Part 2
The apostles' task was to reveal God's truth directly through the Spirit. So it became the foundation of the whole vision of faith for the church. It was the apostles who supervised the church and exercised discipline. For that reason, therefore, their task meant unity and freedom for the church communities. Because it was a mandate given by God, apostolic power was revealed in miraculous deeds like those of Christ: the lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the sick became well, the dead rose, evil spirits were driven out. All this proved that Jesus was there personally in the apostles, through the immediacy of his spirit working in them. Actual healing from sin and feebleness took place, demonstrating that the apostolic news was God's medicine, God's restoration to health and a new life in him. The apostles did not heal with herbs or drugs, or magic, but only through faith in God. With the laying on of hands, the apostle proclaimed the healing Christ. And this made all the difference. The fighting nature of the apostles' task often let illnesses reach a dangerous climax. When the demonic character underlying the illness had broken out in the most frightful way, the power of healing was all the more dramatic.
The apostles and prophets went out into the world to drive out demons. The first Christians knew that evil spirits were at work behind the demonism and mortal sickness of this present era. Led by a spiritual ruler, that evil works to destroy humankind through sickness and corruption, wrecking mind and soul, and breaking down morality. Our time is indeed ruled by the power of the evil one. He is the god of this world, the spirit controlling men. The pagan gods are demons, and public affairs and conditions are under their influence. They stand in hostile opposition to the creator and restorer of the world but the apostles challenged these powers to decisive battle. They could do this because they were certain of victory. Every demon was conquered and driven out through the name of Jesus Christ.78 The son of God became man to destroy demons
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and the works of the devil.79 Therefore much more is at stake than the healing of individual people. The vital issue is to purify the earth's atmosphere, to free the entire social and political life, and to completely win our present world-age.
The Christian alone has power over the raging enemy and its host,80
because he reveals the supreme power of Christ, which the demonic powers have to acknowledge.81 For every believing Christian is capable of unmasking demons and no demon can resist his command or persist in any lie. The demons must surrender to the servants of God because they fear Christ in God and God in Christ. In fear, anger, and pain, they abandon their hold when the Crucified is proclaimed.82
If you could only hear the demons and see what happens when they are driven out of possessed bodies, exorcised by us as though tortured by the whips of the Spirit. Howling and groaning under the impact of divine power, they feel the scourge of God's might and confess the judgment to come! Come yourself and see how true it is what we say. You will see how we are entreated by those whom you entreat and feared by those whom you fear and worship.83 O
nce more, the militancy of this unique spiritual battle broke out at the end of our period in the revival movement, often called "Montanism," after one of its leaders. Originating in Phrygia, this movement affected most of the important regions of contemporary Christendom, especially Asia Minor, Gaul, and Africa. For a time, it dominated entire churches, like that of Thyatira. Some church
leaders moved into the country with their congregations, where they lived together and cared for each other, filled with the expectation of the Kingdom. Even Rome, attempting to preserve the power and spirit of this movement for the institutional church, composed a letter of recognition, but never sent it.
Here we are confronted with the historically necessary crisis of early Christian eschatology. Montanism was the last mighty eruption of an intense expectation of God's future; the Montanist prophets eagerly awaited him to intervene and transform all conditions and relationships. This conviction and heroic faith showed itself again as they tried to re-
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gain the God-given freedom of the Spirit, which, as promised in John's Gospel, was to guide the unity of the church through the new prophecy. Originally this movement had no intention of severing itself from the body of Christendom. On the contrary, it was an internal movement of the church.
Above all, the movement wanted the same, original faith of the apostles. Like the first apostles and prophets, the new prophecy of Montanism wanted to defend the ancient scripture of the law and the prophets, the New Testament (which was in process of being more clearly defined), and the gradually expanding rule of faith against all attacks and perversions. Only when their meaning seemed obscure (especially in the Pauline letters) did the new prophecy try to clarify them through the Spirit.
At the last moment, however, the institutional church at Rome opposed this renewal of the Spirit. And at the same time the Montanist movement degenerated into a sect. As an increasingly formally organized group of prophets, it became narrow, legalistic, and moralistic beyond measure. This reciprocal effect made the separation a turning point in the history of early Christianity.
For this book, the reign of the great Emperor Marcus Aurelius (who died A.D. 180) is considered the closing period of the early Christian time. It came directly after the primitive church and the first apostles, so this collection of sources covers one century. The basic change of direction which led to the institutional church showed itself in numerous acute symptoms, the most important of which we must describe here to mark the boundary of our period.
From now on large masses of people were involved. The same demands could no longer be made on them as on the first Spirit-filled band. The question now arose how to preserve and promote Christianity in this world, since the renewal expected from God was so long in coming. The emerging institutional church concluded that it was her task to carry as much light as possible into all strata of humanity, even if this meant that the daylight of the Creator and his coming day was dark-
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ened by the dimness of cultic twilight. Conversely, the emerging sects tried to carry on the clear, sharp fight of the first Christians without dimming the light, even if, in their effort, the light of the world was hidden under the bushel of narrowness and separatism.
At this turn of events, the curse hanging over the history of the organized church erupted: the curse of mutual, loveless misrepresentation. It changed Christ's purpose to unite people in love into fanatical injustice, hate, and division. The emerging institutional church was unable to bear the spirit of decisive truth, which brought about a sect. The sect, on the other hand, was unable to bear the spirit of diffusive love which leads to the formation of a large church institution. This marked the beginning of heresy-hunting, so characteristically "Christian," yet so completely unChristlike. It is clear why the Montanist mistrusted the growing worldliness in the institutional church: on the other hand, the censure and mistrust of the institutional church against the free-working Spirit have historical causes which are just as important.
By the end of the second century, there was every reason to look for protection from the influence of false prophetic spirits. From Hellenistic and oriental religions, a stream of pagan mysticism flooded into the church communities, with philosophic speculations and the spell of magic rites. The institutional church saw an hour of temptation and unprecedented peril in this wave of Gnosticism. It could be compared only with the crisis caused by Jewish legalism, which Paul had overcome in his day. Nobody in the church or in the Montanist movement wanted to be associated in any way with that satanic brew. In the name of a false spirit of knowledge (recognized just in time), the church communities were all but destroyed and driven into the hands of demons. It is reported that the aged Polycarp often exclaimed, "Dear God, for what times hast thou preserved me, that I should endure these things!"84 He even went so far as to call a leader of the Gnostic movement the firstborn of Satan.85 Under no circumstances would the Christians recognize anything "Christian" in this "Gnosis" or "mysterious knowledge," not even as another version of Christianity. The slightest contact with these counterfeiters
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was considered to be dangerous beyond measure. In Ephesus John fled from a building, afraid it would fall in on him because one of those enemies of the truth was inside.86
In collecting the texts for this book we have disregarded this gnostic mixture of paganism and Christianity, although it is a fact that the institutional church incorporated many pagan elements into her religious practices at that time and later.
