2. A Persecuted People: The Post-Apostolic Generations

What was she thinking, I ask myself. It is the beginning of the third century, and Perpetua is facing her executioners. Here is a young mother, leaving behind her infant son. Her aged father is pleading with her to consider his needs and spare her life. All she would have to do is put off her catechism class to a less dangerous time. But instead she willingly becomes a martyr remembered through the centuries for her sacrifice.

If I try to put myself in Perpetua’s shoes, it is hard to imagine that I would have made the same choice. Leaving behind a motherless child was one of my biggest fears until my son reached adulthood. And I’m no doubt much too cowardly to face the executioner’s sword. I probably would have looked for an easy way out.

This is not to say that I don’t have great reverence for martyrs and those who have been persecuted. Polycarp, in his eighties, was dragged out of the hayloft where he was hiding, only to be burned at the stake. Today, from the Middle East to India and China and around the world, there are reports of churches and property destroyed and of Christians terrorized, assaulted, and killed.

Most North Americans have little comprehension of persecution. “Oh, yes they do,” a student will quickly retort. What about the scholar who failed her dissertation defense at UCLA because of her evangelical beliefs? What about the Christian minister who was not permitted to pray at the Colorado governor’s inauguration while a Native American spiritualist was? Such examples do not deserve the label of persecution, however. For the one struggling to complete a dissertation, the opposition may truly feel like persecution, but it dare not be ranked with the horror that accompanies a door kicked down in the night and a father hauled away to a dungeon never to be heard from again.

American Christians expect tax breaks for their Sunday offerings, and churches enjoy property tax exemptions. They take for granted religious programming on radio and television and freedom of religion on every soapbox and in every stadium. Anything that falls short of such freedom is easily labeled persecution. Not so, I tell my students. Before you use the term, put yourself in the place of Polycarp or Perpetua.

The historian has before him a jigsaw puzzle from which many pieces have disappeared. These gaps can be filled only by his imagination.

GAETANO SALVEMINI, HISTORIAN AND SCIENTIST

Most of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of the early church have disappeared. But that is not the only problem the historian confronts. The giant puzzle of church history simply will not fit onto the tiny space of a textbook. Here and there are random shapes that faintly resemble an individual, others that form a flame shooting from the pyre, and another a partial page torn from a manuscript. The rest of our heritage of faith is pieced together by imagination, both ancient and modern.

If the writings that comprise the New Testament are authoritative for Christians, the collection of writings immediately following the apostolic age are the next most trustworthy, some scholars reason. But the writings of the ante-Nicene fathers (those writing prior to the Council of Nicaea) are a mixed bag. The early writers were working with an incomplete canon and were influenced by cultural trappings, as are Christians today. True, they were geographically and chronologically close to the apostles, but knowing an apostle or the disciple of an apostle does not translate into theological understanding. Such insights developed gradually — and imprecisely — in the third and fourth centuries as apologists and clerics argued among themselves, each basing his claims on documentary evidence.

The Christians of this era made significant written contributions, but equally important were worship practices and lifestyle issues — and a willingness to die for the faith. The stories of sacrifice and self-denial are a testimony to the power of a transformed life. Such trials brought a sense of unity, but at the same time there were many differences in belief and practice, as is seen in the lives of Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Perpetua, and Tertullian.

Religion flourished in the Roman Empire. Scholars and senators and soldiers and slaves all had religious opinions and customs. Syncretism was widespread, and the ancients were surely not strangers to stories of the supernatural. Indeed, there was a smorgasbord of pagan superstitions, beliefs, relics, and rituals from which to choose. Christianity competed in the marketplace of religion.

Unlike other religious beliefs, apart from Judaism, Christianity was rooted in history. Jesus was not another Roman god populating the heavens. He was a man of flesh and bone who walked the dusty roads of Judea. As such, the entry of Christianity into the Roman religious world made headlines, especially as it grew and was perceived to be a threat to the empire.

PARADE OF HISTORY

Before the New Testament era comes to a close, the parade of martyrs begins. Stephen leads as grand marshal. Paul proceeds to martyrdom, according to tradition, outside the gates of Rome along the Ostian Way. A generation later Ignatius makes the martyrs’ march from Syria to Rome, met along the way by cheering Christians — Christians instructed not to interfere with his execution: “I beg you,” he admonishes them, “do not do me an untimely kindness.” On arrival in Rome, he is executed in the amphitheater. Polycarp follows on in the parade of persecution, put to death in Smyrna a generation later. Perpetua and Felicitas and others continue the procession to the slow beat of the funeral dirge.

FIRST-CENTURY PAGAN WORSHIP OF MARS LENUS

While I am unable to bear the dire pangs of body

And spirit, wandering forever near the edges of death,

I, Tychicus, by Mars’ divine love, am saved.

This little thanks-offering I dedicate in return for his great caring.

One of the direct historical links between the apostolic and the post-apostolic period comes with Clement of Rome, believed by some to be a companion of the apostle Paul and perhaps the Clement to whom Paul refers in his letter to the Philippians. Clement’s words on church structure are often quoted in referencing bishops and deacons who ruled post-apostolic churches. But his writing also illustrates how quickly a doctrine can be twisted if left unchallenged.

Clement’s defense of the resurrection of Christ, for example, illustrates early syncretism: “There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix,” he wrote to the Corinthians. “This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years.” As death approaches, “it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent” and lives for another five-hundred year cycle An interesting story, but hardly one that offers insight on the biblical concept of resurrection.

POST-APOSTOLIC CHURCH GROWTH

Never in the history of the race has this record ever quite been equaled. Never in so short a time has any other religious faith, or, for that matter, any other set of ideas, religious political, or economic, without the aid of physical force or of social or cultural prestige, achieved so commanding a position in such as important culture.

