II Second Group of Quotations
Letter of Pliny to Trajan, Circa A.D. 112
In the second group of quotations from ancient authorities must be placed the very important notice of the persecution in the days of Trajan, contained in the well-known correspondence of Pliny and the Emperor. This has been already discussed at some length.
It will be sufficient100 here briefly to refer to the treatment of Christians whom Pliny found in his province of Bithynia not only in the towns but in the country villages, and to the influence which these Christians evidently exercised on the life of the province.
These Christians, with the exception of those who claimed to be citizens of Rome—who were sent to the capital for trial—were after the third examination, if they still continued contumacious, condemned and put to death on the authority of the governor (“perseverantes duci (ad mortem) jussi”).
This is the only heathen authority101 quoted here, but its extreme importance in this inquiry into the condition of Christians in the Roman Empire in the days of Trajan and earlier will justify its insertion.
Letter to Diognetus, Circa A.D. 117
The author of this very early Christian writing is unknown, and of the Diognetus to whom the letter is addressed we have no knowledge. But the short writing in question is interesting and even eloquent, and its date can be ascertained with fair certainty from expressions contained in the letter. Christianity, when the writing was put out, was a new thing in the world—this is several times noticed in the letter.102
The following notable references to persecution occur: “Christians love all men, and are persecuted by all; they are unknown and (yet) condemned; they are put to death... they are in want of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour they are glorified; they are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled and bless; they are insulted and yet repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers; when punished they rejoice” (Letter to Diognetus, chap. v.).
“Do you not see them (the Christians) exposed to wild beasts, that they may be persuaded to deny the Lord, and yet not overcome? Do you not see that the more of them that are punished, the greater become the numbers of the rest” (Letter to Diognetus, chap. vii.).
“Then shalt thou both love and admire those that suffer punishment because they will not deny God.”
“Then shalt thou admire those who for righteousness’ sake endure the fire which is but for a moment, and shalt count them happy, when thou shalt know (the nature of) that fire” (Letter to Diognetus, chap. x.).
The Shepherd of Hermas, Circa A.D. 140
Hermas, the author or compiler of the once famous Shepherd (the Pastor) in a very ancient tradition was identified with the Hermas mentioned by S. Paul (Rom. xvi. 14). This identification was suggested by Origen in the middle of the third century. The Muratorian Canon gives as the approximate date of its composition circa A.D. 140, and suggests another author. Modern scholarship, however, considers that the work in question passed through several redactions, the first belonging to a yet earlier date. If this, as is probable, be the case, then certainly considerable portions of the little volume of the “Shepherd” belong to the reign of Trajan, and possibly to the period of the episcopate of Clement of Rome.103
But whether we adopt for the composition of the writing the year 140, or thereabouts, or with Duchesne and Harnack the earlier date of portions of the writing (the last years of the first century), there is no doubt whatever that the work containing the “Visions,” “Commandments,” and “Parables” of Hermas (generally known as the Shepherd) was accepted by the Christians of the second century as a treatise of very high authority. It was publicly read in the congregations along with the canonical (to use a later term) Scriptures, without, however, being put on a level with these sacred writings.
Gradually though we find its authority diminishing, sterner spirits, like Tertullian, misliking its gentle and compassionate directions in the case of the reconciliation of sinners, theologians too, who in the first years were less positive, less precise in their dogmatical definitions, soon began to see how speculative and even wild were some of the statements and definitions of the Persons in the Godhead. Thus the work became less and less an important piece in the arsenal of Christian theology. S. Jerome, for instance, openly flouts it when he writes of the Shepherd as “Liber ille apocryphus stultitiæ condemnandus.” Others, however, of the highest authority in the Church in the third and fourth centuries, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Athanasius, seem to have ever held the Shepherd in great veneration.
The high place it held in the early Church is shown by its appearing in that most ancient MS. of the Holy Scriptures the Codex Sinaiticus, where it is honoured by being placed at the end of the canonical writings.
But it is as an historical piece of evidence respecting the continued persecutions which vexed the early Church, without any period of cessation, that the work is quoted here. The Shepherd is full of references to this state of things. Renan (L’Église Chrétienne) describes this book in his picturesque vivid imagery as “issuing from a bath of blood.” Lightfoot speaks of it as “haunted in large parts by this ghastly spectre of persecution.” The writer specially alludes to this harrying of the Christian sect in the past, and says that it was likely to continue in the future.