At the end of the early Christian period, Christendom defended itself against the dangerous inroads mainly in two ways: establishing the dogma and literary form of the creeds and New Testament writings, and consolidating the power of the bishops. That point marked the end of the time of the earliest revelation, the creative time when God established new milestones in history. The New Testament was given its primary form between the years A.D. 140 and A.D. 200. From then on it was seen as the authoritative gift of the Spirit and even revered above the Old Testament. Indeed it was a wonderful fruit of Christianity's creative epoch. At the same time the apostolic creed became established, for now the rule of faith which was gradually expanded was set down in writing.
In that first period now irrevocably passed, the message of early Christian revelation was put on record for all times in these two documents. Here the Spirit forged once more the keen weapons used in the time of battle, from now on to be used primarily against false teachings, not least against those in the institutional church itself. Included were the Revelation of John, the gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the apostolic letters. This became the revolutionary book of the Spirit, tense with the expectation of the future. Indeed, this book – antagonistic to this age – continues to condemn the Babylon of our time. It is assumed that the reader of this collection has access to the New Testament. We hope this book will contribute toward a clearer understanding of the New Testament as the book of early Christian revelation.
Another protective measure against the dangers threatening at that time was to transform the church into an organization through the bish-
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ops' office. In the first Christian communities (built with no thought of permanence and ready to break camp at any moment) the danger of disunity was overcome by the leadership in the Spirit given by the apostles, prophets, and teachers, and by the brotherly love ruling among all members of the church. From now on, the organization of the bishop's monarchical rule, their synodal decrees, and finally the ascendancy of the Pope guaranteed the uniformity of the catholic world. The bishops declared themselves the legitimate successors to the apostolate and prophetic Spirit; and the Spirit was restricted to their office. Without this myth, their office could never have gained supremacy. The freeworking Spirit and the church of God as the body of the invisible one were replaced by a different reality: the visible church of the bishops. Irenaeus defined this episcopal church according to its claims: the teaching of the apostles, the system of the church, the succession of bishops, and the perfect tradition of the holy Scriptures. Already in his time no addition or curtailment of the Scriptures was tolerated. He regarded every bishop as appointed by the apostles through the successive laying on of hands.87
Theodore of Mopsuestia described the gradual dying out of apostles and prophets and the growing power of the bishops to govern the church: after the death of the first apostles, the weakness of the secondgeneration apostles was obvious through the weakening of their power to work miracles. As a result, they voluntarily renounced their leadership, transferring part of their authority to church overseers, who became provincial bishops.88 In fact, the power of the provincial synods first asserted itself in the fight against Montanism. This again brings us to the end of our time period.
This has been recognized as an outrage against ultimate truth committed by the organized church: from now on, by virtue of the episcopal constitution, one individual became law for the whole. Now those individual human parts constructed the whole, like a tower built by human hands. The first symptoms of the institution of the papacy, the very apex of this structure, were already apparent in A.D. 180, our terminal date. In
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A.D. 190, the Roman Bishop Victor laid the foundation for that ecclesiastical edifice by excluding from the church all those who refused to accept the Roman Easter practice. Around the year A.D. 200, Tertullian still regarded all apostolic sees as having equal status, whereas by A.D. 220 he felt compelled to attack the rising power of the papacy in the Bishop of Rome. Even Johannine Asia Minor, which until then had been the very hub of the Christian world, now receded before the leading influence of the see of Peter. Jewish Christianity became sectarian and from A.D. 135 on could no longer exert any kind of influence. Tertullian still considered all Christians as priests and sacrificers, and thus equally entitled to the fellowship of peace, to the name of "brother," and to mutual hospitality. As he saw it, the authority to forgive sins still belonged to the Spirit-bearers.89 And this authority to forgive sins became the basis for the ecclesiastical law of the bishops, a fact clearly recognizable as late as A.D. 375.90
However external it seemed at first, the growing power of the bishops gained a firm foothold. At the close of our period an unbelievable proliferation of church ceremonies and an utterly different and new kind of piety took over.
Infant baptism, too, can be traced to the time immediately following. It supplanted the baptism of immersion, which had been so significant until then. It was a totally different concept of the "sacrament" of baptism and its mystery. Now baptism per se became a value, signifying acceptance into God's church and all her instruments of grace. With infant baptism, Christian names came into use; whereas before the name "Christian" was simply used alongside the old pagan one.
As late as A.D. 170, Celsus noted that the Christians had no altars.91 But by A.D. 200, the table was often called "the altar." The Lord's Supper had already been separated from the Lovemeal after the middle of the second century. Originally an offering of thankful hearts and tangible gifts from all believers, it changed (at the end of the century) into the oblation of the Mass offered by the priest. Transubstantiation and the priest's reenactment of the body and blood sacrifice now took the place of Christ's presence and the descent of the Spirit upon the gathered church.
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The Spirit and the crucified Christ were now materialized into the substance of wafer and wine as "Corpus Christi." In the third century, the shift from the earlier celebration of the Meal to the Catholic Mass was still in progress.92 The entire ritual of the Mass with all its mystery and wondrous sacraments shows more crassly than anything else how all the pagan religious currents flowed together in the institutional church. As a result, the hybrid religion of the church supplied religious satisfaction for people's need for atonement and salvation.
The expectation of the future kingdom of God was now extinct. The religiously motivated ego now found nourishment in the church's otherworldly beliefs. With all the believer's religious self-gratification, the deity threatened to vanish. There was an unbridgeable distance between this life and the life hereafter.
Together with Oriental mystery cults, it was Greek philosophy – especially Plato's – that exercised increasing influence in this direction. Again in the years between A.D. 180 and A.D. 250, the Christianity of the churches became a great power in the field of learning and literature, extensively absorbing contemporary culture and philosophy. To the same degree that it found favor with the educated, it departed from the central message of the kingdom of God. As late as the third century, men like Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Tertullian tried in vain to reestablish the purity of the original Christian truth. Other believers, disdainfully called "ignorant," "uneducated," and "simple-minded" continued to protest the invasion of learning, but in vain. Eventually even these simple people lost heart. They no longer had strength for the religious exertion which in early times had sprung from the expectation of God's future kingdom.
The church contented herself with developing a tolerable middle-class morality for the masses. Since the third century, the holy sacrament of penance provided comforting forgiveness again and again. The institutional church achieved great success – her growing identification with the whole of contemporary society meant that by and large one had Christianity without being Christian, and that one did not have Christianity although one was called Christian. Finally, by the end of the time-
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span covered in this book, the church had "ceased to be the virgin of Christ."93 Consequently, one spoke of a holy calling, holy sacraments, and holy Scriptures, for no one had the courage to call Christians "saints" anymore.
