p ains to dene .

the style of ho m age w hich m ight fairly be p aid to saints and

m artyrs We he w rites do not treat these as deities ; w e
.
, ,

ha v e no intention of i m itating the P agans here w ho adore the ,

dead w e erect no te mp les in their hono u r w e adorn for the m no

, ,

altars b u t w ith their re m ains w e raise an altar to the one

,

When the relics of S S tep hen w ere bro u ght w ith great cere m ony
.

to A u g u stin e s ch u rch at H i pp o he too k the greatest p ains that

the enth u sias m of the p eo p le Sho u ld be restrained fro m all

m m m
extra vagant excesses .

C p S A ug
o D M il
are E .
7 6 an d S
, one27 3 28 0 or s co. ,
er s , ,

3 1 8 , 3 25 .
 4 92 E A R L Y CHR IS TIANI T Y A ND PA GANIS M .

Yet
in s p ite of sober theologians of the Catholic Chu rch the
m ischief to a great extent w as done B u t w ith the theological .

q u est ion w ith ,

the conseq u ent errors and s up erstition so disg u ring
to Christianity the historian has little to do ,
We hav e d w elt at .

so m e length up on this strange de v elo pm ent so general and ,

so w ides p read beca u se it s p rang al m ost w ho ll y and entirely ou t

,

i of the last and nal p ersec u tion o f D iocletian

s T hat s up re m e .

e ffort of P aganis m w as as w e ha v e seen gigantic far reaching , , ,

-
,

des p erate It harried u nco u nted tho u sands of e v ery class and
.

order : the s u fferings which p aganis m inicted up on its Chris

ti an foes w ere indeed terrible b u t the v ery m agnitu de of the ,

l effo rt w as one of the ca u ses of its u lti m ate its co mp lete defeat
r

, .

T here w ere of co u rse so m e p erhap s m any Christians whose

, , , ,

hearts failed the m in v ie w of the a wfu l s u ffering w hich lay

before the m B u t o n the w hole the co u rage the brav e p atience
.
, , ,

the noble constancy of the Christian congregations enabled ,

the m to end u re all rather than fail A v ery great n um ber shed .

their blood and in p ain and agony borne in bra v e p atience for
, ,

the Na m e s sak e p assed to their rest in the P aradise of G od
, .

Many m ore w ho w ere not conde m ned to death end u red the loss
, ,

o f all things that m ade life p leasant and j oyo u s .

B u t all this great s u ffering the noble p atient end u rance of , ,

the confessors the s p ilt blood of the m artyrs w as no t for no u ght

, , .

l Innum erable P agan bystanders w atched and when at last the ,

p ersec u tors stayed their hands and the Christians w ere left ,

alone largely o wing to their p ersec u tors gro w ing w eary o f

,

inicting w rong s and s u ffering up on an u nresisting fol k mu lti ,

t u des w ho had seen and m ar v elled ho w their old foes had borne
,

all had s u ffered and had died rather than recant determ ined to
, ,

thro w in their l o t w ith the strange p eo p le w ho had been

e v idently hel p ed in the deadly stru ggle by so m e u nseen ,

m ighty p o w er .

T his is the ex planation of the s u dden con v ersion to Ch ristianity

/ of a large p ortion of th e s u bj ects of the great E mp ire on the
K

T h e g rav e injur on e to th e r tua yd

e o f th e C ur sp i i l l i f h ch of th e fou th
r

c t y by
en ur , d ci
th e in tro u t on of t ese nov e t e nto h er tea h
ng , is al li si ch i l ud d t
e o in th e
x h p
n e t C a ter (XV ) II
 FR OM PA GANIS M TO C H R IS TIANI T Y . 4 93

m orro w o f the p rocla m ations by the G o v ern m ent of P eace

for the Ch u rch .

T he reasons of the extra v agant glorication o f th e m artyrs

o n w hich w e ha v e j u st d w elt are n o t far to see k NO hono u r .

w as too great to sho w to the m ore cons p icu o u s a m ong the late
s u fferers for the Faith T he old m an and the yo u ng girl the .
,

senator and the slav e who in es p ecially trying circ um stances , ,

had Sho w n the s ubli m e co u rage O f the Christian m artyr becam e ,

at once the O bj ects of p opu lar re verence Nay m ore those .

, ,

noble so u ls who had borne so s p lendid a w itness w ere s u rely ,

n ow so m any lo v ed to thin k v ery close to the M aster for Who m

, , ,

and for Whose cau se they had died ; s urely H e co u ld refu se

nothing to s u ch bra v e and de v oted ser v ants * T hey w o u ld as k .

th ese gloried ones who had been so l ately a m ong the m of their ,

comp any in their ho m es p artners of their sorro w s and their oys

, , ,

to Sp eak for the m to their L ord T hey the m artyrs s u rely had .
, ,

only to ask a b oon and it w o u ld be at once granted H ence the

, .

m artyr c u lt Its genesis is n ot difc u lt to gras p I t w as of course a

. .
, ,

sad error and a grie v o u s one de p lorable indeed in its far

, ,

reaching consequ ences b u t we can u nderstand exactly ho w it ,

cam e abo u t .

Th e

I t in s p i d n
p s i n t e n c f th s b l y p ti n t n
feel i ng
e as o
of

f th n b l s t p ss g s in n
e
a s o

T th s s k w n t p cul i t th n nd w n f th f u th nd f t h c ntu i s
ru

a ar

f u l t s t p hi l
a e r ev re

ph ic w i t s
f th
e m m e a
e or

o
e e

e o
rav e

e o
a

r
e

a
s erers

e
or

r e
e

m
re o e o e o e a a e o e o o r a e oso r er .

F th l f t h i D i in M t c us t h y b li d t b t u
mm mm
or e ov e o f th e r v e as er, or e a e e e ev e o e r e,

k g i l n du d th s th i ng s w i th ut in hin g w h n n w d
m
e n nd
a n w ev e ea r s e re e e o c ,
e o e or

w ld h f d th f th i uff in g N p ini n w y f

m m
ou av e ree e ro f th
e r s er s . O o o e a or o e

p c ding f p i s t in a l t g s h l d i p i th
ro ee s o r e s nc w i th w hi c h
a er a e ou ar e rev er e e

w b nd b f tyr s t b L ec k y H i t f E u p n M l l i

e e th e ore e ar o . : s . o ro ea ora s, vo . .
,

c h p iii pp 4 9 7 8
a . .
, . .
 4 94

C H A P T E R XVII .

AF ET R TH E PE A CE O F TH E CH U R CH .

SE C TI ON I .
CH R I ST I A N I TY A ND TH E FA L L O F TH E E MP IRE .

To the reader of th e foregoing chap ters of this v ol um e con ,

taining the recital o f the great stru ggle bet w een Christianity
and P aganis m a fe w p ressing qu estions natu rally s u ggest
,

the m sel v es res p ecting the fortu nes of the Ch u rch after the
great and s u dden change which p assed o v er it in the rst
q u arter of the fo u rth cent u ry .

Withou t atte mp ting anything li k e a connected history O f

the years which directly follo w ed the Edict of M ilan a ,

brief rep ly m ay be gi ven to the qu estions which see m to p ress

for an imm ediate ans w er T hese are introd u ced by th e
.

inqu iries :
( )
1 What bro u ght abo u t the s u dden and ra p id con v ersion
O f the m aj ority of the p eo p les O f the E mp ire ?

Was the r u in o f the E mp ire the res u lt of the barbarian

( )
2 ,

inv asions in the centu ry follo w in g the general acce p tance of

Ch ristianity attrib u table in any way to this acce p tance of
,

Christianity
( 3 ) What w as the attitu de of Christianity to w ards the
u nhapp y citizens of the fallen E mp ire and the s w ar m s O f ,

barbarian inv aders w ho in the fo u rth an d fth centu ries

o v erran her territories s w ee p ing a w ay R o m an society thro u gh
,

o u t all the Western p ro v in ces inclu ding G au l Britain S p ain

, , , ,

Italy and North A frica ?

,

( 1 ) T he rst of
these q u estions What bro u ght abo u t the
,

s u dden and ra p id con v ersion o f the m aj ority o f the p eo p les

o f the E mp ire ? has been already to u ched up on I t see m s .

that a dee p i mp ression w as m ade up on the inhabitants of

 A F TER THE PE A CE O F THE CH UR CH . 4 95

m any of the p ro v inces by the behav io u r o f the Christians

in the co u rse o f the last terrible p ersec u tion carried on u nder
the na m e of D iocletian and his colleag u es so that when the

m
,

I mp erial decree in fa v o u r o f the long p ersec u ted sect w as p ro

ulgated it fo u nd a ready acce p tance a m ong the mu ltitu des .

B u t mu ch had been done already by the teaching and prac

tice of the Christians to w ards gaining the hearts O f the p eo p le
d u ring the p receding t w o and a half cent u ries T he seed .

had been so wn and it only needed the p o w erfu l i mpu lse to

,

which w e hav e been referring to m at u re it M en had grad u ally

.

co m e to see what Christianity really w as what a pu re and ,

noble syste m it tau ght and h ow cap able it w as O f reali sation

,

in action . A m id th e soften ing in u ence o f p hiloso p hy and

ci v ilisation it tau ght the s up re m e sanctity of lo v e T o the .

slav e w ho had ne v er before exercised so large an in u ence o v er

R o m an religio u s life it w as the religion of the s u ffering and the
o pp ressed . T o the p hiloso p her it w as at once the echo of
the highest ethics of the later S toics and the ex p ansion O f
,

the best teaching of the school O f Plato T o a w orl d thirst .

ing for p rodigy it o ffered a history re p lete w ith w on d ers .

T O a w orld that had gro w n v ery w eary gazing on the cold ,

p assionless grande u r which Cato realised and w hich L u can

sang it p resented an ideal o f co mp assion and O f lo v e an
, ,

ideal destined for cent ur ies to dra w aro u n d it all that w as

greatest as w ell as all that w as noblest on earth a T eacher

m
wh o co u ld w ee p by the se pu lchre of H is friend w ho w as
to u ched w ith the feeling O f our inr ities T o a w orld in
ne distracted by hostile creeds and colliding p hiloso p hies
,
.
,

it tau ght its doctrines not as a h um an s p ec u lation b u t as a

,

D i vin e re v elation .
O ne great ca u se of its s u ccess w as that
it p rod u ced m ore heroic actions and for m ed m ore up right
m en than any other creed T here w as no do u bt that
.

Christianity had transform ed the characters of mu ltitu des ,

v iv ied the cold heart by a ne w enth u sias m redee m ed , ,

regenerated and e m anci p ated the m ost dep rav ed of m ank ind .

Noble li ves cro w ned by heroic deaths w ere the best argu
, ,

m ents O f the infant Ch u rch T heir ene m ies no t infre

.

q u entl y ac k no wledg ed it T he lo v e sho w n by the early

.
 4 96 EA R L Y CHR IS TIANI T Y A ND P A G ANIS M .

Christians to their s u ffering brethren has ne v er been m ore

e mp haticall y attested than by L u can or the beau tifu l si m ,

plicity o f their w orshi p than by P liny o r their ardent charity ,

than by Ju lian .

( )
2 T he second q u estion stands th u s : Was the ru in of the

E mp ire bro u ght abo u t by the barbarian in v asions in the cent u ry

,

follo wing the general acce p tance O f Christianity attrib u table ,

in any w ay to this acce p tance of Christianity ?
T he acc u sati on that in the abandon m ent of the ancient
religion o f the E mp ire mu st be so u ght and fo u nd the cau se
of the m isfort u nes and r u in o f the w orld w ide R o m an -

do m ination reaches bac k to the fo u rth and fth cent u ries ,

the e p och O f the r u in and m isfortu ne T he rst and in .

so m e w ays the m ost ob v io u s p lea u rged at that ti m e w as

that the desolation o f the E mp ire w as o win g to the anger
of the deserted and o ffended gods who nat u rally left to the m ,

selv es p eo p les who had conte mp t u o u sly abandoned their

w orshi p ; a p lea pu t for w ard w ith earnestness and zeal by
belie v ers in P aganis m still no inconsiderable n um ber in those
centu ries w hen the great change in belief w as p assing o v er
the R o m an w orld b u t this does not no w de m and serio u s con
,

sideration O ther reasons h o w e v er for s upp osing that the

.
, ,

ado p tion of Christianity contrib u ted to the r u in of the E mp ire

ha v e been ad vanced w hich m erit a m ore gra v e attention .

It has been u rged w ith considerable tru th that in the old

w orld the w orshi p o f local deities ins p ired the d w ellers in the
city and co u ntry w here these deities w ere the es p ecial O bject
o f adoration with an intense s p irit o f p atriotis m T he .

deities w ere identied w ith the city and co u ntry and noble ,

deeds O f de v otion and self sacrice w ere p erfor m ed in the

-

serv ice of the god u nder w hose p rotecting care the city o r
co u ntry o u rished ; all this p atriotic senti m ent w as w eak ened ,

p erhap s exting uished by Christianity which s w e p t aw ay all

, ,

local O bj ects of adoration s u bstitu ting in their p lace O ne

,

G od w ho lo v ed all p eo p les cities and co u ntries w ith the sam e

, ,

p itying b u t changeless lo v e T h u s it is said Christianity

.
, ,

L cky E u p n M
e : l c h p iii pp 4 1 2 4 1 9 4 4 1
ro ea or a s, a . .
,
.
-
,
.
 A F TER TH E P EA CE O F THE CH UR CH . 4 9 77

destroyed th e p atriotic herois m w hich w o u ld u nder the old ,

state o f things hav e defended the E mp ire against the bar

m
,

barian in v aders B u t the tru th is that this ancient feeli ng

.

of p atriotis had been extingu ished long before Christianity

w as ado p ted as the religion of the E mp ire A lready in .

R o m e strange deities s u ch as Mithras and S erap is had largely

, ,

tak en the p lace of the O l d national obj ects of w orshi p foreign

gods w hose w orshi p co uld insp ire no s p ecial p atriotic feeling ;

m
and the sa m e change had p assed o ver the p ro v incial centres

m
.

T he m ischief if it w ere a m ischief dates long before the years

, ,

of the fo u r th cent u ry w hen Christianity w as b eg n g to be,

generall y acce p ted .

O ther and v ery different ca u ses p reci p itated the r u in of

the m ighty E mp ire a ru in w hich altho u gh coincident w ith
, ,

the v ictory of Christianity w as in no w ay connected w ith its

m
,

ado p tion T hese cau ses had been long at w ork for the
.
,

E mp ire both m orall y and p ol itically had been for

,
any ,

years in a condition of m anifest decline Wi th in m ay b e .

,

noted in this connection the increase of the sla v e p o pu lation

and the conseq u ent grav e deterioration o f m orals the gro w th ,

of l u x u ry the grad u al decrease of p o pu lation the e v er

, ,

au g m enting taxation w hich reached its c u l m inating p oint in

,

the last decades of the third cent u ry u nder D iocletian w hen ,

the condition of the p eo p le u nder the enor m o u s scal b u rdens

they w ere called up on to bear beca m e al m ost intolerable .

With ou t t e p resence f the barbarian nations on all the

h ,
o *

frontiers of the E mp ire a p ress u re which the enfeebled p ro ,

vinces each s u cceeding year w ere less able to resist Bu t all .

these things w ere of O lder date than the fo u rth and fth
cent u ries and none o f the m can be referred to Christianity ;
,

they m ade up an e v il heritage up on w hich the Christianised

E mp ire entered b u t the state of thin gs w as e mp hatically n o t
,

o ne for which it w as in any w ay res p onsible .

We hav e ho w e ver to face the fact that on the m orro w

m s m m
, , ,

p b l mc
b b i p p s
s
Th e
t d
i l y s dd
enor

l i c
ou an d

hir
ee ng u en in c rea es in th e
fo l ow n g entu i es on all s i d es O f th e E
nu b s
m m pi
s er of the e

sm m
ar ar an eo l e in th e an d r re is
a ro e bw hi h h as nev er y et
si een e x h au t el y d i s c uss ed an d re
v an ,
i s i d d ,
n ee

o hing
et s i i of a y te y to th e h r stor an .

G G
4 98 EA R L Y CHR IS TIANIT Y A ND PA GANISM .

so to s p eak of the cessation of p ersec u tion of the Ch u rch qu ickly

, ,

follo wed by the recognition and acce p tance of Christianity as

the religion of the R o m an w orld the E mp ire fell to p ieces ; ,

Christianity p ro ving p o w erless to stav e off or e v en for a single ,

m
ho u r to delay the u tter r u in Nor does it see m in any ap
,
.

reciab l e degree after its al m ost general ado p tion to ha v e

p , ,

s u cceeded in transfor m ing the P agan society o r in ak ing it ,

m ore cap able o f resisting the form idable hordes of in v aders .

In the cent u ry w hich follo w ed the con v ersion of Con stantine

and the Edict of M ilan society in all its grades contin u ed as
,

ho p elessly corrup t as before ; nor w as any stren u o u s effort

m ade to w ard off the u tter r u in which e v entu ally o v ertoo k
the R o m an ci vilisation In the co u rse o f this sorro w fu l
.

c ent u ry a gro up of singu larly able and earnest Christian

teachers and writers arose s u ch as A m brose and Au gu stine , ,

J ero m e and Chrysosto m O rosiu s and S alv ian who tell u s

, ,

w itho u t disgu ise what w as the feeling of the Ch u rch and ,

ad m irably v oice the ho p es th e fears and o u tloo k s of the , ,

m ore serio u s Christians of their day and ti m e T here is no .

do u bt that they w ere at rst grie v o u sly disa pp ointed w ith

the res u lts of the con v ersion o f the R o m an w orld T heir sad .

w ords ha v e been w e ll described as a long cry of grief ; they

felt the m sel ves s w allo w ed up by P agan corr up tion Civ il .

society li k e religio u s society a pp eared Christian

,
The ,
.

S o v ereign s and the i mm ense m aj ority of the p eo p le had e m

braced Christianity b u t at botto m civil society w as P agan
, , , ,

it retained the institu tions the law s and the m anners of , ,

P aganis m It was a society w hich P aganis m and no t Chris

.

tianity had A nd yet for that society th e Chu rch felt

itself in so m e degree res p ons ible .

Besides this there w ere v ario u s other cau ses at w ork w hich
acco u nt for the Ch u rch s early failu re to transform this v ast

R o m an society w hich h ad ado p ted its religion .

We m ay to u ch up on certain of the m ore O b v io u s of these .

( a ) When all or w ell nigh all w ere Christians or at least

,
-
, ,

no m inally Christians the inu ence of the Ch u rch on the life

,

o f the indi v id u al or on the life

,
of society in general was ,

G ui t H i t d l Ci il i ti n n F n L ct I I
z o s . e a v sa o e ra ce, e . .
 A F TER THE PE A CE OF THE CH UR CH . 499

r e norm o u sly re du ced T he co mp arati v ely little body of really .

earnest belie vers w as lost in the great mu ltitu de of p rofesse d

Christians v ery m any of w ho m re m ained se m i P agans at heart
-
,

T his so called Christian society w as ex p osed to all the te pta

tions sanctioned by the P aganis m o f the E mp ire O f w hich
-

,
m .

the gladiatorial gam es are a p ro m inent exa mp le T hese .

ga m es al m ost inconcei v able in their atrocity w ere the fav o u rite

, , ,

e v en the habit u al a mu se m ent of the society of the E mp ire ;

,

and the arrange m ents for their p erform ance eclip sing e very ,

other m onum ent O f I mp erial m agnicence are still a m ong ,

the m ost i mp osing relics o f ol d R o m e We mu st re m e m ber .

when w e s p eak or write o f these horrible s p ectacles that the ,

m ain di version of all classes of the p eo p le w as the s p ectacl e of

bloodshed ; O f the death so m eti m es of the tort u re not only , ,

o f ani m als b u t o f h um an beings T he ghastly fascination .

and the inh um an in u ence of these gam es O f the a mphi

theatre p ervaded the whole text u re o f R o m an life they b e

,

cam e the co mm on place o f con v ersation the v ery children ,

i m itated the m in their p lay the p hiloso p hers dre w fro m the m ,

their m etap hors and ill u strations T he artists p ortrayed the m .

in e very v ariety o f ornam ent A s late as the closing years .

o f the fo u rth cent u ry w e read o f the P refect S ymm ach u s w ho

m
,

w as regarded as one of the m ost esti m able o f the lo v ers of

the old r eg i e collecting so m e S axon p risoners to ght in

hono u r of his son T hey strangled the m sel v es in p rison and .

,

Sy mm ach u s m o u rned o ver the m isfortu ne that had b efallen

hi m fro m their i mp io u s b ands T A fe w years later e ven S .

Au gu stine rel ates ho w one of his friends being attracted to ,

the A mp hitheatre endea v o u red by sh u tting his eyes to g u ard

,

against a horrible fascination which he k ne w to be Sinfu l A .

s u dden screa m cau sed hi m to o p en the m an d he ne v er co u ld ,

w ithdraw his gaze again i

( b ) A nother cau se of the see m ing p o w erlessness o f the
Le c ky E ur op ean Morals H is p ic tu of th e p p ul m sms ent at hs
t i

m
: . re o ar a u e

p ider o , an d t h ei r e ffec t on th e li v es of th e p pleo e, is v er y id

v iv . S ee 3V0] I . .
,

ch p pp 28 73 05 ,

m
m
xi and too, B oissier La P ag anis e, 1ivre v
a . .
, . see, : fin da .
,

ch p a . xi .

1 S
'

y c a h us E p ist 1 1 , 4 6
. .

I S A ug
. . Confess . vi
. 8 .
5 00 EA RL Y CHR IS TIANI T Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

Ch u rch to regenerate or e v en m ateria lly to in u ence society

in the R o m an E mp ire in the fo u rth centu ry mu st be so u ght

in the fatal schis m which app eared in her co mmu nities in
the rst years which follo w ed her v ictory It w as a schis m .

w hich threatened her very existence and affected to an ,

a l m ost in calc u lable ex tent her in u ence for good A rianis m .

,

w ith its s u btle s u ggestions casting do u bt on the s up re m e

di vinity O f the blessed Fo u nder o f the religion sapp ed the ,

fu ndam ental doctrines of Christianity ; and w ith its a pp eals

to u nassisted h um an reason rap idly O btained a w ide tho u gh , ,

a co mp arati v ely short li v ed p o pu larity S trangely eno u gh -

, .

this A rianis m fo u nd allies all p o w erfu l for a season on the , ,

I mp erial throne T he great Constantine gav e ear to its

.

teachers Matters w ere e ven w orse u nder his s u ccessors

. .

T he E mp eror Constanti u s ( A D 3 3 7 3 6 1 ) pu t hi m self at . .

the head of the A rians and cr u elly p ersec u ted the Catholics ,
.

Valens E mp eror of the East an Ar ian l ik e Con

, , ,

stantius w as a still m ore v iolent

,

S J ero m e w riting at the close of the fo u rth centu ry

.
, ,

u ses the follo w ing strong ex p ression on the s u bj ect of the

w ide p re valence of this heresy : T he w hole w orld groaned
,

and w as astonished to nd itself A rian T .

It is tr u e that the w hole w orld to u se J ero m e s so m e
,

what rhetorical ex p ression in after years w o k e up fro m its ,

fe v erish drea m and the Catholic faith regained its e mp ire

,

o v er the hearts of the large m aj ority O f Christian belie v ers ,

while A rianis m w as grad u all y relegated to the p osition of a

sect w hich as tim e p assed on becam e e ver less and less
, , ,

in u ential B u t long before the Catholic doctrine had re

.

co v ered its s up re m acy in the Chu rch the great change ha d ,

p assed o ver the R o m an w orld and the E mp ire had v irt u ally ,

ceased to exist A m ong the cau ses w hich m arred the

.

Chu rch s in u ence in the early days O f its ado p tion as the
religion of the E mp ire the w ides p read A rian heresy holds a
cons p ic u o u s p lace
m m
.

m
m ss i S Jero
'

iratus

B oss uet
.

est se e
Ci nqaie
e :

e
D ia l
.

.
e

adv
A thoer tisse
. L ac.
, 0
.
ent aa x

xix . I ng e m
Pr otestants, C 1 8
uit
. .

totu s or bis , et A rianu m

 A F TER THE P E A CE OF THE CH UR CH . 5 01

( 0) With so m ew hat greater cau tion m ay be add u ced

another p robable cau se for the Ch u rch s i mp otence in the

m atter of the reno v ation of the corr up t and dissol u te P agan

society of the fo u rth centu ry .

Ju dging fro m the clear and denite p ict u res p ainted by

the p o pu lar Christian p oe t P r u den tiu s the p oe m s and w ritings

m
,

o f P a u lin u s O f Nola and the ideals they exhibit the side

, ,

lights thro w n on the life of the Ch u rch by P o p e Da asus

o f R o m e * the
,
stern re p roaches of Vigil antius the gra v e
w arnin gs of A u g u stine the Ch u rch o f the days w hich i
m ediately follo w ed the P eace established by Constantine the
,

m ,

Chu rch of the fo u rth cent u ry w as c u rio u sly w eak ened w ith
,

strange s up erstitions T he c u lt O f the m artyrs had introd uced

.

into the p o pu lar belief ele m ents q u ite u nk no w n to the pro

fessors of the Faith in the rst days ele m ents u tterly foreign ,

to the p ri m iti v e teaching of the G os p el S u ch no v elties in .

m atters of belief and p ractice no do u bt grie v o u sly detracted

fro m the sp ir itu a l p o w er of the Ch u rch H o w dee p ly these .

g ra v e errors had sa pp ed the life of Chri s tianity at that ti m e

is hard to m eas u re b u t that s u ch teaching w as w ides p read
,

L a nd p o pu lar is al m ost certain .

