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HANDBOOK OF THE 
 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
Handbook of the 
 Early Christian Fathers 
 
 BY 
 
 ERNEST LEIGH-BENNETT 
 
 " That Christianity should hecome the religion of the 
 Roman Empire is the miracle of history ; but that it did 
 so become is the leading fact of all history from that day 
 onwards." — Freeman. 
 
 LONDON 
 WILLIAMS & NORGATE 
 
 14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 
 I92O 
 
DEDICATED 
 TO 
 
 THE BLESSED COMPANY OF ALL 
 FAITHFUL PEOPLE" 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The importance to history of those brilliant thinkers, 
 writers, organizers, and in many cases statesmen, whom 
 we know as the Early Church Fathers, was thus well 
 described on their intellectual side by Charles Kingsley 
 in his Preface to Hypatia — 
 
 " To exhibit the Catholic Church as possessing, in 
 the great facts which she proclaimed, full satisfaction 
 even for the most subtle metaphysical cravings of a 
 diseased age — that was the work of the time; and 
 men were sent to do it, and aided in their labour by 
 the very causes which had produced the intellectual 
 revolution. The general intermixture of ideas, creeds 
 and races, even the mere physical facilities for inter- 
 course between different parts of the Empire, helped 
 to give the great Christian Fathers of the fourth and 
 fifth centuries l a breadth of observation, a depth of 
 thought, a large-hearted and large-minded patience 
 and tolerance, such as, we may say boldly, the Church 
 has since beheld but rarely and the world never : at 
 least, if we are to judge those great men by what they 
 had, and not by what they had not, and to believe, as 
 we are bound, that had they lived now and not then, 
 they would have towered as far above the heads of this 
 generation, as they did above the heads of their own. 
 And thus an age, which to the shallow insight of a 
 sneerer like Gibbon, seems only a rotting and aim- 
 less chaos of sensuality and anarchy, fanaticism and 
 hypocrisy, produced a Clement and an Athanase, a 
 
 1 Why not also the third ? 
 
 614;7 
 
vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 Chrysostom and an Augustine : absorbed into the 
 sphere of Christianity all that was most valuable in 
 the philosophies of Greece and Egypt, and in the social 
 organization of Rome, as an heirloom for nations yet 
 unborn; and laid in foreign lands, by unconscious 
 agents, the foundations of all European thought and 
 Ethics." 
 
 So much for the intellectual work of the Fathers, 
 and the victory which they achieved for Christianity 
 over the philosophical systems of their age. But 
 besides all that, it was these men who conquered the 
 Roman Empire, and subjected it to the Christian 
 Church ; and in that work many of them proved them- 
 selves diplomats and statesmen of the highest order, 
 notably St. Athanasius, St. Basil and St. Ambrose. 
 
 The object then of this book is to give as briefly as 
 possible, and in a condensed form, rough notes which 
 will enable a beginner to get a general view of the 
 progress of Christianity during the first four centuries, 
 of the scientific development of its philosophy and 
 theology, of its struggle with the world power, of its 
 internal organization as a community. And this is 
 shown by a series of chapters, each of which is devoted 
 to one of these great men, who passed on from hand to 
 hand the work that had to be done. 
 
 It is often less necessary to go minutely into the 
 details of their lives than to point out their environ- 
 ment, and the opposing forces with which they had 
 to contend : and an attempt has been made to show 
 them in correct perspective in their relation to one 
 another. 
 
 It is possible that an undue proportion of space will 
 seem to have been given to two subjects, the Apostolic 
 Tradition, and the Invocation of Saints. The intention 
 in the first of these two cases is not to uphold any 
 special view of tradition, but to show that the im- 
 portance assigned to the oral tradition is one of the 
 
INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 strongest historical evidences of the truth of Christianity. 
 And the interest of the second lies in this : that the 
 Church of England claims to see eye to eye with the 
 Primitive Church, and this period she seems to con- 
 sider as ending with the Fourth General Council, viz. 
 a.d. 450. It seems to the writer that her general attitude 
 on the Communion of Saints differs widely from that 
 of the fourth, or even the third century. 
 
 In view of the prominence given to Eucharistic con- 
 troversy In later times, the leading quotations from 
 the various Fathers have generally been cited, but so 
 far as possible without comment, except where it has 
 been necessary to explain words; but once or twice, 
 especially in the chapter on St. Cyril, it has been thought 
 desirable to point out what was evidently, whether 
 rightly or wrongly, the view of the Father in question. 
 
 With St. Augustine the work is brought, somewhat 
 reluctantly, to a close. It might have seemed good 
 to add a chapter on St. Cyril ofy Alexandria and a few 
 others, and to complete the history up to the time of 
 the Fourth General Council, when the development of 
 Christian Theology was complete. But St. Cyril's con- 
 flict with Nestorius opens up in many respects a new 
 phase of history, while the acts and the character of 
 Cyril differed widely from those of his predecessors. 
 
 Arguments which can be drawn from these early 
 days in the controversy about the infallibility or supreme 
 authority of Rome have generally been given, but only 
 from the purely historical standpoint. It is not de- 
 sired, on this subject or any other, to grind the axe of 
 any particular section of Christianity. 
 
 The author's grateful thanks are due to Rev. G. E. 
 Catlin, who read most of the MS. and gave him much 
 valuable advice. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ST. CLEMENT OF ROME ...... 1 
 
 What is known of him — The Clementine Recognitions — 
 Epistle to the Corinthians — The Apostolic Succession — 
 The earliest liturgical form — His theology — Greek char- 
 acter of Roman Church — The so-called Second Epistle — 
 Other spurious works. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ST. IGNATIUS ........ 9 
 
 Antioch — What is known of him — His journey to Rome — 
 His Epistles and the spurious ones — Heresies denounced — 
 Episcopacy — Quotations from the Epistles — His martyr- 
 dom. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 ST. POLYCARP 18 
 
 His long life and its importance — His character — His 
 Epistle to the Philippians — The French Church — His 
 martyrdom — Persecutions of this period, and their 
 causes. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ST. IREN^EUS 24 
 
 His life — Relation of the Catholic Church to Rome at this 
 time— The Apostolic Tradition — The Eucharist — His learn- 
 ing and works — Gnosticism — His theology. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ST. JUSTIN MARTYR . . . . .40 
 
 The Apologists — Method of St. Justin's apology — Earliest 
 account of the Sacraments and worship — The Eucharistic 
 Sacrifice — St. Justin's past — His attack on Paganism — 
 Dasmonology — His Platonism — His attitude towards the 
 Jews — His theology — His works— Other Apologists. 
 
 ix 
 
x CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 TERTULLIAN ........ 55 
 
 The African race and Church — His learning and conver- 
 sion — Montanism — The gifts of prophesying and of tongues 
 — Origin of doctrine of Development — His works — Im- 
 portance of the period at which each was written — The 
 Prcescriptio — The Apostolic Tradition — His psychology — 
 His theology— His famous sayings — His Treatises v. the 
 Gnostics — Marcion — His Apology. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA ..... 77 
 
 Alexandria — Features of Alexandrian thought — Alex- 
 andrian Jews — Philo — His Platonism — Origin of Alex- 
 andrian Church — The Catechetical School — Pantaenus — 
 Election of bishops — Clement's position in history — His 
 platonism — Christianity in Alexandria — The Discipline of 
 the Secret — Clement's works — Exhortation to the Heathen 
 — Tutor — Stromata — Rich Man Saved — Hymns — His the- 
 ology — Loyalty to the Creed with free speculation — The 
 religious tendency of Plato — Clement's general relation to 
 Plato — The true Gnostic — Was Clement a saint ? 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ORIGEN ......... 95 
 
 His life — His educational method — His alleged heresies — 
 The Tradition — His theology — The Eucharist — Predestina- 
 tion — The Periarchon — His attitude towards Scripture — 
 The Hexapla — The Canon — Origen's practical works — 
 The apology Contra Gelsum — The Church of Jerusalem 
 — Services of Alexandria to Christianity. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ST. CYPRIAN ........ 114 
 
 A great administrator — His life — His early works — De- 
 terioration of the African Church — The title of Pope — 
 The Decian Persecution — The Lapsed — Libelli — Origin 
 of doctrine of Indulgences — Schismatic bishops — The 
 Council of Carthage — The De Unitate — Bearing of this 
 work on the Papacy — Claims of Rome in first five centuries 
 — Cyprian's attitude towards Rome — Towards Episcopacy 
 — Towards the Church — His works of benevolence — His 
 martyrdom — Summary of the remaining persecutions — 
 Cyprian's works. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL ....... 135 
 
 The various phases and dates of tho Arian controversy — 
 Succession of Emperors. 
 
CONTENTS xi 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 ST. ATHANASIUS .143 
 
 The Edict of Milan — Constantino's conversion — Arianism 
 — Counter -position of Catholicism — Council of Nicsea — 
 The Nicene Creed— The three grades of Arians — The points 
 in dispute — Life of Athanasius — The Incarnation of the 
 Word — His other works — His view of the Eucharist — 
 Position of Rome — Life of St. Anthony — Monasticism. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 ST. HILARY OF POITIERS ...... 161 
 
 His life — Irenaeus and Hilary — De Synodis — His relation 
 to the controversy — How he became a Christian — In- 
 fluence of Origen — His reluctance to dogmatize — His 
 theology — His doctrine of the Incarnation — Progressive 
 revelation — Tendency to Docetism — His view of the 
 Eucharist — His hymns — St. Martin of Tours. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM ..... 178 
 
 His life and general position — The Catechetical Lectures — 
 The Creed of Jerusalem — The word Catholic — The ton points 
 of doctrine — His theology — Scripture and the Canon — 
 Relics — Intercession of Saints — Baptism and the Eucharist 
 — The ritual of Baptism — The liturgy of the Eucharist. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ST. BASIL 196 
 
 His life and character — Early days — Basil as monk — 
 As priest — As bishop — His attitude towards the State— * 
 Partition of Cappadocia — Basil as author — Influence of 
 Plato — His Letters — On the Holy Spirit — His theology — 
 The schism at Antioch — Basil on the Eucharist — On the 
 Invocation of Saints — Minor points — His Liturgy. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS . . . . . 219 
 
 General account — His life — At Constantinople — The Second 
 (Ecumenical Council — Why Gregory left Constantinople — 
 The Five Theological Orations — Worldliness of Arians — 
 The Three Christmas Orations — Points from other orations 
 — Gregory's poems — His eulogies. 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 237 
 
 The " Star of Nyssa " — His works — Neo-Platonism — The 
 Treatise on Virginity — The Beatific Vision — This compared 
 with Plato's — The ideal Humanity — Origen and Gregory 
 — Gregory's psychology and eschatology — On the Trinity 
 — On the Eucharist — The Great Catechism — Gregory a type 
 of the Eastern Church — The Arian controversy closed. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ST. CHRYSOSTOM . 252 
 
 A great edifier — Chrysostom at Antioch — On the priest- 
 hood — Chrysostom as a preacher — His world — The Goths 
 — Chrysostom archbishop of Constantinople — As interpreter 
 of Scripture — As theologian — On the Eucharist — Hearing 
 Mass — Chrysostom in exile — His liturgy — General remarks. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 ST. JEROME 272 
 
 His life — Jerome and Pope Damasus — The Roman ladies 
 — Paula — Jerome at Bethlehem — Monasticism — His chief 
 controversies — His literary work — The Vulgate — His last 
 years — Cardinal Newman's opinion of him. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 ST. AMBROSE ........ 290 
 
 His position — Theodosius — Anticipation of the Holy Roman 
 Empire — Cyprian and Ambrose — Life of Ambrose — His 
 intellectual side — On the Eucharist — The Duties of the 
 Ministry — His music and hymns — Ambrose and Rome. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE ....... 304 
 
 The chief of the Fathers — Early life — The Manichseans — 
 Carthage, Rome, Milan — The Confessions — His pre- 
 Christian phases — Platonism — The Beatific Vision — Con- 
 version — Augustine on Scripture — Augustine as bishop — 
 On the Church — Donatism — Augustine and Rome — On 
 the Eucharist — On Grace, Free Will, Predestination — 
 The Enchiridion and the De Trinitate — The City of God — 
 His works — His influence on posterity — Jansenism — His 
 last days. 
 
 INDEX 336 
 
HANDBOOK OF THE 
 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ST. CLEMENT OF ROME 
 
 (Bishop of Rome from about a.d. 92 to 99) 
 
 All that we know of this first of the Apostolic Fathers 
 may be summed up in the account of St. Irenaeus given 
 about 100 years later. " The blessed Apostles, Peter 
 and Paul, having built up the Church of Rome, entrusted 
 the bishopric to Linus, who was followed by Anacletus, 
 and third in succession to the Apostles Clement obtained 
 the bishopric; who had also himself seen the blessed 
 Apostles, and had conferred with them, and had still 
 their preaching sounding in his ears, and their traditions 
 before his eyes; not alone, for there were still many 
 left of those who had been taught by the Apostles. In 
 the time of this Clement, no small dissension arising 
 among the brethren at Corinth, the Church at Rome 
 sent a very weighty epistle to the Corinthians recon- 
 ciling them to peace, and restoring their faith, and declar- 
 ing to them the traditions they had recently received 
 from the Apostles." x 
 
 From this statement we gather, (1) that there is no 
 
 proof that the Church of the first century regarded St. 
 
 Peter as bishop of Rome in any special sense apart 
 
 from St. Paul; for after stating that that Church was 
 
 founded jointly by the two Apostles (which the Roman 
 
 Church has always admitted), it proceeds to say that 
 
 1 Hwr., III. 3. 3. 
 B 
 
2 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 they both jointly appointed Linus as bishop. (2) It 
 helps materially to fix the date of St. Clement's bishopric, 
 which is generally given as from 92 to 99 : because it 
 makes him third after the Apostles (the tradition still 
 preserved in the Roman Mass) ; whereas at a later date 
 it was held that Clement came next to Linus, and was 
 consecrated by St. Peter. (3) It attributed to St. 
 Clement, or rather to the Roman Church, the Epistle 
 known as the First to the Corinthians, ignoring other 
 writings now known to be spurious, but for a long time 
 attributed to him. (4) Although St. Clement was doubt- 
 less mainly responsible for that Epistle, and may have 
 entirely composed it, the personal element of the medi- 
 aeval and modern Papacy is not found in it. It was 
 sent from the Church of Rome by the hand of Clement. 
 On the other hand the Roman Church as such took 
 rather an authoritative line in the Epistle. 
 
 There has been some controversy about the origin 
 of St. Clement. He was at one time supposed to have 
 been the Titus Flavius Clemens, cousin of the Emperor 
 Domitian, who was executed and possibly martyred; 
 but Lightfoot thinks it more probable that he was a 
 Jewish freedman of Flavius, or the son of one, and 
 brought up in the Imperial household. He also finds 
 tradition " early constant and definite " that he was a 
 disciple of either St. Paul or St. Peter. Beyond this 
 little is known of him, except what can be gathered from 
 his Epistle. But before passing to this it is necessary 
 to allude to The Clementine Recognitions. 
 
 This religious romance, at one time attributed to St. 
 Clement, was probably written between 180 and 220, 
 the author being quite unknown. The plot is as follows : 
 Clement's father is given as Faustus, a connection of 
 Vespasian and Domitian, who were of the Flavian 
 family. His mother, Fausta, having rejected the im- 
 proper overtures of her brother-in-law, was denounced 
 by him to her husband, and in consequence fled from 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ROME 3 
 
 home with her two elder children; who afterwards 
 were separated from her in consequence of shipwreck, 
 and became disciples of St. Peter. After an interval 
 of ten years, the father left Clement, who was then 
 twelve years old, to search for his wife. Fausta, after 
 long wanderings, fell in also with St. Peter, and was 
 healed of some paralytic trouble. St. Peter then effected 
 the recognition of the two sons by their mother; and 
 a little later the father was recognized in a similar 
 manner. In due course, St. Clement himself, having 
 studied all the philosophies of the time without getting 
 satisfaction, hears of Christ, and travels to Judaea to 
 make enquiry. He also is introduced to St. Peter, and 
 baptized by him; and then at last the recognitions of 
 the whole family are completed. 
 
 The story has no literary or artistic interest, but a 
 controversial one. St. Peter is the hero, and it seems 
 to have been written by Judaizing Christians, in order 
 to emphasize the position of St. Peter at the expense 
 of St. Paul. To the romance was attached a spurious 
 letter from St. Clement to St. James at Jerusalem, 
 announcing that St. Peter had consecrated him Bishop 
 of Rome and entrusted to him his " Chair of discourse " ; 
 and that in consequence, though reluctantly, he occupied 
 the chair of Peter. Anglican writers, notably Father 
 Puller, 1 claim that this romance, though condemned at 
 Rome, encouraged by reason of its wide circulation the 
 general tradition that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome. 
 The same story appears in the Clementine Homilies : 
 and both the Recognitions and the Homilies are founded 
 on a still earlier romance, called The Circuit of Peter. 
 So far from St. Clement having travelled through the 
 East with St. Peter, it is most probable that his life was 
 spent in Rome : for that reason it is unlikely that he 
 was the Clement referred to in St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Philippians, as is sometimes supposed. 
 
 1 Primitive Saints and the See of Rome. 
 
4 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 The Church of Corinth, which had given so much 
 trouble to St. Paul, was again, alter a meritorious interval, 
 torn by dissensions. Not apparently by any specific 
 heresy, unless perhaps some scepticism about the resur- 
 rection of the body, but by jealousy of the laity towards 
 the clergy. Discipline was slack and some presbyters 
 had even been driven from their cures by the insub- 
 ordinate laity. The first section of Clement's Epistle 
 to the Corinthians (according to a general division of 
 subjects made by Lightfoot), after praising the former 
 virtues of the Corinthian Church, rebukes them for 
 their quarrels, the result of envy or a grudging spirit, 
 and illustrates the bad effects of envy by several quota- 
 tions from the Old Testament. " Repent, therefore," 
 says Clement ; " imitate the lowliness and long-suffering 
 of Christ and you will be at peace." That peace and 
 harmony are according to God's will is shown by every- 
 thing in nature. The second section expounds the 
 doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body, illustrated 
 again by nature (night and day, winter and summer), 
 and especially by the grotesque myth of the phoenix. 
 The third section exhorts to purity of life, with a view 
 to that resurrection, and especially counsels faith, but 
 not w-ithout works. In the fourth section, he returns 
 again to the question of their divisions, but more especi- 
 ally to the importance of the laity recognizing the claims 
 of the clergy. It is no longer a question of peace, but 
 of obedience; subordination of rank and division of 
 office being of divine appointment both under the Mosaic 
 law and also by the apostolic arrangement. In the 
 fifth section he suddenly breaks into a long prayer; 
 and in the sixth he gives certain personal directions, 
 ending with the customary benediction. 
 
 The main interest of this Epistle lies in the fact that 
 not only was it the first work that emanated from the 
 " apostolic men," that is, men who were not themselves 
 apostles, but on whom the apostolic cloak had fallen; 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ROME 5 
 
 but also it combined in a remarkable way the teaching 
 of the various apostles. For instance, it gives to Faith 
 and Works an equal importance, discussing the two 
 virtues side by side at some length. There is evidence 
 throughout that the writer was influenced alike by 
 St. Paul, St. Peter and St. James ; also that he was per- 
 fectly acquainted with the first three gospels ; St. John's 
 had probably not reached him. Our Lord's words are 
 quoted, and there is in the fifth section a curious para- 
 phrase of part of the Magnificat, which, unless the Mag- 
 nificat was a well-known Jewish hymn, seems to imply 
 a knowledge of St. Luke. There is also in this epistle 
 an evident love of nature as displaying the order and 
 uniformity of God's works; the sense of order being 
 carried also into the moral world, and enforced at great 
 length from the Old Testament. The whole epistle is 
 worded in a calm spirit of moderation. It is, as Light- 
 foot says, a serene meditation on the Christian scheme; 
 though it neither has the depth and clearness of con- 
 ception of the apostolic literature, nor displays the logical 
 and scientific spirit of later writers, who were forced 
 by intellectual opponents to meet them on their own 
 ground. It was fortunate for the Christian Church 
 that the first writer, who, after the Apostles' death, 
 took up the threads of their teaching, was, as Bishop of 
 Rome, brought under the influence of both St. Peter 
 and St. Paul. 
 
 A striking sentence appears in the third section bearing 
 on the apostolic succession. " The Apostles knew 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be 
 strife over the name of the bishop's office. For this 
 cause therefore, having complete foreknowledge, they 
 appointed the aforesaid persons and afterwards they 
 provided a continuance, that if these should fall asleep, 
 other approved men should succeed to their ministra- 
 tions." 
 
 The prayer which occupies the fifth section is regarded 
 
6 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 as being the earliest Christian liturgical form extant. 
 Lightfoot's view is that, though prayers were for the 
 most part at that date extempore, some of them 
 were beginning to assume a stereotyped form; and 
 that this one may have been commonly used in the 
 service of the Roman church. It is at any rate 
 the earliest Christian prayer recorded after the Lord's 
 Prayer. 
 
 The theology of St. Clement is of a very simple char- 
 acter, but his idea of the atonement is given along the 
 lines of the epistle to the Hebrews, which he quotes 
 copiously. Indeed, the authorship of that epistle has 
 sometimes been attributed to him. Eusebius went 
 so far as to say that St. Paul wrote it, and St. Clement 
 translated it into Greek : but it is not likely that St. 
 Clement was the author. The doctrine of the Trinity 
 was of course not formulated at this time as a theological 
 dogma; but Clement expresses it in these words : " As 
 God liveth and Jesus Christ liveth, and the Holy Spirit, 
 who are the faith and hope of the elect: M this assevera- 
 tion taking the place of the Jewish, " As the Lord 
 Jehovah liveth." 
 
 The Epistle was written in Greek, for the earliest 
 'Roman church was a sort of religious Greek colony. 1 
 Christianity first spread among the lower orders, and 
 the poorer classes in Rome were at that period mostly 
 of Greek descent and speech. Already no doubt many 
 patricians had accepted the Faith, for even St. Paul 
 was able to say, tc They of the household of Caesar salute 
 you"; but they would equally understand Greek; for 
 it was generally known to the educated classes, and was 
 the channel of communication with distant parts of 
 the Empire. As the Roman Church became Latinized, 
 during the following two centuries, St. Clement's epistle 
 passed out of the ken of the Western Church, having 
 
 1 A trace of the earliest Roman Liturgy still lingers in the 
 Greek words Kyrie eleison. 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ROME 7 
 
 little bearing on the dogmatic controversies of the later 
 Fathers. At the Reformation, however, when questions 
 of Church order became of interest, it was hunted up, 
 and first printed in 1633; but from a MS. from which 
 Lightfoot's fifth section was lost. The complete epistle 
 went through the Press for the first time in 1875. The 
 edition of 1633 was translated from a copy presented 
 to Charles I by the Patriarch of Constantinople, bound 
 up with a complete MS. of the New Testament. 
 
 The fact that St. Clement's epistle, and also a spurious 
 second epistle, which was attributed to him, were so 
 bound up in early times with the New Testament, gave 
 rise to the idea that it was at one time regarded as 
 canonical; but this is very unlikely. Were it so, it 
 would have appeared in its place among the epistles, 
 whereas it comes after the apocalypse. It was, however, 
 publicly read at Corinth, Alexandria, and in many 
 Eastern Churches, and was probably bound up for 
 convenience. 
 
 The so-called Second Epistle to the Corinthians, which 
 is really rather a homily than an epistle, and may there- 
 fore be treated as the earliest specimen of a published 
 sermon, was probably written about a.d. 200, or at the 
 earliest 150. Eusebius, the historian (about a.d. 300), 
 doubts the authorship of St. Clement on the ground 
 that no ancient authorities recognized it. It was prob- 
 ably a sermon first delivered at Corinth ; and so became 
 part of the literature of that church. The other spurious 
 works are two epistles on Virginity in Syriac; a letter 
 to St. James, already alluded to in connection with 
 the Recognitions; and another to the same saint. 
 The authenticity of these works was repudiated by 
 Eusebius. 
 
 Little as we know of St. Clement's life, the memory 
 of him long lingered as of an important personality. 
 Of his two predecessors we hear practically nothing. 
 It is the figure of St. Clement that always stands as 
 
8 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 the living embodiment of the sub-apostolic Roman 
 Church; which even at that early date, St. John being 
 still alive, was already becoming the central force of 
 Christianity. 
 
 [This and the next two chapters are almost entirely based on 
 Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers.] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ST. IGNATIUS, MARTYR 
 
 (Bishop of Antioch from about a.d. 69 to 107) 
 
 From Rome we pass to another " see of Peter," * 
 Antioch ; at that time a city of great splendour, which, 
 though repeatedly injured and sometimes destroyed 
 by earthquakes, was continually restored with increased 
 magnificence; a haunt of Roman Emperors, who 
 visited it for the games and the theatre; notorious 
 also for the licentious worship of Apollo at Daphne, 
 which was a suburb of the city; and yet one of the 
 earliest centres of Christian life, and the place in which 
 the very name of Christian had its origin. To-day 
 literally no trace remains of this ancient city, which at 
 its zenith contained a population of half a million and 
 at one time a hundred thousand Christians. On the 
 site is the wretched modern town of Antak, where 
 less than a century ago the Christian population lacked 
 even a church. 
 
 Antioch was situated in the north-west of Syria, 
 about twenty miles up the Orontes from the port 
 Seleucia; which derived its name from Seleucus, the 
 general, who, on Alexander the Great's death, took 
 Syria as his share of the Macedonian empire. Accord- 
 ing to the account in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul 
 and St. Barnabas were more concerned than St. Peter 
 in first preaching the gospel at Antioch : but tradition 
 has always attributed the foundation of the church to 
 St. Peter, and declared that he lived there as bishop for 
 seven or eight years before visiting Rome, On this 
 account, it was an apostolic church; and later a patri- 
 archate with jurisdiction extending far away into the 
 East. The successors of St. Peter at Antioch, however, 
 
 9 
 
10 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 never made the claims to universal rule, which were 
 made by Roman bishops. 
 
 St. Clement and St. Ignatius stand in marked contrast 
 to each other, and seem typical of the Western and 
 Eastern Churches that were to be. In Clement we 
 see the calm, practical, judicious spirit, which char- 
 acterized the West; in Ignatius the fervid spirit of the 
 East. But the spirit of Ignatius expended itself not, 
 as in the subsequent history of the East, in championing 
 scientific definitions of dogma, but in upholding Church 
 order; although Church order was rather a means to 
 an end, than an end in itself, the end being the avoid- 
 ance of heresies and divisions. But the fervid spirit 
 of Ignatius was especially seen in his thirst for martyr- 
 dom; and connected with his death and his letters is 
 everything that we know of him. 
 
 Of his life, as of St. Clement's, we know practically 
 nothing. Legends grew up round his second name, 
 Theophorus (God-borne or God-bearer) ; as for instance 
 that he was the little child whom Jesus took up and 
 showed to his disciples. He was generally believed 
 to have had intercourse with apostles, and to have 
 been a pupil of St. John. The last is quite likely, 
 although there is no clear evidence of it. He never 
 mentions him in his own w r ritings, though he seems to 
 have been influenced by St. John's. About the year 69, 
 according to Eusebius, he succeeded Evodius as third 
 bishop of Antioch. St. Chrysostom and Theodoret, 
 however, say that he immediately followed St. Peter, 
 and was consecrated by him. There is no record of any 
 of his episcopal acts, unless we except the institution of 
 antiphonal singing at Antioch. This may perhaps be 
 rightly attributed to him, as there are in his epistles 
 several analogies from music. It had, however, long 
 been the custom in Jewish worship, and is mentioned by 
 Pliny as characteristic of Christian in Bithynia in a.d. 
 112. There are also eleven analogies from medicine, 
 
ST. IGNATIUS, MARTYR 11 
 
 from which it is suggested that in early life he may 
 have been a physician. 
 
 It seems probable, from the great humility that he 
 displays in his epistles, his description of himself as the 
 last x of the Antiochenes, and his fear that he will not 
 be counted worthy of martyrdom, that only late in life, 
 after a career that he looked back on with remorse, 
 did he become a Christian. But of all this we really 
 know nothing. All the picture we have of him is in 
 the last few months of his life, when he is on his way 
 to Rome to receive the crown of martyrdom. The date 
 of this is generally given as 107, but Lightfoot gives 
 any year up to 118, and Harnack fixes it at 125. Trajan 
 was emperor at the earlier date : and though he was a 
 humane man, it is probable that in his reign the first 
 definite laws were enacted against Christianity. Some 
 suppose that Nero made the profession of our religion 
 a capital offence; indeed Tertullian said this was the 
 only act of Nero that was never repealed. Probably 
 till Trajan's time, Christianity was hardly distinguished 
 from Judaism in the judicial mind. Trajan, however, 
 had always a dread of secret societies, guilds, or com- 
 binations of any kind, and allowed none except burial 
 clubs. The Church in Rome existed in the eyes of the 
 state at first as a burial club ; when it was clearly recog- 
 nized as something more than this, it became a religio 
 illicita. But Trajan forbade hunting out Christians : 
 only where obvious cases came before the tribunals, 
 were they to be punished. Some sort of disturbance 
 had arisen in Antioch, which seemed graver than it 
 might otherwise have been, owing to rumours of a 
 pending insurrection of Jews : so Ignatius gave him- 
 self up for the peace of his Church, and was despatched 
 to Rome as food for the beasts in the Coliseum, the 
 manner of his death showing that he was not a Roman 
 citizen. 
 
 1 Eph. 21. 
 
12 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 The route of this journey to Rome is interesting, 
 from the glimpse we get of the Churches on the way. 
 He may possibly have gone by land to the west coast 
 of Asia Minor ; but it is more probable that he went by 
 sea from the port of Seleucia to Attalia in Pamphylia 
 on the south coast. Thence he would cross by land to 
 Smyrna, a port on the west coast. On the w r ay he 
 stayed at Laodicea, Hierapolis, Philadelphia, and Sardis, 
 composing certain difficulties that had arisen at Phila- 
 delphia. At Smyrna he was comforted by Polycarp, 
 then a young bishop, but forty years later to become 
 a famous martyr. He also received deputations from 
 Ephesus, Tralles and Magnesia, which lay out of his 
 route, though not far away. By them he despatched 
 epistles to their respective Churches; at the same time 
 he wrote to the Romans in advance, begging them not 
 to use their influence to prevent his martyrdom; for 
 the persecution being only local, the Roman church 
 was just then at rest. We next hear of him at Alexandria 
 Troas, a port north-west of Asia Minor, to which he was 
 probably conveyed by sea. There he learnt with joy 
 that peace was restored to his own church, and thence 
 he sent three more Epistles — to the Church of Smyrna, 
 to Polycarp personally, and to the Philadelphians. He 
 then crossed via Neapolis to Philippi in Macedonia, 
 and after that we hear no more. Although he com- 
 plained of his treatment on the way from the " ten 
 leopards," x as he called his soldier guards, he seems to 
 have been granted leisure and even freedom at the 
 halting places ; but this was easily granted, for escape 
 within the Roman Empire was impossible. 
 
 The seven Epistles already mentioned are now fully 
 ascertained to be the only genuine ones of Ignatius; 
 but eight other spurious letters were at one time asso- 
 ciated with his name — viz. one to St. John, one to our 
 Lady (with her reply), and letters to Mary of Cassabela, 
 1 Rom. 5. 
 
ST. IGNATIUS, MARTYR 
 
 13 
 
 the Tarsians, Philippians, Antiochenes, and Hero his 
 successor as bishop of Antioch. All these are now finally 
 put out of court. The authenticity of the correspond- 
 ence with the B.V.M. and St. John was disproved 
 at a comparatively early date. There then remained 
 twelve in an edition, which was known as the longer 
 Recension, and was first published in Latin in 1495, 
 in Greek in 1557. In 1664 Archbishop Ussher dis- 
 covered at Oxford an edition containing only the real 
 seven letters, and in a much shorter form. Six, accord- 
 ing to this reading, were published by Voss in 1644 
 in Greek, and so are sometimes spoken of as the Vossian 
 epistles : the seventh was published by Ruinart in 1689. 
 It was soon shown from the anachronisms and historical 
 errors in the longer Recension, that the new discovery 
 was the real work of Ignatius : although French and 
 English non-Episcopal Protestants tried, but without 
 success, to impugn the authenticity of these letters 
 altogether. This edition used to be known as the 
 shorter Recension, but Lightfoot calls it the Middle 
 Recension, because in 1845 Canon Cureton found a 
 still shorter edition of three Epistles only in Syriac, 
 which Lightfoot has now called the short Recension. 
 It has been, however, conclusively shown that the 
 Middle Recension can be relied on, and that the short 
 Syriac one was only an abridgement of those particular 
 epistles for edification. The following list shows the 
 various Recensions : — 
 
 Polycarp ^ Short "* 
 
 i Middle 
 
 Longer Recension, 
 
 Romans {- in 
 
 Recension 
 
 supported for a 
 
 Ephesians J Syriac 
 
 correct ; 
 
 long time by 
 
 Smyrna3ans 
 
 I acknowledged 
 
 Roman Catholics, 
 
 Magnesians 
 
 by # 
 
 but now entirely 
 
 Philadelphians 
 
 Eusebius 
 
 abandoned. 
 
 Trallians 
 
 ) 
 
 
 Correspondence with 
 
 
 ' 
 
 Mary of Casiobela 
 
 
 
 Tarsians 
 
 
 
 Antiochenes 
 
 
 
 Bishop Hero 
 
 
 
 Philippians 
 
 J 
 
 
14 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Judaizing and Docetism are the heresies denounced 
 in these epistles; but, according to Lightfoot, these 
 were really one; or rather the same set of teachers in 
 each case were at work, Jews by birth, who were teach- 
 ing a form of Docetism. This word will be more fully 
 explained later in connection with Gnosticism. It is 
 enough for the present to say that the Docetic view 
 was that Christ never really suffered in the flesh, but 
 only seemed to do so. Either the whole life of Christ 
 was phantasmal; or else they distinguished between 
 the Divine Being and the human Jesus, affirming that 
 the Christ, or Logos, descended on Jesus at His Baptism, 
 and deserted Him before the crucifixion. Thus Ignatius 
 continually speaks of the real Passion, and says that 
 Christ was truly born, died, and rose again, and that 
 the Christ, who reappeared, ate and drank, and was 
 no incorporeal phantom. 
 
 The best way to guard against such errors was to 
 cling to the bishop, to remain united, and to follow his 
 teaching. " Where the bishop is, there is the Church." 
 This idea runs through nearly all the Epistles, and 
 Ignatius is therefore quoted by all Episcopalians as a 
 witness to the truth of Episcopacy from the earliest 
 times. And so he is. He clearly shows that bishops 
 existed throughout Asia Minor, for he alludes to those 
 of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Philadelphia, and Smyrna ; 
 he also speaks of them as established in the farthest 
 parts of the earth. 1 Nor were they itinerant, like 
 Timothy and Titus, but localized; and they ruled, 
 though they were constitutional monarchs. In Rome 
 also there was a bishop, though apparently with even 
 less autocratic power than in Asia; perhaps because 
 there was less heresy. The point that Ignatius leaves 
 undecided is whether at that time Episcopacy was 
 considered a divine institution, possessing doctrinal 
 significance, and therefore a necessity to a true Church ; 
 1 Eph. 3. 
 
ST. IGNATIUS, MARTYR 15 
 
 or whether it was to be supported because it happened 
 to be the order of the Churches he was addressing, 
 and therefore the only existing bond of discipline. 
 There is no proof that he looked on it as more than the 
 latter. On the other hand there is no proof that he 
 did not. In face of the very strong words he used, 
 it is dangerous to argue from silence. 
 
 Unlike the other Epistles, that to the Romans makes x 
 no allusion to heresy, the Roman Church being " filtered 
 clear from every alien colouring; " x nor to the bishop. 
 It is full of his approaching martyrdom; the object 
 being to implore them not to beg him off. Elsewhere 
 he alludes to what was coming gravely and quietly : 
 all his passionate aspirations for the crown are here. 
 "I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth 
 of wild beasts, that I may be found Christ's pure bread." 
 " Provoke the beasts, that they may become my sepul- 
 chre, and leave no part of my body behind." 2 " Per- 
 mit me to be the imitator of the passion of my God." 3 
 " Come fire and cross and grappling with wild beasts, 
 wrenching of bones and hacking of limbs and crushings 
 of my whole body : come, cruel tortures of the devil 
 and assail me ; only be it mine to attain unto Christ." 4 
 
 The other Epistles deal mainly with heresy and unity. 
 Public worship and the Eucharist are incidentally 
 recommended as a means of making religion not only 
 a profession but a power. The following are some of 
 the chief episcopal quotations. " Wherever the bishop 
 is there let the people be, as where Jesus is, there is 
 the Catholic Church." 5 This, by the way, is the first 
 known instance of the term " Catholic Church," and 
 " Catholic " is here synonymous with " Universal," not 
 " Orthodox." The quotation is referred to equally by 
 Catholics and Protestants. To the former it implies 
 that the bishop is indispensable : to the latter that 
 
 1 Rom. 1. 2 j^d., 4. 3 Ibid., 6, 
 
 4 Ibid., 5. 5 Smyr. 8. 
 
16 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 wherever Christ is, there is the Chureh. " Respeet the 
 bishop as a type of God, and the presbyters as the 
 council of God and the college of the Apostles. Apart 
 from these there is not even the name of a Church." x 
 It will be seen that to the presbyters also is attributed 
 a great sanctity, as the successors of the Apostles. 
 Elsewhere he says, " The presbyters are to the bishop 
 as the strings to the lyre " 2 (one of his musical meta- 
 phors). Again, " Let no man do aught of the things 
 pertaining to the Church apart from the bishop. Let 
 that be held a valid Eucharist, which is under the 
 bishop, or one to whom he shall have committed it. . . . 
 It is not lawful, apart from the bishop, to baptize or 
 hold the Love feast." 3 And again, " If any one follow 
 one who maketh a schism, he doth not inherit the 
 kingdom. If any man walk in strange doctrines, he 
 has no fellowship with the Passion." 4 
 
 As regards Docetism, the following is the strongest 
 quotation, and a splendid defence of Christ's bodily 
 Resurrection : " For I know and believe that He was 
 in the flesh after the Resurrection : and when He came 
 to Peter and his company, He said c Lay hold and 
 handle me, and see that I am not a bodiless spirit, and 
 straightway they touched Him and believed, being joined 
 to His flesh and blood. Wherefore also they despised 
 death, nay, were found superior to it; and after His 
 resurrection He ate and drank with them, as one in the 
 flesh, though spiritually He was united with the Father." 5 
 
 Following this argument he gives an example of high 
 sacramental doctrine. " They abstain from the Eucha- 
 rist, because they allow not that It is the flesh of our 
 Saviour, which flesh suffered for our sins, and which 
 the Father of His goodness raised up." 6 The follow- 
 ing sentence seems to mark the influence of St. John : 
 " The Spirit knoweth whence it cometh and whither 
 
 1 Tral. 3. 2 Eph, 4. 3 Smyr. 8. 
 
 * Philad. 3. 5 Smyr. 3. 6 Ibid., 6. 
 
ST. IGNATIUS, MARTYR 17 
 
 it goeth." x The following shows that he was an 
 intense admirer of St. Paul, whom the Judaizers depre- 
 ciated : " Sharers in the mysteries with Paul, the holy, 
 the martyred, the ever-blessed Paul, in whose footsteps 
 may I be treading when I come to meet God." 2 Here 
 and there in his writings are little flashes of epigram; 
 such as, " He that truly possesses the words of Jesus is 
 able also to listen to His silence; " 3 " Form yourselves 
 into an harmonious chorus, of which the key-note is > 
 God ; " 4 " The one Bread, which is the medicine of 
 life, the antidote of death; " 5 " Faith is the beginning 
 of life, Love is the end." 6 Here is a very elaborate 
 metaphor : "Ye are stones of a temple, which were 
 prepared beforehand for a building of God the Father, 
 hoisted up to the heights through the engine of Christ, 
 which is the Cross, and using for a rope the Holy Spirit, 
 while your faith is your windlass, and love is the way 
 that leads up to God." 7 
 
 One other subject deserves a passing notice. He 
 once says that he could reveal to them the mysteries 
 of the angelic host. 8 This seems to refer to the angel- 
 ology of that time, the insight which some Christians 
 in the early church believed they possessed into the 
 disposition of the angels. It appears later in the 
 Alexandrian school, and was presumably hinted at by 
 St. Paul in the Epistle to the Colossians ; " things 
 visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or 
 principalities or powers," and again when he warns the 
 faithful against " a voluntary humility and the wor- 
 shipping of angels." 
 
 Two Acts are extant of the martyrdom of St. Ignatius, 
 one Roman and one Antiochene; but it is not likely 
 that either dates from earlier than the sixth century, 
 and they are therefore quite legendary. 
 
 1 Philad. 7. 2 Eph. 12. 3 Ibid., 15. 4 Ibid., 4. 
 
 5 Ibid., 20. 6 Ibid., 14. 7 Ibid., 9. 8 Trail. 5. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ST. POLYCARP, MARTYR 
 
 (Bishop of Smyrna. Lived from about a.d. 69 to 155) 
 
 " Eighty-six years," said Polycarp on his trial before 
 the Proconsul, " have I served the Lord, and He hath 
 done me no wrong. How then can I speak evil of my 
 King who saved me?" In this "eighty-six years" 
 lies the leading thought about Polycarp. His import- 
 ance in history is not in his relation to any particular 
 events, or heresy, or movement of the time; nor has 
 his one extant Epistle any theological or literary interest ; 
 but he is a human link between the apostles and the 
 middle of the second century. 
 
 Two statements occur in the works of Irenseus, who 
 was at his zenith in 180, and had been Polycarp' s pupil, 
 to the effect that he often spoke of the Apostles, espe- 
 cially St. John, and of his early intercourse with them, 
 and of their teaching. It is not certain who the other 
 Apostles were ; but St. Andrew probably died at Ephesus, 
 and St. Philip not far away at Hierapolis. At any rate 
 it is sufficient for us, that he should have been taught 
 by St. John, and that in 155 there should have still 
 survived a prominent bishop, who had been so in- 
 structed : and further that he should have exercised 
 personal influence on a man of the intellectual calibre 
 of Irenseus, who would carry on the testimony for 
 forty years more. 
 
 The character of Polycarp made him eminently suit- 
 able to be such a link. He combined with a charity 
 for non-essentials a sturdy conservatism; a simple 
 faith; great piety; possibly a lack of imagination; a 
 
 18 
 
ST. POLYCARP, MARTYR 19 
 
 disdain of persecution; and an absolute intolerance of 
 those who attacked the first principles of the faith. 
 We gather all this from the few records we possess of 
 him; from Irenseus' allusions; from his Epistle; from 
 the circular letter of the Church at Smyrna describing 
 his martyrdom; and from Eusebius' account of his 
 visit to Rome shortly before his death. Beyond this 
 all regarding his life is conjecture. At the end of the 
 fourth century a life of Polycarp by Pionius was current, 
 who had been alive in 250 ; but it is full of legendary 
 lore to which no credence can be attached. 
 
 St. Polycarp was probably born of Christian parents 
 in 69, just before the fall of Jerusalem ; and as we find 
 him not long after at the feet of St. John at Ephesus, 
 his family may have been one of the many who migrated 
 at that time to Asia Minor. If, as Tertullian says, he 
 was consecrated Bishop of Smyrna by St. John, he then 
 could hardly have been thirty : but there is nothing 
 in this contrary to the custom of the time. Less than 
 ten years after, he is comforting Ignatius on his march ; 
 and a little later Ignatius writes him with sound advice, 
 the old man to the young; making us feel, from the 
 way he singles him out, that he was the most important 
 personality of the many bishops he had met en route. 
 Then we have his letter to Philippi. Ignatius had 
 asked him to communicate with the church at Antioch 
 on the occasion of their restored tranquillity, and had 
 asked the Philippian church to do the same. The 
 latter sent their letter to Smyrna, and asked Polycarp 
 to forward it with his own. 
 
 He sends them in reply his Epistle, which contains 
 nothing novel; except that for the first time the word 
 " Catholic " appears, not in the sense of " Universal," 
 but " Orthodox." There is copious quotation from the 
 New Testament; but nothing bearing on either the 
 Church institutions of the day or modern controversy. 
 Quotations from the Old, of which Clement's Epistle 
 
20 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 had been so full, are scarce : making us feel how com- 
 pletely the Old and New were changing places. His 
 anger against heretics is shown by his alluding to those 
 who denied the Resurrection as " the first born of 
 Satan," x a term of reproach which he addressed to the 
 Gnostic, Marcion, in the streets of Rome : also in a 
 letter of Irenseus to Florinus, who had been his fellow- 
 pupil, in which he describes the horror with which 
 Polycarp would have heard of Florinus' heretical 
 opinions. 
 
 In the last year of his life he made a journey to Rome 
 to convey to the bishop, Anicetus, the views of the 
 Asia Minor Churches on the proper day for the observ- 
 ance of Easter, which differed from the Roman custom. 
 The Asiatics, taught, as they claimed, by St. John, 
 always observed the day of the Crucifixion on the 
 fourteenth day of the month Nizam, regardless of the 
 day of the week; the Romans kept it on the nearest 
 Friday, and the Resurrection on the Lord's Day. From 
 the date, 14th, arose the term " Quarto-deciman Con- 
 troversy." More will be heard of this later. What is 
 noteworthy at present is that Polycarp and Anicetus 
 agreed to differ, and that the former was invited to 
 celebrate the Eucharist in the presence of the latter. 
 The question was not discussed so amicably a little 
 later. Polycarp was evidently treated with great rever- 
 ence at Rome, where he is reported to have made many 
 converts. 
 
 An interesting thought about Polycarp is the extent 
 of his influence in founding the French church. On 
 the south coast of Gaul were a number of Greek colonies 
 from Asia Minor, of which Smyrna was a leading port. 
 Polycarp never visited Gaul; but Irenseus at any rate, 
 who was his pupil, spent most of his life there. Possibly 
 many other missionaries were sent from Smyrna by 
 Polycarp or influenced by him to settle there. 
 
 1 Eph. 7. 
 
ST. POLYCARP, MARTYR 21 
 
 The martyrdom of St. Polycarp is fully described in 
 the circular letter of the Church of Smyrna, which has 
 thoroughly established itself as a genuine document, 
 and is of great interest as being the first authentic and 
 contemporary " Act " of a m yr. It contains portents 
 and miracles; but they ar uch as might be easily 
 founded on facts, though a obably coloured by the 
 heated imagination of the spectators. The persecution „ 
 at Smyrna in 155, like that of Antioch to which Ignatius 
 had been sacrificed, was a local disturbance. Renan 
 points out that there was a great revival of Pagan 
 feeling in the middle of the second century; a sort of 
 counter- reformation, after a period of scepticism; 
 which caused keen animosity against those who refused 
 to join in it. This Pagan reaction would no doubt 
 be quite in accordance with the spirit of the Antonine 
 Emperors. The popular indignation against Polycarp 
 broke out on the occasion of the great anniversary of 
 Asia, and was inflamed by the Jews. The proconsul at 
 Smyrna was reluctant to convict him, but was forced 
 by his insistence to carry out the law. Unlike Ignatius, 
 he by no means at first courted persecution, but retired 
 to a farm of his own in the country. But when he 
 learned that the guard was on its way to arrest him, 
 he made no further attempt to escape, but surrendered 
 with the words, " Thanks be to God." 
 
 The course of Roman State persecutions of the 
 Christian Church during this century deserves study. 
 Trajan (a.d. 98), Hadrian (117), Antoninus Pius (138), 
 under whom Polycarp suffered, and afterwards Marcus 
 Aurelius (168) were wise and just emperors, and by no 
 means cruel; they did not, like Nero, wreak their spite 
 on unpopular victims. Yet Ignatius died under Trajan, 
 Polycarp under Antoninus Pius, while Marcus Aurelius 
 shed Christian blood freely. Even under Hadrian too 
 the law was enforced, although this dilettante traveller 
 took a friendly interest in all varieties of religion, liked 
 
22 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 to be initiated into religious bodies, and seems to have 
 had a lurking sympathy with Christianity; reserving a 
 niche among his heathen gods and Jewish patriarchs 
 for the Sacred Figure ; and building, as they say, empty 
 temples ready for the Christians to take over if they 
 wished. In sub-apostolic times it is probable that 
 Christianity was regarded only as a degraded form of 
 Judaism, a point of view which the Jews themselves 
 encouraged. It would therefore have some claim to 
 toleration, along with Judaism, as an ethnic religion. 
 During the time when Jews were giving trouble, previous 
 to the fall of Jerusalem, they diverted attention from 
 themselves to the Christians. By Domitian's time, the 
 difference between the two religions was beginning to 
 be understood; and though countless others were 
 tolerated at Rome, Christianity became illicita ; yet 
 probably no definite enactments were made against it 
 till the time of Trajan. 
 % / Christianity came under the ban of the Government, 
 partly because it tolerated no other faith alongside of 
 itself; partly because it contained essential elements, 
 which seemed dangerous to society, to Roman law and 
 polity, and even to the Roman supremacy. More surely 
 than any one at that time realized, the new civilization 
 of Christianity was waging a war of life and death 
 against the old civilization of Paganism as represented 
 by Rome; and Paganism, however little individual 
 Romans may have believed in their deities, was the 
 established religion of the state. The Antonine Em- 
 perors would probably have laughed to scorn the idea 
 of this danger; but an uneasy feeling arose, when 
 Christians refused to throw a pinch of incense, like 
 every one else, on the altars of the state gods; when 
 they showed also a disinclination for military service; 
 and especially when they repudiated the divinity of the 
 Caesars. 
 
 This strange cult of the reigning house sprang out of 
 
ST. POLYCARP, MARTYR 23 
 
 something much deeper than bombast. It is difficult 
 for us to grasp exactly what the Romans understood 
 by divinity, but we know that their deities were per- 
 sonifications of ideas : was not then the Emperor 
 the incarnation of the idea of Rome, the Eternal City, 
 weaving its spell over mankind, as it does even to the 
 present day? The Christians were indeed unable to 
 say " We have no king but Caesar." They had another s 
 king, who was to return and subdue all the Empires 
 of the world. Indeed, for this reason special search 
 was sometimes made for relatives of our Lord. It 
 must also be remembered that the Emperors probably 
 knew very little about the details of the various perse- 
 cutions, at any rate at this time, as they were generally 
 of a local character. The social and popular prejudice 
 against Christians will be more suitably dealt with in 
 connection with St. Justin Martyr. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ST. IRENiEUS 
 
 (About a.d. 125-200. Bishop of Lyons in 180) 
 
 According to chronological order, St. Justin Martyr 
 should be considered next, as his average date is thirty 
 years earlier than that of St. Irenseus ; but he represents 
 altogether a different school, that of the apologists; 
 whereas St. Irenaeus is linked through St. Polycarp to 
 the apostolic age. 
 
 His life, though he was not an Apostolic Father, is a 
 kind of supplement to theirs; while as the first great 
 constructive theologian, he himself forms a link between 
 the simple sub-apostolic age and that of the great doctors 
 of the Church. His early life was apparently spent in 
 Smyrna. In middle life he was a presbyter at Lyons, 
 and afterwards bishop, the intercourse between Asia 
 Minor and Gaul, especially the port of Lyons, being 
 very close. He was probably often in Rome, where 
 Hegesippus reports having heard him lecture. Once 
 especially he visited Rome, to explain to Eleutherus 
 the position of the Montanists ; and while he was there 
 the fearful persecution broke out in Gaul (a.d. 177), 
 when Bishop Pothinus, Blandina the slave-girl, whom 
 the beasts would not attack, and many other Christians 
 were slaughtered, as described in the circular letter 
 of the churches of Lyons and Vienne, which is the second 
 authentic Act of Martyrdom. Then in 180 he became 
 Bishop of Lyons, and was probably consecrated at Rome 
 by Eleutherus, since at that time there seems to have been 
 only one see in Gaul. From 182 to 188 he was engaged 
 on his great work in refutation of Gnostic heresies, 
 
 24 
 
ST. IREN^US 25 
 
 originally known as the Refutation of Knowledge (Gnosis) 
 falsely so called, but generally known as Against 
 Heresies. Subsequently, or perhaps concurrently, he 
 wrote his letter to Florinus ; the Ogdoad (a denunciation 
 of the Gnostic Valentinian's system), and a book " on 
 the schism," viz. the dispute about the date of Easter. 
 The letter to Florinus was on the unity of God, and the 
 origin of evil : two fundamental points in all the Gnostic . 
 controversies. He died about the close of the century. 
 As Bishop of Lyons he wrote a celebrated letter to 
 Victor of Rome, protesting against his excommunicating 
 all churches who did not conform to his own rule about 
 observing Easter. St. Irenaeus is constantly appealed 
 to in the controversy between Rome and Protestants 
 on two grounds. One is this letter to Victor; and 
 another is a statement in his great work that all Churches 
 must be in agreement with Rome. First, as to the 
 letter. The Quarto-deciman controversy, already 
 alluded to in the last chapter, had by 188 become a 
 burning question; and although it seems to us rather 
 strange that the Church should have been so distracted 
 over a matter of ritual, the proper day for keeping Easter ; 
 yet when the Church was struggling under persecution 
 for her very existence, unity in externals in the face of 
 the enemy was of the utmost importance. It was the 
 necessity of a united front that was most prominent 
 in the mind of Ignatius, when he upheld the bishop's 
 office; and later on it was a leading thought with 
 Cyprian. Victor was probably wise in trying to enforce 
 uniformity, though excommunication w r as a strong 
 measure; especially as the Asiatic churches followed 
 the example of St. John. The fact that he did so is 
 quoted by Roman Catholics as a proof of the position 
 of the Papacy even in the second century, although 
 no Church changed its usage in consequence, and the 
 ban fell quite harmless. It raised a strong protest from 
 Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, backed by the bishops 
 
26 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 of his province, and a mild but firm protest from Irenaeus, 
 advising Victor that he ought not to cut off whole 
 churches of God for observing an ancient and apostolic 
 custom. Eusebius says only that Victor tried to cut off 
 the churches of Asia. These protests are naturally quoted 
 by the other side to prove that Rome was considered to be 
 acting ultra vires. One thing is clear, that his idea of 
 keeping Easter on Sunday was the sensible one. The 
 Council of Nicaea 140 years afterwards enforced it, 
 and the Asiatic custom died out ; indeed it will generally 
 be found that the decision of Rome in these early days 
 was justified by subsequent events. Irenaeus himself, 
 though bred in the East, conformed to Victor's rule, 
 probably in order to maintain uniformity, at any rate 
 in the Western world. It is also doubtful whether Victor 
 himself realized that he was doing more than quarreling 
 with his equals, and refusing to kneel at the same altar 
 with them, if they were unreasonable; or whether he 
 was consciously acting like a mediaeval Pope. 
 
 The often -quoted saying of Irenaeus about the Roman 
 Church is this : " For with this church it is necessary 
 that every church should agree on account of its more 
 potent principality, that is, the faithful everywhere, 
 inasmuch as the apostolic tradition has been preserved 
 in it by those who exist everywhere." x This is a very 
 literal translation from the Latin translation, all we 
 possess of the original Greek. On the face of it, it is a 
 strong statement ; for if it really means that every one 
 must agree with Rome, it implies that Rome is infallible ; 
 the statement coming from the pen of a writer, who 
 had received at only second hand the tradition of the 
 Apostles. A recent Roman Catholic book, however, 
 The Faith of Catholics (by Berington & Kirk), translates 
 the passage quite differently. " To this Church it is 
 necessary that all others should resort (convenire ad 
 not cum).'" In other words, all roads lead to Rome. 
 
 1 Hcer. 9 III. 3. 2. 
 
ST. IRENAEUS 27 
 
 To Rome, as the metropolis, representatives of all the 
 Churches come from time to time, and she is a mirror 
 reflecting the views of them all ; so in her the tradition 
 has been preserved continuously by those who exist 
 everywhere. But in any case, it is always dangerous 
 to quote isolated passages from the Fathers apart from 
 their context. This will be found specially to be the 
 case in connection with sacramental doctrine. What^ 
 Irenaeus was enforcing here was the apostolic tradition. 
 He showed that all the churches traced their bishops 
 back to the Apostles ; and as it would take too long to 
 recount all the successions, he gives Rome as the best 
 example, ending with the above remark. 
 
 On the Apostolic Tradition Irenaeus is very strong. 
 He is the first of several Fathers who state the creed 
 of the Church, each in their own words, showing that 
 apparently there was as yet no written formula. But 
 their statements all substantially agree, and are in 
 effect the Apostles' creed. This is the form in which 
 Irenaeus gives the Tradition : " The Church, though 
 dispersed throughout the w r hole world even to the ends 
 of the earth, has received from the apostles and their 
 disciples this Faith. In one God the Father Almighty, 
 Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Sea and all things 
 that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of 
 God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in 
 the Holy Spirit, Who proclaimed through the prophets 
 the dispensation of God and the advents and the birth 
 from a virgin, and the passion and the resurrection 
 from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the 
 flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and His 
 manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father 
 to gather all things in one, and to raise up anew the flesh 
 of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, 
 our Lord and Saviour and King, according to the will 
 of the Invisible Father c every knee should bow,' etc. 
 etc., and that every tongue should confess to Him that 
 
28 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 He should execute just judgment upon all, that He may 
 send spiritual wickednesses and the angels who trans- 
 gressed and became apostate together with the ungodly 
 and unrighteous and wicked and profane among men 
 into eternal fire, but may in the exercise of His grace 
 confer immortality on the righteous and holy and those 
 who have kept His commandments and persevered 
 in His love, some from the beginning and others from 
 repentance, and may surround them with glory. The 
 Church having received this preaching and faith, though 
 scattered throughout the world, yet as if occupying but 
 one house carefully preserves it. . . . For though the 
 languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import 
 of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches 
 which have been planted in Germany do not believe 
 or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain 
 or Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Libya, nor 
 those established in the central regions of the world." x 
 The chief reason we have for believing that the 
 Christian Church was essentially the same at the end 
 of the second century as at first, both in faith and 
 practice, is the tenacity with which the tradition of the 
 Apostles was maintained. It could not have been the 
 New Testament on which they relied in the first resort, 
 seeing how few MSS. were obtainable. How many MSS. 
 would be necessary to start with to allow the lessons 
 to be read in every church ? Irenaeus says, " Poly carp 
 at Rome proclaimed himself to have received from the 
 Apostles the one and only tradition which hath been 
 handed on by the Church." " Yes, and the Church 
 at Ephesus, having had Paul for its founder, and John 
 abiding among them till the time of Trajan, is a true 
 witness of the apostles' tradition." 2 " The Apostles 
 having in the Church as in a rich storehouse most abun- 
 dantly deposited whatever appertains to the truth. 
 And what if the Apostles themselves had not even left 
 
 1 Hccr., I. 10. 1-2. 2 Ibid., III. 3. 4. 
 
ST. IREN^US 29 
 
 us any Scriptures, ought we not to follow the course 
 of that tradition, which they delivered to those to whom 
 they entrusted the Churches ? " l " Many barbarous 
 tribes have salvation written in their hearts without 
 ink and paper." 2 
 
 In fact the Apostles delivered to their successors a 
 certain rule of faith which they were always to remember 
 and which they infallibly remembered. Whether or^ 
 not there was a definite formula (a "/orm of sound words," 
 as St. Paul wrote to Timothy) we know not; probably 
 not. Gradually the Church collected the sacred writings, 
 and selected from them the Canon. But if the New 
 Testament had at the beginning been the main authority 
 without the tradition behind it, there would have been 
 much more error. Irenseus himself makes a misstate- 
 ment as to the duration of our Lord's life, and Dean 
 Farrar, in his mistrust of tradition, refers to this as 
 showing how dangerous it was to rely on tradition, 
 unless supported by Scripture. But tradition had 
 nothing to do with a question of that kind. Irenseus 
 explained clearly what the Tradition was ; it was in effect, 
 though quite differently worded, the apostles' creed. 
 Tertullian later, and Origen also, explained the Tradition 
 in quite different words, but to exactly the same 
 effect. 
 
 Besides the fact that the main articles of the Faith 
 were handed down by tradition, the main institutions, 
 such as the Sacraments, relied on tradition. Origen 3 
 says, for instance, that Infant Baptism was in accordance 
 with Apostolic tradition; and while there is no theory 
 of the Eucharist in the New Testament, a fairly uniform 
 theory runs through the early Fathers. It seems clear 
 that they all believed that the elements were the Body 
 and Blood, and that the Eucharist was an offering or 
 Sacrifice. They do not attempt to explain the Real 
 Presence and probably doubted their ability to do so, 
 
 1 Hcer., III. 4. 1. 2 Ibid., III. 4. 3. 3 See ch. viii. 
 
30 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 but they continually used the analogy of the Eucharist 
 as an illustration of essential truths, such as the twofold 
 nature, human and divine, of Christ, or the reality of 
 His humanity. Sometimes also it was held that even 
 if the elements of both Sacraments were symbols, they 
 were at least efficacious symbols. Waterman says 
 that they understood the union of the bread and the 
 Body to be something parallel to the union of the Human 
 and Divine natures. 1 What is important, however, 
 here is that they had a fairly uniform theory; which 
 had come down by tradition from the Apostles, trans- 
 mitted through the Episcopal succession. 
 
 Whatever confusion there may have been at first 
 between the orders of presbyter and bishop, Irenseus, 
 Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian 
 and Eusebius all make a strong point of the successions 
 of bishops. It is not fair to say that these men invented 
 the episcopal theory as a bulwark against heresy, or 
 that it was a new idea; because Irenseus rested his 
 whole position on the teaching received through Poly- 
 carp from the apostles. Gradually of course the New 
 Testament became, in place of tradition, the foundation 
 on which the Faith rested. 
 
 Here incidentally we may quote two of the leading 
 statements of Irenseus on the Eucharist : — 
 
 " Bread from the earth receiving the summons of 
 God is no longer common bread, but an Eucharist con- 
 taining two parts, an earthly and a heavenly." 2 
 
 " The oblation of the Eucharist is not fleshly but 
 spiritual and therefore clean. For we offer to God 
 the bread and the cup of blessing, giving thanks to Him 
 that He bade the earth send forth these fruits for our 
 nourishment, and afterwards having duly performed 
 the oblation, we call on the Holy Ghost that He would 
 make this sacrifice, the bread the Body of Christ, and 
 the cup the Blood of Christ, that they who receive these 
 1 Post-apostolic Age. 2 Hcer., IV. 18. 5. 
 
ST. IREN^US 31 
 
 antitypes may receive forgiveness of sins and Eternal 
 Life." l Dr. Pusey took this as the general position 
 of the Primitive Church. 
 
 Tertullian described Irenaeus as a " most curious ex- 
 plorer of all kinds of learning." He often quotes from 
 Greek poets, Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, and also from Plato. 
 Also he had a thorough knowledge of the New Testament, 
 which he approached in scholarly fashion, comparing^ 
 MSS. and warning people against relying on isolated 
 texts, which he called weaving ropes of sand, 2 instead 
 of taking the Bible as a whole. 3 He took a liberal view 
 of inspiration, deprecating the oratorical flights (hyper- 
 bata 4 ) of St. Paul being taken quite literally. He always 
 writes in a charitable spirit, never addressing his 
 antagonists in stronger words than " O ye foolish ones," 
 and praying earnestly for their conversion, thus acting 
 up to his name of the Peace-Maker. 
 
 The book Against Heresies is in five parts. The 
 First describes the Gnostic systems of Valentinian, 
 Basilides and Saturninus, their sources and develop- 
 ments, and also Ebionitism; adding short accounts 
 of the other Gnostics. 
 
 The Second points out their absurdities. 
 
 The Third, Fourth, and Fifth refute them and inci- 
 dentally draw up the first philosophical statement of 
 Christianity, the fifth dealing especially with the doctrine 
 of the Incarnation. 
 
 It was seen in the chapter on St. Clement that the 
 Roman Church of his time was a Greek community, * 
 a great proportion of the Roman population being Greek 
 by descent and speech. Since the time of Alexander 
 the Great the whole of the Eastern world within the 
 Roman Empire, as well as the colonies in Southern Gaul, 
 was Greek ; Greek w T as the chief medium of communica- 
 tion throughout the Empire; Greek was the language 
 
 1 Fragment, 36. 2 Hcer., I. 8. 1. 3 Ibid., III. 7. 1. 
 
 4 Translated " transpositions " in the ante-Nicene library. 
 
32 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 of culture and literature. Marcus Aurelius himself 
 wrote in Greek. The Roman philosophical systems, 
 Stoicism and Epicureanism, were chiefly concerned with 
 moral philosophy ; it is to the Greek mind and the Greek 
 language that we must look for metaphysics and all 
 the deepest thinking; so that when the Church had to 
 meet the thought of the age, it was Hellenistic theories 
 that she had to conquer. 
 
 What then was the general position of that form of 
 Greek thought, which under the name of Gnosticism, 
 tried, as De Pressense says, to stifle Christianity by 
 embracing it? Based on Plato or on a memory of 
 Plato, it had become debased by dabbling in Orientalism, 
 the mystic systems of Egypt, Syria, Persia and India. 
 Yet from these Eastern influences it had imbibed a 
 desire to convert philosophy into religion. And this 
 is to its credit. The old religion of Polytheism had 
 become unsatisfactory and an object of derision. Some 
 great monotheistic first principle was wanted, and some 
 explanation of the relation of the individual spirit to 
 that first principle. The Roman Empire had a body 
 but no soul; and there was a consciousness that the 
 old order was breaking up and something must fill its 
 place. Scepticism had landed them in despair. The 
 problem before them was how to reconcile the existence 
 of a supreme and perfect God with the existence of 
 evil or matter, for these were one and the same thing; 
 all matter was evil, for it was the thing most removed 
 from spirit. It was said in the last chapter that the 
 second century saw an attempt to revive Paganism; 
 it was only a part of a general yearning for religion of 
 some sort, arid the philosophers were not satisfied with 
 Olympus. How far away was God from material 
 things ! l How degraded was the world ! How de- 
 graded was man by the soiled robe of the flesh ! How 
 were they to obtain Redemption from the world, the 
 1 Cf. Harnack's Expansion of Christianity, ch. iii. 
 
ST. IREN^US 33 
 
 flesh and death ! It must come somehow through 
 knowledge; and the way to escape existed somewhere, 
 if they could only find it ; either in some ancient religion, 
 or some mystery, or some person ; and if the redeeming 
 agency were found, there must be some method by which 
 the redeeming gnosis (knowledge) could be efficaciously 
 applied. In their desire to arrive at this result, they 
 examined all existing religions, and came finally firsts 
 upon Judaism and afterwards upon Christianity. 
 
 It is an open question how far we are justified in 
 treating the difficulties of belief with which the earliest 
 Christians had to contend as heresies, assuming Canon 
 Bright' s definition of heresy as " an erroneous super- 
 structure on a Christian foundation " to be correct. 
 For the most part they were either a conservative cling- 
 ing to early associations, as with the Judaizers; or 
 they were antagonistic religions, as with most of the 
 Gnostics; since the latter, though they claimed to be 
 Christians, cut at the very root of the Faith; their 
 Christianity was in fact only the superstructure. As 
 Bishop Wordsworth pointed out, until the time of Con- 
 stantine, the Church fought the outside world; when 
 the Church became established, the world poured into 
 the Church, and she then had to fight distinct heresies, 
 like Arianism, that sprang up from within. At the 
 same time there was a tendency in quite early days for 
 Christians, especially if of Jewish origin, to get entangled 
 in Oriental speculations; while the current heathen 
 philosophy, Platonic at root, absorbed to some extent 
 Jewish and Christian thought among other Oriental 
 systems, Platonism from the first having been tinged 
 with Orientalism. This is why Ignatius is probably 
 attacking the same error, when in one letter he alludes 
 to Docetics and in another to Judaizers. It was the 
 error of the Jewish mind dabbling in Gnosticism. 
 
 What was exactly meant by Gnosticism, it will be 
 always difficult to explain; especially as hardly any 
 
34 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Gnostic works remain. We can only reconstruct them 
 through their Christian antagonists, and by the fifth 
 century all trace of them had died out, except the 
 followers of Marcion, who lingered on till the seventh. 
 All metaphysical schemes of that time were forms of 
 Gnosticism, that is, Theories of Knowledge ; Christianity, 
 as St. Clement of Alexandria afterwards claimed, being 
 the highest of all. But through all the other systems 
 ran one main thought, that Matter was Evil; the 
 material world having been created by an inferior deity, 
 or fallen angel, whom they called the demiurge, or 
 world-maker. There was one Eternal Spirit, from whom 
 emanated a graduated series of existences, called seons ; 
 each was a personification of some particular attribute 
 of the Deity ; and they all together made up the Pleroma 
 or Fullness of the Godhead. The eclectic spirit of the 
 Gnostics tempted them to meddle with Christianity. 
 They represented Christ (not the Man Jesus, but the 
 Logos or Word which dwelt in Christ) as an iEon ; and 
 while they adopted the theory of Redemption, they 
 said the Redeeming work was not life, suffering and 
 death, but the imparting of a saving knowledge (Gnosis). 
 The idea that a Divine Being could be tortured was 
 abhorrent to them, and they invented various ways 
 of getting over it, such as the Docetic explanations 
 combated by Ignatius. 
 
 Now the Jewish sect, known as Ebionites, only half 
 accepted Christianity. To them Christ was the Messiah, 
 but not Divine. Still He was the Messiah; and as 
 such could not have died on the cross. They therefore 
 adopted the Docetic views, and it is specially against 
 them that Ignatius was writing. As time went on, 
 they drifted more and more into Gnosticism, the 
 extremist views being held by the Essenes. Ebionitism 
 probably first appeared at the beginning of the second 
 century and was rather a Jewish than a Christian sect, 
 though constantly presenting temptations to Christians. 
 
ST. IRENiEUS 35 
 
 St. Paul's contention with Judaizers was rather that 
 they should throw off the trammels of the Law and 
 ceremonial, with a view to the conversion of the Gentiles, 
 than with their erroneous doctrines ; yet his emphasizing 
 the Resurrection of the body as well as certain phrases 
 like " the fullness (or Pleroma) of the Godhead bodily," 
 seem to point to a nascent Gnosticism. Possibly he 
 did not think it advisable to call too much attention 
 to it, while warning the Church against its development. 
 The expression " Knowledge (Gnosis) falsely so called," 
 also of course occurs to us at once. In the closing 
 years of St. John and of the Century comes the first 
 definite attempt to combine Greek philosophy with 
 Christian teaching. " In the beginning was the Logos 
 and the Logos was made flesh and dwelt among us." 
 Ignatius attempted no philosophical arguments; he 
 merely emphasized the reality of Christ's life, death, 
 and resurrection. Nor did Poly carp. It was reserved 
 for Irenseus to make the first intellectual refutation, 
 and for the doctors of Carthage and Alexandria to follow 
 it up; till at last the Church arrived at the crowning 
 refutation of Docetism, " Not by conversion of the 
 Godhead into flesh, but by the taking of the Manhood 
 into God." 
 
 It is startling that even in the reign of Augustus the 
 Jewish population of the Empire was seven per cent, 
 of the whole; it is also strange to think of the Jewish 
 as a missionary church, though our Lord spoke of them 
 as " compassing heaven and earth to make one prose- 
 lyte." Both these statements, however, are true. Of 
 course the seven per cent, was not made up of Jews by 
 race. There were many grades of Judaism, ranging 
 from other Semitic neighbouring tribes to the educated 
 Roman who accepted the doctrines and to some extent 
 adopted the ritual, but remained uncircumcized. But 
 in Judaism the Hellenic mind found much of absorbing 
 interest; a rational system of creation, a just mono- 
 
36 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 theism, and also the oldest and most wonderful book in 
 the world. To a large extent, therefore, it adopted 
 Jewish philosophy ; while the Jewish mind, flattered by 
 the social and intellectual importance thus acquired, 
 turned its attention to founding schools of philosophy, 
 of which the most important professor was Philo of 
 Alexandria. But there were two great drawbacks for the 
 Greek in Judaism; one was that the Jewish Jehovah 
 created the material world, and was therefore, as it 
 seemed, responsible for something evil — creation was 
 in fact rather a blunder — and also Judaism was at heart 
 national and not universal ; even the circumcized prose- 
 lyte had not, at any rate in the first generation, full 
 privileges. It was to meet the first difficulty that the 
 Gnostics imagined two Gods; the supreme and perfect 
 God, and the altogether inferior God, or demiurge, who 
 created Matter. The lower God was not a direct emana- 
 tion from the higher; but came after a long interval, 
 which was bridged over by a succession of ^Eons, or 
 personifications of abstract ideas, such as Wisdom, 
 Reason (the Logos) and the like. Whether the demi- 
 urge was a fallen and malicious angel, or a well-inten- 
 tioned semi-deity, who was unconscious of any one 
 higher than himself, and did his best, but did it imper- 
 fectly, is of no consequence ; Matter and Evil remained, 
 and from these Man must be redeemed. But when 
 the Gnostics had in this fashion settled accounts with 
 Judaism, they found themselves confronted by another 
 religion, advancing behind Judaism and often confounded 
 with it, which was a world-wide system and offered the 
 fullest privileges to all ; which told them of a Redeemer, 
 and knew of no sacrifices or rites, except the pure and 
 simple mysteries by which the scheme of the Redemption 
 could be applied to their souls. Here then was at last 
 the true Gnosis. Christ was to them the power that 
 was to redeem them from the Demiurge : the New 
 Testament was to redeem them from the old. The 
 
ST. IREN^EUS 37 
 
 Jews had been called the Second Race; here then was 
 the Third Race (tertium genus), whose nationality was 
 the world. 
 
 As a natural consequence of their views, the Greek 
 Gnostics looked on St. Paul as the one great Apostle; 
 because, though himself a Jew of the Jews, he was always 
 fighting against Judaism, on the ground that Judaism 
 had found its completion in Christianity; the New 
 Testament had supplanted the Old, and the Old now 
 existed as a witness to the New. On the other hand the 
 Essenes, the later Ebionites, who became entangled 
 in Gnostic fancies, but still maintained the Law as the 
 basis of all religion, gave great prominence to St. James 
 and St. Peter, in order to throw St. Paul, whom they 
 considered the enemy, into the background. Gnosticism, 
 while it lived, was of great service to the Church; for 
 it taught the Church to think, and to equip herself for 
 an intellectual struggle with the educated classes. It 
 forced the Church to formulate a theological system; 
 it gave her a literature and art. Then it utterly died, 
 except the school of Marcion which lingered on for some 
 centuries. At present hardly any of the Gnostic writings 
 are extant, while the work of Irenseus lasts to all time. 
 The special view of Marcion will be stated in the chapter 
 on Tertullian. 
 
 As to Irenseus 5 theological position, we must note 
 that the Catholic Church never taught abstruse dogmas 
 by choice; she was forced into dogmatic positions by 
 the attacks of rivals or heretics, who wanted to bring 
 Christian truths within the logical limits of the human 
 understanding. In this respect Gnosticism is the fore- 
 runner and type of most heresies. What Irenseus did, 
 as Harnack explains, 1 was to establish a theology of 
 facts ; he did not enter into the deeper questions which 
 occupied, say, Athanasius or Augustine, a century or 
 two later. He laid down as facts : that God is One ; 
 
 1 Outlines of History of Dogma, ch. v. pp. 142, 148. 
 
38 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 that the supreme God created the world out of nothing ; 
 that God was the God of the Old Testament ; that the 
 Old Testament was a revelation of the Most High; 
 that Evil arose out of the free-will of Man ; that Christ 
 was the God-Man. He shows the unity of His Person- 
 ality, the essential character of His Divinity, and the 
 reality of His Humanity; that there was nothing in 
 matter that was irredeemable; and finally he asserts 
 the resurrection of the entire man; in other words, 
 the resurrection of the body. Irenaeus frees thought 
 from abstractions. God is not a creation of the mind, 
 but a living Unity, combining purity, holiness, glory, 
 intellect, love; and He is perceived by love, which 
 emanates from Him to us. 
 