The power underlying sanctification – love to God and to brothers – alive in the early times was now transformed into monastic asceticism and the church piety of the masses. Christian ethics split into a dualistic way simultaneously rejecting and accepting the world. The world, after all, followed its own laws and therefore was unchangeable in any case. The church had to accept the status quo and attempt to leaven it and make use of it. Some reacted to this by rejecting the world of the senses, (which in their eyes seemed more and more hostile to God), and embraced asceticism for its own sake. On the other hand, compromise, worldly wisdom, and realism soon produced the familiar conservative character of church Christianity. Once more, A.D. 180 marks the turning point in the social and political stance of the church. From now on, Christians exerted increasing power and influence in politics and public affairs; they were no longer criminals in the eyes of the State like the first Christians.
As part of "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" used in baptismal instruction, the Sermon on the Mount stressed the unbridgeable gulf that divides the ways of death and life. But now the Sermon on the Mount faded more and more into the background. The early Christian ideal of a communism of love was not completely abandoned; John Chrysostom exemplified it as late as A.D. 400. Yet incomprehensible as it was to give it up, it was still less conceivable for the church to put it into practice. True, the theory of total love and surrender of all goods continued to be upheld, but it could not prevent Christian's attitude to property from becoming indistinguishable from that of non-Christians. Wealth and luxury spread. From the third century on, more and more high-ranking civil servants and army officers, traders in luxury goods, wealthy wholesalers, and owners of large estates belonged to the churches. Economic differences and class distinctions were now ques-
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tioned so little that soon the episcopal church herself owned slaves and became richer and richer. Only nominally did the church property belong to the poor. Tertullian and Origen were still influenced by the early years. They represented that the professions of judge (which is to punish) and soldier (which is to kill) were out of the question, but events gradually led (in A.D. 314) to the punishment of deserters by excommunication. No questions were asked about their consciences.94
Yet the sacrifices inherent in the legacy of the early Christian witness were not made altogether in vain. The institutional church achieved a partial softening of the rigid Roman concept of property and, still more important, public acceptance of the Christian concept of marriage. The organized church contributed both to the gradual disintegration of the Roman empire and to its new growth. At the same time, it was within the church that monasticism once again achieved the radical "anarchism" of faith responsible to God alone. As in the first church, private property was overcome by the communism of love, and labor was given a new value. Monasticism was simply a late phenomenon – the heroism of early Christian faith grew one-sided and otherworldly. The tremendous monastic movement was just one example of what is seen recurrently in the history of the organized church: her whole religious life can be nourished only from the earliest time when the power of the Spirit was revealed in authority and freedom.
By recasting Christianity, the institutional church became a recognized world power with a dominant role in world history. In spite of all deviations from the early time of revelation, no church or sect in Christendom has ever completely forgotten that love remains "the supreme sacrament of faith, the treasure of the Christian faith."95 Bearing in mind the radicalism of sects, the narrowness of monastic exercises in devotion, and the vast responsibilities of the organized churches, Irenaeus was right in saying, "It remains, as in the time now past, that the greatest is the free gift of brotherly love, which is more glorious than knowledge, more marvelous than prophecy, and more sublime than all other gifts of grace."96
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n this book the original testimonies of the transition period between earliest Christianity and the organized church speak to our times. In the fire of first love, in the many signs of God at work, the rich, primitive force of the early Christian spirit speaks to us once again. All the moments of power and truth characteristic of New Testament Christianity can be sensed here, including the beginnings of developments that later led to the organized churches. Further, a clearly defined way of life and faith arises from the manifestation of God in early Christian times. In spite of rigidity in later centuries and the changes which affected Christianity then, this way continues to be a living force today. It comes from the wellspring of living truth and can never become a mere imitation of outward traditions.
There is only one criterion for this way: the direct, spontaneous testimony which the Spirit himself brings from God and from Christ. It is the witness of faith, speaking to us from apostolic and prophetic experience through the pages of this book. The original witness of the church must lead us all, though still in very different camps, into the unity and purity of the clear light. The period of original revelation must be the point of departure for any dialogue between the many churches, sects and movements of our own day. The awakening and uniting of all who truly desire to follow Christ will be given at the source, and nowhere else.
Eberhard Arnold, 1926
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Notes to The Witness of the Early Church
Marginal numbers refer to superscript numbers in the text on the previous pages.
1 See Acts 15; compare also Lev. 17, and the seven Noachian Precepts (obedience to authority;
reverence for God's name; abstinence from idolatry, from fornication, from murder, and from robbery;
and prohibition of the consumption of blood), which, according to the Talmud, apply to people living
before and outside Abraham everywhere, and to "sojourners living within the gates of Israel."
2 Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians; see pp. 167-169 below.
3 The same words are used in Acts of Peter / Vercelli Acts 37–39: "This cross alone is the Word
stretched out…The Spirit says of the cross, for what else is Christ but the Word!…The beams of the cross
are the resounding voice of God…The deadly nails mean the turning about and change of heart…The
Word is the life-giving tree of the cross…The cross is man's encounter with the Spirit, to be perceived
only through the Spirit, to be praised only with the silence of man's voice. The name of the cross is the
hidden mystery, the unutterable grace…No redemption can be expected save through the despised and
taunted Nazarene, through him who was crucified, who died and rose again."
The Acts of John 99 witnesses to the cross, which through the Word joins all things to itself, gives birth
to all things, and compacts all things into one. Also the mystery of the dance in Acts of John, p. 225
below, is explained in the Acts as a paradox of Christ's suffering on the cross. Compare p. 240 below on
the piercing, wounding, hanging, suffering and dying of Christ, and also his role in driving out demons,
as in Acts of Thomas V.47. The strength of the "wooden gallows" is called the conquering force for all
who put it on, the victorious power which has settled on the wood of the cross. It was the only power
that can give salvation and healing (Acts of Thomas XIII.157).
4 The point here is that the believers are crucified with Christ and raised with him, as Paul says.
Ignatius expresses this in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, pp. 171-173 below, and in the same passage
confesses that the blood of Christ is the foundation of love. To the Philadelphians, Ignatius writes of
partaking in the suffering of the blood, that is in the death of Christ. In his Letter to the Smyrnaeans he
greets in the name of Jesus all who are gathered in the unity of God, which they have because they are
rooted in his flesh, blood, suffering, and resurrection. This suffering and dying together, stressed also in
Ignatius' Letter to Polycarp, p. 173 below, is the same "fellowship of the cross" witnessed to by all believ-
ers in Christ even today, except that in those times this fellowship of suffering was more real than today,
as it was sure to bring persecution and martyrdom to its adherents.
