The Formation of Christendom, Volume II

127

Eine Gnadenanstalt: our language does not supply the expression.

128

Heb. iv. 2; Acts xvi. 14.

129

By Möhler.

130

See Macaulay's Essays.

131

S. Aug. de Trin. iv. 11, 12, tom. viii. 817.

132

Tertullian, Apol. 50. “O gloriam licitam, quia humanam, cui nec præsumptio perdita nec persuasio desperata deputatur in contemptu mortis et atrocitatis omnimodæ, cui tantum pro patria, pro imperio, pro amicitia pati permissum est, quantum pro Deo non licet.” See again the instances he collects ad Martyres, 4; and Eusebius, Hist. 5, proœm., draws the same contrast.

133

Celsus only alleges the suffering of Socrates as a parallel to that of the martyrs. Origen c. Cels. i. 3.

134

With an appeal to this fact Athenagoras begins his apology to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, about a. d. 177. ἑνὶ λόγῳ κατὰ ἔθνη καὶ δήμους θυσίας κατάγουσιν ἂς ἂν ἐθέλωσιν ἄνθρωποι καὶ μυστήρια. οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ αἰλούρους καὶ κροκοδείλους καὶ ὄφεις καὶ ἀσπίδας καὶ κύνας θεούς νομίζουσι. καὶ τούτοις πᾶσιν ἐπετρέπετε καὶ ὑμεῖς καὶ οἱ νόμοι … ἡμῖν δὲ (καὶ μὴ παρακρουσθῆτε, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ, ἐξ ἀκοῆς) τῷ ὀνόματι ἀπεχθάνεσθε. Ch. i. See also Kellner's Hellenismus und Christenthum, p. 79; and Champagny, Les Antonins, ii. 189.

135

1 Tim. vi. 13; ii. 6.

136

“Æmulos nos ergo Sibi esse voluit, ac primus virtute cœlesti injustorum justus obtemperavit arbitrio; dans scilicet secuturis viam, ut pius Dominus exemplum famulis Se præbendo, ne onerosus præceptor a quodam putaretur. Pertulit ante illa quæ aliis perferenda mandavit.” Epist. Ecc. Smyr. i. Ruinart, p. 31.

137

Apoc. ii. 2, 10, 14.

138

This is what Tertullian calls “sub umbraculo insignissimæ religionis, certe licitæ,” Apolog. 21; and ad Nationes, i. 11, “Nos quoque ut Judaicæ religionis propinquos.”

139

See Justin Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph. 17, who speaks of the Jews as sending everywhere deputies in order to defame Christians.

140

Acts xxviii. 22.

141

Tacitus, Ann. xv. 44.

142

Ὁ Παῦλος, μαρτυρήσας ἐπὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων, οὕτως ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ κόσμου. S. Clem. Rom. ad Cor. 5.

143

Tertull. Apol. 10. “Sacrilegii et majestatis rei convenimur: summa hæc causa, immo tota est.” Lassaulx says, “die beiden Hauptanklagen, die Religion-verachtung, die Majestäts-beleidigung.” Fall des Hellenismus, p. 11.

144

Matt. x. 22; xxiv. 9.

145

S. Clemens Rom., writing just after Domitian's time, associates as sufferers with S. Peter and S. Paul in his own time πολὺ πλῆθος ἐκλεκτῶν, οἵτινες πολλὰς αἰκίας καὶ βασάνους διὰ ζῆλον παθόντες ὑποδεῖγμα κάλλιστον ἐγένοντο ἐν ἡμῖν. Ad Cor. 6.

146

Euseb. Hist. iv. 25; Tertull. Apol. 5.

147

In Tertullian's words, “debellator Christianorum,” Apol. 5.

148

Thus a late Protestant writer, Schmidt (Geschichte der Denk- und Glaubensfreiheit, p. 165), remarks of the condition of Christians, “Vollkommen gewiss ist, dass unter Domitian eine neue Drangperiode für die Christen begann, die sich in Verfolgungen, in Hinrichtungen, und Verbannungen äusserte. (Dio. 67, 14, und die Ausleger.) Damals soll auch der Apostel Johannes nach Pathmos verwiesen worden sein. Erst Nerva lüftete wiederum diesen Druck, indem er den Verhafteten die Freiheit gab, und die Verbannten zurückberief. (Dio. 68, 1.) Es war dies aber doch nur als eine Amnestie, als ein Gnadenact anzusehen, nicht als eine Anerkennung der Unsträflichkeit, wie das schwankende Verhalten des nicht minder hochherzigen und freisinnigen Trajan zur Genüge darthut.”

