tihv(ivy of ^he theological ^eminar^ PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •a^^t- BR 162 .C5 1894a Cheetham, Samuel, b. 1827. A History of the Christian church during the first si] .-V ■■¥;'. .■^""w'r /!'». M^ -.-, -.r::^,-^ rK^ c^. ^f^tJMl A HISTORY OF THE CHEISTIAN CHUECH s- #. #. MiUm. )K HISTOEY /^^^^- ^^^ OF THE \ 'AV »'V^y CHRISTIAN CHUECH DURING THE Jjirst Ste C^ntums. J BY / S. QPEETHAM, D.D., F.S.A., ARCHDEACON AND CANON OF ROCHESTER; HONORARY FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; FELLOW AND EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF KING's COLLEGE, LONDON. ILontiou : MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YOEK. 1894. [All Eights reserved.] Cambridge : PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PREBS. TO THE EIGHT EEVEEEND ANTHONY WILSON THOROLD, D.D, LOKD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, V/ITH GEATITUDE FOE MUCH KINDNESS, BY HIS ATTACHED FEIEND THE AUTHOR. c. PEEFACE. The intention of this work is to provide a sketch of the History of the Church in the first six centuries of its existence, resting throughout on original authorities, and also giving references to the principal modern works which have dealt specially with its several portions. It is hoped that it may be found to supply a convenient summary for those who can give but little time to the study, and also to serve as a guide for those who desire to make themselves acquainted with the principal documents from which the History is drawn. The narrow limits of a work like the present allow no room for discussion. The author is only able to give the conclusions at which, after considering the various authorities and arguments, he has himself arrived. In the first part of the book, in particular, a controversy underlies almost every sentence. In the notes however reference is made not only to those documents which confirm the statement in the text, but to those also which support a different view. As it has been found impossible to give an intelligible view of the great dogmatic conflicts and of the growth of institutions without following their several courses to viii Preface, the neglect, for the time, of contemporary events, I have thought it well to enable my readers to gain some idea of the general state of the Church at any epoch by means of a Chronological Table. The maps will supply a ready means of learning at a glance the early spread of Chris- tianity, and the territorial divisions which the Church adopted when it became the dominant religious power in the Empire. The books which I have had constantly before me in writing this sketch are Schrockh's Christliche Kirchen- geschichte, Neander's History of the Christian Religion and Church (Torrey's translation), Gieseler's Lehrhuch der Kirchengeschichte, Kurtz's Handhuch der Kirchen- geschichte, Hase's Lehrhuch and Kirchengeschichte auf der Orundlage akademischer Vorlesungen, F. C. Baur's Ge- schichte der Christlichen Kirche, Alzog's Universalge- schichte der Christlichen Kirche, and (in the latter part of the work) Holler's Kirchengeschichte. References to other Histories are given as occasion arises, but to these I owe a general help and guidance which cannot be acknowledged in detail. I have also to express my thanks to my friend Canon Colson, formerly Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, for his kindness in reading the proofs and making many suggestions. EOCHESTER, 18 Nov., 1893. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction ..•••••••• 1 PART I. FROM THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE EDICT OF MILAN (A.D. 313). CHAPTER I. THE PREPARATION OF THE WORLD. 1. Paganism 4 2. Judaism 7 CHAPTER II. THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 1. The Lord's Ministry and the Church in Jerusalem . . 13 2. St Paul and the Gentile Church 16 3. St James the Just 21 4. St Peter 21 5. St John 24 6. The remaining Apostles . 25 7. Organization and Worship of the Church .... 26 8. Sects and Heresies 31 CHAPTER III. THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. 1. Jewish and Roman Persecution .34 2. The Intellectual Attack 49 3. The Christian Defence ....... 53 Table of Contents. CHAPTER IV. GROWTH AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH. PAGE 1. Early Spread of the Gospel 58 2. Asiatic Churches 63 3. Alexandrian School . 68 4. Africa 75 5. The Roman Church 80 CHAPTER V. THE GREAT DIVISIONS. 1. Judaic Christianity 86 2. Marcion 89 3. Montanism 92 4. Gnosticism 96 5. Manichaeism 102 6. The Catholic Church 106 CHAPTER VI. THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH AND ITS OPPONENTS. 1. Sources of Doctrine. A. Scripture 108 B. The Rule of Faith Ill 2. Faith in the One God 114 3. The Holy Trinity ' 115 4. Chihasm 122 CHAPTER VII. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 1. The Christian Ministry 124 2. Synods 137 CHAPTER VIII. SOCIAL LIFE AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 1. Christian Life 142 2. Asceticism 144 3. Hermits 145 4. Discipline 147 Table of Contents. XI 5. Ceremonies 6. Sacred Seasons . 7. Architectural and other Art PAGE 151 160 165 PART II. FROM THE EDICT OF MILAN (a.D. 313) TO THE ACCESSION OF POPE GREGORY THE GREAT (a.D. 590). CHAPTER IX. THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The Imperial Church The Hierarchy Patriarcha Eome Councils The Fall of Paganism CHAPTER X. THEOLOGY AND THEOLOGIANS. . 168 . 175 . 181 . 186 . 196 . 199 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Literary Character of the Age . . . . School of Antioch School of Edessa . . . , . Alexandrian School Latin Theology .....,, . 213 . 215 . 222 . 224 , 239 CHAPTER XL CONTROVERSIES ON THE FAITH. I. Standards of Boctrine. 1. Holy Scripture 2. The Church and its Tradition 3. Rules of Faith II. The Holy Trinity. The Arian Controversy .... III. The Incarnate Son. 1. ApolHnarianism 2. Nestorianism . , . . . 3. Eutychianism ..... 4. Monophysitism ..,,,, lY. Origenism . V. Priscillianism VI. Pelagianism 252 254 255 256 281 283 291 295 304 310 314 Xll Table of Contents. CHAPTER XII. DISCIPLINE AND LIFE OP THE CHURCH. 1. Law and Society . 2. Douatism 3. Celibacy of the Clergy 4. Monachism . CHAPTER XIII. ECCLESIASTICAL CEREMONIES AND ART. I. Eites and Cerevwnies 11. 1. Catechumenate and Baptism 2. The Holy Eucharist . 3. The Hour-Offices . 4. Matrimony .... 5. Care of the Sick and the Dead 6. Ordination .... TJte Cycle of Festivals III. The Week .... Easter and Lent . The Saints and their Festivals Calendars .... Holy Places .... Architecture and Art. 1. Structure of Churches . 2. Pictures in Churches . 8. Sculpture .... 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. I. U. CHAPTER XIV. GROWTH OF THE CHURCH, The Church in the East . The Conversion of the Teutons 1. The Goths . 2. The Franks . III. The British Islands . 1. The British Church 2. St Patrick and the Irish Church 3. St Columba and Zona . MAPS. Ecclesiastical Dioceses Countries reached by Christianity in the First Three Centuries PAGE 328 838 348 352 369 370 374 387 388 390 392 394 395 395 399 405 406 407 409 412 415 418 420 425 431 431 435 440 at end of book. INTRODUCTION The history of the Church of Christ is the history of a divine Life and a divine Society; of the working of the Spirit of Christ in the world, and of the formation and development of the Society which acknowledges Christ as its Head. The Church is distinguished from the World, in which man is regarded as discharging the functions only of natural life ; and again from the State, which is primarily an organization for the purposes of political life. Yet the history of the Church cannot be treated as if it were wholly independent of the natural and political life of man; for the form which Christianity assumes in particular instances is largely influenced by the natural qualities and the general culture of those to whom it comes ; and the Church, composed of men who are necessarily citizens of some state, cannot fail to in- fluence the civil constitution of the states in which it exists, and in many cases to be itself modified, in matters not essential to its existence, by the civil government. The proper task and constant effort of the Church is, to realize in itself the life of Christ and to maintain His Truth ; and again to bring all the world within the in- fluence of Christian Life and Christian Truth. Church History has to relate the results of this constant effort ; to describe the struggle of the Church to maintain at first its very existence, afterwards its proper functions and liberty, against the powers of the world, whether political or intellectual; to pieserve its own purity, whether against those who would lower the standard of Christian life, or against those who would take away from the truth or add to it ; its own unity against those who would rend it ; 'A Introduc- tion. Concep- tion of Church History. Church distin- guished from World, and the State; hut not separated. Work of the Church. Persecu- tion. Heresy. Schism. Introduction. Introduc- tion. Missions. Theology. Ancient- Classic Period np to A.D. 313. A.D. 500. 513 its etforts constantly to extend its borders, and to con- solidate the conquests which it has already won ; and again it has to chronicle the changing and diverse thoughts which have clustered round the faith once for all delivered to the saints, and formed the Theology of the Christian Church. The present volume is concerned mainly with what may be called the Ancient- Classic Period; the period, that is, during which the old classical forms of literature and civilization were still in a great degree maintained. And this may conveniently be separated into two divi- sions. 1. The early struggles of the Church from its founda- tion to its victory under Constantine. 2. The period in which the now Imperial Church defined the Faith in the great Councils, and entered on its task of bringing under the yoke of Christ the northern tribes which everywhere burst in upon the Empire. This period may be roughly limited by the accession of Gregory the Great to the Papacy. CHAPTER I. THE PREPARATION OF THE WORLD . It was in the fulness of time that the Son of God came into the world. By many influences the way had been prepared before Him. That the unity of the Empire and the general peace favoured the passage of the first preachers of the gospel was long ago observed by Origen^ And not only could an apostle pass from the borders of Persia to the English Channel unhindered by the feuds of hostile tribes; the barriers which varying culture raises up hardly existed among the more educated subjects of the Empire. In every large town the Greek language was spoken, Greek modes of thought prevailed; subtle links connected the Syrian apostle with the Greek philosopher. "A morality not founded on blood-relation had certainly come into exist- ence. The Roman citizenship had been thrown open to nations which were not of Roman blood. Foreigners had been admitted by the Roman state to the highest civic honours. So signally were national distinctions obliterated under the Empire, that men of all nations and languages competed freely under the same political system for the highest honours of the state and of literature. The good ^ Of the numerous works which relate to the preparation of the world for Christ may be mentioned — J. J, I. Dollinger, The Gentile and the Jew in the Courts of the Temple, translated by Darnell; T.W.Allies, The Formation of Christendom; H. Formby, Ancient Rome and its Con- nexion with the Christian Religion; De Pressens6, Jesus Christ; the Lives of Christ by F. W. Farrar and by Cunningham Geikie ; Haus- rath, Neutestamentliche Zeitge- schichte; Schiirer, Handhuch der Neutestamentlichen Zeitgeschichte ; Schmidt, Essai Historiqne sur la Societe Civile dans le Monde Ro- main. 2 c. Gelsum, ii. 30; Eusebius, Dem. Evang. iii. 6. 1—2 Chap. I. Roman Peace. Cosmopoli- tanism. The Preparation of the World. Chap, I. Paoanism. Public lie- liffiom of the West. M^»' .c*a^<^ Defects of Paganism. Aurelius and the great Trajan were Spaniards. Severus was an African. The leading jurists were of Oriental ex- tractions" And at the same time the old religions had lost much of their life and force. Probably indeed there never was a time when temples were more splendid or pagan worship more august than in the days when the Lord appeared on earth, but the educated classes at least had long ceased to believe in the ancient mythology as divine or authoritative. Livy^ sadly contrasted the ages of faith with his own age, which mocked at gods. Philosophers perhaps rarely denied in set terms the existence of deities, but they transformed the old half-human gods into shadows or abstractions. This transformation w^as for the most part the work of the Stoics. Acknowledging for themselves but one deity, pervading the universe and causing all phenomena, they were yet reluctant to destroy the religion of those who could not rise to this height of contemplation. They therefore laid it down that the ordinary divinities re- presented different forms of the manifestation of the One. The stars, the elements, the very fruits of the earth might be regarded as deities. Zeus is in this system no longer the president of the gods, but the ruling spirit or law of the universe, of which the subordinate gods represent different ^Dortions. Such explanations, however, though they might make it easy for a Stoic to take part in the religious ceremonies of his country, were nevertheless de- structive of the old religion. And while the moral philo-^ sophers resolved the deities into abstractions, the physicists, like the elder Pliny ^ held that speculation about things outside the material universe, itself a deity, lay beyond their province altogether. In a word, the pagan faiths were undergoing a j^rocess of gradual destruction, though the people long clung to their traditional observances. But, in truth, even in its palmy days the worship of the Olympian deities supplied nothing to guide man through life or to console him in death. The pagan gods were deities of the tribe or the nation, not of the individual soul. The Greek religion was for the Greek as a citizen ; it was an artistic and elevated idealization of Greek life, 1 Ecce Homo, 131 f. 2 Historia, x. 40. '■' Hut. Nat. II. 1. The Preparation of the World. with its excellencies and its failings. So in Rome, the Chap. I. greater gods formed a glorified senate, while the religious ceremonies of the minor deities were interwoven with almost the whole life of a Roman \ With this national conception of religion, the deification of the emperor was little more than a natural result of the Roman pride in the greatness of the empire; and at the same time the extension of the empire beyond the nation tended to obscure the old national deities. Roman statesmen were indeed anxious to maintain a religion the baselessness of which they admitted, because they thought it a necessary prop for the state ; but a people soon finds out that it is being governed by illusions ; the scepticism of the rulers in time descends to the subjects. In the decay of the religions of western Europe, the oriental gods of Asia seemed to offer more delightful mystery. In Religions. particular, the Egyptian legend of the suffering Osiris — originally a mere nature-myth — was found comforting by men who sought in religion relief from suffering. And as the worship of Osiris was grateful to the wretched, so was that of the Persian sun-god Mithras to asjDiring humanity. The unspotted god of light, who was engaged in a never- ceasing struggle against darkness, drew men's hearts to him as the sensuous Olympians had never done. Wherever the soldiers of the empire encamped, rude sculptures testify to the wide-spread worship of Mithras. The Mys- Mysteries. teries too came into greater prominence in the decay of Greek and Roman religion. Whatever their origin, there can be little doubt that in the mysteries of Demeter it was taught that the soul of man survived death, and that the initiated would enjoy the light and bliss of the under- world, while the faithless and abominable wallowed in misery ^ The hope of escaping the fate of the impious doubtless drew many to offer themselves for initiation. Dionysus also, originally a myth of the revival of the vine after the storms and frosts of winter, became in later times the representative and forerunner of man rising again to immortality^. Cicero^ in his day declared that of all the excellent things to be found in Athens, the most precious ^ Augustine, De Civ. Dei, vi. 9. 2 Axistoph. Frogs, 142. 3 Hausrath, ii. 78. 4 De Legihus, ii. 14, § 36; cf. Verves, v. 72, § 187. Tlie Preparation of the World. were the mysteries, since in them men found not only happiness in life but hope in death. Yet they not seldom became centres of corruption which rulers repressed and good men abhorred \ The conceptions which were found, obscure and mixed with much evil, in the mysteries, appeared in a purer form in Platonism. To Plato mainly is due the thought which took so deep root in after ages, that in the material world is but vanity, darkness, and decay; in the ideal world, reality, light, and life. In the Platonic school we find a constant belief in one God, the ground of all exist- ence, in the continued life of the soul, in rewards and punishments after death. And a new influence came into the Roman world through the Stoics, whose most famous teachers were not only Oriental but Semitic. Such of these as lived on the confines, or even within the borders, of the Holy Land, may have been in some degree in- fluenced by the Jewish Schools, though it was certainly not from them that they derived their main doctrines. In Seneca'^, St Paul's contemporary, a Stoic much in- fluenced by Plato, we find many expressions which sound like an echo or an anticipation of Christianity. When he describes this mortal life as a prelude to a better ; when he speaks of the body as a prison and looks forward to the enjoyment of a diviner life when he is freed from it^; when he urges that the body of one departed is but a fleeting form, and that he who is dead has passed into eternal peace* ; when he describes the departed soul as enjoying its freedom, contemplating from above the spectacle of nature and of human life^ ; when he tells of the glorious light of heaven^ ; we see that the thoughts of men's hearts were being prepared to receive in Christ the full assurance of these lofty hopes. But it is through Christ that these hopes, and much more than these, have become the heritage of humanity; without Him they would have remained but the pleasant fancies with which a few elevated souls comforted themselves in the distrac- 1 Tacitus, Ann. 11, 31; Clem. Alex. Protrept. i. 2, p. 11; Tertul- lian, adv. Valentin. 1. 2 See J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul and Seneca, in Philippians, pp. 26S —326. 3 Epistt 102. 22, 23; 120. 14 f.; 65. 16. * Ad Marcianam de Consol. 19. 6; 24, 5. 5 Ad Poh/h. de Consol. 9. 3. « Epist. 102. 20. The Preparation of the World. tions of the world. There are not wanting indications that man felt his need of some greater one to help and guide him. " Let the soul have some one to revere/' said 8eneca\ " by whose influence even his secret thoughts may- be purified Happy he who can so reverence his ideal as to rule and fashion himself after him by the mere memory of him ! " But then, where was the pattern to be found ? Each school depreciated the ideal of every other. The scheme of the Stoic wanted solidity. It was in Christ that the ideal was found which all men might reverence and to which all men might aspire. And even among the heathen there was in the first century a kind of belief that a turning-point in the history of the world had come. The Stoics held that the secular year was drawing to a close, that the course of the ages would soon begin to run over again. The ninth month ended with the death of Julius Caesar, and the month of Saturn, the golden age, was already returning ^ With the upper classes this expectation was probably little more than a literary fancy; but the lower orders, who knew to their cost that they lived in an iron age, took such pro- phecies much more seriously. But the plot into which the seed of the Word was first cast was Judaism. Signs were not wanting that the ancient garden of the Lord had lost something of its old fertility ; prophecy had ceased ; from the days of Malachi to the days of John Baptist no man had been recognized as a proj^het of the Lord. But idolatry, against which so many prophets had protested in the name of Jehovah, was no more found in the land ; Israelites still felt a thrill of pride at the name of the Maccabees; their fathers had endured torture and death rather than suffer the Lord to be dishonoured. The Scriptures were expounded by a multitude of scribes and doctors, and hundreds of admiring disciples sat at their feet in the schools and the synagogues. The Jew, said Josephus^, knows the Law better than his own name. No doubt they often used the words of the Book as mere charms or amulets; but at least a verbal knowledge of the Scriptures was widely diffused at the time when He came on earth of whom Moses in the Law 1 Epist. 11. ^ Virgil, Eel. iv. See Coniug ton's notes. ^ c. Apion, II. 18. Chap. I. Saturniati Age. I -%' ^j^A-^*A*\y Judaism. Israelpure from idola- try. Know- ledge of Scrij'lure. '11 le Preparation of the World. CUAP. I. and the Prophets did write. And there was among the Jews of Palestine a general expectation that Messiah would speedily come. The book of Daniel spoke of four kingdoms of the earth, the fourth, in spite of its iron teeth and brazen claws, trodden down by the kingdom of the saints : what was this but the iron empire of Rome, over- thrown by the kingdom of the Israelites^? The readiness with which pretenders drew followers about them shewed the excitement of the popular mind. The Jews of Palestine in the Apostolic age were divided into parties. The Sadducees, the men of wealth and official dignity, were the conservatives of their time. They ad- hered to the old Mosaic Law, and rejected all modern additions as innovations. The promises to the faithful people they regarded as belonging to this life and to their own land. They looked for no resurrection, no Kingdom of God beyond the grave. They could not question, they probably regarded as theophanies,the appearances of angels mentioned in the Scriptures ; but they believed in no heaven, no abiding w^orld of angels and spirits; nor did they look for a pure and perfect Kingdom of God on earth ^. Such opinions as these were no good preparation for the reception of the gospel of Christ. But the SadduceeS; though wealthy and high in place, were comparatively few in number ; the national party, the party which represented the pride of the Jew and his hatred of the Gentiles, was that of the Pharisees. Know- ledge of the Law, holiness according to the Law, were their watchwords. Doubtless, too often their minds and their lives were filled with burdensome trivialities ; they put the letter before the spirit of the Law ; yet to them mainly it is due that the belief in a world to come and the ex- pectation of Messiah's kingdom took deep root in the minds of Israelites. They did not allow the noblest con- ception of Israel's future to fade out of memory; from the dark present they looked to the bright future ; they made this future kingdom a household word among the people. Thus they laid throughout the land a train by which the fire might be kindled at the word of Christl Of a con- 1 Josephus, Antt. x. 11. 7; Bell. Jud. VI. 5. 4. 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 14 ; Antt. XVIII. 1. 4; Hippolytus, Hac- reses, ix. 29. 3 Keim, Jesus of Nazara,!. 329 ff. (Eansom's Translatioa). The Preparation of the World. 9 verted Pharisee we have a conspicuous instance in St Paul; we can hardly imagine a converted Sadducee. The Essenes^ formed communities of their o^vn in Palestine and Syria, in which they endeavoured to reach a degree of ceremonial purity and a complete obedience to the Law which was unattainable in the haunts of common life. "If with the Pharisees ceremonial purity was a principal aim, with the Essenes it was an absorbing passion. The Pharisees were a sect, the Essenes were an order.... They were formed into a religious brotherhood, fenced about by minute and rigid rules, and carefully guarded from any contamination with the outer world." Jews as they were, "their speculations took a Gnostic turn, and they guarded their peculiar tenets with Gnostic reserved" They avoided the Temple-sacrifices, they denied the resurrection of the body, and they appear to have cherished no Messianic hopes. A counterpart to the Essenes of Palestine is found in the Therapeutae described by Philo^ in Egypt. "The Samaritan occupied the border land between the Jew and the Gentile. Theologically, as geographically, he was the connecting link between the one and the other. Half Hebrew by race, half Israelite in his acceptance of a portion of the sacred canon, he held an anomalous position, shunning and shunned by the Jew, yet clinging to the same promises and looking forward to the same hopes ^." Even in Palestine the Jews of higher rank received a tincture of Greek cultivation; in the Maccabean family itself, within a few years after the struggle with Antiochus, imitators of Greek customs were found ^; and among the rabbis, from Antigonusof Socho, who flourished about two centuries before Christ, to Gamaliel the teacher of St Paul, a taste for Greek literature was frequently mani- fested. Nevertheless, in the people of the Law, and especially in the Holy City, exclusiveness and hatred 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 2 — 13 ; A7itt. XIII. 5. 9, XVIII. 1. 5 ; Vita 2 ; Philo, Quod omnis prohus liber, c. 12 ff. and fragment in Euseb. Prcep. Evang. viii. 11. 2 J. B. Lightfoot, Colossiaiis, pp. 120, 92. 3 If the treatise De Vita Con- templativd be really Philo's, a mat- ter admitting considerable doubt. See Lucius, Die Therapeuten und ihre Stellung in die Geschichte der Ashese. Eusebius {IT. E. ii. 17) merely follows Philo. 4 J. B, Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 282, 1st edition. s Josephus, Antt. xii. 5. 1; xni. 11. 3; 13. 5. Chap. I Essenes. The Sama- ritans. Greek Cul- ture. /\t>^ 10 TJie Preparation of the Wo7'ld. towards the stranger on the whdie prevailed. The more fanatical rabbis excluded from eternal life those who loved the Greek learning \ It was through the Jews of the Dispersion that Hebrew and Greek thought were brought into some intimacy of contact. "The Jews," said Strabo", about the time of our Lord's birth, "have penetrated into every city, and you will not easily find a place in the empire where this tribe has not been admitted and become influential." In some cities they had a separate civil organization under their own alabarchs or ethnarchs*: everywhere, in spite of the Roman jealousy of private meetings or associations, they enjoyed complete freedom of worship. Where their means did not suffice for a synagogue they at least fenced off some fiuiet spot — if possible by the side of a stream — to which they might retire for prayer. Where they were rich and numerous, as at Alexandria, they reared temples which rivalled the magnificent edifices of the Greeks. And out of Palestine, the Jews were somewhat less Jewish; they adopted for the most part the Greek language, and con- formed so far as they might to Gentile usages. The fact that they were removed from the constant view of the Temple and the debasing associations which moved the Lord's wrath, was not without its influence. It was easy to idealize a sanctuary which was not always before their eyes. Out of Palestine, the ceremonial portions of the Jewish Law dropped a little out of sight, and the moral precepts were more regarded. In Alexandria in particular, a very mixing-bowl of European and Asiatic thought, Judaism attained a new development. The Greek trans- lation of the Scriptures, begun probably at Alexandria in the third century before Christ, is the great monument of the Hellenizing of the Jew. Through it the thoughts of Hebrew prophets first became intelligible to the Gentile world ^ and probably to many among the Jews themselves. Similarly Luther's translation of the Bible is said to have had a great effect upon the Jews of Germany. And it is evident that the Greek translators had breathed the air of Hellenism, and endeavoured to adapt the simplicity of the ^ R. AMba, quoted by Keim, i. 300. 2 In Josephus, Antt. xiv. 7. 2, 3 Ibid. XX. 5. 2, etc. 4 Philo, Vita Mosis, ii. 140 (Man- gey). The Pi'eparation of the ]¥orld. 11 scriptural expressions to the Alexandrian tone of thought. But besides the slight changes of the text which were possible in a translation, Alexandrian Judaism set itself to soften or transform its ancient Scriptures by means of allegoric interpretation. To men who had adopted the principles of Platonism, the history of the Israelites seemed too mean and petty to be divine; by means of allegory, history and law and poetry were made to speak the language of philosophy ; Moses and Plato were found to be at one. The great example of this school of allegories is Philo, who found in Scripture the same views of the universe which he admired in Plato and Zeno. In Philo the conception of a "Word" or "Reason" of God became familiar to the Jewish mind\ By many literary artifices the Hellenizing Jews endeavoured to give to their sacred history a form which might be attractive to the Gentiles. And in all such works, they gave prominence to those portions of their theology which were most in harmony with Hellenic thought. The pure and exalted conception of the one God, Messianic hope, faith in a kingdom of God to come — these are the points which are made prominent in pseudonymous Jewish literature. The second book of Esdras, or "Revelation of EzraV' written almost certainly by an Alexandrian Jew, is a proof that Hellenism had not obliterated Messianic hopes. That the Gentiles for the most part looked with no friendly eye upon the Jews who dwelt among them is evident enough. Still, the words of psalms and prophets, and the faith of the Jew in his own religion, had power to attract many who were astray in an age of doubt^. Women especially found comfort in the services of the synagogue. In the great cities, there were always to be found admirers and adherents of the Mosaic ritual. Some were merely cu- rious lookers-on at the Jewish services ; some, more earnest worshippers {ae^o/jLevot, €V(T€/3€i<;), had vowed to abstain from certain Gentile practices which the Jew abhorred; some, the true " proselytes," had been admitted by circum- cision to the full privileges of the children of Israel. Thus ^ On the difference between the Alexandrian Logos and the Memra of the Targums, see B. F. West- cott, The Gospel of St John, p. xvi ff. 2 See B. F. Westcott in Smith's Diet, of the Bible, i. 577. 3 Seneca in Augustine, De Civ. Deiy Yi. 11. Chap. I. Allegory. Fseudony- mous Lite- rature. Proselytes. 12 The Preparation of the World. Chap. I. liesistatice of Pagan- ism. A there was formed in every city a body of men acquainted with the Scriptures, who shewed by the very fact of their worshipping with a despised race that they were in earnest seeking after GoD, and who were much less fettered by the bonds of the Law than those who were children of Abraham after the flesh. Among these "worshipping" Gentiles Christianity in the first age found its most nume- rous ajid most satisfactory converts. Cornelius of Ca^sarea is an apt type of the class which fonned the great link between the first Jewish preachers of Christianity and the Gentile world. Yet Paganism was interwoven with the very structure of society; it was environed by splendid temples, a numerous priesthood, costly festivals, hereditary rites, the strains of poets, the mighty influence of use and wont. The old beliefs and still more the old customs were not abandoned without a struggle ; in many places the rough populace was fanatically attached to the pleasant and stately superstitions of the old religion, while the statesmen wished to maintain, in the interests of the state, the customs which formed the framework of society, and the philosopher very often looked on the old mythology, under the twilight-glow of Neo-platonic mysticism, with a kind of half-believing affection. But there was in the empire a great middle class, swayed neither by the un- reasoning fanaticism of the populace, the conservatism of the statesman, nor the illuminism of the philosopher. From this class of traders and artizans, the least conspicu- ous in public life, the least fettered by social prejudice, were drawn in early time the most valuable converts; these men formed the steadfast men-at-arms of the force which overcame the world. CHAPTER 11. THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH \ 1. Such was the state of the world when, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. John was soon counted as a prophet — the first since the days of Malachi who had been so recognized in Israel. Yet he was but the forerunner of that Greater One to come, even the Light of the world. Probably in the same year in which St John began his ministry, Jesus of Nazareth^, then about thirty years of age, began to preach and say. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He claimed to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed Priest and King, for Whose coming all faithful Israelites looked and longed. He claimed to be the Son of God. Signs and wonders followed His steps ; multitudes flocked round Him; disciples attached themselves to Him, espe- cially from among the fishermen and husbandmen of Galilee. He taught them that the entrance into the Kingdom, which He was founding upon earth, was not — as some of them thought — through fleshly warfare, but through much tribulation, through self-renunciation, through taking 1 On this period see J. J. Blunt, First Three Centuries; J. B. Light- foot, St Paul and the Three in GaZaitaws, pp. 276 — 346; H. Cotte- rill, The Genesis of the Church; J. J. I. Dollinger, First Age of Christianity and the Church, trans- lated by H. N. Oxenham. An ac- count of it from the stand-point of the Tubingen School may be found in Schwegler, Nachapost. Zeitalter, and more briefly in E. W. Mackay's Rise and Progress of Christianity. 2 Of the numerous Lives of Christ may be mentioned those by A. Ne- ander, E. de Pressense, K. Hase, J. Young, C. J. EUicott, F. W. Farrar, C. Geikie, and the ano- nymous Ecce Homo and Philo- christus. On the chronology of the Lord's Life, see Henry Browne, Ordo Sceclonim, pp. 25 — 94; T. Lewin, Chronology of the New Testament; C. E. Caspari, Chrono- logisch-Geographische EinJeitung in das Leben Jesu Christi (Hamburg, 1860). Chap II. Joh7i the Baptist. The Lord's Ministry began a.d. 27 (?). 14 The Apostolic CIrurch. Chap. II. The Loud crucified A.D. 33 (?). Bcsurrec- tion. Tlie Twelve Apostles. Ascension. The Great Day of Pentecost. K.D. 30? up the cross and following Him. But one who claimed to found a Kingdom, and yet had neither court nor army; one who gave counsel to render unto Caesar the things that were Caesar s, did not satisfy the eager expectations of the Jews. The Jewish leaders condemned Him for blaspliemy, because He made Himself the Son of God ; they handed Hiiii over to the Roman procurator, who con- demned Him because He made Himself a king. He suffered the death which the Romans inflicted on rebels and on slaves — crucifixion. In His death was Atonement made for the sin of the world. But He could not be holden of death ; on the third day He rose from the tomb. He manifested Himself to His disciples, being seen of them at intervals during forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the Kingdom of God*. Early in His ministry He had chosen from among His disciples twelve, whom He named Apostles, to be the especial companions of His earthly life and heralds of His Kingdom. To these it now fell to carry on the Society which their Lord had founded. To these He appeared for the last time on the Mount of Olives, and bade them await in Jerusalem the influx of the Spirit which He had pro- mised to send from the Father. While the words were yet on His lips He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. They waited in obedience to His words. At Pentecost the Spirit descended in tongues of flame on each Apostle, and henceforth they shew no more of the doubt and hesita- tion of the time before the Resurrection ^ but boldly preach that Jesus, whom the Jews had crucified, was the Messiah, the Christ. In spite of the violent opposition of the leading Sadducees, the number of converts rapidly increased. The people favoured the rising sect; the people thronged to hear when Peter and John preached the Word, while the rulers vainly employed threats, stripes and imprisonment to silence them ; even a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith I The believers bore for the present the aspect of a community or brotherhood wdthin the limits of Judaism, observing in all points the Jewish Law, attending daily in the Temple, but distinguished from ^ G. Moberly, The Sayings of the Great Forty Days (Lond. 1844). 2 J. J. Blunt, Hulsean Lectures, Lect, 8. =* Acts vi. 7. The Aj)ostolic Church. 15 their brethren by acknowledging Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah whose advent was looked for by all pious Jews. In the first fervour of brotherly love, they had all things in common. So far, the Church was composed wholly of Jews, either Hebrews or Hellenists. In Jerusalem, the former party was probably more numerous and powerful. It is in St Stephen, probably a Hellenist, that we find the first indication of the growing church breaking the strict bonds of the Mosaic Law. The witnesses who declared that he "ceased not to speak words against the Holy Place and the Law;" that he said that "Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered us\" were false probably as they were false who accused the Lord ; they distorted and gave a false colour to what he had said, rather than invented what he had not said. Before the Sanhedrin he attempted no denial of their charges ; his speech — cut short indeed by the wrath of the Jews — seems intended to shew that God's covenant with man existed before the Mosaic Law, and might again receive an extension beyond it. Not without reason is Stephen called " Paul's master." The rage of the Jews destroyed Stephen and dispersed the disciples. Probably the first fury of persecution fell upon those who were suspected of depreciating the exclu- sive privileges of the Jews, for the Twelve, still retaining the Mosaic observances, remained at their post; an an- cient authority^ tells us that their Lord had fixed twelve years as the period of their stay in Jerusalem. But Philip, like Stephen one of the Seven and probably also a Hellenist, preached Christ in Samaria^ to the half- Jewish, half-Gentile race of its inhabitants, and Peter and John confirmed the work which Philip had begun. This recep- tion of the Samaritans into the Church is a further step beyond the limits of Jewish prejudice, for the pure Jew hated the Samaritan, who claimed a share of his privi- leges, almost more fiercely than he despised the uncircum- cised. In Samaria we meet with a specimen of the kind of impostor which is produced in a disturbed and excited time, the man who pretends to esoteric knowledge and Chap. II. StStephen. 1 Acts vi. 13, 14. 2 Apollonius in Eusebiiis, Hist. Eccl. V. 18. 14. ^ Acts viii. 5 ff. ^t Ste- phen's death, A.D. 36 (?). St Philip. Samaria. Simon Magus. IG TJie A2)ostolic Church. Ckap. ii. T1i£ Eu- nuch of Candace. Cornelius. AutiorJi. Gentile Church. WO-OL^^Vs* St Paul converted, A.D. 36 (?) magic power, and imposes himself upon the multitnde for " some great one." Simon the Samaritan magician came afterwards to be regarded as the head and fount of Gnostic heresy. A further advance towards the reception of the Gen- tiles was made when Philip baptized an Ethiopian eunuch^; a proselyte indeed, but hardly joined to the Jewish Church by its characteristic rite, if the law of Moses was duly observed I But a much more decided step was made when St Peter was taught to recognize the absolute universality of the grace of God^, and to baptize the Roman centurion Cornelius, certainly no Jew, though worshipping with the Hebrews among whom he lived. While these things were going on in Palestine, the Church was spreading and developing elsewhere. Certain disciples, unnamed men of Cyprus and Cyrene, preached the gospel in the Syrian Antioch to the Greeks'* — seem- ingly heathens and idolaters — and many of these believed and turned to the Lord. Here we have for the first time, a purely ethnic community adopted into the Church ; and to these pagan adherents of Christ was first given the name " Christian ^," formed after the analogy of Roman party-names. The Twelve sent Barnabas, a native of the neighbouring Cyprus, to report on the astonishing events of which they heard. That large-hearted man rejoiced to see the work of God among the Gentiles, and, as the Church still grew and prospered, sought help from one whom he had already known at Jerusalem. 2. When the blood of the martyr Stephen was shed, there stood by an ardent young Pharisee, named Saul*, a man of pure Hebrew lineage, yet a Roman citizen and a native of the Hellenic city of Tarsus, educated in Jeru- salem at the feet of the great Rabbi Gamaliel. This persecutor on his way to Damascus was struck to the 1 Acts viii. 26 fif. 2 Deut. xxiii. 1. ^ Acts x. 9 ff. * Acts xi. 20. I assume that "irpbs Tovs"E\\r)vas^' is the correct reading of this passage. ^ Acts xi. 26. On the name "Christian" see Conybeare andi Howson, Life of St Paul, i. 146, ed. 1 1858; Baur, Kirchengeschichte,i. 482 note; Renan, Les AjJotres, p. 234. ^ On St Paul, see J. Pearson, ■ Annales Paulini ; W, J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, The Life and [Epistles of St Paul; F. W. Farrar, The Life and Work of St Paul; T. Lewin, Tlie Life and Epistles of St Paul. The dates in the life of St Paul, some of which are much disputed, are given here from Conybeare and Howson. The Apostolic Church. 17 earth and blinded by a vision of the Lord in glory ^; he became the most devoted servant of Him whom once he persecuted. The eager spirit which led him to persecute did not forsake him when he was set to build up the church. His was one of those natures which move alto- gether if they move at all ; everything he did he did earnestly and devotedly; and he had that remarkable union of the fervid, sympathetic, aspiring, even visionary nature with practical ability and good-sense which is so rarely found, and which, when it is found, gives its pos- sessor so extraordinary an influence over his fellow-men. It was this Saul of Tarsus whom the friendly Barna- bas brought up from Cilicia to Antioch, a journey which forms one of the most momentous epochs in the history of the Church ; for Paul and Barnabas became the chief instruments in spreading the gospel of Christ among the Gentiles. Antioch became the centre of a Gentile church ; Saul the great apostle of a Christianity absolutely free from the shackles of the Jewish law. During this period of his work he is always known by the Gentile name, Paulus^. Not that St Paul lost his love for his kindred after the flesh ; his first message was always to them ; but the scene in Pisidian Antioch, where the Apostle turns from his countrymen, who "judged them- selves unworthy of eternal life," to the Gentiles, is typical of what took place over and over again in his sad experience ; proselytes and pagans were more ready to receive the gospel than the pure Jews. His eager labours founded churches among the country people of Asia Minor; the " door of faith " was opened more widely ; and the church at Antioch would probably have rejoiced at the tidings, had not certain brethren come down from Jerusalem and taught the Antiochene converts that they could not be saved unless they received the outward sign of God's cove- nant with Israel after the flesh ^ Paul and Barnabas resisted this attack upon Christian liberty, and to put an end to the dissension and party-spirit which arose, these two Apostles, with others, were deputed to confer with the Apostles and elders at Jerusalem res23ecting the observances to be required of the Gentiles. After long ^ Acts ix. 1 £f. ; xxii. 2 ff. ; xxvi. 12 £f. ^ Acts xiii. xiv. On the reasons for the adoption of this name see Conybeare and Howson, i. 56. ^ Acts XV. 1. Chap. II. St Paul in Antioch, A.D. 44. Gentile Christian- ity. St FauVs Journey, A.D. 48. Troubles at A ntioch. Conference at Jerusa- km, A.D.50. C. 18 TJie Apostolic Church. Cn\r. 11. E[rci't of the Decree StPauVs Journeys, A.D. 51 — 68 discussion, both in ]niblic and in private, the brethren at Jerusaloni agreed that circumcision should not be required of the Gentile brethren ; only let them abstain, in defer- ence to Jewish prejudice, from h\oo(\ and things strangled; from things offered to idols, for they could not be partakers both of the Table of the Lord and the table of demons ; from the licentious life and incestuous marriages which were of little account among the heathen while they were an abomination to the Jew\ It must not be supposed that such a decision as this was final and conclusive. It does not present itself to us as a universal decree, but rather as a compromise entered into between the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch'^. But even if it were certainly a decree intended to compose the matters at issue throughout the whole church, it ought not to surprise us to find the old dispute constantly re- viving; passion and party-spirit are not put down by a decree, even of the highest authority. In Antioch and the neighbouring churches of Syria and Cilicia the decree was doubtless long observed, and we read of its being delivered to the brotherhoods of Lycaonia and Pisidial St James, too, some years afterwards, refers to it as a document of which the authority was indisputable*. But in more re- mote churches it was not so ; long afterwards the Jii- daizers in Galatia attempted to force even circumcision on St Paul's converts ; the Corinthians do not seem to have heard of the decree, nor does St Paul in his letters bring it to their knowledge ; and again, it is not referred to in the Apocal}^tic rebukes to the churches of Asia Minor for their fornication and licentiousness*. The Judaic spirit troubled St Paul his whole life long; it caused tlie most note- worthy weakness recorded of an apostle*', it interfered with the social unity of churches where Jew and Gentile were found — as they were in almost every church — together. It died out at last from causes entirely independent of decree or argument. While it lasted, its centre was of course Je- rusalem ; in the shadow of the Temple the Christian Jew could hardly desert the traditions of his forefathers. In St Paul, emphatically the Apostle of the Gentiles, ^ See J. B. Lightfoot on Gala- tians, p. 287 (1st ed.). 2 Acts XV. 23. •* Acts xvi. 4. •* Acts xxi. 25. ^ Apoc. ii. 14, 20. 6 Gal. ii. 11—14. The Aj)Ostol'iC Church. 