Founding of Christendom: The Apologists -- post 17

The Apologists

After the martyrdom of Ignatius in Rome the Church both mourned and rejoiced for such a man. They waited to see if more persecution would come?

Trajan seemed more concerned with his legacy than with Christians. He continued his campaign in the Middle East, for another two years, after his success in Armenia. He conquered most of Mesopotamia all the way to Iran. But it was a series of costly and unstable victories. He may have caught some illness or suffered from heat exhaustion because he soon died on the voyage back to Rome.

Hadrian was the successor to Trajan. Hadrian (76-136 AD) was a cautious man and no general. He reigned for a pretty long 21 years and seemed to have died of natural causes. He lost the lands to the east recently acquired by Trajan.

 

Although  putting down another Jewish rebellion (outlawing circumcision), his reign was on average peaceful. He was not above violence though, putting a few senators to death who opposed him. He built walls to keep the barbarians out. Parts of his famous wall in Scotland still remain. We don't know the details but he martyred  St. Pope Telesphorus in Rome in 136 AD.

A peace started to come to the Roman Empire, but Hadrian was not to enjoy it; he died (138AD). He was followed by his adopted son Emperor Pius. Whose rule (138 to 161 AD) was one of the most peaceful since Emperor Augustine's reign at the birth of Christ. There were no major military campaigns or revolts. He developed extensive infrastructure of drinking water throughout the Empire. There were the occasional protests against Christians, and the growth of the Church was slow but steady, without broad persecution.

This time of Emperors Hadrian and Pius is the first we hear of the Apologists-- men who defended Christian beliefs by logical argument. Lies started to spread about Christians. These brave men, the Apologists, sought to dispel these lies and myths by writing and speaking to explain their beliefs.

St. Quadratus bishop of Athens is said to have been the first of the Christian Apologists. He is counted among the Seventy Disciples in the tradition of the Eastern Churches.

Eusebius records the only contents we have of his apology:

"1. After Trajan had reigned for nineteen and a half years Aelius Adrian (aka Hadrian) became his successor in the empire. To him Quadratus addressed a discourse containing an apology for our religion, because certain wicked men had attempted to trouble the Christians. The work is still in the hands of a great many of the brethren, as also in our own, and furnishes clear proofs of the man's understanding and of his apostolic orthodoxy.

"2. He himself reveals the early date at which he lived in the following words: But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine:— those that were healed, and those that were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also always present; and not merely while the Saviour was on earth, but also after his death, they were alive for quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day. Such then was Quadratus."[Eusibius Ecclesiastical History,Book IV, ch. 3]

 

Eusebius said that Quadratus addressed the Roman Emperor Hadrian when he was visiting Athens in AD 124 or 125. Quadratus  used the common defense that the miracles of Jesus are testified to by people still alive and healed, or brought back to life by him.

Two other men Aristides, and St. Justine Martyr also made attempts to reach the intelligentsia of the Empire.

Aristides around the reign of Hadrian or during his immediate successor Emperor Antoninus Pius. Whose writings were lost until a complete work was discovered in 1889, in a Syriac translation of the Apology in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. It is simple and straightforward and mostly a critique of the pagan gods.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/aristides-kay.html

St. Justine Martyr is the most famous of the early Apologists. He argued in Latin while the others in Greek in the lands of the east. He was well versed in philosophy. He studied with the Stoics, but was unsatisfied with them, then he studied at a number of other philosophical schools. Upon discovering Plato, he thought he had found the full truth he was looking for, but again was left unsatisfied until he discovered Christ and the prophets.

He started his own school of philosophy in Rome based on Christianity. He produced many works, most are lost http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/justin.htmlHe

A cynic philosopher Crescens, who debated Justine denounced him as Christian, and forced Justine to defend himself at trial.

His First Apology testifies to early Christian beliefs such as the Trinity (I Apol., vi) and  a description of Christian worship: baptism was a rejuvenative new birth (lxi); the Eucharist was the true body of Christ (lxv-lxvi); Sunday-observance (lxvii).