 Four fragments of Irenaeus were discovered in Turin 
 in 1715 and have since been lost. The first of them 
 contained a statement that the true Gnosis consists 
 not in controversial subtlety, but in divine wisdom and 
 imitation of Christ; the second contains one of the 
 Eucharistic quotations already given ; the third was 
 a plea for Toleration; the fourth was on the object of 
 the Incarnation, in which he said Christ would return 
 to destroy all evil and reconcile all things, that there 
 may be an end of impurity. Elsewhere Irenaeus made 
 another statement, that there would possibly be an 
 annihilation of the wicked — " they will deprive them- 
 selves of the privilege of continuing for ever." These 
 last two statements seem to suggest that he might modify 
 the belief in eternal punishment, which was apparently 
 contained in his creed; and to which must be added 
 the belief that Christ would come again and establish 
 a Millennium, a reign of Himself with the redeemed on 
 earth for a thousand years. This was generally held 
 by Christians of the first two centuries. There also 
 occurs for the first time an interesting antithesis between 
 Eve and the Blessed Virgin — interesting because Cardinal 
 Newman gives it as an instance of the early dawn of a 
 
ST. IREN^US 39 
 
 special reverence for the Virgin. Irenseus says, " The 
 knot of Eve's disobedience received its solution by the 
 obedience of Mary. For what the Virgin Eve bound 
 by unbelief, that the Virgin Mary loosed by Faith." * 
 He has generally been counted as a martyr, but there 
 is no direct historical evidence of his martyrdom. 
 
 1 Hcer., III. 22. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 
 
 (Born very early in Second Century. Beheaded at Rome 
 
 A.D. 166) 
 
 The Apologists seem to stand apart from the general 
 history of Christian thought. The period of the Apolo- 
 gists proper extends through nearly the whole of the 
 second century, the central figure being St. Justin; 
 Tertullian, St. Clement of Alexandria and Origen, how- 
 ever, also wrote famous apologies, but were not primarily 
 apologists. The rest are known chiefly through those 
 few fragments of their works that have come down 
 to us. 
 
 When Hadrian came to the throne, the mild character 
 of the man and his interest in foreign religions seemed 
 to present an opportunity to Christians to make a frank 
 appeal at Rome for fair play. During his reign Quad- 
 ratus and Aristides presented the earliest apologies, 
 and the entire work of the latter was recovered in 
 1878. These apologies may have been actually read 
 by the Emperors, or they may only have been pub- 
 lished in the form of " open letters." In the reign of 
 Antoninus Pius, about 140-150, Justin produced his 
 first and most important apology; and in 164, under 
 Marcus Aurelius, his second. His other chief work was 
 the Dialogue with Trypho, stating the case of Christi- 
 anity against the Jews. 
 
 The Apologists are not great theologians, though 
 much may be learnt from Justin as to the beliefs of 
 the time. The chief interest of their work lies in the 
 pictures of Christian life and worship at that day 
 
 40 
 
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 41 
 
 and in the fact that Christians now make their first 
 claim to State recognition. 
 
 Justin had to defend his religion in three quarters : 
 (1) against the State authorities; (2) against popular 
 prejudice; and (3) against the educated classes. The 
 State indeed cared very little about the religious point 
 of view, so long as no sedition was involved in it. No 
 Christian was to be hunted out for punishment; but 
 if informed against as revolutionary, he was put to the 
 test of sacrificing to the State gods, or acknowledging 
 the Genius of the Emperor; failing that, he was con- 
 sidered no good citizen and must meet his fate. But 
 why was he an object of popular prejudice? Because 
 in the popular mind he was licentious; he indulged in 
 wild orgies; he fed on human flesh; and having no 
 temple he was presumably an atheist. Further, he 
 knew no distinction of rank, even between freeman 
 and slave; and, from one cause or another, he held 
 aloof from most of the social institutions of the time. 
 So they summed him up by calling him the " enemy of 
 the human race." 
 
 All these views therefore must be combated; by 
 showing the State that the other kingdom he looked 
 for was not of this world, and that his life, if true to 
 his creed,was absolutely innocent, so that he was really 
 the best of citizens ; while to the populace was shown, 
 instead of orgies, the Christian service, and the awful 
 accusation of cannibalism was refuted by the Blessed 
 Sacrament. Finally, he required no temple made with 
 hands. Incidentally, therefore, in St. Justin we have 
 the first account, so often quoted, of the manner of 
 celebrating the Sacraments, and of Christian worship 
 in general. 
 
 " All who are persuaded and believe that the things 
 taught and affirmed by us are true and who promise 
 to be able to live accordingly, are taught to pray and 
 beg God with fasting to grant them forgiveness of their 
 
42 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 former sins, and we pray and fast with them, Then we 
 bring them where there is water; and after the same 
 manner of regeneration as we were regenerated ourselves, 
 they are regenerated. For in the name of God the 
 Father and Lord of all things and of our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, they then receive the 
 washing of water : for indeed Christ also said, c Except 
 ye be born again,' etc. . . . But after thus washing 
 him who has professed and given his assent we bring 
 him to those who are called brethren : where they are 
 assembled together to offer prayers in common both 
 for ourselves and for the person who has received 
 illumination, 1 and all others everywhere with all our 
 hearts that we might be vouchsafed, now that we have 
 learnt the truth, by our works also to be found good 
 citizens and keepers of the Commandments, that we 
 may obtain everlasting salvation. We salute one 
 another with a kiss when we have concluded the prayers ; 
 then is brought to the President bread and a cup of 
 water and wine, which he receives ; and offers up praise 
 and glory to the Father of all things, through the name 
 of His Son and of the Holy Ghost; and he returns 
 thanks at length for our being vouchsafed these things 
 by Him. When he has concluded the prayers and 
 thanksgivings, all who are present express their assent 
 by saying Amen. When the President has celebrated 
 the Eucharist and all the people have assented, they 
 whom we call deacons give to each of those who are 
 present a portion of the Eucharistic bread and wine 
 and water; and carry them to those who are absent. 
 Now this food is called the Eucharist, of which no one 
 is allowed to partake but he who believes the truth of 
 our doctrines, and has been washed in the laver for 
 forgiveness of sins and to regeneration, and who so 
 lives as Christ hath directed. For we do not receive 
 them as ordinary food or ordinary drink, but as by the 
 1 " Illumination M was a common synonym for baptism. 
 
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 43 
 
 Word of God Jesus Christ our Saviour was made flesh 
 and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also 
 the food which was blessed by the prayer of the Word 
 which proceeded from Him, and from which our flesh 
 and blood by assimilation receive nourishment, is, we 
 are taught, both the Flesh and Blood of that Jesus who 
 was made flesh. For the Apostles have declared " 
 (Here follow the words of institution.) 
 
 Later on Justin says : " Now on the day that is 
 called Sunday there is an assembly in the same place 
 of all who live in cities or in country districts, and the 
 records ot the apostles or the writings of the prophets 
 are read as long as we have time. Then the reader 
 concludes, and the President verbally instructs and 
 exhorts us to the imitation of these excellent things. 
 Then we all together rise and offer up our prayers, and 
 as I said before " (Here follows a second similar account 
 of the Eucharist). 
 
 These famous extracts have been quoted by various 
 schools in defence of their own particular views. For 
 instance, Freppel, Bishop of Angers in the middle of 
 the nineteenth century, who has written one of the 
 most learned works on Justin, sees in his description 
 of Baptism a full acceptance of the doctrine of original 
 Sin. 1 What, however, Justin says, a little later than 
 the passage quoted, is, " since we were brought up in 
 evil customs and wicked training, (we were baptized) 
 in order that we might not remain the children of neces- 
 sity and ignorance but of choice and knowledge and 
 obtain remission of sins formerly committed." 2 Other 
 critics see in this a denial of original sin altogether. 
 The truth perhaps lies half-way — that Justin, who is 
 not an accurate theologian, only half understood the 
 doctrine. 
 
 Freppel, again, sees in his account of the Supper the 
 entire doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass, the essentials 
 1 Apologists, Book I. ch. xv. 2 Ap., I. 61. 
 
44 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 being Oblation, Consecration, Communion. He says 
 the elements were evidently offered; and were conse- 
 crated during the long prayer. In the passage quoted, 
 the offering is indeed only one of praise and thanks- 
 giving and not of the elements ; but elsewhere 1 he 
 distinctly speaks of the " Bread of the Eucharist which 
 Christ commanded us to offer in remembrance of His 
 Passion " : and again, " Those sacrifices which are 
 offered to Him in every place by the Gentiles, viz. of the 
 Eucharistic Bread and equally of the Eucharistic Cup." 
 It is impossible, therefore, to doubt that St. Justin 
 taught some sort of Eucharistic Sacrifice, and also that 
 the bread and the wine were the Body and Blood of 
 the Lord. Freppel therefore claims Justin in defence 
 of Transubstantiation ; but Roman Catholics generally 
 argue that the Real Presence ipso facto implies Trans- 
 substantiation. 
 
 This account of the Sacraments was of course given 
 to show what Christians were really doing at these 
 secret meetings at dawn, when they were accused of 
 licentiousness. He goes on to show that they had a 
 higher standard of right and wrong than other people; 
 that it was an essential of their religion that it should 
 be so, especially owing to the belief in the Resurrection 
 of the Body ; for they believed they would be punished 
 in the body for sins committed in the body. 2 
 
 Justin was well qualified to make this defence, because 
 he had been himself attracted to the Christians by the 
 purity of their lives, by their fidelity to their creed and 
 by their contempt of death. All these things had 
 struck him as incompatible with the crimes alleged 
 against them. Previous to that he had tested all the 
 philosophic systems in his desire to find the truth — 
 Pythagorean, Stoic, Epicurean, Platonic; and had given 
 them all up in despair : when one day he met on the 
 seashore an old Christian missionary who explained 
 1 Trypho, 41. 70. 2 Ap., I. 18. 
 
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 45 
 
 to him the fulfilment of the Hebrew prophecies. 1 Having 
 tested this by his own study, he adopted Christianity ; 
 and taught it, as he had other systems, in his philo- 
 sopher's cloak. But he embraced it with all his heart, 
 and finally about 166 gave his life for it. 
 
 St. Justin is not content in his apology to defend 
 Christianity, but assumes a strong aggressive attitude 
 against the popular superstitions. His attitude towards^ 
 Polytheism is chiefly marked by his theory of the 
 daemons, but also by the toleration and kindly spirit 
 which he showed towards the heathen. The whole 
 question of the belief in daemons, the conflict of Christi- 
 anity with daemons, daemon possession, the exorcising 
 of daemons, the accusation against our Lord that He 
 was possessed of a daemon, is one of immense interest 
 and mystery, and here we have in St. Justin some kind 
 of theory on the subject. 2 
 
 It was an idea common among famous Greek Philo- 
 sophers, the best of whom always aimed at Monotheism, 
 that between the Most High and mankind there were 
 intermediate beings, and this idea was worked out by 
 the Gnostics in their many fanciful theories of iEons. 
 In earlier systems, however, it was held that they were 
 a sort of semi-deities, whose actions were not perfectly 
 holy, but who shared the frailties of men, and mingled 
 too freely with them. Consequently that there was 
 at least a basis of fact about many of the mythological 
 stories. 
 
 Justin copied this idea by saying that in the order of 
 existence evil angels were between God and the daemons 
 and that the daemons were the offspring of the inter- 
 course of the sons of God (the Evil angels) with the 
 daughters of men, referred to in Genesis. 3 These daemons 
 were wholly evil, and had invented polytheism. Justin 
 agrees that mythology was not always untrue; for it 
 sometimes narrated the deeds of daemons, which had 
 
 1 Trypho, 3. 2 Ap. I, throughout. 3 Ibid., II. 6. 
 
46 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 actually occurred. On the whole, however, these 
 stories were machinations of the daemons to beguile 
 men from the truth. The daemons knew Moses and 
 the prophets, and invented stories similar to theirs 
 to draw mankind away from their teaching; one way 
 and another the daemons enslaved humanity, terrifying 
 it with fears and punishments, teaching false sacrifices, 
 deluding it with magic, and sowing the seeds of murder, 
 adultery, war and all impurity. The poets were, how- 
 ever, Justin thought, the principal ministers of the 
 daemons for the seduction of mankind, and therefore 
 he sympathized with Plato in proposing to exclude 
 Homer and Hesiod from his ideal community. 1 
 
 Assuming this fantastic theory to be true, Justin had 
 no choice but to be extremely sorry for Pagans, and 
 refrains entirely from the invective of other Christian 
 writers. He tries to lead them to the truth by show- 
 ing them how eminently reasonable Christianity is, and 
 how clearly it is proved by the fulfilment of Prophecy. 
 This indeed is his main argument. The Old Testament 
 having been appropriated by Christianity, he calls the 
 prophets Christians, and claims that the Christian facts 
 had been truly foretold long before by Christians. But 
 he also calls to witness the mighty changes wrought on 
 man's character by Christ; the fixing of the highest 
 truths in the minds of the lowest; the excellence of 
 his teaching; his miracles; and his clearly attested 
 Resurrection. In order to help Pagans to come over, 
 he shows them that even in their own mythology there 
 were cases of the resurrection and ascension of the 
 sons of Zeus,, and even suggests that Mercury, as the 
 expresser of the mind of Jove, bore some analogy to 
 Christ as the Word of the true God. 2 
 
 St. Justin attacked Polytheism, not so much because 
 he thought it was based on any arguments worth 
 refuting, but because it was necessary to oppose the 
 1 Ap., II. 10. 2 Ibid., I. 21-2. 
 
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 47 
 
 violent prejudice of the mob by showing the folly of 
 what they believed in, and the greater reasonableness 
 and purity of Christianity. With the philosophers it 
 was very different; their views St. Justin had learned 
 to respect. Epicureanism indeed all Christians rejected 
 utterly, not only as a materialistic system, but also on 
 account of the effect it produced on the lives of men. 
 The high morality of the Stoics, however, had impressed^ 
 him favourably, but their theology ended in abstrac- 
 tions or Pantheism ; their highest principle was at best a 
 God of the head and not of the heart, leaving no room 
 for a religion of love. This was indeed the fault of all 
 the systems ; still, with the exception of the Aristotelian, 
 all of them aimed at knowledge as a means to an end — 
 the saving of men's souls ; only knowledge, they thought, 
 could do this. The Gnostics especially proceeded on 
 this fallacy; but we have no more in St. Justin's works 
 than brief allusions to the Gnostics, because he had 
 already dealt with them fully in a work that is lost. 
 
 Platonism had specially attracted him; when he 
 first came across the Platonic theory of Ideas, his soul 
 had " mounted upward as if on wings." 3 The philo- 
 sophy of Plato attracted mankind to the contemplation 
 of God, and tended to detach spirit from its material 
 environments and to reveal it. Through the study of 
 the Ideas man was to be led up to God. All this in 
 Plato's philosophy was to the good with St. Justin; 
 but it broke down through allowing that Matter as well 
 as God had existed from all Eternity; consequently it 
 ended in a Dualism, and gave no explanation of the 
 origin of Evil. Christians, he said, were saved by the 
 power of Jesus, 2 not by knowledge ; their piety was the 
 only true philosophy ; this, he said, might seem absurd, 
 but it was proved by results. Men like Plato had 
 received much inspiration from the Logos, and so far 
 were Christians; but they had received it indirectly 
 1 Trypho, 2. * Ap„ II. 10. 
 
48 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 (through a study of Jewish lore, he strangely thought), 
 while Christians had had the Logos living with them. 
 Socrates was great and good ; but who died for Socrates ?* 
 Plato certainly aimed at making men like God, and so 
 far anticipated Christianity; men's souls were only 
 injured, he thought, by doing wrong. Irenoeus had 
 much the same idea ; 2 God was revealed that we might 
 become gods, which Harnack calls an intoxicating 
 thought. 3 Man was made in God's image, but through 
 sin he had lost the image, and it had to be revealed to 
 him again. Then, according to Justin, all the philo- 
 sophers demolished one another ; whereas the Prophets, 
 in spite of great divergence of time and place, were 
 entirely consistent. 
 
 To sum up, St. Justin thought philosophy, at any 
 rate the Platonic, good, as far as it went, and thus 
 he took a more liberal view than other Christians of his 
 day, but he felt that it was imperfect and arrived at 
 nothing. Why should Christians trouble themselves 
 with speculations about the Logos, when they had the 
 Incarnate Logos? It remained for St. Clement of 
 Alexandria to use Plato constructively in his theological 
 system. 
 
 In the last chapter it was shown that at the dawn 
 of the Christian era there was among the educated 
 classes an attitude of expectancy : a looking for some- 
 thing or for some one who should redeem the world 
 and create a new order of things. 4 This feeling seems 
 to have been shared by the Wise Men, who made their 
 pilgrimage to Bethlehem. But the Jews also were 
 further impressed with the idea that about this time 
 the Messiah should come, a human prince, who would 
 restore the Kingdom. " Art thou he that should 
 come? 55 Simeon was waiting for (and expecting) the 
 
 1 Ap., II. 10. 2 Hcer., V. 6. 1, and 16, 21. 
 
 3 Outlines of History of Dogma, p. 134. 
 
 4 Cf. Blunt's History oj Christianity, cap. vii. 
 
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 49 
 
 consolation of Israel. Herod made anxious enquiries 
 about the Child : adventurers " boasting themselves to 
 be somebody " could always draw people after them. 
 So when Christ appeared, the people were ready to 
 receive Him, while the Scribes and Pharisees also 
 questioned Him closely. But they had no expectation 
 of a Divine Being; and when that claim was made, 
 there was a sharp recoil. When they saw His miracles,^ 
 they said " of a truth this is that Prophet that should 
 come into the world." But when He said He was the 
 Bread that came down from Heaven, they murmured. 
 At other times when He conveyed to them the thought 
 of His Divinity, they tried to stone Him for blasphemy. 
 And at the last, when the charge of blasphemy seemed 
 fairly brought home (" What need we any further 
 witnesses? "), the mob that had cried " Hosanna " only 
 a few days before now cried " Crucify Him." 
 
 It was this perversion of all that the Jews had expected 
 which caused that violent hostility of the Jew against 
 the Christian, w r hich continued during all these three 
 first centuries, evoking special treatises from Justin, 
 Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian. The Jew hated the Chris- 
 tian with a bitterer hate than the heathen, and from a 
 deeper cause. Had Christ been like those others claiming 
 to be somebody, they would have passed Him by with 
 contempt ; but the overthrow of their worldly expecta- 
 tions, coupled with His Divine claim, was not to be 
 forgiven. 
 
 Obviously then the line which men like Justin would 
 take would be to show the Jews that they had mis- 
 understood their own books : and in the dialogue with 
 Trypho he argues that it was all a question of inter- 
 pretation. The Jews interpreted literally : to him 
 Christ was the key. Christ accepted as the central 
 point, everything was explained in its true sense. Many 
 of his interpretations are of course familiar to all 
 instructed Christians; but he pushed his types and 
 
50 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 prophecies to an extreme point, and so did his suc- 
 cessors. Space does not allow us to quote many here, 
 and the Dialogue is not long and can easily be read 
 through. It is noteworthy, however, that he con- 
 sidered all the appearances of the Deity in the Old 
 Testament to have been appearances of Christ; and 
 this must have materially helped Christians themselves 
 to realize His Divinity. 1 
 
 The allusions also to types of the Cross are very 
 striking. This scandal of the Cross was the crowning 
 difficulty with the Jews. Even if they could otherwise 
 have believed Him divine, that God should have suffered 
 the death of a criminal was unthinkable : " to the Jews 
 a stumbling-block, to the Greeks foolishness." Yet, 
 said Justin, Moses assumed the attitude of the Cross, 
 with his arms outstretched, while Joshua (or Jesus) 
 led the armies of Israel. 2 The horns of the unicorns 
 (Psalm xxii.); the brazen serpent on the pole; the 
 mark of the blood on the lintel; the cruciform spit on 
 which the lamb was roasted; all pointed to the Cross, 
 as Jonah did to the tomb and the resurrection, and 
 the 24th Psalm to the Ascension. Was it not to em- 
 phasize the glory of the Cross against Jew and Greek 
 alike that the Christians placed the Cross everywhere 
 (though never a crucifix; 3 for the Lord was not on 
 the Cross now, but risen, and so they preferred to think 
 of Him)? But the Cross was on their dress, in their 
 houses, on their persons. Whatever they did, says 
 Tertullian, even at their rising up and sitting down, 
 they made the sign of the Cross. 
 
 1 Trypho, 75/ 2 Ibid., 90, and elsewhere. 
 
 3 Cardinal Bona gave the following stages in the evolution of 
 the crucifix — 
 
 (1) Plain Cross, generally St. Andrew's. 
 
 (2) Cross upright, with lamb at foot. 
 
 (3) Christ on the Cross, hands uplifted, but not nailed. 
 
 (4) Christ nailed, but living and eyes open. 
 
 (5) Roalism and agony. 
 
 (6) Revolting realism rendered sublime by Italian art. 
 
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 51 
 
 Another argument that St. Justin could bring effec- 
 tually against the Jews, which many of the Apostles could 
 not, was that with the fall of Jerusalem the sacrifices 
 of the Temple were gone, and the ordinances of the 
 Law could not any longer be fulfilled; to which Ter- 
 tullian added that if the prophecies were not now 
 fulfilled, many of them w T ould never have a chance of 
 fulfilment. 1 
 
 In many respects St. Justin's theology is not clear; 
 but in regard to the First and Second Persons of the 
 Trinity 2 he is explicit. The Father is the Creator of 
 the Universe, Unbegotten and Ineffable. " In the 
 beginning, before all created things, God begat from 
 Himself a certain Rational Power, who is called by the 
 Holy Spirit the Glory of the Lord, sometimes the Son, 
 sometimes Wisdom." The relation between Father and 
 Son he illustrated by saying that if one fire is lighted 
 from another it does not diminish the fire from which 
 it is lighted. 3 The Rational Power was emitted that 
 He might be the Father's Minister in the creation of the 
 Universe. Whether the Son was co-eternal with the 
 Father or begotten in time does not appear. The 
 question probably never occurred to Justin, since it 
 dates rather from the period of Arianism. His teaching 
 as to the Holy Spirit is somewhat uncertain. Generally 
 he calls Him the Spirit of Prophecy, or the Prophetic 
 Spirit, and sometimes he speaks of Him as the Spirit 
 of Christ, confusing somewhat the Logos and the Spirit. 
 Yet he worships Him as God, and assigns to the Pro- 
 phetic Spirit the third place. 
 
 One much -quoted passage occurs in which he seems 
 to say that Christians worshipped the Angels. 4 " We 
 worship and reverence the Father and the Son and 
 the army of the other good messengers who follow 
 
 1 v. Jews, 13. 
 
 2 Definitions of the Trinity run all through his works. 
 
 3 Trypho, 61. * Ap., I. 6. 
 
52 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Him and are like to Him, and the Prophetic Spirit." 
 Protestants have questioned whether the text has not 
 become corrupted; but for this there is no evidence. 
 The statement presents difficulty, and is not in accord 
 with Justin's clearly expressed views elsewhere. The 
 words are oepo^eOa xai nQOOxwov/uev, implying two 
 different grades of worship, which may perhaps carry 
 the solution. Possibly, however, it is only an instance 
 of inexact writing. 
 
 The Incarnation, according to Justin, was decided on * 
 before the Creation. The Humanity of Christ was real 
 and actual, and His Divine and Human nature were 
 united. The pre-existent Logos and the man Jesus 
 were one in all respects. " Jesus the Christ was Son 
 of God and Messenger, formerly being Logos, and He 
 had sometimes appeared in the form of fire, and some- 
 times in the image of incorporeal things 2 ( ? the manna 
 and the Rock that followed them), but now through 
 the will of God He had become Man for the human 
 race." He endured to suffer what the daemons caused 
 Him to endure at the hands of the senseless Jews. 3 
 
 As regards the Atonement, Donaldson says, 4 Justin 
 knew nothing of vicarious satisfaction : by dying Christ 
 destroyed the death that had been inflicted on man 
 for disobedience 5 and destroyed the power of the 
 seducing daemons. His suffering was not merely on 
 the cross, but all that He endured by becoming man. 6 
 St. Justin called Him the eternal priest of God, but 
 gave no account of His priestly functions. 7 
 
 Free will was a fundamental theory in this writer's 
 theology. In the beginning God made the human race 
 with the power of thought, and capable of choosing 
 the truth and doing right, so that all men are without 
 apology before God, being born rational and contem- 
 
 1 Trypho, 63. 2 Ap., I. 63. 3 Ibid., 63. 
 
 4 Apologists, III. 14, and p. 39. 5 Trypho, 45. 
 
 6 Ibid., 58; Ap., II. 13. 7 Trypho, 33. 
 
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR 53 
 
 plative. 1 But every man is born in ignorance and 
 through necessity (viz. the act of his parents, in which 
 he had no voice), and is brought up among evil customs 
 and with wicked training; whereas by his baptism he 
 becomes the child of choice and knowledge. 2 How far 
 original sin is affirmed, or denied or kept open by this, 
 is a moot question, as was already pointed out on p. 43. 
 Bishop Kaye thought it was affirmed, but not traced 
 to the fall of Adam. 
 
 Somewhat in this connection occurs the same anti- 
 thesis between Eve and Mary which was given by 
 Irenaeus. " Eve when a virgin and undefiled con- 
 ceived the word of the serpent and brought forth 
 disobedience and death. But Mary the Virgin (receiving 
 the angelic message) said, " Be it unto me according to 
 thy word." 3 
 
 As regards the Millennium Justin said that all the 
 best -instructed Christians believed in it, but that many 
 pious Christians, pure in doctrine, thought otherwise. 4 
 
 The second apology is a spirited appeal, caused by an 
 act of hardship in private life, but is not of the same 
 importance or length as the first. St. Justin had at 
 that time a serious dispute with Crescens the Cynic, 
 and foretold that this Crescens would cause his death, 
 as he shortly afterwards did, about 164-6. Martyrdom 
 has always in a special sense been associated with St. 
 Justin and the word Martyr has been almost incor- 
 porated in his name. He is also never portrayed 
 without the martyr's crown. 
 
 There are several works which were at one time 
 attributed to St. Justin, but are now considered spuri- 
 ous ; such are a Confutation of Aristotle ; Questions of 
 Christians to the Gentiles and of Gentiles to Christians ; 
 Answers to the Orthodox ; Exposition of the Trinity ; 
 Epistles to Zenas and Serenus ; and especially the Epistle to 
 
 1 Ap., II. 7. 2 Ibid., I. 61. 
 
 3 Trypho, 100. 4 Ibid., 80. 
 
54 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Diognctus, the latter being a very interesting work, the 
 author of which is entirely unknown. On the other 
 hand, the Hortatory address to the Greeks (though it 
 is doubted by Kaye) is considered genuine by Donaldson, 
 as also a Discourse to the Greeks, and a fragment on 
 the Resurrection. 
 
 Later apologists, with the approximate dates at 
 which they wrote, were Tatian (160), a disciple of Justin, 
 who composed a Harmony of the Gospels called the 
 Diatessaron, and afterwards lapsed into heresy : Appol- 
 linaris (176); Athenagoras (177); Melito of Sardis (177); 
 Hermias (180) and Theophilus (180); but as none of 
 these are accounted Fathers, they do not come within 
 the range of this work. The last-named was the first 
 writer who used the Greek word, Trias, or Trinity. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 TERTULLIAN 
 
 (a.d. 150 to some time between 220 and 240) 
 
 Tertullian was one of the most powerful personalities 
 in early Church History, and one of the most forcible 
 and voluminous writers. He introduces us in Africa 
 to an entirely new phase of Church life and thought, 
 and was also the founder of Western Theology and of 
 ecclesiastical Latin. 
 
 The influence of the African Church was great on 
 Christianity generally, but especially on the West, till 
 the fifth century; but when and by whom it was first 
 planted no one knows; suddenly it comes into history, 
 fully organized and under many bishops, towards the 
 close of the second century. 
 
 Africa, as we must now consider it, was not the 
 whole northern seaboard of Africa, but the Roman 
 province of Africa, which in a general way corresponded 
 with the modern seaboards of Tunis and Tripoli. The 
 African Church, therefore, w r as distinct from the Church 
 of Egypt, which centred at Alexandria and was Greek. 
 The centre of the African Church was Carthage, which 
 had been destroyed and ploughed up in 146 B.C., but 
 was colonized afresh by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C., and in 
 the second and third centuries was a prosperous trading 
 colony; without an aristocracy or a distinctive school 
 of philosophy, and therefore with no great interest in 
 the metaphysical questions which troubled the Eastern 
 mind; eminently practical, and so far as it was Chris- 
 tianized, profoundly interested in all that concerned 
 the moral and spiritual welfare of mankind. 
 
 55 
 
56 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Tertullian, in his address to the Proconsul Scapula, 
 warned him that if he extirpated the Christians, he 
 would decimate the population ; and therefore, unless he 
 exaggerated, we must assume that 10 per cent, of the 
 population had already been converted. This popula- 
 tion was composed, as to its upper crust, of middle-class 
 Romans; and below of a passionate, black-blooded 
 African race. Nowhere was there any Greek element 
 in it worth mentioning. Consequently the Christian 
 literature developed at Carthage was from the outset 
 Latin, instead of being, as at Rome itself, Greek. The 
 blending of the characters of these two races produced 
 the characteristics of the African Church; restless, 
 energetic, passionate, ardent, benevolent, self-sacrificing, 
 practical; yet narrow, schismatic and intolerant; a 
 Church which has been said to have bred more martyrs 
 than saints. The upper classes spoke Latin; the 
 lower the old Punic, which was of the same Semitic 
 family as Hebrew, although very unlike it. In Latin, 
 therefore, Tertullian naturally wrote; and early in his 
 lifetime also there appeared the first Latin Bishop of 
 Rome, Victor. 
 
 For the Greek character of the Roman Church was 
 now beginning to disappear. When Rome finally shed 
 her Greek, it is difficult to fix; but we learn that when 
 Athanasius visited Rome in 340, he had to learn Latin, 
 in order to instruct the clergy in the controversy of the 
 day. 
 
 To this African Church was attracted, somewhere 
 between the ages of 35 and 45, Quintus Septimus 
 Florens Tertiillianus, son of a Roman centurion; a 
 lawyer, a man thoroughly versed in the science, philo- 
 sophy and general literature of his age, and in Greek, 
 in which he wrote several treatises, now unfortunately 
 lost; of whom St. Jerome said, "Who more learned 
 or acute?" of whom St. Vincent of Lerins said, 
 " As Origen among the Greeks, so Tertullian among 
 
TERTULLIAN 57 
 
 the Latins is to be accounted far the first among all 
 our writers." What especially attracted him we know 
 not; probably the heroism of the martyrs. It was 
 not likely to be the Bible ; for, as he said himself, heathens 
 knew nothing about it. Nor philosophy ; for of that, 
 at least after his conversion, he had a great contempt, 
 calling philosophers the " patriarchs of heretics," and 
 saying further, " We despise the learning of secular'* 
 literature, which is reckoned as folly with God; " l so 
 that he had no gratitude in that quarter, and would 
 never admit, like St. Justin or St. Clement of Alex- 
 andria, that Philosophy paved the way for Christianity. 
 
 But when once converted, he embraced the Faith 
 with all his heart. He began writing shortly afterwards, 
 probably not later than 197, and was also ordained. 
 The fact of his ordination rests on general tradition 
 (especially the authority of St. Jerome) and on many 
 remarks in his works. It is, however, somewhat ques- 
 tioned, because in one place he says, " Are not we lay- 
 men also priests? " 2 It is supposed, however, that he 
 was then, when he had become a Montanist, ranging 
 himself rhetorically on the side of the laity, whose 
 priesthood he was defending, since otherwise it would 
 be inconsistent with his other statements. 
 
 His writings were apologetic, doctrinal and practical; 
 but throughout there is an entire absence of the calm 
 judicial spirit of Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, or Justin. 
 He is usually a violent advocate; admitting nothing 
 to the other side ; thinking of nothing but enforcing his 
 point with the most powerful language and even invec- 
 tive at his disposal. Thus his apology, instead of 
 entreating like Justin's, defies, and was probably an 
 incentive to persecution, doing at the time more harm 
 than good, for it flung the gage into the enemy's camp. 
 In his earlier works against heretics, no word is too 
 bad for a heretic, nothing too pure and perfect for a 
 * ?1 Spect. 18. 2 Exhort. Cast. 7. 
 
58 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Catholic. Yet soon he grew dissatisfied with the 
 Catholic Church, and joined the Montanists; then all 
 is contempt for the simple Catholic; so that the value 
 of his writings depends to some extent on whether he 
 was writing as a Catholic or a Montanist. Not, however, 
 when it is a question of Theology; for to the last he 
 upheld Catholic Theology, even when he was opposed to 
 Catholic practice. 
 
 He joined the Montanist sect in 202 or thereabout, 
 and on this account his position is differently estimated 
 by different religious schools. Thus the Catholic 
 Dictionary, under the heading of " Fathers," does not 
 count Tertullian as strictly among them. It says, 
 "In a general sense the word includes some on whom 
 there rests more or less the reproach of heterodox doctrine. 
 Tertullian became an open apostate from the Catholic 
 Church, yet his writings as a Catholic are among the 
 most excellent and precious remains of antiquity." In 
 point of fact, some of his most orthodox books, such 
 as Marcion and Praxeas, were written as a Montanist, 
 and to the end of his life he is believed never to have 
 been out of communion with the Catholic Church. 
 Pusey, again, from a middle or Anglican point of view, 
 remarks that " to the right use of Tertullian more 
 care and judgment are required than for other fathers." x 
 On the Protestant side, however, De Pressense sees 
 nothing but good in him. " No influence in the early 
 ages could equal that of Tertullian, and his writings 
 breathe such a spirit of undying power that they can 
 never grow old, and even now render living controversies 
 which have been silent for fifteen centuries. . . . Never 
 did a man more fully infuse his whole moral life into 
 his books." 2 
 
 What, then, was the Montanist sect which Tertullian 
 joined? 
 
 1 Library of Fathers, Preface to Tertullian. 
 
 2 Martyrs and Apologists, p. 368. 
 
TERTULLIAN 59 
 
 The gifts of prophesying and of tongues were among 
 the earliest features of the Church; but what either 
 exactly meant is involved in some obscurity. Prophesy- 
 ing was apparently a kind of extempore preaching; 
 and those who had the gift formed something like an 
 order, instruction and edifying being a work rather 
 assigned to them than to the presbyters. That is 
 comparatively simple. The speaking in tongues is more 
 difficult to understand; but what is most important 
 to observe in it is that it was connected with ecstasy 
 or trance. It was recognized by Irenaeus, who says, 
 " We have many brethren in the Church having pro- 
 phetical gifts, and by the spirit speaking all kinds of 
 tongues." x By the fourth century, however, the 
 speaking with tongues had disappeared ; for St. Chrysos- 
 tom says of it, " This whole topic is very obscure; but 
 the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts 
 described, which are such as then used to appear, but 
 now no longer take place." 2 To some extent, however, 
 it reappeared in the prophesyings of the fifteenth 
 century, in Quietism in the seventeenth, among the 
 Quakers in the seventeenth and eighteenth, and the 
 Irvingites in the nineteenth. 
 
 Montanus, therefore, in the middle of the second 
 century, when he began prophesying, was not striking 
 out any new line; the innovation lay in the way he 
 used his gift. He was himself a Phrygian, and had 
 been a priest of Cybele, and was altogether a weak- 
 minded person. After his conversion he commenced 
 prophesying and associated with himself two deaconesses, 
 Maximilla and Priscilla, who, like himself, gave utter- 
 ances " in the spirit " ; the essential condition being, 
 that the mind was absolutely passive, and that the 
 spirit swept over it, like the plectrum over the lyre — 
 a condition, in fact, of trance or ecstasy. Montanus 
 
 1 Hcer., VI. 6. 
 
 2 Cf. Stanley on the Epistles to the Corinthians, p. 244. 
 
90 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 called himself, and was called by his followers, the 
 Paraclete; not that he claimed to be the Holy Ghost 
 Incarnate, but that through him and his equally inspired 
 and spiritual followers the Spirit made fresh and supple- 
 mentary revelations. In fact, it was in their view a 
 delusion that the faith was once for all delivered, for 
 there was to be a progressive revelation till the time 
 of the New Jerusalem, which, however, was not far oil. 
 They held, as Neander puts it, " a gradual advance of 
 the Church, according to a general law of the develop- 
 ments of the kingdom of God. 1 St. Augustine tells us 
 that Montanus, Maximilla and Priscilla, claimed that 
 the coming of the Holy Ghost was more fully and 
 powerfully realized in themselves than in the Apostle s. 
 Tertullian wrote six books on Ecstasy, which are unfor- 
 tunately lost. St. Clement of Alexandria, however, 
 went so far as to call it a sign of apostasy. 
 
 Tertullian, writing as a Montanist, calls the Old 
 Testament dispensation Infancy, the New Youth, and 
 the days of the Paraclete Maturity. These parts of the 
 Christian dispensation, he teaches, which relate to the 
 life and conversation, admit of change and improve- 
 ment. On this very account our Lord sent the Para- 
 clete, to the end that, as the weakness of man's nature 
 rendered him incapable of bearing the whole truth at 
 once, the Christian rule of life might be carried to 
 perfection by the Holy Spirit substituted in the place 
 of our Lord. 2 Here, then, is the first sign of the Roman 
 Catholic doctrine of development. Cardinal Newman 
 admits and in fact claims this, saying in his Essay on 
 Development, " The very foundation of Montanism was 
 development, though not of doctrine, yet of discipline 
 and conduct;" and Tertullian, he adds, "understood 
 even the process of it." 3 Again, Newman says, " Mon- 
 
 1 History of the Christian Religion, II. p. 180. 
 
 2 Virg. Vel. 1. 
 
 3 Essay on Development, VI. p. 2. 
 
TERTULLIAN 61 
 
 tanism is a remarkable anticipation or presage of develop- 
 ments, which soon began to show themselves in doctrinal 
 determinations, and the ecclesiastical usages of the 
 middle ages are the true fulfilment of its self-willed 
 and abortive attempts at precipitating the growth of 
 the Church." And again, " The prophets of the Mon- 
 tanists prefigure the Doctors of the Church, their 
 inspiration her infallibility, their revelations her develop- 
 ments." But if Montanism was a forerunner of develop- 
 ment, it was also so of Puritanism, and Puritanism in 
 its most extreme form. It tried to raise an impossible 
 standard for humanity. Fasting was carried to an 
 impracticable point. Marriage was undesirable. Second 
 marriage, which the Church only discouraged, was 
 adultery. Military service was barred. Amusement of 
 all kind was sinful. Profane learning was forbidden. 
 Only those who could realize these high ideals were 
 true Christians, and these they called the Spiritales : 
 the ordinary Catholics were only Psychichi, possessing 
 souls, but not spirits ; sometimes they were only Carnales, 
 mere bodily existences. Rule in the Church depended 
 on spiritual endowments and not on Church order. They 
 exaggerated the idea of the priesthood of the laity. 
 They distinguished between venial and mortal sins. 
 
 It was doubtful if any one, but God alone, could 
 pardon mortal sin committed after baptism; if any 
 one could, it was not a Bishop, but one of the Prophets, 
 who were the true successors of the Apostles. As the 
 Prophets were above the clergy, so the prophetic sayings 
 were above Scripture. 
 
 No doubt they were confronted with a growing 
 worldliness in the Church, and there was some good in 
 their aim; but the effect on character was to produce 
 gloominess, acerbity, and spiritual pride. This at any 
 rate was the effect produced on Tertullian. They held 
 firmly to orthodox doctrine; so did he. Indeed his 
 most splendid doctrinal works were of the Montanist 
 
62 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 period. Ad Praxcam (in which he denounces that 
 confusion of Persons, which produced Patripassianism, 
 or the doctrine that the Father was crucified) was 
 elicited by Praxeas' action in causing Victor of Rome 
 to withdraw his recognition of Montanism. But if 
 early works like Ad Martyres are compared with later 
 ones like De Pudicitia, there is a distinct deterioration 
 from a tone of humility and self-abasement to arrogance, 
 coarseness and self-confidence. It is reported by St. 
 Jerome that he was driven into revolt by the envy and 
 contumely of the Roman clergy. He passed certainly 
 into extreme Montanism, and at the end of his life 
 founded a sect of his own, the Tertullianists, who had a 
 Church near Rome late in the fourth century. St. 
 Augustine a little later seems to have brought a remnant 
 of them into the Catholic Church; about which time 
 they died out. Montanism was so far like English 
 dissent, that it accepted for the most part the doctrines 
 of the Church, but repudiated her order. 
 
 His works might be classified either according to 
 whether they are (1) Practical, (2) Controversial, (3) 
 Apologetic; or whether written when he was a Catholic 
 or a Montanist. Bishop Kaye gives the following 
 classification — 
 
 Catholic. De Resurrection© Probably Montanist 
 
 De Penitentia Ad Praxeam Ad Valentinianum 
 
 De Oratione Scorpiace Ad Scapulam 
 
 De Baptismo De Corona De Spectaculis 
 
 Ad Uxorem De Virginibus Velandis De Idololatria 
 
 Ad Martyres Exhortatio ad Casta- De Cultu Mulierum 
 
 De Patientia tatem 
 
 Ad Judseos De Fnga in Persecu- 
 
 Prsescriptio * tione Period quite uncertain. 
 De Monogamia Apologia 
 De Modestia Ad Nationes 
 
 Montanist. De Jejuniis De Testimonio Animse 
 
 Ad Mareionem De Carrie Chrisii De Pallio 
 
 De Anima Contra Hermogenem 
 
 His style is everywhere most powerful and graphic; 
 but the peculiarity is that he coins Latin words with the 
 
TERTULLIAN 63 
 
 utmost freedom, when he does not find one suitable to 
 his purpose, either because it is not strong enough, or 
 because he has to translate a religious or scientific 
 word hitherto only found in Greek. Naturally he also 
 abounds in superlatives and compound words. Latin 
 became henceforth an ecclesiastical language, and 
 Tertullian was the founder of that peculiar form of it 
 known much later as scholastic. 
 
 His relation to tradition is seen in the Prescription 
 of Heretics written when a Catholic. Prsescriptio was a 
 legal term, putting the other side out of court before 
 the case was tried ; a sort of demurrer, or throwing out 
 the bill by the Grand Jury; and Tertullian pleads that 
 heretics have no claim to be heard, because they do 
 not obey the Rule of Faith; which is that "which 
 prescribes the belief that there is only one God : and 
 that He is none other than the Creator of the world, 
 who produced all things out of nothing through His 
 own Word first of all sent forth : that the Word is called 
 His Son, and under the name of God was seen in divers 
 manners by the Patriarchs; heard at all times in the 
 Prophets; at last brought down by the Spirit and 
 Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary; was made 
 flesh in her Womb, and being born of her went forth 
 as Jesus Christ; thenceforth preached the new law and 
 the new promise of the Kingdom of Heaven, and worked 
 miracles. Having been crucified, He rose again the 
 third day : then having been caught away into the 
 heavens, He sat at the right hand of the Father ; sent 
 in His place the Power of the Holy Ghost to lead such 
 as believe; will come with glory to take the saints to 
 the enjoyment of eternal life and the heavenly promises, 
 and to condemn the wicked to eternal fire, after the 
 resurrection of both these classes shall have happened 
 together with the restoration of their flesh. This rule, 
 as it will be proved, was taught by Christ." l 
 1 Prajscr. 13. 
 
64 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 This is again substantially the Apostles Creed, as si ated 
 by Irenseus, but now in quite different words, and it is 
 the essential truth of the early Catholic Church. If 
 heretics differed in any respect from this traditional 
 rule, it was useless to argue with them ; they were not 
 Christians. Freedom of enquiry was only allowed on 
 non-essentials. He goes on to say that Christ appointed 
 twelve Apostles to teach the nations. They founded 
 Apostolic Churches, and others became the offspring of 
 Apostolic Churches. If Christ sent Apostles to preach, 
 then others are not to be counted as preachers. All 
 teaching which agrees with the Apostolic Churches 
 must be reckoned as truth, since it contains without 
 doubt that which the Churches received from the 
 Apostles and the Apostles from Christ. " How happy," 
 he adds, " is that Church (Rome) on which Apostles 
 poured forth all their teaching along with their blood; 
 where Peter suffered in like manner as his Master, and 
 Paul won his crown by a death like John the Baptist." l 
 Tertullian, however, while thus upholding Tradition, 
 places Scripture alongside of it as the Scripta Traditio, 2 
 and acts continually in accordance with this idea. 
 Indeed the Scriptures were the very words and letters 
 of God. 3 
 
 The psychology of Tertullian 4 is very interesting. In 
 the De Anima he gives his account of the human soul, 
 dealing (1) with the nature of the soul; (2) the origin 
 of the individual soul; (3) its relation to evil; and (4) 
 its state after death. The soul derives its origin from 
 the breath of God : the mind is its servant. The soul 
 is immortal, corporeal, has figure, is simple in sub- 
 stance, possesses within itself the principle of intelli- 
 gence, is endowed with free will, is affected by externals, 
 which produce a great variety of talents and disposi- 
 
 1 Prsescr. 36. 2 Cor. 3. 3 Apol. 31. 
 
 4 See Bishop Kaye's Ecclesiastical History of the Second and 
 Third Centuries, illustrated from writings of Tertullian. 
 
TERTULLIAN 65 
 
 tions, is rational, is intended to rule the whole man, 
 has an insight into futurity, thinks, wills and disposes : 
 to carry out its designs, it needs the help of the body 
 as the medium of sensation; the body therefore must 
 rise again. Further, all souls proceed from the soul 
 of Adam. Evil is taught to the soul by the daemons ; 
 and he agrees with St. Justin that the daemons were 
 the offspring of the sons of God with the daughters of 
 men. Souls do not return to earth; this is a delusion 
 of the daemons. In dealing with the soul after death 
 he certainly implies that in his view some sort of purifying 
 process takes place. 
 
 This treatise must not be confused with the Testimony 
 of the Soul, which deals not so much with the nature 
 of the soul as the natural evidence of the soul to the 
 existence of one God; of right and wrong; judgment 
 and a future state ; and shows that, in spite of the evil 
 adhering to man's nature and his need of redemption, 
 there is a natural alliance between the human and the 
 divine. " Come forth, O soul; 1 I want thee, not, as 
 tutored in libraries and academies thou utterqst wisdom ; 
 I want thee in thy rude ignorant state, as thou art in 
 those who have thee alone. I want thee pure as thou 
 comest from the highway and workshop. I want thy 
 inexperience, for no one has any confidence in thy 
 experience." However much, he argues, men follow 
 polytheism, yet they say " Good God," 2 " If God will," 
 " God bless you." If God is good, man is evil. The 
 fear of death witnesses to judgment and the future. 
 After a close argument he ends, " You proclaimed God, 
 but sought Him not; evil spirits you hated and yet 
 worshipped; the judgment of God you appealed to, 
 yet doubted its existence; the tortures of Hell you 
 foresaw, yet did not guard against ; you recognized the 
 Christian name, and yet persecuted the Christian." 
 
 As regards Tertullian's general doctrinal position : in 
 1 Test. ani. 1. % Ibid., 2. 
 
66 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 the Ad Praxeam are throughout remarkable, almost 
 Nicean, 1 definitions of the Trinity ; and in the Apology 
 we find " God of God, Light of Light." " For though 
 They are Three, 2 They are so not in condition but in 
 degree; not in substance but in form; not in power 
 but in species; being of one substance, condition and 
 power : because there is one God, from whom those 
 three degrees, forms and species, in the names of Father, 
 Son and Holy Ghost, are derived. Father and Son are 
 two, not by division of substance, but ex dispositione. 
 The Three Persons stand together in the relation of root, 
 shrub and fruit; of fountain, river, and cut from the 
 river ; of the sun, the ray, and the terminating point of 
 the ray. In the Hermogenes? though he describes the 
 Son as pre-existent and consubstantial, he seems to 
 imply that there was when He was not. But he was 
 writing before Arianism had appeared, and would 
 therefore be less careful in his statements. As regards 
 the Holy Spirit, there is a clear conception of His 
 Personality in many passages; but Tertullian is some- 
 times confusing in his language, owing to the various 
 meanings of the Latin word Spiritus. In Tertullian's 
 view there seems to have been a progressive emanation 
 of the Trinity ; the Son proceeding from the Father at 
 the Creation, the Spirit proceeding from the Word at 
 the Ascension. 
 
 On the Atonement he says that Christ is the u Pro- 
 pitiator of the Father, and offers His own Soul for the 
 salvation of the world." 4 " The death of Christ is the 
 chief (Summum) foundation of the Gospel and of our 
 salvation." 5 * " He came, that being Himself pure and 
 holy He might endure all things for sinners." 6 
 
 On the Eucharist he says, " Taking Bread He made it 
 His Body." " Our Lord in the Gospel showed bread, 
 
 1 Ap., I. 21. 2 Prax. 2. 
 
 3 Herm. 3 and 13. 4 Marc. II. 26. 
 
 6 Ibid., III. 8. 3. 6 Pudic. 22. 4. 
 
TERTULLIAN 67 
 
 making it His Body, in order that you might thence 
 understand Him to have given the bread the figure of 
 His Body," not apparently meaning that it was a 
 symbol of an absent Body. 1 " In the bread is under- 
 stood His Body." 2 " He feeds on the richness of the 
 Lord's Body." 3 He also tells us that offerings of the 
 Eucharist were made for the dead on their anniver- 
 saries, or birthdays. Also that great care was taken 
 not to spill the elements. 4 
 
 He expresses himself clearly on original 5 sin — that 
 all are infected from the sin of Adam. The soul is 
 partly rational and partly irrational. At first it was 
 rational, but the irrational element has been so thor- 
 oughly introduced by the daemons as to become part 
 of the original character. But he makes this reserva- 
 tion : that there has been no total corruption. What 
 was derived from God is rather obscured than destroyed. 
 In the worst there is some good. No one born into the 
 world is exempt from sin, till born again by water and 
 the Spirit. Yet in one place he suggests the deferring 
 of the baptism of infants till they have passed the age 
 of innocence. 
 
 As regards Free Will and Grace, Adam was created 
 free : otherwise a law would not have been given him 
 which it was death to break; but now that man has 
 fallen, before he can repent and do good, his will must 
 be subjected to the Grace of God. No controversy had 
 as yet arisen as to Justification; but he speaks of 
 repentance as justified by faith ; 6 and from the context 
 it is clear that repentance acquires its merit from 
 Christ's sacrifice. 
 
 On the Intermediate state he believes that there are 
 two places — the Inferi and Abraham's bosom (although 
 both are sometimes included under the former name), 
 to which spirits go till the Judgment; when the con- 
 
 1 Marc. 20 and 40. 2 Or. 6. 3 Pudic. 9. 
 
 4 Cor. 3. 5 Kaye's Tertullian. 6 Marc. IV. 18. 
 
68 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 demned will pass from the Inferi to Gehenna, and the 
 good from Abraham's bosom to Paradise. But the 
 martyrs and saints go at once to Paradise. For the 
 rest, neither can the full reward of the good, nor the full 
 punishment of the wicked be conferred, until soul and 
 body are reunited at the Judgment. 1 
 
 Here are a few famous sayings of Tertullian — 
 "What greater pleasure is there than to despise 
 pleasure? " 2 
 
 " The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." 3 
 "A Christian must be made, not born." 4 
 "Christ is truth, not custom." 5 
 "It is contrary to religion to compel religion." 6 
 " Credo quia absurdum. Certum est quia impossibile." 7 
 The writings of Tertullian are so voluminous, that it 
 is impossible to describe them all. The contrast between 
 the earliest and latest should be noticed. One of the 
 first is a letter to the Martyrs in prison, which is simple, 
 humble, affectionate. He warns them not to disagree. 
 " Grieve not the Holy Spirit, who hath entered with 
 you into prison." " Though the body be imprisoned, 
 all is open to the spirit. Walk to and fro, thou Spirit; 
 not setting before thee shady walks or long cloisters, 
 but that way which leadeth unto God." 
 
 Another early work was On Baptism, in reply to a 
 woman, who thought the ceremony useless, where there 
 was no faith. The following is a short summary : Any 
 sort of water will do — an angel presides — anointing 
 follows the triple immersion in name of the Trinity; 
 then the laying on of hands; all the Apostles, except 
 Paul, were baptized with the baptism of John ; baptism 
 necessary by Christ's command; one God, one Church, 
 one Baptism; heretic baptism invalid; the second 
 baptism is that of blood; only clergy may baptize 
 
 1 Res. Car. 42. 2 Spect. 29. 
 
 3 Apol. 50. 4 Ap. 18. 4. 
 
 5 Virg. Vel. 1. 5 6 Scap. 2. 7 Cam. Chr. 5. 
 
TERTULLIAN 69 
 
 except in case of necessity, but in that case a great 
 responsibility rests on the layman; the rite not to be 
 given unadvisedly; better not to baptize adults till 
 they marry or are proof against impurity; Easter to 
 Pentecost the best time ; preparation by fasting, prayer, 
 confession. 1 
 
 The Be Oratione is, as to the first half, a commentary 
 on the Lord's Prayer; it also opposes formalism, such 
 as doffing the cloak or washing the hands before pray- 
 ing ; it teaches that the Eucharist must not be abstained 
 from because it is a fast day ; that women should dress 
 modestly, and unmarried women should not go abroad 
 unveiled (a subject which he treats at length in Be 
 Virginibus Velandis); that they should not kneel at 
 Easter and Pentecost, etc. ; and at the close is a power- 
 ful passage : " Under arms in prayer guard the standard 
 of your General. The angels pray : every creature 
 prays : the cattle and wild beasts bend their knees 
 and pray : nay, the birds rising up from their nests 
 upraise themselves heavenward, and instead of hands, 
 expand the cross of their wings, and sing something 
 that seems like prayer." 
 
 In the work On Patience, which he commences with 
 grief at his own impatience, he says, " Patience sits on 
 the throne of that calmest and gentlest Spirit, Who is 
 not found in the roll of the whirlwind, nor in the leaden 
 hue of the cloud ; but is a Spirit of soft serenity, open 
 and simple. For where God is, there too is His foster- 
 child, Patience. When God's Spirit descends, then 
 Patience accompanies Him inseparably. If we do not 
 admit her along with the Spirit, will He always tarry 
 with us ? " Penitence is another work in which Ter- 
 tullian, as in all his early practical works, writes tenderly. 
 
 With these appear in strong contrast the three most 
 violent and bitter works of the Montanist period : 
 Modesty, Fasting, Monogamy ; of which the style is 
 1 This analysis is from Fleury's History of Christianity. 
 
70 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 rigid and the expression coarse, with often forced 
 interpretations of Scripture. 
 
 On Flight from Persecution falls in the same period ; 
 denouncing the practice of " flying to another city " 
 in time of persecution. Modesty (De Pudicitia) com- 
 mences with a violent attack on the Bishop of Rome 
 for offering absolution for sins against the flesh after 
 proper repentance and penance. There is a difference 
 of opinion as to whether this Bishop was Victor, Zephy- 
 rinus, or Callixtus ; but he addresses him with the utmost 
 scorn as a " bishop of bishops," a title which the Roman 
 Bishops at once, or very shortly afterwards, adopted. 
 A malicious suggestion is made that the offer to absolve 
 should not be posted up in Church, but on the gates of 
 houses of ill-fame. In this work occurs a passage, 
 that Peter was the rock, and to him personally were 
 given the keys, but that they descended not to any 
 mere Bishops, but to the spiritual men — in fact to 
 Montanists. In other words, the power of absolving 
 depends not on ordination but on character — a most 
 mischievous theory. In this work also is a passage, 
 which is used as an argument against the doctrine of 
 " Superfluous Merit." Addressing a departed saint, 
 he says : " If you are a sinner yourself, how can the oil 
 out of your cruse suffice for both you and me? " x 
 
 Among other interesting practical works are the 
 De Spectaculis and De Idololatria. In the former the 
 cruelty of the public shows is considered of less import- 
 ance than their connection with idolatry, and a good 
 deal of learning is displayed as to their origin : the 
 stage plays, for instance, being traced to the worship 
 of Venus, and games to sacrifices to the dead, whose 
 souls were appeased by gifts of blood. It ends with a 
 lurid picture of judgment, and the delight which the 
 author will feel at the damnation of the idolators; 
 which is quite in his later manner ; for although Neander 
 1 Pudic. 22 
 
TERTULLIAN 71 
 
 places this work among his earlier writings, Kaye 
 considers it probably of the Montanist period. 
 
 The De Idololatria is historically interesting, as 
 showing the enormous number of trades from which 
 Christians were debarred, owing to their connection with 
 idolatry ; such as, image-making, sale of incense, astro- 
 logy, to some extent education, building of temples, 
 beating out gold leaf, etc. The refusal to join in these- 
 trades, and indeed their condemnation of them, would 
 all tend to persecution. A fine passage occurs in this 
 work : " Amid these rocks and bays, these shoals and 
 straits of Idolatry, Faith, wafted onwards by the Spirit 
 of God, holdeth her course; safe while on her guard, 
 secure while in amazement. But for those who are 
 cast overboard, there is an abyss whence none can 
 swim ; for those who strike on a rock, there is a wreck 
 whence none can escape; for those who are swallowed 
 up, there is in idolatry a whirlpool, where none can 
 breathe ; every wave of it choketh ; every eddy sucketh 
 down to hell." x 
 
 The most important of his works against heretics 
 are : (1) The Prcescriptio, of which the main position has 
 already been stated; (2) Ad Praxeam, which has also 
 been quoted as an Exposition of the Trinity against 
 Patripassianism. In this he makes a very useful 
 statement : " Never shall the name of two Gods pro- 
 ceed from my mouth; not that the Father is not God, 
 the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God, but because the 
 Son is called God only through His union with the 
 Father. Therefore I shall imitate the Apostle; and 
 when I have to speak of Father and Son together, I 
 shall call the Father God, and the Son our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. When I speak of Christ alone, I shall call Him 
 God." 2 Praxeas having relied on the words " My 
 Father and I are one," he replies that Christ said " are " 
 and not " am," and that " one " was neuter, " one 
 1 Idol. 24. a Prax. 13. 
 
72 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 thing " ; not masculine, " one Person." Also that 
 Christ said " I am in the Father," not " I am the 
 Father." 1 (3) and (4) On the Flesh of Christ and On 
 the Resurrection of the Flesh, both written against the 
 Docetic view. In the first of these occurs again the 
 antithesis between the virgin Eve and the Virgin Mary, 
 and also the celebrated paradox, " Credo quia absurdum : 
 certum est quia impossible." The argument is like 
 this : " a crucified God, a dead God, a risen God, may 
 seem to Marcion a foolish impossibility ; its very foolish- 
 ness is the triumph of my faith ; in its transcendence of 
 human reason lies its certainty." His other treatises 
 against Gnostics are against Valentinian and Marcion. 
 
 The latter name has already repeatedly appeared, 
 and as Tertullian was his principal refuter, some account 
 must be given of him; since, however much we may 
 doubt whether the other Gnostics were heretics, or simply 
 teachers of a rival philosophy, Marcion, the son of a 
 Bishop of Sinope, started entirely from a Christian 
 standpoint; always sought to be restored to com- 
 munion; founded a Church of his own, which claimed 
 to be Christian in the fullest sense; but to explain 
 his own peculiar views borrowed largely from the 
 Gnostics. He was indeed a heretic, and the most 
 dangerous of the Gnostics; therefore Poly carp called 
 him " the firstborn of Satan." Irenaeus gave less 
 attention to Marcion than to Valentinian, because the 
 system of the latter was more comprehensive, and he 
 thought in answering him exhaustively he replied to 
 all the Gnostics; but he also noticed Marcion, and 
 promised to deal with him later on. Tertullian, however, 
 devoted five books to him. Marcion came to Rome to 
 promulgate his views, but the Roman Church refused 
 him communion. By this time all the heretical teachers 
 had invaded Rome. However free Rome might have 
 been from corrupt teaching in the time of Ignatius, 
 
 1 Prax. 22. 
 
TERTULLIAN 73 
 
 and St. Clement of Alexandria says that no heresies 
 appeared in Rome till the time of Trajan, yet now the 
 words of Tacitus might be adapted, that " Rome was 
 a sink into which flowed all the crimes and baseness of 
 the world." 
 
 When Marcion was refused communion, he asked 
 the meaning of " putting new wine into old bottles";, 
 and made this the keynote of his teaching. The New 
 Testament was not a completion or fulfilment of the 
 Old, but antagonistic to it. The Old Testament was 
 to be entirely repudiated, and so much of the New as 
 well, as did not support his own view ; which was that 
 Christ was not the Jewish Messiah, who had yet to 
 appear, but the Son of the supreme God, who came to 
 redeem the world from the imperfect deity of the Old 
 Testament — the Demiurge in fact. He said that 
 Christ never came in the flesh at all, but only as a 
 Spirit : so he is Docetic — indeed more than all of 
 them. 
 
 Marcion' s theology was a Dualism. There was a 
 good God and a just God, meaning by just, inexorable 
 (eye for eye, tooth for tooth) ; the latter did not emanate 
 from the former, but was a separate First Principle; 
 consequently the system of iEons became superfluous, 
 and so he rejected it. Matter indeed was with him, 
 as with Plato, another first principle; but he did not 
 trouble himself much about that, as it did not bear 
 on his main subject, the relation of the Old to the 
 New Dispensation. His just God was opposed to his 
 good God, not as evil to good, but as imperfection to 
 perfection. He accepted just so much of the New 
 Testament as he could conveniently argue from; ten 
 of St. Paul's Epistles, and a mutilated edition of St. 
 Luke (as St. Paul's companion), arranged by himself 
 to suit the requirements of what he thought was the 
 Gospel according to St. Paul, whom he recognized as 
 his great master, but whose teaching he twisted and 
 
74 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 exaggerated. The rest of the New Testament he con- 
 sidered was written by Judaizers. 
 
 Tertullian replied to the dualism of Marcion; that 
 if both his Gods were equal, possessing supreme power, 
 duration, and self-existence, they were really one; if 
 unequal, only the higher was God at all; and if two, 
 why not thirty? How could material things be evil, 
 or the work of imperfect deity, if Christ used them in 
 His Sacraments? Since Christ has now come, why is 
 Matter still allowed to continue? Why was Christ's 
 redemption so long delayed ? Why was all this unknown 
 till Marcion discovered it ? 
 
 The antagonism between the Testaments he refuted 
 frorfi St. Paul's writings, which Marcion had embodied 
 in his doctored Bible. The cavils against the Old 
 Testament were met by showing, partly that he had 
 misrepresented facts, partly that he had drawn wrong 
 inferences. For instance, Marcion said that God created 
 Adam and then allowed him to fall, being either unable 
 or unwilling to prevent him. Tertullian replies that he 
 fell through the exercise of man's highest gift, Free Will. 
 But especially Tertullian established the important 
 truth, that man's incapacity of conceiving God makes 
 it necessary to speak of divine things in language 
 adapted to human understanding. Tertullian is said 
 to have trampled on Gnosticism, as later St. Athanasius 
 did on Arianism. Yet Marcionism dragged on some 
 sort of existence till the seventh century. 
 
 Tertullian's leading apologetic works are : (1) The 
 Apology, (2) Ad Nationes, (3) Adversus Judceos, and 
 (4) Ad Scapulam. The most important is the first, 
 which was addressed not to the Emperor, but to the 
 Governor of proconsular Africa. Christianity, he says, 
 courts publicity; do not condemn us unheard. Try 
 us as criminals, not because we carry the name of 
 Christian. We are not atheists, just because we refuse 
 to worship gods who are only dead men deified and 
 
TERTULLIAN 75 
 
 bad men at that ; not even men like Scipio, Cato, Pompey 
 or Cicero. The heathen are as irreverent towards these 
 gods as the Christians ; actors and philosophers laugh at 
 them. The worship of a cross has already appeared in 
 many of the heathen rites. The Bible is accessible to 
 all ; study it. It is the oldest book in the world. Moses 
 lived 1000 years before the siege of Troy, and the latest 
 prophets are as old as the earliest philosophers. Has 
 Rome risen to greatness through her gods? War, 
 endless war made Rome. Her power was established 
 before her religion. Christians are loyal; they pray 
 for the Emperor but refuse to deify him. The worship 
 of the Caesars is hypocritical. Christians do not retaliate ; 
 yet though a people of yesterday they fill cities, camps, 
 in fact every place but the temples. They are not a 
 faction, and should be left alone, like the Epicureans. 
 Their social life, worship and charities are described. 
 They are not unprofitable citizens, but employ them- 
 selves only in useful and innocent trades. Philosophers 
 are not compelled to sacrifice : why then Christians, 
 whose lives are far better ? Yet philosophers derive 
 the best of what they know from Jewish rrlysteries. 
 Even if Christian doctrines are false, they are at least 
 moral. 
 
 The Ad Nationes resembles the Apology in a shorter 
 form, so that it has sometimes been thought to be a 
 first draft of it ; it is, however, addressed to the populace, 
 instead of to the authorities. The style is in some places 
 very gross, satirizing the accusations levelled against 
 Christians. 
 
 In the treatise against the Jews, he points out forcibly 
 that the Jewish sacrifices are necessarily at an end, 
 because they could only be offered at Jerusalem; 
 whereas Malachi had foretold the world-wide sacrifice. 
 There is an interesting statement, showing how wide- 
 spread was the Gospel at this date : it had reached 
 " the Getulians, the Moors, all Spain, parts of Britain 
 
76 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 which were inaccessible to the Romans, the Sarmatians, 
 Dacians, Germans, Scythians, and many islands and 
 places unknown to the Romans.' 5 
 
 Tertullian lived to extreme old age, but the exact 
 date of his death is unknown. He was the first of the 
 marvellous triumvirate which the African Church pro- 
 duced, and of which Cyprian and Augustine were the 
 other two members. Cyprian was contemporary with 
 his old age, and always regarded him as " the master." 
 Augustine, however, belongs to another century. Of 
 the tenets of the Tertullianists, whether they held an 
 extreme or modified form of Montanism, we know not. 
 Let us hope the latter, and that old age tempered 
 Tertullian's severity. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 
 
 (Presbyter ; and Head of the Catechetical School, 
 a.d. 190-202) 
 
 " Christianity is the heir of all past time and the interpreter 
 of the future." 
 
 " The true Gnostic makes all philosophy his own, because it 
 is the Divine preparation for the Gospel : he uses and studies 
 the world because the world leads him to God." 
 
 These sentences of his form suitable mottoes for a 
 chapter on St. Clement, since they express exactly the 
 position taken up under his influence by the Christian 
 school of Alexandria, in advance of St. Justin, and in 
 direct opposit ion t o Tertullian. It is at last recognized 
 that God was educating the world before the coming 
 of Christ, and that not by Judaism alone. The truth 
 is now established that reason as well as revelation is 
 a gift of God ; and being so established, Christian teachers 
 have no longer any hesitation in using existing philo- 
 sophic methods, and working over such philosophic 
 doctrines the Christian theology. 
 
 For a thousand years the great city of Alexandria was 
 the centre of all learning ; and never, except in Athens 
 at her best period, was there such a brilliant home of 
 culture. Founded in 322 B.C. by Alexander the Great, 
 fifteen years after the death of Plato, it at once assumed a 
 literary importance, and on Alexander's death the Ptole- 
 mies nobly carried out the founder's intention. The 
 first of them established a library with 50,000 rolls or 
 books, the number of books gradually increasing to 
 
 77 
 
78 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 500,000 or according to one account 700,000. It was 
 to the Ptolemies also that the Jews owed the Septuagint. 
 The library was in two buildings — the Museum and the 
 Temple of Serapis. Of these, the former was partially 
 destroyed by fire in the time of Julius Caesar, but re- 
 plenished by Cleopatra's present of the Pergamus collec- 
 tion to Mark Antony. The Temple of Serapis was 
 destroyed in a Christian riot in a.d. 391 ; and soon after 
 that time both the learning and the Christianity of 
 Alexandria began to decay, until both alike were swept 
 away by Mahommedanism in the seventh century. 
 
 When Hadrian visited Alexandria, he wrote that " no 
 one was idle — not even the blind, the lame, or the 
 crippled; " also that the people were " fickle, uncertain, 
 blown about by every gust of rumour." The fact was 
 that the Alexandrians were eclectic and critical. The 
 special feature of the Alexandrian thougtitTTThristian, 
 Jewish, and Pagan alike, was that jt tried to absorb-the 
 best of everything; the feature of the Alexandrian 
 himself was to criticize everything and be satisfied with 
 nothing. Thus when Origen, the great successor of 
 St. Clement, attended the lectures of the Neo-Platonists, 
 over the door of the school were the opening verses of 
 St. John's Gospel; while Numenius, a Pagan, said that 
 Plato was only Moses speaking Greek. But there was 
 also a strong imaginative sentiment in all the schools, 
 which had " a tendency to evaporate religion into 
 allegory, and philosophy into dreamy speculation, 
 while the critical spirit marred the creative power." l 
 Thus Alexandria, as De Pressense says, " with her learn- 
 ing and subtlety gathered together and fused all the 
 elements of the old world, and created in her own manner 
 a sort oTuniversalism, vague rather than broad, in which 
 the religions of East and West were alike deprived of their 
 exclusive character, Judaism itself being made to enter 
 into alliance with the polytheistic religions, which it had 
 1 Plummer's Church of Early Fathers 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 79 
 
 so long proscribed. Born of this heterogeneous union, 
 the Alexandrian mind rose above all national divergences, 
 but it also rose above reality and above history, to the 
 cloudy summits of speculation, and was utterly wanting 
 in the historic sense. Strong in its allegorical method, 
 it sported with facts ; and its philosophical theories were 
 at once aspiring and unsubstantial." *\ 
 
 The great proportion of Jews in Alexandria was 
 remarkable. A considerable number were imported 
 by Alexander himself into the City, and another forced 
 importation was afterwards made in the time of Ptolemy 
 Soter. By the time of Clement the natural capacity 
 for trading of the Jewish nation had increased their 
 numbers to about 100,000 out of a total population of 
 300,000 besides the slaves; and they occupied two out 
 of the five quarters into which the Citj' was divided. 
 No wonder then that the influence of Jewish upon 
 Alexandrian thought was very considerable. But the 
 reverse was also the case. Even earlier than our Lord's 
 time, there were many Jewish teachers in Alexandria, 
 who had caught the allegorizing spirit, and applied it 
 widely to the Old Testament. At the same time they 
 had to some extent transformed the Jewish idea of 
 Jehovah into the Platonic idea of God, or possibly his 
 " Idea of the Good." Against this tendency, Philo, the 
 principal Jewish-Alexandrine, who was a contemporary 
 of our Lord, raised a partial protest; partial, because 
 he was himself carried away by the allegorizing tendency 
 to a great extent. But while he admitted that much of 
 the less essential parts of the Old Testament were full 
 of allegory, there was always, he taught, an irreducible 
 minimum, which was not only exactly and literally 
 true, but of Divine revelation; and accordance with 
 this revelation must be the test of the truth of all other 
 philosophies. The Jews were, in his view, priests and 
 prophets for all mankind. 
 
 1 Martyrs and Apologists, p. 283. 
 
80 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Here, then, were two important facts which paved the 
 way for the acceptance of Christianity. There had been 
 a distinct revelation from God which established authority : 
 there was a revealed message from God to all mankind. 
 But when it came to metaphysics, Philo adapted himself 
 to Platonic views ; as, for instance, the Divine apathy — 
 that the First Cause was behind all thought and feeling, 
 passionless ; also that Matter was Eternal. But again, 
 as Thought and Power must necessarily precede Creation, 
 he accepted a theory of Personalities, something like 
 the JEons of the Gnostics. Thought and Power were 
 among them ; but the chief of these forces was the Logos, 
 the Mind of God declaring itself, but a personal Mind, and 
 also essentially God. Here, then, were the two schools 
 of thought with which Christianity had to contend, 
 and which she finally vanquished : the one an Eclectic 
 Pagan school, which was founded mainly on Plato, but 
 had incorporated material from all the other philosophic 
 systems of the world ; the other a Jewish school following 
 to some extent the same lines but with a foundation of 
 Revelation, a message to mankind, and a literature which 
 Christianity had already annexed. The Greeks had an 
 opinion (niorcg) ; the Jews a practical conviction (yvdjotg). 
 
 According to a tradition which Lightfoot considers 
 may be accepted, the Alexandrian Church was founded 
 by St. Mark, probably as early as a ; d. 40. Hence it 
 was often called the Evangelical See. It is probable also 
 that St. Mark was the emissary of St. Peter. The 
 Catechetical School, which became so celebrated later 
 on, may have been also founded by St. Mark, as tradition 
 records. For a long time, however, it was only a training 
 school for catechumens. The correctness of the list 
 of early Alexandrine bishops is very doubtful, nor were 
 any of them prominent characters till towards the end 
 of the third century. The head of the Catechetical 
 School, who was appointed by the bishop, but not neces- 
 sarily even in orders, was a much more important 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 81 
 
 personage. The first of these who attracts attention 
 is Pantsenus, the predecessor of Clement, who called him 
 " the Sicilian bee, gathering spoils from the flowers of 
 the prophetic and apostolic meadow, who engendered 
 in the souls of his hearers a deathless element of know- 
 ledge," l and who, when the Indians called for a Christian 
 missionary, went' straight from his professorship at 
 Alexandria to the Far East, and is said to have found 
 there a copy of St. Matthew in Aramaic. Though not 
 much is known of the teaching of Pantsenus, except 
 that he was a man of great power, learning and eloquence, 
 he seems to have seen more clearly than Justin the unity 
 of the Divine plan, in spite of the various nationalities 
 and the apparent confusion of events. 2 At any rate 
 he was the great instructor of Clement, who found com- 
 plete satisfaction in his teaching after seeking it from a 
 great variety of masters. 
 
 One strange anomaly in the Alexandrian Church must 
 be mentioned as a matter of history. It is possible that 
 till the fourth century the bishops were ordained by their 
 presbyters. Apparently there was till towards the 
 middle of the third century only one bishop in Egypt, 
 although Christianity had spread far up the Nile. Neale 
 in his History of the Eastern Church contends, and 
 Waterman in his Post- Apostolic Age, thinks it likely that 
 the twelve presbyters; whose duty it was to elect one of 
 their number on a vacancy, were really an Episcopal 
 College. Waterman supports this view by saying that 
 as in a.d. 250 there were forty-six priests in the Roman 
 Church, there must have been more than twelve in the 
 Alexandrian; and that the twelve who elected must 
 therefore have had a higher function. But of this there 
 is no distinct evidence, although it is possible that 
 these twelve may have been bishops without dioceses. 
 Bright thinks it exceedingly improbable that the twelve 
 presbyters did more than elect. 
 
 1 Str. 1. 2 De PressenstS Martyrs and Apologists, p. 27 1, 
 
 G 
 
82 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 St. Clement was probably born about the middle of the 
 second century, since we find him succeeding to the chair 
 of Pantsenus in 190, and continuing in it till the persecu- 
 tion under Severus in 202, when he left Alexandria; 
 not certainly through any want of courage, Joy he after- 
 wards undertook a perilous errand for his pupil Alexander, 
 subsequently Bishop of Jerusalem and a celebrated friend 
 of Origen. His death is generally given as in 212, but after 
 202 little is known of his movements. The expression 
 " Chair of Pantaenus " does not imply that there was 
 any recognized meeting -place of the Catechetical School, 
 or building. It was conducted at this time in the most 
 primitive way, usually in the private house of its head, 
 although it afterwards became the leading university 
 of the Empire. 
 
 St. Clement represents in three different ways a tran- 
 sitional period in Christian History : a transition from 
 oral tradition to written definitions; from a study of 
 the main points of revelation to that of the whole realm 
 of human experience; and a taking over of the whole 
 life as an object of Christian discipline. 1 His works are 
 full of learning, and contain quotations from 500 other 
 authors. He quotes from nearly all the books of the 
 Bible, and also from many uncanonical books, as if 
 they were Scripture. Like his predecessors, and his 
 contemporary Tertullian, he recognizes the " tradition 
 of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy 
 apostles." But the chief point in all his teaching is 
 his claim, as stated at the opening of this chapter, that 
 ft the world's education was on a Divine plan ; and that 
 if the Law was a schoolmaster to lead the Jews to Christ, 
 Philosophy was the schoolmaster to lead the Greek mind 
 there. His sympathy with Platonism seems sometimes 
 to lead him to an extravagant appreciation of knowledge, 
 and like Philo, to allegorize overmuch. As to the first, 
 he says, ct Right conduct must depend on right know- 
 1 Dictionary of Christian Biography. 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 83 
 
 ledge;" which sounds rather a dangerous statement, 
 though often repeated in modern times. Instances of 
 the second occur continually. The serpent in Eden 
 symbolized Pleasure, which creeps on the belly like 
 earthly vice. Lot's wife becoming a pillar of salt meant 
 that she lost all sensation in looking back on vice and 
 was for the future salt, to salt or preserve those who 
 have spiritual discernment. To the third day on which 
 Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off 
 is assigned more than one fantastic meaning. Joseph's 
 coat of many colours signified his various knowledge, 
 which his brothers envied. The number ten of the 
 Commandments has several figurative meanings, and 
 even the meaning of the Commandments is allegorized 
 most fancifully. Scripture, however, had always a 
 literal sense as well : it had three altogether, the literal, 
 the moral and the mystical. Clement's quotations from 
 Scripture seem generally made from memory, and are 
 often inaccurate ; or the right sense is expressed in differ- 
 ent words; or sometimes two different passages are 
 mixed up. He differs philosophically from Philo, 
 mainly in denying the separate existence of matter as 
 eternal evil, and in asserting strongly Free Will ; which 
 was an unpopular doctrine in Alexandria. 
 