19 God gave to tlie Churcli its greatest missionary. His early labours have already been mentioned; but he was not content with these ; under the guidance of the Spirit he carried the gospel into Phrygia — the old seat of many a dark superstition — and founded churches among the fervid and fickle Kelts of Galatia. In Europe, the well- known names of Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, mark the direction of his journey; in Ephesus, the great seat of the worship of the Asiatic Artemis, a very academy of magical superstitions, he stayed and laboured long, until the very central worship of the renowned city was thought to be in danger. Wherever he went, he remembered his children in the Lord; the wants of the various communi- ties which he had founded were always present to him; he wrote, he sent messengers, when possible he revisited churches which needed his exhortation and instruction ^ This earnest activity was brought to an end for a time by the malice of the Jews. He went up to Jerusalem for the passover of the year 58 in the midst of prophecies and forebodings of evil. There, his appearance in the court of the Temple occasioned so fierce a tumult, that a party of the Roman garrison descended from their barrack and carried him off as a prisoner I His Roman citizenship prevented personal ill-treatment, but he was detained in custody two years by the procurator Felix, and then sent to Rome, in consequence of his "appeal unto Caesar," by the succeeding procurator, Festus. After a long and stormy voyage, in the course of which he suffered shipwreck, he reached Rome in the spring of the year 61, where he " was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him " for two whole years, working still for the cause which he had at heart both by his personal influence in Rome and by letters to his distant friends. His captivity became the means of spreading the gospel both in the Prse- torium and among "those that were of Caesar's household I" At the end of St Paul's two years captivity we lose the guidance of the Acts of the Apostles. Ancient tra- dition, however, asserts that he was set free at the end of ^ Acts xvi — XX. and the Epistles to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans. 2 Acts xxi. 28 ff. 3 Philippians i. 13 ; iv. 22. See J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 169 (2nd ed.). 2—2 Chap. II. Tumult at Jerusalem, A.D. 58. Leaves Casarea, A.D. 60. At Rome, A.D. 61. Release, A.D. 63. 20 Thii Apu.stulic Ckurclt. Chap. II. Second Captivity, A.D. 68. Martyr- ihtm, A.D. 68 (?). St PauVs lAfe and Character. the two years, that ho. fiilHlIod the wish of his hoart by taking liis journey into Spain', and afterwards again visited the East; granting this, we find from the Pastoral Epistles that he established his disciple Titus as head of the com- munity in Crete, Timothy to a like office in Ephesus ; and that, after remaining for some time at Nicopolis, he again visited the churches of Troas, Miletus and Corinth. After this, tradition tells us that he returned to Rome, where the Church was groaning under the oppression of Nero, that he was again imprisoned, and put to death'' — as a Roman citizen naturally would be — by the stroke of the lictor's axe. When St Paul received the " crown of righteousness," he had spent the vigour of his days in his Master's service; when he was driven to appeal to his work and his suffering, he could refer to a catalogue of perils and afflictions such as put to shame those of his opponents^. He was hunted from city to city by Jews who hated the apostate ; he had to encounter Judaizing teachers in the midst of the Church itself It was against these that the great contest of his life was fought; the great founder of Hellenic Churches had to maintain that Christ was a Saviour for the world, and not merely a Messiah for the Jews. It is under the pressure of Judaic opposition that his own doctrine takes form ; justification by the faith in Christ without the works of the law is the corner-stone of his teaching, Christ is to him not merely the fulfilment of Messianic hopes, but the revelation of the great mystery of God's dealings with mankind from the very foundation of the world. Adam and Christ, sin and righteousness, the flesh and the spirit, death and life — these are the constantly recurring antitheses in his writings. It is evident that we have here a Gospel for the world, not for the Jews only. True, St Paul's thoughts and imagery are intensely Jewish, and he yearns after his kindred in blood with a great longing*; but in Christ he knows of no distinction of Jew 1 Clemens Eomanus, ad Cor. i. 5 — a passage of doubtful inter- pretation ; and the Muratorian Fragment; see Westcott, On tlie Canon, p. 560. 2 Euseb. H. E. ii. 22. Those who reject the second imprison- ment either insert the Pastoral Epistles in St Paul's life before A.D. 64, or deny their authenticity altogether. See the whole subject discussed in Conybeare andHowson, II. 535 ff. 3 2 Cor. xi. 21 £f. Kom. x. 1. The A'postolic Church. 21 or Gentile, bond or free ; it is in the Church of Christ that he finds the true Israel, the fulfilment of God's purpose from all eternity \ 3. The centre of the best and noblest form of Jewish Christianity was naturally the Holy City; and the Church of Jerusalem was ruled by one who was more than blame- less in his observance of the sacred law, St James the Lord's brother. Without accepting all that in early tradition gathered round his name^ we cannot but believe that he remained in all things a devout Israelite, an Israelite in whom was no guile. The rights of the converts of the Gentiles to a place in the Church he had frankly admitted in the conference of Jerusalem; yet the Judaisers who troubled the peace of Gentile Churches claimed the authority of James ^, abusing perhaps a venerable name to give their doctrine a weight not its own. In his epistle he says nothing of the Gospel or of the Resurrection of the Lord, dwelling rather on faith in the one God and on obedience to the law; but the "law" is the perfect law of liberty, the true "liberty" wherewith Christ has made us free; and so far is he from leaning to the self-complacent orthodoxy of the Pharisee, that he lays it down in the plainest manner that the true ritual or "Divine service*" consists in purity and works of love; the whole tone of the epistle recalls our Lord's denunciations of the Scribes and Pharisees, and seems directed against a kindred spirit. St James the Just comes before us in the declining days of Jerusalem as a devout soul in the midst of factions whose religion was warfare; and when these factions put him to death, "straightway," says Hegesippus^ "Vespasian laid siege to their city;" it seemed as if a guardian angel had departed^. 4. St Peter is a less conspicuous figure than St Paul in the history of the Apostolic Church. We know that he was esteemed a "pillar of the church" in Jerusalem', and that the fear of losing his reputation with the Judaizers at 1 Ephes. i. 3—13. ^ Hegesippus in Eusebius, H. E. II. 23. Compare Josephus, Antiq. XX. 9, § 1. On the whole narrative, see Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 338 ff. =* Galat. ii. 12. ^ dprjaKela, James i. 27. •'■' In Euseb. H. E. ii. 23, § 18. " A. P. Stanley, Sermons and Essays on the Apostolic Age, pp. 291 ff. 7 Gal. ii. 9. Chap. II. St James THE JUST. St Petek. TJie A])ostoUc Church. Antioch induced him to comply with their prejudices*. At the time of writing his lirst epistle we find him in Babylon'', and the address to the "elect sojourners of the dispersion" of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia may perhaps be taken to imply that he had visited those countries. Even during the time occupied by the Acts of the Apostles we know little of his move- ments, and afterwards much less. He is said to have been bishop of Antioch^ and of Rome. That he was not in Rome at the time of St Paul's first imprisonraent seems an almost certain inference from the silence of St Luke; nor does St Paul mention him in his letters to or from Rome. An ancient tradition asserts that he suffered at Rome at the same time with St Paul, being crucified (or impaled) with his head downwards**; and the tombs of the two saints were shewn there at the end of the second century °. The legend of St Peter's twenty-five years' episcopate of Rome does not appear to be older than the fourth cen- tury. Ignatius^ alludes to the authority of SS. Peter and Paul for the Romans especially; IrenoBus'', speaking of the value of apostolic tradition, says that these two apostles, after founding and building the Roman Church, gave the oversight of it (t7]v rr]<; eincrKOTrri^ Xecrovpylav eve'^eipiaav) to Linus, distinguishing apparently between the apostolic and the episcopal office. The apocr3^hal Petri Prcedicatio^ speaks of the meeting of SS. Peter and Paul in Rome. The Apostolical Constitutions^ declare that Linus, the first bishop, was consecrated by St Paul, and Clement, his successor, by St Peter; here too the office of an apostle is distinct from a local episcopate. It is in something 1 Gal. ii. 11—14. 2 Frequently supposed to mean Eome (Eusebius, H. E. ii. 15, and many modern authorities). But we should scarcely expect to find a mystical designation used as the date of a letter written by no means in a mystical style. 3 Eusebius, H. E. in. 36 ; Je- rome, Gatal. Scriptor. c. 1. Euse- bius, however, contradicts himself, for in. H. E. iii. 22, he makes Evo- dius the first, and Ignatius the second bishop of Antioch. ^ Tertullian, De Prescript. 36; Origen in Euseb. H. E. in. 1. The words of Clement of Eome {(id Cor. I. 5) with reference to St Peter's martyrdom do not necessarily imply that he suffered at Eome, though it is probable that he had Roman martyrs in view in the whole passage. 5 Caius of Eome, in Euseb. H. E. II. 25. " Ad Bomanos, c. 4. "^ Hceres. in. 3. 8 Quoted by Pseudo-Cyprian, de liebaptism. e. 17, p. 90, Hartel. 9 vii. 46. 1. The Apostolic Church. 23 Jerome's version of Eusebius's Chromcle^ that we first find it distinctly stated, inconsistently with Eusebius himself in the history, that St Peter went to Eome in the year 43 and remained for twenty-five years as bishop of the church in that city. But not only does this supposition involve chronological difficulties of the most serious kind, but Jerome himself states''* that the title of bishop was not used strictly in the apostolic age, but was applied to several distinguished leaders at the same time in a church ; when, therefore, he styles St Peter "bishop" of Rome, he must not be understood to claim for him the same kind of local pre-eminence which is involved in the modem use of the term. So Epiphanius^ speaks of SS. Peter and Paul as bishops of Rome. The truth seems to be, that from about the fourth century churches claimed as their "bishops," apostles or other distinguished teachers who were asso- ciated with their early traditions ^ St Peter and St Paul are united in Roman tradition, and they were indeed one in heart though sometimes they might seem to be divided ; once St Peter denied his Lord, once he impaired the freedom of the Gospel; but the very narrative of the latter circumstance implies that this was contrary to the habit of his life^. His recognition of Christ crucified as the centre of our faith and the source of life is identical with St Paul's^; his tendency to speak of the Church of Christ under images derived from the older dispensation is the same; Christ is the Paschal Lamb^, Christians are " the holy nation, the peculiar peo- ple^." The main difference — which is no contrariety — between him and his great fellow-worker is, that he speaks rather of the earthly life and sufferings of Christ, of the believer and the world around him, of the hope of a glorious Advent, than of the eternal Son from Whom and Chap. II. ^ Lib. II. anno 43. Compare the Catalogus Scriptorum, c. 1. 2 Comm. in Titum, c. 1. ^ Hares. 27. * The tr adition of the twenty- five years' Eoman episcopate is defended by Pagi (on Baronius, an. 43), Valesius (on Euseb. H. E. ii. 25), Bakize (on Lactantius, De Mort. Persec. c. 2), and many others. See also J. Pearson, Dis- sertationes Ducb, in Minor Works, ii. 293 ff. ; S. Van TU, De Petro Ronue Martyre; J. Greenwood, Cathedra Petri, cc. 1 and 2; E. A. Lipsius, Die Quellen der Petrussage. 5 Galat. ii. 14. See Lightfoot's note. 6 Compare 1 Pet. ii. 24 with Gal. ii. 20. 7 1 Pet. i. 19. 8 Ihid. ii. 9. St Peter's Teaching. 24 T}ie Apostolic Church. Chap. II. St JonN. AtEphe- sus, about A.D. 64? Death, about A.D. 100. His Teaching. through Whom and to Whom are all things. St Peter was no doubt "a Hebrew of the Hebrews" in thought as in birth, yet he was no Judaizer ; the law he never mentions, nor does he insist in any way on the perpetuity of formal ordinances. It was without support from his epistles that the Judaizers claimed him as their patron. 5. Of the beloved disciple we see no more in the Acts of the Apostles after the laying-on of hands on the Sama- ritan disciples. Of the date when he left Jerusalem we have no information, and for some years we have no record of his work. A constant tradition tells us however that he took the oversight of the church in Ephesus^ after the departure of St Paul, and we may well believe that he extended it to the other six churches which are addressed in the Apocalypse. Of the fact of his banishment to Pat- mos'* there can be no doubt, though it is placed by dif- ferent authorities at dates varying from the reign of Claudius^ to that of Domitian*. St John, with his apo- stolic authority, his purified warmth, his heavenly spirit, was placed by the providence of God in the very spot which most bubbled over with sects and heresies. In Asia he abode, says Irenseus^ until the days of Trajan, when he fell asleep in extreme old age in the midst of his disciples. The traditions respecting him shew how deep an im- pression his holiness and his loathing of all that was vile had made upon those who surrounded him. His life falls into two divisions ; the Judaic period before he left Palestine, ending probably with the banishment to Patmos and the writing of the Apocalypse^; and the period in the midst of Jews and Gentiles, of error and heresy, in E^^hesus and other cities of Asia Minor. In the Apocalypse we see the " son of thunder;" here indeed " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy V' the spirit of Ezekiel and Daniel. Here too the gospel is to the Jew first, but also to the Greek ; if we see first the twelve tribes gathered round 1 Irenffius, Hares, in. 1; Cle- ment of Alexandi'ia in Euseb. H. E. m. 23 ; Origen in Euseb. H. E. III. 1. 2 Apocal. i, 9. 3 Epiphanius, Hares. 51, c. 33. 4 Eusebius, H. E. in. 18. 5 c. Hceres. ii. 22, § 5. 6 Lightfoot, On Galatians, p. 334 ; Liicke, Einleitung in die Offenba- rung, quoted by Hase, K.-G. 36. See also Browne's Ordo Sceclorum, p. 679. ^ Apocal. xix. 10. The Apostolic Church 25 the throne of the Lamb, we see also the great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, singing praises to Him that "sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb\ We do not find the disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast giving prominence to the Lord's Humanity, but rather the contrary ; He is not merely the faithful and true witness, but the source {dpxv) of the creation of God^; His name is called the Word of God I In the thirty years which perhaps intervened be- tween the writing of the Apocalypse and that of the Gospel and Epistles, St John had changed the scene of his life, and the Church itself, agitated by new move- ments, required a new setting-forth of old truth. These later writings represent a more advanced stage of the Church's life than the letters of St Paul; they set forth the very same view of a gospel for mankind which is found in St Paul, not now controversially, but positively, and with an authoritative calmness which is foreign to the eager style of the Apostle of the Gentiles. St John does not dwell on the feeling of sin and the need of redemption with the same emphatic earnestness as St Paul ; he rather looks on the world as agitated by the great contest between light and darkness, the Word of God and the power of evil; he appeals rather to the innate longing of man after righteousness and perfection ; he speaks less of faith in Christ than of the perfect union in love which is to knit the Church to God in Christ, as it knits Christ to God^ Yet so little contrariety is there in all this to the Pauline teaching that certain passages in St Paul's writings might well be adopted as mottos for St John's^; all the several ways of the apostles meet in one end. 6. The traditions, that the apostles before their de- parture from Jerusalem divided the several portions of the world by lot among themselves, and that they formed the Apostles' Creed (avfjufioXov) by each contributing a clause, do not seem to be older than the fourth or fifth century. ^ Apocal. vii. 4 — 10 ; compare St John's Gospel, iv. 22 ff. - Apocal. iii. 14. ^ Apocal. xix. 13. 4 St John xvii. 11. On St John's teaching, see B. F. Westcott, The Gospel of St John, Introd. pp. xxxii. ff. 5 E.g. 1 Cor. viii. 6; xv. 47. Chap. II. The re- maining Apostleb. 26 The Apostolic Church Chap. II. « ^ ' St Thomas. StAndreic. St Bartho- lomew. St Philii). St Thad- lice us. Organiza- tion AND Worship OF THE Church**. Baptism. Laying on of hands. Earlier accounts say, that St Thomas had Parthia for his province, St Andrew Scythia^; the apocryphal Acts"^ of the latter, describing his martyrdom at Patras, were once supposed to be a genuine letter of the witnesses of his death, and have certainly influenced some of the early liturgies I Bartholomew is said to have preached in India, and to have left there the Gospel of St Matthew in Hebrew characters*; there he suffered martyrdom by beheading ^ Philip the apostle was gathered to his rest in Hierapolis^ Thadda^us is said to have been sent to Abgarus, king of Edessa^ Many later legends have gathered round the apostles; but in fact their labours are written, for the most part, not in the pages of history, but in the Book of Life. 7. The Church is a community confeesing the name of Christ, and pervaded by the spirit of Christ. It is of no age or clime, but abiding and universal, and developes according to its varying circumstances the organs which are necessary for its spiritual life, preserving always the ordinances and gifts of its Divine Founder. In the first age, as in all ages, it was through baptism that believers were admitted into that holy fellowship ; this followed at once upon the profession of faith in Christ, and those who were so admitted are in Scrip- ture language "the brethren," the "saints," or "holy ones" {aycoLy, as being, like the Israelites of old, set apart and consecrated to the service of God. These saints are "one in Christ^"," " buried with Christ," that they may "walk in newness of life^^;" these are "kings and priests to God^^;" "a royal priesthood, an adopted people ^V Not only individuals, but whole households, were admitted at once to baptism into the name cf Christ^*. Baptism was followed by the laying on of hands, 1 Euseb. H. E. in. 1. - In Tischendorf s Acta Aposto- lorwn Apocrypha. •* See the Gregorian Sacranien- tary, and Mabillon's Gallo-Gothic Missal, on St Andrew's Day. 4 Euseb. H. E. v. 10. ^ Jerome, De Viris Illustribm, 36. 6 Euseb. H. E. in. 31; v. 24. 7 Ihid. I. 13; II. 1. I 8 See G. A. Jacob, Eccl. Polity ^ ' of the Neio Testament, and Cotte- rill, Genesis, Pt. in. ch. 12. « Eom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; etc. 10 Gal. iii. 27, 28. " Rom. vi. 3, 4. 12 Apocal. i. 6 ; V. 10. 13 1 Pet. ii. 9. 14 Acts xvi. 15, 33; \ Cor. i. 16. The Apostolic Church 27 that the converts might "receive the Holy Ghost/* the workings of which were in the apostolic age manifested in various special gifts, especially those of tongues and of prophecy \ From that " first day of the week/' when Christ rose from the dead, Christians have eaten the Bread and drunk the Cup, shewing forth the Lord's Death till He come. The Eucharistic celebration was connected in early times with a solemn meaP, as in its first institution ; a custom which at Corinth led to so much disorder that St Paul had to rebuke sternly the irreverence of those who turned the Lord's Supper into a common, and even riotous, meal, " not distinguishing the Lord's Body." The "Kiss of LoveV' or "Holy KissV' was given at these meetings. The Eucharist was, as it seems, at first cele- brated in the midst of such a number as could meet in the "upper room" of some disciple, perhaps sometimes in the midst of a single household ; afterwards, as at Corinth, in assemblies of a somewhat more public kind, to which each brother brought his own contribution ^ In sickness, the brethren sent for the elders of the Church, who prayed over them and anointed them with oil, that they might recover ^ "Gifts of healing" were among the special endowments of the Holy Spirit. As to the manner of conducting divine worship, whether at the celebration of the Eucharist or in other meetings, we know that prayer, intercession, and thanksgiving, were the natural language of the early Church'. When the brethren came together, probably portions of the Old Testament, certainly apostolic letters^, were publicly read ; psalms were sung, and before long the Spirit added Chris- tian hymns to the treasury of devotion^; the "word of exhortation" was uttered, not only by the presbyters, but by other members of the community, as the Spirit gave 1 Acts viii. 14 — 17; xix. 1 — 8; Heb. vi. 1—4. 2 Acts ii. 46 [KKCjvTes /car oXkqv apTov [xeTeKafx^avov Tpocfirjs)', 1 Cor. Xi. 20 ff. 3 1 Pet. V. 14. * Eom. xvi. 16, etc. 5 1 Cor. xi. 21. ^ James v. 14, 15 ; compare Mark vi. 13, 7 Acts ii. 42 ; 1 Tim. ii. 1. 8 Col. iv. 16. 9 Eph. V. 19; Col. iii. 16. The passage 1 Tim. iii. 16 is by some supposed to be a fragment of a Christian hymn. Pliny {Epist. x. 97) speaks of Christians singing hymns in alternate strains to Christ as God. Chap. II. Holy Com- munion. Unction. IVorsltip. 28 The A'postolic Church. CiiAr. IT. nolijT)ay>i Com- mission of the Christian Ministry. them utterance ; each brother seems to have exercised the gift whic'li the Spirit gave him for the good of the whole, subject only to the natural laws of fitness and order ; one the gift of prophecy, another the gift of tongues, another the interpretation of tongues \ The most precious of these gifts was prophecy^, the power of speaking under the influence of the Spirit for the building up of the Church. As for the days on which assemblies for worship were held, the Apostle taught with the utmost plainness that the Christian was not bound to esteem one day above another*. Many, no doubt, of the Jewish Christians long continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath ; but the great festival of the Church which was to shew forth the life of the risen Lord has been from the beginning the first day of the week*, the "Lord's DayV' which seems to have been observed by all Chi'istians, whether they also hallowed the Sabbath or not*. It is probable that a Pass- over was also celebrated in the Church, as commemorating the great deliverance from sin and death by the Resurrec- tion of Christ'. As to the usual hour of assembling nothing can be determined, except that the administra- tion of Holy Communion accompanied or followed the evening meal. The Lord, before His Ascension, gave to the Apostles whom He had chosen the charge to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe the laws of Christ ; adding the promise, to be with them always, even unto the end of the world®, to shew His presence by "signs following." To the Apostles especially was it committed to commemorate their Lord by the Breaking of the Bread and the Blessing of the Cup, according to His holy insti- tution*; to them was committed the power of forgiving sins ^^; they were to be — as Christ's apostle expresses it — 1 1 Cor. xii. 1—11. 2 1 Cor. xiv. 1 ff. 3 Gal. iv. 9-11; Col. ii. 10; Rom. xiv. 5. ^ Matt, xxviii. 1; Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2. 5 Apocal. i. 10. 6 See J. A. Hessey, in Smith's Diet, of the Bible, s. v. Lord's Day. 7 The observance of such a fes- tival however is not proved by the well-known passage 1 Cor. v. 7. 8 Matt, xxviii. 18—20; [Mark xvi. 15]. " Luke xxii. 19. 10 Matt, xviii. 18; John xx. 21— 23. The same charge to St Peter, Matt. xvi. 19. The AiiostoUc Church 29 " servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries- of GodV' instruments of Christ's working, channels of divine grace. While yet the Church of Christ consisted of a single community in Jerusalem, all the gifts and offices of the Christian ministry were concentrated in the twelve Apostles. They alone, as it seems, preached and taught; at their feet were laid the offerings which formed the support of the Church, while as yet they had all things common. The charge of "serving tables," at the common meals or dis- tribution of food, becoming excessive, gave occasion to the first committing of a portion of the work of the ministry to others. The apostles desired to be relieved of this part of their burden, that they might give themselves to the ministry of the word and to prayer. The body of the disciples accordingly chose seven, whom the apostles con- secrated to their office by prayer with laying on of hands ^. These seven are commonly, and no doubt rightly, called the Seven Deacons. The giving of alms is so intimately connected with ghostly consolation that we are not sur- prised to see St Stephen a leading teacher in Jerusalem, and St Philip preaching the gospel in Samaria. We soon find the diaconate in the Gentile churches also^; a dea- coness, no doubt especially for ministrations to the half- secluded women of a Greek town, was found in the church at CenchresB'^. In the Philippian church the "bishops and deacons" constitute apparently the whole recognized ministry^. In the first Epistle to Timothy, towards the close of his life, St Paul gives very particular directions as to the qualifications both of deacons and deaconesses, in terms which imply the dignity and importance of the office^ The office of deacon was, in the main, a new one, called forth by the needs of the Christian Church. The office of Presbyter on the other hand seems to have been already existing. in the Jewish polity, in which each synagogue was governed by a body of elders ^ Hence, when presbyters come to be spoken of, there is not a word of explanation ; it is taken for granted that the familiar 1 1 Cor. iv. 1. 2 Acts vi. 1—6. 3 Eom. xii. 7, and perhaps 1 Cor. xii. 28. 4 Eom. xvi. 1. ^ Philip, i. 1. 6 1 Tini. iii. 8 ff. '' Vitringa, de Sijnag, iii. i. c. 1, pp. 613 ff. Ckap. II. Church in Jerusalem. Deacons. Presbyters. 30 The Ajfostolic Church. word will suggest with sutHcient accuracy the nature ol' tlie office. At Jcnisalciu tlie presbyters receive the alms of the Gentile churches^; they are associated with the apostles in the wliole business of the Jerusalem confer- ence'; they are joresent when St James receives St Paul on his last visit to Jerusalem^ And wherever SS. Paul and Barnabas formed a church, there they appointed presbyters*. The body of presbyters was in all cases an essential and central part of the organization of a Chris- tian community. The function of the presbyter was j)ro- bably, in the first instance, like that of the Jewish elders, rather one of government than of "labour in word and doctrine V though such labour brought "double honour" to those who exercised it ; yet it is required that the pres- hytcT should be "apt to teach V' clinging stoutly to the faithful word, that he may be able also to exhort in the sound teaching and to confute gainsayers^; a sufficient proof that teaching and exhortation were ordinarily ex- pected of him. It has been assumed in the preceding sentence that the word "bishop" (eVto-AcoTro?) — a term only used in reference to Gentile Churches, and probably carrying with it Gentile associations — is in the New Testament absolutely synonymous with the word " presbyterl" This may, pcr- haps, be taken for granted ; but it by no means follows-^ r that such a minister as was afterwards designated a " bishop "( ! was not found in the apostolic age. St Paul delegated to ."^ men like Timothy and Titus the same kind of power over particular churches which he himself exercised over all those of his own foundation ; this is evidently the beginning of the office which in the second century was called by a special name derived from eTr/cr/coTro?, and which still bears a similar appellation in almost every European tongue. St James, the Lord's brother, clearly enjoyed in Jerusalem the local preeminence and authority^ which justified later ^ Acts xi. 30. This circumstance has led some to suppose that the presbyters were the successors of the seven of Acts vi. See Kitschl, Altkathol. Kirche, p. 355. 2 Acts XV. 2, 4, 6, 22, 23;xvi.4. 3 Acts xxi. 18. 4 Acts xiv. 23. 6 1 Tun. v. 17. 6 1 Tim. iii. 2. 7 Tit. i. 9. 8 Philip, i. 1 ; Acts xx. 17 com- pared with XX. 28; 1 Pet. v. 1, 2; 1 Tim. iii. 1—13; Titus i. 5—7. See Lightfoot, On Philippians, p. 93 ff. (2d ed.). 9 Acts XV. 13; xxL 18; Gal. i. 19; ii. 12. / The A'postolic Cliurch. 31 writers in calling him bishop of Jerusalem ; and the apo- stolic authority of St John was p rob ably in his latter days so far localized in Ephesus and its neighbourhood that we ra ^ Y^p.11 call him bishop" of that city. We thus recognize in the apostolic age a threefold order ; the general superintendence exercised by the apo- stles themselves — whether over several churches or a par- ticular church — a power afterwards delegated to " faithful men" in the several communities; and the powers of administration and teaching committed to presbyters and deacons in each church. Of other offices or functions men- tioned in the New Testament \ that of the " shepherds," " presidents V' and "leaders^" was seemingly identical with that of the presbyters ; " helps " and " governments " pro- bably belonged to deacons and presbyters respectively; the work of teaching and evangelizing belonged to all the orders ; prophecy was not appropriated in the New more than in the Old Dispensation to any rank or dignity; the wonder-working power, gifts of healing, kinds of tongues were gifts bestowed by the free grace of the Spirit on various members of the community for the building up and completion of the whole. 8. But even in the apostolic age there were spots on the fair face of the Church. First and foremost was the con- stant desire of Jewish converts to enforce on all Christians the observance of the Jewish law, to import into the Christian Church the distinctions of meats and drinks, of new moons and sabbaths, which were to cease when they had subserved their proper end^ And the evils of the " old man " in the Gentile churches were even more conspicuous and more fatal. The Greek spirit of partizan- ship", the tendency to look upon some higher knowledge or "gnosis" as the great end and aim of initiation into the mystery of Christ^ the reluctance of idolaters to forsake the gay festivals which they had frequented in the heathen temples ^ their low standard of morality, especially as re- gards the intercourse of the sexes^; in a word, the desire ^ See especially 1 Cor. xii. 28; Eph. iv. 11; on these passages, Kitschl, Alt-kathoUsch. Kirclie, p. 348 ff. (2nd ed.). ^ UpoL^TafxevoL, Rom. xii. 8. 1 Thess. V. 12; 3 'Hyov/xevoi, Hebr. xii. 7. 4 Col. ii. 22. 5 1 Cor. iii. 3 ff. 6 Ihid. viii. 1 ff.; 1 Tim. vi. 20. 7 1 Cor. X. 14 ff. « Ihid. V. 1 ; vi. 16 ff . Chap. II. Threefold Ministfy. / Sects and Heresies. 32 The Apostolic Church (HAr. II. FaUc ChrUU. Dosithetis. Simon Magus. Menandcr. Kxcomviu- nication. to cuiiiproinise betwccu Christ and demons, suomed as it' it would drown Christianity in paganism. Even the cardinal doctrine of the llesurrection (jf the dead was denied or (jbscnred by some of the would-be wise\ Oriental forms of asceticism'"^ and tendencies to the worsliip of hierarchic^s of supernatural beings, intermediate between Cod and man^ seem early to have found entrance into the Church. The Epistle of St Jude and the Apocalypse of St John reveal to us a time when deceivers were frequent and men ready to be deceived. St John's insistance on the reality of the human body of Christ* seems to indicate that the heresy which regarded it as unreal already existed. False Christs and false prophets were not wanting ; one Dosi- theus, in Samaria, gave himself out to be the prophet whom Moses declared that the Lord would raise up imto His people, and jjreached the divinity and eternal obliga- tion of the Mosaic Law^; Simon Magus came to be recog- nized as "the power of God which is called Great ^" and his subsequent history, however decorated with fable, shews that he was regarded by a sect as a kind of incarnation of the creative power of the Divinity'; Menander too seems to have represented himself as an incarnate deity, and to have persuaded his followers that he could confer upon them the gift of immortality^. Nor are indications wanting that others also cried " Lo, here is Christ," and found some at least to go forth to them. The Lord foretold that tares should be mingled with the wheat in the field of the world, not to be separated by hasty hands; yet He Himself gave the precept that the offending and unrepentant brother must be excluded from the community ^ And this power it was necessary to exert in order to maintain spiritual life and sound doctrine; the evil deed and foul word " eat as doth a canker." The apostles, or the brethren under their direction, excluded 1 1 Cor. XV. 12 ff.; 2 Tim. ii. 18. 2 Kom. xiv. 2, 21 ; 1 Tim. iv. 3. 3 Col. ii. 18 (see Lightfoot's edi- tion, pp. 89 f., 101 f., 110, 181 f.) ; compare 1 Tim. i. 4; Tit. iii. 9. 4 1 John i. 1. ^ Clementine Horn. ii. 24; Ori- gen, Be Principiis, iv. 1 — 17 ; Epi- phanius. Hares. 13. 6 Acts viii. 10 [Lachmann]. 7 Justin Martyr, A2)ol. i. cc. 26, 56; Dial. c. Tryph. c. 120; Ire- ua3us, c. Hccres. i. 23; Eusebius, H. E. II. 13; Josephus, Antiq. xx. 7. 2. 8 Justin, Apol. I. c. 26; Euseb. H. E. iiT. 26; Epiphanius, Hares. 22. '^ Matt, xviii. 17. The Ajyostolic Church. 33 from the communion of the Church those who were guilty of gross immorality ^ those who denied or deformed the faith ^ those who caused divisions among the brethren ^ Yet exclusion from the society of the faithful was only resorted to in the last necessity, and the restoration of the offender was always earnestly desired; if one was overtaken in a transgression, the "spiritual" were to correct and reinstate him tenderly'^; love and comfort were to be bestowed on the penitent^; if men were "judged," it was that they might not perish with the world^; if one was delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, it was that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord^ In a word, the end of excommunication is never merely punishment, but the preservation of the Church and the reformation of the offender. 1 1 Cor. V. 1—5, 9—11. 4 Gal. vi. 1. 2 1 Tim. i. 20; Gal. i. 8, 9; 2 ^2 Cor. ii. 7, 8. John 10, 11. 6 1 Cor. xi. 32. ■^ 2 Thess. iii. 14; Tit. iii. 10; ^ ma, y. 5. Rom. xvi. 17. Chap. n. C. CHAPTER III. THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE CHURCH. Chap. IH. Jewish Persecu- tion. Bar- cochha put down, A.D. 135. Cahim- Roman Persecu- tion. 1. The first external enemy which nascent Christi- anity had to encounter was the malice of the Jew. To the Jews were due the deaths of St Stephen, St James the Apostle, and St James the Just. It was by the Jews that St Paul was evil entreated, almost to the death. Even where they had no political power, their irregular animo- sity was still active \ But the most extensive and cruel of all the persecutions which Christians had to endure at the hands of the Jews was that which befel them when Bar- Cochba^ raised the standard of insurrection against the Romans. Christians of course refused to acknowledge the pretended "Son of the Star^" as Messiah ; their principles forbade them to join in rebellion ; hence they had to endure the wrath of those who regarded them as rene- gades, while the Roman government simply looked upon them as Jews. The rebellion of Bar-cochba was put down, and a new Roman town, ^lia Capitolina^, built on the ruins of Jerusalem by the direction of the emperor Hadrian. When the Jews could practise no violent perse- cution they made amends by the circulation of calumnies^ Their schools of learning at Babylon and Tiberias seem to have been centres of this kind of manufacture. But the great internecine struggle was between the ^ E.g. against Symeon (Euseb. H.E. III. 32); Polycarp {lb. iv. 15, §29). 2 Die Cassius xlviii. 32 ; xlix. 12, 14; Justin M. J vol. i. 31; Euseb. H. E. iv. 6, 8. 3 Numbers xxiv. 17. ^ Deyling, Aeliae Gapit. Origines (Leipzig, 1743). s Justm M. Trypho, c. 17; Ter- tull. ad Nationes, i. 14. The Early Struggles of the Church. 35 Church and the Empire \ The Empire was no doubt greatly more tolerant in matters of religion than the small republics of Greece had been ; it necessarily sanctioned the worship of the gods of the conquered nations which were included within its borders ; but it was not indifferent in matters of religion. The Roman gods were the gods of the state, and the state by no means looked favourably ujoon forms of worship which tended to diminish the reve- rence due to them. The old republic was extremely jea- lous of foreign superstitions, and the principle of the law which forbade the worship of foreign gods not adopted by the state ^ was never allowed to drop wholly out of sight. In a Roman colony we find the complaint brought against the apostles, that they taught customs which it was not lawful for Romans to receive or to observe ^ Pomponia Grsecina was accused before a family tribunal of practising "foreign superstition" in the days of Nero^ Magic was forbidden under severe penalties ; the laws of the Twelve Tables assigned death as the penalty for practising incan- tation ; and probably the miracles of healing attributed to the Christians, especially cures of demoniacs, brought upon them the suspicion of magic. The possession of magical books was also a crime, and the sacred books of Christians were often reputed magicaP. We have the testimony of Tertullian^ that the prin- cipal charges against Christians were those of sacrilege and lese-majesty; and his words imply that to refuse to worship the gods of the Empire was to be guilty of sacri- lege. The punishment of sacrilege was iu the discretion of the proconsul, who might apportion it according to the circumstances of the case and the age and sex of the criminal ; in extreme cases he might sentence offenders to be burnt alive, crucified, or cast to wild beasts I Under 1 On the persecutions generally, see Martini, Persecutiones Christia- norum sub Impp. Rom.; Kopke de Statu et conditione Christianorum sub Impp. Rom. II. Sc€c.; B. Aub6, Hist, des Persecutions. On the laws of the Empire bearing on Christians, see Thiel, ^ Itr'dm. Rechtsanschanung iiber. d. Christl. Religion,m. TUhing. Quartalschrift, 1855, 2; Le Blant, Les Bases Juridiques des Poursuites dirigees contre les Martyrs, in the Comptes Rendus de VAcadem. des Inscrip. Paris, 1868. "^ Cicero De Legibus, ii. 8. 3 Acts xvi. 21. ■* Tacitus, Ann. xiii. 32. ^ Origen c. Celsum, 1. vi. p. 302. ^ Apolog. 10. ^ Digest, xlviii. tit. 13, c. 6. 3—2 Chap. in. Illicit religions. Magic. Sacrilege. 36 The Earhj Stnirffjles of the Church. the head of "lajsa majestas*" was brought every act and every word whicli might tend to impair the authority of the government or to bring it into discredit. It is easy to see how wide a range charges of lese-majesty might have. Probably the rumour that Christians expected ex- isting states soon to pass away and a new kingdom to succeed brouglit them under the notice of the tribunals. But there was nothing of which the Empire was more intolerant than the formation of associations unknown to the law. From the very earliest days of imperial rule attempts were made to check the formation of clubs and societies ^ and severe legislation was directed against them. One who held an unlawful meeting was liable to the same pains and penalties as one who seized a public jjlace by armed force; that is, to the penalties of lese-majesty. Some exceptions were however made ; religious meetings were not forbidden, provided that they were so conducted as not to offend against the laws relating to illicit collegia; and benefit-societies consisting of poor people (tenuiores) and slaves, were permitted in Rome to meet and make their payments to the common fund once a month. A rescript of Septimius Severus extended this provision to all Italy and the provinces I Christian congregations may sometimes have received legal recognition as benefit-clubs, for they did undoubtedly contribute at their meetings to a common fund for the purpose of mutual succour, though they could scarcely have complied with the condition of meeting only once a month. But, on the whole, the Church was clearly regarded as a secret society of a very dan- gerous kind, having occult signs and pass-words, and bound together in a confederation which extended over the whole empire. That Christians formed unlawful asso- ciations is the first charge brought against them by Celsus*, and Tertullian^ a Christian advocate, scarcely attempts to refute it. The Roman statesman saw in the Christian Church either the ephemeral product of fanatical 1 Digest, xlvih. tit. 4, 2 Sueton. Julius, 42; August. 32. On the whole subject, see Momm- sen De Collegiis et Sodaliciis Ro- manorum. 3 Digest, xlvii. tit. 22. On burial-clubs, which were the most common form of benefit-club, see Bro^vnilow and Noithcote, Roma Sotteranea, i. 64 — 109 (2nd ed.). ^ Origen c. Ccls. lib. i. p. 4. s Apol. 39 ; cf. De Jejuniis, c. 13. The Early Struggles of the Church. 37 folly and delusion, or a slinking gang of conspirators, a "lucifiiga natio," which the state must needs put down, were it only for its own safety. The secrecy of their meetings in time of persecution was a main cause of the calumnies which were circulated against them. The Empire was full of mysteries and secret orgies, yet against none do we find such vile ac- cusations brought as those which were reiterated against the Christians. They were atheists ^ they indulged in Thyestean banquets, they revelled in horrible incest"^; they worshipped a monster with an ass's head I That they should be called atheists was perhaps not altogether unnatural ; those who forsook the temples of the gods and worshipped no deity graven by art and man's device were to the heathen populace of course atheists. Their nightly assemblies for the feast of love and the Holy Communion, and a few mystical words relating to the Agape, the com- memoration of the death of Christ, and the participation of His Flesh and Blood, grossly misunderstood, gave rise probably to the horrible charges of murder, strange food, and illicit love. Such rumours as these caused men like Tacitus to regard the Church of Christ, the only society in the empire in which a pure and noble morality was taught, as a loathsome superstition*. It was thought to bring down the wrath of the gods on the state. If an earth- quake shook a city or a river overflowed its banks, or the seasons were unpropitious, the cry arose, 'To the lions with the Christians ! ' ^ And it must not be forgotten that all those who lived by pagan worship found their occupa- tion threatened ; the makers of silver shrines of the Ephe- sian Artemis were but specimens of a class found wherever a temple existed. And not only those whose material interests were in danger, but paganism in general found its old mythology, its civic feeling, its frank enjoyment of the life of this world, called in question by a sect which 1 Arnobius, vi. 1. ^ Minucius Felix, c. 9. 3 TertuU. Apol. c. 18. On the burlesque-crucifix with an ass's head, see Garrucci, II Crocifisso Graffito (Rome, 1857); H. P. Liddon, Bam])ton Led., p. 397; E. St J. Tyrwhitt in Smith and Cheatham's Diet, of Chr. Antiq. p. 516. See also Dr Pusey's notes on the pas- sage in Tertullian in the Oxford Library of the Fathers. ^ "Exitiabilis superstitio." An- nals, XV. 44. 5 Tertullian, Apol. c. 40. Chap. III. Calumnies against Chris- tians. Misfor- tunes. Pagan Worship. Pagan Life. 38 The Earlif Struc/gles of the Church. Chap. III. The Empire persecutes. Claudius. Nero. Rome burnt, A.D. 64. Domitian, A.D. Sl- oe. preached humility and sclt-renunciation, otiering a distant Heaven in return for the pleasures of the present life. Many Christians felt it perilous to the soul to swear the soldier's oath or to undertake municipal offices \ True, they were submissive to lawful authority, but the general suspicion against them was so strong, that their pnjfessions of allegiance were thought to savour more of policy than of truth. The Empire could perhaps scarcely be expected to tolerate in the midst of it such a society. It did in fact persecute the rising sect with a very vigorous animosity, yet not steadily or continuously, but according to the views of various emperors or even of provincial governors. What was at first popular hatred of an obscure sect be- came in less than three centuries an organised effort of the pagan power to put down its growing rival. When Suetonius'"^ tells us that Claudius expelled from Rome "the Jews who were making constant uproar with one Chrestus as a ringleader," he probably refers to the fact that the preaching of Christ set the Jews' quarter at Rome in a commotion. So far however Christianity appears as a Jewish sect, not subject to direct persecution. It is under Nero that the Christians first appear as suffer- ing torture and death, as a sect everywhere spoken against. When Rome was burnt, and rumour assigned the guilt of the deed to Nero himself, he sought to turn the popular rage from himself to the Christians, already the objects of the most unreasonable suspicions. They were sewed up in hides of wild beasts and torn by dogs; they were crucified ; they were wrapped in tar-cloth and set on fire. Their "hatred of the human race" was held enough to convict them of this incendiarism, or at all events to justify their punishment ^ The tendency of the Roman populace to wreak on the Christians the wrath they felt at some civic or national misfortune appears here for the first time. Yet for some time after Nero we hear no more of perse- cution of Christians. Even Domitian, whom Tertullian* 1 Tertullian, De Pallio, 5; De Cor. Mint. 11; Apolog. 38, 42; Ruinart, Acta Sincera, p. 299 {2nd ed.). 2 Claudius, c. 25. 2 Tacitus, Ann. xv. 44. But see C. Merivale, Romans under the Em- pire, c. 54. ^ Apolog. c. 5. The Early Struggles of the Church. 39 calls a "chip of Nero for cruelty/' does not appear to have treated Christians with much greater cruelty than the rest of his subjects. According to some authorities^ it was in this reign that the apostle John w^as immersed in boiling oil uninjured and banished to Patmos. That a Flavins Clemens was executed by order of Domitian is an historical fact'^, but we have no authority for identifying him with Clemens the bishop of the Roman Church. In fact, in the authentic records of Domitian's reign, the charge of Christianity is nowhere put forward distinctly as a reason for the executions ordered by the tyrant, though the "atheism" and "superstition" attributed to some of his victims may very possibly be heathen distortions of their Christianity. It is of course only too probable that Christians suffered from outbreaks of popular fury, both in Rome and in the provinces, but we meet with no distinct mention of any action of the state against them until the time of Trajan. It was to him that Pliny the younger, much perplexed at the number of Christians discovered in his government of Bithjoiia, wrote his famous letter ^ Was he — he asked the emperor — to punish Christians as such, even if they were guilty of no offence against public law or morality ? He himself held that it was his duty to punish those who admitted themselves Christians, and could not be frightened into recanting ; for (he said), whatever their superstition might be, they deserved punishment for their obstinacy. Those who consented to worship the gods and the statue of the emperor in a form prescribed by himself, and to curse Christ, he at once dismissed. After putting two deaconesses to the torture, he discovered nothing but a perverse and extravagant superstition. Trajan^ approved in general Pliny's proceedings, and laid down for his guidance the principle, that no search should be made for Christians, but that those who were brought to the bar should be punished with death, unless they proved their paganism by sacrificing to the gods. Anonymous accusations were to be altogether disregarded. ^ Trajan, A.D. 98- 117. 1 Tertullian, De Prcescript. c. 36 ; Euseb. H. E. iii. 18. 2 Suetonius, Domitian, c. 15; Dio Cassius [Epit, Xiphilini], Lxvii. 14; Euseb. Chron. Olymp. 218; Jerome, Epist. 96 [al. 27]. 3 Epist. X. 96 [al. 97]. 4 Plinii, Epist. x. 97 [al. 98]. Compare Tertullian, Apolog. c. 2. Chap. III. Trajan's Rescript, A.D. 111. 