5 Origen, Against Celsus VI.34. Celsus explains that the Christian belief in receiving life and res-
urrection from a wooden cross originates both from the fact that their Master was nailed to the cross and
from the fact that he was a carpenter by trade. Celsus adds, "If Christ had been thrown down a cliff or
pushed into a pit, or strangled with a rope…then they would speak of a cliff of life, or a pit of resurrec-
tion, or a rope of immortality."
6 Lucian, On the Death of Peregrinus II. Lucian, a second-century pagan poet and cynic, was an
enemy of the Christians.
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7 Taken from the Syriac Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Arabic Didascalia (Didascalia
et Constitutiones Apostolorum, ed. F.X. Funk, Paderborn, 1905, vol. 2), chapter XXXIX, where it is intro-
duced as mystagogia Jesu Christi. The Syriac Testament I.28 speaks of the cross of Christ as bringing
victory over death: it results in the alarmed questions of the conquered devil and the answer of those
who are initiated, "Here is Christ, the crucified!" Compare the Ode of Solomon 22,
p. 218 below.
8 See the Ode of Solomon 22, p. 218 below.
9 See the oriental Liturgy of James, p. 33, the Liturgy of Mark, and the Abyssinian Liturgy, p. 218
in F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western. See also the so-called "Clementine Liturgy" in the
Apostolic Constitutions, and the Syriac Testament of Our Lord.
10 Quoted by Wetter in Brightman, p. 452 (the Armenian Liturgy), and many other places (e.g. in
the Apostolic Constitutions VIII, Clem. Liturgy, after Psalm 118:26) and pointed out as extremely old.
Wetter's work, based on liturgical research, provides us with excellent material on the original worship of
Jesus and on the experience of his presence in the church. However, he misses the main point, or at any
rate plays it down; namely, that this faith in Christ's power present among them, faith in the power of the
cross, the resurrection, and the coming of Jesus, was possible only because the early Christians believed
in the historical reality of the Christ Jesus, and because for them the Holy Spirit was a reality.
11 Compare Pliny's report to the Emperor Trajan, pp. 51-52 below. The comparison on p. 5 above
between those tied to the cross (the Christians united with the crucified one) and Ulysses is included as
coming from very early Christian times in Grisa's Histoire de Rome et des Papes, Paris, 1906, illustration
131. See W Lowrie, Art in the Early Church, revised edition, NY,1965, p75, plate 23, illustrations a and b.
12 Tertullian, Apology 39. On the basis of some of the oldest liturgies, Wetter proves that these
gifts represented one of the most important aspects of the Lord's Supper and the Lovemeal in early
Christian times. See in Brightman the Abyssinian Liturgy, pp. 199, 203; the Coptic Liturgy, p. 145; and
others. See also the Syriac Byzantine Liturgies, pp. 54, 58, 89, 97, 99, 444; and the Nestorian Liturgy, ed.
Eusèbe Rénaudot, vol. 2, p. 636, particularly the Roman Liturgy.
13 See the ms. Parasinus 974.
14 Hippolytus, The Apostolic Tradition 28, B. S. Easton, p. 52.
15 Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV.17.4–5.
16 Origen, Against Celsus VIII.28, 33, 34.
17 See Wetter, Altchristliche Liturgien, vol. 2, pp. 101–102.
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18 A. Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, hereafter
referred to as Harnack ET (English Translation), vol. I, pp. 401 ff. He emphasizes that according to the Old
Testament "the poor" was a designation of distinction. Later it was applied to the narrow Jewish-Chris-
tian sect of the Ebionites, "those called after poverty."
19 Here (To Donatus 4) Cyprian glorifies the freely flowing Spirit, which cannot be restrained by
any barriers or limits, but flows perpetually in rich exuberance – as long as the heart thirsts and is open
for it.
20 Origen, Homily XV on Genesis VIII, quoted by A. Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des
Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, vol. 1, p. 220.
21 Macarius Magnes, Apocriticus III.17, Porphyry Fragment No. 95 in Harnack's edition. Compare
Cyprian's witness after his conversion (To Donatus 4): "Suddenly, in a wonderful way, what had been
doubtful became assured, what had been closed lay open before me, what had been dark became light;
what had seemed difficult now turned out to be easy, what had seemed impossible, possible."
22 Macarius Magnes, Apocriticus IV. 19, in Porphyrius gegen die Christen, 15 Bücher. (Quoted by
Harnack in "Zeugnisse, Fragmente und Referate," Abhandlung der Preuss. Akad. der Wissenschaften,
No. 88, p. 97, 1916.) Nevertheless, Porphyry holds that the purpose of his own philosophizing is the
healing of the soul. For the Christian experience compare Cyprian (To Donatus 3): "When I was still lan-
guishing in darkness and black night and tossed about on the open sea of this storm-wrenched
world…I regarded it as unlikely, especially when I considered my own character at that time, for a man to
be born again…I asked myself, how is such a tremendous transformation possible that all at once man
throws off everything which is innate and hardened or which has become deeply ingrained through
prolonged habit?"
23 Justin, First Apology 61.
24 See Second Letter of Clement 6.9, "If we do not keep our baptism pure and undefiled, how can
we be confident of entering the kingdom of God?"
25 See pp. 154-161 below. In this context special note should be taken of what is said at the
beginning of the Didache about the two ways leading to life and to death, about love to enemies, about
the surrender of all possessions, and about a life in keeping with the Sermon on the Mount. For a signifi-
cant description of early Christian baptism see pp. 157 below. It may be that all of the Didache
should be taken as baptismal instruction. As to the training for the new life during this period of instruc-
tion, it is worth noting Origen's comments (Against Celsus III–51): "Individuals are taught as hearers,
and only when they have given ample proof that they want to lead a good life are they introduced into
the community. Some of the Christians are appointed to watch over the lives and appraise the conduct
of those who want to join them. They refuse to receive into the community those who have become
guilty of evil deeds, while they receive the others with great joy, making them better from day to day."
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26 Harnack ET, vol. I, p. 388, quotes Tertullian, Apology 18, "Men are made, not born Christians,"
and On the Testimony of the Soul I, "The Christian soul is always made, never naturally born." The chil-
dren of Christian families are simply called "household members" or more exactly "domestic slaves" of
the church by Tertullian (On the Soul 51). Justin (First Apology 65, written about A.D. 150) says, "Only he
who is convinced and has given his assent is to be baptized." But already at the time of Hippolytus, a
leading figure in the years 217–235, infant baptism was taken for granted: the parents or other relatives
speak for those who cannot speak for themselves (The Apostolic Tradition 21.4 Easton, p. 45, from A.D.