 As regards the general position of the Christian school 
 in Alexandria, and therefore of Clement, who is for us 
 its founder, since we know so little of Pantsenus, Harnack 
 says, " In Alexandria the entire Hellenic science was 
 adapted to the service of the Gospel. . . . Christianity 
 is the doctrine of the creation, education and perfecting 
 of the human race through the Logos, whose work 
 reaches its climax in the perfect Gnostic ; and the perfect 
 Gnostic has made use of two means, the Old Testament 
 and the Hellenic philosophy. An attempt was made to 
 fuse the aim of the Gospel at making us rich in God, and 
 gaining from Him power and life, with the ideal of the 
 Platonic philosophy to raise oneself as a free spirit above 
 
84 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 the world into God; and then to bind together the in- 
 structions pertaining to a blessed life which are found in 
 both." 
 
 Faith (moxig) and knowledge (yvwotg) are sharply 
 contrasted by Clement; and knowledge is the higher. 
 Faith is the foundation ; knowledge the superstructure. 1 
 Faith (the belief in God, the desire for God) is natural to 
 every man : if he has it not, he is abnormal. But to 
 attain to the knowledge of the true Gnosis is not so 
 given ; it is an accomplishment to be acquired. Nor is 
 the knowledge to be offered to every one. There are 
 two grades in the Christian life ; the lower one of faith, 
 the higher one of knowledge. Faith is not an arbitrary 
 opinion, but a practical assent, arising from the appre- 
 hension of truth implanted in man, and the natural dis- 
 position to believe in a truth that reveals itself. When 
 you come to act up to your faith, then the higher know- 
 ledge follows, not as a matter of speculation, but as a 
 light that arises in the soul through obedience and a 
 righteous life. This knowledge is the subjective Gnosis ; 
 there is also the objective Gnosis, Scripture. To arrive 
 at a complete understanding of the latter, learned 
 preparation is required. 
 
 Early Platonic associations probably caused Clement 
 to treat with some disdain the simple faith, as a carnal 
 faith useful only for the repression of evil; the higher 
 knowledge being requisite to arrive at a real sanctification 
 of the heart. He held also that it was not good to cast 
 pearls before swine; that some could only be fed with 
 milk, not meat. Out of this idea came the Disciplina 
 Arcani (Discipline of the Secret), the holding back a 
 reserve of religious thought and teaching, which was 
 only to be imparted to the highly trained Christian and 
 withheld from his simpler brother. On the other hand, 
 the test of admission to the reserved doctrine was purely 
 a moral and not an intellectual one. St. Clement 
 1 Star. VI. 26 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 85 
 
 summed up this view by saying that " the man of faith 
 acts from fear and hope and is blessed, but a child : the 
 Gnostic acts from love, and is a man." Again, " The 
 Gnostic, who is the master of the fountain of truth, will 
 incur a penalty if he gives cause for offence, by causing 
 one who is still only conversant with minor points to be 
 swallowed up by the magnitude of what he delivers, 
 and by transferring one who is only an operative to the 
 region of speculation. We must therefore be chary of 
 imparting the higher knowledge to those who are in- 
 capable of receiving it, lest it lead them astray." * But 
 it must be always borne in mind, when considering this 
 subject of the Discipline of the Secret, that St. Clement 
 had to move most cautiously in trying to lead Christians 
 to the pursuit of human learning. For at this time when 
 Gnosticism was at its height, Christians had a great dread 
 of philosophic studies, fearing they would lead them 
 astray, and it was about the same time that Tertullian 
 was denouncing them utterly. Christian Alexandria was 
 almost as nervous as Carthage in this respect. 
 
 The three principal works of St. Clement give the 
 main points of his teaching in progressive form. The 
 first, the Exhortation to the Heathen, points out the sins 
 and errors of Paganism in scathing language, and sets 
 in contrast with it the truth and beauty of Christianity. 
 In this work there is an enormous number of quotations 
 from heathen authors. The second, the Pcedagogue, 
 or Tutor, assumes that the Pagan has been converted, 
 and it is an exposition of the Christian life. The tutor, 
 who is our Saviour, the Incarnate Logos, led the Jews 
 by fear, and leads the Christians by love; but He is 
 always the same, whether showing justice or mercy. 
 The Christian life consists of faith, which is submission 
 to the sovereign reason, and in the practice of virtue; 
 and the minutest regulations are given as to the daily 
 round of conduct all day and all night. What to eat 
 
 1 Str. 5. 
 
86 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 and drink; how to eat and drink; about going into 
 society; the cultivation of art; good manners; dress; 
 hours of sleep; private prayer; the relation of husband 
 to wife ; of master to servant ; frugality ; exercise ; the 
 bath; and many other topics are dwelt on. In conse- 
 quence it is a fair account of how Christians lived, or 
 were expected to live, in the second century; since 
 Clement had too much good sense to enjoin a standard 
 that was quite impracticable. The Tutor being com- 
 pleted, the third work is the Stromata, or Miscellanies, 
 which are mainly philosophical, and in which most of 
 the higher teaching of Clement will be found. They are 
 rightly called Miscellanies, as there is no regular sequence 
 of thought in them. Although they doubtless represent 
 mainly the learning and original thought of St. Clement, 
 he modestly speaks of them as memories which he* has 
 stored up from the teaching of his masters ; and he also 
 professes to have often veiled the truth, that it might 
 not be too readily understood by the unworthy. The 
 irregularity of the ideas may perhaps be caused through 
 their being taken from notes of extempore lectures. 
 Book I shows the usefulness of human philosophy as a 
 preparation for the Gospel. Book II compares Faith 
 and Knowledge. Book III is on Marriage and purity 
 of life. Book IV is on Martyrdom, arguing against the 
 alleged injustice of God in permitting it. It also shows 
 that a knowledge of God would be a higher aim than 
 eternal salvation, if the two ideas could be separated. 
 This was the foundation of Fenelon's argument against 
 Bossuet. The fifth book give his account of God ; the 
 sixth and seventh the description of the True Gnostic, 
 portraying the highest flights to which a Christian can 
 in this world attain; and the eighth book is on Philo- 
 sophical methods. This last is quite unconnected with 
 the others, and seems to be some other work substituted 
 for a lost original eighth book. There were also eight 
 books of Hypotyposes, expounding Scripture, of which 
 only a few choice fragments remain. Several other 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 87 
 
 works, now entirely lost, are known to have existed, and 
 besides these, he mentions several more, which he either 
 had written or intended to write. 
 
 The only other complete work extant is the treatise 
 Who is the rich man to be saved ? (in Latin, quis dives 
 salvctur ?), showing that the clue to salvation is rather 
 a right disposition of soul, than the mere handing over 
 of this world's goods. This treatise is also interesting 
 as being one of the earliest examples of sermon or homily 
 making. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, wrongly 
 attributed to St. Clement of Rome, was perhaps the first. 
 Tertullian's work on the Lord's Prayer is practically a 
 homily, that is, an exposition of Scripture verse by verse, 
 which allowed a very free treatment of the subject. But 
 the Western Church was more inclined to sermons than 
 homilies, the real home of homilies being the Eastern, 
 and one of the greatest homily makers Origen. The Rich 
 man saved consists practically of three discourses : on 
 the young rich man; on the good Samaritan; and on 
 Penitence. 1 
 
 There were certain hymns usually bound up with St. 
 Clement's works which may have been written by him, 
 but were more probably written by a follower and 
 admirer of his. They have a certain interest as character 
 istic of the time, and as specimens of the earliest hymns. 
 The most famous is " To God the Saviour," and another 
 is " To the Tutor." The first, which is in the original 
 a long string of adoring expressions, is very freely 
 translated into English, and amplified so as to resemble 
 a modern hymn, in the Ante-Nicene Library. The first 
 verse is as follows, and gives a general idea of it : — 
 
 " Bridle of colts untamed, 
 
 Over our wills presiding; 
 Wing of un wandering birds, 
 
 Our flight securely guiding : 
 Rudder of youth unbending 
 
 Firm against adverse shock : 
 
 1 Bishop Freppel. 
 
88 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Shophord with wisdom tending 
 
 Lambs of tho royal flock : 
 Thy simple children bring 
 
 In one, that they may sing 
 In solemn lays their hymns of praise 
 With guileless lips to Christ their King." 
 
 As regards St. Clement's theology, 1 his view was that 
 it was impossible to give any written account of God, that 
 He was raised above all speech and thought 2 and there- 
 fore undemonstrable ; so that He could not be the object 
 of science; and he even speaks of Him as an Abyss, 
 which seems to show the influence of Plato, especially 
 as once he speaks of Him as exempt from wants and 
 passions and form : 3 when we apply to Him hands, 
 eyes, and feet, some holy allegory is hidden under these 
 names, 4 Yet God is completely known through the Son, 
 (Logos) who is wisdom, truth, science, and everything 
 of the same order. Thus He is the demonstration and 
 explanation of truth, and the Incarnation of the Logos 
 is the crown and consummation of the history of the 
 world. Many passages imply the close union between 
 Father and Son, the latter being often described as God. 
 The Word has in various ways instructed man from the 
 first foundation of the world and perfected him. In Str. 
 7 is a long description of all the attributes and functions 
 of the Word (Logos), which includes all the attributes of 
 the Godhead ; but when spoken of as the Son, the rela- 
 tion implies a certain subordination. Of the Trinity 
 St. Clement says : " The Father of the Universe is one : 
 the Word of the Universe is one : the Holy Spirit is 
 one and the same everywhere " 5 ; yet " God is one, and 
 beyond one and beyond the Monad." As regards the 
 Atonement, " Christians are redeemed from corruption 
 by the blood of the Lord " 6 ; " The Lord gave Himself 
 as a Victim for us 7 " ; " Salvation is offered to all who 
 
 1 See Bishop Kaye, Some Account of the Life and Writings of 
 St. Clement of Alexandria. 
 
 2 Str. 5. 3 Ibid., 2. 4 Ibid., 5. 
 
 & T. 1. 6 Ibid., 1. 5. 7 Ibid., 1. 11. 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 89 
 
 believe in Christ " x ; " Faith is the rational assent of a 
 soul free to choose." 2 As regards Justification, he says 
 that " Abraham was justified not by works but by 
 faith ; wherefore good works are of no avail after life, 
 unless those who do them also have faith " 3 ; " It is not 
 enough that an act is right, its aim must also be right " 4 ; 
 " An act, to be right, must be done from love of God." 5 
 But on the other hand he also says, " When we read in 
 the Gospel ' Your faith hath saved you,' we are not to 
 imagine that all who believe are saved, unless good works 
 follow." As regards Grace, he says that " we stand in 
 need of Divine Grace, and right instruction, and pure 
 affection, and we require that the Father should draw 
 us unto Himself." 6 As regards Baptism, he says that 
 " Christ forms man out of dust, regenerates him with 
 water, and causes him to grow by the Spirit " 7 ; again, 
 that it is a sovereign medicine, by which we are cleansed 
 from all our sins and cease at once to be wicked. It is 
 also an eternal adjustment of the vision, which is now able 
 to see the light, since like loves like. 8 Sins after baptism 
 were to be purged by discipline, of which a part was 
 public confession. This discipline is so necessary, that if 
 not completed here, it must be after death, and it is then 
 effected by a fire which pervades the soul, which is not 
 destructive, but discriminating. 9 In Eucharistic doc- 
 trine St. Clement is rather deficient, and he seems rather 
 to tend to symbolic teaching. Thus, " The Lord in the 
 Gospel brought this out by symbols, when He said Eat 
 my flesh and drink my blood, describing exactly by meta- 
 phors the drinkable properties of faith and the promise." 10 
 This is so unlike most of the Patristic teaching, that one 
 cannot help feeling that he was carried away by his ten- 
 dency to allegorize. Elsewhere he says, however, " The 
 vine bears wine, as the Word bears blood ; both are drunk 
 
 T. 1. 
 
 1 T. 1. 6. 
 
 2 Str. 5. 
 
 3 Ibid., 2. 
 
 4 Ibid., 6. 
 
 5 Ibid., 3. 
 
 6 Ibid., 5. 
 
 7 T. 1. 
 
 8 Ibid., 1. 6. 
 
 y Str. 7. 
 
90 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 by men • into salvation ; the wine bodily, the Blood 
 spiritually." x 
 
 The Christian school of Alexandria, and consequently 
 St. Clement, exhibited complete loyalty to the Creed, as 
 handed down by apostolic tradition. But beyond that, 
 they held themselves free to speculate and teach. 
 Scripture also was inspired, but the Platonic doctrine 
 that nothing should be believed which was unworthy of 
 God, made Reason for them the interpreter of Revelation. 
 The letter of Scripture was interpreted therefore allegoric- 
 ally, when it came into conflict with science, as in the 
 story of the Creation. But they were far from being 
 wholly rationalist ; on the contrary they were as alive, 
 as was St. Irenseus, to the mystic and the supernatural. 
 They tried, however, to show that neither reason without 
 faith, nor faith without reason could realize the highest 
 results ; only by a combination of both could the Chris- 
 tian grow to the stature of the perfect man, in whom the 
 saint and the thinker are blended together in the unity of 
 the Divine Love. 2 And indeed, what is here true of 
 religion is true also of science, where first principles are 
 known by an intuition which corresponds to faith in 
 religion. 
 
 St. Clement did not confine himself to Plato as a 
 philosophic guide. With the exception of the Epicureans, 
 he respected all the schools and quoted them freely, 
 he also borrowed to some extent from Stoicism, especially 
 in treating of pure Reason. But Plato seemed to him 
 to be more adaptable than any of them to the service 
 of Christianity : in his monotheism ; in the Idea of 
 the Good; in the belief in immortality and in future 
 rewards and punishments ; in that belief in the World- 
 soul (Logos), which emanated from God and yet was God, 
 and which paved the way for the Christian Trinity; in 
 the necessity of Divine help (i. e. grace) ; and in likeness 
 
 1 T. 1. 
 
 2 Biggs, Christian Platonisls in Alexandria, p. 51. 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 91 
 
 to God being the chief aim of man. But besides all this, 
 Platonism was more of a religion than any other Greek 
 system. It is true that we find hymns to the glory of 
 God by Cleanthes the Stoic, Epictetus and others, and 
 that even in Sophocles and iEschylus there is deep reli- 
 gious feeling ; but to Plato alone belongs that aspiration 
 for the Beatific Vision, which carries philosophy into a 
 realm in which Christian thought is at home. Witness 
 the account of the Ideal Beauty in the discussion on Love 
 in the Symposium — " Suppose it were possible to one to 
 behold the Beautiful itself, clear and pure and unalloyed, 
 the Divine Beauty as it really is in its simplicity, do you 
 think it would be an ignoble life that one should gaze 
 thereon and ever contemplate that Beauty and hold com- 
 munion therewith ? Do you not rather believe that in 
 this communion only will it be possible for a man, be- 
 holding the Beautiful with the organ with which alone 
 it can be seen, to become the friend of God and attain 
 to immortality? " x 
 
 But what is " the organ " ? Bussell, in Plato and 
 his School, 2 implies that it was " the unifying principle of 
 love, admiration and hope." Yet, as Professor Adam 
 points out, 3 " the Ideal Beauty must be found by an 
 intellectual operation, a certain method known as 
 Dialectic. In Plato's mind there is no real distinction 
 between the enthusiasm of religion and the enthusiasm 
 of science. The lover of knowledge in Plato inevitably 
 becomes a seeker after God." Conversely, however, the 
 seeker after God is immersed in intellectual speculations. 
 " Socrates inspired boundless friendship and esteem : 
 but the inspiration of reason and conscience is the one 
 inspiration that comes from him, and impels us to live 
 righteously as he did ; a penetrating enthusiasm of love, 
 sympathy, pity and adoration, reinforcing the inspiration 
 
 1 The quotation is very much abbreviated. 
 
 2 p. 274. 
 
 3 Religious Teachers of Greece, p. 396. 
 
92 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 of reason and duty, does not belong to Socrates." * 
 Yet even in this connection, we cannot forget Plato's 
 description of the perfectly righteous man, who, in order 
 to manifest his righteousness to his fellow -men, would 
 endure calumny and the scourge, and even humble him- 
 self to the death on the cross ; for Plato almost uses these 
 words. 
 
 St. Clement's resemblance to Plato is found, (1) in his 
 method, his analysis of philosophic terms, and the general 
 structure of his philosophy ; (2) in his idea of God, who 
 transcends all human thought, and explanation, and is 
 beyond all feeling, as men understand feeling; in fact, 
 passionless. So that the idea of Fatherhood seems quite 
 lost. And yet it is not lost, for he continually speaks of 
 it and fully realizes it. Plato, however, also recognizes 
 the idea of Providence, the good will of God to mankind : 
 and St. Clement enlarges the Platonic conception to this 
 extent ; that while, with Plato, the goodness of God is 
 like a ray from the sun warming and illuminating man- 
 kind generally, with St. Clement God cares for each 
 individual soul and corrects it by pain ; and His supreme 
 occupation is the salvation of humanity. (3) In the 
 highest aim of man being likeness to God, which had been 
 a leading thought of Plato but had hardly been formu- 
 lated by Christian teaching hitherto, though Irenseus 
 and Justin touched on it. In the apostolic writings 
 it was rather likeness to the human nature of Christ. 
 As regards the likeness to God, Clement frankly claimed 
 that Plato borrowed this idea from the Bible : " Let us 
 make man in our own image and likeness." (4) In 
 the comprehension of an ideal transcendent science of 
 the things that are knowable (vorjTa) actual (ovra) 
 those things which St. Paul said were unseen and eternal. 
 (5) In the idea of a sort of aristocracy among Christians ; 
 that the higher truths were not to be revealed to simple 
 souls. 
 
 1 Matthew Arnold, St. Paul and Protestantism, p. 53. 
 
ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 93 
 
 St. Clement adopts the word Gnostic for Christians 
 as he claimed the only right Gnosis was Christianity. 
 
 Yet in spite of the division of Christians into classes, 
 and the consequent separation of the simple believer 
 from the Gnostic or advanced thinker, the man, in fact, 
 who had acquired the knowledge, it is in his description 
 of the Higher Life, as followed by the true Gnostic, that 
 St. Clement is at his best. Disdaining elsewhere what 
 he calls tricks of style as being meretricious, he rises hejce 
 into an altogether higher sphere, and in the seventh book 
 of the Stromata will be found writing of a very rhetorical 
 and beautiful character. For by the side of knowledge 
 St. Clement assures us there is always Love : Love is, in 
 fact, the organ by which the knowledge is grasped. It 
 is Love that supports the Gnostic in suffering and bad 
 fortune. It is Love that steels his courage. It is for 
 Love that he submits to torture and martyrdom, the 
 love of the Church and of his brothers. And it is Love 
 that raises him above all earthly passions, makes him, in 
 fact, a partaker of the Divine Apathy, and in close com- 
 munion with God. So near is he to God that he is a god, 
 and God is always present to him. " Holding festival 
 in our whole life, persuaded that God is everywhere 
 present, we cultivate our fields praising : we sail the sea 
 hymning." " The Gnostic is very closely allied to God, 
 being at once grave and cheerful in all things : grave on 
 account of the bent of his soul towards Divinity and 
 cheerful on account of the Blessings of Humanity." 
 " Prayer is converse with God. Though whispering and 
 not opening the lips we speak in silence, yet we cry in- 
 wardly. For God hears continually all the inward 
 converse." " Prayer may be uttered without the voice 
 by concentrating the whole spiritual nature within one 
 expression by the mind, in undistr acted turning towards 
 God." " The Gnostic is always pure for prayer. He 
 also prays in the company of angels, being already of 
 the angelic rank, and he is never out of their keeping; 
 
94 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 although he prays alone, he has always the choir of the 
 blessed praying with him." The true Gnostic is an 
 unrealizable ideal and St. Clement acknowledged it; 
 unless perhaps the blessed apostles had attained to it. 
 But so was Christ's standard, " Be ye perfect, even as my 
 Father in heaven is perfect." The division between the 
 " simple souls " and the Gnostics, the democracy and 
 aristocracy of Christianity, after all exemplified another 
 of the sayings of the Master : "If any man will do His 
 will, he shall know of the doctrine." The faith first : the 
 dogma and the theology afterwards. 
 
 Titus Flavius Clemens, who carried the same name as 
 St. Clement of Rome, was honoured on December 4 as 
 a Saint until the seventeenth century, when Benedict 
 XIV struck him off the list on the ground that little was 
 known of his life, that there was no evidence of any cult 
 of him in early times, and that his orthodoxy was some- 
 what suspected. But the French Church has always 
 retained his name in the calendar, although Bishop 
 Freppel, in obedience to the dictates of Rome, refuses 
 to acknowledge him as a Saint. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ORIGEN 
 
 (a.d. 186-253. Ordained Priest at Ccesarea in 228) 
 
 At last we come to a Father of the Church whose 
 whole life is on record. Of those of his predecessors we 
 know hardly anything, except what we gather from their 
 writings and a little scrappy information. Even in the 
 case of Tertullian it is difficult to decide to which period 
 of his career certain writings are to be assigned ; but 
 we see Origen in his childhood, maturity and old age, 
 and he is one of the most interesting, and perhaps the 
 most fascinating, personalities of the Early Church. 
 He was also, next to St. Augustine, the most voluminous 
 writer, though much of his work is lost. 
 
 Origines Adamantius was born at Alexandria in a.d. 
 186, and was the son of a devout Christian, Leonidas, 
 who was either an Egyptian or a Greek, and was martyred 
 in 202. Origen, who was then a boy of sixteen, en- 
 couraged his father, and entreated him not to be 
 deterred from martyrdom by his affection for his wife 
 and child. Indeed, it was only by hiding his clothes 
 that his mother prevented the boy from offering himself 
 as well. There is a touching story that when Origen 
 w r as a child his father used to kiss his breast as he lay 
 in bed, regarding it as the temple of the Holy Ghost. 
 So that from childhood Origen was dedicated to the 
 Church, which he served unceasingly and with never- 
 flagging enthusiasm and industry till his death. From 
 his father he received an excellent all-round education, 
 which enabled him at eighteen to succeed St. Clement 
 
 95 
 
96 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 as the head of the Catechetical School. In his youth 
 he is said to have been seized by a mob, carried to the 
 temple of Serapis, dressed as a priest, and ordered to 
 distribute palms to the people; whereupon he distri- 
 buted them boldly, not in the name of an idol, but of 
 their true Lord, Jesus Christ. 
 
 On his father's death, his mother being in poverty, 
 he was patronized by a rich Alexandrian lady, and gave 
 lessons in grammar, collecting at the same time a 
 library ; but as he wished to be independent, he shortly 
 afterwards sold the library for an annuity of the equiva- 
 lent of sixpence a day, resolving to teach gratuitously 
 in future. At the same time he led a completely ascetic 
 life, sleeping on bare boards, and following literally the 
 instruction in St. Matthew not to have two coats, or 
 to wear shoes. He seems to have been always working 
 or praying, for he prayed into the middle of the night. 
 He is also said to have become an eunuch " for the 
 Kingdom of Heaven's sake " ; although Dean Farrar 
 throws some doubt on this. But his asceticism never 
 made him austere in his relation to others. From 204 
 till 215 he retained his position as Catechist, that is, 
 till twenty-nine years of age. During this period he 
 was assisted by Heracles, who in time succeeded him as 
 head of the school, and was subsequently Bishop of 
 Alexandria : he also converted Plutarch, and accom- 
 panied him to his martyr's death. Indeed, he always 
 made a point of cheering and encouraging the martyrs, 
 and as a born Christian seems to have been in less danger 
 than the converts. In the year 211 he attended the 
 lectures of the Neo-Platonist, Ammonius Saccus, so as 
 to be able to meet his pupils' intellectual difficulties. 
 
 In a.d. 215 Origen fled from Alexandria on the occa- 
 sion of a persecution of literary men by Caracalla, in 
 revenge for some satirical writing; and about this time 
 visited Rome. He also paid a visit by request to Arabia 
 to give religious instruction, and also to Julia Mammsea 
 
ORIGEN 97 
 
 at Antioch, the mother of Alexander Severus, afterwards 
 Emperor. Dates at this point are a little uncertain, 
 but it was presumably on his way to Antioch that his 
 friends, Theotistus, Bishop of Csesarea, and Alexander 
 of Jerusalem (who had been his fellow-pupil under 
 Clement) ordered him to preach before them, to the 
 great indignation of Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria. 
 The attitude of Demetrius towards Origen at this period 
 is rather strange, since at an earlier date he ;had given 
 him his unqualified approval. He seems, however, to 
 have considered lay-preaching before a bishop a dan- 
 gerous innovation, although the Asiatic bishops produced 
 precedents, and he therefore (in 213) recalled Origen to 
 Alexandria. 
 
 The next ten years were spent less in teaching than 
 in writing. During this period he was financed by 
 Ambrosius, formerly a Valentinian Gnostic, whom he 
 had converted. This useful friend provided him with 
 seven shorthand clerks, seven transcribers, and a 
 number of girls who were skilled in caligraphy. Then in 
 228 (aged forty-two) he went to Greece by invitation 
 for controversial purposes. On the way, probably to 
 strengthen his position, the Bishops of Caesarea and 
 Jerusalem, or rather one of them, ordained him, and this 
 finally turned Demetrius against him, so that w T hen he 
 returned to Alexandria in 231, he found his position 
 intolerable. The complaint against him was that he 
 had committed a breach of Church order in receiving 
 ordination from any other than his own bishop : possibly 
 also that his self-mutilation disqualified him. There is 
 no evidence that his views were questioned, although this 
 is possible, as the Periarchon, which contained views 
 questioned after his death, was by that time written. 
 At any rate Demetrius called a local Synod, which 
 forbade Origen to teach, but refused to depose him. 
 He therefore left Alexandria for Caesarea. A little later 
 Demetrius called together three other bishops, who 
 
 H 
 
98 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 excommunicated and banished him. Where he got 
 these bishops from is not explained, for in the last 
 chapter it was shown that there was only one in Egypt. 
 This may, however, tend to prove that the twelve 
 presbyters of Alexandria had episcopal ordination. 
 Notice was given to the Church at large of this action, 
 and the Roman Church is believed to have concurred 
 in it. 
 
 The Eastern bishops, however, remained Origen's 
 firm friends. On his way to Csesarea he preached in 
 Jerusalem on Psalm 1. 16, 17, and is said to have wept 
 bitterly on giving out the text. In 235 he retired, owing 
 to a persecution, to Cappadocia, where he was sheltered 
 by a learned Christian lady, Juliana. This lady 
 possessed a valuable library, which was of great use to 
 him, especially as it included Symmachus' translation 
 of the Old Testament, which he was thus enabled to 
 include in the Hexapla. On that marvellous work of 
 textual criticism he was engaged for twenty -eight years. 
 He returned to Palestine in 238. Finally we find him 
 at Tyre, where in 251 he was put to the torture in 
 prison, from the effect of which he never recovered. 
 His death at Tyre occurred in 253 or 254 ; the last work 
 of his life being the Contra Celsum, which was the 
 crowning Christian apology, and directed against the 
 most powerful of all Pagan attacks on Christianity. 
 
 One of the most famous pupils of Origen at Csesarea 
 was Gregory, afterwards Bishop of Neo-Csesarea, and 
 generally known as the Wonder-worker (Thaumaturgus). 
 On leaving the class he wrote a letter of thanks to his 
 master as a x tribute of his devotion, from which we 
 gather an account of Origen's charm and fascination, 
 of his skill in training individual minds, and the pro- 
 gressive method of education that he adopted. First 
 he aimed at exactness of definition, and a just apprecia- 
 tion of the scope of an argument. When his pupils' 
 minds had thus been prepared, they were next taught 
 
ORIGEN 99 
 
 to study Nature, and to have a reasonable admiration 
 for it, instead of an unreasoning wonder. Geometry 
 and Astronomy were subservient to this branch of the 
 course. Then followed practical Ethics, the main 
 virtues being Wisdom, Justice, Self-restraint and 
 Courage. The highest teaching of philosophy came 
 next, with an encouragement to read authors of all 
 schools except the Epicureans. Finally, as the crown 
 of all, came Theology. Gregory writes as if heart- 
 broken at leaving the class, and says he is like Adam 
 leaving Paradise; and the same marvellous fascination 
 was felt by most of the leading spirits of his time. 
 
 Indeed, it was extended to subsequent generations. 
 St. Jerome, who differed strongly from him on the 
 disputed points of his theology, called him " the greatest 
 master of the Church after the Apostles ; " St. Augustine, 
 " that great man; " St. Basil, St. Hilary, St. Ambrose, 
 St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. 
 Vincent of Lerins all warmly admired him. In our own 
 day Cardinal Newman said, " I love the name of 
 Origen; " and elsewhere he spoke of " the sweet soul 
 of Origen." Bishop Westcott said " his whole life was 
 one unbroken prayer, 1 one ceaseless effort after close 
 fellowship with the Unseen and Eternal. 55 Dean Farrar 
 said, " The influence of Origen on the History of the 
 Church is the watershed of multitudes of different 
 streams of thought. 55 During his lifetime he was the 
 one great teacher to whom all turned for inspiration 
 and advice. Yet after his death this great champion 
 of Catholic orthodoxy, who may be said to have first 
 systematized Christian Theology, became a by-word of 
 heresy. 
 
 There is no clear evidence that any action was taken 
 
 against Origen during his life for erroneous teaching; 
 
 and, as Bishop Freppel says, a man cannot be more of 
 
 a heretic after his death than he was when he was alive. 
 
 1 Origen's own definition of what life should be. 
 
100 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 But early in the fourth century Methodius attacked his 
 speculations on the Creation, the relation of the soul to 
 the body, the resurrection and free will. From that 
 time until the middle of the sixth century an endless 
 controversy ranged round the memory of Origen, till 
 finally his name was included among a number of 
 heretics by the Fifth General Council. His name, 
 however, appears last on the list and out of chronological 
 order. It may therefore be an interpolation. There 
 is no trace that his views were discussed except by a 
 Home Synod of Bishops from the neighbourhood of 
 Constantinople . 
 
 The four points in Origen's Periarchon that were 
 generally objected to were : (1) That souls had existed 
 in a previous state, and that the present life in the 
 body was a punishment for sins committed in that 
 state; (2) That the human soul of Christ had been 
 united to the Father before the Incarnation; (3) That 
 material bodies will some time or other be dissolved into 
 ethereal spirits; (4) That there will be a final restora- 
 tion of all spirits, when even the Devil will be saved. 
 Of these the first two were in the region of pure specula- 
 tion, but the last two were practical theology; No. 3 
 seeming to deny the immortality of the risen body, and 
 No. 4 eternal punishment. Besides all this, the some- 
 what excessive subordination that Origen seemed to 
 ascribe to the Son caused Arius to claim him as an 
 authority, although no one more emphatically proclaimed 
 the " eternal generation of the Logos " than Origen. 
 But this last charge may be at once dismissed, because 
 no less an authority than St. Athanasius defended his 
 orthodoxy on the Trinity in detail. As regards 3 and 
 4, Origen may have made mistakes, but to use a modern 
 phrase, he submitted himself in all things to the judgment 
 of the Church, and was at any rate never an intentional 
 heretic, still less an obstinate one. Outside what he 
 considered the Apostolic Tradition, he claimed the 
 
ORIGEN 101 
 
 utmost freedom for speculation, and in such speculations 
 he expressed himself always modestly, as " I think," 
 " It is my opinion," etc. 
 
 As regards the Tradition he says : " Seeing there 
 are many who think they hold the opinion of Christ, 
 and yet some of them think differently from their 
 predecessors ; yet as the teaching of the Church, trans- 
 mitted in orderly succession from the Apostles and 
 remaining in the Churches to the present day, is still 
 preserved, that alone is to be accepted as truth, which 
 differs in no respect from ecclesiastical and apostolic 
 tradition." This is in the Preface to the Peri Archon, 
 and is at the base of the argument of the whole work. 
 He then goes on to say that " the holy Apostles delivered 
 themselves with the utmost clearness on certain necessary 
 points, leaving the grounds of their statements to be 
 examined into by those who should deserve the excellent 
 gifts of the Spirit, i. e. gifts of language, wisdom and 
 knowledge." But there were also, he thought, many 
 points which were left entirely open to private specula- 
 tion. 
 
 The creed which follows is essentially, as with his 
 predecessors, the Apostles' Creed; but with certain 
 amplifications. For instance, " the Holy Ghost is 
 associated in honour and dignity with the Father and 
 the Son, but it is not clearly distinguished (i. e. by the 
 Apostolic tradition) whether innate or born, and whether 
 a Son of God or not." A definition of the Soul is also 
 given, as having substance and life, and to be rewarded 
 or blessed in the future; but the origin of the soul was 
 not stated in the Tradition. Our author feels, therefore, 
 justified in giving his own modest views about the 
 origin of the soul. The Resurrection of the Body is also 
 according to Tradition, and he repeatedly confirms his 
 belief in this doctrine ; but as to the nature of the risen 
 body, he expresses his individual view, that the chemical 
 particles will not be those of the body that died. Bishop 
 
102 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Freppel says, " Neither in the third century nor at any 
 subsequent date has the Church defined in what consists 
 the identity of the risen with the mortal body." 1 In 
 this, as on many other points, Origen anticipated the 
 arguments and conclusions of Modern Science. But he 
 also believed, or perhaps hoped, that there would come 
 a time, after countless ages, when bodies would become 
 unnecessary. For bodies were given us as instruments 
 with which to struggle against the devil and his angels ; 
 so Origen said, " We think, indeed, that the goodness 
 of God, through His Christ, may recall all His creatures 
 to one end, even His enemies being conquered and sub- 
 dued." 2 But he added : " For the multitude it is 
 sufficient to know that the sinner will be punished." 
 Thus Origen, in holding out the " wider hope " that all 
 men at last would be reconciled to God, nay, even the 
 Devil himself, so that God should be all in all (although 
 he thought that only the advanced Christian should be 
 taught this), saw no further need for bodies. Perhaps 
 his Platonic environment caused him to doubt the 
 possibility of perfection, so long as the body remained. 
 In St. Jerome's letter to Avitus, Origen's view is quoted 
 thus : " We shall perhaps at some future time live 
 without bodies, when we have been completely sub- 
 jected to Christ. If all have been subjected to Him, 
 then all will lay aside their bodies. The need of bodies 
 will cease, because, apparently, bodies are only given us 
 to wrestle with evil." 3 
 
 The alleged heresies of Origen were thus connected 
 entirely with questions on which the Church had not 
 pronounced judgment. Nor was he alone in his view 
 of the ultimate future. Whatever was the exact 
 meaning of the Greek word in the New Testament for 
 " eternal," the earliest Fathers must have used that word 
 
 1 Origen (oours d'eloquence sacree), XXI, p. 43. 
 
 2 Per. T. 6. 2. 
 
 3 The question is discussed in Poriarch, II. 2. 1. 
 
ORIGEN 103 
 
 in the same sense. Justin and Irenseus, however, both 
 used expressions signifying ultimate redemption or 
 else total extinction. Clement hinted at the ultimate 
 amendment of every evil nature. 1 Gregory of Nyssa 
 believed that the soul, having an affinity to God, must 
 ultimately return to God ; that all evil would ultimately 
 disappear; that all punishment was remedial. 2 Athan- 
 asius only mildly reproved Origen for his view, while 
 Ambrose supported it. 3 Augustine treated the question 
 as one of free opinion, not of faith, though he took an 
 opposite view. The first four Councils refrained from 
 dogmatizing on the subject, though it was discussed. 
 
 In connection with this question, Clement spoke of 
 the discriminating (ygonjiiov) fire, and Origen of the 
 purifying (xaddgotov) fire, through which all must pass : 
 the ordinary sinners till they are purged. It was a 
 baptism of fire for those who had not been sufficiently 
 purified by the baptism of the Spirit; it was, in fact, 
 remorse for remembered sin. From Alexandria there- 
 fore came probably the doctrine of Purgatory, although 
 the Roman Catholic Church bases it on 1 Cor. iii. 13, 15, 
 the " fire that shall try every man's work." 
 
 For a long time no action was taken against Origen' s 
 books; but when party spirit ran high between his 
 admirers and opponents, many personal animosities 
 being involved in it, judgment was given against him 
 by two Popes, Anastasius and Gelasius, and possibly, 
 though by no means certainly, by the Fifth General 
 Council. 
 
 The complete Godhead of each of the Persons in the 
 Trinity was fully realized and expounded by Origen, 
 and he taught that in their essence they were absolutely 
 equal. Thus he was the first to use the expression 
 " eternal generation of the Son," and also the " God- 
 Man." But in their person and office and their relation 
 
 1 Str. I. 17. 2 See Ch. XVI. 
 
 3 Ps. xxxv. 15 and cxix. 153. 
 
104 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 to man they were quite different. The Father was 
 the one fount of the Godhead. The Father, holding 
 all things together, reaches to each being, imparting 
 being to each from that which is His own, for He exists 
 absolutely. The Son is less than the Father, reaching 
 only to rational beings ; and further, the Holy Ghost is 
 less still, extending only to the Saints. So that in this 
 sense the power of the Father is greater in comparison 
 with the other two, and that of the Son greater than 
 that of the Holy Ghost. 1 The human soul that Christ 
 took was the only one that had remained perfectly 
 pure in a previous existence. 
 
 This doctrine of previous existence comes into con- 
 flict with the orthodox doctrine of the Fall, for the 
 world, according to Origen, was created to receive in 
 their bodies the spirits who had already sinned. 2 Yet 
 in commenting on St. John i. 22, and Romans v. 1, he 
 fully admits the Fall. But again in Celsus I. 4, quite 
 at the close of his life, he reverts to the theory of pre- 
 existence; and in Matt. xv. 35, also at a late period, 
 he makes the story of Adam an allegory, and Paradise 
 the previous existence. But throughout Origen's writ- 
 ings there are continually found inconsistencies of this 
 kind; his philosophical speculations carrying him into 
 high flights in one direction, while his desire for orthodoxy 
 and his reverence for Scripture are drawing him towards 
 another. Besides this, the enormous amount that the 
 man wrote (two thousand works, according to St. 
 Jerome), makes it impossible that he should always be 
 consistent. He regretted himself the rapidity with 
 which his work had been done, and also complained 
 that it had often been tampered with by heretics. 
 
 Whatever was his view of the Fall, he expressed 
 himself quite clearly about Free Will. " Every rational 
 creature is capable of earning praise or blame — praise, 
 if, in accordance with that reason which it possesses, 
 
 1 Peri. I. 3. 2 Ibid., III. 4 
 
ORIGEN 105 
 
 it advances to better things ; blame, if it falls away from 
 the right course." * Grace, too, is necessary, and 
 grace is offered to all ; but it is like the sunshine, which 
 melts wax, but hardens clay. 2 The Incarnation had a 
 two-fold object : to be a pattern (to restore the image) 
 and also an expiation. The " likeness to God " is 
 achieved by the unceasing action of the Trinity towards 
 us, which will enable us some day to look on the holy 
 and blessed life. God creates us; Christ gives us our 
 rational nature; the Holy Ghost holiness. He also 
 claimed that the Church taught the doctrine of original 
 sin and Baptismal Regeneration ; for " if there were 
 nothing in little children to call for remission and in- 
 dulgence, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous." 3 
 As regards the Eucharist, Origen was always so 
 ready for symbolism and allegory, that he used occa- 
 sionally expressions which imply a merely symbolic 
 view. For instance, he speaks of " the typical and 
 symbolical body." 4 But he has many other passages 
 which give quite the Catholic view. Thus, " The manna 
 was a symbolic food : to-day the flesh of the Word of 
 God is a true nourishment." 5 " He is Himself the 
 Bread, and He eats with us ; He is Himself the Wine, 
 and drinks with us." 6 If these last two quotations 
 might be taken either way, here is a stronger one. 
 " We eat with prayer and thanksgiving the bread which 
 we offer, which becomes by prayer a Holy Body." 7 
 Waterman 8 thinks that to Origen' s mind the elements 
 were in some quite literal sense the Body and Blood, 
 and there simple believers might rest; but that every 
 material fact, even the Body of the Lord, was also a 
 symbol of some spiritual idea. And this seems further 
 probable from the fact that he taught that good and bad 
 alike partook of it ; and in commenting on Exodus xiii., 
 
 1 Peri. I. 5. 2 Ibid., TIL 11. 
 
 3 On St. Luke viii. 3. 4 On St. Matt. xi. 5 On Num. vii. 
 6 On St. Matt. viii. 6. * Cels. 8. 33 
 
 8 The Post-Apostolic Age, p. 343. 
 
106 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 he refers to the fear lest the least fragment of the 
 consecrated gift should fall to the ground. Possibly 
 also the Discipline of the Secret may have deterred 
 him from unveiling too much the sacramental doctrine ; 
 for on Lev. ix. he says, " He who is initiated into the 
 mysteries recognizes the Flesh and the Blood. Let us 
 not dwell longer on a subject which is clear to those 
 who know, but a closed book to those who are ignorant." 
 This is something like the saying of the Saxon jElfric, 
 that the elements seem one thing to the understanding 
 mind, but cry quite another thing to the believing soul. 
 
 The idea of Predestination was fraught with much 
 difficulty to Origen, whose leading thought was the 
 Fatherhood and absolute love of God. He explained 
 it thus x : If God predestinated only those whom He 
 foreknew, it follows that He does not foreknow those 
 whom He does not predestinate. But this is absurd. 
 He explains " know " therefore as " love," and God 
 loves only the good. These therefore he predestinates 
 according to (their own) purpose; or, if according to 
 God's purpose, then because He knew they desired it. 
 Man is free in such a complete sense, that God Himself 
 does not know what he will do. 
 
 In connection with the position of Origen, a contrast 
 is drawn by Fairweather 2 between the Latin and Greek 
 theologies in their general tendencies. The Greeks 
 better understood the Immanence of God, but for this 
 very reason were brought dangerously near to Pantheism. 
 To the Latins, God was far away in Heaven. The old 
 difference between the Paganism of the two races may 
 have prepared them for this. The Greek gods had 
 always been gracious beings moving amongst men; 
 the Latin deities were cold abstractions. Again, the 
 Incarnation was the leading thought to the Greek, and 
 he stood by the cradle. The Latin thought constantly 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 29. 
 
 2 Origen and the Greek Patristic Theology, ch. x. 
 
ORIGEN 107 
 
 of the Atonement, and he stood under the Cross, The 
 Greek's mind was full of the Fatherhood of God and 
 His love, and he thought of Him as good rather than 
 just; the Latin mind dwelt much more on sin, justice, 
 propitiation. 
 
 The Periarchon (tieqi oq%cov : Be Principiis), which 
 was written in a comparatively early period of Origen's 
 life, contains his general philosophic scheme ; and it was 
 presumably to this that Erasmus referred, when he 
 said that he learnt more Christian philosophy from one 
 page of Origen than from ten of St. Augustine. It 
 was written, however, entirely for the learned, and 
 never intended as a text-book for simple believers. In 
 this work most of his questionable tenets appear. To 
 gather his views on topics of modern controversy it is 
 better to study his Commentaries on the Bible. The 
 Periarchon deals in Book I with God and the Spirit; 
 in Book II with this world and man ; in Book III with 
 Sin and Redemption; in Book IV with Scripture. 
 
 This is the first time that the position of Scripture 
 in the Christian scheme is exhaustively dealt with, 
 and it is an important feature in Origen's work. The 
 divine writings were, according to his view, unques- 
 tionably the word of God. They were composed by the 
 inspiration of the Holy Ghost, agreeably to the Will of 
 the Father expressed through Christ. But the writers 
 were not mere mechanical instruments. The impulse 
 to write came from God; the writers conveyed the 
 message in their own words. The inspiration was 
 proved by the effect produced by Scripture on man; 
 by the fulfilment of prophecy; by the superhuman 
 power that watched over the work of the Apostles. 
 Scripture was a mine of speculative truth, and every 
 word was true. 
 
 But Origen held with Clement that there were three 
 sorts of truth — three meanings : the literal, the moral, 
 the spiritual. Sometimes all three would be found, 
 
108 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 sometimes only two, or even one. Only love and faith 
 in Christ gave the power to find the spiritual meaning. 
 Of course it was difficult; for " he who believes the 
 Scriptures to have proceeded from the Author of Nature, 
 may well expect to find the same sort of difficulties in 
 them which he finds in Nature." x (This was Bishop 
 Butler's famous argument from Origen.) Many texts 
 of Scripture were not to be taken literally at all, as being 
 physically impossible. For instance, that there could 
 be a morning and evening before the sun was created. 
 Others again were morally impossible; as that you 
 should not possess two coats; although Origen had 
 taken this very literally in his youth. The things, 
 however, that were not literally true were often those 
 which possessed the deepest spiritual meaning; their 
 obvious impossibility stirring the mind to look deeper. 
 An instance of the allegorical interpretations of Origen 
 will be found in the account of the sons of Aaron 
 wrapping the Tabernacle and its vessels, while the 
 other sons of Kohath were only allowed to carry them. 
 Only Aaron's sons, the men of spiritual insight, says 
 Origen, were allowed to gaze on the holy things unveiled. 
 In this one of course sees also an allusion to the Discipline 
 of the Secret. 
 
 The immense work which Origen did in connection 
 with the Bible, writing commentaries on almost every 
 book, and also criticizing various texts in his Hexapla, 
 calls for a note here on the New Testament Canon. 
 Until the period of the Councils, no authoritative 
 declaration was made by the Church as to the limits 
 of the New Testament, or what books were to be con- 
 sidered inspired and what apocryphal. Books like the 
 Shepherd of Hernias, the Epistle of Barnabas, possibly 
 the Epistle of Clement of Rome, and many others, 
 were treated as almost, if not quite, Scripture ; and the 
 
 1 Philocal. 23. 2 On Num. iv. 15 
 
 3 See Westcott on the Canon. 
 
ORIGEN 109 
 
 views of the different Churches varied. But in the 
 third century these apocryphal books had almost 
 entirely lost their hold, and all the New Testament 
 books were firmly established, except Hebrews, St. 
 James, 2 and 3 St. John, 2 St. Peter and St. Jude. 
 About these there was still a difference of opinion. 
 
 Origen, as representing the Church of Alexandria, 
 accepted generally alV the New Testament, but spoke 
 with caution of the disputed books; he thought 2 St. 
 Peter doubtful, also 2 and 3 St. John. He once also 
 admitted some doubt as to the authenticity of St. Jude. 
 He also spoke of " the Epistle in circulation under the 
 name l of James." As regards Hebrews he says : " I 
 should say that the thoughts are the Apostle's, but the 
 diction and composition that of some one who re- 
 corded from memory the Apostle's teaching, and, as it 
 were, illustrates with a brief commentary the sayings of 
 his master. . . . The men of old time handed it down 
 as Paul's; but who it was that wrote it, God alone 
 knows certainly. 2 Some say Clement, while others 
 assign it to Luke." His successor, Dionysius, accepted 
 St. James and also Hebrews as Pauline, but threw 
 doubt on the Apocalypse as emanating from St. John. 
 In this, however, he stood practically alone. Apparently 
 no Alexandrian, except Origen, accepted 2 St. Peter. 
 
 The Carthaginian Church ignored Hebrews; Ter- 
 tullian accepted St. Jude, but appears not to have 
 known St. James, 2 and 3 St. John, or 2 St. Peter. 
 
 The Roman Church did not accept Hebrews as 
 Pauline. In Asia Minor there was no trace of St. Jude 
 and St. James ; 2 St. Peter very uncertain. 
 
 In the Church of Antioch the Canon seems to have 
 been complete about a.d. 300. 
 
 The Muratorian Canon gives the earliest list extant. 
 It was published in 1740 from a MS. in Milan, which 
 had been transcribed in the seventh or eighth century 
 1 On St. John xix 6. 2 Horn, on Hebrews. 
 
110 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 from a previous MS. of about a.d. 170. This omits 
 St. James, 2 St. Peter, and Hebrews. The following 
 books, therefore, Hebrews, St. James, 2 St. Peter, 2 and 
 3 St. John, and St. Jude are called by Roman Catholics 
 deuterO'Canonical, as having been accepted later. 
 
 The chief of Origen' s practical works are those on 
 Prayer and Martyrdom. In the first he teaches that 
 Divine foreknowledge does not release men from 
 responsibility : that the moral attitude of prayer is in 
 itself a sufficient blessing; that it establishes an active 
 communion between Christ and the angels. The duty 
 of prayer is proved by the example of Christ and the 
 Saints. It must be addressed to the Father through 
 the Son. The proper disposition, place, attitude and 
 topics of prayer are discussed, and the sympathy of the 
 dead with the living is enforced. It is best, according 
 to Origen, to pray standing, with eyes and hands up- 
 lifted. The Tract on Martyrdom is also a beautiful 
 work, in which he reminds the Martyrs that they are 
 surrounded by hosts of unseen spiritual witnesses. 
 
 The philosophy of Origen is to be found, as already 
 said, in the Periarchon, the leading thought of which, 
 according to Bishop Westcott, 1 is that M All Being is 
 one throughout, answering to the absolutely perfect 
 Will of God, and man makes an onward progress from 
 sphere to sphere, from lower to higher phenomena." 
 The Biblical work appears mainly in the Tomi, or 
 Commentaries on nearly every work in Scripture, 
 which have come down to us in a very imperfect state; 
 in the Homilies, and in the Scholia, of which last there 
 are only extant some fragments. We have also frag- 
 ments of the Stromata, originally written in ten books, 
 and four fragments of his treatise on the Resurrection. 
 Large fragments remain of the PhilocaUa, which were 
 extracts from his works made by St. Basil and St. 
 Gregory Nazianzen. The Hexapla was a comparison 
 1 Contemporary Review, May 1870. 
 
ORIGEN 111 
 
 in six parallel columns of six editions of the Old Testa- 
 ment : the Hebrew ; the same in Greek letters ; the 
 Septuagint ; and the translations respectively of Aquila, 
 Symmachus and Theodotion. It took twenty-eight 
 years to complete, and was in fifty great parchment 
 rolls. At Origen's death it was removed to the library 
 at Csesarea, and is supposed to have been burnt by the 
 Arabs in 653. Fragments remain which were pub- 
 lished in Paris in the eighteenth and at Oxford in the 
 nineteenth century. Eusebius and Pamphilus copied 
 out the Septuagint column with Origen's marginal 
 notes. 
 
 The crowning work of Origen, written at the close of 
 his life, when his views were thoroughly matured, was 
 the Contra Celsum, which is admitted to be the finest 
 of all the Christian Apologies. Celsus had, about 
 eighty-five years before, published a most scathing 
 attack on Christianity both on moral and intellectual 
 grounds. The book is lost, but can be almost recon- 
 structed, as Origen quotes him and answers him point 
 by point. The arguments of Celsus would satisfy a 
 rationalist of the nineteenth or twentieth century. 
 He first contended that Christianity was repudiated 
 by Judaism, of which it was an offshoot; next, that it 
 was a revolutionary system, based on incredible legends ; 
 a religion of threats and bribes, unworthy of good or 
 wise men. Origen replied with a history of Christianity, 
 and a description of its character, and its relation to 
 philosophy, paganism and life. The argument of Celsus 
 generally was : " Christ has failed and yet you believe 
 Him." The reply of Origen : " He has not failed, 
 because we believe Him." In other words, Origen's 
 defence was on a moral and historical basis. " Jesus 
 hath both risen Himself, and led His disciples to believe 
 in His Resurrection, and so thoroughly persuaded them 
 of its truth, that they show to all men by their sufferings 
 how they are able to laugh at all the troubles of life, 
 
112 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 beholding the Life Eternal and the Resurrection clearly 
 demonstrated to them both in word and deed." * 
 
 The close connection of both Clement and Origen with 
 Bishop Alexander of Jerusalem suggests a passing note 
 on the early history of the Mother Church. The first 
 Bishop was, of course, James " the brother of the Lord." 
 Then Simeon, son of Clopas, who was martyred in 107. 
 After him followed Jewish Bishops till the revolt of 
 Barcochba in 136, when the city was rebuilt as iElia 
 Capitolina. The Christians had been persecuted by 
 the Jews during the revolt, because they sided with 
 Rome : Hadrian recognized this, and allowed them to 
 remain, while expelling the Jews. From this date we 
 find Gentile Bishops in the Holy City, of whom the most 
 important was Narcissus. He died in 216, aged 120, 
 and was therefore actually born in the first century. 
 The Metropolitan See passed to the Metropolitan city, 
 Caesarea, though Mlia gradually recovered the name 
 of Jerusalem, and at the Council of Nicaea was given a 
 precedency of honour, but without prejudice to the 
 Metropolitan rights of Caesarea. Narcissus in extreme 
 old age appointed Alexander, then a Cappadocian 
 bishop, his coadjutor, who afterwards succeeded him 
 and created the famous library, dying as a confessor in 
 the Decian persecution (251). 
 
 It is hardly necessary to deal with the Platonism of 
 Origen, as it was founded on that of St. Clement : and 
 although Origen did a far greater work for the Church 
 than Clement, yet the latter is a more prominent land- 
 mark in the history of Christian thought. The services 
 rendered to Christianity by the Alexandrines were 
 magnificent. They met in battle and conquered the 
 most highly cultivated minds of the age : and the 
 reasoning of Origen was so modern, that it serves as a 
 basis for Christian apologetics for all time. They lived 
 before the age of accurate definitions, and had therefore 
 1 Cels. II. 77. 
 
ORIGEN 113 
 
 a freer hand than the writers of subsequent centuries. 
 Even in their own time they needed a highly educated 
 city like Alexandria to fully appreciate them. In the 
 next century only the great leaders of the Church could 
 sympathize with them. With all their large-heartedness 
 and liberalism, they taught the supreme importance 
 of what Clement called Knowledge and Origen Wisdom. 
 The men of the next century began defining knowledge 
 very accurately, and as St. Clement said right conduct 
 depended on right knowledge, theological error soon 
 became damnable heresy. So Origen was condemned, 
 because his views were on some points not as theirs; 
 and centuries afterwards we find men, chiefly monks, 
 who were neither capable of understanding him, nor 
 worthy of touching the hem of his garment, writing 
 wearisome treatises on whether or not the soul of that 
 uncanonized saint of saints was eternally lost. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 
 
 {Bishop of Carthage, a.d. 248-258) 
 
 It is not so much as a theologian or writer that we 
 have to regard St. Cyprian, but as a great administrator ; 
 the greatest in fact that the Church had known since 
 St. Paul. Under him the power of the Episcopate was 
 thoroughly consolidated, and what is known as monar- 
 chical Episcopacy, in contrast to the presidential Epis- 
 copacy attributed to earlier times, became an established 
 and permanent fact. He was essentially an organizer 
 and a statesman. Under him we find the Church going 
 forth as an organized body of active workers to relieve 
 suffering. From him we get an account of the diseased 
 state of the body politic and of the attitude the Church 
 should take towards social questions. By him the 
 essential unity of the Church was emphasized, and the 
 importance of the sacramental system as a bond of that 
 union. 
 
 Thascius Cyprianus was born probably about the 
 beginning of the third century ; for he was certainly in 
 advanced middle life, when, in 246, being at that time 
 a lawyer, man of property and cultivated gentleman of 
 Carthage, he was converted to Christianity by Caecilianus, 
 whose name he took at his baptism. In the following 
 year he was ordained priest, and in the second of his 
 Christian life he became by popular acclamation Bishop 
 or Pope of Carthage, and so head of the great African 
 Church. 
 
 For his Theology he relied on Tertullian, whom he 
 
 114 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 115 
 
 always referred to as his master. Many of his works were 
 on the same subjects which Tertullian had treated, and 
 bore the same or similar titles. But Cyprian was a 
 refined scholar, and he conducted into " smooth channels 
 the turbid waters of his master's eloquence." His first 
 literary work was called That Idols are not gods ; deal- 
 ing, after the accustomed manner, with Polytheism by 
 showing in contrast to it the Unity of God ; and explain- 
 ing the position of Judaism. This essay is generally 
 known as De Vanitate idolorum, but the other title is in 
 accordance with the MSS. Shortly after his baptism, 
 he wrote to a fellow -convert, Donatus (who must not be 
 confused with another Donatus, then Bishop of Carthage, 
 or with the founder of Donatism), the Ad Donatum, on 
 the contrast between the miseries of the Pagan life 
 around them and the peace of the Christian. This work 
 is remarkable for the attention called in it to the signs 
 of the times; the accumulations of locked up capital, 
 the disappearance of arable land, and of an independent 
 labouring class, and the weakened sense of obligation 
 between rich and poor. In this respect he practised 
 what he preached, for no sooner was he ordained than 
 he sold his property and distributed the proceeds. He 
 would have parted in the same way with his gardens in 
 Carthage, had not his friends insisted on buying them in. 
 His third w r ork, also written before he became Bishop, 
 was the Ad Quirinum, commonly known as Testimonies 
 against the Jews. Only the first book, however, deals 
 with the Jews ; the second with the " Mystery or Sacra- 
 ment of Christ " ; while the third is a collection of texts 
 from Scripture for daily use. 
 
 During the first two years of his Episcopate he was 
 engaged in peaceful organization, which was not made 
 easier by the factious opposition of " the Five Presby- 
 ters," and the party that followed them, most of whom, 
 however, were won over in time. At first the opposition 
 was strong against a bishop who was so recent a convert. 
 
116 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 The forty years of rest, which the Church had practically 
 enjoyed since the persecution of Septimus Severus in 202, 
 had caused a good deal of laxity. Even bishops were 
 found immoral; engaged in agriculture and trade, even 
 illicit trades; too ignorant to instruct catechumens; 
 indifferent as to heresy ; and when, subsequently, perse- 
 cutions arose, too ready to lapse. One can imagine, 
 therefore, what had befallen the presbytery and the laity. 
 It is evident that persecution was as effectual as the 
 Apostolic Tradition in holding the Primitive Church 
 together, and it now required the strong hand of Cyprian 
 to restore order and discipline. The deterioration of 
 the African Church at this date may possibly be some 
 justification for the stern views of Tertullian and the 
 Puritan Montanists half a century earlier, for perhaps 
 they foresaw what would happen. Among many other 
 irregularities of the time were those of the Virgins — 
 women who had vowed celibacy, but were unable to 
 take advantage of conventional restrictions, because no 
 convents as yet existed, and were therefore living secular 
 lives, and not always without scandal. This subject is 
 dealt with in the De habitu Virginum. 
 
 The title of Pope which was usually given to Cyprian, 
 rather than Bishop, is not without interest. In the 
 Early Church the two titles were often interchangeable, 
 Pope giving the idea of Father in God. It was found in 
 many French Sees; at Jerusalem, Alexandria and else- 
 where; generally, however, in important Sees. It is 
 rather strange that it does not appear in the Catacombs 
 till about 300, although it was evidently the formal mode 
 of addressing Cyprian in 250. Rome, therefore, was 
 rather late in adopting the title, and not till 1073 did 
 Gregory VII forbid any other See to use it, although 
 about 400 the Bishop of Rome began to be known as 
 the Pope. 
 
 Early in 250 the storm of the Decian persecution fell 
 on the Church throughout the Empire. Nothing like 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 117 
 
 it had been known before. Hitherto Christianity had 
 been unlawful, but Emperors had generally discouraged 
 persecution or punishment where it could be legally 
 avoided. The persecutions were generally local, and it 
 is doubtful whether they came seriously under the notice 
 of the Emperors in most cases. Magistrates had been 
 incited to punish by the populace ; now it was the Magis- 
 trates that incited the mob. For Decius, in his desire 
 to restore ancient Rome, and to follow out the ideal of 
 Trajan, found that " Pagan society was in the meshes 
 of a net, whose steadily increasing strength and extent 
 had baffled all attempts to destroy it." 1 For the next 
 sixty years, therefore, there is a " fight to the finish " 
 between the organized forces of the Empire and the 
 Church, instituted by the powers at Rome, and ending in 
 313 with the final triumph of the Church. 
 
 Orders were now given everywhere to attack the 
 Bishops. Cyprian prudently retired from Carthage, and 
 ruled his Church from a distance, preferring to choose 
 his own time for martyrdom. During the whole of this 
 year there was no Bishop of Rome at all ; Fabian was 
 martyred in January, and it was thought prudent to 
 leave the See vacant. The presbyters who temporarily 
 governed the Roman Church wrote two simultaneous 
 letters to Cyprian ; one describing the death of Fabian, 
 which he warmly acknowledged ; the other hinting that 
 Cyprian would do well to follow his example; which 
 Cyprian in his reply trusted might be a forgery, as it had 
 neither authentication, nor address, nor style. This 
 gentle irony brought the Roman clergy, with whom 
 Rivington says, " the aroma of infallibility lingered," 2 
 to a truer appreciation of Cyprian's position. 
 
 At Carthage, while many of the Christians, the Stantes, 
 or Standfasts, behaved splendidly, enduring both torture 
 and martyrdom, the numbers of the Lapsed were far 
 
 1 Plummer's Church of Early Fathers, p. 162. 
 
 2 Primitive Church and See of Peter, p. 52. 
 
118 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 greater than Cyprian had expected, even among the 
 clergy, most of whom deserted or lapsed ; one country 
 bishop carrying most of his flock over to Paganism. But 
 this principally happened during the initial panic. The 
 passion for martyrdom soon began to spread, and along- 
 side of it the heartbroken remorse of the Lapsed, who 
 had excommunicated themselves and sought restoration. 
 The Lapsed were divided into three classes : the Sacrifi- 
 cati, who had actually joined in the Pagan sacrifices; 
 the Thurificati, who had thrown incense on the Altar ; the 
 Libellatici, who had received certificates, or Libelli of 
 Paganism. The word libellus sometimes referred to the 
 certifying document received, and sometimes to the 
 written statement they presented. It came to the same 
 thing. 
 
 But there was another libellus, the libellus pads, which 
 caused great trouble. A custom arose, comparatively 
 innocent at first, for the martyrs and confessors to give a 
 letter, or libellus pads, to a lapsed friend, which he was 
 to take to the bishop, entreating restoration on their 
 intercession and through the merit of their martyrdom 
 or confession. This rapidly grew into a right to absolve 
 the Lapsed, and eventuated in a general absolution by 
 those in prison of all the Lapsed outside. The result, of 
 course, was the complete dissolution of discipline. 
 
 The statesmanship of Cyprian was pre-eminently 
 displayed in the way he dealt with this difficulty in the 
 first three Councils of Carthage. But from this custom 
 dates, in history at any rate, the whole Roman Catholic 
 theory of Superfluous Merit, Supererogation and Indul- 
 gences ; the Treasury of the Merits of the Saints, which 
 the Church on earth can apply. In a modified form the 
 practice had existed in Tertullian's time, 1 but it is only 
 from now that it becomes a serious question. 
 
 In the early part of 251 Decius left Rome to fight the 
 Goths, and the persecution almost ceased in Carthage. 
 
 1 Ch. vii. 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 119 
 
 Cyprian returned, and a number of bishops assembled 
 at Carthage to hold a Council. The Romans also 
 ventured to elect a Bishop, Cornelius ; a man of gentle 
 character, inclined to forgiveness, and therefore too mild 
 for the Puritan party at Rome, who considered apostasy 
 a crime that men could never absolve. This Puritan 
 party set up a rival Bishop, Novatian, who in a short 
 time managed to plant schismatic Bishops, following his 
 lead, throughout the Empire. 
 
 The first act of the Council of Carthage was to repudiate 
 Novatian, with the result that a little later a Puritan 
 anti-bishop, Maximus, was set up at Carthage as well. 
 The Episcopal successions of Novatian did not die out 
 till the sixth century. In dealing with the question of 
 the Lapsed, the Council modified considerably the plan 
 proposed by Cyprian, who loyally accepted theirs; 
 showing that when he had convoked a Council, however 
 autocratic his views of the bishop's office may have been, 
 he recognized the Church Council as the superior 
 authority. Cyprian's plan during the heat of the 
 Persecution had been that the cases of all the Lapsed, 
 whether holding libelli pads or not, should be deferred 
 till a Council could he held : after that, they should be 
 heard by bishop, clergy and laity, restoration being given 
 after full confession. But he conceded to the martyrs' 
 prerogative, that if any one holding a libellus were on 
 the point of death, he might be restored. The Council, 
 however, ignored the prerogative altogether, and made 
 four rules : (1) That the motives as well as the acts of 
 the Libellatici should be duly considered, many having 
 asked for certificates to save their wives and children, 
 and some having received them through misunderstand- 
 ing. (2) That those who had sacrificed, if they continued 
 penitent, should be restored at the point of death. (3) 
 That the Lapsed, who had not sacrificed, should be 
 restored after a long penance. (4) That those who had 
 refused penance and confession till the hour of death 
 
120 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 should not then be received. Thus the Council dealt 
 successfully with two questions : the schism, in which 
 connection Cyprian wrote his leading work, De Unitate ; 
 and the Lapsed, about whose case he wrote the De Lapsis. 
 Both were read to the Council. A second Council was 
 called in the following year, 252, which considerably 
 modified the action of the first, by granting a general and 
 immediate amnesty to all who had so far continued 
 steadfast in penance. 
 
 Allied to Novatian in Rome had been Novatus of 
 Carthage, the leader of the Five Presbyters, who opposed 
 Cyprian. This man, although he was on the side of 
 laxity and the general acceptance of libelli pads, had 
 gone to Rome, partly because a prosecution was hanging 
 over him at home, and partly, as it seems, with the direct 
 intention of supporting the independence of the presby- 
 terate, wherever he found an opportunity. Cyprian, 
 about this time, found himself confronted with two rival 
 Bishops : Maximus, representing Novatian and the policy 
 of severity to the lapsed ; and Fortunatus, representing 
 the party of extreme laxity, with Novatus as wire-puller* 
 The latter party, however, found practically no support. 
 It is important to observe that the De Unitate was written 
 at this period, when Cyprian was in the most cordial 
 relations with Cornelius, Bishop of Rome ; and not a year 
 or two later, when he was in violent opposition to Stephen, 
 the Bishop next but one after Cornelius, Lucius occupying 
 the See in the interim for a few months. 
 
 The most important of Cyprian's writings, the De 
 Unitate, is the text-book for all supporters of Epis- 
 copacy, and is also claimed by Rome as a leading 
 support of the Papacy. Round this treatise, in fact, 
 ranges the whole controversy between Rome and 
 England. What was the meaning and result of our 
 Lord's commission to Peter? Where is the Unity of 
 the Church? The situation was entirely new. Never 
 before had a schism arisen on a mere question of discip- 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 121 
 
 line, in which the seceders had elected an opposition 
 Bishop, and professed to unchurch the Catholic Church. 
 The Montanists had always claimed to remain in the 
 fold. Now this phenomenon presented itself at Rome, 
 the centre of the whole Church. Cyprian's argument 
 then was based on the commission to St. Peter. Christ 
 founded the Church on one, that its Unity might be 
 recognized; he afterwards renewed the commission to 
 all the Apostles, that they might be all on the same level, 
 " pari consortio praediti et honoris et potestatis, sed 
 exordium ex unitate proficiscitur." x Each bishop holds, 
 as Archbishop Benson translated it, " a tenure on a 
 totality." (Episcopatus unus est cujus a singulis in 
 solidum pars tenetur.) 2 
 
 The main chapter (IV) reads, so far as it is essential, 
 as follows : the Scriptural quotations are abridged : the 
 brackets explained presently. 
 
 " The Lord said to Peter, c Thou art Peter, etc. . . . 
 shall be loosed in Heaven.' (And to the same He says 
 after His Resurrection, c Feed my sheep '). He builds 
 (His) Church upon (that) one (and to him entrusts His 
 sheep to be fed) ; and although after His Resurrection, 
 He assigns equal powers to all His Apostles, saying, c As 
 the Father hath sent Me, so send I you, etc. . . . whose- 
 soever sins ye retain, they are retained,' nevertheless, in 
 order to make the unity manifest, He (established one 
 chair and) by His own authority appointed the origin of 
 that same unity beginning from one. Certainly the rest 
 of the Apostles were that which Peter (also) was, endued 
 with equal partnership both of honour and office, but 
 the beginning sets out from unity (and primacy is given 
 to Peter, that one Church of Christ and one chair may be 
 pointed out; and all are shepherds and one flock is 
 shown, to be fed by all the Apostles with one-hearted 
 accord), that one Church of Christ may be pointed out." 
 After quoting from the Song of Solomon, Cyprian adds : 
 1 Unit. 4. 2 Ch. v. 
 
122 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 " He that holds not this unity, does he believe that he 
 holds the faith ? He who strives and rebels against the 
 Church (he who deserts the Chair of Peter on which the 
 Church was founded) does he trust that he is in the 
 Church?" 
 
 In Chap. V is the quotation, " tenure on a totality," 
 given above, and in Chap. VI follows a famous description 
 of the Church by analogies from nature, which, if Chap.IV 
 is to be read Roman-wise, may be used against the 
 Anglican body most effectively. For instance, " Pluck 
 a ray away from the sun's body : unity admits no division 
 of light. Break a bough off a tree : once broken it will 
 bud no more. Cut a rill off from the spring : the rill 
 dries up." Overwhelming evidence is, however, pro- 
 duced by Benson that all the bracketed words in Chap. IV 
 are interpolations. They do not appear in a single 
 MS. earlier than the tenth century, although seven 
 earlier MSS. are extant; and a French scholar of the 
 eighteenth century, Baluze, witnesses to having seen 
 twenty-seven MSS. without them. There is also clear 
 evidence that the words were put in, and that the later 
 Roman Church forbade the editing of any MSS. which 
 omitted them. It will be seen that the whole chapter 
 reads smoothly without them. Father Rivington, an 
 English Roman Catholic controversialist, dispenses with 
 them and reads Roman Catholic views into the text 
 apart from them : in which case it is hard to see why so 
 much trouble was taken to maintain them, or why the 
 bracketed portions were ever interpolated at all. 
 
 On the whole question of the claims of Rome in the first 
 five centuries two books can be usefully studied ; Primi- 
 tive Saints and the See of Rome, by F. W. Puller (a Cowley 
 Father) on the Anglican side ; and The Primitive Church 
 and the See of Peter, by L. Rivington, on the Roman. 
 The second is in answer to the first. Previous to Cyprian, 
 Clement of Rome, Irenseus and Victor are called as 
 witnesses by both sides. In case the question may have 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 123 
 
 in previous chapters been stated unfairly on the Anglican 
 side, Father Rivington's book is recommended, and some 
 of his arguments are here given. 
 
 As regards Clement of Rome (see Chap. II) it has been 
 shown that in his Epistle to the Corinthians his name, as 
 Bishop, never appears, and there is no personal element. 
 Rivington replies that this was not necessary ; according 
 to the Roman Catholic theory, the personality of the 
 Pope is merged in the Church. His name was probably 
 omitted through prudence, in time of persecution ; just 
 as St. Peter called Rome Babylon. The letter was 
 written in answer to an appeal, as shown by the apology 
 for delay in answering; and the fact of the appeal, 
 as well as the authoritative tone of the letter, which 
 Bishop Lightfoot admits to be " imperious," justifies a 
 belief that Clement was " setting the type " of Roman 
 Supremacy. 
 
 As proof that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome, Rivington 
 quotes Eusebius : l " Peter, after founding the Church 
 at Antioch, set out for Rome, and there preached the 
 gospel, and stayed there as prelate of the Church for 
 twenty years." This is in the Greek version, but it is 
 confirmed by St. Jerome's Latin version; also that 
 although Irenaeus said that Peter and Paul founded the 
 Church and jointly consecrated Linus, he also must have 
 counted Peter as first Bishop, since he twice counts 
 Hyginus as ninth, who otherwise would only be 
 eighth. 2 
 
 As regards Irenaeus' statement of " the necessity of 
 all Churches agreeing with, or having recourse to Rome " 
 (Chap. V), Rivington claims that they both mean the 
 same thing : also that the necessary recourse, not of all 
 people to Rome, but of all Churches to the Roman 
 Church, implies ecclesiastical supremacy. In regard to 
 Victor's excommunicating the Churches of Asia : Riving- 
 
 1 The Chronicle, IT. 150, not the History. 
 
 2 Hcer. I. 27. 1, and III. 4. 3 
 
124 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 ton says that a measure of separation from Rome was 
 not intended to involve separation from the whole body. 
 That Victor failed owing to the passionate tenacity 
 with which the Asiatics wrongly adhered to a national 
 custom. It was not a matter of faith, and so he showed 
 his wisdom in waiving the point. 1 
 
 As regards Cyprian's written views, Rivington quotes : 
 " from St. Peter the ordination of Bishops and the 
 ordering of the Church runs down along the course of 
 time, and the line of succession." 2 Therefore he claims 
 that if Peter had a supremacy, his successors in his own 
 See would also have it. That the De Unitate was not 
 dealing with the Papal question, but of the right of each 
 Bishop to govern his own See. That in Ep. lix, he 
 speaks of " the principal Church (Tertullian having 
 defined principalis as something that was 'set over') 
 and the Chair of Peter, whence episcopal unity arose." 
 
 But apart from the writings of Cyprian, we have also 
 on this question to consider his acts : (1) in regard to 
 two celebrated appeals, and (2) in regard to the baptism 
 of heretics — if we are to understand his attitude towards 
 Rome. 
 
 In 253, Cornelius of Rome, with whom Cyprian had 
 always been in complete accord, was exiled and died. 
 Stephen, after Lucius had ruled for a few months, 
 succeeded to the Chair of Peter in May 254. Meanwhile 
 Cyprian had held the Third Council of Carthage, which 
 is not of much importance. In 254, two Spanish Bishops, 
 who had lapsed and lost their Sees in consequence, fresh 
 Bishops being appointed, after an interval appealed to 
 Stephen, and by means of some falsehood induced him 
 to recognize them as the lawful bishops. The Spanish 
 Churches appealed to Cyprian, who called the Fourth 
 Council of Carthage of thirty-seven bishops. This 
 Council reversed the Roman decision on the ground that 
 
 1 Tertullian says (Prax. 1 ) that Victor insisted on the authority 
 of his predecessors, 2 Ep. 33. 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 125 
 
 Stephen had been imposed upon, and advised the 
 Spaniards to have nothing to do with their lapsed and 
 degraded Bishops. Rivington says about this, that the 
 Spanish appeal to Cyprian was for advice, and in no way 
 disputed the Pope's authority as a matter of principle, 
 though there might be some restriction on his claim to 
 exact obedience. This, however, seems to be rather a 
 large concession. 
 
 The other appeal was from the French Bishops, headed 
 by Faustinus of Lyons, against Marcian of Aries. Mar- 
 cian was an extreme Novatianist, who had executed the 
 harshest sentences of excommunication against penitents 
 and also refused to communicate with his brother 
 bishops. The appeal was made first both to Rome and 
 Carthage. When Stephen refused to take any action, 
 a second appeal w&s made to Cyprian, who in strong 
 terms remonstrated with Stephen, and plainly told him 
 his duty (Epist. 68). He addresses him as " my dearest 
 brother " ; says " it is our duty to remedy this," and 
 that Stephen must advise the French bishops not to let 
 Marcian insult our Episcopal College. The bishops are 
 knit fast with the glue of mutual concord, and if any make 
 a heresy, the rest are to come to the rescue. The 
 Gallic Bishops are to excommunicate Marcian, and with 
 the help of clergy and laity elect a new bishop. Stephen 
 is to tell Cyprian who is the new bishop. Benson's 
 point of view here is that there was a peculiar relationship 
 between Gaul and Rome, as appeared in the time of 
 Irenaeus, when Lyons was the only See in Gaul. But 
 that apart from that, Cj^prian undoubtedly regarded 
 Rome as holding a primacy of honour, primus inter 
 pares, and the Roman bishop as the natural one to take 
 the lead. On the other hand, he was open to the severest 
 criticism by other bishops; for though there was one 
 flock, there were several shepherds. The Roman 
 Catholic divines read into this letter the fullest recogni- 
 tion of the Papal claims. The Roman Bishop, says 
 
126 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Peters, 1 is shown to have " ordinary and immediate 
 jurisdiction over the whole Church." Rivington only 
 says that at any rate Cyprian recognized the Pope as the 
 right man to move. 
 
