Early Church History – Robert Godding
HISTORY : A GENERAL INTRODUCTION
- The Sources
- Primary and secondary sources
- Typology of the historical sources
· written: literary – documental/archive
· not written
- Auxiliary sciences of history
- The historical synthesis
- Why should we study history?
CHAPTER I : THE ROMAN EMPIRE
- Political history
- Legend of
Connected with the Troyan war (cfr Homer, Iliad)
Aeneas, the son of goddess Venus and of Anchises, a Troyan, arrives in
Abandoned along the river
- Location:
- seven hills: good defensive position
-
-
- From kingdom to empire: 3 political systems:
- Kingdom: 753-509 B.C. (Etruscan period)
- Republic: 509-27 B.C.
- Empire: 27 B.C.- 476
Between Republic and Empire, the change will not be perceived immediately. No new titles or institutions but one individual (the emperor) cumulates all the main functions.
- The making of an empire
In 27 (beginning of Empire),
- first in
- then in
- then in the whole Mediterranean area and beyond:
One political unity: Pax Romana.
The
- Language
2 languages are broadly used:
- In the
= κοινη, a simplified Greek (the language of the NT)
language of culture and trade
widely spoken, also in
will be the language of the Church, of the liturgy, even in
- In the
language of the State, of the administration, of the law.
will be the language of the Church, first in
A language is a way of thinking:
· The use of the Greek will also lead the Church to conceptualize the Christian faith according to Greek philosophical concepts (e.g. “one in being with the Father”). We are still the heirs of those definitions today.
· The use of Latin will lead the Church to borrow the juridical language of the Roman Law.
· Greek and Latin characterize two worlds, very different culturally: the East and the West. Each one will tend to go its own way, until they separate completely.
- Religions
- Domestic cults: practised in patrician families only (upper-class)
· In every house, kind of small shrine with the lar familiaris (god of the home) and the two Penates (household gods); are offered flowers, food…
· Cult of the dead. Souls of the ancestors = Manes. Receive also flowers, food, etc.
· Minister of that cult: the Paterfamilias.
- Popular cults: esp. in the countryside
= Very old cults, aimed at fertility and fecundity
> various gods: for the fields, the flocks, the water…
> veneration of certain trees, springs…
The Church will need a very long time to extirpate those practices.
- Official Roman religion. Public cults
· Many gods. Jupiter (god of heaven and thunder), Juno (goddess of the woman) and Minerva (goddess of the intelligence) are honoured on the Capitoline hill.
· Progressively, a correspondence will be established between the Roman gods and the Greek ones (Jupiter = Zeus…)
· The important thing is not to obey the gods, but to gain their goodwill
> importance of divinatory practices (is the day favourable?): haruspices and priests inspect to that effect the entrails of animals.
· Those cults have become very formal at the time of Jesus. They are still practised as a tradition, but most people do not believe in them.
- Mystery religions
· At the time of Jesus, oriental religions have an growing success: they give an answer to the existential anguish of the people.
· The most important ones: Cult of Isis (
· Those cults are far from the formality of the official religion.
· They propose a mysterious initiation, at the end of which the faithful has the assurance of being saved and belonging to a privileged group: born again to a new life.
· Example: in
- Philosophy
Some philosophies, esp. Stoicism, aim to the moral righteousness of the individual.
- Calendar
· In every civilization, connected with religion.
· In
· Reformed by Julius Caesar (46 B.C.)
· Based on three major occurrences every month: Calends (1), Nones (5), Ides (13). [In March, May, July and October, the Nones are the 7th, and the ides the 15th]. The days are counted in reference to these occurrences, always including the day itself: the 4th day before the Calends of July = 28 June.
· Various months are named after gods: Ianuarius (Janus), Martius (March), Iunius (Juno), Iulius (Julius Caesar), Augustus (emperor August)…
Early Church History – Robert Godding
CHAPTER II : THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES
- The beginnings of the
- Why
An amazing decision, motivated by
- Conviction that Christ will come back soon
-Wider audience
- Way of life
- The disciples: cfr Acts 2, 42-47
-Jewish practices combined with breaking of the bread;
-Sell their possessions and share the proceeds among themselves according to each one’s needs;
-120 (Act. 1, 15) < 500 (I Cor. 15, 6)
-Some inhabitants of
-Barnabas (Act. 4, 36-37), Ananias and Saphira (Act. 5, 1-11)
-Sharing is free
-Leading role of the 12 Apostles; special authority recognized to Peter
- Two particular groups
The community = Eκκλησια (Ecclesia)
a. The “Hebrews”
•James, the « brother of the Lord »
–Main influence in the
•Disciples of Christ, strongly attached to the Law of Moses and to the temple.