218).
27 This contrast between the old and the new life is nowhere described in a more forceful, vivid,
and intimate way than in Cyprian's Letter to Donatus, where he talks about the revolutionary change that
took place in his own life. In paragraphs 3 to 5 Cyprian emphasizes his search for that power which was
to salvage him from the desperate filth of his earlier years.
Cyprian, To Donatus 4: "With the help of the life-giving water of baptism the filth of former years was
washed away. The light from above streamed into my reconciled and purified heart, after I had breathed
in the heavenly Spirit. Through the second birth I was transformed, made into a new man."
Cyprian, To Donatus 5: "O mighty power of the Spirit, O wondrous strength by which one is torn away
from the pernicious contact with the world, atoned and purified, freed from the danger of being defiled
by the attacking enemy, but still growing in strength and purified, able to command the whole army of
the raging adversary with imperial authority."
28 Origen, Against Celsus III.55, 56; Cyprian, Epist. 2; Tertullian, Apology 42.
29 See The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles 12.4; Clem. Homilies 8 (quoted in Harnack ET, vol. I, p.
175)
30 Didiscalia XIII (see also the English translation, R. H. Connelly, pp. 128–129.)
31 Hermas, The Shepherd, 6.5–7; see pp. 247-261 below.
32 John 13:35.
33 The pagan Lucian, in Peregrinus 13, describes how the Christians helped prisoners.
34 See Justin, First Apology 67.
35 Macarius Magnes, Apocriticus III.5, Porphyry Fragment No. 58 in Harnack's edition, p. 82.
Harnack ET, vol. 2, pp. 74–75.
36 See Didascalia XV; see also Connolly, p. 138.
37 Julian, Sozomen, V.17; see also Harnack ET, vol. 1, p. 162.
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38 Tertullian, To His Wife II.4.
39 Bishop Cornelius in Eusebius VI.43. Harnack, in his 1924 edition of Mission und Ausbreitung
p. 183, calculated that the church in Rome annually spent vast amounts of money on relief for the poor.
See Harnack ET, vol. 1, pp. 157. In the preamble of his letter to the Romans, Ignatius says that Rome
"presided in works of love."
40 Tertullian, To His Wife II.4.
41 Harnack, Texte und Untersuchungen II, p. 24.
42 Brothers and sisters serving at table had the oversight of the gifts offered at the Lord's Supper
and the Lovemeal, with the task of distributing them among the poor. In this way table service in the
meetings and service to the poor of the city belonged together.
43 In Cyprian, Letters. Especially in Letter 62, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pp. 355–356, he ex-
plains how "free" Christians felt pain over the imprisonment of fellow members, which they considered
their own imprisonment. The "duty of faith" urged them to ransom these prisoners, because in every
suffering brother they saw "Christ himself."
44 Tertullian, To His Wife II.4.
45 One could agree to a Christian's right to hold a high office in which he was empowered to
adjudicate over the civic rights of a person only if he did not condemn or penalize anyone, or cause
anyone to be put into chains, thrown into prison, or tortured (Tertullian, On Idolatry 17).
46 Tertullian, On Idolatry 12: "Faith does not fear hunger" (Harnack, Texte und Untersuchungen
42, 2 and 4, pp. 117f.). According to Origen, no Christian may exercise the power of the sword against
anyone.
47 Origen (Against Celsus III.29–30) states that the church of Jesus had a different politeia or
conception of citizenship from that of the worshipers of demons. Christians were strangers among the
populace, but even their lowliest, least worthy members were much "wiser" than the pagans. Because
of their moral conduct, their overseers and councilors – even their less perfect ones – were morally supe-
rior to the councilors and rulers of the existing municipalities.
48 Justin and Origen, see pp. 80 below.
49 Tertullian, On Idolatry 1.
50 See Tertullian, Apology 21. For the next lines, see Tertullian, Apology 30. There the Emperor is
"second only to God, before and above all gods." See also Harnack ET, vol. I, p. 298.
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51 Eusebius III.37.3.
52 Tertullian, On the Soul 9. Irenaeus reports that he himself, in meetings of the church, heard the
speech of many brothers who possessed prophetic gifts: through the Spirit they talked in various
tongues, brought to light hidden things, and revealed mysteries of God (Irenaeus, Against Heresies
V.6.1). In the Testament of Job, pp. 48 ff., we read of a Christian woman who received a new heart and
sent up a hymn of praise to God after the manner of angels (see M.R. James, "Apocrypha Anecdota" in
Texts and Studies, vol. 5. p. 135).
53 Reported in Apophthegmata Patrum, Migne, Patrologie Graeca 65, p. 276, as an experience of
Macarius of Egypt. In the next sentence of the text the description of forms taken by demons comes from
Epiphanius, Panarion 80, and Timothy of Constantinople, "De receptione haereticorum" (see Cotelier,
Monumenta Ecclesiae Graecae, vol. 3, p. 401, "Tradition of the Messalians").
54 Reported by the Egyptian monk Serapion in Apophthegmata Patrum, 65, pp. 313 ff.; similarly
in Historia Lausiaca 37 (ed. C. Butler, Texts and Studies 1–2, 1904, p. 109), and in Irenaeus, Against
Heresies II.31.2, where he speaks of the raising of a dead man through the proclamation of the truth.
55 Clement of Alexandria, What Rich Man Can Be Saved? 42, in Eusebius III.23.6–19.
56 Mystagogia, in The Testament of Our Lord; Acts of Peter 39: "I give thanks not with these lips
nor with this word uttered with the skill of earthly nature; but I give thanks to thee, O King, with that
voice which is heard only in silence. It is not heard aloud. It does not come from any bodily organ. It does
not enter any natural ear. It is not heard by anything corruptible. It does not belong to this world. It is not
spoken on this earth. But I thank thee, O Jesus Christ, with that voice which is the silence of the voice. It
encounters the Spirit within me, that loves thee, speaks with thee and sees thee. Thou art perceived of
the Spirit only."
57 Acts of Peter 2.
58 Acts of Thomas VI.51.
59 Origen, On Prayer 28.
60 1 Cor. 12:28.
61 Clement of Alexandria; Pseudo-Clementine, Two Letters Concerning Virginity I.11; Hermas,
The Shepherd, pp. 247-261 below. Tertullian considers teachers as Spirit-bearers and therefore close to
martyrs (On the Prescription of Heretics 3 and 14).