Kenneth Scott Latourette,

A History of the Expansion of Christianity

With each succeeding post-apostolic generation, theological issues and debates became more complex Each question drew a variety of answers Worship style became more varied as the faith passed from one generation to the next Some things, like church infighting, stayed the same, however Challenging Corinthian believers to reread “the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul,” Clement reminds them that in Paul’s day “parties had been formed among you” though now the “sedition” is even worse.

With no formulated New Testament canon, faith communities often depended on sparse copies of one or two of Paul’s letters Yet, the church realized remarkable growth, though the estimated numbers vary widely and are much debated today Some scholars argue that there were as many as a million Christians by the end of the first century; others insist there were fewer than ten thousand Statistics aside, there were several factors that contributed to the increase in numbers in the early centuries, most notably through the tireless work of itinerant preachers. Eusebius of Caesarea writes of the dedication of the second-century traveling evangelists, no doubt with some exaggeration:

At that time many Christians felt their souls inspired … to sell their goods and to distribute them to the poor. Then, leaving their homes, they set out to fulfill the work of an evangelist, making it their ambition to preach the word of the faith to those who as yet had heard nothing of it, and to commit to them the book of the divine Gospels. They were content simply to lay the foundations of the faith among these foreign peoples: they then appointed other pastors and committed to them the responsibility for building up those whom they had merely brought to the faith.

Another avenue of evangelism was the teaching of apologists, defending the faith against Jewish and pagan adversaries. Often well-versed in philosophy, they captured the attention of the educated classes. Equally important was the informal everyday witness of believers. In his Book of Martyrs, John Foxe writes: “In that age every Christian was a missionary. The soldier tried to win recruits …; the prisoner sought to bring his jailer to Christ; the slave girl whispered the gospel in the ears of her mistress; the young wife begged her husband to be baptized.” The testimony of critics is also telling. Celsius writes with sarcasm and scorn:

Their aim is to convince only worthless and contemptible people, idiots, slaves, poor women, and children…. They would not dare to address an audience of intelligent men … but if they see a group of young people or slaves or rough folk, there they push themselves in and seek to win the admiration of the crowd. It is the same in private houses. We see wool-carders, cobblers, washermen, people of the utmost ignorance and lack of education.

Then as now, good deeds of Christians were a key factor in evangelism. Indeed, Emperor Julian was distressed that Christians, more than pagans, were the ones who served others. Christianity, he said, “advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead.” It is scandalous, he continued, that the “godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

The demonstration of faith in the face of persecution and martyrdom was another avenue of evangelism. Although early outbreaks of persecution were sporadic and localized, stories of courage were nevertheless a source of inspiration. In many instances pagans were deeply moved and converted by such testimonies But there were serious setbacks as well. Some believers fell away from the faith. Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia (Asia Minor), wrote to Emperor Trajan in 112 regarding his interrogation of Christians: “So far this has been my procedure when people were charged before me with being Christians. I have asked the accused themselves if they were Christians; if they said ‘Yes,’ I asked them a second and third time, warning them of the penalty; if they persisted I ordered them to be led off to execution.”

DON’T BE STINGY WITH MONEY AND POSSESSIONS

Do not be one who holds his hand out to take, but shuts it when it comes to giving. If your labor has brought you earnings, pay a ransom for your sins. Do not hesitate to give and do not give with a bad grace, for you will discover who He is that pays you back a reward with a good grace. Do not turn your back on the needy, but share everything with your brother and call nothing your own. For if you have what is eternal in common, how much more should you have what is transient!

The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve), second century

The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer by Jean-Léon Gérôme

When threatened with death, many cursed Christ and sacrificed to images of the emperor and the gods. The majority facing martyrdom may indeed have denied the faith; Pliny reported that “the temples, which had been well-nigh abandoned, are beginning to be frequented again” and “fodder for the sacrificial animals, too, is beginning to find a sale again.” He concluded on a positive note: “From all this it is easy to judge what a multitude of people can be reclaimed, if an opportunity is granted them to renounce Christianity.” Eusebius reported a similar outcome in Alexandria during the crackdown by Emperor Decius in the middle of the third century. But he also emphasized the courageous accounts of martyrs:

They seized first an old man named Metras, and commanded him to utter impious words. But as he would not obey, they beat him with clubs, and tore his face and eyes with sharp sticks, and dragged him out of the city and stoned him. [When] Quinta … turned away in detestation, they bound her feet and dragged her through the entire city over the stone-paved streets, and dashed her against the millstones, and at the same time scourged her; then, taking her to the same place, they stoned her to death Then they seized also that most admirable virgin, Apollonia, an old woman, and, smiting her on the jaws, broke out all her teeth. And they made a fire outside the city and threatened to burn her alive if she would not join with them in their impious cries. And she, supplicating a little, was released, when she leaped eagerly into the fire and was consumed…. Serapion [was thrown] headlong from an upper story.

The emperor’s brutality knew no bounds. “Much terror was now threatening us,” writes Eusebius, “so that, if it were possible, the very elect would stumble.” And some did stumble. Some who came forward were “pale and trembled.” Others approached the pagan altars and “boldly asserted that they had never before been Christians.” Some held out and “after a few days imprisonment abjured”; and still others, “after enduring the torture for a time, at last renounced.” Among those who stood firm in the face of martyrdom was the Bishop of Antioch.

Ignatius: Bishop of Antioch

By the end of the first century most Christians knew Jesus only second hand. But there were surely some still around who had touched the hem of his garment or sat on his lap when he was blessing the little ones. According to legend, Ignatius (c. 35 – 108) is the little one whom Jesus blessed: “Sitting down, Jesus…. took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.’.”