Hermas, in his unique and interesting work, says nothing about the Jewish foes of the Church, and his allusions to the pagans around him are very few. The work may be said to deal exclusively with the inner life of the Roman congregations. On the whole he pictures the life led by the followers of Jesus as fairly satisfactory and good, harassed though it was, but there were many things constantly appearing and reappearing in that life which needed amendment. He dwells with more or less detail on differences, quarrels, bitterness, which arose among themselves, and which too often disfigured and marred the beautiful Christian ideals.
But after all, in Hermas’ evidently faithful and accurate pictures of the Christian congregations in Rome, the point he dwells on with the greatest emphasis is their behaviour in those ever-recurring trials of their faith to which they were constantly exposed through the sleepless, restless ill-will of the Government. Whether the writing dates from circa 140, when Hadrian was reigning, or in part from the last years of the first century in the days of Trajan, it is evident that the position of the Christian community was ever most precarious.
The rescripts of Trajan and Hadrian somewhat softened the stern measures, but before and even after these humane and statesmanlike regulations the position of the Christian was indeed a trying and painful one. For even after the issuing of the rescripts in question the sword ever hung over their heads, and the slender thread upon which it hung was often snapped.
Perpetually were the Christians haled before the magistrate. They had stern searching questions to answer; easily was the capital crime of professing the unlawful cult daily brought home to them. They were asked: Were they willing to renounce it, and in place of it adore the gods of the pagans? Would they throw a few grains of incense, as a token of their recantation, on the altars of Rome and Augustus? If they would do this very little thing, as it seemed, at once they were released; but if they refused, then death, in some form or other, was their speedy and inevitable doom.
Hermas tells us a good deal of what was happening in the Roman congregations in the matter of persecution for the Name’s sake. The harrying of Christians, when the author of the Shepherd was writing, must have been continuous, for he sadly speaks of those who were frequently yielding to pressure. Apostasy in the Christian ranks was, alas! not an unknown scandal. Some, he tells us, simply renounced their faith; others, terrified, went further and publicly blasphemed the Name. Some were positively base enough to betray and denounce their brethren in the Faith.
But, on the other hand, Hermas tells us how the Church numbered many martyrs. All, he says, were not on a level even here, for some trembled at first and flinched, and only witnessed a good confession at the last, probably when about to cense the idol altar. There were some though, said our writer, whose heart never for an instant failed them.
Yet, on the whole, this stern though kindly censor of the Christian Church was not dissatisfied with the life generally led by the congregations of believers in Jesus; he seems to recognise to the full the sorely tempted lives—tempted not only by the imminent danger which the confession of the Name entailed—though he dwells mostly on this ever-present peril—but also by the smaller lures with which all human existence is inextricably bound up: business matters, society obligations, the old jealousy and envy which ever exist between the rich and the poor.
“Le livre d’Hermas,” observes Duchesne, “est un vaste examen de conscience de l’Église Romaine.” The writer spares none in his severe yet kindly criticism; the priests and deacons of the congregations are among the classes with whom he finds grave fault. In spite, however, of his earnest and touching remonstrances with those who, in hours of trial and persecution, in the many daily temptations of common life, had left their first love, Hermas acknowledges that in the Church of Rome the numbers of the just and upright are greater than the numbers of those who have fallen away. It is true that he sternly rebukes the unfaithful priests and deacons and other members of the hierarchy, but he recognizes here, too, men worthy of the highest commendation; he dwells on their love, their charity, their hospitality, and even assigns to these faithful ministers of religion a place among the glorious company of apostles.
The general impression which a careful study of Hermas’ portraiture of the Christian congregations in Rome leaves on the reader’s mind in those far-back days, roughly from the days of Nero to the times of Trajan and even Hadrian, is that that great and sorely tried Church was far from being composed entirely of saints, but that the righteous and God-fearing—the men and women who had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, as true disciples of the Master, were after all decidedly in the majority.
Closely connected with his picture of the sins and errors of the Roman Christians—sins largely connected with the falling away of many in the dread hour of persecution—is his assurance that these sins are capable of pardon here, even if committed after baptism. No sin, no falling away, in Hermas’ teaching is inexpiable; no truly penitent one is ever to be excluded from pardon and reconciliation. It was this generous and broad view of the goodness and the divine pity of God that was so misliked by the stern and pitiless teachers of the powerful school to which men like Tertullian belonged, a school which soon arose in the Church. Of the genuine written remains of the earliest period we have nothing comparable to the Shepherd of Hermas, when we look for a picture of the inner life of the Church of Rome in that far-back time when the echoes of the voices of the disciples who had been with Jesus were still ringing in men’s ears.