40 The Earhj Strur/g/es of the Church. Chap. III. Death of Syvieoii, A.D. 108, and I(jna- this, A.n. lOTorllG? Edict of Hadrian. Antoninus Pius, A.D. 138—161. Justin^s Martyr- dom, A.D. 148? Poly- carp's, A.D. 155? Trajau carefully limited his decision to the particular case and locality. Still, the emperor's rescrii)t furnished a fatal precedent; henceforth, whenever the magistrates were disposed to persecute Christians, there seems to have been no difficulty in finding law against them*. Under Trajan too we hear the ominous cry, "The Christians Uj the lions!" There was no security against the rage of Jews or heathen. The aged Symeon, bishop of Jerusalem, is said to have been crucified to gratify the former '^ ; the fury of the populace of Antioch caused Ignatius to be torn by lions in the Coliseum, as a spectacle for the latter I When Christianity itself was recognised as a crime, informers were not wanting, so that even when the em- perors were not active persecutors, Christians still suffered from the unreasonable hatred of their pagan neighbours. As the mob of the towns fell into the habit of shouting for the blood of Christians for their own amusement or as an offering to the gods in time of public calamity, Hadrian issued an edict against these riots^, and required that in all cases proceedings against the Christians should be con- ducted with the due forms of law. The excellent Anto- ninus Pius is not commonly regarded as a persecutor, and has the reputation of a kind and just ruler both in pagan and Christian authorities^ Yet it is in the highest degree probable that it was in his reign that Justin" gained the title of "martyr" in Rome itself, being put to death by Urbicus, the prefect of the city, mainly in consequence of the hostility of one Crescens, a Cynic, whom he had denounced as a charlatan ; and that in his reign also Polycarp', the venerable bishop of Smyrna, was brought to 1 See Justin Martyr, ApoL i. 2 — 4, and Apol. ii. 2 Eusebius, H. E. in. 32. 3 lb. III. 36. On the Acts of the Martyrdom of Ignatius (Euinart, Acta Sinrcra, p. 7 &.; Ignatii et Polycarpi Epistt., Martyria, ed. Ziihii) see Zahn, Ignatius v. Antio- chien, pp. 2 — 56. 4 Justin Martyr, Apol. i. c. 68; Eusebius H. E. iv. 8 and 26. ^ The rescript irpbs rb kolvov ttjs Aaias, however, attributed to Anto- ninus by Justin (w. s.) and to Au- relius by Eusebius (H. E. iv. 8 and 26) is of very doubtful genuineness. See Keim in Theolog. Jahrbuch. 1856, pt. 3. ^ F. J, A. Hort in Journal of Philology (Cambridge), iii. 155 ff. Justin's death is commonly placed in the reign of M. Aurelius, on the authority of Eusebius (H. E. iv. 16), about A.D. 165. ^ Waddington, Pastes des Pro- vinces Asiatiques, i. 219 ; Zahn on Polycarpi Mart. c. 21, p. 163 ff. This also is attributed to the reign The Early Htrugyles of tJte Churoli. 41 the Htako in his own city. The successor of Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, the throned Stoic, disliked religious ex- citement in general^ and the enthusiasm of the Christians in particular; the wise man should, he thought, endure with patience the thought of extinction after death, and pass out of life undemonstratively^ However little belief he had in the old Roman religion, he thought it for the good of the state that it should be maintained. The proceedings of pnjvincial governors against the Chris- tians were at least unhindered, if they were not actually prompted and encouraged by the emperor. A terrible persecution befel the Churches of Lyons and Vienne ; in this case, the fury of the populace appears to have been unchecked by the magistrates, and even illegal methods of proceeding were permitted. It was in this storm that the venerable bishcjp P(jthinus of Lyons died. Still, in spite of losses by death and desertion, a remnant was left, and these told their own pathetic story in a letter to the (Jhurches of Asia and Phrygia". To this reign is assigned the miracle of the "Thundering Legion," composed partly of Christians, who in the campaign against the Marcomanni and Quadi are said to have procured rain by their prayers when the imperial army was suffering the last extremity of thirsf*. The brutal Commodus, the son of the philoso- pher, is said to have been influenced by his mistress Marcia in favour of Christianity, which accordingly made way among tli(; higher classes in Rome ; yet it was under him that ApoUunius, a man of high station and dis- tinguished culture, was put to death, together with the slave his accuser^ 'J'he reign of Septimius Severus, in other respects also an important epoch, changed the relation of the state to of M. Aurelius (Euseb. //. E. iv. 15), about A.D. 107—108. ' " Si quis alicinidfcccrit (juo loves liominum uniiiii Kuper.stitionc nu- minis tencrentur, Divus Marciis hujuHmodi homines in insulam relcgari rescripsit." Digest, xlviii. tit. v.), c. 30. 2 Meditat. XI. 3. On the relation of M. Aurelius to Christianity, see F. D. Maurice, rkilusopJnj, i. 298 ff. (ed. 1873). 3 Eusob. //. E. V. 1—3. * TertuUian, ApoJog. c. 5 ; ad Scnpulam, c. 4; Euseb. H. E. v. 5; Orosius, Histnria, vii. 15 ; Dio Cas- sius [Epit. Xiphiiini], lxxi. 8; Ju- lius Capitolinus, Marc. Anton, c. 24; See Moshcirn, Dc Rebus ante Con- stant., p. 248; Martigny, Diet, des Antiq. Chret. s. v. 'Legio Fulmi- natrix.' 5 Euseb. //. E. v. 21. Chap. III. Marcus Aurelius. A.D. 161 — 180. Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne, A.D. 177. The Thun- dering Legion, A.D. 174. Commo- dus, A.D. 180—192. Septimius Severus, A.D. 193— 211. 42 The Early Striigcjles of the Ghurck. Chap. ITI. About A.D. 203. Elagaba- lus, A.D. 218—222. Alexander Severus, A.D. 222— 235. Christianity. He was an African, his wife Julia Donina a Syrian, and the emperors of their race, Caracalla, Elagabahis, and Alexander Sevcrus, were much more oriental than Roman \ Men such as these had not the same feeling in ftivc^ir of the Roman state-religion which had so strongly influenced the Antonines ; they rather regarded with interest strange forms of belief and worship. Yet Septimius is reckoned among the persecutors; he referred all cases of holding unlawful assemblies to the judgment of the prefect of the city^ and forbade with equal sternness conversions to Christianity and to Judaism^; confiscation, torture, and death befel many Christians. In Alexandria and proconsular Africa in particular the persecution was so severe, that men thought the times of Antichrist nigh at. hand*. Leonides the father of Origen^, Potamiaena with her mother Marcella, and the soldier Basilides who was her guard "^j were put to death in this persecution; still more famous martyrs of this epoch are the young matrons Perpetua and Felicitas' of Carthage ; and the twelve martyrs of Scillite^, in Africa, who bore their testimony before the proconsul Viofellius Saturninus. Elacjabalus was himself a dilettante in relio:ion, and tolerated both the Jewish and the Chris- tian fraternities, intending however in the end to permit in Rome no worship but that of Elagabalus^ The emperor Alexander Severus, casting about for objects of veneration in a faithless time, formed a kind of private chajDel, in which, with Abraham, Orpheus, and Apollonius of Tyana, he set up a bust of Christ **'; nay, he is said even to have contemplated building a temple to his honour, and adojDting Christ among the gods of Rome". His mother, Julia Mamma^a, when staying at Antioch, summoned to her presence the great Origen, of whose fame she had heard ^^ Such an emperor was not likely to be an active persecutor; he practically recognized the right of the Christians to exist and worship in the Empire. The laws ^ A. Eeville, in RSvue des Deux ^ Kuinart, Acta Sincera, p. 92 ff. Mondes, Oct. 1, 1865, pp. 622 ff. 2 Digest, lib. i. tit. 12, c. 14. 3 Spartianus, Severus, c. 17. 4 Euseb. H. E. vi. 7. 5 Ibid. VI. 1. 6 Ibid. VI. 5. 29. 8 lb. p. 86 £f. ^ Lampridius, Heliogal. c. 3. "^^ Lampridius, Alex. Severus, c. 11 lb. c. 43. 12 Euseb. B. E. vi. 21. >. The Early Struggles of the Church. 43 against Christians were not repealed, but in spite of the existence of these laws, there was for some years no persecution, except a transitory one under Maximin\ who was ready to persecute whatever his predecessor had favoured ; one emperor, Philip the Arabian, is even said to have been a Christian ^ Christianity was now in the popular estimation no longer the foul superstition that it once had been ; it had attracted many of the wealthy and educated class ■^; it had come to be regarded as a religion whose claims must at least be considered ; there was no intrinsic reason why it should not take an equal rank with other permitted religions. With Decius came again a change. By this time, the growth of the Christian Church in numbers and influence had become so manifest, that Romans began to see the very existence of Paganism threatened, while at the same time Christianity had lost something of its pristine purity and vigour ; the world had entered the Church ^ Perse- cutions from this time are no longer mere outbreaks of popular fur}^, but direct consequences of the action of the state. The earlier persecutions had been partial, and the victims comparatively few^; now, persecution was ex- tended systematically to the whole Empire, and a strenuous effort was made to exterminate Christianity. At the very beginning of his reign, Decius issued an edict, command- ing governors of provinces under the severest penalties to put in force every means of terrifying the Christians and bringing them back to the old religion ^ All Christians were to sacrifice to the gods before a certain day, or be handed over to torture ; the bishops in particular were marked out for death. Many were the instances of Chris- tian heroism in this pitiless storm, but many fell away and "lapsed"' outwardly at least into heathenism. The per- secution did not cease even with the death of Decius, for public misfortunes roused the fury of the city mobs 1 Euseb. H. E. vi. 28 ; Fiimilianto Cyprian, Cypriani Epist. 75, c. 10. 2 Euseb. if. E. VI. 34; Jerome, Cliron. an. 246. 3 Origen, c. Cels. iii, 8, p. 117. * Cyprian, De Lapsis, 6. ^ Origen contra CeUum, in. 8, p. 116. ^ Gregory of Nyssa, Vita Greg. Thaumat. {Opera, iii. 567. ed. Paris, 1638). 7 Smith and Cheetham's Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s. vv. 'Lapsi,' 'Li- bem.' Chap. III. Maximin, A.D. 235— 238. Philip tlie Arabian^ A.D. 244— 249. Decius, A.D. 249— 251. Edict of Decius, A.D. 250. Gallus, A.D. 251- 253. 44 The Early Straggles of the Church. Chap. III. Valerian, A.D. 253— 260. A.D. 258-9. Galliemts, A.D. 260 — 268. Diocle- tian, A.D. 284—305. t against the stiff-necked peojile who would not offer prcj- pitiatory sacrifices to the tutelary gods of the state. Among the victims of the Decian period were Fabian, bishoj) of Rome, Babylas of Antioch, and Alexander of Jerusalem \ In this time of distress, the legend says^ the "Seven Sleepers" began their long slumber at Ephesus; thoy roused themselves under Theodosius II. to see the despised Cross on every coign of vantage. After a short period of rest, persecution was renewed under Valerian, who directed his attack principally against the bishops, priests, and deacons of the Church, and against senators, knights, and other persons of rank who had joined the hated community ^ thinking probably that if the more distinguished persons were induced to forsake Christ, the multitude would follow of its own accord. In this period of oppression fall the deaths of Sixtus, bishop of Rome, wdth Laurence his deacon", of Cyprian^ at Carthage, and of Fructuosus^ at Tarragona. With the sole rule of Gallienus came remission ; he put a stop to the existing persecu- tions, and issued a letter' to the bishops, granting them protection, and desiring the pagan authorities to give them back their churches and cemeteries. This implies that the Christian communities were regarded, for the time, as at least lawful associations. Toleration continued under Claudius; Aurelian's preparations for a renewal of persecution were cut short by his death ; nor was the Church molested by the government in the first nineteen years of Diocletian. In this period of rest the Church spread abroad greatly ; Christians were entrusted with the government of provinces, and even professed their religion openly in the very palace of the emperorl This serenity was soon to be broken by the most severe storm that Christianity had to encounter. Diocletian^ the son of a Dalmatian freedman, was 1 Euseb. H. E. vi. 39—42; Cy- prian, De Lapsis, and bis Letters of tbis period. 2 First in Gregory of Tours, De Gloria Martyrwn, i. 95. Compare the story of Epimenides in Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 52. 3 Euseb. H. E. vii. 10, 11 ; Cy- prian, Epist. 80. ^ Prudentius, Peristeph.llymn 2. ^ Life of Cyprian by Pontius, and Acta Procoiisularia in Kuinart, p. 205 ff. 6 Kuinart, p. 219 ff. 7 Euseb. H. E. vii. 13. 8 Ibid. VIII. 1. 9 This Emperor's life has been written by A. Vogel, Der Kaiser^ The Early Struggles of the Church. 45 one of the ablest rulers that ever mounted the imperial throne. His leading thought was to organize the unwieldly empire. To this end, he associated with himself (a.d. 285) Maximian as a colleague in the Empire, and after- wards (a.d. 293) two others, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, in a somewhat subordinate position, with the title of " Caesars " ; the superior rulers bore the name of " Augusti". Diocletian's love for the old religion, or per- haps his policy, appears in his taking the name of Jovius, while he gave his colleague that of Herculius, as if in- voking Jove and Hercules for the protection of the Empire. If the legend may be trusted, Maximianus Herculius soon used his power against the Christians ; two years after he became a ruler he is said to have caused the whole of the Theban legion, with their tribune Mauritius, to be put to death in cold blood near Martigny in Switzerland, because they refused to act against the Christians \ Diocletian however was not disposed to persecute the Church; on the contrary, in the early part of his reign many Christians had positions of trust about his person ; but the Caesar Galerius, who was his son-in-law, a burly ruffian imbued with heathen superstition^, became the tool of a party which was eager for the suppression of Christianity as the only means of preserving Paganism. Diocletian shrank from a struggle the horrors of which he clearly foresaw^, but at last with great reluctance yielded to the urgency of his colleague, and assented to decided measures for the suppression of the faith of Christ. Three edicts appeared in rapid succession in the year 303, and a fourth in the following year, which in effect delivered Biokletian; Th. Bernhard, Dio- cletian in s. Verhaltniss zu d. Chris- ten; Hunziker, Zur Rrgiening u. Christenverfolgung d. K. Dioclet. ; A, J. Mason, The Persecution oj Diocletian (Camb. 1876) ; see also Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantins; M. Kitter De Diocletiano. On the dates of Diocletian's Edicts, see Th. Mommsen in the Transactions of the Berlin Academie der Wis- senschaften, 1860, pp. 339 —447. ^ This story appears first in a narrative bearing the name of Eucherius, bishop of Lyons about 430 (Euinart, Acta Mart. p. 271 &.), but possibly the work of a later Eucherius (Eettberg, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, i. 94). The genuine- ness of the account is defended by G. Hickes, Thebaean Legion no Fable; J. De Lisle, Defense de la verite de la Leg. Theb.; J.Friedrich, K.-G. Deutschlands, p. 101 ff. ; con- troverted by J. Dubordieu, Diss. Grit, sur le Martyre de la Leg. Theb., and Eettberg, u. s. 2 Lactantius, De Mort. Persec. c. 10. 2 Lactantius u. s. c. 11. CHAP.ni. The Theban Legion, A.D. 287. Edicts against Ghris- tians, A.D. 303. 4G The Early Struggles of iJie Church. over the unfortunate Christians to the fanaticism of mobs and the arbitrary will of ])rovincial governors. By the first edict^ assemblies of Christians were forbidden ; their churches and sacred books were ordered to be destroyed and Churcli property to be confiscated ; those who refused to renounce their faith were to be deprived of all civil rights and dignities; accusations against Christians w^ere to be entertained, and torture might be applied to compel them to recant ; Christian slaves, so long as they remained Christian, could not be manumitted. The disturbances which arose in carrying out this edict occasioned still further measures of severity. The second edict^ directed that all bishops and clergy should be imprisoned. The third^, issued on the twentieth anniversary {vicennalia) of Diocletian's accession, was a kind of grim jest. It bore the form of an amnesty, and ordered the imprisoned clergy to be set at liberty, if they would but consent to sacrifice to the gods ; if they refused this beneficence, they were to be subjected to torture. Under these edicts, persecution, though no doubt varying much in intensity in different provinces, became severe and general. Many met death with wonderful constancy; old men, tender women, even young children became martyrs, often under circumstances of great horror ; but many denied the faith, and many — stigmatised as traditores — delivered up the sacred books to save themselves. Still, it was felt that the end of all these horrors was not attained, and in 304 a fourth edict* was published, which simply offered Christians the choice between death and sacrifice. Wherever heathen governors and heathen mobs were unfriendly to Christians, the work of torture and death went vigorously on. The greatest weight of this persecution fell on that eastern portion of the empire which was under the immediate rule of Diocletian and Galerius ; even their own wives, who are said to have favoured Christianity, were compelled to sacrifice, and court officials were not spared. Diocletian and Maximian abdicated in the year 305, but the work of exterminating the Christians went vigorously on under Galerius and his colleagues. The western provinces, however, Gaul, Diocletian and Maxi- 1 Eusebius, JiZ". £. viii, 2; Lac- tantius, De Mort. Persec. c. 13. 2 Eusebius, H. E. viii. 6, § 8. 3 lb. § 10. ^ Euseb. De Mart. Palcest. c. 3. The Early Struggles of the Church. 47 Spain, and Britain, enjoyed comparative immunity under Constantius Chlorus\ and afterwards under his son Con- stantine, who was elevated to the rank of Caesar by the acclamation of the soldiery on the death of his father at York. For some eight years the Christians had to endure every kind of maltreatment and death. At last even Galerius was satisfied that it was impossible to annihilate Christianity and give to the gods of Rome their old supremacy. Sick and weary, he consented to put a stop to the massacres which distracted the Empire, and issued from Nicomedia, in conjunction with Constantino and Licinius, an edict ^ in which Christianity is recognized as an existing fact. The terms of this edict, which forms one of the most important epochs in the history of the Church, are much to be observed. The rulers say in their preamble, that they had been anxious to bring back to a good mind those Christians who had deserted the old customs of their forefathers; when, however, they saw that the result had been that many ceased to worship the God of the Christians without returning to the due service of their country's gods, they thought it most accordant with their well-known clemency and tolerance again to permit Christians to meet for worship, so that they did nothing contrary to the peace and good order of the state. They felt sure that the Christians, being now hurt by no persecution, would readily acknowledge the duty of pray- ing to their ovm God for the emperors and the state, that the Empire might maintain itself intact, and themselves live a peaceable life in their own homes. Christianity was thus admitted to be a religio licita. For nearly three centuries it had been in actual existence; it seemed best, now that it could no longer be treated as an innovation, which was to an antique Roman much the same as an impiety, to attempt to adopt the God of the Christians among those who watched over the well-being of Rome. This edict did not wholly put a stop to persecution in ^ Lactantius, Be Mort. Pers. cc. 15, 16. 2 Lactantius De Mort. Persec. c. 34; Euseb. H. E. viii. 17. See Keim, Die Rom. Toleranzedicte, u. s. w., in Theolog. Jahrbuch, 1852, pt. 2. Chap. III. Consfan- tineCcesar, A.D. 306. Edict of Tolera- tion, April, A.D. 311. The Early Struggles of the Church. the Asiatic provinces. But in the year 312 Constantine became master of the whole western empire by his victory over Maxentius, the ruler of Italy, at the Milvian bridge. It was on his way to this decisive battle that he saw the sign in the heavens (^), afterwards called the Labanim*, with the words tovtw vUa. Maximin, the other great opponent of Christianity, was not put down until the folLnving year. The result of the defeat of Maxentius was an edict published at Milan by Constantine and Licinius^ perhaps the most important ever issued by imperial authority. In this the emperors give full liberty to all their subjects of adopting any form of worship by which the suj^reme Divinity in the heavens may be propitiated ; to Christians in particular, they grant absolute freedom of worship, without any of the limiting conditions to which they had been subjected by previous edicts; the churches were to be restored to their original owners without money or price, whether they had been sold on their confiscation, or granted freely to some favoured person, the emperors undertaking to reimburse those whose property was thus taken away. The same law applied to other property which had belonged to Christian corporations. All these provisions the emperors enjoined their officials to put in force with all completeness and despatch. What were the conditions which previously limited the freedom of Christians is not absolutely certain, but it is probable that the edict of 311, which conferred freedom of worship on existing bodies of Christians, did not give them the liberty of making converts ; if so, this restriction was removed. When the emperors give full liberty to every form of worship " whereby the Divinity in heaven may be propitiated," they seem still to retain the pov/er of putting down any foul and impious orgies which they judged likely rather to offend than to propitiate the supreme deity. But the essential thing is, that the edict frankly recognized the " corpus Christianorum," the great 1 Lactantius, Be Mort. Pers. c. 44. speaks of this as occurring in a dream; Eusebius { Fita Co7istantini, I. 27 ff.) describes it, on the autho- rity of the Emperor himself, as an actual appearance at midday in the heavens. See E. Venables in Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s. v. 2 Euseb. H. E. X. 5] Lactantiup, De Mort, Persec. c. 48. The Early Struggles of the Church 49 orgauized body of Christians which had sjoread itself over the Empire. It is thus indicated that the poHcy of the state had undergone a complete revolution. The almost despairing effort of Diocletian and Galerius had been to put do\vn a force which, they thought, tended to dissolve the social coherence of the Empire at a time when it was so sorely in need of unity ; in the edict of Constantine and Licinius we see that this attempt is abandoned. The persecutions were reckoned, before the end of the fourth century, to be ten in number, so as to correspond to the ten plagues of Egypt. The persecutions according to this account were those under Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Maximin, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, Diocletian. The artificial and falla- cious character of this enumeration was long ago pointed out by Augustine \ It is impossible to determine with certainty the number of those who suffered. Origen (as we have seen) thought it inconsiderable up to his own time, though at a still earlier date Irenseus"^ speaks of the multitude of martyrs who had passed from earth to God; and in the persecutions under Decius and Diocletian at any rate we can scarcely doubt that very many bore torture and death for the faith of Christ. It was only natural that events terrible in themselves and deeply affecting a great community should be repeated in succeeding generations with much unconscious ex- aggeration. True and accurate accounts, even notarial re- cords, of many martyrdoms were no doubt preserved, but round these clustered a large number of legends which either arose from the excited imagination of a troublous time or were composed as works of edification rather than of history. Additional infamy was in this way heaped upon the persecutors and additional glory bestowed ujDon the martyrs. Augustine^ lamented the scarcity of genuine Acts which might be read in the services. 2. While the Church was suffering from the opposition of the civil government and the passions of the mob, it was also attacked by the literary champions of heathen- ^ De Civ. Dei, xviii. 52. ^ Hceres. iv. 33, 9. See on the whole subject H. Dodwell, Disser- C. tationes Cyprianicce, p. 56 flf. ; Eni- nart, Acta Sincera, Prsef. § ii. 3 Sermo 315, c. 1. Chap. III. Number of Persecu- tions. Number of Martyrs. Legends. The In- tellec- tual Attack. The Early Strucff/les of the ChurcJi. Chap. III. > ^ ' lAteranj oppo- nents. Fran to, liviuH A.L). 10(). Lucian, died about A.u. 200. C els us, wrote about A.D. 170. dom. The dislike and suspicion which educated heathen felt for Christianity found definite expression in various writings. The lost oration of Fronto seems to have been an advocate's defence, on legal grounds, of the proceedings against them under Marcus Aurelius. Lucian's light raillery, which found in the Greek mythology sub- jects for his wit and sarcastic humour, was also turned against Christianity. He does not merely echo the popular prejudice; it is evident from his parody that he had some real knowledge of the manners and customs of Christians, but he only regards the church as one of the varied outgrowths of human folly and superstition. His history of Peregrinus Proteus was no doubt in- tended, at least in part, to ridicule tlie supposed cre- dulity of Christians which made them an easy prey to a clever knave; but it shews incidentally how a hea- then noticed, without admiring, their brotherly love, their courage in facing death, their belief in immortality. Very different from the light mockery of Lucian is the eager hatred of his contemporary Celsus, a man of keen and vigorous intellect who had really studied, though without sympathy or insight, both Christianity and Judaism. Scepticism has hardly discovered an objection to Christianity which is not contained in some shape or other in the work of Celsus^ : modern ingenuity has done little more than elaborate the arguments of the ancient dialectician. The credibility of the Gospel history in general, the reality of the Incarnation and the Resurrec- tion, the belief in the Atonement, the very idea of a special revelation of God, are attacked with no mean ability. He utterly repudiates the view of nature in which man appears as the final cause of the world and of all things that are therein, and attempts to set Greek philosophy and religion above the teaching of Christianity, which he accuses of having borrowed — and spoiled — many of the doctrines of Plato ; further, he reproaches Christians with 1 He called Ms book aXrjdrjs \6yos. It is known to us only from the reply of Origen, but as Origen quotes his adversary's words and replies point by point, we may gather the original work of Celsus from his pages, just as we may ga- ther "Charity Maintained" from the work of Chillingworth. See C. R. Jachmann, De Gelso disseruit et fragmenta Libri contra Chris- tianos collegit (Konigsberg, 1836); and Th. Keim, CeUus's Wahrcs Wort (Ziirich, 1873). The Early Struggles of the Church. 51 their gross, corporeal conception — as he thinks it — of God and things divine. At the same time, he attempts to set the heathen polytheism and idolatry in a more attractive light, and contends that they were not incompatible with the worship of one supreme deity. Altogether, probably no more vigorous assailant than Celsus has ever attacked Christianity. The attack of so skilful a polemic is a sufficient proof that Christianity was regarded as an im- portant phenomenon. However men might assume con- tempt for it, when a man like Celsus, of high ability, cultivation, and learning, thought it worth while to give it so careful an examination, it had certainly gained at- tention beyond the ranks of slaves and artizans. ^ The remarkable work of Philostratus, the "Life of Apollonius of Tyana"^ may also be considered as a part of the polemic against Christianity, though of a very different kind from the uncompromising attack of Celsus. Apollonius was a real person, who attained some fame as a magician in the latter part of the first century, but the "Life", written in the early years of the third, is probably so highly idealized as to be little more than a romance with a purpose. It belongs to the syncretistic age of Septimius Severus, when the view began to prevail that the wise man should choose what was best and noblest from all religions, without venturing to assert that any one was absolutely true. Hence Philostratus, who was evidently acquainted with the Gospel history, attempts to set up Apollonius as a kind of Neo-Pythagorean leader and type : he attributes to him the nobleness, the un- selfish devotion, the readiness to encounter persecution and death, which are seen in the greatest heroes. He contends, not that Christianity is false, but that Pytha- gorism deserves to be set above it as a practical reli- gious power. Philosophy, in truth, took at this time a more religious direction'^ and was not wholly disinclined to satisfy its aspirations from a system which had so high claims to be a divine revelation as Christianity. ^ Translated into English by Philostrate; J. E. Mozley in Smith Blount, 1680, and by Berwick, 1809. and Wace's Diet, of Chr. Biog. i. F. C. Baur has treated this subject 135. fully in his AjwUoniiis von Tijana ^ Zeller, Philosophie der Griechen, und CJu'istu!^. See also A. Chas- iii. 2, 490. sang, Apnllonhis de Tijane par 4—2 Chap. ni. Philostra- tus, died about A.D. 230. Apollonius of Tynna, died about A.D. 96. Oli The Early Struf/r/les of the Church CuAP. HI. ror})hyn/, A.n. 2;^3— But the man whom the early Christians singled out as their most implacable enemy, their bitterest opponent, was the Neo-Platonist Porjihyry. His fifteen books against the Christians were the most famous production of heathen polemics in the third century, and were thought worthy of refutation by such men as Methodius of Tyre, Eusebius of Cifcsarea, and ApoUinaris of Laodicea. The refutations have perished, and but a few fragments^ remain of the work of Porj^hyry. To judge from these fragments, Porphyry made his principal attack on the Scrij)tures, attempting to show that they were unworthy of the divine inspiration attributed to them. He examined the book of the prophet Daniel, contending that it was not written in the sixth century before Christ, but by a later writer who lived under Antiochus Epiphanes, and that it was in fact not prophecy, but history'^; he found great fault with such expositors as Origen, who shrouded the plain facts of Israelitish history in a veil of allegory^; he fastened on the dispute between St Peter and St Paul in Galatia, as an event discreditable to the heads of the community*; and he found inconsistencies in the Gospel history itself^. To him also appear to be due some questions which have frequently re-appeared in controversy, such as : Why did Christians reject sacrifice, which God Himself had institu- ted in the Old Covenant ? Yet, with all his keen dialectic against portions of the Christian scheme. Porphyry was probably not without admiration for the character of Christ himself. The Neo- Platonists were not averse to the thought of a " dwelling of God among men®"; what they disputed was, the claim of Christ Jesus to be, in an absolute and exclusive sense, God manifest in the flesh ; and it was probably with a view of setting up a rival manifestation of the divinity, that Porphyry and lainblichus wrote the Life of Pythagoras, the "good spirit (Sai/jLcov) dwelling in Sanios," in which- the great teacher of old Greece is magnified into divine pro- 1 See Fabricius, Bihliothcca Grceca, i\. 207. * Jerome, Prooemiuni in Daniel. 3 Euseb. H. E. vi. 19. ^ Jerome, Prooemiuni in Galat. ^ Jerome, Dial, contra Pelar/. ii. 17. Compare Epist. 57. (Ad Pam- viach.) c. 9. 6 Eunapius, in the Preface to the Lives of the Sophists, p. 3, ed. Boissonade (Amst. 1822). Ullmann has discussed the Infiuence of Chris- tianity on Porphyry in Studien und Kritiken, 1832, Heft 2. The Early Struggles of the Church. 53 portions. The same line of thought re-appears in Hierocles, whose " Truth-loving Words " are known to us only in the refutation by Eusebius\ He seems to have set himself to show, that miracles in any case only proved the existence of superior power in the wonder-worker, and that the miracles of Apollonius of Tyana were greater and better attested than those of Jesus Christ. He would grant, apparently, that Christ was divine, but not the one only God. In truth, it can scarcely be doubted that Neo-Platonism was to many minds a "schoolmaster to bring them to Christ;" for it changed the whole character of ancient philosophy. With such men as Plotinus and Proclus, philosophy is no longer purely an affair of dialectic ; they are seers and ecstatics, looking for divine revelation through their ascetic and contemplative life, eager to be freed from the chains of sense and to have a nearer view of heavenly beauty. Their system — if system it can be called — was accepted by a large number of the most cultivated men throughout the empire ; and when the minds of men were once familiar with the thought of a revelation of God to man, of a divine radiance poured into the soul, they were more ready to acknowledge the reve- lation of God in Christ, and the life-giving influence of the Holy Spirit. 3. The great and victorious answer to heathen calumny was found in the lives of Christians ; with praying and d3n.ng they overcame the world. But they fought also an intellectual combat with great vigour and success. In the first place, they had to repel the popular calumnies which - pursued them. Against the accusation of Atheism they alleged the piety of Christians in their 1 Contra Hieroclem, compare Lactantius, De Mortih. Persec. c, 16. The destruction of this, and most of the other early writings against Christianity, is mainly due to an edict of Justinian (Codex, i. tit, I. const. 3) ordering the sup- pression of such books. 2 On the Apologists, see Fabri- cius, Delectus Argum. et Syllabus Scriptorum qui veritatem Bel. Chr. asseruerunt; H. Tzschirner, Gesch, der Apologetik; Clausen, Apolo- getae Ecclesiae; G. van Senden, Gesch. der Apologetik, translated from the Dutch ; W. Jay Bolton, The Evidences of Christianity as exhibited in the Writings of its Apologists down to Atigustine (Cam- bridge, 1852); C. Warner, Gesch. d. Apol. u. Folem. Literatur; J. Donaldson, Hist, of Chr. Litera- ture, vols. 2 and 3; F. Watson, Defenders of the Faith (S.P.C.K.). Chap. III. Hierocles, circ. A.D. 300. Neo-Pla- tonism and Chris- tianity. The Christian Apolo- gists 2. Calumnies. 54 The Early Strugrfles of the Church. Chap. III. Dis- loyaUij. Mis- fortunes. Innova- tion. Chris- tianity no innova- tion. lives, as visible to their heathen neighbours, and explained the nature of their spiritual worship ; charged with un- natural crimes, they pointed out that their religion bound them before all things to purity and holiness of life ; accused of treason against the government, they referred to their prayers for the emperor and their quiet sub- mission to a persecuting power. If it was said that the misfortunes of the empire were due to the progress of Christianity, they retorted that it might with at least equal justice be said to be due to tlie persecution of Christianity. Heathen rhetoricians and philosophers were at last driven back upon the principle that men ought to accept and maintain, in matters of religion, the customs and rites derived from their forefathers — the lavSt refuge of sceptical conservatism. Against this heathen maxim of the duty of submission in all cases to existing authority and tradition the early apologists protest. They contend* with great vigour for the rights of conscience and private judgment. If they desert their country's customs, it is only because they have discovered them to be impious ; custom is by no means identical with truths It is our duty to forsake the customs of our country, when better and holier laws require it ; we must obey Him who is above all lords ^ Yet, though obedience would be due to the Gospel of Christ even if it were an innovation, they con- tended that it was none ; it existed already in the days of Abraham and Moses, nay, from the beginning of the world ; they represented God in Christ as the source and fount of all good even in the heathen world. The same Word which wrought in Hebrew prophets produced also all the truth and right and nobleness which existed among the Gentiles ; all who have lived in accordance with the divine Word or Reason were Christians even though, like Socrates, they were thought atheists ; the great achievements of lawgivers and philosophers were not without the Word, though imperfectly apprehended ; what was seen incomplete and dispersed in the old world was at last found complete and perfect in Christ*. The many phrases in which heathens expressed their sense ^ Tertullian, Apolog. c. 24; ad Scapulain, c. 2. - Clement, Strom, iv, 7 fif. ^ Origen, Contra Celsum, v. 32. 4 Justin Martyr, Apol. I, 46 ; //, 10, 13. / The Early Struggles of the Church. 55 of one great and good God over all, in spite of a poly- theistic form of religion, were " the utterances of a soul naturally Christian "\ And while they defended them- selves, they did not spare their adversaries, pointing out with great frankness the follies and frequent impurities of heathen worship. Perhaps the earliest of the formal defences of Chris- tianity is the Letter'^ in which the unknown Avriter points out to his enquiring friend Diognetus the absurdities of heathenism, the inadequacy of Judaism, the excellence of the Christian religion. When the emperor Hadrian visited Athens, a defence of Christianity was presented to him by the bishop, Quadratus, and another by a philosopher named Aristides, the former of whom, an old man, says that he had actually seen persons upon whom some of the Lord's miracles had been wrought^. Not long after Aristides, Ariston of Pella'* wrote a defence of Christianity, in the form of a dialogue between a Jewish- Christian named Jason, and Papiscus, an Alexandrian Jew, in which stress ^^ as laid on the argument from pro- phecy. Claudius Apollinaris^ also, bishojD of Hierapolis, and the rhetorician Miltiades^ presented to the emperor Marcus Aurelius Apologies which had in their day great repute. But the great age of Christian Apologetic is the period of hope and fear which coincides nearly with the reigns of the Antonines. It was then that Justin Martyr, a Christian who retained the philosopher's gown, wrote and presented to the rulers of the world his "De- fences" against the unjust charges heaped upon Christians, and pleaded for the protection of the laws of the empire. Let Christians, he urges, at least not suffer except as male- factors ; let not their very name be a crime, when all kinds of monstrosities rear their heads in safety ; let a philosophic emperor consider, that the very same Word which inspired philosophers spoke in clearer tones through ^ Tertullian, Apolog. c. 17; com- pare De Testimonio Aniinaf^aiiisni in his second Dofont'c j)rohably brouglit about his own end*. His pupil, Tatian the Syrian, attacked the perversions of Greek morality and philo-sojihy with great vigour. Athena- go ras, in the " Plea for the Christians" which he addressed to Marcus Aurelius, in a quiet and respect- ful tone commends to the favour of the emperor his fellow-believers, wliom he vindicates from the charges so often brought against them. Probably to the same sovereign and about the same time ]\Ielito. the learned bisliop of Sardes, addressed a memorial in which he sets forth the injury done to Christians under cover of the imperial edicts, by evil men who desired nothing but plunder; and insisted that the continued prosperity of the empire since the days of Augustus was alone sufficient to show that the star of Christ was projjitious^ Th^ophiliis^ bishop of Antioch, in his " Three Books to Autolycus," set himself more particularly to repel the scoffing objections of his acquaintance Autolycus to Christian teaching on the nature of God and the Resurrection ; and again, at his friend's request for further information, he went on to speak of the creation and destiny of man, and the venerable an- tiquity of the Hebrew Scriptures. His style is clear and agreeable. Hermias, in his "Worrying of the Pagan Philosophers," retorts upon the heathen the contradictions and absurdities with which they charged Christianity. The " Octavius " of the rhetorician Miiiucius Felix, a dialogue in the style of Cicero, contains perhaps of all the apologetic writings the clearest statement of the great ques- tions at issue between Christian and pagan, as they pre- sented themselves to educated men in the second century. Cyecilius, who undertakes the defence of heathenism and the attack on Christianity, is permitted by the dialogue- writer to state his case with unsparing vigour, and the Christian Octavius replies, if always with earnestness, yet calmly and fairly. In the end, Csecilius admits the victory of his friend, in the words, "we are both conquerors; he has conquered me, I have triumphed over error." ^ Tertul- 1 See above, p. 40. 2 Euseb. H. E. iv. 26. The Sy- riac text of a speech of Melito's is given by Cureton, Spicilegium Sy- riacuvi. 3 Octavius, c. 39. The Early Struggles of the Church. 57 lian- burst forth with his glowing southern rhetoric against the ignorant hatred of Christians which prevailed in the Empire; they were treated with a harshness which violated the first principles of right; yet they were good subjects, though they offered no incense to the emperor; their lives were purer, their religion was nobler, than that of their heathen neighbours; who could think of the old mythologic fables without scorn? If Qelsus is in many respects the type of those who from age to age have attacked Chris- tianity with cleverness and learning, Qrigen is equally the type of the honest, able, learned, and laborious defender. He fastens upon the work of Celsus, which seems to have been a hundred years in the world without meeting with an adequate refutation, and deals with it clause by clause ; the attacks of the pagan on the credibility of the Gospel history, on the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, on the idea of revelation ; his attempts to set philosophy above the teaching of Christ, and polytheism above the true worship ; his misconceptions of Christian ideas, — all these are taken in turn and exposed or refuted. " Christian worship " — says Origen in the reign of Decius — " shall one day prevail over the whole world \" Chap. III. Tertullian, Apol. c. 198. Origen against Celsus, about A.D. 249. ^ c. Celisum, viii. 68; p. 423, Sp CHAPTER IV. GROWTH AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH. CUAP. IV, Early SPREAD OF THE Gospel 1. Eastward. Edessa. Chaldcca. Armenia. 1. In spite of persecution, perhaps because of persecu- tion, the Church grew rapidly. Even before the last Apostle left the earth, the light which rose in Palestine had struck the three great peninsulas of Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy ; in another generation it had reached almost the whole coast of the Mediterranean, then the great highway of nations. It followed in the track of the Jewish Dispersion ; wherever there was a Hebrew colony, there was also a Christian Church. Merchants brought back from their journeys the news of the Pearl of great price. The messengers of peace followed in the track of the Roman armies, and liberated captives carried to their homes the tidings of the new religion which was pervading the Empire ^ Everywhere, from the workshop to the palace, were found devoted men, working quietly yet earnestly for the furtherance of the Gospel ^ Looking first to the eastward, we find that in Edessa, the capital of Osroene, the Church first ascended a throne ; we must no doubt reject as a forgery the correspondence of Abgar with the Lord Jesus*, but one of its kings, Abgar Bar Manu, does seem to have been converted to Christianity about A.D. 165^ The Chaldyean Christians look upon Maris, a disciple of St Thaddieus^ as their apostle. The existence of Christian churches in Roman Armenia as early as the 1 See J. Fabricius, Salutaris Lux Evangelii ; J. Wiltsch, Geo- graphy and Statistics of the Church, trans, by Leitch. 2 Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. ii. 6. 3 Eusebius, H. E. in. 37. 4 Euseb. H.E. i. 13. ^ Epii^hanius, Hares. 56; Asse- Eoani, Bibliotheca Orient, i. 389, 423. 6 G. Phillips, The Doctrine of Addai, the Apostle (London, lf~t76). Growth and Characteristics of the Church. 59 third century is proved by the fact that a letter was addressed to them by Dionysius of Alexandria^ Pantaenus, head of the catechetical school of Alexandria, is said to have been a missionary of the faith in " the land of the Indians," by which we are probably to understand Arabia Felix ^; an Arabian chief, or perhaps rather a Roman pro- curator stationed in Arabia, is said to have desired that the great Origen should be sent to him as his instructor^; and about the same period we find Bostra in Arabia mentioned as a bishop's see^ In Persia the Christian faith was widely spread when Arnobius^ wrote, towards the end of the third century. There were numerous churches in Syria and in Asia Minor from Apostolic times. In Bithynia, the well-known letter of Pliny ^ to Trajan is an impregnable testimony to the number of Christian con- verts about A.D. lOG. The Cappadocian Coesarea had for its bishop in the middle of the third century the well- known Firmilian, Cyprian's correspondent. Turning now to Africa, we find from the very dawn of ecclesiastical history a church at Alexandria, the home of the learned Apollos. St Mark was regarded as its founder and first bishop. Dionysius, who became bishop in 246, was one of the most famous men of the age in which fell the Decian persecution. Of the first beginnings of the Church in Proconsular Africa, in Mauritania and Numidia, nothing is known ; it may probably have re- ceived its Christianity from Italy'; certainly the North- African is to us the earliest Latin church. However originated, Christianity spread so rapidly in these fervid regions, that early in the third century Tertullian^ speaks — perhaps a little rhetorically — of Christians forming the majority in every town. At the end of the second century, Agrippinus bishop of Carthage is said to have assembled a large number^ of African and Numidian bishops, and Cyprian, who held the same see in the middle of the third 1 Euseb. H. E. vi. 46. 2 Euseb. H. E. v. 10. See Mos- heim, De Rebus ante Constant, ssec. II. § 2. p. 206. 3 Euseb. H. E. vi. 19. 4 Euseb. H. E. vi. 33. ^ Adv. Gentes, ii. 7. 6 Epist. X. 96 [al. 97]. ^ Tertullian is thought to derive it from Eome {De PrcBscrlptione, c. 36), and his words at least prove an intimate connexion between Borne and Africa. ^ Ad Scapulam, c. 2. ^ *'Episcopi pluiimi," Cyprian, Epist. 