While distancing himself from Judaism, Ignatius sought to bring Christians under one universal or catholic, church. Already in Paul’s day there had been factions, some following Apollos, some Peter, and some following him. Now, a generation later, the likelihood of a splintered church seems very real. In his letter to Smyrna, Ignatius writes: “Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop. On the other hand, whatever has his approval is pleasing to God.”

Ignatius

At the same time Ignatius is not opening the door for just anyone — bishop or not — to claim membership in the universal church. “Take note of those who hold unsound opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ,” he warns. “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again.”

As Bishop of Antioch in Syria, Ignatius boldly challenges Emperor Trajan, who has officially decreed worship of the pagan gods. Ignatius rails against the new decree — apparently ignoring the fact that Trajan is vacationing nearby in Antioch. In fact, Ignatius accuses the emperor of breaking his own rule. He mocks him, suggesting in a sermon, If he doesn’t have to worship the gods, neither do we. Trajan is not amused, and Ignatius is arrested. In the months that follow, he is a prisoner on the way to Rome, ever fearing that someone might secure his freedom. In his letter to the Romans, he pleads with Christians to rebuff such nonsense. “I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God’s sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you, do not do me an untimely kindness.”

Besides writing letters filled with theological reflections, Ignatius keeps a journal of maltreatment by his captors. Whether literal or figurative, his accounts are graphic: “From Syria even to Rome I fight with wild beasts, by land and sea, by night and by day, being bound amidst ten leopards, even a company of soldiers, who only grow worse when they are kindly treated.” It is a good story, and many along the way come out to meet him and listen to his message. The journey takes him through Smyrna, where he gives his benediction to the Christians served by his friend Bishop Polycarp. Soon after he arrives in Rome, he is executed in an amphitheater, getting what he wanted — a martyr’s crown. His bones are carefully carried back to Antioch, precious relics for people who have lost their pastor. Today they can be found at St. Clement’s Church in Rome.

Polycarp: Bishop and Martyr of Smyrna

When the apostle John put in words the cinematic sound and spectacular visuals of his revelation on the Island of Patmos, meaning and mystery became one. Even he could not have known how precise his prophetic words to the church in Smyrna would be: “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death.” Nor could he have imagined those words were prophetically pointed at his own dear disciple, Polycarp.

EVERYDAY LIFE

Early Christian Worship

Christian belief and worship practices soon became distinct from Jewish forms. As congregations grew, they moved from homes into larger public buildings — perhaps a warehouse or another structure with open space. The first church structure to be so identified is a third-century remodeled building in Syria. Early in the next century, under Emperor Constantine, churches and cathedrals became a common part of the landscape.

Christians begin worshiping on Sunday during apostolic times (Acts 20, 1 Cor. 16), but not until a generation later is the practice clearly enunciated by Ignatius. To distinguish Christianity from Judaism, he argues that believers must worship on the first day of the week. Those who have “newness of hope” should “no longer [be] observing Sabbaths but fashioning their lives after the Lord’s day, on which our life also arose through Him and through His death.”

Fresco of female figure holding chalice in the Agape Feast. Catacomb of Saints Pietro e Marcellino (Saints Peter and Marcellinus), Via Labicana, Rome, Italy

Whatever day of the week, Christians often met in secret so as to avoid harassment from authorities. Pliny the Younger writes of Christian practices divulged during interrogation: “On an appointed day they had been accustomed to meet before daybreak, and to recite a hymn antiphonally to Christ, as to a god.” After taking a ceremonial oath (sacramentum) “to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, and breach of faith,” they separated and later came together again for a meal, “but it was ordinary and harmless food” as opposed to the rumored cannibalism of communion. Justin’s First Apology, written to the emperor in 155, offers a more detailed description of worship:

On the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a given city or rural district. The memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits…. When we cease from our prayer, bread is presented and wine and water. The president in the same manner sends up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people sing out their assent, saying the ‘Amen.’ … Those who have means and are willing, each according to his own choice, gives what he wills, and what is collected is deposited with the president. He provides for the orphans and widows, those who are in need on account of sickness or some other cause, those who are in bonds, strangers who are sojourning, and in a word he becomes the protector of all who are in need.

Liturgical Evangelism

Third-century liturgical evangelism consisted of … the rite of entrance; catechumenate; rite of election; purification and enlightenment; rites of initiation; and mystagogy…. Here is how it worked: A person who evidenced interest in the gospel was brought to the pastor and elders of the church. An inquiry into or a formal presentation of the gospel took place which emphasized not so much belief in this or that doctrine but the converting person’s willingness to adopt the Christian lifestyle…. During the catechumenate, which could last up to three years … the converting person was able to demonstrate clearly a commitment to the ethical demands of the gospel, he or she entered the period of purification and enlightenment via the rite of election…. A final renunciation of the power of evil was made in baptism as the converting person stood in the waters. Finally, during the mystagogic period, the convert received teaching regarding the Christian life and the doing of good works…. This form of evangelism in the early church must be viewed in its cultural context, the paganism of the Roman Empire. The people of the Roman world were steeped in an amoral way of life: accustomed to belief in many gods, reliance on magic, and faith in the stars. Consequently, evangelism had to confront people both in the sphere of belief and the realm of lifestyle….

Robert Webber, “Ethics and Evangelism” (Christian Century)

As was true in the apostolic church, there were growing factions as the faith spread, some revealing a much more ecstatic style of worship than others One of these factions was Montanism Of the Montanists, Tertullian (who later became one of them) writes, “They see visions; and, turning their face downward, they even hear manifest voices” Hippolytus, a preacher and scholar, condemned them: They are “captivated by [two] wretched women, called a certain Priscilla and Maximilla, whom they supposed prophetesses And they assert that into these the Paraclete Spirit had [dwelt] and they magnify these wretched women above the Apostles and every gift of Grace, so that some of them presume to assert that there is in them a something superior to Christ.”