 But the real struggle between Cyprian and Rome was 
 on heretic baptism. There is no question as to whether, 
 on doctrinal grounds, Cyprian or Stephen was right. 
 Rome was undoubtedly right in declaring that all baptism 
 in the name of the Trinity was valid, whatever might be 
 the views of the baptizer ; Cyprian wrong in saying there 
 could only be one baptism, that of the orthodox Catholic. 
 As the English Church says, " The unworthiness of the 
 Minister hinders not the effect of the Sacrament " ; 2 for 
 Christ is the real minister. This Rome claimed to be of 
 Apostolic tradition, and the greater part of the Church 
 agreed with her. But Africa and a considerable part of 
 Asia Minor held the opposite view, and three Councils 
 were held in Carthage during 255 and 256 on the subject, 
 eliciting a good deal of bitterness. As not long after- 
 wards, the whole Church quietly dropped into the Roman 
 custom, the controversy has now little doctrinal impor- 
 tance ; but historically it has a good deal. 
 
 For it is very difficult for us to believe that the leading 
 Churchmen of that day could have had any conception of 
 the Papacy as found in either modern or mediaeval times, 
 when we read what they wrote to Rome and about Rome. 
 Cyprian himself, addressing the Third Council on 
 Baptism, says, " There is none of us who constitutes him- 
 self Bishop of Bishops (the title adopted by Rome), or 
 pushes his colleagues with a tyrannous terror to the neces- 
 sity of compliance : since every Bishop according to the 
 scope of the liberty and office which belongs to him has 
 his decision in his own hands, and can no more be judged 
 by another than he can himself judge his neighbour, but 
 we await one and all the judgment of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who one and alone has the power both to prefer 
 
 1 Cyprian von Karthago, p. 479. 2 Article 26. 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 127 
 
 us in the governing of His Church, and to judge our conduct 
 therein." This is explained by various Roman Catholic 
 Commentators in quite contradictory ways, though the 
 intent seems clear. 
 
 Then, again, Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea in Cap- 
 padocia, wrote a long letter on re-baptism to Cyprian, 
 in which he compared the action of Stephen to the 
 kiss of Judas, but made no allusion to any Roman 
 claim to authority; showing apparently that he had 
 never heard of it. When Stephen excommunicated the 
 Churches that disagreed with him, Firmilian wrote to 
 him that the only bishop he had excommunicated was 
 himself. The Church, in fact, would go on just the same, 
 whether he withdrew from communion with Africa and 
 Asia or not. That, at any rate, was Firmilian's view. 
 
 Undoubtedly Cyprian took a very high sacerdotal 
 view of the episcopal office. It is often alleged against 
 him that he innovated in this respect, and that he was 
 actuated by policy. But we find his theory clearly 
 enunciated in his very first Epistle, and in the Testi- 
 monies, one of his earliest books ; so that he was taught 
 it, or at any rate conceived it, with his first impressions 
 of Christianity. Again his monarchical view was tem- 
 pered by modifications. The bishop was only rightly 
 elected with the full concurrence of the laity. While 
 bishop, his duty was at all times to consult his clergy as 
 assessors. When a bishop gravely misconducted him- 
 self, the laity had the right to desert him, " to separate 
 themselves from a sinful prelate." x 
 
 Again, as regards the Church : he is accused of limiting 
 it, and of confining it within the bounds of a rigid 
 orthodoxy and episcopacy. Certainly he used the famous 
 expression, " outside the Church there is no salvation." 
 But this also was tempered by an equally famous phrase, 
 "salvo jure communionis diversa sentire"; 2 difference 
 of views are not inconsistent with intercommunion. The 
 
 1 Ep, 67. 2 Quoted by St. Augustine, Baptism, VI. 7. 
 
128 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Church must be one body, and there must be no setting 
 up of altar against altar; but within that body freedom 
 of opinion is to be allowed on non-essentials. It was 
 something like Archbishop Temple's dictum, that there 
 should be uniformity in worship along with difference of 
 opinion. 
 
 His language seems sometimes harsh and intolerant; 
 as when he speaks of " the cancer of heresy, the anger of 
 damnation, the witchery of error " ; * " the false and 
 wicked baptism of heretics, from whose mouth is ex- 
 pressed poison, not life " ; 2 and of heretic baptism, " as 
 stained with the contagion of adulterous water." 3 
 Novatus he accused (perhaps justly) of robbing widows 
 and orphans, embezzling Church funds, kicking his wife, 
 and leaving his father's dead body in the street. 4 Yet 
 St. Augustine, though he differed entirely from him on 
 the Baptismal question, had an immense veneration for 
 Cyprian, and his " heart of overflowing love." To 
 Augustine " his whole life was a sanctification." Once 
 he says of him, 5 " Praise be to Him who made this man 
 what he was, to set before His Church the greatness of 
 the evils with which Charity was to do battle, and the 
 greatness of the goodnesses over which Charity was to 
 have precedence, and the worthlessness of the Charity 
 of any Christian who would not keep the Unity of 
 Christ." 
 
 A few years earlier than this, in 252, Cyprian had organ- 
 ized two great works of active benevolence. One was on 
 the occasion of the Berber raid, a great incursion of 
 Barbarians from the south, when the Church community 
 subscribed the equivalent of £800 for the redemption of 
 captives, the money being to a great extent collected from 
 poor donors. The other was in a time of plague. 
 Cyprian called all his people together, and invited them in 
 a memorable sermon to witness to their eternal sonship 
 
 1 See Eps. 70 and following. 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Ibid. 4 Ep. 52. 5 Serm. 312. 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 129 
 
 in God by responding to their birthright (respondere 
 natalibus). They were to nurse the sick and bury the 
 dead, independently of creed. This is the first instance 
 on record of the Christian community organizing itself 
 for its fellow-men, Christian and heathen alike, in time 
 of a great public calamity. 
 
 The persecution of Decius soon passed away, and from 
 253-60 Valerian was on the throne. At first he acted 
 with much toleration, but later he was induced to change 
 his policy. The Decian attack on the bishops had been 
 found fruitless. Either the bishops disappeared as 
 missionaries to another field, or they actively governed 
 their Dioceses from hiding-places ; or, if they were killed, 
 fresh bishops immediately took their place. In 258, 
 therefore, orders were issued for the destruction of all 
 the clergy; and it was in this persecution that Cyprian 
 fell. In the previous year he had been exiled to Curubis, 
 a town about fifty miles away. Here he had a dream of 
 martyrdom, in which he foresaw the manner in which it 
 was to take place, and which therefore he regarded as 
 an intimation that his time was come. A year after he 
 had gone into exile a new proconsul, Galerius, sent for 
 him; but being ill at Utica, told him to remain in his 
 own house at Carthage. Shortly afterwards he ordered 
 him to come to Utica; but Cyprian, determined to die 
 among his own people, disappeared. So soon as Galerius 
 reappeared in Carthage, Cyprian was at home again. 
 After a short trial, he was condemned to be beheaded. 
 Very full details of the martyrdom will be found in 
 Archbishop Benson's Life of Cyprian. 
 
 Few saints have attained such a high place in the 
 memory of the Church as St. Cyprian, both in the 
 West and the East. He is the only Latin Father really 
 recognized by the East; and he is the only saint com- 
 memorated in the Roman Mass by name, who was neither 
 a member of the Roman Church nor martyred at Rome. 
 And this is the more wonderful, because apparently he 
 
130 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 died excommunicated by Rome. Modern Roman Catho- 
 lic writers dispute this, saying that Stephen never pro- 
 ceeded beyond a threat. But the famous letter of 
 Firmilian to Stephen already quoted seems to prove the 
 opposite. He writes, " For mark this : it is only thyself 
 thou hast cut off." If the excommunication of those 
 who refused the baptism of heretics was so carried out, 
 Cyprian was of course among them, and there is not the 
 least evidence that he ever was restored or changed 
 his practice in regard to Baptism. It therefore would be 
 the strongest argument that communion with Rome was 
 not at that time held to be synonymous with membership 
 in the Catholic Church if one, who died outside that 
 communion, was raised to the highest honours. He is 
 commemorated in the Roman Calendar along with his 
 ally, Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, on September 14. At 
 the Reformation the English Church transposed his 
 date to the 26th. 
 
 As St. Cyprian is the last great Father before the close 
 of the period of persecution, it will be useful to give here 
 a short summary of the remaining persecutions. 
 
 Gallienus (260-8) in effect, though not formally, made 
 Christianity a lawful religion. Aurelian (270-5) not only 
 left Christians alone, but decided a lawsuit about Church 
 property in their favour. He was, however, on the 
 point of initiating a new persecution when he w r as mur- 
 dered. Diocletian (284-305), like his predecessors, 
 Decius and Trajan, made a grand attempt to restore old 
 Rome by a reconstitution of the Empire, and therefore 
 desired a national religion. He was naturally averse 
 from bloodshed, but persecution became necessary to 
 his plan. At the Feast of the Terminalia in 303, a 
 concerted attempt was made to destroy all churches, and 
 especially all copies of the Scripture. Those who gave up 
 copies were called Traditores, and at this time many old 
 and independent MSS. were lost. All clergy were to be 
 imprisoned and held as hostages. At last came an edict 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 131 
 
 that Christians were everywhere to be exterminated, 
 unless they sacrificed, and Christian virgins sent to 
 houses of ill-fame. This was probably the most terrible 
 period of all, and known as The Tenth Wave. But it was 
 the last that counted. In 311 Galerius issued a curious 
 edict of toleration. Christians were reviled as obstinate 
 dissenters; but persecution having failed, they were to 
 be tolerated, if they did not break the discipline and 
 would pray for the Imperial house. In 312 and 313 came 
 at last the Edicts of Constantine for universal toleration 
 of all religions. 
 
 Of six treatises of St. Cyprian mention has already 
 been made : That Idols are not Gods, To Donatus, To 
 Quirinus, On the Dress of Virgins, On the Lapsed, and 
 On the Unity of the Church. During the plague year 
 he wrote, On Work and Almsgiving, To Demetrianus, 
 On Mortality, and On the Lord's Prayer. All these are 
 earnest and spiritual discourses but do not bring 
 forward much doctrine that is new. In the first there 
 is a slight tendency to teach that a man's alms are 
 a sort of satisfaction for his sins. The second is a 
 Christian apology somewhat like Tertullian's To 
 Scapula. It was addressed to an unusually cruel 
 magistrate, and Cyprian is even more severe for once 
 than his master. It was a direct challenge to Paganism 
 to show which was the most responsible, Paganism 
 or Christianity, for the physical and political troubles 
 which were at that time distressing the Empire. There 
 occurs also in it a suggestion that Cyprian at any 
 rate believed in everlasting punishment, without any 
 further purgation beyond this life. 1 The On Mor- 
 tality is an attempt to meet that greatest of difficulties, 
 the mystery of sorrow. Christians had complained of 
 the injustice of death from plague when they were looking 
 for the crown of martyrdom. It points out that all pain 
 is probationary and purifying, and that it affords an 
 
 1 Dem. 26 
 
132 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 opportunity for self-sacrifice and attention to the wants 
 of others. " It is not the martyr's blood, but his faith 
 that God asks for." x In the Lord's Prayer he works 
 very freely on the lines of Tertullian, adapting many of 
 his thoughts and even words. The Martyrdom is a 
 collection of thirteen texts from Scripture, with short 
 notes, intended as a manual for martyrs and confessors. 
 The remaining essays are On Patience, and On 
 Jealousy and Envy. The chief historical interest will 
 probably be found in Cyprian's Epistles, eighty-one in 
 number, from which the whole of his life as a Christian 
 can be traced. 
 
 Note. — This chapter is based on Archbishop Benson's Cyprian ; 
 his Life, his Times, his Work. No one has more thoroughly 
 studied the subject, to which he devoted all the leisure he had 
 during thirty years. He is generally admitted to be the leading 
 authority. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY 
 
 Note on SU Hippolytus of Portus 
 
 In the closing years of the second century a prominent 
 personality, Hippolytus, moved in the Christian society of 
 Rome, who was bishop of Portus, and had attended the lectures 
 of St. Irenseus. Where this Portus was is a little uncertain, 
 but it was probably the port at the mouth of the Tiber, and 
 inhabited chiefly by Greeks. If Hippolytus derived his title 
 from this port, it is again uncertain whether he was a regular 
 diocesan bishop, or a coadjutor bishop of Rome, or the first 
 anti-pope. What we do know is that he was in violent collision 
 with two successive Roman bishops, Zephyrinus and Callistus, 
 whom he accused of heresy for inclining towards Patripassianism 
 — the view that as there was only one God, the Father 
 must have suffered on the cross. About these bishops lie used 
 very strong language. The former was " a weak and venal 
 dunce " ; the latter was " a cheat, sacrilegious, a swindler, and 
 heresiarch." In the sixteenth century his statue was dug up 
 in Rome, and at some time or other he became accounted a 
 saint, probably because of his great dogmatic work, the Philo- 
 sophoumena. This had generally been attributed to him, 
 though sometimes to Origen, who reproduced the first book. 
 Altogether the work consisted of ten books; and a MS. of most 
 of it was discovered in 1843, which proves that Hippolytus was the 
 
 1 Mort. 8. 17. 
 
ST. CYPRIAN, MARTYR 133 
 
 author. The second, third, and part of the fourth and tenth books 
 are still missing. The discovery of this great work has opened 
 up a field of interesting historical criticism. In one of the per- 
 secutions Hippolytus was deported to the mines; but although 
 this usually meant a speedy death, he lived on till nearly the 
 middle of the third century, and was always held in honour by 
 the early Church as a theologian. 
 
 Note on St. Dionysius of Alexandria 
 
 Dionysius " the great " was another most influential bishop 
 of the third century, who would probably rank as one of the 
 great Fathers, did we possess anything more than fragments 
 of his writings. Born in 195, he was converted by the study of 
 St. Paul's epistles, and became a pupil of Origen. When Heraclas, 
 who succeeded Origen at the Catechetical School, became bishop 
 of Alexandria, Dionysius took on the school (233), and subse- 
 quently became himself bishop (248). He was a great reader 
 of all sorts of literature, having been told in a vision to read 
 the books of all schools, that he might show himself a good 
 money-changer. His studies and the Alexandrian environment 
 together made him a humble and exceedingly liberal Christian, 
 as well as a man of sound common sense : and his advice was 
 sought by all the Churches. In the controversy about re -baptism 
 he supported the re-baptizers on the ground that they were 
 acting according to their conscience, in spite of the fact that 
 he did not himself adopt their practice; for, as he said, he was 
 a strong advocate of the mercy of Christ. Like Cyprian, he 
 organized, during the plague epidemic at Alexandria, a staff of 
 Parabolani (district visitors?) to bury all at all risks, indepen- 
 dently of creed. On one occasion he was severely questioned 
 by his namesake, Dionysius of Rome, for a statement which 
 seemed to imply that the Second Person was a created Being, 
 but cleared himself entirely by explaining the sense in which he 
 had used certain words. A truly great, wise, and large-hearted 
 bishop and a leader of his own age ! 
 
 Note on Eusebius the Historian 
 
 Eusebius of Caesarea, in his political and historical aspect, 
 belongs chiefly to the fourth century; but he is the historian 
 of the first three, and a historian of considerable merit. He 
 was chamberlain to Constantine and the head of the " Con- 
 servative party " at the Nicene Council, and subsequently a 
 leading representative of the middle or Semi-Arian party till his 
 death in 339. He was born about 263, perhaps a little earlier, 
 in Palestine, and was a great friend of Pamphilus, a celebrated 
 Origenistic teacher at Caesarea. Most of his life seems to have 
 been spent in that city, of which in due course he became bishop 
 and therefore metropolitan of Palestine. So far as facts are 
 concerned, at any rate in regard to the Eastern Church, he is 
 generally proved by modern research to be right, and he there- 
 
134 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 fore becomes an important authority. His information about 
 Western affairs was not so ample : but in dealing with the East 
 he had access to the celebrated library of Jerusalem; to the 
 history, entirely lost to us, of Hegesippus ; to the records of the 
 synods; to the catalogues of bishops; to State papers; and he 
 quotes from many Jewish and Pagan writers. He begins his 
 history by promising to track the episcopal succession in all 
 the Churches, which is in itself of great value. Throughout he 
 displays great carefulness and caution in dealing with state- 
 ments of which he lacks absolute proof; but while his facts are 
 generally correct, his inferences from them are often injudicious 
 and unreliable. He is also addicted to slurring over or even 
 suppressing anything which is discreditable to the Imperial 
 family, or for that matter to the Church. Still he is the first 
 Church historian whose works have come down to us, and the 
 services he rendered deserve our gratitude. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH FROM A.D. 313-373 
 
 313. Edict of Milan. Toleration of all Creeds by 
 
 Constantine and his brother-in-law, Licinius, 
 Emperors. Constantine summons a synod of 
 Bishops to deal with the Donatist schism at 
 Carthage : Donatists, dissatisfied with the 
 decision, induce him to call, 
 
 314. The Council of Aries. A purely Western Council, 
 
 including three British Bishops (London, York 
 and Lincoln?), which confirms Csecilian as 
 Catholic Bishop of Carthage against Donatists, 
 finally settles the Easter question, and decrees 
 that all baptisms in the name of the Trinity 
 are valid. 
 315-320. Licinius, through jealousy of Constantine, 
 gradually revives persecution in the East. 
 
 323. Constantine attacks Licinius and executes him. 
 
 324. Toleration of all creeds enforced, but Pagans are 
 
 strongly advised by the Emperor to adopt 
 Christianity. 
 
 319. Arius, Priest of the Bacaulis Church in Alexandria, 
 
 begins preaching that the Son was not Eternal 
 but created. 
 
 320. Arius, Secundus (bishop) and Theonas (bishop) 
 
 and twelve clergy excommunicated by a synod 
 at Alexandria. Arius retires to Palestine, and 
 enlists the sympathy of many Eastern Bishops, 
 notably the two Eusebii (Caesarea and Nico- 
 media). Also publishes his scurrilous ballads 
 and the Thalia. Rise of Athanasius as deacon 
 of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. Within a 
 few years the whole East is infected with 
 135 
 
136 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Arianism. Alexandria the home of orthodoxy. 
 Constantine, under influence of Eusebius of 
 Nicomedia, writes a vexed letter to Alexander 
 that the Church was rent over a foolish question, 
 and finally consents to a Council of the whole 
 Church. 
 
 325. The Council of Niccea. Establishment of the 
 
 Catholic Creed, and the Homo-ousion (" being 
 of the same substance or essence with the 
 Father "). Secundus, Theonas and Arius exiled. 
 
 326. Constantine summons Arius to argue before him. 
 
 Death of Alexander. Athanasius, bishop, or 
 archbishop, of Alexandria. Supposed discovery 
 of the Sepulchre and Cross by Helena, Mother 
 of Constantine. 
 
 328. Constantine designs Constantinople. 
 
 329. Eusebius of Nicomedia in Court favour, a decided 
 
 Arian. Growth of Semi-Arian party under 
 Eusebius of Csesarea who hold the Homo- 
 ousion (of like substance). An Arian synod at 
 Antioch slanders Eustathius, the Catholic 
 Bishop, at Court, and he is deposed. Split of 
 the Church of Antioch. 
 331. Arius returns to Alexandria. Athanasius rejects 
 him. All sorts of trumpery charges raised against 
 Athanasius; that he had taxed the Egyptian 
 to provide linen vestments; that he had sent 
 a box of gold to a rebel; that he had broken 
 the chalice and spilt the Elements of an Arian 
 Eucharist; that he had murdered Arsenius, a 
 monk, and used his dead hand for magic, etc. He 
 is summoned to Court, and all charges refuted. 
 Eusebius of Nicomedia demands a Council, 
 which is held at Tyre; at which Athanasius 
 produces Arsenius with both hands on. A 
 commission appointed which collects evidence 
 in Egypt from Jews, Pagans and Catechumens. 
 Evidence of Catholics not accepted. Athanasius 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH 137 
 
 stops the cavalcade of Constantine in Con- 
 stantinople and demands justice. The Council 
 at Tyre condemns Athanasius on the evidence 
 of the Commission. 
 
 333. Dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 at Jerusalem, and adjournment thither of the 
 Bishops from Tyre. Constantine orders them 
 all to Court. All charges against Athanasius 
 dropped, and a new one raised, that he had 
 tried to stop the corn-ships. 
 
 335. Constantine in despair sends Athanasius to Treves. 
 
 335-8. Arius at Constantinople. Bishop Alexander 
 refuses him communion; Arius threatens to 
 enforce it. Alexander prays that either Arius 
 or himself may die, rather than this happen. 
 Arius dies suddenly on his way to church. 
 Death of Alexander in 336. His Catholic 
 successor, Paul, deposed, and an Arian 
 appointed. The East generally is now Arian : 
 the West, Catholic. 
 
 337. Death of Constantine. His sons succeed : — 
 
 Constans at Rome. 
 
 Constantine II extreme West. 
 
 Constantius, East. 
 Constantine, assuming the consent of Con- 
 stantius, reinstates Athanasius. 
 
 338. First return of Athanasius. Athanasius accused 
 
 of appropriating charities; protest against his 
 resuming his See after being deposed by the 
 recent Council. He appeals to Bishop Julius 
 of Rome. Eusebius of Nicomedia Bishop of 
 Constantinople. 
 
 340. Gregory (Arian) intruded into See of Alexandria 
 
 by the State with a guard of soldiers. Riot 
 and persecution of Catholics. Athanasius goes to 
 Rome with two monks. First appearance of 
 Monks at Rome. Death of Eusebius of Caesarea. 
 
 341. Julius invites the Arians to a Council at Rome. 
 
138 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 After making all sorts of excuses, especially 
 that Christianity started in the East and not 
 in Rome, they hold a Council of their own at 
 Antioch, on the occasion of the Dedication of 
 the Golden Church. 
 The Dedication Council. This was Semi-Arian, 
 but was called by St. Hilary of Poitiers a synod 
 of holy men, and its canons are still respected 
 in the East. It confirmed the deposition of 
 Athanasius on the basis of the twenty-eighth 
 Apostolic Canon, which was also afterwards 
 used against Chrysostom. It also issued a 
 Creed based on that of Lucian of Antioch, 
 generally Catholic, but refusing the word 
 Homo-ousion. The Trinity Three in Person, 
 One in Concord. Julius calls a Council of 
 fifty Westerns, who acquit Athanasius. 
 
 342. Constans now rules in the West alone. Death 
 
 of Eusebius of Nicomedia. Semi-Arians present 
 a creed to Constans, which condemns the Arian 
 position : " There was a time when He was not " 
 (i.e. it was before time). Creed rejected. 
 
 343. Athanasius retires from Rome to Milan. The 
 
 Council of Sardica. One hundred and seventy 
 Bishops with a small Western majority came. 
 Easterns refuse to act with them and adjourn 
 to Philippopolis, where they hold one of their 
 own, which they call " of Sardica." The West 
 refuses to alter or add to the Nicene Creed. 
 
 344. Much Eastern persecution of Catholics. Scandal- 
 
 ous treachery of Stephen, Arian Bishop of 
 Antioch, who is deposed. This, followed by 
 Western deputation to Constantius, supported 
 by Constans, causes former to recall Athanasius. 
 The long Macrostich Creed offered to the West, 
 but rejected. 
 346. Second return of Athanasius, followed by his ten 
 years of " deep and wondrous peace." About 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH 139 
 
 this time a temporary reconciliation of Donatists 
 at Carthage. 
 350. Death of Constans. Constantius, after a struggle 
 with Magnentius, becomes sole Emperor. Under 
 his influence, the West, and even Italy, is 
 infected with Arianism : and from this point 
 there is a steady fall in the Catholic fortunes 
 for ten years. Paul of Constantinople exiled 
 for second time, and Constantinople the strong- 
 hold of Arianism for thirty years. 
 
 352. Liberius Pope. 
 
 353. Athanasius sends envoys to the Emperor, who 
 
 refuses to receive them, and orders him to Milan. 
 Councils of the Westerns at Aries. Nearly all 
 the West gives up Athanasius on condition 
 that the East abandons its heresy, which 
 condition entirely fails. Liberius in disgust 
 disowns the Council, and calls for another. 
 Eusebius of Vercellae and Lucifer of Cagliari 
 in Sardinia become the two strongest supporters 
 of orthodoxy. 
 
 355. Council at Milan (300 Westerns and a few 
 
 Easterns). In spite of a bold stand by a small 
 minority against the Emperor, the Council 
 condemns Athanasius, and agrees to communion 
 with Arians. Lucifer, Eusebius of Vercellae 
 and Dionysius of Milan exiled. Hilary, for 
 calling it " a synagogue of malignants " is 
 scourged. General persecution. Liberius and 
 Hosius exiled. Felix, Anti-Pope. Hilary 
 writes his first book to Constantius, being a 
 defence of religious freedom of opinion. 
 
 356. An Arian Council at Beziers refuses to hear him, 
 
 and he is banished to Phrygia, where he writes 
 his book on the Trinity. State officials attack 
 Church of Theonas at Alexandria during Service. 
 Athanasius, smuggled away by the monks, 
 escapes to the Egyptian monasteries, where he 
 
140 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 writes the Arian history, and the Discourses 
 against the Arians. George intruded in his place. 
 Persecution of Catholics. 
 
 357. Council of Sirmium (called the third). The 
 
 Blasphemia Creed. " Subjection of the Son 
 in common with all the things which the Father 
 hath made subject to Himself. 5 * Hosius in 
 prison and exile, and over one hundred years 
 old, is induced to sign it, 1 but afterwards bitterly 
 repents and refuses to abjure Catholicism. 
 
 358. Fall of Pope Liberius, who owns communion 
 
 with leading Arians, and is therefore reinstated 
 at Rome. 
 St. Cyril of Jerusalem becomes very influential 
 about now. He had been consecrated in 351, 
 and was reputed a great saint, although he 
 disliked the word Homo-ousion. Semi-Arians 
 ask for a General Council; but it is decided to 
 hold a Western Council at Ariminum, and 
 Eastern Council at Seleucia. Hilary writes On the 
 Faith of the Easterns, an attempt to establish 
 mutual concessions between Catholics and Semi- 
 Arians. The Dated Creed prepared at Court to 
 be presented for acceptance at both Councils. 
 It was generally Catholic, but omitted all 
 mention of Ousia. 
 
 359. Ariminum and Seleucia. Before the Dated Creed 
 
 arrived at Ariminum, the West had strongly 
 declared for the Nicene. There were 320 
 Catholics and 80 Arians present, and each side 
 sent reports to Court. Meanwhile at Seleucia 
 the Dedication (Semi-Arian) Creed was con- 
 firmed. The Catholic Envoys to Court were 
 made to sign a Homsean Creed and take it back 
 to Ariminum ; where the Council first disowned 
 it, but were subsequently coerced into it. 
 
 1 It is doubtful what Creed, if any, Hosius and Liberius signed. 
 They, at any rate, agreed to communicate with Arians. 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH 141 
 
 360. This is the lowest point touched by Catholicism, 
 and the time at which St. Jerome said, " The 
 world groaned and was astonished to find itself 
 Arian." Liberius refused to sign the new creed. 
 A Council at Paris votes strongly for the Homo- 
 ousion, and encourages a recovery of Catholi- 
 cism. Meletius appointed Bishop of Antioch, 
 and in spite of Semi- Arian antecedents takes a 
 strong Catholic position. 
 
 361-363. Reign of Julian the Apostate. Unsuccessful 
 attempt to rebuild the Temple. All exiled 
 Bishops allowed by Julian to return, in order 
 to cause confusion in the Church. 
 
 362. Third Return of Athanasius. Small Council at 
 
 Alexandria, at which Hypostasis is understood 
 by some to mean Essence and by some Person. 
 Much difficulty is removed and a great step 
 made towards drawing parties together. Julian 
 at Antioch discovers the faded reputation of 
 the Daphne. Translation of the remains of 
 St. Babylas. Julian tries to attack Athanasius, 
 " the despicable little mannikin." Athanasius 
 says the cloud will soon pass, and Julian, though 
 a young man, shortly after dies. 
 
 363. Jovian, Emperor for only a few months ; a Catholic 
 
 who receives instruction in the Faith from 
 Athanasius. 
 
 364. Valentinian, Emperor in West (Catholic). 
 Valens, Emperor in East (Arian). 
 
 St. Hilary banished for his attack on Auxentius, 
 Arian Bishop of Milan. 
 
 The Alexandrian Council also had tried to deal 
 with the schism at Antioch ; with help of Lucifer, 
 who goes there to try and mend matters. He 
 finds the Eustathians (strict Catholics) in schism 
 against Meletius, and foolishly consecrates 
 Paulinus, their chief. Rome supports Paulinus, 
 and excommunicates Meletius. 
 
142 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 370. Athanasius very reluctantly follows Rome, and 
 
 narrowly escapes a quarrel with St. Basil, who 
 becomes Bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia from 
 now to 379 and is a great friend of Meletius. 
 
 371. Great persecution of Catholics by Valens. Rise 
 
 about this time of the Macedonian heresy, that 
 the Holy Ghost was created. 
 373. Death of St. Athanasius. St. Basil in the East 
 and St. Ambrose in the West become now the 
 principal Church leaders. 
 
 SUCCESSION OF EMPERORS FROM A.D. 364-395 
 
 364. Valentinian (Catholic) in West; Valens (Arian) 
 in East. 
 
 375. Death of Valentinian (who had associated with 
 himself in West his son Gratian, a child of 
 nine years old). 
 
 375. Gratian associates with himself in West his half- 
 brother, a child, Valentinian II. 
 
 375-378. Gratian and Valentinian (Catholics) in West; 
 Valens in East (Arian). 
 
 378. Death of Valens at Battle of Hadrianople against 
 
 Goths. 
 
 379. Gratian associates with Valentinian and himself 
 
 Theodosius in the East. 
 383. Gratian murdered. 
 383-388. Maximus usurps the Empire of the extreme 
 
 West (Gaul, Britain, etc.), but is at last 
 
 defeated by Theodosius. 
 388-392. Valentinian (West) ; Theodosius (East) ; but 
 
 influence of the latter supreme over the whole 
 
 Empire. 
 392. Valentinian murdered. Brief usurpation of West 
 
 by Eugenius. 
 395. Death of Theodosius. His two sons succeed — 
 
 Honorius in West, Arcadius in East. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 ST. ATHANASIUS 
 
 (Bom 297; Archbishop of Alexandria 328-373) 
 
 With the early years of the fourth century the 
 history of the Church passes into an entirely new phase. 
 No longer is she persecuted by outsiders ; the persecution 
 of the future is to be practised by Christians on each 
 other, except during the two years' interlude covered 
 by the reign of Julian the Apostate. In 313 the Edict 
 of Milan decreed absolute toleration for all creeds ; but 
 not long afterwards Constantine advised all persons 
 to become Christians. Consequently, although the 
 struggle between Christian and Pagan modes of thought 
 and systems of morality had still to be fought for many 
 a year, not only was the opposition of the Roman 
 Government withdrawn, but Christianity actually be- 
 came the religion of the Court. Naturally, therefore, the 
 world poured into the Church, and to a corresponding 
 extent the Church was corrupted. The depravation 
 of character was reflected in that depravation of creed, 
 which was known as Arianism. From 319 to 381 the 
 main interest in Church, and to a very large extent in 
 Roman, History is bound up with the Arian struggle, 
 and for half a century that struggle centred round the 
 person of Athanasius. It was on that account that 
 when an unknown author compiled a century or two 
 afterwards (no one exactly knows when) a statement of 
 the doctrine of the Trinity, which the Western Church 
 accepted as a creed, he called it Athanasian, as a word 
 almost synonymous with Catholic; although to one 
 important statement in it, at any rate, the Procession 
 
 143 
 
144 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, Atha- 
 nasius would probably not have subscribed, nor has the 
 Eastern Church at any period of her history. 
 
 Nobody can tell to what extent the conversion of 
 Constantine w T as influenced by conviction or by motives 
 of State policy ; to some extent it was probably influenced 
 by both. For a long time past the attitude of the 
 Emperors towards the Church had been gradually 
 changing, as the chances of suppressing Christianity be- 
 came more and more hopeless. Since the time of Trajan 
 several Emperors had appeared on the scene who desired 
 to restore old Rome, and with this view recognized the 
 necessity of a State religion. Naturally they would turn 
 first to the old gods of Rome. But the Empire included 
 distant races, who knew not the Roman gods, but had 
 other gods of their own. Then came the idea of the 
 divinity of the Caesars. Here was a cult, of the head 
 of the Empire, in which all classes throughout the Empire 
 might join. But the ever-spreading religion of Christ 
 opposed this cult more strenuously even than the other, 
 and it was found by long experience that to suppress 
 Christianity was impossible. The question then would 
 naturally arise — Cannot this new religion, which extends 
 its branches everywhere, be made the religion of the 
 Empire, and hold the Empire together in the way we 
 desire? No doubt Constantine was to a great extent 
 influenced by this motive. At the same time, though 
 he always regarded the Church from outside, deferring 
 baptism till he was at the point of death; though he 
 could never understand the importance of the con- 
 troversial questions; though he so far failed to imbibe 
 the Christian spirit as to be guilty of horrible murders, 
 and even on his death-bed to order the execution of 
 members of the Imperial family, whom he suspected of 
 poisoning him ; yet it is clear that he had a great rever- 
 ence and admiration for the Church, to which on the 
 whole he was a true friend. The Edict of Toleration 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 145 
 
 was soon followed by important acts ; for the observance 
 of Sunday ; for the institution of public prayers in the 
 Army ; for the abolition of crucifixion ; for the encourage- 
 ment of the emancipation of slaves ; for the suppression 
 of infanticide ; for the prohibition of private divinations, 
 licentious and cruel rites and gladiatorial games. *\ He, 
 also curiously showed his zeal by preaching. His 
 favourite subjects were — the general system of Chris- 
 tianity, the follies of paganism, the unity and providence \ 
 of God, redemption, judgment. Besides all this, he 
 seems firmly to have believed that his armies had been 
 led by the Christians' God, and he was duly grateful. 
 But his great disappointment, against which he con- 
 stantly struggled, was the discovery that this mar- 
 vellous instrument for effecting the cohesion of the 
 Empire, was itself rent by internal dissensions; of 
 which he had to confront at first Donatism, and after- 
 wards, and more especially, Arianism. 
 
 What, then, was Arianism? 
 
 In the year 319, when Alexander was Bishop of 
 Alexandria, and Athanasius his deacon (or arch-deacon), 
 one Arius, priest of the Bacaulis Church in that city, 
 began preaching to this effect : If the Son is a real Son, 
 then a Father must exist before a Son; therefore the 
 Divine Father must have existed before the Divine 
 Son. Therefore there was when the Son did not exist. 
 Therefore He is a creature ; the greatest indeed and the 
 eldest of all creatures and Himself a God, but still 
 created; therefore, like all creatures, of an essence 
 (Ousia) which previously had not existed. And he 
 added that any other statement confounded the Persons, 
 by making the Son only a self-manifestation of the 
 Father, which was the Sabellian heresy. For the Sabel- 
 lians said that God was the Monad and extended Himself 
 into the Trinity, the Persons being only like stage 
 characters assumed on different occasions to represent 
 the Deity to Man. 
 
146 KARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 This was the first position of Arianism. Later on it 
 assumed various phases; but one idea runs through 
 them all. It was not by any means a denial of the 
 Trinity, or of our Lord's Divinity. It was an exaggera- 
 tion of the Trinity at the expense of the Unity, as 
 Sabellianism was the reverse. It did not by any means 
 go so far as the heresy which preceded it by half a 
 century at Antioch, when Paul of Samosata had taught 
 that the Impersonal Logos temporarily resided in Jesus, 
 who " by moral advancement " became the Son of 
 God. 
 
 The counter-position of Alexander and Athanasius 
 was that the keynote of Christianity was the Incarnation 
 of Almighty God. This must be stated, they said, 
 quite simply. It was not of a secondary or created 
 God, but the One God Himself; that the difference 
 between the Persons was something that transcended 
 all human logic, and could not be explained by it; and 
 that this was the traditional faith of the Church. 
 Further, they said the standpoint of Arius was poly- 
 theistic, and struck at the roots of the Faith. " We 
 are fighting," said Athanasius later, " for our all." 
 So Arius, with two bishops, Secundas and Theonas, and 
 twelve other clergy were excommunicated. Arius went 
 to Caesarea, and enlisted the sympathy of Eusebius of 
 Caesarea; then to other Eastern Bishops, and finally 
 to Eusebius of Nicomedia, in which city he published 
 certain scurrilous poems, of which the worst was the 
 Thalia. Everywhere he roused considerable sympathy 
 on the ground that he was protesting against Sabel- 
 lianism. The result of all this was the Council of 
 Nicaea. 
 
 Now here it is important to observe that it was not 
 Athanasius, or the Catholic party, that commenced 
 dogmatizing in this controversy. The Arians at one 
 time or another produced ten different creeds, all 
 endeavouring to get away by different dogmatic state- 
 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 147 
 
 ments from the one simple statement of the Catholics 
 that the Father and Son were essentially the same. 
 
 It was hardly to be expected that Constantine, an 
 outsider, could appreciate the minute difference, one 
 of words only, as it seemed to him, by which the Church 
 was divided ; and as he was under the influence of both 
 the Eusebii, he expressed his vexation chiefly against 
 the Alexandrian Church. The position of these two 
 Eusebii must be distinguished. Eusebius of Nicomedia 
 was distinctly a courtier before everything. Later he 
 became a decided Arian; was at one time Bishop of 
 Constantinople; and all through he exercised a thor- 
 oughly bad influence. Eusebius of Csesarea on the 
 contrary was first a Churchman and an historian, 
 though he also held a Court appointment. The position 
 from which he started was moderating and conservative, 
 and from him therefore sprang the Semi-Arian party. 
 Constantine gladly assented to the proposal for a 
 general council, which gave him just what he wanted, 
 viz. the drawing together from all parts of his Empire 
 of the representatives of this new Imperial religion, 
 with himself as the presiding genius. 
 
 The first act of the Emperor was remarkable. He had 
 received a great number of letters from bishops making 
 accusations against their colleagues; and these he had 
 carefully folded into one packet, which he burnt in 
 their presence, as unworthy of them, before proceeding 
 to business. The next question was, how to begin. 
 As was natural, several bishops produced the creeds of 
 their own Churches, and suggested them as a starting 
 point. Among them was the creed of Caesarea, the 
 metropolitan Church of Palestine, produced by Eusebius, 
 than which nothing seemed more appropriate. It 
 may, in fact, be taken as a representative Ante-Nicene 
 document, and ran thus : " We believe in One God the 
 Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and 
 invisible, And in One Lord Jesus Christ, Word of God, 
 
148 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 God from God, Light from Light, Life from Life, Son 
 only-begotten, first-born of every Creature, before all 
 the ages begotten of the Father, by Whom also all 
 things were made." The remaining clauses do not 
 affect the controversy, but it ended, " believing each 
 of these to be and to exist, the Father truly Father, 
 the Son truly Son, the Holy Ghost truly Holy Ghost." 
 A great advantage claimed for this Creed was that it 
 included no new terminology which went beyond 
 Scripture. Yet although it said " begotten before all 
 ages " it did not explicitly state the eternal generation 
 of the Son; and " first-born of every creature" was 
 liable to misconstruction. But it might have passed, 
 had not the watchful Athanasius discovered that it was 
 being interpreted by many as covering the Arian view. 
 A determined stand was therefore made for the introduc- 
 tion of the essential identity of Father and Son, even 
 though it necessitated the use of a technical term which 
 went beyond the Scripture : for if Scripture was inter- 
 preted in different ways, the Church must explain 
 Scripture by a term outside it. 
 
 In the course of discussion, Eusebius of Nicomedia 
 objected that to call the Son uncreated, would imply 
 that He was Homo-ousios (of the same essence) with the 
 Father; and that word had formerly been condemned 
 as materialistic. But now it was eagerly taken up as 
 being just the word wanted : and from that moment 
 it became the watchword and symbol of the Catholic 
 party. The Creed was then fixed as follows, which is 
 the original Nicene Creed. 
 
 " We believe in One God the Father Almighty, 
 Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in One 
 Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, Begotten of the 
 Father, only-begotten, that is from the essence (ousia) 
 of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, Very God 
 from Very God, Being of one Essence with the Father, 
 by whom all things were made, both in heaven and earth ; 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 149 
 
 Who for us men and for our salvation came down, was 
 incarnate, and made man, suffered and rose again the 
 third day, ascended into heaven, and shall come again 
 to judge the quick and the dead ; and in the Holy Spirit." 
 On the doctrine of the Holy Spirit there was as yet no 
 controversy. 1 Then followed certain anathemas, on 
 those who say, " There was a time when He was not " ; 
 or, " Before He was begotten He was not " ; or, " He 
 came into existence out of w r hat was not " ; or, " He was 
 of a different essence " ; or, " He was created, or was 
 capable of change." 
 
 This, then, was the settlement of Nicaea, which was 
 signed by all the 318 present, except Theonas and 
 Secundus, who, along with Arius, were exiled. Here, 
 let us note, was the first act of Christian persecution; 
 and it proceeded from the Catholic side ; although most 
 of the persecution afterwards came from the other side. 
 Exile was a civil punishment pronounced by the State 
 with the concurrence of the Council. Pressure of public 
 opinion seems to have carried away a great number of 
 bishops, like Eusebius of Nicomedia, who were certainly 
 unconvinced; but from the explanatory letter sent by 
 the other Eusebius to his Church, it seems doubtful 
 whether even he quite realized all that was implied; 
 and doubtless many others were like him, who after- 
 wards formed the Semi-Arian or Eusebian party. But 
 for the moment everything seemed satisfactorily settled ; 
 although really it was exactly the reverse, for Nicaea 
 was only the preface to the great Arian struggle, which 
 was to last for fifty-six years. 
 
 The chronological sketch in the last chapter should 
 be closely followed both for the history of Arianism and 
 the life of Athanasius. Although the Nicene, like all 
 the great Councils, was Eastern, the Creed itself being 
 originally in Greek, the greater part of the East was 
 
 1 It will be observed that no mention is made of the Virgin 
 birth. Yet no one doubted it. 
 
150 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 dissatisfied, and before long the East generally became 
 Arian or Semi-Arian, though there was everywhere a 
 Catholic minority. On the other hand, the West, with 
 whom went Alexandria, was during most of the time 
 Catholic, although for a short time under Court influence 
 it went astray, and even a Pope lapsed. The three 
 grades of Arianism were : — 
 
 (1) The Eusebians; or as they were called later, 
 Semi-Arians; or as Gwatkin, in his History of the Avians ', 
 calls them, Conservatives. On the whole their views 
 were honest. They wished to maintain the old Catholic 
 Creeds, and considered the word Homo-ousion as a 
 dangerous innovation, not warranted by Scripture, 
 and likely to be misconstrued. They wished to insert 
 instead the word Homoi-ousios (of like essence with the 
 Father), and this became their watchword. Bright 
 denies their conservatism, saying that the early Church 
 believed Christ to be entirely and utterly God, and 
 that any attempt to limit His Divinity was an innovation. 
 
 (2) The Anomcean (Unlike) party, the later develop- 
 ment of pure Arianism, who were generally content to 
 say that Christ was unlike essentially to the Father. 
 The founder of this school was Aetius, and they were 
 the real successors of Arius. 
 
 (3) Quite late in the day an Homcean party was 
 formed, which theologically was a party of despair : 
 proposing, as it were, to compromise the matter by leav- 
 ing out all reference to Essence, and simply saying 
 that the Son was like the Father. But really it was a 
 political attempt, in the reign of Constantius, to combine 
 the whole Church by a vague expression, and then 
 bring it under State control. 
 
 Against all these parties the Catholics, under the lead 
 of St. Athanasius, supported mainly by St. Hilary of 
 Poitiers, Eusebius of Vercellse, Lucifer of Cagliari in 
 Sardinia, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and at the end St. 
 Basil and the Gregories, firmly stood ; upholding always 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 151 
 
 against the various Arian proposals the Nicene Creed 
 and generally the Homo-ousion. Towards the close of 
 Athanasius' life, the Semi-Arians grew alarmed, and 
 drew nearer to the Catholics, influenced in great measure 
 by the diplomacy of Athanasius, who at a synod at 
 Alexandria offered to sacrifice words, so long as he could 
 retain meanings. 1 The words which caused the diffi- 
 culty were Ousia (Essence) and especially Hypostasis 
 or Substantia, the Greek and Latin respectively for 
 Substance. Athanasius found that some, in using the 
 word Substance, meant Essence, and some meant 
 Person. Thus we speak now in our Creed of " one 
 substance with the Father " because the Latin Theo- 
 logians came to use Substantia where the Greeks used 
 Ousia, or Essential Being, as meaning the same thing. 
 
 It is easy to smile at the immense importance which 
 the theologians of the fourth century attached to 
 differences of dogma on the inexplicable mystery of the 
 Trinity; but we have the verdict of such an impartial 
 modern critic as Carlyle, that if Arianism had not been 
 conquered, Christianity would in time have dwindled 
 into a legend. If anything short of the full Catholic 
 position had been conceded, then it must be admitted 
 that the complete revelation of God to man had never 
 been made, for the Son was something short of the 
 Supreme and so the Supreme was inaccessible to man. 
 Indeed the Arians said that Christ did not perfectly 
 know the Father; how then could He reveal Him? 
 The idea of the inaccessibility of the Supreme God was 
 a concession to Platonism ; the idea of a secondary 
 God a concession to Gnosticism ; the idea of the Trinity 
 without the Unity a concession to Polytheism. In 
 short, the worship of Christ would be idolatry, if He 
 were only a creature. 
 
 Athanasius, who is commonly thought of as a typical 
 dogmatist, was in fact much more a man of action. 
 
 1 Partly also because they were included in the persecution 
 
152 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 He would have been quite content to leave dogmas 
 alone, and teach a simple traditional Faith, if the other 
 side would have allowed him. His life was full of 
 intensely dramatic incidents. As a child he attracted 
 the notice of Bishop Alexander by " playing at Church " 
 on the sea-shore. The Bishop found that he had been 
 baptizing other children, and decided after careful 
 enquiry that the baptisms were valid. So he took him 
 into his house and trained him for the ministry. Born 
 in 297, he was only twenty-eight when he exercised 
 such a strong influence at the Nicene Council, and it was 
 probably five years before that, that he composed his 
 famous treatise on the Incarnation of the Word. In the 
 year after the Council, he succeeded to the bishopric, 
 and almost immediately he became so identified with 
 the Catholic cause, that the way to attack the cause 
 was to attack him personally. The most ridiculous 
 charges were brought against him; that he had taxed 
 the Egyptians to supply linen vestments; that he had 
 appropriated charity funds; that he had broken the 
 chalice at an Arian Eucharist; that he was immoral 
 and addicted to magic; that he had killed a monk, 
 Arsenius, and used his dead hand for magic; that he 
 had aided a rebel with money ; that he had tried to stop 
 the corn supplies; all of which charges he repeatedly 
 disproved. One of the dramatic incidents of his life 
 was producing Arsenius at the Council of Tyre muffled 
 up, and unveiling him at a critical moment in a debate, 
 alive and with both hands on ! Another dramatic 
 scene was his suddenly appearing in Constantinople 
 and barring the way of Constantine and his retinue 
 with a demand for a just enquiry into his case, which 
 the Emperor reluctantly conceded. Bright compares 
 it to the appearance of Elijah before Ahab, as the 
 " troubler of Israel." On another occasion the Church 
 at Alexandria in which he was enthroned was attacked 
 during the service by the soldiers of Constantine : yet 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 153 
 
 he ordered the service to proceed, and the choir con- 
 tinued to chant " For His Mercy endureth for ever," 
 till the soldiers reached the chancel; when he was 
 smuggled away by the monks and mysteriously dis- 
 appeared. For some years he was in hiding among the 
 monasteries in the Egyptian desert, ruling his diocese 
 all the time. Once, coming down stream, he met his 
 pursuers sailing up the Nile. Not recognizing him 
 they asked him where Athanasius was. " Not far 
 away," he replied ; and glided past them into Alexandria. 
 He is described as a little man, with an auburn beard, 
 and a very beautiful face. " Despicable little manni- 
 kin," Julian the Apostate called him; yet Gibbon, 
 who had a profound admiration for him, said that he 
 was much better qualified to rule the Empire than 
 Constantius. No doubt for a long period his was the 
 most important personality in the Empire. 
 
 The various returns of Athanasius to his See mark 
 the different periods of his career, the first period 
 coinciding within a year with the death of Constantine. 
 Soon after Nicsea, Constantine seems to have concluded 
 that the only solution of the difficulty would be the 
 abandonment of the Homo-ousion, and he was there- 
 fore inclined to support the Eusebians, while giving all 
 respectful consideration to Athanasius. At last, for 
 the peace, as he thought, of the Church, he removed 
 him to an honourable retirement at Treves; but Con- 
 stantine II, on his succession to the West, reinstated 
 him. This was his First Return (338). 
 
 But two years afterwards, when the Arian Gregory 
 was intruded into his See, Athanasius went to Rome, 
 to obtain the assistance of Julius of Rome, and generally 
 to strengthen the brethren in orthodoxy. In 346, 
 Constantius being somewhat alarmed at the Western 
 opposition to his Arianism, and the deposition of 
 Stephen, Arian Bishop of Antioch, permitted Athanasius' 
 return. This, then, was his Second Return. 
 
154 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 From 346 to 356, he enjoyed in Alexandria what he 
 called ten years of deep and wondrous peace, although 
 the storm raged all round him, and at one time he was 
 abandoned by almost the entire Western Church. 
 The culmination of this period was the attack on the 
 Church from which he mysteriously disappeared. Then 
 followed the period of hiding in the Egyptian desert 
 till in 361 Julian the Apostate allowed all bishops to 
 return. Then came his Third Return. 
 
 From 361 to his death in 373 he was practically left 
 undisturbed. 
 
 His treatise on the Incarnation of the Word of God, 
 though written quite early in his life, and before the 
 rise of Arianism, is the best example of his theology, 
 and is of special interest in modern times from its breadth 
 of view and thoroughly philosophical standpoint. It 
 is well worthy of his Alexandrian training and traditions. 
 The Incarnation, he teaches, culminating in the death 
 on the Cross, was not primarily a propitiation or the 
 averting of a penalty. What is known as the " forensic " 
 theory Athanasius avoided. It was rather a restora- 
 tion from death to life. Human nature through sin 
 was in corruption, and must be healed, restored, re- 
 created. A true theory of Creation is given, in opposi- 
 tion to the views of the Epicureans, the Platonists and 
 the Gnostics. Men were created above all the rest, in 
 God's image, with even a portion of His own Word, 
 so that having a sort of reflexion of the Word, and being 
 in fact made rational (Xoyixoi), they might be able to 
 abide for e/ver in blessedness (c. 3). But if they did not 
 obey His laws, they were to fall into and remain in death 
 and corruption — a negative state; for what is good is, 
 what is evil is not; evil is the negation of good, death 
 of life, etc. Man turning to the evil partook of negative 
 things, evil, corruption, death, and remained in them : 
 he lost the image, and lost the life in correspondence 
 with God (c. 5). The handiwork of God was in process 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 155 
 
 of dissolution (6). God could not justly prevent this, 
 seeing that He made the law, nor could He leave man 
 to the current of corruption, and watch His work being 
 spoilt. Even repentance by itself was useless (7), for 
 it did not alter the nature, or stay the corruption. 
 Only He could restore or recreate, Who had created. 
 " For being Word of the Father and above all, He alone 
 of natural fitness was both able to recreate everything 
 and worthy to suffer on behalf of all, and to be ambas- 
 sador for all with the Father." The Word therefore 
 took a body, and lived and died, that all might be 
 counted as having lived and died in Him (8), being 
 united in His Body, and therefore sharing His in- 
 corruptibility and resurrection. Further (11) man by 
 his corruption had lost the knowledge of God and fallen 
 into idolatry, magic, astrology, although (12) without 
 excuse, for the image was never wholly effaced : they 
 might have seen Him in His works, or in the lives of 
 holy men. There was always " a holy school of the 
 knowledge of God and the conduct of the soul," but 
 they heeded it not. God (13) had " to restore in us 
 the grace of His Image " by the presence of His very 
 Image, Christ." A portrait (14) once effaced must be 
 restored from the original. So men's thoughts (15) 
 were met half-way. If they worshipped men or creation 
 or daemons, they found He had conquered all these. 
 He conquered even death. He came (16) to attract 
 men's sense-bound affections to Himself as Man (Son 
 of Man), and so to lead them on to know Him as God : 
 for (17) all the time He was with the Father, and ruling 
 the Universe. There was (18) the evidence of His 
 Divinity in His miracles, especially the Virgin birth 
 and the convulsion of nature at the crucifixion. Christ's 
 death (20) was necessary; necessary at the hands of 
 others, that there might be a sacrifice : public (23) 
 that it might attest the resurrection : not of His own 
 choice, or they would have said He could conquer 
 
156 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 that sort of death, but perhaps not some other ; on the 
 cross (24) that His Body might not be divided, and 
 because it was the worst death ; if He was to bear our 
 curse (25) He must bear the death appointed for the 
 curse, and be hanged on a tree; (26) the Resurrection 
 was not sooner than the third day that His death might 
 be sure, and yet His incorruptibility proved ; not later, 
 that He might not disappoint His own or keep them 
 too long in suspense; the certainty (27) of Christians 
 that there is no death is witnessed by the martyrs; 
 and (31) the tremendous living power of Christ in the 
 world since His Resurrection. Then follows a con- 
 troversy with the Jews about the fulfilment of prophecy, 
 and with the Greeks upon the reasonableness of the 
 alliance with the Word, in which they believed, with 
 human nature, upon the decay of paganism and philo- 
 sophic systems, and the influence of Christ over society 
 and the individual. He came (43) as man and not in 
 some nobler form, for He came not to make a display, 
 but to heal and teach suffering humanity. Nothing 
 in Nature was out of accord with the Divine Will except 
 Man. All other things in Nature, knowing the Word 
 as their Artificer and Sovereign, remained as they 
 were originally made. 1 
 
 This treatise gives in the clearest and most positive 
 manner the theological position of Athanasius on what 
 was to him the most important question. The main 
 result of the Incarnation was the restoration of humanity 
 from death to life. His theory of atonement certainly 
 implies the idea of satisfaction, but it is the Godhead 
 satisfying the Godhead. 
 
 His other works, with the exception of the Commentary 
 on the Psalms, are not so much carefully thought out 
 dissertations as protests by the man of action against 
 the attacks of his opponents. The Apology against the 
 Avians and the History of the Arians have chiefly an 
 1 This analysis is founded on that in the Nicene Library. 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 157 
 
 historical value. The former is the best authority we 
 have for the events up to 335, and the latter from 335- 
 357. The Discourses against the Avians meet in detail 
 all the theological difficulties raised by them. The 
 forty-five Festal Letters, a few of which are only in 
 fragments, also throw light on the history. They were 
 his Easter addresses to his diocese, and he hardly ever 
 failed to send them, wherever he was : consequently 
 they are of great interest. 
 
 There is not much in Athanasius' writings bearing 
 on Eucharistic controversy. In the Letter to Serapion 
 (IV. 19) is a much-quoted statement, in which he draws 
 a careful distinction between flesh and spirit. The 
 actual Body, he says, would not suffice to be distributed 
 to the whole world. He spoke of His Ascension to draw 
 them away from the corporeal idea. " This (flesh) and 
 the Blood from it shall be given to you spiritually at 
 My hands as meat, so as to be imparted spiritually to 
 each one, and to become for all a preservative to 
 resurrection and life eternal." Yet as regards the Real 
 Presence, he says definitely in the Letter to Maximus 
 (61), " We are deified not by partaking of the body of 
 some man, but by receiving the Body of the Word 
 Himself." 
 
 Nor did Athanasius take any action either in assisting, 
 or protesting against, the growth of Roman supremacy. 
 He always showed great reverence for Rome as an 
 apostolic throne, and recognized the close relations of 
 Rome and Alexandria. He was also always, except 
 for the unhappy lapse of Liberius, well treated by the 
 Roman Church, especially by Pope Julius. But during 
 the period embraced by his life, a great number of 
 events took place bearing very closely on the Papal 
 question. 
 
 At the Nicene Council, Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, 
 was not present, but was represented by two priests. 
 Hosius of Cordova presided. He signed first, and 
 
158 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Sylvester's representatives next. It seems, therefore, 
 that the Roman Church was not considered to have any 
 presidential authority in her own right at that time, 
 and that the two Roman priests were not legates. 
 But was Hosius acting as Papal legate? Roman 
 Catholics hold that this must have been the case, but 
 it is difficult to find any proof of it. He was well in the 
 confidence of Constantine, and he also probably knew 
 the mind of Sylvester. But Sylvester seems to have 
 given no lead on the doctrinal question. 
 
 The sixth Nicene Canon gave Alexandria power over 
 Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis, on the ground that 
 Rome possessed a similar authority over outlying 
 Churches in the West. How far this meant a merely 
 metropolitan power over neighbouring Italian districts 
 or a patriarchate over the whole West is disputed. 
 
 In 341, Pope Julius invited the Easterns to a Council 
 at Rome. The reply was extremely disrespectful : 
 that Christianity came to Rome from the East, implying 
 that the Easterns knew better than Rome. Besides, all 
 bishops, they said, were equal. And why had Julius 
 addressed them in his own name, instead of that of his 
 Church? And why did he ignore the decision of the 
 Council of Tyre ? Whether these arguments were right 
 or wrong, it is hard to believe that the Easterns were 
 familiar with the idea of a supreme authority vested in 
 Rome. Julius had said " the custom was first to write 
 to us and get a just judgment from this place." He 
 had, however, previously said, " Word should have 
 been sent to us all, so that a just sentence might have 
 been given by us all " (that is, all the bishops). 
 
 At the Council of Sardica, 343, it was decreed that 
 bishops might appeal from the decision of their metro- 
 politan to Rome (as an Apostolic See), and that the 
 Roman Bishop might order a fresh trial by bishops of 
 the nearest province, and might send presbyters to 
 advise them. This did not admit any claim on Rome's 
 
ST. ATHANASIUS 159 
 
 part, still less did it institute any court of appeal at 
 Rome. 
 
 In 358 Pope Liberius disowned the Catholic position 
 and became formally a heretic. Doubt in late years 
 has been thrown on this by Roman Catholic writers, 
 but it was never disputed till after Reformation times. 
 Newman admits it. Fleury, writing in the eighteenth 
 century, in a chapter headed " The Fall of Liberius," 
 ends thus : " Thus did Liberius abandon St. Athanasius, 
 whose cause was then inseparable from that of the Faith." 
 And Athanasius himself says, 1 " Liberius, after he had 
 been in banishment for two years gave way, and from 
 fear of threatened death was induced to subscribe." 
 It was at this time that Hosius of Cordova, who had 
 been throughout a stalwart leader of the Catholics, 
 but was now over a hundred years old, " was confined 
 so straitly that at last broken by suffering he was 
 brought though hardly to hold communion with 
 the Arians." But he would not subscribe against 
 Athanasius. 
 
 Among the literary works of Athanasius is a rather 
 curious life of the hermit Anthony. Curious, because 
 it is full of grotesque stories of temptation, by devils 
 in various shapes, of a mediaeval character. It is 
 therefore unlike the usual practical style of Athanasius. 
 Possibly they may have been interpolated, especially as 
 regards a certain story of a dragon. But, apart from 
 the dragon, the idea that daemons or evil spirits, in what- 
 ever form they might appear, were always intervening 
 in the affairs of men, had come down from the three 
 previous centuries, and was generally accepted. 
 
 A more important thought, in connection with this 
 work, is the growth of Monasticism, which was now a 
 well-established institution in the East, Athanasius 
 being the first of the Fathers with whose history it is 
 connected. We hear of him hiding in the Egyptian 
 1 History of Arianism,^ p. 41. 
 
160 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 monasteries or lauras, and taking two monks with him 
 to Rome, the first probably who had appeared there. 
 It remained, however, for St. Jerome a little later to 
 familiarize the Roman mind with the monastic idea. 
 Lauras were a number of cells, near one another, in 
 which monks lived alone, but met for worship. 
 
 The first hermit had been Paul, in the time of the 
 Emperor Valerius. Anthony became one about 270. 
 At first it was an entirely solitary life; but gradually 
 the hermits drew together into settlements. In 325 
 Pachomius founded the first regularly organized settle- 
 ment at Tabennae in Egypt, and within quite a short 
 time a number of other settlements were formed on its 
 model ; so that by the end of the fourth century the 
 Egyptian monasteries were numerous and celebrated, 
 and a century later Monasticism had become a power 
 throughout the Church. 
 
 It is difficult to avoid the reflection that the Church 
 in early days was very ready to accept the assistance 
 of the State in the management of her affairs. The only 
 serious protest that we find against State interference 
 came from the Donatists, who once resented the action 
 of the State in regard to charity. " What, 55 they said, 
 "have Emperors to do with the Church? 55 But the 
 Arians became mere servants of the Emperor, and were 
 anxious to submit even their Creeds to him for his 
 approval. The Catholic party would never do this; 
 but even they used the State support for all that it was 
 worth, and allowed Constantine to be the presiding 
 genius at Nicsea. Indeed, during the bad years (350-360) 
 when the Catholic party in the West fell so low, the fall 
 was entirely due to Court influence. Anglicans may take 
 courage, when Henry VIII and Elizabeth are quoted 
 against them. Perhaps also they may point to the 
 French Church, whose submission to Rome depends 
 to a great extent on the policy of her kings. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 
 
 (Born 300-320. Bishop of Poitiers 353-368) 
 
 What Athanasius did in the defence of orthodoxy 
 for the whole Church, but especially the East, that 
 Hilary did for the West, but more especially Gaul. In 
 fact he was the great Catholic champion of the West 
 against Arianism. Athanasius and Hilary never met, 
 yet the former must have been well aware of the work 
 of the latter, and Hilary recognized Athanasius as his 
 chief. Hilary was both man of action and theologian, 
 but he is best known to us in the latter capacity; for 
 his episcopate, and indeed his whole Christian life, was 
 short, He was converted in 350, consecrated, while 
 still a layman, in 353, and died in 368. Five years 
 of his episcopate were also passed in exile, although 
 they were actively employed. 
 
 St. Hilary was born in or near Poitiers ; but whether 
 he was by origin a Gaul or a Roman, we do not know; 
 nor the exact time of his birth. His parents were in 
 a good position and he had an excellent education, 
 and was trained for the profession of rhetoric, or, in 
 modern words, for the bar. Here it must be observed, 
 that the civilization of Gaul at this date was of a very 
 high order. No sooner was Gaul finally conquered 
 by Rome and brought within the Empire, than the 
 Gauls at once rose to their position as Roman citizens. 
 Their advance was very rapid, and by this time they 
 were at least on a level in point of culture with the 
 Romans themselves, the chief centre of that culture 
 m 161 
 
162 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 being Bordeaux. About the Christianity of Gaul we 
 have heard nothing since the time of St. Ircnaeus ; and 
 it will be remembered that, when he was consecrated 
 to the See of Lyons, he was the only bishop in the 
 province. By this time there were of course many 
 bishops, but even now they were much fewer and farther 
 between than in the East. So that in the extreme West 
 a bishop was generally a much more important personage 
 than in the East, but at the same time, owing to distances, 
 exercised less personal influence, except in his cathedral 
 city. Thus when Hilary was exiled to Asia Minor, he 
 continued to administer his diocese from afar; no one 
 thought of intruding another bishop. 
 
 Hilary and Irenaeus are to this extent alike, that both 
 were imbued with the Greek spirit. Irenaeus indeed 
 was a Greek of Asia Minor, who migrated to Gaul : 
 Hilary was a Gaul, who had deeply studied Greek litera- 
 ture, and especially Neo-Platonism. But he found its 
 conception of God unsatisfactory, and it was only when 
 he studied Moses, that he found what seemed to him 
 the real definition, He that Is. " I am that I am " 
 showed to him God as the source and sum of all existence ; 
 and in this thought he rested, till he was carried on by 
 St. John to the realization of the Word made flesh. 
 
 He must have been anything from thirty to fifty at 
 the time of his baptism, and within three years he was 
 recognized as the one man for the episcopal throne. 
 Two years later began his troubles. Constantius was 
 now sole Emperor, and consequently West as well as 
 East became submitted to Arian influence. Two 
 bishops from Eastern Europe, Valens and Ursacius, who 
 were acting as sort of ecclesiastical ministers to the 
 Emperor for Western affairs, and Saturninus, Bishop 
 of Aries, were denounced by Hilary as Arians; and 
 he also wrote a letter to the Emperor, known as the 
 First Book against Constantius, asking in the most 
 loyal and respectful language for freedom of worship 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 163 
 
 for Catholics. The result of this was a Council at Beziers 
 in 356, before which Hilary was cited, and by which 
 he was exiled to Phrygia, which meant in effect any 
 part of Asia Minor. Hilary's alleged offence was one 
 not of faith, but conduct. He was accused of making 
 trouble, and when he tried to raise doctrinal questions, 
 the Council refused him an audience. 
 
 But his exile was providential. It brought him into 
 direct touch with the Eastern Arians, whose teaching 
 he was better able to examine and refute; and with 
 the Semi-Arians, for whom he had much sympathy, 
 believing them to be heretics only from a misunder- 
 standing of terms, and not from any intellectual 
 depravity. To his exile also we are indebted for his 
 two great works. The first of these was the De Synodis, 
 or the Faith of the Easterns; which was not only an 
 excellent historical account and explanation of the 
 various Arian Councils, but also an attempt to draw 
 together East and West, by explaining the Homo-ousion 
 to the East, and the Semi-Arian position to the West. 
 No doubt this work, as well as the tolerant bearing of 
 Hilary towards the Semi-Arians, in whose churches 
 he at least prayed, though he could not communicate, 
 did much towards the ultimate fusion. 
 
 Towards the extreme party, however, he adopted 
 quite another attitude; for them no words were bad 
 enough. He was summoned during his exile to the 
 Council of Seleucia (359) as a leading Western authority 
 who was in the neighbourhood, although it was supposed 
 to be an exclusively Eastern Council, and discovered 
 to his horror from a private conversation that the 
 Homoion (the likeness of Father and Son), which the 
 Homoean party were introducing as a watchword that 
 should bind all parties, meant no more than a likeness 
 of will. 
 
 The other great and indeed the greatest work of 
 Hilary, written during this period of exile, is the De 
 
164 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Trinitate, 1 which provided for the Latins what Athana- 
 sius' Discourses against the Arians did for the Greeks. 
 It is the first systematic treatment of the subject by a 
 Latin Father, and would be complete, if it had not 
 stated somewhat inadequately the doctrine of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 The De Trinitate is divided into twelve books : — 
 
 1. Natural and first step towards Revealed Religion. 
 
 2. Explanation of the baptismal formula. 
 
 3. The two natures of Christ. 
 
 4. The One Person of Christ. 
 
 5. An Examination of Prophecy. 
 
 6. Refutation of the Sabellians and Manichees. 
 
 7. That the various heresies are mutually destructive. 
 
 8. That the Unity of God is not affected by the Son- 
 ship. 
 
 9-11. Replies to Arian perversions of texts. 
 12. General remarks against Arianism. 
 
 On the value of Hilary's work varying opinions have 
 been expressed. Erasmus, for instance, considered that 
 his speculations on the Trinity bordered on dangerous 
 curiosity, and that his language against the Arians was 
 too violent. But this was not the view of his patristic 
 successors. St. Augustine called him an illustrious 
 doctor, a man of no light authority in explaining the 
 Scriptures and asserting the Faith; a keen defender of 
 the Catholic Church against heretics. St. Jerome said 
 that, like St. Cyprian, he was a lofty tree in the garden 
 of the world, which helped to build up the Church of 
 God. In another place he calls him " the Rhone of 
 eloquence, whose writings I have traversed, and found 
 no stumbling-block." In modern times, Dorner, in 
 The Person of Christ, says that, M Hilary has not met 
 w T ith the appreciation he deserves. He is one of the 
 most difficult Church teachers to understand, but also 
 1 Hilary's own name for it was De Fide. 
 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 165 
 
 one of the most original and profound. His vicw$ of 
 Christology is one of the most interesting in all Christian 
 antiquity. He proved himself in a true sense a teacher 
 of the Church." 
 
 In 360, after the Council of Seleucia, Hilary went to 
 Constantinople with the view of personally addressing 
 the Emperor; but as his influence was considered by 
 the Court party to be mischievous in the East, he was 
 sent back to his diocese, which he approached by very 
 easy stages, only arriving about 362. In 364 we find 
 him again in strong dispute with Auxentius of Milan, 
 whom he accused of being an Arian in disguise, and 
 therefore an exceptionally dangerous heretic. He was 
 again sent to his diocese, where he lived for four quiet 
 years, dying in 368. De Broglie says it is admitted 
 on all sides that Gaul was freed from the guilt of heresy 
 solely by the good work of Hilary (whom he calls the 
 Athanasius of Gaul), and the Council of Paris which he 
 called (361) had already made the first decided step 
 towards the purification of the Western Church when it 
 excommunicated Saturninus, and proclaimed the Homo- 
 ousion. Other works of Hilary, not already mentioned, 
 are two other books against Constantius, violent in their 
 tone; a Commentary on St. Matthew (his first work as 
 a bishop), in which he followed the lines of Origen, and 
 was himself followed by Ambrose; and a Commentary 
 on the Psalms, which is fragmentary, only Psalms 1, 
 2, 9-13, 51-69, and 91-150 remaining. But those 
 that remain are full of deep theological reasoning. 
 
 Like others of the Fathers, Hilary, in his Pagan days, 
 was first impressed by the beauty and order of creation, 
 the very Greek word for the world, Cosmos, implying 
 order; and from the contemplation of Nature, he was 
 led to the God of Nature. If the Cosmos, he argued, 
 is so beautiful, the Maker of it must be most beautiful, 
 and the soul He has created must aspire to Him. And 
 the essence of creation is surely life, not death ; yet only 
 
166 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 potential life. How to make it actual ? Through union 
 with God. And later he found this through union 
 with the Word made Flesh. Already he had found 
 that " with the will to believe would come the power 
 to understand." x But also that " the work of the 
 Infinite and Eternal could only be grasped by the infinite 
 intelligence." 2 But then came from Moses the definition 
 of God as He that Is, the I am that I am. " I was 
 amazed," says Hilary, 3 " to find in these words an indica- 
 tion concerning God so exact that it expressed in the 
 terms best adapted to human understanding an un- 
 attainable insight into the mystery of the Divine Nature. 
 For no property of God which the mind can grasp is 
 more characteristic of Him than Existence, since Exist- 
 ence in the absolute sense cannot be predicated of that 
 which shall come to an end or had a beginning. . . . 
 Wherefore since God's Eternity is inseparable from 
 Himself, it was worthy of Him to reveal this one thing, 
 that He exists, as the assurance of His absolute Eternity." 
 But from Moses and the Prophets together he advanced 
 further than this; addressing God he says, 4 " From 
 Moses and the prophets I learnt Thy revelation that 
 Thou art not a lonely God. There is with Thee a God, 
 who is not another from Thee in nature, but one with 
 Thee in the mystery of Thy substance. God begotten 
 of Thee the Unbegotten, was born Man of the Virgin 
 to save m£." And the existence of God being thus 
 grasped, as well as the Divinity of the Word, the edifice 
 is crowned by the teaching of St. John. 
 
 While Athanasius was brought up in the environment 
 of Alexandria, and so found himself to some extent a 
 follower of Origen, though in later life he withdrew 
 himself from his teaching, Hilary had studied the 
 Alexandrian school from afar. Traces of Origen appear 
 in his assertion of the dignity of man, and of free will, 
 and of the Incarnation as an obscuring of the Divine 
 
 1 Tr. I. 12. 2 Ibid., 13. y Ibid., 5. 4 Ibid., VI. 19. 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 167 
 
 Glory : but especially in the importance assigned to 
 knowledge, coupled with the toleration extended to those 
 who conscientiously differed from him. Commenting 
 on the text in Psalm 119, " I know, O Lord, that Thy 
 judgments are right," Hilary says, " There is a certain 
 greater effectiveness in knowledge than in faith. Thus 
 the writer did not believe ; he knew. For faith has the 
 reward of obedience, but it has not the assurance of 
 ascertained truth. The Apostle has indicated the 
 breadth of the interval between the two by putting the 
 latter into the lower place in his list of the gifts of grace. 
 " To the first wisdom (see Origen), to the second knoAV- 
 ledge (see Clement), to the third faith," is his message. 
 For he who believes may be ignorant even while he 
 believes, but he who has come to know is saved from 
 the very possibility of unbelief." 
 
 But in spite of the importance of knowledge as a guide 
 to conduct, Hilary showed, like Athanasius, a true 
 Catholic reluctance to the multiplication of dogmas, 
 or to scientific explanations of the traditional Faith. 
 Such explanations were forced by heretic quibbles. 
 "In simplicity is faith; God does not call us to the 
 blessed life through the investigation of difficult ques- 
 tions." " The errors of heretics and blasphemers force 
 us to deal with unlawful matters, to scale perilous heights, 
 to speak unutterable words, to trespass on forbidden 
 ground. Faith ought in silence to fulfil the command- 
 ments, worshipping the Father, reverencing with Him 
 the Son, abounding in the Holy Ghost; but we strain 
 the poor resources of our language to express thoughts 
 too great for words. The error of others compels us 
 to embody in human terms truths which ought to be 
 hidden in the silent veneration of the heart." x And 
 again, after writing of the Father, he says, " It is easier 
 for me to feel this concerning the Father than to say 
 it. I am well aware that no words are adequate to 
 
 1 Tr. II. 2. 
 
168 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 describe His attributes." l Again, " Neither speech of 
 man nor analogy of human nature can give us a full 
 insight into the things of God. The ineffable cannot 
 submit to the bounds and limits of definition." 2 And, 
 *f God cannot be known except by devotion." 3 
 
 It is remarkable that just before Hilary was starting 
 for exile, when he had been a Christian for five years, 
 and two years a bishop, he first became acquainted with 
 the actual Nicene Creed, though it had been formulated 
 for thirty years. But he found it exactly in accord 
 with what he had learnt and taught as the traditional 
 Faith, and he accepted it at once with the Homo-ousion. 
 Tradition to Hilary was simply Scripture; the day was 
 now passed when Christians made the oral tradition 
 the basis of the Faith. Athanasius had authoritatively 
 pronounced on the Canon of the New Testament, which 
 was the same as ours, with one or two books added as 
 " read but not inspired." And Scripture for Hilary (the 
 Alexandrian influence again) had a literal and spiritual 
 meaning, of which, however, only the spiritual was 
 important, though the words must be minutely studied. 
 Man, Hilary taught, must rely on Scripture for every- 
 thing beyond his innate perception of God. 
 
 Hilary teaches that "it is to the Father that all crea- 
 tion owes its existence, and through Christ He is the 
 source of all. In contrast to all else, He is self-existent. 
 He does not draw His Being from without, but possesses 
 it from Himself and within Himself. He is Infinite, 
 for nothing contains Him, and He contains all things. 
 He is eternally unconditioned by space, for He is illimit- 
 able : eternally antecedent to time, for time is His 
 creation. Let imagination range to what you may 
 suppose is God's utmost limit, and you will find Him 
 present there. Strain as you will, there is always a 
 further horizon towards which to strain. Infinity 
 is his property, just as the power of making such an 
 1 Tr. II. 6. 2 Ibid., IV. 2, 3 Ibid., XI. 49. 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 169 
 
 effort is yours. Words will fail you, but His Being 
 will not be circumscribed. Turn again the pages of 
 history, and you will find Him ever present. Should 
 numbers fail to express the antiquity to which you 
 have penetrated, yet God's antiquity is not diminished. 
 Gird up your intellect to comprehend Him as a whole; 
 He eludes you. God as a whole has left something 
 within your grasp, but this something is inextricably 
 involved in His entirety. Thus you have missed the 
 whole, since it is only a part which remains in your hands ; 
 nay, not even a part, for you are dealing with a whole 
 which you have failed to divide." * 
 
 As God is Existence, so also involved in this 
 Existence, or Ousia, is Christ, or rather the Son, for 
 in Hilary's view the Son only became Christ at the 
 creation, which was His work. Here Hilary, following 
 the Alexandrians, differs somewhat from Athanasius, 
 who rather attributed the creation to the Father. 
 Between Father and Son there is a perfect indwelling, 
 the one in the other. The generation of the Son is 
 beyond all explanation. This is not strange, for we 
 cannot explain even the mystery of our own birth. 
 Christ was begotten, not so much of the will, as of the 
 nature of the Father, both Father and Son being eternal ; 
 yet the will entirely co-operated in the generation, 
 and the wills of both have always been in perfect corre- 
 spondence. Christ is repeatedly called by Hilary, and 
 the phrase is peculiar to him, the Only-begotten God. 
 Though each corresponds with and completely compre- 
 hends the other and Himself in the other, yet the Persons 
 are distinct, for the Son has free will, though it is never 
 used contrary to the Father's. Though the two Persons 
 are one in Being, they are not equal in dignity, because 
 the Father is self-existent and the author of all Being. 
 