As a dogmatic teacher the writer of the Shepherd is of little or no value; Hermas emphatically was no theologian, but he was a close and evidently an accurate observer of men and things. Earnest and devout, while sadly deploring the weakness in the hour of trial of some, the failure of others in the ordinary course of things to keep on the narrow way leading to life—he rejoices with an unfeigned joy over the many noble men and women who, in all their sore danger and temptation, kept the Faith untarnished and undimmed.
Hermas of the Shepherd is a witness, to whose voice none can refuse to listen, of the sore and sleepless persecution which, from the days of Nero, with rare and brief pauses ever harassed the Christian sect in Rome.104
Composed as this book evidently was directly under the veiled shadow of persecution—a state of things which colours well-nigh every page of the writing—it is difficult out of so many testimonies here to select any special passage telling of this perpetual harrying of the sect; a very few passages will be quoted where this restless state of persecution is painted with vivid colouring.
“Happy ye who endure the great tribulation that is coming on, and happy they who shall not deny their own life” (Hermas, Vision, ii. 2).
“The place to the right is for others who have pleased God, and have suffered for His Name’s sake” (Hermas, Vision, iii. 1).
“What have they borne? Listen: Scourges, prisons, great tribulations, crosses, wild beasts for God’s Name’s sake—to them is assigned the division of sanctification on the right hand—to every one who shall suffer for God’s Name” (Hermas, Vision, iii. 2).
“But who are the stones that were dragged from the depths and which were laid in the building, and fitted in with the rest of the stones before placed in the Tower? These are they who suffered for the Lord’s sake” (Hermas, Vision, iii. 5).
“They without hesitation repented, and practise all virtue and righteousness, and some of them even suffered, being willingly put to death,”—“Of all these, therefore, the dwelling shall be in the Tower.”
“All who were brought before the authorities and were examined, and did not deny, but suffered gladly, these are held in great honour with God” (Hermas, Parables, viii. 10).
“All who once suffered for the name of the Lord are honourable before God, and of all these the sins were remitted, because they suffer for the Name of the Son of God” (Hermas, Parables, viii. 20).
“And ye who suffer for His Name ought to glorify God, because He deemed you worthy to bear His Name, that all your sores might be healed” (Hermas, Parables, viii. 28).
Justin Martyr, Circa A.D. 140–a.d. 160
The above dates roughly embrace the period of Justin’s literary activity. He was, however, born not later than circa A.D. 114, probably several years before. We know little of his early history. He was a diligent student and a thinker, and his works are amongst the most important that have come down to us from the first sixty years of the second century. Three writings of his are extant of the genuineness of which there is no doubt. Two Apologies and The Dialogue with the Jew Trypho. The first Apology and the Dialogue are works of considerable size. There are besides other writings which bear his name, but the authenticity of these is doubtful.
Originally a pagan, it seems that he became a Christian owing to the strong impression made upon him by the fearlessness which the disciples of the New Sect showed in the presence of death. He was also deeply persuaded of the grandeur and truth of the old Testament Scriptures. In the end, while the Emperor Marcus Antoninus was reigning, he received the Martyr’s crown he had for so many years passionately admired and coveted. This was about the year 165.
His three authentic writings contain numberless references to the persecutions endured by the followers of the Name, and countless allusions to the state of perpetual risk and danger in which his co-religionists lived and worked.
We will cite a very few of these, in which unmistakable details are given.
“If any one acknowledges that he is a Christian, you punish him on account of this confession” (Justin, Apol. i. 4).
The condemnation to death for the mere name of Christian is often dwelt upon by our writer (see such passages as are contained in 1 Apol. xi.).
“We may not lie or deceive our (official) interrogators; we willingly die confessing Christ” (Justin, Apol. i. 39).
“Although death is decreed against those who teach, or even confess the name of Christ, everywhere we confess it and teach it” (Justin, Apol. i. 45).
“They that believe that there is nothing after death... they become our benefactors when they free us from the sufferings and trials of this life;... they kill us, however, not with the view of benefiting us, but that we may be deprived of life and joy” (Justin, Apol. i. 57).
“The Gentiles who know God—the Creator of all things through Jesus the Crucified... patiently await every torture and vengeance—even death—rather than worship idols” (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, xxxv.).
“... Lest you be persecuted by the rulers who... will not cease putting to death and persecuting those who confess the Name of Christ....” (Justin, Dial. xxxix.).
“... Because we refuse to sacrifice to those to whom in old times we used to sacrifice to, we suffer the severest penalties, and rejoice in death, believing that God will raise us up by His Christ, and will make us incorruptible—safe—immortal” (Justin, Dial. xlvi.).