73, c. 3. Chap. IV. Arabia. Persia. Syria. Asia Minor. A lexan- dria. Africa. Growth and Characteristics of the Church. century, was able to assemble eighty-seven bishops' from the three North- African provinces. Passing- over to Europe, we find Anchialus on the east coast of Tlirace the see of a bishop in the middle of the second century ; Byzantium, not yet dreaminp^ of becoming the seat of the greatest patriarchate of the East, seems to have received its first bishop early in the third century ; Heraclea had a bishop who received the crown of martyr- dom in the persecution of Diocletian. Of the churches of Macedonia, after the apostolic age, scarcely a trace is found in the records of the first three centuries. Passing onward into Achaia, we find little enduring effect of St Paul's work in Athens, where the whole city was deeply imbued with Hellenic culture and worship ; but at Corinth, where there was a less purely Hellenic population, the Christian com- munity maintained itself from the da3^s of the apostle. Hegesippus on his journey to Rome found there a church, with Primus as bishop, who was succeeded by a more famous man, Dionysius'^ Of the history of the church of Rome ^ in early days we have but scanty records. That it received the Gospel in very early times we know from the testimony of St Paul. The earliest Christians of whose sojourn in Rome we have any authentic account are Aquila and Priscilla*, St Paul's companions. The foundation of many other churches in Italy is ascribed by tradition, often early tradition, to im- mediate disciples of the apostles. Such sub-apostolic churches are found in Milan, Bologna, Lucca, Fiesole, Raveima, and Aquileia, the latter of which claims St Mark as its founder. The church of Bari in Apulia boasts to have received its first bishop, Maurus, from the hands of St Peter himself; and similar legends are found in the doubtless ancient churches in many parts of Italy^ The visit of St Paul to Spain, though probable, cannot be regarded as certain ; that of St James the son of Zebedee, whose supposed tomb at Compostella has been an object of veneration for so many generations, may safely ^ Heading of the Cone. Carthag. of A. D. 256, in Cyprian's Works, p. 433 (Hartel). 2 Euseb. H. E. iv. 21, 22. s See p. 22. ** Acts xviii. 2. 5 See Selvaggio, Antiquitates Christ, lib. i. ec. 5—7; and Lami, DeliciiB eruditorum, torn, viri, praef. p. 25 £f.; torn, xi, prasf. Growth and Characteristics of the Church. 61 be set down as apocryphal. An inscription^ thanks the excellent Nero for having cleared the Spanish province from robbers, and from the presence of those who would have subjected mankind to a new superstition. It is however highly improbable that any part of Spain was over-run with Christians in the days of Nero, though churches no doubt existed there in early times ^ At the counciL.of Illiberis^ [Elvira] in the year 306 nineteen Spanish bishops were present. In the Valerian persecution the Spanish church had its mart3n:s in the persons of bishop Fructuosus of Tarragona and the deacons Augurius and Eulogius*. Gaul received its first Christianity by the well-known commercial route from Asia Minor to Marseilles. The legends of the preaching of Lazarus, of Martha, or of Mary Magdalene in southern GauP do but represent the fact, that very ancient Christian communities existed there*'. At the synod of Aries'' (a.d. 314), the bishops of Rheims, Rouen, Vaison, Bordeaux, and Orange were present, as well as representatives of other churches. Both Irengeus^ and Tertullian^ speak of churches exist- ing in their time in Germany, that is, in the Roman pro- vinces on the Rhine. The churches of Treves, Metz, and Cologne have undoubtedly existed from very early times, and Maternus, bishop of the latter city, is said^*^ to have been summoned to Rome (A.D. 313) to aid in deciding on the Donatist controversy. In the Danubian provinces we find early traces of the establishment of Christian churches. The oldest of these is thought to be that of Lorch", whose bishop Maximilian died a martyr's death in the year 285 ; in the great persecution of 303, Afra^'"* appears as a martyr of the Church in Augsburg, and Victorinus of Pettau in Styria ; in the same persecution fell the bishop Chap. IV. Gaul. Germany. Danubian Provinces. 1 Gruter, Thesaurus Inscript. p. 238, no. 9. The insciiption is however doubted by Scaliger, and utterly rejected by Muratori. 2 IrenaBus, c. Hares, i. 10. § 2 ; Tertullian, adv. JudcBOS, c. 7. 2 Hardouin, Concilia, i. 250. 4 Acts in Euinart, p. 218. Ed. Amst. 1713. ^ See Petrus de Marca, Epist. de Evang. in Gallia initiis, in Vale- sius's edition of Eusebius. ^ For the massacres of Lyons and Vienne, see p. 41. ^ Hardouin, Concilia, i. 266 f. 8 HcBres. i. 10. § 2. ^ adv. Judceos, c. 7. 1^ Optatus of Milevis, cont. Dona- tistas, I. 23. 11 See the ChroniconLaureacense, in Pez, Scriptores Rerum Austriac, torn. I. 1- Euinart, p. 455. 62 Growth and CJiaractm^istics of the Church. Chap. IV. Britain. A.v. 177 — lit2. General Result. of Siriiuiiin in Lower Paniioiiia. Even the wild Goths, who troubled the borders of the empire, seem in the second century to have received some tidings of Christi- anity from captives of their sword. The origin of British Christianity is unknown. The tradition that St Paul preached in Britain is supported by no early authority, and probably originated in a misinter- pretation of a well-known passage in Clement of Rome'; nor is much credit given to the Venerable Bede's account'"*, that a British prince, Lucius, sought and obtained preach- ers of the Gospel from the Roman bishop Eleutherius. The Gospel probably here, as in so many other cases, followed the track of the Roman soldiers and colonists ; at the beginning of the third century, Tertullian^ boasts that the armies of Christ had penetrated parts of Britain where those of Rome had failed. In the persecution under Diocle- tian the centurion Albanus or Albinus is said to have fallen f(n- the foith at Verulam^ giving the first British sufferer to the martyrologies. At the synod of Aries three British bishops, those of York, London, and Lincoln, are said to have subscribed^. Thus Christianity in three centuries had penetrated the greater part of the Roman empire, and even in some cases passed beyond its boundaries. We ought not perhaps to understand quite literally the rhetorical expression of early apologists, when they tell us that the Christians, the growth of yesterday, had filled the courts, the camps, the council-chambers, even the very palaces of the Caesar^; but it is clear that in the time of Constantine, if the Christians did not form the most numerous portion of his subjects, they were the most pow^erful ; in the decline of national feeling, no other body of men was left, so nume- rous and widely spread as the Christian Church, animated by one spirit and subject to one Tu\e\ ^ To T^p/xa T^ Sucrews. I Corinth. c. 5. " Hist. Eccl I. 4; see Hussey's note. 3 Adv. Jnd Jerome on Gal. vi. 6 ; Epiphan. Har. 42, 4 ; Chrysostom on 1 Cor. XV. 29 {opp. X. 378). ^ A. Harnack, De Apellis Gnosi Monarchica ; Hilgenfeld, Der Gnos- tiker Apelles in Zeitschr.f. Wissen- schaft. Theol. 1875, pt. 1; F. J. A. Hort, in Diet. Chr. Biogr. r. 127 f. Chap. V. Died, c. 170. Apelles, died c. 190. TJie Great Divisions. of a possessed maiden, Philiimena, and to have more and more renounced Gnosticism and approached to the Catholic faith. In his disputation with Rhodon' he declared that all would be saved who placed their hope on the Crucified, provided that they w^ere found in good works. The Marcionites maintained themselves as a distinct society as late as the sixth century, split however by many schisms, and perverted by the speculations of adherents from various Gnostic sects. An inscription which once stood over the doorway of a Marcionite meeting-house, of the year 630 of the era of the Seleucidae (a. d. 318 — 319), was found a few years ago in a Syrian village^ 3. There has always existed in the Church, more or less openly, an opposition between established routine and the freer manifestation of religious emotion. In the Church of the second century the more ardent spirits began to feel that the love of many had waxed cold ; the expectation of the Coming of Christ was less vivid, the standard of Christian life was lower, plain living and high thinking had declined, faith in the perpetual activity of the pro- phetic and other gifts of the Spirit was no longer, as it had once been, the gi^eat animating principle of the Church. A Church in w4iich the sternest morality was not insisted upon seemed to them no true branch of the Church of Christ. The true Church is where the Spirit is, not neces- sarily wherever the ecclesiastical organization is complete. With such as these the divine inbreathing, the personal ecstasy, of the prophet lifted him high above those whose authority depended upon mere ecclesiastical appointment. Such as these felt it a matter of life and death to maintain primitive Christianity — as they conceived it — against the increasing worldliness of the Church on the one hand, and its Gnostic departures from the simplicity of Christian doctrine on the other. 1 Euseb. H. E. v. 13. 2 Le Bas and Waddingtou, In- scriptions, III. 583, no. 2558, quoted by G. Salmon in Diet. Chr. Biogr. iii. 819. "This is more ancient than any dated inscription belonging to a Catholic Chm-ch." 2 The authorities are, TertuUian in many treatises ; Euseb. H. E.\. 3, 14 — 19 ; Epiphanius, Hccres. 48. — G. Wernsdorf, De Montanistis ; F. Miinter, Effata et Oracula Mon- tanistarum; C. Kirchner, De Mon- tanistis ; Schwegler, Der Montanis- mus und die Christliche Kirche ; A. Eitschl, Altkath. Kirche, p. 462 £f. ; E. Stroehlin, Essai sur le Montan- isme ; J. De Soyres, Montanism and the Primitive Church, containing a careful account of the literature of the subject ; G. Salmon, iriDict. of Chr. Biogr. iii. 935 tf. The Great Divisions. 98 Their feelings generally, and especially the desire to maintain the gifts of prophecy within the Church, found expression in the voice of Montanus, a Mysian, who about the year 130 began to claim to have received prophetic powers and a new revelation ; his enemies said that he even claimed to be the Paraclete. All that can be said of him with certainty is, that he attracted to himself a large number of disciples, including several women of high social position, among whom the most conspicuous were Maxi- milla and Priscilla, or — as she is sometimes called — Prisca. These two constantly appear as his companions and as sharing in his spiritual gifts. Of the other women whose utterances were received as divine revelation, the only names that have come down to us are those of the martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas\ The Montanists maintained, as earlier teachers had done^, the perpetuity and necessity of the gifts of prophecy and vision. They received the whole of the Christian Scriptures; there was no heresy in their views with regard to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit I They held very earnest and very precise opinions as to the speedy coming of the Lord, and are said to have expected the descent of the New Jerusalem at a village in Phrygia, Pepuza*, whence they are not unfre- quently called Pepuziani. Strangely enough, while insist- ing on the ever-present guidance of the Holy Spirit, they laid down precepts on permitted food and permitted acts which approached Judaic legalism. Their fasts were more numerous and more severe than those observed by the Church in general^. Marriage was permitted'^, though the married were clearly placed on a lower level than the unmarried, and probably remained in the ranks of the catechumens. Second marriages were utterly condemned', as indeed they had often been condemned beforetime in the Churcli®. With regard to sin after baptism, the Spirit 1 De Soyres, p. 138 ff. 2 "Clement, Ignatius, Hermas, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus unani- mously affirm their belief in, or even their experience of, these charismata.'''' lb. p. 65. 2 The testimony of Epiphanius {Hceres. 48, § 1), a hostile witness, may be accepted as conclusive on this point. ^ Epiphan. Hceres. 49, § 1 ; Euseb. H. E. v. 18. 5 Tertullian, De Jejuniis, cc. 1, 14, 15 ; Hippolytus, Hares. Ref. VIII. 19 ; Jerome, on St Matt, ix. 15. ^ Tertullian, De Monogamia, c. 1. 'unum matrimonium novimus.' 7 lb. c. 4. s E. g. by Athenagoras, Legatio, Chap. V. Montanus, c. 130. Second Advent. Fasts. Marriage. Absolu- tion. 94 The Great Divisions. declared through the new prophets, 'the Church has power to remit sin, but I will not do it lest others offend'.' Mar- tyrdom was by no means to be avoided by flight, but it was meritorious only if endured in faith and out of pure submission to God's wilP. The one visible Church of Christ included all who had been duly baptized'; yet many of its members were merely psychic or "natural" men; the spiri- tual or pneumatic were those alone who accepted the higher teaching of the Spirit by the mouth of His prophets, and each one of these was endued with a spiritual priesthood\ Some peculiar rites were attributed to them. That women prophesied in the churches is admitted on all hands, but there is no reason to believe that this prophesying took place during divine service, or that women took any share in celebrating the mysteries\ The unmarried women were closely veiled in the churches. It is not wholly improbable that the Montanists performed vicarious baptism on behalf of those who had died unbaptized^; such deaths were likely to be frequent in a society which detained the majority of its members in a long catechumenate. It is said that they used cheese in the Eucharist^; but this may probably have been as an offering, rather than as a part of the actual Eucharistic celebration. That some disorder took place in their assemblies is probable enough; there have perhaps never been assemblies of ecstatics and visionaries which have not fallen into occasional improprieties ; but it is im- possible to accept as true the charges of child -murder and of horrible food given in their secret rites — charges pre- cisely similar to those of the heathen against the whole c. 33; Theophilus, ad Autol. iii. 15. ^ TertuUian, De Pudicitia, c. 21. 2 TertuUian, De Futj'i in Perse- cutione, pasaiin ; Adv. Praxeam, c. 1 (quoting 1 Cor. xiii. 3). 3 Tertull. De Virgg. Velandis, c. 2. ^ Tertull. De Jejuniis, c. 11 ; De Pudic. c. 21 ; De Exhort. Gastit. c. 7. ^ The prophetess gave her utter- ances 'dimissa plebe' (Tert. De Anima, c. 9). The ecstatica men- tioned by Firmilian (Cypriani, Epist. 75, c. 10), who was perhaps a Montanist, performed some kind of eucharistic rite, but "sine Sacra- mento solitae prasdicationis." The "non" inserted before "sine" by some editors has no authority, ^ The direct statement of Phi- laster {De Hceres. 49) is "Hi mortuos baj^tizant. " ' TertuUian never mentions the practice, whence we may infer that this charge was not brought against the Montanists in his time. It is however supported by the later testimony of Augustine (Hares. 26), Epiphanius {Hceres. 49, 2), and Philaster (Hceres. 74). Tlie Great Divisions. 95 body of Christians — which were circulated in a later age\ It is impossible to believe that Tertullian and Perpetua belonged to a society capable of horrible crime in its secret assemblies. Teaching such as that of the Montanists naturally spread rapidly among the excitable people of Phrygia. The Church in that region was alarmed ; councils of the faithful were held in which their tenets were condemned and themselves excommunicated I Tidings of the proceed- ings in Asia soon reached the Asiatic colony in southern Gaul, and the confessors yet in bonds, under stress of per- secution, wrote letters in the interests of peace both to the brethren in Asia and Phrygia, and to Eleutherus bishop of Rome^ One bishop of Rome — either Eleutherus or Victor — acknowledged the prophetic gifts of Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla, and gave peace to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia; but Praxeas by misrepresenting the prophets induced him to recall the letters of peace which he had issued and to withdraw his recognition*. Mon- tanism had probably at one time many adherents in Italy, but it was in Africa that it won its most important con- quest, Tertullian, who gave to its cause all the warmth of his African nature and the skill of a practised advocate. No other of the sects of the ancient Church has the advan- tage of presenting itself to later times as pictured by its greatest convert. A provincial council at Iconium^ in the first half of the third century declared Montanist baptism invalid, thus branding Montanism as a sect separate from the Church. Shortly afterwards Stephen, bishop of Rome, recognized it as valid^. Nicsea passed the question over in silence. The synod of Laodicea^ in the latter part of the tirird century enacted that the "Phrygians" should be catechized and baptized ere they were admitted to the Church; and the oecumenical council of Constantinople^ — even more strongly 1 First by Cyril of Jerusalem {Catech. xvi. 4) in the middle of the fourth centuiy. 2 Euseb. H. E. v. 16, § 10. Other councils against Montanism are mentioned in the Libellus Sy nodi- cm, a late authority (Hefele, Con- ciliengeschichte, i. 70). 3 Euseb. H. E. v. 3. ^ Adv. Praxeam, c, 1. 5 Firmilian, in Cypriani Epist. 75, c. 19. ^ Cyprisin, Epist. 74, c. 1 ; Euseb. H. E. VII. 3. 7 Can. 8 (Hardouin's Cone. i. 781). 8 Can. 7 (Hard. i. 813). Chap. V. Councils. A.D. 157. Council at Iconium, c. 235. Laodicea, c. 372. Constan- tinople, 381. 96 TJie Great Divisions Chap. V. Gnosti- cism. Its origin. — that the " Montanists, here called Phrygians," should be received into the Church in precisely the same manner in which pagans were received. Montanism was found worthy of notice even as late as the legislation of Justinian in the sixth century, and probably its later manifestations, when it was a mere despised sect, cast discredit on its earlier and ])urer time. But it was already practically extinct in the latter part of the fourth century, when — as Epiphanius tells us^ — it could point to no prophet. Its real work was done in the protest which it made against spiritual dead- ness in the Church in the second and third centuries. 4. The desire to explain the mystery of the universe, with its strange contrasts of good and evil, of order and anarchy, is probably ineradicable from the heart of man; and with this has often been joined the pride of possessing a higher wisdom which the crowd of inferior beings can only apjDroach in gross material symbols. Probably the most striking exhibition of these tendencies with which we are acquainted is to be found in the various systems, existing in every part of the Roman empire in the early days of Christianity, which have received the general name of Gnostic ^ The origin of these systems has been much disputed. The contemporary opponents of Gnosticism thought it little else than the Greek philosophy of religion putting on a mystic disguise^. Modern enquirers have traced it to the Zoroastrian system of the Zendavesta, to the Hebrew Kabbala, to the Talmud, to the teaching of the Buddhists. The very variety of these theories shows that no one of them accounts for all the phenomena; the influence of all may be found in one or other of the Gnostic systems; the antithesis of Light and Darkness reminds us of Persia, the 1 Hceres. 48, 2. 2 For Gnosticism, the principal sources are Irenaeus adv. Hcereses ; Tertullian, adv. Marcion. , De Prce- scriptioniJnis , adv. Valentinianos, c. Gnosticos; Hippolytus, Hccresium Refut.; Plotinus, Ennead. ii. 9 ; Epiphanius, Panarionadv. Hcereses. Of modern authorities may be men- tioned A. Neander, Genetische Ent- wickelung der Gnost. Systemc; F. G. Baur, Die Christliche Gnosis; J. Matter, Hist. Critique du Gnosti- cisme ; R. A. Lipsius, Gnosticismus in Ersch u. Gruber's Cyclop. ; C. W. King, the Gnostics and their Remains ; H. L. Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies. 3 See particularly Tertullian, De Prcescript. Hcer. c. 7; adv. Hennog. c. 8; deAnima,c.2S. The Gnostics themselves, by the help of allegori- cal interpretations, found their sys- tem in such writers as Homer and Ai-atus. Hippolytus, c. Hceres. v. 8; IV. 46. Tlie Great Divisions. 97 series of emanations from the divine Essence recalls the Buddhists, while the allegory not seldom resembles that of the Hebrew Kabbala. In cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Ephesus these theories ran together and met with nascent Christianity. Gnosis (7z/ft)o-t9) is knowledge; in a special sense, an inner and deeper knowledge of the mystery of existence, not accessible to the vulgar and a source of pride to the initiated. But the Gnosticism with which we are con- cerned, the Gnosticism which came in contact with Chris- tianity, has certain special characteristics. In the first place, some evil principle, generally identi- fied with matter, is held to oppose the pure creative energy of the Divinity. In nothing is the pagan origin of the system more distinctly visible than in this ; for ancient speculation rarely rises to the conception of one sole creative Will. All Gnostic systems derive the universe from the contact of Spirit with Matter; but Spirit must lower itself by a gradual descent to Matter; the great gulf between the two is bridged over by a long series of emanations from the highest or absolute Being. These emanations, under the name of iEons {aloov6<;), occupy a very important place in most Gnostic systems. The same effort to provide a medium between spirit and matter is found in the Gnostic conception of a "psychic" or animal principle between the purely spiritual or "pneumatic," and the mere material or "hylic" portion of the universe. The actual creation of the visible and palpable world is often attributed to Demiurgus, the working or forming deity whose special realm is " psychic," separated from the Most High God by a long series of seons, and acting on matter as His subordinate. In several of the systems this Demiurgus or handicraft- deity is identified with the God of the Jews ; j^et the con- ception itself seems to be derived from Plato ^ whose creator of heaven and earth is a demiurgus, superior in- deed to the gods of the old mythology, but subject to the eternal forms which rule the universe. So far, Gnosticism seems to have no very obvious contact with Christianity ; it has however in fact a very intimate connexion both with Christianity and with Ju- 1 Republic, vii. p. 730 ; Timaus, p. 28. c. 7 Chap. V. Gnosis. Evil principle. Emana- tions, JEons. Psychic principle. Demiur- gus. Gnosticism and 08 TJie Great Divisions. Chap. V. Scri2>turf. Gnostic 'Tradition. liedemp- tion. daism. In the first place, many of tlie Gnostic theosophists j)rufcssecl to draw much of their system from the Scriptures. Just as Pliilo and his school found a whole system of Platonic philosophy in the plain facts of scripture history, so, by the help of allegoric or esoteric explanations, these Gnostics found in the sacred books a whole series of divine beings or emanations. The number thirty, the years of our Lord's life when He began His ministry, became the number of the Yalentinian a3ons; the lost sheep of the parable became Achamoth, the lower or earthly wisdom wandering from its true home. Nor did the Gnostics appeal only to Scripture; they set up a tradition of their own against that of the Church. The disciples of Carpocrates, for insta,nce, asserted that Jesus had imparted their doctrine in secret to His Apostles, bidding them in turn impart it to faithful and worthy men^; the Ophites declared that the Lord in the interval between His Resur- rection and Ascension had taught their peculiar wisdom to those few disciples whom He found worthy of so great a tmst^; or that James the Lord's brother had disclosed it to Mariamne^; Basilides professed to derive his system from Glaucias, an interpreter of St Peter, Yalentinus his from one Theudas, a companion of St Paul^; both appealed to the traditions of Matthias''; and Ptolemy the Valentinian claimed an "apostolic tradition" which had come down to him through a succession of persons®. All Gnostic teachers taught their disciples to look for some kind of Redemption. This was generally regarded as the liberation of the pneumatic element from, the bonds of matter, the escape of the spiritual man from the realm of the lower world-forming deity. This Re- demption was said to be effected by one of the -^ons, of which the man Christ Jesus was merely the instrument, we may almost say the mask or disguise. All the Gnostics differed widely from the Catholic teaching on the Person of Christ. Many taught that He had but a seeming body and suffered only in appearance {Kara BoKrjo-cv), whence they received the name of Docetse (AoKrjTal). ^ Ireneeus, Ilceres. i. 25. 5. 2 Irenaeus, i. 30. 14. 3 Hippolytus, c. Hares, v. 7. '* Clfcmens Alex. Strom, vii. 17. 106. 6 Strom. VII. 13. 82; 17. 108. ^ Ad Floram, in Epiphanius, Ilcercs. 33, p. 222, The Great Divisions. 99 Again, all the Gnostic leaders in some shape or other took up a definite position, friendly or hostile, to Judaism. In the older and more numerous systems, both Judaism and heathendom are represented as preparing the way for the advent of the complete and perfect religion, their own; there is no essential opposition between them. In spite of innumerable differences of detail, they agree in this, that the old religions of the world were a preparation for the complete and perfect religion. The disciples of Marcion indeed, as we have seen, supposed Christianity to be in absolute contrariety both to Judaism and heathenism; while the Gnosticism of the Judaizers tended to the exal- tation of Judaism; but neither of these systems can be considered as purely and simply Gnostic. The moral system of the Gnostics was the natural outcome of their religion. As they regarded matter as the seat of evil, morality consisted to a large extent of the struggle to free the spiritual principle from the influence of matter, that so it might acquire Gnosis. Hence the really serious and religious Gnostics tended to asceticism. Some allowed marriage, some even enjoined it on the "spiritual"; some — as Saturninus and Tatian — seem to have forbidden it either altogether, or at least for those who would be perfect. The coarser natures among them, on the other hand, drew very different conclusions from the same premiss, and scorned the ordinary restraints of social decency. Mere outward acts were, they contended, indifferent, as matter was distinct from spirit; self-restraint was of little value in those who had never tasted the delights of dissoluteness; the real victory was for the spirit to stand unconquered amid the passions of the lower nature. Carpocrates and Prodicus, as also the later Marcosians, are said to have taken this direction. Gnostics of this kind, as was natural, readily conformed to pagan worship, and despised those who endured martyrdom for conscience' sake. The rise of Gnosticism is coseval with that of Chris- tianity. We can scarcely doubt that when Simon Magus in Samaria was accepted by the people as "that power of God which is called Great V' he had given himself out to 1 Acts viii. 10. 7—2 Chap. V. Judaisvi. Morality. Gnostic Teachers. 100 Tlic Great Divisions. ru.Kv. V. Basilides, fl. 120-130. Satur- nilus. Valenti- nus, in Rome, c. 140. be some kind of Gnostic emanation from tlie divinity. He wius regarded indeed in later times as the head and source of heresy \ We find distinct traces of Gnosis, probably in an Essenie form, at Colossoe'^ in the days of St Paul, and again we meet with an angelology, which is apparently Gnostic, in the letters to Timothy. It was against Docet- ism that St John wrote of Him Whom his eyes had seen and his hands handled. The Nicolaitans of the Apoca- lypse and the false teachers of the Epistle of Jude may probably have based their licentious views on Gnostic spccidations. Towards the end of the Apostolic Age Cerinthus^ propagated views akin to Gnosticism in the district of Asia Minor which was under the influence of St John, saying that the Christ descended on Jesus, who was mere man, at his baptism, and that while Jesus suffered, the Christ ascended again into heaven. In the age immediately succeeding that of the Apostles, the simple, practical nature of the Church's work, pressed upon it as it was by surrounding heathenism, was not favourable to the spread of Gnosticism; it gained more influence as the desire grew stronger for theoretic com- pleteness in the teaching of theology. Basilides*, one of the most famous Gnostic teachers, a younger contemporary of Cerinthus, was said to be a S}Tian by birth, but passed the greater part of his active life in Alexandria, and there his son also, Isidorus, became a famous teacher. About the same time flourished Carpo- crates^, an Eg}^tian, and his son Epiphanes, as also the Syrian Saturninus* or Saturnilus. Even in these early days of Gnosticism, its systems present the greatest diver- sities. In Valentinus', an Alexandrian settled in Rome, the speculative and imaginative development of Gnosticism reached its highest point. He produced in fact a highly ^ Irenaeus, i. 23. 2; iii. Praf. 2 J. B. Lightfoot, Colossiaiis, p. 73 ff. 3 Ii-eriaeus, i. 26. ^ Clemens Alex. Stromatcis i. 21, p. 408 (ed. Potter); ii. 3. 6, p. 443; 8, p. 448 ; 20, p. 488 ; iv. 12, p. 599 ; V. 1, p. 645 ; Irenasus, i. 24. 3 ; Hip- poly tus, Hceres. Eef. vii. 20 ff. ; Epi- phanms, Hares. 24. — F, J. A. Hort iu Diet. Chr. Antiq. i. 268 fif. 5 Irenaeus, i. 25 ; Hippolyt. Har. Eef. VII. 32; Euseb. if. E. iv. 7. ^ Irenseus, i. 24 ; Epiphanius, HcBres. 23. ^ Irenaeus, i. Iff,; Hares. Ref. VI. 21 ff.; Tertull. adv. Valent.; Epiphanius, Hceres. 31. The Great Divisions. 101 poetic account of the creation and constitution of the uni- verse, from the point of view of a thoughtful and cultivated heathen. His school, which split into an Eastern and a Western (or Italian) branch, produced many distinguished teachers ; Heracleon, against whom Origen wrote his com- ment on St John; Ptolom8eus\ Marcus^, Bardaisan or Bardesanes^ an Armenian who lived long in Edessa, and who is said to have been the first of Syrian hymn-writers. Contemporary with Valentinus was Cerdo, who initiated Marcion* in Gnostic tenets. To this period also belongs the restless Tatian^, who, after passing through the most various forms of religion, at last settled in Gnosticism. His disciples received the names of Encratites, from the ex- cessive rigour of their lives; of Hydroparastatse or Aquarii, from their abstinence from wine even in the Holy Com- munion; and sometimes that of Severiani, from one Severus, who was a pupil of Tatian. This sect still existed in the fourth century. The Ophites^, or Naasseni^ who re- garded the serpent as the beginner of true knowledge and the great benefactor of mankind, probably existed before Christianity, though their Gnostic development may have been as late as the second century. With these we may reckon the Sethiani, the Cainites, the Peratici, and the Gnostic Justin^ with his followers. To the second century also we may refer a Gnostic of Arabian origin, mentioned only by Hippolytus, Monoimus^ or Menahem. It is difficult to estimate the number and the influence of the Gnostics. Nowhere does it appear that the Gnostic community was superior to the Catholic Church of the place, but almost everywhere there were Gnostics, and Gnostics distinguished by intellectual activity and bold- ness. There was much in Gnosticism to attract the Greeks ; its generally anti- Judaic spirit, its promise of a conquest over matter and an advance to the fulness and 1 Epist. ad Floram, in Irenaei 0pp. p. 357 ff. ^ Irenaeus, i. 13 ff. ; Hceres. Ref. VI. 39 f. ; Epiph. Hceres. di. 3 Hceres. Ref. vii. 31 ; Euseb. Prap. Evang. vi. 10; Epiph. Hicr. 36.— F. J. A. Hort in Diet, of Chr. Biogr. i. 250. 4 See p. 89. s Irenaeus, i. 28; Clem. Alex. Strom. III. pp. 547, 553 (Potter); Hceres. Ref. viii. 16 ; Epiphanius, Hceres. 46 ; Theocloret, Hceret. Fabb. I. 20. ^ IrenaBUS, i. 30. 7 Hceres. Ref v. Iff. 8 lb. V. 23. 9 lb. VIII. 12. Chap. V. Cerdo. Tatian. Encratites. Ophites. Justin. Monoimus. ' Numbers and in- fluence of the Gnostics. The Or eat Divisions. perfection of knowledge, the imaginativeness of its adven- turous systems, the ease with which it adopted votaries. But it nevertheless could not endure the steady, disciplined attack of the Church ; its unsubstantial pageants vanished before the light of truth ; in the third century it had already lost its creative force, in the fourth it is powerless; in the sixth it vanishes, leaving hardly a wreck behind. The eft'ects of Gnosticism on the Church were by no means wholly disastrous. The efforts of the Gnostics to construct a system which should explain all the varied and perplexing phenomena of the universe, led the Christian teachers to point out with more distinctness that they were explained by the principles already revealed in Christ. The contest with men so able and so well acquainted with pagan philosophy as many of the Gnostic teachers Avere led to the more systematic development of Christian theology; and as a truly Christian theology was develoiDed, the Jewish elements in the Church fell more and more into the background. It is very largely due to the pressure of Gnosticism that art and literature were enlisted in the service of the Church. But these benefits were counter- balanced by serious evils. The Redemption which Gnosti- cism offered was merely knowledge, which certainly tended to puff men up with a vain sense of their own superiority. Its systems were based not upon historic reality, but ujDon the mere creations of erratic fancy in an ideal world. Gnostic asceticism and Gnostic laxity both found their way into the Church, and corrujDted the pure springs of Christian morality. It is not wonderful then that the Catholic teachers, conscious that the religion of Christ is for man, as man, not for a select coterie of initiated; conscious that speculation is not religion, and that life, as well as truth, is to be found in Christ; it is not wonder- ful that such teachers set themselves emphatically to oppose the claims and the allurements of the Gnostics. Faith conquered knowledge falsely so called. 5. In the third century arose on the eastern frontier of the Empire a system which was destined to trouble the ^ The principal special works on Manichseism are, Beausobre, His- toire Critique du Manichee et dii Ma nic heisme ; Georgi , Alph a hetum Thihetanum (Eome, 1762); F. C. Baur, Das Maniclulisclie Religions- System; A. Geyler, Manichdismiis und Bvddhisnms (Jena, 1875) ; The Great Divisions. 103 Church for many a year. This was the doctrine of Mani, or ManichsBus, which was in its origin a renewal and reform of the old Zoroastrian teaching, with, probably, some ad- mixture of Buddhism. This religion adopted as it spread westward a certain colouring of Christian ideas and phrases, but it remained a foreign and rival power, not a heresy developed from the bosom of the Church itself. The accounts of Mani's life given by the Eastern* and the Western'^ authorities differ materially. We can hardly say of him with any degree of certainty more than this : that in the revival of national and religious life in Persia which took place under the native dynasty of the Sas- sanidse, Mani, a member of a distinguished Magian family, became prominent as a teacher. By his eloquence and his many accomplishments he acquired fame and influence, and the favour of more than one Persian king, but was at last cruelly put to death by Varanes [Behram] the Second. Mani attempted, as many had done before him, to explain the enigmas of human life by the supposition of two eternal all-pervading principles, a good and a bad ; the good God and his realm of light are opposed to the Evil Spirit and his realm of darkness ; good struggles with evil. After long internal conflict, the devilish powers drew together their forces on one tremendous day to battle against the army of light. The first-born of God, the pattern man, fought with the help of the five pure ele- ments, light, fire, air, earth, and water, for the realm of goodness, was overthrown, and again delivered, leaving behind some portion of his light in the power of darkness. For the reception of this, God caused the Living Spirit to form the material universe, in which the vital force, or D. Chwolson, Die Ssabier u. Ssabism.; G. Fliigel, Manx's Lehre %i. Schriften; G. T. Stokes in Diet. Ghr. Biog. in. 792 ff. ^ D'Herbelot, Bihliotlieque Orien- tale, s.v. Mani; Silvestre de Sacy, Memoires sur Diverses Antiquites de la Perse. 2 The earliest is Archelai cum Manete Disputatio (in Mansi, Cone. 1. 1129; and Routh, Religuice V. 3) ; other authorities are Titus Bostrensis, Kara Mavixo-ioiv (in Canisius, Lectiones Antiq. i. 56, ed. Basnage) ; Epiphanius, Hares. 66 and Augustine's numerous treatises contra Epist. Manichcei, c. Fortu natum, c. Adimantum, c. Faustum De Actis cum Felice Man. De Na tura Boni, De Genesi c. Manichceos De Moribus Reel. Oath, et Mani- chaorum. For the fragments of Mani's own writings, see Fabri- cius, Biblioth. Gneca, vii. 323 ff. (ed. Harless). Chap. V. Sassanidce, from 227. Mani put to death, c. 277. 104 The Great Divisions. " soul of the world," is the fragment of light which is held ill the bonds of darkness. To redeem this light from its bt)ndage God sent forth two powers, Christ and the Holy Spirit ; the one as Sun and Moon, the other as the aether or pure supra-mundane atmosphere, attract to themselves the elements of light enveloped in earth. To retain these elements of light, the Evil Spirit formed man after the image of the pattern-man, making of him a microcosm, in which light and darkness mingled as in the great world. Man then had within himself two vital principles, the reasonable soul, which aspires to the source of light, and the unreasonable soul, full of passionate lusts and longings; hence he was constantly subject to the crafts and deceits of the evil one. Then appeared Christ in his own person upon earth, in a seeming-human body, and seemed to suffer death. The design of the coming of the "Jesus patibilis" was by his attractive force to draw to himself the kindred spirit distributed throughout the world of nature and of man. He began the work of setting free the imprisoned particles of light. But even the apostles misunderstood him through the force of Jewish prejudice ; the Scriptures of the Old Testament were the work of evil spirits; those of the New were corrupted, partly by the mistakes of men, partly by the guile of demons ; Mani, the promised Paraclete, came to reveal all mysteries and to teach the means whereby the nobler part of the universe may be freed; his writings alone are the guide to all truth. In the end, the light shall be separated from the darkness, and the powers of darkness mutually destroy each other. Like several of the Gnostic sects, Mani divided his community into the two classes of Initiated, or Chosen, and Hearers or Catechumens; the latter were prepared by a long course of instruction for the revelation of the mysteries of man and nature which was to be granted to them in the higher stage. These, during their cate- chumenate, received indulgence^ for the enjoyment of the ordinary pleasures of life in consequence of the intercession of the Chosen. The society was organized in direct imita- tion of the Catholic Church ; during Mani's life, he was A. de Wegnem, Manichceorum Indulgentice (Lipsiae, 1827). The Great Divisions. 105 himself the head of his Church ; after his death, his place was supplied by a succession of vicars or locum-tenentes. The representative of the founder was supported and assisted by a body of twelve Masters or Apostles, under whom were seventy- two bishops, and under these again a body of presbyters and deacons. All these were taken from the Initiated. These elect disciples received the seal of the mouth, the hand, and the bosom; the first symbolized their abstinence from all calumny and evil- speaking, as well as from flesh and all intoxicating drinks ; the second their desisting from all common toil, and from every act injurious to the life whether of man or beast; the third their refraining from all indulgence of fleshly lust. The Hearers, not yet bound to so strict an ob- servance, wxre permitted to engage in trade and agri- culture, and had to provide food for the Initiated, who were above terrestrial cares. The ministers of the Mani- chgean sect were said to grant absolution with too great readiness for sins committed, as sins were regarded rather as the work of the evil principle within him than of the man himself; as misfortunes rather than crimes. Their exoteric worship seems to have been extremely simple, without altars or elaborate ceremony ; Sunday was a fast-day ; a great annual festival, called the Feast of the Bema or pulj)it, was held in March to commemorate the tragic death of Mani ; and a magnificent pulpit, as symbol of the teaching power of the Paraclete, stood in Manichsean meeting-houses, raised on five steps, the symbols perhaps of the five pure elements. The esoteric worship of the initiated was kept a close secret. It was thought to con- sist of baptism in oil, and the participation of a sacred feast without wine, a parody of the Eucharist. In spite of the terrible fate of Mani, his disciples rapidly increased in numbers ; they spread in a short time from Persia over Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine, over Egypt and North Africa, and even reached Italy, Gaul, and Spain. But a few years after the death of Mani, we find Diocletian, who hated religious division in general and a new sect from the hostile realm of Persia in par- ticular, addressing a severe edict ^ to Julian, proconsul of 1 Given in Gieseler, i. 250. Chap. V. Worship. Spread of Manichce- ism. Diode- tiaiVs Edict, A.D. 287. Tlie Great Divisions. Africa, against this abominable gang of Manicha3ans, and condemning their chiefs to the flames, their adherents to beheading and confiscation of goods. They spread how- ever notwithstanding; and, though their public worship was suppressed in the sixth century, we find scattered secret societies of Manicha^ans late in the Middle Ages, if indeed they can be said to be even now extinct. 6. In the stir of parties and the struggles of sects there became manifest a great unity, the Catliolic Church^; the Church not of Paul or Cephas, of Montanus or Marcion, but of Christ. In the midst of the winds of doctrine which blew from all quarters, men felt it the more necessary to take their stand upon the Rock. The great mass of the disciples clung to the central truths of Christian doctrine, which were neither Judaic nor Gnostic, but Christian and Apostolic. They felt that behind all partial views were truths which are indeed universal, destined for all men ; in spite of all divisions, there was still one all-embracing or "Catholic" Churchy of which particular Churches were members. The divisions of the early generations played a large part in bringing these things into distinct consciousness. Even St Paul in his lifetime appealed against the strange opinions of isolated innovators to the greater antiquity and universality of the true faith^; and after the death of the last surviving Apostle, it was even more necessary to appeal to such a standard against the almost infinite variety of opinions which claimed to be in some £ort Christian. The sense of unity and continuity to which the early Avriters appeal was brought into greater prominence as it was brought into danger. And as the expectation of the speedy coming of an earthly reign of Christ faded away, the conception of the Church as itself the earthly province of the Kingdom of God asserted its true place in men's minds. It presented itself as a divine institution, a means of deliverance from ^ On the nature of the Church, see Hooker, Eccl. Pol. Bk, iii. ; Pearson On the Greedy p. 334 fl' ; W. Palmer, Treatise on the Church; B. F. Westcott, The Historic Faith, p. 115 ff. 2 The phrase is used in Ignatius, ad Smyrn. c. 8, and in the Letter of the Church of Smyrna on the martyrdom of Polycarj), in Euseb. H. E. IV. 15. 3 Coloss. i. 5, 6. The Great Divisions. 107 the world and of adoption into the heavenly kingdom. It is the guardian of the truth committed to it, and the bestower of grace through the Word and the Sacraments which Christ ordained. The ministry is divinely instituted as a continuation of the apostolic office. It is the Church under the guidance of the successors of the Apostles which is recognized as the Apostolic Church ; it is the whole congregation of Christian people dispersed throughout the world which is recognized as Catholic. To belong to the Catholic Church is not only to hold the true faith, but to be a member of that great and unique organization to which its Lord has given exceeding great and precious privileges and promises. To be outside this organization, to be disowned by it, is the last and most fatal of penalties. Chap. V. Chap. VT. Sources OF Doc- trine. Scripture. Old Testa- ment. CHAPTER VI. THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH AND ITS OPPONENTS. 1. The human mind naturally attempts to connect and systematize the truths imparted to it ; it is intolerant of mere isolated fragments of truth. And this systema- tizing faculty, working upon the truths revealed in Christ, produced in the course of ages the fabric of Christian theology. But in the early years of the Church it was perceived that there must be some limitation of the truths which could be considered Christian ; neither the pretended revelations and traditions of the Gnostics, for instance, nor the apocryphal books of some other sects, could be admit- ted to be sources of Christian doctrine. What then are the genuine sources of Christian truth ? A. In the first place, Holy Scripture \ The Scriptures of the Old Testament were received from the first in all the Churches as authoritative declarations of the Divine Will. But here the question arose, what was to be under- stood under the name " Holy Scripture " ? The Hebrew Canon^ was indeed defined, but several later works of Palestinian and Egyptian Jews, though never received by the Hebrew doctors as equal with the ancient Sacred Books, were thought by many to possess some degree of authority. And to the great mass of Christians, the books of the ancient Jewish Canon and the recent additions were 1 Chr. Wordsworth, The Canon of Scripture ; B. F. Westcott, in Diet, of the Bible, i. 250 ff. s. v. Canon; and Canon of the New Testament; G. A. Swainson, The Authority of the New Testament; S. Davidson, The Canon of the Bible; A. H. Charteris, The New Testament Scriptures. 2 This word is used by antici- pation; it does not occur in this sense until a later period than the third century (Westcott, D. B. i. 250). The Theology of the Church and its Opponents. 109 known alike in the Greek language. It was not easy to distinguish the " Canonical " from the " Apocryphal " books — to use the terms by which they came to be desig- nated in later times — when all came before them in the same form and with no outward marks of distinction. And this confusion was propagated in the West by the old Latin Version, which was made from the Greek. The prevalence of this uncertainty induced Melito of Sardes to enquire in the East for the true canon of the ancient Books. The list of the Books of the Old Testament which he gives ^ exactly coincides with that of the English Church, except in the exclusion of the book of Esther. Origen^ gives in the main the same catalogue, including Esther, and perhaps also Baruch. Although, however, men whose attention had been specially directed to the subject distinguished between the ancient Hebrew books and the later additions, many early ^vriters quote Apocry- phal books as of authority. In the case of the New Tes- tament, we have to do with the formation of a Canon, not with the recognition of one already formed. While the teaching of the Apostles, and of others who had seen the Lord, was still fresh in the minds of the brethren, the need of an authentic written standard of the facts and doctrines of the Gospel was scarcely felt. The " word " was a message or proclamation ; it was heard, received, handed down. But as this word died away, a variety of written documents claimed to supply its place. It is clear however that, from the earliest date at which we could expect to find evidence of such a fact, the Four Gospels which we recognize occupied a place apart ; the picture of Christ which we find in the earliest Christian writers is the picture which we find in the Gospels and not elsewhere. Both in orthodox and heretical writers there is a constancy of reference to the now-received Gospels such as cannot be produced in favour of any other writings whatever. Irenseus, connected by only one intervening link with St John, distinctly recognizes four Gospels^ — undoubtedly our four — and no more, as the authentic pillars of the Church. The Apostolical Epistles from the first claimed to be some- thing more than occasional writings* ; and as early as the 1 Euseb. H. E. iv. 26. 