 So far, on the doctrines of the first and second Persons 
 of the Trinity St. Hilary is clear and explicit. In regard 
 
 1 Tr. II. 6. 
 
170 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 to the third he is less so. No controversy had yet arisen 
 on this subject, the Nicene Creed having been content 
 to close with the words, " And we believe in the Holy 
 Ghost." Although the controversy was imminent, 
 the writers of the time seemed anxious not to anticipate 
 it; feeling, perhaps, that one controversy was enough 
 at a time. Neander says that Hilary never ventured 
 to call the Holy Spirit God, because this was never 
 directly stated in Scripture : yet he said that the Spirit 
 searches the deep things of God, and therefore He par- 
 takes of the Divine Essence. It was really Athanasius 
 who first implied the Homo-ousion in connection with 
 the Spirit as well as the Son, by saying that if He were 
 created and not very God, then something created 
 would be admitted into the Trinity. 1 Hilary says, 2 
 " We are bound to confess Him, proceeding as He does 
 from the Father and the Son ; and to know this is suffi- 
 cient. If any one asks what the Holy Spirit is, and is 
 not satisfied with the answer, that He is through Him 
 and from Him, through whom are all things ; that He 
 is the Spirit of God, and God's gift to believers; even 
 Apostles and Prophets will not satisfy such a man, for 
 they only assert this of Him, that He is." 
 
 It is in his doctrine of the Incarnation that Hilary's 
 teaching is most important. For he asserts that it 
 was not merely a necessity which arose out of the sins 
 of men. If mankind had never sinned, still there would 
 have been an Incarnation of God; for the Incarnation 
 was part of the gradual revelation of God to man. He 
 had been often revealed to men before in the Theophanies 
 of the Old Testament; now at last He was revealed 
 in the flesh, that He might be a witness from among us 
 to the things of God, and by means of weak flesh pro- 
 claim the Father to our w r eak and carnal selves. 3 This 
 belief that the Divine appearances in the Old Testament 
 
 1 History of Christian Dogma, Vol. I. p. 304. 
 
 2 Tr. II. 29. 3 Ibid., III. 9. 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 171 
 
 were manifestations of the Logos was common to most 
 of the early Fathers ; but was subsequently discredited 
 by St. Augustine, because it was used by Arians as an 
 argument for the inferiority of the Son. He taught 
 that they were appearances of angels. 
 
 The Divinity of our Lord is asserted everywhere in 
 the strongest terms, as would be natural during the 
 Arian controversy ; so strongly, in fact, that, as will be 
 seen presently, in dealing with His Humanity, he is 
 led into dangerous ground. But when he is alluding to 
 the Humanity, he continually uses expressions intended 
 to assert all the while the Divinity, such as that Judas 
 betrayed God; the death of the immortal God; and 
 above all the often -recurring expression, which has been 
 called his watchword, " the Only-begotten God." 
 " Only God," writes Hilary, " could take an alien nature, 
 could empty Himself of the attributes of Godhead." 1 
 " The glory of His Majesty is not forfeited, when He 
 assumes the lowliness of flesh." 2 Christ, according 
 to Hilary, created His own human soul : he does not 
 refer to His birth as the operation of the Holy Ghost; 
 He took a body not free from human infirmities, for 
 otherwise it would have been hard for us to have believed 
 in Him. " When God became Man 3 the purpose was, 
 not that the Godhead should be lost, but that, the God- 
 head remaining, man should be born to be God. Thus, 
 His name is Emmanuel, not that God might be lowered 
 to the level of Man, but Man raised to that of God." 
 In other w r ords, it was the " taking of the manhood into 
 God." And, as Christ was the Creator of all things, 
 and created His own human soul, the Incarnation was 
 not merely a submission, but also an omnipotent Divine 
 Act which He performed Himself to manifest His glory, 
 though in another sense it was a veiling of the Divine 
 glory. God He always absolutely remained during 
 His human life in all things outside the sphere of His 
 1 Tr. II. 26. 2 Ibid., 27. 3 Ibid., X. 7. 
 
172 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 work for men, both in form and nature. But within 
 that sphere the form, though not the nature, was laid 
 aside* He descended from God into man by an act 
 of Divine power and will. The cost of the Incarnation 
 lay not so much in Christ's sufferings as in the breach 
 of the Godhead, the taking of the creature into the 
 Creator, until at the Ascension the Manhood was finally 
 elevated into the Godhead. On earth He was God and 
 Man; but on His return to Heaven He became totus 
 Deus et totus homo. At the end when all things are made 
 subject, Christ will no longer be Man, but only God; 
 yet the Humanity, transfigured in glory and translated 
 into Godhead, will be eternal. 
 
 According to St. Hilary our Lord had several progres- 
 sive births. The first birth was the Eternal Generation 
 of the Son. Next came the second birth, when the Son 
 passed into a new phase as the Creator. For this view 
 he relied on the words of St. Peter, 1 " committing your 
 souls as to a faithful Creator." Thirdly came the Incar- 
 nation, or, as he always called it, the Embodiment; 
 although the word Incarnation was already known in 
 Latin theology. The fourth was his baptism, at which 
 he was consecrated to the final revelation to mankind. 
 The fifth was the Resurrection, when Humanity was 
 raised into the Divine life. Now all these were pro- 
 gressive revelations of God to Man, foreordained from 
 all time, and did not depend upon man's fall. With 
 the Crucifixion it was otherwise. 
 
 There must have been a death of some sort, even if 
 there had been no Fall, to bring about a resurrection ; but 
 when man sinned, the Cross became a necessity. He 
 offered Himself to the death of the accursed that He 
 might break the curse of the Law, 2 offering Himself 
 as a voluntary victim to the Father, in order that by 
 means of a voluntary victim, the curse which attended 
 the discontinuance of the regular victim might be 
 1 Ep. L 4, 19. 2 Ps. liii. 13. 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 173 
 
 removed. Here, then, is a complete recognition of the 
 Latin doctrine of Satisfaction. The propitiation in 
 the atonement is fully expressed : yet Hilary always 
 preferred to dwell on the thought of the Cross rather 
 as the end of the earthly life and the transition to glory. 
 In his teaching about our Lord's Person, and the 
 relation of the Human to the Divine, St. Hilary took 
 up an original, a dangerous and an unsatisfactory 
 position, by affirming the impossibility that the God- 
 head could suffer. At least this is his general position, 
 for he is not always consistent : and in some places 
 he even emphasizes His sufferings. But there seems 
 to have been some confusion in his mind between the 
 two Latin words " pati " and " dolere," as applied to 
 theology. His main position, which he argued at great 
 length, was that Christ endured (pati) all things for 
 our sakes but did not feel pain (dolere). This idea 
 that God could not be humiliated to feel pain would 
 have brought him dangerously near to Docetism, had 
 not Hilary emphatically dwelt on the real and perfect 
 humanity of the Saviour. The explanation that he 
 gives of the various texts, such as " Take this cup from 
 Me," is too long to be given here, and will be found in 
 Tr. X. The doctrine of Hilary was that while Christ 
 was on earth, He was still always God, and that He 
 voluntarily submitted to suffering and to the necessities 
 of humanity by a series of dispensations, which were 
 detached acts of self-restraint and voluntary submissions. 
 But pain arises from the union of an imperfect soul 
 with an imperfect body. 1 How, then, could Christ, whose 
 body and soul were always perfect (and according to 
 Hilary, there was no difference between His Body before 
 and after the Resurrection), feel pain? St. Clement of 
 Alexandria had already said, 2 " He ate not for the sake 
 of the body, which was sustained by a holy power, but 
 in order that that false notion should not creep into the 
 1 Tr. X. 46. 2 Str# vi. 17, 
 
174 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 minds of His companions, which in later days some have 
 in fact conceived, that lie had been manifest only in 
 appearance." There are times, argued Hilary, when men 
 are in such a state of spiritual exaltation, that the body 
 cannot feel pain. The martyrs were in this state at 
 their martyrdom, but Christ was always in this state. 
 
 This teaching as to our Lord is certainly not that 
 generally accepted. But his view of spiritual exaltation 
 is very interesting, explaining, as it seems to do, acts 
 of bravery in history which seem almost physical impossi- 
 bilities, such as Cranmer steadily holding his hand in 
 the flame. In connection with this argument, Hilary 
 gives a remarkable passage as to the use of anaesthetics. 
 Deriding the idea that bodily pain cannot be numbed, 
 he says, 1 " When through some grave necessity some 
 part of the body must be cut away, the soul can be 
 lulled to sleep by drugs, which overcome the pain and 
 produce in the mind a death-like oblivion of the powers 
 of sense. Then limbs can be cut off without pain. The 
 flesh is dead to all feeling, and does not heed the deep 
 thrust of the knife, because the soul within it is asleep. 
 It is therefore because the body lives in admixture with 
 a weak soul that it is subject to pain." An interesting 
 argument for Christian Science ! 
 
 St. Hilary is quoted by the Catholic Dictionary as 
 one of the chief patristic authorities for the Catholic 
 view of the Eucharist. There is not much allusion to 
 it in his works, but in Trin. viii. 13 he says, " For if 
 in truth the Word has been made flesh, and we in very 
 truth receive the Word made flesh as food from the Lord, 
 are we not bound to believe that He abides in us natur- 
 ally, who, born as a man, has assumed the nature of 
 our flesh now inseparable from Himself, and has con- 
 joined the nature of His own flesh to the nature of the 
 eternal Godhead in the Sacrament by which His Flesh 
 is communicated to us? . . . Whoever then denies 
 
 1 Tr. X. 14. 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 175 
 
 that the Father is in Christ naturally must first deny- 
 that either he is himself in Christ naturally or Christ is 
 in him. . . . The words in which we speak of the things 
 of God must be used in no mere human or worldly sense. 
 . . . As to the verity of the Flesh and Blood there is 
 no room left for doubt. For now both from the declara- 
 tion of the Lord Himself and our own faith it is verily 
 flesh and verily blood. And these when eaten and drunk 
 bring it to pass that both we are in Christ and Christ 
 in us." These are very strong words; but without 
 disputing Hilary's Catholicism, it is necessary to point 
 out that in this, as in so many Eucharistic quotations 
 from the Fathers, the writer was not directly expounding 
 the doctrine of the Sacrament, but using it as an argu- 
 ment to prove something else : viz. that as our union 
 with Christ in the Sacrament was one not of will but 
 of nature, so was the union of the Father and the Son. 
 That Hilary had strong Catholic views on the subject 
 may, however, be elsewhere l inferred from the fact 
 that, when describing a riotous attack on a Catholic 
 Host at Toulouse, he said, " They even dared to lay 
 hands on Christ Himself. 55 
 
 St. Hilary seems to have held that the very good and 
 the very bad would be finally judged at death. But 
 that the former hardly exist, for even the Blessed Virgin 
 would need the purification of pain. And as to the 
 latter, nobody is certain to be condemned except for 
 the sin against the Holy Ghost, which is wilful and de- 
 liberate unbelief. Concerning such he held, literally as 
 it seems, that they would be " like the dust which the 
 wind driveth away from the face of the earth 55 (Ps. i. 19). 
 
 But there was no foreordaining of sin and destruction, 
 though sin was foreseen. Man has complete freedom of 
 will, but the human soul becomes contaminated by its 
 connection with the body. Yet all are capable of making 
 themselves worthy of election, and punishment is only 
 1 Book v. Constantius. 
 
176 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 reserved for sins actually committed. The soul meets 
 sin half-way ; but it can also meet grace half-way, which 
 is freely offered. Thus man's security depends on his 
 co-operation with God; and that is why right belief 
 is so important, that man may know how most effectually 
 to co-operate. 
 
 St. Hilary had some traditional reputation as a writer 
 of hymns, but very few are extant. A Morning Hymn 
 remains, and an Evening Hymn, though the authenticity 
 of the latter is disputed ; there remain also three doubt- 
 fully attributed to him : A Hymn on Christ's Life, a 
 few verses on His Childhood, and an Epiphany Hymn 
 (Jesus refulsit omnium). The Hymnorum Liber, men- 
 tioned in the seventh century by Isidore of Seville, is 
 lost. 
 
 Having now dealt with the main facts in St. Hilary's 
 life and the chief points of his teaching, it remains only 
 to allude to those who were associated with him. He 
 was a married man, and his wife and daughter Abra 
 are supposed to have been converted with him. Several 
 letters to Abra were till lately attributed to Hilary, 
 but latest critics believe them to be spurious, and that 
 there is no historical evidence even of Abra's existence. 
 But St. Martin was a very prominent character of the 
 time. We hardly call him a Father, since he was not 
 a writer, but his fame as a missionary was great through- 
 out France and even in Britain, where the number of 
 churches dedicated to him and the season of Martinmas 
 testify to his popularity. He was born in 316; was a 
 catechumen from childhood, and baptized when eighteen 
 and in the Army. The story of his giving his military 
 cloak to a beggar is well known. When twenty years 
 old he left the Army and joined Hilary, but on Hilary's 
 exile went into Italy in retreat for many years. On 
 Hilary's return in 360 he came back to Gaul and founded 
 the first French monastery near Poitiers. Afterwards 
 he was Bishop of Tours and founded the great Monastery 
 
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS 177 
 
 of Marmon tiers in that neighbourhood. It was destroyed 
 at the Revolution, but traces of the cells of Martin and 
 his eighty-four monks in the rocks still remain. From 
 this Monastery he sent out a great many Bishops, and 
 he is generally known as the Apostle of France. 
 
 N 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 
 
 (Born about 313. Bishop of Jerusalem 350. Died 386) 
 
 The life and work of this Father present some points 
 of great interest, although he was neither a great writer 
 nor a great leader of his time. We know no theological 
 work of any importance that emanated from him, 
 except his Catechetical Lectures^ a series of short 
 addresses delivered in 347, before he became Bishop, 
 to candidates for baptism. There are twenty -four in 
 all; of which nineteen are on the Faith, and the last 
 five, known as the Mystalogical, are explanations of 
 the Mysteries, or Sacraments, of Baptism and the 
 Eucharist, and were delivered to the same candidates 
 after their baptism. 
 
 These Lectures, however, are extremely interesting, 
 because they give us in a concise form the whole Catholic 
 faith of that time, and have been pronounced by the 
 best authorities to be exactly orthodox. On the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, for instance, they are a sort of 
 epitome of what Athanasius and Hilary had expressed 
 in their much longer treatises. Yet they have no 
 conscious reference to either of these Fathers ; and this 
 at once brings us to the second point of interest in 
 connection with St. Cyril, that his early environment 
 was distinctly Semi-Arian. He was but a child at the 
 date of the Nicene Council, and soon after that date 
 Palestine and Syria and Asia Minor, in fact the East 
 generally, drifted into at least Semi-Arian tendencies. 
 Cyril himself received consecration from Acacius, 
 
 178 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 179 
 
 among others, and the validity of his consecration was 
 accordingly at one time questioned. Also he always 
 in his teaching avoided the word Homo-ousion, though 
 towards the close of his life he formally accepted it. 
 This omission aroused hostile criticism from many 
 Church leaders of his time, although the Catechetical 
 Lectures are scrupulously Catholic, warn his pupils 
 against all the heresies, and entitle Cyril to be classed 
 among those whom Athanasius declared to be with him 
 in their beliefs, though they could not subscribe to his 
 formula. The third point of interest in Cyril is that we 
 get from him for the first time definite ad hoc instruction 
 on Sacramental Doctrine; and we get also the liturgy, 
 as well as the creed, of Jerusalem, which after all was 
 the Mother Church. 
 
 His parentage and the exact date of his birth are 
 uncertain, but it is most probable that he was born at 
 or near Jerusalem of Christian parents about 313. At 
 any rate his early life must have been spent in that 
 neighbourhood, for he recalls memories of what Jeru- 
 salem had been like before the building of the great 
 church by Constantine and the alleged finding of the 
 Cross by St. Helena. Besides this it was customary 
 at Jerusalem to elect a Bishop whose life was well 
 known to the people. 
 
 In the year 347 he was chosen for a task usually only 
 undertaken by the Bishop, the preparation of candidates 
 for baptism : two or three years afterwards he was 
 elected Bishop on the death of Maximus. The true 
 account of his election and consecration is difficult to 
 arrive at. He was accused by some of the Catholic 
 party, as for instance St. Jerome and Rufinus, of having, 
 as a condition of obtaining the See, renounced his 
 Catholic orders, and accepted reordination from Arians. 
 His life-work and teaching, however, seem to contradict 
 this, and the evidence in favour of it is, to say the least, 
 obscure. The strained relation between East and West 
 
180 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 at that time over the affairs of Antioch, which will be 
 related in the next chapter, may have warped the 
 Western judgment. We know at any rate that he soon 
 found himself in conflict with Acacius, the Semi-Arian 
 successor of Eusebius, who had helped to consecrate him, 
 and that the Second (Ecumenical Council took pains to 
 pronounce his consecration canonical, and to eulogize 
 his defence of the Catholic Church on several occasions ; 
 and that since that time he has always been esteemed 
 by the Church as a high authority and as a Saint. 
 
 One of the earliest events of his episcopal life was the 
 appearance of some strange phenomenon in the atmo- 
 sphere, which, whether really supernatural or not, took 
 the form of a cross in the sky. Cyril embraced the 
 opportunity to write to Constantius, describing this, 
 and at the same time announcing his consecration. 
 This letter, which is still extant, was used against him 
 by his detractors, on the ground that he had addressed 
 the heretic Emperor as " religious." 
 
 About 357 a dispute arose between Cyril and Acacius, 
 who was Bishop of Csesarea, over a matter of precedence. 
 When the metropolis of Palestine had been assigned to 
 Csesarea instead of Jerusalem by the Roman Govern- 
 ment, in course of time Csesarea became the ecclesiastical 
 metropolis as well ; however, a canon of Nicsea had given 
 a precedence of honour to Jerusalem, but without 
 prejudice to the rights of the Bishop of Csesarea. When, 
 therefore, Cyril had repeatedly refused to appear before 
 Acacius at Csesarea, the latter accused him to Constan- 
 tius of being " orthodox " and contumacious, and 
 also of having sold a rich vestment which had been 
 presented to his church by Constantine. This he had 
 sold for the good of the poor. He was consequently 
 deposed and exiled, and retired to Tarsus, where he was 
 employed by the Semi-Arian Bishop Silvanus. With 
 Semi-Arians he always, like Hilary, lived on the most 
 friendly terms. In 361 the Council of Seleucia re- 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 181 
 
 instated him, but in the following year again a Council 
 at Constantinople confirmed his deposition. When all 
 the Bishops returned to their Sees under Julian the 
 Apostate, Cyril was among the number. 
 
 Then followed the strange story of the attempt to 
 rebuild the Temple, in order to disprove once for all 
 the Christian interpretation of Jewish prophecy. Cyril 
 calmly assured his flock that it would never be per- 
 mitted. The story goes that, when they were at work 
 on the foundations, great balls of fire came up out of 
 the ground, injuring and scaring the workmen. This 
 occurrence is not only vouched for by several Christian 
 writers, but is confirmed by Ammianus Marcellinus, 
 a heathen, who was known as the philosophic soldier. 
 But whatever happened, one thing is certain : the 
 enterprise had to be abandoned as Cyril had foretold. 
 
 Cyril was again deposed in 367 by Valens; but re- 
 turned on that Emperor's death in 378, and remained 
 in peaceful possession of his See till his own death in 
 386. In 381 he took an active part in the Second 
 General Council, where at last he confessed the Homo- 
 ousion. 
 
 The authenticity of his Lectures has been sometimes 
 questioned in modern times, but never had been previ- 
 ous to the seventeenth century. There is the highest 
 authority from patristic times for believing them to be 
 the work of Cyril. The internal evidence shows that 
 they were delivered in Jerusalem a little earlier than the 
 middle of the fourth century, and they were attributed 
 to Cyril by St. Jerome ; by Theodoret ; by Pope Gelasius 
 (492) ; by Theophanes (575). 
 
 The first nineteen (or eighteen, if the first, which is 
 only introductory, has no number) were delivered in 
 the great basilica of Constantine, built on the side of 
 the hill Golgotha. At a little distance from one end of 
 this, and separated by a courtyard, was the little chapel 
 of the Anastasis (Resurrection), built, as it was believed, 
 
182 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 on the very site of the Holy Sepulchre, the chapel being 
 actually the inner of two caves, which were discovered 
 by excavating the foundations of a temple of Venus. 
 The outer cave was destroyed. In this chapel were 
 delivered the five remaining Lectures on the Mysteries 
 to the newly baptized. 
 
 The first Catechetical Lecture is introductory; the 
 next two are on Repentance; the fourth on Baptism; 
 the fifth on the ten points of doctrine; the sixth on 
 Faith; the next thirteen on the clauses of the Creed; 
 and it is thus that we are able to put together the ancient 
 Creed of the Mother Church. 
 
 " We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker 
 of heaven and earth, and all things visible and invisible. 
 And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only- 
 Begotten, the Begotten of the Father, Very God before 
 all the ages, by Whom all things were made ; Who was 
 Incarnate, made Man, crucified and buried, rose again 
 from the grave on the third day, ascended into heaven, 
 and is seated on the right hand of the Father, and will 
 come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead, 
 whose kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy 
 Ghost, the Paraclete, Who spake by the prophets; 
 And in one baptism of repentance for the remission of 
 sins; And in One Holy Catholic Church; And in the 
 Resurrection of the flesh, and in life eternal." 
 
 This Creed should be compared carefully with the 
 Csesarean Creed suggested by Eusebius for adoption by 
 the Nicene Council, 1 and also with the original Creed of 
 Nicaea. It differs from the latter primarily in containing 
 no clause in regard to Essence or Ousia; but it is also 
 worth noticing that, instead of ending with a simple 
 belief in the Holy Ghost, it adds attributes to the Holy 
 Ghost, and further clauses about the Church, Baptism, 
 and the future life. The third paragraph of the Creed 
 1 Seo Chapter XI. 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 183 
 
 was now, in fact, expanding. It is probable that by this 
 time the Eastern Churches generally had imported into 
 the Creed the article of belief not only in the Church, 
 but in One Church, and that the Catholic, in contrast 
 to what Cyril called " other miserable gatherings." * 
 Cyril himself emphasizes the authority of the one Church. 
 " Learn," 2 he says, " from the Church what are the 
 books of the Old and New Testaments." " Being a 
 child of the Church, trench not on her statutes." Again, 3 
 he fully explains what the Church is, and enjoins them 
 " not to ask where the Church is, but where the Catholic 
 Church is," so entirely has the word Catholic come to 
 mean the orthodox body. But there is no allusion 
 whatever to Rome as the source of authority. " In 
 this Holy Catholic Church receiving instruction and 
 living virtuously we shall inherit the Kingdom of 
 Heaven and eternal life." The difference between 
 Cyril's creed and that of Eusebius lies chiefly in the 
 words " Son of God " instead of " Word of God," and 
 the omission of the words " first-born of every creature." 
 
 In the fourth Lecture (not counting the first which 
 is introductory), Cyril states the ten points of doctrine, 
 w r hieh he afterwards explains more in detail. These 
 are — God, Christ, the Incarnation, Judgment, the 
 Holy Spirit, the Soul, the Body, the Resurrection, 
 Baptism, Scripture. In dealing with such a subject 
 as the Trinity which is beyond human understanding, 
 Cyril, like all the great Catholic leaders, seems to 
 deprecate the importation of definitions. " Our 4 duty 
 is to believe in Him, it is not necessary to know how the 
 Son was begotten of the Father. Not even the Holy 
 Ghost in the Scriptures has explained how the Son was 
 begotten." 
 
 As St. Cyril does not raise any new theories, or teach 
 any new doctrines, it will suffice to give extracts as 
 
 1 XVIII. 26. « IV. 33 and 35. 
 
 3 XVIII. 22-7. * XI. 12. 
 
184 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 specimens of the concise form in which he presents the 
 faith to his hearers. 
 
 Trinity. — " We neither separate the Trinity as some 
 (the Arians), nor do we, like Sabellius, work confusion." l 
 The unity of the First and Second Persons is shown in 
 various places to lie in their nature, kingdom, will, and 
 joint creation. The anathemas of the Nicene Council 
 which followed the Creed are all expressed. " Neither 
 let us say there was when the Son was not." 2 " The 
 Son is eternally begotten by an inscrutable and in- 
 comprehensible generation." 3 " He did not bring 
 forth the Son from non-existence into being." 4 
 
 The Holy Ghost. — " Abhorred be they who dare to 
 separate the operation of the Holy Ghost." " There is 
 one God the Father, Lord of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment : and one Lord Jesus Christ, who was foretold 
 in the Old Testament and came in the New : and one 
 Holy Ghost, who through the prophets preached Christ, 
 and when Christ was come, descended and manifested 
 Him." " Living, subsisting, and always present together 
 with the Father and the Son, not uttered or breathed 
 with the lips of the Father and Son, nor dispersed into 
 the air, but having a real substance, speaking Himself 
 and working and dispensing and sanctifying." 5 And 
 a little later the Spirit is spoken of as in union with the 
 Father and the Son. 
 
 The Incarnation. — The Lecture dealing with this 
 subject treats chiefly of the Virgin-birth, its actuality 
 and its indispensability in the scheme, though the Creed 
 of Jerusalem has no allusion to this doctrine, nor had 
 the original Nicene Creed. 
 
 Original Sin and Redemption^ — " Wonder not that 
 the whole world was ransomed, for it was no mere man, 
 but the only-begotten Son of God Who died on its behalf. 
 Moreover one man's sin, even Adam's, had power to 
 
 1 XVI. 4. 2 XI. 17. 3 XI. 4. 
 
 4 XI. 14. 6 XVII. 5. 6 XIII. 2. 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 185 
 
 bring death into the world — How shall not life much 
 rather reign by the righteousness of One? . . . Shall 
 not Jesus, Who gave Himself up for a ransom, put away 
 the wrath that is against mankind? " Cyril does not 
 seem to apply original sin to the individual quite as we 
 should. 
 
 Free Will. 1 — " We come into such holy worship not 
 of necessity but choice. . . . The adoption is in our 
 power, for c to as many as received Him gave He 
 power.' " 2 " Sin is an evil of man's own choosing, 
 and offspring of the will." 3 " Know also that thou 
 hast a soul self-governed, the noblest work of God, 
 made after the image of its Creater, immortal because of 
 God that gives it immortality ; a living being ; rational 
 and imperishable, because of Him that bestowed these 
 gifts ; having free power to do what it willeth." " Learn 
 also 4 that the soul, before it came into this world had 
 committed no sin, but having come in sinless, we sin 
 of our own free will." In the last of these quotations 
 it may seem that Cyril is denying original sin, but it 
 is more probable that, while emphasizing the doctrine 
 of Free Will, he is at the same time refuting Origen's 
 idea that the Fall took place in a prior existence, and 
 that this life was a discipline of the soul for sins 
 committed in a previous existence. 
 
 Grace. — After describing the initial faith in believing 
 the gospel, he says, " But 5 there is a second kind of 
 faith which involves an assent of the soul on some 
 particular point, which is bestowed by Christ as a gift 
 of grace. . . . When enlightened by faith the soul has 
 visions of God, and so far as is possible, beholds God, 
 and ranges beyond the bounds of the universe, and 
 before the end of this world already beholds the judg- 
 ment and the promised rewards. Have, therefore, 
 that faith in Him that comes from thine own self, that 
 
 1 VII. 13. 2 II. 1. a IV. 18. 
 
 4 IV. 19. 5 V. 6. 
 
186 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 thou mayest also receive from Him that faith which 
 worketh things above man." The higher faith, or 
 assent of the soul, is therefore a gift of grace. Cyril 
 says that grace is given through Christ at the new birth 
 of baptism. In XVI. 1 that grace is necessary both to 
 teach and to hear rightly. In I. 4, " As it is His part 
 to plant and to water, so it is thine to bear fruit; it is 
 God's to grant grace, but thine to receive and guard it. 
 Despise not the grace because it is freely given, but 
 receive and treasure it devoutly." And in I. 3, " If 
 He finds a man worthy to learn, He readily gives the 
 grace. He gives not holy things to dogs, but where 
 He discerns the good conscience, there He gives the seal 
 of salvation — Grace has need of believing minds." 
 
 Atonement. 1 — " God had appointed the sinner to die. 
 There must needs, therefore, have happened one of 
 two things : either that God in His truth should destroy 
 all men, or that in His loving-kindness He should cancel 
 the sentence. But behold the wisdom of God. He 
 preserved both the truth of His sentence and the 
 exercise of His loving-kindness. Christ took our sins 
 in His Body on the tree, that we by His death might 
 die to sin and live to righteousness." 
 
 Judgment? — " We shall all be raised, all with our 
 bodies eternal, but not all with bodies alike; for if a 
 man is righteous, he will receive a heavenly body fit 
 to hold converse with angels; but if he is a sinner he 
 will receive an eternal body fitted to endure the pains 
 of sins, that it may burn eternally in fire nor ever be 
 consumed." x 
 
 The antithesis of Eve and Mary, which was so frequent 
 in the earlier Fathers, appears again in Cyril. 3 " Through 
 Eve yet a virgin came death; through a virgin, or 
 rather from a virgin must the life appear : that as the 
 serpent beguiled the one, so to the other Gabriel might 
 bring the good tidings." This is an excellent specimen 
 1 XIII. 33. * XIII. 19. 3 XII. 15. 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 187 
 
 of the way Cyril provides an answer for an heretical 
 objection, without stating the heresy. Similar instances 
 occur throughout the Lectures. Christ took from the 
 human body of Mary His own body, and did not, as 
 some said, merely pass through her " as water through 
 a pipe " without participating in her nature. Cyril 
 therefore corrects himself, by saying " or rather from 
 (not through) a virgin.' 5 At some point or other in his 
 Lectures he manages to touch on every sort of heresy. 
 
 Scripture and the Canon. — No one has previously 
 insisted on the paramount importance of Scripture so 
 strongly as Cyril does. We from him hear nothing of 
 the oral tradition. 1 " Concerning the holy and divine 
 mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement 
 must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures, nor 
 must we be drawn aside by plausibility and subtleties of 
 speech. Even to me, who tell you these things, give 
 not absolute credence, unless you find the proof of the 
 things which I announce in the divine Scriptures. For 
 this salvation, which we believe, depends not on ingeni- 
 ous reasoning but on the demonstration of the Holy 
 Scriptures." 
 
 The canon of both Testaments is the same as that 
 given by Athanasius, except for a slight difference in 
 the order of the books of the Old, the number of which 
 he gives as twenty -two. This is, however, because 
 certain books are grouped together, such as the two 
 books of Kings, which count as one. The Minor 
 Prophets all together also count as one. Also Ezra 
 and Nehemiah are omitted ; while two books of Esdras 
 are included, and to Jeremiah and the Lamentations 
 (as one book) is added the Book of Baruch. The New 
 Testament is the same as our own, except that it lacks 
 the Revelation. 
 
 It seems probable that in the Church of the third 
 century, considerable importance was attached to 
 
 1 IV. 17. 
 
188 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 relics, and efficacy imputed to them ; but however 
 that may have been, this idea was certainly strongly 
 developed in the fourth. The worship of relies and 
 faith in their healing powers was taught by Cyril, Basil, 
 Chrysostom, Ambrose and Augustine. Here is an argu- 
 ment of Cyril x for the truth of the story in 2 Kings, xiii. 
 of the dead man who was restored to life by touching 
 the bones of Elisha. " Though the soul is not present, 
 a virtue resides in the bodies of the Saints, because of 
 the righteous soul which has for so many years dwelt 
 in it, or used it as its minister. And let us not foolishly 
 disbelieve this, as though it had not happened; for if 
 handkerchiefs and aprons, which are from without, 
 touching the bodies of the diseased, raise up the sick, 
 how much more should the very body of the Prophet 
 (Elisha) raise the dead ? " Here, then, is the whole case 
 for the possibility, as it is put by a modern scientist, 
 of virtue, emanating from mind or spirit, attaching 
 itself to matter ! 
 
 A special instance of relic-worship also in this century 
 was connected with the finding, or supposed finding, of 
 the true Cross, fragments of which were distributed, as 
 Cyril says, 2 throughout the whole world " by means of 
 those who in faith take portions of it." Faith in what? 
 Surely in some power residing in the wood. Eusebius, 
 while recording the finding of the Sepulchre, ignores the 
 Cross altogether; but Chrysostom gives a full account 
 of the discovery; while Ambrose records that St. 
 Helena made a horse's bit from one nail and a diadem 
 from the other. Apparently, therefore, something like 
 a cross was found, but Eusebius probably thought the 
 evidence of its being the Cross of Christ insufficient. 
 
 Akin to the question of relics was that of the inter- 
 cession of saints. Cyril does not contribute much to 
 this question, but a strong protest was made against 
 the prevalence of the belief by a Gallican priest, 
 i XVIII. 16. 2 X 19. 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 189 
 
 Vigilantius, towards the end of the century. He dis- 
 puted their powers of intercession, since they were 
 not yet in heaven with Christ. To this, however, St. 
 Jerome replied that they were wherever Christ was. 
 The practical result was the careful distinction drawn 
 by the Eastern Church between Latria, the worship 
 of God, and the becoming reverence (rt/arj oxeuxr) or 
 dovlia) due to the saints. 1 
 
 But by far the greatest interest connected with the 
 study of St. Cyril lies in the last five or Mystalogical 
 Lectures; for here we have something quite fresh, the 
 unfolding of all the deep hidden meaning that underlay 
 the symbolism and ritual of the Sacraments. Harnack 
 claims 2 that from the fourth century interest was more 
 and more transferred from the regulation of the whole 
 life 3 by religion to its external consecration through 
 the mysteries. Gregory of Nyssa indeed said that Chris- 
 tianity had its strength in the mystic symbols. The 
 Sacramental idea was later expressed by Augustine as 
 " aliud videtur, aliud intelligitur " ; one thing is seen, 
 another thing is understood. With the early Christians 
 the Sacramental idea was not limited to two or even 
 seven definite mysteries. Whenever the passing event 
 portrayed to them some deep meaning behind it, the 
 idea of something sacramental was conveyed to them. 
 In one place Christ's life and death are called a mystery 
 or Sacrament. Still the mysteries of the two great rites 
 which our Lord Himself had instituted would naturally 
 be those which most needed careful and detailed 
 explanation. We must picture to ourselves, then, 
 the Catechetical Lectures as given during Lent to 
 the catechumens from the pulpit that stood in the 
 middle of the nave of the great church. Then at 
 Easter they were baptized; and in Easter week the 
 
 1 (We ask) that at their prayers and intercessions God would 
 receive our petitions (XXIII. 9). 
 
 2 History of Dogma, Vol. III. p. 162. 
 
 3 Chapter on Clement of Alexandria. 
 
190 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 baptized met in that most holy chapel of the Anastasis, 
 the very site, as they believed, of the Resurrection, to 
 learn what the great services of the Church were to 
 mean to them. They were first reminded of what they 
 had passed through in Baptism, which only the baptized 
 might fully understand, and then told what the Eucharist 
 would be. 
 
 The baptismal rite was replete with symbolism from 
 beginning to end. First they had met in the outer 
 chamber, faced to the West, and renounced Satan with 
 the hands outstretched, and all his works, and all his 
 pomp, and all his service. And these words were not 
 redundant; each meant different temptations, which 
 were carefully distinguished. Next they confessed 
 their belief in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and in the 
 Baptism of repentance. Passing then to the inner 
 chamber, they were led to the pool, because Christ was 
 carried from the Cross to the tomb. They put off their 
 garments, because they were putting off the old Adam. 
 They were anointed all over with exorcised oil, the 
 exorcised oil having received such virtue from the 
 invocation of the Spirit and prayer that it not only 
 cleansed away the traces of sin, but also dispelled the 
 powers of evil. The Creed was then repeated, which 
 they had learnt by heart, but had not been allowed to 
 write down. The immersion, or actual baptism, was 
 itself a symbol of Christ's burial; the triple immersion 
 of the three days' burial. For baptism was not only 
 the grace of the remission of sin, but also a counterpart 
 of Christ's suffering. As St. Paul said, we are baptized 
 into the likeness of His death. Naturally also the 
 return from the water was a symbol of His Resurrection. 
 Again the anointment was a symbol of Christ's anoint- 
 ment by the Holy Ghost. The application of the oint- 
 ment or chrism to the different parts of the body had 
 in each case a separate meaning. " Beware," l says 
 
 1 Third Myst. 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 191 
 
 Cyril, " of supposing this to be plain ointment after 
 the invocation, but the gift of Christ, and by the presence 
 of His Godhead, it causes in us the Holy Ghost. It is 
 symbolically applied to thy forehead and other senses, 
 and while thy body is anointed with the visible ointment, 
 thy soul is sanctified by the holy and life-giving Spirit." 
 
 It is strange to find that, although a century had 
 passed since the days of Cyprian, the Church of Jeru- 
 salem still treated heretic baptism as invalid. 
 
 Still more interesting to us is the teaching of Cyril on 
 the Eucharist and the early account we get from him 
 of the Liturgy. Cardinal Newman, in his preface to 
 Cyril in the Library of the Fathers, and writing therefore 
 in his Anglican days, says he was remarkable, because, 
 in spite of his training, when he came to explain himself, 
 he expressed precisely the same doctrine as that of 
 Athanasius, although avoiding the word Homo-ousion. 
 He argues that though on this point his judgment was 
 erroneous, it was his own; but his faith was not his 
 own, but shared by him with the whole Christian world. 
 Newman was not at the time thinking of his view of 
 the Eucharist; but if his faith was generally that of 
 the whole Christian world, is it not a possible inference 
 that his view of the Eucharist was not unlike the general 
 view? At any rate he is the first Father who states 
 the doctrine definitely, and is not merely using 
 Eucharistic doctrine as an analogy to prove something 
 else ; while his teaching, coming from the Mother Church 
 of Jerusalem, must carry great weight. Harnack * 
 brushes away the very forcible language of Cyril by 
 saying that extravagancies of this sort still belonged 
 at that time to the liturgical and catechetical element, 
 but were not a part of theology. This may or may not 
 be true ; but this is what the Bishop of Jerusalem said : 
 and we can hardly blame the Roman Catholic Church 
 for quoting him as an authority. 
 
 1 History of Dogma, Vol. IV. p. 293. 
 
192 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 In Lecture XXII, after reciting the evidence of 
 St. Paul from which he takes his text, he says : " Since 
 then He Himself declared of the Bread c This is My 
 Body,' who shall dare to doubt any longer ? And since 
 He has Himself affirmed ' This is My Blood,' who shall 
 ever hesitate, saying it is not His Blood? He once in 
 Cana of Galilee turned the water into wine akin to 
 blood; and is it incredible that He should turn wine 
 into blood? When called to a bodily marriage, He 
 miraculously wrought that wonderful work, and on the 
 children of the bride-chamber shall He not much rather 
 be acknowledged to have bestowed the fruition of His 
 Body and His Blood? Wherefore in the full assurance 
 let us partake as of the Body and Blood of Christ ; for 
 in the figure (literally type) of bread is given to thee 
 His Body and in the figure of wine His Blood, that 
 thou, by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ 
 mayest be made of the same body and blood with Him. 
 For thus we come to bear Christ in us (to be Christo- 
 pher!), because His Body and Blood are distributed 
 through our members. Thus it is that, according to 
 the blessed Peter, we become partakers of the Divine 
 Nature. Christ 1 on a certain occasion discoursing 
 with the Jews said c Except ye eat my flesh, 5 etc. They 
 not having heard His saying in a spiritual sense, were 
 offended and went back, supposing He was inviting 
 them to eat flesh." After (5) alluding to the shew- 
 bread as a sort of type, he passes (6) to even stronger 
 language. " Consider therefore the bread and wine 
 not as bare elements; for they are according to the 
 Lord's declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ; for 
 even though sense suggests this to thee, yet let Faith 
 establish thee. Judge not the matter from the taste, 
 but from faith be fully assured without misgiving that 
 the Body and Blood of Christ have been vouchsafed 
 to thee." Then (7 and 8) after allusions to the Old 
 1 XXII. 4. 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 193 
 
 Testament, he ends (9) : " Having learnt these things, 
 and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not 
 bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ, 
 and the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will 
 have it so, but the Blood of Christ . . . mayest thou 
 reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord and proceed 
 from glory to glory in Christ." 
 
 In the next Lecture (XXIII, on the Liturgy) he again 
 says (20) : " Trust not the judgment of the bodily palate, 
 no, but to faith unfaltering, for they who taste are 
 bidden to taste not bread and wine, but the antitypical 
 Body and Blood. In approaching therefore (21) come 
 not with wrists extended nor with fingers spread, but 
 make thy left hand a throne for thy right as for that 
 which is to receive a King, and having hallowed thy 
 palm, receive the Body of Christ saying over It Amen. 
 So then having carefully hallowed thine eyes by the 
 touch of the holy Body, partake of It, giving heed lest 
 thou lose any portion of It, for whatever thou losest is 
 evidently a loss to thee, as it were, from one of thine 
 own members. 55 In 22, similar instruction is given 
 as to> the Chalice, for both elements were always 
 received. 
 
 It would be clearly impossible to quote St. Cyril in 
 defence of a belief that the elements are nothing more 
 than symbols or signs. There is certainly his reference 
 to Christ's saying, " The flesh profiteth nothing 55 ; but 
 while Cyril taught a deep spiritual mystery as well, he 
 does distinctly say that " the seeming bread is not 
 bread. 55 There is also the use of the words " type 55 
 and " antitypical, 55 but " type 55 seems to mean the 
 figure or shape presented to the senses ; and if " type 55 
 is fairly used of the outward sign, " antitype 55 would 
 with equal appropriateness be used of the inward grace. 
 Dr. Pusey argued that Cyril intended to imply no 
 substantial change, because in discussing the water and 
 chrism of baptism, he had said they were no longer 
 o 
 
194 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 mere water and oil after the invocation of the Holy 
 Ghost. Cyril's * words are, " Regard not the laver as 
 simply water, but rather regard the spiritual grace that 
 is given with the water. The simple water, having 
 received the invocation of the Holy Ghost and of Christ 
 and of the Father, acquires a new power of holiness." 
 Again in XXI. 3, " Beware of supposing this to be mere 
 ointment, for as the bread of the Eucharist after in- 
 vocation of the Holy Ghost is mere bread no longer but 
 the Body, so also this holy ointment is no more simple 
 ointment, nor, so to say, common after the invocation of 
 the Holy Ghost, but it is Christ's gift of grace, and by 
 the advent of the Holy Ghost is made fit to impart the 
 Divine Nature." Dr. Pusey's argument, therefore, is 
 that if there is a change of substance after the invoca- 
 tion in the bread, there must be also in the water and 
 the chrism. But this nobody claims. Why then, 
 he adds, as the cases seem, according to Cyril, to be 
 analogous, claim it for the bread ? 
 
 But another Anglican writer, Dr. Gifford, in his 
 preface to Cyril in the Nicene Library, considers this 
 argument fallacious. For Cyril never says that the 
 effect on the water and the chrism is the same as that 
 on the bread. Wherever there is an invocation of the 
 Holy Ghost, there is an objective change. With the 
 water is given spiritual grace; it acquires a power of 
 holiness ; the chrism also is no longer common ointment 
 but Christ's gift of grace, and made fit to impart the 
 Divine Nature. But the bread, he says, is no longer 
 bread, but Christ's Body. Yet this writer still holds 
 that the Elements are only treated as types, but types 
 endued by the Word with life-giving properties analo- 
 gous to the actual Body and Blood. If this was Cyril's 
 meaning, his actual words seem very misleading. 
 
 The twenty-third Lecture gives us clearly the order 
 of the liturgy of Jerusalem. 
 
 1 III. 3. 
 
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM 195 
 
 1. Deacon brings water to the celebrant; he and the 
 other priests wash their hands. 
 
 2. The kiss of peace. 
 
 3. The Sursum Corda and three following sentences; 
 Preface; Sanctus. 
 
 4. The Invocation " We call on the merciful God to 
 send forth His Holy Spirit on the gifts lying before Him, 
 that He may make the bread the Body of Christ ; and 
 the wine the Blood of Christ; for whatever the Holy 
 Ghost has touched is sanctified and changed." No 
 mention is given of the words of institution, though 
 doubtless they were used; but then, as still in the 
 Eastern Church, it was the Invocation that effected the 
 Consecration. 
 
 5. The long prayer of Intercession and Commendation 
 both of living and dead, introduced at the most solemn 
 moment. The prayers for the dead are specially 
 defended (9) and explained by Cyril. " We, when we 
 offer to Him our supplications for those who have fallen 
 asleep, though they be sinners, offer up Christ sacrificed 
 for our sins, propitiating our merciful God for them as 
 well as for ourselves. 55 
 
 8. The Lord 5 s Prayer. So important is this to the 
 Liturgy that St. Cyril gives a detailed explanation of 
 every clause. 
 
 7. The priest says, " Holy things to the holy,' 5 and 
 the people reply, " One is Holy, one is the Lord, Jesus 
 Christ. 55 
 
 8. The Communion. That of the celebrant was 
 probably before the Lord's Prayer. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ST. BASIL THE GREAT 
 
 (Born 329. Archbishop of Ccesarea in Cappadocia, 
 370-379) 
 
 Three years before the death of Athanasius, St. Basil 
 became Archbishop of Csesarea (the capital of Cappa- 
 docia) and Ex-arch of Pontus, Athanasius congratu- 
 lating the Cesareans on having found so glorious a 
 Bishop. His episcopal work only extended over nine 
 years ; but during that time he was the most prominent 
 figure in the Eastern, if not in the whole, Church. Some 
 difficulty, however, in his relations with the West 
 prevented his influence from being felt there as fully as 
 it ought to have been, so that possibly in the West St. 
 Ambrose was the recognized leader. But the cloak of 
 Athanasius fell on Basil; and like Athanasius, Basil 
 maintained the authority of the Church against the 
 State, and with a like courage and pertinacity. Only 
 after his death did the result of his work appear, in the 
 pacification of the East; during his life he met with 
 nothing but troubles and disappointments, which were 
 aggravated by wretched health; and shortly before his 
 death he cried, " For my sins I seem to succeed in 
 nothing." His letters are full of his bodily troubles. 
 ".It is the scourge of the Lord that goes on increasing 
 my pains according to my deserts; I have had illness 
 upon illness, so that now even a child may see that this 
 shell of mine must certainly fail, unless perhaps God's 
 mercy vouchsafe me in his long-suffering time for 
 repentance, and now, as often before, extricate me from 
 
 196 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 197 
 
 ills beyond all human cure." x And in the following 
 letter, " For a whole month I have been treated by hot 
 natural springs ; but as the saying is, ' Warmth is no 
 good to the dead.' " In the next he has had fever for 
 fifty days, and his old plague, the liver, has held him on 
 the confines of life and death. For nine years, in this 
 deplorable state of health, with enemies besetting him 
 on all sides both in Church and State, he defied success- 
 fully the Imperial Government; carried out immense 
 practical reforms; wrote theological treatises of great 
 excellence; and paved the way for the reunion of the 
 East. And only when he was gone was his true great- 
 ness discovered. After generations have known him 
 as St. Basil the Great, while Theodoret called him " the 
 light not only of Cappadocia, but of the world." And 
 the Council of Chalcedon (450) called him " the greatest 
 of the Fathers." 
 
 The map of Asia Minor shows that Cappadocia was its 
 most Eastern Central Province ; and Basil was to start 
 with essentially an Eastern, grave, proud, ascetic. But 
 his Orientalism was modified by an Athenian education. 
 The gravity of the Eastern was tempered by the polite- 
 ness of the Greek. 2 His Eastern pride in his bearing 
 towards the world was also tempered by a true Christian 
 humility, amounting to self-abasement. He cried out 
 for love and affection ; yet there was something austere 
 about him, which seems to have wounded his friends, 
 and made him difficult to get on with. He was pro- 
 foundly sensitive, yet his practical disposition could not 
 sympathize with the same quality in others. He had 
 also, in spite of his gravity, a keen sense of humour. 
 " Who," said his friend Gregory, " could tell a story 
 with more wit? Who could jest so playfully? " 
 
 Fialon points out that in his Athenian education he 
 had acquired the Greek love of his own city. The 
 affairs of the Empire were of little importance to him, 
 
 1 Letter 136. 2 Fialon, Etude litteraire mr S. Basile, p. 78. 
 
198 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 compared with the welfare and interests of Caesarea. 
 Somewhat analogous to this was his attitude towards 
 the West. As an Eastern by birth, he was full of zeal 
 for the peace of the East. " Hitherto," he writes, 1 " I 
 have been unable to give any adequate practical proof 
 of my earnest desire to pacify the Churches of the Lord. 
 But from my heart I affirm that I have so great a longing, 
 that I would gladly give even my life, if thereby the 
 flame of hatred, kindled by the evil one, could be 
 assuaged." And to this end, he always counsels patience 
 and toleration. " Not that I think it is our absolute 
 duty to cut ourselves off from those who do not accept 
 the Faith, but rather to regard them with the old law 
 of love, and to write to them with one consent, giving 
 them all exhortation with pity, and to propose to them 
 the Faith of the Fathers, and to invite them to union. . . . 
 If they obey you this will be best ; if not, recognize the 
 real author of the war, and write me no more letters of 
 reconciliation." Yet when the West, and especially 
 Rome, would not do his bidding, notably in the question 
 of the schism of Antioch, he showed very little toleration. 
 His Athenian education gave him very little considera- 
 tion for the Latins; for while the Latins looked on all 
 the world as barbarians, except the Greeks and them- 
 selves, the Greeks excepted only themselves. Basil 
 apparently knew no Latin; it is doubtful also whether 
 he knew Hebrew. But in Greek literature and philo- 
 sophy he was thoroughly at home. His letters abound 
 with apt quotations, especially from Homer; he never, 
 however, alludes to Pagan deities in the conventional 
 literary fashion of later times — the Muses for instance; 
 he seemed to think it was too near Pagan days to do so 
 without danger. 
 
 Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, his most intimate friend 
 and ardent admirer, and Gregory of Nyssa, his own 
 brother, are known as the three Cappadocians, forming 
 1 Letter 128. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 199 
 
 together the Cappadocian school, and their lives are 
 much intertwined. The birthplace of Basil is a little 
 uncertain. His father, also a Basil, a Christian and 
 rhetorician, had property near Neo-Caesarea, the capital 
 of Pontus, the province with a seaboard due north of 
 Cappadocia. But when Basil was ready to go out into 
 the world, he was sent first to Caesarea as being his 
 birthplace. Probably, therefore, his father had property 
 there as well. His early education he received from his 
 grandmother, Macrina, who taught him the faith as she 
 had received it from Gregory Thaumaturgus, at first 
 the disciple of Origen, and afterwards Bishop of Neo- 
 Caesarea. As a young man he first studied at Caesarea, 
 then at Constantinople; and finally in 350, when he 
 was twenty-one, he proceeded to the University of 
 Athens. Basil remained there for seven years — till 357, 
 when he returned to Caesarea to practice at the Bar. 
 At Caesarea and Athens Gregory of Nazianzus was his 
 constant companion, and at Athens Gregory protected 
 him as a freshman. But another companion of both, 
 and presumably friend, though Gregory from the first 
 cordially distrusted him, was Julian, afterwards known 
 as " the Apostate." 
 
 It is recorded of the two future Fathers that at Athens 
 the only public places they frequented were the lecture - 
 room and the Church. On Basil's return, however, to 
 Caesarea, he seems to have caused anxiety to his sister, 
 who was called Macrina after her grandmother, on 
 account of his worldliness and vanity. Becoming 
 ashamed of himself, he carefully studied the Gospel, 
 found an attraction in the monastic life, and in con- 
 sequence retired to Pontus. " I awoke," he writes, 
 " as from deep sleep, and cast my eyes on that admirable 
 light of the truth, the Gospel. Then I saw the vanity 
 of the wisdom of the princes of this world, who toil 
 without result. Long I wept over the misery of my 
 life, and prayed that a hand should come and lead me, 
 
200 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 and teach me the lessons of piety. Then when I had 
 read the Gospel, and learned that the best way of 
 arriving at piety was to sell my goods and give them 
 to the poor, and to be no longer anxious about this life, 
 nor allow my soul to be distracted by any sympathy 
 for earthly things, I wanted to find a brother who had 
 chosen that path, that we might pass through the short 
 agitations of life together." l 
 
 By this time monasticism had spread very widely 
 through the East. In the district of Nitria in the 
 deserts of Egypt alone, the monks numbered 5000 ; and 
 in the whole of Egypt there were computed to be 76,000 
 monks and 27,700 nuns. In Asia Minor also com- 
 munities were to be found in most provinces. Their 
 influence was on the w T hole a good one, and their chief 
 utility lay in keeping up a supply of clergy, and in acting 
 as missionary centres in the outlying country districts. 
 " They spread," says Milman, " a gradually increasing 
 belt of Christian worship and were a quiet but successful 
 aggression on the lurking Paganism." 2 For Paganism 
 (as the word implies) lingered on in the country long 
 after it had been formally ejected from the great cities. 
 Besides this, the monastic system was constantly 
 reorganizing itself by the establishment of off-shoots 
 in which " the bond of aggregation was the common 
 religious fervour," so that " the system was continually 
 being remodelled, and reverting to its original purity." 
 And again, from the earliest times, a certain influence 
 was exercised by monks on literature. Basil and 
 Gregory, for instance, during their retreat in Pontus, 
 applied themselves to producing that selection from 
 the works of Origen, which they called the Philocalia. 
 At the root, however, of Monasticism lay a certain 
 infection from Gnosticism; a feeling that there was 
 inherent evil in matter, and that Christians must try 
 to rid themselves of this, and elevate the soul into an 
 1 Letter 223. 2 History of Christianity, III. 195. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 201 
 
 abstract state of close communion with God, and isola- 
 tion from the world. The general celibacy of the clergy 
 was probably a result of Monasticism, though neither 
 Basil nor even Augustine insisted on it. The life of 
 seclusion and contemplation practised by many com- 
 munities had a tendency towards morbidity, ferocity 
 sometimes, and strange heresies, such as Anthropo- 
 morphism. But Basil's conception of it was free 
 from these tendencies, for with him prayer and work 
 went hand in hand. When he fixed his retreat at 
 Annesi, near the family property in Pontus, he de- 
 scribed to Gregory his delight in the lovely scenery, 1 
 and begged him to come out and join him, while he 
 conceived and carried out grand projects for improving 
 the country. The monastic life for him consisted on 
 one side of psalmodies, vigils, Bible-reading : on the 
 other, stone-heaving, wood-drawing, planting and drain- 
 ing. Gregory, unable to join him at first through 
 family ties, came later, and planted a tree to com- 
 memorate his visit. The attitude of Gregory towards 
 Basil at this time is amusing. Awe and admiration of 
 his friend, coupled with a mild protest against being 
 expected to live up to his exalted standard. His letters 
 after his return recall the labour of pushing carts uphill, 
 and how he would have had no dinner, if Basil's mother 
 had not fed him occasionally. Gregory was entirely 
 human; Basil a little above the ordinary level of 
 humanity. In 362 Basil returned to Csesarea to attend 
 the death-bed of the Bishop, Dianius, who had ordained 
 him deacon and whom Basil loved; but from whom 
 he had regretfully withdrawn, owing to his heresy; 
 although Dianius confessed the Homo-ousion at the end. 
 Before leaving this subject, it must be noted that 
 Basil was opposed to the solitary life, and though he 
 founded many Monasteries in Pontus, he never encour- 
 aged it. " How can one be last," he said, "if he is 
 1 Letter 14. 
 
202 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 alone? Whose feet can he wash?" Also though he 
 is said to have sold all his goods to feed the poor, and 
 to have done so again, when he inherited property at 
 his mother's death, it is probable that he retained the 
 administration of the funds in his own hands. For he 
 was essentially practical. Indeed he was especially so 
 in regard to his Monasteries. Life vows, once entered 
 into, were binding, but they were not to be taken too 
 young, or without the most careful preparation. And 
 although he approved under certain circumstances of 
 education by monks, he encouraged secular learning and 
 the training of the Universities in most cases. 1 And so 
 did the Gregories. 
 
 Eusebius, at the time only a catechumen, was elected 
 to succeed Dianius at Caesarea, and conscious of his 
 inexperience, asked Basil to help him. He in con- 
 sequence remained some time at Csesarea, and became 
 at once the leading personality of that Church. During 
 this period he wrote the Hexameron ; and every day 
 he preached sermons suitable alike for the simple and 
 the wise, the workpeople crowding in the early morning 
 to church to hear him. The jealousy of Eusebius caused 
 him again to retire to Pontus, whereupon the Bishop's 
 troubles recommenced. After many years' interval 
 among his monks, during three of which Gregory was his 
 companion, the intervention of the latter brought about 
 a reconciliation with Eusebius, and again (in 368) Basil 
 resumed his work in Caesarea, w r here he exercised an 
 immense influence over Christians, Jews and Pagans 
 alike, by all of whom he was beloved. During a famine 
 he displayed his great practical ability, by preventing a 
 corner in wheat, and by his skill in organizing the 
 distribution of provisions. 
 
 In 370, on the death of Eusebius, Basil was his obvious 
 successor. But he did not succeed without strong 
 opposition from the laxer among the clergy, the worldly 
 1 See Homily 34. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 203 
 
 among the laity, and from some who, on account of his 
 tolerant spirit, suspected his orthodoxy. It was at this 
 time that the first cloud passed over the friendship of 
 Basil and Gregory. Basil, knowing that he was essential 
 to the Catholic cause, desired Gregory's help in securing 
 the See ; but wrote him a somewhat disingenuous letter, 
 asking him to visit him on account of his illness. When 
 Gregory discovered the facts, he was annoyed, and 
 refused to come. The election was, however, secured 
 through the organization of Eusebius of Samosata, who 
 always remained Basil's true friend, and of Gregory's 
 father, who was at that time Bishop of Nazianzus, and 
 was brought to Caesarea in a litter to vote, though ninety 
 years of age. The younger Gregory worked for the 
 election in the background. 
 
 The constructive work of Basil during his episcopate, 
 and in spite of ill-health and opposition, was splendid. 
 The Church he found full of scandals ; laxity in ordina- 
 tions 1 and simony were the worst. Any one could be 
 a priest ; in one case he found a slave bishop ; in another 
 a bishop without a flock. Yet before his death the 
 clergy of Caesarea were of such a high standard, that 
 other bishops used to send for them to assist in the 
 work of their own dioceses. In the State Basil was 
 confronted with all the evils resulting from extremes 
 of wealth and poverty ; gambling and usury on one side, 
 distress on the other. To relieve distress he founded 
 hospitals, even a leper hospital; and his Christian 
 humility is said to have shown itself in kissing the lepers. 
 But his great achievement was the Ptocho-tropheion, 
 called sometimes the New Town, and after his death 
 the Basileiad, which was a sort of combination of hospital 
 and workhouse, providing not only treatment for all 
 diseases, but work for the unemployed, with a church 
 and a clergy-house. 
 
 In Basil's contest with the Arian Emperor, Valens, and 
 1 Letters 53 and 54. 
 
204 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 also with his emissary, the prefect Modestus, are the 
 most vivid dramatic scenes in his life. Valens was 
 determined to reduce Cappadocia to the Arian level, 
 and demanded from Basil the admission of Arians to 
 communion. To enforce this he sent Modestus, who 
 summoned Basil before his tribunal, first tried to bribe 
 him, and then proceeded to threaten him with confisca- 
 tion, torture, death. As for confiscation, Basil replied 
 that he owned nothing but a cloak and a few books; 
 as for torture, Modestus had threatened to tear out his 
 liver, and Basil said there was nothing gave him more 
 trouble; as for death, he would gladly welcome it. 
 When Modestus complained that he was not used to 
 ; such replies, Basil retorted that perhaps he had never 
 'met a real Bishop before. So Modestus reported him 
 to Valens as hopeless : " We have been worsted, sir, 
 by the prelate of this Church. He is superior to threats, 
 invincible in argument, uninfluenced by persuasion. 
 We must make trial on some feebler character." 1 He 
 conceived a great respect for him, and ultimately became 
 his friend and correspondent. 2 Then Valens came 
 himself, having first sent an advance guard of Arian 
 Bishops; to whom Basil refused communion. On the 
 Epiphany, Valens came to the church. The sea of 
 worshippers, the weird chanting, " the unearthly majesty 
 of the scene, Basil, erect as a column, celebrating (he 
 would be behind the Altar and facing the people), the 
 white-robed ministers in the sanctuary, overawed the 
 Emperor." When he approached the Altar with his 
 offering, and nobody came forward to receive it, Valens 
 fainted. Basil himself stretched out his hand and 
 accepted the offering, but of course communion was 
 refused. Valens, however, like Modestus, conceived a 
 great respect for Basil; was received by him to a 
 theological discussion " behind the veil " ; but under 
 
 1 Gregory's Oration on Basil, p. 51. 
 
 2 Letters 104, 110, 118, 279-81. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 205 
 
 bad advice, decreed his exile. However, the Emperors 
 child fell ill; Basil prayed over it, and it recovered. 
 Basil had made it a condition that he should baptize 
 the child, but an Arian was allowed to do so instead, 
 and the child died. Again Valens was on the point of 
 exiling Basil; but the pen he was using to sign the 
 warrant split, and Valens, taking it as an omen, reversed 
 his decision, and decided to let Basil alone. 
 
 Already, previous to this, Basil had withstood another 
 Emperor, Julian. Remembering their old acquaintance- 
 ship at Athens, this Emperor invited Basil to visit him. 
 Upon his deferring his visit from time to time and 
 finally declining it, Julian became incensed, and ordered 
 him to contribute a thousand pounds of gold towards 
 one of his expeditions. This is a specimen of the way 
 Basil dared to address the Caesar : x " Your Serene High- 
 ness did not find out for the first time yesterday that I 
 do not live in the midst of superabundant wealth. My 
 property amounts to so much, that I shall really not 
 have enough to eat as much as I should like to-day. 
 Under my roof the art of cookery is dead. My servant's 
 knife never touches blood. Our most important viands 
 are leaves of herbs, with very coarse bread and sour 
 wine. ... It is a serious thing for a private person like 
 me to speak to an Emperor. It will be more serious 
 for you to speak to God." The attitude of Basil to 
 Julian, Modestus and Valens, shows the enormous 
 progress that the Church had made in the sixty years 
 since the Edict of Milan. Bishops could now say these 
 things to the ruling powers with impunity. 
 
 Great annoyance was caused to Basil by the ill-will 
 of many of the neighbouring bishops, especially during 
 the first few years. Even his uncle, Gregory, was disloyal 
 to him ; and his brother Gregory, afterwards of Nyssa, 
 aggravated matters by forging, with the best intentions, 
 a letter from the uncle making peace. Gregory of 
 1 Letter 41. 
 
206 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Nyssa, though Basil called him God-beloved, and 
 recognized his fine intellect, was pronounced by his 
 brother to be " really too silly for a Christian." 
 
 The people of Caesarea, however, were from the first 
 devoted to him, and when he resisted the Vicar of Pontus 
 in an attempt to force an undesirable marriage on a 
 Caesarean lady, and the Vicar tried to arrest him, the 
 whole population rose, and only by Basil's mediation 
 was this imperial officer rescued from the mob. 
 
 Another sore trial to Basil was the partition of Cappa- 
 docia into two provinces. The result, whether intended 
 by Valens or not, was that the bishop of the new capital 
 claimed to be metropolitan of the new province, so that 
 not only all the bishops on that side of the frontier 
 were exempted from Basil's influence, but a bad influence 
 was set up on ground which Basil had sown. To 
 counteract this he founded new sees on the frontier, 
 and to one of them, Sasima, he sent Gregory of 
 Nazianzus, much to his indignation. It seems to have 
 been a small town in a wild country, a sort of posting 
 station in the wilderness, with nothing but a shifting 
 population. It was dreary work, and work for which 
 Gregory was quite unfitted, and it left a lasting estrange- 
 ment between the friends. A rival bishop was soon 
 appointed by the new metropolitan, and Gregory threw 
 up the work and retired to Nazianzus. 
 
 The chief remaining feature of Basil's Episcopate 
 was his appeal for help to Rome and the Western 
 bishops; but his relation to the West will presently 
 be treated separately. After nine years of most arduous 
 and disheartening work, and thoroughly broken health, 
 he died in 379 at the age of fifty, the whole population, 
 Christians, Jews and Pagans alike, following him to the 
 grave. 
 
 " No author's writings," says Dupin in his Bibliotheque 
 des auteurs ecclesiastiques, 1 " makes a stronger impression 
 1 II. 731. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 207 
 
 than Basil's. He describes things so vividly, he explains 
 his arguments with so much force, he pushes them so 
 vigorously, he draws such horrible pictures of vice and 
 exhorts so persuasively to virtue, his instruction is so 
 ample and profitable, that it is impossible to read his 
 works, without conceiving a love of virtue and a hatred 
 of vice. . . . His expressions are sublime, his style is 
 elegant, neat and convincing. His discourse seems 
 always natural and unaffected. He persuades so 
 pleasantly, he explains things so clearly, he seems to 
 present things in so reasonable a light, that he may be 
 considered as a model to approach Demosthenes and 
 the best orators of antiquity." Yet it can hardly be 
 said that his writings mark any new point of departure 
 in Christian thought. It is true that his treatise on 
 the Spirit deals in a masterly way with a subject which 
 had not previously been brought into controversy ; but 
 many of his contemporaries dealt with it as well. His 
 great advantages were his lucidity, his originality, and 
 his scientific training. Fialon says l that " the originality 
 of Basil's theology lies in a firm alliance between Greek 
 philosophy and Christian theology. He invented 
 nothing. He used all the philosophers and doctors 
 who preceded him; yet he resembled none. His 
 doctrine comes entirely from Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, 
 Origen, Athanasius; yet it is entirely personal. He 
 belongs to no school : rather he founds a school of his 
 own. He is in fact an eclectic, who knows how to 
 combine a wise independence of thought with an 
 intelligent respect for tradition. He is at once a 
 philosopher and a theologian." 
 
 That Basil was much influenced by Plato may be 
 seen from the similitude of argument and expressions 
 used by both. A short American treatise, The Influence 
 of Plato on St. Basil, by Theodore Leslie Shear (Balti- 
 more, 1906), goes very minutely into this subject, but it 
 1 Etude litteraire sur S. Basile, p. 478. 
 
208 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 is rather a work for advanced scholars. We may cite, 
 however, a few points as examples. " Man," said 
 Basil, " was made upright, that he might look up to 
 Heaven." This is directly taken from Timceus 90. 
 Again his view of the relation of the soul to the body, 
 and his remarks on voluntary and involuntary wrong- 
 doing are quite Platonic : while the Ilexameron shows 
 strong points of similarity with Plato's cosmogony in the 
 Timceus. But he draws equally on Aristotle, Homer, 
 and Plutarch : and on one occasion paraphrased most 
 of Plutarch's Essay on Debt. 
 
 His leading works are the Against Eunomius, which 
 deals with the main Arian points ; the Holy Spirit, and 
 the Hexarneron, or account of the Six Days of Creation. 
 These are all that St. Jerome thought worthy of mention. 
 In addition to these, however, there are 44 homilies; 
 some on the Psalms, some on the Monastic Life, including 
 the 55 Regulse fusius tractatae, and the 313 Regulae 
 brevius tractatae, and others on Christian duty and 
 discipline generally. But beyond all these are Basil's 
 wonderful letters, in all about 350, from which may be 
 gathered his life, his character, and his opinions. 
 
 These letters were evidently intended, according to 
 the fashion of the day, for publicity and general reading. 
 They are on all sorts of subjects. The following extracts 
 are from some of the most interesting : — 
 
 Letter VI. To a bereaved Mother. " To a soul 
 distressed by heavy sorrow words offered in the moment 
 of agony, even though they bring much comfort, seem 
 out of place. ... I know what a mother's heart is. . . . 
 The Lord is now making trial of your love, ... do not 
 measure your loss by itself; if you do, it will seem 
 intolerable. If you take all human affairs into account, 
 you will find some comfort is to be derived from 
 them." 
 
 Letter XIV contains the famous description of nature 
 which Basil wrote to Gregory from his retreat in Pontus. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 209 
 
 Letter XVI protests against man's attempt to explain 
 the ineffable, and employs an argument from nature. 
 
 " The man who glories in his knowledge about real 
 existence ought meanwhile to describe to us the nature 
 of the ant. After that he may give us a similar physio- 
 logical account of the Power that transcends all human 
 intelligence. But if his knowledge has not yet been 
 able to apprehend the nature of the insignificant ant, 
 how can he boast himself able to form a conception of 
 the power of the incomprehensible God ? " 
 
 Letter XXV gives an example of the gentle way in 
 which Basil reasoned with his slanderers. 
 
 " They all agree that you, a man very dear to me, 
 do not mention me in very pleasant terms, nor yet in 
 such as your character would lead me to expect. . . . 
 You would relieve me from my difficulty, if you would 
 tell me plainly what has stirred you to be thus offended 
 with me.' 5 
 
 Letters XL and XLI are from the correspondence 
 between Basil and Julian already referred to. 
 
 Letter XC is his appeal to the Western Bishops to 
 come to the aid of the Catholic East, and gives a graphic 
 picture of the distracted state of the Eastern Church. 
 
 " The doctrines of the Fathers are despised ; apostolic 
 traditions are set at nought ; the devices of innovators 
 are in vogue. Men are rather contrivers of cunning 
 systems than theologians. The wisdom of this world 
 wins the highest prizes, and has rejected the glory of 
 the Cross. . . . Houses of prayer have none to assemble 
 in them. Desert places are full of lamenting crowds." 
 
 When no help came from them, or even from Pope 
 Damasus of Rome, whom he had reminded of the former 
 charities of Rome to distant Christians, his wrath found 
 expression in Letter CCXXXIX — 
 
 ;c What help can come to us from the frown l of the 
 
 West? Men who don't know the truth, nor wish to 
 
 1 Or " superciliousness." 
 P 
 
210 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 learn it, but are prejudiced by false impressions, are 
 doing now as they did in the case of Marcellus, when 
 they quarrelled with men who told them the truth, and 
 by their own action strengthened the cause of heresy. 
 I should like to have written to their Coryphaeus, etc." 
 
 The Coryphaeus is the Bishop of Rome ! The word 
 Coryphaeus, however, is not apparently in itself con- 
 temptuous, as St. Chrysostom calls St. Peter the Cory- 
 phaeus of the Apostles. 1 
 
 Letter XCIII encourages frequent Communion, Basil's 
 own habit being to communicate four times a week and 
 on Saints' days. In case of need he allows the Com- 
 munion to be taken by any one privately from the 
 reserved elements. 
 
 In Letter CV, to two Deaconesses occurs a definition 
 of the Trinity — 
 
 " Do not abandon this deposit; the Father, the origin 
 of all, the Son only-begotten, begotten of Him; Very 
 God; Perfect of Perfect; living image, showing the 
 whole Father as Himself: the Holy Ghost having His 
 subsistence of God, the Fount of Holiness, Power that 
 gives Life, Grace that makes perfect, through whom 
 man is adopted, and the mortal made immortal, con- 
 joined with Father and Son in all things, in glory and 
 eternity, in power and kingdom, in sovereignty and 
 Godhead, as is testified by the tradition of the baptism 
 of salvation. But all who maintain that either Son or 
 Spirit is a creature, or absolutely reduce the Spirit to 
 ministerial or servile rank, are far from the truth." 
 
 From Letter CXIII to CXXVII are graphic descrip- 
 tions of the misery of the Church, and in the first he says 
 it is " like an old coat, which is always being torn and 
 can never be restored to its first strength." 
 
 Letter CLV shows his veneration of Relics. He 
 understands there has been some persecution in Scythia 
 and asks for some relics of the martyrs. 
 1 Homily on St. Matthew. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 211 
 
 Letter CLX is interesting at the present day, as dealing 
 with the marriage of a deceased wife's sister. He quotes 
 Lev. xviii. 6 : " None of you shall approach to any one 
 that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness," 
 and argues that the relation of a sister-in-law is equiva- 
 lent to a blood-relationship. 
 
 Letter CLXIX gives an account of the extraordinary 
 irregularity of a deacon, Glycerius, who placed himself 
 at the head of a company of dancing virgins, and caused 
 a notorious scandal. 
 
 Letters CLXXXVIII, CXCIX, CCXVII, are the 
 so-called Canonical Letters. They were written to 
 Amphilochius, his favourite pupil, whom he had made 
 Bishop of Iconium, and contain close advice on the 
 degrees of sin. They are probably the earliest examples 
 of casuistry. 
 
 In Letter CCLXI he raises a question, which is taken 
 as an argument against the Immaculate Conception. 
 
 " If the God-bearing flesh was not ordained to be 
 assumed of the lump of Adam, what need was there of 
 the Blessed Virgin?" 
 
 Towards the close of the series will be found a charac- 
 teristic correspondence with his old master at Con- 
 stantinople, Libanius the sophist; which, if genuine, 
 though this is questioned, reveals Basil as the cultivated 
 man of the world on the most friendly terms with the 
 pagan philosopher, to whom he introduced many pupils. 
 
 In spite of his familiarity with heathen philosophy 
 and the free way in which he made use of it, attributing, 
 for example, much of the wisdom of Moses and Daniel 
 to their Egyptian and Chaldec learning, and advising 
 young men not to be content with monkish teaching, 
 but to attend also one of the Universities, Scripture was 
 with him always paramount. If Science contradicted 
 Scripture, then Science erred. Revelation came first; 
 reason was given us to help us to understand revelation. 
 
 Yet apart from Scripture, he distinctly recognized 
 
212 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 tradition. In the Be Spiritu (27) he says : "Of the 
 beliefs and practices, whether generally accepted or 
 universally enjoined, which are preserved in the Church, 
 some we possess derived from written teaching. Others 
 we have received delivered to us " in a mystery " by 
 the traditions of the Apostles : and both of these in 
 relation to true religion have equal force" It is true that 
 his illustrations of this deal chiefly with practice, yet he 
 distinctly includes beliefs; and he adds (67) : " Of the 
 rest I say nothing; but of the very confession of our 
 faith in Father, Son and Holy Ghost, where is the written 
 source? " 
 
 When he comes to deal with the great mystery of the 
 Trinity there is the usual reluctance to define, which is 
 common to all the Fathers. 
 
 " If I laid down that all things were capable of being 
 grasped by our knowledge, I might be ashamed to con- 
 fess my ignorance. . . . The peace of God passes all 
 understanding, yet Eunomius will not allow that the 
 very substance of God is beyond all understanding and 
 knowledge of men. 1 
 
 " It is not in the invention of new names that our 
 salvation lies, but in the sane confession of the Divinity 
 in whom we believed." 2 
 
 Theology with St. Basil, as Science had been with 
 Plato, was an aspiration towards God, and the first 
 thing requisite was the purification of the soul. The 
 soul, when purified, will see God within itself in the 
 conscience ; the soul is, in fact, a miniature world ruled 
 over, as the universe is, by God. But the soul will also 
 see God in the visible world. No one better understood 
 the beauties of both animal and inanimate nature than 
 Basil, or delighted more in the works of creation. St. 
 Gregory of Nazianzus said of the Hexameron, " When- 
 ever I take his Hexameron in hand and quote its words, 
 I am brought face to face with my Creator; I begin to 
 1 Eunom. 3. 6. 2 Letter 175. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 213 
 
 understand the method of creation; I feel more awe 
 than ever before, when I looked at God's work with my 
 own eyes." * 
 
 The instruments of the soul's aspiration are Reason 
 and Faith. Reason must be educated, yet by itself it 
 can never find God. It is a great undertaking, according 
 to Basil, to venture to speak of God, because the subject 
 is far beyond our intelligence, and we have not even 
 words in which to express our thoughts. But Revela- 
 tion comes to the aid of Reason in the Scripture, which 
 is in its entirety inspired by God and composed by the 
 Holy Spirit. Revelation thus illuminates the reason. 
 
 The functions of the Three Persons of the Trinity are 
 thus conceived by Basil ; 2 the Father wills ; the Son 
 conceives and executes ; the Holy Ghost vivifies. 
 
 In the books against Eunomius he argues the whole 
 Arian question as regards the Son, and finally discusses 
 separately the various texts on which his opponents 
 relied. It may be useful to recall them. 
 
 " Then shall the Son also be made subject unto Him 
 that put all things under Him, that God may be all in 
 all " (1 Cor. xv. 28). 
 
 " My Father is greater than I " (St. John xiv. 28). 
 
 " Of that day and hour knoweth none, not even the 
 Son " (St. Mark xiii. 32). 
 