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62 Tertullian, On Repentance 10. Compare with Hermas, The Shepherd, pp. 247-261 below, and
Second Letter of Clement, pp. 244-246 below; also Papias and Clement of Alexandria. According to all
these, only two things were called "church" in the time of the first Christians (compare also Harnack and
Sohm): firstly, the church of God as an object of faith; secondly, the independently responsible, indi-
vidual church. The church, living in God, takes shape on earth in such individual churches according to
the measure of their faith.
63 First Letter of Clement 48; Barnabas 4.10.
64 The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles 4.2; Justin, First Apology 67.
65 This confession of faith, evidently the earliest, can be read from top to bottom as well as from
left to right; this is noted in order to underscore the significance of its individual parts and their mutual
interaction:
I believe:
in God the Father the all-powerful
in Jesus Christ the Son our Lord
in the Holy Spirit the church the resurrection of the flesh.
66 Origen, Homily II.10 on Numbers. Compare Harnack, Über den privaten Gebrauch der heiligen
Schriften in der alten Kirche, 1912; Tatian, Address to the Greeks 29; Justin, Dialogue with Trypho the
Jew 7, 8; and Proclamation of Peter in Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies VI.15. According to Tertullian
(Apology 46), Christians testimony is proved to be true by the following: first, the antiquity of the divine
writings and the evidence of faith found in them; second, the acknowledgment of Christ by vanquished
demonic powers. In other words, faith in the truth of the ancient Bible and in Christ's power over de-
mons had a crucial and convincing significance for Tertullian.
67 See Tatian, p. 124 below. Tatian, Address 29: "While I was seriously pondering what the good
brings about, there fell into my hands some barbarian writings older than Greek teaching and divine
compared with Greek fallacy. They succeeded in convincing me." Tatian witnesses here to the convincing
impact of the Bible, as referred to on p. 23 above. See also pp. 133-134 below, and the Proclamation of
Peter in Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies VI.15: "When we opened the books of the prophets and
recognized all that was written in them we came to have faith in God."
68 The Lord's "sayings" – words spoken by Jesus or claimed to have been spoken by him – pos-
sessed singular authority in the Christian communities, before the formation of a New Testament canon.
See pp. 147-154 below, and the corresponding notes on the more than ninety significant sayings of
Jesus not contained in the New Testament, yet regarded at that time as spoken by Jesus.
Papias probably wrote his five-volume Sayings of the Lord Explained before the middle of the second
century and could vouch for their authenticity on the basis of his firsthand knowledge of their sources.
Papias had talked with people who had heard Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John, Matthew, and
other disciples, as well as with Aristion and John (see Papias' preface in Eusebius III.39.3 ff.).
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69 See p. 137 below.
70 Lucian, On the Death of Peregrinus. The recognition that women, too, were blessed with the
gift of prophecy and could fulfill the task of a prophet is borne out by the Coptic version of the Acts of
Paul, where two prophetesses are mentioned. Even Origen points out that Deborah, one of the judges
of Israel, was a prophet and a woman. "This grace is determined by purity of mind alone, not by differ-
ence of gender" (Origen, Homily V.2 on Judges 11).
71 Origen, Against Celsus VII.9, 11.
72 Origen, First Principles II.8.5. The multitude of believers represents the body of Christ. The
apostles are the soul of this Body. Therefore Origen calls the apostles "kings" (Homily XII.2 on Numbers
10). Clement of Alexandria even calls them "savers of mankind" (Eclogae propheticae 16). Compare
Pistis Sophia 7, where the apostles are exaggeratedly seen as twelve savers of the treasure of light – that
is, those who save the whole world.
73 Grenfell and Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, I.5, pp. 8–9. As late as A.D. 200 Serapion of Antioch (in
Eusebius V.19.2) wrote about the power of living in a clearly defined "prophetic" order.
74 Eusebius I.13.
75 Eusebius III.37.
76 Harnack, History of Dogma vol. 1, pp. 157–163.
77 Origen and Eusebius knew of female apostles in the second century. In the Acts of Paul a
woman, Thecla, was regarded an apostle.
78 See Origen, Against Celsus I.6; Irenaeus II.31.2; and Justin, Second Apology 6, Dialogue with
Trypho 30, 85; see also Tertullian (Apology 23–27, 37) and Tatian (Address to the Greeks 7–18).
79 Justin, Second Apology 6: "The son of God became man to destroy the demons." See also
Tertullian, Apology 23; Pseudo-Clementine, Two Letters Concerning Virginity I.12.
80 Cyprian, To Donatus 5.
81 Tertullian, Apology 46.
82 Tertullian, Apology 27; Tatian, Address to the Greeks 16.
83 Cyprian, To Demetrianus 15; see also To Donatus 5.
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84 Irenaeus, To Florinus, in Eusebius V.20.7.
85 Irenaeus III.3,4; Eusebius IV.14.7.
86 Irenaeus III.3, 4; Eusebius III.28.6; IV.14.6.
87 Irenaeus IV.33.8.
88 Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on 1 Timothy, H.B. Swete, 1882, pp. 121 ff. see Harnack
ET, vol. 1. pp. 445–446.
89 Tertullian, On the Prescription of Heretics 20; On Modesty 21. Even the apostles recognized
that their authority to forgive sins was dependent on the gift of the Holy Spirit. Compare Origen, On
Prayer 28.
90 In A.D. 375 a Roman presbyter published Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti (93, ch. 2, pp.
163 ff.) as well as a commentary on Paul's Letters. See Souter's edition, Vienna, 1908.
91 C.F. Arnold, Die Geschichte der alten Kirche 18, 6, p. 95; particularly in F. Wieland, mensa und
confessio: Studien über den Altar und altchristlichen Liturgie, 1906; Der vorirenäische Opferbegriff,
1909; and Altar und Altargrab der christlichen Kirche im vierten Jahrhundert, 1912; Emil Dorsch, Der
Opfercharakter der heiligen Eucharistie, 1909.
The holy altar developed only in the course of the third century. Before that time, therefore, there was
no church in the sense of a consecrated building. Tertullian, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria,
Minucius Felix, Origen, and Cyprian were the first to mention rooms or buildings set aside for worship.
See Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies VII.5; and Acts of Justin Martyr. See also p. 60-61 below.
92 See documentation in Wetter, Altchristliche Liturgien, notes 11 and 19 above.
93 Tertullian, On the Prescription of Heretics 44; Eusebius IV.22.
94 The third canon of the important Synod of Arles states that "those who throw away their
weapons in times of peace shall be excluded from communion." In contrast, the Emperor Constantine
(Vita Constantini II.33) granted former soldiers "freedom and peace" if they chose to profess their reli-
gion rather than maintain their military rank.