2 lb. VI. 25. 3 Har. III. 11. 8. 4 Col. iv. 16 ; 1 Thess. v.-i?. Chap. VI. Melito, c. 160. Origen, 0. 230. Neio Testament. Gospels. Epistles. The TJieology of the Church and its Opponents. Nexc Testament as a wJwle. time when the Second Epistle of St Peter was written, the Epistles of St Paul were clearly regarded as Scripture \ Basilides the Gnostic, about the year 125, quotes as Scrip- ture the Epistle to the Romans and the First to the Corin- thians ^ Clement of Alexandria recognizes " the Apostle " — the collection of apostolic writings — as correlative to "the Gospel V Tertullian speaks expressly of the "New Testament" as consisting of "the Gospels" and "the Apostle ^" The earliest testimonies to the existence of the New Testament as a whole are the catalogue con- tained in the famous Muratorian Fragment ^ written about A.D. 170, a Western document; and the Syriac version of the New Testament, called Peshito, made about the same period, which to a great extent agrees with it. In the third century testimony is abundant to the general reception as Scripture of nearly all the books of the New Testament which we at present acknowledge. Certain books — the Epistle to the Hebrews, of Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, James, and the Apocalypse — were not received as canonical with the same absolute unanimity as the rest. Of these it may be said, that by the end of the third century " the Apocalypse was universally received, Avith the single ex- ception of Dionysius of Alexandria, by all the writers of the period; and the Epistle to the Hebrews by the Churches of Alexandria, Asia(?), and Syria, but not by those of Africa and Rome. The Epistles of St James and St Jude were little used, and the Second Epistle of St Peter was barely known ^" And the reverence with which the books of the New Testament were received was due to the belief that their writers had the special guidance of the Holy Sjoirit'. The Scriptures are divine writings, oracles of God, writings of the Lord®. The prophets spoke as they were moved by a spirit given by God^, yet in such 1 2 Pet. iii. 16. 2 Hippolyt. Hcsr. Ref. vii. 25, 26. 3 Strom. VII. 3, p, 836 ; cf. vi. 11, p. 784. ^ Adv. Praxeam 15. Cf. Adv. 3Iarcion. iv. 1. 5 Kouth, Bell. Sacra, i. 894; Westcott, Canon of N. T. pp. 235 ff., 557 ff. 6 Westcott in Diet. Bible, i. 263. ^ Westcott, Introd. to the Gos- pels, App. B, p. 383 ff.; J. De- litzsch, De Inspiratione Script. Sa- crce quid statuerint Patres Aposto- lici, etc. (Lips. 1872). 8 Irenffius, Hcer. ii. 27. 1; r. 8. 1 ; V. 20. 2. ^ Upev/Lari evdii^, Athenag. Le- gat. 7 and 9. See De Soyres, Montanism, pp. 62 ff. The Theology of the Church and its Opponents. Ill a way that the spirits of the prophets were subject to the prophets, not in the blind furor or ecstasy of a pagan soothsayer \ The recognition of the guidance of the Spirit granted to the sacred writers did not blind the early Fathers to the differences of their gifts. Both Irenseus^ and Origen^ made excellent remarks on the peculiarities of the style of St Paul, and Tertullian speaks of him in the early days of his discipleship as still raw in graced as if capable of after-development. It was an object of great importance with the early defenders of the faith to shew the essential harmony of the Old Testament with the New, a harmony which Marciou and some others denied. It is in view of such an opinion that Irenseus^ lays down, that it is the same Householder who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. Both the Old Testament and the New were brought forth by one and the same Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The two Testaments are the two pillars upon which rests the mighty structure of the Church. The method of the ancient interpretation of Scripture is, for the most part, neither historical nor philological ; it is the effort of pious and believing minds to find in the books for which they felt so much reverence the greatest amount of edification for their souls. B. But the appeal to the Scriptures against heresy was not in all cases conclusive. Many of the early Christians knew little of them ; they had believed without paper and ink'. And it was difficult for the orthodox teachers to refute the allegorical interpretations by means of which many heretics thrust their own opinions into Scripture, for they themselves also practised the same method. Heretics frequently claimed to possess the only key to its meaning. The early teachers did in fact appeal to the doctrine of 17. 1 Miltiades in Euseb. H. E. v. 7. - Har. III. 7. 3 In Euseb. H. E. vi. 25. 11. ^ "Gratia ixxdis," c. Marcion. i. 20. 5 Hcer. rv. 9. 1; Fragment 27, p. 346. 6 C. A. Heurtley, Harmonia Sym- bolica ; Gilder in Herzog's Rcal- Encyclop. v. 178, s. v, Glmihens- regel; J. E. Lumby, Hist, of the Creeds; C. A. Swainson, TheNicene and Apostles' Creeds, etc. ; A. Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole und Glau- hensregeln der alien Kirche, ed. G. L. Hahn; C. P. Caspari, Un- gedruckte...Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols und der Glaubens- regel. 7 IrenaBtis, Hter. iii. 4. 2. Chap. VI. Harmony of Old and New. Interpre- tation. The Rule ofFaith^. Apostolic Churches. The Theology of the Church cuul its Opponents. the Apostles, as maintained in the Churches which they liad fouTulc'd. They a})])i'aled to the actually existing laith in the Churches ol' such cities as Jerusalem, Antioch, E])hesus, Alexandria, Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Rome. Irenanis^ claimed the authority of his old friend and master ; Polycarp had seen an apostle, Valentinus had not. He claimed the authority of the Church of Ephesus, founded by St Paul, instructed by St John ; and generally api)ealed to the store of faith left by the Apostles in the Churches. In precisely the same strain Tertullian^ affirms, that what the Apostles taught is to be discovered through the Churclies which they founded, in which they preached, to which they wrote. That doctrine is to be held true, which agrees with that of the apostolic Churches, the sources and springs of faith. And it was natural and indeed necessary that the essence of the apostolic teaching, as it was found in the memories of the Churches and in the writings of the New Testament, should be summed up in a brief and easily grasped shape for the use of the faithful. Such a Rule of Faith, Rule of the Church, Rule of Truth ^ or by whatever name it may be called, does in fact soon make its appear- ance. No such Rule, as far as we know, was drawn up by any Apostle or by the Apostles collectively, yet a document which set forth the primitive doctrine naturally claimed the authority of Christ and the Apostles. It was given by teachers in a briefer or more extended form as circum- stances required, so that it has come down to us in several shapes, in which we may generally trace the special errors against which they are directed. Traces of such a Rule are found in Ignatius* and in Justin Martyr^ But it is in Irenseus® first that we find a tolerably complete summary of the Faith which the Church dispersed throughout the world had received from the Apostles and their disciples ; the belief in one God, the Father All- Sovereign ^ who made heaven and earth ; in 1 Har. III. 3. 4. 2 De PrcBscript. c. 21. Cf. c. 26. ^ iKK\r]b;il)lc3 that Callistus attempt rd to maintain the unity uf Substance in the Deity against Hi]>polytus, while protesting against the confusion of' Persons introduced by Noetus and others. For while Rome was yet agitated by the opinions of Noetus, a new form of en'or had found its way thither, the " modalism " of Sabellius. It is uncertain whether this remarkable person sprang from Libya or from Italy, It is certain that in the episcopate of Zephyrinus he was at Rome, where he was won over to the opinions of Cleomenes, which he developed after his own fashion. When Callistus, who had previously seemed to encourage him, became bishop, he disowned Sabellius, and it was perhaps for this reason that the latter left Rome for the East and became a presbyter at Ptolemais, where his success induced Dionysius of Alex- andria to write a treatise against him. His system pro- bably derived something from the same Gnostic source which influenced the Clementine Homilies'^. The Monad, he says, becomes by extension a Triad ; God extends and again con- tracts Himself. As there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit, so the Father always remains the same, but is extended into Son and Spirit^. The same God, remaining One in substance, transforms Himself according to the several needs which arise, and now addresses us as Father, now as Son, now as Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament He legislated as Father ; in the New He became man as Son ; as Holy Spirit He descended upon the Apostles*. And he compared the Deity to the sun, which though always remaining one substance, has three energies or modes of manifestation ; first, his actual mass or disc ; second, that which causes light ; third, that which causes heat'. In the same class with Noetus and Sabellius may be placed Beryllus of Bostra, whose leading tenet was, that the Son before His Incarnation had no defined personal ' See p. 82, note 1. 2 Horn. XVI. 12. 3 Athanasius, c. Arian. Orat. iv. 12 and 25. 4 Tbeodoret, Hcpret. Fahh. n. 9. 5 Epiphanius, Hares. 62, § 1. The Theology of the Church and its Opponents. 121 existence \ Beryllus, however, was convinced of his error by the arguments of Origen. In the working out of the human expression of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the teaching of Origen'"^ is of great importance. With him, God is the one real existence, the ground of all the phenomena of the universe. But it is impossible to conceive God, the supreme energy, resting in idleness and immobility ; He must therefore exert His ceaseless energy in creative work, and He must reveal Himself^ The link between the eternal God and the creation is the Son, the very image of His substance ; the word " Wisdom," applied to Him in the older wi^itings, denotes the totality of the primal thoughts, which are the eternal forms of the universe, the source of which is the Son. The expression " Logos" denotes the revelation and communication of these same thoughts which are contained in the Divine Wisdom. But we must not attribute all this to the Will of the Father only ; for the Will of God is itself impersonated in the Son. The Son is begotten of the Father; but w^e must not say that a portion of the substance of the Father is transformed into the Son, or that He was created out of nothing by the Father; there was never a time in which God was not the Father of the Son ; with God all things are present^ The Son is a consubstantial emanation from the glory of the Father. Yet is this identity of substance a conditional one, for the Father alone is the absolute God ; in this respect the Son is inferior to the Father. The Father, He said, is greater than I. The Father therefore alone is the proper object of worship. Origen even sometimes speaks of the Son as created or fashioned. The subordination of the Son shows itself in His work, the Son does the same as the Father, but the impulse comes from the Father; He is the in- strument by which the Father works. The Holy Spirit is made through the Son, for all things were made through Him^; He is the first and ^ Mtj irpovcpeaTavai /car' Ibiav ov- crt'as irepL-ypa^-qv, Euseb. H. E. VI. 33. 2 See p. 72 ff. ^ De Principiis, iii. 5. 3. 4 Orig. in Genes. {0pp. ii. 1, ed. Delarue). Cf. De Princip. i. 2; IV. 28; fragment in Athanasius, de Decret. Syn. Nic. c. 27. ^ In Joannem, i. 3 {OiJp. iv. 60, ed. Delarue). Chap. VI. "^ V ' 244. Origen. The Tlieolopy of the Church and its Opjwnents. chiefest Being made by the Father through the Sun, and subordinate to the Son, as the Son to the Father. He it is Wlio sanctifies the elect people of God. In Origen's doctrine of the Holy Trinity therefore there is clearly subordinationism. In teaching the consub- stantiality of the Son, Origen is the forerunner of Atha- nasius; when he teaches subordinationism, he may be apj^ealed to by the Arians. In the early days of the Church few Latin writers appear as theologians. Tertullian, however, is a vehement opponent of Patripassianism. He is himself a decided subordinationist, considering the Father as the whole sub- stance of the Godhead, and the Son as a portion of, or effluence from, Him\ The Holy Spirit in TertuUian's scheme occupies the same subordinate position as in Ori- gen's. How widespread was the Patripassian theory is sho^vn by the fact, that the poet Commodian held it, apparently without any consciousness that he had deviated from the faith of the Church. 4. Many, perhaps most, of the early Christians re- garded the second coming of Christ, and His final victory over all that opposed, as rapidly approaching. And to most of these the coming of the Lord presented itself in the form of Chiliasm, the expectation of a thousand-years reign of the Redeemer, with His risen and glorified saints, upon earth, as a preparation for the final consummation of all things''*. Probably the contest against Gnosticism tended to strengthen the belief in a material aspect of the Kingdom of God which the Gnostics denied. The Epistle of Barnabas^ first lays it down, that as one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, the first six thousand years of the world's existence are as the six days of creation. ^ Adv. Praxeam, cc. 7, 8, 9, 26. "Fuit tempus cum et Filius non fuit." c. Hermogenem, c. 3. 2 J. M. Gerhard, Loci Theolo- gici, XX. 95 ff. ed. Cotta; Joseph Mede, Clavis Apocahjptica, espe- cially The Thousand Yeais, in Ap- pendix {Works, vol. 2); J. Light- foot, De Chiliasmo PrcBsenti, in Critici Sacri, Thesaurus Novus, ii. 1042; T. Burnet, The Millenary Ucign of Christ, in De Statu Mor- tuorum, vol. 2; [H. Corrodi], Kri- tische Geschichte des CldUasvins; Chr. Wordsworth, Lectures on the Apocalypse, Lect. i. ; S. Waldegrave, Ne^o Test. Millennarianism; E. B. Elliott, Horce Apocalypticce, vol. 4 ; Miinscher, Lehre vom tausendjdh- rigen Reich, in Henke's Magazin, VI. 2, p. 233 ff. ; J. A. Dorner, Person Christi, i. 240. 3 c. 15, §§ 4, 5. The Theology of the Church and its Opponents. 123 and the seventh period is to be a thousand years of sabbatic peace and rest. Justin Mart}^^ expects Christ to reign a thousand years in Jerusalem. The materialistic and sensuous view of the reign of Christ appears in the description of the blessings of the saints quoted from Pajjias by Irenseus'"'. Irenaeus himself derives his imagery from such passages as those which speak of the wolf dwelHng with the lamb, of the fruit of the vine to be drunk in the Father's Kingdom, of the fashion of this world passing away. TertuUian, as a Montanist, was of course extremely emphatic in his belief of the speedy coming of the Lord. At the end of the second century these opinions, when they were propagated at Rome by Cerinthus, were strongly opposed by Caius the presbyter I In Alexandria, they met still more vigorous opposition, and under the great influence of Origen^, came to be regarded as at any rate fanatical, if not heretical. 1 Trypho, cc. 80, 81. 2 c. Hceres. v. 33. 3. In Geb- hardt and Hainack's Pair. Apost, II. 87. 3 Euseb. H. E. iii. 28. * De Principiis, u. 11, § 2. Chap. VI. CHAPTER VII. THE ORGANIZATION OF TiiE CHURCH. From the iirst, the Church of God had a deep con- sciousness of its unity ; its members were bound together by a common feeling for religion, a common system, a common hope^. Wherever there were Christians, a brother found himself at home. Whoever came to a Church and brought the true teaching was to be received and enter- tained^. Especially were they to be honoured who spoke the Word of God*. The Apostles, Prophets and Teachers^ who passed from Church to Church without being of necessity officials of any, had no doubt a large share in keeping alive the sense of unity in the scattered com- munities. These were men raised up by the Holy Spirit for the work which they undertook. There is no record of their being elected or ordained ; the Church recognized the gift which was in them. Careful arrangements were made for their reception in the Churches which they 1 L. Thomassin, Vetus et Nova EcclesicB Disciplina ; J. B. Light- foot, The Christian Ministry, in his ed. of the Epist. to the Philippiam, p. 179 ff. (1869) ; Charles Words- worth, Outlines of the Christian Ministry, and Remarks on Dr Light- foot's Essay; Edwin Hatch, The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, Bampton Lectures, 1880; F. Probst, Kirchliche Disciplin in den drei ersten christlichen Jahr- hunderten; A. Harnack, Texte und Vntersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Band ii. Heft 1 u. 2, § 5. 2 Tertullian, ApoL 39. ^ Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, XI. 1. ^ lb. IV. 1. Compare Hebr. xiii. 7. 5 1 Cor. xii. 28. Cf. Ephes. ii. 20; iii. 5; Hermje Pastor, Visio III. 5. 1. It must be borne in mind that the title diroaToXos ( = mission- ary) is not limited to the Twelve. On the Prophets, see E. H. Plumptre, Biblical Studies, p. 323. The Organization of the Ghv/rch. 125 visited, and directions given to guard against impostors^ ; for in very early times tares were found among the wheat. But besides teachers specially raised up, a regular organi- zation for teaching and government was found in each Church. The distinction of clergy^ (kXtjplkoC) and laity {XalKoi) is found at an early age of the Church. Clement of Rome^ hints not obscurely a parallel between the order of the priesthood in the Jewish Church and that of the Christian ministry. The Ignatian letters "are full of references to a distinct order of ministry with several ranks ; Polycarp has much to say on its claims and duties. Irenaeus speaks* rather of the distinction conferred by moral and spiritual excellence, the Alexandrian Clement rather of the privi- leges of the true Christian "gnostic,^" than of a formal order of ministers, though clearly recognizing a distinction between the presbyter, the deacon, and the layman ^ It TertuUian that we first find the words " sacerdos " IS m and " sacerdotium " applied directly to the Christian ministers and ministry^ ; yet he asserts distinctly enough the priesthood of the community in Christ, though the authority of the Church made a distinction between clergy and laity, " ordo " and " plebs," as was plainly indicated in the separate bench assigned to the former^ A few years later Hippolytus speaks® of himself as sharing in the grace of high-priesthood {dp-x^Lepareia^i). But in no early writer do we find the sacerdotal claims and functions of the ministry put forward so distinctly as they are by Cyprian ; he frankly applies to the ofiicers of the Christian Church passages relating in the first in- stance to the privileges and duties of the Aaronic priest- hood^" ; those who oppose the priesthood are guilty of the sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram^\ The language of the ^ Teaching, xi — ^xiii ; Hermae Pastor, Mandat. xi, 2 On the derivation of the word, see Baur, K. Geschichte, i. 260, note 3 ; Ritschl, AU-Kathol. Kirche, p. 388 ff. ; Lightfoot on Philippians, p. 245 ff. (2na ed.). ^ Ad Corinthios, cc. 40 — 44, ^ E.g. Hceres. iv. 8. 3; v. 34. 3. 5 Strom. VI. 13, p. 793. 6 lb. III. 12, p. 552. ' E.g. De Frcescript. c. 41; Pe Baptismo, c. 17 ; De Virgin. Vel. c. 9. 8 Be Exhort. Cast. c. 7. ^ Hceres. Ref. Prooem. p. 3. ^^ See, for instance, Epistt. 3, 4, 43, 59, 66. 1' Be Eccl. Unit. cc. 18, 19; p. 226 f. ed. Hartel. Chap. VII. Clergy and Baity. 1 "J-Lf^ vith Cyprian, is not less strong. With regard to the particular offices of the ministry, we have already seen'^ that instances of one person exer- cising in a Church an authority such as we call episcopal are not wanting in the Apostolic age. The leading in- dications of the several orders of the ministry in early writers are as follows. The Apostles, says Clement of Rome\ appointed their first-fruits as " bishops and deacons" of those who should join the faith ; here, as in St Paul's epistles, all officers of the Church deriving authority from the Apostles seem to be included under the two categories of direction or supervision and executive or ministerial activity. More- over, they directed that after they had fallen asleep other approved men should succeed to their office (Xeirovpyiav) ; therefore, continues Clement, those who had either been appointed by the Apostles themselves, or by men of con- sideration with the consent of the Church, were not lightly to be deposed from their office ; expressions which seem to imply that after the time of the Apostles, the chief officers of a Church were appointed by a council of its most distinguished members, with the assent of the general body of the faithful. The Shepherd of Hermas describes as the squared stones of the great building, " Apostles, and bishops and teachers and deacons^", where the " teachers" are probably presbyters, regarded in their teaching capacity; so that the division of offices here appears to be equivalent to that into bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Before the middle of the second century we find a distinct recognition of the three orders of the Christian ministry, bishops, presbyters, and deacons'*. And opposite parties agree in inculcating the most profound respect for the bishops, who are the centres of unity. Nothing was to be done without the bishop and the presbyters; the 1 E.g. II. 33 f. 2 Above, p. 30. 3 On the office of bishop, see A. W. Haddan, in Smith and Cheet- ham's Diet, of Chr. Antiq. i. 208 ff. '*■ Ad Corinthios, c. 44. ^ ovTol elaiu oi aTrdcTToXoi Kal iirl- CTKOiroi Kal di8d The Ov(janization of the Church. Chap. VH. until the very end of the third century or the beginning of the fourth. At that period a diversity of practice clearly existed in the Church ; we find excommunication denounced against any bishop, presbyter, or deacon who should put away his wife under pretence of living a more ascetic life*; while of those who were unmarried when ordained, only readers and choristers were permitted to marry '^; again, it is laid down that bishops, presbyters, deacons, and other clerks engaged in the work of the ministry should not dwell with their wives'. A special provision was made by the council of Ancyra^ for the case of deacons. If a deacon on ordination declared that he could not engage to lead a life of continence, he was permitted to marry ; but if he was ordained without any such declaration, he was to be degraded from his office if he afterwards married. It is evident however that there was at this time no absolute and universal prohibition of marriage to the clergy, for several distinguished clerics of the fourth and later centuries are known to have been married ; nor does that state seem in their case to have been regarded as in any way involving disgrace or in- feriority. We find in the earliest age of the Church no distinct ordinance as to the maintenance of its ministers; no doubt many, like St Paul, lived by the labour of their hands; yet the great principle, that the labourer is worthy of his hire, and that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel, was always admitted ; they who waited at the altar became partakers of the offerings of the faithful at the altar; and these free-will offerings soon came to be regarded as the equivalents for the tithes of the Mosaic law^ As the clergy were more and more withdrawn from all participation in secular affairs ^ it became more and more necessary to provide them an independent sub- sistence. It is evident from the very nature of the Church of Christ that the church of any one city could not remain in -loveless isolation from other churches ; the community ^ Ca7i. Apost. 5. 2 lb. 26; compare Cone. Neo- Gccsar. (a.d. 314) c. 1. 3 Gone. Eliber. c. 33 ; Arelat. c. 6. 4 Can. 10. ^ Cyprian, Epist. 1, c. 1. ^ Can. Apost. 6, The Organization of the Church. 137 of life, discipline, and doctrine, which are inherent in the very conception of the church, forbade it. As individuals formed a particular church, so all the churches taken to- gether formed the Catholic Church ; and as the bishop with his presbyters formed the council of a particular commu- nity, so an assembly of bishops formed the council of a district or province. Synods were a natural product of the life of the church ; they were the principal manifesta- tions of its unity both in doctrine and discipline ; it was their work to concert common action for the resisting of heresy, the healing of schism, the restoration of discipline. The bishop seems in all cases to have represented his church at these assemblies ; as each bishop was the centre of unity in his own church, so the assembled bishops repre- sented"'^ the unity of a larger portion of the church imi- versal. Of general councils we of course hear nothing until the cessation of persecution permitted the assembling of prelates from every quarter of the Roman world. But though bishops were the ordinary and indispens- able members of a synod, yet presbyters also took part in their deliberations. In Cappadocia, seniors and presidents^ assembled every year to arrange matters of common con- cern. At the synod of Antioch, it was the presbyter Mal- chion who refuted Paul of Samosata, and in the synodal letter the presbyters Malchion and Lucius are named'* expressly, while several of the bishops are not. The regu- lar constitution of a council at the beginning of the fourth century was probably that described in the preamble to the canons of Elvira^; "when the bishops had taken their seats, twenty-six presbyters also sitting with them, and the deacons and the whole commonalty (plebs) standing by; the bishops said "...The canons run in the name of the bishops, though the presbyters no doubt took part in Chap. VII. Synods^. Composi- tion of Synods. 1 Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, Bd. I. (tr. in Clark's Theol. Library) ; A. W. Haddan, in Smith and Cheet- ham's Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s.v. Council (I. 473 ff.). 2 The word " repraesentatio " is Tertullian's [De Jejuniis, c. 13). It seems probable, on the whole, that his "concilia ex universis ec- clesiis" were not Montanistic. 3 " Seniores et prsepositi" (Fir- milian to Cyprian, Cypr. Epist. 75, c. 4). It is not quite certain here that " seniores" are identical with "presbyteri." 4 Euseb. H. E. vii. 30; Eouth's Reliquice, in. 287 ff. ^ See the various readings in Bruns's Canones, ii. 1. 138 TJic Organization of tlie Church. Chap. VII. Precedence of Bishops. Jewish Organi- zation. Metro- politans'^. Jerusalem. Ccesarea. the deliberations, and the deacons and people had perhaps the same kind of tumultuary influence as the commons at an English witcnagcmot. When it became usual for the bishops of neighbouring churches to meet for deliberation on matters of common interest, it was necessary that some one of their number should have the power both of summoning assemblies and of presiding in them. Thus, although in spiritual powers all bishops were equal, a certain precedence in dignity came to be assigned to the occupants of certain ancient and important sees. It is probable indeed that a certain subordination among churches existed from the first. As in every city where Jews were found in large numbers, its sanhedrin exercised authority over the councils of the smaller synagogues in the neighbourhood ; so, when the faith of Christ came to be preached — and it was first preached by preference in cities containing Jewish com- munities — a presbytery with its bishop was formed from the converts \ which naturally took the oversight of smaller neighbouring communities in much the same way that the Jewish presbytery had done that of its dependents. In some cases the senior bishop, without reference to his see, presided in councils; but generally the bishop of the chief town of a province — where also the church generally claimed an apostle or apostolic man as its founder — sum- moned and presided in assemblies, and exercised a vague authority over his comprovincial bishops. The great me- tropolitan sees were the following. Jerusalem itself, blessed with the presidency of St James and afterwards of others of the same family, had a natural preeminence among Jewish-Christian churches^. But when, after the rebellion in the time of Hadrian, the purely Gentile town of ^lia Capitolina rose upon the ruins of the sacred city *, its prerogative passed to Csesarea, the political capital of Palestine, where the church was at any rate of apostolic origin, and illustrious from the memory of St Peter and of St Philip the Evangelist. In . Syria and the neighbouring countries the pre-eminence of ^ The parallelism of Jewish and Christian organization is noticed by Dollinger, Handbuch, i. 354. - Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s.v. Metro- politan. 3 Hegesippus in Euseb. H. E. III. 32. 6. 4 See p. 51. The Organization of the Church. 139 Antioch, the first meeting-point of Jewish and Gentile Christianity, was long acknowledged. Alexandria^ rose into prominence at a somewhat later period. Here was found the most numerous and important Jewish com- munity existing beyond the limits of Palestine ; and here too was formed in the course of the first two centuries a Christian church so important that its bishop ranked first among the bishops of the East, though it was not of the very highest antiquity, nor founded by an Apostle. The authority of this church extended itself — like that of the Sanhedrin in the same place — over the communities in the Cyrenaica and in Libya, though Cyrene and Libya- Mareotis belonged politically to the province of Africa and not to Egypt ; a proof that the ecclesiastical was not always identical with the political province. Rome had probably a larger Jewish population than any other city of the West, and here too a Christian church was formed, if not by an Apostle, at least in the lifetime of many Apostles. It was inevitable that the church in the capital of the world, when it came to be an important body, should exercise a dominant authority over the churches of the neighbouring cities. Such was in fact the case, though its predominance was not at once recog- nized. The first and natural centre of the church on earth was of course Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit was first given ; hence Jewish- Christian fiction in the second century gives to St James the Lord's brother the title of ''bishop of bishops V and regards him as the centre of eccle- siastical unity. But on the destruction of Jerusalem by Hadrian, the central power of Christendom passed, by a kind of natural affinity, to the middle point of the political world, Rome ; henceforth, St Peter and not St James is the central figure with the Christians of the Hebrew fac- tion. It is again in Judaizing fiction that St Peter — the first-fruits of the Lord as the primseval bishops were of the apostles — is represented as possessing supreme authority 1 Eutychius of Alexandria, Ec- clesice suce Origines, from the Ara- bic, in Seldeni Opera, ii. 410 ; J. M. Neale, Hist, of the Eastern Ch., Patriarchate of Alexandria, Bk. i. 2 Clementine Epist. ad Jacobum, '^KXrjfirjs 'la/cw/St^ t(^ Kvpi(p Kal iin- (XKoiTiav eTTiaKOTTOj." Compare Horn. III. 62. Chap. VH. V • Antioch. Alex- andria. Rome. St James. St Peter in the Clement- ines. Tlie Organization of the Church. in the Roman church, and handing on the privileges of his cathedra to his faithful disciple Clement'. Yet Dionysius of Corintli, who had the greatest respect for the Roman See, knows nothing of the See of St Peter, but refers the foun- dation of the R(jman church to St Paul and St Peter in common'. Tertullian ranks Rome, with Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica and Ephesus, among the apostolic sees^ and agrees with the Clementines in regarding St Peter as first bishop of Rome and as having ordained Clement as his successor*; yet he treats with the utmost scorn the claim of the " pontifex maximus " to be a bishop of bishops, or by his own authority to grant remission of penalties for certain offences ^ Irenseus, in an interesting passage^ refers to the ancient and glorious Roman see as the ac- knowledged preserver of the traditions derived from the two great apostles its founders, and therefore having a natural precedence' among the churches. Cyprian, who regards Rome as certainly the see of Peter and the centre of unity in the church®, urges that the gift of the Lord to St Peter was identically the same as that to all the Apostles ; if it was given to one in token of its unity, it was given to many in token of its variety®; all bishops alike are successors of St Peter ^°; for one bishop to claim an episcopate over his brother bishops is simple tyranny". The claim of Rome to be "cathedra Petri" was ac- knowledged from the end of the second century. But it is needless to seek the grounds of the Roman primacy in a supposed supremacy of St Peter and a supposed commis- sion of St Peter to those who should occupy the Roman see. The causes which really led to the pre-eminence of the Roman church and its bishop are sufficiently obvious. ^ Epist. ad Jac. 2. On the Papal claims see I. Barrow, Trea- tise of the Pope's Supremacy ; L. E. Dupin, De Primatu Romani Pontijicis, in his De Ant. Ecclesice Bisciplina; J. Bass Mullinger in Smith and Cheetham's Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s.v. Pope; G. Phillips, Kirchenrecht, vol. v.; J. Green- wood, Cathedra Petri, vol. i. ; J. F. von Schulte, Concilien, Papste, und Bischofe ; T. W. Allies, per Cru- cem ad Lucem, vol. ii. p. 217 ff. 2 Euseb. H. E. ii. 25. 8. 2 De Prescript, c. 36. 4 Ih. c. 32. ^ De Pudicitia, c. 1. ^ Hares, iii. 3. 2. ' Potior [al. potentior] principal- itas. 8 Epist. 59, c. 14; 55, c. 8. » De Unit. Eccl. c. 4. 10 Epist. 33, c. 1. 1^ Goncil. Carthag. in Cyprian, p. 436 (ed. Hartel). The Organization of the Church. All the roads in the world led to Rome, all nations and sects were represented there; and probably those obscure bishops of Rome in the second century had more of the governing instinct than their more literary and contem- plative brethren in the East. The majesty of the eternal city could not fail to add dignity to its bishop. It was not, so far as we can now trace, the greatness of particular bishops which raised the church of Rome to its pre-eminence; if there were among them saints and martyrs, there were also some whose name bears no good odour; but all were eager for Roman interests. Callistus was probably a man of doubtful character^, but he at least strengthened the position of the episcopate by the declaration, that a bishop could in no case be deposed by the presbytery, not even in case of mortal sin. If Marcellinus offered incense to idols, the Roman legend turns even his fall to account, saying that it was only by his own voice that he was condemned, for " the first see is judged by no man^" In spite of indi- vidual failures, the Roman church, like the Roman nation, steadily pursued its aim of ruling the peoples. It gained its end, so far as the western churches are concerned, yet not without many struggles. Its claim to settle con- troversy by an authoritative decision was vehemently rejected in the second and third centuries by the Asiatic and the African churches, and it was not until political causes powerfully co-operated with spiritual that the power of the great Roman patriarchate was consolidated. With- in the first three centuries it exercised authority over the "suburbicarian" provinces in Central and Southern Italy, and a vague influence over the churches of southern Gaul, to which bishops were sent from Rome^ 1 See p. 81. ^ Roman Breviary, Apr. 26, Lect. v; Hardouin, Concilia, i. 217. 2 Cyprian, Epist. 68 ; compare Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc, i. 28. 141 Chap. VII. CHAPTER VII r. SOCIAL LIFE AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. Cn. VIII. V ^ ' Christian LlFK^. Gifts of tfu Spirit. Faviily Life. Marriajjc. I. Wk ini;^^ht, express the great difference between the life of Christians and that of the world around them by saying that within the Church were special gifts of the Holy Spirit. Outward signs of the presence of the Spirit — prophecy, healing of disease, casting out of demons — were still recognized in the first three centuries I Ter- tullian^ speaks as if it were an e very-day matter for a Christian to compel a demon to disclose himself and quit the afflicted person. And not less certain signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit were seen in the love and beneficence of the brethren towards each oth(;r. Family life received a new sacredness. Children were looked upon as a precious trust, to be trained in the chastening (jf the Lord for a higher life. Husband and wife who were heirs together of the grace of life were drawn together in a closer bond. Tertullian'* draws a charming picture of the serene happiness of a wedded pair who have all their thoughts in common ; who share one hope and one service of God ; who pray together, fast together, and approach 1 C. Schmidt, I.a Soci^tS Civile et sa Transformation par le Ghris- tianiiivir, tr. by Mary Thorpe, under the title Social Restdts of Early Christianity, Lond., 18H5; F. Miin- ter, die Christin im Ilcidn. Hause: C. C. J. Bunsen, Ilijjpolytus and Ids Age, vol. 3; C. J. Hefele, Ueher den RigorisviXLs in dem Lehen der alten Christen (in his Beitrnge zur Kircliengeschichte u. s. w. i. 16 ff.); W.E.H.Lecky, History of European Murals, vol. 2; M. CarriSre, Die Kunst in Zusammenhang der Cultur- entwickelung, vol. 3; E. de Pres- sense, Christian Life and Practice in the Karly Church, from the French by A. Harwood-Holmden. ^ IrenaiUB ii. 32, 4. 5; Euseb. H. E. V. 7. ^ Ad Scapulam 2, 4; Apol. 23; cf. Justin M. Apol. ii. 8; Trypho 85; Origen c. Cels. iii. p. 133 sp. * Ad Uxorem ii. 9. Compare Clement Strom, iii. 10. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 143 together the Table of the Lord. Marriage was regarded as indissoluble, except in case of adultery \ Nay, in the view of some even death itself did not dissolve it, and second marriage was, to such, only respectable adultery ^ Doubts were early raised whether marriage was permitted to the clergy l Marriages between Christians and heathens were of course looked upon with disfavour"*. The poor, widows and orphans, those who were sick or in prison, and friendless Christian strangers, were the charge of the community. For these contributions were made at the celebration of the Eucharist ^ Ladies visited the poor at their own homes". Large sums were given for the re- demption of captives'. Never was the helpfulness and the courage in the presence of danger which distinguished the brotherhood more marked than in time of pestilence.' While pagans deserted their nearest kindred, or cast them half-dead into the streets. Christians gave the utmost care to the sick and the dead. Christian or pagan, regardless of the deadly atmosphere which they breathed**. The Christian regarded his whole life as guarded by Christ and loved the sign of His Cross -. Christians lived in the world as not of the world. They were serious while much of the world around them was frivolous. Many of the amusements and occupations of paganism seemed incompatible with a life vowed to God. The pagan divinities seemed to them evil demons^", and their votaries given over to a strong delusion. And as splendid dress and decorative art were largely in the service of pagan worship, they looked with suspicion and dislike upon all artificial attractions. Every trade which ministered to idolatry was of course forbidden ; and some regarded the disguises of a stage-player as a kind of deceit and fraud not permitted to true worshippers ^\ Such teachers also inveighed against elegance and attractive- ness in women's dress as unworthy of those who should be devoted to Christ ^l And even without such admonition, Ch. viu. 1 Jerome, Epist. 30, c. 1. 2 Athenagoras, Legat. 33. 3 Above, p. 135. ^ Tertullian, Ad Uxorem, ii. 3, 4. ^ Justin M. Apol. i. 67. « Tertull. Ad Uxor. n. 4, 8. 7 Cyprian, Epist. 62. 8 Pontius, Vita Cypriani, c. 12; Euseb. H. E. vii. 22. ^ Tertullian, de Cor. Militis 3. 10 Id.De Idolol. 20; Origen c. Cels. bk. VII,, p. 378, sp. 11 Tertullian, De Spectaculis 23. 12 Id. De Ctiltu Feminariim, ii, 2. 144 /Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. Ch. will. in time of persecution, the realities of life were too ab- sorbing to permit much attention to be given to its orna- mentation. Civic life was so interwoven with pagan worship, so many common observances implied a recog- nition of some deity, that Christian life in the midst of heathenism was full of pitfalls. It was doubted by some whether it was lawful to wear a garland on the head\ or to wreathe the door posts, on occasions of public festivity. Already in the time of St Paul perplexity arose from the fact that portions of the victims offered in sacrifice were publicly sold at the shambles, and this must have con- tinued so long as pagan sacrifices were tolerated. Some doubted whether it was lawful for a Christian to serve in the Roman armies, under standards which implied a -deification of the emperor ^ Those who served could how- ever point to the examples of the centurion at Capernaum and of Cornelius, who are not recorded to have left their military profession. 2. The horror which the Christian felt towards the Pagan world expressed itself in an extreme form in the rigorous life which was known as Asceticism^ ; a life, that is, of self-denial such as was not expected from the ordinary Christian. Ascetics were distinguished by their with- drawing — so far as might be — from the world, and devoting themselves to prayer and meditation on holy things ; by their scanty diet and abstinence from marriage. To such was assigned a special rank in the house of prayer*. As early as the latter half of the second century we find both men and women devoting themselves to life-long celibacy in the hope of nearer communion with God°. The apo- logist Tatian was a leader of those who from their severe self-control were called Encratites^ ; and Hieracas'', a pupil of Origen and in many ways a distinguished man, held ^ Tertullian, De Corona Militis. 2 Justin M. Apol. i. 14 ; Athena- goras, Leg. c. 35; Tertullian, De Idolol. c. 19; De Cor. Mil. cc. 10, 11; Origen, c. Cels. v. 33; vii. 26; VIII. 73. It is certain however that in fact many Christians served ; see Tertullian, Apol. 37, 42; Euseb. H. E. VIII. 4; X. 8; and the story of the Thundering Legion, Tert. ad Scap. 4 ; see p. 41 of this volume, and Diet. Chr. Antiq. s. v. War. 3 Bingham's Antiq. Bk. vii. ; I. Gregory Smith, in Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s. v. 4 Constt. Apost. VIII. 13. 4. 5 Athenagoras, Legatio 33. 6 Epiphanius, Hceres. 47. 7 See above, p. 74; Epiphan. Hcer. 67. Neander, Ch. Hist. ii. 515 (Torrey's Tr.). Social Life and Ceremonies of the Ghurxh. 145 principles hardly less rigid. Under the influence of such principles, women lived unmarried under vows, not yet absolutely perpetual \ Some, in their exaltation, were led to attempt that which is above nature, living, while vowed to continence, in the same house and in the utmost familiarity with men bound by similar vows^. Such arro- gant purity, which was found to have evil consequences, was forbidden by a definite enactment in the beginning of the fourth century ^ This appreciation of virginity not unnaturally led to depreciation of marriage, to which no doubt some of the coarse associations of heathenism still clung. So much coarseness in truth was found in pagan marriage-feasts that Cyprian* thought them no fit scenes for the presence of a disciple of Christ. 3. The feeling of the vanity of earthly things and of the need of self-discipline and self-mortification combined with horror of the pagan world to drive enthusiastic de- votees into the desert. Many souls in all ages of Chris- tianity have felt the deep longing to withdraw from the vain and unsatisfying pleasures and pomps of the world into the deep unbroken solitude in which communion with God seems more possible. The first great saint of the desert — the first, that is, who made a great impression on the world — was Antonius, whom we commonly know as St Anthony®. Born near Memphis in the middle of the third century, he was impelled by the hearing of the gospel precepts, "Sell all that thou hast" and "Take no thought for the morrow," to divest himself of all his worldly wealth. He visited some who were already her- mits, to learn their manner of life, and soon after fixed his dwelling in the midst of barren hills, about a day's journey 1 To leave this state after pro- fession was however a scandal {Cone. Ancyr. 19). ^ Hermae Pastor, Sim. ix. 11 ; Tert. Be Jejuniis 17; Cyprian, Epist. 4; 13, § 5; Gone. Elih. c. 27; Epi- phanius, Hares. 47. 3. 2 Gone, Ancyr. c. 19 (according to the versions of Dionysius and Isidore) and Cone. Niece, c. 3. * De Habitii Virginum, c. 18. ^ HeribertEosweyd, Vita Patrum, sive Histories Eremitiece Libri X.; J. C. W. Augusti, Handbuch der Cliristlichen Arclidologie, i. 154 ff., 418 ff. ; I. Gregory Smith in Diet. Chr. Ant. s. v. 6 Athanasius, Vita S. Antonii ; Socrates, H.E.i. 21 ; Sozomen 1. 13 ; Jerome, Catal. 88. The authenticity of the first-named has been ques- tioned by Weingarten (Der Ur- sprung des Monchthums) but on weak grounds. See Hase, K-Gesch. nuf Grimdlage Akadem. Vorlesimgen, Th. 1, p. 381, and Jahrbiicher fiir Prot. Theol. 1880, Hft. 3. 10 Ch. VIII. Perpetual G hastily. Hermits'^. St An- thony. 140 Social Life and Ceremonies of the Cliurch. Cn. VIII. from the Red Sea, in a ruined tower, the entrance to which he blocked up with stones. There he remained for many a year, seeing no human countenance, unless it were that of a friend who twice a year brought him a supply of bread. It was in this solitude that he exjioricnced the temptations which have become famous. Outraged nature rose against him, and filled his imagination, sometimes with horrible forms of demons, sometimes with alluring phantoms of beautiful women. The tidings of the per- secution of Maximin lured him from his retreat to Alex- andria, where the Alexandrians looked with wonder on the strange form from the desert. He encouraged confessors before the judge and ministered to the saints in prison, but found not the mart3n:'s crown. His visit to the haunts of men however spread abroad his fame, and his desert became populous with disciples, on whom he enjoined the great duties of prayer and work. Here we see the beginning of the coenobium, the common life of ascetics, afterwards so largely developed. He himself continued to lead a life of watchings and fastings, hardly consenting to take sufficient food to sustain life. He was unlearned, but wise with long experience of the human heart. His saying — " As the demons find us, so they behave towards us, and according to the thoughts which are in us they direct their assaults" — shows that he was no brain-sick visionary. At his word the sick were sometimes healed and demons driven out ; but he was neither elated when God heard his prayer, nor angry when his prayer was not answered ; in all things he praised the Lord. A true physician of the soul, he reconciled enemies and comforted mourners. In the midst of this poverty w^hich made many rich it was made known to him where he would find one who was more perfect than himself Paul^ of Thebes had dwelt since the persecution of Decius in a cave of the desert, where a palm-tree gave him shade, clothing, and food. For ninety years he had been lost to men, and was found by Anthony as he lay at the point of death. As his own end drew near, he withdrew from the veneration and the disquiet of human kind further into the desert, and only reappeared occasionally to defend the faith or to ^ Jerome, Vita Paitli EremitcB ; 0pp. ii. 1, ed. Vallarsi. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 147 protect the oppressed. He departed at last in extreme old age, leaving behind him the fame of a pure and simple character, and a great posterity in the numerous army of hermits. 