Raising their voices above the discord, however, were those calling church unity — a call that has echoed through the centuries to the present day.

Polycarp (69 – 155) is most remembered for his martyrdom as an old man. An early church leader known as a kindly pastor and a defender of orthodox doctrine, he later served as Bishop of Smyrna. That the threat of persecution was very real is evident in his letter to the church at Philippi. Here he warns Christians of the dangers of materialism and instructs them in proper handling of funds that are too easily misappropriated. His concerns are everyday matters as well as theological issues. He vehemently rejects the claims of Marcion, who, while following the teachings of Paul, dismisses the remainder of Scripture, insisting that the God of the Old Testament is surely no God of Christians. So upset is Polycarp with Marcion’s beliefs that he assails him to his face as “the firstborn of Satan.” But persecution is heavy on his heart. He reminds believers that “Christ endured for our sins even to face death,” and exhorts them to “Pray for emperors, magistrates, rulers, and for those who persecute and hate you.”

Polycarp

Unlike Ignatius, Polycarp has no hankering for a martyr’s death. But he is considered a prime target. During an athletic festival in Smyrna in AD 155, Christians refusing to worship the emperor are threatened with execution. Officials particularly want the revered Polycarp, hoping he will deny the faith and disgrace the Christian community. Polycarp’s friends provide a hiding place in a hayloft outside the city, but a boy reports his whereabouts to authorities. Soon the hunt is on, and the old man is discovered, shackled, and brought before authorities. But he is not ready to die. He has good years ahead of him for writing and counseling and caring for the sick and suffering. He might have simply offered incense to the emperor. Did not Jesus say, “Render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s”? The imperial official begs him to cooperate: “What harm is there to say ‘Lord Caesar,’ and to offer incense?.”

Polycarp was a beloved bishop. His congregations would have no doubt forgiven the old man any weakness displayed in such desperate circumstances. But burning incense meant far more in the pagan mind than merely showing respect. Moreover, the Proconsul now goes a step further. To spare his life Polycarp must curse Christ and take an oath to Caesar. He is now standing before a sea of people. He understands the consequences. He does not flinch. The crowd hushes to the sound of his voice. “For eighty-six years I have served Him,” he reminds them. “He has never done me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?.”

He may have taken opportunity to make some last-ditch doctrinal points and to warn the crowd of their greed and indolence and tendency to wallow in self-pity. But the imperial official does not permit this to turn into a religious rally. He clarifies the punishment in graphic terms. There is no need to explain that he will not be read his rights or be offered a defense attorney. In fact, no trial at all. So it was with Jesus. Polycarp knows the passion story all too well. His own death will not be on a cross, but the pyre is bad enough.

MARCION

Born in Sinope near the Black Sea, Marcion (ca. 110 – 160) was a theologian whose widely circulated teachings were a serious threat to the second-century church. According to Justin, he was “teaching men to deny that God is the maker of all things in heaven and earth and that the Christ predicted by the prophets is His Son.” Sometimes referred to as a Gnostic, his teachings, albeit dualistic, were quite different. He saw only an evil God in the Old Testament and a good God in parts of the New. Rejecting the whole Hebrew Bible and much of the New Testament, he sought to transform the faith by denying anything he perceived to be Jewish. His hero was Paul, the only one who truly understood the message of salvation.

The crowd is growing and becoming restless. It is obvious that this is overkill — the powerful Roman Empire waving its flares in the face of a frail old man. So the official explains again the torture he will endure, pleading with him to just get it over with: Deny Christ, go home, and get on with whatever you do as a Bishop. But Polycarp is not taking the bait. He has one last chance to address the crowd — though his words are aimed at the official: “The fire you threaten burns for a time and is soon extinguished; there is a fire you know nothing about — the fire of the judgment to come and of eternal punishment, the fire reserved for the ungodly But why do you hesitate? Do what you want.”

Roman Empire of the second century

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARCION

The chief importance of Marcion in the second century lies in the reaction which he provoked among the leaders of the Apostolic Churches. Just as Marcion’s canon stimulated the more precise defining of the NT canon by the Catholic Church, not to supersede but to supplement the canon of the OT, so, more generally, Marcion’s teaching led the Catholic Church to define its faith more carefully, in terms calculated to exclude a Marcionite interpretation.

F. F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame

Realizing Polycarp will not back down, the official motions for rowdies to get involved — perhaps to shift responsibility away from himself. They grab slats of wood, pile up the pyre, and light the flames — though only after Polycarp has an opportunity to say a final prayer. He dies an unspeakable death, believing that there will literally be hell to pay for anyone who turns away from God should he himself not remain faithful.

Justin Martyr: Apologist for Pagans

Unlike many other noted Christians of the early centuries, Justin (100 – 165) was an adult convert to the faith. Reared in a prosperous pagan family in Samaria, he was well educated and he retained his property and his philosopher’s gown after his conversion. Indeed, he was convinced that he had found the true philosophy — philosophy discovered only after studying the sterile gospel of the Stoics and Plato, who gave “wings for his soul” but ultimately left him unsatisfied.

Justin Martyr

Then, around the year 130, a chance meeting with an old man by the sea transforms Justin’s life. The man points him not only to the prophets whose words had been fulfilled in Christ but also to Christians who had suffered and died for their faith. “A fire was suddenly kindled in my soul. I fell in love with the prophets and these men who had loved Christ,” he writes. “I reflected on all their words and found that this philosophy alone was true and profitable. That is how and why I became a philosopher. And I wish that everyone felt the same way that I do.”