“Now it is plain that no one is able to frighten us or subject us who have believed in Jesus,... for it is manifest that though beheaded and crucified, and cast to wild beasts, and fire, and all other kinds of torture, we do not give up our confession; but the more such things happen, the more do others, and in ever-increasing numbers too, become believers and worshippers of God through the Name of Jesus” (Justin, Dial. cx.).
“And you yourselves... must acknowledge that we who have been called by God through the contemned and shameful mystery of the Cross... endure all torments rather than deny Christ even by word” (Justin, Dial. cxxxi.).
“For having put some to death on account of the false charges brought against us, they also dragged to the torture our servants—children—weak women—and by awful torments drove them to admit that they were guilty of those very actions which they (the persecutors) openly perpetrate,—about which, however, we are little concerned, because none of these actions are really ours. We have the ineffable God as witness both of our thoughts and deeds” (Justin, II. Apol. xii.).
The Octavius of Minucius Felix, Circa A.D. 160
Jerome tells us that Minucius Felix was, before his conversion to Christianity, an advocate at Rome. The dialogue, which forms the substance of the writing—a work of some considerable length, is a supposed argument between a cultured pagan Cæcilius and the Christian Octavius—the writer Minucius Felix acting as arbiter between the disputants. The scene of the dialogue was the seashore of Ostia, it closes with the conversion of the pagan Cæcilius, who is convinced by the arguments brought forward by the Christian Octavius.105
The resemblances between Minucius Felix and the famous Apology of Tertullian, which was written circa A.D. 200, are most striking—and the question which of the two was the plagiarist has long been before critics. Later scholars, among whom Ebert, Salmon, Bishop Lightfoot, Renan, and Keim are conspicuous, have conclusively established the priority of Minucius. The year of grace 160, before the death of Antoninus Pius, a date based upon the internal evidence of the writing, is suggested by Lightfoot as the most probable period of the composition.
Dean Milman’s estimate of the literary excellence of the piece is as follows: “Perhaps no late work, either pagan or Christian, reminds us of the golden days of Latin prose so much as the Octavius of Minucius Felix” (Hist. of Christianity, book iv. chap. iii.).
The following striking passages bearing on the subject of the ceaseless persecution to which the Christians were subjected in the middle years of the second century are taken from the thirty-seventh chapter of the Dialogue:
“How beautiful before God is the spectacle of a Christian entering into the lists with pain, when he is matched against threats and punishments and tortures; when, deriding the noise of death, he treads under foot the horror of the public executioner; when he raises up his liberty in opposition to kings and princes, and yields to God alone, whose he is; when, triumphant and a victor, he tramples upon the very man who has pronounced sentence against him! For he has conquered who has won that for which he fights.... But God’s soldier is neither forsaken in suffering, nor is he brought to an end by death. Thus the Christian may seem to be miserable, he cannot really be found to be so. You yourselves extol unfortunate men to the skies. Mucius Scævola, for instance, who, when he had failed in his attempts against the king, would have perished... had he not sacrificed his right hand. And how many of our people have endured that not only their right hand but that their whole body should be burned—burned without a cry of pain—though they had it in their power to be freed!
... “Do I compare Christian men with Mucius or even with Regulus? Yet boys and young girls mock at crosses and tortures, wild beasts and all the terrors of punishment—with all the inspired patience of suffering” (Minucius Felix, cap. xxxvii.).
Melito, Bishop of the Church in Sardis, Circa A.D. 170
Very little is known of this Melito; he was evidently a somewhat voluminous writer, but only few fragments remain of the long list of his works which Eusebius has given (H.E. Book vi. 26). In one of these fragments of a discourse, addressed to the Emperor Marcus, the following passage occurs:
“What indeed never before happened, the race of the pious (the Christians) is now persecuted, driven about in Asia by new and strange decrees. For the shameless informers are those that covet the goods of others, and, making use of the edicts of the Emperors, openly commit robbery, night and day, plundering those (the Christians) who are guilty of no crime.... And if these things are carried out by your commands (i.e. of the Emperor Marcus), let them at least be done in a legal form.... We (Christians) indeed bear joyfully the guerdon of such a death—still, we only urge upon you this petition, that you yourself would first inquire into the persons of these plotters of mischief, and judge whether they themselves deserve death and punishment, or safety and immunity.... We entreat you not to forget us in the midst of this lawless plunder of the populace” (Melito of Sardis, Fragment quoted by Eusebius, H.E. iv. 26).
Athenagoras, Circa A.D. 177
It is singular how little information has come down to us concerning this Athenian philosopher who had become a Christian. It is believed he wrote much, but the very names of his works have perished. The only fragments of Athenagoras that remain are his Apology, or Embassy, as he styles it, addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, and a treatise on The Resurrection.