( 3 ) T he startling rap idity wi th w hich at the close the , of

fo u rth and d u rin g the rs t half o f the fth centu ry the ,

oods of barbarian inv asion one qu ickl y foll o w in g on the

,

o ther , o v er whel m ed all the fairest and richest p ro vin ces O f

the R o m an E mp ire ca m e as a terrible s u rp rise up on all sorts
,

m
m
a nd conditions of m en G enerall y s p eak ing the resistance
.
,

o f the I mp erial forces w as feeble half hearted and ill directed -

;
-
, ,

o nly o ne cons p ic u o u s exa mp le o f a great co ander can be

w ith certainty qu oted as havin g arisen in that p eriod of
tre m endo u s disaster S tilicho s camp aign against Radagaisus

.
,

w hich resu lted in the hordes O f that fa m o u s barbarian

Chieftain being forced to retire fro m Italy stands o u t in bold ,

relief am ong the co u ntless disasters which ter m in ated in the

All th s
f ou t h and th e
r
e e v ariou

ear er
e e

li y s of th e fth c ntu y h
ear
e m
s p i c s of t s ti ony b lon ging to th s c n d h lf of th e
, e

b en dw l t up on at s
e r ,
av e e
e e o

e
a

o m
e
l ength in th e p c eding c h pte
re a r .
5 02 E A R L Y CHRIS TIANI T Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

total r u in of the Western and m ore i mp ortant di vision of th e

*
R o m an E mp ire T he follo w ing ro u gh ta b le of so m e of the
.

p rinci p al inv asions and their dates w ill Sho w at a glanc e

what b efel the h ap less R o m an w orl d in these sad years
Cir ca A. D .

A l aric s inv asion Greece and So uth ern E urope

3 96 of

4 00 3 -
of I tal y .

m
4 06 Radagaisus invad es I tal y ( b ut is d efeated b y S ti l ich o) .

m
Gaul .

A l ar ic and h is Goth s in I tal y ; rst sieg e of R o e

m
4 08 .

4 09 Second sieg e of Ro e .

410 k k
A l aric ta es and sac s R o e and rav ag es I tal y .

412 A d ol ph us, King of th e Goth s, ov erruns and seiz es Gaul .

409 Th e Sue v i, Vand al s, and A l ans inv ad e Spain .

415 8 Th e Goth s inv ad e and conq uer Spain .

43 0 9 -
Genseric and th e Vand als overrun and conquer North A frica .

45 0 3 -
A ttil a and th e H uns ov errun I tal y and Gaul .

A t the close of the fou rth and in the early years 01 th e

fth cent u ry the m ore tho u ghtfu l of the R o m an p eo p le ,

strange to say w ere still a pp arently u nconscio u s of the u tter

,

r u in which m enaced the E mp ire and the whole fabric of

R o m an society Clo u ds of barbarians no t only m enaced th e
.

frontiers b u t had already in v aded m any of the p ro vinces

, ,

had e v en p enetrated into Italy and ha d been seen at the ,

gates of R o m e Yet in s p ite of these o m ino u s w arnings m en

.
,

still believ ed in the m aj esty of the i mm e m orial city and w ere ,

p ers u aded that the hordes of in v aders w o u ld be rolled bac k

fro m her gates and that the for m idable inv asions w ere b u t
,

transient calam ities T he v ictories of S tilicho o v er A laric

.
,

and m ore cons p ic u o u sly o v er Radagaisus w ere hym ned in ,

ex u ltant langu age by the Christian p oet P au linu s of Nol a

and by the P agan song m an Clau dian Clau dian esp ecially
-
.

v oiced pu blic o p inion w hen he s u ng O f the R o m an p o w er as

of so m e thing w hich recognised no ter m s no li m it and , ,

p ointed to the barbarian arm ies eeing before S tili cho as a

m
strik ing object lesson for the inv aders f
-

s i st n c f ZE tiu t A tti l nd th H uns w n t unti l th i ddl

m m
Th e re a e o s o a a e as o e e

f th fth c ntu y w h n ll w l dy l st T h f c s t
m
f ZE tiu w

mm
o e e r , e a as a rea o . e or e ,
oo, o s ere

ainl y c p s d f G t h s nd F nk s
o o e o o a ra .

I f Dis ci t n R n n t
e v esa n g n t s
aeC l u d
o i n
a D b l loG t 6
e 4 7 ere e e .

a a : e e o e , .
 A F TER THE P EA CE O F THE CH UR CH . 5 03

B u t all these dream s O f s afety w ere r u dely dissi p ated by the

fall and sack of Ro m e in A D 4 1 0 when Al aric and his G oths .
,

for e ver dissi p ated the ill u sion of the in v iolability of the
Eternal City .

T he effect p rod u ce d thro ugho u t the R o m an w orl d by the

fall of R o m e in A D 4 1 0 w as terrible and far reaching No

. .
-
.

s u ccession of in v asions of the p ro vinces no lengthened occ up a ,

tion o f a co u ntry by a barbarian horde str u c k ho m e as did the ,

ne w s of the sack of the I mp erial city so long the centre o f ,

R o m an civ ilisation A u gu stine tells u s ho w

. the w hole

w orl d e v en in the Far East sh u ddered at the dread

, ,

J ero m e in his Bethlehe m retreat wrote that the torch of the

, ,

w orld w as ex tinguish ed T
Au g ustine Bisho p of H i pp o in the earlier years of the
, ,

fth cent u ry w as the greatest g u re in Christianity since

,

the days of the Ap ostles ; no teacher had enj oyed so w i d e ,

so general an a u thority H is greatest literary w or k on the .

City of G od w as begu n in the year 4 1 3 I ts p ri m ary obj ect .

,

and es p ecially its earlier p art w as d e v oted to q u estions con ,

n ecte d w ith th e reat catastro p he of A D 4 1 0 and w as

g a . .
,

w ell reasoned ans w er to the p laint of the P agan p arty in the

-

E mp ire that the disasters w hich had befall en R o m e w ere

,

o w ing to the Christians and their lately acq u ired s up re m acy

in the E mp ire A u g u stine argu ed that instead of the Chris
.

tians being res p onsible for the cala m ity which ha d ha pp ened
to the great city all w o u ld ha v e been lost had it no t been for
A laric s friendshi p for Christiani ty ; as it w as the ch u rches of

R o m e and those w ho so u ght sanctu ary w ithin their w alls

, ,

w ere s p ared a m ong those who w ere th u s p reser ved being

,

m any P agans .

T hro u gh this i mp ortant w or k of the Christian m aster ,

the co mp osition of whi ch occ up ied so m e thirteen years a ,

strange v ein of o p ti m is m as regards the p oli tical situ ation

ru ns Bad thou gh th ings see m ed A u gu stine co u ld not bring
.
,

h im self to belie v e that all w as lost T he E mp ire is sorely .

tried rather than co mp letely changed ; do not let u s des p air

m
,

A ug
mm
m o ae ur b is ex eiai o

Ser

. .

1 Jero
'
e : Co enta t . in E z ech .
pr ol .
5 04 E A RL Y CHR IS TIANIT Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

of res u rrection for who kn o w s here w hat is the w i ll

,
of

T he tho u ghts and feelings so m e at least of the m ore Of

res p onsible leaders of Catholic Christianity in this anxio u s

p eriod o f stress and storm incl u ded ro u ghly in the second ,

and third decades of the fth centu ry are exp ressed in the ,

w ell k no w n U ni v ersal H istory of O rosiu s

-

T his co mp osi
.

tion m ay in certain as p ects be regarded as a sequ el to the

City o f G od of Au g u stine
.

P a u l O rosius T a S p aniard by birth w as the disci ple and

, ,

friend o f the great A u g ustine ; the sa m e o p ti m istic v ie w of

the p olitical situ ation noticed in T he City of G od ru ns

thro u gh the w ritings of the yo u nger scholar p erhap s e v en ,

exaggerated In reality the p eriod when O rosi u s w as w riting

.

w as one of the saddest the w orld has e ver k no w n ; b u t O rosi u s

v ie wed the terrible barbarian inroads as a se v ere trial rather
than as the total r u in of the E mp ire A sadder and m ore .

faithfu l v ie w o f the des p erate sit u ation and of the cru el s u ffer
ings to which the hap less p o pu lation of w ell nigh all the -

Western and m ore i mp ortant p ro v inces w ere s u bj ected is ,

ho we v er gi v en in t w o anony m o u s p oe m s i belonging to the

,

sa m e p eriod w hich ha v e co m e do w n to u s T hese re p resen t .

the E mp ire as u tterly r u ined the as p ect of cities and co u ntry ,

being co mp letely changed the s w ord re and h u nger hav ing , , ,

m
p assed o ver the m T he h um an race is re p resented as p erish .

ing w ar is e very where

, T he end of all things is at h and . .

Ulti m a quaequ e v ides U lti m a pertul i u s 1 A nother .

conte mp orary p oe m containing a v i v id p ictu re o f the bitter

mm k m m p i m m
im q m Ro

m
De potius

Cir . D ei, iv . 7, anu er u at
ictu est ua
"

m
utatu

sm
.

1 H is g reat w or i l is y ch d th h
th e

m

Th e Un H tor w as u rea roug ou t

, v ersa ,

ddl
i s ie lf d
ag e sl d
; K ngh b id d A l
re y tran ate and o ew at a r ge it . I t w as arg el

s i d l i h c y h i ch y y si x teent x
ymp m
tud e as ate as in th e s en tur , in w ag e as an as tw ent -

di t s p b l sh d
hm
ion w ere i

m
e u e .

Th s I s ild Ad Ux orein an d D e Pr oo identi

sm
e e an on ou s oe are en t te ,

h y i ll f d s sp th y
Mig ne

p i c s m dd d
t w be in th e w ork of S Pr o to w o e

m
e ou n a ong . er ,

y t i b d Th y
,

c f d l t h by
mm
to at

cm p sd sm
on e w er e w ron g l tr u te o e en g

m
a . e are r e erre

B oissier, L e n th s
da Pag anis e, v ol . ii . To e e tw o e e ay b e a e th e
Co onitor iu of h S t p b bl y
. y
O rientius, o o e o ew at la er , ro a earl in th e
f th c nt u y e r .
 A FTER THE P EA CE O F THE CH UR CH . 5 05

s u fferings end u red by the great G allic p ro p rietors has also

been p reser v ed P a ulinu s of P ella a rich and noble p ro vincial
.
,

connected with so m e of the great ho u ses of the hap less

E mp ire li ved to see his s ump t u o u s v i llas b u rned his w ife
, ,

and children slain and in his O ld age fo u nd hi m sel f p oor ,

and soli tary a little far m q u ite ins u ffi cient for his s upp ort
,

being the only relic of his v ast estates .

A fe w years later than O rosiu s the w eigh ty and i mp ortant ,

writings of S al v1 an g i v e u s a l u rid p ict u re of the state of

the dying E mp ire abo u t the year 4 5 0 or so m e what later .

T he o p ti m is m of the City of Go d and of O rosi u s Uni v ersal ,

H istory has disapp eared in the lengthy and exhau stiv e treatise
,

O n the G o v ernm ent of God by Sal v ian E v ents had indeed , .

m o v ed qu ickl y in the t wenty years w hich follo wed the date

o f A u gu stine s death in the year 4 3 0 ; there w as no longer

any roo m for ho p e G au l S p ain A frica m ost of Italy w ere .

, , , ,

occ up ied by barbarian in v aders w ho had co m e to stay in ,

those v ast fair p ro v inces no t simp ly to raid and to harry

, ,

them Sal v ian

.
*
recognises the fact that the grand E mp ire
w as indeed dying if it w ere no t already dead I t is no longer
, .

to P agans that his argum ents are addressed P agans had in .

effect disapp eared fro m the scene and the great m aj ority o f ,

th e w orld of R o m e o u t w ardly at least w as p rofessedly Chris , ,

tian M any of the m ore tho u ght ful w ere as k ing ho w i t cam e

m
.

abo u t that the E mp ire no w a v ast Christian co mmu nity w as , ,

so anifestly the object o f the D i vine w rath Salv ian rep lies .

m
to the agonised enqu iry by draw ing a p ict u re of the R o m an
o f the dying E mp ire and the barbarian raider w ho m G od w as ,

u sing so ani festly as H is instrum ent of pu nish m ent .

In his v i vid p ortraitu re O f the so called Christian R o m ans -
,

Salv ian p aints a society li v ing in conditions o f a w fu l de p ra v ity

and degradation rarely s u rp assed H e s p ares no class no .
,

p i ate lif b t littl i kn wn H and h i wif

O f Sal v ian

s r v l un ta il y
e u e s o . e s e vo r

ch s th li f f s c tic s H w i d ntl y p s n f th h i gh st c ul tu H

m m
o e e e O a e . e as ev e a er o o e e re . e

sp nt s l y s in th M n t y f L in n isl n d n T ul n g t
m
e ev era ear e o as er o er s, a a ear o o , a rea

h e f l a ning and d t d p i t y H i g t w k n Th G
o o e r evo en nt f G d e . s rea or o e o v er e o o ,

ab f dt w
ov e re erre p sd i o,D 45 0 fw y s l t ; h s p nt th
as co o e c rca A . .
, or a e ear a er e e e

l t y a s f h i lif t Ma il l
a er e r o s e a rse es .
50 E A R L Y CHR IS TIANI T Y A ND PA GANIS M .

order T he m erchants and traders are frau du lent and dis

.

hono u rable the pu blic fu nctionaries ho p elessly corrup t and

,

venal the legionaries o f the E mp ire faithless and robbers ;

,

the clergy if p ossible w orse than the laity being u nju st

, , , ,

greedy i mm oral ; the ecclesiastic had changed his dress not

,

his life T he R o m an society so sorely tried in that fatal age

.
, ,

Sal v ian p aints as a sin k O f iniqu ity ; and tho u gh he m ay ha v e

o verdraw n his gloo m y p ictu re there is little do u bt that it ,

w as on the whole e v il and corr up t We learn this mu ch at .

least fro m other conte mp orary au thorities ; m en who w rote

fro m v ery different stand p oin ts s u ch as A mm ianu s M arcell inu s
and a fe w years later J ero m e and Chrysosto
,

T he barbarian in v ader in Sal v ian s eyes w as on the w hole

,
,

m .

, ,

a nobler being than the degenerate R o m an Christian ; cr u el

he w as u ndo u btedly a robber and ignorant ; b u t his v ices ,

w ere p ractised by the R o m an Christians ; * in so m e res p ects

the m orals o f the stranger nations w ere pu rer We read of .

the Vandal conq u eror G enseric for instance after the fall o f , , ,

Carthage pu rging the city of its hau nts of v ice T hose of .

the m w ho p rofessed Christianity w ere no dou bt tain ted w ith

the heresy of A ri u s ; b u t this w as the res u lt of no delibera te
choice on their p art It w as fro m A rians they had deri ved .

their kno wledge o f the religion o f J es u s .

T he s um of S alv ian s argum ent u ndo u btedly is that the

ro u gh O ften u nt u tored barbarian w as m ore w orthy to be the

,

m aster o f the w orld than the degenerate R o m an Christian ,

tho u gh he p rofessed to b e r In o u r day e v en M ontale mbert .

,

the fer vid R o m an Catholic scholar has strongly endorsed ,

the concl u sions of Sal v ian when in his Mon k s of th e West ,

( Boo k I ) he describes the R o m an E mp ire w itho u t the bar

.

b arians as an abyss o f serv itu de and corrup tion

.

A m idst all this chaos of m isery into which the once

jI s nt b b i t n
n usti m

m s s mm T hi l t
m md b ch y
u ar ar , e os h oc su u s, Sal v ian , i v .
,
1 4, 6 5 . s a e

L atin e x p ss i n i s p duc d in th
re o re ro e e l
w e l k n own Fr en
- ch idi o s ,
n ou le o e .

T
Th i d st y p u i s th
e r o e r e e ear
,
th all st i n
a ed by Ro an e au er .

Sal v ian ,

m my s
v . 2 an d v ii . 6 .

l y b
m
S A ug h ad a r ead , D c Cir D ei, 1 4 and 7 d l p f c
m
. .

,
w e t u on th e or . earan e of
th e i s
sold er o f A ar l ic
(th e o G t h) b f
e or e th e to b
s o f th e a rt r and h e ,
sp k s
ea of
th e is ic d i
er t h u il it
or f th s c c nqu
a e s as o e e er e o eror .
 A F TER THE PE A C E O F THE CH UR C H . 5 07

m ighty E mp ire w as p l u nged w e catch sight o f the p resence

o f a great Ch u rch great in s p ite o f the disorders referred to

by Sal v ian in h is b u rning rhetoric p erha p s with so m e ,

exaggeration in his details which a m id all the terrors of the ,

barbaric conqu est a m id dee p seated corru p tion and u ns p eak

,
-

able m isery still tau ght to R o m an and to barbarian alik e a

,

pu re m orality and a lofty ideal enforcing its teaching by the ,

strongest m oti ves of action T his Ch u rch w as e v ery where in

.
,

the camp s of the in v ader in the cap t u red cities in the , ,

desolated co u ntry controlling strengthening co m forting or

, , , ,

o v er aw ing w ith its great traditions and s p lendid history ;

-

strongly organised draw ing to its side the best and noblest
,

s p irits a m ong the conqu erors and the conq u ered ; p ossessing
in its rank s so m e of the greatest leaders and teachers w ho
ha v e in the long story o f Christian p rogress e v er adorned the

m
rank s of the belie v ers in J es u s w ith their virt u e and self
denial their w isdo m and learning
,

A m ong these w ere M artin of T o u rs the m ore p ro minent e

.

m
m
,

bers of the m onastic H o u se of L erins s u ch m en as A u gu stine , ,

A m brose and J ero m e Da asu s and A thanasi u s Basil and

, , ,

G regory Naz ianz en w ith others their friends and fello w

, , ,

w ork ers ; so m e k no wn m ore whose na m es ha v e no t been

,

handed do wn g u ides of the Ch u rch in those dark and

,

p erilo u s ti m es Nat u rally their w ishes and for a ti m e their

.
,

ho p es w ere bo u nd up w ith the fortu nes o f the E mp ire

, .

We see fro m the w ritings of Au gu stine and O rosi u s they

tru sted that things w o u ld in the end go right w ith the
i mm e m orial do m ination of R o m e ; and it w as w ith dee p
sorro w they w itnessed the rap id decadence O f the E mp ire .

B u t altho u gh the Ch u rch natu rally grie v ed o ver the ru in of

,

the O ld state of thin gs and m o u rned the dissol u tion O f the

old society she ne v er thre w in her lot w ith the falling
,

E mp ire b u t gradu ally se p arated her cau se fro m the O ld

,

v anqu ished R o m e feeling that her w ork w o u ld end u re e v en

,

tho u gh R o m e p erished S O when recognising th at all w as

.
,

o v er she t u rned to the n ew conqu ering nations with her

,

di vine story her ho p es and her p ro m ises sav ing fro m the
, ,

w rec k of the O ld w orld and the O ld ci v ilisation all that was

5 08 E A R L Y CHR IS TIANIT Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

p ossible to p reserv e and standing bet w een the R o m ans and ,

the barbarians s om e what in the p osition O f a ne u tral p o wer

,

she obtained w ith the conqu erors a m ighty in u ence w hich

w as u sed for the benet o f the conq u ered .

SE C TI O N 1 1 T H E MO NA SI I C D E V E L O PME
.
'
NT .

SA L V I A N in his p ict u re o f R o m an society s p ared no class

, , ,

no calling ; e v en the clergy w ho m at rst he exce p ted fro m ,

his denu nciations he incl u ded later in his general s umm ary
,

o f those w ho shared in the al m ost u ni v ersal laxity of cond u ct .

It co u ld hardly hav e been otherw ise when it is re m e m bered ,

that a large p ortion o f th e society o f the E mp ire in the

second half o f the fo u rt h cent u ry was Christian only in
na m e while in heart and m ind it re m ained Pagan
,
.

T here w ere ho w e v er m any earnest and de vo u t follo w ers

, ,

o f J es u s am idst the tho u ghtless m asses who m ade up the

p o pu lation o f the E mp ire who clearly recognised the grav e ,

p eril and felt that so m ething mu st be done lest Christianity

,

sho u ld be s w a mp ed lost in the cro w d of heedless p rofessors

m m
of the beau tiful creed which had ins p ired the co mp arativ ely
s m all co mp any O f belie v ers in the centu ries O f p ersecu tion .

It w as out of this u rgent need that on asti cis arose

.

Th e great Chrysosto m w riting cir ca A D 3 7 6 defends and ,

. .
,

extols the m onastic s p irit which w as then beginning to be

a great p o w er in the Ch u rch It has m any p o w erful adv er .

saries b u t he s p eak s O f it as the tr u e He

,

considers that m onasticis m in the confu sed state of things ,

w hich existed in the last qu arter of the fo u rth centu ry w as ,

the one reso u rce and ho p e o f Christianity and all thro u gh ,

his brilliant cheq u ered career the great theologian p reacher

, , , ,

and tho u ght leader contin u ed to defend and extol the new
-

m onastic instit u tions A nd w ith hi m in his esti m ate o f .

,

m onasticis m w ith scarcely an exce p tion w ent all the gro up

, ,

o f e m inent m en w ho at that ho u r O f extr em e p eril w hen the

ms p l m
,

A D
.

in t
.

o t
Th e treat
3 76,
h ree
is
b k
oo
m t
i s c nt i n i ng
er

s .
e

d Al e
o a

t versas
th e fa ou

Op paynator es
a o og y
Vitae
of Ch r
Mona stica
y s st
o

o

,
,

an d
w ritten
is
circa

d i id d
v e
 A F TE R TH E P E A CE O F TH E CH UR CH . 5 09

very foundations of the old society were being up rooted ,

kept the lamp o f Christianity brightly burning ; w hose wor ds

and writin gs d u ring the fteen centuries w hich have elapsed

since they fell asleep have been the treasure ho u se the , ,

arsenal of her theology In the Eastern ch u rches men s u ch .

,

as A thanasius and Chrysostom Basil and Gregory of Na z i , ,

anzen ; in the Western ch u rches Martin of Tours A mbrose , , ,

Jerome and A u g ustine ; and a few years later V incent of

, ,

L erins and Caesarius o f A rles w ith one v oice in their teach , ,

ing and by their example not only defended the novel

instit u tion of monasticism but pointed to it as an organisa ,

tion absolutely necessary to the Ch u rch and to Christendom .

It appeared rst in the East in the last years of the third

and the early years of the fo u rth centu ry A mid the deserts .

of Egypt w e mark its rst real beginnings Some of the .

v icti m s of the bitter persecution of D iocletian sought there

a refuge from the cruelty of the G o v ern m ent but as Bossuet ,

well says The persecution made fewer solitaries than the

,

peace and the triumph o f the Church The name of A nthony .
,

w ho died in A D 3 5 6 is deservedly celebrated as the father

. .
,

and head of the solitaries of the Thebaid whom he trans ,

formed into C oenobites * A contemporary of A nthony was .

Pachomius who died in A D 3 4 8 He gave to the C oenobites

, . . .

of A nthony a w ritten rule traditionally given to him by an ,

angel This Pa chomius founded upon the Nile at Tab enn e

.
,

an island a litt l e above the rst cataract in the Thebaid ,

the rst monastery properly so called or rather a congrega -

tion of eight monasteries containing it is said many thousand , , ,

monks Rapidly the two Th eb aids of the Egyptian deserts

.

w ere peopled w ith monks The houses of nuns or female

m
.

solitaries at this same period in number w ere nearly equal

mm m
to the monasteries The numbers gi v en are simply eno r ous T

m
.
,

Th d i v t i n f th t d t d i gn t e th e n w o d f o n ti
m
e er au o s o e er s se o es a e r er o as cs

follo w Coen o b it e ( o on) nd Bi (li f ) ti c Ew n

m

are as s wb s c a o: e asce s
'
Ko s , , vc oz s

( xe i ) n ho it d xwp w ( to put o n lf p t to w ithd w ) o nk

mm
e rc se ,
a c r es ya e se a ar ,
ra , .

ona t y ) ( lon olit y ) b b t ( b b ot ) th Sy i c b b (f th )

m
s er u uo s a e, s ar a a a , e r a a a a er .
,

1 Ru n u H i t M w x i 5 ntio n f in t n th t ly s D 3 5 6 s a ce, a as ear a

s, s o .
,
e s, or A . .
.
, ,

at O y in h
x r on th N il we s ny
c u s, ten tho u nd
e onk and t w nty
e, re a a as sa s e

tho u n d vi g ins
sa r .
510 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NIT Y A ND PA G ANI M .

bu t are probably exaggerated Each o f these early religious .

houses was a school of labour the inmates numbering in ,

their ranks weavers curriers carpenters etc A t Tab enne , , , .

there was a special school of scholars Under the rule of .