So convinced is he that he becomes an evangelist to the educated intellectuals of the ancient world. His debating skills are widely recognized, as are his teachings and writings. He is a Christian apologist who retains his pagan philosophy insisting that the truth of pagan philosophy, particularly Platonism, serves as “a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” Indeed, more than any other prominent Christian apologist of the early centuries, he unabashedly embraces philosophy, much to the chagrin of his critics. Greek philosophy, he believes, is drawn from the Old Testament; and Socrates and Heraclitus are men of true faith, as are Old Testament saints. For Justin, Christ, the Word (Logos), is absolute truth and all truth is thus the truth of Christ.

Justin defends the way of Christ on two fronts: Judaism and paganism. While residing in Ephesus, he debates a Jewish scholar whose arguments are found in Justin’s treatise The Dialogue with Trypho. Here he asserts that the old covenant is replaced by the new, even as Gentiles are the new Israel. He later founds a school in Rome, where his focus is on pagan philosophy. In his First Apology, offered “on behalf of men of every nation who are unjustly hated and reviled,” he argues that the Christian faith is not a dangerous religion to be feared. Addressing his treatise to the emperor, he insists Christians are the “best helpers and allies in securing good order, convinced as we are that no wicked man … can be hidden from God, and that everyone goes to eternal punishment or salvation in accordance with the character of his actions.” Written in 155, the Apology is an attempt to justify the faith and show that paganism is an inferior imitation. More importantly, it elucidates the conduct and religious practices of Christians. Their worship is straightforward religious devotion. The emperor has nothing to fear.

THE POST-APOSTOLIC PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT

Letter of Barnabas (AD 74): “You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor … destroy it after it is born.”

Didache (AD 150): “You shall not murder…. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child.”

Mark Felix (AD 170): “There are some women among you who by drinking special potions extinguish the life of the future human in their very bowels, thus committing murder before they even give birth.”

Athenagoras (AD 177): “What man of sound mind, therefore, will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers? … We say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion.”

Tertullian (AD 210): “In our case, a murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb…. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.”

Hippolytus (AD 228): “Women who were reputed to be believers began to take drugs to render themselves sterile, and to bind themselves tightly so as to expel what was being conceived, since they would not, on account of relatives and excess wealth, want to have a child by a slave or by any insignificant person. See, then, into what great impiety that lawless one has proceeded, by teaching adultery and murder at the same time!.”

But holding high Greek philosophy and making the faith to appear reasonable and rational was not enough to satisfy the Roman authorities In 165 Justin was arrested Had he been tempted to buckle under the threat of death, he might have recalled the old man who, on the shore many years earlier, had pointed him to Christ, emphasizing the courage of those who were faithful unto death Like them, he now refuses to forsake Christ and sacrifice to the gods “No one who is rightly minded,” he tells the prefect, “turns from true belief to false” According to tradition, Justin was martyred in Rome under Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Irenaeus: Exposing Gnostic Heresy

A leading theologian of the third century, Irenaeus (c. 138 — 202) is remembered as the Bishop of Lyons (modern France). Mission outreach, apologetics, and persecution are prominent themes in his writings In fact, while he was away in 177, Bishop Pothinus was martyred, and Irenaeus returned to fill that very dangerous post But the heavy hand of the Roman Empire was not the only enemy he faced Among those calling themselves Christians were Gnostics. Iranaeus’s writings, particularly Against Heresies, define parameters of the true faith against a counterfeit religion, citing as authoritative the Gospels, Acts, and the letters of Paul.

Born in Polycarp’s hometown of Smyrna, Irenaeus was in his late teens when the great bishop was martyred, and he may have drawn inspiration for ministry from that most historic event His testimony shows an important link to the apostolic church:

I remember the events of that time more clearly than those of recent years … so that I am able to describe the very place in which the blessed Polycarp sat as he discoursed, and his goings out and his comings in, and the manner of his life, and his physical appearance, and his discourses to the people, and the accounts which he gave of his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord.

Serving as a presbyter in Lyons was the beginning of his official ministry. By the middle of the second century, the informal house church of earlier generations was gradually becoming more centralized and institutional. As church office holders gained prestige and power, conflict increased. Competing claims to truth and authority arose and the church was feeling the heat.

“Even though Eve had Adam for a husband, she was still a virgin … By disobeying, Eve became the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race. In the same way Mary, though she had a husband, was still a virgin, and by obeying, she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.”

Irenaeus

This is the situation that confronts Irenaeus in Lyons. As the bishop, he is in charge of the church in the entire region — one threatened more by internal strife than external persecution. The trendy cult of the day is Gnosticism, though it is anything but a single movement with one individual as prophet or messiah. Some Gnostics profess to be Christians, but Irenaeus insists they are no more than wolves in sheep’s clothing. Indeed, this Gnostic “error,” he argues, “is never set forth in its naked deformity” so as to be easily exposed. Rather, it is “craftily decked out in an attractive dress … to make it appear to the inexperienced … more true than truth itself.” What appeared to be “more true” was the higher esoteric gnosis (knowledge) that was necessary for salvation — a knowledge that many believed transformed the man Jesus into the higher form of the Christ.

The most disturbing aspect of Gnosticism is its fashionable appeal. Irenaeus sees right through it and is concerned about his flock, many of whom are flirting with this heresy. He knows that he has to take action, and he does just that with the power of the pen. Soon after he is appointed bishop, he writes a five-volume. work, Against Heresies. Here he lays out the false beliefs and counters them with biblical references. He attacks the dualism of a transcendent good God of love in the Gospels and an evil god of the Old Testament — the one who created the sinful physical world. In doing this “they disregard the order and connection of the Scriptures and … dismember and destroy the truth.” There is only one God, Irenaeus thunders: “He is Father, He is God, He the founder, He the Maker, He the Creator…. He it is whom the law proclaims, whom the prophets preach, whom Christ reveals, whom the Apostles make known to us, and in whom the church believes.”