4. The great end and aim of Christian teaching, with regard to man's life among his fellows, is to produce in each man such a condition of heart and mind as will of itself impel him to right conduct. But Christian morality has also another aspect. There is given to the Church, considered as a theocratic community, a code specially re- vealed, and sanctioned by glorious promises and terrible penalties. This code has to be enforced and the purity of the society guarded. Hence within the Church the great problems of morality tended to assume a juristic aspect. The heads of the community are not merely teachers of morality or ministrants in sacred things, but also jurists administering a code \ determining what censure or penalty should be inflicted in particular cases. The great penalty was the exclusion of offenders for a longer or shorter period from the privileges of membership ; and these privileges could only be regained by a long process of prayer, fasting, and humiliation — a process comprehended under the one word " penitence" — together with public confession of sin in the midst of the congregation ^ Excommunication, with its consequences, became in fact the great earthly sanction of the moral law. The judgement on such cases was committed to the presbyters under the presidency of their bishop ; but, as is evident from the history of the Church, the bishops exercised a dominant influence, and were held responsible for the severity or laxity of the proceedings. The germ of the code which guided the decisions of the ecclesiastical judge was found in the com- mands of the Lord Himself and in the Decalogue. With regard to other precepts of the Mosaic Law, the early Church does not seem to have laid down any definite principle by which commands of perpetual obligation might be distinguished from those which were merely national ^ H. Sidgwick, Outlines of the History of Ethics, c. iii. § 2. 2 J. Morinus, De Sacramento Pce- nitentice ; Jas. Ussher, Answer to a Challenge made by a Jesuit {Works III. 90, ed. Dublin 1847 ff.) ; N. Mar- shall, The Penitential Discipline of the Primitive Church; G. Mead, in Smith and Cheetham's Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s. w. Exomologesis and Peni- tence. 10—2 Ch. VIII. Disci- pline. Excommu- nication. Penitence. Con- fession. 148 Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. Ch. VIII. and tcni])orary. There were, for instance, different opinions as to the necessity of abstaining from things strangled and from blood \ In the Church, as in other societies, circnmstances arose which were not explicitly provided for by the law, and decisions of Churches or bishops from time to time enlarged the scope of old precepts. Hence there was formed a mass of traditional or "common" law, which was often in fact new while it claimed to be old, and which passed current under venerable names. A collection of such precepts is found in the " Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles,'"^ in the "Ordinances of the Holy Apostles"' which are derived from it, and in the so-called "Apostolical Constitutions"'* and "Canons of the Holy Apostles.''^ The " Constitutions" consist of eight books, of which the first six clearly reflect the customs and practices of the Eastern Church of the first three centuries, the seventh is founded upon the " Ordinances," the eighth, though it may contain matter belonging to an earlier period, embodies the ritual of the middle of the fourth century, and has been thought to exhibit traces of Arian- ism. The Canons which bear the name of the Apostles^ are a collection of precepts from the Constitutions, or from the Acts of various synods up to the fourth century. It may be observed, that although these collections bear the names of Apostles or Apostolic men, they were never venient edition by Ueltzen. ^ W. Beveridge, "ZwobiKov sive Pandecta Canonum 1. 1 S., and Cote- lerii Patres Apostolici, i. 424 ff. ; O. Krabbe, De Cod. Canon, qui Apostul. dicuntur ; C. J. Hefele, ConcilioigeschicJde, i., Appendix (1st Edn); De Lagarde, Reliquics Jtiris Can. Ant.; B. Shaw, in Diet. Chr. Antiq. 110 ff. 6 The whole of these Canons, 85 in number, were inserted by Joannes Scholasticus in his Noinocaiton in the middle of the sixth century y (Justelli, Bihlioth. Juris Ant. ii. Iff.), and received as of authority by the Trullan Council (c. 2) at the end of the seventh. The Roman Church rejects tbem as apocryphal {Corpus J. Can., Decreti P. i., Dist. xv., c. 3, § 64 ; decree attributed to Ge- lasius). 1 TertuUian.^poLO. The Western Church in general did not observe this prohibition, while the Eastern retained it. 2 First published by Philotheos Bryennios, from a ms of the year 1056, at Constantinople in 1883. Edited by De Romestin, Spence, P. Schaff, A. Harnack {Texte und Ujitersuchungen, vol. ii., pts 1 and 2), and others. ^ Aiarayal or Kauoves eKKXijata- (jTLKol Tu}v ayiojv ' ATToaToXu}]/ ; in Hainack u. s. p. 225 ff. * See 0, Krabbe, Ueher den Ur- sprung tind den Inhalt der Apost. Constt. ; J. S. von Drey, Neue Unter- suchungen iiher die Constt. ti. Kano- nen der Apostel; Bickell, Geschichte des Kirchenrechts, vol. i. ; B. Shaw, in Smith and Cheetham's Diet, of Chr. Antiq. 119 fif. There is a con- Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 149 placed by the ancient Church on an equality with Scrip- ture. As may readily be supposed, the administration of this system of penalties was by no means free from diffi- culty. Penitents were readmitted to communion in one Church with much more facility than in another. One of the grounds for the attack of Hippolytus on Callistus\ bishop of Rome, was his excessive readiness to restore to communion all manner of sinners, so as to lower the standard of Christian holiness. Hippolytus appears to have been chosen anti-bishop by the party discontented with the mild rule of Callistus. And again, at a later period, when Cornelius declined to make heavy the yoke which since the time of Callistus had been light, one of his presbyters, Novatianus^ rose up against him, and was made the bishop of an opposition. This was a man of considerable culture, of ascetic life and nervous tempera- ment, who had received benefit from the prayers of a Christian exorcist, and so been won for Christianity. Like Justin Martyr, he was reputed a philosopher. He laid down the principle, that the first duty of ecclesiastical rulers was to preserve the Church as a pure society of saints or " Kathari;" hence, that one who by sin had separated himself from God and been excluded from the Church could never be received back into it ; though he exhorted the fallen to rejDentance even without hope of re- turning to the Church ^ The Novatianists refused com- munion with the Catholic Church, and baptized anew those who came over to them from Catholicism. Novatianus died as a martyr under Valerian, but the schism per- petuated itself for some generations. One of the Nova- tianist bishops was Acesius, whom at the Council of Nicaea Constantino bade to plant a ladder and go up into heaven by himself*. Meantime, a schism had arisen on opposite grounds at Carthage. In the severity of persecution, there were some who had delivered up to the pagans their copies of Holy 1 See p. 81. 2 Cyprian, Epistt. 44—48 (ed. Hartel) ; the Letter of Cornelius to rabius(Euseb.fl'.E.vi.43; Eouth's Rell. ni. 20) where the schismatic is called Nooi;aros; tbose of Dio- nysius of Alexandria to Novatianus (Euseb. H. E. vi. 45), and to Dio- nysius of Eome {lb. vii. 8). 3 Cyprian, Epist. 55, c. 28. * Socrates, H. E. i. 10. See Stanley, Eastern Ch. 175. Ch. VIIL Callistus, c. 220-235. Novati- anus, 251. Kathari. Schism of Felicissi- mus, 250. 150 Social Life and Ceremonies of ilie Church. Ch. VIII. Novatus, 250. Fortu- 7iatus. Meletian Schtsm, 30G. Scripture {traditores), some who had actually sacrificed to idols {lapxi), and some who, without sacrificing, had obtained from the magistrates, by favour or bribery, cer- tificates' of having sacrificed {libellatici). When such offenders desired to be restored to the Church, it became a pressing question how they — especially the " lapsed" who had actually sacrificed — should be dealt with. Were they to be readmitted to the Church, and, if so, on what con- ditions ? At Carthage Cyprian'^ refused to receive at once men who had denied their Lord, even though some who had suffered in the persecution — " confessors," as they were now called — desired them to be readmitted, giving them certificates of reconciliation (libelli pads). Thus there arose a discontented party, composed of the aggrieved confessors, those who were dissatisfied with Cyprian's ad- ministration, and the lapsed who were eager to be received again into communion. These, with Novatus at their head, rebelled against Cyprian as being unworthy, in con- sequence of his flight during the persecution, to rule over men who had endured torture with heroic constancy. They chose a deacon of their own, one Felicissimus, and set up Fortunatus, one of their adherents, as bishop of their party I Cyprian's severe views unfortunately set him at variance with the milder bishop of Rome. When able to hold a synod, he so far modified his decree as not to hand over the lapsed to despair, but to readmit them to com- munion, after long penitence, in prospect of death*. Libel- latici were at once readmitted^. And in the troublous time when his diocese suffered from war and pestilence, he acknowledged works of mercy as an atonement for all sin®. Novatus, who had been a champion of the laxer ride at Carthage, found his way to Rome, where he be- came an adherent of the stricter party of Novatianus, and did much to encourage the schism. If we may trust the account of Epiphanius', the schism 1 On these Libelli, see E. W. Ben- son in Diet, of Chr. Antiq. s. v. 2 See p. 77. 3 Cyprian, De Lapsis, and Epist. 41, 42, 43, 45, 59. 4 id. Epist. 57. 1; 55. 6. 5 Epist. 55. 14. ^ Cypr. De Opere et Eleemosynis. ^ Hares. 68. Other accounts are found in the letters of four Egyptian bishops to Meletius, with an anony- mous Appendix, and of Peter him- self (in Eouth's Reliquia, iv. 91 ff.) ; and in Athanasius, Apol. c. Arian. cc. 11, 5U, Epist. ad Episc. Aegtjpti, cc. 22, 23, who is followed Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 151 of Meletius in Egypt was of the same kind as that of Novatianus in Rome. According to him, during the per- secution of Diocletian, many Christians who had denied their Lord entreated mercy and forgiveness. Peter, the bishop of Alexandria, who was himself in prison witli most of his brethren, was inclined to gentle courses, and would have granted communion to such of the lapsed as were ready to do penance !br their fault. Meletius, how- ever, bishop of Lycopolis in the Thebaid, who was also a prisoner, opposed this, and would at any rate defer the readmission of the penitents until the persecution should be over. A majority of the bishops took his part. Soon after this Peter died in consequence of the torture which he had endured, and Meletius was sentenced to slavery in the mines. On his way however to his place of banish- ment he ordained several presbyters and deacons, and the schism which thus arose was still dangerous at the time of the Council of Nicsea. Meletius on the cessation of persecution had returned to Egypt. 5. The beginning of Christian life was Baptism. Those adults who desired to be admitted through the laver of regeneration into the Body of Christ had to submit to a course of instruction, during which they were called Catechumens \ and were not allowed to be present at the celebration of Holy Communion. In primitive times, this instruction seems to have been of a practical kind, impressing on the candidate the great distinction between the way of life and the way of deaths The catechumenate lasted ordinarily, at the end of the third century, two years, or even three, though it might be shortened in special cases ^ In the times immediately succeeding the apostolic, we find that the candidate, after instruction, was taken to some place where there was water — if possible. in the main by Socrates, H. E. i. 6, p. 15 and Theodoret, H. E. i. 9, p. 31. 1 J. Bingham, Antiq. Bk x. ; E. H. Plumptre, in Smith and Cheetham's Diet. Chr. Antiq. s. v. 2 Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, cc. 1—6. '^ Cone. Elib. c. 42; Constt. Apost. VIII. 32. 9. •* F. U. Calixtus, De Antiq. circa Baptismum Ritibus; A. van Dale, Hist. Baptismorum Hehr. et Christ. ; J. G. Walch, De Rit. Baptism. Scec. II.; J. Bingham, Antiq. Bk xi. ; J. W. F. Hofling, Das Sacrament der Taufe; F. Probst, Sacramente und Sacramentalien in den drel ersten Christlichen Jahrhunderten, p. 97 ff. ; W. B. Marriott in Smith and Cheetham's Diet. Chr. Antiq. s. V. Baptism. Ch. VIII. Cere- monies. Cate- chumens. Baptismal Rites^. 152 Social Life (ind Cereinonie.s of the Church Cn.VIII. Interroga- tions. Jicnuncia- tio)is. F.sorcism. Bcni'dic- tion of IVater. Junction. Milk and Honey. Imposition of Hands. Baptism ofy Infants. Sponsors. Baptism of Blood. to a running stream — both the baptized and the baptizer fasting, and there phmged into the water in llie name of the Holy Trinity. Warm water miglit be used in case of nc^cessity, and it was suflicient, when circumstances ad- mitted of nothing else, to pour water thrice on the head of the candidate*. Later, at the end of the second and the beginning of the third century, we find a more elaborate ritual. The candidate was questioned as to his faith '^; he renounced the devil and his pomps", and was exorcised to free him from his power*; the water was blessed by the bishop^; before baptism, which took place by trine immersion or affusion in the name of the Holy Trinity, he was anointed, and again on leaving the water*', when he was also given to taste of milk and honey ^; and immediately afterwards he received imposition of liands with prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit®. This laying on of hands, being in the West reserved to the bishop, ''soon became a separate rite^ That in early times infants were baptized'", in accordance with the principle laid down by Irenseus", is evident from Tertullian's*^ indignant re- monstrance. Origen'^ in the third century found infant- baptism an immemorial custom, held to be Apostolic. Sponsors^'' were held necessary both for adults and infants, in the first case as guarantees of the honest intention of the candidate, in the second to give additional security that the children should be brought up as Christians. If one who had professed his readiness to receive baptism died the martyr's death without having actually ^ Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, c. 7; Justiu M. Jj;o^ I. c. 61. Com- pare Cyprian Epist. 68, c. 12. 2 Tertullian, De Cor. Mil. 3; Cyprian Epist. 70, c. 2. See above, p. 114. 3 Tert. De Cor. Mil. 3. ^ This seems to be implied in the account of the Council of Carthage of A.D. 256; Cyprian, 0pp. i. 435, ed. Hartel. ^ Cyprian, Epist. 70, c. 1. 6 Constt. Apost. III. 16; vii. 22; Tert. De Baptismo, 7. ^ Tert. De Cor. Mil. 3. ^ Id. De Baptismo, c. 8. ^ Cyprian [Epist. 72, c. 1) speaks of Ijaptism and laying on of hands as " sacranientum utrumque. " See also Cone. Eiib. c. 77. low. Wall, History of Infant- Baptism; J. G. Walch, Historia P if dob apt i ami in his Miscellanea Sacra, p. 487. C. Taylor, Tracts (London, 1815). " c. Hares, n. 22. 4. ^2 De Baptismo, 18. Compare Cyprian, De Lapsis, 6. i» In Levit. Hom. 8, 0pp. ii. 230; in Lxicam, Hom. 14, 0pp. in. 948. 1* Tert. u. s. ; Constt. Apost. in. 16; viii. 32; the two latter passages speak of deacons as viwboxoi or fxap- Tvpes. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 153 passed through the purifying flood, the " baptism of blood" was always held to be at least equivalent to that of water. Both kinds were typified in the blood and water which flowed from the Lord's wounded side^; those who suffer martyrdom unbaptized share in the blessing of the penitent robber^. Towards the end of the second century Tertullian^ raised the question, whether baptism conferred by heretics was valid, and answered it in the negative. Agrippinus*, bishop of Carthage, agreed with him, and baptized anew Montanists who came over to the Church. The same practice prevailed in Asia Minor, Alexandria, and many other Eastern Churches, and was sanctioned by a series of provincial synods at Carthage, Iconium, and Synnada. The ancient practice of the Roman Church was different ; in Rome the heretic who returned to the Church, if he had been baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, was admitted to communion by simple imposition of hands^, as penitents were. The Churches of Carthage and Rome were brought into contact in consequence of their common concern with Novatianism, and each was offended at the other's practice. Stephen, bishop of Rome, was not dis- posed to tolerate a custom which varied from his own, and threatened to withdraw from communion with the African and Asiatic Churches if they persisted in their offence. An absolute breach was however prevented by the media- tion of Dionysius of Alexandria®. But Cyprian was unable to reconcile the Roman principles with his conception of the Catholic Church. There could be no true baptism out- side the Church, for heretics could not confer gifts of the Spirit which they did not themselves possess'. Against the authority of the Roman see, he protested that this was not a matter to be settled by tradition, but by reason^; nor was one bishop to lord it over another, since all were partakers of a like grace. Stephen thereupon refused to receive the legates of Cyprian in Rome, and withdrew Ch. vin. Heretical Baptism. A.D. 218— 222. 230—235. Stephen. Cyprian. 1 Tert. De Baptismo, 16. 2 Cyprian, Epist. 73, c. 22. 3 De Baptismo, 15. Compare Clement, Strom, i. 19. 96. ^ Cyprian, Epist. 71, c. 4; 72, c. 3. s Cypr. Epist. 74, cc. 1 and 2; Eusebius, H. E. vii. 2. 6 Euseb. H. E. vii. 5. '' De Eccl. Unitate, 11; Epistt. 69, c. 1 ; 70, cc. 2 and 3 ; 73 ; (Firmilian) 75, c. 7. ^ "Non est de consuetudine praa- scribendum, sed ratione vincen- dum." Epist. 71, c. 3. 154 Social Life and Ceremonies of the CJmrch. Cii. VTII. Council of Carthage, A.D. 256. Council of Aries, A.D. 314. Assem- blies. Holy Eu- charist ^ The " Teach- ing.'' c. 120? from communion with him and his Church. Ho even went so far as to call Cyprian a false Christ, a false prophet, a deceitful worker \ A council of the African province in the year 256, under Cyprian's presidency, decided in favour of their ancient custom ^ The Asiatic Churches generally took the same side, and their metropolitan, Firniilian, bishop of Ca\sarea in Cappadocia, wrote to Cyprian a formal declaration of their opinion on the matter at issue, containing a strong condemnation of the conduct of the bishop of Rome. The contest was an obstinate one, and outlived both the principal combatants ; Stephen suffered martyrdom in 257, and Cyprian in the following year. Meantime the kindly and judicious Dio- nysius of Alexandria had again intervened, and the per- secution under Valerian no doubt turned men's thoughts to more pressing needs. A friendly message from Xystus, Stephen's successor, was brought to Cyprian shortly before liis execution^ Gradually the Roman practice prevailed. It was sanctioned by a synod at Aries, at which several Numidian bishops were present, in the year 314^ Christians assembled themselves together, mindful of the Lord's promise and the Apostle's warning, to worship God, to strengthen and refresh their own souls, to realize their union with Christ and with each other. These ends they sought especially in the Supper of the Lord or Holy Eucharist. The earliest account remaining to us of this celebration^ teaches us that believers met on the Lord's Day, when they confessed their sins, and were warned that no one who was at enmity with his brother should approach the feast of love. Over the Cup thanks were given for the holy vine of David, made known to us through Jesus Christ ; over the broken Bread, for the life 1 Firmilian to Cyprian (Cypr. Epist. 75, c. 25). 2 Cypriani Ojyp. i. 435 ff. (ed. Hartel) ; Hardouin, Cone. i. 159 flf. 3 Pontius, Vita Cypriani, c. 14. ^ c. 8; Hardouin, Cone. i. 205. 5 D. Blondel, De Eucharistia Vet. Ecclesice; C. M. Pfaff, De Oblatione Eucharistice in Primi- tiva Eccl. usitata; P. Gut^ranger, Institutions Liturgiques, tome i ; P. Freeman, Principles of Divine Service, vol. ii, pt. 2 ; K. Eothe, De Primordiis Cult us Sacri Christian- orum (Bonn 1851) ; H. A. Daniel, Codex Liturgicus, vol. iv. Prole- gomena; F. Probst, Liturgie der drei Ersten Christl. Jahrhunderte ; Smith and Cheetham, Diet. Chr. Antiq. i. 207, s. v. Canon of the Liturgy, and i. 412, s. v. Commn- nion, Holy. ^ Teaching of the Twelve Apos- tles, cc. 9, lb, i4. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Chwxh. 155 and knowledge made known to us through Him ; and prayer was made that the disciples should be gathered into the Kingdom, even as the scattered grains were made one loaf. After reception, thanks were given for God's Holy Name revealed to us, and for knowledge and faith, for spiritual meat and drink; for immortal life made known to us through the Son ; and prayer was made for the perfecting of the Church and the passing away of the present world. The service ended with an invitation to those who were without, and the watch-word Maran atha, "the Lord cometh." From the account of Justing later in age and differing in place from that of the Teaching, we find that, in the Sunday service, portions were read from the " Memoirs of the Apostles " — probably the Gospels — and from the Prophets. The reading was followed by an exhortation from the presiding brother, and then all stood up to pray. After this, bread, and wine mixed with water, were brought, and the president uttered prayer and thanksgiving. Then those present partook, and portions were sent to the absent by the hands of the deacons. Upon this followed the offering of alms, which were deposited with the president to be administered for the benefit of the sick and needy. The " holy kiss " is mejitioned in Justin's description of the Eucharist which immediately succeeded a baptism, but not in that of an ordinary Sunday. Both the " Teaching " and Justin speak of the eucharistic service as a "sacrifice'^" Elsewhere Justin mentions^ that in the Eucharist thanks were given for our creation and for our redemption through Christ. Irenseus too speaks of the giving of thanks over the elements. " We offer," he says, " unto God the bread and the cup of blessing, giving thanks unto Him for that He bade the earth bring forth these fruits for our sustenance ; and... we call forth the Holy Spirit, to declare (or manifest) this sacrifice — even the Bread the Body of Christ and the Cup the Blood of Christ, that they who partake of these copies (dvTiTvircov) may obtain remission of their sins and everlasting life^" The intercessions which, according to 1 Apol. I. 65 — 67. {Trypho, c. 117) of prayers and 2 6v(TLa. It must be remembered thanksgivings as the only perfect that this word had a wide meaning. and acceptable dvcrlai. Hermas {Sim. v, 3. 8) speaks of ^ Trypho, c, 41. fasting as a 6vk |)lace in c(jnnexion with the Eucharist'*. Tertullian implies that a thanks- giving took place in the Church over the elements'"' ; and he also mentions that prayers, called " orationes sacrifici- orum," followed communion. Consecrated bread was kept in private houses, and tasted l)ejrore other food^ Origen^ speaks of the " loaves oftered with thanksgiving and prayer over the gifts " as having been made, in consequence of the prayer, " a certain body, holy and hallowing those who use it with sound purpose." Cyprian first distinctly puts forth the principle that the Lord's acts in the Last Supper are to be followed by the celebrant in the Eucharist. " Because," he says®, " we make mention of the Lord's Passion in all our sacrifices. ..we ought to do no other thing than He did ; for Scripture says that so often as we offer the Cup in commemoration of the Lord and His Passion, we should do that which it is evident that He did." We also find from Cyprian that in the Eucharist intercession was made for brethren in affliction'^, whose names were recited ^\ as were also the names of those who had made offerings*^ and of the faithful departed". A much more developed form of Liturgy than any described in earlier documents is found in the second book of the Apostolical Constitutions". There, bishops, presbyters, and deacons take part in the service ; the lections from the Old Testament are intermingled with psalmody ; there follow lections from the New Testament, ending with the Gospel ; then, silence is kept for a space, followed by exhortation from the presbyters and bishop. This ended, catechumens and penitents depart, pare Hares, iv. 18. 4, 5; v. 22. 3; I. 13. 2. 1 Apol. cc. 30, 39. '^ Apol. c. 31. ^ Ad Scapulam 4. 4 De Exhort. Cast. 11 ; De Mo- nogamia 10. ^ Ad Scapulam 2. ^ c. Marcion. i. 23. ^ Tertullian, ad Uxor em ii. 5 ; Cyprian Be Lapsis 26. ^ c. Gelsum, lib. viii. p. 399 Spencer. 9 Epist. 63, c. 17. 1" Epist. 61, c. 4. 11 Epist. 62, c. 5. 12 Epist. 16, c. 2. 13 Epist. 1, c. 2. 1^ II. 57. Krabbe, not without reason, suspects this passage to be an interpolation of the fourth cen- tury. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 157 and the faithful, turning to the East, the abode of God, the seat of Paradise, stand up and pray. Then follows the oblation of the elements, the warning to those in enmity or in hypocrisy, the kiss, the prayer of the deacon for the Church and the world, the bishop's blessing in the words of the Hebrew priest \ his prayer, and the sacrifice, followed by communion. The doors are guarded, that no uninitiated person may enter. The eucharistic service, as described here, is summed up in the words, " the reading of the prophets, the proclaiming of the Gospels, the oblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy food^". In primitive times the bread was broken and the cup blessed at a meal ; at first the meal of a household^ ; afterwards, a more public one to which each brother brought his contribution*. This seems to have been still customary at the time when the " Teaching " was written^, but in Justin's time, in the middle of the second century, it seems clear that no food was partaken of at Communion except the consecrated bread and wine. So long as the Communion continued to be celebrated in the primitive manner, it was almost certainly held in the evening, at the usual hour of the principal meaP. But even in Pliny's time Christians held a meeting before dawn, and their habit of meeting in obscurity caused the heathen to re- proach them with loving darkness rather than lights In the African Church of the second and third centuries it is clear that Christians communicated before dawn, though it seems probable that in some cases they received in the evening also^ Of the evening participation however Cyprian seems to speak as if it were rather a domestic than a public rite. Besides the Eucharist, Christians also assembled at common meals — "tables" or "love-feasts"^ — for social Ch. VIII. 1 Numbers vi. 24 — 26. 2 Constt. Ajwst. II. 59. 2. ^ Acts ii. 4<] ; see above, p. 27. * 1 Cor. xi. 20 ff. ^ It seems to be implied in the words ^^ /xera rb ifMvXrjadrjvai,^'' Teaching of the Tioelve Apostles, c. 10. ^ See Baronius, ad annum 34, c. 61. ' Minucius Felix, Octavius 8; compare Justin, Trypho 10 ; Ori- gen, c. Cehum, i. 3, p. 5, Spencer. 8 Tertullian, ad Uxorem ii. 4 ; De Corona Mil. 3 ; Cyprian, Epist. 63, cc. 15, 16. ^ Acts vi. 2; Jude 12. It is probably to such feasts that Pliny (Epist. 96 [97]) refers when he speaks of "cibus promiscuus"; Commun- ion at a meal. c. 110. Eove- feasts. 158 Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church Cii. VIII. Hours of Prayer. c. :500. Marriage. Burial of the Dead. intorcourso and edification. Tortiillian' describes the modest table and tlie sober joyousiiess of tliesc festivals, which afterwards in his Montanistic fervour he calum- niated^ It is however in fact evident tliat the love-feasts in some cases degenerated into mere scenes of enj()yment^ Directions are given in the Apostolical Constitutions* for the proper distribution of portions to the several ministers by the host who gives a love-feast. Prayer was an essential part of Christian life. The third, sixth, and ninth hours were marked out by scriptural precedent^, and we find them observed as special times of prayer in the second century®. In the third there was added a prayer earlier than that of the third hour and a prayer later than that of the ninth hour''. The earlier authorities give no ground for supposing that these prayers were said in churches, but in the Apostolical Consti- tutions^ the people are exhorted to come to the Church daily, morning and evening. In the early days of Christianity marriage must of course have been celebrated in accordance with the law of the land, in order to obtain legal validity, but it was early recognized that the union of believers should be sanctified by God's blessing^, and men of the stricter school came to regard a marriage not publicly declared in the church as no valid marriage at alP". The marriage ring and the veil seem to have been retained from old Roman custom", but the wreath, from its pagan associations, was dis- approved^'"^. Marriages of Christians with heathen were naturally discouraged^^. Divorce was permitted for the one cause only which was recognized as valid by the Lord — adultery ^*. In the Church the bodies of the departed acquired a Jejuniis 10 ; Clement, Strom, vii. 7. §40. 7 Cyprian, Be Orat. 35 f. ^ II. 59. The date of this por- tion is however uncertain. ^ Ignatius ad Polycarpum 5. 1" Tertullian, De Fudicitia 4. " Tert. Apol. 3; De Virgg. Vel. 11. ^•^ Tert. De Cor. Mil. 13. 1'' Cyprian, De Lapsis 6. '"* Clem. Alex. Strom, ii. 23. § 144 ; Tert. ad Marc. iv. 34. for they were intermitted when he pointed out that they were a viola- tion of the law against hetoBriae, and we can scarcely suppose that Christians would have intermitted the Eucharist. ^ Apologia 39. '■^ De Jejuniis 17. 3 Clement, Pcedag. ii. 1. 4. 4 II. 28. 1. 5 Ps. Iv. 17; Dan. vi. 10; Acts iii. 1 ; X. 9, 30. 6 Tertullian, De Orat. 20; De Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 15& new sacredness, and were laid to rest with tender care. Christian feeling shrank from reducing the body of a believer to ashes, after the heathen fashion, and preferred to lay it reverently in the bosom of earth \ to await the general resurrection. The body was frequently em- balmed I The clergy, as well as the friends and kinsfolk of the departed, accompanied it to the grave, chanting psalms as they went^ Nor were the dead forgotten when they were laid to rest. The anniversary of a brother's departure was observed by the faithful with oblations, love-feast, prayer and celebration of the Eucharist, if possible at the tomb, in which special mention was made of the departed ^ As was natural, Christian brethren desired to rest near each other, and the places set apart for the reception of their remains, whether on the surface of the ground or in catacombs, were called cemeteries or "sleeping-places^". The custom of placing lamps or tapers in places of burial seems to have arisen at an early period ^ Like the Hebrews, Christians loved to deposit their dead in tombs hewn in the rock. In the neighbourhood of towns, it was of course rarely possible to obtain such burying-places except by subterranean excavation. Such excavations are found at Alexandria, in Sicily, at Naples, at Chiusi, at Milan, but most of all near Rome, where in later times they were known as catacombs ^ These form 1 Minucius Felix [Octav. 34. 10) speaks of interment as the better custom, but nevertheless points out that the disposal of the remains is, with reference to the resurrection, a matter of indifference (compare 11. ?>, 4). The Christians of Lyons, in the second century, lamented that they were unable to commit their martyrs to the earth, in ac- cordance with what was evidently the usual practice. (Euseb. H. E. V. 1. 61). 2 Tert. Apol. 42. 3 Constt. Apost. II. 30. * Tert. De Cor. Mil. 3 ; De Ex- hort. Castit. 11 ; De Monogamia 10. E. Venables in Diet. Ghr. Antiq. s. v. Cella Memoriae. ^ Koi/xriTTipia, Dormitoria — both words used by classical writers for sleeping-rooms. The earliest use of KoifM7]T7jpLov for a burial-place seems to be in Hippolytus, Hares. Ref. ix. 12. See E. Venables in Diet. Ghr. Antiq. s. v. Cemetery. 6 Cone. Eliber. (a.d. 305 ?) c. 34. ^ Originally " ad catacumbas," a phrase describing the locality of a particular cemetery. The cata- combs have given rise to an exten- sive literature. The first great work on the subject was that of Bosio {RomaSotterranea, 1632), who was followed by Aringhi {Roma Sub- terranea, 1651), Boldetti {Osserv. sopra i Cimiteri 1720), and Bottari {Sculture e pitture, 1737 ff.). A new era began with Padre Marchi (I monumenti delle Arti Cristiane, Ch. VIII. Cata- combs. 160 Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. Cu. Vlll. an imnit'iiso surk's of clianibcrs for burial, connected ])y lon^' corridors and galleries, and were undoubtedly excavated in the soft " tufa granolare " for the purpose for which they were actually used. The earliest apj)ear to be almost coeval with the first appearance of Christianity in Rome. As Christians enjoyed, in general, the same protection for their dead ae other subjects of the Empire, there is no reason to su])p(^se that the catacombs were formed simply to conceal Christian burial-places; yet it is noteworthy that from the time that Christianity was recognized as the religion of the Empire, burials in the catacombs became infrequent and gradually ceased'. 6. As was natural. Christians from the first dedicated special days to special observances. Christians, says Ig- natius"'', no longer observed the Sabbath. Yet this must not be understood as if they paid it no respect, for some, at any rate, observed it as a day of joyful thanksgiving for the creation of the world l But, whether they observed the Sabbath or not, they always recognized the weekly cycle, and their great weekly festival was the first day of the week, the day on which Christ rose from the dead. The Lord's This day was already called Sunday'*, a name which ^^y- Christians soon adopted ; but its distinctively Christian appellation was "the Lord's Day^". On this day, dedi- Sacred Seasons, The Sabbath. 1844), who first shewed that the catacombs were not deserted sand- pits. But the most comi^lete and satisfactory work on the subject is that of the brothers J. B. and M.S. De' Eossi {Roma Sotlerranra, 18G4 ff.), the substance of which has been made accessible to Enghsh readers by J. S. Northcott and W. R. Brownlow {Roma Sotterranea, 2nd ed. 1879 ff.). The works of L. Perret {Les Catacombes de Rome), Raoul-Rochette {Tableau des Cata- combes), C. Maitland {The Church in the Catacombs), and E. Venables in Diet. Chr. Antiq. s.v. Catacombs, should also be mentioned. 1 It is pretty clear that they were deserted when Jerome was a boy at Rome, about a.d. 364. See Comm. in Ezek. 40, p. 468. 2 Ad Magnesias 9. 3 Constt. Apost. II. 59. 1; vii. 23. 2. The seventh day is still called " sabbati dies" in Latin Calendars, and the French "Samedi" is a corruption of this name, as the German "Samstag" is of " Sab- batstag." * 'H Tov rjXiov \eyoixivq rj/x^pa, Justin M. Apol. i. 67 ; compare Tertullian, Ajml. 16 ; Ad Nationes, I. 13. On the name "Sunday", and the similar names of the other days of the week, see Julius Hare in Philolog. Mm^eum, i. 1 (1832), and Diet, of Chr. Antiq. ii. 2031, B. V. Week. ^ H KvpiaKrj Tjfx^pa, dies dominica; see P. Heylyn, Hist, of the Sabbath, in his Historical and Miscell. Tracts; J. A. Hessey, Sunday, its Origin, History, etc., and A. Barry, in Diet, of Chr. Antiq. a. v. Lord's Day. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 161 cated to wholly joyful and exultant commemoration, it was not permitted to fast, or even to adopt the humble posture of kneeling in prayer \ Some also abstained from kneeling in their prayers on the Sabbath I To abstain, so far as possible, from ordinary business on the Lord's Day had come to be recognized as a duty as early as the end of the second century I The Wednesday in each week (as the day on which the rulers of the Jews took counsel to put Jesus to death) and the Friday (as the day of the Lord's Crucifixion) were towards the end of the second century observed as " Stations," days on which Christians were to be specially on guard (in statione) against the assaults of the enemy, when they had special devo- tions^ The year was also marked by a cycle of Festivals. The venerable feast of Pascha continued to be observed in the Church with a great change of significance. About the time of its observance early arose serious divisions in the Church ^ Under the Jewish Law, the Paschal Lamb was sacri- ficed on the 14th day of the lunar month Nisan, and on the 16th was offered the sheaf which represented the first-fruits of the harvest®. Thus the offering of the Lamb was always at or near the time of full-moon. As the Lord suffered and rose again at the Paschal season, this festival naturally became to the Christians a commemoration of the Passion and the Resurrection ; but there were considerable differences in early times both as to the time and the manner of the observance. The Ebionites, as they maintained generally the perpetual 1 Tertullian, De Cor. Mil 3; Ire- nseus, Fragm. 7 ; Gone. Nicanum, c. 20. 2 Tertullian, De Orat. 18 [al. 23], ^ Tert. u. s. •* Teaching of the Twelve Apo- stles, c. 8 ; Tert. De Orat. 14 [al. 18] ; 24 [al. 29] ; De Jejuniis 1, 10 ; Ad Uxor em, ii. 4. ^ On the Paschal question gene- rally, see H. Browne, Ordo Sceclo- rum, pp. 53 ff., 465 fif. ; L. Hens- ley, in Diet. Chr. Antiq. i. 586, s. V, Easter ; S. Butcher, The Ec- clesiastical Calendar^ pp. 257 £f. The views on this matter of the Tubingen critics, who point out a seeming discrepancy between the practice of the Asiatic Church and the date assigned to the Crucifixion in St John's Gospel, may be found in A. Hilgenfeld, Der Paschastreit der Alten Kirche. See also E. Schiirer, De Gontroversiis Pasch. n. Scec. exortis (Lipsiae, 1869). ^ Levit. xxiii. 11 ; Josephus, An- tiq. ITI. X. 5. 11 Ch. VIII. Stations. The Chris- tian Year. The Pascha. Jewish. Christian. 1. Ebion- ite. 1G2 Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church Ch. VIII. 2. Jewish- Christ ian. Quarto- deciman.<. 3. Gentile Chris- tians. Polycarp at Home. 155. A.D. Victor and Poly- crates, A.D. 196. obligation of the Mosaic law, even in ceremonial matters, kept their Pascha on the 14th Nisan with all the old ccrcMuonies, holding that the Lord had also done this on tlu' day before His death. The Catholic Jewish -Christians, whose i)ractice was extensively followed by the Churches of Asia Minor, while agreeing with the Ebionites as to the season for observing their Pascha, gave it a decidedly Christian signiticance. Christ, they held, the true Paschal Lamb, had Himself been slain on the 14th Nisan, and had consequently not held an ordinary Pascha with His dis- ciples. They therefore commemorated the Crucifixion on the 14th Nisan, and the Resurrection on the 16th*. These were in later times known as Quartodecimans. But in the West, and especially in Rome, where the influence of Judaism was less, the variation from the ancient Jewish observance was much greater. There it was held, that as there was already a weekly commemoration of the Resur- rection on the first day of the week — the week-day on which, as all were agreed, the Lord actually rose — the great annual festival in honour of the same great event should take place on no other day. The commemoration of the Crucifixion would consequently fall on the sixth day of the week, Friday. If therefore the 14th Nisan did not fall on a Friday, the Romans commemorated the Cruci- fixion on the Friday next after it, and the Resurrection on the following Sunday. For some years this divergency of practice continued in the Church without collision. The first signs of division were given on occasion of a visit of Polycarp of Smyrna to Rome. The Roman bishop Anicetus appealed, in defence of his own practice, to the tradition of his Church, while Polycarp, in defence of the Asiatic custom, alleged that he had himself actually celebrated a Pascha with the Apostle St John. Neither would yield to the other, but the two bishops at last parted in peaces Some forty years later, however, the contest was renewed with much greater violence by Victor, bishop of Rome, and Polycrates of ^ Our information as to the Jewish- Christian manner of keep- ing Pascha is mainly derived from the fragments preserved in the Chronicon Paschale (i. pp. 12 — 14, ed. Dindorf). In the interpreta- tion of these I have followed Kurtz, Handbuch, i. 243 fif. 2 Eusehius, H. E. iv. 14 ; v. 24, §16. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 163 Ephesus. The former even went so far as to refuse to hold communion with the Asiatic Churches so long as they continued to observe the Paschal season in their accus- tomed manner. This high-handed proceeding was however generally resented ; Irenseus in particular, himself sprung from Asia Minor, remonstrated warmly with the bishop of Rome, with full agreement of his Gallican brethren \ The question remained still for some generations un- decided, but the Koman practice seems to have spread. In the third century a new difficulty arose. In early times Christians had been content to accept the current Jewish Paschal season as their own. Now, however, it came to be alleged that the Jews themselves had varied. In ancient times (it was said) the Jews had always so arranged their calendar that the 14th Nisan was the day of the first full-moon after the vernal equinox ; but after the fall of Jerusalem they had ceased to observe this, so that their Paschal full-moon was sometimes before that epochs As some Christians observed, while others neglected, the rule as to the equinox, it was possible for one Church to be celebrating its Pascha a month earlier than another. It was probably this uncertainty about the correct reckon- ing of the Pascha which induced Christian teachers to attempt an independent calculation, taking account of the official Roman calendar. Hippolytus of Rome drew up a cycle for indicating the true Paschal full-moon, based on the suppositions, that the vernal equinox fell on the 18th March, and that after sixteen years the full-moons again fell on the same days of the year^. His cycle found great 1 Eusebius, i7.£.v.24; Socrates, H. E. V. 22. 2 See Socrates, H. E. v. 22, p. 293. It should be observed that the Jewish months were lunar. As 12 lunar months contain only 354 days, a month was intercalated at certain intervals to keep Nisan in such a position, with regard to the solar year, as to admit of the sheaf being offered on the 16th; and a day which admitted of the offering of the first-fruits of the corn would almost certainly be after the vernal equinox. Possibly when the Jews ceased to be an agricultural people, and were dispersed in various countries, they were less careful about the offering of the sheaf ; or the cycle of intercalation which they used may have had an in- herent imperfection which in time brought the 14th Nisan before the vernal equinox. 3 Eusebius, H. E. vi. 22. Hip- polytus's cycle is engraved on the back of his marble statue found near Kome in 1551, engraved in Bunsen's Hippolytus. See G. Sal- mon in Diet. Chr. Biogr. i. 508; III. 91. 11—2 Ch. VIII. Paschal cycles. 1G4. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. Ch. VIII. Fasting. Quadra- gesima. Ascension Day. Pentecost. For the Alexandrian Church a up by its bishop Dionysius\ acceptance in the West ditlereiit cycle was drawn This was, however, soon superseded by the cycle — correct in so far as it assumed the recurrence of the full-moons on the same year-day in nineteen years — of Anatcjlius of Laodicea'. But diversity of practice continued to exist, and the Paschal ([uestion was one of those brought before the Council of Nicsea. The commemoration of the Lord's Crucifixion was from ancient times preceded by a fast^. In the second century we find that some fasted at this time one day, some two days, some forty hours ; and that these differences were mutually tolerated*. Socrates'* states that the Roman custom was to fast three weeks, while in Greece and Alexandria a forty-days' fast was observed. Uniformity in this respect was not established before the fifth or sixth century. In the week immediately preceding Easter Sunday the fast was (in some Churches at least) very strict, most of all on the two days — Good Friday and the "Great Sabbath " — before Easter Sunday ^ Many spent the w4iole night between the Great Sabbath and Easter Sunday in devotion in the churches', and hailed with joy the dawn of the Easter morning. The seven weeks which followed Easter were a time of special joyfulness, during which the faithful did not bend the knee, but prayed standing ^ The fortieth day after the festival of the Resurrection, corresponding to the day of the Lord's Ascension, was naturally one of triumphant jubilation I The festal season ended with the fiftieth day, Pentecost, the day of the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem, the birthday of the Christian Church ^^ The followers of Basilides are said to have kept a festival. 1 Eusebius, H. E. yii. 20. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Grceca, in. 462. 2 Eusebius, H. E. vii. 32, 13 £f. 2 P. Gunuing, The Paschal or Lent Fast, reprinted in Library of Anglo-Cath. Theol.,18A5. * IrensBUS in Euseb. H. E. v. 24. § 12. 5 Hist. Eccl. V. 22, p. 294. ^ Constt. Apost. V. 19. ' Tertullian, ad TJxorem, ii. 4 ; Constt. Apost. V. 19. 8 Irenaeus, Fragm. vn. p. 342 ; cf. Tertullian, de Corona Mil. 3. 9 Constt. Apost. V. 19. ^^ Pentecost is one of the three special days mentioned by Origen (c. Celsum, p. 392, ed. Spencer), the others being Good Friday and Easter Day. The English name for Pentecost, Whitsunday, no doubt = White Sunday. See Skeat's Etymol. Diet. s.v. Whitsunday. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 165 "svith a vigil preceding, in commemoration of the baptism of the Lord in the Jordan \ Another class of yearly festivals arose from the annual commemorations of martyrs, which took place on the day of their death, and (where it was possible) at their tombs. From the first, the faithful shewed the greatest anxiety to obtain possession of the mortal remains of those who had fallen in the great fight ''^j and with like care they noted the day of departure ^ the birth-day'* of their brother into a higher life. Besides the ceremonies usual at the graves of the faithful departed ^ the acts of the martyr were recited, and probably before the end of the third century it became customary to pass the night preceding the festival — sometimes with much disorder — at his tomb®. 7. It is not probable that in the earliest times of Christianity Christians raised special buildings for their worship. When they were rejected by the synagogue, those who held Christ for the Messiah met wherever they could obtain leave to meet ; in the large upper-room or loft of a disciple ^ in the lecture-theatre of a rhetorician®, in the great hall of a Greek or Roman house*". Early in the third century Christians had acquired land with a view to erecting a place of worship", and it is probable that at this time they possessed buildings of their own, resembling the scholce or lodge-rooms which various guilds or corporations erected for their meetings. During the dark days of Decius and Diocletian they sometimes met in the silence and secrecy of the subterranean cemeteries, portions of which have been thought to be arranged as churches ^^ But in the peaceful period between those emperors the work of church-building went actively for- 1 Clement Alex. Strom, i. 21, p. 407, Potter. 2 Martyrium Polycarpi, 18 ; Lug- dunensium Epistola in Euseb. H. E. V. 1, § 61. 3 Cyprian, Epist. 12. 4 'Hfxipa yev^dXios, Mart. Polyc. 18 ; dies natalis, natalitia, Tert. de Cor. Mil. 3. 