Pachomius e v ery monk was requ ired to be able to read and

write No t a few profound theologians and teachers were
.

trained in these houses of prayer and solitude A n almost .

perpetual fast was rigorously required from the many inmates

o f the religious houses From Egypt before the end of the .
,

fourth century this strange no v el stream o f monastic life

, ,

o v erowed into A rabia Syria and Palestine and even further , , ,

e ast into Mesopotamia where we hear of it from the writings ,

o f Ephrem o f Edessa .

m
In the West it was almost an unkn own feature in Church
life u ntil cir ca A D 3 4 0 when A thanasius driven from his . .
, ,

home in A lexandria by the A rians came to Ho e This ,

.

e minent and far sighted Church leader at once used his great
inuence to introduce into Rome and Italy the ne w phase
o f Church life w hich had so rapidly and powerfully moved

Egypt Somewhat later he issued his life of A nthony the great

.
,

Egyptian monk ; and this work published under the name ,

and a u thority o f the greatest o f the Catholic theologians quickly ,

a cquired a wide popularity throughout the West The story .

o f Egyptian monasticism told with all the winning power o f ,

the great Master came as a revelation to the Church o f the ,

*
West which was languishing and fading under the conditions
m
,

T he re is in one of th e c arh dp
e assa g es of th e Confessi ons of A ug us ine t a

c hance eference to th i s L ife of A n n th e Monk b y A thanasius w hich

r

tho y
,

u n d esi gn edly t ell s u s i nto w h at cent es it h ad p enet ted h ow w id ely it was ci

m m
r ra ,
r

cul ated h ow po w e ful w as its i n u en ce A u g u stine w as at Mil an l ecturi ng u po n

m m m
, r .

e loq uen ce O ne day h e e eiv e d a vi sit f o

. one of h is Af i can co un t y
r c en r r r ,

n a e d P otiti nu s a ilita y o f cer of hi g h nk on th e staff of th e E p o

a , r ra er r .

We seat ed o u selves said A ug u ti ne to t alk w h en h e h pp ened to n oti ce a

m

m
r ,
s , ,
a

b ook w hi ch l ay on th e t b l e b efo e u s H e op en ed it it was Th e A po stl e Paul

m m

a r . .

I co nfessed to h i th at reading it was y p i ncip l st udy H e was th en l ed in th e

m
r a .

c o u se of co n v e satio n to p eak to u s of A nthon y th e onk of E g ypt w ho se na e

mm m
r r s , ,

so g lo io u s a ong Th y se v nt s was unkno wn to us H e p e ceived thi s and

m m
r r a . r ,

c o n ni n g h i elf to th t sub j ect h e ev eal ed th e g eat an to ou ign o ran ce

m mmm m
s a r r r ,

w hi ch asto ni sh d h i uch ;
e n d w e w e e lo st in ad i atio n w h en w e h ea d of
a r r r

th se a v els so ecent al o st cont e po y w hich we e w o rk ed in th e Catholic

e r r ,
rar ,
r

Ch u ch r . F o th e h is co nversatio n 5tu ned u po n th e holy o ck s of th e

r r ,
 A F TE R TH E PE A CE OF TH E CH UR CH . 51 1

we have been sketching The ne w organisation at once breathed .

a fresh life into the Roman and Italian churches gi v ing them ,

power to adapt themsel ves to the changed world now rapidly

gro wing up round them With extraordin ary rapidity monas
m m om th m d th
.

o t i and vi t
th e h h pe t
rfu es o f w ic fr eir

th t t m
w en towar

m
nas er es, r ue up e s

od
L h h k of othi
w ic v we l thn ew n lo t ll E en at Mi w as a is fu of

m
r ng . an ere c er

B oth t i d d i o B i hop il M an , an d

m
r ers ra n e un er th e w ng of A br se , at a i e s of we
k n ew n othi it h
ng of oldi told
ti
T en th e t to h A u g us h ow h e ear of

Im m
. s er ne ca e rs

An tho y n and th e o t i n e w life io

of v nas er esd y .

H e w as in g arr s n at T re es on ut

p i l l p o p di t oo p t l
ith m
at th e er a Pa ace th e E er r w as s en ng th e af ern n at th e s ec ac e s

of i
th e C rcus th he oth o
an d t to lk
ree of d l id
h is b r er f cer s w en wa in th e g ar ens a

lo to ll ty th y lk d th e Ci an d hi

h liv d omtho vol t poo

o ut c se th e w a s of , an d as e wa e tw o tw o , on e w
oth to th th y p t d l t t d ott
th y o d m th m to
an d th e tw o ers ge er , e se ara e . Th e tw o a ter en er e a c ag e on

v th
dm
th e w ay , w e of who Th y ants, an d

m
ere e s se u n ary r are ser ere

e f un a anuscr ip t o f th e L ife d it o f A nth ony . O ne of e b eg an rea ,

he
i d it h t h is d d tho ht o
b ur ne ho ld
and as h e rea th e he e b race

m
a re ,
ear , ug r se up s u

h l l v to v h hy oth
hm ll m
su c a ife and ea e th e w arfar e o f th e a e
g ser e T ee [T e w ere b in th e
vi p o dd ly ll d ith d vi lov holy e and

y m
] i

hom
ser ce of th e E er r . Su en h e w as e w a ne

ti y i d id I p y th
m
s a e an d ca s ng h is e es on h is fr en he sa : Te e, ra ee,

hith l o t d W h t it
er all our ab k do
? is F or w we

m
w ur s en a we see ? carr ar s

Wh t a can t t hop
be our thi p lg rea es e in s i d ith p o a ace b u t to b e fr en s w th e E er r ?
An d h ow fra il th t o t is p il
a f r u ne ! \Vh at y p il o h and h ow b ef ing

i d G od I m i t tly
er s, an er s re reac

th e greates t p il B id er h h ll th! es tt i d es, w I d en s a to at be a a ne B ut if esire b e a

fr en of pok th
so, an d ns an hk th
He us , all s a en b y th e b ir of h is

m
a . s e

th y t i to holy p i tho y (of th e L fe of A n th e

o l o d t m
life, and h is

id om
new en e es r e ur n ng th e ag es n

o k n ) d he r eah t h : d H is i h ear d c a ng e v in T h y s g t he rea on , and th e w a es

li l dy hi h
dt m
of his we b h e w as a r ea T w he fr h is

ollo m
s u ,
re ng ne , en sa

o l I t do I
s u ,

is k ith ne , hop I ill
b rea v G od
w all t our e, w ser e ,
and now in hi s
p I i ok tho it oh
om
l ace b eg n th e w r , if u wl n ot f w e e er e not .

Th e t er

d th t l o o ld h lo y po l
tim
answ ere he w w in h is ar e o f and s i Potitian u s an d

om told th m
a a s u s g r .

h is p io t h v n , af er lk d oth p t in g w a d h d th i in of th e g ar

om
c an a e an er ar en , r eac e e r

t t k th i p io it to k
th i m
ing tw o n s, an d w as

to th m
re rea ,
see e r c an e e g o b ac b ecau se
l th y d l i th i d i told th i ol o
to ppo h d t m
th e day fel . B ut e ,
ec ar ng e r es g n, h ow e r res uti n h ad c e

t li h d it l i d h y t d th d
t l t d th i om
e an d h ad es ab s e se f in er n s; t e en reate eir frien s not

i tio v th y d h it th y pio ly
m
O se t eir e er na n e en if e refuse to s ar e e us con

g ra u a e d e r t d to
c ra p l es B oth t
and o r e urne th e a ace .

h ese f cers,

ti l te l s t oth d id h
h ad b e th o t d br w h o, earing is , to H i

t p od d po m p t t d ith h m
A u g us ne u s, r e es, c nsecra e

th i vi
e r ity r g inh ti
. T v vid p
en A u g us n e, in th e l t i ag e of hi s Confessi ons , r e a es

to y I hi b y Potitian us

om
th e effec r uce u n s r . w as ene ra e w s a e

o io h l pok I i d
Potitianus i d
h i o t mi
an d c n fus n w i e s e . se z e A l ypiu s (h is dear fr en and

c p io an n i d
) an d cr e Wh t h out :doi a , t en, ar e we ng ?
H ow is thi s ?
th y t k h v o ith h tl by f

m
T en ea en rce, and we w
ese g n ran r se ; e a e o ur ear ess

i hold llo i h B ook

m
sc ences, b e we are wa w ng in th e es (S . A ug . Confessions ,
V I II h p C VI q l thi t ovi Th e l k o of

om
.
,
a s . . se u e s s r an g e ng sce n e is w e l n wn .

ti o d o ld l di pi it
m
A u g us n e ren u nce hi s career and th e w r ,
an d b eca e th e ea ng s r of th e
C h h urc of t t h
h is da y, th e g rea es teac p iod hi h lv d er o f th e er in w c he i e ; in s e

resPects, t po tl
af er th e A h d
s es, w h o h ad vo o ti l ear th e Master s
ice, th e st in uen a

t h
e ac er of al l hit th e C r s ian ag es.
512 E AR L Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

teries for both sexes were founded in Rome and in the

immediate neighbo urhood of the capital ; from Rome the new
instit u tion spread all over Italy I t was fostered as we have .
,

remarked by we l l nigh all the leading spirits of the Church in

,
-

the second half of the fourth and early years o f the fth
century ; it was especially favoured in Gaul under the all
powerful inuence of Martin Bishop of Tours Sulpicius , .

Sev erus his devoted friend and disciple tell s us how some two
, ,

tho u sand monks gathered found the grave o f the g reat Gall ic
Bishop and teacher whe n he passed away in A D 3 9 7 A nother . . .

o f the leading Latin Bishops the saintly A mbrose of Milan , ,

who died in the same year 3 9 7 was one of the warm supporters , ,

o f the movement But among the Latin fathers of that age

.
,

so prolic in eminent scholars and writers perhaps the most ,

ardent believer in the new departure was Jerome ; who by

his writings and his example did perhaps more than any , ,

o f his i ll ustrious contemporaries to advance and popularise this

new phase of Christianity .

U nder A ugustine w ho after his con v ersion (al l uded to in

,

the note above ) became subsequently Bishop of Hippo and

the most inuential l eader and adviser in the churches of the
West numerous monasteries for both sexes multiplied in the
,

N orth A frican provinces It was A ugustine who in the year .

,

4 23 drew u p the famous monastic rule which bears his name

,
.

This Rul e originally compiled for a monastery of women in

,

Hippo of which his sister was Superior subsequently became ,

the fundamental code of an immense branch of the monastic

order which for many centuries has borne the honoured name
of A ugustin e .

The new organisation came into existence in the West

about the middle of the fourth century ; in the East as we ,

have seen it arose a few years earlier It grew out of the

, .

necessity of the time and was approved and shared in by,

the l arge maj ority o f the noblest professors of Christianity .

We must not however in o ur warm appreciation of the gr eat

, ,

services rendered by monasticism to the Chu rch and indeed ,

to all society shrink from confessing that dark shadows in

,

man y cases were n ot wanting in the pictures we have been

 A F TE R T HE PE A CE O F TH E CH UR CH . 51 3

sketching D isorder and various abuses rapi dl y crept in ; the

.

monastic life was sometimes chosen as a pretext for idleness ,

as a cloak under which life s ord inary duties might be evaded

.

But these errors and aws were recognised at a very early

p eriod and sternl y denounced by the eminent Church leaders
and teachers who so earnestly p ro m oted the system and
advocated its general adoption as the most effective means of
breathing fresh life into the Christian communities We nd .

these stern reproofs these earnest warnings notabl y in the , ,

w ritings o f Jerome Chrysostom and A ugustine Jerome in , , .

,

deed denounced with boldness and energy all such idle

,

monks and p ointed out with scathing severity the faults and
,

dangers of the monastic institution A ugustine is not behin d .

hand in his grave reproofs and pointed warnings when he ,

dwells with an eloquence peculiarly his own on the high

m otiv es of that l a w of l ab ou r w hich has ever remained th e
glo y and strength of monasticism
r *
.

Too much stress has been laid by certain writers upon

some of the forms of life adopted in the rst great outbreak
of asceticism especially in the East where there were many
, ,

eccentric examples of what may be fairly termed a terribl e

self abnegation ; the instances of Simeon Styli tes and h is
-

imitators with their life long awful penances and ghastly

,
-

self tortures are often quoted Y et these after all were ex

-
, .
, ,

ceptions and such examples found comparatively few imitators

,

in the West Nay even the unnatural l ife work of these .

,
-

earnest though mistaken enthusiasts was not thrown away .

Imperfec t and distorted as was the ideal of the anchorites ,

deeply too as it was perverted by the admixtur e of spiritual

, ,

selshness still the example , was not wholly l ost upon

m
the world The v ery eccentricities of their lives their
.
,

co u th forms their horrible penances won the admiration , ,

of rude en Mul titudes of barbarians were converted

m

to Christianity at the sight of S Simeon Stylites 1 . .
'

A ug ust in D O M n / u C p C 28 e, e ere
p o a c i ov a
'
. . .
,

m m
l T h w o d q uot ed M L ck y Hi t y f E u p n M hp i
m
' '

e r s l
ar e r . e s, s or o ro ea ora s, c a . v .

I n p te f h i u u l co n p icu o u fai n M L cky g ene lly un d at e

o

m
s i o s s a s r
s r ess, . e ra err s

ona ti i s n d f il to iv it th e pl ac it e ph ti cally po ss ses in th e sto ry o f

c s
g a a s e e a es
Ch i st i ni ty ; h enc e th e i po tance f th e b ov e co ncl u io n
r a r o a s

H H
514 E AR LY CHR IS TIANIT Y A ND PA G ANIS M .

Even in its earliest days the monastic development of

Christianity was far from being Opposed or e ven indifferent to .

l earning We have dwelt above on the comparative fe wness of

.

the ascetics such as Simeon Stylites whose extreme austerities

, ,

necessarily separated them entirely from ordinary human life ,

its possibil ities and its thoughts ; and we have j ustly j udged
their ideal s as something extravagant and excessive although ,

not without their inuence upon the dissolute and thought

l ess world of those days and times O rdinary monastic life .
,

however even in the East included as part of its invariabl e

, , ,

rule useful w ork of v aried kinds Each monastery was a

, .

great school of labour ; and to simply manual labour the

monks u nited the culture of the m ind and especially the study ,

o f sacred literature It was from among their ranks that the .

most learned and successful adversaries of the greatest and

m
most dangerous heresy that has ever appeared were drawn .

The monk as a rul e was the deadly foe o f A rianism A ugus

, , .

tine in his De Op er a Mon a ch or u

, dwells upon the regular ,

work of the monastics wh o di vided their day between manual ,

l abour reading and prayer

, , .

In the rst half of the fth century to take well k no wn ,

* of
and conspicuous examples the famous houses of L erins , ,

S Victor of Marseilles and scarce ly later o f Condat in the

.
, ,

Jura were famous far and wide as houses of great learning

, ,

as well as seminaries of instruction wh ere their inmates led ,

the austere and saintly life which monasticism pressed upon

those w ho voluntarily took on them its obligations and duties ,

and at the same time pursued their various studies

m
.

m m m
littl e i slan d in th e ro ad t ead of th e od e n To ulo n Th e
L erin s w as a

li g iou s ho use w as fo un ded i A D 4 1 0 nd p eedily b ec e a g t and cel e

s r .

m m
re c rca . .
,
a s a rea

b at d chool n ot ely of th e olo g y b u t o f g en e al lit e t u e I n thi onast e y

m
r e s ,
er r ra r . s r

n y of th e o t ill ust io us b i shop s nd t e ch e s in th e fth ent u y eiv d

mmm
m
a s r a a r c r r ec e

h i t ai ni ng ; w ith it th e na e o f Sal i n nd V i ncen t of L e ins th e st

e r r s v a a r ,
r

o nt ov siali t of h i g e a e closely conn ect ed Th e O t i n f

m m m m
c r er s s a r o o or o
, .

V ncent th e Mo n k f L erins h as b een ead n d st udi ed fo m o e th n fo u t en

m
i o r a r r a r e

nt u ies o na t y of S Vi cto at M seill e ivall ed L e ins in i po t nce

mm m
ce Th e
r . s er . r ar s r r r a .

I t contai ned it is aid as ny s o nk s and w s a f o u th eolo g i cal

m
,
s , a a a a s
,

in y all th o ug h th e fth c nt u y Co nd t in th e J u w noth e f th ese

m m m
s e ar r e r . a ra , as a r o
,

v e y ly on astic ho es of l ea ni ng l earnin g b y no eans co n ned to th olo g y

r ear r e .

I t b ec e one of th e o t enown d e ina i s of th e E st Galli c p ovi nc

a s r e s r e a r e .
 A F TE R TH E P E A CE OF TH E CH URCH . 515

Before the close of the fth centu ry this new departure

in Christian life and work which commenced a very few ,

years after the peace of the Church and the general ado p tion
o f Christianity by the Empire in the rst half of the fourth

m
century ,

unities
had permeated the whole life of the Christian co m
Very large indeed was the number of monastics
.

in the various provinces no w completely under the p o w er of

the barbarian invaders The great need however in the new
.
, ,

organisation was for some acknowledged discipline and order .

In the E a st the rule of S Basil was largely acknowledged .

,

but many di versities prevailed In the West the want of a .

recognised order was even more marked This lack of an .

established rule was supplied thro u gh the energy of a remark

able man wh o appeared in I taly at this j uncture Benedict , ,

w hose life dates from A D 4 8 0 to A D 5 4 3 This Benedict

. . . . .

succeeded in impressing his views of discipline and order

upon a number of the Italian monastic houses and gradually ,

h is
Rule was accepted by the maj ority at least o f Western
monasteries .

Under the new conditions o f order and discipline devised

m
by him monasticism contin u ed to gro w in numbers and
,

inuence rendering to the human race during the long drawn

,

o u t period of stress and stor which followed services which ,

can scarcely be overstated .

Looking back from the vantage ground of the experience

o f many centuries w e are in a position fairly to w eigh these
,

services w hich the monastics have rendered to civilisation .

Here one voice proceeds from the cool judgment of the

philosophic essayist and fr om the somewhat passionate
,

enthusiasm of the Roman Catholic historian ; the one not

unbiassed by an aversion to the system the other influence d ,

by his admiration for the m ysticis m which m ore o r less

colours the works and days of all monasticism .

These services can only be characterise d as immense and ,

as continuing during a long p eriod of well nigh universal -

desolation and confusion stretching o ver some six or seven

centuries .
516 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M .

The life of a monk it mu st be remembered was an ex

, ,

ce tional life ; its advocates never taught that it should be

p
the co mm on life of men and women ; there w as never any
idea of transforming the entire universe into a cloister ; the
conce p tion was that by the side of the storms and failures

of the world there should be a home a refuge a school of , ,

peace and strength apart fro m the world These monks .

were ever men of prayer and penitence but they did not ,

lim it themselves to prayer and penitence They busied .

themsel ves in the p ractical work of life besides In the rst .

place they were pre eminently agr icu l tu r ists Not only w ere
-
.

the farm lands immediately adj acent to the religious houses

admirably cultivated but vast tracts of country which o w ing
, ,

to the long contin u ed state of anarchy and confusion had

-

become once more m arsh l and or forest land were brought ,

back to a condition of high cultivation .

In eve ry de p art m ent of agricultural life the monk was dis

tingui sh ed vineyards corn lands pastures orchards j ust to
, , , ,

name a few examples were restored o r introduced in all the

,

provinces o f the desolated Empire It is di f cult to trace the .

history of a well cultivated estate or district to any source

-

save to these cloistered settlers N or was their work in l i ter a tu r e

. ,

in its many departments o f less value We have already, .

all u ded to the regu l ations respecting reading and study ,

which formed an invariable and i mp ortant part o f the earliest

monastic rules in the East and in the West ; and when the

ol d life o f the Roman Empire had literally gone u nder as

the barbarian ood spread o v er the unhappy provinces it ,

was in the monasteries alone that the great works of antiquity

w ere preserved A favourite occupation of the monk was
.

the Co pying in a m ore or less elaborate fashion the w ritings

, ,

of the poets , philosophers and historians which had charmed

,

the citizens of the great Empire between the days of A ugustus

and Theo dosius .

The care o f the monks here although perhaps GSPGCiaHY , , ;

de v oted to sacred and ecclesiastical literature was by no ,

m
means conned to w ork s of the Christian school but was ,

Mo ntal e b e t M nk f th W t B o ok I I I
r ,
o s o e es ,
.
 A F TE R TH E PE A CE OF TH E CH UR CH . 51 7

extended o v er the whole p eriod of classic letters For centuries .

,

too the m on k was the only teacher * and in structor and learn
, ,

ing of all kinds was exclusively conned to these homes of

prayer so plentifully scattered over the p ro v inces of the
,

barbarian harassed Empire -

The charge of Jerome at the .

close of the fourth cent u ry that a m on k should al ways have ,

a book in his hand or u nder his w as faithfully ob

served in a thousand religious houses F ro m the rst well .
,

nigh e v ery m onastery p ossessed its library great or small , ,

and as ti m e advanced many o f these became famous for the

number and value of the volumes they contained .

In the great r u in which in the fth and follo w ing cen

turies o v ertoo k the Empire it seemed well nigh certain that ,
-
,

m
under the rough and destructive barbarian rule all ar t in ,

its v ario u s departments wo ul d s u rely decay and die H ere .

again the net w or k of onastic instit u tions at rst preserved

,

the p oor remnant o f the many sided artisti c crafts and sub -
,

seq u ently developed and e v en ga v e them a new colouring .

A s early as the rst years of the s ixth century Bene di ct ,

(A D 48 0
. . the great organiser of these houses in his famous ,

rule provided for artistic w or k being carried on in his cl oister ;t .

Very soon the m ore important religio u s houses contained in ,

addition to schools and l ibraries s tudios and w or kroo m s where ,

p ainting m osaic w or k sculpture engraving ivory carving

, , , , ,

bookbinding and the arts o f the goldsmith and of the j eweller

, ,

were studied and practised .

A great impulse was given to these various art industries

by the monk Cassiodorus the once famous statesman a con , ,

temporary o f Benedict A ll through the darkest ages of th e .

history o f the world a period co verin g the sixth and the four
,

follo wing centuries elaborate and even exquisite works of art

m m
,

Sc

m m m m
m
hools fro th e fth cent u y o nw ard w ere estab lish ed in th e chi ef onasti c
cen t es as w ell as f e q u ently in an y of th e s all e co
r

un iti es A l cuin

mm
r , r r .
,

w riti ng of th e o nastic school of Y o k at th e end of th e ei g hth centu y tells us

mmm
mm
r r ,

th t b esid es th e H oly S cript u es g a rh eto i c j u i sprud ence po etry

m
a r r r a r r
, , , , ,

ast o no y ath e ati cs et w e e t aug ht th e e

m m m
r , , c . r r
, .

1 N un q ua de an u et oculis ec dat li b e E p i t d R u ti S J ero e

m
*
r e r . s . a s c, . .

I A ti ces si sunt in o na t erio cu o mn i h u ilitate et re e entia faciant

r s , v r

S B en edi ct C 5 7

ipsas artes si pe ise it ab b as
,
r r .
-
.
,
. .
518 E A RL Y CH R S T A I I NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

were produced in the religious houses of the West while the ,

stately Romanesque w as revived and subsequently the Gothic , ,

schools of architecture of the Middle A ges w ere gradu ally

developed in the lonely islands of prayer whose strange rise ,

w e ha v e been sketching in outl ine .

How successful the m on k had been in his u nw earied

artistic toil in these gloo my centuries of confusion and anarchy
is ad m irably phrased in a gentle though grave rebuke of an
eleventh century abbot to his brethren when he w arned them ,

not to be over attentive to these pursuits lest those higher

-

d u ties the peculiar glory of Christianity and the especial duty

,

of the m on k should su ffer

, .

m

It matters little that o u r churches rise to heaven that the ,

capital s o f their p illars are sculptured and gil ded that our ,

parchment is tinted purple that gold is melted to for the ,

l etters o f o ur m an u scri p ts and that their bindings are set ,

w ith precious stones if w e have little or no care for th e

,

m e m bers of Christ and if Christ himself lies naked and dying

,

before our doors .

Such is a brief outline of ser vices rendered by monastics to

society d u ring a long and terrible p eriod in the history of
the w orld It seems indeed scarcely probable that the great
.

Christian D octors of the fourth and fth centuries much as ,

they admired and encouraged the monastic s p irit ever dreamed ,

o f a future of such a p ara m o u nt and far reaching inuence for -

the groups of self denying solitaries who arose ou t of the sore

-

needs of the Church weakened and wounded strange ly enough

,

by the v ery magnitude and suddenness of her decisive victory

o v er Paganism .

The task I set myself is done H o w often in the silence of .

night under the roof of the old d w elling ho u se of the D eans

,

of Gloucester the ancient home o f the l ong line o f A bbots

,

and Priors of the once famous Benedictine A bbey in which the ,

foregoing p ages have been mostly written have I fancied that ,

m
I saw around me the i mp osing p rocession of teachers m artyrs ,

m
,

Flo
E p it ph ii S ncto u
res a pu d M b ill on A nn I
a l xx i N o 23
r a a .

. . ,
.
, .