Philip of Side106 gives one interesting detail respecting this little known early writer. He tells us he was converted to Christianity by the Scriptures, which he was studying with the view of controverting them.
The following passage is from the Apology or Embassy of Athenagoras.
He is addressing the Emperors Marcus and Commodus, and then writes: “Why is the mere name (of Christian) hateful to you? Names (surely) are not deserving of hatred. It is the wrongful act that calls for penalty and punishment. But, for us who are called Christians you have had no care, though we commit no wrong.... You allow us to be harassed—plundered—persecuted—the people warring with us for our name alone.... We suffer unjustly contrary to the law.... We beseech you to have some care for us, that we may cease at length to be slaughtered at the instigation of false accusers.... When we have surrendered our goods, they still plot against our very bodies and souls—levelling against us many charges of crimes of which we are guiltless even in thought” (chap. i.).
“... If indeed any one can convict us of a crime either small or great, we do not plead to be let off punishment; we are then prepared to suffer the sharpest and most merciless chastisement, but if the accusation is merely concerned with our Name... then, O illustrious sovereigns, it is your part to free us by law from their evil treatment.... What therefore is granted as the common right of all, we too claim for ourselves, that we shall not be hated and punished merely because we are called Christians” (Athenagoras, chap. ii.).
The above quotations from Athenagoras show very clearly on what apparently superficial grounds the Christians were bitterly persecuted and harassed in every conceivable fashion—solely because they were Christians. The nomen ipsum, the bare “name,” was a sufficient ground of condemnation in the reign of the great and good Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
Theophilus of Antioch, Circa A.D. 180
Theophilus, according to Eusebius, H.E. iv. 20–24, was sixth Bishop of the Syrian Antioch in succession (so Eusebius). He became bishop in the year 168, when Marcus was reigning. Nothing is known of his life save that he was born a pagan. He was the author of several works—including Commentaries on the Gospels and on the Book of Proverbs, and of a writing against Marcion, etc. But none of these have come down to us. All we possess are the three books containing “the Elements of the Faith,” addressed to his friend Autolycus. The quoted passage is from the third of these books. His arguments in many respects are similar to those advanced by Justin Martyr.
“They persecute, and do daily persecute, those who worship Him (the only God).... Of those (i.e. of the Christians) who are zealous in the pursuit of virtue, and practise a holy life, some they stone, some they put to death, and up to the present time they subject them to cruel torture.”
Tertullian, Circa A.D. 195–211
To complete the chain of testimony supplied by contemporary writers to the perpetual state of unrest, an unrest ever passing into active persecution, which was the lot of the Christian sect from A.D. 64, the date of the first formal harrying of Nero, to A.D. 180, the date of the death of the Emperor Marcus, the period here under consideration—the important witness of Tertullian is added. The years of his literary activity stretch roughly from A.D. 195–211. But although the dates of his works range from some fifteen to twenty years after the death of Marcus, it is certain that his general view of the condition of Christians would include at least the latter years of the period we are specially dwelling on.
His treatises, which especially relate to Christian and church life and to ecclesiastical discipline, are coloured with references to this condition of persecution under which the Christian sect evidently lived. The very numerous references in question are introduced casually as though the dangerous conditions were a matter of course, were inescapable, and entered into the ordinary life of the sect.
We cite a very few of these as specimen instances of Tertullian’s conception of the life so environed with deadly perils.
The whole of the short and interesting address to “Blessed Martyrs designate” in this connection should be read here.
“We are daily beset by foes, we are daily betrayed, we are oftentimes surprised in our meetings and congregations” (Tertullian, Apol. 7).
“Without ceasing for our Emperors we offer prayer... we ask for whatever, as man or Cæsar, an Emperor could wish.... With our hands thus stretched out and up to God, rend us with your iron claws, hang us up on crosses, wrap us in flames, take our heads from us with the sword, let loose the wild beasts on us; the very attitude of a Christian praying is one of preparation for its punishment. Let this, good rulers, be your work, wring from us the soul beseeching God on the Emperor’s behalf. Upon the truth of God, and devotion to His Name, put the brand of crime” (Tertullian, Apol. 30).
“Christians alone are forbidden to say anything in their defence to help the judge to a righteous decision; all that is cared about is getting what the public hatred demands—the confession of the Name” (Tertullian, Apol. 2).
Constantly Tertullian refers to the great offence in the Christians simply lying in “the Name.” “Your sentences, however, are only to this effect, viz.: that one has confessed himself to be a Christian,” occurs frequently (Tertullian, Ad Nationes, 8).