5 Antea, p. 159. ^ Cone. Eliber. c. 35. "^ G. Baldwin Brown, From Schola to Cathedral (Edinburgh, 1886.) ^ Acts i. 13 ; XX. 8 ; Pseudo-Lucian Philopatris, 23. ^ Acts xix. 9. ^•^ Clementme Recognitions, iv. 6; X. 71 ; Gesta Purgationis Cceciliani (in Augustine, 0pp. ix. 794, ed. Migne), referring to a transaction of A.D. 303. ^1 liam^ridius, Alexander Severus, c. 49. 12 Marchi, Monumenti, pp. 180 ff., ch. vm. V y Saints' Days. Vigils. Architec- tural AND OTHER ART. Build- ings'^. Scholce. 166 Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. Ch. VIII. Fittinjf. Painting. ward. The increased congregations were no longer satis- fied with tlieir old narrow rooms, but built everywhere large and conspicuous churches \ The stately church of Nicomedia was visible from the emperor's palace'. Of the fittings and ornaments of churches in the first three centuries little is known, except that each church had a Table or Altar^ for the administration of the Eucharist, and a desk or raised footpace for the reader or preacher. The supposed church in the catacomb of St Agnes has at one end, hewn in the tufa, a chair which is thought to be the seat of the bishop ; and the earliest description* of a church places the bishop's throne in the middle of the east end, with the seats of the presbyters on each side. As all Christian buildings of the first three centuries have long disappeared, it is only in the catacombs that we can look for remains of early Christian art^ There we find that from the earliest times the faithful decorated with paintings the chambers where they laid their dead, and where the living sometimes assembled. They adopted, as was inevitable, the style and many of the subjects of their pagan contemporaries. As in the houses of pagan Pompeii, so in the Christian vaults, the vine trails over the walls, birds and butterflies and winged genii display their beauties, and graceful draped female figures are not absent ; but the Vine symbolized the Saviour, and the other representations also received a new significance. Even the figure of the mythic Orpheus came to symbolize the attractive power of Christ. The Fish® represented both the Saviour Himself, and the disciple who draws life from the vivifying water. Under the image of the Fisher- taw, xxxv — XXXVII ; Diet. Chr. An- tiq. I. 313; From Schola to Cathe- dral, p. 60. ^ Eusebius, H. E. vin. 1. 2 Lactantius, De Mort. Persec. 12. 3 Tpdire^a (the usual liturgical word), dvcxiacTTripLOu (less common), mensa, altare, ara Dei (Tert. de Orat. 14). * In Constt. Apost. ii. 57. 4. ^ See the works referred to antea, p. 159, note 7 ; and add Seroux d'Agincourt, UHistoire de VArt par les Monujnents ; Ciampini, Vetera Monumenta; A. W. C. Lind- say (Lord Lindsay), Sketches of the History of Christian Art; F. Kugler, Handbook of Painting (Italy), from the German by Eastlake ; J. W. Burgon, Letters from Rome; K. St. John Tyrwhitt, The Art Teaching of the Primitive Church; E. Gar- rucci, VHistoire de VArt Chretien; E. Venables in Diet. Chr. Antiq.^ s. V. Fresco. ^ The Greek word 'Ixdoi is the acrostic of 'It/ctoOs Xpiarbi QeoO Tibs ZwTTjp. Social Life and Ceremonies of the Church. 167 man Christ is seen as the great "fisher of men," and under that of the Shepherd He gathers His sheep in His arms or leads them to pasture. Scenes from the Old Testament are made to symbolize the truths of the New. Direct representations of Christ and His saints are generally avoided in the earliest Christian pictorial art. Gems^ were early engraved with Christian symbols. The devices which Clement^ recommends are the dove, the fish, the ship, the lyre, the anchor, the fisherman; and very early specimens are extant bearing these and similar figures. Tertullian^ alludes to the figure of the Good Shepherd carrying the lost sheep, which Christians loved to see on the bottom of cups, seemingly glass cups. The bottoms of many such cups, bearing various representations in gold-leaf enclosed between two layers of glass, are found embedded in the mortar of the catacombs \ Not only does the Good Shepherd appear in these, with many other Christian symbols, but heads are found, intended seem- ingly for portraits of apostles and other saints whose names are appended. Such were the small beginnings of the arts which in eighteen centuries have raised magnificent buildings and displayed glorious representations of sacred scenes in the most enlightened countries of the world. Ch. VIII. Engraved Gems. Glass. ^ Martigny, Des Anneaux chez les premiers Chretiens; C. D. E. Fortnum, in Archaological Journal 1869 and 1871, on Early Chris- tian Finger-rings ; C. W. King, Antique Gems, ii. 24 ff ; Churchill Babington in Diet. Chr. Antiq. s.v. Gems. 2 Padag. iii. 11. 59. ' De Piidicitia, 7. * R. Garrucci, Vetri Ornati di figure in Oro; Churchill Babington in Diet. Chr. Antiq. s.v. Glass, Christian. Cn. IX. The Im- perial Church. Constan- tine and Licinius, A.D. 313. A.D. 314. A.D. 31G. A.D. 321. CHAPTER IX. THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE. 1. In the year 313 Constantine^ and Licinius found themselves masters of the Roman world. They had joined in the edict which gave full toleration to Christ- ianity, but with very different feelings. Licinius, without actually declaring his hostility, harassed the Christian communities within his dominions by the hundred petty annoyances which are always at the command of persons in authority. Constantino, though no doubt restrained in some degree by consideration for his partner in the em- pire, shewed in many ways the favour which he bore to Christianity. Several of the measures by which he bene- fited the Church belong to the period in which he still had Licinius for his colleague. He caused large sums to be given to the Churches of Africa'*; he conferred on Christian masters the power of manumitting their slaves without the presence of a magistrate^; he exempted the clergy from the obligation of undertaking burdensome municipal offices* ; he permitted Churches to accept lega- cies'* ; he commanded labour to cease, with the exception ^ Le Nain de Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs; J. C. F. Manso, Das Leben Constantins; J. Burck- hardt, Die Zeit Constantins ; Th. Keim, Der Uehertritt Constantins ; J. Wordsworth, Constantinm I. in Diet. Chr. Biog. i. 624 ff. See also A, de Broglie, VEylise et V Empire au IV"" Siecle, vols, land 2; H. H. MUm&n, Hist, of Christianity, vol. 2 ; A. P. Stanley, Eastern Church, Lect. VI.; W. Bright, Hist, of the Church from 313—451. 2 Euseb. H. E. x. 6. 3 Rescript to Hosius, in Codex Justin. I. xiii. 1. 4 Euseb. H. E. x. 7; Codex Theod. XVI. ii. 1, 2. This edict however did not exempt ecclesiastics from bur- dens which fell upon them as land- oioners, when they possessed estates. See Guizot's note on Gibbon, in. 31, ed. W. Smith. ^ Codex Theod. xvi. ii. 4. The Church and the Umpire. 169 of necessary work in the fields, on Sunday \ This last order, however, must not be assumed to have been given out of pure respect to the great weekly festival of Christians. It is clear that Constantino dreamed in these days of directing to one form of worship the common ten- dency of all mankind to reverence the divinity, thinking that such a universal religion would be an admirable bond for the distracted empire'^. The worship of the Sun, espe- cially under the name of Mithras, was very widely preva- lent in the empire, and it may have seemed to the great ruler possible to unite the worship of the material sun with that of the Sun of Righteousness. Certainly many of his coins bear on one face the sign of the Cross or the Labarum, on the other the sun-god^. He retained the title of Pontifex Maximus and discharged the sacrificial duties belonging to the office. In fact, Constantino's real feeling towards the faith of Christ is involved in great obscurity. He was apparently capable of religious emo- tion, and was fond of preaching to his courtiers*. Yet he always remained outside the Church, and was baptized only on his death-bed'^. It is certain that his Christianity did not prevent him from putting to death his son Cris- pus and his wife Fausta. A generation or two later a story was current® that, in great remorse at his bloody deeds, he had appealed to pagan priests or flamens to cleanse him from his guilt, and that it was only when the pagans declared that they had no lustration for guilt such as his that he turned to the Christians, who promised him purification. This story contains several improbabilities, but it is not inconceivable that a man of so complex a character may have had some dealings with pagan hiero- phants even after the date of Nicsea, as Saul resorted to 1 Codex Justin, ni. xii. 3; Eu- sebius, De Vita Constantini, iv. 18, 19, 20. ^ ^ '^ TTjV diravTdJU t(2v eQvQv irepi to 6dov irpodecriu els /xias e'^ews avaraaiv iv(Zorial rescript had been read, cried out "Long live our lligh-Prifst, the Emperor * ! " Edicts issued by the emperor were pub- lished in th(^ churches". And as the emperor, by influence or direct nomination, secured the election of many bishops, especially of those of Constantinople^, the episcopal order was generally disposed to do him homage. Justinian shewed much fjivour to the Church, but at the same time he made it more directly subject to the state. Whomso- ever he may have consulted privately, his edicts on the affairs of the Church — even on a matter so strictly eccle- siastical as the tone in which the Liturgy should be said^ — run in precisely the same style as those on purely secular matters; no authority but that of the emperor appears in them ; he issues his commands to the patriarchs of Old Rome and of Constantinople as if they were im- perial officials. The Italian bishops however always main- tained a certain independence, and noted with some degree of contempt the subservience of their Eastern brethren^ And generally, in spite of the temptation to compliance, there were never wanting ecclesiastical leaders courageous enough to enforce, even upon emperors and their favour- ites, the claims of the Church to a higher sovereignty than that of temporal princes^ Chrysostom could brave im- perial anger and go calmly into exile'; Ambrose could repel Theodosius, bloody with massacre, from his church ^ Nor were these solitary instances. It was perhaps an almost inevitable result of the inti- mate connexion between the Church and the Empire that dissidents from the faith recognized as Catholic were persecuted. The greatest leaders of Christian thought were indeed opposed to all coercion in matters of faith. in Athanasii Hist. Arian. ad Mo- nachos, c. 44), in almost the same terms. 1 Kurtz, Handbuch, ii. 22. - The words "lecta in ecclesia Romana" appear at the end of an edict. Codex Tlicod. xvi. ii. 20. Other instances of similar publi- cation are given in Godefroy's note on this passage. 3 Thomassiu, Ecclesicp Disci- plina, P. II, lib, 2, o. 0. ^ Novella,12S. Justinian's theory of he relation between Sacerdotium and Imperium is set forth in the Preamble to his sixth Novel. 5 See the Epistle of the Italian clergy in Hardouin's Concilia, iii. 48 (Mansi, ix. 153), a.d. 552. *^ Gregory of Nazianz. Oral. xvii. p. 271. 7 Theodoret, E. H. v. 34. 8 lb. V. 18. The Church and the Empire. 175 Hilary of Poictiers*, for instance, set forth the blessings of religious freedom, and the worthlessness of enforced com- pliance, with admirable clearness and force. Chrysostom^ would limit persecution to forbidding the assemblies of heretics and depriving them of their churches. The great name of Augustin, however, appears among the advocates of persecution. He had indeed in his earlier days con- tended for the freedom of religious convictions, but the obstinate resistance of the Donatists to his earnest per- suasions convinced him that there were some who would own no argument but forced Theodosius I. enacted severe laws against those who did not accept the Catholic faith, but these were not executed''; and the first Christian prince who actually caused men to be put to death on account of religion was the usurper Maximus^, whose pro- ceedings called forth general indignation and found no imitator for many generations. The excellent Martin of Tours protested in this case, that it was an outrage for a secular judge to try an ecclesiastical case, and that no other punishment could fittingly be inflicted on heretics but that of excommunication^ 2. The great lines of the Christian hierarchy remained after the public recognition of Christianity the same as in the previous period, though the changed condition of the Church occasioned the appointment of some new officers. The needs of the great cities, often visited by pestilence, called for the Parabolani^, who hazarded their lives in at- tendance on the sick ; and the Copiatse^ who buried the dead. As the property of the Church increased it required the attention of special stewards or managers®, under the bishops' direction. A special body of lawyers was created to defend the interests of the Church, and especially of the poor, in the courts ^*^. A large number of notaries ^^ took ^ Ad Constantium, i. 2, 7. 2 In Matthceum, Horn. 29, c. 46; compare Socrates, vi. 19. ^ Retractationes, ii. 5 ; Epist. 93 ad Vincentium, c. 17 ; 185, ad Boni- facium, c. 21. He did however ex- hort officials to gentleness in their proceedings, Epist. 100, ad Donatum proconsulem. * Sozomen, vii. 12. 5 Sulpicius Severus, Chron. ii. 49—51. ^ Sulpicius, u. s. c. 50, § 5. ' Codex Theodos. xvi. ii, 42, 43. s Codex Justin, i. ii. 4. 9 Com. Chalced. c. 26 (a.d. 451). 10 Codex Eccl. Afric, cc. 75, 97. See Diet. Chr. Antiq. s. vv. Advo- catus and Defensor. " Augustin, De Doctr. Chr. ii. 26 ; Chap. IX. A.D. 385. The Hieh- ARCHY. Parabo- lani. CopiatcB. Oeconomi. Defen- sores. Notarii. The Church and the Empire. minutes of impi^rtant proceedings and drew legal docu- ments. As the archives of the great Churches accumu- lated, it became necessary to put them under the charge of a keeper of the records in each Church \ The important matters which came into the hands of patriarchs and me- tropolitans caused them to require the assistance of privy- councillors or ministers, and their intercourse with the government made the services of legates at the Imperial court almost indispensable". In the ordinary ministry of the Church', the oflSce of deacon remained in theor}' the same. But the deacons, being constantly by the bishop's side as his helpers and secretaries, often attempted to set themselves above the presbyters — a presumption which was checked by the decrees of several councils*. The archidiaconus or chief of the deacons', in particular, became commonly the bishop's confidential adviser and representative ; frequently his suc- cessor. The order of deaconesses gradually lost its early prominence; which however it retained much longer in the East, where the seclusion of women rendered their services important, than in the West^ The Western Church reso- lutely opposed the ordination of deaconesses, and at last forbade it altogether". The bishop was, as of old, the head and chief administrator of the district committed to him. He represented it in all its external relations, and especially in councils. He summoned and presided over its synod. To him alone it belonged to ordain presbyters and deacons : to him alone, in the Western Church, to lay hands on those who had been baptized. He was the proper minister of the Word and Sacraments, though he Collat. Donat. die iL c. 3; Cone. Tolet. IV. c. 4. See Diet. Chr. Antiq. 8. V. Xotary. 1 See Ducange's Glossaries and Snicer's Thesaurus, s. v. x°'-pTo privileges which Rome had enjoyed as the seat of empire*. The once patriarchal sees of He- raclea, Cnesarea and Ephesus thus becamti simply metro- politan, though their occupants had the title of exarch, and precedence before other bishops of the same diocese. The same council ordered^ that a bishop or other cleric who had a complaint against his own metropolitan should brinfif his case before the exarch of the diocese or before the patriarchal throne of the imperial city of Constanti- nople, so that he might, if he chose, ignore his own exarch altogether. The see of Constantinople thus became the oriental counterpart of that of Rome. The same council had before it the question of the state and dignity of the mother of all Churches, Jerusalem, which had been for some time ambiguous and unsatisfac- tory. Jerusalem has associations which have in all ages secured it the reverence of Christians, yet it was at the time we speak of too unimportant a see to secure for its bishop a distinguished position in the Church. It was in fact overshadowed by the political chief town of Palestine, Csesarea, which became the ecclesiastical metropolis. The Council of Nicsea^ assigned to Jerusalem precedence im- mediately after the sees of Rome, Alexandria and An- tioch, but without giving it any power beyond that of an ordinary episcopal throne, Ca^sarea being still recognized as having jurisdiction over the other sees of Palestine. The relation thus created was strained and unnatural, and it is no wonder that the bishop of Jerusalem struggled to emancipate himself from the yoke of Caesarea. The see rose in fame after the peace of the Church under Con- stantine, in consequence of the increasing reverence paid to the holy places, and at the Council of Ephesus, Ju- venalis, bishop of Jerusalem, had the courage to claim for his see patriarchal jurisdiction over Palestine, Phoenicia, and Arabia. This claim was rejected by the council, but he nevertheless obtained from the emperor Theodosius 11. a rescript granting to him the provinces which he had claimed. The bishop of Antioch, Maximus, of course ^ Cone. Chalcedon. douin II. 611). c. 28 (Har- 2 Canon 9. ^ Canon 7. The Church and the Empire. 185 regarded this as an attack upon his long-established rights, and a long controversy arose between the two bishops, which was at last put an end to by a compromise which received the sanction of the Council of Chalcedony This provided that the patriarch of Antioch should receive back his provinces of Phoenicia and Arabia, while the bishop of Jerusalem should possess patriarchal authority over the three provinces of Palestine. He thus became an actual patriarch, though of a small diocese. There were then in the Roman empire, after the practical sup- pression of the patriarchal rights of the other diocesan thrones, five patriarchal sees, those of Rome, Constanti- nople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Justinian indeed attempted'^ to give to the see of his native city, Achrida, patriarchal authority over the prefecture of lUy- ricum; but so artificial an arrangement did not long endure. There were however still in Christendom, and even in the empire, metropolitans who acknowledged no patriarch or exarch over them, claiming to be " autocepha- lous" or independent. Such was the metropolitan of Salamis or Constantia in Cyprus, who at the Council of Ephesus^ successfully vindicated the ancient rights of his see against the claims of the patriarch of Antioch. And even in Italy the authority of the see of Rome was not everywhere acknowledged. A patriarch held, within his o^vn diocese, the supreme ecclesiastical authority, and his diocesan synod was the highest court of appeal for ecclesiastical business. With- out the consent and cooperation of the patriarchs no valid oecumenical council could be held. But the patriarchal system of government, like every other, suffered from the shocks of time. The patriarch of Antioch had, in the first instance, the most extensive territory, for he claimed authority not only over the civil diocese of the East, but over the Churches in Persia, Media, Parthia, and India, which lay beyond the limits of the empire. But this large organization was but loosely knit, and constantly tended to dissolution. Palestine, as we have seen, shook itself free. In consequence of the Nestorian controversy the 1 Actio 7 (Hardouin ii. 491). 2 N&vellce 11 and 131. 3 Actio 7, Hardouin i. 1617 ff. Chap. IX. A uto- cephali. Fate of the Patriarch- ates. Antioch. 18G The Church and the Empire. Chap. IX. A.D. 41)H. 527. 638. Alexan- dria. A.D. 640. Jerusalevi. G37. Rome. Rise of the Papacy. Persian Church asserted its independence and set up a ])atriarch of its own at Seleucia ; Armenia somewhat later determined to have its own Monophysite patriarch, and the Syrian Monopliysites chose a schismatical patriarch of Antioeh. After the conquests of Caliph Omar the great see of Antioch sank into insignificance. The region sub- ject to the Alexandrian patriarch was much smaller than that of Antioch, but it was better compacted. Here too however the Monophysite tumult so shook its organization that it was no longer able to resist the claims of the pa- triarch of Constantinople. It also fell under the dominion of the Saracens — a fate which had already befallen Jeru- salem. In the whole East there remained only the pa- triarch of Constantinople in a condition to exercise actual authority. 4. According to Rufinus's^ version of the sixth canon of the Council of Nicsea, the bishop of Rome had entrusted to him the care of the suburbicarian churches. What we are to understand by these suburbicarian Churches is by no means absolutely clear. Considering however how closely the ecclesiastical followed the civil divisions, it is extremely probable that the subuibicarian Churches are those included in the ten suburbicarian provinces which were under the authority of the vicarius of the civil diocese of Rome, and which included the greater part of Central Italy and the whole of Lower Italy, with Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica ; and this interpretation is strongly confirmed by the letter of the Council of Sardica to Julius, bishop of Rome, which recognizes him as the official channel of communication with the faithful in Sicily, Sardinia and Italy 2. But many causes tended to extend the authority of the Roman patriarch beyond these modest limits. The pa- triarch of Constantinople depended largely for his autho- rity on the will of the emperor, and his spiritual realm was agitated by the constant intrigues of opposing parties. His brother of Rome enjoyed generally more freedom in matters spii^itual, and the diocese over which he presided, ^ H. E. X. 6, " suburbicariarum ecclesiarum solicitudinem gerat." See p. 181, note 4. 2 In Hardouin i. 654. See Kurtz's Handhuch, § 163. 1. The Church and the Empire. 187 keeping aloof for the most part from controversies on points of dogma, was therefore comparatively calm and united. Even the Orientals were impressed by the ma- jesty of old Rome, and gave great honour to its bishop. In the West, the highest respect was paid to those sees which claimed an Apostle as founder, and among these the Church of St Peter and St Paul naturally took the highest place. It was, in fact, the one apostolic see of Western Europe, and as such received a unique regard. And the tendency to regard Rome as an ecclesiastical centre and standard was no doubt increased by the fact that in the provincial civil courts of the empire matters not regu- lated by local law or custom were decided according to the law of the city of Rome\ Doubtful questions about apo- stolic doctrine and custom were addressed certainly to other distinguished bishops, as Athanasius and Basil 2, but the}^ came more readily and more constantly to Rome, as already the last appeal in many civil matters. We must not suppose however that the Churches of the East were ready to accept the sway of Rome, however they might respect the great city of the West. When Julius of Rome, who refused to concur in the deposition of Athanasius, invited him and his opponents to appear by delegates before a council of the Western Church, the Orientals as- sembled at Antioch declared that he, a foreign bishop, had no right to propose himself as judge in the affairs of the Eastern Church ; that every synod was free to decide as it thought best ; that the mere fact that he was bishop of a great city gave him no superiority over other bishops of apo- stolic sees ; that his predecessors had never ventured to in- terfere in the internal affairs of the Eastern Churchy But, in spite of this rebuff, the disputes about Athanasius, in the end, undoubtedly tended to strengthen the position of the see of Rome, which sided with the orthodox and victo- rious party. The Council of Sardica^ after the secession 1 Digest, i. iii. 32. ^ The EpistolcB CanoniccB of these and other bishops were oc- casioned by such appeals. 3 A summary of their letter is given by Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. iii. 8. 4 c. 3, in Hardouin i. 637. This council, after the secession of the Orientals to Philippopolis, had of course no claim to be considered oecumenical. In the West, how- ever, the canons of Sardica came to be appended to those of Nicasa, and even quoted as Nicene (Maas- Chap. IX. Appeals. Antioch, 341. Sardica, 344 (?) 188 The Church and the Empire. CHAl'. IX. 378. Gratian. Siricius, 392. The See of St Peter. Innocent I. A.D. 415, 416. of its Oriental members, gave to bishops who were ag- grieved by a provincial decision leave to appeal to Julius, bishop of Home, meaning no doubt to give to those who were oppressed by Arian synods a protector in one who was a steady friend of orthodoxy. But the precedent was not forgotten. A generation later, at the request of a ! Roman synod presided over by Damasus, the emperor I Gratian issued a rescript^ permitting in many cases an j appeal from provincial tribunals to the see of Rome. But ! the decrees of provincial synods were still regarded as binding. Pope Siricius*^ himself, when appealed to against the decision of a synod at Capua, declared himself incom- petent to entertain a question already decided by compe- tent judges; and Ambrose^ speaking of the same matter, urged that the decision of a judicial committee nominated by the synod was of the same binding force as that of the synod itself The authority of the Roman see increased from causes which are sufficiently obvious to historical enquirers. But the greatest of the Roman bishops were far too wise to tolerate the supposition that their power depended on earthly sanctions. They contended steadfastly that they were the heads of the Church on earth, because they were the successors of him to whom the Lord had given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, St Peter^ And they also contended that Rome was, in the most emphatic sense, the mother-church of the whole West. Innocent I.*^ claims that no Church had ever been founded in Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa, Sicily, or the Mediterranean islands, except by men who had received their commission from St Peter or his successors. At the same time, they admitted that sen, Geschichte der Quellen des Can. Rechts, I. 50 ff). Eev. E. S. Ffoulkes and Prof. Aloisius Vincenzi [De He- brccoi'um et Ghristianorum Sacra Monarchia) agree in supposing the so-called canons of Sardica to be forgeries ; Prof. Vincen2d supposing them to have been forged by the orthodox bishops in Africa, Mr. Ffoulkes in or near Eome. See Diet. Chr. Biogr. iii. 530, note 6. 1 In Hardouin i. 842. ^ Epist. de Bonoso Episcopo, in Hardouin i. 859. 3 Quoted by Siricius u. s. * It may be observed that the term "vicarius" in early times meant no more than "successor". Cyprian {Epist. 68, c. 5) begs Stephen of Home to honour Cornelius and Lucius, whose "vicarius et suc- cessor" he was. The same au- thority holds that a bishop (sacer- dos) should be held "ad tempus judex vice Christi" {Epist. 59, c. 5). ^ Epist. 25 ad Decentium, c. 2. The Churxh and the Empire. 189 the privileges of the see were not wholly derived imme- diately from its founder, but were conferred by past gene- rations out of respect for St Peter's see\ But the bishop who most clearly and emphatically asserted the claims of the Roman see to pre-eminence over the whole Church on earth was no doubt Leo I., a great man who filled a most critical position with extraordinary firmness and ability. Almost every argument by which in later times the autho- rity of the see of St Peter was supported is to be found in the letters of Leo. If the power to bind and loose was conferred on all the Apostles, it was through St Peter that it was transmitted to them 2. It was to St Peter that power and commandment was given to feed the flock of Christ, and it was in Rome, the place of his burial, that the power given to St Peter was in all ages to be found. So far was the Roman bishop from receiving dignity from the capital of the world, that it was through his presence that Rome became what it was. He conferred honour on the city, but the city gave no dignity to him. It was in the name of St Peter that he, Leo, presided over the Church ; it was as God and St Peter prompted him that he gave judgment. He called on the other bishops to help him in the care of all the Churches, but the plenitude of power ^ Zosimus Epist. 2 ad Episcopos Afric. c. 1. Some authorities doubt the authenticity of this letter. ^ The ancients generally in- terpreted the "rock" (weTpa) of St Matthew xvi. 18 as referring to St Peter's confession (Hilary, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose, Chry- sostom, and others); or to Christ Himself (Jerome, Augustin). More rarely it was referred to St Peter. Origen (m Matth. tom. xii. c. 10) laid down that every disciple of Christ was a "rock" — Trirpa irds 6 XpiaroO jxadrjT-qs — and ridiculed the notion that a "power of the keys" was given to St Peter which was not given to the other Apostles. Somewhat similarly St Augustin held that "has claves non homo unus sed unitas accepit ecclesiae" {Serm. 295, c. 2,De Sanctis ; compare in Evang. Joannis Tract. 124, c. 5). Siricius however asserted that "per Petrum et apostolatus et episco- patus in Christo cepit exordium" {Epist. ad Episc. Afric. in Har- douin I. 857) ; and Innocent {Re- script, ad Cone. Garthag. in Har- douin I. 1025) describes himself as following the Apostle "a quo ipse episcopatus et tota auctoritas no- minis hujus emersit." The Roman legates at the Council of Ephesus in 431 {actio 3, in Hardouin i. 1477) frankly described St Peter as the foundation (6 defxeXLos) of the Ca- tholic Church. Leo maintained (Epist. 10 [al. 89] adEpiscop. Prov. Vienn.) that it was through St Peter that the gifts of divine grace were conveyed to the Church ; and {Epist. 12 [al. 14] ad Anastasium, c. 1), that the See of St Peter has the same authority over the whole Church which a metropolitan has over his province (compare Epist. 1 [al- 12] ad Africanos). Chap. IX. Zosimus, 417. Leo I. 440-461. 190 Hie Cliurch and the Empire. Chap. IX. A.D. 470. Fall of the Western Empire. The Goths and the Papacy. remained his own ])eeuliar attribute'. If however St Peter ajjpears in the forefront, Leo'^ does occasionally bethink him of 8t Paul, who was, he admits', a partner in St Peter's glory at Rome, though he was much occupied with the care of other Churches. Generally, however, from about the middle of the fifth century St Paul is but little spoken of in connexion with Rome. The Empire of the West never seriously interfered with the proceedings of the Roman bishop ; and when it fell, the Church became the heir of the empire. In the general crash, the Latin Christians found themselves com- pelled to drop their smaller differences, and rally round the strongest representative of the old order. The Teu- tons, who shook to pieces the imperial system, brought into greater prominence the essential unity of all that was Catholic and Latin in the empire, and so strengthened the position of the see of Rome. The Church had no longer by its side one great homogeneous state. The Gothic kings were not inclined to meddle with the internal affairs of the Church. Odoacer^ indeed issued an edict that no election to the papacy should be held without the sanction of the civil government ; but Theoderic* laid down the golden rule — little regarded in after times — that he could not exercise sovereignty in matters of religion, be- cause no man can believe upon coercion ; and Theodahad^ held that as God permits diversity in religion, it would be presumptuous in a king to attempt to enforce uniformity. The East-Gothic dominion in Italy was in fact in more than one respect advantageous to the popes. The kings of the Arian Goths were disposed to befriend them because they were generally in opposition to Constanti- nople ; while at the same time the Catholic people of the West honoured them as their rallying-point against the incursions of Arianism. It is not wonderful that under these circumstances the claims of the popes increased and multiplied. They claimed to be the highest court of appeal for the Western Church, and to have a general 1 See the letter to Anastasius, referred to above. 2 Serm. 82, c. 4. 3 This edict of Odoacer is only known by the reference to it in the edict which repealed it, Hardouin II. 977. ^ Cassiodorus, Varia, n. 27. 6 Ibid. X. 26. The Church and the Empire. 191 authority in matters of faith and discipline over the whole Church throughout the world. In support of these claims they appealed to imperial edicts and canons of councils. They were as anxious as ever to ground their claims on the privileges conferred on St Peter, but they could not always avoid an appeal to the civil power. In the dis- puted election of Symmachus to the papacy, both he and his rival Laurentius appealed to the Gothic king Theoderic at Ravenna, who placed Symmachus on the apostolic throned But, consistently with his principle, he allowed an edict of Odoacer, ordaining that no election to the papacy should be held without the concurrence of the civil government, to be annulled in a Roman synod ^ The partizans of Laurentius persisting in their charges against Symmachus, another synod — the "Synodus Pal- maris" — was held in the following year, which acquitted Symmachus, or rather expressed its reluctance to try a de facto pope under any circumstances I Ennodius, the official defender of this council, frankly laid down the principle that the occupant of the see of Rome could be judged by none but God^ It was probably about this time that forgery and interpolation began to be resorted to with a view of giving to these claims some appearance of antiquity. The Acts of the supposed Council of Sinu- essa^, Avhich desired pope Marcellinus, accused of sacrificing to idols, to judge himself, as being alone competent in such a case, are no doubt a forgery; so is the Constitution attributed to Silvester and Constantine^ which declares the Roman see above the judgment of any human tri- bunal ; so is the supposed report of the trial of Sixtus III.^ C3q3rian's treatise on the unity of the Church had been altered to suit the views of the Roman see before the time of Pelagius II. It was at this time, too, that the Roman bishops began to claim the title of " popeV' which however 1 Liher Pontijicalis, Symmachus, c. 52. 2 Hardouin, Cone. ii. 977 ff. 3 "Pontificem sedis istius apud nos audiri nullum constat exem- plum." Hardouin, Cone. ii. 974. There is much confusion as to the councils which were held about this time. ^ Libellus pro Synodo, p. 316, Ennodii Opera, ed. Hartel. 5 Hardouin, Cone. i. 217. Har- douin says, frankly enough, "sup- posititiura censent viri eruditi." 6 Hardouin, i. 294. 7 Ibid. I. 1737. 8 In the Eoman synods under Symmachus, and in Ennodius's Chap. IX. A.D. 498. A.D. 502, A.D. 503. li)2 The Church and the Empire, Chap. IX. A.D. 483. A.D. 533. A.D. 535 — 554. A.D. 537. A.D. 555. for somo ^n'liorations was also given to the ineiunbents of" other apostolic sees\ But the popes still admitted that they were subject to general councils, nor did they claim jurisdiction over other bishops, unless they were brought before them as the highest court of appeal. So long as the Roman see agreed with them in hos- tility to Constantinople, the Gothic kings were willing to allow them a large measure of freedom ; but when the popes came to an agreement with the see of Constanti- nople, they became much more suspicious and watchful of their movements. John I. having, contrary to the tra- ditions of his see, paid a visit to Constantinople, where he was received with the utmost distinction, was on his return regarded by Theoderic as a traitor, and thrown into prison, where, after languishing for nearly a year, he died'^ The kings also interfered actively in the elections to the papacy, and even nominated the person to be elected. Theoderic nominated Felix III.^ and Athalaric issued an edict against bribery in papal and episcopal elections^ Still, even so the Gothic dominion was not so perilous to the papacy as the restoration of imperial rule which followed Justinian's conquest of Italy. Justinian, it is true, paid great respect to the see of Rome ; but he paid like honour to that of Constantinople, and was not unwilling to use one against the other. His object was, in short, to extend his own power over Church as well as State. Pope Sil- verius was deposed and banished by desire of the empress Theodora, Vigilius installed in his place by command of Belisarius ; and when Vigilius, after a miserable life, sank into an unhonoured grave, Pelagius was elevated to the see by command of Justinian — an appointment so un- popular, that the new pope was actually unable to induce Lihellns, the bishop of Rome is con- stantly spoken of as " papa." But even so late as the middle of the ninth century Walafrid Strabo {De Reb. Eccles. c. 7) looks upon ' papa ' as a respectful name given to the clergy generally, ' clericorum congruit diguitati.' Gregory VII. in the year 1075 first expressly limited the title to the bishop of Home. In the East the title Trdiras was used especially of the patriarchs of Alexandria and Rome. ^ Tliis title also was not confined to the see of Rome. Pelagius I. {ad Valerianum, in Mansi ix. 732) speaks of apostolic sees in the plural. 2 Liber Pontijicalis, Joannes, c. 54 ; Milman's Lat. Christ, i. 412 3 Cassiodorus Varice, \iu. 15. 4 lb. IX. 15. The Church and the Emjm-e. 193 three bishops to take part in his consecration \ In many ways the popes were made to feel the bitterness of de- pendence on the Byzantine court. They were forced into heresy, or what seemed to be heresy, and on this account a large part of Italy withdrew from their communion. The sees of Milan and Ravenna were reconciled after a comparatively short interval, but that of Aquileia was more resolute, and it was not until the year 698 that it re-entered into communion with Rome. The dependence of Rome on Byzantium was brought to an end by the Lombard invasion. The dominions of the Greek empire in Italy were thenceforth limited to Rome, Ravenna, and a part of southern Italy. This pro- vince was governed by exarchs seated at Ravenna ; the authority of the emperors declined in Rome, and passed almost insensibly to the popes, many of whom were very capable of sustaining it. The Byzantine sovereigns being often too weak to defend their distant province, the Italians had to defend themselves; and at their head in this struggle was the pope of Rome, the person of highest dignity in the city, the natural protector of the Catholics against the Arian Lombards, and the greatest landowner in Italy. For the estates of the see had been growing since the time when Constantino permitted bishoj)s, as such, to receive gifts and legacies, and were in the sixth century of great extent'^. The prelates of that age appear to have been good landlords, and to have spent their revenues freely for the public good. For twenty- seven years, says Gregory the Greats the popes had lived in the midst of Lombard swords, and all that time their income had been drawn upon for the clergy, the monas- teries, the poor; for the wants of the people generally and for defence against the Lombards. As was natural, the see gained infinitely in dignity and influence, and became, Chap. IX. A.D. 570— 580. The Lom- bards. A.D. 568. Increased authority of the popes. A.D. 321. 1 Milman, Lat. Christ, i. 432 &. (3rd edn.). 2 The donation of Constantine to pope Silvester is now universally admitted to be a fiction. The es- tates of the Eoman see were called, after the same fashion as those of other churches, by the name of its patron -saint, "patrimonium S. C. Petri." See Zaccaria De Patri- moniis S. Rom. Eccl. in his Disser- tationes de Rebus ad Hist, perti- nentibus, ii. 68 ff.; C. H. Sack De Patrim. Eccl. Rom. circa Jinem scec. VI. in his Dissertationes tres, p. 25 ff. 3 Epist. V. 21 {Ad Constantinam Aug.). 13 104 The Church and the Empire. Chap. IX. lies i stance to Rome. A.D. 417. A.D. 425. in matters ecclesiastical, less and less dependent on the Byzantine court. Under the influence of many causes, the see of Rome had risen to a great and unrivalled position in the West, and at the end of the sixth century the way was prepared for Gregory the Cheat, with whom a new era begins. It must not however be supposed that the views of tlie Roman bishops as to tlie authority of Rome were universally accepted even in the West. Many Churches had grown up independently of Rome and were abun- dantly conscious of the greatness of their own past. Milan, for instance, a great city and the chief town of a civil diocese, always maintained a certain attitude of in- dependence towards Rome, and the authority of so power- ful a prelate as Ambrose contributed greatly to render its see practically patriarchal. The see of Ravenna, too, from the time when Honorius, fleeing from the Goths, made that city his capital, was not disposed to acknow- ledge in Rome a supremacy in ecclesiastical matters which it had ceased to possess politically. And in the African Church the reluctance to submit to Roman dic- tation which had shewed itself in Cyprian's time was maintained for many generations. In the Pelagian con- troversy the Africans firmly opposed Zosimus of Rome, who had taken the side of Pelagius. And when the same Zosimus tried to compel them to reinstate a deprived presbyter, Apiarius, who had appealed to Rome, they were reluctant to obey. In vain he appealed to the canons of Sardica, which he quoted as Nicene; they rejoined that the canons in question were not Nicene, and admonished the bishop of Rome to proceed with more moderation and equity*. And when bishop Cselestinus a few years later again urged the restoration of Apiarius, they most em- phatically repudiated his authority, and forbade, under pain of excommunication, any appeal to a foreign bishop. They begged the bishop to consider, whether it was pro- bable that God w^ould grant to an individual a power of correct judgment which He refused to a synod I But the course of events broke the spirit of the African church- ^ This rejoinder is addressed to Boniface, who had succeeded Zosi- mus in 418. Hee Cone. Garth, vi. (an. 419) in Hardouin, i. 1242 ff. - See the letter of the African bishops in Hardouin, i. 947 f. The Church and the Empire. 195 men. Their country was overrun by the Arian Vandals, and in their distress they were glad to cling to such support as they could find in Rome. They were not disposed to dispute the claims of Leo the Great as they had done those of Zosimus. In Gaul too there was a vigorous resistance to the jurisdiction of the see of St Peter. The see of Aries, which was really ancient and claimed to be more ancient than it was, constantly asserted metropolitan rights, which were acknowledged at Rome. One of its most famous bishops, Hilary, felt himself strong enough to resist even Leo the Great, and refused to allow a sentence passed by himself and his provincial synod to be reviewed at Rome\ In consequence of this contumacy Leo withdrew, so far as in him lay, the metropolitan privileges of Arles^, and obtained — for he did not refuse to use the secular power when it was on his side — the famous rescript of the emperor Valentinian III. giving an emphatic supremacy to Rome over all Churches, and enjoining provincial governors to compel the attendance of bishops who might be summoned thither ^ Practically, however, these pro- ceedings do not seem in the end to have had much effect on the position and authority of the see of Aries*. And when the Franks came to be rulers in Gaul, the power of the popes in that country was much weakened ; for the bishops were compelled to pay more respect to a liege lord close at hand than to an ecclesiastical superior at a distance who could not protect them from him. Similarly in Spain, after the conversion of the Gothic king to Catholic Christianity^, the archbishop of Toledo, supported by the civil power, was able to assert a large measure of independence for his province. The British Church, isolated by its position, seems to have had from the first a very loose connexion with Rome ^ and after the with- drawal of the Roman troops, scarcely any. 1 Honoratus, Vita Hilarii, c. 22 v. c. 5, art. 8; E.G. Perthel, Papst {Acta SS., 5 May). 2 Leonis Epist. 10 [al. 89], c. 7. 3 In Leonis Opera, ed. Ballerini, Epist. 11. ^ On the controversy between Rome and Aries, see De Marca, De Concordia Sacerd. et Imp. v. 33; Natalis Alexander, Hist. Eccl. saec. Chap. IX. Leo's Streit mit d. Bischof v. Aries, in Illgen's Zeitschrift, 1843, pt. 3; J. G. Cazenove in Diet. Chr. Biogr. III. 69 ff. ^ See Cone. Tolet. in. Proce- mium. 6 E. Stillingfleet, Origines Bri- tanniccB; J. Inett, Origines Angli- 13—2 A.D. 429— 449. A.D. 445. A.D. 461. A.D. 589. 19G Chap. IX. Councils. " Paro- chial:' Provin- cial. Patriar- chal. (Ecume- nical, Sumvwnrd The Church and the Empire, 5. Ecclesiastical councils were already snmmoned in the previous period \ but when the Church was under the protection of the Empire they assumed a more regular and systematic character. There arose a regular gradation of parochial, provincial, diocesan or patriarchal, and finally oecumenical councils. In the first place, a bishop assembled round him for deliberation on matters of common interest the presbyters of his "parochia," the modern diocese. At these councils deacons and laymen also attended, with what powers it is not quite certain^ Secondly, a metroj^olitan held councils of all the bishops of his province. The Council of Nica^a enjoined^ that a provincial council should be held twice every year, to receive appeals from the judgment of individual bishops with regard to excommunications and other matters. It was also a court for the trial of charges against bishops of the province*, though in troubled times it not unfrequently happened that it was unable to make its authority re- spected by influential offenders, supported perhaps by the civil power. A yet more important assembly was the council of a patriarchate, a diocese in the old sense of the word. Such a synod, assembled in Constantinople, constituted and ordained Flavian bishop of Antioch^ Such were the legislative and judicial assemblies which in ordinary times sufficed for the needs of the Church. But when the whole empire was divided and agitated by dogmatic questions of the highest importance, it was felt that nothing short of a representative assembly of the Church of the whole empire (?/ olKovfievrj) could give an authoritative decision. To such a General or OEcumenical Council^ the bishops of the whole Church were summoned cance; J. Pryce, The Ancient British Church (London, 1878); Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Docu- ments, vol. I. 1 See pp. 136 f. ; and refer to E. B. Pusey, Councils of the Church. 2 See A. W. Haddan, in Diet. Chr, Antiq. i. 473. ^ Canon 6. The power of the provincial synod is also recognised in canons 4 and 6. ^ Cone. Antioch. c. 15. 