(q uot d b y Mont l e b t )
e a er .
 A F TE R TH E PE A CE OF TH E CH UR CH . 519

and saints whose life story I have endeavoured to tell My .

work has been no panegyric not even an apologia ; the fau l ts

,

and weaknesses which too often scarred the heroic lives of

the brave confessors of the Faith have not been slurred over ,

the di v isions and bitter schis m s which divided the Christians

e v en in the days of p ersec u tion have been faithfully though
sorrowfully recorded It has been a simple truthful tale nothing
.
,

more But how o ften as I read o ver my narratives of one or

.
,

other o f the stirring or pathetic in cidents which make up the

wondrous epic of Christian life in the age of persecutions have ,

I felt that min e was only a cold and sad pen after all quite ,

unworthy of the beautiful difcult t ask I had set myself My

m
, .

hope is that my w ork wil l please others more than it has

succeeded in pleasing the writer y prayer that the reader ,

at least may be as intensely persuaded as is the writer of the ,

awful reality of the stern long drawn out con ict between
,
-

Christianity and Paganism of the Ever Presence in the ranks

, ,

of the Christian combatants of the Holy Spirit of God and

,

His Christ .
 5 21

A PP E ND I X A .

m
E MP E R O RS OF R

x
( C H A PT E R S I . .
)
B C
. .

J ulius Caesar Perp etual

,
D ictato r 48
assassinated 44
O ctav ianus Caesar (A ugustus) 27

A D
. . A D
. .

Tib er ius 14 E l agab al us 21 8

Cal igul a
Cl au dius 41
Al
Max i
e

m
x ander
in u s
Se v er us

Nero
Gal b a
O th o
54
68
69
G o rdian
Ma x i
G ordi an
m (an d

us an d

( th e
h is son

B alb in u s
y ounger)
)
23 7
23 8
V itel l ius 69
.
P h il ip (th e A rab ian ) 24 4
69 D eciu s

m
24 9
Titus
D o itian
Nerv a
79
81
96
[E m
Gal l us
ilian us
V al erian
25 1
25 3
25 3
T raj an Th irty
H
98 Gall ien u s (th e

H a drian 1 17 P reten ders ) 26 0

A ntoninus Pius 1 38 Cl audius I I .
( Go th ic us
) 26 8
Marcus A urel ius A nto A u relian 27 0

Co m
m
nin u s

odus
161 Ta citus
P
27 5

m
1 80 rob u s 27 6
Pertin ax
Septi
Caracall a
ius S ev eru s
and Geta
1 93
1 93
21 1
Ca rus
Carin us
D iocl etian
and Nu m erian
28 2
28 3
28 4
Macrinus 21 7
5 22 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI TY A ND PA GA NIS M .

TH E A SSO C I A T E D E MPE R O R S U ND E R TH E CO NST I T U T I O N or

D I OCLE T I A N

m m
C H A PT E R S x 1 v x v u
. .
)

m
A D
. .

l st G rou p of E pe ro rs D iocl etian Max i ian 28 6

2n d n 1:
D iocl e tian Max i ian Gal eriu s Con
stan tiu s Ch l orus
3 rd a:

Ma x i in D aia m
Gal eriu s Con stan tius Chl orus Se v erus

m m
-
3 05

3, 3
Gal eriu s L iciniu s Constantin e Max
en tiu s Max i ian Ma x i in Daia 3 06 7 -

Con stantin e Licinius 31 2

m
H

Constantine ( sol e E peror)

C ti u
( o n s ta n s

th e death Son s an d suc Constantin e I I D ied 3 40 337

m
on .

of h isb roth e rs cessors o f Co n stan tiu s

E m
b eca
p eror )
e

.
sol e Con stan tine . Co nst ans

J ulian
350 .

361
A D ,
J o v ian 363
V al ens (E ast) 3 64 V al entinian ( W est)

3 79

m
Th eo dosius th e G reat G ratian
3 67
V al enti nl an I I .

Th eo dosius th e Great ( sol e E peror) 3 92

A rcadius (E ast) 395 H o n o riu s (W est) 3 95

Th eo dosius I I . 4 08 D ied 4 23

m
TH E SE E OF R O ME .

[ . si n i
g es Marty n ]

S P eter an d S P a ul
A D. .

m
m Six tus
A D

119
. .

m
. . .

M arty rs 6 7 8 Tel esp h or us 1 28

m
( )

m
.

L inu s 67 H yg in us 1 39

m m
.

A n encl etus 78 Pius

m m
. .

? Cl e 91 A nicetu s 157

m
. en t

. E v aristu s 1 00 . Sote rus 1 68

. A l ex ander l 09 E l eu th erus 1 76
 A PPE NDIX A .

m
TH E SE E OF R O ME con tinu ed.

[ si
g ni es Mar ty n ]

m m
.

m
A D . . A D
. .

V ict or 1 92 E uty chianus 27 5

m m
. .

? Z ep h yrinus 202 ? Gaiu s 28 3

m
ia .

? Call istu s Marcel linus 29 6

m
?

m
. 7

. ? U rb an in ? Marcell us 3 08
? Po ntianus 23 0 E useb ius 310

m
.

Mil tiades

m
A n tero s 2
35 311
Fab ianus 23 6 Sil v est er 314

m
.

? Corneliu s Marcus 336

m
mi
.

.
L uciu s
Steph en
Six tus I I
25 2
25 3
25 7
J ul ius

m
L ib erius
Da
3 37
35 2
366

m
. . asu s

D onys usi 25 9 Siricius 3 84 398

. Felix . 26 9
 5 24

A PP E NDI X B .

TH E P R E SE NCE OF S P E TE R AT R O ME

m m
. .

m dm
TH A T S Peter resided for co n siderab l e ti e at Ro in h is l ater

m m
. a e

l ife, an d th at h e fered
su f art rth ere, is no w general l y all o w ed by

m
y o
th e g reat j rity
a o of sch ol ars, A n glica n as w ell as R o an .

E arl y patristic testi y sca cel r y be u n derstood h ere to

( )
1 on can

mmm m
b ear any

Cle
different sense .

9 5 6 , in h is rst undoub tedly

m
of Ro cir ca

d dm
a . en t e, A D . .

p
enu ine eistl e k es sp ecial en tion of P eter and P aul a n d only of

mm m m
a
g , ,

Peter a n d Pa u l w h o, a fter en durin y suf

fering s, en art ry

m
an ure
, g
do Cl e en t is writing fro th e R o Ch urch to th e Corinth ian s

m
. an

h e is call in g atten tion to x pl es of d e v o te d Ch ristians w h o

l ived

m m m
e a

r ti and t
w i h ou t doub t h e is pp ealing

m
n ea to o u r ow n es, a to
v er
y
x a pl es w h ich th e Ch urch of Ro h ad th e sel v es w itnessed

m
e e .

(Cl e ad Cor

m
m
,
. .
,
c .

I g n a tiu s o f A n tio ch , cir ca A D 1 07 , w rites to th e R o an

b

m mm mdid
. . .

Ch urch I do not co an d
y o u, lik e P eter and P au l ; th ey w ere
A p ostl es, I ned ; th e w e re free, I y ve

m
a a co nde an a a sl a u n til

no w .

Wh y sh ould I gnatius cite P eter a n d au l ? P Wh y he n ot

cite oth ers

( f inst an ce, J oh n , w ritin g h e does fro th e n eigh b o u r

m
or as

h ood of E p h esus, w h ere J oh n l atel y h ad b een th e distin g uish ing

m m
so

p ersonality ) ; h ad n ot Pete a nd Pa u l b th e Ap ostl es w h o, fro

m
r ee n

th eir residence and au th orit y at Ro w ou ld naturall y y o st

m
e, car r

w eigh t w ith th e Ch urch to w h ich h e w as w riting ? (I gn a d R o

m m
. .
, .

i D ionysiu s of Cor nth circa A D 1 7 0 in h is l ett er to th e R o an

m
c .
, . .
,

Ch urch th us w rites ost de nit el y S o al so yo u b y y o ur ad oni -

,

tions ( to u s) h a v e j oined toge th er th e p l an t at ion o f th e R o an s a n d

m m
Corin th ians [a pl antation] w h ich w a s pl an te d b y P eter and Pa ul fo r
th ey b oth ca e to our cit y o f Corin th an d ta ugh t u s and in lik e

m m mm
,

ann er th ey w ent to eth e r to I tal y a n d h a v ing ta ugh t th ere su f fered

g , , ,

arty rdo ii
ab out th e sa e ti e

( E u seb ius H E .
, . .
, .
 A PPE NDIX B . 5 25

d I
.

w rites
r en aeu s,

Matth e w
B ish op
t
of L y ons,
p el a ong th e H ell enes
o ut al so a
circa

w ri ten gos t
A D . . 1 7 7 90, -

m e
qu all y cl earl y

m
pu ,

in th eir o w n to ng ue wh il e Peter P p reach ing and founding and au l w ere

m
,

th e Ch u ch o f R o e
r A n d a fter th eir dep a rtu re (b y death ) Mark th e
.
,

discip l e and interp reter o f Peter h i sel f al so h an ded do w n to u s in

m
,

w riting th e l esson s p reach ed b y P eter ( I eu s H cer iii i

mm m
en a . r , . .
, .

e Cl e en t o f A l e x andria cir ca A D 1 9 0 200 tell s u s

w h en Peter

m
.
, . .
,

h ad p reach ed th e w ord p ub licl y in R o e th e h earers o f h is p reach ing

m
,

u rged Mar k as h a v in g b een l ong h is c o

,
pani on an d re e b ering ,

wh a t h e said to w rite ou t h is state en t s ( E u seb ius H E vi

m m
. . .
, , , .

a n o f Ca rt h a e rites in h is treati se
f T ll i i 200

m m
t w

m
er u g c ca A D ,
r . .
, ,

D e B ap tis o 4 th us Nor do es it
,
a tter w h eth er th ey ar e
on g th ose w h o J oh n b ap tised in th e J ordan or th ose w h o Pete

mm m mm
a ,
r

b ap tised in th e Tib e

A n d again in h is D e Pr cescr ip tion e 3 2
r .
, ,

Th e Ch u rch o f th e R o an s r ep orts th at Cl e ent (o f R o e) w a s

m
o rdain ed b y P eter A n d y et ore p o siti v el y as to detail in th e sa e

.

D e Pr cescr ip tion e 3 6 I f th ou art n ear to I tal y th ou h ast R o e

m
.

H o w h a pp y is th at Ch urch o n w h ich th e A p ostl es sh ed al l th ei r

teach ing w ith th eir b l ood w h ere Peter is confo r ed to th e p assion o f

m m
,

th e L or d

m
.

G i h R p y i 200 20 th u s cl ai s for

m
t b t

m
9 .a u s e o an
,
res e r c r ca A D , . .
,

th e R o an Ch ur ch th e au th orit y o f th e A p ostl es P eter a nd P a ul ,

w h ose a r tyr ed b o dies sl eep in R o e B ut I can sh ow yo u th e

t op h ies (th e r el iqu es) of th e A p ostl es ; fo r if th ou w il t g o to th e
r

V atican o to th e O stian w ay th ou w il t n d th e trop h ies of th ose w h o

mm
r

founded th is Ch u r ch

(E useb ius H E ii

m
. . .
, .
,

It . L a cta n tiu s, circa A D . . 3 06

H e discl osed to th e all th ings
w h ich Peter
Paul p reach ed at R o e an d th ei p reach ing e ained
and

m
r r
,

in w riting fo r a r ecord etc

actan tiu s I nstit D in
( L ,
i .
, .
,
v .

Th at P eter p e i sh ed in th e course o f th e p e secution of th e E p eror

r r

Nero is th e u ni v ersal tradition H is tw o can onical ep istles w ere n o

m m
.
,

doub t written at th is p eriod

,
Th e rst e p istl e w h ich w as v er y .
,

general ly u sed in th e earliest ti es w a s ev identl y co p osed in a

m
,

se ason o f b itte p ersecution

m
m mm
r .

Th e b u den of th is w ri t in g is th e co nsol ation and encou rage ent o f

m
r

e distant co u nities o f Ch ristians u n der th e ery tr ial w h ich l ay

m
so

b efore th e No w th e Ne ronian p e secu tion w a s not b y any ea n

.
,
r s,

w e kn ow conned to R o e
, I t rag ed in far aw ay p ro inces Th e .
-
v .

sal utation at th e cl ose

( 1 3 ) ru ns th u s T h ( Ch rch th t i )

m
v e u . a s

a t B ab y l on B y B ab yl o n

el ected to eth er w ith

m
g, (you) sal uteth yo u .

th e F ath e s univ ersal l y under st o od R o e ; for it coul d n ot b e th e

r

E gy p tian B ab y l on w h ich w a s a ere o b scu re fo r tress a p l ace u tt erl y ,

5 26 E ARL Y CH R IS TIA NIT Y A ND PA GA NISM .

k
un no w n to

th e w ell
Ch ristian h istory
k no w n B ab yl on b ecau se at th e ti e w h en Peter w rote th at
a nd tradition
m
. It co ul d n ot h a v e b een

m
-
, , ,

eat city w as r u in ed an d deser ted n o r is th ere any v estige of a

m
o nce
g r ,

tra ditio n c onn ecting B ab y lon w ith Peter Th e v ast aj o ity of

m
. r

odern sch ol ar s foll ow th e in terp r etation of th e Fath ers as for ,

in stance L ardner A l ford L igh tfoot a nd Farrar ; an d a fa ou s w riter

m m m
, , , ,

o f a v ery dif ferent s c h o ol R enan in h is A ntich rist w rites th u s of th e

m mm m
, , ,

te r B ab y l on : Na don t la sig n ica tion sy b oliqu e n ch app a it d

e

ese sy

mm
er son n e Th b o lic n a es are v ery u su al in th e Tal ud
p . .

B ut w h il e P eter s esiden ce at R o e during th e l atter y ears o f h is

r

life and his arty rdo in th at great c i ty in th e co u rse o f th e Ne onian

m
,
r

p ersecution are l oo ked u p on b y w ell ni g h al l sch ool s of th ough t as

m m
-
,

h istoric facts th e tra dition o f h is p resence at R o e a nd of h is teach ing

, ,

th ere at an earlier p eriod is u ch disp u ted R o an Cath olic w riters

m
, , .
,

h ow e v er app ear to h a v e no doub ts o n th e p o int an d th o ugh doctrin al

m
,

j udg th e fair h istorian

m
w ould inu en ce th eir en t, still

m m
reason s cannot

fail to see th at u ch can be sa id in su pp ort of th eir con tention .

h th e foll o w ing in fa v o u r of th e

m
A ong st o t ers, ents earlier v isit

m
ar
g u

of Peter to R o an d of h is
tw e nt y y ears ep iscopate are

m m
e, -
ve

u rg ed . I t w ill b e seen th at so e of th e at l east r est up on h istoric

testi y

m
on .

New en t I n A cts x ii 1

Th e Testa 1 7 we d h ow th is

m
a . . r ea at

ti e k ing stretch ed forth h is h an ds to v ex ce tain of th e

H erod th e r

c h u rch A nd h e k il l ed J a es th e b o th er o f J oh n w ith th e sw ord

m
. r
,

an d seeing th at it p l eased th e J e w s h e p o ceede d furth er to tak e Peter

m m
, ,
r

Th en fol l o w s th e story of th e iracul ous deli v ery o f th e A p ostl e

a lso .

fo d ii
p rison and of h is ec s on at on c e to pl a ce h i sel f in safety

m m
r ,

b ey o nd th e j urisdic tion o f H erod H e dep arted

w e read and .
, ,

w en t into anoth er p lace No ention indeed o ccurs of R o e or of

m
.
, ,

y o th e city as th e go al of h is j o urney B ut th e constant rep etition

m m
an r .

o f th e scen e o f th e arrest of P eter b

y H erod s sol diers on R o an

mm mm m
sarco p h ag i o f th e fo ur th cen tury th ere are so
( e tw en ty e x a p l
in th e L ateran Mu se u ) sh o w u s u n ista k ab l y h ow deep l y ro oted at
es now

m
R o e w as th e tradition of th e cl ose conn ection b etw een th e A p ostl e s

mm

rst co ing to R o e an d th e a r est and th e i acul ou s del iv erance

m
r r

fro th e p rison o f H erod

m m d m m
.

5 J er o w h o se cl o se co nnectio n w ith Da asus th e

m
. e, earnest

res to rer o f so y of th e sacred to bs Ro in th e cataco b s,

m m m
an r ou n e

w h o w as P op e 3 6 6 3 8 4 ga v e h i pp ortunities for accurate

m
A D . . rare o

x plicitl y te lls us h o w Si on Peter ca e to R o e in th e

in v estig atio n , e

secon d y ear of th e E p e or Cl audius A D 4 2 r . .

, .

c We can tra ce certainl y as far b a ck a s th e fo urth cen tury in th e

.
 m
A P PE NDIX B . 5 27

Ro an cal e nda s r of th e Ch u rch two feasts in conn e ction w ith th e

v eneration of th e Ch airs of Peter th e one on J an uary 1 8 th th e
S

mm
.
, ,

o th e r o n Feb r uary 22nd . A t th e l a t ter o f th ese th e ch air n ow at th e

Vatican w as v enerated B ut w h at of th e o th er ? I t see s un istak

m
.

ab l y to p oint to a v ery ea rl y tradition th at th ere w a s ano th er ch air o f

th e A p ostl e th e ob j ect o f p il ri a e and v eneration

g , g
R ecent a rch aeol ogical in v estigation h as re v eal ed to u s al ost w ith
.

m
m
,

certainty th a t th is o th er ch air e x ist ed in th e v ery a n cient O strian

,

et ery disco v ered in th e V ia Sal ar ia No v a Th is ch air e v identl y a

m m m
ce
, .
,

v enerab l e an d p recious relic did not lik e th e w ell know n one in th e

m m
-
, ,

V a tican sy b ol ise P eter s p ri a cy b u t it did sy b ol ise h is rst

m m m
, ,

co ing to R o e O f its existen ce an d p reser v ation in th e O strian

.

etery in th e six th cen t ury w e h av e a r e ark ab l e testi ony in th e

mm m m
ce
,

p apyru s MS at Monz a w h ich contains a l ist b y A b b ot John o f h oly

.
,

o il s coll ected b h i r d rin es fo r th e L o b ard Qu een

m
f h

m m m
y ro s ac e s

ol y oil s ere ta k en fro

Th eodol in da cir ca A D 5 9 0
w

m
(Th h

m mm
,ese . . .

l a p s k ep t b u rn ing in fron t o f cel eb rate d sh rines ) Th e e oran du .

entions h ow h e ob tained a
( n st o th er reliq ues
) oil fro th e la p

m
o g
b urni ng in fron t o f th e ch air w h ere P eter rst sat ( p riu s sedit) in

th e O strian ce etery in th e V ia
m
Thi s ce etery on th e V ia Sal aria No v a h a s b y recent discov eries

m m
, ,

b een cl earl y identi ed

m
.

d Th e testi ony of th e earl y P ap al lists supp orts in a v ery

. a rk ed

w ay th e an cient traditio n o f th e p resen ce of S P eter at R o e at a .

p eriod l ong anterior to th e a ccepted date of A D 6 2

m mm m
. . .

Th e P ap al list giv en b y I ren aeus cir ca A D 1 7 090 (con tra , . .

Ha iii 3 3 ) si p l y st ates th at th e R o an Ch u rch w as

founded

m
m m
, .
,

an d or anised b r o p P r and P au l an d

m
g y t h e tw o os t g l o i u s A ostl es et e ,

th at th ose b l essed A p ostl es co itted into th e h ands o f L in us th e

m
o i ce o f th e E p isco p ate I renaeus th en en u erates th e R o an suc

.

cession o f b ish op s fro L inus .

her
m
vid ently a co nfusio n in th e i nd s of th e edito of th e Ma ty m
m
T e w as e . rs r r

olo g i es fro th e eig hth cent u y do wn w ards on th e point of th e two ch ai s of

m
, r ,
r

8 Pet e fo th e 22n d F eb uary is k ed as th e F east of th e Cath ed a S P t

m
. r, r r ar r . e er

in A ntio ch b ut D e R o si po int s ou t th at n o an i ent do cu ent p i to th e ei g hth

m
, s c r or

ent ur y kes ny all usio n to A nti h in co nn ectio n w ith th e F east of F eb u y

m m
c a a oc . r ar

ason of thi s i g hth cent u y e en d atio n is no do ub t th at th e sc ib e

m
22u d Th e

m m
. re e r , ,
r s

wh o cop ie d th e an ci en t R o n Cal en dar n ding th e 1 8 th J anu y ark ed as

m m
a , ar

Cath ed S P et i q u a p i u
ra R o ae sedit and not un de standin g w h y noth
. r r ,

r a er

fe st of S Pe t e s ch ai t R o e sho ul d b e k ep t on F eb ua y 22n d in serted afte

a . r r a r r ,
r

F eb u y 22nd th e w o d s to expl ai n w h at th ey tho ug ht w s

r ar p ud A nti ch eiu r a o ,
a

a di f culty .
 Y CH R IS TI A NI T Y EA ND PA GA NIS M
m
'

5 28 E ARL .

I n

p resided o v er
th e E
m u seb ia n

for tw enty v e
th e R o
l ists *
an
of R o

I
Ch u rch in
an b ish op s, S
on e

of
. Pet er app ears as h a v ing
list for tw enty y ears in
Fil ocal us, fa m ,

m
a n o th er n th e tab l e ca l i

m
-
. a ous

r ap h er b est k n ow n in conn ectio n w ith th e inscrip tion s set u i

m
g p n

th e cat aco b s b y Pop e D a a su s S P e ter s duratio n o f rul e as b ish o p

.
,

o f th e R o an Ch u r ch is g i v en as tw enty v e y ear s This an cient list

m
-
.

s u su al l y k n o w n a s th e

o f Fil o cal us
( A D 3 5 4 ) i . . L ib erian Po p e
,

L ib eriu s e cl osin g it

mm m
na .

Th e
tw ent y v e
y ears of S Pete
rul e is p eated again in

m
-
. r s re

th e L ib er P on ti calis, eti b ut ista k enl y, call ed

Th e L iv es

m
so es,

of th e Pontiffs w h ich al th o ugh o rigin ally dating fro th e b eginning

,

,

o f th e six th ce ntury is p ro b ab l y b ased l argel y o n o l d er aterial s

mmm
.
,

Th is p e sistent t adition o f an ep isco p acy l astin g tw en ty o r tw en ty

r r

v e y ears do es n o t in th e o p i ni o n o f R o an Cath ol ic w rite s p recl ude

m m m
,
r ,

th e accep tan ce o f an ab sen ce o f S P eter fro R o e du in g p a t o f

m
. r r

th is ti e Th ey a in tain th at h e st v isited R o
. e ci ca A D 42 r r . .
,

a n d fro th is date o nw ards til l h is death e x er cised a gen er al control

in th at Ch u rch .

Certain references in S Paul s epistl es t o th e R o ans h a v e b een

m
m m
m
e . .

quo ted (notab l y b y Bish o p L igh tfoot Cle en t of R o e V ol ii

m
, ,
.
.
,

pp 4 9 1 an d 4 9 7 ) as inco p atib l e w ith th e th eory of th e earlier y isit of

m
.

S P eter to R o e and th e l on g con n ection of th e elder A p o stl e w i t h

.
,

th at g reat ch u rch Th e referen ce dw el t o n esp ecial l y is R o

. xv . .

1 9 24 No w th e p assag e it h as b een p ointed o ut w i ll b ear an e x actl y

.
, ,

o pp osi te in terp etation to th e on e su gg ested b y L igh tfoo t ; fo r in it

m m
r

S P aul tell s u s th at al th o ugh for y ears it h a d b een on e of h is g ea t

m
.
,
r

desir es to see R o e yet h e h ad ab stained fro g oing th ere p recisel y

,

b ecau se it w as n ot v irgin soil l est I sh oul d b u il d u p on anoth er

an s

fo un dation .

W h at is cl earl y p ro v ed is th at b y th e fo urth cen tury th e tradition

To su th em m
w as estab l ish ed an d app ar entl y u ndisp uted

m a tt er u p :
,

Th e p resen ce and p reach ing o f S Pe t er

.

mm
.

at R o e b etw een A D 6 2 an d 6 7 c anno t b e doub ted ; and th a t th e

. .

reat A p ostl e su f f e ed arty do in t h a t city durin

g rth e Ne onian r r
g
p ersecu tion p rob ab ly in th e l atter day s of th at aw ful p eriod is a l so

m
, ,

w el l nigh certain Th at h e v isited an d p reach ed at an e arlier p e i od

m
m
-
. r ,

an d co n tin u ed to e x ercise a k in d of p resid en c y o v er th e R o an Ch ristia n

u nity a p residen cy g en erall y referre d to as th e tw enty v e y ea s

co -
r

v e sio n th e
r
T h ese li t o t i d in th e Ch ni
s s are c n a n e

p eriod of t wenty y ea s is na ed ; r m ro cle o fE

in th e L a n
useb ius

ti v ersion
. I n th e Ar
of S .
m
J om
i
er
en an

e,

t w enty e - v .
 mm
PPE NDIX

m
A B . 5 29

episcopate is and ust re ain w ith th e aterial s of h ist ory w e no w

p ossess o p en to q uestion We can onl y af r w ith certainty th at th e
,
.

traditio n w as th oroug h l y estab l ish ed and app aren tl y undisp uted in th e

,

m
fo urth centu y r .

th e i m
m
Th e

mm
ol de st

ediate su cessors o f c
traditio n in th e L i b er P on ti ca li s
P eter w ere b uried in th e V atican Cr
rel ates th at nine of

y pt ;
th e n a

m
e s ar e
g iv en . P ap al C yp t in
th e Cataco b o f S Cal l istu s b eca e th e u sual b ury ing p l ace o f th e
.