Sources: [Acts] Gospel of the Hebrews, Gospel of Thomas
b. The « Hellenists »
•Jews from the Diaspora. Language: Greek
•Obtain their autonomy: group of 7 (Acts, 6, 1-6)
•Strong theological disagreements with the «Hebrews » (Acts 6, 8 – 7, 60)
•After Stephen’s death, persecution > beginning of the christian mission (before 40)
B. The
•Very big city – Cosmopolitan population – Important Jewish community
•Before 40, « Hellenist » missionaries announce the Gospel to the Greek [gentiles, pagans] (Acts 11, 19-21<->Acts 10)
•Inquiry of the
•Dissension brought by some people from
C. The « Council » of
•Double problem:
–Converted Greeks and the Law of Moses
–Relations between Christians of two origins
•Solution (Acts 15; Gal. 2, 4-10)
–Freedom, except some minor concessions to the «Hebrews»
–Repartition of the fields of apostolate (Gal., 2, 9)
–Additional point: money! (Gal., 2, 10)
D. Decline of the
•62: the Jews obtain the execution of James and other christians
•70: siege of
•The christian community takes refuge in
•135: New revolt against the Romans.
lJew from
lEducated in Jerusalem
lPharisee
> Irreprocheable credentials and moral authority
The Gospel should be announced to the pagans without imposing the yoke of the Jewish Law
lFrom an intellectual point of view: Paul justifies that affirmation:
lFrom a practical point of view: Paul launches his work of evangelization: 3 mission trips
F. Peter and Paul in
lPaul: presence in
BUT we know nothing about his last years
-Acquitted and went to
-Executed shortly after the moment described at the end of Acts, ard. 63?
Peter: no allusion in the NT
lEarliest account of their death (no mention of place): Letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (ca 95)
lEusebius, Church History: quotes Gaius, contemporary of pope Zephirinus (199-217), who mentions the « trophies » of the Apostles in the
–Ostian road: Basilica of
–
THE CHURCH AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNTIL 313
THE PERSECUTIONS
A. Christianity as seen by the pagans
- « Octavius » by Minucius Felix
o = dialogue between a pagan and a Christian, Octavius
o Frequent accusations against the Christians:
§ Ritual murder of a child and anthropophagy
§ Lewdness and collective debauch
= erroneous interpretations of Christian rites and practices
- Sueton (Roman historian)
« A new and dangerous superstition »
- « superstition » ↔ « religion »
> The Christians are impious and atheist
- « new » ↔ tradition of the ancestors
> dangerous
- Tacitus (Roman historian)
The Christians, accused of « hatred of the human race »
(Attitude of separation adopted by the Christians towards society)
- Other authors: critic the contents of the Christian faith
- Celsus (170), « The true doctrine »
Objections of a pagan against the Incarnation
- Porphyry (+ 303), « Against the Christians »
Questions the Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection.
B. The Christians’ reply to their detractors
- Apologies: defense and illustration of the Christian faith
- Challenge: using a language intelligible to their audience (Graeco-Latin culture)
Ø Hellenisation of Christianity
Ø Christianisation of Hellenism
- The Christians’ response : main arguments
o No secret among us
o You are the ones with despicable customs
o Christianity is a reasonable belief
o Christians are good citizens
(but reluctance to be involved in the army and in official positions: idolatrous religious ceremonies and violence)
- Main Apologies:
–Letter to Diognetus
–Justin, First and second Apologies
–Tertullian, Apologeticum
Letter to Diognetus
· Author, date and place unknown
· Response to three questions asked by the pagan Diognetus:
o What is Christianity? Why do Christians despise the world and even death? Why do they reject the religions of the Jews and of the Greeks?
o What is the secret of that strong affection they have for one another?
o Why did Christ come so late?