 " Let this cup pass from Me " (St. Matt. xxvi. 39). 
 
 " I live by the Father " (St. John vi. 57). 
 
 " The Son can do nothing by Himself " (St. John v. 19). 
 
 " I am the true vine, my Father is the husbandman " 
 (St. John xv. 1). 
 
 "Why callest thou me good? There is none good 
 save One, that is God " (St. Mark x. 18). 
 
 " Father, glorify Thy Son " (St. John xvii. 1). 
 
 " The first-born of every creature " (Col. i. 15). 
 
 " The Lord created Me " (Pro v. viii. 22. Septuagint 
 translation). 
 
 1 Or. 53. 67. 2 Fialon, I$tude litteraire sur 8. Basile, p. 149. 
 
214 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 " That they may know Thee, the only true God " 
 (St. John xviii. 8). 
 
 " Is not Mine to give " (St. Matt. xx. 23). 
 
 The subject of the Holy Spirit was one which Basil 
 wished to refrain from discussing. It was only now 
 becoming a prominent subject of controversy, though 
 it was the natural outcome of the Arian position. Basil 
 seemed to think it would be better, in the prominent 
 position which he held, to steer clear of this new polemic : 
 and he therefore made an arrangement with Gregory to 
 deal with it, while he concentrated his own energy on 
 teaching the Eternity of the Son. 
 
 Macedonius, a brutal persecutor of the Catholics, had 
 been deposed from the See of Constantinople by the 
 extreme party for his supposed moderate views (the 
 ostensible cause was his removal of Constantine's remains 
 from a church which was falling, without Constantius' 
 leave) ; yet he taught plainly that the Holy Ghost was 
 a creature. This heresy was therefore known as the 
 Macedonian, though the sect that sprang out of it was 
 generally known as the Marathonian, after Marathonius 
 of Nicomedia. They were a grave, pure and ascetic 
 body ; but of course it was necessary to condemn their 
 view r . Basil's reticence in public, though he defined 
 his view carefully in his correspondence, caused a sus- 
 picion of his orthodoxy; and besides, he had unusual 
 ways of saying the doxology, such as " Glory be to the 
 Father through the Son and in the Holy Ghost." His 
 protege, Amphilochius, entreated him to clear up any 
 doubt, by publishing his views in a treatise, and he 
 accordingly did so in 374. It was his last work and 
 perhaps the most famous. The first eight chapters are 
 a defence of the prepositions he used in the Doxology, 
 and he afterwards treats the whole question very fully. 
 The leading argument is that all operations and relations 
 most exclusively divine are ascribed to the Spirit. If 
 God is good, the Spirit is good by His very Nature. If 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 215 
 
 the Son is a Paraclete He sends the Spirit to be so too. 
 If Christ is our one Master, the Spirit comes to teach 
 us all things. If the Father and Son distribute their 
 gifts, so does the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is placed 
 side by side with that of the Father and Son by St. 
 Paul (1 Cor. xii.) when he speaks of " diversities of gifts, 
 but the same Spirit." And again, " He that raised 
 Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
 bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you " (Rom. viii. 11). 
 The Father quickens all things ; the Son promises eternal 
 life; the Spirit quickens your bodies. Can He, by 
 whom God dwells in us, be Himself other than God? 
 How can the giver of renewal, who changes corruption 
 into incorruption, who makes of us a new creature that 
 abides for ever, be other than Very God ? 
 
 The schism at Antioch was an important event in 
 Church History in Basil's time, owing to the unusual 
 features which it introduced, and also to the effect it 
 had of emphasizing the difference between the Eastern 
 and Western Churches. Some account of it falls natur- 
 ally into a chapter on St. Basil, owing to the strong 
 support he gave to the side least popular at Rome, and 
 the independent attitude that he took up against the 
 Pope. Basil had apparently no knowledge of any 
 doctrinal claim on Rome's part to rule the Church at 
 large. " He desired," as Fialon puts it, " the same 
 independent union for spiritual matters between East 
 and West, which since Constantine had existed in politics. 
 The West and East were in his eyes two brothers, whose 
 rights were equal, neither owning supremacy nor the 
 rights of an elder. Basil recognized no necessity for a 
 great central power to hold the Church together, though 
 the Western Churches all did. The Greeks indeed have 
 never completely consented to this sacrifice or renounced 
 their autonomy. They recognized nothing as paramount 
 except a General Council. The decrees of Nicaea bound 
 Basil absolutely." 
 
216 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 In 327 Eustathius, Catholic Bishop of Antioch, had 
 been deposed on a charge of Sabellianism. Two Arians 
 followed him; then Eudoxius, who was removed to 
 Constantinople in 361, and succeeded by St. Meletius. 
 The early associations of Meletius were distinctly Arian, 
 and his consecrators were unorthodox. But from the 
 first as Bishop, he taught the full Catholic faith, and 
 was therefore almost immediately exiled. The bulk of 
 the Church stood by him, but the extremists formed 
 themselves into a separate party, and were known as 
 Eustathians. At their head was Paulinus, a presbyter. 
 In 362, a Council at Alexandria sent a commission to 
 Antioch to conciliate the parties; but the hot-headed 
 Lucifer of Cagliari anticipated it, and consecrated 
 Paulinus; although he led a very small section of the 
 community. In 375 Rome formally acknowledged 
 Paulinus as the rightful Bishop : but all the great 
 Eastern Bishops recognized Meletius. The Pope later 
 even described Meletius and his party as Arians. Basil 
 was the leading defender of Meletius against Rome, and 
 Bossuet x says, " It is clear that the confirming of heresy 
 was roundly and flatly, without any excuse, without any 
 attempt to modify, imputed by Basil to decrees of two 
 Roman pontiffs de fide." Meletius was elected president 
 of the Second (Ecumenical Council by both the Gregories, 
 Cyril of Jerusalem, Amphilochius, and a crowd of Eastern 
 Saints. His memory was held in the highest honour 
 by the whole Church of the East, and in later days he 
 found a place in the Roman Martyrology ; yet it is most 
 probable that he died out of communion with the Roman 
 Church. The case is fully argued in Puller's Primitive 
 Saints and the See of Rome, and replied to in Rivington's 
 Primitive Church and the See of Peter. Whether Meletius 
 really died out of communion with Rome or not, the 
 fact must surely remain, that the whole Eastern Church, 
 including some of her greatest Saints, were in violent 
 
 1 Gallia Orthodoxa, ch. lxiii. 
 
ST. BASIL THE GREAT 217 
 
 opposition to Rome in the matter, and that none of 
 them recognized any right in Rome to overrule their 
 own views. 
 
 Anglicans have sometimes claimed that Basil's views 
 were in all points their own, except as regards the 
 Invocation of Saints. The main grounds for this claim 
 are apparently his independence of Rome, and a particular 
 passage on the Sacrament : " On eating His Flesh and 
 drinking His blood, being made through His Incarnate 
 and Visible Life partakers of His word and wisdom. 
 For all His mystic sojourn among us He called His 
 Flesh and Blood, and set forth the teaching, consisting 
 of practical science, of physics and theology, whereby 
 our soul is nourished, and is meanwhile trained for the 
 contemplation of actual realities. This is perhaps the 
 intended meaning of what He says." 1 
 
 The reader will judge whether this cursory remark 
 may be taken as an authoritative exposition of sacra- 
 mental doctrine; but at any rate the last sentence 
 shows that teachers of that time looked on varieties 
 of explanation as legitimate and admissible. It is in 
 this last respect that Anglicans would claim him as an 
 authority. 
 
 On the Invocation of Saints he is perfectly explicit. 
 In Letter CCCLX he says, " I acknowledge also the holy 
 Apostles, prophets and martyrs : and I invoke them 
 to supplication to God, that through them, that is 
 through their mediation, the Merciful God may be 
 propitious to me, and that a ransom may be made 
 and given me for my sins. Wherefore also I honour 
 and kiss the features of their images, inasmuch as they 
 have been handed down from the holy Apostles, and are 
 not forbidden, but are in all our churches." 
 
 There still remain one or two minor points to notice 
 about St. Basil. 
 
 It is probably that confession to a priest, instead of 
 1 Letter 8. 
 
218 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 public confession, may have been stimulated by Basil's 
 rule for his monks, that every thought of the heart 
 should be divulged in confession, but only to those who 
 were properly appointed. 
 
 As regards Eternal Punishment, Basil held that it 
 would certainly be eternal, but that the few and many 
 stripes had relation not to duration but quality. To 
 some, the punishment, though eternal, might be 
 excessively mild. 1 
 
 Re-baptism of those who had been baptized by 
 heretics, Basil would have liked to enforce, but he 
 conformed to the general rule; except in the case of 
 the Marcionites, because they believed in the essential 
 evil of matter. 
 
 In the Homily (6) on Fasting occurs rather an inter- 
 esting passage : " It is not possible without fasting to 
 dare to approach the sacred rites. Take care, however, 
 that you do not suppose fasting to consist merely in 
 abstinence from food. For the true fasting is estrange- 
 ment from evil." On the question of fasting, Basil was 
 always practical, and avoided ostentation, though all 
 his life he was ascetic. It is told of him that, to avoid 
 ostentation, he only wore his hair-shirt at night. 
 
 The so-called Liturgy of St. Basil, " The Divine 
 Liturgy of our Father among the Saints, Basil the 
 Great," is still in occasional use in the Greek Church. 
 But as a whole family of liturgies springs from St. 
 Basil's, it is difficult to say how much of this is the 
 original work of Basil himself, although in its general 
 lines it probably is founded on his use. 
 1 Reg, Jus. tract,, p. 267, 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 
 
 (About 326-391. Patriarch of Constantinople 379-381) 
 
 Neither of the two Gregories, of Nazianzus or of 
 Nyssa, were distinguished like Basil for practical ability 
 or as ecclesiastical statesmen. The subject of this chap- 
 ter was of a retiring disposition, and would have pre- 
 ferred to remain quietly at Nazianzus, of which his father 
 was for many years Bishop : even the priesthood was 
 forced upon him against his wish. Yet for two years 
 of his life he occupied an exceedingly prominent position 
 as Archbishop of Constantinople, presiding for a short 
 time over the Second (Ecumenical Council; and during 
 that period he was mainly instrumental in reviving 
 Catholicism in the Eastern capital. This he did, not by 
 skill in organizing or administration, but by the flood of 
 eloquence which he untiringly poured forth in defence 
 of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Roman breviary 
 calls him " the keenest champion of the Consubstantiality 
 of the Son " (in other words, of the Homo-ousion) ; and 
 adds that " while no one surpassed him in virtue (laude 
 vitae), so he easily surpassed all others in the solidity of 
 his reasoning (gravitate orationis)." He acquired the 
 title of the Theologian, which must be understood less in 
 a general sense, than as " defender of the Godhead of 
 the Word " : while De Broglie says of him, 1 "in a few 
 hours and a few pages Gregory summed up and closed 
 the controversy of a whole century." In fact, he fixed 
 permanently the lines on which the defence of the 
 
 1 UEglise et V Empire, V. p. 385. 
 219 
 
220 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 doctrine was hereafter to be made. Sometimes he has 
 even shared with St. John the title " Divine." 
 
 In many respects he was the opposite of Basil, whom 
 he so intensely admired. In his personal appearance he 
 is described as " short, meagre, sickly, prematurely old 
 (this was when he first appeared at Constantinople), 
 with an aspect of habitual melancholy, with one eye gone, 
 a scar on his face, stooping shoulders, downcast look, 
 and shabby clothes." Again their literary style has 
 been contrasted. In a work published anonymously at 
 Lille in 1887, we read that both have eloquence, culture 
 (politesse), fine and delicate thought; but Basil is more 
 serious, Gregory more joyous and lively; the former 
 tried to persuade, the latter to please. Basil was majestic 
 and tranquil; Gregory had more movement and fire. 
 Basil liked gravity, and shrank from raillery; Gregory 
 made raillery innocent and subservient to virtue; Basil 
 commanded more respect, Gregory more love. 
 
 The correspondence between Basil and Gregory in 
 connection with the visit of the latter to Pontus shows 
 something of the pleasant raillery of Gregory : x his 
 chaff, for instance, of Basil, after his return, about the 
 starvation that would have ensued, had not Basil's 
 mother come to the rescue. But this letter was fol- 
 lowed by a graver one, assuring his friend of the happi- 
 ness he had derived from his monastic experience. For 
 Gregory, from the time of his baptism, was always 
 ascetic; only he practised his asceticism in the world 
 and not in seclusion. 
 
 The chief features of his life must be rapidly sketched, 
 as, except for those two grand years in Constantinople, 
 it was not an eventful one, and something of it has already 
 been seen in the last chapter. He was the son of Gregory, 
 Bishop of Nazianzus, a small town in that part of Cap- 
 padocia which was cut off by Valens from Cappadocia 
 proper, and Nonna. Nonna, to whom he owed much of 
 1 See chapter on St. Basil. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 221 
 
 his religious training, had converted her husband, and 
 it is supposed that Gregory was born after his father 
 became a bishop, or at any rate a priest. Roman 
 Catholic writers have denied this, but it does not seem 
 to us of very much consequence, as celibacy had not 
 been enforced on the clergy at that date. The date of 
 his birth is uncertain, but as it seems likely that he was a 
 little older than Basil, we may fix it about 326. He was 
 studying with Basil at Csesarea ; but when Basil left for 
 Constantinople, Gregory went to the other Csesarea 
 (in Palestine) ; then to Alexandria ; finally meeting Basil 
 again at Athens. Thus Gregory had the great advantage A 
 of both Alexandria and Athens ; of the philosophical and I 
 metaphysical environment of the former, as well as the \ 
 literary and rhetorical environment of the latter^- ' 
 Although outwardly he was wanting in the grace and; 
 culture of Basil, for he always remained rather a country- 1 
 man, his intellectual attainments were of the highest j 
 order, and as an orator he has been compared JoJ$ 
 Demosthenes. Dupin calls him the greatest orator of 
 his age, and St. Jerome came from Syria to Constanti- 
 nople to hear him. 
 
 He seems to have remained at Athens twelve years — 
 till he was thirty, and not to have been baptized till his 
 return; but at his baptism he vowed to devote his life 
 to God's service, and at once assisted his father, as a 
 layman, in administering the diocese. In 361 his father, 
 with the support of his congregation, coerced him into 
 taking orders, a not uncommon practice at that time, 
 and he at once fled to Pontus. But after three months 
 he returned and accepted the situation, preaching his 
 famous Oration (2) on the Priesthood, which was the 
 foundation of St. Chrysostom's subsequent work in six 
 books. In 374 his father, after successfully resisting 
 Julian's embassy, died, and Gregory administered the 
 diocese for a year, refusing the bishopric; after which 
 he retired to Seleucia. 
 
222 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 The unfortunate incident of the appointment of 
 Gregory to Sasima, which caused an estrangement 
 between him and Basil, has already been described. 1 
 In a poem on his own life, he describes it as " a frightful 
 and detestable little village. Everywhere you meet 
 nothing but dust, noises, waggons, groans, petty officers, 
 chains, instruments of torture. The whole population 
 consists of foreigners and travellers. Such was my 
 Church of Sasima." In an indignant letter to Basil (48) 
 he writes, " Why should I fight for sucking pigs and 
 chickens, which after all were not my own, as if it were 
 a question of souls and canons? And why should we 
 rob the (new) metropolis of the illustrious Sasima? " 
 However, he was not there long ; for the Bishop of the 
 new metropolis appointed a rival, and Gregory escaped. 
 
 In 379 he reluctantly accepted a call to Constantinople, 
 with a view to reviving the Catholicism of the great 
 city. For a great change had now come in the state. 
 Gratian, who had been associated in the West with 
 Valens, was Catholic, and soon became sole Emperor. 
 He shortly afterwards handed over the East to Theo- 
 dosius, a Spaniard and also a Catholic. There was, 
 therefore, revived hope for the orthodox Faith. 
 
 For many years Constantinople had been handed over 
 to Arians, and the Catholics were now a mere remnant. 
 The city M had passed through the death of infidelity; 
 there was left but one last breath of life. He had come 
 to the city to defend the faith. What they needed was 
 solid teaching to save them from the spiders' webs of 
 subtleties in which they had been caught." 2 " The 
 great mystery was in danger of becoming a matter of 
 mincing technicalities (Te%vvdoiov)" Gregory estab- 
 lished himself in a small private house, which he turned 
 into a church, and called the Anastasia (the place of 
 resurrection); and from this point he gradually, in the 
 short space of two years, restored the ascendancy of 
 1 Chapter on St. Basil. 2 Poem XI. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 223 
 
 Catholicism. In 380 Theodosius handed over to him 
 all the Churches of the Metropolis, and he accepted, 
 although reluctantly, the archbishopric. In his wonder- 
 ful sermons he dwelt continually on the doctrine of 
 the Trinity, the chief being known as the five theological 
 orations. There was not much novelty in the argu- 
 ments : his strength lay in his condensed and lucid 
 exposition of them. They were, however, the model of 
 future theologians, and were quoted extensively much 
 later in the De Orthodoxa Fide of St. John of Damascus. 
 
 In 381 came the Council at Constantinople, called at 
 the express desire of Theodosius ; which, contrary to 
 the original intention, became afterwards known as the 
 Second (Ecumenical Council. Meletius of Antioch at 
 first presided; but he shortly afterwards died, and 
 Gregory, whom the Council had now confirmed in his 
 see, succeeded him. However, all sorts of difficulties 
 arose, which caused him at last to retire altogether both 
 from his see and the city ; and after spending two years 
 at Nazianzus, the remainder of his life, eight years, was 
 passed in retirement at Arianzus, or in the neighbour- 
 hood, till his death in 391. 
 
 At the second (Ecumenical Council of Constantinople 
 one hundred and fifty Eastern bishops were summoned 
 to the capital, to pronounce on certain points of faith ; 
 to confirm the rights of certain bishops, whose jurisdic- 
 tion was disputed ; and to settle the affairs of Antioch. 
 As the East claimed the right to settle its own affairs, no 
 invitations were sent to the West, even to Rome, and 
 no Western sees were represented. It came afterwards 
 to be treated as (Ecumenical, although the whole Church 
 was not summoned (for that was not considered essen- 
 tial), because its creed, and much later its canons, were 
 accepted by the whole Church. It happened that a 
 great number of Saints were present, especially the two 
 Gregories, Meletius, Cyril and Amphilochius, and it 
 is remarkable that the President, St. Meletius, was not 
 
224 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 recognized by Rome at all. The canons of this Council 
 were not accepted by Rome for a thousand years. 
 
 The main work of the Council was to bring the Nicene 
 Creed practically into its present form. The words 
 " God of God," however, did not appear; only " Very 
 God of Very God," which of course included them; and 
 in some MSS. the word " Holy " appears before 
 " Catholic Church." The^ entire third paragraph now 
 appeared for the first time ; the controversy about the 
 Holy Ghost being the prominent question of the day. 
 The Procession was, of course, from the Father only. 
 The words " And the Son " first appeared in Spain in 
 the following century, and soon extended to France; 
 but they were firmly resisted in Rome. In fact, in the 
 ninth century, two silver shields were put up in St. 
 Peter's, showing the Creed in Greek and Latin without 
 the words ; until at last in 1014 Benedict VIII admitted 
 them under strong pressure from the western West. 
 
 There is some doubt whether the Second Council did 
 make the additions to the Creed, as the members cer- 
 tainly professed to adhere strictly to the Creed of Nicsea. 
 The third paragraph had, however, already crept into 
 various local creeds, and may have been included without 
 prejudice to the original creed. The Fourth Council 
 (Chalcedon) attributed the Creed to the Second; it is 
 possible that the additions were made at a supplementary 
 local Council held at Constantinople in the following 
 year. 
 
 To show how thoroughly recognized at this date was 
 the Intercession of the Saints, it is worthy of notice that 
 the bishops, in their letter to Theodosius, write " May 
 God by the prayers of the Saints show favour to the 
 world, that you may be strong and eminent in all good 
 things." 
 
 The Heresies denounced were those of the Eunomians ; 
 the Semi- Arians or Pneumatomachi ; Sabellians ; Marcel- 
 Hans; Photinians; Apollinarians. Of these the Euno- 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 225 
 
 mians were practically the successors of the Arians. 
 Eunomius, made Bishop of Cyzicus near Constantinople 
 in 360, succeeded Aetius in the leadership of theAnomaean 
 party, and became so identified with it, that the word 
 Arian became merged in Eunomian. Thus Basil and the 
 Gregories write not against the Arians, but the Euno- 
 mians. The Semi-Arians are now known as Fighters 
 against the Holy Ghost; the Godhead of the Son had 
 been practically conceded by them in all its fullness. 
 The Sabellians have already been repeatedly referred to. 
 Marcellus was the friend of Athanasius who was often 
 accused of Sabellianism, and of whom Athanasius said 
 that he had narrowly escaped heresy. The Photinians 
 accepted the views of Marcellus in a somewhat modified 
 form. There remains then the Apollinarian heresy, 
 which was the beginning of a new series of controversies, 
 viz. on the Person of our Lord ; not on the question of 
 his Divinity, so much as His Humanity. Apollinarius, 
 in his zeal for the Divinity, underrated the Humanity, 
 arguing from the triple division of St. Paul into body, 
 soul and spirit; he conceded to Christ a human body 
 and soul, but in place of the human spirit he placed the 
 Logos. The Word, he said, was made Flesh, but not 
 Spirit. If so, Christ was not Perfect Man, but something 
 between God and man ; and therefore, according to tfie 
 Catholics, the act of Atonement would be incomplete. 
 
 This Council was first recognized as (Ecumenical by 
 the Fourth Council (Chalcedon, a.d. 450), though not by 
 the bishops of the West. In 609 Gregory the Great 
 recognized it for its creed only. 
 
 The Canons it passed were of considerable interest. 
 
 The First confirmed the Nicene Creed with extensions. 
 
 The Second enjoined in effect that each Church should 
 mind its own business; Alexandria should not meddle 
 outside her own sphere. Yet the principle involved 
 was not limited to Alexandria. The East should settle 
 the affairs of the East, and so on. 
 Q 
 
226 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 The Third gave precedence to Constantinople next to 
 Rome, on the ground that Constantinople was new Rome. 
 Rome never allowed this until 1204, when a Latin 
 patriarch was established there ; but asserted the ancient 
 precedence of Antioch and Alexandria. The sting of 
 this Canon lies in the inference that Rome's position 
 rested, not on being the See of Peter, but on being the 
 capital of the Empire. 
 
 Benoit thinks this Third Canon spurious for several 
 reasons ; chiefly because the Western Council of Venice 
 (Aquileia), held immediately afterwards, took no notice 
 of it, although other proceedings at Constantinople were 
 known at Venice. At any rate he says it was never 
 confirmed by Rome, and therefore null and void. This 
 is obviously begging the question. 
 
 The Fourth renounced Maximus, who had recently 
 intruded himself into the See of Constantinople. 
 
 The Fifth referred to the schism at Antioch, and 
 declared that all were to be considered Catholics who 
 confessed the Trinity. 
 
 The Sixth forbade appeals against Bishops to the 
 Emperor or civil courts. 
 
 The Seventh, which is of doubtful authenticity, 
 enjoined the re-baptism of all who had been baptized by 
 Eunomians, Sabellians or Montanists. 
 
 As the work of the Council proceeded, a contingent of 
 Egyptian Bishops arrived on the scene, and brought 
 trouble. They complained that as translations were for- 
 bidden by a Canon of Nicsea, Gregory, being Bishop of 
 Sasima, could not be translated to Constantinople : a 
 view which was also held by Rome. Further, they sup- 
 ported an intruder, Maximus, as having been canon- 
 ically consecrated. This Maximus, known as the Cynic, 
 was a wretched person who imposed on Gregory and 
 even on Peter of Alexandria; but the Alexandrians 
 afterwards found him out and disowned him. Then also 
 came the question of Antioch. An arrangement had 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 227 
 
 been made between the followers of Meletius and 
 Paulinus, that when one died, the other should rule 
 alone. Now Meletius was dead, and Gregory felt that 
 the compact should be observed. The Council, how- 
 ever, under the influence chiefly of the younger members, 
 insisted on appointing Flavian, and continuing the 
 schism. So Gregory withdrew; acquiesced cordially 
 in the appointment of Nectarius as his successor; 
 delivered a celebrated oration, known as the Last Fare- 
 well ; and retired first for two years to Nazianzus, where 
 he got a new bishop appointed, and then to Arianzus. 
 For another eight years he lived there in great simplicity, 
 his only luxury a garden and a fountain, and even that 
 he was obliged to give up. He appears to have held some 
 property and kept several slaves, though probably their 
 slavery was really a voluntary service. From his will we 
 learn that he left a farm at Arianzus, with a brood-mare 
 and sheep to two kinsmen : to a virgin, Rufiana, an 
 annuity and two female virgin slaves, who had the 
 option of freedom ; to three servants, apparently slaves, 
 as they also had the option of freedom, a little money. 
 Apart from a few other legacies, the residue to the poor 
 at Nazianzus, after the death of the Deacon Gregory, 
 who had a life interest. Nazianzus seemed always to 
 be his real home. This Will is an interesting document, 
 because it throws light on the attitude of the Church at 
 that time towards slavery, and of slaves towards the 
 Church ; for it seems quite an open question whether the 
 slaves would exercise their options. 
 
 In the Five Theological Orations we have condensed 
 the whole teaching of Gregory on his favourite subject, 
 the Trinity, in which his whole heart and soul were 
 bound up. With him, as with all the Catholic teachers, 
 there is reluctance to express the mystery of the God- 
 head in human language, to discuss eternal things in 
 the language of time. As with God, so with Eternity. 
 " The iEon, that interval which is co-extensive with 
 
228 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 eternal things, is not divided or measured by any motion, 
 or by the revolution of the sun, as time is measured." 
 " The Mon is neither time nor part of time ; it cannot be 
 measured." l So also we know nothing of the Nature 
 of God, nor of the generation of the Son ; or what means 
 the Procession of the Holy Ghost. But, as Charles 
 Kingsley puts it in the Preface to Ilypatia, " the wonder- 
 ful metaphysical subtlety of the Grseco-Eastcrn mind 
 saw in phrases and definitions, too often unmeaning to 
 our grosser intellect, the symbols of the most important 
 spiritual realities." The Church, therefore, had to see 
 that they were rightly expressed; that God, according 
 to modern times, was both Transcendant and Immanent, 
 and also Incarnate, and each of them equally. 
 
 The First Theological Oration combats generally the 
 Eunomian views. The Second shows that the Nature 
 of God is beyond human ken. The Third deals with the 
 Trinity and especially the Son. The Fourth answers all 
 the Arian or Eunomian objections in detail, meeting 
 dilemma with dilemma, or disproving the major premises. 
 The Fifth is on the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The Godhead 2 is, according to Gregory, a Monarchy 
 that is not limited to one Person. Now it is possible 
 for Unity that is at variance with itself to come into a 
 condition of Plurality, but one which is made of equality 
 of nature and unity of mind and identity of motion has, 
 in consequence of these elements, Unity. Such an 
 unity would be impossible to created natures ; but in the 
 Godhead, though the Persons are numerically distinct, 
 yet there is no severance of essence. Therefore Unity, 
 having from all eternity arrived by motion at Duality, 
 found its rest in Trinity. The Father is Begetter and 
 Emitter; the Son is the Begotten; the Holy Ghost is 
 the Emission. We can only know Them as the Un- 
 begotten, the Begotten, and That which proceedeth from 
 the Father. When did the Second and Third Persons 
 1 Or, 38. 8, 2 Third TheoL, Or. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 229 
 
 come into being? They are beyond all " When " ; it is 
 outside the sphere of time or the grasp of reason. 
 Though Eternal, they are not Unoriginate. The Cause 
 is not necessarily prior to the Effect, for the sun is not 
 prior to light. The generation of the Son is passionless, 
 because incorporeal. His generation in the flesh differed 
 from that of all other men; so, too, His divine birth. 
 It is useless for men to discuss the generation of God, 
 seeing that they cannot explain or understand their own, 
 or their growth, or the union of soul with body, or mind 
 with soul, or mind with reason. But even if they could, 
 they could not explain God, for God is harder to trace 
 than man. The Begetting of God must be honoured 
 by silence. It is a great thing for us to learn that He 
 was begotten ; but the manner of His generation we 
 will not admit that even angels can conceive. Shall I 
 tell you, asks Gregory, how it was ? It was in a manner 
 known to the Father who begot and the Son who was 
 begotten. Anything beyond this is hidden by a cloud 
 and escapes our dim vision. Did the Son exist before 
 He was begotten? This is a foolish question, for it 
 expresses eternal things in the language of time. Foolish 
 also is the statement that the Begotten and the Unbe- 
 gotten cannot be the same. Father and Son are always 
 of the same nature. Wisdom and Unwisdom are not 
 the same in themselves, yet both are attributes of man 
 who is the same, only they are not essential attributes. 
 If they were, God, being innocent and immortal and 
 immutable, would have several essences. What, then, 
 is the essence of God ? For us it will be a great thing, 
 if ever, even in the far future, we learn this, when this 
 darkness and dullness has passed away from us, as He 
 has promised it will, Who cannot lie. The Arians say 
 that if the First and Second Persons are of the same 
 essence, then the Father being Unbegotten, the Son must 
 be so also. This is false, because Unbegottenness is not 
 of the essence. Again they say that if God has never 
 
230 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 ceased to beget, the Generation is incomplete : if He 
 has ceased, He must have begun. Gregory replies that 
 if everything that has an end had a beginning, then what 
 has no end has no beginning. What, then, about the 
 human soul and the angels? Again they say that the 
 fact of the Father being the cause necessitates His being 
 greater than the Son. But here the premiss is wrong; 
 because they assume He is the cause by nature, and 
 therefore that He is greater by nature. Gregory next 
 passes to the Scriptural proofs and also to the Arian 
 objections from Scriptural texts. 1 He gives a flood of 
 quotations from St. John and St. Paul on the Divinity, 
 and then clearly distinguishes between both the acts 
 which Christ did and the words which He spoke, either 
 as God or as Man. " Learn," he says, " to be more 
 sublime, and to ascend with His Godhead, and then 
 you will not remain permanently among the things of 
 sight, but will rise with Him to the world of thought, 
 and come to know which passages refer to His Nature, 
 and which to His assumption of human nature/' 2 
 Not, however, satisfied with this, he takes in the Fourth 
 Oration all the texts claimed by the Arians, and explains 
 them in detail. He also investigates the meaning of the 
 various titles of the Son. 
 
 In the Fifth Theological Oration he treats of the 
 Spirit. The Spirit is either a substance or an attribute ; 
 yet not the latter, because He separates (Acts xiii. 2), 
 and is grieved (Eph. iv. 30). He is therefore a sub- 
 stance, and consequently either creature or God. How 
 could we believe in, or be perfected by, a creature? 
 He must, they say, be either begotten or unbegotten. 
 If the latter, then there are two First Causes. If the 
 former, of Whom? If the Son, then He is a sort of 
 grandson ; if of the Father, then there are tw r o brothers. 
 No, He proceeds, as Christ tells us (S. John xv. 26). 
 It is useless to try to explain this. " We, who cannot 
 1 See Basil. 2 Or 29. 18. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 231 
 
 even see what lies at our feet, or count the sand, or the 
 raindrops or the days of eternity, much less can we 
 enter into the depth of God, and supply an account of 
 that nature, which is so unspeakable, transcending all 
 words. The word Proceeding implies no inferiority; 
 it is only a difference of relation. The Spirit is Homo- 
 ousion : and that again is a mystery, though not without 
 some faint analogies in nature. If we are Tritheists 
 for believing in the Spirit, then those who accept the 
 Son are Ditheists. But all this difficulty is solved by 
 the Homo-ousion. It is true that Scripture said but 
 little about the Spirit, but that was because Revelation 
 is progressive and the Spirit was not revealed till Pente- 
 cost. The Old Testament proclaimed the Father openly, 
 the Son more obscurely. The New Testament mani- 
 fested the Son, and suggested the Divinity of the Spirit ; 
 now the Spirit Himself dwells among us, and supplies 
 us with a clearer demonstration of Himself. Mankind 
 could not absorb the truth more quickly. Christ, indeed, 
 only manifested Himself gradually to His disciples. 
 But during His life light was gradually breaking upon 
 them as to the Spirit also. At the close Gregory tries 
 to find some safe type of the Trinity in nature, as was 
 done by several of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, but he finds 
 them all dangerous in use. 
 
 At Constantinople more than anywhere else we see 
 how purely intellectual, and consequently worldly, was 
 the position of the real Arians. Atnong the Semi- 
 Arians it was often quite otherwise. But from Arius 
 with his Thalia to Eunomius with his constant disputa- 
 tions in and out of season, reverence among the Arians 
 was dead. The position of Eunomius was that there was 
 one God unbegotten and incapable of begetting ; therefore 
 Eternal Generation was inconceivable; therefore the 
 generation of the Son must have had a beginning. The 
 Son was the first creation of the Divine Energy ; and, 
 as the organ of creative power, was the express image and 
 
232 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 likeness of the Father's Energy but not of His Essence. 
 Similarly the Spirit was the noblest production of the 
 Son. Eunomius baptized into the name of the Creator 
 and the death of Christ, without mention of the Trinity ; 
 therefore his baptism was invalid. Under his influence, 
 the highest questions of the faith became matters of 
 everyday gossip; the Churches were like theatres; 
 " every market-place," x says Gregory, " must buzz 
 with their talking; every dinner-party be worried to 
 death with silly talk; all the women's apartments, 
 accustomed to simplicity, be thrown into confusion, 
 robbed of their modesty by the torrent of words." 
 This intellectual religion became a mere stepping-stone 
 to ambition. The very first cry of Gregory, therefore, 
 was, Be reverent : God must not be discussed but at 
 suitable times and in a suitable spirit. At best we can 
 know little of Him ; it is impossible to detach ourselves 
 sufficiently from our environment and habits of thought. 
 We shall never realize God till that in us which is God- 
 like, our mind and reason, shall have mingled with its 
 like, and the Image shall have ascended to the Arche- 
 type, which is now only its desire, and we shall know as 
 we are known. But we can see something of Him in 
 His works, and recognize Him as the efficient First 
 Cause of all created things. 
 
 " Whatever," says Canon Bright, " Gregory taught 
 his people as the fundamental mystery was pervaded 
 and illuminated not only by the reverent caution which 
 discouraged all attempts to comprehend the Infinite, to 
 grasp the supreme essence in a formula; but by the 
 adoring spirit of one whose spirit lived on the truths 
 he was defending, and by the profound conviction of 
 their practical bearing on life." 2 
 
 The Three Christmas Orations, viz. the Theophany, 
 the Holy Lights and Baptism, 3 were preached at Con- 
 
 1 First Thool., Or, 2. 
 
 2 Age of the Fathers, Vol. I. p. 411. . 3 Or. 38-40. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 233 
 
 stantinople on Christmas Day, the Epiphany, and the 
 day after the latter feast. There is a little uncertainty 
 about how these feasts were observed in the Early 
 Eastern Church. The Epiphany seems to have been 
 the most important, but it celebrated the manifestation 
 of Christ — in His baptism, and not to the Magi. It 
 was, therefore, the great day for baptizing, and the 
 baptized carried about the holy lights. The sermon on 
 the Theophany, however, delivered a week before that 
 on the Lights, is evidently a Christmas sermon. 
 
 It commences with a cosmogony : it describes first 
 the creation of the spiritual spheres ; then the physical ; 
 then man ; then finally as the crowning work of God 
 comes the Incarnation. In this sermon is some curious 
 allegorizing on the Garden of Eden. Adam was to till 
 the plants, by which may have been meant the Divine 
 Conceptions. The Tree of Knowledge was perhaps 
 Contemplation, which Adam was not mature enough to 
 indulge in. The coats of skins represented the coarser 
 flesh, mortal and contradictory. Man's sins grew deeper 
 and deeper, and the usual remedies of defects, such as 
 wars, fires and the like became insufficient. Then the 
 Word had to descend. Then Uncontained became Con- 
 tained through the intervention of an intellectual soul 
 between God and the flesh. 
 
 In the sermon on the Holy Lights we get an account 
 of the various baptisms : of Israel in the cloud and 
 the sea; of John; of Christ; of martyrdom; and of 
 penance. The Third Oration (Baptism) teaches first 
 that Baptism is not to be deferred, and enjoins distinctly 
 the baptism of infants; also that the unworthiness of 
 the Minister is no prejudice to the efficacy of the rite ; 
 it teaches the baptized their obligations, expounds the 
 Creed, and explains the ceremony of the lights. * 
 
 The Oration on (his) Flight to Pontus (after his forcible 
 ordination) gives a full account of the priesthood, and 
 was the foundation of St. Chrysostom's subsequent 
 
234 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 work on this subject: of that by Gregory the Great; 
 and of Bossuet's work on St. Paul. Four chapters of 
 it are devoted to St. Paul as the ideal priest. Accord- 
 ing to Gregory apparently the sacrificial aspect of the 
 priesthood is not the most prominent; it is mentioned 
 only incidentally. The main duty of the priest is the 
 distribution of the Word. That is why accurate theo- 
 logy is so essential. On the other hand, the care of the 
 priests for each individual soul has great prominence, 
 and the advantage of some sort of direction seems 
 implied. The Incarnation is the medicine of the soul, 
 the priests are the dispensers. Every soul is to be 
 watched and studied even more carefully than a 
 physician studies the body. 
 
 Oration 37, the only sermon with a text, treats of the 
 indissolubility of marriage, and pleads for the equality 
 of the woman with the man. Gregory complains that 
 " they who made the law were men." 
 
 In Oration 80, occurs a remark which shows that 
 Fasting Communion was general : " We celebrate in 
 houses of prayer and before food." 
 
 From Oration 31, it seems that the Communion was 
 received in both kinds separately, not in a mixture: 
 " the Bread of which you have partaken; the Cup in 
 which you have communicated." 
 
 There is not much teaching on the Eucharist in this 
 Father : but he speaks of the antitypes l of the Blessed 
 Body and Blood ; and says, " How could I dare to offer 
 the external sacrifice, the antitypes of the great 
 mysteries ? " In his Letter 171 to Amphilochius, he 
 says, " Cease not to pray and plead for me, when by 
 your word you draw down the Word, when with a blood- 
 less cutting you sever the Body and Blood of the Lord." 
 The Real Presence could hardly be more definitely 
 stated. 
 
 As regards the Last Things, 2 he speaks of the unquench- 
 1 Or. 8 and 2. 2 Ibid., 40. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS 235 
 
 able fire, which is eternal ; but adds, " though some may 
 prefer even in this place to take a more merciful view 
 of the fire, worthily of Him that chastiseth." Such 
 people, he apparently thought, were not to be con- 
 demned. 
 
 Prayer to the Blessed Virgin is alluded to in Oration 24, 
 On Cyprian, where a maiden in danger is said to have 
 implored the Virgin Mary to fortify her against tempta- 
 tion. This seems, however, to be an ordinary instance 
 of the Invocation of Saints, not to place St. Mary in any 
 special position above the rest. The Virgin was the 
 natural saint to apply to in this case. 
 
 Gregory's letters do not compare in interest with those 
 of Basil; with the exception of a few on theological 
 points, and the celebrated correspondence with Basil 
 when the latter was at Pontus, they are for the most 
 part only private and personal. 
 
 As a poet criticisms on Gregory vary considerably. 
 By some he has been thought a poet of quite a high 
 order : by others his poems are treated as merely 
 versified prose. Ullmann, who is a great authority on 
 Gregory, calls them the work of his old age, and says 
 that they were cramped by the subject, and too didactic 
 for poetry. A certain mystic melancholy runs through 
 them, contrasting the peace and beauty of God's works 
 in nature with the restlessness of the human heart. 
 Unlike Basil, Gregory had no objection to introducing 
 Pagan deities into his poems. We find such lines as 
 these : — 
 
 and 
 
 He whom the Graces to the Muses gave : " 
 
 ; What shall wo do ? the weeping Graces said, 
 Ye kindred Muses, speak." 
 
 Lastly must be mentioned his Eulogies of the dead ; 
 which were sometimes delivered as funeral sermons, 
 and sometimes on the anniversaries of the Saints. Of 
 these the most famous is his oration on Basil. It is 
 
236 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 from this that we gather many of the incidents of Basil's 
 life, and notably the scenes with Modcstus and Valens, 
 Whatever coldness may have sprung up between the 
 two saints in Basil's life, after his death Gregory's love 
 for him was stronger than ever, and he ends the Eulogy 
 with this touching peroration : — 
 
 " This is my offering to thee, Basil, uttered by the 
 tongue that was once the sweetest of all to thee, of him 
 who was thy fellow in age and rank. If it has come up 
 to thy desire, thanks are due to thee, for it was from 
 confidence that I undertook it. But if it falls far short 
 of thy expectations, what must be our feelings who are 
 worn out with age and disease and regret for thee ? Yet 
 God is pleased when we do what we can. Still mayst 
 thou gaze on us from above, thou divine and sacred 
 person. Either stay by thy entreaties the thorn in the 
 flesh which God has given us for our discipline, or teach 
 us to bear it boldly : guide all our life to that which is 
 of most profit to us, and if we are translated, receive 
 us there also in thine own tabernacle : that as we dwell 
 together and gaze together more clearly and perfectly 
 on the holy and blessed Trinity, of which here we have 
 in some degree beheld the image, our longing may at 
 last be satisfied, by gaining this reward for all the 
 battles we have fought and all the assaults we have 
 endured." 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 
 
 (Born about 331. Bishop ofNyssa 372. Died about 395.) 
 
 The life of St. Gregory of Nyssa, like Nazianzen's, 
 was uneventful, and did not even contain anything to 
 compare with the brilliant two years of the other 
 Gregory at Constantinople. The interest lies entirely 
 in his writings; and here again, although he wrote at 
 great length on questions of orthodoxy, the main in- 
 terest is rather on the philosophical and speculative 
 side of his work, than in his conflict with heresy. " His 
 orthodoxy," says Eucken, 1 " is less the animating spirit 
 than the framework of his religious life," 
 
 The " Star of Nyssa," the younger brother of Basil, 
 was born in 331, or perhaps a little later, and was 
 educated at home; chiefly by Basil himself, whom he 
 called his master, and partly by his sister Macrina. 
 Yet, in spite of his lack of a university education, he 
 was deeply imbued with Greek philosophy; with Plato - 
 nism especially; Neo-Platonism ; and the work of 
 Origen, of whom he is the natural successor. There is 
 a story that in his youth he fell asleep during a long 
 service on the Festival of the Forty Martyrs and, in 
 consequence of a vivid dream, resolved to devote him- 
 self to the Church; but that afterwards he drifted 
 back to Rhetoric. Finally, however, Macrina con- 
 verted him, and he then joined Basil in Pontus. When 
 Basil became bishop, he recognized the great intel- 
 lectual acquirements of Gregory, but distrusted his 
 
 1 Problem of Human Life, p, 200. 
 237 
 
238 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 practical ability : he therefore appointed him to the 
 obscure bishopric of Nyssa, saying that he should give 
 lustre to the See, instead of receiving lustre from it. 
 On several occasions Basil curbed his practical efforts : 
 he checked, for instance, his desire to summon synods, 
 and restrained him from joining a deputation to Da- 
 masus of Rome. A synod at Antioch, however, 
 entrusted to him an important mission to reform the 
 churches of Arabia and Babylon. On this occasion, 
 passing through Jerusalem, he was struck by the cor- 
 ruption of that city; and consequently wrote his 
 treatise on Pilgrimages, strongly deprecating them, and 
 pointing out not only their uselessness and waste of 
 time, but also the temptations to which the pilgrims, 
 and especially women, were exposed on the way. 
 
 Gregory's tenure of the see of Nyssa was by no means 
 a peaceful one, for he was accused by the Arians of 
 misappropriating funds; and though Basil cleared him 
 at first, further charges were advanced; and at last, 
 on his refusal to attend a synod appointed to try him, 
 he was deposed by Valens as contumacious in 374, and 
 retired till 378 to Seleucia. At the Council of Con- 
 stantinople there is no doubt that he took a prominent 
 part, preaching the funeral sermon on St. Meletius, 
 and reading to the Council a part of his work against 
 Eunomius. It has also been sometimes supposed, 
 though without much evidence, that he suggested the 
 additional clauses which were added to the Creed. 
 
 Gregory's chief works are : — Thirteen Books Against 
 Eunomius ,\ The Great Catechism ; Treatises on The 
 Trinity ; The Holy Spirit ; That there are not Three 
 Gods; Faith; Virginity; The Deaths of Infants; 
 Pilgrimages ; The Making of Man, and The Soul and 
 the Resurrection ; Orations on St. Meletius and Bap- 
 tism ; besides a great number of miscellaneous sermons 
 or treatises and his extant letters. 
 
 Before considering the philosophical position of St. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 239 
 
 Gregory, it is desirable to see something of that last 
 school of Greek thought, which was at once the climax 
 and the ruin of Hellenic Philosophy, and was known as 
 Neo-Platonism. The chief representative of this school 
 was Plotinus, whose life extended over most part of 
 the third century. Neo-Platonism was the supreme 
 effort of the Greek mind, because it aimed at forming 
 a religious system, which was to gather together the 
 best of all other religions under its own aegis ; it exalted 
 the ideal as the only thing worth looking for, but at 
 the same time so despised the material, that all science 
 and knowledge were put out of court. Metaphysic was 
 to rule alone, and metaphysic was only for trained 
 intellects; for the masses, therefore, there was nothing 
 left open but a return to barbarism. The metaphysic 
 of Plato was generally adopted, but the Neo-Platonists 
 went a step further by finding a new principle, the supra- 
 rational. Man, in fact, had a spirit as well as a soul. 
 Thought was not the highest thing; it was only an 
 intermediate stage between the senses and that higher 
 state of rapture, ecstasy or spiritual intuition — a sort 
 of communion with the Divine — to which man could 
 under certain conditions, such as trance, and after long 
 preparation sometimes attain. Plotinus only professed 
 to have reached it on a very few occasions during his 
 life. But while in that state it was presumed that 
 truth was revealed. So that they aimed in two ways 
 at arriving at certainty, i.e. revelation; one was by 
 the use of the supra-rational principle; the other by 
 the study of all the old religions. 
 
 The Neo-Platonic system was undoubtedly very 
 beautiful, high-minded and spiritual. The ideas that 
 man could not live by knowledge alone, that there was 
 a higher principle in him than his intellect, that his 
 highest good was the rapt contemplation of God as 
 pure Being (which last idea specially influenced Gregory 
 of Nyssa) came very near to Christianity. But the 
 
240 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 system broke down, as St. Augustine pointed out, 
 because it lacked a founder, had no word for the masses, 
 and failed to show how one could permanently main- 
 tain the mood of blessedness and peace. 1 
 
 The metaphysic of Plotinus taught that God was 
 One, that everything was in Him and derived from 
 Him. Yet the derived had a separate existence. The 
 wider became the circle of derivations or emanations, 
 the less was their share of the one original essence, till 
 at last they became mere phenomena. The metaphor 
 is of course taken from the result of throwing a stone 
 into the water. The first emanation is the Nous, or 
 Mind, which is a complete image of the One; as an 
 Image quite equal, but as derived, quite different. 
 Next comes the Soul, which is to the Nous as the Nous 
 to the One. It will at once be seen how near he ap- 
 proached to the doctrine of the Trinity. This World- 
 soul embraces all individual souls, and they may at 
 their will turn to the Nous or drift away towards the 
 world of mere phenomena. The human soul that is 
 sunk in the material must be converted and gradually 
 work up through virtue and asceticism (this word 
 meaning "exercise" or "training") to the power of 
 contemplating God. The highest thing that we can 
 contemplate is still the Beautiful, but the Beautiful 
 and the Good are one; and that One is Pure Being, 
 or God. 
 
 Now it is in the treatise On Virginity that Gregory 
 comes nearest to this mode of thought. A quotation 
 will be found in the Chapter on St. Clement of Alex- 
 andria from Plato's Symposium, in which he says that 
 the contemplation of the Ideal Beauty, if it could only 
 be found, would claim all a man's energy, and lead him 
 to the life eternal. And this thought comes down, 
 through the Neo-Platonists, to Gregory. The Vir- 
 
 1 Eucken, Problem of Human Life (section on Gregory of 
 
 Nyssa). 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 241 
 
 ginity that Gregory was discussing had nothing to do 
 necessarily with conventual systems; it was rather the 
 absolute detachment from the things of this world. 
 " The man who longs for union with God must detach 
 % himself from all worldly business." " It is impossible 
 for the mind which is poured into many channels to 
 win its way to the knowledge and love of God." Mar- 
 riage, by the way, is one of these channels. He does 
 not, however, aondemn marriage, which he looks on as 
 indispensable for the many : it is only a hindrance to 
 complete detachment. " Let no one think we depre- 
 ciate marriage. We are well aware that it is not a 
 stranger to God's blessing. But as the common in- 
 stincts of man can plead sufficiently on its behalf, it 
 is superfluous to formally compose an exhortation to 
 marriage." And then he says : " No one is so mentally 
 blind as not to understand this without telling; that 
 the God of the Universe is the only absolute and primal 
 and unrivalled Beauty and Goodness." And again : 
 " Take a character that is strong enough to turn from 
 all that is human, from persons, from wealth, from the 
 pursuit of Art and Science, even from whatever is 
 deemed right in moral practice and legislation (for in 
 all things error creeps in through making sense the 
 criterion of the Beautiful); such a character will feel 
 as a passionate lover only towards that Beauty which 
 has no source but itself, which is not such at one time 
 and relatively only, but which is Beautiful from and 
 through and in Itself, which is above all increase or 
 addition, incapable of change or alteration. I venture 
 to say that to one who has cleansed all the powers of 
 his being from every form of vice, the Beauty which is 
 essential, the source of all beauty and good, will become 
 visible. To the innocent soul there comes the power 
 of seeing the light; and the real virginity, the real 
 chastity, ends at no other goal than this, the power 
 thereby of seeing God." 
 
242 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 But this " seeing God " is, as Eucken points out, 
 less the nearness of person to person than the mystical 
 union with underived Being : it is less communion or 
 fellowship than the striving for complete absorption 
 into the Eternal Unity, out of which the soul had 
 originally come. The name Father implies rather a 
 metaphysical than an ethical relation. It is in this 
 respect that Gregory of Nyssa is not only Platonic, but 
 also accentuates the general attitude of the Eastern, 
 as opposed to the Western Church. The moral aspect 
 of Christianity was subordinated in the East to the 
 metaphysical. " What he longs for is not more love 
 or justice, but more of the essential and eternal, as 
 opposed to the ever-changing and vanishing (Eucken)." 
 " God being unlimited transcends all limits of thought 
 and reason ; so we want wings to soar above the visible 
 and changeable, the phenomena, to abiding nature, 
 unchangeable, self-dependent power." The ideal 
 Beauty is the victory of the higher over the lower 
 everywhere; and the lower must eventually be every- 
 where subdued and brought back again into the higher. 
 
 The love of Nature appears strongly in all three of 
 the Cappadocian Fathers ; for what is beautiful in 
 Nature is a reflex of God. The idea of the beautiful, 
 which in Nature is order (Cosmos), is in human nature 
 the good. " We ought not to wonder at the beauty of 
 the vaulted sky, nor at the rays of light, nor any other 
 form of visible beauty, but be led by the beauty dis- 
 cerned in these to a longing for the beauty whose glory 
 the heavens, declare." " When I see every rocky ridge, 
 every valley, every plain, covered with new-grown 
 grass, the variegated beauty of the trees, and at my 
 feet the lilies doubly enriched by nature with sweet 
 odours and gorgeous colours; when I view in the dis- 
 tance the sea, to which the changing cloud leads out, 
 my soul is seized with sadness, which is not without 
 delight. ... He who looks at these things with the 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 243 
 
 thoughtful eye of the soul feels the littleness of man in 
 the greatness of the universe." Nature, in its quietest 
 forms, the murmuring wood, the lonely desert, affects 
 him most; for here the soul can withdraw within itself 
 and contemplate the eternal. 
 
 A still further application of the Ideal by Gregory is 
 that of the Ideal Man, the Perfect, as opposed to the 
 Fallen or Actual Man. For he thought there was an 
 ideal humanity, a Prototype, in the mind of God ; but 
 it was essential to that ideal, which was made in God's 
 image, that it should possess free will. Now only the 
 Uncreated is changeless : the Created must change. 
 Therefore it was inevitable that man would sin, and 
 this was always foreseen and provided for. So curiously 
 Gregory argues that first God created man (the ideal) 
 in His own image, which was sexless; and then male 
 and female (the actual) created He them. " The first 
 man on earth, or rather he who generated evil in man, 
 had for choice the good and the beautiful lying all 
 round him in the very nature of things ; yet he wilfully 
 cut out for himself a new way against this nature, and 
 in the act of turning away from virtue, which was his 
 own free act, he created the usage of evil. . . . The 
 habit of sinning entered with fatal quickness into the 
 life of man, and from that small beginning spread into 
 this infinitude of evil." x Thus the fall is not some- 
 thing accidental in history. " In the form of narrative 
 Moses taught the doctrine." 2 With the capacity for, 
 and indeed necessity of change, Man sinned : yet still 
 the ideal man turns towards God and finds blessing. 
 The actual or fallen man has always been as he is now ; 
 for after, as Moses taught, the primaeval man was 
 brought into contact with what was forbidden, and was 
 thereby stripped naked of his primal blessed condition, 
 the Lord clothed him with coats of skins, which Gregory 
 distinctly says are not to be taken in their literal 
 1 Virg. 12. 2 Great Catechism, VIII. 
 
244 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 meaning. 1 They were the liability to death taken 
 from the brute creation, and the necessity of sex. 
 Every human being is sinful, because imperfect, and 
 liable to change; but at the general Resurrection, 
 when every soul has been purged by the Fire, the Ideal 
 humanity will be restored. 
 
 Hitherto no great Christian philosophers had appeared 
 except Clement and Origen. The rest were more 
 strictly theologians. Gregory therefore, when he 
 launched out into speculation, naturally took his cue to 
 a great extent from Origen, although the controversies 
 of a century enabled him to discriminate. The main 
 points in which he followed Origen were : the absolute 
 freedom of the will ; the fact that evil was caused by 
 the free choice of man ; that matter was not evil ; 
 that evil was a negative (the absence of good) ; and 
 that there would eventually be a complete end to evil. 
 " When the evil passions have been purged and utterly 
 removed by the healing process of the fire, then every 
 one of the things which make up our conception of the 
 good will take their place : incorruption, life, honour, 
 grace, glory and everything else that we conjecture is 
 to be seen in God's own image, Man, as he was 
 originally made." 2 
 
 While Origen tried to make use of Hellenic methods 
 in constructing a scheme of Christian philosophy, 
 Gregory tried still further to reconcile the best results 
 of Greek thought with the formularies of the Church : 
 but he also made a much stronger point than Origen of 
 Redemption as an all-controlling event that took place 
 in history. 3 Each of them used Plato's terminology 
 when it suited their purpose. Gregory, while often 
 disowning him, adopted his division of man into body, 
 soul and spirit, as an analogy of the Trinity, on the 
 ground that it was proved by consciousness. We can- 
 
 1 Great Catechism, VIII. 2 Soul and Resurrection, 
 
 3 Harnack, Outlines oj Dogma, p. 318. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 245 
 
 not do better than learn from the things within us to 
 know the secret of God; to recognize the Triad from 
 the triad within ourselves. Although Gregory dwells 
 on the act of Redemption as something that took place 
 in history, his arguments are generally based on 
 metaphysics rather than on history; facts, types, 
 prophecies, and the regularly approved weapons of the 
 Church. 
 
 Gregory differs from Origen by discarding his theory 
 of Pre-existence, and the idea that this life is a dis- 
 cipline for the sins of a past existence. The soul, he 
 thought with Tertullian, was transmitted from father to 
 child in generation, a theory which is known as the 
 Traducian. Also he did not think, as Origen did, that 
 there would be no resurrection of the original bodily 
 elements : although he did think that matter was so 
 unimportant that the resurrection of the soul was all 
 that was essential. That of the flesh was only neces- 
 sary, because Creation was to be saved by men carrying 
 their created bodies to a higher sphere. 
 
 Matter was something unreal; it was shifting, 
 becoming, imperfect; a mere concourse of attributes 
 or qualities. He went so far as to draw a subtle dis- 
 tinction (using the words ovdev and /ufjdev) by saying that 
 matter was not nothing, but no thing. Matter is 
 therefore in this respect like evil, something negative; 
 yet matter and evil are by no means, as the Gnostics 
 said, synonymous. The great distinction is not, as 
 with Plato and Origen, into the Intelligible and the 
 Sensible, but into the Uncreated, and the Created 
 which is Changeable, Passionate, and therefore sinful. 
 And all the Created, even the angels, have fallen or 
 can fall. The greatest spiritual fall was that of the 
 angel who had the supervision of the world. 
 
 The Psychology and Eschatology of Gregory will be 
 found chiefly in the treatises on the Making of Man 
 and on the Soul and the Resurrection; also in the 
 
246 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Great Catechism. To some extent also in the treatise 
 on Infants' Early Deaths. 
 
 The soul is created, living, and an intellectual being, 
 with the gift, by means of the bodily organs, of sen- 
 suous perception; but the whole relation between the 
 soul and the body is as ineffable as are all the great 
 mysteries of religion. " The speculative and critical 
 faculty is the soul's most God-like attribute. 1 If any 
 one asks where the soul is, the same question might be 
 asked about God. The soul indeed resembles God as 
 a copy does the original. Being simple and uncom- 
 pounded, it survives the composite body, and after 
 death it watches the scattered bodily elements, in order 
 to gather them together again at the Resurrection. 
 " You will behold this bodily envelope, which is now 
 dissolved in death, woven again out of the same atoms, 
 not indeed into this organization with its coarse and 
 heavy texture, but with its threads worked up into 
 something more subtle and ethereal : so that you will 
 not only have near you that which you love, but it 
 will be restored to you with a brighter and more 
 entrancing beauty." 2 
 
 The statement of St. Gregory as to his belief in the 
 final restitution of all things, and that God shall be all 
 in all is repeatedly expressed; and in the Soul and 
 Resurrection he says definitely : "It appears to me 
 that Scripture teaches the annihilation of all evil." 
 The question is most fully stated in the same treatise 
 thus: "God's end is one and one only; it is this: 
 when the complete whole of our race is perfected from 
 the first man to the last (some have at once in this life 
 been cleared of evil; others have afterwards in the 
 necessary periods been cleansed in the Fire; others 
 have in their life been equally unconscious of good or 
 evil); to offer to every one of us participation in the 
 blessings that are in Him, which scripture says ' eye 
 1 Soul and Resurrection, 2 Ibid. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 247 
 
 hath not seen, nor ear heard,' nor thought ever reached. 
 But this is nothing else as I understand it but to be in 
 God Himself." Of course this is not a dogmatic state- 
 ment, but a speculative opinion. It is claimed by some 
 critics that this was not Gregory's view, because after 
 the purifying of every soul by the Fire, and the first 
 Resurrection, there was still to be a judgment. The 
 author of the article on Gregory in the Dictionary of 
 Christian Biography (Canon Venables), however, claims 
 that this is no contradiction of his generally expressed 
 view elsewhere. 
 
 The great work which the Cappadocian Fathers did 
 for the Trinitarian controversy was to distinguish in 
 proper theological terms the meanings of Ousia and 
 Hypostasis, which had hitherto been confused. Atha- 
 nasius at the synod of Alexandria found that the words 
 were used with different meanings by different persons, 
 who were quarrelling over words, while their views 
 really coincided. He therefore agreed to let each party 
 use what terms they liked, so long as they agreed in 
 the meanings. And this was the first step in the 
 recovery of the Semi-Arians. But this looseness of 
 expressions was a danger to permanent theology. 
 The original Latin position was one Hypostasis or 
 Substance, three Prosopa, or Forms; and Substance 
 still remains in our Western creed where a Greek would 
 say Essence. The Greek, after substituting Essence 
 or Ousia for Substance, used Substance to mean Per- 
 son ; and especially hated the word Prosopon, or Mask, 
 as being Sabellian. The final expression of the Greek 
 mind by Basil was one Ousia in three complete Hypos- 
 tases. The Greeks and Latins therefore used and still 
 use the word Hypostasis or Substantia in exactly 
 opposite meanings. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa were 
 at any rate determined, however the words might be 
 used, that the difference between the Essence and the 
 Personality should be fully understood. Basil explains 
 
248 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 it to Gregory in his letter 38 (although this letter is 
 sometimes thought to have been written by Gregory 
 himself) : and also in letter 214 to Terentius, where 
 he says, " The term Ousia is common, like Godhead, 
 or goodness, or any similar attribute ; while Hypos- 
 tasis is contemplated in the special property of Father- 
 hood, Sonhood, or the power to sanctify. If, then, the 
 Persons are described as without Hypostasis, the state- 
 ment is per se absurd; but if they concede that the 
 Persons exist in real hypostasis, as they acknowledge, 
 let them so reckon them that the principle of the Homo- 
 ousion may be preserved in the Unity of the Godhead, 
 and the doctrine preached may be the recognition of 
 true religion of Father, Son and Holy Ghost in the 
 perfect and complete Hypostasis of each of the Persons 
 named." 
 
 Gregory explains that the difference between Ousia 
 and Hypostasis is that between a common noun and a 
 particular noun. It is like the difference between Man 
 generally, and men. James, Peter and John are each 
 of them essentially Man, but their personality is that of 
 James, Peter and John. The objection of course then 
 comes, that James, Peter and John were three different 
 men; why then are there not three Gods? To this 
 Gregory replies, first, that the numerical idea is not one 
 that is applicable to Deity at all, being only a con- 
 ception of the human mind. 1 
 
 But feeling that this argument is somewhat insuf- 
 ficient, he argues further : that we know nothing of the 
 real nature or essence of God; the Godhead is only 
 realized by us in Its operation ; and we find that every 
 operation of each Person of the Trinity is the operation 
 of all jointly, one movement of the Divine Will. There- 
 fore they are essentially one. In the case of the Divine 
 Nature we do not learn that the Father does anything 
 by Himself in which the Son does not work conjointly ; 
 1 Seo Treatise That there are not Three Gods. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 249 
 
 or, again, that the Son has any special operation apart 
 from the Holy Ghost. But every operation that 
 extends from God to creation, and is named according 
 to our varying conception of it, has its origin from the 
 Father, proceeds through the Son, and is perfect in 
 the Holy Spirit." 
 
 Gregory has been always referred to as a high authority 
 for the doctrine of the Real Presence; and he also 
 uses words which seem like an approach to Transub- 
 stantiation, if indeed they do not fully imply it. The 
 best known quotation l is this : " Rightly do we 
 believe that the bread which is consecrated by the 
 Word of God is changed into the Body of God the 
 Word." But in the same connection the subject is 
 argued very fully, in reply to a question which he puts 
 himself: How can the one Body be so multiplied as 
 to incorporate Itself into myriads of men ? " Since 
 then that God-containing flesh partook for its substance 
 and support of this particular nourishment (bread and 
 wine), and since the God who was manifested diffused 
 Himself into perishable humanity for this purpose, 
 viz. that by this communion with Deity man might 
 also be deified; for this end it is that by dispensation 
 of His grace He disseminates Himself in every believer 
 through the flesh whose substance comes from bread 
 and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, 
 to secure that by this union with the immortal, man 
 too may be a sharer in incorruption. He gives those 
 gifts by virtue of the benediction, through which He 
 transelements the natural quality of the visible things 
 to that immortal thing." It is true that in the Oration 
 on Baptism he compares, like St. Cyril, the heightened 
 efficacy of the elements to the heightened efficacy of 
 the baptismal water and the anointing oil ; but he 
 shows clearly that the change is not the same in 
 each case. After stating that a change takes place 
 
 1 Great Catechism XXXVII. 
 
250 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 after benediction in the baptismal water, he says, " The 
 bread again is at first common bread ; but when 
 the sacramental act consecrates it, it is called and 
 becomes the Body of Christ. So with the wine; so 
 with the oil; though before the benediction they are of 
 little value, each of them, after the sanctification be- 
 stowed by the Spirit, has its several operation.''' And 
 later, " Water, though it is nothing else than water, 
 renews the man to spiritual regeneration, when the 
 grace from above hallows it." 
 
 The Great Catechism, a somewhat lengthy treatise, 
 deals fully with the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incar- 
 nation and the Sacraments ; and it is on the subject 
 of the Incarnation, including the whole scheme of 
 men's salvation, that it is chiefly interesting. It 
 shows that Redemption could not so well have been 
 carried out by a mere proclamation of the Almighty. 
 To heal suffering humanity it was necessary to touch 
 it : humanity was on earth ; God therefore must 
 descend to earth. Gregory vindicates the justice and 
 wisdom of the Incarnation as well as the time at which, 
 and also the manner in which, it took place, and also 
 the manner of Christ's death, the Crucifixion. Like 
 Origen, he looks on redemption as a ransom paid to 
 Satan, and as a just deception of the deceiver of man- 
 kind, who did not know that the Divine was clothed in 
 the human. 1 " He who first deceived man by the bait 
 of sensual pleasures is himself deceived by the present- 
 ment of human form. But as regards the aim and 
 purpose of what took place, a change in the direction 
 of the nobler is involved; for whereas he, the enemy, 
 effected his deception for the ruin of our nature, He, 
 who is at once the Just, the Good and the Wise One, 
 used His device in which was deception, for the salva- 
 tion of him who had perished, and thus not only con- 
 ferred benefit on the lost one, but on him also who had 
 1 Chapter xxvi. 
 
ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA 251 
 
 wrought our ruin." The conclusion therefore follows 
 that not only humanity but the devil himself will 
 eventually be saved. Which was the view of Origen, 
 and one of his opinions which specially laid him open to 
 the charge of heresy. 
 
 We see then in Gregory of Nyssa the true spirit and 
 mind of the Eastern Church. With him the story of 
 the Arian controversy is closed. Gregory of Nazianzus 
 summed up the Catholic faith in five sermons : Gregory 
 of Nyssa disposed of Arianism in detail in his thirteen 
 books against Eunomius; the second Council put an 
 end to it officially. All the Fathers had taught the 
 same thing, as the groundwork of the truth, viz. that 
 the nature of God could not be known; all we could 
 deal with was the way He impressed Himself on the 
 human mind. A living writer has said half humor- 
 ously : " The true result of all experience and the true 
 foundation of all religion is this; that the four or five 
 things that it is most practically essential that a man 
 should know are all of them what people call paradoxes. 
 That is, that although we all find them in life to be 
 mere plain truths, yet we cannot easily state them in 
 words without being guilty of seeming verbal contra- 
 dictions." x 
 
 Gregory, like Origen, preferred the spiritual to the 
 moral ; like him, he indulged in speculation and allegory, 
 seeking always the spirit behind the letter. Like all 
 true Easterns he sought the ideal, while the Westerns 
 were seeking the practical. For the Eastern, when the 
 world troubled him, sought consolation in self-com- 
 munion, meditation, detachment; while the Western 
 opposed to the world's influence the splendour and 
 majesty of the visible Church. 
 
 1 G. K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, p. 66. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ST. CHRYSOSTOM 
 
 (Born 347. Archbishop of Constantinople 397. Died 
 in exile 407) 
 
 The active life of St. Chrysostom was spent during 
 a truce in what Canon Bright called " the wars of the 
 Lord." The great theo-\ogics\ controversy with the 
 Arians was practically over, when he was ordained priest 
 in 384 and became a great preacher at Antioch; the 
 great Cftmfo-logical controversy, as to the relation of 
 the Divine and human natures in Christ, had hardly 
 begun. The interest of his life lies, therefore, partly 
 in his conflict with the State, in which he was by no 
 means successful; but chiefly in his edification of the 
 Christian life by means of that eloquence which won him 
 the title of the Golden-Mouthed, and also in his learned 
 and practical commentaries on the Bible. 
 
 John, surnamed Chrysostom, was born at Antioch in 
 347 of Christian parents ; but his father dying when he 
 was an infant, his education was carried out by his pious 
 mother Anthusa. He was baptized when already an 
 adult, after three years' careful preparation by St. Mele- 
 tius; and was only prevented by his mother's earnest 
 entreaty to stay with her from at once becoming a 
 monk. When shortly afterwards Meletius was exiled, 
 Chrysostom continued his studies under that bishop's 
 deputy, Diodorus, afterwards a famous bishop of 
 Tarsus, and in the company of two friends named Basil 
 and Theodore. The latter was afterwards bishop of 
 Mopsuestia; a great writer who would probably have 
 
 252 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 253 
 
 been considered a Father, had not his works been held 
 in some degree responsible for two heresies, Pelagianism 
 and Nestorianism. At his mother's death he did retire 
 for some time into a monastery; but the ascetic life so 
 injured his health, that he was obliged to return to 
 Antioch, where he was ordained deacon by Meletius just 
 before his departure to the Council of Constantinople, 
 and priest by his successor, Flavian, in 384. From 
 384 then till 397 Chrysostom was constantly preaching 
 at Antioch, and it was during this period that his best 
 exegetical sermons were delivered. 
 
 Either when a layman or a deacon (it is not certain 
 which) he wrote his celebrated work in six books on the 
 Priesthood. It was founded on Gregory of Nazianzus' 
 apology for his flight into Pontus; and, like Gregory, 
 Chrysostom continually points to St. Paul as the ideal 
 priest. The occasion which produced this work is 
 remarkable, as it is an instance of that curious 
 " economy " of the truth, which some of the Fathers 
 did not scruple to apply to what they considered a 
 worthy end. His friend Basil and himself both shrank 
 from ordination and agreed to act together. Basil was 
 subsequently ordained, owing to Chrysostom's eulogy 
 of his merits, and believed that the latter had been also. 
 When he protested on finding that Chrysostom was still 
 a layman, or possibly a deacon, Chrysostom explained 
 the circumstances in the first book of the Priesthood, 
 and apologized in the second for his own reluctance to 
 assume that sacred office on account of its temptations, 
 dangers and responsibilities ; which he describes in detail 
 in the third book. 
 
 This third book is in the highest degree sacerdotal, 
 and more in the tone of Cyprian than of the Greek 
 Fathers. The offering of the Holy Sacrifice and the 
 power of absolution are discussed in definite language. 
 " What priests do here below," he says of absolution, 
 c; God ratifies above; the Master confirms the sentences 
 
254 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 of His servants." On the other hand he seems rather 
 to have suggested that members of a family could better 
 help one another than the priest could direct them. 
 " You know one another better than we priests can ever 
 know you." 
 
 In the fourth book he deals with a priest's qualifica- 
 tions, especially oratory and controversial ability; in 
 the fifth with preaching, pointing out the importance of 
 learning ; the necessity of indifference both to praise and 
 slander; how the skilful preacher needs to study even 
 more closely than the unlearned on account of the danger 
 of being carried away; how the verdict of the masses 
 must neither be overrated nor underrated, but taken 
 for exactly what it is worth, etc. This book and the 
 sixth, which deals with various other duties, are full of 
 wisdom for all time. In the last he contrasts the life of a 
 recluse with that of a priest. " If any one admires the 
 solitary life, I should say such a life betokened patience, 
 but not a sufficient proof of entire fortitude of soul." 
 The difference is like that between a man who steers his 
 boat in harbour, and one who guides his vessel in the 
 open sea. 
 
 It is rather strange that, in spite of the complete 
 understanding that he claimed of St. Paul, which arose, 
 as he said, not from any cleverness of his own, but 
 because he was always studying him and loving him, 
 he under-estimated his social and intellectual standing, 
 and seems to have looked on him as a poor tent-maker 
 in a lowly position of life, who without intellectual 
 qualifications of his own, received everything from in- 
 spiration like the fishermen of Galilee. He also dwells 
 on Paul's " poverty of speech." " He had a far greater 
 power than that of speech, a power which brought about 
 greater results; for his bare presence, even though he 
 was silent, was terrible to the evil spirits. Men of to- 
 day, if all collected in one place, could not with infinite 
 prayers and tears do the wonders that were done by the 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 255 
 
 handkerchief of St. Paul." * As regards Miracles, it is 
 worth noting here that Chrysostom believed that they 
 had ceased, or at any rate were very few and far between 
 in his day ; though Augustine took quite a different view. 
 The miracles of the Gospel had with Chrysostom an 
 educational intent, and the world was now educated 
 to Christianity; therefore they were no longer 
 necessary. 
 
 The personal appearance of Chrysostom was dignified, 
 but not imposing; he was short in stature, but his 
 limbs were long; and so thin had his early austerities 
 made him (probably from the ruin of his digestion) 
 that he compared himself to a spider. His forehead 
 was lofty and wrinkled; his head was bald; his eyes 
 deeply set, but keen and piercing ; his cheeks were pale 
 and withered ; he had a pointed chin and a short beard. 
 
 According to Milman, he was " the model of a preacher 
 for a great capital; clear rather than profound, his 
 dogmatic is essentially moulded up with his moral 
 teaching. His doctrine flows naturally from his subject 
 or from the passage of Scripture under discussion; his 
 illustrations are copious and happy; his style free and 
 fluent ; while he is an unrivalled master of that rapid 
 and forcible application of incidental occurrences, 
 which gives such life and reality to eloquence. He is at 
 times in the highest sense dramatic in manner." 2 The 
 forcible application of incidental occurrences was prob- 
 ably carried further than we have evidence of, as it was 
 his custom first to preach his written sermon, and then 
 from the basis of it to launch out extempore into the 
 incidents of the day. 
 
 Perthes, in a life of Chrysostom founded mainly on 
 Neander's, says, " He delays in simple exposition no 
 longer than seems indispensable for the general under- 
 standing of the passages. He then proceeds directly to 
 make use of his explanation for impressing the minds 
 
 1 Priesthood, IV. 6. 2 History of Christianity, III. 9. 
 
256 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 and hearts of his audience, and on it he expends the 
 whole strength of his intellect, the exhaustless power 
 of his invention, and the full compass of his abundant 
 knowledge." x 
 
 His knowledge was not only of the sacred books, but 
 also of human nature. In early days he was very fond 
 of the theatre ; but he used to say that, after — as a Chris- 
 tian — he gave it up, Antioch became his theatre ; and in 
 her streets he studied men, instead of on the stage. Yet 
 his knowledge of men did not give him much tact in 
 dealing with them; and his want of tact was aggra- 
 vated by an irritable temper. To set against this, 
 however, he had immense bravery ; attacking the highest 
 personages, even the Empress herself, in the pulpit 
 without the slightest compunction. And this was more 
 remarkable in the servile Orient than it would have 
 been at Rome : one may remark in this connection 
 the contrast between the respective attitudes towards 
 Theodosius of Ambrose of Milan and Flavian of Antioch 
 on occasions which will be recounted in their place. 
 But, if he lacked tact, he was at any rate full of the 
 broadest sympathy for humanity ; for it is said of him 
 that he had no pity for sin, but an infinite pity for the 
 sinner. 
 
 What was the state of the world and the Church when 
 St. Chrysostom set himself to reform them ? During his 
 earlier days at Antioch, Theodosius was still on the 
 throne ; a great emperor, indeed the last great one, and 
 a strong supporter of the Church, whose main fault was 
 a violent tfempeiv From this temper Antioch, which 
 had broken out into revolt on a question of taxation, 
 and destroyed the statues of the Imperial family, nearly 
 suffered destruction. Flavian the bishop went to Constan- 
 tinople to implore forgiveness, and ultimately obtained 
 it; and Chrysostom meanwhile preached every day to 
 the people his famous Homilies on the Statues. But 
 
 1 See also Gibbon, ch. xxxiL 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 257 
 
 Theodosius died, and the Empire passed into an entirely 
 new phase under his two sons, Honorius in the West 
 and Arcadius in the East; two poor creatures, who no 
 longer ruled jointly, as formerly, but as rulers of two 
 distinct Empires. The Roman Empire was fated to be 
 extinguished altogether within a century; the Byzan- 
 tine Empire passed at once into that " Premature and 
 perpetual decay (as Gibbon calls it 1 ), which was to be 
 prolonged for a thousand years." It was on this visit 
 to Constantinople that Flavian's humble bearing was 
 contrasted so forcibly with the attitude of the Western 
 Ambrose. 
 
 The condition of Antioch at this time was very much 
 the same as that of Constantinople, and what applies 
 to one city applies generally to the other. At least half 
 the populations were nominally Christians; among the 
 other half were Jews, Pagans and members of semi- 
 Christian bodies. Really, however, large masses of the 
 population were hovering between Christianity and 
 Paganism. Morality was at the lowest ebb. The 
 Pagan Emperor Julian said of the nominally Christian 
 Antioch, " I escape from a city full of all vices : violence, 
 drunkenness, incontinence, impiety, avarice and impu- 
 dence." As regards the Christians Chrysostom himself 
 said, " The duties of religion have become mere formali- 
 ties, only fulfilled to satisfy the conscience; there is 
 nothing but routine." 2 Ignorance of the Bible was 
 universal, though it was treated with such superstitious 
 reverence that people washed their hands before touch- 
 ing it. Yet the whole Bible was read aloud in the 
 churches in the course of a year. 
 