Pop es Th e sa e auth ority tell s u s th at th e E p eror Con stan tine

A ft er S . V ictor,
m A D . . 202, th e

m
.
r

m
.

e n cl o sed th e ston e co i n w h ich co n tain ed th e b o dy o f th e bl esse d P eter ,

in b ron e an d th en b uil t u p th e w h o l e w ith so l id

z ,
asonry
(b ut app a
rentl y l ea v in g th e sp ace actual l y ab o v e th e l o cul u s o r co f n to th e
ceil ing f ee) u p on th e coi n Co n stan tin e p laced a cro ss o f p u re
,
r
gol d ,

w eigh in g on e h u ndred and fty p ou n ds .

I n A D 1 5 9 4 in th e co urse of th e w ork s w h ich w ere b eing carried on

m m
.
.
,

in th e n ew b asilica th e g rou n d g a v e w ay an d th r ou gh th e o p enin g P o p e

, ,

Cl e en t V I I I an d th e Cardin al s B ell ar ine Sfo ndrato an d A n toniano

mm m
m
.
, ,

w ith th e h el p of a tor c h coul d see th e g o l den cr o ss i n s c ri b e d w ith th e

m
,

n a e s of Co n stantin e and H el en a Th e a p ertu re w as i ediatel y l l ed .

up w ith ce ent in th e p re sen ce of th e P o p e h i sel f

m
.
,

I n A D 1 6 1 5 w h en P op e P aul V ( B orgh esi) w as b uilding th e stai s

m m
. .
,
. r

l eading to th e Confession o f S P eter and th e Cry p ts th e w or k en

m
.
,

pl oy ed ca e u pon th e c y p t containing th e g a v es of th e early

m
e r r

B i sh op s o f R o e b u ri ed O ne o f th e cofn s b o re th e

in Va tica n o
.

e L I NV S wh o accor din to th e L ib e P on ti a l is h ad b een

m
na g ,
r c ,

o igin al l y b ur i e d b y th e side o f P eter Th e p l an w e h a v e giv en of th is

m m
r .

ost sacred sp ot w as draw n b y B en edetto D r ei cl erk o f th e w ork s in ,

S P eter s an eye w itness of th e disco v erie s

a de at th at ti T
.
,
-
e
( eh .

pl an w as p ub lish ed in A D I t is an in v a l u ab l e re c o rd o f w h at

m m m
. .

lies b en eath th e Mo th er Ch u ch o f Ch ristian ity I t is e x ceedin gl y r are r . .

Th e engrav ing w e h a v e gi v en is fro a co p y in th e B ritish Mu seu

L ib ary
r Th e Sarcoph agu s o f S P eter w as p resu ab l y in th e cent e
.

i ts p ositio n n th e p ictu re is a l i tl e
i b o v e th e o rd s

Sa cratissi a
.

m m
r

m
t a w
Confessione I t is h o w e v er
.

co pl etely conceal ed b y th e sol id
, ,

ason ry o f Con stantin e ab o v e all u ded to

m
.

O nl y a few y ears l a ter in A D 1 6 26 w h en th e v ast foundations o f , . .

,

erected b y Po p e U b an V I I I
th e e no o u s B al dach ino
(B a b erini
)

m m
r ,
r . r ,

w ere b ein g con st ucted th e cry p t a b o v e desc ib ed w as ag ain seen an d

r ,
r

in ed and gen eral l y th e detail s w h ich D rei s v

ex a a e e al ed w e re
, p r

sub stan tiated Ma ny p a rticular s co n ce n ing th e w o n derful th ing s

. r

w h ich w ere th e n seen a r e

g iv e n in th e a cco u nt w h ich w as w ritten do w n
1 1
 E A RL Y CH R IS TIA NI T Y A ND PA GANI S M
m
5 30 .

th e ti b y U b al di, Canon of th e g reat B asil ica of S Peter s

m m
at e a .

w h ose narrati v e l ong forgo tten an d h idden in th e arch i v es of th e

m
,

Vatican, h as b een co p arativ el y recen tl y b ro ugh t to ligh t , tran scrib ed

a nd pub lish ed b y Professor Ar el lini in h is b oo k L e Chiese di R o a

m m
.

A n E ngl ish transl ation of U b al di s

reco rd is gi v en b y B arn es in h is
x h austiv e y R o e a n d h is To b on th e

m m
an d sch ol a rl w ork S P eter in

m m m
e , .

Va tica n H ill ( L o ndon,

m
m
Fro U b aldi o ran da

m mm
th at th orou gh

s e it w o u l d see a ore

in ation r y pt w as ade v iz in A D 1 6 26 th an th e
o f th a t sac ed cr

m
ex a , . . .
,

ew h at earl ier o ne rep resen ted in D r ei s p l an a nd th at an y

mm
so ore ,

inter ents w ere disco v ered b esides th ose indicated b y D rei O ne v ery

m
.

ark ab l e p assa e o f U b al di run s as foll ow s A l ost at th e l e v el o f

m
re g
th e p av e ent th ere w as fo u n d a cof n
,
ade of n e a n d l arg e sl ab s o f

arb l e Th is co f n w as p l aced j ust as w ere th e oth ers w h ich

m
.
,

w ere foun d o n th e o th er side w ith in th e circl e o f th e p resb y tery in su ch

m
,

anner th at th ey w ere al l directed tow ar ds th e al tar l ik e sp ok es

m m
a ,

tow ards th e centre o f a w h eel H ence it w as e v iden t w ith h ow

.
,
u ch

r eason th e pl ace erited th e n a e o f th e Cou n c i l o f Mar ty r s .

Th ese b o dies su rroun ded S P eter j ust as th ey w o ul d h a v e done w h en

.
,

liv ing, at a Cou ncil .
 A PP E ND I X C .

O N TH E A U TH E NTI CI TY O F TH E SE V E N E P I STL E S A ND

TH E A CTS O F M A R TY R D O M OF S . I GNA TI U S .

SE CT I ON I .
TH E SE V E N I
E P S LE S T .

TH E l etters of S I gn atiu s, B ish o p o f A n tioch in Sy ria, p rofess to

m m
.

h a v e b een w ritten b y th e saint a s h e w as p assing th rough A sia Min or

h is w ay to R o w h ere h e w as to death b y e x p osure to th e

m
fer
suf

m
on e,

w il d b ea sts in th e p ub l ic a ph ith eatre . Th e date of th e wr itings is

y giv en as A D 1 07 to A
onl 1 10 Th e l etters th at a re n o w

m
co . . . D . .

eneral l y accep te d b sch o l a rs as ab sol utel y au th entic v en in

m
are se
g y
b er, v e of th ese b eing a ddressed to different ch u rch es of A sia

m m
nu

Minor ,
v iz . to E p h esus Magnesia
Ph iladel ph ia and S yrna
, ,
Tral l es, ,

o n e to R o e an d o n e to th e th en B ish o p o f S y rna Poly carp

m
.
, ,

Th ere are th r ee recen sion s of th e I g natian ep istl es e x tan t .

Th e rst o L on g er f r Th is recension con tain s tw el v e ep istl e

m
r o s .
, .

B esides co ntaining th e se v e n l etters ab o v e eferred to it in cl udes e r ,

v

e x tra ep istl es Th e fo in w h ich th e se v en ep istl es are g i v en is

m m
. r

c on side ab l y l o n er th an th e a ccep ted on e T h i ecen sion is n ow

r
g s r .

u ni v e sal l y c on de n ed b y sch ol ars as sp u riou s

mm m m mm
r .

Th e second o r l i ddl e for , co ntain s th e se v en e p istl es ab o v e ,

era ted ; a
g ood deal of th e atter incor po rated in th e rst o r

m
e nu

l onger for is h ere o itted . Th is recension is so eti es all u ded to

as th e V o ssian, fro th e sch o l a r I saac V o ss, w h o in A D . . 1 6 46 p ub l ish ed
th e rst Greek edition o f six of th e v en ep istles I t is n o w v e ry

m m
se .

g en erall y ac k now l edged by sch ol a s a s r g en u ine .

Th e th ird, p resen ted y Sy riac v ersion

m
S h or t for

m
is on l by

m
or , re a ,

w h ich w as p ub lish ed for th e rst t i e b y Canon Cureton ( W est

in ster) in 1 8 4 5 fro MSS recently b ough t to th e B ritish Museu

. r
 Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND PA GA NIS M

m
5 32 E AR L .

fro
v iz
th e
th ose
Nitrian desert .

Pol y carp to th e E ph esians and to th e R o ans

addre ssed to
Th is recen sion con tains b u t th ree e pistl es
m ,

m m
.
, , ,

and th e te x t o f th e th re e ep istl es is a l so ab b re v ia ted I n sp ite of th e .

a dv o cacy o f so is n ot no w l ook ed u p o n

e sch ol ars th is Sh o t fo r

mm m
,
r

a s at all ep resentin e x t of th e o rig in al w ritin s o f I

r
g th e t g g na tius It .

is e v iden tl y an ab ridg en t o r u til a tion o f th e secon d o r Middl e for

o f recen sion B ish o p L igh t foot c on sid ers A D 400 or a few y ears
.

earlier as a p rob ab l e da te w h en th is ab ridg

,

w as rst pu t out
en t in th e S yriac v ersio n m . .
,

m
.

To return to th e Middl e o r V ossian R ecensio n Th is te x t say s

.
,

L igh tfo ot of th e se v en e p istl es is a ssu red to u s o n te sti o n y c o n

,

siderab ly g reater th an th a t o f an y an cient c l assi c al a u th or w ith o n e o r

m m
m
,

tw o e x cep tion s

.

This testi o ny w e w ill b riey su arise

m
.

E XT E R NA L E V I D E NC E I n th e ep istl e o f Po lyca rp w h ich b el ongs to ,

th e rst y ears of th e secon d centu y w e nd se v eral u n istak ab l e

mm mm
r ,

re fe ences to th e a ck n o w l ed ed se v en
r I n a tian l ette s I enaeu s
g g r . r ,

w riting fro fty to se v enty y ea s l ater quotes v e b ati fro th e

m m
r ,
r

l etter to th e R o an s, an d h as r eferen ces b esides to v eral oth ers of

m
se

th e v I gnatia n l etters S o e tw enty y ears ea rl er th an I renaeus i

mm
se en .

th e l etter of th e S
y r n a Ch u r ch to th e P h il o elian s, w ith th e acco unt

of th e y
art rdo of Poly carp ,
sh o w s an ac quaintan ce w ith th e
I gn atian ep istl es E ch oes of th ese l etters, too , fo und in th e E p istle

mm
. are

o
f th e Ch u r ch es o f Vi enn e a nd L yon s, g i v ing an acco un t of th e

art yrdo in th ese cities Th is p istl e w a s w ritte n cir ca A D 1 7 7

m
s . e . . .

L u cia n , th e Pagan sa tirist ,

i
c r ca A D . . 1 6 5 1 7 0, in h is c el eb ra te d satire

o r ro a n ce, De Mor te P ereg r in i, v idently alludes to and a pp arently

e

b ases po i
rt on o f h is w riting u p on th e st o ry o f I gn a t iu s a s co n tain ed

m
a

in th e v en ep istl es

m m
se .

To w ards th e iddl e of th e th ird c en tur y w e n d at l east tw o dire ct

quo tation s p istl es d E p h esian s in th e

m
fro th e to th e R o

m
e ans an

w ritin gs of O r ig en Th e referen ces direct an d indire ct of th ese ea rl y

m m
.

w ri ters of cen turies tw o an d th re e w ere ade e x cl usiv ely fro th e

se v en e p istles con tain ed in th e secon d o r iddl e fo r o f recensio n

o nl y .

E u seb iu s o f Caesarea , th e Ch urch h istorian in th e rst h al f of th e

fourth c en tu r

l e t te rs, quo ting fro

y , g iv es
m us a

each m m
full
of th e
an d de nite
bu t on l
a ccou nt

fro th e
of th e I gna tian
seven of this

m mm
, y
r ecen sion

m m
.

F ro th e th at is, fro iddl e of th e

a
ge o f E u seb ius o nw a rd th e
fo u rth cen tu r y th e testi on y is of th e o st v a r ed i k in d . Th e
e p istl es of I g na tius a pp ear ,
w h ol e or in p art ,
n ot o nl y in th e o rig in al
 PPE NDIX

m
A C 5 33

x p an ded m m
Gr eek , b ut in Sy riac, A r
i itated
enian ,

N0
Co p tic, L a tin,
rl y
e tc

Ch ristian w ritin g
. Th ey a re ab rid ed,

o u ts id
m
g
th e

m
e . ea e
,

Cano n of th e New Testa en t sc ripture is attested b y w itnesses so any

a n d so v arious . A n d in th is an y ton g u ed ch oru s th er e is n o t
-

dissentient v oice

m
one .

Th rough o ut th e w h ol e p eriod of Ch ristian h ist ory b efore th e

R efor g iation n ot a sus p icion of th eir e n u n en ess is b reath ed b y frien d
or foe .

Th e I NT E R NA L E V DE N E I C fu rnish ed b y th e se v en ep istl es is e
qu all y
strong .

B ish op L igh tfo o t, in h is l o n g an d e x h austiv e trea tise, p artitions

mm
th is internal e v iden ce into v e or

g eog ra h ical p circu stan ces ;

e l itera r y
( 2)
six

th e
g ro u

eccl esiastical
ps Th e h istorical
con dition s ;
p ersonality
(3 )
an d

th e

m
th eol og ical p ol e ics ; ( )
4 th o b l ig ation s ; (5 ) th e
of th e w iter r an d
(6) th e y le an d diction of th e l e t t ers

m
st

mm m
.

O n th e rst p oint th e h ist orical su rrou ndings of th e fa

m mm
,
ou s

art rdoy ,
u ch p rob ab il ity of th e l ong
h as b een said as to th e i
j o urn ey fro A n tioch to th e R o an a p h ith eatre B ut th is is w ell

mm m m m
.

a n swer ed b an in v estigation into th e p a c t ices o f th at age o f T aj an

m
r r
y ,

w h en th e en o r ous nu b er o f vi cti s r e qui ed for th e I p erial ga es

m mm m
r

is tak en into accoun t A fter h is secon d D acian triu ph in A D 1 06

m
.
,
. .

fo in stan ce th e E p eror cel eb rate d g a es in th e etrop ol is w h ich

m
r ,

l a ste d 1 23 day s an d in w h ich so e w il d and ta e b easts w er e

m m
,

an y a s
sl a u h te red
g a nd as , gl adiators fough t For th ese .

b l oody e ntertain ents th e Go v erno rs in th e pro v in ces no do ub t w ere

e

mm v er

mA
on

i
th e
all
search

escort,
fo r v icti s
.

l ik e th at w h ich g uarded I gnatius, w ould p c k up

m
s

detach of p rison ers c onde ned to die, a t different p l aces on th e

m
en ts

route Just such a reinforce ent of th e sad con v oy Pol y carp tell s u s
.
, ,

w a s a nn e x ed to th e co pa ny o f I gn atiu s a t Ph ilipp i ; w e nd too

m
, ,

referen ces to th is p rac tice in cl a ssical w riter s

m m
.

Th e de v otion of friends th e p ressing o un d h i o f de v otees durin

m m
r
, g
th a t w eary j ourne y th e atten tion a nd r e v erent ad iration o f so an y

m m
,

a t th e v ario u s h a l tin p l a es o n t h at triu p h a l arch o f th e Ch ristian

g c

ar ty r is rep rodu ce d w ith ar v ell o us accu r a cy in th e curious Satire

mm m
,

u p on th e Cy nics an d th e Ch ristian s b
y th e Pagan L u cian Th e .

De Morte P ereg r ini ab o v e en tio n ed so ex actl y p ictu res

m
ro an ce , , ,

scen es fro th e j ourney of I gn atius th at no t a few sch ol ars th ink th a t

m m mm
,

L u cian , w riting cir ca A D . . 1 6 5 , drew u ch of hi s b rilliant, th ough

p ortraiture fro th e story B e th is h ow it ay

m
sar castic, Ch ristian .
,

L ucian w ou l d not h a v e l l ed h is recital w ith circu stan ces i p ossib l e

or e v en i prob ab l e .
5 34 E A RL Y CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND P A GA N IS M .

m
Th e g eog raphic a l n otices l e tters are ab sol u tely a cc u rate *
in th e

m
.

Th e ecclesia stic a l con dition s, * o reo v er i n c id en tally d esc rib ed th e rei n

m
, ,

p erfec tly a cc ord w i th all th at w e k now of th e gov ern en t and internal

arran g e

m m
ents of th e C h r i sti a n C h u rc h in th e ea ly y ears o f th e se c o n d

c entu ry ; w h il e th e th eolog ica l pole ics * are e xac tly w h at w e sh ould

e xp e c t n e i th e r o re o r l e ss d e v e l o p ed th an w e sh o uld l o ok for at th a t
r

m
,

ea rly p eri o d in th e Ch u r c h s h i story

.

T ill th e d ay s of th e R efo r a tio n th en th e I g natian epi stl es w ere

m
, ,

cc ep te d w i th ou t di spute O n th e reviva l of l earni ng h o wever in th e

mm
a .
, ,

six teen th c entu ry c ertai n isg ivi ng s o n th e p art o f sc h ol ars b egan to

ari se

mm m
o w i ng to
,
an if est h i sto ri c al

re c en si on w h i c h w as c o
errors di sc ov ered in th e l ong er

on ly u se d in th e iddl e ages

m m
.

A t th e p eri o d o f th e R efor ati on Pro testan t c o n tro v ersi ali sts lik e ,

C a lvi n were bitterly offend ed at th e o verw h el i ng testi ony to

de ned th e mm
e pi sc o p acy c ontain ed in th ese l etters and th i s sc h ool ang rily con
as spu ri o u s Mil ton in 1 6 4 1 and th e P u ri tan w ri ters
r enew e d th e atta c k w i th erce d en u n c i ati o n
.

A rc h bi sh op U ssh er in
,

, ,

m
.

A D 1 6 4 4 h ow e v er w i th h is w on d erful er udi ti on an d c riti c al g en iu s

. .
, , ,

l arg ely restore d th e orig ina l tex t by th e aid of so e an c i ent La tin

m
MSS sw eepi ng awa y th e v e extra epi stl es and pu rg i ng th e tex t o f
.
,

t e g e nui n e l etters o f th e i nterp o l a ted

h atter ; w h il e I saac V oss in
,

m
,

A 5) 1 6 4 6 publi sh ed six o u t o f th e se v en a u th enti c epi stl es in th e

m mm
,
.

o ri g i na l Greek fro a re c en tly di sco v ere d Fl o renti ne MS (Th e .

Greek tex t o f th e re ai n i n g e pi stl e to th e R o an s i ssi ng in V oss s

,

dis c o v ery w as f o u n d ab o u t h alf a c entu ry l a ter ) Th e w ork o f U ssh er

m
, .

a n d V oss in th e restorati on o f th e o ri g i na l tex t h as b een c ri ti c i sed

a g ai n an d ag a i n ; b u t in th e ai n th e a cc u ra c y of th ei r l ab o u rs h as

m
b een establish ed by th e sub sequ en t i n v estigati on of sch ol ars ; and th e
publi c ati on of th e great sch o l a rly w o rk of Li gh tfoot Bi sh op of D u rh a
on th e ap osto li c f ath ers put o u t in th e l atter y ears o f th e n i n eteenth
, ,

c entu ry h as vi rtu ally c l o se d th e qu estio n for ever We are now assu red

m m mm
.
,

th a t w e p o ssess th e p re c i o u s se v en epi stl es o f I g n a tiu s in th ei r enti rety ,

pu rg ed fro all th e a dditi ona l atter w h i ch h ad g radu ally g ath ered

ro u n d th e o ri g i na l c o p ositi on s of th e arty r Bi sh op o f A nti o ch

m
.

( Th e se ven a u th enti c epi stl es o f S I g n atiu s tran sl ated o cc upy .

, ,

so e 3 2 l arg e o c tav o p ages p ri n te d in f ai rly g o o d tv pe ) ,

.

Th v i u p in ts w h i ch onl y ju t t u ch d up n in th i b i f n t

m
ese ar o s o are s o e o s r e o e , ar e
,

a ll di u d t g t l ngth w i th
sc sse a l nin g n d p f und ch l h ip b y B i h p
r ea e ,
r ar e ear a ro o s o ar s ,
s o

L i gh tf t w h hoo d th t p i d nd th p i ti n ccupi d b y I gn tiu

,
o as a e a er o , a e os o o e a s,

p cul i l y h i w n S A p t l F th
e ar s o S I gn ti u nd S P l yc p
. ee l i
os o i c a er s, . a s a . o ar ,
vo . .
,

v i pp 3 5 4 4 3 0 L i gh tf t cl h i l ng nd h u ti v di t ti n th u

m
e a s e sser a o s :
x oo oses s o a
-
. .
, .

O n th g und w c n t i n d t cc p t th e S v en E pi tl
ese ro s e are f th o s ra e o a e e s es o e

Mid dl f th g nui n w k f I g n ti u

e or as e e e or o a s .
 A PP E NDI X C . 5 3 {A

m
S E C T I ON T H E A CT S OF MART YRD OM
m
11 .
.

m m
T H E S E A cts w e p ossess in v e f or s Th ree o f th ese ust b e

m m mmm
.

set asi d e as e vi d ently c o bin ati ons of tw o ol d er d o c u ents

m
.

Th ese tw o o l d er d o c u ents ay b e ter ed th e A n tioch ene and

R o a n A c ts resp ectiv ely
m m
O f th ese tw o th e R o an
.

di sreg ard ed i ntern al evid en c e cond e ns it as pu re ro an ce th e pro

du ct o f an age c onsid erably p osteri or to th at of th e sai nt o f wh ose
a
y b e sa fe ly
,

m
p assi on it p rof essedly g ives a d etail ed a cc ou nt
mm

m
.

Th e o th er d o c u ent th e A nti o c h ene A c ts o f artyrd o

,
is con ,

sidered by an y ser i o u s c ri ti c s no tably by A rc h bi sh op U ssh er

, ,

Pearson L ec l er c and l ately by th e Fren ch sc h ol ar and w ri ter A l l ard

m
, ,

e nd o f n i neteen th c en tury as b ei n g s ub stan ti a lly g en uin e ; l arg ely

( )

m
,

spu ri o u s n o d o ub t in its p resent f or b ut b ased up on an early an d

m
,

a u th en ti c d o c u ent i n c orp orated in th e p resen t l ater tex t w h i ch h a s

c o e d o w n to us it h as o b tai ned a wi d e c i r c ul ati on and is read as an

m
, ,

a u th ori tative pi e c e n o t o nly by Greek sp eakin g Ch ri sti an s b ut al so in

m
-
,

A r eni a an d in al l th e c h u rc h es o f L atin Chr i sti ani ty

m
.

O n th e oth er h an d Bi sh o p Li gh tfoot after a searc h i ng ex a i nati on

mm m
m m m
, ,

d ecid es th at th e A c ts in qu esti on h ave n o c l ai to b e rega rd ed as

an a u th en ti c d o c u en t ; b u t at th e sa e ti e h e c arefully a d d s h is

m m m
, ,

o pi n i o n th at p ossibly th ey e b o dy so e earli er d ocu ent and th u s ,

p reserv e a r esiduu o f g en ui n e tradi ti on T h i i en t sc h ol ar

m
a
y s e .n

e sp e c i ally d w ell s o n th e l ate r p or ti on of th e n arrativ e w h i c h p ro fesses

m
,

to b e el ted by ey e w i tnesses :
I cannot h elp feelin g i p ressed h e

m
r a -
,

s ay s

wi th th e air of tr u th ful n ess or at l east of v eri si i li tu d e in

mm

, , , , ,

e in c id ents in th e l atter p o rti on of th e narra tiv e I sh oul d

m
so

b e d i sp osed to b eli eve th at th e a rty rol o g i st h a d i nco rp o rate d i nto

m m
th e l atter p orti on of h is n a rr ativ e a c on te p or a r y letter o f th e a r tyr s

mc o pa n ion s c ontai ni n g an a cc ou nt of th e j o u rney fro Ph ilippi (to

,

R o e) and th e d eath a l th o u gh f re ely i nterp ol ati ng an d al terin g it

w h en h e w as so d isp osed
,

m m
.

H e su gg ests th e f th o r six th c entu ry a s th e p rob abl e d a te fo r th e

c o p ositi on or red ac ti o n of th e A ntio c h en e A c ts in th ei r p resent for .
 5 36

A P PE NDI X D .

NO T E S O N TH E P A SS I O N O F S . PE R P E T U A .

(l) Th e diferen t w r i ters i n T h i s w ell k now n i n c i

th e Pa ssio n .

-

den t in th e h i story of th e C h ri sti an C h u r c h in North A f ri c a c onsi sts of

mm
th ree di sti n c t pi e c es w e ld e d i n to on e n arrativ e by a re d a c tor o r edi to r

m
w h o n o d o ub t w as a c onte p o ra ry o f Perp etu a an d h er c o p an i on s m ,

m m
, , .