149

Döllinger, Heidenthum und Judenthum, Vorwort, iv.

150

Justin, Dialog. with Tryphon, 117. Tertullian, 50 years later, adv. Judæos, 7, goes beyond this.

151

Kellner, Hellenismus und Christenthum, p. 85.

152

Origen cont. Cels. i. 27.

153

Lib. iii.3. Ἔτι ἔναυλον τὸ κήρυγμα τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ τὴν παράδοσιν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχων, οὐ μόνος, ἔτι γὰρ πολλοὶ ἐπελείποντο τότε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων δεδιδαγμένοι: where τὸ κήρυγμα and ἡ παράδοσις τῶν ἀποστόλων indicate the whole body of truth which they communicated to the Church, whether written or unwritten.

154

S. Ign. ad Smyrn. 1 and 8.

155

S. Ignat. ad Ephes. i. – iv.

156

Ad Ephes. xix.

157

Another point on which S. Ignatius dwells repeatedly is the receiving the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist: thus he says of the heterodox, ad Smyrn. 6: “They abstain from the Eucharist and prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is that flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins, which in His goodness the Father raised.”

158

He says, ad Rom. ii.: Ὅτι τὸν ἐπίσκοπον Συρίας ὁ Θεὸς κατηξίωσεν εὑρεθῆναι εἰς δύσιν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς μεταπεμψάμενος. Merivale, Hist. c. lxv. p. 150, note 1, says, “We are at a loss to account for the bishop being sent to suffer martyrdom at Rome.” This passage in the epistle confirms the acts of martyrdom. It was the wish of Trajan to make a great example, and the Bishop of Rome, S. Alexander, was at this time in prison, and shortly afterwards martyred.

159

See Epist. ad Magnes. 13.

160

Ad Trall. 6.

161

Ad Smyrn. viii.

162

Compare with this expression of S. Ignatius that of the Church of Polycarp, fifty years later, describing how after his martyrdom, σὺν τοῖς Ἀποστόλοις καὶ πᾶσι δικαίοις ἀγαλλιώμενος, δοξάζει τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα, καὶ εὐλογεῖ τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν καὶ κυβερνήτην τῶν [ψυχῶν τε καὶ] σωμάτων ἡμῶν, καὶ ποιμένα τῆς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας. Acta Polycarpi, xix Ruinart, p. 45.

163

Ephes. iv. 4-16.

164

See Eusebius, Hist. iii. 37, who speaks exactly in this sense; and an important passage in Döllinger, Kallistus und Hippolytus, 338-343, on the force of the word πρεσβύτερος, as Ecclesiæ Doctor, one particularly charged with the magisterium veritatis. See also Hagemann, die Römische Kirche, pp. 607-8.

165

Tillemont, Ecc. Hist. ii. 132.

166

Tertull. Apol. 5, and Euseb. Hist. v. 21, assert the existence of this law.

167

Tillemont, E. H. ii. 182-3.

168

See the singular instance given by Euseb. v. 21, in the reign of Commodus. An informer accuses Apollonius of being a Christian, at a time when the imperial laws made such an accusation a capital offence. The accuser is put to death; but Apollonius, who is supposed to have been a senator, having made a brilliant defence before the Senate, suffers martyrdom.

169

Duci jussi (confer Acts xii. 19, ἐκέλευσεν ἀπαχθῆναι). The extreme brevity with which the most urbane, kind-hearted, and accomplished of Roman gentlemen, as Mr. Merivale conceives him, describes himself as having ordered a number of men and women to be put to death for the profession of Christianity, is remarkable and significant. Compare it with the bearing of his friend Trajan to S. Ignatius below. As soon as the saint's confession of “bearing the Crucified in his heart” is specific, Trajan without a word of remark orders his execution. The “duci jussi” of Pliny and Trajan's manner in sentencing perfectly correspond and bear witness to each other's authenticity. So later the like tone used by Junius Rusticus, prefect of the city under Marcus Aurelius, to Justin Martyr, as will be seen further on.

170

Pliny, Ep. x. 97, chiefly Melmoth's translation.

171

Acts of S. Ignatius, Ruinart, pp. 8, 9.

172

Ad Rom. iv.

173

Ἐκκλησίᾳ – ἥτις καὶ προκάθηται ἐν τότῳ χωρίου Ῥωμαίων – προκαθημένη τῆς ἀγάπης.