 There were, of course, great extremes of wealth and 
 poverty. Statistics on this head do not seem very 
 formidable; 10 per cent, of very rich, 10 per cent, of 
 very poor, and 80 per cent, with enough to live upon. 
 But poverty was aggravated by the hardship of slavery 
 
 1 Decline and Fall, ch. xxxii. 2 Acts, Horn. 29. 
 
 S 
 
258 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 and consequent discouragement of free labour; and 
 wealth was made ugly by boundless extravagance, 
 dissipation, ostentatious display, idleness and effeminacy. 
 Chrysostom continually denounces the gorgeous equip- 
 ages, brocades and silks, and the gluttonous feasts. It 
 was not uncommon for a great man to possess from 1000 
 to 2000 slaves. Add to this oppressive taxation, 
 venality of administration, excessive usury, insecurity 
 of life, depression of agriculture, and the perpetual 
 danger to peace from a great standing army. As a sign 
 of effeminacy, it was about this time that the soldiers 
 of the West refused any longer to be burdened with 
 armour ; and whatever was true of the West was worse 
 in the East, owing to the enervating influence of the 
 climate. 
 
 The laxity of the marriage-tie was another feature 
 of the age. This had been gradually increasing since 
 the time of Cicero, when divorce had already become 
 common. But divorce was now so easy that marriage 
 was a mere temporary arrangement. Some one said 
 that as the State counted the years by the consuls, so a 
 fashionable woman might remember them by her 
 husbands. It was partly to counteract this that the 
 Church so strongly upheld Virginity, and woman's 
 dignity and equality with man. Virginity displayed the 
 highest standard of purity ; and when it was objected to 
 Chrysostom that it militated against the upkeep of the 
 population, he replied that wherever high standards of 
 purity were maintained as an example, the population 
 would increase. 
 
 The Theatre was another institution with which the 
 Church was constantly at war. In earlier times one 
 great objection to the stage plays and games had been 
 their association with Pagan festivals. But now there 
 was nothing left of the old Greek drama; nothing but 
 pantomimes and ballets, usually founded on adultery, 
 and produced amidst the most indecent surroundings 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 259 
 
 and with sumptuous mounting. There were also con- 
 tests of wild beasts, and captives, though gladiatorial 
 fights were strictly illegal. The depraving influence of 
 the theatre was not confined to the immorality of the 
 plays or the cruelty of the shows ; it apparently absorbed 
 in a mischievous way the whole minds and lives of the 
 people. Chrysostom complained that his congrega- 
 tion brought the customs and manners of the theatre 
 into church, and rushed away from his sermons, even on 
 Good Friday, to the theatre. Perhaps to some extent 
 the splendid ritual of the Church was intended to serve 
 as a counter-attraction to the theatre. Again the 
 actresses and actors were almost worshipped by the 
 people. At Antioch, Pelagia, surnamed the Pearl, was 
 led in triumph through the city, bedecked in jewels like 
 a queen. This woman, by the way, was afterwards 
 converted to Christianity and ended her days as an 
 ascetic in the desert, so that she was no doubt the original 
 of Kingsley's character in Hypatia. A further objection 
 was that the actors collected round them a body of 
 parasites, a claque, composed of the worst characters of 
 the province, who figured prominently in every rising 
 of the people. 
 
 Two other degrading features of the time remain to 
 be mentioned. The public baths, to which all classes 
 could resort on payment of a small entrance fee, and 
 which were constructed and decorated with the utmost 
 magnificence, had, to say the least, an enervating and 
 probably an immoral effect; while the back-stair influ- 
 ence of the eunuchs, a horrible importation from the 
 still further East, of whom Eutropius was perhaps the 
 worst example, brought the Imperial family into hatred 
 and contempt. 1 
 
 Charles Kingsley summed up the political systemthus : 
 " The Empire (was) a great tyranny, enslaving the 
 
 1 Africa was at this time exporting 20,000 eunuchs per annum. 
 
260 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 masses, crippling national life, and fattening itself and 
 its officials on world-wide robbery." l 
 
 But there was at hand a corpus sanum (we again quote 
 Kingsley) which the mens sana of, at any rate, the Western 
 Church was destined to inhabit : and that was supplied 
 by the great southward march of the Goths. Unfortun- 
 ately, they never obtained any firm foothold in Asia, 
 though at this time there was a fair sprinkling of Goths 
 in Constantinople. 
 
 In the latter part of the third century the Goths had 
 come down South from the Baltic to the Black Sea and 
 established themselves in the South-Eastern provinces. 
 Temporarily they spread into Cappadocia and Galatia, 
 carrying away from these countries many captives, and 
 among them the ancestors of Ulfilas, their chief mis- 
 sionary bishop, who translated the Bible into Gothic, 
 except the Books of Samuel and Kings, which he thought 
 would encourage their already too warlike tendencies ! 
 Readily they accepted Christianity ; but as the Emperor 
 (Valens), who admitted them to settle within the Empire 
 and protected them from the savage Huns who were 
 pressing on their footsteps, was Arian, they accepted 
 only the Arian modification. These Goths were a 
 fruitful soil for Christian influence; their previous 
 religion was awful and mysterious ; they had a priesthood 
 which was judicial as well as religious; they had also 
 the highest reverence for women and the family life. 
 On the whole, too, they were frank, honest and truthful. 
 But Arians they remained till Reccared their King made 
 them Catholics, partly by persuasion and partly by 
 force, in 587. 
 
 In 397 Nectarius, the indolent successor of Gregory, 
 died, and Chrysostom was chosen, by the advice of the 
 Eunuch Eutropius, for the See of Constantinople; to 
 prevent opposition from the people of Antioch, he was 
 carried away by stealth. At first all went well, for a 
 1 Preface to Hypatia 
 
ST, CHRYSOSTOM 261 
 
 famous preacher was just what the capital wanted. On 
 the occasion of a great festival and the translation of 
 some relics, Eudoxia the Empress walked seven miles 
 in the procession, and even Arcadius visited the shrine 
 in his carriage. But except with the poor, who always 
 adored him, Chrysostom soon made plenty of enemies. 
 His outspoken criticism alienated the rich; his simple 
 life was imputed to him for pride ; his determination to 
 raise church standards estranged many of the clergy. 
 Eutropius attacked him by disputing the right of 
 sanctuary; but falling soon afterwards into disgrace 
 through grossly insulting the Empress, fled himself to 
 the altar, and was protected by the Archbishop; who, 
 as Eutropius crouched underneath the altar, " more 
 frightened than a hare or a frog," preached a celebrated 
 sermon on the vanity of human life and inveighed against 
 his crimes. It was not long also before Eudoxia became 
 his bitter enemy. 
 
 In 400 Chrysostom, who had already effected great 
 reforms in various parts of Asia Minor, which were really 
 outside his jurisdiction, composed certain difficulties 
 by request at Ephesus ; and while he was away for three 
 months in this business a strong party was formed 
 against him. Theophilus of Alexandria also, who had 
 always hated him, coveting the patriarchate of Con- 
 stantinople for himself, and had only under compulsion 
 consecrated him, was always watching for his oppor- 
 tunity, which soon came. 
 
 At this time the Egyptian monks were divided into 
 two parties, the followers and the opponents of the 
 teaching of Origen. Theophilus, being an anti-Origenite, 
 had ejected wholesale the Origenite monks of Nitria 
 from their monasteries, and they accordingly fled for 
 refuge to Constantinople. Chrysostom received them 
 with the utmost kindness, and housed them ; only refus- 
 ing them communion, till an explanation arrived from 
 their own bishop. Theophilus was then summoned to 
 
262 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 the capital by the Emperor to give an account of what 
 he had done, and Chrysostom was to try him ; which 
 Chrysostom at once disclaimed the right to do. For 
 Constantinople, being comparatively a new see, had a 
 very limited jurisdiction outside the city, although it 
 had been granted an honorary precedence next to Rome : 
 whereas Alexandria had formerly been, and still claimed 
 to be, the second see of the Church. 
 
 Theophilus l arrived with a great retinue of Egyptian 
 bishops, and turned the tables on his appointed judge. 
 To make matters worse, he had invited Epiphanius of 
 Salamis to precede him. This man was the great 
 hammerer of Origenites of his day. He is usually 
 accounted a Saint and even a Father ; really he was an 
 honest but bigoted zealot who interfered too much in 
 the business of other bishops, notably that of the Bishop 
 of Jerusalem. He wrote many books which are not 
 thought to be of much value ; the most noted was the 
 Pannadium, which dealt with eighty heresies. On 
 arriving at Constantinople, he began by ordaining a 
 deacon, which he had no right to do, and then denounced 
 the fugitive monks. However, they were a match for 
 him : for when they had argued their case, he admitted 
 his mistake, and soon after left Constantinople in disgust 
 at the whole business and died on the way home. 
 
 The Egyptian bishops, having convinced the Court, 
 held a synod at a suburb called the Oak, and summoned 
 Chrysostom on thirty most frivolous charges; finally, 
 on his refusing to appear, they condemned him for con- 
 tumacy, and he was removed from the city with a view 
 to his exile: So soon as he had been taken across the 
 Hellespont, not only did the people rise and revolt, but 
 a terrible earthquake shook the foundations of the 
 palace, to the great terror of both Emperor and Empress, 
 who at once recalled him. The re-entry of the Arch- 
 
 1 This man was responsible for the burning of the Serapseum 
 at Alexandria with its famous library. 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 263 
 
 bishop amid the acclamations of the people resembled the 
 return of Athanasius to Alexandria. But his enemies 
 were too strong for him. Soon after this Eudoxia 
 caused a great silver statue of herself to be erected just 
 outside the cathedral, and the noise of the ceremony 
 interrupted the service in the church. It was then that 
 Chrysostom is supposed to have said in the pulpit, 
 though the story lacks confirmation, " Herodias is again 
 furious ; again she dances ; again she demands the head 
 of John." The outcome, at any rate, was that another 
 synod of hostile bishops was summoned, which cited a 
 canon of the council at Antioch in 341, that a deposed 
 bishop cannot be reinstated by the secular arm; and 
 by this means Chrysostom was finally overwhelmed. 
 In 404 he was again exiled under cruel conditions, and 
 three years afterwards he died. The last tragic scene 
 in his bishopric was a forcible entry of soldiers into the 
 cathedral during the baptisms of Easter eve, when a 
 scene of sacrilege occurred, which reduced Chrysostom 
 to despair. 
 
 It has been aptly said of St. Chrysostom that his whole 
 heart was inflamed with the love of God, and that his 
 works are a practical exposition of how best to attain 
 to it. The Bible, he said himself, was the curer of all 
 ills; and of the Bible he had a profound knowledge, 
 thoigh he was sometimes hampered in explaining it by 
 his ignorance of Hebrew, and also of the Jewish customs 
 and modes of thought in New Testament times. There 
 was also a tendency in his sermons to exaggerate the 
 relative importance of the subject which he was treating 
 at the moment. His chief merits were his sound common 
 sense, the vigour and lucidity of his exposition, and the 
 sympathy with fallen humanity which always shone 
 through it. 
 
 The common-sense element was attributable partly to 
 his training at Antioch; for it was characteristic 
 throughout of the Antiochene school, as contrasted with 
 
204 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 the allegorical interpretations of Alexandria. Tne 
 Alius, by their appeal to Scriptural texts in order to 
 enforce their views, had encouraged a clo ser itady < »f tiie 
 
 Bible by the Church, and it wa^ bom Antioch that the 
 soundest sysfa m of interpretation came. The Anti- 
 uchene method was bo extract from Scripture all that 
 
 it was capable of. but not as the Alexandrians did, to 
 put all they could into it in the shape of allegory. To 
 wot type and metaphor was allowable: but Chryso>tom 
 declaimed allegory, except where allegorical intention 
 
 s obvious, as in Isaiah v. the allegory of the V'ne- 
 yard : where the mind of Scripture was allegor'eal, 
 Allegory was permissible, but the allegorizing tendency 
 must be restrained. Again. Scripture was the word of 
 God. but it wa> delivered through human channels; 
 the writer's own natural powers were illuminatec and 
 quickened, but not superseded, by the spirit. Th? Old 
 Testament revelation was one with that of the New; 
 Christianity had always existed : the prophets knew 
 Christ, or how could they have written of him? God's 
 gift of the Bible to men (Chrysostom is the first to speak 
 of the Books, the Biblia, the Bible) was akin to the gift 
 of the Incarnation. In each case there was the same 
 " Condensation n [oupmafiamc). As in the Incarna- 
 tion, so in the Bible, God's glory was revealed, out 
 veiled ; in the latter it was veiled in human thought and 
 language. The revelation was also conditioned not 
 only by the instruments through which it came, but also 
 by the moral and intellectual developments of those 
 who received it. Revelation was gradual: and thus the 
 Antiochene school recognized the gradual education of 
 the human race. The historical books were real history ; 
 only the historical element was subservient to the 
 spiritual. 
 
 In St. Chryso^tom's homilies will be found valuable 
 hints as to the order and date of the gospels : he believed 
 St. John's Gospel was clearly written within a generation 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 265 
 
 of the events described, and he pointed out that its 
 intention was entirely theological. The parables, on 
 the other hand, he held, were always intended to 
 encourage a holy life, rather than orthodoxy. Through- 
 out his sermons is the closest attention to words; for 
 instance, in the parable of the Sower he points out that 
 the seed fell by the wayside ; the Divine sower did not 
 cast it there. 
 
 In dealing with St. Paul's epistles, he shows the same 
 attention to their order, and to the place where they 
 were written, as throwing much light on their purpose. 
 He examines minutely St. Paul's metaphors, military, 
 agricultural, building, etc., and not only appreciates 
 but adopts his irony, and his habits of paradox, reductio 
 ad absurdum and " going off at a tangent." l St. Paul 
 was always his chief master. 
 
 The theology of Chrysostom 2 was more Western than 
 Eastern ; one may almost say it was more Western than 
 the West. Not only did he care very little for meta- 
 physical speculations, and therefore we find but few 
 philosophical terms; but his teaching is simpler than 
 that of most of the Westerns ; because, although they 
 cared little for metaphysics, they also had a science of 
 their own, jurisprudence; consequently their theology 
 was influenced by the analogy of the forum. Chry- 
 sostom, although he occasionally borrowed metaphors 
 and illustrations from Plato, altogether repudiated him 
 as a teacher. He says once, " Plato, who talked a great 
 deal of nonsense in his day : " 3 yet he admitted that 
 Plato was the first of Pagan teachers, and that St. Paul's 
 greatest victory was to have overcome him. 
 
 Chrysostom divided man into Soul and Body, and 
 avoided the triple distinction of Body, Soul and Spirit. 
 The " image of God " meant with him that man shared 
 with God the domination over the rest of Creation. 
 
 1 See Chace, St. Chrysostom : A Study of Bible Interpretation. 
 
 2 See Stephen's Life of Chrysostom. 3 Acts iv. 
 
266 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 The cause of sin was with all men, as with Eve, moral 
 negligence ; for man, if he chose to use it, had absolute 
 freedom of will. This apparent denial of original sin 
 made him suspected of at least ^mi-Pelagianism ; from 
 which charge Augustine took pains to clear him. He 
 believed, not in hereditary sin, but in an hereditary 
 tendency to sin. The tendency to sin was universal; 
 yet the freedom of the will was essential. His saving 
 position, however, was that man could do no good with- 
 out grace; only grace was assistant, not prevenient; 
 it was always there ready, but it must be sought. 
 " God," he said, " foreordained all men to holiness and 
 salvation, and Christ died for all and is able and willing 
 to save all, but not against their will, and without their 
 free consent. When we have begun, when we have 
 sent our will before, then God gives us abundant oppor- 
 tunity of salvation." l Faith and works are necessary 
 conditions of justification and salvation, though Christ's 
 merits alone are the efficient cause. We can do no 
 good thing unless we are aided from above. 2 Chry- 
 sostom's witness against the Arians is to be found in a 
 few homilies delivered at Antioch, and is not important. 
 As to the new controversy about Christ's nature, he 
 taught that, while man is soul and body, Christ was 
 God, Soul and Body; that is, the Human soul, as well 
 as the human body, was there ; but the body and soul 
 were united with, not fused in, the Godhead. 3 
 
 On Redemption he was not precise, and there is some 
 trace of the theory of ransom from, coupled with 
 deception of, the Devil. 4 
 
 Infant Baptism he seems not to have pressed, though 
 he strongly deprecated deferring adult baptism. 
 
 Damnation he believed to be eternal ; but that it was 
 mitigated by God's mercy, and that prayers of the 
 living for the dead were efficacious. 
 
 1 John i. 38. 2 Ibid., vi. 44. 3 Phil., Horn. VII. 
 
 4 Matt., Horn. III.; 1 Cor., Horn. XXIV. 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 267 
 
 And as the living could help the dead, so surely the 
 dead could hear and help the living. " Let us con- 
 stantly visit them, touch their shrines, and with faith 
 embrace their relics, that we may derive some blessing 
 therefrom ; for like soldiers who converse freely with their 
 sovereign, when they display their wounds, so these 
 (beheaded by Julian) bearing their heads in their hands, 
 are easily able to effect what they desire at the court 
 of the King of heaven." 1 
 
 Three points were evidently clear in Chrysostom's 
 view of the Eucharist, a Sacrifice, a Real Presence and 
 a Real Reception ; but the words in which he generally 
 expressed himself, carried away as he was by his 
 enthusiasm, are easily interpreted differently by different 
 schools. 
 
 As to the Sacrifice, he says, 2 " Christ is our High 
 Priest, who offered the sacrifice that cleanseth us. That 
 sacrifice we offer now also, which was then offered, and 
 cannot be exhausted. This is done in remembrance of 
 what was then done : for He said, " Do this," etc. It 
 is not another sacrifice that we make, as the high priest 
 did of old, but always the same ; or, rather, we perform 
 a remembrance of the sacrifice." 
 
 As to an objective Presence he uses the strongest 
 possible words : for instance, " When you see the Lord 
 laid there and the priest standing over the sacrifice and 
 praying and all stained with that precious Blood." 3 
 In another place he speaks of the communicant's lips 
 being empurpled by the Blood. But these words are so 
 vivid that they seem to overreach the mark; since no 
 one has yet claimed that the accidents (e. g. the colour) 
 of the wine are changed. It is therefore questioned 
 whether the whole language is not figurative or 
 mystical. 
 
 There is also a letter to Csesarius, which has been 
 
 1 Horn, in Juvent and Max. 2 Hebr., Horn. XVII, 3. 
 
 3 Priesthood, III. 4. 
 
268 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 sometimes attributed to Chrysostom, in which he says : 
 " It is liberated from the appellation of bread, and 
 thought worthy of the appellation of the Lord's Body, 
 although the nature of bread remains in it." But the 
 best authorities consider this letter spurious. 
 
 When the English Reformers discouraged those, who 
 were not then communicating, from remaining in 
 Church (as they certainly did, though it was never 
 actually forbidden), they appealed to the example of the 
 Primitive Church, and the words of St. Chrysostom. 
 The same words have continually been quoted since; 
 notably in Hook's Church Dictionary. He asked his 
 people how, if they were not fit to communicate, were 
 they fit to join in the prayer ? Had they not better stay 
 at home ? The author of Notitia Eucharistica also gives 
 this as the Patristic authority for the English Reformers ; 
 but he quaintly adds that the result of the rebuke was 
 not to bring them to Communion ; they took him rather 
 at his word and stayed at home. 
 
 In the very primitive Church certainly there was no 
 such thing as hearing Mass, for the simple reason that 
 the communions of all Christians were very frequent. 
 The question of going to Church between times hardly 
 arose. In Cyprian's time Christians communicated 
 daily, and often took home consecrated breads for 
 private consumption; so that communions were even 
 more frequent than celebrations. Even in Augustine's 
 church weekly communions were almost universal. 
 St. Basil speaks of the custom as daily at Rome. But 
 in the fourth century in the East, things began to be 
 different, as the idea of the " tremendous mystery " 
 developed. In 340 the Council of Sardica issued a canon 
 excommunicating those who thoughtlessly or irreverently 
 left the Church before the Eucharist proper had begun. 
 And throughout the Church generally, as frequent com- 
 munions dropped out, the tendency was always to dis- 
 courage any baptized person from going away. In the 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 269 
 
 fifth century, not so long after Chrysostom's time, an 
 Alexandrian writer said : " If thy conscience condemn 
 thee, decline the communion, but stay during the 
 prayer, and do not leave till dismissed." About 500 
 a bishop of Aries ordered his people to stay till after 
 the Lord's Prayer, which immediately followed the 
 celebrant's communion; and this injunction was soon 
 afterwards confirmed at a Council of Orleans. If, 
 therefore, Chrysostom's view was what Protestants 
 claim, it was not in accordance with the mind of the 
 Church of the following century. 
 
 In 404 Chrysostom was exiled. After a fortnight's 
 stay at Nicsea, he was deported to Cucusus in Lower 
 Armenia. From there he wrote most of his 242 letters 
 that are extant, and from these we gather that he still 
 exercised a considerable influence even at Constantinople. 
 He also evangelized the Lebanon district, a last strong- 
 hold of Paganism, and at that time in a condition almost 
 of savagery. But by a cruel order of the Court he was 
 dragged away to a more desert spot by forced marches 
 which caused his death, before he had arrived at Pityus, 
 his destination. Thirty years afterwards Theodosius II 
 and his sister ordered his remains to be brought back 
 to Constantinople; and the Emperor, laying his face 
 on the reliquary, implored the forgiveness of God for 
 the cruelty of his parents. 
 
 The relations of Pope Innocent and Chrysostom are 
 interesting. The Pope defended him bravely ; but was 
 too much occupied with troubles at home to do much 
 good, for Alaric and his Goths were threatening Rome. 
 
 What was really Chrysostom's liturgy, or how much 
 he added to the existing one, is entirely unknown. 
 What is known as his liturgy is used always in the 
 Greek Church, except on the eves of Christmas, Epiphany 
 and Easter, when Basil's is substituted. Quite early in 
 it occurs the prayer so familiar to the English Church. 
 
 In his work on St. Chrysostom, the Abbe Martin says, 
 
270 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 " Chrysostom was the supreme effort and last splendour 
 of the Christian genius in the East. After him, its fall 
 was rapid, dragging everything with it into the tombs, 
 the future as well as the past. There are still a few 
 champions of orthodoxy to come, like Proclus, Cyril of 
 Alexandria and John of Damascus. But the grandeur, 
 the strength, the fecundity, the genius disappeared from 
 the worn-out and degenerate East with Chrysostom." 
 
 That he was so greatly hated by some is hardly to be 
 wondered at, when we remember the scorn with which he 
 spoke of the Empress ; or of Eutropius, as he lay at his 
 feet; or when we remember that he deposed thirteen 
 Asia Minor bishops, over whom he had no legitimate 
 jurisdiction, and on one occasion told his hearers that 
 he thought very few of the bishops would be saved : 
 that most of them were eternally lost. But the poor 
 and the good alike adored him. In every poor man he 
 saw Christ. " Gain a victory," he says, " over the 
 Church; put us to shame; surpass us in liberality; 
 keep a room in which Christ may come : say this is 
 Christ's cell : this is set apart for Him. Be it but an 
 underground chamber ; He disdains it not : naked and 
 a stranger Christ goes about; it is only a shelter He 
 wants : give it Him, though only this ; you ought, 
 indeed, to receive Him in an upper chamber : but if 
 you cannot do this, then though it be below, and where 
 thy servants and mules are housed, at least there receive 
 Him. Perhaps you shudder at this; but you do not 
 even do this." l " Better at least receive Christ in the 
 stable than outside the gate." 
 
 Cardinal Newman says he was " a bright and cheerful 
 and gentle soul, whose unrivalled charm lay in his 
 singleness of purpose, his fixed grasp of aim, his noble 
 earnestness; he had a sensitive heart, a temperament 
 open to emotion and impulse, and all was elevated, 
 refined and transformed by the touch of heaven. He 
 1 Acts xlv. 
 
ST. CHRYSOSTOM 271 
 
 was indeed a man to make both friends and enemies, 
 to inspire affection and kindle resentment; but his 
 friends loved him with a love that was stronger than 
 death, and his enemies hated him with a hatred more 
 burning than hell, and it was well to be so hated, to be 
 so beloved." x 
 
 Although Chrysostom's works include a number of 
 minor treatises, and panegyrics, and the famous Homilies 
 on the Statues, which last contain some of the best 
 examples of his eloquence, his most valuable works are 
 the homilies expounding Scripture. He is believed at 
 one time or another to have expounded the whole Bible ; 
 but all that have come down to us are Genesis, Psalms, 
 St. Matthew, St. John, St. Paul's Epistles and the 
 Acts. The first four, and Romans and Corinthians were 
 given at Antioch, and are his best work : it seems that 
 at Antioch he had more leisure to do himself justice. 
 There are also five Homilies on Hannah ; three on David 
 and Saul; and a few on the first eight chapters of 
 Isaiah. 
 
 1 Historical Sketches, pp 234, 237. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 ST. JEROME 
 
 (Born probably about 346. Ordained priest 379. Died 420) 
 
 St. Jerome was not a great theologian, and could 
 hardly be called an original thinker; even his com- 
 mentaries contain rather a collection of the views of 
 the best authorities than any new ideas of his own. 
 Nor was he mixed up with any of the great historical 
 events of his time. Nor was he apparently of a very 
 lovable disposition. Yet he did more than any other 
 man, more perhaps than even the great St. Augustine 
 himself, to shape the tendency and direct the current 
 of the Western Church; so that he is said to have 
 " lived and reigned a thousand years." He was one 
 of the four great doctors of the West, his claim to the 
 title being fully justified by his Latin translation of the 
 Bible. The other three w r ere Ambrose, Augustine and 
 Gregory the Great, of whom the last does not come 
 within the date limit of this book. 
 
 It will be useful to first summarize the natural divisions 
 of his life, and then to deal with the subjects that arise 
 out of them. 
 
 Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius, known as Jerome 
 in France and England, Girolamo in Italy, and Hie- 
 ronymus for literary purposes, was born according to 
 the best authorities in 346 at Strido, near Aquileia, the 
 capital of Venetia. By some the date is given as early 
 as 336; but this is improbable. From 363 to 366 he 
 was educated at Rome; where after a short period of 
 dissipation, he became serious and was baptized, 
 
 272 
 
ST. JEROME 273 
 
 probably by Pope Liberius. From 366 to 370 he 
 travelled in Gaul for purposes of research, and pro- 
 duced his earliest work, On Obadiah. From 370 to 
 373 he was at Aquileia, where he had his first experience 
 of a sort of monastic life ; and in connection with it, 
 established a friendship with Rufinus, with whom in 
 later life he engaged in bitter controversy. The few 
 young men who joined him here in what turned out 
 rather an unsuccessful experiment, were discouraged by 
 the bishops whom Jerome consequently described as 
 " the ignorant, brutal, wicked, unskilful pilot of a 
 crazy bark." Evagrius, a priest of Antioch, who 
 came to Aquileia on the business of Paulinus, per- 
 suaded them to return with him to the East and learn 
 about monasticism in its own home : and in 374 Jerome 
 travelled through the East; made his first visit to 
 Jerusalem; and then retired into the desert of Chalcis 
 for about five years, practising the most intense asceti- 
 cism, but perpetually haunted by reminiscences of the 
 world and the flesh. He took, however, his classical 
 library with him, and comforted himself with Greek 
 and Latin; till one night he dreamed that a judge, 
 before whom he was brought, punished him for being 
 a Ciceronian and not a Christian; whereupon (in his 
 dream apparently) he vowed to devote his intellect 
 entirely to the Scriptures, and on waking proceeded 
 to learn Hebrew. But his health broke down, and we 
 find him in 379 at Antioch, where Paulinus ordained 
 him priest; but so much against his will, that he is 
 believed to have never exercised priestly functions. In 
 the following year, 880, he gratified his great wish to 
 hear Gregory of Nazianzus by going to Constantinople ; 
 and in 382 returned to Rome, having been present at 
 the Second Council. From 382 to 385 in Rome he is 
 conspicuous for two things : for his close friendship 
 with Pope Damasus, to whom he acted as literary 
 adviser, and perhaps Papal Secretary; and for his 
 
274 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 friendship with several noble ladies, who had devoted 
 themselves to the ascetic life. He became, however, so 
 unpopular in Rome, owing to his encouragement of 
 asceticism, that he declared he was " singing the Lord's 
 song in a strange land," and so resolved to finish his 
 life in the East. In 386 therefore, after spending some 
 time in Alexandria, and listening to the lectures of 
 Didymus, the blind head of the Catechetical School, 
 he went to Jerusalem, and established himself at Beth- 
 lehem till 420, when he died. Almost all the best work 
 of St. Jerome was done during these thirty-four years 
 at Bethlehem. Such is a brief epitome of his life. 
 
 Jerome was not only a Western, but an Italian ; and 
 in spite of the great importance at that date of Milan, 
 no doubt the supremacy of Rome had by this time more 
 firmly established itself in Italy than elsewhere. This 
 must be taken into consideration when judging how far 
 a celebrated letter of Jerome to the Pope is an evidence 
 of any general recognition of the authority of the see 
 of Peter. It is a very strong letter. Jerome finds at 
 Antioch three rival bishops : Meletius, representing the 
 great body of orthodox Christians; Paulinus, repre- 
 senting the extreme Catholics and supported by Rome ; 
 and Vitalis, representing the Semi-Arians. He is 
 puzzled by their conflicting views, and especially by 
 the Catholic use of the word Hypostasis in the East; 
 and he writes to Damasus, the head of the Church in 
 his own country, in despair, using such words as these : 
 " Although your greatness awes me, your humanity 
 encourages me. It is to the successor of the fisherman 
 and the disciple of the Cross that I speak. I, who 
 have no other guide by Christ, unite myself in com- 
 munion with the chair of Peter; I know that on that 
 rock the Church is built. Whoever shall eat the lamb 
 outside that house is profane. If any one finds himself 
 outside the ark of Noah, he will perish in the deluge." * 
 
 1 Letter 15. 
 
ST. JEROME 275 
 
 He had previously said, " I consult the chair of Peter 
 and the Church that was praised by Paul. I appeal 
 for spiritual food to the Church whence I received the 
 robe of Christ (i. e. baptism)." The latter quotation 
 somewhat modifies the former. 
 
 When Jerome returned to Rome in 382, he was 
 appointed secretary to the Council, which Damasus 
 had summoned, intending it to be (Ecumenical and to 
 override the Council at Constantinople of the previous 
 year, which was purely Eastern. But the latter was 
 recognized as (Ecumenical by subsequent ages, and the 
 Roman Council was not. The Eastern bishops refused 
 to attend; except Paulinus of Antioch, who depended 
 on Roman support, and Epiphanius of Cyprus. There 
 was also an official deputation of minor bishops. The 
 main object of the Council was to decide between rival 
 claimants to the sees of Constantinople, Antioch, 
 Alexandria and Jerusalem. With the exception of 
 Alexandria, the Council seems to have judged unwisely : 
 contrary, that is, to the judgment of the East and of 
 posterity. It confirmed the intruder Maximus at Con- 
 stantinople, and supported Paulinus against Meletius 
 at Antioch, Hilarius against Cyril at Jerusalem. But 
 one good result came of it : Epiphanius worsted the 
 Apollinarians in argument, and effected their recon- 
 ciliation. It is also to be noted that Damasus sum- 
 moned the Council in very moderate words : " Although 
 we do not claim the prerogative of judgment in this 
 matter, we do claim a part in a decision which affects 
 the whole Church." Reasonable, surely, since the 
 Western bishops had not even been invited to Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 By this time Jerome was already recognized at 
 Rome as the great authority on biblical interpreta- 
 tion, especially by Damasus; who consulted him 
 frequently, and at whose request he made a fresh 
 translation into Latin of the New Testament. The 
 
276 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 fame, in fact, of Jerome and his influence on the Western 
 Church may be traced to two causes ; his translation 
 into Latin of the whole Bible, which, under the name 
 of the Vulgate, is in use to the present day ; and the 
 great impetus that he gave to monasticism. 
 
 It is not true that Jerome founded Western monas- 
 ticism, though he did so much to encourage it. Even 
 before the time of Constantine some of the Roman 
 ladies had withdrawn into ascetic retirement. The 
 visit of Athanasius, however, to Rome in 341 with two 
 monks first awakened public interest in the ascetic 
 movement of the East. Similarly his long stay at 
 Treves introduced the idea into Gaul. In the latter 
 country it was rapidly developed under the influence 
 of St. Martin and others, and the convent of Marmon- 
 tier, till the time of the Revolution one of the most 
 important in France, dates back from the middle of 
 the fourth century. 
 
 But in Rome, when Jerome came, the formation of 
 actual communities had hardly commenced; although 
 several prominent ladies had devoted themselves to an 
 ascetic and charitable life. However, Marcella, who 
 had been the beauty of her time, gave up her palace on 
 the Aventine as a meeting-place for others like herself, 
 and with them formed something like a community. 1 
 Jerome was called in as a sort of Director, and used to 
 speak of her house as the " domestic church." About 
 this time also Melania, losing her husband and two of 
 her three children, resolved to sacrifice all her wealth, 
 and spend the rest of her life in the Holy Land ; leaving 
 her remaining child to be provided for by God. This 
 was the beginning of the great " Roman Emigration 
 to the Holy Land," 2 in which Jerome and Paula pres- 
 ently played the chief part. The desertion of her child 
 
 1 Letter 127. 
 
 2 Amedee Thierry, St. Jerome, la Societe Chretienne a Rome, 
 et V emigration Romaine en Terre Sainte. 
 
ST. JEROME 277 
 
 by Melania provoked an outburst of indignation in 
 Rome, especially against Jerome, who took her part; 
 it was, in fact, the moment at which his popularity 
 began to wane. The current began to set strongly 
 against all this asceticism : the more strongly because 
 among the old families of senatorial rank there still 
 lingered a strong remnant of Paganism, 1 resting not so 
 much on religious conviction as a conservative support 
 of the religion of ancient Rome. Many of the senators, 
 in fact, held priestly offices, and it must have been a 
 great mortification to them to see their women-folk not 
 only Christians, but sacrificing both their wealth and 
 their social position. As for Melania, she met in Egypt 
 Rufinus, the former companion of Jerome, went with 
 him to Palestine, and on the Mount of Olives they 
 jointly founded a monastery and a nunnery. Up to 
 this time the learned Jerome, the friend of the Pope, 
 had been marked out as his successor 2 ; but in 384 
 (December) Damasus died, and Siricius was elected by 
 popular acclamation. Jerome's popularity was then 
 dead. The new Pope discouraged asceticism, Blesilla, 
 the widowed daughter of Paula, Jerome's especial ally, 
 died from the effects of much fasting, and popular 
 indignation knew no bounds. Jerome was, they said, 
 " too free with his tongue, uncharitable, sly, a hypo- 
 crite, the arch-monk. To the Tiber with all the monks." 
 So he decided to spend the rest of his days in the Holy 
 Places of Palestine, and the saintly Paula and her 
 daughter Eustochium agreed to meet him there. 
 
 The life of Paula is so interwoven with that of Jerome 
 that it is necessary to pay some separate attention to 
 her. She was the widow of Julius Toxotius, who be- 
 longed to one of the oldest families in Rome, as she 
 also did herself. Widowed when only twenty years 
 old, she brought up four daughters and a son, who all 
 more or less come into her story. The eldest, Blesilla, 
 1 Gibbon, ch. xxviii. 2 Letter 45, 
 
278 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 was also left a widow in her youth, at once surrendered 
 all her luxuries, became ascetic, and shortly afterwards 
 died. Her death, as has been already mentioned, was 
 attributed to her austerities, and made St. Jerome 
 unpopular. Paulina, the second daughter, married 
 Jerome's friend, Pammachius, a cousin of Marcella, 
 and died young; her husband then devoted his life 
 to good works, and founded a hospital. The third, 
 Eustochium, definitely " took the veil " and is said to 
 have been the first patrician who did so; she accom- 
 panied her mother to Bethlehem, and carried on her 
 work at her death. Rufina, the fourth, married and 
 remained at Rome. The son, Toxotius, married Lseta, 
 and had a daughter Paula; who was devoted to vir- 
 ginity from her birth; went out to Bethlehem; and 
 after the deaths of Paula and Eustochium became the 
 third head of the convent of Paula. 1 
 
 Jerome, Paula and Eustochium all met at Antioch. 
 They made first a preliminary visit to the Holy Land, 
 and then passed on to Egypt, with the view partly of 
 studying under Didymus at Alexandria, and partly ot 
 observing the life of the Egyptian monks at Nitria. 
 When these ends had been accomplished, they finally 
 settled at Bethlehem, and proceeded to found a monas- 
 tery and a nunnery. In this work Paula's share seems 
 to have been the most important. Paula is, in fact, the 
 organizer and administrator : Jerome devotes himself 
 in his cell, close to the site of the Nativity (his " Para- 
 dise " he called it), to reading and writing. When he 
 came out it was generally to teach ; either to comment 
 on the Bible to his fellow-monks, or to give general 
 instruction to the young. For the last purpose, in 
 spite of his dream vow, he resumed the classics. But 
 even in his literary work, Paula and Eustochium helped 
 him considerably; for they also had learnt Hebrew. 
 Paula seems to have been a most remarkable woman 
 1 Lotter 108 (Life of Paula), 
 
ST. JEROME 279 
 
 on both her practical and intellectual side, while Jerome 
 laid no claim to administrative ability. His monastery 
 was rather a hostelry, to which the world might come 
 and rest ; and it is here probably that Jerome's influence 
 on Western monasticism is to be found. He created 
 an object lesson on monasticism at the most sacred spot 
 in the world, and he invited the world to come and 
 learn. And the world came, for his hostelry was con- 
 tinually filled with travellers from the West. In con- 
 sequence three great features of the Catholic West 
 appear now, which have continued ever since : the 
 reverence for the monastic life; the reverence for 
 sacred places and sacred things ; and the habit of pil- 
 grimages. But there is no Rule of St. Jerome, as there 
 is of St. Pachomius, St. Basil or St. Benedict, and no 
 monastic order was named after him. Paula, on the 
 contrary, though she followed mainly the Rule of 
 Pachomius, was practically the founder of nunneries, 
 and her convent served as a model for all time. 1 The 
 Psalter was repeated every day; five offices were held 
 during the day, and one in the night : portions of 
 Scripture had to be regularly learnt; the costume was 
 woollen and uniform ; mortification was enjoined : 
 work was essential, consisting chiefly of the copying of 
 MSS. and the making of clothes for the poor. Lastly, 
 all communication with the outside world was strictly 
 forbidden. 
 
 What Jerome did for the religious life was to press 
 it on his followers, to advise on it, to display it, but not 
 to organize it. Still less did he do, like St. Martin, 
 missionary work in connection with it. Yet the 
 Western Church looks back to him as being mainly 
 responsible for it. 
 
 There are other ways also in which the great learning 
 and influence of Jerome seems to have directed the 
 current of Western Catholicism, especially as regards 
 1 Letter 108, 
 
280 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 the respect for authority, of the Pope in the first place, 
 but also of the priesthood generally ; though it seems 
 that he considered the offices of priest and bishop to 
 be essentially the same, except as to the power of 
 ordaining. 1 The volume on Jerome in the Lille edition 
 quotes at great length a devotional passage to the 
 Blessed Virgin, which is quite like mediaeval or modern 
 devotion; making her not only Mother of God, but 
 also Queen of Heaven, pattern and protectress of 
 mankind; whose aid is to be directly invoked; and 
 even calling her the living image of God. No refer- 
 ence is given; but according to Migne the letter is 
 spurious. 2 
 
 As regards the need of the monks in the Church, 
 Montalambert says, " The Roman Empire without the 
 barbarians was an abyss of servitude and corruption; 
 the barbarians without the monks were chaos. 3 The 
 barbarians and the monks united recreated a world 
 which was to be called Christendom." We are apt to 
 suppose that in the monasteries great masses of men 
 were hidden away in seclusion, who might have been 
 more actively employed in fighting for the cause of the 
 Church; but besides holding up a high standard, they 
 were always at work; and when the occasion justified 
 it, they emerged, sometimes individually, sometimes 
 collectively, from their retreats to join in the fight. 
 Thus St. Antony came to Alexandria on the invitation 
 of Athanasius, to preach against the Arians : when 
 Antioch was under the sentence of Theodosius, the 
 monks came en masse out of the desert and caused 
 the suspension of the sentence. Sometimes less wisely 
 they came into the cities and joined in a religious riot. 
 Telemachus, when Honorius revived the gladiatorial 
 contests at Rome, came all the way from the East, 
 
 1 Letter 14. Priests " have the keys of heaven, and judge 
 men to some extent before the judgment." 
 
 2 Migne, Jerome, Litt. supposititia, X. 
 
 3 Monks oj the West, end of Book I. 
 
ST. JEROME 281 
 
 and threw himself between the gladiators. He was 
 stoned to death by the populace, but the contests were 
 never again revived. Many of the great bishops of 
 the age also had served their time in retreats; and 
 Jerome with his controversies and commentaries was a 
 living power all through the Bethlehem period. 
 
 In 383, Jerome replied to a pamphlet by one, Hel- 
 vidius, claiming that the brethren of Jesus were really 
 his brothers, and that the Virgin did not always remain 
 so; arguing that the state of virginity was therefore 
 less blessed than that of marriage. Jerome replied at 
 great length that the brethren were cousins or kinsfolk, 
 and that virginity was the highest state. He called 
 Helvidius an ignorant boor, besides using many other 
 offensive expressions; for he never seemed to consider 
 it unworthy of his profession to be scurrilous. With this 
 exception most of his controversial work came from 
 his retreat at Bethlehem. 
 
 Jovinian (393) also attacked virginity, saying that it 
 was no better in God's sight than marriage; but he 
 extended his attack much further, denouncing fasting 
 as well; declaring also that no sin was possible after a 
 true baptism of the spirit, and that there would only 
 be one class of rewards and punishments hereafter. 
 Jerome said he was one of those " seducing mockers " 
 who, St. Peter prophesied, would come, " walking 
 after their own lusts," and heaped a great deal more 
 infamy on him. But his reply, which runs into two 
 books, displays a great mass of learning; for he cites 
 in endless detail the Old and New Testament, Greek 
 and Roman history, philosophy, mythology, poetry, 
 and even Buddhism. 
 
 The treatise against Vigilantius is the most violent 
 of all his controversial works. This man, whom Milman 
 calls a " premature Protestant," attacked prevalent 
 Catholic customs — veneration of relics, prayers to the 
 dead, vigils at martyrs 9 tombs, lighting of candles in 
 
282 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 church, alleged miracles, and also the ascetic life. 
 Jerome's reply contains some interesting side-lights. 
 One is that many bishops refused to ordain an un- 
 married man, which refusal became subsequently the 
 general Greek custom. Also we read that it was uni- 
 versal in the Eastern churches, to light candles as a 
 sign of joy at the Gospel. Jerome also speaks of " an 
 apocryphal book, which under the name of Esdras, 
 is read by you and others of your feather. I have never 
 read the book; for what need is there to take up a 
 book which the Church does not receive? " l 
 
 These treatises in favour of Virginity were considered 
 by St. Augustine as so extravagant that he toned things 
 down by writing one in praise of marriage. 
 
 Origenism also brought Jerome into a good deal of 
 controversy. He was always an immense admirer of 
 Origen, but in later years found that many of his doc- 
 trines were unsound, and he then restricted his admira- 
 tion to Origen's literary side. In 399 Epiphanius came 
 to Jerusalem, and denounced the Origenism of the 
 bishop John. This naturally involved the Convents at 
 Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives. Rufinus and 
 John were ranged against Epiphanius and Jerome, and 
 the latter wrote a treatise to Pammachius against 
 John of Jerusalem. Rufinus continued openly for the 
 time his friendship with Jerome, but shortly afterwards 
 went to Rome. There he published a free translation 
 of Origen's Periarchon and alluded in the preface to 
 Jerome as his predecessor, thus adopting Jerome as an 
 Origenite. 2 Jerome published a literal translation of 
 the book, and never forgave Rufinus; not even, for 
 he survived him, 3 his memory. 
 
 Augustine on one occasion reproached Jerome by 
 letter for treating the dispute between Paul and Peter 
 
 1 See Church of England, Art. 6, and Jerome's Preface to Books 
 of Solomon, and elsewhere. 
 
 2 See Letters 82 and 84 for refutation of Origen. 
 
 3 Letter 125. 
 
ST. JEROME 283 
 
 (Gal. ii.) as a feigned dispute arranged in order to make 
 the truth clear, and for thus casting doubt on their 
 sincerity. Unfortunately the letter got opened at 
 Rome and never reached Jerome. A second letter 
 similarly went astray. Jerome, with his naturally 
 angry temper, accused Augustine of attacking him 
 behind his back. At last a most courteous and dig- 
 nified letter from Augustine put everything straight, 
 and they were afterwards fast friends in frequent 
 correspondence. Jerome accepted Augustine's expla- 
 nation, asking him when he wrote to him in future, 
 to take care that he got the letter unopened. There 
 is a story, but it altogether lacks confirmation, that 
 Augustine administered to Jerome the last rites. 
 
 St. Jerome was a voracious reader, gifted apparently 
 with a wonderful memory; he was also a most indus- 
 trious writer, and a patient scholar; for he acquired a 
 complete knowledge of both Hebrew and Aramaic : 
 but he had no talent for historical criticism, nor did he 
 care much for theology. His historical work is an 
 excellent resume of what others had done ; in theology 
 he followed along the lines enjoined by authority; 
 was very nervous about getting off them : but had no 
 interest in examining them. But in his translations 
 he had absolute confidence in his own judgment and 
 maintained strictly his independence. Thierry says 
 that he was the last great man of the early Church; 
 Augustine certainly survived him for a few years, but 
 was practically his contemporary : and when both had 
 died, " darkness fell on the West." 
 
 The main interest lies in his 150 Letters and his 
 translation of the Bible into Latin, known ever since 
 as the Vulgate. The letters, with the exception of 
 those that were controversial or exegetic, form really 
 an autobiography, and practically everything we know 
 of the personal incidents of his life comes from them, 
 especially his relation to his various friends and enemies. 
 
284 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 At the request of Damasus, he revised the current 
 translation of the New Testament, and also the Psalms 
 by reference to the Septuagint, and his translation of 
 the Psalms was at once adopted as the Roman Psalter. 
 During his first few years at Bethlehem he made a 
 further collation of the Bible, with the help of Origen's 
 Hcxapla, and by reference to the Hebrew. Probably 
 he dealt with the whole Bible, but this is uncertain, 
 as only Job, the Psalms, and a Preface to the books of 
 Solomon have come down to us. But this translation 
 of the Psalms was soon adopted in Gaul for general 
 use and was therefore known as the Gallican Psalter. 
 In Rome it was not brought into Church use till 1566, 
 but it found its place early in the Vulgate to the ex- 
 clusion of Jerome's direct translation from the Hebrew. 
 
 The final work, the Vulgate itself, came from his 
 recognition of the insufficiency of all translations from 
 the Greek; and in order to carry it out he perfected 
 his previous moderate knowledge of Hebrew. He also 
 learnt Aramaic, and translated from that language 
 Tobit and Judith in spite of his repudiation of the 
 Apocrypha from the Canon. 
 
 The following are the order and dates of the books 
 of the Vulgate, all of the Bethlehem period : — 
 
 391-2. Samuel and Kings, and the Psalms about 
 the same time which were not taken 
 into the Vulgate. 
 
 393. The Prophets and Job. 
 
 394. Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles. 
 398. The books of Solomon. 
 
 400 and later. The Pentateuch. 
 404. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esther. 
 
 Jerome's commentaries are sometimes his own and 
 sometimes direct translations from Origen. He also 
 produced certain works illustrating Scripture, such as a 
 book of Hebrew names, and questions on Genesis. He 
 
ST. JEROME 285 
 
 also translated from Eusebius a work on the sites and 
 names of Hebrew places and his Chronicle : also Didy- 
 mus' book on the Holy Spirit. He began the last at 
 Rome when Damasus chaffed him for not working 
 hard enough, and finished it at Bethlehem. Also he 
 translated the Rule of Pachomius. As to biography, 
 he wrote a catalogue of ecclesiastical writers and Lives 
 qf the Hermits. Finally came his controversial works, 
 which, with the exception of a treatise against the 
 Pelagians and the followers of Lucifer of Cagliari, have 
 already been noticed. 
 
 But by far the greatest work that Jerome accom- 
 plished was to give to the Western Church the Bible 
 correctly translated into the vulgar tongue (the Vulgate). 
 For not only was Latin at that time the general language 
 of the West, but right through the Middle Ages it was 
 the language of the educated, so that any one who could 
 read at all could probably read Latin. He had the 
 advantage not only of the environment of the sacred 
 places, of his own profound learning and constant study, 
 but also the aid of the Rabbinical College at Tiberias. 
 
 The earliest Latin translation seems to have come, 
 like all other beginnings of Latin Christianity, in the 
 middle of the second century from Africa; but owing 
 to its provincialism, a new version of at any rate the 
 Gospels was issued by authority in North Italy in the 
 fourth century, and known as the Itala. Many minor 
 revisions were also made without authority, so that in 
 the time of Jerome there was great confusion in the 
 MSS. And now that East and West were drifting apart 
 both in Church and State, it was of the utmost impor- 
 tance that a correct Bible should be secured for the 
 West in time. Jerome was the one man best suited 
 for this work and devoted fourteen years of his life to 
 doing it. Finally the East profited also, as Sophronius 
 translated the Vulgate into Greek. 
 
 The New Testament of Jerome was not a new trans- 
 
286 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 lation, but a correction of the old Latin by recourse 
 to the Greek. The Apocrypha Jerome repudiated; 
 consequently this remained in the language of the Old 
 Version, except Judith and Tobit, which he rather 
 cursorily revised from the Aramaic. But the canonical 
 Old Testament was entirely re-edited from the Hebrew. 
 Naturally it met with a great deal of opposition, and 
 he was accused of innovating, and of upsetting the 
 very foundations of the Faith. Even St. Augustine 
 preferred to go on expounding the Old Version, to which 
 his hearers were accustomed, and wrote to Jerome 
 (another letter which failed to arrive, and caused mis- 
 chief) advising him to revise the Septuagint translations 
 rather than translate afresh. Jerome's Bible gradually 
 made its way, tolerated at first rather than adopted ; 
 yet even in the eighth century it had hardly come into 
 general use. And, further, corruptions crept into it, 
 as into the old versions. In 802 Alcuin was ordered by 
 Charlemagne, who is thought to have personally assisted 
 in the work, to restore the Vulgate itself to its original 
 state; which he did with fair accuracy. In 1546 the 
 Council of Trent decreed that all MSS., but especially 
 the Vulgate, or old and common edition, should be 
 printed as correctly as possible. In 1590 Sixtus V 
 brought out a new revision, which he ordered to be the 
 only authorized edition for all time ; but this again 
 was revised two years later under Clement VIII, and 
 that revision is still the authorized version of the Roman 
 Catholic Church. As has already been said, till the 
 sixteenth century (1566) Jerome's translation of the 
 Psalms, known as the Gallican Psalter, was not taken 
 over by the Roman Church, so that up to that time the 
 old Roman Psalter (his revision from the Septuagint) 
 remained in Church use although the Gallican Psalter 
 had got into the Vulgate. The version of the Psalms 
 in the English Prayer Book is taken from the " Great 
 English Bible " of 1540, which was a translation of 
 
ST. JEROME 287 
 
 the Vulgate, and therefore differs from the Authorized 
 Version. In either case (Rome of the fourth and Eng- 
 land of the sixteenth century) there was a reluctance 
 to give up familiar versions, in everyday use and 
 learnt by heart, in favour of later direct translations. 
 
 Jerome's view of the Bible was this : "All that we 
 read in the Scripture is light; even when we do not go 
 below the surface. But it is in its marrow that its 
 great treasures are hidden. You must break the shell 
 in order to reach the kernel." * This may be compared 
 with the more beautiful words of Augustine : " I 
 referred to the depth of the mysteries, and its authority 
 appeared to me the more venerable, and more worthy 
 of religious credence, in that, while it lay open for all 
 to read, it reserved the majesty of its mysteries within 
 its profounder meaning, stooping to all in the great 
 plainness of its words and lowliness of its style, yet 
 calling forth the intensest application of such as are 
 not light of heart; that so it might receive all in its 
 open bosom, and through narrow passages waft over 
 towards Thee some few, yet many more than if it stood 
 not aloft on such a height of authority, nor drew 
 multitudes within its bosom by its holy lowliness." 2 
 
 In 404 the Vulgate was finished, and Paula was dead. 
 During the remaining sixteen years of his life, Jerome 
 saw much trouble, although his influence on the Church 
 deepened, and the range of his correspondence widened. 
 The private means of both Paula and himself were 
 exhausted, and it became difficult to make both ends 
 meet, especially to maintain the hospitality that was 
 expected of him. When the terrible sack of Rome by 
 Alaric and his Goths came in 410, and numbers of 
 Romans fled to Palestine, the burden became still more 
 serious. It seems strange that Romans should have 
 fled for refuge to a place so difficult of access to us as the 
 Holy Land : but Roman rule was very different from 
 1 Letter 58. 2 Confessions, VI. 5. 
 
288 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Turkish* It was then merely Decenary to cross tin 
 Mediterranean in order to find i province enjoying the 
 
 l>csl Roinan civilization, and one of the most interesting 
 parts of the Empire. 
 
 But Palestine had its own troubles as well as Italy. 
 The Isaurians, who annoyed ( hiysostmn in his last 
 journeys, were hovering over the North: at oik time 
 also there was a fearful scare from the Huns. When 
 the Pelagian controversy broke out, which is more 
 connected with Augustine's career than Jerome's, 
 these heretics made .Jerusalem their headquarter-, and 
 Pelagian monks attacked and partially destroyed the 
 monasteries at Bethlehem. Then Jerome's health and 
 eyesight failed him, and in 418 Eustochiuin died. lie 
 seemed to have outlived all his early friends and Bl 
 ciates; for Pammachius had disappeared in the sack 
 of Rome, and Marcclla had died from injuries and 
 indignities received at the same time. At last, in 130, 
 after an illness of twelve months, Jerome died too: 
 and even if Augustine was not present at the end, his 
 friendship must have cheered and encouraged his last 
 years. Up to the end he continued his Commentaries 
 with unabated vigour, and when he died he left that 
 on Jeremiah unfinished. 
 
 Many people shrink from criticizing Jerome's life 
 and views, because the general feeling of the Christian 
 world has been to regard him as a great Saint. If 
 untiring industry makes a Saint, he certainly w r as one, 
 and the work that he did for the Church in translating 
 the Bible correctly can never be forgotten. The rest 
 of his life was absorbed by the monastic idea ; he even 
 read it on every possible occasion into his Bible commen- 
 taries. The ideal that he had before him was celibacy 
 per se 9 quite apart from meditation, devotion and work. 
 But it was not permissible to disagree with him, for 
 his vanity was sensitive. And nothing can be coarser 
 than the rancour with which he attacked his opponents. 
 
ST. JEROME 289 
 
 Something of the same coarseness even appears in his 
 letter on Virginity, in which he contrasts the bride of 
 Heaven with the brides of earth. His contempt for 
 cleanliness is another sign of coarseness, anticipating 
 the Middle Ages. " I wholly disapprove of baths for 
 virgins of full age. Such a one should blush at the 
 idea of seeing herself undressed." l Yet he was capable 
 at times of great and unexpected gentleness; some- 
 times too he tempers his austerity with much common- 
 sense ; as when in a letter to a young virgin he says : 
 U I do not lay on you as an obligation any extreme 
 fasting or abnormal abstinence from food. Such prac- 
 tices soon break down weak constitutions and cause 
 bodily sickness before they lay the foundations of a 
 holy life." 2 He was always kind to the poor, and 
 respectful to women. 
 
 Tillemont, one of the fairest of French Catholics, 
 was, as Robertson points out, continually distracted 
 between his own impressions of Jerome, and the 
 authoritative judgment of his Church; and Newman, 
 writing in his Anglican days, says reluctantly that 
 there are things in his writings and views from which 
 he shrinks : " I cannot force myself to approve or like 
 contrary to my judgment or feeling; but I am willing 
 to take certain characteristics of this learned and 
 highly-gifted man on faith " ; faith, that is, in the judg- 
 ment of the Catholic world. 3 At any rate posterity 
 has been more lenient to his weak points than he was 
 to the faults of his contemporaries. It is curious to 
 contemplate that, living into the fifth century, Jerome 
 was the first Latin Father and after Origen the second 
 Father of the whole Church that knew Hebrew. 
 
 1 Letter 107. 2 Ibid., 130. 
 
 3 Church of the Fathers, p. 263. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 ST. AMBROSE 
 
 (Born 340. Archbishop of Milan 374. Died 397) 
 
 In St. Ambrose we have a man of action and also a 
 man of letters. Gibbon says of him, " Ambrose could 
 act better than he could write. His compositions are 
 destitute of taste and genius; without the spirit of 
 Tertullian, the copious elegance of Lactantius, the 
 lively wit of Jerome, or the grave energy of Augustine." x 
 But in spite of this sarcasm of Gibbon, Ambrose has 
 always been accounted one of the four doctors of the 
 Latin Church, although certainly his influence as an 
 ecclesiastical statesman on the Church was greater 
 than the influence of his writings. He brought the 
 Church up to her proudest position in relation to the 
 State, setting Church and State side by side as equals, 
 one supreme in spiritual matters, the other in temporal. 
 In this he w r as warmly supported by the Catholic loyalty 
 of the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius; especially 
 the latter, whose reign extended through almost the 
 entire period of his Episcopate. 
 
 Theodosius was the last great Emperor of the West. 
 In 410, only a few years after his death, Alaric and his 
 Goths entered Rome and sacked the sacred city; and 
 from that time there only lingered on in the marshes 
 of Ravenna a shadow of the Imperial dignity, till in 
 476 even that disappeared. Theoretically the Western 
 Empire was absorbed into the Eastern at that date; 
 practically, however, the East ceased to trouble itself 
 
 1 Gibbon, III. p. 175. 
 290 
 
ST. AMBROSE 291 
 
 with the affairs of Italy, and the Popes planted them- 
 selves on the Imperial throne, till Charlemagne restored 
 the Imperial dignity and created or recreated the 
 Holy Roman Empire. 
 
 The ideal of that mediaeval Empire is graphically 
 described by Freeman x in a review of Bryce's Holy 
 Roman Empire, and his description is interesting in 
 the present connection. " The theory of the Mediaeval 
 Empire is that of an universal Christian monarchy. 
 The Roman Empire and the Catholic Church are two 
 aspects of one society, a society ordained by the Divine 
 Will to spread itself over the whole world; of this 
 society Rome is marked out by Divine Decree as the 
 predestined capital, the chief seat alike of spiritual and 
 temporal rule. At the head of this society, in its 
 temporal character as an Empire, stands the temporal 
 chief of Christendom, the Roman Caesar. At its head, 
 in its spiritual character as a Church, stands the spiritual 
 chief of Christendom, the Roman Pontiff. Caesar and 
 Pontiff rule alike by Divine right, each as God's im- 
 mediate Vicar within his own sphere. Each ruler is 
 bound to the other by the closest ties. Caesar is the 
 advocate of the Roman Church, bound to defend her 
 by the temporal arm against all temporal enemies. 
 The Pontiff, on the other hand, though the Caesar holds 
 his rank not of him but by an independent divine com- 
 mission, has the lofty privilege of personally admitting 
 the lord of the world to his high office, of hallowing 
 the Lord's Anointed, and of making him in some sort 
 a partaker in the mysterious privilege of the priesthood." 
 
 Now, although this is descriptive of a relation be- 
 tween Church and State existing some five hundred 
 years later, it is a fair account of what was probably 
 the ideal of both Ambrose and Theodosius, except that 
 neither of them yet realized a monarchy over spiritual 
 things, as represented later by the Roman Pontiffs. 
 1 Historical Essays* VI. 
 
292 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Still, if there was to be one spiritual head, Ambrose 
 would no doubt have conceded the position to Rome. 
 Nor did the Church consecrate the Emperor; yet by 
 invitation, not by right, the Emperor was admitted 
 into the sanctuary. But the absolute mutual depen- 
 dence of Church and State was fully established by 
 Ambrose and Theodosius, and the supreme authority 
 of each in her own sphere. 
 
 Theodosius was a Spaniard, the son of a General who 
 had done good service to the State and had then been 
 executed out of jealousy. He was born in 346 and 
 called by the good sense of Gratian in 379 from the 
 retreat he had prudently sought after his father's death, 
 to assume the purple in the East. By conviction a 
 Catholic he was then baptized, and immediately took 
 strong measures against heresy and paganism. In 380 
 the edict of Thessalonica, addressed to Constantinople 
 in order to strengthen the position of Gregory, stated 
 that the religion which St. Peter taught the Romans 
 and which Damasus of Rome and Peter of Alexandria 
 professed, was alone true : only the adherents of the 
 doctrine that Father, Son and Holy Ghost should be 
 equally adored were to be called Catholics; all others 
 were heretics, whose places of assembly were not to be 
 called churches, and whose souls were threatened with 
 divine punishment. In 381 heretics were forbidden to 
 meet for religion, and in 383 they were forbidden to 
 build churches or ordain. In 389 the Emperor forbade 
 Arians to bequeath property or to receive bequests. 
 
 As regards Paganism, in 382 Theodosius abolished 
 the Altar of Victory in the Senate house, and confis- 
 cated the property of the Vestal virgins. In 389 the 
 Christians of Alexandria destroyed the Serapseum, with 
 the magnificent library it contained, when Pagans had 
 taken refuge there during a riot. In 392 an edict of 
 the Emperor made all Pagan worship illegal. In the 
 Abolition of the Altar of Victory, which was a symbol 
 
ST. AMBROSE 293 
 
 to the conservative Roman of the whole history of the 
 city, Ambrose took a prominent part; in the suppres- 
 sion of heresy by force he seems to have passively 
 acquiesced. On two notable occasions, however, he 
 went beyond the Emperor, when a Bishop destroyed a 
 synagogue, and some riotous monks burnt a Gnostic 
 chapel. As these were acts of insubordination, Theo- 
 dosius would have punished the offenders, had not 
 Ambrose condoned their acts. However, when the 
 Emperor Maximus put to death the leaders of an 
 obscure sect, known as the Priscillianites, Ambrose 
 and Martin of Tours expressed their strong disapproval 
 on the ground of persecution. 
 
 It is clear that Theodosius wielded a temporal arm 
 which was of great value to the Church ; but further he 
 submitted himself humbly to a public penance imposed 
 on a memorable occasion by the Archbishop. Theo- 
 dosius was a great ruler, brave, just and generous; 
 his chief fault was a violent temper, and this temper 
 twice brought him into antagonism with the Church; 
 first in the matter of Antioch described in the chapter 
 on Chrysostom, and secondly after the massacre of 
 Thessalonica, when he was humbled by Ambrose. 
 
 St. Ambrose in many respects resembles St. Cyprian, 
 though they were separated by an interval of more 
 than a century. Both of them were laymen till middle 
 life, Cyprian not even a Christian. Both held in- 
 fluential positions, Cyprian at the Bar, Ambrose as 
 the Governor of a Province. Ambrose while still a 
 layman was called by popular acclamation to a bishop- 
 ric; Cyprian also by popular acclamation only two 
 years after his baptism. Of each of them action was 
 the chief characteristic; but each of them was also a 
 writer, whose skill lay less in originality than in a clear, 
 lucid and graceful style, a definite aim and a practical 
 effect. But above all they w r ere alike in advancing 
 the sacerdotal theory of Church government, which 
 
294 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 was always so much more characteristic of the West 
 than the East. Cyprian, in whose days the Church 
 could not have contained at most a fifth of the popu- 
 lation, consolidated the sacerdotal principle within the 
 boundaries of the Church ; Ambrose used it to control 
 the State. Milman x calls Ambrose M the founder of 
 sacerdotal authority in the Latin Church " ; but he 
 seems to have gone even further than this, and to have 
 aimed at making Church and State one and the same 
 thing. 
 
 It is remarkable also that Ambrose was a far more 
 important figure than Pope Damasus in the State 
 affairs of the West, probably because Milan was the 
 seat of the Emperor rather than Rome; indeed when- 
 ever there were two Western Emperors, such as Gratian 
 and Valentinian, or Maximus and Valentinian, Treves 
 and Milan were generally the seats of their respective 
 courts. Ambrose does not seem to have consulted 
 Damasus in his relation to the Emperor. On the other 
 hand the Eastern Church heard little of Ambrose : it 
 was Rome alone that interfered in the policy of distant 
 Churches. 
 
 Ambrose was born about 340, his parents being Chris- 
 tians and in a high position. It is uncertain whether 
 his birthplace was Treves, Aries, or Lyons, but Bright 
 gives it definitely as Treves. In 374 we find him 
 Governor of Liguria, and a wise, clement and just 
 Governor. On the death of Auxentius he presided 
 over an assembly called to nominate the new Arch- 
 bishop of Milan, w T hen some voice, apparently that of a 
 child, cried " Ambrose Bishop," and the cue was taken 
 at once by the people, who insisted on his election. 
 He tried to evade the post by curious subterfuges, 
 such as ordering a prisoner to the torture, causing 
 improper characters to be brought into his house, and 
 finally by flight. But it was of no avail : the idea 
 1 Latin Christianity, Vol. II. ch. iv. 
 
ST. AMBROSE 295 
 
 appealed to the popular imagination ; he was obviously 
 the right man, and he was forced on to the throne. 
 He then found himself teaching before he had time to 
 learn; but he rectified this by the closest study- His 
 first literary work was On the Faith, which he sent to 
 Gratian at his request, that he might be fully instructed 
 in the Catholic doctrine. 
 
 During the first nine years of his episcopate things 
 went smoothly at Milan, where Justina acted as Regent 
 for Gratian's half-brother Valentinian, her child. 
 Meanwhile in 879 Gratian associated Theodosius with 
 himself as Emperor of the East. In 383 Gratian was 
 murdered, and Maximus usurped the rule of Gaul and 
 Britain, and was of necessity recognized for a time by 
 Theodosius; and at this time Ambrose appears as 
 envoy from Justina to Maximus, the first time in which 
 we find an ecclesiastic engaged in active State diplo- 
 macy. But from 385 to 387 a severe struggle took 
 place between Ambrose and Justina, the latter being 
 an Arian. Ambrose refused to comply with her request 
 to surrender one of the churches to the court for Arian 
 services. " Churches," said Ambrose, " cannot be 
 alienated or surrendered." " Yes," was the reply, 
 " to the Emperor : his rights are absolute." " No," 
 said Ambrose, " the Emperor is not above, he is within 
 the Church." * This great principle was successfully 
 combated by Ambrose, who had the people behind him. 
 Justina appointed a Court Bishop Auxentius and sum- 
 moned Ambrose to plead his cause at Court. This he 
 of course refused to do. Then she tried to exile him ; 
 but he took refuge in the basilica, which the populace 
 guarded, while he taught the congregation to sing 
 antiphonally ; possibly also he composed some of his 
 hymns for the occasion. Then it was that Augustine 
 was so much moved by the beauty of the music of the 
 Church. It was not long, however, before Maximus, 
 
 1 Sermon V* 
 
296 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 who was himself Catholic and claimed that all Italy, 
 Africa, Gaul, Spain, and Aquitania were also, took 
 hostile measures against Justina and Valentinian, 
 bringing Theodosius on to the Western field in their 
 defence. They were given a residence at Thessalonica : 
 and Theodosius, after a year's conflict, put an end to 
 Maximus, and assumed personal control in the West. 
 
 Another important incident must be noticed in the 
 career of Ambrose, the consecration of the church at 
 Milan, on the site of which was built in the thirteenth 
 century the Church of San Ambrogio, and the finding 
 of the relics of two martyrs, Gervasius and Protasius. 
 Ambrose, on being asked to consecrate the new church, 
 said he must first find some relics, the first impression 
 recorded of the necessity that a church should contain 
 relics. He found them, in accordance apparently with 
 a dream, under the altar of another church; and the 
 relics, when found, are said to have worked wonderful 
 miracles, especially in giving sight to a blind man. 
 Not only did Ambrose evidently sincerely believe this, 
 but also Augustine, who carefully recorded it as an 
 undoubted, well-attested fact in his Confessions ; al- 
 though Augustine was by no means credulous on matters 
 of this kind. 
 
 In 390 occurred the dramatic scene between Ambrose 
 and Theodosius, in which Ambrose raised the authority 
 of the Church to the point of refusing Communion, or 
 even admission to the church, to the Emperor, until he 
 had done penance for a wholesale massacre at Thessa- 
 lonica, ordered in revenge for the murder by the mob 
 of an unpopular Governor. Ambrose met Theodosius 
 at the door of the church, and is said to have actually 
 laid hands on him to prevent his entrance. Theodosius 
 remained for some time in his palace in deep grief, and 
 at last, in preparation for the Christmas Communion, 
 divested himself of his Imperial robes, prostrated him- 
 self on the pavement of the church, spread out his arms 
 
ST. AMBROSE 297 
 
 in the form of the Cross, and like the humblest penitent 
 repeated the Psalm, " My soul cleaveth unto the dust; 
 quicken thou me, O Lord, according to Thy Word." 
 The result of this was a wise enactment that no sentence 
 of death or confiscation should be published for thirty 
 days, when it was to be reconsidered and, if necessary, 
 revised. 
 
 In 395 Theodosius died, and in 397 Ambrose followed 
 him. To the end he was writing his Commentaries; 
 the one on the 43rd Psalm was broken off before the 
 last two verses. Paulinus, his Secretary, saw " a globe 
 of flame playing on his forehead; then it floated on 
 his lips ; after which his face became as white as snow." 
 He could do no more work, and on Good Friday he lay 
 for five hours with his arms extended in the form of 
 the Cross, and then died. 
 
 " The power of Ambrose lay not in his originality 
 or profundity of teaching, but in his strong Christian 
 personality, and his example of the practical form of 
 Christianity." 1 The work that he did with his pen 
 was, however, very important, because, being the last 
 great Italian before the coming of the Goths, he pre- 
 sented a definite and practical Theology as a bulwark 
 against their Arianism, and so prepared the way for 
 the rule of the Church and the salvation of society. 
 He was also the first great Italian, or may we say, 
 Western preacher. Augustine declared that he " hung 
 on the sweetness of his words." 2 His influence there- 
 fore was threefold : (1) as Statesman, (2) as preacher, 
 (3) as a concise and practical writer. Bishop Chris- 
 topher Wordsworth, in his Church History* gives a 
 good account of his writings, and tells us that he did 
 for Latin theology what Cicero did for Latin Philosophy. 
 He enriched it from the stores of Greek Literature. 
 Ambrose was a cultivated scholar as well as a poet; 
 
 1 Barry's St. Ambrose, p. 390. 
 
 2 Confessions, Book V. 3 Vol. III. oh iii. 
 
298 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 and in poetry he had a special reverence for Virgil. 
 It is appropriate, therefore, that in the Ambrosian 
 library at Milan, founded in 1606, there should be a 
 highly valuable edition of Virgil. " The poetical gifts 
 of Ambrose, his playful fancy, his fervid imagination," 
 continues Wordsworth, " gave a rich warmth and 
 mellow glow, caught from Origen and Basil, to his 
 interpretations of the Old Testament, which rescued it 
 from the dryness and coldness that repelled many from 
 the exegetical writings of some of the Antiochene 
 school, and prepared the way for Augustine." The 
 alleged craving of Ambrose for the mystical, rather than 
 the literal meaning of Scripture, was the result probably 
 of his poetic sense. The allegory of Nature, which 
 first appeared in Clement of Rome, but is characteristic 
 of so many of the Fathers, is strong in Ambrose. He 
 also did much to elucidate the true perspective of the 
 Old and New Testaments in relation to one another. 
 " The shadow is in the Law; the Image is in the Gos- 
 pel; the Truth is in Heaven." l As an instance of his 
 debt to the Greeks, his Hexameron is entirely founded 
 on, and to a great extent a translation of Basil's work. 
 As an instance of his practical views, he strongly recom- 
 mends Virginity, not as an end per se, but for the sake 
 of detachment from worldly distractions, as Gregory 
 of Nyssa also viewed it. " The chains of matrimony 
 are good chains; still they are chains." 2 Similarly 
 he regarded fasting as useful as a discipline of the body, 
 but thought that no self-torture for its own sake is 
 pleasing to God. 
 
 Two works are attributed to Ambrose, On the Mys- 
 teries and On the Sacraments, both of which are, how- 
 ever, somewhat doubtful, and especially the latter. In 
 the former appears a celebrated argument on the 
 Eucharist. 3 " If Moses by a word could call down fire 
 from Heaven, will not the Word of Christ be sufficient 
 
 1 Off. Min. I. 48. 2 Virg. 32, 6, 3 Myst. 52 to 58. 
 
ST. AMBROSE 299 
 
 to change the species of the Elements? If Christ 
 could create things out of nothing, can He not trans- 
 form things which already exist? So this which we 
 make is the Body which is from the Virgin. Why do 
 you look for the ordinary course of Nature in regard to 
 Christ's Body, when the Lord Jesus Himself was born 
 of a Virgin contrary to the course of Nature (Prceter 
 naturam)? It is the true flesh of Christ which was 
 crucified and buried. Therefore this is truly a Sacra- 
 ment of that Flesh. . . . Before the benediction of the 
 heavenly words it is called another species, after the 
 consecration it is named 1 blood. ... In this Sacrament 
 Christ is, because it is the Body of Christ. Yet it is 
 not a corporal but a spiritual feast. For the Body of 
 God is a spiritual body, the Body of Christ is the body 
 of the Divine Spirit." 
 
 The Old Testament expositions of Ambrose are on 
 the Hexameron, or Six Days of Creation, Paradise, 
 Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, Abraham, Isaac, 
 Jacob, Joseph, the benedictions of the patriarchs, 
 Elijah, Naboth, Tobias, Job and David, and many of 
 the Psalms; New Testament, St. Luke. The doc- 
 trinal works are on Faith (written for Gratian), on The 
 Holy Spirit, on The Sacrament of the Lord's Incarnation, 
 and on The Mysteries and the Sacraments (the last 
 being very doubtful). The practical works are on the 
 Duties of the Ministry, on Virgins, on Widows, on Peni- 
 tence, on the Advantage of Death, and on Flight from 
 the Age. He has also left us ninety-one letters, but 
 their historical importance is not equal to those of 
 Basil or Jerome. 
 
 In the Duties of the Ministry we have a system of 
 moral philosophy (for the duties of Ministers are to a 
 great extent the duties of all Christians) founded on 
 the model of Cicero's De Officiis. Cicero began by 
 distinguishing between what is good and what is useful 
 1 Nuncupatur. 
 
300 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 (the bonum and the utile) ; Ambrose refuses to admit 
 the distinction, saying that everything good must be 
 useful, and the utility of a thing must depend entirely 
 on its usefulness for eternity, and not for this world 
 only. Moral obligation emanates from one principle 
 only, respect for the Divine Law. Ambrose then 
 applies this principle carefully to the details of life, 
 including such subjects as the military profession and 
 the discrimination of charity. Further he deals with 
 Cicero's treatment of what is " becoming "(quod decet), 
 and claims that it is not a secondary virtue. Nothing 
 is becoming, unless it is also good, and everything good 
 is becoming. What is becoming is the form, goodness 
 is the substance. Goodness is like what health is to 
 the body, while good manners are like its beauty. 1 
 
 It is generally known that previous to the introduction 
 of Gregorian tones by Gregory the Great, some form of 
 Church Music prevailed in the West known as Ambro- 
 sian. In fact so thoroughly was St. Ambrose identified 
 with the Early Church music that at one time a Hymn 
 was often called an Ambrosian. But of the Ambrosian 
 tones very little is known, though a great many learned 
 conjectures have been offered. By some it is thought 
 that they were little more than musical speech, some- 
 thing perhaps like an " inflected " Gospel. In that 
 case one wonders that they could have moved Augus- 
 tine to tears. " How did I weep, in thy hymns and 
 canticles, touched to the quick by the voices of thy 
 sweet-attuned Church." 2 A great number of Hymns 
 are associated with the name of Ambrose, but only 
 twelve are given in the Benedictine edition as certainly 
 his. It is probable that a school of hymn-writers 
 grew up under his example. The Te Deum was at one 
 time ascribed to him, or to Ambrose and Augustine 
 jointly, but it is now made clear that it is not of earlier 
 
 1 De Broglie, St. Ambrose, p. 412. 
 
 2 Confessions, Book IX. 
 
ST. AMBROSE 301 
 
 date than the fifth century. In Hymns Ancient and 
 Modern three Ambrosian Hymns appear, and in the 
 edition of 1909 four, besides four doubtful ones. They 
 are as follows : — 
 
 Usual 1909 
 
 edition. edition. 
 