Even as he emphasizes the God whom Christ reveals, Irenaeus holds high Jesus, both subject and author of Scripture. He is convinced that the writings of Moses and later prophets are Jesus’ words. He counsels his readers: “Read with earnest care that Gospel which has been given to us by the apostles, and read with earnest care the prophets, and you will find that the whole conduct, and all the doctrine and all the sufferings of our Lord, were predicted through them.” Virtually everything in the Hebrew Bible points to Christ. How then, he wonders, could so-called Christians be attracted to Gnosticism and its denigrating of the Old Testament?

But the Gnostics not only pit new against old and God against god, they also contrast light and darkness and spiritual and material. They claim that Christ and Jesus are two different entities — that Christ was spiritual and only appeared to inhabit a physical body — the body of Jesus the man. Likewise, they insist that Christ did not actually die on a cross. How could he if he were only a spiritual being? Irenaeus rails against those who claim that Jesus only appeared to be human and who claim that “Simon, a certain man of Cyrene, being compelled, bore the cross in his stead [and was] thought to be Jesus, was crucified, through ignorance and error, while Jesus himself received the form of Simon.”

RADICALLY DIFFERING KINDS OF CHRISTIANS

Contemporary Christianity, diverse and complex as we find it, actually may show more unanimity than the Christian churches of the first and second centuries. For nearly all Christians since that time … have shared three basic premises. First … the canon of the New Testament; second … the apostolic creed; and third … specific forms of church institution…. Before that time, as Irenaeus and others attest, numerous gospels circulated among various Christian groups…. Those who identified themselves as Christians entertained many — and radically differing — religious beliefs and practices.

Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels

Such flimflam, in the mind of the bishop, is preposterous. Jesus Christ truly suffered on the cross. Martyrdom is too real to allow that central doctrine to be dismissed by the Gnostics. Christ knew that his followers would suffer persecution, Irenaeus argues, “and He did not speak of any other cross, but of the suffering which He should Himself undergo first, and His disciples afterward.” Theological matters are personal, relating directly to the spiritual growth of the church. Studying the writings of the Gnostics, Irenaeus counters their claims first and foremost as an evangelist, seeking to win them back to the true faith.

In his battles with Gnostics, Irenaeus was determined to maintain the orthodoxy of the

apostolic church. That could be accomplished, he reasoned, only by identifying a continuous chain going back to the apostles linked together in orthodoxy, past and future. Thus was born the doctrine of apostolic succession — that there is an uninterrupted line of succession of bishops that can be traced back to the twelve apostles (and claimed by Catholics in succeeding generations until today — to be found in the Roman Catholic Church alone).

Irenaeus was a peacemaker in the manner of his mentor, Polycarp, whom he cites when he seeks to bring about a resolution between Victor, the Bishop of Rome, and Eastern Christians who had refused to comply with the western date for Easter. When Victor excommunicates them, Irenaeus challenges him, pleading for moderation. He points to Victor’s predecessors, who did not observe the eastern date for Easter, “nor did they permit those after them to do so. And yet, though not observing it, they were none the less at peace with those who came to them from the parishes in which it was observed.” The same was true, Irenaeus points out, with Polycarp and Anicetus. “For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp … nor Polycarp Anicetus … But … they communed together … And they parted from each other in peace.”

Irenaeus walks out of the pages of patristic history as though he were living today amid New Age and postmodern spiritualities. He is a peacemaker, but he does not suffer fools lightly

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: PHILOSOPHER AND VEGETARIAN

Converted from paganism, Clement (c. 150 – 215) was a convert of Pantaenus, who founded the great Christian intellectual center of the era, the Catechetical School at Alexandria. He succeeded Pantaenus in that post, serving more than two decades before passing the position on to his student, Origen. An apologist who engaged pagan philosophers on their own terms, Clement insisted that science and philosophy pave the way for evangelism. Critics found him too enamored with Gnosticism. “The man of understanding and discernment is, then, a Gnostic,” he wrote. “And his business is not abstinence from what is evil … or the doing of good out of fear … [or] promised recompense … but only the doing of good out of love, and for the sake of its own excellence is the Gnostic’s choice.” An early vegan, he argued: “It is good, then, neither to eat flesh…. For this is rather characteristic of a beast; and the fumes arising from them being dense, darken the soul…. For a voice will whisper to him, saying, ‘Destroy not the work of God for the sake of food.’.”

Perpetua and Felicitas: Faith Above Family

As the Christian faith spread through words and deeds of ordinary people, apologists, and traveling missionaries, the number of catechumens and converts increased Every Christian was presumed to be a missionary The consequence was frightening to Roman officials, who feared this “cult” might soon get out of hand With zealous evangelism came persecution, often resulting in conflict and family breakdown — even as Jesus had warned: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” This struggle was painfully played out in the life of Perpetua All she had to do was “perform the sacrifice” to the emperor and her life would have been spared.