5 Theodoret, H. E. v. 9, p. 206, sub finem. ^ A distinction is frequently drawn between General and (Ecu- menical. "The term (Ecumenical has been consecrated by usage to mean 'a General Council, lawful, approved, and received by all the Churoh'...To be lawful and truly The Church and the Empiy^e. 197 by the emperor \ The bishop had always been the con- stitutional organ of his Church in its relations with other Churches, and no one could be more truly representative of each Church than the man whom his fellow-churchmen had chosen to be their head. Others than bishops were, however, not unfrequently present, as Athanasius — then a deacon — at the first Council of Nicsea. And it was scarcely possible that such bodies should be called together without at least the assent of the civil power. In the time of which we are treating religious questions were debated with the most eager animosity. The Empire was as keenly excited over the question of our Lord's Divinity or the Double Procession of the Holy Spirit as England is during a general election which is to decide the most momentous political measures. For the sake of maintaining the peace of their dominions, it was necessary for the emperors to exercise some control over the councils whioh so largely influenced their subjects. And as members of the Church they were bound to con- sider its welfare. It was, says Eusebius^ as set up by God to take the general oversight of the Church that Constantino assembled councils of the ministers of God. And Constantino himselP, addressing a Syrian synod, tells them that he had sent Dionysius, a consular, both to care for the orderly conduct of the council, and to admonish those bishops who were bound to attend that they would incur the emperor's highest displeasure if they failed to obey his summons. Similarly, at a later date the tribune Marcellinus was deputed to regulate and preside over the conference between the Catholics and the Donatists in Africa*. The imperial commissioners "generally had the place of honour in the midst before the altar-rails, were first named in the minutes, took the votes, arranged the order of the business, and closed the sessions ^" In an oecumenical synod the emperor, either in person or by a oecumenical it is necessary that all that occurs should be done regu- larly, and that the Church should receive it." A. P. Forbes, Thirty- nine Articles, i. p. 297. 1 See L. Andrewes, Right and Power of Calling Assemblies, in Sermons, v. IGO ff . ; and Tortura Torti, pp. 193, 422 ff. 2 Vita Constantini, i. 44. 3 Euseb. V. G. iv. 42. ^ Gesta Gollationis Garthag., in Hardouin, Gone. i. 1051. ^ Hefele, quoted in Diet. Ghr. Antiq. p. 479. Chap. IX. by the emperor. Emperor presided, 19S CiiAr.IX. Tlce Church and the Empire. A.D. 151. and ratified Decrees. reprc'st'iitativo, took the seat of honour, as Constantine himself did at the opening of the Council of Nica^.a. And this imperial presidency ^vas sometimes more than formal. The emperor Marcian in person presided with great ap- plause over the sixth session of the Council of Chalcedon, proposed the questions, and conducted the business\ It was however unusual for an emperor to preside in person, and it is a matter much controverted who were the actual presidents in the earlier General Councils. That certain members of the synod were presidents is clear, but by whom they were appointed is very doubtful. At Chalcedon, however, one of the legates of Rome is repeatedly said to have presided, and their names stand first among those who signed the decrees^ And emperors ratified the decrees of the councils which they had called. Constantine com- mended the decrees of Nicsea to his subjects^ and the Fathers of Constantinople supplicated Theodosius, as he had honoured them by sending out letters of summons, to complete the graciousness of his act by giving authority to their conclusions*. Athanasius, however, repudiates in the strongest terms the notion that the emperor's sanc- tion added anything to the decrees of a council. " When," he asks^ "did a decision of the Church receive its binding force from the emp6ror ?" The earlier assemblies of the faithful had contented themselves with condemning erroneous doctrine ; general councils often found themselves compelled to define the true. Hilary of Poictiers^ looked regretfully back to the time when men were content simply to receive the Word of God, and lamented the necessity which was laid upon his own age of defining the infinite and expressing the inexpressible. It is indeed to be feared that in some cases the combatants fought somewhat at random. When once a partizan spirit was aroused, men were apt to forget that the proper object of their contention was truth, and not merely victory. 1 Hardouin, Cone. II. 463 ff. Com- pare A. W. Haddan, in Diet. Chr. Antiq., pp. 478 f. 2 A. W. Haddan, in Diet. Chr. Antiq. 478 j Hardouin, Cone. u. 465 £f. 3 Euseb. Vita Constant, iii. 17- 19 ; Socrates, H. E. i. 9. ^ Epist. Cone. (Ecumen. II. (Con- stantinop. 381) ad Theodos. Imp., in Hardouin, i. 808. ^ Hist. Arian. ad Monachos, c. 52, p. 845 c. (ed. Colon. 1686). ^ De Triuitate, ii. 1. The Church and the Empire. 199 It might have been supposed that the conclusions of so imposing a body as an oecumenical council would have made strife to cease. In the end this v^as no doubt the case ; the principal dogmatic statements of the great councils have been received into the life of the Church. But at the time when the councils sat, a defeated and dis- appointed party could always find grounds for cavilling at their decrees, and emperors were invoked, not always in vain, to overrule ecclesiastical synods. The defeated Arians sought the help of the Arian Constantius, and Athanasius^ makes that emperor address an assembly of bishops at Milan in the words, " What I will, let that be taken for a fixed rule. Obey, or ye shall be driven from the empire." But it was not without indignation that men saw the interference of the emperor in the affairs of the Church. Leontius^ bishop of Tripolis, though an Arian, reproached Constantius with deserting his proper province, the superintendence of the state and the army, to interfere with matters which proj)erly belonged to the bishops alone. 6. While the Church was spreading, growing, and organising itself under its new circumstances, the old heathenism was declining and withering away. When Constantino came into power heathenism still covered the empire ; its adherents, however inferior in all that gives life to religion, were probably greatly superior in numbers to the servants of Christ. In the time of Justinian it did but drag on a feeble existence in some carefully concealed den in a great city or among the rude dwellers in some mountain fastness. How was this brought about ? It was not by a sudden and violent suppression. The emperor Constantino, whatever were his real sentiments with regard to religion, proceeded very cautiously with regard to paganism. He used his power against it only so far that in the East he converted some almost disused ^ Hist. Arian. ad Monachos, c. 33. 2 Suidas s.v. AeSvnos, quoted by Gieseler, K.-G. i. 482, note k. 3 H. G. Tzschirner, Der Fall des Heidenthums, herausg. von M. C. W. Niedner; S. T. Budiger, De statu Faganorum sub Impp. Christ, post Gonstantinum; A. Beugnot, Hist, de la Destruction du Paganisme en Occident; E. Chastel, Hist, de la Destruction du Paganisme dans VEmpire d'O- rient; Ernst v. Lasaulx, Untergang des Hellenismus. Chap. IX. The Fall OF Pagan- ism 3. Constan- tine, 313—337. 200 The Church and the Empire. CnAP. IX. A.D. 312—317. 323. Constans, 337—3-50. Constan- tius, 337— 3G1. 341. temples into Christian churches, and suppressed certain worships which — like those of Aphrodite and of some Oriental and Egyptian deities — were morally offensive'. To acknowledge himself personally a Christian was one thing ; to attack the ancient religions of the empire was another. Even on the earliest of his coins the Christian symbol "Jf appears on his helmet as a kind of pers(jnal badge ; but it was not until the year 323 that the image of Mars, the tutelary deity of the Roman armies, and the inscription, " Soli invicto comiti," vanished from the imperial coinage. In their place appeared allegorical figures, with inscriptions such as " Spes publica," " Beata tranquillitas," which were not distinctly either pagan or Christian ^ His new city of Constantinople he endeavoured to preserve from the contamination of paganism^, though even here the old goddess Rhea and the Fortune of Rome had shrines^ At the end of his life he is said to have formally forbidden idolatry. His son Constantius alludes to this in a law of the year 341^, and it seems to be con- firmed by the words of Eusebius and Theodoret^ Still, it is remarkable that no such law is to be found in any collection, and some have consequently supposed that it was almost immediately repealed, others that it related only to immoral forms of idolatry, against which the em- peror had already begun to wage war^ Certainly it was never carried into execution ; and the pagan rhetorician Libanius^ many years later, could appeal to the fact that Constantino had not interfered with the legal ceremonies of the old religions. Constantino left three sons, the eldest of whom, Con- stantino II., fell in battle against his brothers. The two remaining, very inferior to their father in the art of ruling, divided the heritage, Constans becoming Emperor of the West, Constantius of the East. Neither of them kept towards the old religions the same moderation which their father had done. They joined in issuing a severe edict 1 Eusebius, Vita Constantini, iii. 54—58. 2 F. W. Madden, in Diet. Chr. Antiq. p. 1277. •* Eusebius, V. C. iii. 48. * Zosimus, II. 31. ^ Codex Theodos. xvi. tit. 10, 1. 2. 6 Euseb. V. G. ii. 55; cf. iv. 23, 25 ; Tbeodoret, H. E. v. 21. 7 Eusebius, Vita Constant, ii. 45. ^ Oratio pro Templis, 3 (ii. 161, ed. Eeiske), rijs Kara vofxovs Ocpaireias iKivTjcrev ovdi iv. The CJmrch and the Empire. 201 against paganism \ but Constans had to act in his own government with caution and discretion, as paganism still retained a firm hold on the people of the West. Thus he forbade''^ the destruction of heathen temples outside the city walls, as being often rather adjuncts of public games than special supports of paganism. A traveller^ who visited Rome in 347 found there seven vestals still remain- ing, and the worship of Jupiter, of the Sun, and of the Mother of the gods, still carried on. Constantius was less fettered, as in his portion of the empire paganism was less powerful ; and when in 350 the death of his brother left him sole emperor he proceeded against heathen super- stitions with great rigour. As the edicts hitherto issued failed to put down heathen practices, in the year 353 he forbade* he told heathenish ceremonies under pain of death and confiscation of goods. Prefects who did not enforce the law were to be liable to the same punishments. Only to Rome and Alexandria it was not applied. The em- peror himself saw without emotion the old ceremonies still maintained in Rome, and did not interfere with the cus- toms which he found there^ But he saw danger to the state in the continued existence of paganism, while the Christians approved of his measures against it, and urged him to further efforts. One effect of the severe laws against paganism was, that many persons came into the Church who, convinced perhaps of the weakness of the heathen deities who endured such insults^, had no very solid belief in Christ nor much disposition to practise Christian virtues^ And some, perplexed by the ceaseless strife of conflicting parties, attempted to frame a religion on the ground of the great truths recognised by all. Such were the Massaliaus, or " praying people," described by Epiphanius® as gathering together, from the time of Con- stantine, in simple places of prayer, often mere open en- Chap. IX. A.D. 342. A.D. 347. A.D. 353. A.D. 357. 3Iassa- liani, Eiichetce, Enphe- mitce. 1 Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. 10, 1.2. 2 Codex Theodos. xvi. 10. 3. ^ See the anonymous VeUis Orbis Descriptio, p. 35 (ed. J. Gothofred), quoted by Gieseler, I. 344, note o. 4 Codex Theod. xvi. 10. 4. 5 See Symmachus, Epi^t. x. 61 ; given also in Ambrosii Opera iii. 872 (ed. Benedict.). 6 Eusebius, Vita Constant, in. 57 . ^ lb. IV. 54; Libanius, Or at. pro Tcmplis (ii. 177, ed. Eeiske). ^ Hares is 80, cc. 1, 2. Cyril of Alexandria (De Adorations, lib. in. (i. 92, ed. Aubert) mentions these as deoae^eis. 202 Tlie Glmrch and the Empire. Chap. IX. Ili/psi- starii. Ccclicolic. Pagan resistance. closures, to worship the one God whom they called the All-sovereign^; or again in other places meeting at dawn and at sunset, with abundant kindling of lights, uttering chants and songs of praise'"' made by earnest men of their own brotherhood. These worshippers were found princi- pally in Palestine and Pha3nicia. A kindred sect existed about the same time in Cappadocia, of which we have some account in Gregory Nazianzen's funeral sermon'' for his father, who had belonged to it in his youth. These too worshipped only the All-sovereign, the Most High*, but in their practices they seem to have mingled Parsism and Judaism. They rejected idols and sacrifice, but honoured fire and lights; they reverenced the Sabbath, and observed the Mosaic prescriptions as to clean and unclean meats, while they rejected circumcision. The " Worshippers of Heaven®," who appeared at the end of the fourth century in Africa, were probably a kindred sect. The pagans were now in the condition in which the Christians had been a generation or two earlier — they were persecuted by the civil government. As was natural, they attacked the Church with such weapons as were at their command. They spoke and wrote against Chris- tianity; what was good and true in it was, they said, borrowed from the old i^hilosophers ; what it had of its own was superstition. Nay, sacred things were even burlesqued in the theatres^ And the disputes among Christians about matters which were to the heathen unin- telligible did not incline them to look favourably on their religion. Heathenism long kept its hold on the schools and on literature. Heathens taught rhetoric at Athens and philosophy at Alexandria. The principal orators of the time were still heathens, like Libanius, the teacher of John Chrysostom. Neoplatonism sought to rejuvenize paganism, to defend it philosophically, to cover its im- moral myths with a decent cloak of allegory. In this ^ HavTOKpcLTopa, the word used in the first clause of the Nicene Creed. 2 Ev(p7jfjiiai, whence the name 3 Orat. 18 [al. 19], c. 5. See K. Ulhnann, Gregory of Nazianzum, tr. by Cox. ^ Toj/ ij\f/i(TTov, whence the name Hypsistarii. ^ Codex TJieod. xvi. 5, 43, and 8, 19 ; laws of 408 and 409. 6 Euseb. V. G. ii. 61; Greg. Nazianz. Orat. i. p. 34. The Churxh and the Empire. way unstable spirits were sometimes attracted and drawn aside \ In the latter half of the fourth century the hopes of the pagans experienced a sudden revival. Julian^, the son of Julius Constantius younger brother of the great Constantine, had been brought up as a Christian among men whose Christianity was little likely to attract a very imaginative boy. It was probably his dreamy tempera- ment, as it seemed unlikely to lead him to strive for pre- eminence in the empire, Avhich saved him from the watch- ful jealousy of his cousin Constantius, who — Christian as he thought himself — had no scruple in removing any one who stood in his way. When in early manhood he studied at Athens, his fellow-student Gregory of Nazianzus^ fore- boded the misery which he was destined to bring on the Empire ; while the pagan teacher Libanius thought that his profession of Christianity hung upon him like an ass's skin on a lion. Julian was evidently fascinated by the beauty and naturalness of the Greek classical literature much as many Italian princes of the Renascence were, but we must not suppose that he adopted the myths and opinions of popular paganism. This was hardly possible in that age and with his training. It was with paganism as it appeared in the allegories of the Neoplatonists, and in the mysteries which were the delight of the initiated, that he was in love ; a paganism which gave its main worship to one supreme deity, and regarded the gods of the Pantheon as mere personifications of his varied attri- butes. The Christianity of the house of Constantine re- pelled him, as indeed it could scarcely fail to do. Sent, still young and inexperienced, to preside in Gaul, then torn by intestine divisions and harassed by the 1 Gregory of Nazianzus complains {Orat. XX. p. 331; xliii. p. 787) of the injurious influence of the schools at Athens. 2 On Julian, see S. Johnson, Julian the Apostate (London, 1682); K.'^edindiQx ,der Kaiser J uUanu.sein Zeitalter (trans, by G. V. Cox) ; V. Teuffel, De Juliano Christianismi contemptore etosore; D. F. Strauss, Der Romanticer aufdem Throne der Cdsaren; C. Semisch, Julian der Abtriinnige ; J. F. A. Muecke, Fla- viiis Claudius Julianus; F. Eode, Geschichte der Reaction K. Julians gegen die Christl. Kirche; H. A. Naville, Julien I'Apostat et sa Phi- losophic de Polytheisme; Gr. H. Kendall, The Emperor Julian (Cam- bridge, 1879), gives an excellent bibliography of the subject; J. Wordsworth, in Diet, of Chr. Biogr. in. 484 ff. 3 Oratio v. pp. 161 f. 77/6' Clmvch and the Empire. Teutonic tribes on the frontier, in four years he pacified the country and secured it for the time from external invasion*. His success, while it endeared him to the provincials and the army, excited the jealousy of his cousin the emperor, and, to save his own life, he was compelled to lead his army against that of Constantius. The mastership of the empire hung in doubt, when Con- stantius fell sick and died in the neighbourhood of Tarsus, Julian, the next heir, was generally accepted as his suc- cessor, and in December of the same year made his entry into Constantinople ^ As ruler of the Roman world Julian could not but give effect to the convictions which had mastered him. Even on his march through lUyria against his cousin he had caused the temples of the national deities to be opened and their worship resumed. Fairly on the throne, he pro- claimed general freedom of worship, and exhorted every one frankly to confess the faith that was in him, and to live in accordance with it^ But with all his professed regard for religious equality, he looked upon himself as chosen by the gods to restore the old religions in the empire. He was too wise to proceed against Christianity by the method of blood and iron which had already so signally failed, but he set in motion a more light-handed persecution which might in time have produced important effects. Paganism was restored to almost all its old privileges. An edict was issued for the restoration to the temples of their confiscated endowments, most of which had been transferred to Christian churches. Much trouble and litigation ensued. The Christian clergy lost its privileges, payments to Christian churches from the public funds were withdrawn, the philosophic emperor alleging that he did the Christians no wrong in conferring on them the blessing of poverty. He forbade the use of classical literature in Christian schools, on the ground — no doubt ironical — that it was unseemly that books written by men who served the old heathen deities should be expounded by those who believed the gods of Greece to be mere evil demons, misleading the minds of men*. As ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, libb. XVI, XVII. 2 Amm. Marcellinus, xxii. 2, 3. 3 Ammianus Marcellinus, XXII. 5. ^ Juliani Epht. 42; Orosius, Hist. VII. 30 ; Socrates, H. E. in. The Church and the Empire. 205 Christianity had not yet produced a philosophic literature of its own, he was aware that his edict, if carried into effect, would separate the rising generation of Christians from the highest culture of their time. He had a great contempt for much that he saw in the Christianity of his time, but he had not lived in the midst of it without find- ing something in it which was lacking in heathendom. He was conscious of a moral and spiritual power in the religion of Christ which he would fain have transferred to paganism. He recommended in the strongest terms to his pagan subjects brotherly love and mutual helpfulness ; the priests of his religion, in particular, he exhorted to lead pure and beneficent lives^; but he rejected with scorn the " Galilyean " who was the source of the virtues which he admired. The effect, however, of Julian's proceedings was pro- bably much less than he had expected. The pagans doubt- less walked with a prouder step, and it is to be feared that some professing Christians joined the religion of the court. The fierce dissensions among Christians no doubt en- couraged their enemies to hope that the time of their dissolution was at hand. But in fact the restoration of paganism made little progress. Julian himself complained that few offered sacrifice, and those only to please him ; there was no love for the old gods. And in truth the emperor's own personality did not give dignity and im- pressiveness to his religion. He was no pagan of the old type, vigorous and healthy in mind and body. He was rather an ascetic professor, careless about his dress and his person, and with an odd manner which suggested nervous disorder ^ But what he might have effected in a long reign must remain unknown. In the midst of his reforms he marched against the Persians, carrying on a war which Constantius had bequeathed to him, and fell in battle bravely fighting and encouraging his hard-pressed troops, when he had reigned little more than a year and a half. With him fell the hopes of a pagan revival. The Galila?an had indeed conquered. Well had the banished Athanasius Chap. IX. Julian's death, June 26, 363. 11 £f.; Sozomen, H. E. v. 16 ff. ; Theodoret, H. E. iii. 8 ff. 1 See his letter to Arsacius, in Sozomen, H. E. v. 16. 2 Greg. Nazianz. Oral. v. c. 23. 2()G The Chnrch and the Empire. Chap. IX. Jovian, em p. 303. Vahnti- nian emp. 304— 37."5. G rati an, 375—383; Valenti- nian II. 375—392. Theodo- sins, Emp. of East, 379—394; sole ruler, 394—395. A.D. 382. A.D. 381. prophesied of Julian, that he would pass away like a cloud. A kind of awe fell upon the army at the death of Julian. None of the pagan generals were willing to succeed him, and the army chose Jovian, a Pannonian, who was so zealous a Christian that his religion had brought him into discredit with the late emperor. He however tlied before he reached Constantinople, and another Pannonian, Valentinian, was chosen by the soldiery to succeed him. He, with their assent, shared the imperial dignity with his brother Valens, to whom he entrusted the command of the Eastern portion of the empire, while he himself took charge of the West. Valentinian was too much occupied with the wars and troubles of his time to interfere much with the affairs of religion, but Valens, a decided Arian,was guilty of great cruelty towards those who opposed him. Valentinian was succeeded in the Empire of the West by his two sons, Gratian and Valentinian II, the latter a child of four years old. The real control rested of course with the former, who after the death of Valens associated with himself the Spaniard Theodosius, a worthy fellow-countryman of Trajan, as Emperor of the East. Gratian was under the influence of the greatest prelate of the West, Ambrose of Milan \ First of the Roman em- perors, he renounced the dignity of Pontifex Maximus'^, and withdrew from the Vestal virgins, on whom the very existence of the city was thought to depend, the privileges and the endowments which the Christian emperors had hitherto respected ^ After Gratian's death, Valentinian caused the altar of Victory to be removed from the vestibule of the senate-house at Rome. This venerable altar, with its statue of the winged Victory, had been placed there by Augustus, and before it for many genera- tions the senators had taken their oath of fealty to the state. It had been removed by Constans, but Julian had restored it to its place. The removal of an object so long 1 C. Merivale, Early Church rain Pontif. des Emp. Rom., in History, pp. 19 ff. 2 Zosimus,iv. 36. On the dignity of Pontifex Maximus, see J. A. Bosius, De Pontificate Maximo Impp. Christ., in Graevii Thesaurus, V. 271 ff.; De la Bastie, Du Souve- M6m. de VAcadimie des Inscript. XV. 75 ff. ; J. Eckhel, Doct. Numm. Vett. 386 ff. 3 Symmachus, Epiat. x. 61 ; Ambrose, Epist. 17; Codex Theod. XVI. 10. 20. The Church and the Empire. 207 venerated, and associated with so long a line of successes, could not fail to rouse the deepest emotion in the ad- herents of the old faith. These had a worthy representa- tive in the consular Symmachus, the prefect of the city, who addressed the emperor in words which are not without a certain pathos, begging him earnestly to leave to the senate-house its chief ornament, to permit senators who had now grown old to hand on to their descendants the emblem of good fortune which had been committed to them in their youth, to leave undisturbed the form of worship under which they had driven Hannibal from their walls and, in victory after victory, subdued the world. The humility of Syramachus's appeal shews the great change which had come over the great city; the once dominant and arrogant heathenism pleads for the toleration of a single observance. It pleaded in vain. Ambrose insisted that the Christian faith forbade the restoration of the altar, and the emperor decided that what the Christian faith" required should be done\ Theodosius I., one of the greatest rulers of the de- clining empire, did much to complete the work which was begun under Constantine. When he, after the death of Valentinian II., became sole ruler of the empire, he for- bade in the most emphatic terms all sorts and conditions of men to offer sacrifice to senseless idols, or even to practise private worship before the domestic shrines. To pour a libation of wine to the tutelary genius or to hang a garland before the penates was made criminal^, though heathen worship still lingered in Rome^ and Alexandria. But the zeal of Christian mobs had outrun the legislation of the emperors. Already many temples had been de- stroyed*. Some few were turned into churches, but gene- rally Christians had too great a horror of spots once dedi- cated to the worship of demons to permit such a trans- formation. The statues of the deities were broken to fragments. In vain Libanius pleaded with his country- Chap. IX. 1 Symmaclius, Epist. x. 61; Ambrose, Epist. 17 and 18 ad Valentinianum; cf. Epist. 57 ad Eugenium. There is a good ac- count of the controversy between Symmachus and Ambrose in Ville- main's Eloquence Chretienne, pp. 514 ff. (ed. 1858). 2 Codex Theod. xvi. 10, 12. 2 Zosimus, IV. 59. * Libanius, Pro Templis, pp. 162, 168, 192 ff. (ed. Keiske); Sozomen, H. E. VII. 15; Theodoret, H. E. V. 21. Theodo- sius I., 379—395. Idolatry forbidden, 392. 208 The Church and the Empire. Chap. IX. > sr ' .S7 Martin, 375-400. A fried, 3'j'.l. HonQrins\'^ edicts, 3'J9. A.D. 400. Hypatia nmrclered, 416. men to spare the temples as monuments of art and orna- ments of the towns ; the destruction went on. St Martin of Tours was especially active in promoting the destruction of temples in his neighbourhood, not without vigorous opposition from the inhabitants \ And the African bishops in the year 151)9 ^ supplicated the emperors to remove the remains of idolatry from Africa, and to destroy at any rate those temples which, being in remote places, served no purpose of ornament. But the emperor Honorius, dread- ing perhaps the wrath of the pagans, who were still numerous and attributed every public misfortune to the neglect of the ancient deities, tried to restrain the zeal of the Christians, and put forth two edicts^, to the effect that popular festivals were not to be interfered with, and that temples which had been cleared of superstitious ob- jects were not to be destroyed. The Goths, however, under Alaric, who had none of the old Roman respect for antiquity, destroyed ruthlessly. It was when Arcadius was emperor that the Vandal Stilicho caused the Sibylline books to be burned ; the Rome of the Sibyl was indeed near its end. As was natural, heathendom lingered longest among the country folk (pagani) of remote districts, slow to receive new ideas, and so the word " paganus came to be equivalent to heathen*." But it was not only among unlettered labourers that Christianity was slow to find admission ; many old families prided themselves on be- longing still to their ancestral religion. In the last agony of the Western Empire, when Alaric was before the walls of Rome, the pagans in the senate determined to sacrifice on the Capitol and in other temples" — a proceeding con- nived at, says a pagan historian^, by Pope Innocent him- self. And many of the philosophic class clung to the new paganism, or at any rate refused Christianity. One of the most famous of these was Hypatia, daughter of the philo- sopher Theon. This lady was a distinguished teacher of the Neoplatonic school at Alexandria, and was thought to 1 Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Mar- tini, cc. 13 — 15. 2 Codex Eccl. Africance, c. 58. 3 Codex Theod. xvi. 10. 17, 18. 4 Codex Theodos. xvi. 7. 2; 10. 20. **Quos usitato nomine paga- nos vocamus," Augustin, Retract. II. 43. ^ Sozomen, H. E. ix. G. " Zosimus, V. 41. The Church and the Empire. 209 have great influence with Orestes, the prefect of the city, who was not on good terms with Cyril, the bishop. What- ever may have been the immediate cause, she was seized one day by a rabble of Christians, and dragged from her carriage into a neighbouring church, where she was killed with potsherds, and her body, torn limb from limb, carried out and burnt. This deed, says Socrates \ a Christian witness, brought grievous shame on Cyril and the Church in Alexandria, where all men respected the talent and the modesty of Hypatia. Until the reign of Justinian nothing was added to the laws against paganism. Sacrifice remained forbidden, and either ceased altogether, or was celebrated in secrecy and silence. Pagan celebrations were no longer public and national, but the mysteries of adepts. In Rome itself, however, heathen practices long retained a kind of pub- licity. Even in the middle of the fifth century Salvian^ complained that the sacred fowls were still kept by the consuls, and auguries still sought from the flight of birds. And at a yet later date the festival of the Lupercalia, perhaps as old as the city itself, and intended as a puri- fication of the primitive settlement on the Palatine, was still celebrated, and was thought to give fertility to the land, to its flocks, its herds, and its human inhabitants. Pope Gelasius issued a decree^ against it. The Romans dreaded the curse of infertility if the usual propitiations were unperformed, but the bishop was resolute, and threatened to excommunicate the whole city if his decree was disobeyed. The rude festival came to an end, and it has sometimes been supposed that the Christian feast of the Purification, held in the same month, was designed to take its place*. Justinian resolved to put an end to what- ever remained of heathenism. For this purpose he sought to crush the non-Christian philosophy which nourished pagan modes of thought. He closed the philosophic schools of Athens ^ which had been for centuries a kind of 1 H. E. VII. 15. "^ De Gubernatione Dei, vi. 2 (p. 127, ed. Tauly). ^ Adv. Andromachum Senatorem, in Mansi, viii. 95 ff. * Durandus, Beleth, Baronius C. and Pope Benedict XIV. adopt this supposition; see Diet, of Christ. Antiq. p. 1141. ^ Joh. Malala, Hist. Chron. pt. II. p. 187 (ed. Hody). 14 Chap. IX. Salvian, c. 440. Luper- calia sup- pressed, e. 492. Justinian. Athenian schools closed, 529. 2\0 The Church and the Empire. Chap. IX. 533. Slavonic invasion, 578—589. Fall of Home, 410. Augustin De Civi- tute Dei. university. Many of the philosophers took refuge under the more tolerant sway of the Persian king*, who, when he was able to make terms with the emperor, stipulated that they should be allowed to return to their own country. The schools however remained closed. But Justinian was not satisfied with forbidding pagan observances; he ordered that his subjects should be baptized*'^, on pain of confisca- tion and exile — a violation of the rights of conscience which had hitherto been unknown. The patrician Photius sought death itself rather than submit to the Christian rite^ — one of the few martyrs of paganism, if a suicide may bear that name. From this time there was in the Empire but little open and avowed paganism, whether in East or West. An important part of the Empire however, including Macedonia, Thessaly, Hellas, and the Peloponnesus, was soon after Justinian's time overrun by a swarm of Sla- vonic tribes, who introduced their own form of paganism and maintained it until the ninth century. And the Mainotes in Peloponnesus, secure in their mountains and their poverty, continued to worship Poseidon and Aphrodite until Basil the Macedonian in the ninth century compelled them to conform to Christianity*. In Sicily, in Sardinia, and in Corsica there were many heathens at the end of the sixth century, and for these even Gregory the Great did not hesitate to recommend such methods of conversion as flogging and imprisonment ^ But in general it may be said that after the time of Justinian heathen practices either vanished altogether or were disguised under Chris- tian names. It w^as in the great crash of the Roman world, when Alaric and his Goths were ravaging the West, when men's hearts were failing them for fear, and many said that the desertion of the old gods, under whose auspices Rome had conquered the world, was the cause of the present, mis- fortunes, that Augustin wrote his great work on the City of God. Of this he himself gives * the following account. ^ Agathias, De Imp. Jxistiniani, ed. Smith). II. 30. See Wesseling, Observat. * Constant. Porphyrog. De Ad- Varied, i. 28. ministr. Imp. c. 50. 2 Codex Justin, i. 11 [De Pa- ^ Gxcg. Epistt.iii.^2\ iv. 26; v. ganis), 1, 10. 41; viii. 1; ix. (;5. 3 Gibbon's Rome, c. 47 (vi. 37, ^ Retractatimes, ii. 43. The Church and the Empire. 211 It consists of twenty-two books. In the first five he sought to refute those who asserted that temporal prosperity de- pended on the due payment of worship to the many gods of the Gentiles ; in the next five, those who, admitting that no form of religion could avert the misfortunes which were the lot of humanity, contended that poljrtheism was necessary to secure happiness in the world to come. In the remaining books he passes from refuting his adver- saries to developing the positive side of his faith in God's government of the world. In the first four books of this second part he describes the rise of the two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world ; in the next four their spread and progress ; in the last four, the purposes which they severally subserve. The heathen, he indignantly observes, far from complaining of Cliristianity, ought to be grateful to it for the protection which it had given them. When, in the whole history of the pagan world, had it been heard that the victors had spared the van- quished for the sake of the gods of the vanquished ? But in the sack of Rome the Christian shrines had been found a safe refuge from the Gothic soldiery. They were not to think that a catastrophe such as the fall of Rome was to be regarded with despair ; it was but the passage from the old order to the new, the painful birth of a better age\ The same God who had caused the Romans, still pagan, to rise to such a height of empire, could under the yoke of Christ give them a better kingdom^ And Orosius^ who, at Augustin's instigation wrote a sketch of the history of the world with the intention of vindicating the ways of God to man, saw even more clearly than his master that the barbarians were beginning a new era, and that future generations would look back to rude warriors of that day as kings and founders of kingdoms. Salvian* saw the manifest judgment of God in the success of the Teutonic tribes. They increase, he said, day by day, we decrease ; they are lifted up, we are cast down ; they flourish, we are withered. And he found a reason for this superiority in the greater social purity of the Goths and Vandals. What hope, he exclaims, can there be for the Roman state when ^ De Civitate Dei, i. 1 f. ; ii. 2. 2 Sermo 105; De Civ. Dei, iv. 7, 28; V. 23. 23. ^ Hist. adv. Paganos, vii. 39, 41. ^ De Gubernatione Dei, vii. 11, 14—2 Chap. IX. Orosiii'i. 212 Chap. IX. The Chnrdi and the Empire. the barbarians are more chaste and pure than the Romans ? Nay rather, when there is chastity among the barbarians and none among ourselves. Such were some of the thoughts called forth by the fall of heathendom and of the great heathen city which had been enabled for so long a time to rule the nations. Faithful souls saw in the calamities which then fell upon the earth at once the punishment of sin and the hope of better things to come. CHAPTER X. Theology and Theologians. 1. The fourth century, which gave to the Church power and dignity, brought also a great accession of literary activity. In the Greek Church especially the ex- position of Scripture was steadily prosecuted and Christian eloquence largely developed. General culture still remained classical. If some of the Christian writers had their genius nursed in the solitude of the desert, many shared in the highest education of their time. The school of Athens still flourished. There were to be found philosophers who were ready to initiate disciples into the mysteries of Neopla- tonism, sophists who taught the dialectic art, grammarians who expounded the great writers who were the glory of ancient Greece. There some of those who were afterwards to adorn Greek theology studied under the guidance of the most illustrious teachers of paganism. But the general feeling towards the great pagans was in this age very different from that which had animated Clement of Alexandria and the early apologists. These sought in the ancient documents of heathendom for traces of the work- ing of the ever-present Word ; the Christian writers of the second period, while many of them were fully conscious of the intellectual greatness and the perfect form of the Greek and Latin models, were yet torn with scruples if they gave to them an eager and admiring study. Jerome 1 Full accounts of the authors of this period are to be found in Dupin's Nouvelle Bibliotlieque des Autcxirs EccL, Ceillier's Hist. G€- nerale des Auteurs Sacres et EccL, Cave's Scriptorujn Eccl. Hist.Lite- raria, Fessler's Institutioties Patro- logiae, Alzog^s Grundriss der Patro- logie, and ot^v.!- Patrologies. Chap. X. Literary Charac- Athens. Influence of the Classics. Shrinking from Paganism. 214 Tlteology and Theologians. Chap. X. Chalcedon, 451. Want of Original- ity. Compilers and Epito- mators. Contempt for Style. was filled with horror and remorse for the ardent study and admiration which he had given to Cicero ; Augustin deplored the "wine of error" which was given to the young Christian to drink in the choice words of the ancient writers*. Such men were conscious that a spirit which was not that of Christ underlay the beauty of the old world. But in spite of this feeling, we are conscious that Christian literature shines with the evening-glow of clas- sical culture up to about the middle of the fifth century. The Council of Chalcedon seems to mark an epoch. The long dogmatic controversies, though they caused much writing, were not favourable to the quiet cultivation from which the best literature j)i'Oceeds. As is natural, there is found a correspondence between the general culture of any period and its theology, for theology arises from the application of the intellect to revealed truth. Christian truth came into contact with philosophy both as a friend and as an enemy; in both characters it received an influ- ence. And when Greek philosophy came to an end, all the vigour and originality of Christian theology came to an end with it^ Men like Athanasius and Basil are found no more after the middle of the fifth century. And the barbarian invaders of the Empire destroyed much of the old social life. In the end, they produced the great literature of modern Europe ; but at first the Teutons were a destructive rather than a creative force. What- ever the cause, about the middle of the fifth century a great change came over Christian literature. The vigorous intellectual life of an earlier period was lost in dulness or tawdriness. We see no longer the spirit of enquiry and philosophy; literature contents itself with bringing toge- ther and epitomizing old matter, with a view rather to edification than to the extension of knowledge. So utterly did even a Roman of high rank come to despise the graces of style, that Gregory the Great exults, in the manner of a modern Puritan, that he had no need to trouble himself with the rules of Donatus^; and he is very indignant with ^ Confess., i. 26. 2 See Eanke, Weltgescliichte, iv. 2, p. 20 ff. ■* Epist. ad Leandrum, prefixed to the Exposition of Job. Do- natus was a well-known Eoman grammarian, who was Jerome's teacher. Theology and Theologians. 215 Desiderius of Vienne for having ventured to lecture on some of the classical writers \ The story told by John of Salisbury 2, that he burned the ancient treasures of the Palatine library, is perhaps not worthy of belief. It was a highly significant sign that original literature and frank discussion had ceased when pope Hormisdas — if it was he — put forth a list of books ^ which the faithful were not permitted to read. Most of these are however really heretical or falsely attributed to the persons whose name they bear. We find everywhere the two great principles of human nature in perpetual conflict. On the one hand, respect for authority, dread of change, desire to maintain the state of things in which each man finds himself. On the other, more reliance on the powers which God has given to man, more hopefulness, more readiness to leave the things which are behind and to press forward to those which are before. To speak generally, we may say that the Latin Church took the conservative side, the Greek that of free discussion and enquiry. But this description is by no means complete and exhaustive. The Churches were separated by no impassable barrier; much respect for authority was found in the East, and some free enquiry in the West. 2. The great representative in the East of the freer tone in matters of dogma and exegesis was the School of Antioch*. It owes its origin, no doubt, to the impulse given by Origen to theology, but it ran an independent course. Instead of the Origenistic allegorizing of the Bible, in the School of Antioch the leading men insisted on the necessity of grammatical and historical exposition ^ Not that they rejected type and allegory, but that they insisted that all edifying exegesis must be founded on an Chap. X. Prohibited books, 514 (?). Schools of Thought. School of Antioch 1. ^ Epist. XI. 54 ad Desideriiim. ^ Policraticus, ii. 20; viii. 19. 3 In Decretinn Gratiani, P. i. Dist. XV. c. 3; Hardouin, Conc.ii. 940. It is commonly ascribed to Gelasins (494), but it is doubtful whether it is really older than the eighth century. See W. E. Scuda- more, in Diet. Chr. Antiq. ii. 1721, s.v. Prohibited Boohs. * See p. G7. Special treatises on the Antiochene School are Miin- ter, Die Antioch. Schule, in Staud- lin und Tzschirner's Archiv, vol. i. j>t. 1 ; C. Hornung, Schola Antio- chcna; Kihn, Die Bedexitung der Antioch. Schule auf Exeget. Gebiet; Hergenrother, Die Antioch. Schule. ^ ToD a\\r]yopiKov to IcTTopLKOv tr\el(TTov 6 Cave {Lives of the Fathers, III. 237 a.), Neander {Der Heilige Chrysostomos), Am. Thierry {St Jean Chrys. et I'Imp. Eudoxie), Bohringer (in Die Kirche Christi u. ihre Zeugen, vol. ix. 2nded.), W. E. W. Stephens {St Chrysostom, his Life and Times), F. H. Chase {Chrysostom, a Study in the Hist, of Biblical Interpretation), R. W. Bush {Life and Times of St Chry- sostom, R.T, S.), F. W. Farrar, Lives of the Fathers, ii. 615 ff. lilS Theolocfy and Theolorjians. CXIKV. X. Baptized c. 369. In retirement^ c. 374. Priest, 386. Sermons ^*on the Statues " 387. I tinoplc, and afterwards, from his splendid eloquence, John of the Golden Mouth, Chrysostomos, was born about the I year 847 at Antioch, of distinguished family both on his father's and his mother's side. His fiither died while the son was yet a child, and the young widow Anthusa, devoting herself to the education of her son, implanted in his infant mind the seeds of that earnest piety which he never lost. His early training under the pagan rhetorician Libanius, who regretted that the Christians had stolen his most pro- mising pupil', in no way injured his faith in Christ. After he had for a short time practised as an advocate with so much success that the highest offices seemed open to him, he withdrew from the turmoil of a worldly life, and de- voted himself to reading and meditating on Holy Scripture. Meletius, bishop of Antioch, seeing how highly gifted he was, instructed him in the great Christian verities, bap- tized him, and ordained him to the office of reader. When in the troublous year 370 Meletius and several of the neighbouring bishops were deposed, it was hoped that John would be induced to fill one of the vacant sees. He however avoided the unquiet dignity which he induced his friend Basil to accept. A few years later, his mother being probably dead, he joined a community of monks in the neighbourhood of Antioch, where he thought he had found a harbour of refuge from the rough waves of this troublesome world. Here, in company with men like- minded, such as Theodore, afterwards of Mopsuestia, he devoted himself to the ascetic life and the study of the Bible under the guidance of the learned Diodorus, after- wards bishop of Tarsus, and Carterius^ until about the year 380. To this period belong his earliest writings. His health having broken down under the severity of his ascetic practices he returned to Antioch, where Meletius, now restored to his see, ordained him deacon, and his suc- cessor Flavian promoted him to the priesthood, giving him special permission to preach in the cathedral church. His reputation rose to the highest pitch when in the fol- lowing year he preached a course of sermons to encourage the people of Antioch wlien they were dreading the em- peror's vengeance for a tumult in which his statues had ^ Sozomen, viii. 2. 2 Socrates vi. 3. Theology and Theologians. 219 been overthrown. For several years he continued to use his great influence in Antioch against sects and heresies and against the pagan frivolity and luxury which were corrupting the Christian Church. In the year 397 this career came to an end. The emperor Arcadius chose him, very much against his own wish, to be patriarch of Constantinople in succession to Nectarius, and he received consecration as bishop from Theophilus of Alexandria, who was afterwards to over- throw him. As in his high position he spared neither heresy nor corruption in high places, and endeavoured strenuously to introduce a higher standard of life and work among the bishops and clergy, there w^ere soon many powerful persons who desired the removal of this new John Baptist. These made common cause with the em- press Eudoxia, who had herself been greatly offended by the freedom of John's preaching against licentiousness of life. Theophilus of Alexandria, who had himself been summoned to Constantinople to answer before the patri- arch and the council of his diocese to grave charges, was ready enough to prefer counter-charges against John. A synod summoned at The Oak, a suburb of Chalcedon, at which Theophilus, supported by the empress, himself presided, deposed the good patriarch in his absence, — for he steadily refused to acknowledge its authority. The emperor Arcadius, requested by the synod and influenced by his wife at all costs to remove him from his see, caused him in the dusk of a September evening to be conducted to the coast of Bithynia. Thereupon there arose in the city, where the people generally had been deeply im- pressed by the holiness and beneficence of their bishop, so fierce a tumult that the terrified emperor ordered his recall. With the most enthusiastic expressions of joy he was escorted back to the church from which he had been expelled. The hostility of the empress however knew no remission, and the good bishop who reproved her was again banished, first to Nicsea, then to Cucusus in the bleak district of the Taurus range. Even from this remote spot his influence was felt, and the emperor ordered his removal to Pityus on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. He died however under brutal treatment, on his journey thither. Chap. X. Patriarch of Constan- tinople, 397. 403. -104. Died, Sept. 14, 407. Theolorjy and Theologians. In this great teacher we see the most eager zeal for perfect simplicity and even rigour of life united with the m