Justin (+ 165)
· Philosopher from
· As a layman, founds a Christian school of philosophy in
· Dies a martyr.
· Works:
o 1st Apology to emperor Antonine
o 2nd Apology to the Roman Senate
o Dialogue with the Jew Trypho
C. Persecutions of the first two centuries
- First conflicts
· Very soon, the Christian predication rouses opposition (cfr Acts)
· 50: emperor Claudius expels the Jews from
(« The Jews were in tumult under the impulsion of Chrestus » Sueton)
· The
2. Persecution under Nero (64-65)
a. The facts
- First time that the Christians are identified as such
- Various sources, esp. Tacitus (115-116)
- The Christians, accused to be at the origin of the 9 days fire which had destroyed whole areas of
- Massive arrests and executions (Peter and Paul?). The Christians, condemned as incendiaries (not for being Christians).
b. A law against the Christians?
· Institutum Neronianum (Law of Nero): Non licet esse christianum (It is not allowed to be a Christian). Cfr Tertullian
· Acts of Martyrs (2nd cent.): who confesses being a Christian is put to death
BUT
· no single judge seems to know such a law
· Nero’s memory officially condemned (damnatio memoriae)
· Only the Senate, not the emperor, has the power to prohibit an association
A recent interpretation
- Under Nero, the Senate would have voted a general measure against the Christians
- Edict transmitted to the provinces as prohibition of an association, without any allusion to the motives
3. Persecutions in the 2nd century
a. Under Trajan (98-117)
The legislation
· Letter of the governor Pliny to emperor Trajan
Is punishment attached to the mere name, or to the secret crimes connected to that name?
· Trajan’s response to Pliny
o The Christian name must be punished.
o The Christians should not be systematically researched
o Anonymous denounciations should not be considered
Persecutions have a sporadic character: long periods of peace, interrupted by some persecutions.
Ignatius of Antioch
· Bishop of Antioch, arrested ard. 110 and brought to
· During his trips, writes 7 letters to the Churches in
· In his Letter to the Romans, mystic desire to be united with Christ
b. Under Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
· St Justin martyred in Rome
· Polycarp of Smyrna
o the most ancient account of a martyrdom
o celebration of the anniversary of his death (dies natalis): first evidence of cult of relics
· Martyrs of Lyon (177)
o Letter from the Christians of Lyon to their brothers in
D. The third century
1. The persecution of Decius (250)
- The edict
- Period of troubles > need for restauration, both political and religious
- Edict: compulsory sacrifice to the gods of
- Control by local commissions; delivery of a libellus
- = edict against the Christians? Not directly, BUT the Christians, first threat against the unity of the Empire
- Torture, prison, exile or even death, with confiscation of property, for those who refuse to sacrifice
- Disastrous consequences for the Church
- The situation in
- Importance of Christianity in
- St Cyprian, bishop of
- Some martyrs and confessores BUT majority of lapsi.
- End 250: the edict of Decius is not being enforced anymore
- After the persecution, problems:
- Reconciliation of the lapsi
- Discipline of the confessores (who pretend to have the authority to reconcile the lapsi).
- Delicate situation of Cyprian himself
- 251: Council confirms Cyprian’s position:
- Libellatici (who bought the libellus without sacrificing) are forgiven
- Long penitence for the lapsi, reconciled only at the moment of death
- 252: Another council grants reconciliation to all
2. The persecution of Valerian (257-258)
2 edicts to stop the progress of Christianity
· 257
o Bishops, priests and deacons must sacrifice to the gods of the Empire. Otherwise, exile.
o No gatherings of Christians (> no mass); no visit to the cemeteries (catacombs)
· 258
o Execution of the exiled clerics who refuse to sacrifice
o Confiscation of property for lay refusing to sacrifice; exile and even death
Many victims
o In
o In
3. Gallienus’ edict of tolerance (260)
- The edict:
- Cessation of persecutions
- Restitution of cemeteries and places of worship
- Why?
- In period of troubles, better to gain the Christians’ loyalty.
- Meaning?
- Return to previous situation?
- First official recognition of Christianity?