95 Cf. Tertullian, On the Prescription of Heretics, 20.
96 Irenaeus IV.33.1, 8.
4 6
THE STATE, SOCIETY
AND MARTYRS
he witness of the early church was forged in the fires
of false accusation, torture, and death. With a unified state religion and a governmental structure that kept every citizen under its iron grip, the Roman Empire tolerated no authority other than its own and regarded anything that resisted or opposed it as an extremely dangerous threat. Jesus warned his first disciples, "On my account you will be brought before governors and kings…All people will hate you because of me" (Mt. 10:18, 22). And so it happened and continues to happen for all who uncompromisingly follow him.
The bird drinking from a pitcher (usually a dove) is a Christian adoption of an ancient classical device; it symbolizes the partaking of the believer in the wine of the sacrament – which Christ called "my blood" – and also alludes to Christ's promise of eternal blessedness through the "water of life."
T H E E A R L Y C H R I S T I A N S : T H E S T A T E , S O C I E T Y A N D M A R T Y R S
1 Let no one have gods of his own, neither new ones nor strange ones, but only those instituted by the State.
No one may hold meetings at night in the city.
Law from the Twelve Tables, 450 B.C. Cicero, On the Laws II.19.
2 Of those who introduce new religions with unknown customs or methods by which the minds of the people could be disturbed, those of the upper classes shall be deported, and those of the lower classes shall be put to death.
Legal decree according to the second-century pagan jurist Julius Paulus.
Collected Sentences V.21.
3 When we assert that he who ordered this universe is the one God, then, incomprehensibly, a law is put in force against us.
Athenagoras, A Plea Regarding Christians 7, c. A.D. 177.
4 We are charged with being irreligious people and, what is more, irreligious in respect to the emperors since we refuse to pay religious homage to their imperial majesties and to their genius and refuse to swear by them.
High treason is a crime of offense against the Roman religion. It is a crime of open irreligion, a raising of the hand to injure the deity… Christians are considered to be enemies of the State, enemies of the public well-being…In dealing with religious veneration of the second majesty, we Christians are accused of a second sacrilege because we do not celebrate the festivals of the Caesars along with you.
We wage a battle when we are challenged to face the tribunals of law. There, in peril of life, we give testimony for the truth. Guards and informers bring up accusations against the Christians as sexual deviants and murderers, blasphemers and traitors, enemies of public life, desecrators of temples, and criminals against the religion of Rome. Look, you do not deal with us in accordance with the formalities of criminal cases even though you consider the Christian guilty of every crime and an enemy of the gods, emperors, laws, morals; yes, of the whole of nature. "You do
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not," so they tell us, "worship the gods, nor do you make sacrifices to the emperors." Accordingly we are charged with sacrilege and high treason.
We are publicly accused of being atheists and criminals who are guilty of high treason.
Tertullian, To the Heathen (Nations) 1.17; Apology 24, 27, 35, 50, 2,10; Justin, Second Apology 8.
5 The Christians form among themselves secret societies that exist outside the system of laws…an obscure and mysterious community founded on revolt and on the advantage that accrues from it.
Origen, Against Celsus VIII.17; III.14.
6 They charge us on two points: that we do not sacrifice and that we do not believe in the same gods as the State.
Athenagoras 13.
7 Tiberius suppressed foreign cults and Egyptian and Jewish religious rites and forced those who were enslaved by this kind of superstition to burn their religious vestments and all the paraphernalia of their cults. He dispersed Jewish youths to provinces with a more rugged climate, ostensibly to do military service. Others belonging to this people, or persons holding similar beliefs, he removed from the city on pain of slavery for life if they did not want to obey.
Suetonius (d. A.D. 140) on Tiberius, who ruled A.D. 14–37, ch. 36
8 No humane endeavors, no princely generosity, no efforts to placate the gods were able to dispel the scandalous suspicion that the burning of the city was the result of an order. To silence this rumor, Nero pushed the Christians forward as the culprits and punished them with ingenious cruelty, as they were generally hated for their infamous deeds.
The one from whom this name originated, Christ, had been executed during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of the procurator, Pontius Pilate. For a time this pernicious superstition was suppressed, but it broke out again, not only in Judea where this evil thing began, but even in the
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city itself where everything atrocious and shameful from all quarters flows together and finds adherents.
To begin with, those who openly confessed were arrested, and then a vast multitude was convicted on the basis of their disclosures, not so much on the charge of arson as for their hatred of the human race. Their execution was made into a game: they were covered with the skins of wild animals and torn to pieces by dogs. They were hung on crosses. They were burned, wrapped in flammable material and set on fire as darkness fell, to illuminate the night. Nero had opened his gardens for this spectacle and put on circus games. He himself mingled with the crowd dressed as a charioteer or stood up high on a chariot. Although these people were guilty and deserved the severest penalty, all this gave rise to compassion for them, for it was felt that they were being victimized, not for the public good, but to satiate the cruelty of one man.
(In the year 64) Tacitus, Annals XV.44.
9 When the Emperor [Nero] learned of the death of Festus, he sent Albanus as procurator to Judea. The King [Herod Agrippa II] took the office of high priest [in Jerusalem] away from Joseph and gave it to the son of Ananos, who was also called Ananos. The younger Ananos was an extremely violent and bold character. He belonged to the group of the Sadducees, who are more cruel in trials than the rest of the Jews.
Being this kind of man, Ananos thought that now was a favorable time for him since Festus had died and Albanus was still on his way. Therefore he convened the high council of judges and brought before them James, the brother of Jesus (called the "Messiah"), and several others. He accused them of transgressing the laws and had them stoned. Those citizens who were regarded as the most reasonable and law-abiding were vexed by this and sent secretly to the king to ask him to order Ananos not to do this kind of thing again, for he had not acted rightly in this case.
(In the year 62 or 63) Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.9.1.
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10 In the same year [A.D. 95] Domitian had executed, among many others, the Consul Flavius Clemens even though he was a cousin of his, and his wife, Flavia Domitilla, who was also related to Domitian. The accusation against both was that of atheism. On the basis of this accusation, many others who had adopted the customs of the Jews were also condemned. Some of them suffered death. Others were at least deprived of their property. Domitilla was merely banished to the island of Pandateria. Dio Cassius, Roman History 67, ch. 14 (after A.D. 200).
11 Gaius Pliny, governor in Asia Minor, to the Emperor Trajan:
It is my custom, Sire, to report to you everything about which I am in doubt, for who could better guide my uncertainty or instruct my ignorance?
I have never been present at trials of Christians; therefore I do not know what or how much to punish or to investigate. I am also very unsure whether age should make any difference, or whether those who are of tender age should be treated just the same as the more robust; whether those who repent should be pardoned, or whether one who has once been a Christian shall gain nothing by having ceased to be one; finally, whether the name [of Christian] as such should be punished even if there is no crime, or whether only the crimes attributed to this name should be punished.