I ts great i nterest c o n si sts in th e or an da o r n otes of Perp etu a

m
e

rel ati n g to h er p ri so n exp eri en c es a ong w h i c h w ere th ose re

, ark abl e

d rea s w h i ch sh e rel ates in si ngul arly v ivid l ang u age A sh o rt pi ec e .

i n c o rp orated w i th th e na rrati v e of Perp etu a pu rp orts to h a v e b een

m
m m
w ri tten by o n e o f h er fell o w pri son ers S atu rns on c e h er teac h er in th e

mm m
Fai th c o n ta i ni ng th e
-

or i es o f a d rea
,

o r vi si on o f h is sh o rtly
,

m
,
e

b efo re h is artyrd o .

A b ri ef i n trod uc tio n a nd a so ewh at l eng th y b ut ost g rap h i c and

m
,

e l o qu ent a cc o u n t of th e l ast s c enes in th e aren a w h en Perp e tu a an d h er

m mm m m mmm
c o p ani ons su ffered is by an oth er h a nd th at o f th e red ac tor or editor
, ,
,

w h o h e tell s u s a d d ed th i s n arra tiv e to Perp etu a s

full ent of a p ro i se ad e to h er b efo re h er arty rd o

e ora n d a in

,

mm
.

Th e v ari ati on s in styl e an d c o p osi ti on b etw een th ese th ree por

mm
ti o n s are
c ases Th e
.
ark e d

e
Th e v o c abul ary u se d is v ery different in ea c h of th e
.

or i es

o f Per p etu a a n d th e on e li ttl e n ar rativ e o f

Satu ru s a re p erfec tly si pl e and u n restrai n ed th e re c o ll e c ti on s

m
,

i nd eed o f h i gh ly c ul tu red p ersons b ut w ri tten d own ab solu tely w i th

mm
, ,

o u t an y atte p t at el o qu enc e Th e p refa c e and th e c onc ludi ng acc o u nt

m
.

o f th e ar ty rd o on th e oth er h an d are u n d en i ably b eau tiful b ut are

, , ,

e vid e n tly th e c o p ositi on of a trai n ed w ri ter and th i nk er .

( )
2 V l u f t h P i n I t w as k n o w n to a nd ex ten

m
se o e s o
er
y ear y a s .

si el y u se d by T ertulli an th e g reat A f ri c a n w ri ter a t th e b eg i nn i n g o f

m m
v , ,

th e th i rd c en tu ry H e w as a c o n te p orary o f Pe rp etu a s , i nd eed

.
,

so e c o n sid er th a t T ertulli an h i self w as th e red a c tor w e h av e allud e d

to. S A u gu sti n e w ri ti n g ab o u t th e en d o f th e f ou rth c en tu ry c i tes

.
, ,
 E ND IX
m mm
A PP D .
.
537

th is P assi on of Perp etu a

veral ti es
se . I t is th e th e e of th ree

of d i sc o u rses and it is
h is ,
fo u r ti es b esid es in h is qu oted at l east
w ri ti n gs

mm
.

h c Th e Passi o n is b est k no w n to
( )
3 T e a b b r ev ia ted L a ti n A ts .

C h u rch h isto rian s th rou g h th e ediu o f a c on d ensed e dition generally

m mm m m m
,

k no w n as th e sh ort Latin A c ts rea d in c h u rc h es o n th e day w h en

,

S Perp etu a an d h er c o p ani on s in arty rd o w ere c o orated

m
.
e ,

th e ori g i n a l A c ts b ei n g too l on g for li tu rg i c al u se

Th ese sh orter

m
.

Latin A c ts w ere evid en tly an abb revi ati on of th e l ong er for T h ey

mm m
.

c on tain h o w e v er a d etail ed a cc o u n t of th e tri al o f th e artyr b efore

, ,

th e R o an ag i stra te w h i ch is n o t in th e orig i nal S o e c riti c a l

,
.

s c h o l ars b eli e v e th at th i s a cc o u n t is a u th enti c b ei n g b ased u p on a n

m m
,

o ri g i n al proc s v er b a l w h i c h w as p r ese r v e d

m
-
.

Th i s sh orter L ati n f or of th e A cts w as u sed in th e o ld er R o an

th e R o m ,

m m m
Ch u rc h as w ell a s in th e E ast and for a l on g ti e w as c ontai n e d in
m b revi ary
,

E v en tu ally it w as i tted to ke for

m m
an . o a ro o

S Th o as A qui nas

m
.
.

(4) l i discov er y f l ong er for f

A cts Th e l onger and

m
e- o o .
-
ore

a u th enti c Lati n for w as o nly r edi sc ov ered in th e se v en teenth c en tury ,

C
in th e lib ra ry o f th e g reat B en edi c ti n e o n a stery o f Mo n te a ssin o in ,

a MS w ri tten p a rtly in th e e l ev e n th an d p artly in th e tw e lfth c en tu ry

.

an d al th o u g h oth er MS S o f th e A c ts ar e sa id to exi st th e Monte

m
.
,

Ca ssin o MS is still th e b asi s o f th e Lati n tex t no w u sed I n 1 8 8 9

mm
m
. .

P ro fessor R en d el H arri s disc o v ere d a c o pl ete Greek tex t o f th e

a rty r d o in th e lib ra ry of th e C o n vent o f th e H ol y S epul c h re at

m
J eru sal e th e MS w ri tten a pp arently in th e ten th c entu ry (of co u rse
, .

c o pi ed fro a n o ld er c o py ) A ll a rd rel a tes h ow anoth e r L ati n MS o f

m
m
. .

th e Pa ssio n w as fou nd a s l a te as 1 8 9 2 in th e A b ro si an Lib rary at

.

m
Mil a n No d oub t a s ti e g oes o n o th er MSS w ill tu rn up as th e
,

great lib rari es are o re c are fully searc h ed I t is a a tter o f d i spu te

, .

m ,

m m m
.

w h eth er th e orig i nal w as w ri tten in L ati n o r in Greek Th e b al an c e o f .

e vid en c e see s rath er to p o i n t to L a tin O n e arg u ent c arri es u ch .

w ei gh t I n th e i si on of Saturus it is exp ressly stated th at Perp etu a

mm m m
. v

tal k ed G reek w i th th e bi sh o p o r p resby te r o u tsid e th e h eav enly g ate

a re ark w h i c h w o uld b e i n c o p reh en sibl e if th e ori g i na l d o c u ent
h ad b een c o p o sed in th e Greek l a n g u age Th e Gr eek v ersi o n h o w

m
.
,

e ver is c ertai nly o f a very e arly d a te and is g e n erally sp eaki ng

m
, , , ,

ad i rabl e .

e Vi sion s o S P r etu a D i sti n c t f ro e h i s to ri c a l i n terest

( )
5 T h f e p t h . .

o f P erp e tu a s acc o u n t of th e li fe l ed in p ri son by th e Ch ri sti a n a cc u sed

m
,

a nd o f th e i n ter c o u rse all o w e d b etw een th e a cc u se d and th e o rdi n a ry

c i tiz en s th e d rea s and visions of Perp etu a and S tu rns as rel ated by
, a ,
 CH R I S TI A NI T Y A ND I SM

m mm
5 38 E A R LY P A GA N .

lv es are ost i p ortan t contribu ti ons to our k no wl ed ge of th e

m
th e se ,
.

h op e a n d f ai th w h i c h supp o rted th e early C h ri sti an s a ll th ro u gh th e

p erio d o f th ei r bi tter tri al an d gave th e c ou rage to en du re th e se

mmmm
,

su fferi ng s .

We h av e al ready in ou r su ary o f th e Pa ssio n in th e tex t of

m m
,

o u r h i story d we l t a li ttl e o n th e f ra e of in d w h i c h w o uld rend er

m m
,

su c h vi si o ns o r d rea s p rob abl e No w u c h th o u gh n ot all of th e

m m
,
.
,

f ra ew ork so to sp eak o f th ese re ark abl e v i sio ns is b ased on wh at

m m
, ,

we a
y ter th e cu rre n t C h ri sti an li tera tu re o f th e a e
g

I t is a .

fa ili ar exp erien c e w ith us th at al l o ur d rea s can frequ ently b e

m
m o

th ey
m m
tra c e d b a c k to th o u gh ts w h i c h h a v e b een p re sen t to ou r w aki n g

m m m
en ts an d th at th ei r

p
,

resen t th e
ater i a l s in w h a tev er stran g e c o

selv e s are d eriv e d l arg ely f ro

bi nations
o u r re coll ec
,

m
a
y ,

ti ons , w e sh all not for th at reason a dd s th e w ri ter o f th e

b ut

m m
,

ab o v e su gg estiv e w o rd s b e te p ted to qu esti on th ei r,

U n i stak ably in al l th e vi si ons in th e Passi on th ere are any

m m
re coll e c ti on s o f s c en es and w o rd s w h i c h

m
Th e i ag ery of th e L ad d er in P erp etu a s rst d rea
w e nd in H oly Sc rip tu re
fo r i n stan c e w a s
.

m mm

, ,

su gg ested n o d o ub t by th e l add er in J a c o b s d rea in Genesi s I n

m

, , .

th e d rea rel ati n g to D in ocrates h er su fferi n g c h ild b roth er th e

mm m m
m
-
, ,

great g ulf b etw een A b rah a s b o so and th e pl a c e of tor ent wh ere

m m
th e r i c h an f o u n d h i self is e vid en tly r e e b ere d
Not a fe w e ori es o f th e sc en ery and th e p ersons of th e a p o c a
.

m
lypse o f S J oh n c o l o u r th e d rea s of Perp etu a an d S atu rns

m
.

th e re w a s an oth er b ook w ri tten so e forty o r f ty y ears b ef o re w h i c h

A nd .

m m
, ,

h ad attai ne d to en or o u s p opul ari ty in th e C h u rc h Th i s b oo k w as

m
.

th e

S h eph erd o f H er as Th ere w e n d any c u ri o u s and in
.

terestin g d e tail s w h i c h ore o r l ess c l early rea pp ear in th e vi si on s o f

m m m
Perp etu a an d S atu rns
So g reat w as th e p opul a ri ty o f th e
.

S h ep h erd of H er as in
any of th e ea rly c ong reg ati on s o f C h r i stia ns th at a l th ou g h it n e v er

m m m
,

w as c o u n ted a o n g th e i nspi red w ri ti ng s i n c lu d ed in th e New T esta

mm
en t C an on y e t it w as n o t i n frequ e n tly b o u n d up in th e sa

m m
,

w ith th e New T esta ent and in c ertai n c h u r c h es w as ev en read in th e

e v o lu e

m
,

publi c servi c es B esid es th e e ori es of th e O ld and New T esta ents

.

an d of th e S h eph erd of H er as th e i n uen c e of o th er ap o c alyp ti c

m
,

w ri ti ngs in v ogu e in th e sec on d c entu ry w as c l early at w ork in th e

in d s o f th ese h i gh ly w ro u g h t and earnest c on fessors

m
-
.

A l l th ese n atu ra l su ggesti ons a s to th e so u r c es of th e c o l o u ri ng o f

m
th ei r s c enes h o w ev er by n o , ean s ex c lud e th e beli ef th at th e L ord
, ,

p tu
e a
P f A
.
ro

a m
it g R obin n in T t nd Studi : Th P i n f S P
.

C b id g 1 8 9 1 r
r a

e,
e

.
so ,
ex s a es e ass o o . er
 E ND IX
m m
A PP D . 539

by ean s o f th ese vi si ons di rec tly i nten d ed ,

to c o fort and supp o rt th e
so ul s o f H is b rav e su f
feri n g w i tn esses .

( ) I
6 s th e P assion f
o S Perp etu a
. a AI on ta n stici w ri tin g 7i T h eo
l ogians h a ve i c ed and c all ed a ttenti on to th e strong Montani sti c
not

m
, ,

c olo u ri ng sp ec ially o b servabl e in th e I ntro du c ti on and Perorati on by

,

th e e di t o r and c o pil er o f th e Passi on wh ere allu si ons to th e w ork

a re p oi n ted ly m m
o f th e H oly S pi ri t th en w orki n g w i th p e c uli a r en ergy in th e C h u r c h
,

ad e 3 th e w ri te r e vid en tly assu i ng th at th ere w o uld

,

m
b e in th e ag e in w h i c h h e w as livin g (th e rst y ears o f th e th i rd

m
c entu ry ) a ore abu nd ant o u tp o u ri ng o f th e H oly Gh ost th an h ad
m
m m
,

e v er b een th e c ase b efore I t see s hi g h ly p rob abl e th at th e c o pil er

m
.

w as a Montan i st A rg ui n g f ro
. th i s so e h a v e su gg ested th at ,

Perpetu a and h er c o p an i ons al so b e l ong ed to th e Montani st se c t

m
.

Bish o p Freppel in h is Tertulli an stron gly and effec tua ll y di sp oses

o f th is h yp o th esi s w h i c h if a cc ep te d w o uld di
, , i n i sh th e grea t w ei gh t
,

o f th e w ord s o f Perp etu a a s a rep r esentativ e o f th e C ath oli c C h u r c h in

th e v ery rst y ears o f th e th i rd c entu ry Never said th e l earned

mm m
.
,

Bish o p w o uld th e C h u rch h av e a cc ord ed to on e tai nted w i th e ven a

,

su spi c i on o f th e erro rs of Montanis i nent a p o siti on as th at

m m
so e

g iven to Perp etu a and in a l ess d egree to h er c o pan i on Feli c i tas

m m m
,

th ese illu stri o u s c on fessors w i th Cyp ri an al one a on g th e any No rth

m
m m
,

A fri c an ar ty rs b eing i n c lud ed in th e fa o u s fou rth c entu ry c ata

m m
,

l o g u e of sain ts to b e c o e orated in th e Ch u rch of R o e Th eir

m
m m
.

n a es app ea r in th e o st an c i en t C anon o f th e Mass an d th ei r

m m
,

e o ri es ar e sh r i n ed in th e old est arty ro l og i es T h ey w e re th e .

s ubj e c t too a s w e h a v e re ark ed o f th ree of th e e xtan t ser on s

m
, , ,

o f A u g u sti n e .

( )
7 Th e M on ta n i sts Th e d ate o f th e ori g i n o f Mo n tani s h as

b een v ario u sly g iven E piph anius g ives tw o d ates A D 1 27 and A D

m
. . .
.
, .

1 5 7 ; E u sebiu s g ivi n g A D 1 7 3 Li ttl e is k no w n of its fo u nd er

. . .
,

Montan u s w h o w as a nativ e o f My si a O n an y p oi n ts o f

m
, .

C h ristian teac h ing it w as n o h er esy Th e d octrine tau gh t resp ec ti ng .

Go d and H is C h ri st in n o w i se di ffere d fro Cath oli c teaching B ut .

as reg ar d s th e w or k o f th e H oly Gh o st th e d o c tri n e o f th e Mo ntan i sts

m m m m
,

w as w ild an d u n c ertai n Th ey b eli e v ed th at at in ter val s th e H o ly

m
.

S p irit d esc end ed up on en in ore abu n d ant easu re c o pl eti n g an d

m m
m
,

s uppl e en ti n g th e o ri g i nal C h ri stian rev el ation T h ey bi tterly 1 e

m
m m mm
.

sented th ei r sub sequ en t e x c lu si o n fro th e C o u n io n of th e Ch u r ch ,

b ut th ey h ad vi rtu ally ex c o u n i c ated th e selves by c on d e ni n g th e

m
m m
rest o f th e C h ri sti an w orld

m m
a p erfe c ti on of
T h ey p ro fessed a stern ri gorou s ascetis
ann ers so to sp ea k differen t fro
,

w ere l onger and ore sev ere Th ei r vi ew s o n arri ag e w ere o st

.

o th ers

.
T h ei r fasts
,
,

.
,
 E A RL Y C H R I S TI AN I T Y A ND P A GA N IS M
m
5 40 .

it w h il e a sec o n d m
p c i c al 3 if th ey did not ab solu tely c on d e n it th ey h ardly suffered
u n ra t

arri ag e w a s in th e i r ey es an u n p ar d ona bl e sin In

,

m
.
,

th ei r c o u n sel s o f p erfe c ti on th ey p ressed up o n C h ri sti a n s th e sternes t

an d o st a u ste re life Th e o rdi nary Ch r i sti an s in th ei r ri go ro u s c ree d

m
.

o cc upi e d a l o w an d i nf eri or p osi ti o n .

I t is no t too u c h to say th at th e o ften d e c ient teac h i ng of th e

m
Ca th oli c C h u rc h as to th e i nu en c e o f th e H oly Gh ost w a s o w i ng in
g reat easu re to a rea c ti on ag ai nst th e ex trav agan c es w h i c h th e
Mo ntani sts l o v e d to c onnec t w i th a sp e c i al ill ap se of th e Th i rd Person

m m m
o f th e Bl esse d T ri n i ty To tak e w ell k no w n i n stan c es of th i s stran g e
.
-

i ssi on in C h ri stian tea ch i ng in th at o st an c i ent h y n of ad orati on

m
m m
o , ,

Gl o ri a in E x c el si s (su ng o r said a t th e c o n c lu si on o f th e Co

th e
u n i on O f c e) th e Bl essed S piri t is o n ly entioned qui te at th e c l ose

m m
, ,

a n d th en o n ly w i th i n e xpli c abl e b rev i ty I n th e Middl e A g es in th e

.
,

I itation of C h ri st th e ost p opul ar d evoti onal w ork C h ri sti an i ty

m m
,

h as e v er pu t o u t a p opul ari ty w h i c h k n ow s n o si g n o f d e c rea se o r

a b ate ent as ti e w ears on a tr ea ti se w h i ch is l o v e d an d p riz ed still

m
in a ll th e c h u r c h e s of th e West by all s c h ool s o f th ou gh t sc arc ely a
en ti o n of th e Person an d of c e o r of th e bl essed i n u en c e o f G od th e

H oly Gh ost o cc u rs
,

m m
.

ic T h at th e state of Feli c i tas sh o uld

( )
8 T h e P r eg n a n cy of F el i ta s

p revent h er fro b ei ng exposed to th e w ild b easts w as a w ell k no w n

m
-

p ra c ti c e in acc ord an c e w ith R o an l a w So U lpi an (D ig est xlviii

m
. .
,

xix
Praegnan tis ul ieris p oena diertur qu oad p ari at

m
. .

Th e R o an l aw h ere h as p assed i n to th e l aw s o f E ngl an d a n d is

m
,

c arefully o b serv e d w h en c api tal pu ni sh ent is in questi on

m m
.

(9 ) Th e con de n ed Ch r istia n s b ei ng v ested i dol p r iests a nd

m m
as

p r ies tesses
Th e art rs, y we d bitt rly resen ted th e a tte p t to

m
rea ,
e

v est th e w i th th e d ress an d o rn a ents of Cer es and Sa tu r n Th ese

m
m
.

d eiti es w ere c h osen b ec au se in C ar th age wh ere th e d eadly d ra a w as ,

to b e pl ay ed C eres rep resente d Ta n it a nd S atu rn B aa l A an th e

m
-
, , ,

tw o g reatest divi n i ti es o f th e C a rth ag i n i an s .

H on ou rs p a id b y th e Ch u r ch to th e Me
( )
1 0 or y of Perp etu a a n d

m mm
F el ici tas I n addi ti on to th e r ev erenc e sh o wed by th e C h u r c h to th ese
f a o u s North A fri c an arty rs entio n ed in th e tex t w e k no w th a t

m m
, ,

in th e fth cen tu ry p rob ably a t an ea rli er d ate e v en a b asili c a h a d

, ,

b een ere cted at Carth a ge o v er th e Me ori a or c h ap e l to b of

,
-

Perp etu a and Feli c i tas .

 5 41

A PP E NDI X

E USE BIU S TH E H I S T O R I A N, A ND L A CTA NTI U S

m
.

E
mm
u seb iu s, Bi sh op o f Caesarea w as b orn cir ca A D 26 05 Fro h is
ea rli est d ay s h e se e s to h a v e b een
,

e arn est stud ent o f sa c re d

.

m
. .

m m m
an

literatu re W h il e still co p arativ ely y o u n g h e b ec a e c onn ec ted w i th

m
.

Pa ph il us th e aster o f th e T h eol og i c al Sc h o ol o f C aesarea

, wh i c h ,

p ossessed a fa o u s ch u rch lib rary ; to th e c are and au g en tati on of

w h i c h E u sebiu s p aid sp ec i al atten ti on

m m
W h en in A D 3 03 th e
D i o c l eti an p ersec u ti on bu rst on th e C h u rch Pa ph il us w as arrested
.

m mm . .

m m
, ,

and suffered arty r d o tw o y ear s l ater D u ri n g th e i p ri son en t

m
.

o f h is f ri en d an d aster E u sebiu s w as in c on stan t attend an c e o n h i

,
.

A f ter Pa ph ilu s d eath E u sebiu s w i th d rew to Ty re an d sub sequ ently

m
m
,

to E gyp t w h ere h e w a s a rreste d for th e Fa i th s sak e H e w as h o w

m m
.
, ,

e v er soon re l e a se d Po ta on th e C o n f e ssor in l ater y ears c h arg e d

m
, .
, , ,

hi w ith p ro c u ri ng h is freed o by ap ostasy Wh o ar t th o u .

,

E u sebiu s
said th e r o u g h an d i p etu ou s C onf esso r as th ey sat togeth er

m m m
,

a t th e C o u n c il o f T y re to j ud g e A th anasiu s ? D i d st n ot th o u sit

m m
,

w i th e in p ri son at th e ti e of th e ty rants ? Th ey plu c k e d out y

ey e fo th e c on fessi o n o f th e tru th ; th o u c a est f orth u nh ar ed
r
.

H o w did st th o u esc ap e ? B ut th e g rav e c h arg e is i n c redibl e

H ad

m
.

it b een tr u e th e e l e v ati on o f E u sebiu s to th e see o f C aesarea n ot l on g

m m
,

af te rw ar d s w o uld h a v e b een i p ossibl e ; nev er w o uld an ecc lesi astic

h av e b een n o i nate d to so i p ortan t a p osi ti on h ad h e b een a n

mm
a p ostate in th e p er se c u ti o n

m
B esi d es n ev er w o uld o n e w h o in th e
.

ti e o f p eril h ad b een a ren eg a d e h a v e set h i self to sear c h o u t th e

,

m ,

m
,

p re c i ou s e ori es of th e g reat p ersec u ti on and h av e d ev oted so con

m m
,

siderab l e a p o rti on of h is lif e w ork to do h onou r to th e n obl e arty r

ar y Th e sh or t story o f th e arty rs of Pal esti n e an d th e ei gh th
.
*

a n d n i n th b o ok s o f th e e cc l esi asti c al h i sto ry o f E u sebiu s are th e os t

,

m
m
,

t y f th M ty f P l ti n i i n cl ud d in th E i gh th B o k f
m

Th e s or o e ar rs o a es e s e e o o

th H E
e to wh i ch it f o
. .
, kind of A pp ndix ; th ch p t b i n g nu b d
r s a e e a ers e er e

se p t ly
ara e .
 E A R L Y C H R I S T I A N I TY A ND P A GA N I SM
m
5 42

m
.

i us
se r o and i p ortant c onte p orary piec es w e p ossess on th e sub j ect
o f th e terribl e D i o c l eti an p erse c u ti o n S o e su rp ri se h as b een ex
p ressed at th e h i stori an s d ep ar tu re fro h is u sua l c u sto of d w ellin g

.m
m mm .

o n th e g en eral h i story o f th e C h u r c h a nd c o n n i n g h i sel f in th e b oo k s

m
, ,

treati n g o f th i s p eri o d to th e E astern a rea Th e reason n o d o ubt

m m
.
,

w as th at E u sebiu s sensibl e o f th e d eep i p ortan c e of th e l a st terribl e

,

stru gg l e o f C h r i sti an i ty a g ai n st Pa g an i s restri c ted h i self to th o se ,

ev en ts o f w h i c h h e h ad b een a n eye w i tn ess o r c o uld b e a ssu re d of th e

m
-
,

e vid en c e o f e e w i tn esses H en c e h is sil en c e a s to th e tri al s o f th e

m
y
-
.

Ch urc h in th e W estern p ro vin c es o f R o e

m
.

Th e w h ol e e cc l esi asti c al h i story o f w h i c h th ese tw o b oo k s f or

m
m
,
a

p art c on si sts o f ten b ook s th e l ast b ei ng a i nly o cc upi ed by a rel ation

m
, ,

o f th e h appy c onsequ en c es w h i c h i edi ately f oll o w e d th e Pe a c e o f

th e Ch u r c h B u t it is in th e Me o ran d a c on tai ned in B ook s I

mm
. .

to V I I th at E u sebiu s h as w on h is u n dyi ng ti tl e to h ono u r Th ese are

m
. .

si ply p ri c el ess Th e y are not skilfully put togeth er it is tru e : th e

m m
m
.
,

a rra n g e ent is sadly w a nti n g in eth o d an d o ften e v en in g rap h i c ,

i nterest b ut th ey g iv e u s a ass of i n for ati on at rst h and stretch

m
,

in g o v er th e w h o l e p eri o d o f th e tri al ti e of th e C h ri sti ans esp ec i a lly

m
-
,

valu abl e in th e h i story of th e sec on d c entu ry o w i ng to th e n u ero u s ,

qu otati ons f ro w ri ti ngs o f th at age n o w l ost No d oub t w h en

m
,
.

E u sebiu s w rote th ese l ost w o rk s w ere still ex tant and w ere to b e

,

fou n d in th e great lib rary of C ae sarea w i th w h i ch h e w as so i nti ately ,

c onnected

mm m
.