 Splendor paternae glorise . No. 2 No. 2 
 
 Veni Redemptor gentium . 55 55 
 
 O lux beata Trinitas . . 14 36 
 
 iEterna Christi munera . — 192 
 
 Doubtful Ones 
 
 Nunc sancta nobis Spiritus . 9 9 
 
 Creator potens verax Deus . 10 10 
 
 Rerum Deus, tenax vigor . 11 12 
 
 Jesu corona virginum . . 455 211 
 
 In the new edition they are much more closely trans- 
 lated than in the earlier ones. The characteristics of 
 Ambrose's hymns have been given as " iambic verses, 
 short clear sentences, sublime thoughts, masculine 
 spirit, refined culture." * The iambic metre remained 
 a general metre for Hymns to a much later date. 
 
 To what extent Ambrose realized the idea of the 
 Papacy it is difficult to ascertain. During the whole 
 of his Episcopate, he was as prominent a figure in the 
 Church as Pope Damasus. He certainly said, " Where 
 Peter is, there is the Church," but the sense in which 
 he used this expression is not clear. In the work on 
 the Sacraments (if that is his) he refers to a difference 
 of custom between Milan and Rome in the rite of 
 baptism. At Milan it was usual to wash the feet of 
 the baptized, but not at Rome; and this passage 
 occurs : " We wish always to follow the Roman 
 Church; but still we as men have our own opinion; 
 
 1 III. 5, 6. 
 
302 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 and here it seems that Rome is not following the ex- 
 ample of Peter." In Letter XI, to the Emperors he 
 writes : " We beseech you not to allow the Roman 
 Church, the head of the whole Roman world, and the 
 sacred faith of the Apostles to be disturbed ; for from 
 thence (inde enim) flow all the rights of venerable 
 communion to all persons." Does he mean that they 
 flow from the Roman Church or from the faith of the 
 Apostles ? 
 
 But at this time an important step was taken in the 
 development of Papal jurisdiction by an edict of Gratian. 
 A Synod at Rome desired that if a condemned Bishop 
 in Italy or Illyricum forcibly retained his See, or when 
 summoned to a trial by his brethren, refused to attend, 
 he should be arrested and sent to Rome; if he was in 
 a distant part the metropolitan should act instead : or 
 if a metropolitan were the offending party, he should 
 be brought to Rome. An accused Bishop w r as also to 
 have the right of appealing to Rome or to fifteen neigh- 
 bouring Bishops. Gratian acceded to this, but added 
 to Italy and Illyricum, Gaul, Africa and Spain. Thus 
 by an act of the State Rome now practically acquired 
 jurisdiction over the entire Western Church. 
 
 Note on the Relics. 
 
 Ambrose, writing to his sister, and quoting his own 
 Sermon (Letter XXII), says, " You have seen, nay 
 yourselves have heard many cleansed from evil spirits; 
 many also, after touching the garments of the Saints, 
 delivered from the infirmities under which they suf- 
 fered : you have seen the miracles of old times renewed, 
 when through the coming of the Lord a fuller grace 
 descended on the earth. You see many healed by the 
 shadow, as it were, of the holy bodies. How many 
 napkins are passed to and fro ! How many garments 
 placed on these holy relics, and endow r ed by the mere 
 
ST. AMBROSE 303 
 
 contact with the power of healing, are reclaimed by 
 their owners." Further on he says, " They cannot 
 deny the fact. The man is well-known ; when in health 
 he was employed in public trade, his name is Severus, 
 a butcher by business. When his affliction befell him, 
 he gave up his trade. He calls as witnesses those men 
 by whose charity he was supported. He summons as 
 witnesses of his present visitation the very men who 
 bore testimony to his blindness. He declares that 
 when he touched the border of the garment with which 
 the martyrs' bodies were clothed, his sight was restored." 
 Augustine (Confessions IX.) says, " For when they (the 
 reliqs) were discovered and dug up and with due honour 
 translated to the Ambrosian Basilica, not only they 
 who were vexed with unclean spirits (the devils con- 
 fessing themselves) were cured; but a certain man, 
 who had for many years been blind, a citizen, well 
 known in the city, asking and hearing the reason of 
 the people's confused joy, sprang forth, desiring his 
 guide to lead him thither. Led thither, he begged to 
 be allowed to touch with his handkerchief the bier of 
 Thy Saints, whose death is precious in Thy Sight. 
 Which when he had done and put it to his eyes, they 
 were forthwith opened. Thence did the fame spread, 
 thence Thy praises glowed and shone : thence the mind 
 of that enemy (Justina) though not turned to the 
 soundness of believing, was yet turned back from her 
 fury of persecuting, thanks to Thee, O my God." It 
 is impossible to suppose that men of the character of 
 Ambrose and Augustine did not believe in the miracles, 
 or were consciously encouraging a fraud. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 SAINT AUGUSTINE 
 
 (Bom 354. Bishop of Hippo 395 to 430) 
 
 St. Augustine is generally admitted, by Roman 
 Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and Rationalists 
 alike, to have been the greatest of all the Church Fathers. 
 Endless quotations might be adduced to prove this 
 statement, but it is sufficient to refer on one side to the 
 Catholic Encyclopedia, and on the other to such 
 writers as Harnack and Rudolf Eucken. The last 
 mentioned alludes to him as " the one great philosopher 
 sprung from the soil of Christianity proper." To the 
 learned outside the Christian community he appears 
 not merely as a doctor of the Church, but as holding 
 a prominent position in the History of Philosophy, as 
 a deep and original thinker for all time. His writings, 
 however, covered the whole range of Christian ethics 
 and doctrine, and his teaching is consequently so 
 many-sided (to the extent even sometimes of appearing 
 contradictory), that he has influenced all succeeding 
 schools of Christian thought. This is the more striking, 
 when w r e remember that he was not a savant, or a 
 highly trained scholar like St. Jerome, and also that 
 he developed into a very strict Churchman, and was 
 distinctly limited by his position and environment. 
 Yet the first question of any one seeking light from the 
 Fathers on a disputed point will be, "What did Augustine 
 say about it? " For he is sure to have said something, 
 so few things are there that he did not deal with; and 
 such weight does his view carry, that all schools try to 
 
 304 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 305 
 
 prove that their view was his, and to explain away 
 any points in which he seems to differ from them. 
 
 * Augustine," says Martindale, 1 " shifts the theo- 
 logical centre of gravity from East to West. Handing 
 on what religious inheritance the East bequeathed, 
 rescuing the riches of old and newer Greece, he Roman- 
 ized the double treasure. He translated speculation 
 into life, and thereby set the current of genuine Catholic 
 mysticism; he infused Christian activity with thought 
 and thus inspired a true scholasticism. Indeed it is 
 the power of his own life, where to know was to love, 
 where search for truth was passionate, that alone 
 explains his unequalled influx into the life of Chris- 
 tianity." Thus in Augustine we see three things : the 
 speculation of the East, the practical theology of the 
 West, and the combination of the two in the supreme 
 doctrines of Grace and Love exhibited in the life and 
 teaching of the man himself. Not only do the different 
 lines of the past, both in East and West, converge in 
 him, but his own thoughts show the converging of the 
 various elements of his own education. An African 
 by birth, he accustomed himself to the Roman point 
 of view during his life at Milan and Rome ; he imbibed 
 the ideas of the Far East through his association with 
 the Manichseans ; the philosophy of Plato and the Neo- 
 Platonists, which he studied, made him acquainted with 
 Greek culture; and so his entire training fitted him to 
 stand at the parting of the ways, and to point out to 
 the world, when Rome was sacked by Alaric the Goth, 
 and Genseric the Vandal was beating at the gates of 
 his own city, that the old civilization of Rome was 
 dead, and that for the future men must look to the 
 Christian civilization, the " City of God." 
 
 The interest of Augustine's life lies almost entirely 
 in the education of his mind and the development of 
 his philosophical and theological position; since, 
 
 1 C. C. Martindale, S.J., St, Augustine, 
 x 
 
306 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 although he always kept in touch with the outer world, 
 he never took any part in politics, beyond the occasional 
 encouragement of the authorities to suppress a schism 
 or heresy, or sometimes a plea for mercy. He was 
 born in 354 at Thagaste in Numidia, and his parents 
 were Patricius and Monica. Not mucli is known of 
 his father, except that he was a man of somewhat low 
 origin, who made a fair maintenance ; and that he was 
 a Pagan, who was late in life converted by his wife. 
 But Monica was one of the most beautiful characters in 
 Early Church History. Her whole soul seems to have 
 been bound up in Augustine; his early dissipations 
 and his wanderings after strange gods were a deep grief 
 to her; and when at last he was baptised, the work of 
 her life seemed ended. The relation of Augustine to 
 his mother runs all through his Confessions, and is one 
 of the most moving features of that great classic. 
 
 Till he was sixteen Augustine was educated at a 
 Grammar School in his native town. Then he pro- 
 ceeded to Carthage. When nineteen his attention was 
 turned, by reading Cicero's Hortensius (a lost work), 
 to serious thoughts ; but the religion that first satisfied 
 him was that of the Manichseans, and he remained 
 attached to that body for about ten years. 
 
 The religion of Manes the Persian was one of the 
 many Oriental religions which exercised their influence 
 over the dying Roman Empire, and like the Gnostic 
 sects absorbed some of the Christian teaching and 
 imitated Christian institutions, especially the two 
 great sacraments. In place of good and evil the 
 Manichseans imagined two great principles of light 
 and darkness, occupying separate territories ; the former 
 was the territory of God, the latter of the Daemon. 
 Thus, and this is the only feature of much importance 
 in their scheme, evil had a separate existence; so we 
 find again the old dualism, which appeared in all the 
 Gnostic sects and against which Christian philosophy 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 307 
 
 was always at war. The Matter of these two Kingdoms 
 having got mixed up in the struggle between light and 
 darkness, God commanded the Living Spirit to fashion 
 out of this confusion our world, in order that the good 
 and the evil might be gradually separated. It was 
 the mission of Christ and the Spirit to carry this out. 
 The Christ was in some mysterious way identified 
 with the sun, the Spirit with the air, and both were 
 opposed by the daemons in the stars. Christ seemed 
 to men (the old Docetism again) to come in the body 
 in order to lead mankind to the true God, but promised 
 to send later the Paraclete; and the Paraclete was 
 Manes. 
 
 His followers were divided into the Elect and the 
 Hearers (a sort of Catechumens). To the latter class 
 was left a good deal of freedom from asceticism, for 
 the business of the world must be carried on and the 
 race continued; but the Elect, to whom Baptism and 
 the Eucharist were confined, were intensely ascetic, 
 having to abstain from all things of the flesh, even the 
 eating of meat. On the other hand, they had a curious 
 theory that Light was imprisoned in flowers and fruit 
 and vegetables, which caused their beauty; and that 
 when the Elect consumed these things, they freed 
 light, in fact good. Clearly the fruit of the vine would 
 come under this category, and the result to the Elect 
 was often the wildest self-indulgence. 
 
 The Manichaeanism of Augustine reduced Monica to 
 
 despair, and there is a touching story of her entreating 
 
 a bishop to reason with him. But this wise bishop 
 
 declined the task as futile, and expressed a belief that 
 
 Augustine's own studies would in time bring him to 
 
 the light. " Farewell," he said, " and God be with 
 
 thee. It is impossible for the child of those tears to 
 
 be lost." 1 
 
 1 Confessions, Book IV. Traces of Manichaeanism appear in 
 the Albigenses who were persecuted in France in the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
308 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 At twenty-one, after two years' reading at flthff, 
 Augustine set up a sehool at Thagaste; but owing to 
 the death of an intimate friend removed it shortly 
 afterwards to Carthage, where he remained for nine 
 years, and in the course of time became altogether 
 dissatisfied with the doctrines of Manes; especially 
 when Faustus, a leader of that sect, visited Carthage 
 and entirely failed to solve his difficulties. 
 
 At the age of thirty he went to Rome, where he re- 
 mained for about a year; but curiously we know little 
 about his stay there. The office of " Rhetoric Reader " 
 at Milan became vacant, and he was appointed to the 
 post. There he came under the influence of St. Ambrose, 
 and the following year (386), being now thirty-two, he 
 was converted, and after several months of preparation 
 baptized. Soon after this event, Monica, her life work 
 ended, passed away. 
 
 In the Confessions of St. Augustine we have one of the 
 great books of all ages. It is one of the only works of 
 the early Fathers which is read not only by students but 
 by general readers, and it can be bought in the small 
 Oxford edition for a shilling. But the purpose of it is 
 often misunderstood. When Byron wrote in Don Juan 
 of " his fine confessions which make the reader envy 
 his transgressions," he was writing nonsense. They 
 were not the diary of a self-conscious sinner, and there 
 is nothing in them of a prurient character and no 
 painting of vice in an alluring form. Augustine was 
 not in his youth such a great sinner as is often supposed, 
 or as his own subsequent penitence paints him. He 
 seems to have lived the average life of a cultured young 
 man of his age, and at the early age of twenty he began 
 to take an interest in the most serious subjects; duty, 
 God (of whose existence he never entertained a doubt) 
 and the human soul. Besides, whatever he was in 
 youth, the Confessions were written many years after 
 his baptism, when he was already Bishop of Hippo; 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 309 
 
 and in his baptism Augustine believed that all his 
 youthful sins had been washed away. He had therefore 
 no further interest in them; but he lays before his 
 Maker (to whom the Confessions are addressed) the 
 whole history of his heart; not to seek pardon, which 
 he had already found, but to offer gratitude for the grace 
 which had by gradual steps brought him to the light. 
 Doubtless also they were meant as a guide for others. 
 
 In the Confessions we can trace the whole education 
 of Augustine's mind, and consequently his philosophical 
 standpoint. When he first began to think at all, he 
 was confronted with two great realities, the existence 
 of God, and the existence of the human soul or mind. 
 "The human mind is a thing apart in the universe, 
 and the Divine mind embraces the whole in an all- 
 seeing vision." x But between God and the Soul comes 
 Evil. Why does Evil find a place in the scheme of an 
 omnipotent and benevolent God ? It was this primary 
 difficulty that brought him to the Manichseans, who 
 seemed to offer a rational solution of it : and at this 
 period that passionate zeal for Truth appears, which 
 is the special characteristic of Augustine. " O Truth, 
 Truth, how inwardly did even then the marrow of my 
 soul pant after Thee, when they often and diversely, 
 and in many huge books, echoed of Thee to me, though 
 it was but an echo ! " 2 
 
 But this earnest quest for Truth was only a part of 
 the general thoroughness of Augustine's character. 
 At every stage of his life, he aimed at the complete 
 fulfilment of his being, " the unfolding and enjoyment 
 of his own personality." 3 In his youth he was enthu- 
 siastic for the mere joy of living; when a Manichaean, 
 he was full of zeal to make proselytes, most of whom 
 he subsequently carried over to the Church : when he 
 
 1 Maccabe, St, Augustine and His Age, p. 118. 
 
 2 Confessions, Book III. 
 
 3 Eucken, Problem of Human Life (section on Augustine). 
 
310 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 read Plato, he was absorbed by Plato ; when at last he 
 finds " the blessed life," " religious longing is no longer 
 meditative but active and full of vitality ; he combines 
 both the ideal and the practical." * Not only does he 
 deliver to the West the teaching of the East in a practical, 
 concise and popular form, but under Western influence 
 he becomes such a zealot for the institutions and laws 
 of the Catholic Church, that he is carried away into 
 extreme views and intolerance; while finally, when 
 confronted with the heresy of Pelagianism, which 
 seemed to him to raise natural man too high in relation 
 to God, in his zeal for the majesty of God he evolves 
 an extreme theory of Election, which the Church was 
 obliged to modify. It is his passionate quest for truth 
 and certainty and his happy way of expressing his 
 inward thoughts which make the fascination of the 
 Confessions, and impress on us the individuality of the 
 man. 
 
 The keynote of the book is, " Thou hast made us for 
 Thyself, and our heart is restless, till it finds its rest 
 in Thee." 2 George Herbert seems to have followed 
 this thought in his little poem, " The Pulley," in which 
 God gives man everything but rest; " that at least, 
 
 If goodnesse leade him not, yet weariness 
 May tosse him to my breast." 
 
 But it must be noted that in these early years, when 
 Augustine was repelled by formal Christianity, he was 
 always, as has been said of Anatole France, " haunted 
 by the prepossession of Christ." When the study of 
 Cicero " altered his affections and turned his purposes," 
 and he says, 3 " How did I burn then, my God, how did 
 I burn to re-mount from earthly things to Thee," yet 
 " this alone checked me thus enkindled, that the name 
 of Christ was not in it. For this name according to 
 
 1 Eucken, Problem of Human Life (section on Augustine). 
 
 2 Confessions, Book I. 3 Ibid., Book III. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 311 
 
 Thy Mercy, O Lord, the name of Thy Saviour and Son, 
 had my tender heart, even with my mother's milk, 
 devoutly drunk in and deeply treasured; and whatso- 
 ever was without that name, though never so learned, 
 polished and true, took not entire hold on me. I 
 resolved then to bend my mind to the Holy Scriptures 
 . . . but they seemed to me unworthy to be compared 
 to the stateliness of Cicero." He never understood 
 the spiritual intent of Scripture till he listened to 
 Ambrose. But the Manichaean system attracted him 
 quite as much by its use of the names of Christ and the 
 Holy Ghost as by its explanation of Evil. However, 
 the futility of Faustus, who frankly admitted he could 
 not answer his questions, made it impossible for him to 
 go farther with that sect, as we find in the Fifth Book. 
 He leaves Carthage and goes to Rome and Milan. 
 Faustus " could speak fluently and in better terms than 
 the rest, but still the self-same things ; and what availed 
 the utmost neatness of the cup-bearer to my thirst for 
 a more precious draft? " 
 
 So at last we find him at Milan, received by Ambrose 
 as a son; " loving him, not at first as a teacher of the 
 truth (which I utterly despaired of in Thy Church), 
 but as a person kind towards myself. And I listened 
 diligently to him; I hung on his words attentively, 
 but of the matter I was as a careless and scornful looker- 
 on; .. . and yet was I drawing nearer by little and 
 little unconsciously. And while I opened my heart 
 to hear how eloquently he spoke, there also entered how 
 truly he spoke." But still it was an open question. 
 Ambrose was helping him by his spiritual interpreta- 
 tions of Scripture, and he became again a catechumen 
 as in his childhood; but he failed to break down the 
 Manichaean stronghold, because he could not yet con- 
 ceive of God as a spiritual substance : there could be 
 no personality, he thought, which was not material. 
 
 Then came the penultimate phase, the study of 
 
312 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Plato, while " Monica believed in Christ that before 
 she departed this life, she should see me a Catholic." l 
 The relation of Augustine to Plato is of extreme interest, 
 because although later in life he modified his Platonism, 2 
 it had much to do with his conversion, and continued 
 to influence materially the tenor of his earlier writings 
 afterwards, while his later writings were hardly free 
 from it. The learning that he got from this source may 
 be summed up by saying that from Plato he learned 
 that the Word was God : from St. John he learned that 
 the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, which 
 thought is expanded in the Seventh Book. Along with 
 this idea is another that " the invisible things of him 
 are clearly understood from the things that were made, 
 even his Eternal Power and Godhead; " 3 or as Plato 
 would put it, " the things known (noumena) are taught 
 us by the things that appear (phenomena) " : and 
 thirdly he overthrew the Manichseans at last by the 
 Neo-Platonist doctrine that evil was not a substance 
 but only a negation or defect. 
 
 The argument from the things seen to the things 
 known, from the outward sense to the inner mind, is 
 graphically illustrated in the Tenth Book. " I asked the 
 earth, and it answered, ' I am not He ' ; and whatsoever 
 are in it confessed the same. I asked the sea and the 
 deeps, and the living creeping things, and they answered, 
 * We are not thy God, seek above us.' I asked the 
 moving air : and the whole air with its inhabitants 
 answered, ' Anaximenes was deceived, I am not God.' 
 I asked the heavens, sun, moon, stars, ' Nor (say these) 
 are we the God whom thou seekest.' And I replied to 
 all the things which encompass the doors of my flesh, 
 c Ye have told me of my God, that you are not He ; 
 tell me something of Him ' ; and they cried out with a 
 
 x Confessions, Book VI. 
 
 2 His mature thoughts on Plato aro in City of God, VIII 
 
 3 Rom. i. 20. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 313 
 
 loud voice, c He made us.' My questioning them was 
 my thoughts on them ; and their form of beauty gave 
 the answer. And I turned to myself and said to myself, 
 1 Who art thou ? ' And I answered, ' A man.' And 
 behold, in me there present themselves to me soul and 
 body; one without, the other within. By which of 
 these ought I to seek my God? I had sought Him in 
 the body from earth to Heaven, so far as I could send 
 messengers, the beams of my eyes. But the better is 
 the inner, for in it, as presiding and judging, all the 
 bodily messengers reported the answers of Heaven and 
 earth, and all things therein, who said, ' We are not 
 God, but He made us.' These things did my inner 
 man know by the ministry of the outer; I the inner 
 knew them ; I the mind through the senses of my body. 
 I asked the whole frame of the world about my God; 
 and it answered me, c I am not He, but He made me.' " 
 The process through which Augustine's mind passed 
 is thus described by Eucken. First there is the radical 
 dissatisfaction with the condition of man and the natural 
 world; in fact with the existence of evil. Yet man, 
 with all his ills, clings to existence. Is it not conclusive 
 that man has something in his nature good and capable 
 of happiness ? There must then be something beyond 
 this world. There must be somewhere Perfect Being; 
 and that is God. All genuine life springs from Him, 
 and returns to Him. The soul of man is equally real : 
 even if we doubt, we must possess a mind to doubt 
 with; the existence even of a physical world is less 
 obvious than the existence of Mind. All this is Platonic, 
 but he breaks away later from Platonism, by gradually 
 putting more and more the Will in the place of Thought, 
 Volition in the place of Knowledge. Both the Trinity 
 and the individual soul as well, which is a mirror of It, 
 consist of Being (power), Knowledge (wisdom), and 
 Will (love). 1 In God is true Being, and the Highest 
 1 Trin. 10. 14. 
 
314 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Good (perfect love); man, therefore, only attains to 
 salvation and happiness by clinging to God. There 
 are two ways of doing this : (1) Intuition and Love, 
 (2) the purification and moral training of the individual 
 life by fellowship with God, who has freely bridged over 
 the abyss that lay between. Cunningham * says that 
 Augustine differs from Plato by saying, not that Truth 
 has its source in God, but that Truth is God : God is 
 not above all Being and Reason, but is the highest 
 Being and the completest Reason. 
 
 It is strange that, although Augustine owed so much 
 to the Platonists, he seems to have only read their books 
 in translations, knowing probably at the time very 
 little Greek, which in his youth he detested. He always 
 disclaimed much knowledge of it ; even in the book on 
 the Trinity, 2 written late in life, he hints that he hardly 
 understands the Greek Fathers in the original. This 
 is probably an exaggeration, as he freely handled the 
 Greek of the New Testament ; but of his youth it would 
 be true. By what books he was influenced is uncertain, 
 but he probably read the Timceus, Phcedo, Phcedrus, 
 The Republic, Gorgias and the Symposium, and also 
 the Enneads of Plotinus, to which last he owed much : 
 probably the final conviction that somewhere there must 
 be Spirit untouched by Matter. 
 
 Before leaving this subject, let us read one of 
 the most exquisite passages in the Confessions, Ninth 
 Book. A considerable part of this book records the 
 last scenes with his mother, who did not long survive 
 his baptism. Only a few days before her death, he 
 discusses with her the life of the world to come. " If 
 to any the tumult of the flesh were hushed, hushed the 
 images of earth, and waters and air, hushed also the 
 poles of heaven, yea, the very soul be hushed to herself, 
 and by not thinking on self surmount self, hushed all 
 dreams and imaginary revelations, every tongue and 
 1 Hulsean Lectures on St. Austin. 2 Trin., III. 1. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 315 
 
 every sign, and whatsoever exists only in transition, 
 since if any could hear, all these say, ' We made not 
 ourselves, but He made us that abideth forever.' x — 
 If, then, having uttered this, they too should be hushed, 
 having roused only our ears to Him who made them, 
 and He alone speaks, not by them but by Himself, that 
 we may hear His Word, not through any tongue of 
 flesh nor angel's voice nor sound of thunder, nor in the 
 dark riddle of a similitude, but might hear Him whom 
 in these things we love, might hear His Very Self 
 without these — could this be continued on and other 
 visions of kind far unlike be withdrawn, and this one 
 ravish and absorb and wrap up its beholder amid these 
 inward joys, so that life might be forever like that one 
 moment of understanding, which now we sighed after; 
 were not this, ' Enter into thy Master's joy? ' " 
 
 Augustine never soared higher than this; but com- 
 pare it with the other two descriptions of the Beatific 
 Vision already alluded to in this book. First there was 
 the conception of Plato that the highest life would be 
 to gaze forever on the ideal (abstract) Beauty, to hold 
 communion therewith and so gain immortality. 1 Next 
 we found St. Gregory of Nyssa following the same 
 thought of the ideal Beauty, and so becoming detached 
 from all worldly interest, till he arrives at his goal, the 
 power of seeing God. 2 But this was less communion 
 or fellowship than the striving for absorption into the 
 Eternal Unity ; it was metaphysical rather than ethical ; 
 it was speculative and Eastern. With St. Augustine 
 the relation is quite different. " His strong sense of 
 human personality prevents him from an aspiration 
 towards absorption into God." 3 His Very Self is 
 speaking to him as a separate entity. There is a beauti- 
 ful passage in John Inglesant : " Amid the tumult of 
 the Universe I should hear the faintest whisper of his 
 voice." But here there is no tumult : all the Universe 
 
 1 Ch. vii. 2 Ch. xv. 3 Cunningham, p. 38. 
 
316 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 is hushed, his own soul is hushed ; there is nothing but 
 God — speaking to the human personality of Augustine. 
 The last stage of his conversion is told in the end of 
 the Seventh and in the Eighth Book, and commences 
 when he passes from Plato to St. Paul. Augustine 
 became saturated with St. Paul, and the arguments in 
 the Confessions continually fall into quotations from 
 St. Paul. Bishop Wordsworth says that if trans- 
 migration of souls were a fact, St. Paul's soul would be 
 found again in Augustine. For a long time his head 
 was convinced, but his heart refused the great renuncia- 
 tion. " When Thou didst on all sides show me, that 
 what Thou saidst was true, I, convicted by the truth, 
 had nothing at all to answer, but only those dull and 
 drowsy words, c Anon, anon — presently, leave me for a 
 little.' But my little while went on for a long while." 
 At last he hears of the conversion of some simple folk, 
 and cries to his friend Alypius, "What ails us? The 
 unlearned start up and take Heaven by force, and we 
 with our learning and without heart, lo, where we 
 wallow is flesh and blood ! " Then comes the voice 
 of the mysterious little child in the garden : " Take and 
 read " ; l he opens St. Paul at random and finds, " Not 
 in chambering and wantonness . . . but put ye on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh." 
 From that moment his mind is made up; he carries 
 away Alypius, and the illegitimate child of his extreme 
 youth, Adeodatus, into retirement, and after a few 
 months of careful training by Ambrose, they are all 
 baptized. So came Augustine out of much tribulation 
 and washed his robes. 
 
 With the Ninth Book end the Confessions proper, 
 and the last words refer to his mother. At a later date 
 he was asked to give an account of what he then was, 
 and so wrote the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and 
 Thirteenth Books. The Tenth, in examining the 
 * " Tolle, lege." 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 317 
 
 relation of the mind to God, gives a wonderful analysis 
 of memory; there is also some fine ethical writing on 
 the three great temptations : " the lust of the flesh, the 
 lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." But the last 
 three books break away into a commentary on Genesis, 
 giving incidentally a wonderful metaphysical treatise 
 on Time. 
 
 The controversy with the Manichaeans, which imme- 
 diately followed his conversion, brought out the strength 
 of Augustine as a commentator on Scripture. Ambrose 
 taught him to see the spiritual interpretations, yet he 
 followed closely on many occasions the letter, and even 
 wrote one book on the literal interpretation of Genesis 
 (De Genesi ad literam). But he always asked people 
 to use their common sense; for instance, to guard 
 against hazardous or unscientific interpretations, lest 
 unbelievers should ridicule. 1 In dealing with the open- 
 ing of Genesis, he combines the letter with a scientific 
 point of view, by saying that all the principles of Nature 
 were created in a week, but that they were afterwards 
 gradually evolved. Again he held that Scripture is 
 only a means to an end. Everything in the Bible is 
 true and any thought is justified which can be proved 
 from it; but Scripture is practical, and is a means 
 towards faith, hope and love; " a man who depends 
 on faith, hope and love, and holds by them invincibly, 
 only needs Scripture to instruct others. 55 2 It is the 
 substance of it that is important, yet M the authority 
 of Scripture is paramount, being established from the 
 time of Christ Himself by means of Apostolic ordinances 
 and the succession of Bishops from those days to the 
 present. 55 3 The Canon is therefore the testimony of 
 Christ in the Catholic Church which is His Body. St. 
 Augustine's view of the Apocrypha is not quite clear. 
 He freely quoted from all the books, but seems to have 
 
 1 De Genesi ad literam, I. 19 and 21. 
 
 2 De Doctr. Christiana, I. 39. 3 Faust 11. 6. 
 
318 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 had a theory of different degrees of inspiration. A synod 
 at Hippo in 393, over which he probably presided, 
 included in the Canon, Esdras 1 and 2, Maccabees 1 
 and 2, Tobias, Judith, subject to consultation with the 
 Transmarine churches. 
 
 Bishop Christopher Wordsworth wrote a short book 
 on Augustine's sermon on the Sermon on the Mount, 
 which gives a critique of his general relation to Scripture. 
 He points out that, in Augustine's view, spiritual things 
 must be spiritually discerned; yet external helps are 
 valuable, such as natural science, history, logic, music, 
 philosophy. But after all the heart makes the theo- 
 logian, and the right relation of reason to faith is not 
 " Know that you may believe," but " Believe that you 
 may understand." x He anticipated a principle of 
 modern interpretation, that a reading involving difficulty 
 was more likely to be correct, than one which made the 
 thought easy; yet obscurer passages must be inter- 
 preted by the clearer. The analogy of faith must be 
 followed, and an isolated text must not be taken to 
 counteract the general drift; thus metaphors and 
 symbols are used at different times in contradictory 
 meanings; for instance, Christ is a lion in Revelation, 
 Satan is a lion in 1 St. Peter : truth is leaven in St. 
 Matthew, malice and hypocrisy in 1 Corinthians. The 
 first foundations of doctrine must rest on plain and 
 literal passages : one half of truth must not be ex- 
 aggerated, while the other half is obscured. He had 
 great skill in reconciling contradictions, as for instance 
 St. Paul's Judaizing and anti-Judaism in his corre- 
 spondence with St. Jerome. Occasionally, but not as 
 a rule, Augustine allegorized to excess, as in his treat- 
 ment of the 104th Psalm, where he gives a spiritual 
 meaning to the objects of Nature. Lastly, he thoroughly 
 recognized the progressive character of revelation; 
 and while he held such a strong view of Inspiration as 
 
 1 Serm. 43. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 319 
 
 that the Evangelists were the pen of the Holy Ghost, 
 he also recognized the human element in their writings. 
 
 His sermons are remarkable for their tenderness, and 
 the simplicity with which he unfolds all his wisdom to 
 the humble congregation at Hippo. They present the 
 closest analysis of scriptural passages, and gently lead 
 his hearers to his conclusions. A good idea may be 
 got of his style from reading the chapter in Hypatia, 
 in which he converts a learned Jew by throwing new 
 light on the Old Testament, in spite of manifest mis- 
 translations of Hebrew words; for with Hebrew he 
 was never acquainted. 
 
 After his baptism he spent about eighteen months 
 in Rome, confuting the Manichseans; and then retired 
 to Africa, where he lived quietly for some years in a 
 confraternity of which he was the head, giving his 
 possessions to the poor. On a visit to Hippo, he was 
 induced to take Orders, built a hospital, and, following 
 the custom at Milan, suppressed the last vestiges of 
 the Agape. In 395 he became assistant Bishop of 
 Hippo, and shortly afterwards Bishop. In that capacity 
 he spent two hours every day in adjusting differences 
 between members of his flock as an arbitrator; and 
 this is supposed to have been the origin of ecclesiastical 
 courts. The self-respect of Augustine required great 
 cleanliness and neatness of person and dress. Although 
 his diet was of the simplest, he did not abstain altogether 
 from wine, and his spoons were of silver. On his table 
 was fixed a little notice that at that board no one must 
 speak ill of his neighbour. It is hardly correct to say 
 that he was a monk ; but he lived according to a monkish 
 rule in a community consisting of his clergy, all of whom 
 had to put their property into the common fund. Com- 
 munity of goods, chastity, labour; these were the 
 three fundamental points of the Augustinian Rule. 
 Not that he ever consciously founded an order, and the 
 only definite rules that he issued are to be found in 
 
320 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 Letter 211 and Sermons tf/35-0. But he encouraged 
 everywhere the formation of communities like his own, 
 and vigorously denounced in Dc Opera Monachorum 
 idle monks. It was not till the time of Charlemagne 
 that the name Augustinian was applied to any distinct 
 class of monks ; but from that time it was used by many 
 different communities : and the various communities 
 were brought together under one ''General" in 1246. 
 In his own community Augustine refused all donations 
 and legacies which came from an impure source, such 
 as defrauding children or rightful heirs; and to avoid 
 scandal, he rendered a public account of all his expendi- 
 ture. 
 
 The whole trend of thought in the Confessions is 
 individual. They display the craving of the heart for 
 God, to whom the soul appeals directly and without 
 the apparent intervention of human ordinances or 
 ministry; and for this reason they are dear to 
 Protestants. The Church, it is true, is the ultimate 
 authority on Doctrine, but personal piety and what is 
 called experimental religion are prominent everywhere. 
 Sin and misery are overcome by faith, humility and 
 love. In faith the soul is at rest, yet it ever strives 
 irrepressibly upward. 1 Faith, love, merits are the 
 successive steps to salvation, although the merits 
 themselves are gifts of God. " Give what Thou com- 
 mandest, and command what Thou wilt." 2 
 
 But when Augustine is confronted at Hippo with the 
 Donatist schism, a quite different tone appears. The 
 Church is Seen as the exclusive medium through which 
 grace is given ; her Sacraments, as well as her teaching, 
 are essential. The Sacraments are communicated 
 through the minister, but are only redemptive where 
 love is ; that is, where unity is ; that is, where the true 
 and only Church is. Augustine, therefore, now becomes 
 
 1 Harnack, Outlines of Dogma, p. 339. 
 
 2 Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis (Confessions, Book X). 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 321 
 
 the highest exponent of Catholicism. Faith is exempli- 
 fied in the individual by obedience to the Catholic 
 Church, for the Church guarantees the truth of the 
 Faith, where the individual fails to perceive it. The 
 Church thinks for the uncertain : indeed Augustine 
 himself says, " I should not believe the Gospel, did not 
 the Catholic Church impel me to." x 
 
 Donatism, which, as Canon Bright says, " wore out 
 the great heart of Augustine," and at last led him to 
 acquiesce in persecution, had its rise in Carthage in 
 the beginning of the fourth century. The Bishop, 
 Mensurius, being summoned to Rome, and believing 
 rightly that he would never return, hid the sacred 
 vessels, gave an inventory of them to an old woman, 
 and told two men, Botrus and Celestius, where they 
 were. These men, on Mensurius' death, opposed for 
 ambitious reasons the consecration of Cecilian, setting 
 up as an excuse that his consecrator was a " traditor." 2 
 By the > help of some corrupt Numidian Bishops, 
 Majorinus was set up as a rival Bishop, and in time 
 succeeded by Donatus : hence the name of the 
 schism. 
 
 The first act of Constantine, after his conversion, was 
 to summon the Council of Aries, which condemned the 
 schism; but nevertheless it grew and by this time 
 possibly a majority of the African Christians were 
 Donatists. Although there were good men among 
 them, they were on the whole a bad and mischievous 
 sect. Their origin was bad, and their subsequent story 
 one of hatred, intolerance and violence. Since the 
 Catholic succession of Carthage came, they said, through 
 a traditor (though it actually did not), they repudiated 
 Catholic orders and sacraments, even Baptism. When 
 they seized a Catholic Church, they scraped the walls, 
 burnt the altar, and threw the Eucharist to the dogs : 
 and, further, they maintained a sort of militia of ruffians, 
 
 1 Contr. Ep. Manich, 5. a See ch. viii. 
 
 Y 
 
322 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 known as the Circumcellions, who with a battle cry of 
 " Praise the Lord," fell upon Catholics, and murdered 
 and mutilated them. If Augustine became their 
 persecutor, he was sorely tried, and it was not till after 
 holding councils and many attempts at friendly dis- 
 cussion, that he agreed to call in the aid of Honorius 
 to suppress them. Even then for a time he deprecated 
 extreme punishment ; but we can only regret that such a 
 man as Augustine should be found using such expressions 
 as " The worst death of the soul is freedom to err," 
 and " Better that a man's body should be destroyed 
 (i. e., by his fellow men) than his soul." We all know 
 what that doctrine led to. The result anyhow was that 
 Donatism was stamped out. It is worth noting that 
 Augustine's great argument against it, that what the 
 bulk of Christianity believes must be the truth, 1 had 
 a remarkable effect on Newman, and seemed to him to 
 pulverize his earlier doctrine of the Via Media. It 
 was this that made him first see " the shadow of the 
 hand upon the wall ! " 2 
 
 But it was the struggle with the Donatists which 
 brought out Augustine's dogmatic statements about 
 the Church. " Whoever is separated from the Catholic 
 Church, however laudably he thinks he is living, yet 
 for that crime alone, that he is severed from Christ's 
 unity, he shall not have life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth in him." 3 " The question between us and the 
 Donatists is, ' Where is the Church? With us or with 
 them ? ' That Church assuredly is one, which our 
 ancestors called the Catholic, that they might show by 
 the very name, that it is through the whole. For this 
 Church is the Body of Christ, as the Apostle says, c His 
 Body, which is the Church.' Whence surely it is mani- 
 fest that he who is not in the members of Christ cannot 
 have Christian salvation." 4 Eucken says about this : 
 
 1 " Securus judicat orbis terrarum." 
 
 2 Apologia. 3 Ep. 141. 4 Unity of Church, 2. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 323 
 
 " At one time the individual is summoned to the boldest 
 activity, and confident of victory feels himself superior 
 to all existence. At another, overcome by distressing 
 doubts as to his own capacities, and passionately longing 
 for some secure support, he obediently submits himself 
 to external authority " ; and he somewhat maliciously 
 adds that Augustine deeply needed the Church, to save 
 him from his own contradictions. 
 
 The principle reasserted and finally established in the 
 African Council dealing with the Donatists, was that 
 holiness resides in the Church, which contains both the 
 wheat and the tares, not in her ministers. The un- 
 worthiness of the Minister (the consecrator for instance 
 of Csecilian) does not affect the validity of his ministerial 
 functions. However harsh and intolerant Augustine 
 seems in dealing with the Donatists, we have always 
 to thank him for the saying which is attributed to him : 
 " In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all 
 things charity." 
 
 Whether the Church, in Augustine's view, was entirely 
 bound up with, and subservient to the See of Peter, is 
 of course a different question. The feeling of the 
 African Church at this time was strong against Roman 
 interference. The Church is traced by its succession of 
 bishops, and on various occasions Augustine quotes 
 the Roman succession as an example. Irenaeus also 
 did this, on the ground that there was no time to quote 
 all the successions. Augustine says, " For if the succes- 
 sion of Bishops is to be considered, how much more 
 securely and beneficially do we reckon from Peter 
 himself, to whom, as personating the Church, the Lord 
 said, ? Thou art the Rock,' etc." x He then traces the 
 Roman succession. Again, and this is rather more 
 obscure, " Shall we hesitate to fling ourselves into the 
 bosom of that Church, which even by the confession 
 of mankind has from the Apostolic See, through the 
 1 Ep. 53. 
 
 Y2 
 
324 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 successions of Bishops, obtained the loftiest pinnacle 
 of authority." x Augustine argues that while Donatism 
 is a mere African community, the Catholicism of Africa 
 is in communion with the Churches beyond the seas 
 and takes the Roman Church as an example. It is 
 difficult to contend for more than this in view of the 
 strong assertion of independence of Rome made by the 
 African Church during Augustine's life, at Councils 
 at which Augustine was present. On the other hand 
 it is not clear that he took such a prominent part in 
 them, as his pre-eminent importance in that Church 
 would lead us to expect; and it is quite possible that 
 his great reverence for the Apostolic See may have 
 caused him to shrink from active defiance of it. Space 
 does not allow us here to relate the whole story in 
 connection with the canons of Sardica, which ended 
 in a general Council of the African Churches, pro- 
 testing to Pope Celestine against Rome harbouring 
 refugee priests, in spite of the rule that all such should 
 be tried by their own bishops, and bishops by their 
 own metropolitans. 
 
 The authority of Augustine is claimed by both 
 Catholics and Protestants in defence of their Eucharistic 
 views. He occasionally gives a symbolical view of the 
 elements. " He commended and delivered to His 
 disciples the figure of His own Body." 2 " The Lord 
 hesitated not to say, ' This is My Body,' when He gave 
 them a sign of His Body." 3 He also says, " In the 
 Holy Sacrifice and communion of the Body of Christ, 
 Christians celebrate the memory of the Sacrifice He 
 accomplished." 4 On several occasions he explicitly 
 describes the Eucharistic Sacrifice as the offering up 
 of the Church, which is Christ's Body. 5 Yet over and 
 over again he expresses the strongest belief in a Real 
 Presence. " The bread which you see on the Altar, 
 
 1 Util. cred., XVII. 2 Ps. iii. 1. 3 Adimant Man. 12. 
 
 4 Faust, XX. 13. 5 City of God, X. 6 and 20 and elsewhere. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 325 
 
 after being sanctified by the Word of God, is the Body 
 of Christ. So with the wine. By means of these things 
 it was the will of Christ to bestow on us His own Body 
 and Blood." l " When He said, c This is my Body,' 
 He carried that Body in His own Hands. 55 2 " He 
 walked here in the very flesh, and that very flesh He 
 gave us to eat unto Salvation." 3 The spiritual character 
 of the mystery he explains thus : " What ye see then 
 is bread and a cup, but what your faith needs to be 
 taught is that the bread is the Body, and the cup con- 
 tains the Blood. If it is asked, how these things can 
 be, these things are called Sacraments, because in them 
 one thing is seen, another thing understood. What 
 is seen has a bodily species; what is understood has a 
 spiritual fruit." 4 
 
 On Masses for the dead, Augustine says : " It is not to 
 be denied that the souls of the departed are relieved by 
 the piety of their living friends, when the sacrifice of the 
 Mediator is offered for them, or alms are performed in 
 the Church. But these things benefit those who merited 
 when living that these things should be able to benefit 
 them afterwards. . . . Let no man hope that after 
 death he can merit before God what he has neglected 
 here." 5 St. Augustine's view of the after life by no 
 means coincides with that of Origen, that all would at 
 last be saved, though he tolerated those who held that 
 view, calling them M misericordes nostri"; but he had 
 clear views of punishment. First it was not so much 
 intended to be corrective, as a vindication of right. 
 Secondly, it was loss. " It is the most just punishment 
 for sin, that every one should lose what he would not 
 use well, when he might have done so so easily, had he 
 wished ; that is, that he who knows what is right, and 
 does not do it, should lose the knowledge of it, the power 
 of doing it. Ignorance and incapacity are two penalties 
 
 1 Serm. 127. 2 Ps. xxxiii. 3 Ps. xcviii. 
 
 4 Serm. 272. 5 De octo Dulcit. quaest, II. 
 
326 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 for the sinner." *■ M Future punishment will in some 
 cases be only temporal and partly material." 2 
 
 St. Augustine was essentially the Doctor of Grace. 
 Throughout the Confessions the leading thought is the 
 wonderful way in which he had been led by grace, in 
 spite of all his wanderings, into the light. His whole 
 theology is based on the relation of God to the human 
 soul ; in other words the working of grace, of which the 
 mainspring is the historic manifestation of God to 
 humanity in the Incarnation. He emphasizes the fact 
 that grace is not exhausted by the retrospective for- 
 giveness of baptism. Harnack holds that the earlier 
 Church had uncertain views on this matter, which 
 would account for the deferring of baptism. As regards 
 what happened afterwards they hoped all would be 
 well, but they were not sure. Hope remained, but also 
 fear. But with Augustine hope became conviction. 
 The work of grace was continuous, and instead of hope 
 and fear, he taught rest, faith and love. 
 
 Now about 405 a Briton or Breton (probably the 
 latter), who was known as Morgan or Pelagius, began 
 teaching a series of propositions of a quite contrary 
 character. There was, he said, no such thing as original 
 sin. Sin did not create death. Adam would have 
 died just as much, whether he sinned or not. God 
 made us men, but it rests entirely with ourselves whether 
 we are good or not, for man's will is absolutely free and 
 self-sufficient. There were three ways of salvation : 
 the law of Nature, the law of Moses, the law of Christ. 
 The works of heathens were acceptable independently 
 of the grace of God. Perfection was attainable here 
 by man unaided; either actual, so that believers do 
 not sin, or at any rate possible, that they might live 
 without sin. 
 
 Teaching such as this struck at the root of Christianity, 
 for it denied the necessity of the Atonement, and 
 1 Free Will, 3. 62. 2 City of God, XXI. 13. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 327 
 
 Augustine's whole soul was on fire. In 412 he entered 
 the lists. The Augustinian reply, stated simply is this : 
 Man, owing to the fall, has lost sanctifying grace, is 
 subject to death and suffering, and feels an impelling 
 inclination to evil. Hence his free will is changed in 
 nature, it is now corrupt, and can do no good thing 
 without grace. And this grace is an entirely free gift 
 of God, which we have not merited, could never merit, 
 and without which merit is impossible. 1 Augustinian- 
 ism then, to start with, is simply an expression of the 
 thought that nothing good can be done without grace, 
 and that grace is freely offered. Original sin is universal, 
 yet man is not, as Calvin taught, utterly rotten and 
 defiled. Man's nature is a good thing corrupted. " Sin 
 is the defect of a good nature, which contains elements 
 of good even in its most diseased and corrupted state." 2 
 How did sin come? All things are good, because God 
 created them, who is good. But they are changeable 
 (God only is without change), and every falling away 
 or privation of good is evil. Following the first change 
 evil crept in, even against man's will, with ignorance 
 and concupiscence, which brought in their train error 
 and suffering. 3 
 
 But in the course of the controversy, Augustine was 
 carried on to further positions. God, being omniscient, 
 must have known that man's free will would err. He 
 foresaw those who would believe, and gave them the 
 grace of well-doing, withholding it from those who 
 would not. Yet in a later stage, instead of merely 
 saying with St. Paul, " those whom He foreknew, them 
 did He also predestinate," he develops predestination 
 into election, so that grace is now a free gift offered to 
 some and not to others, according to an arbitrary choice. 
 Hooker tells us that his view developed in this way in 
 
 1 This statement of the two positions is taken from Hook's 
 Church Dictionary. 
 
 2 Free Will, 3. 35. 3 Enchir, 12, 23-4. 
 
328 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 the Pelagian controversy, though Augustine in his 
 Retractations (a work written towards the close of his 
 life, and the title meaning rather revising or re-editing 
 than retracting his earlier opinions), denies that his 
 views changed. It would seem that in the earlier 
 treatise on Free Will he distinctly states that the will is 
 free. This is explained, however, by saying that he 
 was then speaking of the human will before the Fall; 
 since then it had been crippled. The ultimate 
 position then is, " Since the fall human nature is a 
 corrupt mass liable to God's wrath and punishment, 
 and while in His mercy He chooses some by an eternal 
 decree of Predestination to eternal life, He leaves others 
 to eternal damnation." l To those who are pre- 
 destined the gift of perseverance follows. How all 
 this can be consistent with Divine love and justice, 
 Augustine would say, is a mystery into which we cannot 
 look : we can only wait for the Beyond, where all 
 enigmas will be solved. 
 
 All this is what is known as the gloomy side of 
 Augustine's theology, and it certainly led to extreme 
 Calvinism, although he never explicitly said that God 
 predestined any to damnation. Still that Augustine 
 should, in the heat of his controversy with Pelagius, 
 have made the statements that he did, is strange when 
 the doctrine of love runs so clearly through all his 
 work. The Abbe Martin finds a reconciliation of Free 
 Will with Predestination in the City of God. 2 " Your 
 memory imposes no necessity on the past : so God's 
 prescience imposes no necessity on the future." Certain 
 it is that Augustine never reduced his theory to practice. 
 When he preached to his flock at Hippo (and they must 
 have been a rough lot), they were all his " beloved," 
 and he assumed that they were all destined to salvation. 
 In a sermon on John vi. 44, he says : " Mighty en- 
 hancement of grace ! No man cometh unless drawn. 
 1 Enchir, 98. 2 V. 9-10 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 329 
 
 Whom He draweth, and whom He draweth not, why 
 He draweth one, and draweth not another, wish not to 
 judge, if thou wilt not err. Once for all take and 
 understand; art thou not drawn? Pray that thou 
 migktest be drawn" This of course seems to beg the 
 whole question. 
 
 In 529 the Council of Orange modified the Augustinian 
 teaching by a series of general statements. Original 
 sin is universal : Free Grace is offered to all : Justifica- 
 tion is by that grace, and not by our own merit, but 
 proceeding through Christ's death; Man's love to God 
 is a gift of God : No one is predestined by God to evil. 
 
 The Council of Trent reaffirmed original sin and the 
 necessity of grace ; but proclaimed the freedom of man 
 and both his power of resisting grace (as opposed to the 
 doctrine of irresistible grace for the elect), and of choosing 
 between good and evil. 
 
 The Church of England, in Article 17, while admitting 
 that Predestination to Life is " full of sweet, pleasant 
 and unspeakable comfort to godly persons," declares 
 that " to have continually before the eyes the sentence 
 of God's predestination is a most dangerous downfall, 
 whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into despera- 
 tion or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no 
 less perilous than desperation." 
 
 In contrast with the theology of the East, Western 
 theologians always made practical use of metaphysics. 
 They are not so much concerned with the nature of God 
 as with His relation to man : they seek less an objec- 
 tive knowledge of Him than the subjective knowledge 
 of His image in man defaced and restored. God no 
 longer reveals, but communicates Himself; Christ is 
 more thought of as the Redeemer than the God Man : 
 the moral aspect of theology is therefore of more im- 
 portance than the metaphysical. 1 This aspect is 
 
 1 See Wordsworth's book on the homily on the " Sermon on 
 the Mount." 
 
330 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 nowhere more clearly shown than in Augustine's 
 Enchiridion and his work on the Trinity. 
 
 The Enchiridion , or little book to hold in the hand, 
 or handbook, is a summary of the Christian faith, 
 dealing concisely with all the articles of the Creed 
 and the various doctrines which can be deduced 
 from them; for instance, the explanation of Evil, 
 questions of grace and predestination, and even the 
 future life, which, for the lost, he says, will consist in 
 alienation from the life of God. But what is especially 
 noticeable here is that the subject matter of the book 
 is concerning Faith, Hope and Charity; so that 
 Christian dogmas are really considered, not merely 
 speculatively, but in their relation to these three great 
 Christian virtues. 
 
 The De Trinitate is a work of fifteen books, which 
 shared with other books many years of Augustine's 
 life — at least sixteen; it was apparently the work that 
 he reserved for his times of peace and leisure. But of 
 these fifteen books, while the first eight deal with the 
 correct dogma as to the nature of God, the remaining 
 seven deal with His relation to man, and His reflection 
 in man, since man is the image. The human image 
 displays the Trinity in the memory, the intelligence 
 and the will ; and again in mind, knowledge and love. 
 In this life the Trinity is only seen through a glass darkly, 
 and man will only be a perfect image when the vision 
 is made perfect. But God is Love, and no gift of God 
 is greater than Love. " The whole Christian conception 
 of God is brought out with tremendous fullness when 
 Augustine sums up the doctrine of the Trinity in the 
 revelation of Love." 1 
 
 When Rome was destroyed by the Goths, a great 
 outcry was raised that it was because Rome had for- 
 saken her ancient gods and turned to Christianity. 
 Augustine therefore wrote his great work on the City 
 1 Headlam, History, Authority, Theology, p. 75. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 331 
 
 of God ; first to prove (in the first five books) the falsity 
 of the charge; secondly, to make a final denunciation 
 of Paganism and especially its futility as a preparation 
 for an after life, which he does in Books Six to Ten; 
 and thirdly in twelve further books to compare and 
 contrast the city of this world with the City of God, 
 showing the legitimate claims upon mankind of each 
 of them. The work was begun in 413 and not com- 
 pleted till 426, and the germ of it is to be found in 
 Letter 138, a reply to some one who had asked how the 
 Christian precept of turning the other cheek was com- 
 patible with the principle of Roman rule. Augustine 
 declares that the Gospel is not opposed to righteous war, 
 and that Christian principles are a strength, not a 
 weakness, to the State. Rome was destroyed by her 
 venality, corruption and immorality, and the Cross was 
 now her only hope. 
 
 In the City of God, after denouncing Paganism and 
 showing how even Pagan philosophers derided it, and 
 proving also the insufficiency of natural religion, he 
 traces the growth of a sounder philosophy up to Plato, 
 whom he acknowledges as having reached a point much 
 nearer to the Christian; but he breaks with the 
 Platonists because they taught the impossibility of 
 direct approach by man to God, and interposed daemons 
 as intermediaries. This naturally brings him to the 
 mediation of Christ, and so to an exposition of the 
 doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation. From this 
 he proceeds to the account of the Creation; explains 
 the origin of evil and the Fall, which latter was the 
 cause of death ; and writes at some length on the whole 
 question of death. Then follows an enquiry into the 
 two states of man, life after the flesh and life after the 
 spirit; and he then devotes four books to the biblical 
 authority for his previous statements. In the last of 
 these books comes incidentally an interesting note on 
 the Septuagint, which Augustine treated to all intents 
 
332 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 and purposes as inspired. Lastly, after explaining the 
 limits of the two cities, of God and of the world, he asks 
 what have been the various ideals and aims of philosophy, 
 and teaches that the ultimate aim of the Christian is 
 eternal peace. This brings him to a description of the 
 life to come, which includes some very curious reason- 
 ing about material punishment, almost mediaeval in 
 character. To the Christian who attains to Heaven 
 will come the capacity of seeing God everywhere and 
 in everything, and a complete restoration of the freedom 
 of the will. 
 
 It is of great importance, in studying St. Augustine, 
 to know at what period his various books were written : 
 indeed it has often been said of him, that to understand 
 him, the mind must grow with his. His works were so 
 numerous, that only some of the most characteristic 
 are here given. 
 
 Among the earliest works after his conversion are 
 Against the Academics, On the Blessed Life, On Order, 
 the Soliloquies, On the Immortality of the Soul (the 
 last two are strongly Platonic) and On Music. 
 
 The second stage of his work (still previous to his 
 ordination) includes the Books against the Manichceans, 
 and part of the treatise On Free Will; and after he 
 reaches Africa, On True Religion, the Commentary on 
 Genesis, which he developed later into On the Literal 
 Interpretation of Genesis, and The Master. The last 
 was a sort of In Memoriam of his son, Adeodatus, and 
 gives one of their last discussions before his son's 
 death. 
 
 The third stage follows his ordination (391), and here 
 we have On the Utility of Believing (against the 
 Manichseans), the conclusion of On Free Will, the homily 
 On the Sermon on the Mount, and part of the Donatist 
 controversy. 
 
 After his consecration in 395 come : On Christian 
 Doctrine (Books 1 to 3 in 397; the Fourth Book not till 
 
ST, AUGUSTINE 333 
 
 420) and immediately after the turn of the century 
 most of the controversy with the Donatists, such as 
 Against the Letter of Pcetilian, On Baptism, and many 
 others. The book On the Work of the Monks, came 
 in 400; in 401, On Holy Virginity and On Conjugal 
 Love. With the Literal Interpretation of Genesis he 
 was occupied from 401 to 414, and with On the Trinity 
 from 400 to 416. The Confessions, at least the first 
 nine books, were one of his earliest works as a bishop 
 (397), the remaining four books were written later. 
 In 412 he took up arms against Pelagius, and in the 
 next two or three years followed On Nature and Grace, 
 On Corruption and Grace, On the Perfection of Human 
 Justice, On Grace and Original Sin, On Predestination, 
 On Perseverance and the other anti-Pelagian books; 
 contemporaneously he was at work on the City of God, 
 which he began in 413 and finished in 427, within three 
 years of his death. The Retractations, in which he 
 reviewed and revised the whole of his own literary 
 work, was published in 426. In 430 at the ripe age of 
 76, he died. 
 
 There has been hardly any phase of subsequent 
 Christian thought which does not refer for its sanction 
 to St. Augustine. Catholics claim that he was not 
 only the Doctor of Grace but the Doctor of the Church, 
 on account of his strong support of Church authority 
 and his devotion to the Sacraments. The Scholastic 
 Theologians inherited his acuteness, his subtlety of 
 intellect, his dialectical skill. Protestants love him 
 for his reverence of the Bible, his careful distinction 
 between the law and the gospel, and for the doctrine 
 that faith and man's good will are gifts of God. The 
 modern spirit admires his gift of individualizing and 
 self-observation. Mystics have caught much inspira- 
 tion from his Neo-Platonism and his doctrine of 
 Predestination. 
 
 The great Jansenist movement in France and Holland 
 
334 EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS 
 
 consciously and avowedly referred to Augustine as its 
 great authority. Jansenius, who was Bishop of Ypres 
 in the middle of the seventeenth century, having read 
 the whole of St. Augustine's works ten times, wrote a 
 book called The Augustinus, which nearly rent the 
 French Church in two, and probably would have done 
 so but for the activity of the Jesuits and the inter- 
 vention of the State. In the Catholic Church of Holland 
 it produced a lasting schism. The main tenets of this 
 book, which were denounced by a series of Papal Bulls, 
 were — that it is not possible for all men to do good, even 
 if they will, for grace has not been offered them ; that 
 grace, when given, is irresistible; that moral actions, 
 though free from external restraint, are not free from 
 interior necessity; and that Christ did not die to save 
 all men, but only the elect. However dangerous these 
 doctrines may be, they influenced such excellent 
 Christians as Pascal and F6nelon; and the School of 
 Port Royal, though it was stamped out in France by 
 the middle of the following century, exhibited one of 
 the purest phases of religious life, which were ever seen 
 in the history of the French Church. 
 
 Shortly before Augustine's death, the province of 
 Africa was overrun by the Vandals under Genseric, 
 who had been foolishly called in by Count Boniface, 
 himself a well-meaning Catholic, to help him in his 
 revolt against Rome; and with their coming com- 
 menced the dowitfall of the great African Church. At 
 Augustine's death she had 500 Bishops; twenty years 
 later only eighteen. While Augustine was dying, all 
 Africa was in the hands of the enemy except Carthage, 
 Hippo and Cirta. But he died at his post, and con- 
 tinued his correspondence to the end ; giving his views 
 to the neighbouring bishops as to the duty of awaiting 
 martyrdom. The city of Hippo held out for two years 
 after his death, and then was entirely destroyed, nothing 
 being spared but his church library. Little more, 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE 335 
 
 indeed, is heard of the African Church till it was 
 eventually overwhelmed by Mahomedanism. 
 
 It is not well to dwell too much on the gloomy theology 
 into which Augustine was led through being " very 
 jealous for the Lord God of Hosts " ; nor on his tendency 
 to persecution, which came only when he was sorely 
 tried. Like many others who have taught a grim 
 theology, he belied it by the sweetness and grace of his 
 character. Let us think rather of his untiring devotion 
 to duty ; his absorption in the quest for the Divine and 
 in the revelation of It to others ; his brave death at 
 his post, when all the work of his life seemed falling to 
 pieces ; and listen to his tender words of consolation : 
 " Pray that you may be drawn." " Lift up your 
 hearts, and your tears shall be dried." 
 
INDEX 
 
 Acacius, 180. 
 
 Acts of Martyrdom, 17 ; 21 ; 24. 
 
 ^ons, 34; 36; 76. 
 
 Aetius, 225. 
 
 African Church, 55. 
 
 Alexander of Alexandria, 145; 
 
 146; 152. 
 Alexander of Jerusalem, 97. 
 Alexandria, 77. 
 Alexandrian Church, 80; 158; 
 
 166; 292. 
 Allegory, 83; 108; 233; 243. 
 Ambrose, St., 290-303. 
 Anaesthetics, 174. 
 Angelology, 17; 51. 
 Anicetus, 20. 
 Anima, De, 62 ; 64. 
 Anomaean, 150. 
 Anthony, St., 159. 
 Antioch, 9; 215; 256. 
 Antiphonal singing, 10. 
 Apollinarians, 225. 
 Apologists, 40 ; 54 ; 74. 
 Apology v. the Avians , 156. 
 Apostolic Tradition, vi; 18; 27; 
 
 64; 82; 100; 212. 
 Arcadius, 261. 
 Arianism, 145 et seq. 
 Aristides, 40. 
 Arius, 100 et seq. 
 Athanasius, St., 143-60. 
 Atonement, 6; 52; 66; 88; 156; 
 
 186. 
 Augustine, St., 282; 303; 304-35. 
 
 Baptism, 42; 61; 89; 126; 190; 
 
 249; 266. 
 Baptismo, De, 62; 68; 233; 333. 
 Basil, St., 196-218. 
 Basilides, 31. 
 
 Beatific Vision, 91 ; 241 ; 314. 
 Beziers, Council of, 163. 
 
 Blandina, 24. 
 Blessilla, 276 et seq. 
 Blessed Life, On the, 332. 
 
 Canon, 108; 168; 187; 317. 
 Came Christi, De, 72. 
 Carthage, 55. 
 Catechetical Lectures,178 ; 182-95. 
 
 School, 80; 96. 
 
 Catholic (the word), 15; 19; 183. 
 Celsum, Contra, 98; 111. 
 Christian Doctrine, On, 332. 
 Christmas Orations, Three, 232. 
 Chrysostom, St., 252-71. 
 Circuit of Peter, 3. 
 City of God, 331 ; 333. 
 Clement, St., of Alexandria, 77-94. 
 Clement, St., of Rome, 1-8; 123. 
 Clementine Recognitions, 2. 
 
 Homilies, 3. 
 
 Confessions, 308-17. 
 
 Conjugal Love, On, 333. 
 
 Constantine, 144-5; 147; 153. 
 
 Constantinople, Council of, 223. 
 
 Constantius, 162. 
 
 Corinthians, St. Clement's First 
 
 Epistle to, 4; 108. 
 
 Second Epistle to, 7 ; 87. 
 
 Cornelius of Rome, 119, 130. 
 Corona, De, 62. 
 
 Corruption and Grace, On, 333. 
 Creeds, 27; 63; 101; 143; 147; 
 
 148; 182; 224. 
 Crescens, 53. 
 
 Cross, the, 50; 75; 172; 188. 
 Cultu Mulierum, De, 62. 
 Cyprian, St., 114-32 ; On Cyprian, 
 
 235; 293. 
 Cyril of Jerusalem, St., 178-95. 
 
 Damasus, 274; 294. 
 Daemonology, 45; 65-7. 
 
 336 
 
INDEX 
 
 337 
 
 Deaths of Infants, On the, 238. 
 
 Demetrianus, To, 131. 
 
 Demetrius of Alexandria, 97. 
 
 Demiurge, 36. 
 
 Development, Doctrine of, 60. 
 
 Diatessaron, 54. 
 
 Diognetus, Epistle to, 54. 
 
 Dionysius of Alexandria, St., 133. 
 
 Discipline of the Secret, 84. 
 
 Discourses v. the Arians, 157. 
 
 Docetism, 14; 16; 35. 
 
 Donatism, 320-3. 
 
 Donatum, Ad, 115. 
 
 Duties of the Ministry, On the, 299. 
 
 East and West, 10; 106; 215; 
 
 251. 
 Easter Controversy, 20; 25. 
 Ebionitism, 31 ; 34. 
 Ecstasy, 60; 239. 
 Eleutherus, 24. 
 Enchiridion, 330. 
 Ephesians, Ignatius' Epistle to, 13. 
 Episcopacy, 114; 120-1; 127. 
 Episcopal Succession, 5 ; 64. 
 Epistle of Barnabas, 112. 
 Essenes, 37. 
 Eternal Punishment, 38; 175; 
 
 186; 218; 235; 266; 325. 
 Eucharist, 15; 29; 30; 41; 66; 
 
 69; 89; 105; 157; 191; 217; 
 
 234; 249; 267; 298; 324. 
 Eudoxia, 261. 
 Eunomius, 225; 231; 238. 
 Eusebius, 6; 7; 13 n.; 26; 123; 
 
 133; 146-9. 
 Eusebius of Nicomedia, 146-7. 
 Eustathians, 216. 
 Eustochium, 278 et seq. 
 Eutropius, 260. 
 Exhortatio ad Castitatem, 62. 
 Exhortation to Heathen, 85. 
 
 Faith, 5; 84; 89; 167; 238; 299. 
 Fasting, 69; 218; 234; 298. 
 Festal Letters of Athanasius, 157. 
 Firmilian of Caesarea in Cappa- 
 
 docia, 127. 
 Flavian, 253. 
 
 Flight from the Age, On, 299. 
 Flight to Pontus, 233. 
 Florinus, 25. 
 
 Free will, 52; 67; 74; 83; 104; 
 
 185; 266; 327; 332. 
 French Church, 20; 160. 
 Fugd in Persecutione, De 9 62; 70. 
 
 Gaul, 181. 
 
 Genesis, 332. 
 
 Gnosticism, 31. 
 
 Goths, 260. 
 
 Grace, 67; 89; 105; 185; 326. 
 
 Grace and Original Sin, On, 333. 
 
 Gratian, 292; 295. 
 
 Great Catechism, 238; 250. 
 
 Greek character of early Roman 
 
 Church, 6; 31; 56. 
 Gregory of Nazianzus, St., 219-36. 
 Gregory of Nyssa, St., 237-51. 
 Gregory Thaumaturgus, 98; 199. 
 
 Habitu Virginum, De, 116. 
 
 Hearing Mass, 268. 
 
 Hebrews, Epistle to the, 109. 
 
 Hegesippus, 24 ; 134. 
 
 Helvidius, 281. 
 
 Heracles, 96. 
 
 Heresies, Against, 25. 
 
 Hermogenem, Contra, 62 ; 66. 
 
 Hexameron, 202; 208; 212; 298. 
 
 Hexapla, 98; 110. 
 
 Hilary, St., of Poitiers, 161-77. 
 
 Hippolytus, St., 132. 
 
 History of the Arians, 156. 
 
 Holy Lights, 233. 
 
 Holy Spirit, On the, 208 ; 238 ; 299. 
 
 Holy Virginity, On, 333. 
 
 Homaean, 150. 
 
 Homilies, 7; 87; 110; 271. 
 
 Homo-ousion and Homoi-ousion, 
 
 148. 
 Hortatory Address to the Greeks, 54. 
 Hosius of Cordova, 157. 
 Hymns, 87; 176; 300. 
 Hypotyposes, 86. 
 
 Idololatria, De, 62 ; 70. 
 
 Ignatius, St., 9-17. 
 
 Immortality of the Soul, On the, 
 
 332. 
 Incarnation, 52; 88; 105; 146; 
 
 170; 184. 
 Incarnation of the Word, 152; 154. 
 Indulgences, 118. 
 
338 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Intercession of Saints, 188; 224; 
 
 267. 
 Intermediate State, 65; 67; 8 ( J; 
 
 103; 244; 246. 
 Invocation of Saints, 217 ; 236. 
 Irenecus, St., 1; 18; 24-39; 123; 
 
 162. 
 Irvingites, 59. 
 
 Jansenists, 333. 
 
 Jealousy and Envy, On, 132. 
 
 Jejuniis, De, 62. 
 
 Jerome, St., 272-89. 
 
 Jerusalem, Church of, 112. 
 
 Jews, 35; 49; 79. 
 
 Jovinian, 281. 
 
 Judceos, Ad, 62 ; 75. 
 
 Judaism, 14; 35. 
 
 Julian the Apostate, 154; 205. 
 
 Julius of Rome, 158. 
 
 Justification, 67; 89. 
 
 Justin, St., Martyr, 40-54. 
 
 Justina, 295. 
 
 Lapsed, the, 118. 
 
 Latin, Ecclesiastical, 55; 63. 
 
 Letter of Pmtilian, Against the, 333. 
 
 Letter to Maximus, 157. 
 
 Letter to Serapion, 157. 
 
 Libellus, 118, 
 
 Liberius of Rome, 159. 
 
 Linus, 1. 
 
 Liturgies, 6; 194; 218; 269. 
 
 Lord's Prayer, On the, 131. 
 
 Macedonius, 214. 
 Macrina, 199; 237. 
 Magnesians, Epistle to, 13. 
 Making of Man, On the, 238 ; 245. 
 Manes and Manichieans, 164; 
 
 306; 319; 332. 
 Marathonians, 214. 
 Marcella, 276. x 
 
 Marcion, 20; 34; 37; 62; 72. 
 Martin, St., of Tours, 176. 
 Martyrdom, On, 110. 
 Martyres, Ad, 62 ; 68. 
 Masses for the dead, 325. 
 Master, On the, 332. 
 Maximilla, 59. 
 Maximus, 119. 
 Melania, 276. 
 
 Meletius, St., 216; 238. 
 Methodius, 100. 
 Milan, Edict of, 143. 
 Millennium, 38 ; 53. 
 Modestia, De, 62; 69; 70. 
 Monasticism, 159; 200; 276 et seq. 
 Monogamia, De, 62; 69. 
 Montanism, 59. 
 Mortality, On, 131. 
 Muratorian Canon, 109. 
 Music, On, 332. 
 
 Mystalogical Lectures, 178; 189. 
 Mysteries, On the, 298. 
 
 Narcissus, 112. 
 
 Nationes, Ad, 62 ; 74 ; 75. 
 
 Nature and Grace, On, 333. 
 
 Neo-Platonism, 239. 
 
 Nicsea, Council of, 149. 
 
 Nitria, 200; 261. 
 
 Novatian, anti- Bishop of Rome, 
 
 119. 
 Novatus, 120. 
 
 Obadiah, On, 273. 
 
 Ogdoad, 25. 
 
 Opere Monachorum, De, 320. 
 
 Orange, Council of, 329. 
 
 Oratione, De, 62; 69. 
 
 Order, On, 332. 
 
 Origen, 96-113. 
 
 Original Sin, 67; 184; 327. 
 
 Orthodoxa Fide, De, 223. 
 
 Paganism, 45. 
 
 Pagan Reaction, 21. 
 
 Pallio, De, 62. 
 
 Pantaenus, 81. 
 
 Papacy, 2 ; 25. 
 
 Paris, Council of, 165. 
 
 Patientia, De, 62; 69^ 132. 
 
 Patripassianism, 62; 71. 
 
 Paul of Samosata, 146. 
 
 Paula, 276. 
 
 Paulinus, 216. 
 
 Pelagius, 326. 
 
 Penitentia, De, 62; 69; 299. 
 
 Perfection of Human Justice, 333. 
 
 Periarchon, 100; 107. 
 
 Persecutions, 11; 21; 24; 82; 
 
 116; 129; 131; 143. 
 Perseverance, On, 333. 
 
INDEX 
 
 339 
 
 Philadelphians, Epistle to, 13 
 
 Philippians, Epistle to (Poly- 
 carp), 19. 
 
 Philo, 79. 
 
 Philocalia, 110; 200. 
 
 Phoenix, 4. 
 
 Photinians, 225. 
 
 Pilgrimages, On, 238. 
 
 Platonism, 47; 82; 90; 207; 310; 
 312. 
 
 Plotinus, 240. 
 
 Polycarp, St., 18-23. 
 
 Polycrates, 25. 
 
 Pope, title of, 116. 
 
 Pothinus, 24. 
 
 Prmscriptio, 62. 
 
 Praxeam, Ad, 62, 66, 71. 
 
 Prayer, Earliest Christian, 6. 
 
 Prayer, On, 110. 
 
 Predestination, 106; 175; 327; 
 333. 
 
 Previous Existence, 104 ; 245. 
 
 Priesthood, On the, 253. 
 
 Priscilla, 59. 
 
 Prophesying, 59. 
 
 Psalms, 165. 
 
 Psychichi, 61. 
 
 Ptocho-tropheion, 203. 
 
 Pudicitia, Be, 62 ; 70. 
 
 Purgatory, 103. 
 
 Quadratus, 40. 
 
 Quakers, 59. 
 
 Quarto-Deciman controversy, 20 ; 
 
 25. 
 Quietism, 59. 
 Quirinum, Ad, 116. 
 Quis dives salvetur, 87. 
 
 Redemption, 36; 185; 244; 250. 
 Refutation of Knowledge, 25. 
 Relics, 188; 210; 296; 302. 
 Reluctance to dogmatize, 37; 
 
 167; 183; 212. 
 Resurrectione, De, 62; 72. 
 Resurrection of the Body, 4 ; 35 ; 
 
 44; 101. 
 Retractations, 328. 
 Romans, Ignatius' Epistle to, 13. 
 Rome, Early position of, 1 ; 25 ; 
 
 70; 120-6; 157-8; 226; 274; 
 
 294; 301; 302; 323. 
 
 Sabellianism, 145, 164. 
 
 Sacrament of Our Lord's Incarna- 
 tion, 299. 
 
 Sacraments, On the, 298. 
 
 Sardica, Council of, 158. 
 
 Sasima, 206; 222. 
 
 Scapulam, Ad, 62; 74. 
 
 Scholia, 110. 
 
 Scorpiace, 62. 
 
 Scripture, 90; 107; 168; 187; 
 211; 317. 
 
 Second Race, 37. 
 
 Seleucia, Council of, 163; 180. 
 
 Semi-Arians, 150-250. 
 
 Sermon on the Mount, 332. 
 
 Shepherd of Hermas, 108. 
 
 Smyrna, Epistle to, 13; 19; 24. 
 
 Soliloquies, 332. 
 
 Soul and Resurrection, On the, 238. 
 
 Spectaculis, De, 62; 70. 
 
 Spiritales, 61. 
 
 Stephen of Rome, 120; 124. 
 
 Stromata, 85; 93; 110. 
 
 Superfluous Merit, 70; 118. 
 
 Sylvester of Rome, 157. 
 Us, De, 163. 
 
 Tatian, 54. 
 
 Tertullian, 11; 50; 55-76; 114. 
 Testimonio Animce, De, 62 ; 65. 
 Testimony against the Jews, 115. 
 That idols are not gods, 115. 
 That there are not three Gods, 238. 
 Theodore of Mopsuestia, 252. 
 Theodpsius, 290-7. 
 Theological Orations, 227-31. 
 Theophanies, 50; 170. 
 Theophilus of Alexandria, 261. 
 Thessalonica, Massacre of, 293. 
 Third Race, 37. 
 
 Trallians, Ignatius' Epistle to, 13. 
 Trent, Council of, 329. 
 Trinitate,De,l64:; 330; 333. 
 Trinity, 6; 51; 54; 66; 71; 88; 
 
 103; 145 et seq.; 168; 184; 
 
 210; 212; 227-31; 247. 
 True Religion, On, 332. 
 Trypho, Dialogue with, 40, 49. 
 Tutor, 85. 
 
 Unitate, De, 120; 124. 
 Universalism, 100; 102; 246. 
 
340 INDEX 
 
 Utility of Believing, 332. Virgin Mary, 38; 53; 72- 149 n • 
 
 186;' 211; 235. 
 
 Valentinian, 31; 62; 72. Virginibus Velandis, De, 62; 09. 
 
 Vanitale Idolorum, De, 115. Virgins, On, 299. 
 
 Venice (Aquileia), Council of, 226. Vulgate, 283-7. 
 Victor, 25; 123. 
 
 Vigilantius, 281. Widows, On, 299. 
 
 Virginity, On, 238; 240; 289. Work of the Monks, On the, 333. 
 
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