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-firstapology.html

According to Eusebius (HE IV 16.7–8). Justin was tried, together with six companions, by the urban prefect Junius Rusticus, and was beheaded. Though the precise year of his death is uncertain, it can reasonably be dated by the prefect’s term of Rusticus (who governed from 162 and 168). The martyrdom of Justin preserves the court record of the trial:

    

“The Prefect Rusticus says: "Approach and sacrifice, all of you, to the gods."

Justin says: "No one in his right mind gives up piety for impiety."

The Prefect Rusticus says: "If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy."

Justin replies: "That is our desire, to be tortured for Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour."

And all the martyrs said: "Do as you wish; for we are Christians, and we do not sacrifice to idols."

The Prefect Rusticus read the sentence: "Those who do not wish to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the emperor will be scourged and beheaded according to the laws."

The holy martyrs glorifying God betook themselves to the customary place, where they were beheaded and consummated their martyrdom confessing their Saviour.”

At this time the Gnostics made a resurgence in Rome.The main leaders were Cerdo, Marcion and Valentine. This was during the reign of Pope St Hyginus (136-140 AD) who died a martyr and was succeeded by Pope Pius I. Whose reign was relatively long at 24 years.

We don’t have any of Pope Pius I's responses to the Gnostics. Marcion tried to buy influence with the Church when he arrived in Rome and made a huge donation, his donation being returned to him and in addition to other conflicts; he was excommunicated.

 
They were surprised by the resistance of the new pope Pius (the first pope of this name, sharing it with some of the greatest popes to come in the future). He opposed their teachings, but Pope Pius was a simple man from slavery.

Pope Pius unfortunately had lost one of his best man to help, St. Justine Martyr. The Gnostics were educated and trained orators, few were equipped to battle them in words.

The Gnostics had no unified belief system other than that there was a secret knowledge that would save you. Marcion believed that the Old Testament God was not God the Father of whom Jesus spoke.

Pope Anicetus, did as much as he could to stem the tide of the Gnostics, as had John the Apostle, and St. Ignatius of Antioch before him. But they were a resistant  group, and they still seemed to grow.

Pope Anicetus, a Syrian, was the first from his country to sit on the chair of Peter. He was paid a visit to Rome, by the famous St. Polycarp--who was a disciple of St. John the Apostle and friend of St. Ignatius of Antioch. Polycarp was also accompanied by his student St. Irenaeus, who later documents this visit.  Polycarp came to Rome to discuss the celebration of Easter. Pope Pius had made a decree that Easter should be uniform across the Church-- to be on Sunday.

The Church of Smyrna, Turkey, of which Polycarp was bishop, celebrated the crucifixion on the fourteenth day of Nisan, as did many in the Eastern churches. This coincides with Pasch (or Passover) regardless of which day of the week this date fell, while the Roman Church celebrated the Pasch on the first Sunday after equinox.

Polycarp argued this is the tradition he was given by the Apostle John. But the pope could argue that the Sunday celebration was the tradition given to him by the Apostle Peter. It was a steal mate. But the pope was a reasonable man. So he struck a compromise. Each church was free to celebrate according to their traditions. (This controversy will come again later in history.)

This compromise satisfied Polycarp but God had other plans for the very old man. Before he was to return to Smyrna, he was to confront the Gnostics. How could he resist? His teacher St. John passionately fought against this heresy. By Polycarp’s testimony and debating, he not only gave the Gnostics a devastating blow, but brought back many into the Church. The Gnostic leader Marcion  once said to Polycarp, “Don’t you recognize me?” To which Polycarp replied, “I do indeed: I recognize the firstborn of Satan!”

Polycarp returned to his homeland, St. Irenaeus stayed behind in Rome to help, probably debating the Gnostics. He later would be sent to be bishop of Lyons in Gaul (now France). 

continue to the next chapter