O f h is oth er w ork s p e rh ap s th e Ch r on icon in t w o b ook s is th e

mmm
, , , ,

ost i p orta nt for stud ents of Ch u r c h h istory I t c o pri ses an h is

m m m
.

torical sk etc h w i th c h ron ol o g i c al ta bl es o f th e orabl e ev en ts

m
ore e
,

in th e h i story of th e w orld f ro th e ti es of A b rah a to th e tw enti eth

m
y ear o f th e rei gn of th e E p eror C onstan tine I n h is Life o f

m m
.

C on stantine an i p ortant study E u sebiu s h as b een c h arged w i th

m m
, ,

w ri tin g rath er fro th e stand p oi nt of a c o u rti er th an fro th at of an

m
-

h i stori an Th at h e w as a f ervid ad i rer o f th e grea t so verei gn w h o

m
.
,

w as h is fri e nd a nd p atro n is u n d o ub te d b u t it u st b e b orne in in d

mm
,

th a t th e Life w as w ri tten after C onstantine s d eath No ere

m m
.

s or did f eeli n g th en c o ul d h av e c o l o u red th e w ri ter s o i r o f h is dead

f ri end and so v erei gn Moreo v er an y of th e d oc u ents qu oted in th e

.
,

Life reapp ear in th e work s of L actantiu s A u gustine an d oth ers

m
, , ,

th ese a u th ors d erivi n g th e ir k now l ed g e of th e events in qu esti on l arg ely

f ro th e S tate arch ives .

A s a th eo l o g i an h e h as b een sev erely c ri ti c i sed ; New an in h is

h i story of th e A ri an s o f th e fo u rth c entu ry c h arg i n g h i w i th op en ly ,
mm ,

s idi ng w i th th e A ri an s O n th e o th er h an d w ell k no wn A ng li c an
-
.
,
 APP E ND IX E .
5 13

c h ol ars cg Bi sh o p Bull d efend h is orth o d oxy I n tru th th e g reat

mm
s . .
,

h i stori an w a s nei th er A ri an n or A th ana si a n ; h e w a s th e re p resen ta

ti v e of th e i nd eter inate th eol o gy o f th e C h u rc h o n th e g r eat p oi n ts

m m
in d i spu te b efore th e for ul ae k n ow n as A th anasian an d A ri an h ad
b ec o e stereotyped I n oth er w o rd s h e w as to o ol d fashion ed to
read ily ad op t fo r
.
,

ul ae w h i c h w ere u nk n o wn to th e sch oo l in w h i ch h e
-

m
h a d b een trai n ed

m
B u t h e w a s cer ta in ly n ever a n A r ia n
.

h o wev er is i p ortant a s a h i sto ri an rath er th an a s a th eo l ogi an

,

This g reat w riter to w h o th e Cath oli c Ch u rc h o wes so deep a

E u sebiu s .

.
,

mm
,

deb t fo r h is lifel ong r esear c h es and for h is fa i th ful g u ardi a n sh ip o f

m
,

any treasu res w h i c h b u t for h is p ati en t w ork w o ul d h a v e b een

m
so

l ost to en c annot certai nly b e c h arg ed w i th a bi tion ; for w h en in

m
l ate li fe h e i gh t h a v e ll ed th e g reat p atri a r ch ate o f A nti o c h b e pre
ferred si ply to retain h is earli er and l ess di stingui sh ed p osi tio n f eel
ing d oub tl ess th at th e h i gh er of c e w o uld h av e i nterf ered w i th th e li fe
,

ta sk w h i c h h e so w e ll di sc h arg ed .

m m
None o f th e fath ers no t ev en O ri g en or J ero e w ere h is e qu al s
in er udi ti on and th o se w h o j u stly c o pl ain o f h is dry u ni nteresti ng

m
styl e f org et th at it is j u st thi s v e ry f aul t w h i c h c on sti tu tes th e strang e
,

c h a r and th e p ri c eless v alu e o f h is greatest w o rk h is e cc l esi asti c al

m m m mm
,

h i story . H e g iv es u s th e very w o rd s of th e an c i ent Ch ri sti an w ri ters

w h o h e qu otes aki ng no atte p t to fash i on and oul d th e i nto
,

a b rilli an t a n d attra c tiv e h i story .

m
L A CTA NT I U S .

A
m
FE W

m
to w h o h o w e v er w e o w e
, ,
m
w ord s o n an oth er and far l ess fa o u s wr i ter th an E u sebiu s
u ch of ou r k now l ed ge o f th e h i story of th e
ti es o f D i o c l e ti an an d Constan ti n e w ill b e of i nterest to th e h i stori c a l
,

m
,

stud ent L actantius wh ose h i stori c a l trea ti se esp ec i ally D e Mor tib u s

m
.
,

P ersecu toru is o f th e g reatest use to th e c h ron i c l er of th e e v ents o f

th e l ast p erse c u ti on w as a w ri ter of n o l i ttl e p o w er Fro th e b eau ty

m
.
,

Ch ri stian C i cero

o f his styl e h e h as b een call e d th e Li ttl e is k now n

m m
.

of hi s early life A t th e i nvi tation o f D i o c l eti an h e b ec a e a publi c

m mm mm m
.

tea ch er in Nico edia th e f a v o u ri te c i ty of th e g reat E

,
p eror wh ere ,

n o d o ub t h is i nti a c y wi th th e aster of th e R o an w o rl d g av e h i

rar e o pp o rtu n i ti es o f b e c o i n g ac qu ain ted w ith th e c i rc u stan c es w h i ch

m
l ed up to th e g reat p erse c u ti on Later h e w as ask ed by C onstanti ne
.

th e Great to b e c o e tu tor to h is eld est son th e ill f ated Cri spu s an d

m
-
,

fo r a c on sid erabl e p eri od h e enj oy ed th e f ri end sh ip of th e C h ri sti an

E p ero r .

m
T h ese rare opp ortun i ties of l earni ng uch of th e se c ret h i sto ry of
 E AR LY C H R I S T IA NI T Y A ND PA GA NI S I lI

m m
5 44 .

m m m
the e v entful ep o c h w e
w ork Di vin a r u
w ell u sed by L actantius H is o st i p ortant
I n stitu tion u
re

Lib r i S ep te c on c ern s i tself rath e r

.

m
, ,

w ith th eo l ogy a nd C h ri sti an p hil osop h y th a n w i th h i sto ry ; still it is ,

n o t w an ti n g i n h i sto ri c al r ef er en c es of r eal v alu e B u t h is f a o u s

m m
.

treati se o n th e D eath s o f th e Perse c uto rs is a v ery v alu abl e th o u g h

m m
,

so e w h at rh e to ri c a l pi e c e o f c on te p orary h i story I t sets ou t to

,
.

d esc rib e Go d s j ud g ents o n th e p erse c u tors o f H is C h u rc h f ro Nero

mm
to D i o c l e ti an ; b u t by far th e g rea ter p art o f th e w o rk is de v o ted to

m m
th e sto ry o f th e h arryi n g th e C h ri sti a n c o
h is c o ll eag u e s in th e E pi re
u ni ti es by D i o cl etian and
O f u c h o f th i s h arryi n g L actantius w as

m mm
.

a n eye w i tness a n d h e w a s p erso nally a c qu a i n ted w i th se v eral o f th e

-
,

aste rs o f th e R o an w orld a t th e p eri o d o f th e l a st terribl e con i c t

m
o f P a ga n i s a n d C h ri sti an i ty .

S o e d oub ts h av e ari sen resp ec ting th e a u th o rsh ip of th i s treati se

I n th e e arli er p ri nte d e di ti ons o f L actantiu s th e pi e c e in qu esti on is
.

mmm
wanti ng ; it w as rst b rough t to li gh t and p rinted by S tep h en B e luz e in A D
1 6 7 9 f ro
m an an c i en t MS Th ose c ri ti c s w h o qu esti on th e au th orsh ip
. .

m m
.
,

ascr ib e it to so o re o b sc u re rh eto ri c i an o f th e sa e p eri o d B ut

m
e .

th e i n ti ate k now l e d g e o f th e i nn er h i story o f th e ti es d i spl ay ed by

m mm m
th e w ri ter is a stron g arg u ent in supp ort o f L actan tiu s w h o se p osi
ti on as a fa o u s rh e tori c i a n h el d in h i g h estee at C o u rt by en lik e
,

m
,

C onstantine (w h o sub sequ ently entru sted h i w i th th e edu c ation of

mm
h is so n ) w o uld h av e g iv en h i
,
s p e c i a l a cc ess to th e i nn er c i r c l es o f th e

I p eri al C ou rt Th e styl e too and exp ressi on of th e treati se are in

m
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p erfe ct h ar ony w i th th e oth er k no w n w ri ti ng s o f th e au th or A ll ard

m
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th e F ren c h s c h ol a r th e o st re c ent h i sto ri an of th e p eri o d in h is g r eat

, ,

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,

h oo k d ont l auth en ticit n est plu s c ontest e (

ersecu tion

P d

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Di ocletien v ol i P ar i s l 8 9 8 I n tro du cti on iv )

m m
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, , , .

Gibb on er c ely assail s L a ctantius w ith th e a bu se and sa r c as of

mm
w h i ch h e w as so skill ed a aster b u t h is an i osity w as e vok ed by th e

m
bitter h atred of Pagani s and its d efend ers w h i c h so strong ly c ol o u rs
,

th e w ri ti n g s h e a tta c k s

m
.

mm
To so e ex tent th e esti ate of th e g rea t h is

m
to ri a n h a s i n u en c e d th e j u d g en t w h i c h l a ter w ri ters h a v e g en era lly
f or ed of th e w ork s o f th i s ost i nteresti ng and va lu abl e c onte p orary
w i tn ess .
 5 45

A PP E ND I X F .

TH E E A R L Y H E RE S I E S O F TH E CH U R CH

m
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m mm
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ear

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m m m
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w eary th e stud ent w i th any l ong d etail ed a cc o u nt of th e Th e

m m
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Manich oean h eresy a l ate d evel op en t o f Gnosti c i s in so e of its

m m mm
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d evel op en ts al one see s to h ave liv ed o n i nto th e Mi d dl e A g es .

S ICIS
GN O T M is a n a e w h i c h p ri arily su gg ests a c l ai to o re

th an o rdi nary k no w l ed g e Th e fol l ow i ng r ou gh c h arac teri sti c f eatu res

m m
.

g enerally b el onged to its p rofessors .

n osti c i s w o ul d n ot n ow b e c l assed a s a eresy

( )
a G h at all I n .

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n on e o f its v ari o u s d ev el o p ents w as it a c o rrup ti on o f h ri sti an i ty

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Ch ri sti an id eas i nto ts sev e l sy e s h eresy

i T h e ter

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m m m
ra s

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u sed by early w ri ters in a greatly ex tend ed sense Gnosti c i s p robably

m
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ad e li ttl e h ead w a y a on g th e Ch r istia n co u n i ties th e selv es ;

its ali g nant i n u e nc es a ffe c ted o n ly th e i r f ri n g es b u t n o d oubt i t

m
attra c te d l a rg ely th ei r Pag an n ei gh b ou rs in d ifferen t c o u n tri es to its

m
y sti c sp ec ul ations .

(b ) A s a rul e all Gnosti c sec ts h eld th at e vil i nh er es in atter .

e resul t of th i s b eli e f ereti c s o d eny th e

() Th l ed t ese
h h t

mm m m
0

resu r rec ti on o f th e b o dy al tog eth er as th ey reg ard e d d eath as f reei ng

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th e so ul o n c e for a ll f ro th e state o f i p ri son en t in th e b ody

mm
.

u r w o rld w as n o t for e d by th e sup re e G od b ut by an oth er

( d ) O

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c essiv e g en erati on s of spi ri tu a l B eings Th is B eing to w h o th e

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c reati on of th e w orld w as attribu ted is generally ter ed th e D e iu rg e

m m
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Hi th e J ew s w o rsh ipp ed H e w as th e God o f th e O l d T esta ent

. .

I n th e v ari ous Gnosti c syste s th i s D e iu rg e or Creator of th e w o rl d , ,

J J
 E A R LY CH R I S TI A NI T Y A ND PA GA NI SM

m
5 46

oc c upied different p ositi on s I n so e of th ei r sc h ool s b e is rep resented

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a s h ostil e to th e S up re e ; in o th ers a sub or d i n ate an d u n c on sc i ou s

i nstru ent of th e w ill o f th e S upre e

m m .

m m
.

A s a resul t o f th i s g enerally r ec e ived Gn osti c arti c l e of b eli ef th e ,

O l d T e sta ent w a s u su ally rej e c ted and by so e Gnosti c sch ool s w as

m
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e v en ab h orred

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Th ese fantasti c teac h i ngs see to h ave app eared v ery early and

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w ere p rob ably allud ed to by b oth S Paul an d S J oh n A s ti e

m
. . .

a dv an c ed th e Gn osti c sy ste s g rew ore c o pl ex and el ab o rate ea ch ,

p arti c ul ar sect for th ere w ere an y fash ioni ng and sh api ng th e

a cc ordi ng to th ei r o w n liki n g l arg ely d raw i n g u p on O ri en ta l reli g i on s

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,

for th ei r g rotesqu e and o f ten u n c o u th fan c i es

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Va len tinu s one of th e abl est an d ost i ag i nativ e o f th ese tea c h ers

m m m
, ,

w h o o u ri sh ed ab o u t th e i ddl e o f th e se c on d c en tu ry or rath er earli er , ,

e l ab orated p erh ap s th e ost p opul ar fo r of Gn osti c b eli ef Fro th e

m m
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rst p ri n c ipl e self exi sten t a nd p erfec t p ro c eed ed vari ou s gra d es of

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B ei ng s o r E o ns th e rst g ra d e by su cc essiv e g en era ti o n s

Fro

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e anated oth er and l o w er B e i n g s A on g th ese Ch ri st is fou nd and*

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th e H o ly S pi ri t and still l a ter th e D e iu rg e w h o c reated Man

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a h i sto ry o f th e C h ri sti an C h u rc h an u np ro tabl e task esp e c i ally as , ,

w ell ni gh th e only ateri al s for su ch a n inv esti gati on are c ontai ned
-

in th e w ri ti ngs of c ertain C h ri sti an f ath ers notably I renaeu s an d

m m
,

Ch i tian id a f d p ti n i d ntl y w a n t b ent f o th Gn ti c

m
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c nc pti n b ut th d cla ati n ab ut Ch i t in it di nt ch l w e

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o e o , e e r o s o r s s ere s oo s re ex

eding l y v i us E ven a ong t th V l nti nian t ach e a fa

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ce ar o . w an s e a e e rs, s r as e c

v y di ff nt c nc pti on i t d f Hi th t Val ntin u hi

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er, er ere o e s ex s e o . see s a e s

lf t u l y ck n w l dg d n ith th H u ni ty n th D i vi nity of th S avi u ;

m m m
se r a o e e e er e a or e e o r

g n all y G n ti ci tau gh t th t J u Ch i t abh i ng all c uni n w i th

m
e er ,
os s a es s r s , orr o o

att a u
er, d a d ti
ss e p p iti nal b dy A n g th Gn ti c t ach
oce c or a ar o o . o e os e ers

M i n w h taugh t in th l t qua te f th c nd c ntu y p h ap al n ng

m m
a rc o , o e as r r o e se o e r , er s o e a o

th e G n o ti c l ad p of ed to b pu ly Ch i tian in h i d ct in an d t k f
m
s e er s, r ess e re r s s o r e, oo or

th e b a i f hi sy t th N w Te ta c i ptu ; b ut h h w a cl cti c
m m
s s o s nt s e e e s e s r res ere e s e e .

A ong th go p l h nl y ackn wl d g d S L uk
e s e s e nd t n o f th P uli n o e e . e s.

a e o e a e

pi tl f ly cuttin g ut v n f w i ti n g any tat nt w h i c h w

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th

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e e t ro ese r s, s e e s ere a

v a i anc with h i wn p culia nd f nta ti c th i k f th N w

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r e s o Th e th b r a a s eor es . e o er oo s o e e

T ta nt h c n id d w tain t d w i th J ud ai H ject d w i th ut

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es e e o s ere ere e s . e re e o ex

i l h b k f th O l d T sta Ma ci n in c on w i th

m
ce p t n a l
o t e oo nt s o e th e e . r o , o o er

Gn ti c t h l d th at M tt wa evil and th t Matt h ad it L d et nal

m
os as ers, e a er s ,
a er s or , er

a nd evi l H tau gh t to th at b tw en th L d f M tt an d th S up

m m mm m m
. e ,
o, G d e e e or o a er e re e o

ex i ted a th i d B in g th D iu g (wh o c at d Man ) w h p bab l y wa n

s r e , e e r e re e ,
o ro s a

an ti n f th S up ; b ut th i i un c t in Th i D e i u g w a th G d
mm m
e a o ro e re e s s er a . s r e s e o

f th e J w Th w k f th D iu ge in p ct w a i n d p n d ent o f th

m m
o e s. e or o e e r so e res e s s e e e

S up G d and h en c faul ty
re e o , J e u Ch i t w nt b y th
e S up e e G d to . s s r s as se e r o

e arth t ed o r an w i th u t th e k n ow l dg
ee f th D iu g o e e o e e r e .
 A PPE ND IX E . 5 47

H ipp o ly tu s . I renze u s

a n d H ipp oly tu s a v ery few y ears l ater To th ese a m

w ro te in th e l ast qu arter o f th e sec o nd c entury
y b e a dd ed O ri gen
w h o w rote a b o u t a qu arter o f a c entu ry af ter H ipp olytu s an d E i h anius
.
,

m m
pp ,

(se c ond h alf of th e f ou rth c en tu ry ) T h ese w r iters b ei n g th e bi tterest

mm
.

O pp o n ents o f th e Gn osti c th eori es th ei r p resent en t of th e w as

,

i n evi tably c ol o u red by th i s i ntense en i ty Th e c h a rges esp ec ially

m m
.

b ro u gh t agai nst th e g reat Gnosti c l ea d ers o f i pu ri ty and c orrup ti on in

th ei r liv e s u st b e vi ew ed w ith so e su spi c ion

m
.

B ut w h en al l th ese all o w an c es fo r p o ssibl e ex aggera ti on s o r ev en

m i srepresentati ons on th e p art o f th ei r C h ri sti an adversari es h a v e b een

m
ad e w h en it h as b een c on c ed ed th at th e fan c iful an d grotesqu e in

m
,

th ese Gn osti c sy ste s h a s b een p erh ap s u n duly p ressed w h en th e

m m
,

c h a rg es o f i pu ri ty an d l aw l essness in th ei r w ay of life h ave b een if

m m
,

n o t d ro pp ed at l east l arg ely o di ed in th e c a se o f an y o f th e se

m m
,

fo ll owers o f Gnosti c i s ; th ere re ai ns ab solu tely p rov en th e fa c t , ,

th a t Gnosti c i s in its v ari ed and v a ri o u s d ev el op en ts w as n ot

ferent reli g i on
a bl e in n o w a
m
Ch r istian ity n ot ev en a p er v erted C h ri sti a n i ty b ut a p erf ectly d if
,

Th e few p oi n ts o f rese bl an c e h ere and th ere n oti c e

.

a ffe c ted th e g en eral Gn osti c tea c h i n g A f rth

,
,

m
t

m m
, y s se o .

by Menand er Cerin th u s B asil ides and V a l enti n u s and ev en Marc ion

, , , ,

to na e a fe w o f th e ost c on spi c u ou s asters it w a s to all i ntents

a n d pu rp oses a n ew reli g i on

m mmm
.

W i th one or tw o p ossibl e ex c ep tion s th e ac tu al w ri ting s of th e ,

Gnosti c s h av e di sapp eared I n l ater ti es a Gnosti c h y n o f so e

m
.

l en gth w as di sc ov ered in th e Sy ri a c A c ts o f J u d as T h o as th e

m

,

A po stl e Th e h y n h o w e v er h as no app are n t c onn e c ti on w i th th e

m
.
, ,

A c ts of Th o a s no p ossibl e b eari n g o n th e narr ativ e th erein co n

mm
,

tain ed it is o n ly fo u n d in o n e MS (no w in th e B ri ti sh Mu se u Library )

m
. ,

and h as e vid ently b een b orro w ed f ro e e x tran eo u s so u r c e an d

m
so

mm
i nserted in th i s MS w h i c h only d ates fro th e tenth c entu ry I t h as
.
,

b een a cc u rately d escribed by a od ern sch ol ar in th e f oll ow i n g ter s

.

mm m
We h av e h ere an an c i ent Gn ostic h y n rel ating to th e so ul wh i ch is

m
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sen t f ro its h ea v enl y h o e to th e ear th an d th ere forg ets b oth its

m
,

o ri g i n an d its i ssi on u n til it is aro u sed by a revel ati on fro on h i gh

th ereup on it p erf or s th e task assi gn ed to it an d retu rns to th e upp er

m
,

reg i on s w h en it is re u n i ted to th e h eav en ly ro b e its id eal c o u n terp art

m
mm
, , ,

an d en ters th e p resen c e o f th e h i gh est c el estia l P o w ers

F ro in ter n a l .

e vid en c e th e h y n u st h ave b een w ri tten b efore A D 224 and prob . .

,

a bly w as put out so e y e ars b efore th i s d ate I t c o n tain s sev e ra l o f

m m
.

th e w ell kn o w n Gn osti c h ere si es reg ard s th e sep ara ti on o f

-

( )
1 I t .

th e soul fr o th e b ody as a bl essi ng rep resen ti n g th e h u an b o dy a s ,

a l th y and un c l ean g arb ( )

2 I t h o ld s th e th e ory o f th e exi sten c e
.
 EARL Y CH R I S T I A NI TY A ND PA GA N I SM
m m
5 48 .

of a u b er o f l esser G o d s ; th at is to say of eternal B ei ngs subo r

m
n
,

dinate to th e S upre e God I t n e v er h ow ev er ref ers to th e New .

, ,

Testa ent or ev en allud es to th e h i stori cal fac ts on w h i c h Ch ri stiani ty

m
,

is fo u n d ed

m m
.

We h a v e sp o k en at so e l ength of th i s recently di sco vered Great

H y n of th e S o ul w h i c h is a p o e o f e x traordi nary b eau ty b ec au se

m mm
, ,

as fa r a s w e k n o w it is th e only pi ece of pu re Gnosti c literatu re ex ~

m m
,

tant w h i c h h as n o t c o e d ow n to u s th ro ug h th e ed iu of C h r i sti an

w riters A nd w h il e w e a c k n ow l ed ge its h i gh erit as a striking co

m m
.

p osi ti on fu ll of beau ty o f th o u gh t and c ol o u red w i th pu re and n oble

m m
, ,

id ea l s it f ully b ea rs out th e c on cep ti on w e h a ve for ed of Gn osti c i s

m
m m
, ,

as a sy ste a l to g eth er ali en f ro Ch ri stianity p o ssessing indeed few

m m
, ,

p oi nts in c o on w i th it save th e sh ad ows of a few n a es an d a ,

c ertai n n u b er o f b orrowe d d o c tri nes wh i c h w h en ex a i n ed c l osely are

m m
,

f oun d to p ossess li ttl e lik en ess to th e ori g inal Ch ri stian tea ch i ng

m m m
.

Th e ro u g h d ates o f th e Gn osti c asters are a s f o ll o w s : S i on

Mag u s th e c onte p orary o f S Peter ; w e h ear o f h i as earl y as

, .

3 45 H e is usu ally c o nsid ered th e pi on eer of Gnosti c i s

m
A D . . . .

Men a n der h is di sc ipl e c arried o n h is tea ch in g Cerin th u s w as a

mm m
.
, ,

c onte p orary of S J o h n tow ard s th e en d of th e rst c entu ry H e

mm
.
.

see s to h av e di ffered in h is tea c h i n g f ro th e l ater Gn o sti c sc h oo l s

in h is esti ate of th e O l d Testa ent H e acc ep te d th e L aw a n d th e

m m m
.

Prop h ets b ut c on si d ered th e O l d T esta ent tea ch i ng as p ro c eedi n g

m
,

fro a B ein g (th e D e iu rg e) no t o nly in feri o r to th e S up re e b ut ,

e v en i g no ran t of H i H e did n ot a pp aren tly sh are in th e Gn o sti c

m
.

vi ew s of th e inh erent evil of Matter as h e tau gh t th e resu rrection o f

m
,

th e b ody Th e o n ly p orti on o f th e New T esta e nt th at h e re c eiv ed

.

w as a u til ate d gosp el of S Matth ew

m
. .

S a tu r n in u s an d B a silides resp e ctiv ely th e f o u n d ers of S yri an and

m m
,

A l ex andr i an Gnosti c i s w ere traditionally di sc ipl es o f Menand er th e

, ,

pupil of S i on Mag u s Th e sch ool of S atu rni na s h a d co p arativ ely

m
.

li ttl e i nu en c e and soon di sapp eared Th e d ate u su ally assigned to

, .

m
h i is c ir ca A D 1 1 01 3 4

m m m
. . .