Meanwhile I have followed this procedure with those who were denounced to me as Christians: I asked them whether they were Christians. If they confessed I repeated the question a second and third time and, moreover, under threat of the death penalty. If they persisted I had them led away to their death, for I had no doubt that, whatever it was that they confessed, their stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy certainly deserved to be punished.
There were several others, Roman citizens, who showed the same madness, and I noted them to be sent to the city. As often happens during legal investigations, the crime became more widespread and there were some particular incidents. An anonymous accusation was presented denouncing a large number of persons by name. I felt that I should acquit those who denied that they were or had been Christians if they followed my example and called upon the gods; if they offered before your image incense and wine, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose with the statues of the gods; and if they reviled Christ besides. It is said that those who really are Christians cannot be compelled to do any of these things in any circumstances. Others, whose names had been given by an informer, first said they were Christians but then soon denied it, saying in fact they had been but had ceased to be, some saying three years ago, others longer, and some as long as twenty years ago. All of these worshipped your image and the statues of the gods and cursed Christ.
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They continued to maintain that the sum of their guilt or error lay in this, that it was their custom to meet on a fixed day before daylight and, alternating with one another, to sing a hymn to Christ as to a god. They also bound themselves mutually by an oath, not in order to commit any crime, but to promise not to commit theft, robbery, or adultery; not to break their word; and not to deny entrusted goods when claimed. After doing this, it was their custom to part from one another and then to meet again to share an ordinary and harmless meal. But even this they said they had ceased to do since my edict in which, in compliance with your injunction, I had forbidden closed societies.
I thought it all the more necessary, then, to find out finally what was true by putting to torture two girls who were called serving girls. But I found nothing but a depraved and enormous superstition. Consequently I adjourned the investigation and now turn to you for advice.
The matter seems to me worthy of consultation especially because of the large number of those imperiled. For many of all ages, of every rank, and of both sexes are already in danger, and many more will come into danger. The contagion of this superstition has spread not only in the cities but even to the villages and to the country districts. Yet I still feel it is possible to check it and set it right. Of this much I am sure, that people are beginning once more to frequent the beautiful temples which have been almost deserted, so that the long-neglected sacred rites are being restored and so that fodder for the animals to be sacrificed, for which there was until now scarcely any demand, is being bought and sold again. From this it is evident that a very great number of people can be brought back to better ways if they are given the opportunity to repent.
Trajan's reply to Gaius Pliny:
Pliny Secundus, you have followed the correct procedure in examining those who were accused before you as Christians, for in general no hard and fast rule can be laid down. They should not be sought out. Those brought before you and proved guilty should be punished provided that anyone who denies that he is a Christian and actually proves this by worshipping our gods is pardoned on repentance, no matter how suspect his past may have been. Anonymous accusations, however, should not be admitted in any criminal case, for this would give a very bad precedent and would not be worthy of our age.
Correspondence, Trajan with Pliny, Letters X.96–97, A.D. 112.
12 I have received a letter addressed to me by your most esteemed predecessor, Serenius Granianus. It does not seem right to me now to let this matter pass by without examination, lest the people should be perturbed and the informers find opportunities for mean actions. If, there-
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fore, the people of the province are able to base their petition against the Christians on clear grounds, so that they can be answerable even before a court of law, then let them use these legal channels only; let them not just resort to petitions and outcries. It is far more fitting that you should begin a detailed investigation if anyone brings up an accusation. Therefore if anyone acts as an accuser and shows proof that the people concerned are acting against the law in some way, then you should pass your sentence in accordance with the extent of the offense. But, by Hercules! If anyone should bring forward his accusation with slanderous intention, you should take such a shameful thing properly into account and see that it is punished.
Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117–138) to Minucius Fundanus,
Proconsul of Asia, quoted in Justin, First Apology 68.
13 The church of God at Smyrna to the church of God at Philomelium [in Phrygia, Asia Minor] and to all the communities of the holy all-embracing church everywhere.
We write to you, brothers, concerning that which took place with those of us who have given witness unto death, in particular with the blessed Polycarp, who put an end to the persecution by sealing it, as it were, with his own witness.
Cut by scourges until the anatomy of the body was visible, even to the veins and arteries, they endured everything. Even the spectators pitied and bewailed them. The noble martyrs of Christ attained such towering strength of soul that not one of them uttered a cry or groan. They proved to all of us that in the hour of their torture they were free of the body, or rather that the Lord himself stood by them and talked with them.
In the same way they endured fearful torment when they were condemned to the wild beasts. They were rolled over shells and were subjected to all kinds of other tortures, for the tyrant hoped to induce them to deny their faith by the prolonged torture, if that were possible.
The infernal Tempter used many devices against them, but thanks be
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T H E E A R L Y C H R I S T I A N S : T H E S T A T E , S O C I E T Y A N D M A R T Y R S
to the Lord he was powerless against them all. The noble Germanicus strengthened the weakness of others by his steadfastness. He wrestled gallantly with the wild beasts. When the proconsul tried to persuade him, saying that he had pity on his youth, he forcibly pulled the wild beast towards himself, wishing to be freed more quickly from this godless and unjust life. The whole mob, horrified at the heroism of the Godloving and God-fearing Christian sect, shouted, "Away with the atheists! Get moving! Look for Polycarp!"
Only one man, a certain Quintus from Phrygia, who had just recently come from there, turned coward when he saw the wild beasts. He was the one who had voluntarily given himself up to the court and had also persuaded some others to do the same. After earnest entreaty the proconsul persuaded him to take the oath and to sacrifice. Therefore, brothers, we do not find it praiseworthy if some of us voluntarily give ourselves up. The Gospel does not teach this. But Polycarp, in contrast, when he first heard of all this, acted admirably by showing no fear… When they did not find him, they arrested two young slaves, one of whom became a traitor under torture.
Taking the young slave with them, the constables set out against him on Friday at evening with a squadron of mounted men and their usual arms. Late in the evening they came upon him and found him in an upper room of a small cottage…They were amazed at his great age and his calm dignity…He immediately ordered food and drink to be served them, as much as they wanted, and he asked them to give him an hour for undisturbed prayer…And when the moment of departure came, they seated him on a donkey and in this way brought him into the city.
It was a great Sabbath. Herod, the chief of police, and Nicetes, his father, rode to meet him. They took him into their carriage and sitting next to him urged him by saying, "What is wrong with saying 'Lord!' and 'Caesar!' and sacrificing, and the rest of it, and thereby saving your life?"
At first he did not answer them, but when they did not leave him in peace he said, "I am not willing to do what you advise me."…When he entered the arena there was such a tremendous uproar that nobody