- Abrogates Valerian’s legislation but also the old jurisprudence against the Christians (cfr Trajan)
- The Christian communities become subject of rights
> Being Christian is not illegal anymore
= « Small peace of the Church » (40 years)
E. The Great Persecution (303-312)
- Diocletian, emperor from 284
- Restauration of the traditional religion
- Series of measures against the Christians:
o 299 (301?): purification of the Army
o 1st edict (303): in
o 2nd edict: the leaders of the Church arrested and imprisoned
o 3d edict: they must sacrifice (torture)
o 4th edict (304): all the Christians must sacrifice
- The application of the edicts varies according to the regions (the toughest in
- Impossible to evaluate the total number of martyrs
(Under Diocletian, we know 3000 names)
- Ends in 312.
A. From Kerygma to doctrinal elaboration
- At the beginning: kerygma (= proclamation)
Cfr Acts, Epistles of
– Death and resurrection
– Return in glory
– Gift of the Holy Spirit
Repetition, without elaboration
- 2nd cent.: birth of a Christian theology.
3 factors explain that evolution:
1. The development of Christianity
o Growing need for a better understanding of faith, esp. among the intellectuals
o Distance from the origins becoming too great
2. The contact with the world
o Very soon, contact with the world = confrontation: persecutions, attacks from intellectuals
o Some Christians demonstrate that the Christian faith is a real and good philosophy > need to borrow concepts and categories from the hellenistic world
Ø Hellenization of Christianity
3. The internal tensions within Christianity
The good news, announced in the whole
> Risk of variety of interpretations
> Birth of several « heresies » (an essential factor for the doctrinal development of the Church)
B. Inventory of some « heresies »
Usefulness:
· How this or that point of faith was defined
· The main heresies do reappear through the history of the Church > useful to be able to recognize them (not to condemn, but to understand)
- Judaeo-Christians
Name given to two different realities
- « Hebrews » of the
- Group of « Christian » Jews who subordinate their Christian faith to the Jewish tradition.
Strict monotheism: Jesus, a man adopted by God.
- Gnosticism
a. Sources
- Most heresies: known only through the presentation of « orthodox » writers.
Gnosticism: Irenaeus
- 1945: Discovery of the gnostic library of Nag Hammadi (
12 papyrus volumes containing 51 gnostic treatises
b. What is gnosticism?
- Vocabulary
o Gnosis: general phenomen, manifested in various moments of history, from the 1st cent. to modern times
o Gnosticism: that gnosis particular to the 2nd cent.
- Gnosticism
o ≠ unified doctrine, but rather movement
o Common point: knowledge (= gnosis) plays fundamental role
o Perfect knowledge
o Possessed and transmitted by a few initiated (> secret)
o Total explanation of the world and of human existence
o On a dualistic base (good ↔ evil)
o Opens the way to the salvation of the mind
c. The Gnostic myth
o That knowledge is expressed in mythical narratives, which are just a means to understand where I come from, where I go to.
o Many versions of that myth, some very elaborated ones.
o Narrate the creation (through multiple emanations of the First Principle or «unborn Father ») and the destiny of the soul
o Such a mythical narrative generates, in the listener, an awareness (= the knowledge, the gnosis) which is itself liberating.
d. Christian elements
o Opposition between God the Saviour (First principle, good) and the God of the Jews, the Creator (bad).
o Figure of the Saviour, who took a human appearance but was not put to death
o Many gnostic writings pretend to be secret revelations of Jesus to his disciples: Gospel of Thomas, of Judas…
e. Origins of Gnosticism
Several theories:
- Hellenistic philosophy
- Oriental religions, esp. from Iran
cfr Manicheism: the history of the world is that of a battle between the good God (light) and the bad God (darkness)
- Christian origin
- Judaism: after the disasters of 70 and 135, seeks refuge in unhistorical speculations.
f. Success
Huge success of Gnosticism
- Appeals to Christians of little culture, attracted by mysterious explanations.
- Christian Gnostics consider themselves as the Church of the Perfect, the elected
- Answer to the anxiety and deep unhappiness of the mind: feeling of alienation, division; nostalgy of the primordial unity
- Marcionism
- Marcio + 160
- Source: Tertullian, Against Marcio.