174

S. Chrysostom, Hom. on S. Ignatius, tom. ii. 600.

175

S. Ignatius in the 11th sec. of his epistle to the Smyrnæans requests them to send a messenger to congratulate the church of Antioch, ὅτι εἰρηνεύουσιν, καὶ ἀπέλαβον τὸ ἵδιον μέγαθος, ἀποκατεστάθη αὐτοῖς τὸ ἴδιον σωματεῖον. The word σωματεῖον, or corpusculum, indicates the completeness of a diocesan church with its bishop, the whole Church being σῶμα Χριστοῦ, as S. Ignatius had said in sec. I of the same epistle, ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ.

176

There is some doubt about the time of S. Ignatius's martyrdom. We suppose it to be at the end of Trajan's reign. S. Alexander I. is reckoned a martyr, and placed in the canon of the Mass next after S. Ignatius, which seems to indicate a connection between their deaths.

177

So the persecution of Diocletian is said to have arisen from Apollo declaring that the just who were upon the earth prevented him from uttering true oracles; and a like answer was received by Julian the Apostate at Antioch, where the relics of S. Babylas had been translated by Gallus to Daphne, near a celebrated temple of Apollo. Here Julian, offering in vain a great number of sacrifices to the demon, was at length informed that the body of the saint condemned him to silence, and ordered the Christians to remove it. S. Chrys. tom. ii. 560.

178

Acts of S. Symphorosa, from Dom Ruinart, pp. 23-4.

179

Justin. 1 Apol. 1, 2.

180

Sec. 7.

181

Sec. 11.

182

Sec. 17.

183

Sec. 45.

184

Sec. 68. Chevallier's translation, sometimes altered.

185

Origen c. Cels. i. 3. Περὶ τοῦ κρύφα Χριστιανοὺς τὰ ἀρέσκοντα αὐτοῖς ποιεῖν καὶ διδάσκειν εἰπὼν, καὶ ὅτι οὐ μάτην τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν, ἅτε διωθούμενοι τὴν ἐπηρτημένην αὐτοῖς δίκην τοῦ θανάτου.

186

Σὲ τὸν καθωσιωμένον ὥσπερ ἄγαλμα αὐτῷ δήσας ἀπάγει καὶ ἀνασκολοπίζει. viii. 38, 39.

187

viii. 69; by this we should judge that the work of Celsus appeared not long after the punishment of the Jews by Hadrian.

188

Attached to Justin's first Apology.

189

See Trajan's remark to S. Ignatius: “You mean him that was crucified under Pontius Pilate.”

190

See the curious letter of Hadrian about the Alexandrians, in which the Christians spoken of are probably heretics.

191

They are first mentioned at Rome in the reign of Alexander Severus.

192

See Origen c. Cels. vii. 62.

193

See Trajan's question, “Who art thou who art zealous to transgress our commands, besides persuading others to come to an evil end?”

194

Αἷρε τοὺς ἀθέους.

195

The Roman legionary, if he wished to lay aside his helmet, was only allowed to go bareheaded.

196

Champagny remarks, that the emperors were never in the mind of the Romans sovereigns in the modern acceptation of the word, but life-presidents with absolute power.

197

Champagny, Les Antonins, iii. 311.

198

“Christianos esse passus est.” Lampridius.

199

Tillemont, Hist. Ecc. iii. 250.

200

Apolog. iv. “Jampridem, cum dure definitis dicendo, non licet esse vos, et hoc sine ullo retractatu humaniore describitis, vim profitemini et iniquam ex arce dominationem, si ideo negatis licere quia vultis, non quia debuit non licere.”

201

“Res olim dissociabiles, principatum et libertatem.” Tacit. Agric. 3.

202

“Primo statim beatissimi sæculi ortu.” Ibid.

203

Agricola, 2.

204

See Döllinger, Hippolytus und Kattistus, p. 187, who quotes from Dio Cassius, l. 75, p. 1267, Reimar. This was a. d. 203.

205

Tillemont, Life of Severus, iii. 75, from Dio: a. d. 206.

206

Tertullian, ad Martyres, 4: about a. d. 196.

207

Dio, quoted by Döllinger, ut supra.

208

Euseb. Hist. v. 21.

209

Tertullian, Apol. i. 37; ad Scap. 2.

210

De Rossi, Archeol. Cristiana, 1866, p. 33, makes this estimate.

211

From a passage in the account of the Martyrs of Lyons, a. d. 177 (Euseb. Hist. v. 1, p. 201, l. 3), it appears that the word “Church” was only given to a mother or cathedral church by writers of that time.

212

Thus S. Irenæus (iii. 3. 3) speaks of S. Peter and S. Paul as θεμελιώσαντες καὶ οἰκοδομήσαντες the Church of Rome, and of the Church of Ephesus (ibid. iv.) as τεθεμελιωμένη ὑπὸ Παύλου.