The year is 202 Emperor Septimus Severus issues a decree against conversion to Judaism or Christianity All new converts in North Africa will be executed unless they publicly perform a sacrifice to him Perpetua, her servant girl Felicitas, and three men who had not yet completed catechism could make a sacrifice to honor the head of state But they refuse They know there is a price to pay for professing Christ, not the emperor, as Lord Dying a martyr’s death is considered a glorious entry into heaven, but dealing with family members is pure anguish Perpetua’s husband, who is not mentioned in the account, had perhaps died or abandoned her due to her newfound faith The painful testimony below begins after she and Felicitas and the men are confined to prison:

A few days after, the report went abroad that we were to be tried Also my father returned from the city spent with weariness; and he came up to me to cast down my faith saying: “Have pity, daughter, on my grey hairs; have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called father by you; if with these hands I have brought you unto this flower of youth and I have preferred you before all your brothers; give me not over to the reproach of men Look upon your brothers; look upon your mother and mother’s sister; look upon your son, who will not endure to live after you. Give up your resolution; do not destroy us all together….”

This he said fatherly in his love, kissing my hands and groveling at my feet; and with tears he named me, not daughter, but lady…. And he went from me very sorrowful.

Soon after, when a report goes out that this indeed is the execution day, Perpetua’s father returns, this time bringing her infant son. “Perform the Sacrifice; have mercy on the child,” he pleads. Then he steps forward to forcibly prevent her from laying down her life. At this point an officer begins beating the old man. The execution having been delayed, Perpetua begs to breastfeed her baby one more time. Her father (and perhaps authorities) refuse, thinking such a denial might yet cause her to change her mind.

In the meantime, Felicitas, now eight months pregnant, fears that the execution of Christians in the arena (by wild animals) might be carried out without her, for Roman law prohibits a pregnant woman from being put to death. Here she has a perfect opportunity to escape punishment — at least for a time — but she pleads with God to bring on labor pains. “After their prayer her pains came upon her,” writes an observer. “So she was delivered of a daughter, whom a sister reared up to be her own daughter.”

On the day of execution, before they are led to the arena, the five prisoners are baptized. That Perpetua might have been spared due to her social class and gender is false hope for her aging father. She and Felicitas together enter the arena:

But for the women the devil had made ready a most savage cow, prepared for this purpose against all custom; for even in this beast he would mock their sex. They were stripped … The people shuddered, seeing one a tender girl, the other her breasts yet dropping from her late childbearing. So they were called back and clothed in loose robes. Perpetua was first thrown…. She stood up; and when she saw Felicity smitten down, she went up and gave her hand and raised her up….

The men had been brought into the arena first to be killed by wild animals — a bear, a leopard, and a boar. This spectacle was typically a real crowd-pleaser But the gory torture of young women turns the frenzied spectators from cheering to jeering. They begin shouting, “Enough!” Perpetua is then taken to the gladiator to be beheaded. Whether due to hesitancy or to lack of skill, the first slash of his sword is not sufficiently severe. She cries out in pain, takes the gladiator’s trembling hand, directs the sword to her neck, and it is over.

After this wave of persecution, there followed a half-century of relative peace. But such faith as seen in the arena that day was a testimony that sparked faith in others. Today Perpetua and Felicitas are commemorated as saints by Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans.

PACIFISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH

The age of persecution down to the time of Constantine was the age of pacifism to the degree that during this period no Christian author to our knowledge approved of Christian participation in battle. The position of the Church was not absolutist, however. There were some Christians in the army and they were not on that account excluded from communion.

Roland Bainton, Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace

WHY A CHRISTIAN WOMAN SHOULD NOT MARRY A PAGAN

Who would be willing to let his wife go through one street after another to other men’s houses, and indeed to the poorer cottages, in order to visit the brethren? Who would like to see her being taken from his side by some duty of attending a nocturnal gathering? At Easter time who will quietly tolerate her absence all the night? Who will unsuspiciously let her go to the Lord’s Supper, that feast upon which they heap such calumnies? Who will let her creep into jail to kiss the martyr’s chains? Or bring water for the saints’ feet? [The answer? Only a Christian man.]

Tertullian, Letter to his wife

Tertullian: What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?

Like Justin Martyr, Quintus Septimius Florente Tertullianus (c. 160 — 235) was an early apologist converted as an adult He is remembered as the first of the Latin Fathers — church fathers whose thinking was influenced more by Roman than by Greek sensibilities An African born in Carthage, he was the son of a Roman military officer and became a prominent lawyer, well versed in imperial government policy He wrote prolifically in both Greek and Latin and was biting in his satire, particularly in comparing Christians with pagans who ridiculed and persecuted believers:

This is the reason, then, why Christians are counted public enemies: that they pay no vain, nor false, nor foolish honors to the emperor; that, as men believing in the true religion, they prefer to celebrate their festal days with a good conscience, instead of with the common wantonness. It is, forsooth, a notable homage to bring fires and couches out before the public, to have feasting from street to street, to turn the city into one great tavern, to make mud with wine, to run in troops to acts of violence, to deeds of shamelessness to lust allurements! What! Is public joy manifested by public disgrace? … We do not celebrate along with you the holidays of the Caesars in a manner forbidden alike by modesty, decency, and purity…. In this matter I am anxious to point out how faithful and true you are, lest [you] be found … worse than we wicked Christians!

TERTULLIAN’S NEW TESTAMENT

Four Gospels

Acts

Letters of Paul

1 John

Jude

Revelation

Unlike Justin and other early apologists, Tertullian strongly denounced Greek philosophy as the promulgator of heresy:

For philosophy is the material of the world’s wisdom, the rash interpreter of the nature and dispensation of God. Indeed, heresies are themselves instigated by philosophy…. What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What has the Academy to do with the Church? What have heretics to do with Christians? Our instruction comes from the porch of Solomon, who had himself taught that the Lord should be sought in simplicity of heart Away with all attempts to produce a Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic Christianity! We want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus, no inquisition after receiving the gospel! When we believe, we desire no further belief. For this is our first article of faith, that there is nothing which we ought to believe besides.

For this stance against secular learning, he is sometimes viewed as the ultimate anti-intellectual of the early church.