- Starting point:
Law ↔ Gospel
Justice ↔ Charity
- 2 gods:
– God of the OT, Creator (Justice, Law)
– God of the NT, Saviour (Gospel, Charity)
- Sends his Son in a body not made from flesh
- Selection in the Scriptures
o Rejects the OT
o From the NT, keeps only
10 epistles of
1 Gospel: Luke
Corrects the text: deletes infancy narratives and modifies passages where the Father is identified with the God of the OT.
= The first « canon » of Scriptures
- Montanism
· Montan: 160/170 in Phrygia
o Extatic crises: announces that the end of times is imminent
o > Invites his disciples to gather in a certain place to wait for the coming of the New Jerusalem
- Great diffusion in the Mediterranean world. Tertullian, at the end of his life, embraces Montanism.
- Do not pretend to announce anything new, but valorize some elements neglected by the Church:
o Eschatology: the end of times is near
o Asceticism and rigorism
Continence, even between married people
o Prophetism: the Holy Spirit speaks in them. Montan, the new Paraclet.
C. The reaction of the Church
- The basis
- Until ard. 150, no Christian Holy Scripture
Only Christological reading of the OT
- Criterium of the truth about Jesus: testimony of the Apostles
After 150, preserved
o In their writings
o In the Christian predication (oral)
- The Canon of the NT
- Problem: which are the authentic writings of the Apostles?
- First one to answer that question: Marcio
- Canon of the Christian normative writings in the different Churches
Criterium: apostolicity and antiquity
Same essential writings (Gospels, Acts,
- Most ancient list: Muratorian Canon
- 367: St Athanasius gives a complete and definitive list
- Tradition
- Testimony of the Apostles: transmitted orally
> difficult control (cfr the Gnostics)
- St Irenaeus of
elaborates a doctrine of Tradition
Tradition for St Irenaeus:
- = transmission of the apostolic message through the times
- Secured and guaranteed by the apostolic succession
- The sacred deposit entrusted by Christ to the Apostles is being transmitted, from generation to generation, through the teaching of the bishops.
- Principle of apostolic succession: from one bishop, you can go back to the Apostles
- Difficult to establish the lists of the bishops all over the world. Irenaeus gives one list: that of the Church in
- Scripture and Tradition are not independent from one another: transmit the same testimony.
- Baptismal symbol
- Baptism = fundamental moment in the confession of faith
- At the beginnings, answers to a few simple questions
- The heresies of the 2nd cent. make it necessary to be more precise
- Beginning 3rd cent.: a confession of faith is added to the interrogations
= Old Roman Symbol
2nd cent.:
o Holy Scripture (OT + NT)
o Doctrine of Tradition, garanteed by the apostolic succession
o Symbols of faith
= Basis for building a theology (3rd cent.)
- Theology (3rd cent.)
The first two centuries (Reminder):
· Apostolic Fathers
· Apologists
· Irenaeus (+ ca 200)
a. Carthage
- Lawyer, Polemist, Passionate, Excellent writer
- First Latin Christian writer: creates Latin words for Christian concepts: Trinitas, Sacramentum, Persona…
- More than 30 books: Apologeticum, Against Marcio…
- Becomes Montanist at the end of his life
Cyprian (+ 258)
· Bishop of Carthage
· Confronted with the divisions of his Church after the persecution of Decius
· Main Work: On the Unity of the Catholic Church
– The Church, mystery of unity
– Being one, the Church is « catholic », is the only true Church
– Outside the Catholic Church, there are no valid sacraments, no salvation
– The episcopate as one united body serving that unity; every bishop has his power as being a member of that college
b.
Clement of
· Directs a school
· Inculturation of the Christian message in the Greek culture
· Three main works:
– Protrepticon
– Paedagogos
– Stromateis
Origen (ca 185-253)
Life
- Christian family. His father dies as martyr
- 18 years old: entrusted with the formation of the catechumens
- Starts ascetic life
- Dedicates his life to the study of the Bible and to serious theological reflection
- Opens superior school: first classical studies, then the Bible and Christian doctrine
Works
- Enormous production
- Theology : On the Principles
- Study of the biblical text: Hexapla
- Commentaries of the Bible: 3 senses
– Litteral body
– Moral soul
– Spiritual spirit } Allegory
The Greatest Father of the Church. After his death, suspected of heterodoxy > Many of his books destroyed.
THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE
(4th cent.)
A. Constantine
- The battle of the Milvian bridge
· Beginning 4th cent.: crisis of Diocletian’s empire. Up to 7 emperors fighting against each other!
· In the West,
o Christian sources: Eusebius and Lactantius
o dream: « In this sign, you will conquer »
o Labarum: imperial banner (standard) with Christ’s monogram
· In the East, emperor Licinius remains alone
- The edict of
The two emperors meet in
– Complete freedom of cult for all inhabitants of the Empire
– Only religion is mentioned: Christianity
> privileged
Real conversion or opportunistic move?
≠ model of a Christian:
– Baptized at the point of death
– Several crimes on his conscience
- Foundation of Constantinople
· 324: Constantine eliminates Licinius
· only emperor for East and West
· Decides to remain in the East and to establish there his capital
· Choses
· Becomes a real capital, the equal of
· Numerous churches, provided with relics
· Becomes a religious capital, the « second
- Religious policy
- Building of large and splendid basilicas
– In Rome: St Peter, Latran
– In
Empress Helena finds the « true Cross »
– In Constantinople
· Offers sumptuous gifts to the bishops (considered the equals of province governors)
· Authorizes the churches to receive gifts and legacies > huge Church properties
· Privileges for the clergy: exemption of taxes, special jurisdiction…
· Several new laws inspired by Christianity
o Sunday
o Manumission (= giving freedom to) of slaves
o Taxes on celibate people cancelled
o Divorce more difficult; adultery, homosex., trade of children for prostitution punished
o Measures in favour of the weak: widows, orphans, prisoners
o Abolition of the cross as punishment
o Gladiators’ fights and supplice of wild beasts are suppressed
· Intervenes directly in the affairs of the Church:
–Considers himself as «equal to the apostles »
– « New Moses », « New David »
> Convokes himself the great councils
> Maintains, even by force, the unity of the Church.
B. The Donatist Crisis in
- Origin of the
- Cecilian, consacrated bishop of
- Rejected by a fraction of Christians: the bishop consacrator = apostate and traditor (had handed over the Holy Scriptures)
ØAnother bishop, Donatus, is elected.
Beginning of a schism: soon, many cities have two bishops
- For the Donatists, bp Cecilian becomes also a traditor : affected by the same sin, as well as his followers
- The sacraments he administers have no validity
- Those who join (from the
- Soon, the Donatists become majoritarian in
- Reasons of the Donatist success
- Appeal of the themes of holiness and purity, moral rigorism
- Nationalist factor: «
- Socio-economic factor: opposition of the small peasants to the
- A long struggle
One century! Several efforts for a solution:
- Councils:
Persecution of the Donatists
> Strengthening of the movement
> Change of policy: tolerance
- Some individuals, esp.
o 393: Studies the history of the Donatists
o Develops a catholic theology in response:
– The real minister of a sacrament is Christ
> the moral indignity of the priest does not affect the value of the sacrament
– Donatism is not only a schism but also a heresy
Heresy brings the faithful to their doom
> Intervention of civil power justified
« Compelle intrare » (Lk 14, 23)
- 411: Conference with debate between the two parties and sentence by a judge.
> End of the schism in favour of the Catholic Church.
Tough measures against the Donatists who would refuse to submit.
C. Christianity and Paganism
·
> Tolerance
Only magic and divination are prohibited
· Progressively, pagan cults and practices will be forbidden (under pressure of the Christians)
· Constantius (356): closes the temples
· Julian the Apostate (361-363): return to paganism
o Educated a Christian, rejects Christianity once he becomes emperor
o Imbued with classic litterature
o Strives to restore the traditional Roman religion (religious and moral reform), with a kind of clergy
o First, tolerant towards Christianity (but suppresses privileges)
o Then, more intransigent policy
o Writes a book: « Against the Galileans »
o While preparing other measures against the Christians, is killed in a battle against the Persians
o Impopular during his life; his death, considered divine punishment
o His successors restore a policy favourable to the Church
D. Theodosius and the Christian Empire
· 380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Christianity = State religion
Other religions are forbidden (exception: the Jews): the State, warranter of orthodoxy
· But the emperor is not above the Church
Cfr Theodosius and Ambrose, bp of
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