213

This S. Innocent states to S. Augustine and the African bishops in 417 as a fact well known to them: “Scientes quid Apostolicæ Sedi, cum omnes hoc loco positi ipsum sequi desideremus Apostolum, debeatur, a quo ipse episcopatus et tota auctoritas nominis hujus emersit.” Coustant, Epist. Rom. Pontif. 888.

214

Photius, συναγωγαὶ καὶ ἀποδείξεις, quoted by Döllinger, Hippolytus und Kallistus, p. 264, 5.

215

Can. 6. Concil. Nic. τὰ ἀρχαῖα ἔθη κρατείτω, τὰ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ Λιβύῃ καὶ Πενταπόλει, ὥστε τὸν Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπον πάντων τούτων ἔχειν τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἐπειδὴ και τῷ εν Ῥωμῃ επισκοπῳ τοῦτο συνηθεσ εστιν. See Hagemann, die Römische Kirche, 596-8.

216

“Traducem fidei et semina doctrinæ.” De Præscrip. 20.

217

See Döllinger, Hipp. u. Kall. p. 338-343, for the meaning of this word in the time of S. Irenæus, as carrying with it a special magisterium fidei. “Presbyteros” was added as a title of honour to the name of Bishop. In S. Irenæus tho same persons have as Bishops the succession of the Apostles, as Presbyteri “the charisma of the truth.” Papias marks the Asiatic Presbyteri as those who had heard of S. John; and Clement of Alex. speaks of Presbyteri who, occupied with the office of teaching, and deeming it diverse from that of composition, did not write. Eclogæ xxvii. p. 996.

218

I am indebted for the above sketch of Gnosticism mainly to Schwane, Dogmengeschichte der vornicänischen Zeit, p. 648-51.

219

Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. iii. 281, deduces it from a passage of Origen on S. Matt. tom. iii. p. 857 c.

220

Frag. Epist. ad Florin. tom. i. p. 340.

221

He seems to refer to Matt. x. 24: οὐκ ἔστι μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον.

222

S. Irenæus, lib. iii. c. 2; lib. iii. c. 1.

223

“Quos et successores relinquebant, suum ipsorum locum magisterii tradentes.”

224

S. Irenæus, lib. iii. c. 3, 4.

225

“Hoc enim Ecclesiæ creditum est Dei munus.”

226

Lib. iii. c. 24.

227

Lib. v. c. 20.

228

“Qui cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt.” iv. 26, 2; and 5, “ubi igitur charismata Domini posita sunt, ibi discere oportet veritatem, apud quos est ea quæ est ab apostolis ecclesiæ successio.”

229

S. Ignatius, quoted above, p. 206.

230

Schwane, p. 661.

231

Hagemann, p. 622.

232

Letter of the Synod of Arles to Pope Sylvester: “Quoniam recedere a partibus istis minime potuisti, in quibus et Apostoli quotidie sedent, et cruor ipsorum sine intermissione Dei gloriam testatur.” Mansi, Concilia, ii. 469.

233

Tertull. de Præsc. 19, 20.

234

The word here stands evidently for the whole body of Christian truth, rites, and discipline, the communication of which was a sacramentum.

235

That is, he opposes the word choosers to the word Christians; the one signifying those who believe what they choose, the other those who believe what Christ taught.

236

De Præscrip. 37.

237

ἡ τοῦ κυρίου κατὰ τὴν παρουσίαν διδασκαλία.

238

Clem. Alex. Strom. vii. 16, p. 890-894; 17, p. 897-900. The sections 15-17, p. 886-900, treat of the spirit and conduct of heresy.

239

De Principiis, pref. p. 47. See also on Matt. tom. iii. 864, a passage equally decisive.

240

Cont. Cels. vi. 48, tom. i. 670.

241

De Civ. Dei, xvi. 2.

242

De dono persev. 53.

243

Enarr. in Ps. 54, tom. iv. 513.

244

Serm. 51, tom. v. 288.

245

S. Mark's Gospel would be referred to S. Peter, and S. Luke's writings to S. Paul.

246

See Schwane, p. 779-80.

247

Schwane, p. 783-4.

248

“Quia a patribus ista accepimus in ecclesia legenda.” n. 47.

249

Stromata, vii. c. 16, p. 896.

250

See Kleutgen, Theologie der Vorzeit, iii. 957; Schwane, vol. i. 3.

251

L. iv. 26. 2, p. 262. “Quapropter iis qui in Ecclesia sunt presbyteris obaudire oportet,” &c.

252

L. iii. 24, p. 223.

253

Schwane, p. 683.