Tertullian

Tertullian, however, was a supremely influential theologian. He introduced the term Trinity into theological discourse as well as the concept of three persons and one substance, which would later become critical terminology as a test for orthodoxy. He was the first to distinguish biblical writings as Old Testament and New Testament. He argued that Christianity was the only true religion (vera religio), denouncing paganism and sectarian movements as superstitions while pronouncing doctrines that he did not hold as heretical. Yet at age fifty, with a quarter-century ahead of him, Tertullian joined a cult. The Montanists, named for the prophet founder Montanus, had all the earmarks of a superstitious sectarian movement that he had condemned.

Montanus, a late-second-century traveling preacher accompanied by two prophetesses, professed to be the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit in human form, complete with new revelations. The Three, as they were known, gained a following by promising direct words from God through their ecstatic utterances, believing their prophecies took precedence over those of the apostles. Why did Tertullian join the Montanists? For one thing, he was distressed by the institutionalization of the church — “the church of a lot of bishops.” And he may have been attracted to them for their strict, tightly regulated lifestyle. After a time, however, he separated from the larger movement to form an even stricter version of Montanists who became known as the Tertullianists.

CYPRIAN, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE

Like Tertullian, whom he revered, Cyprian (d. 258) hailed from North Africa. A wealthy pagan orator and legal expert, he was baptized as a middle-aged adult. Donating much of his wealth to charity, he was ordained a deacon, presbyter, and Bishop of Carthage — all in the space of a few years. He might have gone down in history as just another African bishop but for a reign of terror — the persecution of Christians under Emperor Decius in 250. He fled Carthage, claiming that God had directed him in a vision to do so. Many lay Christians as well as clerics caved in to authorities and sacrificed to the emperor. Despite his own weakness in the face of persecution, Cyprian had little sympathy for those who had “fallen away.” Christians could be received back into the church only on their deathbed, and faith-denying clerics were stripped of their office. Salvation, he was convinced, comes only through the church: “No one can have God as Father who does not have the church as mother.” He initially faced strong opposition, but later he won over many of the people through his own good deeds. Before he died, he faced one more controversy: Is baptism valid if officiated by a heretic? His answer was no, thus putting him at odds with the Bishop of Rome and the position of the Catholic Church in the centuries since then.

Tertullian’s perspective on women is most interesting. Although he is married and becomes part of a movement where two women wield charismatic authority second only to Montanus himself, in his mind, women are the “devil’s gateway”: “You destroyed so easily God’s image (man).” In his earlier denigration of heretical groups, he had marshaled forth proof: “The very women of these heretics, how wanton they are! For they are bold enough to teach, to dispute, to enact exorcisms, to undertake cures — it may be even to baptize.” Women, he argued, are daughters of Eve: “Every woman should be … walking about as Eve mourning and repentant, in order that by every garb of penitence she might the more fully expiate that which she derives from Eve — the ignominy, I mean, of the first sin, and the odium … of human perdition.”

Yet Tertullian stands out in the early church in his profound reverence for Christian marriage. His words are appropriate for a wedding ceremony in the twenty-first century:

How beautiful, then, the marriage of two Christians, two who are one in hope, one in desire, one in the way of life they follow, one in the religion they practice. They are as brother and sister, both servants of the same Master. Nothing divides them, either in flesh or in spirit. They are, in very truth, two in one flesh; and where there is but one flesh there is also but one spirit. They pray together, they worship together, they fast together; instructing one another, encouraging one another, strengthening one another. Side by side they visit God’s church and partake of God’s Banquet; side by side they face difficulties and persecution, share their consolations. They have no secrets from one another; they never shun each other’s company; they never bring sorrow to each other’s hearts.

Like other prominent believers of this era, Tertullian left behind a mixed legacy. His words and actions were often contradictory and sometimes inflammatory. Yet, his reflection on persecution is one of the most oft-quoted lines from the post-Apostolic period: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

What if …

What if Polycarp had burned the incense and taken an oath to Caesar to avert his fiery death? How would the beloved bishop’s denial of Christ have affected the course of Christianity? What if Perpetua and Felicitas had shrunk back in the arena and agreed to deny their faith?

What if Marcion’s claims had won the day? Would Christianity have become a cult of Paul? Would the Sunday school assignment of memorizing the books of the Bible begin and end with a portion of Paul’s epistles?

What if Irenaeus had not fought so tenaciously against the Gnostics? Would the Christian faith today be a form of New Age spirituality?

What if Tertullian’s arguments had triumphed? Would philosophical concepts be less prevalent in early theological development? Was his question valid: What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?

2. A Persecuted People: The Post-Apostolic Generations

2. A Persecuted People: The Post-Apostolic Generations

CHAPTER 2

A Persecuted People

The Post-Apostolic Generations

PARADE OF HISTORY

FIRST-CENTURY PAGAN WORSHIP OF MARS LENUS

POST-APOSTOLIC CHURCH GROWTH

DON’T BE STINGY WITH MONEY AND POSSESSIONS

Ignatius: Bishop of Antioch

Polycarp: Bishop and Martyr of Smyrna

EVERYDAY LIFE

Liturgical Evangelism

MARCION

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARCION

Justin Martyr: Apologist for Pagans

THE POST-APOSTOLIC PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT

Irenaeus: Exposing Gnostic Heresy

RADICALLY DIFFERING KINDS OF CHRISTIANS

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: PHILOSOPHER AND VEGETARIAN

Perpetua and Felicitas: Faith Above Family

PACIFISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH

WHY A CHRISTIAN WOMAN SHOULD NOT MARRY A PAGAN

Tertullian: What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?

TERTULLIAN’S NEW TESTAMENT

CYPRIAN, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE

What if …

Further Reading