B a silides cir ca A D 1 3 5 tau gh t th e u su al Gn osti c d o c tri ne o f

m
, . .
,

vari ou s e an ati ons f ro th e Su pre e God o ne o f th e l ow est o f w h o

mm m
,

w a s C r eator of th e w orl d an d w as th e God of th e O l d T esta en t He .

p rofessed to d eriv e h is sy ste f ro S Matth i as an d fro one Gl au c i as

m
. ,

an i n terp r eter o f S Pete r H is tea c h i n g o b tai n ed a w i d e p o pul ari ty

m
.
. .

Va len tin u s o u ri sh ed a b ou t th e iddl e of th e sec on d c en tu ry or a

m
,

S l
With
ch o ars as an or
th e poss
m
ible ex cepti n of th e t eati e
i gin l co p osi ti on b y Val enti nus
a
o r s

.
mm a ( eta , ga d ed
re r by so e
 E ND IX
mm
A PP F . 5 49

of am
li ttl e ea rli er H is sy ste w e h av e al ready bri ey d w el t up on I t w as
.

o re el ab o rate and c o pl ex c h arac ter th an th at o f any oth er of

m m
.

nu m
th e Gn osti c tea ch ers and h e c o u nted a on g h is ad h e ren ts a
ero u s f o ll o w i n g
,

H is i nu en c e w as p ro b ably l arg ely o w ing to

ore

m
m
m
.

h is b rilli an t pupil H er acleon (c ir c a A D w h ose c o en tari es

mm
mm m
. .
,

e sp e c i ally on S J oh n w ere w id ely read Cl e ent of A l ex and ri a

m
.
, ,
.

w ri ti n g early in th e sec o n d c entu ry c a ll s h i th e ost f a o u s o f th e

m
,

V al enti ni a n sc h oo l an d g iv e s u s tw o ex tra c ts fro h is c o en tari es ;

m
,

w h il e O rigen h as p reserved n o l ess th an so e forty ei gh t ex tra c ts

m m
-

s ev e ral o f th e b ei ng o f c onsi d erabl e l en gth

m m m
.

I t u st e v er b e b o rn e in in d th at w i th th e one o r p ossibly tw o ex

m m
,

c eption s en ti on e d a b o v e al l ou r k no w l e d g e of th e o n c e f a o u s Gn o sti c

m
,

tea c h er s is d eriv ed f ro th ei r b itter opp on ents and f ro th e frag ents ,

o f H era cl eon p reser v ed to u s by O ri g en S o e of th ese ex c erp ts are

m
.

un d o ub tedly of g reat p o w er an d as h as b een w e ll sa id en abl e u s to

m
, , ,

s et th ei r th eo l o g y in a o re w orth y li gh t th an d oes th e fantasti c

sy ste w h i c h I renaeu s an d o th ers h ave g iv en B u t a s w e h av e

m

.
,

s a id a b o v e th ei r teac h i ng c an in n o w i se b e l ook e d up on a s si
,
ply
h e reti c al Th e r el ig ion w hich th ey ta ug h t w a s a b solu tely distin c t

m
.
,

a n d th ei r sp e c ul ati on s nd li ttl e if a n supp o rt w h a te v er in th e tea c h

y , ,

ing o f th e gosp el s and epi stl es of th e New T esta ent C ano n .

J U DA I C H ERE SI E S .

m m
T H ERE w as one sp e c i ally grav e d anger to w h i ch th e early C h u rch

m mm
w a s e xp osed and fr o w h i c h a f ter so e stru ggli ng sh e freed h erself ;
,

b ut for a ti e th e i ssu e see ed d o ub tful W h at w as to b e h er atti .

tud e tow ard s th e J ew i sh p eo pl e fro th e h ear t o f w h i c h sh e sp ran g ?

m
,

I n o th er w ord s w as Ch ri sti an i ty to b e a J ew i sh o r a U n iv ersal Ch u r ch ?

m m
,

W ere th e Gentil e nati on s w h o a cc ep ted C h ri sti ani ty to b e ad itted o n

so

mm
e w h at h a rd and d e ra di n g ter

o th er h an d
g s in to th e J e w i sh fo ld ; or on th e

w ere th e J ew s to b e c o e Ch ri sti an a c k now l ed gi n g th at

,

m
, ,

th e an c i ent d oors o f sep arati on b etw een th e an d th e o u tsi d e w o rld

w ere now b rok en d own an d th at al l en were e qu ally th e p eopl e of

,

G od
V ery great qu esti on w as d ec id ed By ap ostoli c d ec ree
soo n th e .
,

by ap o stoli c tea ch in g every w h ere Gentil e lib erty an d Gentil e equali ty

m m m
,

in al l resp ec ts w a s in si sted up on I t w a s d e c id e d th at th e ri te o f cir

.

cu cision sh o uld n o t b e i p osed up on th e Gentil es and th at J ew i sh ,

l aw s and c u sto s sh o uld n ot b e p ressed up on th e forei gn strangers

ad m m
o cking in to th e C h u rch Grad u ally w i th o u t restri ction Gentil es w ere
,
.

itted faith in th e na e of J esu s and a pu re d ev oted l ife being th e

 CH R I S TIA NI T Y A ND P A GA NI S M

m
LY
m
5 50 E AR .

m
m
on

e
ly requi re
bersh ip .
ents n e essar c y b efore

J e w s w ere i n dig n an t at th ese c on c essi o ns ;

th e y re e c ived th e b ap ti s a l sea l of

m m
B ut not a few of th e
i nd i gnant at th e b are th ou gh t th at th ey th e ch osen p eopl e w ere to
be erge d i nto on e g reat fold w i th Gentil es w h o th ey h ad so
d espi sed for th ei r c o rad es in th e l ov e o f God To any J ew s th e
,
,
,

.
m
m
,

d o c trin e o f th e great Ph ari see C h ri sti an Pa ul th at in C h ri st w as ,

n e i th er J ew n or Greek w a s p ositiv ely h ateful

.
,

No d oub t th e j eal o u sy in th e Ch ri sti an sy n agog u es w a s for a season

th e gra v est d ang er th e C h u r c h h a d to en c o u n ter We sh all n ever .

k now h ow great w as th e p eril W i th p erh ap s th e ex c ep tio n o f th e

m
.

Th essal on ian l etters w ri tten too early to b e a ffec ted by th i s d eadly

mm
,

stru gg l e al l Pa ul s l etters are ore o r l ess c o l o u re d by th i s i n ternal

strif e A n d w e c o e up on bu rn i ng ref eren c es to it in S J oh n s

mm m
. .

R ev el ati o n w h en h e a es ou t for i nstan c e tw i c e ov er in th e

, , , ,

l etters to th e S y rna an d Ph il ad elp h i a ch u r ch es w i th su c h w ord s ,

I k now th e bl asp h e y of th e w h i ch say th ey are J ew s b ut are

m m m
as ,

n o t b u t are th e sy n ag og u e of S a tan Z eal for a w h i ch h a d

,
L aw .

d on e its w ork w as th e p ri e d anger th e rst C h ri sti an i ssi onari es

h ad to en c ou n ter ; it h ad to b e o ver c o e for th e qu esti on w as o n e o f ,

l ife or d eath .

B u t a terribl e an d u nl ock ed for c atastrop h e h a pp en ed w h i c h l arg ely

-

c l eared th e w ay fo r th e b rav e an d g enerou s p reac h ers of th e o p en

d oor for th e Gentil es Th e aw ful c l ose of th e J ew ish reb ellion in

m

m
.

7 0 th e rui n o f J er u sal e w h i c h foll ow e d th e bu rning o f th e

m m
A D
. .
,

T e pl e th e u tter ov erth row o f th e J ew i sh n ati on w ell n igh sw ep t

m
-

, ,

aw ay th e J ew f ro th e sc ene Th e c essati on of th e T e pl e servi c es

m mm
.
,

th e u tter i p ossibili ty of any l o ng er o b ser vi ng th e Mosai c ordi nan c es

m
,

sav e in a v ery atten u ate d an n e r di sar ed u c h of th e erc e o pp osi

,

ti on an d th e w o rk w as c o pl eted by th e sec on d fri gh tful catastrop h e

to th e J e w s in H ad ri an s rei g n (A D H en c ef orth th e w ork o f

mm
. .

th e p rea c h ers o f th e op en d o or for th e Gentil es w as e asi er E ffec tiv e

m
.

J ew i sh opp osi ti on w as in fa c t c ru sh ed out ; th e C h ri sti an c o un iti es

w ere l eft to pu rsu e th ei r life virtu ally u nh i nd ered u nh a p ered by

m
,

J ew ish prej udi ces an d J ewi sh p assions

m m
.

A f ter th e rui n of J u d ai s in th e nal c atastroph e of H ad ri an s:

. .
,

m m m
w a r in A D 1 3 5 th ere re ai n ed o f th e on c e fai rly n u ero u s c l ass o f
th e C h ri sti an s of th e C i r c u c i si on o nly a p oor re nant w h o still c lu ng

I n th e m
p ow erful enou gh to h in d er th e onw ard ar ch of Ch risti anity mm
to th ei r c h eri sh ed tra di ti ons ; b u t th ese w ere n ei th er n u ero u s n o r

id d l e of th e secon d c entu ry n ot any y ears af ter th e ,

.

c atastrop h e of A D 1 3 5 J u sti n Martyr tell s us th at th ere w ere two

. .
,
 A PP E ND IX F . 5 51

m m mm
c l asses of (professedly Ch ri sti an) J udaisers ; th ose w h o retaini ng th e
Mosa i c l aw th e selve s di d not w i sh to i p ose i t on th ei r Gentil e
,

mm m
,

b reth ren and th ose w h o d e anded c onfor i ty in al l Ch ri stians a lik e

,

as a c on d i ti on o f c o u ni on and a eans o f salv ati on .

Th e rst of th ese c l a sses g en erally k n o w n a s Na z ar en es c annot b e

m
, ,

f airly c l assed as h ereti c s and w ere in no w ay a h i nd ran c e to th e pro

mm
,

gress of C h ri sti an i ty Th ey w ere ostly orth o d ox in th ei r c reed and

m m m
.
,

h eld c o u n ion w i th C ath oli c Ch ri sti an s Th e Nazarenes w ere few

mm
.

in n u b er and for th e , o st p ar t d w el t in re o te di stri c ts in Pal esti ne

b eyond th e J ord an S o e sch ol ars h old th at th e c u ri ou s and an c i ent

m
.

w ri tin g k n ow n as Th e Testa ents of th e T w elve Patri ar c h s vari

,

d a ted by sc h o l ars f ro N z
!

o u sl A D 1 0 0 t o A D 1 5 0 w a en e
y a s a a r . . . .
,

w ork and as far as it goes fai rly rep resen tative of th ei r opini ons
, , , .

T i fri en d ly J u daising sec t still exi sted a s l ate as th e c l ose of th e

h

mm m m
s

fo u rth c entu ry .

Th e E b ion ites h ow ev er w ere a u c h l arg er an d ore i p o rtant b od y

, , .

Th ey w ere to b e fou n d not o nly in Pal esti ne and Syri a b ut in R o e

m
,

an d in oth er g reat c i ti es w h ere th e di sp ersed J ew s c on g reg ated Th ey

m
.

w ere bitterly opp o sed to Gentil e beli evers w h o refu sed to c onfor to

mm
th e Mosa i c l aw an d c u sto s

m m
Th ey w ere th oro u gh ly u north o d ox
too in th ei r o pi n i on s h o ldin g o u r L ord to b e a
,

J osep h and Mary al th ou gh th ey regard ed H i as Messiah

, e re an th e son of
.

Th ey
,
,

m m m
, .

h ated S Pa ul an d o f c o u rse rej e c te d h is w ri tin g s

.
, , Th e fa o u s p seud o
, .

Cl e enti ne w ri ti ng s k n o w n as Th e H o ili es

an d Th e R ecogni

m
,

ti o n s i ssu ed fro th i s h ostil e h ereti c al sect Th ey w ere in ac tive

mmm
, .

antag o n is to th e o rth o d o x C h ri sti an Ch u rc h ab o u t th e se c on d h alf

o f th e se c on d c en tu ry in R o e w ere i sc h i ev ou s too in oth er p cpu

m
, , ,

l o u s centres and w e h ear o f th e as still a c onsi d erabl e b ody in th e

m
,

fou rth c entu ry af ter wh i ch th ey di sapp ear fro vi ew I t h as b een

mm m
.
,

su ggeste d w i th g reat p ro b abil i ty th at th ey b e c a e gradu a lly ab sor b ed

i nto J ew i sh c o u ni ties w i th wh o th ey p ossessed g reater afn i ties

,

th an w i th th ei r so c all ed b reth ren of th e C a th oli c C h u rc h *

m
-
.

f m m Th eEb i g of th e app ell ati n i on i te is d oubtf ul T e t ull i n d e i v e it

m v fm m
ean n o . r a r s

on e E b ion a ch e of th e ct ; b ut agai nst th i it i u ged th at n

m m
ro a te o t
,
s r r ea r se s s r o

u f
enti on of su ch a pe s n o cc n ce f I n aeus o O i g n

m f m m
in th e r o e rs A o re re s o re r r e . re

p ob ab l e d i ati n i o th e H e e eb i n po f
b w
f m

th e

w m
r er o s r ty f th ir o or ro or er o e r

d t in
oc r o e lik el y
es, or o
r th p ty f th i nd iti n ; th e J ew i sh c o
r e uni ti e
over o e r co o s

ro wu ho th i s ect o l d b
u s l g l y rec i ted e p ci ll y af te th e di pe si on in
e ar e r ,
s e a r s r

A D
. .1 3 5 b in g
, s a
e ul e noto i ous fo th ei p ov e ty at l ast a f
a r r outwa d r r r , e s ar as r

app ea an c e c oul d b e trust d

r e .
 552

A P P E ND I X

E X T RA CT S FR O M L A CTA NTI U S A ND E U S E B IU S .

S HOWIN T H E NATU RE OF
G P ERS E C U T I ON S E N D U RED B Y T H E C H RIS T I AN S
U N DER D IOC E T I AN L ,
G A L E R I U S AN D M A XI M I N D A I A
,
A D 3033 13
. . . .

L A CTA NT I U S D E MO RTI BU S PE RSE CU T O R U M .

P RE S YT ERS
B

m
a nd

evi d en c e by w i tn esses o r c on f essi on

o th er oi cers iz ed w i th ou t
of

c onde ned and tog eth er w ith

th e
m
Ch u rc h w ere se ,

m
, ,

th ei r fa ili es l ed to e x e c u ti on I n bu rn i ng aliv e no di sti n c ti on oi

m
.

sex or a e w as r eg ar d e d ; an d b e c au se o f th ei r g reat ul ti tu d e th ey

m m
g ,

w ere n ot bu rnt on e after anoth er b ut a h erd o f th e w ere en c i rc l ed

,

w i th th e sa e re : and serv ants h aving ill stones ti ed ab o u t th ei r

,

n e c k s w ere c a st i n to th e sea

m m
.
,

Nor w a s th e p ersec u ti on l ess gri evo u s on th e rest of th e p eopl e of
God for th e j ud g es d i sp ers ed th rou gh all th e te pl es sou gh t to co p el
,
.
,

e v ery o n e to sa c ri c e

m
.

Th e p ri sons w ere c ro w d ed Tortu res h i th erto u nh eard o f w ere
.

i nv ented ; and l est j usti c e sh ould b e i nadvertently ad in i stered to

,

tribu nal th a t ev ery li ti g ant m

a C h ri sti a n al tars w ere pl a c ed in th e co u rts o f u sti c e
j h a r d by th e

i gh t offer i n c ense b efore h is c au se c ould

,

m
,

b e h eard Ch apter xv

m
m m
. .

H e b egan th i s o d e o f ex e c u ti on by e di c ts ag a i nst th e Ch ri sti ans

m m
,

an d in g th at after tortu re and c on d e n atio n th ey sh o uld b e bu rn t

m
co

a t a sl o w r e Th ey w ere x ed to a stak e and rst a o d erate a e

mm
,
.

w a s app l i ed to th e sol es o f th e i r f eet u ntil th e u sc l es con tra cted by

m
, ,

bu rn i ng w ere torn fro th ei r b ones th en torch es ligh te d and put o ut

m
, ,

a g ain w ere di re c te d to all th e

, e bers of th ei r bodi es so th a t no p a rt ,

h ad any ex e p ti on Ch apter xxi .

-
.
 A PPENDIX G . 553

m
E U S E B I U S H . E ,
B OO K V I I I .

BUT of th e rest, d v arious k ind s o f tor ents

e ach

H ere w a s o n e th at w as scourg ed w it h ro d s th ere an o th er tor ented

en co u ntere

m
m m
.

m
,

w it h th e rack and ex cruciating scraping s in w h ich so e at th e ti e

m
,

e n d ured th e ost te rri b l e d eath o th ers a a in passed th ro ug h o th er

mm
g
tor ents in th e s trugg l e Chap te7 iii

. .

Wh o can b eh ol d w ith out a az e ent all th is : th eir conicts after ,

scourg ing w ith b l oo d y b easts o f prey w h en th ey w ere cast as fo o d to

m
, ,

l eopard s an d b ears w il d b o ars and b ull s go ad ed w ith re and b rand ed

m
, , ,

w ith gl owin g iron ? A n d in ea ch of th ese w h o can fail to a d ire th e ,

w o n d erful patien ce o f th ese n obl e artyr s ? A t th ese scenes w e h av e

b een presen t oursel v es w h en w e al so ob serv ed th e D iv ine po w er o f our

m
,

L o rd a n d Sav iou r J esu s Ch rist H i sel f presen t and effectuall y dis m

m m
, , ,

l a y ed in th e w h en fo r a l on g ti e th e d ev ou rin w il d b easts w ou l d

m
p 3 g
no t dare eith er to touch o r appro ach th e b od ies o f th e se piou s en b u t

mm
,

d irected th eir v io l en ce against o th ers th at w ere any w h ere sti u l atin g

m

th e fro w ith o u t Ch ap ter v ii

mm
. .

B ut on e cann o t b u t ad ire th ose th at su li ered al so in th eir nativ e

'

l and w h ere th ousan d s b oth en w o en an d ch il d ren d espising th e

, ,

resen t l ife for th e sak e o f o u r Sav io u r s d octrin e su b i tt

,

ed to d ea th

m ,

m
p ,

in v arious sh apes

m m
.

So e after b eing tortured w ith scraping s and th e ra ck an d th e

m m
m mm
,

ost d rea dfu l scou rg ing s an d oth er in nu era bl e agon ies w h ich one ,

ig h t sh udd er to h ear w ere nall y co itted to th e a es ; so e

m
,

l un g ed and d ro w n ed in th e sea ; o t h er s vol u ntaril y o fferin h eir ow n

mm m
t

m
m m
p g
h ead s to th e execu tion ers o th ers dyi ng in th e id st o f th eir tor

m
cross
e n ts

o t h ers
.
so e w aste d aw ay b y fa

So e in d eed w er e ex ecute d a s
,
,
in e an d o th ers ag ain xed to th e
a l efactors co
,
on l y w ere ;

ore cru ell y w e re n a il ed w it h th e h ea d d ow n w ard s an d k ept

,
m ,

a l iv e u n til th ey w er e d est roy ed by star v in

g o n th e cross itsel f

.

Ch ap ter v iii.

A nd w h a t l ang uage w ou l d recou nt th eir v ir tu es a nd th eir

m
su f
ce to
b

m
rav er

F or
m mm
y und
b
e r ev er

y
y t i l? r a

h ad th e l ib erty b use th e th e

m
as ev e r on e to a ,
so e eat

w it b h cl u h
h scourges oth ers again w ith
w it ds w it

m bm m y m
s, so e ro ,
so e ,

th ong s o t h ers with ropes

, A nd th e sig h t of th ese tor en t s w a s v aried
.

a nd u l tiplie d ex h i itin g e x cessiv e al i n it For so e h ad th eir

m m
, g .

k y
h and s tied b eh ind th e and w ere suspen d ed on th e rac and ev er

mmm
,

b
l i w as st retch ed on ach ines Ch ap ter x .

.

y
S o e w ere u til ated b h av ing th eir no ses ears an d h an d s out , ,

of ,
b
f an d th e rest o f th eir l i s an d pa rts o f th eir b od ies cu t to
pieces ,
5 54 E A RLY CHRIS TIANIT Y A ND P A G A NIS M

w as th e case at A l exand ria Wh y sh ou l d we rev iv e th e recoll ection

m mm m
as .

of h ose
t at A ntio ch , w h o w ere d grates of re, a s n ot to

m m
ro a ste on so

k ill the y i e d iatel ,

b u t to torture th e w ith a l ingering pu nish
Ch ap ter

m
en t ? x ii

m m
.

Th e b en b ore re, sw or d an d cru cix io n s sav a
ge easts, an d th e

m
, ,

d epth s b
of th e th e ai in g of li an d searin w ith red-h o t

m
sea ; s g
k
iron, pric ing y a nd d igging ou t th e e es, a nd th e u til ations of th e
w y
h ol e b od . y
A l so h ung er an d ines and prison s ; and a fter all th e , , ,

k
ch ose th ese su f ferings fo r th e sa e o f rel igion rath er th an transfer to

m m
,

y
id ol s th a t v en eration and w orsh ip w hi ch is due to God o nl Th e

m m m
.

y
fe al es al so n o l ess th an th e en w ere stren g th en ed b th e d octrin e

m
, , ,

o f th e D iv in e Word so th at so e en d ure d th e sa e trial s as th e

m m
,
en ,

y
and b o re aw a th e sa e priz es of excell en ce

Ch ap ter x iv

m
. .

b k
S o e w ere scou rged w ith inn u era l e stro es of th e l ash 3 o th ers

m m
k
r a c ed in th eir l i

ents ; so y
b s and gall ed in th eir sid es w ith torturing in stru
e w ith intol erabl e fetter s
,

b w h ich th e joints of th eir

m
,

y b
h and s w ere d isl o cated Nev erth el ess th e ore th e ev en t
. as reg u ,

y
l ated b th e secret d eter inations of God l ar tyrs of Palestin e

m
,
.

Ch apter i

m
.

Wh en
y th e r h ad in cessan tl ged ag a in st u s into th e six th

y m
sto ra

y th e pe rsecu tion, th ere h a d een

ear o f b b efore th is a v ast nu b er of

m
th e na
mm y
g
e of
yy
con fessors o f tru e re i io n in w h at is ca

th e
l
w h ich is fou n d in th e Th eb ais
ll ed th e porp h r qu arr , fro
O f th ese o ne

m
ston e .

h u n d r ed ,
w an ting th ree
g infan ts, w er e sent to
,
en , wo en , an d ou n

th e g o v e rn or o f Pa l estine, w h o , for con fessin g th e Su pre e God an d

k
Ch rist, h a d th e an l es and sin ew s o f th eir l eft l egs sear ed o ff w ith a
re d h o t iron
-
. B esid e s th is, th e y h a d th eir gh t
ri y
e es rst cut o ut,

togeth e r w it h th e l id s an d
p pil s, an d th en seared w ith r ed h ot irons,
u -

to d estroy th e y to th e v er r oo ts

y
Ma r t rs o Pa lestin e
f

m
m m
so as e es y ,
.

Ch ap ter iii

m my m
v .

Th u s, th en , th e th irt y -
n in e, at th e co an d of th e o st e x ecra bl e
Maxi in , w ere b eh ead ed in on e day A n d th ese w ere th e art r do

m m
. s

e xh ib ited in Pal estin e in th e space o f eig y ht ears, an d su c h w as th e

rsecu tion in day It b in d eed , w ith th e de l ition of th e

my y
an ,

m mb
e o ur e
g o
p .

c h u rch es ,
an d g re w to a g rea t h eigh t d uring th e in su rrections fro
ti d er th e ru l ers
to ti I n th ese an d v ar iou s w ere th e

m
an

m m
un

m
e e .
,

c on tests o f th e n o l e w restl ers in th e c au se o f piet w h o pr esen te d an ,

innu erabl e ul titu d e o f arty rs th rou gh th e w h o l e pr ov ince fro

m
,

L ib a an d th rough all E gy pt Sy ria and th ose of th e east roun d as

y , , , ,

far a s th ose of th e regio n o f I lly ricu Ma r t r s of Pa lestine

y .
,

Ch ap ter xiii .
 I ND E X .

A b s l t i D i ns i s s p c t i g 3 04
o u
A c t J t i 1 89
on ,
m s se

on re e n , A l i s Vic t H t y by 4 7 4
u re
A s i s 48 4
u or, is Oi ,

mmm
A c ts f P i l t 4 49
a us , u on u ,
"

m
A c ts f th A p st l s 21 P i d c
o
d
a e,

B b yl Bi sh p f A t i c h 25 S n

m m
o e o e er o ov ere a as , o o o
b y 25 ,

B by l Sy b l ic
o n, f R 5 25 na
,

o e,
ty s nd S
a o e or

A c ts f th ,

s L st 242 B cc h s d S gi s SS 4 1 4
A cts ( P ss i s) f th M t y s 1 3 9 6 9 9
o e ar r u er ev eru o a u an er u

or a on o e ar r ,

,

,
,

, ,
B p ti s R b p t i s D i s p t t 3 5 8 360
a , e- a
,

,
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 5 60 E A RL Y CHRIS TIA NIT Y A ND PA G A NIS M .

29 0 ; u nd r S v ru
e e e s , 29 1 ; Di n i n
sse s o s in , S t ic Ph i l p h r Th 1 6 6 1 73
o oso e s, e,
29 3 , 304 , 44 4 ; an d b a pti m
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m
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