254

Observed by Hagemann, p. 618, referring to the words of S. Irenæus, “ad hanc enim Ecclesiam propter potiorem prinicipalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam,” &c. It must be remembered that the proper word for the power which held together the whole Roman empire was Principatus, the very word used by S. Augustine to express the original authority of the Roman See: “Romanæ Ecclesiæ, in qua semper apostolicæ cathedræ viguit principatus.” Ep. 43.

255

See Kuhn, Einleitung in die katholische Dogmatik, i. 345-6.

256

Guizot ranks Marcus Aurelius with S. Louis, as the only rulers who preferred conscience to gain in all their conduct.

257

Maximus Tyrius, diss. 17, 12; Reiske, and diss, ii. 2. 10.

258

Acta Martyrum sincera, Ruinart, p. 58-60.

259

Ruinart, p. 67.

260

Ruinart, p. 68.

261

Ruinart, p. 69.

262

Hist. v. i. μυριάδας μαρτύρων διαπρέψαι στοχασμῷ λαβεῖν ἔνεστιν.

263

Ib, v. 21.

264

Clem. Alex. Strom. ii. c. 20, p. 494.

265

Euseb. Hist. vi. 1.

266

Champagny, les Antonins, iii. 326, 338.

267

Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana, written at the request of the empress Julia Domna. See Kellner, Hellenismus und Christenthum, c. v. s. 4, 81-4.

268

Orig. c. Cels. viii. 68, tom. i. p. 793.

269

Churches in private houses, under cover of that great liberty which invested with a sort of sacred independence the Roman household, it had from the beginning: the church of S. Pudentiana in the house of the senator Pudens still guards the altar on which S. Peter offered.

270

The reign of Louis XIV.

271

Am. Thierry, Tableau de l'Empire Romain, p. 412.

272

Zach. ii. 11, Is. ii. 2, Mich. iv. 1, compared with Titus ii. 14 and 1 Pet. ii. 9.

273

Ep. ad Diognetum, 5, 6.

274

S. Justin Martyr, Tryphon, sec. 135, 42, 116; where he refers to and explains the vision of the high-priest Jesus in the prophet Zacharias iii. 1.

275

ὡς υἱὸν Θεοῦ, Θεὸν ἐληλυθότα ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι. Cont. Cels. iii. 29.

276

Ibid. viii. 74.

277

Cont. Cels. viii. 75.

278

Ibid. vi. 48, p. 670.

279

Cont. Cels. vi. 79, p. 692.

280

Κωλύοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ πᾶν ἐκπολεμηθῆναι αὐτῶν ἔθνος; συστῆναι γὰρ αὐτὸ ἐβούλετο καὶ πληρωθῆναι πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν τῆς σωτηρίου ταύτης καὶ εὐσεβεστάτης διδασκαλίας. Cont. Cels. iii. 8. It must be remembered that Celsus in the passage to which this is an answer had asserted that the Christians had arisen out of the Jews through a sedition; which makes the train of thought pertinent. For Origen is contrasting the losses which occur through exterminating wars, such as a sedition, or civil war, excites, with the losses to the Christian body through martyrdom. The comparison therefore lies between the whole number of Christians viewed en masse and the martyrs. Lasaulx remarks that this was written before the Decian persecution.

281

Preface to the Oxford edition of S. Cyprian's treatise on the Unity of the Church.

282

De Unitate, iii. &c.

283

Epist. 70 and 73.

284

τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν.

285

Ep. 1, Oxford translation.

286

S. Irenæus, lib. iv. 33 g.

287

Dan. ii. 44. Compare Apoc. i. 9. ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν καὶ συγκοινωνὸς ἐν τῇ θλίψει καὶ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ καὶ ὑπομονῇ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

288

Κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν. Heb. iii. 1.

289

Thus S. Gregory the Great wrote to Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, that the three original patriarchal Sees were all Sees of Peter: “Cum multi sint Apostoli, pro ipso tamen principatu sola Apostolorum Principis Sedes in auctoritate convaluit, quæ in tribus locis unius est.” Epist. lib. vii. 40. The Patriarchal authority is a derivation from the Primacy, which is the well-head.

290

Κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας. Matt. iv. 23.

291

S. Dionys. Alex. Ep. 2. Gallandi, iii. 512.

292

Answer of Pope Innocent I. to the Council of Carthage in 416, among the letters of S. Augustine.

293

Constant. Epist. Rom. Pontif. p. 1037.

294

Ephes. iv., written during S. Paul's imprisonment at Rome.